Book Marketing On A Budget

This is a post that I originally shared back in April on my blog, Novel Notions.  While that blog is now on hiatus, much of the content there is still relevent.  Because of that, I thought I’d share this post as someone might be looking for an inexpensive marketing idea.

Original Post:

There are times I wish that someone had told me that writing my book was the easy part – the hard stuff came with the marketing.  Obviously, some people are more adept at coming up with ways to sell their novels than others.  You can put me in the “others” category.   I can’t say that I enjoy marketing. I’m one of those people who wish I could devote all my time to writing and leave the marketing to some sort of magical marketing minions.  But since that’s not going to happen – I decided to try something a little different.

I published my novel (Of Dreams and Shadow: Forget Me Not) at the end of September, 2013.  Since that time, I have promoted my book with three virtual book tours and I have been pleased with the exposure. In March, I decided to try something a little different. Instead of a virtual book tour – I choose to use a three prong approach.

• I lowered the price of my book to 99 cents (Thursday – Sunday)

• I asked my family and friends to help me get the word out by sharing links on facebook, etc.

• The morning of the 27th arrived.  I went to my Author Central page and checked my ranking; it was humbling to say the least.   My novel was ranked 250,914 among all ebooks and 26,785 among teen ebooks.

• StoryFinds listed my book on their daily specials.  (This cost me $20.00)

• At Young Adult Promo Central, I was the featured author. I shared a post, book trailer, book blurb, etc.  (I purchased their     Gold Promotion – $25.00.  The normal price of this promo was $50 but they are running a sale.)

• eBook Soda featured my book on the email list.  (This was free.)  **Update:  I think this service now charges $5.00

• I shared the links to StoryFinds and YA Promo Central as well as eBook Soda on twitter, Facebook and Google+ communities.

• By Friday morning (the 28th), my novel had moved up in ranking.  Among all ebooks, mine was now ranked at 30,293 and  among teen ebooks – it was ranked 1,551.  At lunch time, my book had peaked at just over 1,300 in teen ebooks.

• On Monday morning, I checked my Author Central page again.  My novel was ranked at 22,893 in all ebooks and 2,323 in teen ebooks.

• Now, I will be honest – I don’t know which site generated the most sales but I do know that people visiting YA Promo Central were actively engaged due to the stats I saw on my blog.  I also think  some sales came from people who saw the “shares” of my family and friends.

• Total Cost of the Promotion:  $45.00