We all know that self-publishing authors usually struggle with book promotion: they are unexperienced and often can’t afford paid campaigns or professional services. Here is a list of ideas for a low budget promotion. As you don’t have much money, you will need to spend some time to make most of them work, but isn’t spreading your book around the world worth it? There’s only one thing: no promotional tools will work, if your book isn’t good. I don’t say it’s not worth reading, but many authors love their ‘kids’ so much, they are not objective about them. Just make sure your masterpiece is so good, people simply MUST read it.

1. Suport groups

Social media are full of groups of any kind. You probably are a member of a few support groups for self-publishing authors yourself. These groups are usually not meant for promotion, but if being an active member you had been asking questions about publishing and you finally share your ready masterpiece, this shouldn’t be a problem. Also, you can make some friends there, who may be curious to read your book.

There are also some special groups for promotion, for example Free Kindle Books. If your book is currently on sale on Amazon or any other platform, you can post it there.

2. Groups of fans of your genre

Such groups can be very helpful for a self-publishing author. If you need some Beta-readers of your book, it’s very probable you’ll find a few there. If they like a part that you gave them, they may be interested in reading the whole book. When I had doubts about what I wrote, I asked my potential readers for help. The response was huge and after sharing parts of my story I was getting messages like ‘Can I read the next part?’. Even after a few months some people wrote me asking how my writing is going, because they can’t wait to read the whole story. You see? It really works.

3. Facebook page

This sounds obvious. Everybody knows this social media so it’s a great way of letting people know about you and your book. But there are a few questions you should consider. First: should you create a fan page or use your personal profile for promotion? It’s up to you. People like to know some more about a person they’re following than just official posts, so using your personal profile is not a bad idea. However, if you want to keep your privacy, create a fan page and ask your friends to share it. You may wonder, what you should write about. Well, the possibilities are endless and as a writer you shouldn’t have problems with that. You can write about your inspirations, about the books you like and events you take part in. Write about what bothers you and about your victories. The more authentic you are, the more people will follow you. Check out our Facebook banners.

4. Goodreads

Goodreads is a social media for readers and writers. Maybe it’s not the place where you can create promotional campaigns, but being in its database is very important. You can have control over the information about you and your books, answer the questions from your readers and share your opinions about other books and forums topics. It’s won’t bring instant sales, but in a long term more readers may find out about you. How to add yourself as an AUTHOR on Goodreads?

5. Fan graphics

We all know pictures and illustrations catch people’s attention better than worlds. Creating fan graphics is really easy. You can check Booky’s instruction or design it via Canva. Post such graphics on social media, any other pages you have, use them as your profile photos or postcards that you use instead of business-cards. Just open your mind and you can find millions of ways to share them with the world.

6. Amazon promotions

If your book is available on Amazon, you can use their tools such as Kindle Countdown Deals. You can create discounts for your books or even make them available for free for a limited time. This is a great tool, as Amazon brings the traffic to discounted books. So if the readers like your book and review it, you can get higher in the Amazon ranking and this way get more new readers. Easy, isn’t it?

7. Wattpad

Wattpad  is a website where you can share your writing and read what other have created. If you don’t want to give all your book for free, post just the first few chapters. When people like your story, they’ll want to find out what happened next = buy your book.

8. Youtube

This can be a good solution if you like talking or creating short videos. People love watching interesting videos. You can make videos of people reading fragments of your book. If it is a non-fiction book, you can show parts of the interviews that you based it on. You can also record people sharing their reviews about your book. You don’t need any special skills – just use your smartphone. Possibilities are endless.  There are many easy apps available to help you create beautiful videos. You can also post trailers of your book, but this may require some help of a professional.

9. Bookmarks

Everybody who reads paper books needs bookmarks. Why shouldn’t you use them for promotion? Get bookmarks with your book on them and give them to everyone around! Give them to your friends – whenever they read a book in a bus or any other public place, other people will see your book. Ask in the local bookshop, if they want to give your bookmarks as a free extra to their clients. Take them with you when you go for book lovers’ meetings or book fairs. People love to get useful things for free, so make them happy! You don’t know how to create your own bookmark? Here are a few designs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. Booky Gallery

I’m working on creating a Gallery here on Booky. If you buy any design in my shop and send me your personalized versions, I’ll post them on this website and you’ll get a forever exposure to Booky’s readers.

These are just a few of many possible ways of promoting your books. If you have other ideas, please, share them in the comments.

Advice: don’t force yourself to do things you don’t really feel like doing. If you hate talking to the camera, don’t use Youtube as a promotion tool. You don’t have to use all the suggestions to successfully promote your book. It’s better to focus on 1-2 ways and get the most out of them.

PS. There are many books about book promotion on Amazon. You can check some of them, for example Ninja Book Marketing Strategies: How To Sell More Books In 8 Days Using 8 Ninja Marketing Tactics.