E-book writers who market say it reflects in their sales figures, a huge motivator to do it.
Despite all the information available online and in books on e-book marketing, people tell me repeatedly that the best source is Mark Coker’s free e-book, Smashwords Book Marketing Guide. The marketing suggestions are not exclusive to Smashwords and can be used for any e-book in most cases. You can download the e-book onto an e-reader or a computer from Smashwords.
Here are some ways fellow writers have had success marketing their e-books. They are all doable at zero cost to you.
- If you blog, do a write-up in your blog about your e-book.
- Do some hunting online to find blogs that readers of your e-book would be interested in. Contact the blogger and offer a free copy of your e-book in exchange for a review or an interview about your e-book. Better yet, ask the blogger if she can also include a link to your book’s selling page.
- Offer to do guest blogs in exchange for you including a bio with information about your e-book.
- Include the name of your e-book in your e-mail’s signature block. Don’t have a signature block? Set one up today.
- Tweet about whatever the topic is that your e-book covers. Don’t just make your tweets promotional, share information that your book provides.
- Set up a page for your e-book on Facebook. Offer a couple sample chapters of the book for free to people who “like” your e-books page.
- On your e-book’s web page, list testimonials from readers who have positive things to say about your book.
- Start a newsletter centered around your e-book topic. And of course mention your e-book in the newsletter and ways that the readers can buy it. Include links to the selling page to make it easy for people to buy it. Send the newsletter out regularly to your e-mail mailing list.
- Call a journalist from your city’s newspaper and see if they would be interested in doing a story on your e-book. (Never hurts to try!)
- Call your city’s library and see if you can do a reading.
- Call groups in your area that deal with your e-book’s topic and see if you can do a reading at a meeting.
- Submit your e-book to as many online e-book directories as you can find.
- Contact other e-book writers who publish articles or blogs online. Ask if they would be willing to review your e-book and write about it. In exchange, you will read and review their e-book online, a win-win situation for both of you.
- Create a sales video about your e-book to put on YouTube. The video could be as simple as you reading a passage from the book or you talking about the e-book, such as why you wrote it or how it can benefit readers.
- Post excerpts from your e-book anywhere online that presents the opportunity to do so.
- Comment wherever you can that is appropriate online. Whether it’s in forums or on other people’s blogs that cover your e-book’s niche, make relevant comments on the topic. Make sure to include your name and, if possible, the title of your e-book.
- If you are really motivated, consider creating a mini-course that deals with the topic of your e-book. Make the course free to people who buy your e-book.
Marketing is an on-going venture. Be creative and stay on the lookout for new and inventive ways to market your e-book.
Toby Welch - Toby is a full-time freelance writer who specializes in magazine articles, online writing, e-books, and manuscript editing.
