Who knows your book better than you? An author can be the best spokesperson for her newly published project and not have to go into debt in the process. Now that you've finished celebrating its debut, it's time to roll up your sleeves and get to work on aggressively promoting it--for free.
Instructions
1. Design a website. Although there's a small monthly expense to host a catchy domain name, there's no shortage of easy to use templates available on the Internet to help you get started. If you are your own webmistress of the website, you also won't have to wait for someone else to add updates and photos for you.
2. Start the buzz through a blog. This can either be a component of your own website or you can become a regular contributor to community forum websites such as Bookspoke, Gather, American Chronicle, or websites that are specific to the subject matter of your book (i.e., travel, cooking, pet care, etc.).
3. Join chat rooms. Participate in discussions related to your subject area without making your content an obvious ploy for advertising. (The rules of some chat rooms specifically prohibit making sales pitches.) Make sure that you always include your website as part of your signature.
4. Get on the speakers' circuit in your community. Clubs, businesses, and schools are always looking for interesting personalities to come and talk at luncheons and meetings. Make a list of topics that relate to the content of your book and build a 20 to 30 minute speech around it. In addition to having copies available for purchase, have order forms on hand for guests who are excited about your book but didn't bring cash or a checkbook to the event.
5. Review other authors' books for Amazon, Barnes and Noble and online websites that offer book reviews. Always "sign" your reviews with "So-and-So, Author of Such-and-Such," and your website.
6. Include your website link on all of the emails you generate. You just never know who is going to be curious and click on it to see what comes up.
7. Make yourself visible on Amazon and establish yourself as an expert by contributing to their "So You Want To" and "Listmania" features. Regularly peruse Amazon's online discussion boards and participate in the conversations that interest you.
8. Write guest columns for online publications in your subject area. Websites are always hungry for fresh content and it's a great way to put--and keep--your name in circulation with their subscribers. The majority are probably not going to pay you but, then again, the amount of free publicity you're getting will be well worth it.
9. Join local writers' groups. It's a fun way to exchange information, talk about new projects and even offer free copies of your book in exchange for reviews.
10. Sign up for the Google Partner Program; it's a wonderful free tool that allows prospective readers to not only discover your book via custom searches but also read excerpts.
11. Let your local newspaper know about your book and query whether they'd like to interview you. The same goes for local radio programs and community access stations.
12. Volunteer to give a short talk or read an excerpt from your book at your local bookstore. If you have written a children's book, find out if the store has a regularly scheduled story hour.
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