A friend of mine, Lisa Sicard from “Inspire to Thrive” blog has published her first eBook on Amazon, titled “Learn to Tweet“. Lisa has asked me to help her on promoting her eBook and since it is a very good and concise book, I decided to do a little research and post the 6 best ways to promote an eBook.
Disclaimer: This blog does not promote or review eBooks.
And away we go:
Your own website
You should really start promoting the book on your own website. Even if you are selling your eBook on a platform such as Amazon or Barnes & Noble, you should have a dedicated page on your website for the eBook. That way, your readers will get to know about your book, and your book can appear in search engine results, so that even people that are not aware of your eBook, become aware of it.
Giveaway a part of the book
You can also give away an excerpt of the book on your website so that the potential readers can read and decide whether they will buy your book. Amazon has this covered for you with the concept of the “Sample”, a chapter or chapters (most frequently the introductory chapters) delivered to the reader’s device for free. If the reader decides to continue, he can buy the whole book with the click of a button and have it downloaded on their device in a few minutes.
Mailing list
You can use your mailing list to promote your book. Through the mailing list, you can build awareness and suspense to your audience for the upcoming eBook. One great method I’ve seen recently is to have free excerpts of your eBook sent to your mailing list – this works especially with novels, but can also work with non-fiction books.
The 6 best ways to promote an eBookClick To Tweet
Free on Amazon
A common practice amongst Amazon eBook writers is to offer their eBook free on the platform for a limited amount of time and then contact specific sites that list all the free and discounted eBooks for the day. These sites have a mailing list of tens of thousands of subscribers and offer the opportunity for many readers and reviews on Amazon. I, as a reader, have used this method and have read and reviewed dozens of eBooks. You can find some sites and lists here.
Get reviewed by expert bloggers
Another great way to promote the eBook is to be reviewed by specialist bloggers. Most of them have a lot of Facebook fans and Twitter followers, and a lot of them post a lot of posts weekly, so this might give you access to your audience without spending a fortune. Many of them specialize on specific platforms such as Amazon’s Kindle. You can find the top 100 Book Review Blogs in this post.
This Kindlepreneur post features many blogs and websites that promote eBooks for free as well as for a fee. It also features tips on eBook promotion as well as an insight on how these sites work.
Twitter accounts
There are a lot of Twitter accounts with many followers which specialize in promoting eBooks. Many will review the eBooks, others will simply retweet your eBook details. Again, this is a great way to connect with your audience, and some of these accounts have thousands of followers. Some of these accounts are:
- PromoteYourKindle (@BestKindlePromo)
- #Kindle #Amazon (@PromoMyBook)
- Readers & Authors (@EBookPromoTeam)
- Free Daily eBooks(@freedailybooks)
You can find some more by searching Twitter
The 6 best ways to promote an eBookClick To Tweet
Over to you
Promoting an eBook and making sure that it reaches the right audience is not easy, given the plethora of eBooks in the market. But I hope I managed to declutter your mind and guide you on how to start exploring the options for promoting your eBook. Try them, and send me your comments, questions or suggestions in the comment section below.
I hope you have a great time promoting the eBook
Hello,
Awesome guide on how to promote your e-book. Many people get hung up on this process. I have a couple buddies that wrote e-books.
I have passed this article onto them to read as well. I love your website and keep up the good work! I will be a returning reader.
Thanks,
Shawn
Thank you Shawn
I have some friends as well, so I thought it would be an article that would help many people.
Glad you liked it.
Hi Marios, thanks for answering my questions 🙂 I didn’t know about those folks on Twitter, I’ll be checking them out there.
I also want to do that Amazon flash sale for 1 day – I have to figure out which day will be good that I can really promote it too.
It takes a lot to write an eBook and then you need the energy to go out and promote it.
Thank you Marios.
Hey Lisa,
I’m glad you found the whole post useful.
Regarding to the Flash Sale – Kindle Deals, you can check out Kindle book Deals guide for more info. I hope this helps too.
If you come up with an answer or any other method, please let me know.
Hi there, Thank you for the post on promoting your Ebooks. I have just finished writing my first ever, and apart from promoting it on my own website, I basically did not have a clue what else I could do with it!
I have a question. Once your EBook is written should you copyright it in some way, and if so is there a free and easy way to do so?
Hi, Tracy
The short answer is that is depends what you want the eBook for. If it is an eBook you are going to distribute for free, you could skip registering it. If you are planning to sell it, then you should register it.
If you live in the US, you can do it through the Internet or e-mail. Check the copyright’s office for more details. The fees area bout $35-200. The fees depend on you taking advantage of any copyright searches or other services.
Thanks for the comment. Hope I’ve helped 🙂
First I’d like to thank you for mentioning having your own website. You have no idea how I fight with MLMers and Ebook authors on Kindle about having control of their content and following by having their own website.
Second I’d like to mention promoting and professional ebook promotion sites such as http://www.ListYourEbooks.com and other sites which offer the tools you need to promote. Most of these free promotions sites have authors promoting to other authors and don’t really help with SEO or sales.
Hi, Rick!
Thanks for posting. I believe that having a web page is a sine qua non for anyone who does business online. Potential users/readers/customers can find you and communicate with you. And above all, as you mentioned, you have full control over your content and your site.
Thank you also for posting your website, for current and potential eBook authors. I agree that eBook promotion sites are very helpful for authors.
I hope we can connect and have a good co-operation.
Hello,
That is a goal of mine is to write an ebook and publish it. One of my concerns is how to market my ebook?
You mention Expert Bloggers, how would I go about getting expert bloggers to review my ebook?
How much do they roughly charge for a review?
Thanks for your help.
Ann
Hi, Ann!
Great to hear that you want to publish your own ebook. The reason I started this blog is helping a friend publish her own…
Many sites do feature your book for free, and if you connect with the right people, you might get a review for free, or in exchange for promoting their work. Check also the other post on What Not Do When Publishing An eBook by a good friend of mine, Lisa Sicard, who has already published her first book. She gives practical advice on how to publish and promote an ebook
Good luck on publishing and promoting the ebook!
Marios
I think this list would be useful for others too, not just those wanting to get their ebooks out there 🙂 I’ve been looking to get some other products out there and this was good information for me as well.
If I ever do release an ebook this is definitely where I’ll come for the next steps! Thanks for posting this.
Hi there!
You can also check the post on what not to do when publishing an ebook, by a good friend of mine. It is much more detailed and may give you many details and insights
Thanks for stopping by!
Marios
First I’d like to thank you for mentioning having your own website. You have no idea how I fight with MLMers and Ebook authors on Kindle about having control of their content and following by having their own website.
Hi Samanta,
Indeed. The website (and the email list) is needed for anyone who creates content and has subscribers. For one very important reason. You are the owner of your content and your mailing list. There have been many cases where Facebook or Instagram or other platforms decide to delete an account or a group, and then, all the hard work is… gone!
Thanks for stoping by!
Marios