Do I need to Promote my book?

YES!

Why?

There are over 4 million books published every year, and if you do not promote your book it will not be seen.

How do I promote my book?

A sound book marketing plan encompassing your target audience is a good start. It will take time and effort. Think of your book as you would a business – set up your website, social media, and be prepared for it to be ongoing.

Below we have found a number of ideas and tips to help you promote your book.

Read, digest, and put as many as you can into action.

89+ Book Marketing Ideas That Will…

Increase your web presence:

1. Create a testimonial page on your website
2. Retweak the SEO on your site
3. Ask fans to post their reviews on your Facebook page
4. Ask fans to post their reviews on Amazon
5. Ask fans to post their reviews on Goodreads
6. Sign up for Twitter
7. Clean up your social footprint
8. Create an author Facebook page and use it instead of your profile
9. Sign up for Google Authorship
10. Offer bloggers advanced reading copies
11. Go on an online book tour
12. Create a book launch team
13. Host Q+A sessions on Google+
14. Create Facebook Friday videos
15. Register as an author on Amazon
16. Register as an author on Goodreads
17. Create a book trailer
18. Get a new Author Website
19. Create a hashtag for your next book

Build your fan base:

1. Start a FB campaign to increase your fans
2. Start a Google Campaign to increase traffic to your site
3. Start a controversial web series
4. Link up with other writers for your controversial web series
5. Start weekly twitter chats with readers
6. Keyword your blog posts
7. Create a monthly newsletter
8. Create an affiliate program
9. Host guest bloggers
10. Become a guest blogger
11. Create business cards with your web address on them and hand them out
12. Put your photo on your business card for stronger branding
13. Start commenting on other blogs (early and often)
14. Host regular author hangouts on Google+
15. Host regular author interviews on Google+
16. Record your Google+ hangouts and put them on YouTube
17. Get social media coaching

Cultivate Community:

1. Create an online community with a forum
2. Say thank you to readers with special incentives for being a fan
3. Ask your reading community to design merchandise for your store
4. Create a fan page for your main character (works well if they are in a series)
5. Ask fans to create their own book trailers and post them online
6. Offer core fans advanced copy of future books
7. Ask fans to post pictures of “character spottings”
8. Offer “extra features” on your website
9. Use Twitter hashtags
10. Poll your readers and listen to what they say
11. Answer all your blog comments
12. Engage with your fans on FB
13. Ask your fans to post pictures of them reading your book

Make some extra money:

1. Repackage old blog posts and sell them as an e-book
2. Join an affiliate program
3. Speak on the core topic of your book
4. Become a content writer
5. Host paid webinars
6. Freelance with niche magazines
7. Sell ads on your website
8. Sell ads in your newsletter
9. Write a new ebook tailored to your fans
10. Mentor another writer
11. Become an Amazon Affiliate (and use MyBookTable)
12. Offer customizable ebooks for readers
13. Sell your book on your site, not just Amazon

Build your brand offline:

1. Write a Press Release
2. Ask to be interviewed by your local paper
3. Ask to be interviewed by the paper your book is set in
4. Ask to be interviewed by the local radio host
5. Ask to be interviewed on the local morning show 
6. Partner with a band that has the same cause as you
7. Go on a physical book tour
8. Start thinking local
9. Sell themed merchandise (Think “Team Edward” shirts)
10. Rent a billboard
11. Host a book release party
12. Link with an activity that supports your cause and sell your book there
13. Create a viral video about a scene from your book

Find a Place To Give a Book Reading:

1. Your local coffee shop
2. A hospital
3. A retirement community
4. A rehabilitation center
5. A local church
6. A locally owned bookstore
7. The library (try the five closest to your house)
8. The local community college
9. A school
10. Wherever the main setting of your book is
11. Google+
12. Videos you upload to Facebook
13. Goodreads

Discover where to donate your book (and make new fans):

1. Women’s shelters
2. VA hospitals
3. Homeless shelters
4. Children’s hospitals
5. Retirement homes
6. The five closest libraries to your house
7. The library in your hometown
8. Summer camp
9. Community libraries at coffee shops
10. The local community college library
11. The libraries in the town where the book was set in
12. BookCrossing.com
13. Local B&B’s
14. Local motels
15. Prisons
16. Church libraries
17. Rehab centers
18. Cruise ship libraries
19. Doctor’s offices
20. Community centers
21. Senior Centers

Become an expert:

1. Listen to the Novel Marketing Podcast.
2. Become a HARO source
3. Get active on LinkedIn
4. Write Op-Ed pieces on the core message of your story
5. Write freelance pieces on the core message of your story and pitch to niche publications
6. Give lectures on the core message of your story
7. Host webinars with other experts
8. Create a series of web-videos interviewing experts on the core message of your story
9. Make sure your author About Me page is interesting and relevant
10. Create a Meetup group