Promoting Self-Published Books

I don't know about other authors, but promoting my books is not one of my favorite activities. I was very naive when I published my first brick and mortar book - the publishing company was very easy to work with, but it came as a complete surprise to me that I had to do the promotional work along with my pubisher! What the heck? 

I self-publish now, so I know that I have to do the promotional work myself (or hire a company/individual to do it for me). I don't have a lot of money to devote to this, so I do the promotions myself. They really aren't doing all that well. I know more about what I don't want to do than what I do want to do. Number one on my "Don't want to do this" list is blog hopping, or being featured on someone else's blog. 

My biggest quibble about posting on another author's blog is the time involved - you need to vet the blog, see what he style of writing is, who their audience is, and write for them. You will need to interact - i.e. respond to any comments left on your article. There are pro's to working with other authors and their blogs, though, including placing your book as part of a "swag" pack, allowing other authors to gift their followers with ARC's (Advanced Reader Copies) of your book, participating in a joint give-away, enhancing your reputation through association with another well known author, and gaining access to a larger audience for your work.

Next week I am going to talk about author interviews, and why they are important.

(c) May 2018 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited iwthout written permission of he author.