Marketing Resources for Authors

(An update since first starting this marketing page: REVIEWS, REVIEWS, REVIEWS are what matter if you can’t figure out Amazon’s complicated and ever-changing algorithms. CONCENTRATE on gathering as many reviews as you can. Reviews appear to have a direct link to your sales. Depending on the genre, the magic number of 20 reviews seems to be the minimum threshold to get Amazon to suggest your book to a reader in their “items related to” section of their page.)

🧡🧡 Are resources I love and use often.

💲💲 Are resources I use but can be expensive

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Original post: February 2019 and then FB groups edited over the course of a year.

Because it takes an enormous amount of time to market a book, I thought I would do my part in helping my fellow authors by providing a list of places that I have used online to promote my two series. So much has changed since 2011 when I published my fourth book. Very little of what I did then works now. This list is current and will change as I discover what reaches readers and what does not…so keep checking back.

Some of these sites are only for bargain books. Many have guidelines that I encourage you to follow. Rule-breaking and rudeness are fine in some of our literary heroes, but aspiring authors should be polite.

Let’s assume your book is already sold through Amazon or another indie publisher and that you’ve got your profile page on Goodreads.com and you’ve got a killer author website. (These three facets are the bases for building an internet presence as an author)

Facebook pages and groups (Posting advertisements):

Most of these require you to join and then wait for approval by the moderator. I will add to this list as soon as I am accepted into new groups. Some of these are romance book specific and Facebook gets touchy about how many times you share a post, confusing eagerness for spamming. So it’s good to do share throughout the day instead of all at once.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ShamelesslyPromote/ Shamelessly Promote

https://www.facebook.com/groups/freebargainbooks/ Free & Bargain Ebooks – Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iBooks & More!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/224730870927761/ Indie books for 99 cents

https://www.facebook.com/groups/IndieBookPromo/ Indie Writer Book & Self Promotion

https://www.facebook.com/groups/99centsebookreview/ 99cents ebook review

https://www.facebook.com/groups/639869959449405/ Find indie books here

https://www.facebook.com/groups/943782055782465/ Free Promotion of Books & Authors, Book Reviews & Beta Reading

https://www.facebook.com/groups/242527226111890/about/ Authors promote your books

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1607963252777092/about/ Ebook Promotions

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1962494974020201/ Free & Bargain eBooks Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/232590457254160/ Cheap Books No Drama

https://www.facebook.com/groups/921814697834756/Kindle Unlimited Books & Free Novels – Share & Find Free or KU Ebooks Here!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/mfrwauthors/ Marketing for Romance Writers

https://www.facebook.com/groups/thirstyauthor/ Thirsty Author eBook Promotion

https://www.facebook.com/groups/832128160213284/ Kindle Unlimited – FREE READS & Subscribers

https://www.facebook.com/groups/BooksLuvers/ Authors, Reviewers, & Book Lovers

www.facebook.com/groups/320356974732142/ Aroma’s Books, Books and more Books!!!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/8307842686/ Romance Writers

https://www.facebook.com/groups/PRGgroup/ Paranormal Romance Guild

https://www.facebook.com/groups/teachaunicorn2read/ Teach A Unicorn to Read Author & Book Promotions

https://www.facebook.com/groups/720210464809129/ Paranormal/Urban Fantasy Book Lover’s Haven ❤️

Sites to list a book:

Looking for readers? There are definitely more sites than this to list your book, but many of them require a minimum of 10 verified reviews on Amazon before they will accept your application. So, until then…look at these.

http://indiebooklounge.com/ Indie Book Lounge

https://www.pillowtalkbooks.com/book-promotion-services/ Pillowtalk Books (for romance authors) They have a sister site
https://www.deluxeromance.com/

http://zwoodlebooks.com/submissions/ ZwoodleBooks.com

http://ebookasaurus.com/premium-book-listing/ ebookasaurus.com

http://www.free99books.com/author/add free99books.com

Editorial Reviewers that I have used:

All of these editorial reviewers are reasonably priced and provide other services besides reviews.

🧡🧡 https://literarytitan.com/category/book-reviews/ Literary Titan

🧡🧡 https://readersfavorite.com/ Readers’ Favorite

💲💲 http://www.dog-eared-reviews.com/ Dog-Eared Reviews

Other Review sources:

Finding reviewers is hard. Only a small percentage of organic readers will leave a review behind so to get the number you need to be noticed on Amazon an author has to actively seek them out. For Amazon to accept the review as verified, the reader must have purchased the book and it needs to be an honest review. No review swaps or gifts to the reviewer is allowed.

Some reviewers will reach out to you after you post on Goodreads.com or social media. Jump at every chance to be reviewed by them as long as the cost is free or reasonable for your budget. Most indie budgets are tight, so also try shamelessly emailing everyone in your contact list and ask them for an honest review of your book. Make it easy for them. Drop your ebook price or run a limited promotion so cost isn’t an issue.

Another avenue is trolling the net for reviewers and bloggers. Here’s a good source. Follow each link to find out what their preferences are and then query them with your pitch. Most will reply quickly.

https://www.theindieview.com/indie-reviewers The Indie View

My latest find when looking to gather reviews is Pubby.co

This is a subscription review site that complies with Amazon’s policy of no review swaps. For a reasonable monthly fee, you can list all your books and earn snaps by reading other indie authors and leaving reviews. Pubby keeps you from reading the authors that review your books which means no direct book swaps, which means Amazon stays happy. Of course, you have to do the reading…but you were going to read books anyway. Right? Now you can list your books where you know there are other readers motivated to leave reviews. Kinda a win-win. And you can cancel your subscription at any time and not lose the Amazon reviews you’ve obtained.

Creating ads that work: Resources

So now you have places to list and promote your book(s) now you need to make the most of it by standing out from the crowd. That means professional-looking ads. For that, you need a graphics program, the proper specs for the medium, and tools.

A 3D generator for your book cover can help you look professional. Here are two to try.

🧡🧡 https://diybookcovers.com/3Dmockups/ DIY Book Design (I use this a lot!)

https://placeit.net Place it