Here is a list of effective, popular, time-tested, low-cost ways to market your book. I personally use each of them, so I know for a fact that they are an effective way to grow your audience and sell more books. The steps to market your book and decide which avenues are good for you to use it may take you a few months to figure out. But all of the ways on this list are very easy to set up, and most of them are at little or no cost to you.
1. Publish your book on a blog: Post articles from your book, as well as articles on related topics, on your blog. This is a great way to show your audience that you know what you’re talking about. Writing on your blog is also a handy way to create the content that could eventually be included in your book. The best website for blogging is WordPress.
2.Write Guest Posts: This is a very effective way to get your name out there to readers of other blogs. You should only post useful content on other blogs that allow you to include a link to your blog. If they don’t allow it, don’t waste your time with them.
3. Get published in the print media: Do your best to get your articles printed in magazines and newspapers. This will give you a lot of credibility with your audience, and this credibility will eventually help you sell more books. Big media outlets are very difficult to publish, especially for beginners. Start with the smallest industry-specific publications. These small publications always need high-quality content from someone they can trust.
4. Post your profile: Post your profile on blog listing websites. This is a great no cost way to get wide exposure on the internet and more importantly in Google searches. Some good websites to check out are Bloggers and AboutUs.
5. Connect your blog: Some blog listing companies will also link your blog to your profile page on their website. This means that every time you post to your own blog, it will also appear on the blog list website, automatically. A good website to check out is PaperBlog.
6. Create a Google+ account: This is very quickly becoming a very important and popular way to connect with others. It takes a while to figure out how to use all of its features. But because it involves Google, you have to learn how to use it and take advantage of all its features.
7. Use LinkedIn to develop your professional network: This is the best way to show the world what you have achieved. It’s also an amazing way to connect with people from all over the world with similar qualifications and career interests. Some of these people will become part of your book audience as well as a group of people who will be asked to write testimonials and endorsements for your book.
8. Use everything Amazon has to offer: Amazon is just about the most amazing tool to market your book and yourself. It has several tools that are very effective and easy to use. Amazon’s best feature is the author page, where you can add a lot of information about yourself and your posts, as well as add a video. This author page is like having an additional website dedicated to you. Amazon has several other ways to connect with your audience. One such tool is Listmania, where you can help guide readers by listing their favorite books on a particular topic.
9. Merchandising of articles: This is a way to publish your articles (blog posts) on an “article listing website”. On these websites, readers can search their database by typing particular search terms and find articles that contain the appropriate article tags. The best website on the internet for this is EzineArticles.
10. Post videos on YouTube: At a minimum, you must post at least one video about your book. This is your chance to show yourself to your audience, let them see you talk about your book, and see how confident you are about your subject and your book. It just needs to be a short video, two to five minutes long.