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Book Marketing Guides

Here you will find resources to help you with book marketing. In addition to the advice on how to personally market your book, which follows below, we want to recommend Reedsy Book Publicists and Reedsy Book Marketers. They only accept the top 1% of publicist and marketer applicants, ensuring you are in good hands.
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Blogging:
You should blog! Also, consider guest blogging. You can write for other people's blogs. The majority of blogs are a volunteer effort and many bloggers find it difficult to keep up with posting. To get around this many will allow a writer with a relevant topic to guest spot an article on their blog. This will of course get you a greater audience. Remember to include a small amount of bio and contact info at the end of your blog.

Blogs that allow guest blogging:

www.thebookbinge.com  

Lists of Book Blogs:
Book Blogger List
Book Marketers:
  • BookMarket
Email:
Let people know your book has been published! Whether by email or mail, send out a short message. Try and get them to let their mutual friends know as well. If you tell them on Facebook, it doesn't hurt to request that they share your post. An example message:

Dear (blank),
I'm just letting you know my book was published! The book is about (enter content). I'm trying to get the word out about it, and I decided to tell people I know. If you wouldn't mind, I'd love if you passed word on, but I understand if you are busy. In any case, I hope you check out my book.

Signed
(your name)
(links)


It is smart to send messages like this via social media, and be sure to ask them to share your link. One person with a dozen friends could potentially see their link posted hundreds of times.

Your email signature is also a powerful marketing tool. If you are like most people, you send many emails and each recipient is a potential customer. Making an email signature, especially one with a link in it, provides these people with an easy way to examine your book. There are plenty of guides online on how to make an email signature for your service. It is a good idea to put links to your product and site, as well as your blog or author page.
Forums:
These are gathering places for people with varying interests, and if their interests are your book, then it would be wise to post on them. Just remember to join the conversation and not lean too heavily on posting about your book.

Useful forums:
http://www.amazon.com/tag/kindle/forum 
http://www.nookboards.com/forum 
http://www.goodreads.com 
http://ebookgab.com 
http://www.mobileread.com 
http://www.writingforums.com/

Update your message board signature! Just like with email signatures, many message boards will also let you update a message board specific signature. Again the procedure and value of this is similar to making an email signature. Some sites like www.KBoards.com even let you post your book cover.
Google Alerts:
There are conversations out there on the internet that are relevant to your areas of expertise and to your book. Find out where you need to be by using Google Alerts at http://www.google.com/alerts. Google will then send you an email when a topic you have entered appears anywhere on the web.

This service is also useful for catching people who are pirating your work or violating copyright.
​Handouts:
You can make business cards, bookmarks, and fliers. Remember to include some way for the readers to find your book, whether that is by putting a link on it or even a QR code. Leave some wherever people are gathered and it's always a good idea to bring this kind of marketing to a convention. Make sure to do a small test run with this marketing method before you go and spend any risky amount of money at Kinkos. Remember that this method of marketing is highly dependent on the cover art.
HARO:
Sometimes a reporter has nothing to write about. That's why there is HARO (Help-A-Reporter-Online). You can
 sign up and give a reporter something to write about, namely your book.
Other Authors:
​Authors can be a serious help to each other. Find online author groups, whether online (Facebook also has these) or in the real world. Remember to help others out in turn, and share what has worked. There is also the opportunity for you to cross promote, and in a sense cross pollinate your fans. Potential ways to collaborate:
  • Feature each others books on social network profiles/pages, such as on Pinterest, tumblr, Facebook, Youtube, LinkedIn, Google+, twitter, Goodreads, Shelfari, etc.
  • Feature each other or your books on your blogs as reviews, author interviews, etc.
  • Create internet links to each other's content. (important)
  • Join groups each of you belong to or moderate.
  • Exchange advertisements, such as in the backs of books you control.
Other Titles:
Publish Multiple Works. Each book you have published out there is a recommendation to customers for your other books. Many distributors will link the works to your name or pseudonym, and ultimately indirectly to each other. People will come to know your author name or pseudonym as a brand, and they will follow it. So one answer to selling more books, is to write and publish more books. This doesn't just have to be with us obviously. More books by an author will contribute to the readership body and the cross marketing regardless of where they are published. These don't all have to be novels, a short story in circulation can accomplish the same effect.

Advertise in your other titles. If you ever publish a short story, essay, or poem online or in print, see if you can’t take that opportunity to mention your novel somewhere within it. If you publish, put an advertisement in the back. This may seem like a small thing, but we have noticed a significant follow-up by readers. Let them know what other titles you have written.

Make it easy to follow you. Once the reader has finished your book, if you have done well, they will want to know more about you and if you have other books. Be sure to put biographical and contact information in the back of any other titles you control, as well as a listing of other books you have published. Let people know where to find you on various websites and social media.
Press Releases:
You should try to have your press release out on your release day, and tagged for your local area. We recommend Prlog.com. Press releases are a way to get your message to the media, and for the media to then pass on that word to the public. However, note that Prlog.com requires that your website of note have its own domain name. An easy way to acquire, and bind your domain to your site is via weebly (see Author Website). 
This is the format you should write your press release in:

Headline: Should be written in all caps. Summarizes the press release.
Subhead: Capitalize the first letter of each word. This provides a little more info than the header.
Dateline: Next write out the City, State -- Date. 
Body: First tell the reader what the press release is about and why they should care. Then inform the reader of the details of the book, where it was published, and go into the plot. Give your author bio, and of course, gratuitous amounts of links to relevant content. Include contact information (no address).

If you created an RPG book, Roleplayerschronicle.com is another good venue for press releases and announcements.
Social Networks:
There are the obvious social media sites to take advantage of: Facebook and twitter. Set up a page on facebook, and get a twitter account. There are also book-focused social media sites as well though. 

Good Reads is a reader specific social network. Readers go there to make recommendations, join reading groups, rate their favorite books, and meet other readers. While this site is not as well known as Facebook, you can go there, meet potential customers, and encourage them to read your book. 

LibraryThing is a book discovery website with social features more than it is a social network. It allows you to catalog the works you have written and to find other novels that have similarities. It's just one more way to get your book in front of people. They have a quick introduction page here. 

Shelfari is owned by Amazon and is another social network directed specifically for readers. Just like Good Reads, it offers you access to a large number of people who are looking for new books. 

aNobii is an online community built by readers for readers allowing them to shelve, find and share books. Just because you are an author doesn't mean you can't get involved. The word “aNobii” comes from Anobium Punctatum, the Latin name for the most common bookworm. It integrates with twitter and Facebook. 

​Promocave: This is a great new platform which is author oriented, and helps you find readers. It might be worth checking out. 
Reviews:
Children's Book Reviewers
  1. Building Rainbows
  2. Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
  3. Destiny Dawn Long
  4. Kid Lit Reviews
  5. The Children's Book Review
  6. Waking Brain Cells
  7. Through The Looking Glass Children's Book Review
General Reviewers:
  1. A Garden Carried in the Pocket
  2. Academic Textbooks Review Programme
  3. AllBooks Review (Shirley Roe)
  4. AllReaders.com
  5. Alternative Culture Magazine Book Reviews
  6. Amazon Top Reviewers
  7. American Book Review
  8. Angiesdiary.com
  9. Armchair Interviews
  10. Arts & Letters Daily
  11. AudioFile: The Audiobook Review
  12. Auggie Talk
  13. Backwoods Author
  14. The Best Reviews
  15. BestsellersWorld.com
  16. Bill Thompson's Eye on Books
  17. Book Goodies
  18. Book Lovers Central
  19. Book Review Buzz (get reviews for your book)
  20. Book Reviewer Yellow Pages (list of reviewers)
  21. Book Reviews at Building Rainbows
  22. Book Room Reviews
  23. BookBrowse.com
  24. BookForum
  25. Booking Mama​
  26. BookLoons
  27. BookPage
  28. BookPleasures.com​
  29. Bookreporter.com
  30. BookReview.com
  31. bookreviewsrus.com
  32. BookSpot.com
  33. Bookviews by Alan Caruba
  34. BookWire
  35. broken pencil
  36. BVS Reviews
  37. California Literary Review
  38. Cambridge Book Review
  39. Catholic Fiction
  40. Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
  41. Christian Library Journal
  42. Clark's Eye on Books (Clark Isaacs)
  43. CNN - Book Reviews
  44. The Complete Review
  45. Compulsive Reader
  46. The "Constant Critic" (poetry)
  47. Curled Up With A Good Book
  48. Danny Yee's Book Reviews
  49. Dear Author
  50. Diverse Books
  51. Donovan's Bookshelf
  52. Editing TLC
  53. Erotica Revealed
  54. Escape with Dollycas Into A Good Book
  55. Feathered Quill Book Reviews
  56. The Fiction Forum
  57. Fire & Ice
  58. Foreword Magazine
  59. Fresh Fiction
  60. ​Gav Reads
  61. The Geek Girl Project
  62. GoodKindles: Where Writers Meet Readers
  63. Goodreads
  64. Huntress Book Reviews
  65. In Bed with Books
  66. Independent Publisher
  67. January Magazine: Book Reviews
  68. Joseph's Reviews
  69. Kaye Trout's Book Reviews
  70. Kirkus Reviews Online
  71. LEC Book Reviews
  72. Liana Metal
  73. Litarena (reviews of small and self-published books)
  74. Liter-blog Review & More
  75. London Review of Books
  76. McNeil's Reviews (Aurelia McNeil)
  77. Metaphysical Reviews (Richard Fuller)
  78. The Midwest Book Review
  79. More Than A Review
  80. Mostly Fiction
  81. My Place for Mystery
  82. My Precious
  83. My Shelf
  84. National Book Critics Circle
  85. The New Book Review
  86. The New Camp Horror
  87. New Consciousness Review
  88. New York Journal of Books
  89. New York Review of Books
  90. NewPages Guide to Review Sources
  91. Online Review of Books and Current Affairs
  92. Paris Review
  93. QBR: The Black Book Review
  94. Rain Taxi Review of Books
  95. Ralph: Review of Arts, Lit., Philosophy, Humanities
  96. Reader Views (book reviews, author publicity, & more)
  97. Reader's Favorite
  98. The Reading Tub (reviews of kids' books)
  99. Rebecca Review
  100. Rebecca's Reads (book reviews, interviews & more)
  101. Review Centre​
  102. Reviewing the Evidence
  103. Romantic Times Book Reviews
  104. Seeker Book Reviews
  105. Silver's Reviews
  106. A Simple Taste for Reading
  107. Small Press Reviews
  108. Story Circle Book Reviews
  109. The Story Sanctuary
  110. The Tattered Scroll
  111. Washington Independent Review of Books
  112. Western Fiction Review
  113. Weyrich Computer Consulting Reviews
  114. Wikipedia Book Review Magazines
  115. Whispering Winds Book Reviews
  116. Wordspelunking.com
  117. Yale Review of Books
Sci-fi & Fantasy Reviewers:
  1. Dragons, Heroes and Wizards (fantasy reviews)
  2. Fantasy Cafe
  3. Madhatter Review
  4. On Starships & Dragonfly Wings
  5. Only the Best Sci-fi and Fantasy Blog
  6. Scifind
  7. SFF Media
  8. Strange Horizons
  9. The Ranting Dragon
  10. Fantasy Book Critic
  11. Fantasy Book Review
  12. Fantasy Faction
  13. Mulluane
  14. Nomis Paranormal Palace
  15. Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
  16. ParaNormal Romance Reviews
  17. SciFi Ideas
  18. SFBook Reviews
Young Adult Reviewers:
  1. Allison's Book Bag (YA book reviews)
  2. Jen Robinson's Book Page
  3. Michelle's Bookshelf
  4. Mother, Daughter and Son Book Reviews
  5. Pass the Chiclets
  6. Random Musings of a Bibliophile
  7. Teen Reads
  8. The Hiding Spot
YouTube:
YouTube can be used to show prospective fans a book trailer. You could show your book, talk about your book, or show images reminiscent of scenes in your book, the medium is basically as limitless as film. Now for the bad news. Our experience with book trailers has not been good, and our experience has shown that book trailers get few views and even less follow through. Our advise is that if you happen to have video making skills and feel confident about it, feel free to make one. However, if you don't, then save your money.
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contact at publishing assist dot com
  • Author Services
  • Book Editing
  • Book Cover Design & Art
  • Book Formatting
  • Book Translation
  • Audiobook Recording
  • ISBN
  • Book Writing Guides
  • Book Marketing Guides
  • Self-Publishing Guide
  • About Us / Contact Us