What is the best way to promote a self published book?
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M$7 Answers
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* Send copies to prominent people you know. Ask if they can read (or at least skim them) and comment so you can get quotes to put on the back cover.
* Make up a special website for your book. Put the quotes from the famous people you got to read or skim your book.
* Suggest your website to be listed in Google, Microsoft Live and DMOZ (Ask.com is complicated and Yahoo cost money). DMOZ is a open human powered index which the major search engines use to power there own indexes and some part of their search engine result calculations. DMOZ categories have editors. Apply to at least a couple of categories for your book Web page.
* Bring book around to bookstores and ask if they will stock it and whether you can have a signing event.
* If there is a museum in your area connected to your subject, ask if you can get a table for a day next to their shop where you can hawk the book. For instance if you are a Holocaust survivor, call the museum in DC to see if they will host a table where you can show and sell your book. School kids and teachers buy lots of books.
* Look into getting into the stocks of book fairs.
* Find service clubs like Rotary and Lions club. Ask if you can speak there on your subject and bring books along.
* If it's relevant call Churches, Temples and other religious organizations and see if you can speak at there locations as an event.
* Find fair like events that you can get a table at for $25 and hawk your book there. For instance if your book is about clean energy, look for a clean energy fair in your neighborhood. There are a lot of them, maybe one in your subject.
* If it's not there already, republish on CreateSpace and get your book listed in Amazon for the price of 1 proof copy which should be less than $10.
* If you start selling in numbers, get it printed by a printer. Prices of paperbacks can go down to less than $2 that way, increasing your profit margin.
* Seek out other experts in your area that are local. Invite them to lunch to discuss your book and make friends. They will promote your book too, after all they will see you are both in the same boat together. They may actually need a book they can give as a reference material for people for whom they provide service.
* Haunt newsgroups like the ones found in Google Groups. Sign up for groups and search for appropriate places to mention your book. Do provide advice on your subject for free to build up your credibility. The book should be seen as only a natural extension of your expertise rather than the main reason you are hanging out.
* If it is a fiction or nonfiction story that can be made into a movie, look into writing or getting it written into a script. Hawk it to any film people or film students you know. Somebody might take a chance and the film could be successful before the book.
* Judiciously use online advertising like Google AdWords. Watch the money you spend, it can quickly get out of hand.
* Advertise for free in creative ways. Use Craigslist. Print up fliers and staple them around your local campuses and libraries.
* See if you local libraries will stock copies if you give them away. Put coupons in the back of the books for more copies.
* Lower your expectations, probably more than half of self published books don't make any money. It's often more of a hobby but you get back what you put into it.
http://www.dmoz.org/ - DMOZ is used by all the main search engines to create their human powered indexes. Additionally they may use the listings to be part of the search result calculations.
http://www.google.com/addurl/ - add your site to Google
http://search.msn.com.sg/docs/submit.aspx
https://www.createspace.com/ - publish to Amazon for $10 or less.
http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites - create free ads
http://groups.google.com/ -- Google groups
http://www.google.com/intl/en/ads/ - Google Adwords is on the left.
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M$
Writing
http://www.duotrope.com- A searchable database of literary magazines with Writers' Market-like info (what genres they take, how much they pay, when they're reading submissions, etc)
http://www.newpages.com-Helps you find new and exciting literary journals, but it's more on the reading end than the submitting one
http://www.mediabistro.com- Mediabistro has a lot of resources including a job board for media industry positions and advice for freelance writers
http://www.ed2010.com - Ed2010 is for magazine job leads and career advice.
Television Tropes - is a catalogue of the tricks of the trade for writing fiction. Users dissect movies, television shows, anime and literature so that you can harvest inspiration, ideas and learn how these things are put apa
http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html and http://www.sfwa.org/writing/vonda/vonda.htm - Two really good guides to Standard Manuscript Format (99% of magazines/publishers will literally toss your story in the trash if it doesn't follow Standard Manuscript Format)
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M$
http://www.bookmarket.com/1001ways.htm
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You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
create a blog / discussion about it. make sure it's listed for sale on Amazon. Talk about it on Twitter, Facebook, and everywhere else.
Good luck.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Author Scott Sigler ("Infected", and just released last week,"Contagious") picked up a major publishing deal (after ten years of rejection letters) after he got the industry's attention with 3.3 million downloads of his podcast novels. (Additionally, I've gotten over 2.3 million downloads of my own podcast novels, so I know firsthand that this works.)
http://podiobooks.com/images/title.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41BP5PcLR4L._SL500_AA240_.jpg
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$I'll even buy a copy myself :P
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
