When it comes to promoting your eBook, we have good news and bad news. The bad news is that while the internet provides access to a global audience for your work, the electronic publishing sector is difficult to conquer, and it is ultimately a game that produces more losers than winners.
The good news is that when an eBook fails, it is usually not a case of the content itself being poorly written, but rather poorly marketed. As an eBook author, doing a great job marketing is something entirely under your control, and if you’ve been struggling to get exposure, take note of these five tips to turn things around.
1. Gather Reviews
A brief description piques the interest of potential readers, while a full synopsis tells them what your eBook is all about. As an author, you can easily boast about how intriguing and valuable your work is, but those claims have very little substance without feedback from consumers.
To combat this, you must round up reviews. There are a number of websites and services that specialize solely in eBook reviews, so reach out to these channels for some kind words. You can also encourage customers, friends, colleagues, and even family members to submit reviews, as long as they don’t share your last name.
Once you have a nice collection of reviews, publish them on your Website to show how others are speaking positively about your content. The larger the collection of good reviews you have, the better chance others will buy and download your eBook.
2. Publish a Blog
A blog is the ideal vehicle for promoting just about anything, from products to ideas to opinions, and eBooks are no exception. Most blog platforms are designed to attract the attention of search engines, a factor that can deliver far more potential readers.
Blogs also give you a variety of ways to promote your eBook from within. For example, you can tease your audience with juicy excerpts or post reviews. Don’t forget to chronicle your journeys in book publishing and marketing. An interesting back-story can easily sell readers on the finished product.
The key here is publishing quality, relevant eBook-related content on a consistent basis. Fall off track just a bit, and your target audience will forget about your eBook and move on to the next author’s blog.
3. Start an Affiliate Program
Promoting your eBook through an affiliate program is a great way to generate more exposure and sales for your published work. Target your program at content publishers in your niche who can expose your eBook to a brand new audience.
Creating your own service is easy with an advanced shopping cart program, or a trusted third-party service like ClickBank. Since publishing an eBook is a relatively inexpensive endeavor, you can share generous commissions with your affiliates and still see healthy profits.
4. Get Social
More authors are flocking to the social networks to publicize their work. This is for good reason, because Facebook and Twitter are excellent promotional platforms for your work. Chances are, a decent portion of your reading audience is plugged into the social networking space, so it is up to you to find a way to connect and engage with them.
Use an approach that consists of building a following first, rather than one geared to driving instant sales. Social networking can be a great marketing tool, but your audience will quickly tune you out if you lay it on too thick with the promotional tactics. Don’t be a used car salesman – build reader interest over time and they’ll be more likely to download your eBook.
5. Promote Yourself
The most effective way to publicize your eBook is promote yourself as the author of the title. So how do you promote yourself? There are many ways, but they all require being proactive and taking initiative.
Start by making a few guest appearances on related blogs, and then move on to submitting quality articles to ezines and directories. Next, chime in with advice on popular Q&A sites, but be sure to include a link back to where your eBook can be purchased or downloaded.
The market for eBooks is not only thriving, it’s exploding. Electronic publishing has taken the power out of the hands of traditional publishers, and many authors are having more success with the electronic format than they could have ever imagined with traditional print.
Thanks to this great shift in power, you can promote yourself, promote your work, and make some nice cash for all of your efforts.
Contel Bradford is the author of several eBooks, and is a frequent contributor to a blog run by Benchmark Email, one of the world’s global email marketing solutions.