Congratulations on publishing your book! This is a huge accomplishment and I’m sure you’re both proud and excited. I would be!
Now onto the next step: promoting your book for long-term success.
If you’re thinking about how expensive this is going to be, don’t worry. There are numerous ways you can promote your book for free. In this post, I’ll share a list of free author promotion resources I’ve gathered to help my clients.
Book promotion is all about using different strategies to get your book out there, attract readers, and sell more copies. It’s about finding ways to connect with your audience, pique their interest, and make them want to read your book. Authors and publishers know how important marketing is for several reasons:
- Increased Visibility: Promoting your book helps it get noticed by a larger audience, potentially leading to more readers and fans.
- Increased Sales: Effective promotion makes people more aware of and interested in your book, therefore increasing sales.
- Building Author Brand: Promoting your book improves your personal brand as an author, establishing credibility and recognition in the literary world.
- Engagement with Readers: Promotional events allow you to connect with your readers, build relationships, and receive feedback, all of which create a loyal fan base.
- Opportunities for Growth: Successful book promotion can open doors to speaking engagements, collaborations, and other opportunities that can further your writing career.
- Long-Term Success: Your book doesn’t go away after the initial launch—it’s there forever. Building a strong promotional foundation can contribute to the long-term success of your book, enabling it to remain relevant and continue generating interest over time.
What are Free Author Promotion Resources?
Free author promotion resources refer to tools, platforms, and strategies available at no cost that you, as an author, can use to increase the visibility and promotion of your book. Things like social media channels, emails, and more.
These free tools offer a cost-effective way to reach a wider audience, attract readers, and promote your book successfully. By using these tools and platforms, you can increase your online presence, engage with your target audience, and eventually boost book sales and recognition.
Related: 20 Free Self-Publishing Tools for New Authors
Top Free Author Promotion Platforms
Social Media
Social media is a great tool for authors because you can keep in touch with readers, fans, and possibly publishing houses. There are a lot of different platforms out there, but the top five that are best for authors are:
- TikTok
- Goodreads
Figure out which social media platforms your target readers are most active on. That way, you can connect with them and build a relationship. Eventually, they will start sharing your post, giving you more exposure.
Maintaining a consistent author brand across all your social media platforms is a must. You should be using the same profile picture, bio, and color scheme.
Share a mix of content, such as updates about your book, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and quotes. Images are great, too, because they allow followers and fans a peek inside your world. Don’t just share content, though. Use storytelling techniques because this allows you to connect with your readers on a personal level.
Be sure to interact and engage with your readers, too. Respond to their comments and messages and engage in conversations, polls, and contests to encourage interaction. This builds trust with your followers and allows them to see that you’re just as human as they are.
Schedule posts using social media management tools like Buffer or Hootsuite to make it easier to post across multiple platforms. You can also monitor your social media analytics to see what content resonates with your readers most so you can adjust your strategy based on insights to optimize engagement and reach.
Another great way to use social media to your advantage is to collaborate with other authors, influencers, or book-related accounts for cross-promotion. Participate in guest posts or combined giveaways to reach new audiences. For a more in-depth guide to social media for writers, check out Dave Chesson’s article.
Book Promotion Websites
Book promotion websites allow you to promote your book to an email list and/or social media channels. There are some paid sites out there, but I’m only listing the free ones here.
- All Author: With the free plan you can start your book promotion with a basic author page, get listed on the author directory, and add up to four books. They include a tweet scheduler so you can schedule your tweets in advance.
- Free Book Tips: You can submit your book to this site as long as your book is listed on Amazon and has three reviews with a rating of 3.5 stars or above, has a professional cover, has at least 100 pages, and doesn’t contain offensive material.
- Indie Author News: Fill out the form and they’ll send you more information on how they’ll support your book. There’s a possibility you can become “author of the day” and gain more exposure.
- Inkitt: Upload your book and receive valuable feedback from readers. If readers like it, Inkitt may offer you a publishing deal with Galatea, “the world’s fastest-growing reading app.”
- Substack: Known for its newsletter publishing service, Substack allows you to create a newsletter that readers can subscribe to so you can share updates about your book and exclusive content for subscribers. It also functions as a blog space.
Email Marketing Campaigns
I’m sure you’ve heard it before plenty of times, but I’m going to say it again because it’s that important—building an email list is the best way to promote your book. It allows you to communicate directly with your audience and can be personalized specifically to them.
If you have an author website, you should have a form for readers to sign up to receive updates, exclusive content, and newsletters. You can offer incentives and exclusive content (author insights, a free chapter, discounts on upcoming releases, etc.) which can entice readers to subscribe.
Another great way to invite readers to subscribe to your newsletter is to run book giveaways or contests. You can promote the giveaway on social media and ask people to share.
Here are some tips for writing engaging emails:
- Personalize the content by using the subscriber’s name.
- Use attention-grabbing subject lines that make readers want to open your email. Include personalized elements, urgency, or curiosity to increase open rates.
- Provide valuable content such as author updates, writing tips, book recommendations, or exclusive sneak peeks. Your email should entertain, educate, or add value to the reader’s experience.
- Include visually appealing photos such as book covers and graphics to capture attention. Balancing text with images makes emails aesthetically pleasing.
- Guide readers on the action you want them to take, such as visiting your website, participating in a promotion, or buying your book.
- Encourage subscribers to provide feedback or respond to your emails.
Free Tools for Creating Promotional Content
Creating promotional content that’s both visually appealing and engaging is also important. Photos capture attention, spark curiosity, and can create a memorable experience. Try to create photos that stir up emotions and feelings or photos that tell a story. Visual content is more easily remembered and retained by the human brain compared to text alone.
Here are some free tools you can use to create visually appealing promotional content:
- Canva: Canva can be used to design book covers, promotional graphics, social media graphics, and marketing materials. It’s easy to use and there are even templates to give you ideas.
- Unsplash: You can find a wide variety of high-quality, royalty-free images on Unsplash.
- Pexels Video: Offers a collection of free stock videos that can be used for marketing campaigns, social media posts, website headers, and more.
- Mailchimp: A popular email marketing platform that provides templates for creating professional-looking newsletters, email campaigns, and promotions.
- Buffer: Schedule your social media posts ahead of time so you spend less time on social media and more time on writing.
- Freepik: Freepik offers thousands of free pictures, videos, vectors, and PSD files. They’ve recently added a suite of AI tools which includes a video background generator.
Examples of Visuals, Graphics, and Videos to Enhance Promotion Efforts
- Book Covers: Show off your book cover on social media, in your email newsletter, or anywhere you wish to attract readers.
- Quote Graphics: Create graphics that include quotes from your book and share them on social media to spark curiosity.
- Infographics: Design infographics to share book insights, book-related statistics, and character backgrounds.
- Book Trailers: Book trailers are becoming more popular on social media these days. They offer a glimpse into your book’s storyline and characters. Share them on social media and your website to get readers excited about reading your book.
Collaborations and Networking
Collaborating with other authors is a great way to expand your reach, connect with new readers, and boost your book promotion efforts. It’s also one of the most fun free author promotion resources because when you’re connecting with others, it doesn’t feel like a job or a chore.
Here are some ways to collaborate and network with others:
- Combined book promotions: Cross-promoting each other’s books helps reach a wider audience and gain new readers. You can partner with other authors to run combined promotions, book giveaways, or virtual book tours.
- Guest blogging and interviews: Guest blogging allows you to reach new readers and show off your book. Interviews let readers see you as an actual person that they can relate to. Offer to write guest blog posts for other authors, book promotors, or book reviewers.
- Co-authoring projects: Collaborating with another author on a co-authoring project can introduce both you and the other author to each other’s fan bases, therefore widening both of your audiences. Consider working on a short story collection, anthology, or a collaborative novel together.
- Social media takeovers: Swap social media accounts with other authors for a day to connect with each other’s followers. This is a fun way to promote your book because you can share behind-the-scenes content and interactive posts. Allow followers to ask you questions through a live Q&A session for an even more fun and engaging experience.
- Virtual events: Most of your readers probably don’t live close enough to you to attend a local event. Consider hosting a virtual event with other authors where you can share insights, tips, and experiences. You can also host webinars or writing workshops to help other authors in their writing journey.
- Cross-promotion or newsletters: Cross-promoting on newsletters can expose your books to subscribers who may be interested in similar genres or authors.
How to Build a Network to Expand Reach and Increase Book Sales
Building a strong network is important for expanding your reach. If you want to connect with readers and boost your book sales, then you need to network.
Here are some strategies to build a network as an author:
Attend Literary Events
Networking at events provides opportunities to build connections, gain visibility, and discover potential collaboration partners. Participate in book fairs, literary festivals, author panels, and writing conferences to network with industry professionals, other authors, and book enthusiasts.
Join Writing Groups and Communities
Building relationships within writing circles can lead to support, advice, and potential networking opportunities. Join local or online writing groups, author communities, and online forums to interact with like-minded writers. You can also share insights and receive feedback on your work.
Be Present on Social Media
Maintaining a social media account (or two) allows you to connect with readers, authors, and industry influencers. You can share updates about your writing, engage with followers, and participate in conversations to grow your online network. The key is to be consistent!
Collaborate with Bookstores and Libraries
Partnering with local bookstores and libraries to host author events, signings, or reading sessions is another great way to promote your book and attract new readers. This also creates opportunities for book sales.
Reach out to Book Reviewers and Bloggers
Do some research and find book reviewers, bloggers, and bookstagrammers in your genre. Reach out to them to request interviews, features, or collaborations.
Conclusion
Book promotion is a very important part of your journey as an author. It involves various strategies to engage readers, boost visibility, and drive book sales. Leveraging free author promotion resources like social media, email marketing, and visual content creation can increase your promotional reach considerably. Collaborating with other authors, networking within the literary community, and using social media, book promotion sites, and email newsletters offer opportunities for expanding audience engagement. Networking also builds long-term success in today’s competitive book market.
Among the top free author promotion resources, social media stands out as the most valuable tool. You can interact with readers, promote your book, and connect with industry professionals and influencers all at no cost. Social media allows you to build relationships easily because people can see you’re a human they can relate to.
Question
What one of these free author promotion resources will you be using or are already using? If you’re already using some of these, which one has boosted your book sales the most?
