Sites that offer online book promotion are part of your overall book marketing plan
I want to share actual, tangible ideas for marketing your book with my Get Your Book Seen and Sold Substack audience. I have written a lot about the traditional marketing starting points, the basics and the fundamentals that once completed will be used again and again: identifying your audience, your message, your hook, then preparing your media kit items, and finally pitching to media contacts. Those tasks are crucial for successful book marketing. Within that framework there are opportunities to promote your book through companies that offer book promotion.
The online sites that I will mention here offer several different services or “products” that an author can purchase to promote his/her book. Gosh, guys, there are a lot of sites that offer such services and products out there. I could never research them all, but when I come across a site that I DO research and think their services are worthwhile, I am going to share it with you. No guarantees, though. Use the services (buy the products) at your own risk. Agreed?
There is time and money involved here and most authors have a limited amount of both.
As a reminder, in the larger book marketing sense, deciding to invest in a “book promotion opportunity” is part of the overall “marketing plan” for your book. Promotion is as much a part of your book marketing plan as reaching out to media contacts with a pitch. Right now, though, let’s get back to book promotion opportunities and some sites that offer them.
Book Promotion Sites Explained: Two Sides and as a Business Model
Some of the sites that offer book promotion products have two sides to them. There is the side that serves a reader. The site is a community where readers can find books, interact with authors, and interact with other readers. And then there is the side that offers book promotion products for sale to authors (and publishers) who would like to take advantage of the fabulous database of readers that the site has assembled. What’s more, if you are a published author (you actually have an existing book for sale) you can become part of the site as (1) an author with a profile page (2) as a reader/buyer. This concept of “two sides to the site” will make more sense once you begin to use the site and perhaps take advantage of one of the site’s book promotion offerings.
The easiest example I could probably give you for this type of site is Amazon. We all know that Amazon is a place where we can buy books. Amazon is also a place where as an author you can create an author page with information about yourself and link to the books that you have written. Amazon is also a place where you can purchase different types of ads - an example of a promotion service that Amazon offers for a fee to authors.
If you think about the business model of such an organization, it makes perfect sense. The organization collects an amazing database of readers (or book buyers) and offers that amazing database to authors and publishers who want to reach that database and secure a book sale.
The readers get what they want in terms of the latest book releases, information about their favorite authors, specials, etc. and the authors (and publishers) have a ready-made customer base for the books they are trying to sell. It is a win-win.
The trick for the authors (and publishers) who choose to invest in the promotion services through the site is to pick the best ads, promotions, and special deals, for the money. Further, the sites are always coming out with new, exciting promotion ideas for authors with new ways to connect a book with a buyer. It can be overwhelming to navigate the sites and decide where you will participate (purchase) but the creativity in promotional services offered is exciting, too. My advice is to take one step at a time and focus on one site at a time.
Another popular company that has this two-sided feature is BookBub. I’ve researched BookBub and I’ve participated in the site as an author AND purchased products to promote my latest, Get Your Book Seen And Sold. I’ve been very happy with the results. You can find my deep dives on BookBub here and here.
Remember, It’s All A Part Of Your Overall Book Marketing Plan
As you determine your marketing plan, the simple knowledge that these resources exist for you to invest to promote your book is important information for you. As well, these promotion services are available to you whether you are a self-publisher or if you plan to work with a traditional publisher on your marketing campaign.
In addition to the sites that have this two-sided aspect to them, there are also online companies that are “one-sided” and specifically offer services to promote your books. I’ll be sharing a post/podcast on some of those sites and their possible place in your book marketing plan soon. As of this writing, some of those sites include:
Written Word Media - Bargain Booksy, Free Booksy, Amazon Ads help, Facebook Ad Help, etc
For a curated list of book promotion sites, written word media has put together a nice list.
Also, my buddy, Dave Chesson, The Kindlepreneur, has created a nice list, too, with his commentary.
Finally, the fabulous folks at Reedsy have also curated a list of book promotion sites with a rating and explanation for each.
The Kindlepreneur and Reedsy have done great work here. I encourage you to take advantage of it to cut through some of the noise and narrow your choices.
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