Promote Your Self-published BookAre you looking for ways to promote your self-published book? Would you like to promote it on the Writing to Inspire website?Many writers, when starting out, believe that the hard part of self-publishing is writing the book. Truth is, after they have written, self-published and started selling their book, the majority of writers will say that the writing of the book was easy in comparison to the selling and promoting of it. Self-publishing secret #1 – The two reasons why most self-publishers don’t recoup the cost of their publishing venture are: not knowing their target market before starting to write and lack of promotion. Whether this is true of your experience or not, there is no denying that jumping at every opportunity to promote your self-published book will improve your chances of selling more copies. Which, is after, all your goal when you have a stack of boxes flattening the carpet under your table or in the corner of your office. I see it every day, not so much in my office now, thankfully, but in the lives of the self published writers I coach. My only advice for them is to actively get out and promote their book, both in person and online in any way that is productive, positive and raises awareness and interest in their work. In today’s technological environment there is absolutely no doubt that to promote your self-published book you need a web-presence. If your book is not advertised on the internet its promotion is seriously limited, but how do you do this if you haven’t got the time, the knowledge or the inclination to create a well-targeted and highly visible website? After all, it’s one thing to have a website, it’s a totally different thing to have one that can be found through search engines and through passing traffic. But then, even if you do have a productive website, its creation can often cost more than the actual printing of you self-published book. Self-publishing secret #2 – Just because you have a website to promote your self-published book doesn’t mean that people will find it, visit it or believe it’s credible. An ideal solution is therefore to be able to promote your self-published book on a site that already has credibility and visitors interested in books. If you’ve done your research you’ll know there are sites out there that charge a small fortune for this, or who expect you to pay them a percentage of your book sales. Now while this money is probably well justified, wouldn’t you prefer to get all this for nothing? I certainly would have when I was starting out. Making money from self-publishing is hard enough without having to pay a fortune for promotion. For that reason, I want to extend an offer to you, would you like to have an individual page on this website to promote your self-published book? Writing to Inspire already has the credibility, shown by the number of people who regularly visit the site, and a growing number of visitors each month. In September 2011, the total number of page clicks is over 60,000, with around 250 new people finding our site each day, and both those numbers are growing. To take up this offer all you have to do is write up the text you want on the page, include a photo or two if you want, and add contact details so that prospective buyers can contact you direct. Then fill in the invitation below. It really is that simple; if you can ‘copy and paste’, you can do this. This is an offer worth serious consideration. Go on, do it now, it will cost you nothing and there are no catches - guaranteed. So how does it work? 1) You write what you would like included on your page in order to promote your self-published book. Consider things like: a write-up on the book, information on you as the author, quotes from readers, professionals, newspaper articles, details on the book (page count, ISBN, cost, freight charges), contact details (a website, mobile phone number or PO Box would be ideal. You can use your email address, but that may open you up to more unwanted emails than usual. However, if you’re fine with that then definitely include it.) It is vital, though, that your text does not contain any 'smart quotes', please scroll down to find out more about these. 2) Paste the information into the invitation below and submit. 3) We receive your information, check that it isn’t inappropriate and then create your page for you. Click here to see a sample page 4) At this point you will receive an email telling you that the page has been made and the address of your page so that you can promote it to anyone and everyone. 5) At the bottom of your page there will be a ‘Comments’ option, so we recommend you encourage readers to visit your page and offer a comment and rating on your book. 6) Writing to Inspire will place a tab on its HomePage promoting and linking to a webpage which will list all the authors who take up this offer. Your name on this list will be a link to your individual promotional page. Conditions Would you like to promote your self-published book on the Writing to Inspire website?Just send us the information you want included and we'll happily create the page for you. It'll cost you nothing and be done in days, if not hours. What readers have to sayClick below to see what readers have to say about this book and its author.
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Not rated yet SMART QUOTES While it’s easy to upload text for your webpage at Writing to Inspire, the one thing that will mess up the process is if you’re using the ‘Smart Quotes’ option on your computer’s writing software. If you are, when you paste your information to promote your self-published book into the submission box on our website and submit it, all the apostrophes in your writing will become question marks. Something I’m afraid I don’t have time to change. Therefore if you find it happening I strongly recommend you untick the box on your writing software, then cut and paste your work into the form on our website again. In most cases, if you submit your work with smart quotes (and therefore excess question marks) I will immediately delete it, not because I don’t like your work but purely because it becomes extremely hard to read. So, it’s definitely worth taking a few minutes to check your smart quotes option is off. If you are using MS Word, to find the ‘Smart Quotes’ option Click on the FILE tab, under HELP select OPTIONS, then click PROOFING, AUTOCORRECT OPTIONS, then select AUTOFORMAT AS YOU TYPE. Once you are here simply uncheck the 'Smart Quotes' option. Once that's done simply paste the text you want to use to promote your self-published book into the form above. New! CommentsHave your say about what you've just read! Leave me a comment in the box below. |
UPCOMING ONLINE COURSES
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2nd March to 30th March
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7th May to 28th May
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What people are saying about our online courses ...
'I'm delighted and proud of my first attempt. Thank you for a wonderful course. I have been enriched.'
AK, Zimbabwe
‘You were my inspiration in actually doing something with my writing. I would like to thank you for kicking me in the butt and insisting I do something!’
Bec, Australia
‘Elizabeth, this was a terrific, confidence building, well-honed little course. I would thoroughly recommend it.’
Margot, Australia
‘Writing is a labour of love when we expose ourselves by baring our soul. I believe Elizabeth Bezant has the skill to combine respect for our feelings, with pragmatic strategies to help us publish our precious efforts.’
John, Australia
‘Elizabeth, this was a great course and though it was short it has boosted my confidence in my writing. Thank you!’
Rachael, Australia
‘A very rewarding challenge – not too difficult, not too easy. Every word was welcome and useful. I edit other people’s writing in a really similar manner, but it’s amazing how difficult it is to see those same errors in your own work.’
Margot, Australia
'Great course Elizabeth! I would not have taken the time to seriously try this genre but for your course. I made the last few changes you suggested and have sent the essay in to ............. After reviewing their requirements I see that my piece fits in every way possible.'
SM,Canada
The critiquing to me was the whole point of the course. While the general comments and writing tips were vital as a backbone to the course, the personal interaction and direction was the whole point of it all.’
Sue, Australia
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Rowe, Australia
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‘A publisher asked me to send her some of my writing this year. But I never would have without this course.’
Raewyn, Australia
‘I’ve just sent off the last of the assignments for critiquing and before I go any further I must say a very big thank you to you for the joy you have given me! Not only have I learnt so much from you, but I have also so appreciated all the encouragement and your wise counsel in assisting me to do something that I wouldn’t have believed could have been nearly possible. I will miss you.’
Yvonne, Australia
'Thanks to Elizabeth I can now source markets for personal stories, competently make my writing market-ready and sell it with confidence. Your editing skills are an asset to the writing community. I recommend this course to any writer who wants to break into this market.'
JOH, Australia
'I thought the way the market information was presented was not only informative but importantly for me it was written in a friendly manner. It took away some of the awesome fear I have of confronting the real world of publishing.'
KM, Australia