The ways of promoting a self-published book are only limited by your imagination, but here are a few inexpensive ways to get the most out of your promotion dollars for a self-published book marketing campaign.
1 – Create a Facebook Author Page
Social media is replacing the traditional “word-of-mouth” that helps identify and promote popular books. Getting a presence on social media platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, as well as Facebook, are free ways to build an audience for your book and promote it to your interested readers. This helps establish a central location for your fans to meet up and communicate with you. It is also an awesome way to announce the release of new projects, provide links to your author website and other articles and books you have published online. Keep fans engaged using discussions, polls, and the occasional giveaway to maintain an active presence on Facebook.
2 – Promote the Book on YouTube
Another social media platform that is often overlooked for authors is YouTube. Consider doing a live book reading of the first couple of chapters of your book using a YouTube Premiere event. Another way to promote your book on YouTube is to have a Q&A session with fans on camera or answer their questions in a “Dear Abby-like” format. You can also deliver some sort of presentation or TED talk-like event on a topic that might be of interest to your audience.
3 – Create a Book Trailer
The trailer has been a staple of movie promotion for decades now, and with the advent of the internet–along with inexpensive video design and production capabilities–has made producing a high-quality book trailer an easy way to generate some publicity for your books in an oversaturated market. Why not look at creating a book trailer as a concise way to build buzz about your book and target a specific audience for it.
4 – Donate Books to Target Audience
One great way to build and expand your target audience is to donate copies of your book to groups, organizations, or locations where your target audience gathers. This is an especially good strategy for non-fiction self-published books.
Both fiction and non-fiction are popular at senior centers, retirement homes, hospitals, churches, libraries, and locally-owned book stores.
5 – Host a Virtual Book Club Meeting
During the time of COVID-19, meeting in-person is not only impractical but also unsafe. Many libraries and bookstore-based book discussion groups have taken their gatherings online using software such as Skype or Zoom to meet virtually.
Prepare a list of discussion questions about your book specifically designed for book club discussions and include it with your book. Also provide a means for book club organizers to reach out to you and schedule an online book group meeting that includes you, the author. Readers absolutely love book club meetings that include the book’s author.
InstantPublisher is Your Partner for Self-Publishing Success
InstantPublisher is a full-service self-publishing book printer that provides a variety of services to help support your self-publishing efforts. These include book covers and custom book cover designs, interior book design, and custom printing services to provide promotional materials for your books such as bookmarks, calendars, posters, flyers, and much more. Get more information about these services by calling 1-800-259-2592, filling out our online contact form, or sending an email to questions@instantpublisher.com.
