7. Book MarketingBudget: UnlimitedFirst up, the bad news:The ebook market is crowded with substandard books. You’ve got to stand out from the noise if you want to make money self-publishing a book.Inviting friends and family, a few loyal fans, and maybe a reporter or two from the local newspaper won’t help you sell many copies either.To stand out from the tens of thousands of books and ensure your book’s success, you need to launch a book and plan to market it.That means budgeting for advertising and promoting your book over email by giving away some free copies. Thanks to online retailers like Amazon, the concept of “book launch” has taken a new meaning. Basically, self-published authors must also plan to market and sell their book once live on stores like Amazon.I typically spend about $500 per month on advertising new books using Amazon Ads. Many indies spend a lot more using Facebook and Bookbub ads.You can also use paid book promotion services like Bookzio ($25) and Robin Reads ($60). Many other book promotion services exist, although they are mostly geared towards genre fiction. Here are a few tips you should keep in mind while launching your book with an online retailer: Give your book away for free to early or beta readers. Use their feedback to improve your book and fix any typos or formatting issues. Collect positive reviews from beta readers and ask them to publish their reviews when you launch. Email your list when your book comes out. If your book is non-fiction, promote it by writing guest posts. Invest in Amazon ads to promote your book. Use Kindle Direct Publishing – KDP Select Program if it’s your first book.A Brief Guide to the KDP Select ProgramWhen you choose this program, unlike the conventional Kindle Direct Publishing, you give Amazon the exclusive rights to sell your books for 90 days, and the rights automatically renew.This service is free to use, although Amazon takes a cut of your royalties.The KDP Select Program might seem too restrictive for new writers who want to take over the charts. That said, KDP Select will boost your book marketing process by giving you five “free promotion” days.During “free promotion” days, offer your book for download at no cost. The Amazon algorithm might put your book in the “Recommendations” section even after your book switches to paid.What’s more, if you manage to get your book on the same Amazon sales page as a traditional best-selling author, you will sell even more copies.At the very least, you will get your book in front of more readers and potentially collect organic books reviews. These will improve the quality of your book’s sales page. That can mean only one thing—more success for your book.Finally, readers love a back catalogue.The Amazon algorithm will recommend your older or newer books to readers. When in doubt, remember: The best way to market your last book is to write the next one.
