Marketing yourself and your work as an author can be exhausting and expensive. It might feel like you have to spend tons of money to get any kind of results out of it. However, this doesn’t have to be the case.
There are several things that you can do to kickstart your marketing base and start bringing in new readers while hanging onto those old ones. Here are some that I have personally used that have been easy and helpful for me!
Create Author Website
Author websites don’t have to be anything fancy, but you need to have something that can catch all your information. It can be a WordPress site, which I am partial to, a Wix site, or even a
It doesn’t have to be a lot, but it needs to have: your author bio and photo; contact information; covers, summaries, and buy links for your books; and links to your public social media.
If you want to see mine, which is built through wordpress.org, visit me at ceilliesimkiss.com.
Create Social Media Pages
Social media can be difficult as an author because there is just so much of it. The key to creating a social media presence as an author is defining which Platforms you actually enjoyed working on – Whether that’s Facebook, twitter,
Tumblr all of the available social media sites will actually probably Tumblr your writing in the long term. Social media is helpful for marketing, but it’s also a huge distraction. Pick the ones that you actually like spending time on. For me, that’s Twitter and Facebook.
Claim Internet Presence
Bookbub
If you aren’t signed up for the Bookbub mailing lists, you are missing out. They are one of the best lists out there for free and discounted books In the genres that you enjoy. Their listings can be a little expensive, but they offer profiles for free. As long as your books are for sale on any of the many retailers in any e-format, You can claim them as your own. People can subscribe to your page that way and get notified when preorders are available and when They go on sale. This way, if you ever have the money to put towards a Feature deal for release, you are already set up to do so.
In fact, you can already follow me there! Check out my profile!
Author Central – Amazon
This is especially important for self published authors. You can create a fancier author profile on Amazon to link people to.
Booklife
Booklife is the self-published site from Publishers Weekly. You can submit your books to be reviewed for free through this site and also advertise any author services that you provide.
It also makes it easier for you to run ads in Publisher’s Weekly and Booklife down the line.
Claim Goodreads Profile
This takes a little more work, but it’s useful to drive traffic back to your other social media. Once you have a book on G
Create List of Bloggers Who Are Interested In Your Books
This was a little bit of hunting to find people who are open for review, but if you create a spreadsheet of bloggers and Instagrammers and YouTubers who might be interested in your book, it will be a lot easier for you to contact them down the line.
Remember that not every blogger likes every kind of book, and that not everyone is open for reviews all the time. Check their review policy pages BEFORE you contact them.
For example, if you write queer books, you should be keeping up with Dahlia Adler over at LGBTQReads! Dahlia does AMAZING work.
Indie Authors should check out these sites:
Do you have other ideas for free marketing? Share them with fellow authors in the comments!