by Joe Walters

Book reviewers play an important role in the book-buying process.

As an author, you’re told early and often that you should try to get more book reviews. It’s great for marketing, they say. But is it really?

I’ve been a book marketer for three different indie presses now, having marketed and promoted hundreds of books, and I can say pretty confidently that the answer is yes.

Book reviews are incredibly important. Readers want to buy books that have been vouched by real-life people (like Amazon’s consumer reviews) and experts (like with blurbs & media). Nothing ever guarantees book sales, but getting reviews can at least help. Book marketing is all about about doing the things that can help.

So where you do you find book reviewers?

Let’s explore some options.

1. Book review publications

Professional book reviewers are a good way to start this list. There are people out there who focus on books across a number of genres; their audience is readers, booksellers, and librarians. The content they publish is about books, and they are experts in the book field. This is different from someone who runs a niche publication, like one about ducks who could review your book about ducks.

If you want to get book reviews, you should definitely try to get reviews from review publications. Here’s a list of 30+ book review sites to get you started.

But there are way more than that. Just type keywords into Google like “[Your Genre] book reviews,” and you’ll find a number of them that are not on our list. Review publications will usually offer the chance of being reviewed for free or to guarantee a review by paying for it. More on that in the paid section!

2. Amazon

Amazon is one of the most influential places to get your book reviewed. Not only is it the place that most people buy books, but it’s also the place with the most book & product reviewers. 

You can find Amazon reviewers by searching for books similar to yours and reading those reviews. When the reviewer has a picture, click on their name. This means that they created a reviewer profile, and it’s possible they shared information on how to get in contact with them to request reviews in exchange for a free book. 

Amazon used to share a list of their top reviewers, but they’ve recently gotten rid of that. This is probably because they were being bombarded by tons of review requests. Take it from me, a guy who gets tons of review requests. 

It’s not easy to get book reviews from Amazon consumers, but it is possible. You can increase the amount of reviews you have on there in different ways (like building a launch team), but since that includes people you know, I’ll get to that in #8.

3. Goodreads

Goodreads is a social networking platform for readers, run by Amazon. Similar to Amazon, reviewers can create profiles and write reviews on book pages. You can find those reviewers by searching similar books to yours on Goodreads and reaching out to them if they share contact information and express interest in free books for review.

But the book pages aren’t the only places to find them! They also have groups and forums on Goodreads. It’s not easy to get reviews by requesting reviews on forums and groups, but it is possible. (Sensing a pattern here?) 

4. Social Networking Sites

Social media has made it easier than ever to connect with likeminded people. Search functions and hashtags enable you to find real people talking about your book’s topic in real time. That means you could find reviewers on Instagram, Facebook (including Facebook Groups), Twitter, the hundreds of Twitter alternatives popping up, TikTok, YouTube, and more.

Want to know the best way to get book reviews from social media?

Be real!

If you decide that a certain platform is your platform–the one where you will invest the most time and where you will build your following–then you will want to post often, be likable as a human (easy, I know! ), and when your book is coming out and/or when it’s out, you can mention a few times how helpful reviews are and that you’d love their support in that regard. Let people know how they can get a free copy in exchange for review. (I like Google Forms!) And again, super important, don’t be pushy!

If you find a book reviewer who doesn’t follow you, follow them. Be real as a follower. Engage with their posts and support them long before you request help from them. Reviewers on social media are sent review requests in their DMs and emails all the time, and they don’t have time for most of them. Build a real relationship with these people—which definitely requires time!—and your chances of converting them into a reviewer for your book will increase. 

5. Book Review Directories & Lists

You can also find book reviewers in long lists and directories online. You have our list of review sites, IndiesToday, Bookbloggerlist, Book Reviewer Yellow Pages, Kindlepreneur, and more. There are a whole lot of reviewers in the world, and a whole lot of reviewers want to appear on those lists. It helps them get more and better books as well as drive more traffic to their websites. 

You should definitely check out these lists and directories, but don’t get lost inside them. Some are so long that you could spend all your marketing time combing through them, and you might not even get that many reviews out of it. Since they appear on those lists, other authors have access to them too, meaning they get a ton of pitches. Find some that you like, send some pitches, test if it works, and if it doesn’t, get out of there. 

6. Book & Niche Blogs

Researching & pitching blogs could very well be my favorite way to get more book reviews. Some of the bigger book blogs will get boatloads of review requests per day, but the nice thing here is that NOT ALL BLOGS ARE BIG.

Some have small, dedicated audiences, and some have little to no audiences. I like them both! The nice thing about small blogs is that they’re not inundated with hundreds of review requests, and they often are willing to post their reviews on Amazon and/or Goodreads.

You’re dealing with one person a lot of the time, so you can cultivate a relationship by being kind, supportive, generous (like sending a physical book & a custom bookmark, playlist, etc.), and you can increase your chances of being reviewed for this book AND the next one. You can find blogs by using keywords on Google, social media, and on hosting platforms like WordPress.

There are also a ton of niche blogs out there. If you wrote a travel memoir, you could reach out to travel bloggers who want to read more. Wrote a business book? Business bloggers could be interested in that, especially since they’re not receiving hundreds of book review requests.

7. Local publications & platforms

Don’t sleep on local platforms! In addition to national publications and review publications, you should definitely look close to home for book reviewers. I’m not saying you’re definitely going to get a review if you pitch a magazine with a local angle, but I am saying that your chances increase with smaller outlets. They may not leave their review on Amazon and their readership might not be in the tens of thousands, but if all it takes is a pitch and sending a book, then I’d say reaching out to local publications is worth it.

8. Your personal connections

You may get the most traction out of this one. Other authors, friends, colleagues, former teachers, acquaintances, and non-household-sharing family members can be great book reviewers for you.

Here are a few ways you can turn the people you know into book reviewers:

• Ask fellow authors to blurb your book. They may want to write a blurb for you because they know you’ll use the blurb for your marketing material like on the back cover, in the opening pages of the book, and graphics. One great way to increase blurbs for your books is by offering to blurb their book first, at the same time, or afterwards.
• You can also get writer friends to write a review and submit a review for publication at various review, literary, and local platforms. Instead of asking that team’s staff to do it, you can increase your odds to have that writer offer something already written to them.
• Are you publishing with an indie press? Ask your fellow indie authors to write a blurb for you or simply to review it on Amazon and/or Goodreads!
• Build a launch team before the book is published. Add a bunch of people who you know will want to support you—like your best friend Jon and Aunt Kate—and ask if they’d join your launch team. Basically, a launch team member is asked to read a book before it is published and then share a review on the day of or a couple days after the book is finally available on Amazon. It is totally fine to get friends and family members to leave reviews, but do note that Amazon can flag family members with the same last name and/or the same address as you and remove the review from the site.
• If you run into someone who has read your book in person, it’s totally okay to ask for them to leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. Don’t be pushy and probably don’t follow-up with them if they don’t—your relationship is more important!—but sometimes the first request can result in actual reviews.

9. Your newsletter

Having (and actually using!) a newsletter is one of my favorite ways to market books. Social media is cool and all, but what happens when the platform you’ve chosen to focus on (like Twitter for example) up and changes everything about it?

Email is as close to direct person-to-person marketing that you can get online. It’s an excellent way to speak with your fans, keep them, and watch your fanbase grow. If you are operating a newsletter (particularly if you have multiple books), you should definitely ask them a few times to leave reviews for your books. Your biggest fans are probably in that email; make sure they know what could help you.

10. The back of your book

In the back of books, authors and publishers share acknowledgement pages, author bios, and “More books from the author/publisher” pages. You can add a page at the back that requests readers to leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads! You can even make it a clickable link for the eBook after you’ve published.

If your reader has already finished reading your book, they are the best possible candidates for leaving book reviews. This means that every time you run a book promotion, you are asking that reader to review your book.

Here’s our guide to selling more books on Amazon.

11. Sponsored & editorial book reviews

As you’ll see, you won’t get reviews from every single review platform. Sometimes you might not get any. There are not enough review platforms on the planet to cover all the books published on it.

Some review publications offer the chance to guarantee a review by paying for it. It is a chance for authors to appear on reader-focused websites; increase their validity & searchability; add blurbs to their book; get starred reviews and the recognition that comes with it; post something new and exciting to their existing fan-base; appear on book lists; and get real honest engagement with a piece of art they care deeply about. 

Here are 5 reader-focused review platforms that offer sponsored or editorial book reviews:

• Independent Book Review
• Kirkus
• Clarion/Foreword
• City Book Review
• BookTrib.

12. Pubby

Have you heard of Pubby? It’s relatively new, but it’s a rapidly growing community where authors review other authors’ books on Amazon. You can do a 10-day free trial, retaining the reviews you get during that time, but then you pay per month to stay on the platform. You’re not allowed to pay for Amazon reviews directly, but this site is a clever little workaround that offers incentives to those who participate.

13. Reedsy Discovery

I love Reedsy! It may initially be a site where writers can get freelance editors, designers, and marketers, but when you look a little further, you can see that they host a ton of consumer reviewers too. Reviewers can create a profile on there to get access to free books before they publish and earn tips for writing great reviews.

14. Netgalley

Netgalley is a place where readers & book reviewers go to get free copies of books in exchange for review. There’s a big pool of readers here, and it’s got a safe distribution process that a lot of publishers and review platforms like. It’s pretty expensive for solo indie authors, but publishers could find the expense worth it. Reviews are that hard to come by sometimes. Some authors team up with other authors by joining a co-op where they split the cost to join. Check those out too!

15. BookSirens

BookSirens is a clean, user-friendly site where authors upload books that are available for review, and reviewers browse available books for review. They also have a large list of book bloggers by genre. You do have to pay for the service, and it won’t always increase your reviews on Amazon, but it can work for the right books. I used it with some (varying) success during my time at Paper Raven Books.

16. Online Book Club

Online Book Club is a review and social networking site somewhat similar in concept to Goodreads. There are a lot of readers on this platform, and you can advertise on them in hopes of getting reviewed. You can get some free reviews on Online Book Club too, by reaching out to different readers and being active in the groups. Keep that in mind too!

17. Hidden Gems

Hidden Gems sends out an email every day with new books available to review on it. They do a great job of curating their options, and they even send out review reminders to those who have agreed to review the books. They also share ebook deals—a nice addition to their ARC program. It is a much cheaper option than Netgalley.

Best of luck in finding great book reviewers! If you have any feedback on any of these platforms, please share them in the comments.

About the Author

Joe Walters is the founder and editor-in-chief of Independent Book Review, and he has been a book marketer for Sunbury Press, Inkwater Press, and Paper Raven Books. When he’s not doing editorial, promoting, or reviewing work, he’s working on his novel and trusting the process. Find him @joewalters13 on Twitter.

Thank you for reading Joe Walters’s blog post “17 Places to Find Book Reviewers!” If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

The post 17 Places to Find Book Reviewers | IBR Book Marketing Series (Part 8) appeared first on Independent Book Review.

by Joe Walters

Getting publicity for your book is difficult.

And it’s even harder when you’re doing it alone.

There’s a reason why authors chase traditional publishing and still choose to hire publicists with existing contact lists & relationships. Book publicity is an important aspect of book marketing.

Not only is it helpful to show your existing fan base that your book is being talked about in the media, but it’s even more helpful to show your book in front of pre-existing fan bases so that your personal following can grow. 

As long as you’ve created a great, salable product—with great blurbs, description, cover, premise, and book—you’re going to get book sales when you show up in front of the right book-buying audience.

But before I get into all of the things I’ve learned in my time as a marketing & publicity specialist at three indie presses, let’s get the answer to this question out of the way.

What is book publicity?

Book publicity is when an author or an author’s book appears on a platform—a magazine, tv show, a podcast, etc.—in hopes of increasing sales, followers, or subscribers. The platform is usually focused in the author’s niche or location.

So how do you get it?

In short: Try really hard, write more books, and follow these tips. 

Here are 24 dos & don’ts of book publicity

1. Do start with keywords

When you upload your book on Amazon, you’ll be asked to choose seven keywords.

A keyword is a word or phrase that browsers use to find what they’re looking for in the Amazon search engine. If I’m looking for bird books, a keyword I might use is “birdwatching.”

Take your time to choose the right keywords. The best keywords can get you book sales all on their own while the wrong keywords can do absolutely nothing for you. So why does that have anything to do with publicity?

Well…you’ll be using these keywords to research publicity platforms! If you type in “paranormal romance” into Google for example, you’ll get outlets who have been talking about (and maybe featuring) paranormal romance stories. 

But unlike Amazon where you can only upload seven, there’s no cap on the amount of keywords you can use to find outlets that talk about your books. So start brainstorming! These publicity-specific keywords can be different or more direct too. You’ll want to try “paranormal book review” or “paranormal author interview” because that’s what you’re looking for, in addition to the original keyword.

2. Do so much research your eyes get tired

Now that you have your keywords, break out your handy-dandy spreadsheet app. (I like Google Sheets). Create a column for each of the following:

• Name of the outlet: [Independent Book Review]
• Website: [IndependentBookReview.com]
• Contact name & role: [Joe Walters, founder & editor-in-chief]
• Submission info: [independentbookreview.com/get-your-book-reviewed/]
• Deadline: [Never]
• Specialization: [Indie books]
• Angle: [Your book’s best selling point]

You can create tabs (with the same columns as mentioned above) for different types of outlets like podcasts, bloggers, social media influencers, contests, and more.

Then…you get started researching!

Hit the old Google machine and type in keywords related to your book to find out who has been talking about books or topics like yours. When you find outlets who are, input them into your spreadsheet. Do NOT pitch them yet. 

This is going to take some time. To give you a head start, here are 30+ top-notch book review sites to add to your spreadsheet. 

3. Do prioritize personal & professional connections

The best “angle” you can have with an outlet is a personal connection. That’s why publicists and publishers can be so valuable. They’ve been pitching these outlets for years and may have a connection already set up with them; i.e. that outlet loved a book they pitched in the past, so they are more willing to accept a pitch from them in the future.

If you have a personal connection with an outlet, they should be near the top of your priority list when it comes to pitching time. You’ll want to mention the connection in the pitch letter (we’ll get to that!).

4. Do include both local & national outlets

The local angle is one of my favorites! The [Small Town] Gazette may have a smaller reach than The New York Times, but they love stories of their residents doing cool things. Your chances of getting picked up for a feature increase when you pitch the book as a local author. 

But, obviously, there’s more than just your small town out there who is willing to read your book! Go big AND go small. Speaking of…

5. Don’t ONLY include the heavy hitters

I’ve already said it a couple times, but it really is worth mentioning again…

Getting publicity for your book is hard!

For the heavy hitters (NYT, People, O Magazine, etc.), you are battling actual celebrities for page & website space. You can totally include the big ones on your spreadsheet, but if you’re an indie author publishing fiction, you NEED to include the smaller outlets. Your conversion rate is going to be very low with the major outlets, and I don’t want you to exit the publicity phase with 0 features.

6. Do research for podcasts and other media in the right places

You’re definitely going to find podcasts in your niche just by Googling them, but don’t only search there. Type your keywords into places like Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Podbean, Spotify, Blog Talk Radio, etc. 

7. Do (or don’t!) pursue author events

I’ve talked to a lot of authors about book publicity, and (if they’re into that kind of thing), they bring up book tours and author events. They dream of that red carpet event, but it might be more common now to see an indie author event that is poorly attended. I’ve seen multiple stories over the years of indie authors doing events where no one shows. (This one actually went viral, which helps!).

But I still like author events! Readings first, conferences/festivals second, and signings third.

As long as the author knows it’s up to them to get people to show up, I think they should give a couple of them a shot. Sometimes you can use a scheduled event to get featured in local media, so that’s a plus too. Think of bookstores, sure, but also consider coffee shops, museums, schools, and out of the box venues.

I don’t really think of author events as book publicity–more as a fun thing to do that could sell you some books–but I’ve gotten so many comments about it over the years that I wanted to make sure I included it here.

8. Don’t include ALL bloggers & influencers

When you start researching bloggers & influencers, you’re going to find some that you don’t love. Maybe the blog looks outdated, or their reviews feel cookie cutter. Maybe the influencer seems like they’re focused more on follow-backs than real genuine engagement. Don’t pitch them!

Only send a pitch to those you’d be proud to appear on. I love bloggers & influencers because a lot of the time, they care deeply about their audience and can write some really great reviews. But there are some who don’t too! 

9. Do (or don’t!) include book awards & contests

Book awards are definitely worth looking into, but not all of them are worth entering! You have to pay to enter book awards, and while I like submitting your book to a couple of them (if you have the funds!), I don’t think your marketing budget should go too heavy here. 

Make sure you like the book award you’re choosing to pursue. Some of them are cheap but only offer the opportunity to call yourself an award-winning author. I wouldn’t recommend those. If you’re looking for publicity, I want you to find a contest that has a real genuine following.

Keep in mind book lists too! We don’t have a book award, but by submitting to IBR, you are entering for a chance to appear on our Impressive Indies or Best Books list.

10. Don’t miss the deadline!

Some review platforms require you to submit your book for review consideration 3-6 months in advance. Definitely take note of that! If you’re in the research phase and you haven’t sent any pitches yet, but this deadline is coming up, stop what you’re doing and focus on that submission. Then get back to research afterwards.

It’s okay if you miss the deadline. You won’t get coverage from every single place, and it’s more difficult for indie authors to work months in advance. That’s not your fault.

11. Do follow submission guidelines

Some outlets share very specific guidelines that you must adhere to upon submission. For example, we ask that you send us your book cover, a .pdf of the book, the book description, genre, and publication month. All of these play a role in whether or not we accept the book for a feature. If you’re missing one of them, sometimes, we mark the request as read and move on.

What gifts are you asking for this year? Check out our gifts for writers!

12. Do write, revise, & edit a compelling pitch letter

A pitch letter is the email you send to an outlet in the hopes that you or your book get featured. It used to be on fancy letterhead, tucked inside a paperback, and sent via snail mail, but email makes it much easier on us and the trees. Just because it’s email doesn’t mean it’s not serious or professional though.

You should take a lot of time perfecting your pitch letter. Read samples, and write different versions that highlight different angles. If you received a blurb from Stephen King, make sure that thing is in the first paragraph. If you won a major book award with your last book, that’s something to mention. If your best angle is your hook—modern Romeo & Juliet…in space!—then make sure that’s the focus.

If the outlet doesn’t mention the specifics of what you need to submit, I’d say a good set-up would be one that mentions the angle, your publisher (if applicable), the book’s publication date/month, a shorter book description, the book cover, and a direct ask to feature your book.

13. Don’t forget about the subject line

After you’ve written/polished a couple different pitch letters with slightly different angles, it’s time to write as many attention-grabbing email subject lines as you can. It’s important to stand out and get relevant info in there so that the person perusing the email inbox can tell this email is worth opening. 

I like using a mix like, “Review Request – Romeo & Juliet in space by Hugo Award-winning author” or “Interview Request – Author and public speaker releases self-help book on public speaking.”

But honestly—these could be better! Take your time, draft a few of them, and pick two winners.

14. Do personalize the direct address

This is the smallest piece of advice that could go the longest way. Recipients at outlets are primarily interested in covering books and authors that can bring in the biggest audience, so it might not always make a huge difference, but it does help you stand out if you write the pitch directly to the appropriate person.

Making them feel seen and like you took the time to acknowledge them correctly can help increase the professionalism side we were talking about earlier. It’s the nature of the business that we get copy and pasted pitches, but we can be a bit more tempted to do coverage if it feels like the pitcher took the time to get to know me and my company.

If there’s no specific name, just address it to the appropriate outlet you’re pitching: Dear Independent Book Review. Do NOT use “Dear Sir/Ma’am” or send a batch email with multiple recipients.

15. Do showcase your best blurb(s)

It’s already hard enough to tell a humble writer to talk to other people let alone get them to ask for help. Some authors don’t like to self-promote, and pitching a book for publicity definitely requires a little bit of that (Another reason why people like publicists so much!). 

One thing that helps that immensely is using book blurbs in your pitch. Let somebody else tell the person you’re pitching that the book is good. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve chosen to cover a book based on what someone I knew/admired said about it. Here’s how to get book blurbs!

16. Don’t use an Amazon review as a blurb

But but but but but!

Not all blurbs carry the same weight. There are some really great Amazon reviewers out there, but I wouldn’t consider them blurbers. A blurb should come from an author or expert in your book’s field.

17. Don’t use big block paragraphs for your pitch

Big block paragraphs turn me away from a pitch 49 times out of 50. I scan email pitches for the content I need—the genre, description, blurbs, cover, publication month—but it makes it difficult to do that when there’s only one or two big block paragraphs. Make it less work on me, will ya?

Break that pitch up into multiple paragraphs and use formatting tools like bolded font and lists. Do NOT use colored font.

How do you get more book reviews? We’ve got answers!

18. Don’t send the pitch until the book is ready

A very important reminder before we get into the nitty gritty of drafting your pitch letter! When you pitch, make sure the book is presented as well as it could possibly be. Three vitals:

• Your book description should be the absolute best it can be.
• The book cover should be finalized, catchy, and attractive.
• Have your blurb(s) ready.

And of course, don’t pitch anybody until the book is ready to be sent to them. If you pitch someone, they say yes, and you say, “Wait, it’s still in copy editing!” you’re going to miss out on that publicity.

19. Do (or Don’t!) attach a press release

I like press releases! They’re an efficient, attractive way to display all of the necessary details of your book. When I see a well-designed press release, I think that the author/publishing team put time and effort into this interaction—and probably did the same with the book. Although, a poorly designed press release can do the opposite.

Some outlets and even some email carriers don’t want you to attach ANYTHING to your pitch. Since you don’t want to end up in SPAM or in the digital trash, make sure you follow their guidelines. If they don’t specify, then feel free to include one! But make it snappy and sleek. 

20. Do send the pitch & save your send date

We’ve already done a lot of work. So don’t forget the most important thing: sending the actual pitch!

Set aside time early in the week to send your personalized (but mostly copy & pasted) pitch to every single recipient on your list, separately. I like to get them all done within a few days so that we can finalize this task, determine why things worked or didn’t, and then move onto the next task. I like beginning of the week for sending pitches because I don’t want to get or request a response on the weekend. 

Add a column at the end of your spreadsheet that says “Date Sent.” You’ll want to keep this info so that you know when to follow up. Speaking of… 

21. Do send a follow-up

A follow-up pitch can help you move up in your recipient’s inbox. If a reviewer is considering covering your book and then you follow up with them kindly (maybe around 7 days later?), it could help them make the final decision.

At IBR, the follow-ups don’t do tooooo much, but as a publicist, it has worked for me multiple times in the past. Sometimes the follow-up period is more successful than the initial pitching period.

22. Don’t be pushy

Tattoo this one on your forehead!

If you are asking for a free review or feature, you are asking for help. You believe the recipient could help you improve your chances of making book sales, and the recipient thinks that maybe your book or you could help generate income for them. Bookselling is a teamwork activity.

So even in your follow-up—and even if they agreed to review it months ago and have stopped answering you—be kind and patient and understanding. You want to keep good vibes going through your little community of supportive readers. Don’t ruin it. 

23. Do celebrate every little victory

And I guess we’ve arrived at my favorite of all favorites. Sometimes your pitch converts! Sometimes your book is reviewed. Sometimes you wake up and your book is being talked about online. I don’t care if it’s a single social media post, a single blog review, or the best podcast interview acceptance you could have possibly asked for. The most important thing for you to do is feel happy. Your work is being recognized, and while each publicity feature won’t sell a book for you, it can be rewarding to know that your hard work is being recognized. Congrats, friend. 

24. Don’t give up

It can feel like a substantial bummer to hear crickets in response to your book pitches. And some outlets won’t even want to feature you if your book is getting too old. You should definitely move on to different book marketing tasks eventually. 

But!

Keep an eye out. When you see a new outlet pop up or just one you haven’t seen before, learn about it and dust off that pitch letter. Some people will be willing to talk about your book as long as it’s available. Keep on trying. You got this.

And now you know what you need to know about book publicity. Good luck out there!

About the Author

Joe Walters is the founder and editor-in-chief of Independent Book Review, and he has been a book marketer for Sunbury Press, Inkwater Press, and Paper Raven Books. When he’s not doing editorial, promoting, or reviewing work, he’s working on his novel and trusting the process. Find him @joewalters13 on Twitter.

Thank you for reading Joe Walters’s blog post “24 Dos and Don’ts of Book Publicity!” If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

The post 24 Dos & Don’ts of Book Publicity | Tips on Research, Pitching & More appeared first on Independent Book Review.

by Joe Walters

Book marketing is a maze.

Authors and publishers walk into the entrance in hopes of finding book sales, and they find themselves lost, waving to other authors going in different directions. You’re going to find book sales in the maze, I promise, but they’ll vary and they can feel like lightnings in a bottle.

But the thing is—you can actually find a path here. 

It’s complicated and the hedges shift Harry Potter-style, and it could take actual literal years to feel like you’re any good at it, but even then, the hedges will shift too. Your path will look different from mine and mine will be different from theirs and someone somewhere will do something that nobody has ever done and will produce the biggest splash any of us have ever seen.

But wait! Before your creative mind gets you convinced that, hey, that’s me you’re talking about!, I want you to know something. 

Book marketing is a whole world. Welcome to it.

Here is what you need to know about book marketing #1:

The key to survival is about having patience, having fun, and writing more books.

Nothing sells more books than publishing more books. 

In my early-goings as the marketing director for Inkwater Press, I was approaching it from a writer’s viewpoint. I thought, how can we make this book the bestseller it deserves to be? 

But over time, I realized that there were more good books than publicity and book buyers have available. It’s just math. If we consider that the average American reads four books a year, and then recognize that around 4 million books were published last year, even the most right-brained individual can do the math to figure out that not every book can be a best seller. Even the best books from the hardest working authors with the deepest pockets can flounder. 

So, after trial and error, I started thinking about book marketing as a publisher: someone who publishes multiple books—and continues to do so—so that there are multiple streams of income coming in. Backlist sells. 

Before we get to the nitty gritty, give yourself patience and actual time to understand what book marketing is so that you can invest time and money into it. That’s what this blog post is for.

What you need to know about book marketing #2: 

Think of it like a gill net.

What’s a gill net? 

You obviously haven’t been watching enough Alone.

A gill net is a fishing net that you dangle into water so that fish can get stuck in it all on their own. The fishers have to set up the net, but they don’t have to stand at the water doing manual labor in order to retrieve the fish.

So as a book marketer, I’d recommend setting up a gill net.

How do you catch these slippery book sales without having to post on social media every day?

Complete these 11 book marketing tasks first: 

1. Get a book cover you love & that others love

This might seem like it’s out of your hands, but it’s hands-down the most important book marketing task, even if it’s completed by the design department (or, for indie authors, that person you found on the internet). You can send all the ads you want at a book with a mediocre, bad, or misleading cover; odds are, you’re not going to make your money back. 

So first and foremost, do your homework on book covers, get feedback on it from multiple bookish people, and be willing to adjust your publishing timeline if it doesn’t turn out the way you’re proudest of. Here are some more tips on designing a great cover.

2. Write a damn good book description

Your description is the second-most important & sustainable book marketing task. Reviewers & buyers need to feel like this book is for them in order for them to make the time in their varied schedules to buy it AND read it. It needs to be enticing, crisp, informative, buzzy, and tame all at once. Sound like a tough task? It is. But I got more guidance for you in How to Write a Damn Good Book Description.

3. Write a stellar subtitle (if applicable)

Fun news for all you fiction writers: you can probably ignore this task!

Nonfiction writers: we’ve got more work to do! Subtitles sell books more than you can possibly know. Not only can they communicate exactly what the reader needs out of a book, but it can utilize keywords that increase book sales simply from showing up when someone types “How to plant trees” into Amazon.

4. Write a damn good author bio

First: content rules all. If your name is Ryan Reynolds and you’re a movie star, your bio is going to be more enticing than Bobby Bobberson who just wrote his first book in Idaho.

But even if you are Bobby Bobberson, you can still highlight your most impressive & relevant details; you can be funny, sharp, and informative while doing so. Different readers choose books for different reasons, so make sure you take this long-lasting book marketing task seriously. A few tips:

• Start with your best.
• Don’t write too much. I like approx. 100-150 words.
• We don’t need to know your Bachelor’s degree, especially when it’s unrelated to the book’s content.
• Don’t you dare have any typos. Get that thing quadruple-checked.
• End it with a variation of “Learn more at BobbyBobbersonDOTcom.”

5. Take a semi-professional author photo

Just do me a favor and don’t make it a selfie with your computer webcam. Don’t have a traffic cone or anything else glaring behind you. We should focus on you. Choose your outfit with purpose. It should match the setting (ie. I don’t love a suit in a bookstore unless the book is about business or politics). And lastly, I wouldn’t have the photo cropped anywhere below your chest. There are always exceptions, but the safe bet is usually to focus well enough on your face so that when the photo is shrunken to a thumbnail, you are visible.

6. Get blurbs

I’ve also written a ton about this in an earlier post—What Are Book Blurbs and How Do I Get Them?—so honestly, I’d just recommend clicking in to a new tab and reading it after this post. 

In short, blurbs are book reviews written by authors or experts in your book’s field. You’ll use these short book reviews early and they can be on your sales pages and back covers, so they’re always there to play a role in converting a buyer. If you can get Stephen King to write a blurb for you, do it. If you can’t (or just need some more help), read the link above.

7. Create your author website

I’ve already mentioned this a couple times, but that’s only because it is an important hub for your fans to visit, especially after you’ve written multiple books. (Hint, hint: go write more books). 

Just like the rest of this task list, I’d recommend doing this pre-publication. Have at least a Home page, an About page, a Contact page, and a Book(s) page. Include all relevant newsletter signups and/or social media pages in widgets visible on all/most pages. In my opinion, you do not need to pay for a business plan so that you have the domain BobbyBobbersonDOTcom. As long as it’s professionally designed, BobbyBobbersonDOTWordpressDOTcom works just fine.

8. Set up your Goodreads author account

This is the fun part of the pre-publication list where things become way less time consuming! If you already have your cover, description, author bios, author photo, etc., then I’d recommend adding your book to the Goodreads database and creating an author page there. Include your photo, your bio, and links to your website/social media at least. But you can personalize it even further with interview questions, genre preferences, and more. Most important piece of this is making sure when your book does publish, that the ISBN is correct and the Amazon link is working.

9. Request a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads in the back of your back.

I love this one! In your book’s back matter, there are already pages like acknowledgments, author bio, other books, etc., so I’d just recommend adding a page at the end there kindly requesting that they leave a review. Anybody who has reached this point in your book are pretty good candidates because they read your book so thoroughly—i.e. probably liked it—and they want to learn more about you. Be personable and approachable in your request, never pushy. And once the eBook is published, see if you or your publisher would be interested in adding the actual link to your product page clickable so they can click from their ereader straight to leaving a review.

10. Design Amazon A+ & social media graphics

Since you have the book cover and an array of book blurbs, hooks, and short descriptions, you (or someone you hire on ye’ ol’ internet) can start designing graphics for you to use on social media, your website, newsletter, and Amazon A+ content.

Amazon A+ content is a relatively new feature for all books published with KDP, and I’m a pretty big fan of it. Just like how images/videos catch users’ attention on social media, you can design graphics to add to your Amazon book sales page. They should be good and professional and make good use of the space, so make sure you take a look at a few examples (like this, this, and this) before you get all Canva happy. If you’d like, we can actually design a couple review graphics for you with our editorial book reviews service.

You can create graphics for specific announcements (like pre-order day, launch day, a new review, etc.) prior to actually using them on social media. I’d recommend using Canva, but I’ve also had positive experiences with ColorCinch & Book Brush.

What you need to know about book marketing #3:

Some books sell better than others.

Just take a look at the tasks you were supposed to complete so far (Hint, hint: go do them).

Now realize that some book descriptions have bigger bites. Some blurbs are flashier. Some covers are out of this world. Some authors have done more impressive things than you have (Sorry). 

Before you start researching which media outlets to pitch, it’s important to recognize that you are battling with heavy-hitters in your industry for national coverage. You can absolutely sell books locally, nationally, and internationally through publicity, but it’s best to know going in that you may only get responses 2-5-10% of the time, and not all of them are going to say yes.

With that said, let’s enter phase two: researching & organizing. 

Complete the following 5 book marketing tasks:

11. Research best keywords & categories

With Amazon KDP, you are allowed to upload your book using 7 keywords. A keyword is a phrase that browsers type into the Amazon search engine (ie—if they’re looking for a friends to lovers romance, they may type in “friends to lovers”). How do you find the seven best keywords for your book? Well…you can use a tool like Publisher Rocket or you can do your own research. 

One of my favorite ways to do this (for free) is to write down a long list of potential keywords, type them into the Amazon search engine under “Kindle Store” or “Books,” and then judge the search term’s popularity by matching up how well the books match the keyword and how popular those books are via review numbers and sales rank on the book’s product page. 

You are allowed to upload your book with two categories. A book category is similar to a genre or subgenre. For example, you can upload your book as Science Fiction & Action & Adventure if you’ve written a science fiction adventure. 

But fun fact—if you upload your eBook and/or Book with KDP, you can add up to 8 more categories after the initial two. I’d definitely recommend adding additional categories so that your book has a higher chance to show up on Amazon bestseller lists, which readers sometimes browse for new purchases.

12. Research & list media outlets in a spreadsheet

Now it’s time to put those keywords and categories to the test! Start typing them into Google to see which outlets are reviewing and talking about books and topics like yours. Jot them down in a spreadsheet, learn about them in order to determine which angle you’ll take to pitch them, and make note of the contact you’ll use to pitch them. It’s always best to get a real human vs. an info@… inbox, so keep an eye out for names and roles. Don’t worry about pitching them yet. Just find them and organize them first. Include bloggers, vloggers, podcasters, and social media influencers in addition to popular websites and magazines.

And while you’re there, add IBR to your list! We review indie books of all varieties.

13. Plan your physical launch (if applicable)

I love a good physical launch! It can be at a local bookstore, a coffee shop, a 7-11 (I’m looking at you, Kristen Arnett!), a library—just make sure you determine where you think will have the biggest response (like if most of your friends and family are in one specific area) and put together a plan of how you will sell the most books there. Get creative, plan drinks/food, do something unique (like a raffle and/or a party gift of some sort). Once you think you’ve planned a badass launch party, reach out to your #1 hosting option, ask nicely, thank them for the opportunity to ask, and mention which specific ways you will be bringing an audience to their location.

You do NOT have to do a physical book launch. You may miss out on a few sales, but if you’re worried about standing in front of people and reading your erotica, then just…don’t do it! Your book will not fall flat because of it.

14. Research local events (if applicable)

Similar to the last task, start jotting down locations you may do other events. They can be readings, signings, conferences, fairs, and lectures at colleges or historical societies. Some authors have a lot of success at physical locations, while others feel the weight of empty rooms and don’t want to do it anymore. My recommendation is to only do a few and to focus so hard on getting attendees to them instead of trying to have an event in NYC where you don’t know anyone. When you’re famous, you can do that, but until then, feast your eyes on marketing tasks elsewhere.

15. Research & list consumer reviewers

In that same spreadsheet you made for media outlets, create a new tab strictly for consumer reviewers. Who are consumer reviewers? People who review books on Amazon & Goodreads. How do you find them? Amateur sleuthing! Find books similar to yours (but probably not the biggest bestsellers of the year/all time) and read their reviews. 

When you find reviews that you like, click on the reviewer’s profile and find if they have contact info or a website. Sometimes those reviewers accept submissions for possible review. Same thing goes with social media. Type in your keywords and hashtags and find people who are willing to review books for free. When you find them, jot down their name, their contact info, and which angle you’ll take in pitching them. Soon, you’ll be reaching out to them to see if they’d be open to reviewing your book. Make sure you’re patient and not pushy here though, as social media DMs can go poorly when you do them wrong.

What you need to know about book marketing #4:

Reclusive writers, beware! It’s time to include other people. 

You can definitely stay reclusive and stick only to tasks that you can do yourself (like book promotion & advertising), but you are leaving some sales on the table. Honestly, that’s fine. “Be happy and write books” is my #1 book marketing motto, but if you really do want to sell the most books you can, it’s best to shed your Salinger persona and start talking to readers.

Here are a few tasks you can complete to do that:

16. Build a launch team

This is one of my favorite ways to build buzz around the launch of your book! Open up another tab in that trusty spreadsheet and start listing the people you believe would support you the most. Think of your friends, extended family, and writers’ groups you’re in. 

About a month before your book publishes, send them an email asking if they would help you around the launch date of your book by reading a digital copy and leaving a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads within the first few days of the book’s publication. Some superstars are even willing to post about the launch on their social media profiles and/or to comment on your launch posts. Invite that! A lot of engagement in the early-going is such a great way to show non-launch-team members that your book could be popular and they better jump on it quick. 

On launch day, email them to share the link where they can leave a review, and then, for those who don’t complete it that day, send them a reminder in about a week.

17. Plan your author newsletter

Social media is cool and all, but it can change at any time. You can put all your eggs into the social media basket, and the algorithm could adjust so that the Facebook Group you’ve been curating and giving time and energy to no longer gets engagement. With email, you’re building your following directly through you. I like this. 

However, it’s not just about making a MailChimp account and putting the link to sign up on your website. It takes a reader magnet, curation, intrigue, and regular mailings to make newsletters worth it. You’re going to need to do some research to figure this thing out, so get reading.

18. Plan your social media strategy

There are whole books about selling books through social media, so this little paragraph isn’t going to do it justice. You can ABSOLUTELY sell books on social media. Some people use social media as their primary sales tool, and it works, but others use it that way and end up losing a ton of time doing it. As a whole, I kind of don’t like social media for indie authors. It gets people thinking they have to post multiple times a day across platforms to grow (which has merit!), but it just steals so much time away from other book marketing tasks.

I like to think of social media as a way to communicate with your fans and increase your following. You should be active on there—as active as you feel up to—and you should be personable on there. Mix professional with personal and follow the lead of the people you follow and admire.

In terms of strategy, I’d recommend jotting down which platforms you plan to utilize prior to publication and then planning your posts before, during, and directly after publication. Use a variety of posts, have fun, and consider advertising for book promos. Using Facebook ads & TikTok are probably my two favorite book marketing strategies on social media right now, but as always, that could change.

What you need to know about book marketing #4:

Getting publicity for your book can be helpful, fun, and absolutely debilitating. 

Publicity used to be the #1 way to get sales, and it still works–but maybe not in the way you’d think. One right outlet can open so many doors for you, but it’s also possible coverage does nothing. So how is it worth your time?

Nothing in book marketing or publicity is guaranteed. It’s about taking risks in calculated ways and giving it a chance to pay off now or down the road. Try your best and smartest to get on podcasts, get book reviews, get author features, and more, but if nothing comes from it, don’t get too frustrated. You’re battling for limited media space with local authors, established authors, and Ryan Reynolds.

Intimidated? Don’t be. The worst they can do is ignore you.

Here are 5 tasks to complete in order to get publicity for your book.

19. Send ARCs out to trade reviewers and other companies who require 3+ months in advance of publication

Some review companies (like Library Journal and Publishers Weekly) ask you to submit your book months in advance of your book’s publication for it to be considered for a review.

These review companies are definitely still worth pitching, as librarians and bookstores peruse these sites in hopes of stocking new books, and quotes from them go a long way in converting a pitch in the future too. So in that spreadsheet you created, check which places require this and make sure to follow the guideline.

20. Submit your book to contests (optional)

Authors and publishers often have a love/hate relationship with book awards and contests, and I get it. But if your book wins the right award, it can do so much in increasing sales and validity.

Do your research first and determine which contests you believe could actually make a difference—more than just allowing you the opportunity to call yourself an “Award-Winning Author.” Some contests really do only offer that, and I wouldn’t recommend heading in that direction.

Hit the ol’ Google machine, type in “book contests” and “book awards” related to your book’s content and/or your location, and send that baby in to those you truly believe could help you sell books. I’ve also heard pretty good things about Book Award Pro as an option.

21. Write, revise, and edit a compelling pitch letter

Think of your pitch letter as the email you send to get publicity for your book. It used to be on official publisher letterhead, and you’d send it snail mail. Things have changed! Basically, you need to write a pitch letter introducing yourself, your book, and why the recipient’s audience would be interested in a book like yours or in a person like you in an email.

Personalize each and every pitch letter so that the greeting is different and the angle with which you pitch is different. Recipients like to see that you know their platform and believe that the book is relevant and important to their audience.

For example, I run Independent Book Review, and we choose books for review that we believe will sell to our audience. If I’m going to pay a reviewer to review it, I want to know why a sale could happen for us. That could be because of a great cover, description, blurb, or author platform.

22. Attach the cover or a press release

A pitch without a book cover is like asking someone to put a photo on their front door without showing them what the photo looks like. Recipients need to see this; it can sway their decision on both sides of the spectrum. A press release is a way to display the cover, description, blurbs, and author info in an appealing form so that the recipient knows the book has been professionally pitched and could even be a better book overall. A bad press release can harm the pitch though, so make sure it looks great.

23. Follow the outlet’s guidelines exactly

The last and potentially most important task here is to read the recipient’s guidelines for submitting for consideration and actually follow them. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got the best pitch in their inbox, if you don’t follow their guidelines, you’ll meet the email trash can. 

Take a break for celebration: It’s launch time!

Launching a book should be fun, but since indie authors have had to adopt so many book marketing tasks, it can turn into a stressful and busy time. But…don’t let it!

You just wrote & published a book. Definitely schedule, plan, and post your social media posts and newsletter. Try to answer people who are engaging with your posts on social media, but do not spend your whole launch day tapping like buttons, commenting, and spying your Amazon sales rank. 

Instead, go out to eat! Go for a walk and say hi to your neighborhood crows. Go to your family or friends’ house and play scrabble. Distract yourself but bask in your achievement. Cheers to you!

Once your book is available, you can complete the following tasks:

24. Set up your Amazon author central account

Fun fact! When your book is live for pre-order or purchase on Amazon, you can create an author profile. When a browser clicks your name beside your book cover, they will be taken to a page with your face on it, your books on it, your bio, and more. When you create this account, you can also start advertising and adding editorial reviews to your product page.

25. Announce your launch on all social media platforms and newsletter

This one may seem obvious, but if this counts as a reminder, then I’m a happy camper. So…do it! Get personal, vulnerable, and excited. Maybe even post a picture of you holding the book if you feel up to it.

26. Email launch team

Once your book is available, your launch team can leave a review on Amazon. Send an email with a link and thank them for helping you out. If you want to link to your social media announcements, you can float that idea too. (But as always with respect and patience!)

27. Update the signature in your email and newsletter

This is an easy one! Just head into your email and/or newsletter settings and add a hyperlink to your book so that anyone who ever receives an email from you, even if it’s about a pickup basketball game, has the option of seeing and buying your book. Don’t attach a long link though; either make a graphic clickable or make something along the lines of “Read My Latest Book” clickable.

28. Start experimenting with advertising & promotion (optional but recommended)

I have worked for three publishing companies, and two of them did not do paid advertising. They still sold books. You do not have to spend money to make money, but it does help and you could hit a few walls. Even if you don’t want to spend money, you can run price promotions, meaning you can drop the eBook price to $.99, $1.99, etc.

But one of my favorite ways to do this is by dropping the price and then getting it featured on book deal sites (like those by Written Word Media). Here’s a big outline of how to use book promotion and advertising.

29. Follow-up with media outlets

You’ve already pitched media outlets prior to publication, but now that your book is available, you can drop in and say that it’s finally available and you’d love the chance to be featured on the outlet. I’ve been pitching books for years, and the follow-up is usually the best way I end up getting coverage.

30. Pitch bookstores, libraries, and non-bookstore shops/collections

This task is a BIG part of big-five publishers’ task lists and goals, but it falters a bit for indie authors. Major publishers have major distribution; they are able to send books all across the country for the chance to be included in bookstores, but indies either have to front the cost of printing and shipping or suffer under a returns policy when the book doesn’t sell in their store.

So while I wouldn’t recommend trying to get your book in every store in America, I would recommend trying some of them! Your local stores & libraries will have extra incentive to carry your book, and if you approach them professionally and kindly, you could end up getting a few sales from them, especially since many stores buy books to carry them in their store. 

Non-bookstore shops are some of my favorite places to pitch (using a great pitch letter of course!) because yours might be one of the few books in the museum or gift shop. If your nonfiction book about local history would be helpful to a local museum, pitching is definitely worth a shot.

31. Share reviews & press on all platforms

Reviews are great for a lot of different reasons, but if you get a review from a blogger, it might not necessarily mean you’re going to get a sale from that blogger’s audience. One of my favorite ways to use publicity is simply to announce it on social media and/or your newsletter. Having new and unique things to share is an important aspect of book marketing, and you want the outlet to know you care about how they helped you. A social post to help increase their traffic would be appreciated.

32. Write guest posts

Do you have a lot to say about topics included in your book? Cool! Pitch some publications with a catchy title of a blog post you could write, and they might offer to publish the post on their high-traffic site. You may be able to find a way to plug your book (or not), but you’ll at least be able to include it in your author bio. This is a time-consuming task, and it could work wonders for you, but it also could not. Use your time effectively. Do a couple guest posts and see if it’s right for you. Here’s more I’ve written about guest posting as a book marketing strategy.

33. Pitch book clubs

Local book clubs, library book clubs, topic-focused book clubs, national book clubs—research them, organize them, and pitch them! Some genres are better than others for most book clubs, so know your audience and whether they usually participate in them before you spend too much time pitching readers who won’t bite.

34. Participate in conferences and fairs

Book & writing conferences are cool. I think they’re worth doing because of the fun alone, but I also like ones that don’t focus on books. Might even like them better for actual sales. Being the only person selling books at a craft fair can get you more books sold than you’d realize (Of course, with a caveat that every book and fair is different).

35. Write more books.

You’ve written and published a great book. Good work. Keep on trying to sell it. But don’t forget the #1 thing you need to know about book marketing: the best way to sell more books is to write more books. So get writing.

And now you know what you need to know about book marketing. Good luck out there!

About the Author

Joe Walters is the founder and editor-in-chief of Independent Book Review, and he has been a book marketer for Sunbury Press, Inkwater Press, and Paper Raven Books. When he’s not doing editorial, promoting, or reviewing work, he’s working on his novel and trusting the process. Find him @joewalters13 on Twitter.

Thank you for reading Joe Walters’s blog post “What You Need to Know About Book Marketing!” If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

The post What You Need to Know About Book Marketing appeared first on Independent Book Review.

by Joe Walters

Your marketing strategy is only as good as your book description.

You can work tirelessly to get browsers to click on your product link. Newsletters, social media, advertising, article writing—you name the type of book promotion, you’re working hard at it.

But all that hard work won’t matter if your product page isn’t closing the deal. 

Maybe the person who clicked on your link came from a Facebook ad. Maybe they liked the cover or the short tagline you shared, and they thought, Woah, this might be my next favorite book.

But then they get to the product description, and instead of hitting “Buy Now,” they leave. 

You have lost the sale and the money you spent on the ad that got them there.

Do everything you can to not let this happen.

Your book description accompanies your book wherever it goes, and it ranks in importance right up there (or just behind) your book cover.

If you make it onto a book list of impressive books, the curator may use all or some of your book description to accompany the book. When you send your book out for review, the reviewer will take a look at the cover first and then lean heavily on the description to make their decision. 

Does this book sound like it’s for me? Does the writing make me think this author is capable of executing a great plot? Does it seem like something incredible will happen?

You’re thinking, Okay, okay, I get it. Descriptions are important.

But how do I write a book description that closes the deal?

The short answer? With care, time, revision, editing, formatting, and testing.

The long answer?

Let’s get to it.

Here’s how to write a damn good book description for your fiction or narrative nonfiction book.

It all starts with the hook.

What’s a hook? Well…

A hook is a short, catchy phrase that utilizes the main selling point(s) of your novel, similar in concept to an elevator pitch. Often bolded at the very top of the description, it can read like a tagline related to the story like, “Don’t look under the bed,” or it can highlight things like blurbs and accomplishments. 

Let’s think of the Amazon desktop when discussing how to write a good book description. We aren’t going to focus on your back cover yet because there’s more room for creativity there. On Amazon, it’s the bare bones of bold and italic. 

On the Amazon desktop, a product description goes in the middle between the cover & the purchase information and directly beneath the book formats & number of ratings. All of these things are important. Know why?

Not everyone scrolls down. Some browsers just click in, then click out. Your job with a book description is to keep them there & to entice them enough to hit buy instead of the X.

Example Product Page

What you’ll notice in this screenshot is that the book description cuts off, that it only shows approximately 80 words and 500 characters of it before the browser must click “Read more” to read the full description.

You have their attention. They are on your page. Keep them there.

Ask yourself: What are your book’s biggest selling points?

Here are some possible options.

• Is it the twisty plot? Is it the monsters? Draft something catchy that includes your bestselling aspect.
• Is there a way to condense the story to its most important storyline while slyly and succinctly communicating its themes?
• Compare it to one-two currently popular book(s), tv show(s), or movie(s).
• Was it called “magnificent” by a recognizable author or expert (aka: a blurb)?
• Did it win a book award or get featured on a best books list?
• Does your book utilize or subvert a popular trope?
• Does your 1st person narrator have a memorable voice? Perhaps use an example to start it all off.
• Is there a short, punchy quote from within the book that encapsulates the tone and intrigue of the story?

You do not need to use all of the words & characters you are allowed to use. Remember, we’re considering the design of the paragraphs on Amazon. And you know what helps vision on digital screens?

White space!

Spaces!

One word two word three word punch.

Be concise with your available characters. Make the book sound incredible but don’t toot your own horn. Stay away from giving your book compliments. Either allow an author or expert to do that with a blurb, or show your reader why the book is worth buying with the storyline and execution of the prose itself. 

Here are a few examples of hooks & the beginning of Amazon book descriptions that I particularly like:

• The Hawthorne Inheritance by Kate Blair (Historical Fiction)
• Wipe Out by Teresa Godfrey (Sci-Fi)
• Teaching the Teacher’s Pet by Sarah Sutton (YA Romance)
• Big Sky Murder by Sherilyn Decter (Mystery)
• Faces in a Window by Oliver Seneca (Horror)

I consider the hook to be the bolded part of all of these examples. Directly after the bolded part, I will call part 1. Note that I am not calling it paragraph 1.

Why is this broken into “parts” and not “paragraphs?”

Let’s make it easy on the browser’s eyes. I do not like big, meaty paragraphs in book descriptions. I love short, easy, and enticing ones.

Some publishers, like Joffe Books, one of UK’s leaders in mystery-thrillers, utilize single sentence and single word paragraphs with bold formatting to make the description exceptionally browsable. For some genres (like mystery-thriller, duh!), I think this is awesome. Romance too!

But if you want to think of visualizing your description as paragraph one before you get all nilly-willy with your paragraph breaks & designs, I think that’s a good idea.

Part 1: Establish the characters and introduce the primary conflict.

Your goal for part one of your book description should be to establish the character(s), the situation they were in at the opening of the book, and ending with the inciting incident that shakes them out of that situation and into the main conflict of the novel.

If you were thinking of it like your first paragraph, you can imagine that the final words of the description are kind of the “cliffhanger” that propels the reader to jump to part/paragraph 2. It’s the thing that gets the character & the reader moving. 

Part 2: What does the character do to try to solve the primary conflict and who do they do it with? 

When your character gets fired from their job but travels back in time to avoid it from happening, what do they do when they arrive in the past? What are their new goals? Who becomes important to them? Keep this as succinct as possible. Only mention characters when they are vital to the plot or add big-time fandom & intrigue, and limit the amount of names to around three-four. One of the most important aspects of sales writing is to make the reading smooth and easy. Too many names gives the browser the opportunity for confusion.

End part two with another cliffhanger. Make me wonder since office-person & his new bird-friend are now tasked with defeating the evil-boss-manager in a fantasy fencing match, will they make it out alive? Will he want to come back to work?

Don’t tell me the ending, don’t even get close. I’d recommend stopping the summary at around 50% of your novel, but of course, each story is different. I just find numbers to actually make a difference in helping authors visualize what’s most important here. And what’s most important? Giving them the promise of a climax without saying where, how, or when it will happen.

Part 3: Promise the reader what they will gain by reading this book.

If your browser has made it this far, you’re in good shape. But also, keep in mind that many browsers scan book descriptions these days—they don’t read the whole thing. Sometimes, they read the beginning of the description, some keywords in between, and then the final paragraph or pieces of the final paragraph. 

This is why I like to get most or all of the summary out in part two so that we can focus on turning part three into a sort of closing hook.

My favorite part threes manage to include things like genre/subgenre, style, a keyword or two, perhaps another bolded blurb, and a catchy last line. If I’m thinking of the office-person story, I’d definitely make sure I’d talk about how office-person will learn something about themself and their coworkers along the way. I’d make it clear that it’s an office fantasy, a book about work that’s not about work, and written in the style of Winnie the Pooh.

“Oh, bother.”

The only requirement for the final sentence of your book description is that it is good. It can be longer than the sentences of parts 1 & 2 or it can be shorter, another punchy ending. If you’d like, you can even throw another blurb in here. The bold text at the bottom of the description helps close out the design, almost like the bottom bun of a hamburger.

Some examples!

• The Red-Headed Pilgrim by Kevin Maloney (Literary Fiction / Humor)
• I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself by Marisa Crane (Sci-Fi)
• Thyra by Steven Grier Williams (Fantasy)
• KGB Banker by William Burton McCormick & John Christmas (Mystery-Thriller)

Let’s address a few FAQs before we get out of here:

How long should my book description be?

I think the sweet spot can be anywhere between 115 and 200 words. But I could be talked into more or less…as long as it’s good!

How should I write a book description for a short story collection?

If you made it this far into the blog post and you knew the whole time that I wasn’t talking to you, then I love you. You’re nice and cool and I’m glad you came, thank you.

But also, you can kind of use the same tenets as a novel writer. You should have a hook. That hook should be bolded and enticing, and parts 2 & 3 are largely the same. You should mention some of the stories’ plots in part 2, and you should share the “promise” of what they’ll get from reading it in part 3. Part 1 is the main difference in my eyes. You can’t introduce just one character and conflict.

What I like to do is skip right to parts 2 & 3 after the hook, unless it is a linked story collection about one place or theme. If it’s linked, talk about the town/theme that brings them together in part 1. If they’re not, feel free to start telling one-line mini intros to the stories included. Start with your favorite, biggest-selling point ones. Don’t feel required to do all of them (or even nearly all of them). 3 to 5 is a nice sweet spot. 

Here are some examples that I like: Training School for Negro Girls and I’m Not Hungry But I Could Eat.

How should I format my book description on the back cover of my book?

This process is definitely different from an Amazon book description, but I would say it starts in a fairly similar place: design.

Unlike Amazon where you can only use text and bullets, you can use color, photos, author info, and more on a back cover. The purpose of designing a beautiful back cover is that you hope an in-person book browser (whether they be at a bookstore, fair/festival, signing, library, etc.) picks up your book because they’re drawn to the front cover and then they flip it over to the back.

Here are some options for what you can put on your back cover:

• Book description
• Blurbs
• Author bio
• Author photo
• Genre/category info
• Publisher info
• Images from within the book

You know what this means?

You probably have less room to use the “many small paragraphs” approach. My favorite back covers usually include a small category denomination at the top of the cover, a couple blurbs, a book description with approximately 2-3 paragraphs, and an author bio & author photo (if professional & good). Just take your current Amazon desktop description and start pushing some paragraphs together. It might help to cut some sentences too, if it can afford it.

Can I edit my book description after it goes live on Amazon?

Yup! You can do this through Amazon author central, or your publisher can do it for you. I recommend it actually! If you’ve gotten some new accolade that helps you sell books (like “Winner of the Pulitzer Prize”), put it up there. If you’re realizing the description isn’t doing its job, edit it.

What are some common mistakes people make when writing their book description?

• Overwriting. Stay succinct!
• Long, complicated sentences. Be clear!
• Too much self-praise. You might be able to afford one or two positive adjectives about your book in part 3, but I’d steer clear of it from the most part.
• Big bulky paragraphs. 
• Bad formatting. Make sure the paragraphs actually use spaces on your Amazon page.
• Copy-editing & grammar mistakes
• Unnecessary characters or plot points
• Summary should use present tense

And…you’re all done! Get outta here.

Go write a book description. Get that book published. Then send it to IBR!

About the Author

Joe Walters is the founder and editor-in-chief of Independent Book Review, and he has been a book marketer for Sunbury Press, Inkwater Press, and Paper Raven Books. When he’s not doing editorial, promoting, or reviewing work, he’s working on his novel and trusting the process. Find him @joewalters13 on Twitter.

Thank you for reading Joe Walters’s blog post “How to Write a Damn Good Fiction Book Description!” If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

The post How to Write a Damn Good Book Description | IBR Book Marketing Series (Part 5) appeared first on Independent Book Review.

by Joe Walters

Everyone is telling you to get more book reviews.

It’s the key to book marketing, they say.

It’s everything, baby, they say.

How will book-buyers know you’re awesome if other people aren’t telling them?

I’ve been working in book marketing for 5+ years now (because apparently I’m getting older?), so I’ve had a lot of opportunities to work with books and authors. Hundreds for sure; thousands, maybe. That’s a lot of authors.

And sometimes, to my disappointment, those authors don’t actively pursue book reviews. So when a browser views their book online, they are met with the question, has anyone ever bought this book before? 

And that’s not even talking about the other kinds of book reviews: from publicity platforms to social media influencers to authors and experts in your book’s niche. 

How can you make sure book lovers are hitting the purchase button instead of hesitating?

The answer, as you might expect, is to get more book reviews. But when can you stop? When can you relax? When can you move away from pursuing book reviews and just get to work on writing your next book?

All this brain power, time power, and pitching power you’re spending trying to get reviews—it can feel like you are either: a) not getting results, or b.) not getting the right kind of results.

What are the right kind of results for indie authors? 

Sales. Page reads on Kindle Unlimited. People spending their time reading a thing you care deeply about. 

Unless the book is about being a social media influencer, it is NOT about the amount of likes on your IG. It is the exposure that all those likes get you—in the hopes of visiting your profile, clicking your book link, and buying it. Or becoming a fan of how awesome you are with a follow—and to later buy and read your book.

So why should you get more book reviews? To convert browsers into buyers.

If your Amazon page has 3,000 ratings and reviews, it looks impressive. It looks like people are reading and buying your book. If those reviews keep going up during the duration of your book’s publication, it means readers are reading it currently. This is great.

So, in the case of consumer reviews, the answer is yes, you should keep trying to get more book reviews. They are important. They help.

I have been a book marketer at Sunbury Press, Paper Raven Books, and Inkwater Press. I have been talking to indie authors—whom I consider as small press and self-published authors—about using their time and money in book marketing wisely. 

How much time should you spend trying to get more book reviews?

How much time do you have? You can spend so much time marketing your book that you completely bypass what all this is about: writing books that you love. 

So, first, slow down. 

Then, look earnestly at how much time you have available per week—and don’t let it hinge on your writing time. (Remember, nothing sells books like writing more books).

Third, spend that much time pursuing reviews per week. 

Book marketing takes actual literal time. And all those social media follows and posts and likes and comments that you’re clocking in for, just know that they’re not the only thing you should be doing with your marketing time.

Now, let’s complete the task: get more book reviews.

This includes getting book blurbs, media reviews, and consumer reviews on Amazon & Goodreads. When indie authors ask the question, “How do I get more book reviews?” they’re talking about three different types of reviews:

1. Book blurbs (or editorial reviews)
2. Consumer reviews (Amazon & Goodreads)
3. Media & trade book reviews (like Publishers Weekly, the New York Times, and your friendly neighborhood Independent Book Review)

So let’s tackle one at a time.

1. What are book blurbs and how do you get them?

First, let’s define it with a little help from this post: “blurbs are short book reviews written by authors or experts in the book’s field. They are used by authors & publishers on their marketing material.”

This means that you ask Stephen King if he would ever so kindly take the time out of his day to read your book and write a few nice things about it. You would then use those King quotes to put on your book cover, your social media graphics, your Amazon “Editorial Reviews Section,” and other places. 

Now when browsers see that quote from that reputable human being, they feel like they trust that this book is actually good in the sea of books that are…well…not.

So let’s ask the next logical question: Do I really need to get book blurbs?

Well…I’d recommend it! Like testimonials for a business, they increase the validity of your product. “This relevant person or professional company said, ‘[this],’ and I trust them, so I can at least believe that the pros in the book’s niche are enjoying it.”

Everything you do as an indie author to make your book appear professionally and appealingly helps it in the long run. It may not seem like it makes direct sales the way that a social media post or newsletter does, but these book reviews are doing work each time a new browser visits your book’s product page.

When I get book submissions for IBR, I look at a variety of things. One of them is that if someone like Clint Smith has said something nice about it, I think the book might be worth paying my reviewers to review it. It could get good traction for my website and help my audience of readers believe that IBR can be a source of great indie books.

But blurbs are not the only type of book review that you should pursue as indie author. 

So give yourself some time in a hypothetical week for blurb pitching, yes. Even use this blog post to inform how to get book blurbs. What’s nice is, after you have a few blurbs, you can relax a bit. It doesn’t hurt to get blurbs later on, but if you’ve got 3-5 before or on launch day, you can move on to the next review pursuit. 

2. How do you get book reviews on Amazon and Goodreads?

If a browser visits your book’s product page, sees that at a lot of people have read it and (fingers crossed) enjoyed it, then you’re in good shape.

If a browser visits your product page again, at some point after their initial visit, and the review count is higher—there’s another point of validity (and buzz)! People are reading it currently. For them, this might even pop up in a real-life conversation, so it’s yet another reason to hit the buy button.

Getting book reviews on Amazon and Goodreads is important. 

You can get more book reviews on these sites in a variety of ways, including:

• Build a launch team (or similarly, “street team”) to read your book before it comes out. They can be made up of readers you know and those who will want to support you the most when it comes out.
  • Just make sure those readers aren’t all in the same house, or in some instances, share your last name, or Amazon might remove that review. 
• Request a review on your newsletter. Don’t do this too much, but I think once or twice per book (at the exact right time) could be both beneficial and not too pushy.
• Find people who are reading books on social media, build an organic relationship with them by engaging with their content, and then asking (appropriately, kindly, patiently, personally) if they would like to read your book in exchange for an honest review. You can share your book with them by offering your book on free promotion through your publisher’s KDP account, using a program like BookFunnel, or directly sharing a digital or physical copy with them.
  • Obviously be careful who you send those .pdf copies too though. Digital book pirates exist, and some readers will request a physical copy without leaving a review. I’m a big proponent of sending books to people who say they want to read it—because, plot twist, I like the concept of people reading my words—but you’ll need money in your budget for other things too, so you can’t do it all willy-nilly.
• Giveaways on blogs, promo sites, and Goodreads. Are they guaranteed to result in reviews? No way! But it definitely increases your chances.
• Leaving a page in the back of the book that kindly, gently, personably asks if your reader would leave a review for you. If it’s an eBook and the book’s already published, it’s especially helpful to add a clickable “leave a review at [this Amazon link]” on one of the last pages of the book. That way, they don’t even have to leave their eReader to do it.
• Mention at your book event how awesome it would be if people who have read it would share their thoughts in a review online somewhere. That you’d love to see it. 
• When people tell you that they’ve read your book, you may even feel comfortable asking if they’d be willing to leave a review on one of those sites, but you also might not because that could exceed your awkwardness quotient greatly.

So, consider your question answered. Getting book reviews on Amazon and Goodreads is important, but it’s not the only review-pursuit you should be doing.

There are book blurbs (already talked about), consumer reviews (just talked about), and, lastly, media or trade reviews.

3. How do you get media or trade book reviews?

Reviews in media outlets could expand your audience.

As of [x moment in your publication journey], you have a set number of followers on social media and subscribers of your email newsletter. When you post stuff, you hope that this content is shared to a wider audience via social media, but for the most part, your content is being seen (and sometimes shared) by the same people. 

So how do you reach Johnny Tucson—that dude who loves your exact kind of book in Arizona—the guy who does not know you exist?

Well, which media platforms do you think he’s engaging with? 

Maybe he’s a reader of the New Yorker. Of Bass Pro magazine. Of Independent Book Review because he loves to read and support cool-ass indie authors. Or maybe he listens to a certain podcast, watches a specific YouTube channel for your kind of people. He might not be in your bubble now, but after a review or feature in a media platform that he follows, he might find his way over to you.

So is it important to be featured in a media outlet? You betcha.

So there you have it. Your answer.

It’s important to get book reviews in a variety of places.

That’s the problem with book marketing. Each one of these things is worth doing, but you might not have the time to do all of them. 

So first, just breathe. Know that you are one human and you need time for writing and family and friends and tv and nature and Skittles and all the other important things in life, so set aside some time to try to get book reviews and actually do it. 

Send pitch letters to get book blurbs, consumer reviews, and media features. If you feel like you’ll never have time again, keep in mind that you can allot some money in your budget to pay for sponsored or editorial book reviews. You CANNOT pay reviewers to leave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, but you CAN pay someone to do the pitching work of getting them. 

If you need to spend all or most of your marketing budget on contest fees, sending books to people, funding events, advertising, and supporting your favorite indie bookstores—then maybe buying sponsored reviews is not for you. Maybe instead, you put in extra time pitching reviewers and trying to hit your goals of increasing validity.

If you get more book reviews in magazines, blogs, and newspapers, will it really increase your sales?

Sometimes! You might get a feature that does nothing, honestly. This is a thing that happens. You can’t know what it’s going to do until we actually get there. And it will work for some books, while not working at all (or considerably less so) for others. 

If you feel like you’ve spent too much time on getting reviews and not enough time on other aspects of book marketing, well I got good news for ya!

You can stop. You can take a break. You can do the other thing. Don’t spend your time doing a thing you don’t want to do. It’ll reflect in your ability to do the job effectively. Your free time is up to you, and book marketing—unless you are doing it as your profession like a guy named me—will take place during your free time. 

So treat it like it.

How many book reviews is enough book reviews? When can you stop?

Hard and fast numbers don’t exist here, but that’s mostly because the hope would be that the number is always climbing on its own. Word of mouth has spread enough, and that review request at the back of your book is working enough so that you no longer have to pitch for them. But again, you don’t know the number, which may or may not be helpful.

So I’m going to do it. I’m going to tell you, however flimsy and circumstantial they are.

If we’re talking about consumer reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, you have my permission to chill out at number 100. I still want them to increase for sure, but it’s time to allot the marketing time you usually use to get these book reviews and try to do something else, like book promotion & advertising.

If we’re talking about blurbs, I am happy with 5. But if you meet a famous writer who wants to blurb your book, definitely take them up on that.

If we’re talking about media reviews, you can take a pause on pitching about 1 year after launch. Again, I want you to get all of the publicity you can, so keep an eye out and pitch when you see the right fit for you, but it’s true that some companies would prefer the book have a “why-now” reason for featuring the book, so pitching them may not do any good.

And perhaps the most important reason to get more book reviews? 

It has nothing to do with book marketing.

You can learn from your reviews. Real humans are reading your book. If multiple people are saying similar things, then hey, maybe that means something. Maybe that really is your strength in writing, or maybe you really could improve in that aspect. 

In the end, if you are trying to sell books and increase Kindle Unlimited page reads, I’d definitely recommend you get book more reviews. You should NOT have 0 or 1 or 2 book reviews. But if you have 300 and you’re tired, please stop. Take a sip of water. Do your best to get more book reviews, but don’t get too lost in it.

What do you think? Do you need to get more book reviews?

About the Author

Joe Walters is the founder and editor-in-chief of Independent Book Review. He has been a book marketer for Sunbury Press, Paper Raven Books, and Inkwater Press. When he’s not doing editorial, promoting, or reviewing work, he’s working on his novel and trusting the process. Find him @joewalters13 on Twitter.

Thank you for reading “Get More Book Reviews As an Indie Author | Tips on Blurbs, Amazon, and Media Reviews” by Joe Walters! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

The post Get More Book Reviews As an Indie Author | Tips on Blurbs, Amazon, and Media Reviews appeared first on Independent Book Review.

by Jeffrey Abelson

What are the keys to book cover design?

Let’s get this out of the way first: professionally crafted book covers outsell homemade designs.

You may have a knack for this. You may have a good eye, a strong keyboard-clicking finger, and a limited budget. But if you want to sell more books, there’s no better place to start than a professional book cover design. Your primary marketing tool is your book cover, so make sure it:

• Grabs Eyeballs: Your book cover distinguishes your work from an endless stream of competitors.
• Conveys Genre: Book buyers care less about reviews and recommendations than genre. If a buyer reads fantasy, they’re not looking for romance!  
• Sells Your Brand: “Making the book cover identifiably yours marks your book in the reader’s mind. When you write that next book and the cover is similar, you’re building your author brand and your core readership.”

According to Reedsy, “it takes most authors six months to a year to write a book. A writer’s timeline depends on the genre of the novel, the word count of the story, the amount of research you do, and the time you spend editing the completed draft.”

Every writer and book is different. While Gone with the Wind cost Margaret Mitchell 10 years, Stephenie Meyer wrote Twilight in three months!

While authors with a traditional publishing contract can concern themselves with simply turning in a finished manuscript, as a self-published author, you not only conceive, outline, write, edit and revise; you’re the creative director, marketer, and publicist.

Derek Murphy (writing for CreativIndie) claims that self-published authors “spend $2000 to $5000 to publish their books.” And while you can always do the work yourself and limit cash outlays for publishing and book cover design services, you may be hurting your chances for success.

Earning your living by writing books, particularly fiction, is highly competitive. “Including self-published and commercially published, over 4 million new books were published in 2021.” According to Publishers Weekly, fiction represents about 11% of those 4 million, or a staggering 440,000 books including yours.

As an indie author, how do you distinguish your work and give yourself the best chance for optimum sales?

Assuming you’re not E.L. James, Paula Hawkins, Dan Brown, or another writer with a string of bestsellers and a distinguished author brand, you must rely upon a great book cover design to grab eyeballs and clicks.

Your book cover is your most important sales tool. Conventional wisdom (and market research) makes certain things very clear, among them being this: it’s the first thing anyone sees.

Whether you need a romance, mystery, YA or fantasy book cover (or ANY genre), a professional team of experienced book cover designers really is your best bet.

In a book cover experiment, the team at Reedsy ran competing book ads featuring covers created by self-published authors against identical ads featuring professionally redesigned covers. The professionally designed book covers:

• Had a click-through rate that was 12.5–50% higher than their non-professional counterparts, across genres including YA fantasy, nonfiction, romance, and mystery/thriller.
• The higher click-through rates indicated a 35% increase in a book’s marketability.

Before you get pursue book cover design

Make sure a developmental editor or beta readers have read your manuscript. You don’t necessarily need to get copy editing done before talking to a designer, but you should know your story well. Sometimes when you get big-picture feedback from betas or a developmental editor, you realize that your initial idea for the cover might have to be removed from the book completely.

Now it’s time to get a great cover, but before you do the folks at Scribe recommend you:

1. Research the competition – Study book covers within and outside your genre, particularly recent and successful work. “Go to Amazon books and search in the category your book falls into. Search Pinterest for artsier titles if you’d like. If you want a classic, look to Bookcoverarchive.com for the best, most avant-garde titles.”
2. Bookmark the designs you love – When you’re ready to approach a designer, you can send links to your favorite covers and concepts that appeal to you. “Designers see the world visually, and the best way to get a point across to them is to show them.”
3. Don’t limit yourself – Bookmark logos, ads, movie posters, websites, collect any visual design you can share with your graphics arts team. “You are essentially creating a collage (some people call this a mood board) of visual inspiration and ideas that can help your designer understand how to best get your book’s message across to your audience.”

5 Critical Elements of Book Cover Design  

Understanding the five critical elements of a winning book cover design creates a stronger partnership between you and your graphics art team. These elements include:

• Composition: The artistic and harmonic arrangement and relationship between typography, images and colors  to create “symmetry, proportion, and rhythm.”
• Genre: Utilizing specific design conventions to communicate genre, i.e., dragons, swords, serif types and decorative borders to convey fantasy.
• Tone: “The suitable visual code to convey a certain genre of the book.”
• Visual impact: The successful use of design elements to grab attention and “to trigger an impulsive and emotional response.”   
• Clarity: Simply, accurately, and consistently communicating an intended message. That means indicating genre and an implied narrative.

Case Study

“For the cover, the author wanted to avoid a cliched depiction of a boxer. Looking to the story for inspiration, our cover cooks based the concept on an excerpt from the book…

“The interplay between the title and the illustrated ring, along with the stark, unforgiving color palette of bright blue and red against pitch black, suits the dark humorous tone. Exuding literary fiction, the cover is completed with the brilliant red blood spilled on the canvas.”

Conclusion

Book cover design is a complex and rewarding art form. These designers have been putting in the work and have seen how and why certain designs sell. If you take anything from this, I want you to know that great book covers are essential if you want to find success with your indie book.

About the Author

Jeffrey Abelson is a New York-based writer and editor. Though writing and editing pay the bills, Jeff loves playing his guitar and photography and used to run a home photo studio out of Inwood, in northern Manhattan. He currently resides in Niskayuna, a small town in Schenectady, about 20 miles northwest of Albany.

Thank you for reading Jeffrey Abelson’s publishing guide “Five Critical Elements of Successful Indie Book Cover Design!” If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

The post 5 Critical Elements of Indie Book Cover Design  appeared first on Independent Book Review.

by Joe Walters

Ask me, “How do I sell more books?” 

And watch me sigh before I tell you, “This question is a mountain.”

Get just a little bit more specific, “How do I sell more books on Amazon?”

And we can start talking.

There are so many things you can do to sell more books, like an actual infinite amount of things. Don’t fall into that trap. Thinking about all of them at once is a good way for you to spend the rest of your author career trying to sell books rather than writing them.

So let’s phrase this question as directly as we can.

If you want to sell more books on Amazon, you need to ask these two questions:

• How do I send browsers toward my Amazon page?
• How do I convert browsers into buyers?

There are a number of different book marketing strategies you can execute in order to achieve both of these goals.

Here are 22 ways to sell more books on Amazon.

#1. Have the coolest book cover

It’s no coincidence that I started this list with book covers. Book marketing & publicity is heavily reliant on how good your cover is. It can make or break every single sale.

So my advice? Don’t break it.

Hire a professional designer you believe in. If it comes back and it’s not what you’d expected or hoped for, ask the designer if they are open to revisions. If the designer ends up not being able to do it for you, maybe get another cover done.

This is your most important selling tool. Make it count. I receive hundreds of book review requests per month, and the very first thing I consider is, “Is this book cover strong enough to take up space on my website? Is it strong enough to sell a copy to my readership?”

#2. Thrive with the “Look Inside” feature.

The Look Inside feature on Amazon is a simple one. If a browser visits your book product page, they can click on the cover to read the first few pages of your book. You know what’s another staple of book marketing? A damn good book. This starts with the first few pages. If it’s nonfiction, is it a clever introduction with promise? If it’s fiction, is it a promise of exciting things to come?

#3. Have a strong title & subtitle

One of my favorite things to do at Sunbury Press is to brainstorm titles and subtitles.

Fiction titles are important obviously. They should be good and enticing and steer clear of cliche, but their subtitles aren’t quite as essential. You can use them; they can help with the searchability of your novel on the Amazon search engine (like this one), but they also should be relevant. They aren’t always the right move for certain genres either. Literary fiction readers, for example, might find one unnatural and become uninterested in the book because of it. 

But with nonfiction, oh, man, do subtitles sell books!

Let readers know what to expect. Be quick and snappy and funny and spot-on and indicate why your book is about to come in and provide them something valuable.

Not only are subtitles good for nonfiction just from a “This is exactly what the book’s about” standpoint, they also give way to some of the best metadata possible on Amazon’s search engine.

If you have certain keywords in your subtitles, your book can be found just by existing in the Amazon search engine. People who are typing in certain topics are greeted with your book without you having to send pitches, newsletters, social media posts, advertise. You can sell books on Amazon without doing anything other than having a strong subtitle.

So if you have an opportunity to include a strong keyword in your subtitle, I’d definitely recommend it.

#4. Have a TON of ratings

A book with a lot of ratings communicates with browsers that it has been read by a lot of consumers.

If you’re an indie author, you should definitely include some hours in your book marketing time to make sure people are leaving ratings/reviews on Amazon.

This includes–but is not limited to–pitching reviewers, organizing review teams, and asking the reader kindly and naturally in the final pages of your book if they’d leave a rating or review.

Since these stars are at the top of your product page and show up on Amazon’s search engine feed, it’s good to have a lot of them and hopefully have them continue growing.

But before I go, notice that I mentioned them as “ratings!” Readers can leave only a rating if they want to. They do not have to write a review. It’s obviously helpful for them to leave a review (if it’s good), but having some shy readers leave you stars is good too. So, write that down: get more ratings to sell more books on Amazon.

#5. Utilize your Amazon author central account.

Have you set up your Amazon author central account yet?

If you’re a debut author, you can’t do this until you have a product page; this means a pre-order page or an already published one. When a browser visits your book page, they can click on your author name. This link can either take them to a curated page which includes your author photo, your other book(s), your author bio, and even your blog; or it can take them to a page featuring a number of books written by people who have your name or have a similar name. 

You want them to visit a professional sales-friendly author profile page (like this one), and the only way to do that is with Amazon author central.

In addition to getting to curate an author profile page, you can also do a number of behind the scenes things with your Amazon author central account like add editorial reviews, monitor stats, and now even advertise on Amazon. These features are super helpful to have if you want to sell books on Amazon.

#6. Indicate whether your book is part of a series

If you are writing a series, you or your publisher can indicate this in their KDP dashboard when uploading or editing the metadata.

By doing this, the browser can click on the series title to find a page dedicated to your series.

Want to know why it’s helpful to have a series page?

When browsers go to a single book product page, they can scroll down just past the book description to see Amazon’s recommended picks and sponsored picks. There are a lot of options for them to buy a book that isn’t your book.

With a series page, those picks aren’t until you reach the bottom–if they’re there at all! The series page’s primary purpose is to sell multiple books, so they prioritize that and give the browser less distractions and more ways to buy.

#7. Price it appropriately

Unfortunately, book prices play a big role in making and breaking sales. And sometimes, presses and authors do a number of things to bring down the price of their book for consumers—accounting for the price of printing books on demand.

I’ve seen authors and presses shrink the font to make a book $19.99 instead of $24.99. I’ve even seen authors take a lower royalty percentage just to keep it affordable (JoeAdvice: don’t do this). It’s expensive to make books sometimes, and people might have shorter pockets than they did a few years ago.

The things I’d recommend most in pricing your book on Amazon US are the following: 1.) Use a variant of $.99 to end it 2.) Keep an eye on the prices of your competitors in your genre 3.) Don’t back down from royalty percentage unless it’s a funnel book (like the first in a series or a book designed primarily to sell services rather than books).

Quick break! Breathe. Stretch. Chill. Have a grape juice and tacos, I guess? We’re almost done making sure the top half of your Amazon book product page is working effectively.

Keyword: Almost. There’s some super important stuff left, like:

#8. Have the best book description possible

And this starts with the hook.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but a lot of product pages use bolded text at the top of their product descriptions. Why is this?

When browsers reach your book page, they can only see the first few lines of the book description before having to click the “Read more” button. 

So authors and presses use those first few characters to be as enticing as possible. This is where your book’s hook goes—its biggest selling point. Whether it’s catchy enticing fiction or informational nonfiction, these first few lines are the most important part of your book description.

It’s very possible that viewers reach your page, look at your title, cover, ratings, and the hook and then immediately either buy or leave the site without clicking. So make those initial words count with your book’s hook. 

Sometimes authors and presses use blurbs from people or organizations to start off their book descriptions. That’s cool too. I’ve also seen a good amount of authors and presses putting their contest and award wins at the top of the description. This is cool too, as long as they really are impressive. 

But I still want you to make sure that the first line or lines of your book description are short and catchy. 

Which brings me to my next point…

Short sentences and paragraphs reign supreme in book descriptions. The days of long block paragraphs are over thanks to our struggling eyes on these digital screens. So know this beforehand: make sure to use multiple paragraphs in your book description. Even consider multiple short paragraphs to improve scanning.

I have soooooo much to say about book descriptions, but it just won’t fit in this blog post. So come back here for part 5 of the series.

#9. Utilize Amazon’s editorial reviews section

Okay, so, cool news! You can add blurbs to your Amazon product page.

What are book blurbs?

I wrote about it in part one of this series, but essentially, they’re nice things that authors and experts in your niche have said about your book.

If you get Stephen King to say your book is the coolest thing, you can put that quote on your Amazon page in the “editorial review” section. You can do this by using your Amazon author central account or you can ask your publisher to do it for you.

If you’re doing it yourself, make sure to format it attractively. Use quotation marks. Don’t italicize what the reviewer said. Use an en-dash. Italicize and bold the author or expert’s name. Here’s what they could look like:

• “This is not just a story of prohibition in America, it’s a story of womanhood and strength. The feeling one is left with when closing Gathering Storm is one of steely determination and hope.” – Steph Huddleston, Independent Book Review

I don’t know if you know this, but…it’s tough to get Stephen King to read and blurb your book. You have a few different options of how to get book blurbs, as I outlined in that post I already told you about. 

And just so you know…

I have a team of 20+ niche book reviewers who will read your book and provide a 400-750 word review within two or five weeks in our editorial book review service. You can also submit for a chance of being reviewed on platforms just by pitching them, which you can do with us here.

You can add trailers and interviews to the editorial review section too. But be careful. Bad trailers have definitely stopped me from buying books in the past. Make sure you and other people love it before putting it up there.

#10. Use the “From the Publisher” section (Amazon A+ Content)

You might be asking, “Joe, what kind of mumbo jumbo are you talking about?”

And I’m answering, “Nice use of mumbo jumbo.”

But also, “Chill. I got you.”

A browser can visit your Amazon product page and actually be greeted by promotional graphics, author info, charts, and more that influence their decision to buy the book. 

Words are cool and all, but there’s a reason that graphics and photographs have taken over your social feeds. They can arrest your digital attention. It can draw extra attention on that blurb you got or it can highlight your hook or your best selling points. Here’s an example of a page that uses the From the Publisher section effectively.

If you are the publisher, you can do this through your KDP Dashboard by clicking “Marketing” on the header menu and then A+ Content on that marketing manager page. If you are an author with an indie press, you can request that your press utilizes Amazon A+ content. (It might help if you pitch ideas and actual designs they could use. Publishers are busy people.) Just know that only authors and presses who have published with KDP can utilize Amazon A+ content. Not every publisher does.

#11. Write a strong author bio and have a good professional author photo

What else might your browser look at? Who in the world you are!

By now you can probably tell that there are a lot of small decisions being made on this page. Not everyone will look at everything on your Amazon product page, but they’ll be scanning it if they’re interested for sure.

That’s why it’s important to make sure each section is clean and enticing. Each reader is different. Some ask a lot of validity—like, why is this person qualified to write this book?—and some don’t care much. You should be ready for both of them. I’ll have a primer on how to write a good author bio for Amazon soon, but I gotta get these posts up eventually, so…moving on!

But wait wait wait don’t rush past the need for a good author photo. It might help to hire someone, but it’s not always essential. Just make sure that you’re in a relevant background (and preferably a plain one), that you look presentable, that you match the mood of your book, and that you do NOT use a selfie with an old digital webcam. 

#12. Upload the book with 7 excellent keywords.

You or your publisher can use 7 keywords when they upload your book.

What’s a keyword?

It’s the string of words that browsers type into their search engines in order to find what they want. Amazon is one big search engine, so keywords are pretty important. It’s like being a car company that shows up number #1 on Google for “cool cars.” 

You or your publisher should definitely research the strongest possible keywords for a book like yours. Use a tool like Publisher Rocket or do it on your own by searching Amazon for what you believe to be the best keywords, noticing your competition, and assessing whether or not you’d like to rank for those search terms.

#13. Choose accurate niche categories on Amazon

Sometimes a book gets published with a Christian Living category despite being about New Age and Spirituality. Sometimes it’s marked as Self-Help when it’s primarily a memoir. Sometimes Amazon gets confused (potentially because of your keywords), or perhaps you or your publisher clicked the wrong category when uploading the book. All you can do? 

Fix it. You don’t want an atheist visiting your book they thought was about spirituality, seeing that it’s “Christian Living,” and clicking away from your book.

#14. Have a lot of good reviews

Okay, so I already mentioned having a lot of ratings on Amazon. That was at the top of your product page. Now, your browser is at the bottom. 

They want to read what other people have to say about your book. This is where quality comes in: the most important part of marketing is having a good product. So write your best book and then try to get reviews by pitching, by creating street teams, and by asking for reviews at the back of your book. Then, put up your hands and hope for the life of you that this thing you love so much is loved by others too.

And…sweet news!

If you followed the previous fourteen steps, your book page should now be doing all it can to sell more books on Amazon–so long as the browser likes your content and wants to read more books.

Now, let’s drive traffic toward your Amazon book product page. It’s time to let it do the rest of the work for you.

Hang on just a little bit longer, friend!

Up next: How to sell more books on Amazon AFTER making your product page awesome.

#15. Add extra book categories:

Amazon categories are kind of like genres & subgenres. There are big categories (like General Fiction) and smaller ones (like Family Life Fiction). Authors & presses can choose two categories when they publish a book on KDP, and not all of the categories that Amazon has are available. 

But…

After you get your publisher to categorize your book in your two primary categories, you or your publisher can add up to ten categories for your book. 

Why is this beneficial? 

Well, if you sell a lot of books on Amazon in one day, you might appear on the bestseller page of more categories. Browsers sometimes search category bestseller lists like this one for which books to buy, so it’d be good to show up on those lists. Here are a few tips on on how to add extra categories.

#16. Advertising

I know what you’re thinking.

Or at least I’ve heard authors say it to me before.

“I don’t have the budget to just go slinging actual real-life dollars around in the hopes that someone buys my made-up story.”

And I get it. This legitimately isn’t for everybody. While I think allotting some money in your budget (if you have one) for advertising could be good, I never want you to think you are screwed if you don’t spend money. You can do other things. You are limited obviously, but you have options.

If it’s only a limited budget for advertising, I’d recommend checking out some deal sites like Bargain Booksy, eReader News Today, and Fussy Librarian. BookBub is the biggest of these with some great results, but it’s more expensive than those other sites. 

These companies have email lists of thousands of interested eBook readers, and they usually convert into sales. Now you might have discounted your eBook so it’s not the same amount of money you get per sale, but…you’ve got more readers!

And don’t forget—you want your books read.

You want to create lifelong fans who buy your books in the future. You want the chance to captivate and inform them for as long as you are creating. So if you’ve got some bucks in the budget, I’d recommend checking out these deal sites, especially after you’ve added extra categories to Amazon. The more downloads you get, the more lists you can get on.

And that’s not even mentioning Amazon ads! If you’ve got more money in the budget after promo sites & book printing, I’d recommend experimenting with Amazon ads. Just make sure you do your research before funneling money into Amazon’s ocean of cash.

Read about my favorite advertising strategy to help you sell more books on Amazon in this book promotion post.

#17. Your newsletter

When you have something exciting to announce, you’re going to want to be able to share it with your fans. Newsletters might be the best at this.

But!

It’s not easy. Newsletters take a lot of tender loving care. Your subscribers want original content about your niche, freebies, promotions, and a reason to click open your newsletter when they see it in their email.

If your newsletter is doing its job, then you can definitely sell more books on Amazon with a newsletter than without one (like if you’re depending solely on social media for your announcements).

I’d recommend doing your research and giving it real time and effort to do the best you can with your newsletter.

#18. Publicity:

You probably know about publicity already, so I’ll keep this one short. This is when you or your book is featured in a media outlet. There are a lot of benefits here, and you can try to get featured in these places by hiring a publicist or doing some pitching yourself. Pitch big and small, like People Magazine and a niche blog with good engagement.

#19. Social media (but not in the way that you’d think):

Yes, social media can drive traffic to your Amazon page. There’s no doubt about it—especially, for example, on the day of your book launch. All you have to do is announce to your friends, family, and followers that your book is live, and they will visit your link to buy it and support you.

BUT

You can’t just keep doing that.

Buy my book, buy my book, buy my book doesn’t work. So steer clear, Daddy-O, and start using social media as a way to have fun, let your readers have fun, and announce cool things like kind reviews, sweet new features, book events, actual good content, your favorite Pop Tart flavors, and more. 

You know how this works to help drive traffic toward Amazon? People become a fan of you. They visit your profile, and they click on a link in your bio to find out more about your book. They might not buy right away (although sometimes they do), but they could add your book to their TBR list until a later time when you make them laugh.

#20. Your Website

I like author websites. It’s nice to have a hub for your fans to go in order to do the things you want them to do most: find more about you, sign up for your newsletter, and buy your book.

Clean and simple websites are my favorites for authors. Have a welcoming home page with your newsletter sign-up on it, include some blurbs, a page dedicated to your most recent or forthcoming book, an About or Bio page, a contact page, and then get out of there.

How can you sell more books on Amazon with your author website? Well, link your book on there! In your book page, you should have your cover, the description, some blurbs, and multiple buying options–Amazon, Bookshop, and your publisher. Let your fans support you the way they want to.

#21. Word of mouth:

It’s impossible to get out of this section without mentioning this—perhaps the splashiest way of selling your book. If your book is blowing people’s minds, they’ll want to talk about it—everywhere. You can’t control this much. The only way I can think of really is to write a damn good book that makes reader’s grab their loved ones by the lapel and whisper, “You’ve got to read this.”

How to write a damn good book? Take your time, listen to some self-editing tips, and get feedback.

#22. Write more books:

And last but maybe most important, write more books! Nothing sells books like more books do. So quit spending all your time selling and make the time to create. That’s what you got into it for, right?

Now it’s up to you! Go write. Go market. Go sell more books on Amazon. I’ll be waiting–and writing this series–until the next question comes!

About the Author

Joe Walters is the founder and editor-in-chief of Independent Book Review. He is a book marketer for Sunbury Press, and formerly, he was a marketing specialist at Paper Raven Books & the marketing director at Inkwater Press. When he’s not doing editorial, promoting, or reviewing work, he’s working on his novel and trusting the process.

Thank you for reading “How Do I Sell More Books on Amazon?” by Joe Walters! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

The post How Do I Sell More Books on Amazon | IBR Book Marketing Series (Part 3) appeared first on Independent Book Review.

by Joe Walters

Book promotion is a really big megaphone.

To promote your book, you have to yell about it in an appealing way so that everyone at the party hears it and thinks, “Man, I gotta get me some of that.”

But…

This…is annoying.

And it doesn’t work.

So please please please don’t do it.

Instead, you’ve got some options for everyone at the party to learn about your book.

How can you promote your book? Here’s a quick rundown of your primary options:

• Your newsletter
• Other people’s newsletters
• Through publicity (media platforms, review outlets, podcasts, TV)
• Your social media
• Other people’s social media
• Advertising
• Merch
• Participating in events

Let’s tackle one at a time.

(Please note: Our posts may include affiliate or sponsored links. Everything on Independent Book Review comes as an honest recommendation from our team.)

Your Newsletter

There’s a reason why I started with your newsletter. It’s the direct communication access point. When good & random things happen that might help you sell books (like if you were featured in a cool book list or something), you’re going to want to communicate directly with the people who would be most interested in buying it. 

Social media is cool and all, but if you’re not a social media influencer or celebrity, it doesn’t touch email. Now, it’s not easy, but it is good—when you take the time to get good at it.

There are so many ways to execute email marketing effectively, like using reader magnets, providing free beneficial content, sharing regularly, and being wholeheartedly-genuinely you. (And, of course, doing your research.)

But…

If you have only written one novel and don’t know when the next one’s coming out, then maybe take a breather on this aspect of book promotion. Dedicate your writing time to writing more books instead of spending your time producing free written content for your followers, who may have already bought your book and who probably won’t buy a second copy.

Other people’s newsletters

This is not about contacting your followers. It’s about appearing in front of somebody else’s. 

This can be another author in your niche’s newsletter, yes. You can send one author (or multiple authors) a request to feature you or you can request to do a list swap. A lot of authors are looking for this exact type of thing—how can I provide new genuine, not-too-salesy content to my following while appearing simultaneously in front of readers who don’t currently follow me? 

You can also add in the chance of appearing in a media platform’s newsletter, your indie press’s newsletter, or a local or niche-specific organization’s newsletter without swapping anything. You might want to consider offering something tangible—maybe a workshop or an in-person event—and you should definitely know the organization’s newsletter aesthetic before requesting their help. You should have an idea of how you & your book could be featured.

But still, that’s not all.

This is where one of my absolute favorite marketing strategies come into play.

There are newsletters out there that advertise free or discounted eBooks to thousands of readers. Authors & presses pay to be included in these newsletters, and their followers (who like to read eBooks voraciously—especially cheap ones!) scour the email in the hopes that their next favorite book is only $.99.

And…

I love them! They can not only launch you into bestseller categories on Amazon and put you in a position to make money off your work, but you’re reaching actual real-life readers here. And isn’t reaching readers what this has always been about?

Here are ten book promotion sites I’d gladly recommend:

1. Bookbub – Consider submitting for a featured deal on the fifth day of your promotion. If you’ve got the budget for it, I always recommend giving this one a shot. Please note that not all books will be accepted.
2. Bargain Booksy – A good budget-friendly option that still moves books.
3. Fussy Librarian – Super budget-friendly.
4. Robin Reads – A really passionate reader base with reasonable prices. In my experience, this one resulted in some reviews too.
5. Ereader News Today – Have always loved this one. I’m even a subscriber, so I might even read your book.
6. NewInBooks – Love the variety of names and titles this one gets.
7. Freebooksy – Free ebooks only, which can be really effective!
8. AudioThicket – An excellent audiobook option
9. Book Barbarian – Sci-Fi & Fantasy only. I love these genre-specific ones because it’s clear the subscribers/readers came here for a reason.
10. Red Feather Romance – Romance only

I’ve got more tips for how to advertise your book in the advertising section, so open up those link tabs and come on back to me.

Book Publicity

You might have heard of this one. It’s probably the thing I hear most from my authors at Sunbury Press. How do I get featured in _____? How do I get interviewed on ________? Should I reach out to my local paper? How do I get my book reviewed at Foreword Reviews, Independent Book Review, and this awesome specific blog about my niche that everyone loves?

Well, here’s the secret.

You have to ask. (Or someone has to ask for you).

But you have to do it professionally and with purpose. Don’t just find their emails, cc them along with thirty other media outlets, and ask for them to read your book. 

Here’s how I would recommend pitching that you or your book are featured at a media outlet:

• Research platforms you want to pitch & organize them in Excel or Google Sheets with platform name, website, email address, specific contact person (if possible), and your angle.
  • Possible angles: What is your biggest selling point? Why would this specific platform find your story useful for their audience? Does your indie press have a relationship with this platform? 
• Write a strong pitch letter. Be personal but professional, make your book sound awesome (but don’t overdo it), and ask specifically if they’d be willing to feature it. If they have submission guidelines, you NEED to follow them.
• Design a sell-sheet, press release, or attractive landing page that will do the selling of the book for you. Don’t use Amazon. You can attach the sell-sheet to your email, or you could create a shareable Dropbox link.

If you or your publicist has connections with media outlets, that’s about as close to a magic strategy as it gets. That’s one of the best reasons to hire a publicist. I chatted about this topic for a while over on this video if you want to hear more AND see my face.

The best path to being featured in a media platform is having a great book with a great cover, a great description, great blurbs—overall, a great product. You want the head of their organization to see this pitch and think, “Man, I gotta get me some of that.”

Your social media

I have been working in indie publishing for a while now. From Inkwater Press to Independent Book Review to Paper Raven Books and Sunbury Press—the most common question I get from authors is about how to use social media to sell books.

I don’t blame them. It’s…everywhere (and nowhere).

Sometimes (or, most times), I feel like a mediocre swimmer in a sea of social media posts. When things get popular on there, it feels like they’re the most popular things in the world. And if you’re an author, you, also, might welcome the idea of your book being one of those things.

But it’s not just about getting the proverbial megaphone and shouting into the social media void. It’s about creating content on the internet that other humans find interesting to engage with—to like, to share, to comment. 

Give yourself time to grow as you create engaging content on your social media pages. Don’t jump on too many get-big-quick schemes. Don’t ask your followers to do things for you too often. Use graphics & cool photos. Link to your book (or author website with your book on it) in your bio. If you have an exciting announcement to make, announce it. Let your followers in on your fun. Help other users by liking, commenting, and sharing their posts when appropriate for your audience.

When people think about social media promotion, they often think about advertising.

This is when you pay for your post to show up in front of more people than it does simply by bouncing around the platform’s algorithm. And this can be super effective, super mediocre, or a super dud. It depends if you created a strong ad and if the users who are expected to engage with your content actually engage with your content. Be catchy, be cool. Run a sale or discount. Ramp up your spending at the right times. Target exactly which audience you want to see your book. Do it all with a plan or don’t do it at all. 

I particularly like using social media ads (particularly Facebook) when running a discount AND doing one or multiple book promotion sites simultaneously.

Other People’s Social Media

Nothing sells books like word-of-mouth sells books. Tattoo this on my forehead. Write a catchy song about it.

When other real people talk about the books they love, they have a tremendous influence on other people who read. 

One way the rest of the party can hear about the good aspects of your book is by having other people at the party doing the work for you.

The first way of doing this, of course, is by writing the best book in the world so that people can’t help but talk about it. I’d definitely recommend doing this. (Having the coolest book cover in town also helps). 

The second way of doing this? Pitch people.

Form a team before publication made up of the people who want to support you the most and who might be willing to promote your book on their social pages when the time comes. Be active about this. Don’t just think that once the book comes out, they’ll do it on their own. Ask them beforehand, let them know what they could do that would be beneficial. 

You can also reach out to book reviewers and influencers on social media who might be willing to talk about your book. In some cases, you can pay for this too, but I personally don’t love that concept (unless, again, it’s batched together with other promotions). In my experience, paying other people to get a bunch of likes on your book cover doesn’t always translate to sales.

Advertising

And here we are! The grand daddy of them all. 

You: “Should I pay for book promotion?”

Me: “Maybe!”

*CROWD BOOS*

But seriously, do you have it in your budget to advertise your books? Actually look at your budget.

Keep in mind that in the world of print-on-demand, you’ll probably have to print books and ship them. That costs money. Keep in mind that you also may want to send some physical books out for review, so we won’t just be accounting for the copies you plan to store in your garage. If you’re going to travel for any events, leave some aside there. Leave some room for some merch in case you want to make your events cool and dreamlike and good at selling books.

Now that this is out of the way…

Let’s take a look at some advertising options:

1. Amazon
2. Book Promotion Sites & Other Newsletters
3. Social media
4. Media platforms in your niche
5. Catalogs
6. Podcasts
7. Review platforms
8. TV
9. Podcasts
10. Print 
11. Radio
12. Google

Ask yourself some questions: How much does each one cost? Will my target audience see the book on this advertising platform? How many of them can you do with your advertising budget? 

As you’ll see, I’ve crossed off radio and Google. These are two advertising avenues that I would not recommend you use to sell books. They can work for selling some products, but in my experience and in the current time, books aren’t one of them.

Amazon Ads are excellent and you can absolutely sell books there. If someone’s on Amazon, they are one step closer to buying than they are on other sites. 

As of now—no matter if you published with an indie press or you’re a self-published author, you can advertise on Amazon through Amazon Author Central. This deserves a million words of advice, so make sure you do a lot of research first, like with this book and this book and this book.

What’s my favorite way to advertise?

David Gaughran’s Amazon Decoded put me on to some incredible strategies and research on the Amazon store. Shout out to that dude and that badass book.

Because the answer is…

Using book promotion sites and Facebook simultaneously.

Here’s how I’d recommend going about it:

• 1st Step: Set up a $.99 deal for five days on Amazon.
• 2nd Step: Schedule book promotion sites on each of the five days of the deal, and ramp up your ad spend on the 4th and 5th days.
• 3rd Step: Design or purchase an enticing graphic that you can use as your ad on Facebook.
• 4th Step: Draft some killer sales copy for Facebook. Info about your book is obviously important, but the personal voice is too. Take your time with this.
• 5th Step: Advertise the deal on social media (with specific target audiences) on the day the promo starts and ramp up with a bigger budget on the 4th and 5th days.

I’ve seen this strategy not only get authors to the top of the bestseller lists on Amazon during the promotion, but remain there after the promo (when it’s full price). If it’s in your budget and this sounds like a fun and potentially fruitful exercise, give it a shot and let me know how it goes.

But make sure you add more categories to your book before running that $.99 promotion!

Merch

I like merch! But I mostly just think it’s fun. There are so many ways for you to spend too much on merch (like sweatshirts, bookmarks, business cards, posters, etc.), but there are also ways where you can increase book sales with it.

I like to think of using merch when considering all of the physical locations I will use them at.

This usually starts with your book launch event. Depending on the venue, you may be able to leave a poster, a sell-sheet, and bookmarks to inspire browsers to come to the event. But make sure they’re cool! Maybe your local coffee shop welcomes bulletin-board style announcements. Maybe your friends would willingly put a sticker on their laptops.

These…might result in book sales! They also…might not! And they all cost money. So if this sounds fun to you, do it. And have fun doing it! But probably don’t expect this merch to be the staple of your book marketing campaign.

Participate in events

You may have heard of book events. Maybe you’ve seen a reader come to your local bookstore. Maybe a signing at Barnes & Noble. But don’t forget about book fairs, writing & niche-related conferences or conventions, digital panel discussions on your topic. Workshops. Craft fairs where you might be only one of one or one of a few authors in attendance.

But doing book events isn’t all rainbows and butterflies. It can be taxing work, expensive, and occasionally fruitless. So…

Do them ONLY if they sound like fun to you. And if you sell some books in the process, all the better.

Don’t forget to have fun with this author career. Unless you’re a living pseudonym, it’s the only one you get.

Got any questions about book promotion or questions you’d like me to answer in a later installment? Let me know in the comments!

About the Author

Joe Walters is the founder and editor-in-chief of Independent Book Review. He is currently a book marketer for Sunbury Press, and he was a marketing specialist at Paper Raven Books and the marketing & publicity director at Inkwater Press. When he’s not doing editorial, promoting, or reviewing work, he’s working on his novel and trusting the process.

Thank you for reading “A Marketer’s Guide to Book Promotion” by Joe Walters! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

The post A Marketer’s Guide to Book Promotion | IBR Book Marketing Series: Part 2 appeared first on Independent Book Review.

by Joe Walters

The term “book blurb” is used to describe a few different things in book marketing.

But it shouldn’t.

I get it. Language changes as the industry changes, so I’m not harking on this or anything.

All I’m saying is—we shouldn’t confuse the term in publishing anymore. 

What are book blurbs?

I’ll tell you.

Blurbs are short book reviews written by authors or experts in the book’s field. They are used by authors & publishers on their marketing material. 

It is not a “book description.” 

A book description is written by a publisher, book marketer, or author, and it describes the contents of the book. For reference, on an Amazon product page, this description is placed beside the book cover on Desktop or below the book cover on Mobile. This book description doesn’t (usually) express opinions on how well the book is written. 

That’s what blurbs are for.

If a browser comes to your Amazon product page, they may scroll down to the section that says “Editorial Reviews” (see below). There, they’ll read what authors or experts in the book’s niche have said complimentary about the book. As an author & publisher, you can get blurbs or editorial reviews to increase validity in your product.

Here’s what it looks like on Amazon:

You can also find book blurbs on the front or back cover of a book, like this:

Okay, so now that this is out of the way…

How do you get book blurbs or editorial reviews?

I am a book marketer for Sunbury Press. I used to be a book marketer for Paper Raven Books & Inkwater Press. I’ve been chatting with indie authors for a long time now about making sure readers & browsers discover their books as salable products for years.

This is what I tell indie authors when they ask what’s most important in selling books.

• Your cover should be incredible. The best it can be. So so so so good. Book covers are EVERYTHING.
• Your book description should be crisp and catchy and leave readers wanting to find out more.
• A strong subtitle (especially for nonfiction) can sell so many books all by itself.
• You should have at least three book blurbs. The bigger the name the better. If you can slap “#1 New York Times Bestselling Author” onto the accreditation of your blurber, you’re going to get yourself some extra attention from book reviewers and booksellers.
• You should get book reviews on Amazon as soon as you can, as many as you can, and make sure they keep growing.

It would be best to have blurbs before publication, but you can keep working on it after publication too. It’s obviously important to get consumer reviews to show that people are buying it and saying nice things about it, but there’s a different layer to blurbs or editorial reviews.

These reviews communicate that not only are consumers enjoying this book, but professionals in the book’s niche are too. Think of it almost in terms of Rotten Tomatoes’ “Tomatometer” and “Audience Score.” You want to make sure browsers see your book as good for the regular everyday reader as well as “certified fresh” by the people who read and write for a living.

Here are some ways authors & publishers use book blurbs to market their books:

• Use the quote on promotional material such as social media graphics, posters, bookmarks, book trailers, press releases, websites, and more.
• Add the quote to their book’s front or back cover.
• With your Amazon Author Central account, add it to the “editorial reviews” section on your book’s product page.
• Design or purchase a graphic that highlights the review and place it on your book’s product page using Amazon A+ Content (or the “From the Publisher” section).
• Include the quote in your pitches to booksellers, libraries, conferences, other reviewers, and more.

Get the gist yet?

Book blurbs are doing work every single time a potential buyer goes to your product page. All you have to do as a marketer is get readers to visit the page, and the reviews, cover, and description do the rest.

So how do you get book blurbs or editorial reviews?

Well…you’ve got some options!

First, make sure your book is ready. It doesn’t have to be copy-edited yet—just make sure the story and structure is in its final shape and you’re proud of the characters and sentences. You can tell your hopeful blurber that the book hasn’t been copy-edited yet in the pitch letter. (Don’t worry–I’ll get to that!)

What kind of authors or experts should you add to your list?

It depends on your genre, but here are some options:

• Authors in your genre
• Professional reviewers (Independent Book Review, Foreword Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, etc.)
• Professors & academics in your niche (usually for nonfiction)
• Industry leaders (like non-profit and organization directors in your niche)
• Museum curators (for nonfiction)

Okay, now write down all of the ones you can think of that might apply.

Feel free to dream big with your blurber list. The bigger the name, the better the blurb. (But be aware of your good ol’ writerly friend Rejection.) 

After you list their names in a spreadsheet, find their available contact information and input it. Email info is best, but if you’ve interacted with these people on social media before, you may be able to contact them via direct message. (But please please please don’t be weird or pushy).

In your list, be sure to include authors below that “dream-big” stature too. These people are probably awesome and their books are probably awesome too, but you usually know when an author isn’t so popular that they have trouble keeping up with emails. Just like with college applications, it’s usually good to have some backups.

But don’t send anything yet!

Look at your list. Read each one of them and realize that each one of them is a human, and you are about to request that they do work for you.

Yes, your book rules, I agree, but it’s important to recognize that reading takes literal hours to do and then writing a book blurb takes time too. You’re going to want to be patient and understanding going in. Don’t come at this coldly; be a friend, a good literary citizen.

How do you ask someone to blurb your book?

This is such an anxiety-riddled thing. Asking people you admire to do work for you is not easy and quite humbling. But if you’re pitching someone, this is exactly what you (or your publicist) would do–ask.

In an email, text, or direct message (if appropriate), make sure you keep your pitch personal. Call them by their name. Tell them how you know them. If they mean a lot to you as an author, let them know why (briefly). 

After this, ask them if they’d be interested in writing a blurb for your book in [x amount of time]. I usually like 4-5 weeks, with a buffer of when you really need it at like 8. 

Then I’d recommend adding a very short description of your book with genre denominations after your request; they’ll want to be interested in the book if they’re going to read and vouch for it.

Also, if they have a book that just came out or is forthcoming, you can offer to blurb theirs back, but know your audience. If you’re telling Stephen King that you’ll blurb his book for him, I don’t know if he’ll care that much. 

If you want to promise one or two actual book cover space, you can definitely do that. That may actually help convert them into saying yes. But don’t promise it to everybody right off the bat or your book cover is going to be a smorgasbord of too many cheeses.

I’d recommend only sending about three pitches at a time, top of the list to the bottom.

But what if you don’t have contacts? What if everyone says no?

Don’t worry, old sport. (Sorry)

But again, you’ve got options.

Take a look at book review companies.

You can request a review for free from companies like Independent Book Review, Kirkus, Reader’s Favorite, and Foreword Reviews. (If you’d like to submit to IBR, you can learn more about what’s expected here.) You (or your publicist) would request a review by following their submission guidelines, and then you’d cross your fingers and hope for the best.

In some instances, you can guarantee a book review company to review your book.

These companies pay their writers to cover a range of popular books on their own dime to make sure those platforms remain important to readers. 

And remember–reading takes literal time, so if you want an honest review, an opportunity to receive a blurb, and the chance to be featured in their outlet, you can pay for a review.

Do you have to? No! Definitely not. Do whatever makes you feel comfortable at all times. But also, just know this is an option.

Some people are all gung-ho about never paying for reviews, which I agree with when it comes to customer reviews on Amazon & Goodreads, but editorial reviews and blurbs are a different animal.

If you have it in your marketing budget, you may find it helpful to guarantee a book review from a professional book review company. This way, you don’t have to pitch and hope for your book to be reviewed. You’ll save time in researching and pitching outlets, and you can guarantee that a reader from that company’s team will read, assess, and provide an honest review of your work. Not only might you get a blurb or two for your marketing material, but you could even learn a thing or two about how your book is being received by readers.

If you want to give it a shot, I take pride in how we run our editorial review service here at IBR. Not only are our readers the best ones we can find, but they care deeply about the genres they get paid to read.

What do you do when you get your blurbs?

Dance party!

But also, where you are in your publication process? You may want to keep the blurbs under wraps so that you can share them a little closer to your launch date, or you may want to share them with your newsletter following right away. You also may want to start using them to pitch other platforms or blurbers, or you may want to wait. If you’re publishing with an indie press, make sure you share it with them.

Just definitely make sure you add them to the editorial reviews section on Amazon when you can.

And when you do, format it professionally. Here’s a good format I like:

• “This is not just a story of prohibition in America, it’s a story of womanhood and strength. The feeling one is left with when closing Gathering Storm is one of steely determination and hope.” – Independent Book Review

or

• “This is not just a story of prohibition in America, it’s a story of womanhood and strength. The feeling one is left with when closing Gathering Storm is one of steely determination and hope.” – Steph Huddleston, Independent Book Review

Best of luck to you, friend! If you have any questions about book blurbs, let me know in the comments!

About the Author

Joe Walters is the founder and editor-in-chief of Independent Book Review. He is a book marketer for Sunbury Press, and formerly, he was a marketing specialist at Paper Raven Books & the marketing director at Inkwater Press. When he’s not doing editorial, promoting, or reviewing work, he’s working on his novel and trusting the process.

Thank you for reading “What Are Book Blurbs and How Do I Get Them?” by Joe Walters! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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