Are you a new author with your first book out? Or have you been publishing books for years?

Either way, you need to know how to choose the best promotional ideas so you won’t waste time and money.

So, how do you decide what promos are best for you?

• First, clarify where you are in your publishing journey, so your promotions fit your circumstances and your budget. For instance, are you launching your first novel or is it part of an ongoing series? Will a seven-week blog tour be more helpful than a five-day giveaway? Do you really need a six-week course on book clubs?
• Consider setting up a long-range but flexible overall plan where you can move promos around if necessary. In fact, starting your planning at least six months in advance of a book release is ideal. Then look for those promos that best fit your plan.

By the time our first book came out in 2019, I was overwhelmed with information about promotion. I tried just about everything, wasted money, and made some bad decisions, but I also learned a lot. The promos I list below survived the crucible of our first book’s entry into the marketplace. They brought the best results and continue to do so. I hope they do the same for you!

My top 11 promo ideas

1.  Be free and independent online. Own and manage your own website and/or blog where you have creative freedom.

2.   Author Media.  Invest in a great source of regular training and writer fellowship; Author Media with its Novel Marketing podcast is my #1 favorite. It helps writers with platform, publishing, and promotion. For a few dollars a month as a Patreon member, you can be in on outstanding deals, get your author questions answered on a monthly Q/A podcast, and receive regular podcasts covering every aspect of the publishing industry. It’s the well that never runs dry.

3.  Build your email list. Booksweeps can generate amazing results if you have a novel to promote. It’s low cost, high quality, easy to use, and provides everything you need. I’m still stunned by the over 600 new email followers I recently got for my last $50 investment with Booksweeps.

4.  Manage your email list professionally and keep in touch with your readers. Mailchimp is my choice for now, though other good programs are available. Professionally designed, regular mailings will raise your credibility among your followers. Periodically, I email about special events, and every quarter I email an ezine full of useful information, freebies, contests, Q/As, and new releases and interviews. It makes it easy to stay in touch.

5.  BookBrush. High-quality book covers, social media posts, video effects, swag—there’s nothing like Book Brush when it comes to creating professional graphics, and you don’t have to be an artist to get great results. I use Book Brush constantly. The tools are intuitive and fun to use. Here are a few of my favorite features:

• Cover Creator: Your cover is your #1 promotional tool—it can make or break your book. You might want to use this great tool in conjunction with Author Media’s podcast, “How to Create a Design Brief for Your Book Cover.”
• Video Background Effects: This tool is fun and makes excellent eye-catchers for social media platforms and other places. Here’s a video I had fun making:

Book Brush has a book trailer tool in beta testing! They’re always improving.

6.  Social media pages. Create social media pages on such sites as LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Facebook using Book Brush. Here’s one for our books:

7.  Buffer is a social media management platform that helps you publish content, engage clients, and analyze social media performance. This handy tool allows you to create and share posts from anywhere and to visually plan and schedule your social media campaign. Using Book Brush to design my posts, I can create and schedule enough promos in an hour or so to cover all my social media outlets for months in advance.

8.  YouTube author channel. Author Carol Alwood shows how to start your own YouTube author channel in this fun ten-minute video: “5 Reasons AUTHORS need YOUTUBE CHANNELS: An honest video for writers.” Watch it here.

9.  Amazon Author Central. Every author should have an author page on Amazon that links to their books and allows followers. You can post author videos, reviews, and blog posts on it too.

10.  Amazon Book Promotion Programs. Check out this article to learn all that Amazon offers authors: “9 Amazon Book Promotion Programs That Can Help You Sell More Books Every Day.” I had amazing results offering our first book free on Kindle for five days as a new release. Though I spent a lot to promote the “free” deal, the book made #1 in three fiction categories for most of a week. This is a powerful method to jumpstart a new book, but you do have to pay for promotion and know how to do it.

11.  Goodreads and Bookbub. Get your book(s) on these sites. Goodreads is a free book review site and the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations. Learn to use it here. Bookbub doesn’t sell books but is a free service that helps readers discover books. Readers can follow their favorite authors.

Article by Linda Nathan

Linda has managed Logos Word Designs, LLC, since 1992, providing editing, writing, and publishing consultation services. She and her husband Richard write and speak publicly together. They recently released their first two thrillers in the Omega Point Series. Visit our website and download our free books!