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A Little Help with Free Marketing?
- This topic has 5 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 8 months ago by .
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@zee @selah-chelyah @abigail-rebekah @beth20 @sarahfi @nancy-drew@writergirl101 @anne_the_noob14 @katthewriter @pensword
Hi, ya’ll! I have a question for anyone who has published and/or is currently publishing a book…what is the best place to market your book online for free? I’ve been signing up for forums and sharing it with people who might be interested on there. I’ve commented on a couple blog posts about things like free ebooks or middle-school books (which is what my book is). I’ve set a download goal for at least 25 downloads per day. I’m currently failing today’s goal (last I checked, I got eighteen). So, does anyone have any good recommendations? I really want to get this book into the hands of kids, especially between the ages of 9-12. I know their parents would appreciate a free book 🙂
Sorry wish I could help! I’ve never published a book, and haven’t even finished the one I’m working on!
Sorry!
But I know @calebeking has published a book!
Jominkreesa! For the weirdos who know what it means! 😉 I love you guys!
@hobbitchild I want to warn you that what you’re describing sounds like one of the most classic definitions of spam—you’re promoting your work in communities where you aren’t already ingrained. That goes double for commenting on blog posts asking people to download. In fact, most spam filters exist specifically to remove that kind of comment.
Even on SE, though I guess it’s not against anything I could see in the terms and conditions, you might want to rein in the frequent calls to action to download your book =P Five of the six topics you’ve started on here (excluding this one) have asked people to download your book.
Anyway, what is the goal of you getting downloads? Are you trying to improve your Amazon rank, trying to get reviews, just trying to get it in the hands of as many people as possible?
Most good marketing isn’t free, but I think these are some of the standard strategies:
- Find bloggers, etc. whose audience would be interested in your book and talk with them about covering your book.
- Find similar authors and talk with them about getting a shoutout in their newsletter.
- Look at the top positive reviewers of extremely similar books on Amazon and Goodreads, and reach out to them about giving an honest review of your own book.
But if you want to market to forums, you should become a legitimate part of the community for months at least before your book drops, and be very careful of their spam rules. As a bonus, the connections you make in a community will probably help you find these bloggers, newsletters, and reviewers more easily in the future.
@hobbitchild, the link below is a list of websites that promote books (either free or reduced price) for free. Since they are free services, there’s no guarantee that your book will be chosen for promotion, but it can’t hurt to throw it out there. https://freebookpromotions.com/free-promotion-sites/
What @taylorclogston says about asking for reviews is also true. I’d recommend looking up book bloggers who review middle grade fiction and offering them a free copy of your book. (Amazon does not normally allow sellers to hand out “free stuff” in exchange for reviews, but books seem to be the exception to this rule.) Ideally, positive reviews of your book would then be on the blogger’s own website, where presumably lovers of middle grade fiction would see it, as well as on Amazon.
@zee I will try that website. I read somewhere that posting in forums and on blogs related to your book was a good way to promote, but I’m trying to spread it out so I don’t end up spamming someone who doesn’t want my book by repeatedly sending them emails, which is what I thought spamming was.
Yes, I found out that Amazon doesn’t like free book in exchange for a review thing. Though, my book is already free, so it is not like that, is it, if I occasionally ask people to leave a review if they want? I didn’t think so, but I’d like your thoughts. 😀
Actually, @hobbitchild, it is ok to provide a free book in exchange for a review. This is such standard practice that Amazon allows it. However, the reviewer should indicate that he received a free copy for review purposes as opposed to buying one.
If you’re looking for potential reviewers, try BookSirens or IndieReviews. But as you may already know, the best way to sell your first book is to write another one. And then another one…
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