I am always honored to be asked by my good friends over at Book Marketing Tools. It is the best place to be if you are an author. They have many tools to help self-published authors learn to book promote and advertise with them as well. So I was invited to write and share MY opinion on the best places for a “New Indie Author” to learn How and Where to promote their books throughout social media. Here we go!! *Author, Catherine Townsend-Lyon* :-)
( Courtesy of Book Marketing Tools )
How and Where to Promote Your New Book
Authors, you just published your first book. Congratulations!
Now your publisher tells you they only will send out a press release announcing your new book and that’s it for book promoting.
So, now what? How and Where do you promote your book?
You could hire a book promoter like me but you have no money left after paying for publishing costs.
I am here to help you learn.
Where and How to Promote
Many authors can’t afford to pay big bucks for mainstream media advertising. And quite frankly, my book promotions business is booming all through social media! Promoting throughout social media sells books, and you receive book reviews in return. Social media has changed the landscape of promoting one’s book through places like Facebook and Twitter as they have enhanced their services for authors to promote books with cost effective ad’s. Here are my social media picks I use to promote my author client’s books with impressive results.
Goodreads
Goodreads is known for bringing authors and readers together to benefit them both! Readers can find good books, follow their favorite artists, even ask authors questions in real time! The Goodreads Author Program is a completely free feature designed to help authors reach their target audience — passionate readers. This is the perfect place for new and established authors to promote their books. Authors get a host of tools to use for promoting your books, do giveaways or promos, and you get a free blog too on Goodreads Author Program.
Here are some of the benefits that come with being in ‘The Goodreads Author Program’:
- Add a picture and bio. Share your list of favorite books and recent reads with your fans! Write a blog and generate a band of followers.
- Publicize upcoming events, such as book signings and speaking engagements. Share book excerpts and other writing.
- Write a quiz about your book or a related topic. Post videos.
- Add the Goodreads Author widget to your personal website or blog to show off reviews of your books.
Here are some of the promotional tools available on Goodreads for Authors:
- Sign up to advertise your book to the Goodreads Community—50 million readers! List a book giveaway to generate pre-launch buzz.
- Participate in discussions on your profile, in groups, and in the book group forums for your books.
So all you do is go join free and follow the instructions for ‘The Goodreads Author Program.’ You can add friends and readers by using your Facebook account or even your Email list. So make sure you explore thoroughly.
My next pick is Twitter. I love Twitter for book promoting. It can be a challenge as they only give you 140 characters to work with, so you have to be more creative and learn quickly on how to abbreviate. For book promoting or promoting your brand as an author, Twitter has come a long way! You can share your books, and the book covers with a tweet by using your Amazon or Barnes and Noble links to post and share. Twitter has enhanced their services to help you reach more readers. Start by opening a free account, then build a following by interacting and engaging with readers.
They follow you, and you follow back. Look for book and reader groups and book clubs, other authors and writers as they will be helpful by retweeting what you post. Your followers will retweet what you share about your book, and you get the benefit of reaching ALL their followers. “Word of mouth” promoting by one little retweet.
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Here are some new tools Twitter has rolled out to help get your new book in front of readers. Yes, some cost money, but you can set a low budget limit to try it out to see if you get good results.
How Twitter Ads Work:
Choose your target audience:
Reach the right audience by targeting based on interests, geography, gender, device, or users similar to your followers. Also, maximize the relevancy of your message by targeting by keywords in people’s Tweets.
Amplify your message and get discovered:
Get your Tweets and your account in front of more people who are interested in you.
Set a budget and pay for what works:
Only pay when users follow your account or retweet, like, reply, or click on your Promoted Tweet. You’re in complete control. There’s no minimum spend, and you can start and stop at any time. So open a free Twitter account to started. Then visit their Twitter Ads advertising to see what works best for your book promotion budget.
Facebook for Book Promoting
My last pick on social media is Facebook. Again, I read my several email newsletters from Professional PR firms, and they all say that having a social media presence is a crucial to all authors in promoting their books. I have been promoting my books since 2012, and I am a firm believer that social media is where your readers are. But engagement and interaction are what makes the “magic” happen between readers and authors. And that is how you sell books and gain book reviews.
Facebook is another fantastic place to promote your books, authors. Here you are not limited to how you can post all about your new book. I like being creative when sharing my client’s books on Facebook. I produce fun book cover photos to share; I can share book reviews of their books right from Amazon or Barnes & Noble and so much more. And just like Twitter? Facebook has rolled out some new advertising tools authors can use to help promote your book or brand as an author. And yes, you can join Facebook for free. Here are things you can do to enhance your book promoting through Facebook.
Create an Author page separate from your home Facebook page here: Facebook Advertising
Creating a separate ‘like page’ for yourself as an author allows you to use that space to promoting your book. You can schedule events—giveaways, book tours, book trailers and release dates—connect to your readers in a professional space, and use the page to link to your website or blog. If you gain enough “likes,” you can also use Facebooks ads.
Facebook Ads:
Facebook has a whole host of new advertising methods to help you promote your books or brand. You can visit Facebook Ad Products for Business to explore all your paid or free options of advertising through Facebook. And like Twitter, they have a “pay as you go” option to see if you get results before spending a lot of money for ads. They even have tips on how to write your ads and proper images to go along with them. So join today and get started.
If you need more helpful advice, tips, and some good listing book sites to share your book through just like here on “Book Marketing Tools,” then come to Lyon Book & Social Media Promotions tips and advice page today. I got authors covered!
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Catherine is a best-selling TKG author of “Addicted to Dimes”, available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. She is a freelance recovery writer/columnist for “In Recovery Magazine, and “Keys to Recovery newspaper,” and an ‘Expert blogger of Gambling Addiction Recovery on Addictionland’ recovery.
Another passion is her Book Promotions business called, “Lyon Book and Social Media Promotions.” Catherine has fast become well known in many addictions and recovery communities and book promotion & reader communities. She has a large following on social media. You connect with Catherine onTwitter, Facebook, and Goodreads. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her husband and 3 cats.
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