Self-publishing your novel is free. Everything that goes along with it—editing, proofreading, cover design, advertising—is not.

You don’t have to spend a fortune to market your book, though.

Here’s some tried and tested ways to market your book that won’t break the bank.

Marketing your book is important. Here's some simple, effective, and affordable ways to do it.

Facebook

I would always recommend having a Facebook page, but unless you have the patience to learn the nuances of the Facebook algorithm, I wouldn’t recommend putting too much time and effort into it.

The Facebook algorithm is complicated, and it frequently kills things I post related to my mailing list, or purchasing What Happens in New York.

There are certain keywords that it doesn’t like, and unfortunately, there’s no comprehensive list of what they are.

Twitter

Twitter is good for authors.

I get a lot of hits to the blog from Twitter, and I’ve never come across an indie author that doesn’t use Twitter.

It’s a great way to interact with your followers and promote your work.

The short word limit can also help to show off just how witty you really are, like Brian Rathbone.

How do you market your book?

Instagram

If you love taking photos, Instagram is definitely for you.

Instagram is very much about quality over quantity, and using the right hashtags to reach people.

It’s acceptable on Instagram to get hashtag happy, so you don’t need to be as self-conscious about overusing compared to Facebook and Twitter.

However, if photography isn’t your thing, I’d proceed with caution.

With the sheer volume of photos that are posted every day, poor quality photos won’t help you to stand out.

Print media

An effective and affordable way to market your book is through print media.

Local media love stories of residents’ successes and achievements. Publishing a book is a great achievement! So why aren’t you promoting it?

Even if you’re publishing under a pen name, and don’t want to be identified, there’s nothing to stop you sending out a press release to attract some attention to the book.

Make it clear that it’s a pseudonym and you don’t want to be identified, but would be available for interview.

Offer discounts

People love discounts.

I know you don’t want to offer your baby for a lower price, but sometimes you have to.

Sometimes selling something for a lesser price actually makes more money, because it attracts more people in the first place.

Don’t price yourself out of the market because you feel your work is worth more than someone else’s—your work is only worth what a customer is willing to pay for it.

The more experience you have, and the more respected you are, the more customers will pay.

Reach out to reviewers

Have you considered submitting your book to reviewers?

Reviews have a lot of power.

People often read reviews before purchasing—particularly on Amazon—so the more positive reviews you have, the better your book is likely to perform.

You probably won’t hear back from the majority of reviewers that you reach out to, but it only takes one or two reviewers with a big following to get the attention of your book’s audience.

Then some of them will leave reviews on Amazon and recommend the book to their friends, and their friends will leave reviews and recommend, and the cycle continues…

Network

Networking isn’t easy for introverts, but it does make a difference.

All it takes is one person with thousands of followers on social media, or a loyal readership, to promote your book for you, and your conversions will increase.

Finding the right people to help with this isn’t easy, but doing so can be life-changing.

Don’t be afraid to reach out to influencers in your industry—you never know until you ask.

[bctt tweet=”Don’t be afraid to reach out to influencers in your industry – you never know until you ask.” username=”KristinaAuthor”]

If you live in the middle of nowhere, the internet is a great networking tool. Just about everyone has at least one method of contact these days. The bigger their influence, the more likely they are to have several. Interact with them online, and reach out to them once you’ve established a relationship. You’ll get a much warmer response if they recognise your name than if you email them cold.

Enlist friends

Friends are there to support you. They want you to do well. So why wouldn’t they help out by promoting your book?

Guest post

Out of everything listed above, I would say this is the single most important thing that you can do.

Depending on whom you guest post for, you could reach hundreds, maybe even thousands, of potential readers!

When choosing publications to guest post for, make sure that there’s an overlap in your audience.

Despite what you may think, this isn’t a conflict of interest.

If someone likes reading paranormal romances, they’re just as likely to buy your book as they are a paranormal romance by another writer!

I started guest posting the end of last year, and in just a couple of guest posts, I managed to double preorders of Productivity for Writers. It really is one of the best ways to market your book.

Over to You

What have you found to be the most effective ways to market your book?

Share your suggestions in the comments below and let’s help fellow writers increase their audience too 🙂