One of the biggest challenges of being an indie author who self-publishes is that the responsibility for getting the word out about your ebook falls to you. Marketing your ebook as an indie author, many authors would argue, is harder than writing the book itself. There are a variety of marketing strategies, services, and tools that can make it easier.
Indie Marketing Starts on Your Own Website
Not only is your own website one of the best places to sell your ebook, but it’s also one of the best places to market it. How do you market your ebook on your own website? There are a variety of ways to add more exposure for your ebook. Your landing page should feature your current and upcoming titles, you should have a page on your website about your ebooks, and you should blog regularly. In each blog, no matter what you’re talking about, you should include a call to action to purchase your ebooks.
Social Media Is eBook Sales Gold
Having a presence on social media is essential, and while it may feel strange doing it, marketing your ebook as an indie author on your social media platforms is an essential piece of your marketing puzzle. The good news? It works, especially if you connect with other indie authors. Indie authors are really great about supporting each other and amplifying each other’s posts to reach a wider network of readers. We recommend Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Twitter eBook Marketing
Create a username that you can use with all of your ebooks, preferably your author name. Complete your profile, including a link to your website. Add imagery for the header and be sure to upload a profile picture. And Tweet! A single tweet is only visible for about 5 seconds in the feed, so be sure to add hashtags relevant to your ebook (genre, themes, etc.). Tweet often, but don’t ONLY tweet about your ebook. Be real. Talk about writing, challenges with writing, retweet other authors, follow and connect with other authors, and share bits of your life that you’re willing to share.
Facebook eBook Marketing
Because Facebook allows for longer posts and multiple images as well as video, it’s a great platform for bigger promotional efforts. While it can take time to grow your author page, you can speed the process by connecting with other authors and joining Facebook groups. There are a number of groups on Facebook where you can do quite a bit of networking and marketing for your ebooks. Some groups even help you grow your following on social media platforms by letting you list your links to connect. You can also find reviewers and people to help you market your ebook in Facebook groups.
Instagram eBook Marketing
Instagram is a space where your story must be told visually. It’s an opportunity to really focus on sharing your cover, imagery relating to your ebook, and pullout quotes designed to entice the reader. A smart recommendation is to always post in threes so that the posts can be more cohesively designed for a better profile view. You can’t go wrong with hashtags on Instagram, either. Use them liberally.
Should I Pay for Ads on Social Media?
Paying for ads on social media can be useful, but you need to decide if it’s the best way to spend your marketing money. For example, you could spend $50 to boost a post on your Facebook page, but you only have a few followers and you’re not truly sure who your readers are or how to target them, it may be money thrown away. On the other hand, you could spend that same $50 with a service that promotes ebooks in your genre and reach a larger audience with more propensity to purchase the books.
Effective Options for Indie Author eBook Marketing
There are a number of other ways you can market your ebook that can be highly effective. It does take time. Some authors invest in a personal assistant to handle some of the marketing, but if you are doing it on your own, plan to spend about an hour a day or 3-5 hours a week on marketing – at the minimum. Your ebook marketing can and should begin before the ebook is published. Consider hosting a cover reveal event and a launch party to build enthusiasm.
Press Releases for eBook Marketing
Press releases can be an effective tool for announcing your ebook launch. You don’t have to spend a lot of money publishing a press release; you can use a free distribution source like prlog.org. It simply provides yet another avenue for reaching readers as well as another mention of your name and the title of your book.
Promotional Services for eBook Marketing
There are a number of promotional services that work with indie authors to promote your ebooks. While some are exclusively for Kindle releases, others work with all indie authors and provide a variety of services. We recommend:
AuthorShout.com
While Author Shout does promote Kindle books, they have several promotional opportunities for non-Kindle books as well starting at $25. Visit: https://authorshout.com/promotion-packages/
Author Marketing Club
Author Marketing Club has both a free and a premium version with a variety of tools for marketing your ebooks available. Visit https://authormarketingclub.com/members/author-services/ to learn more.
Bookbub
Bookbub is one of the more expensive investments in marketing you can make, but if you get accepted into their promotion it can easily be the best ROI for your investment. To determine if Bookbub is right for you, visit https://partners.bookbub.com/new_release_promotions/about.
Other Ways to Market Your eBook as an Indie Author
The key is regular visibility, no matter what you’re doing to market your ebook. Take advantage of opportunities to participate in group promotions with other authors, do interviews and podcasts, update your blog regularly, participate in online chats, and more.
EditionGuard’s Learn Library has a vast selection of resources to help you write, edit, format, and market your ebook. We also help you sell more ebooks on your own website, where you control the price and keep all the profits. Learn more.
