As everyone knows, an ebook is an author’s best marketing tool. You can trade a free ebook for a mailing list signup, or drop the price and rack up a lot of sales.

But in order to do that, you’ll need to get your ebook in front of potential readers, and that is where paid and free ebook sites come in.

The following lists are a compilation of promotion sites, both free and paid. I have not used them all, but I have filtered out the more disreputable companies (Inkitt, for example) as well as any site that couldn’t pass the smell test. I also skipped sites that offered no info on how you could join and promote your work (you would be surprised how often that happened).

Update: The list was updated on 10 December 2018, 29 February 2020, and on 9 May 2020. Dead sites were removed at that time, and new links were added.

The sites vary from forums where you can mention an ebook deal to services you can use to trade an ebook for emails. Each site has their own requirements, and so to help you out I did a little digging on each site, wrote a quick description, and then sorted the site into the appropriate list(s).

I initially started with just two lists, much like what Kindlepreneur published several years ago, but once I started classifying the sites I found had at least four different categories:

sites for building a mailing list

sites for building/managing an audience, and

free & paid book promotion sites

I have 80 sites listed in this post, but I would love to add more – especially for the first two categories. So if you have a site you’d like me to add to this list, please fill out the form at the end of this post.

Let’s start with the services that can grow your mailing list. This is a short list, but these sites can be incredibly valuable in the long run because they give you a chance not to just give away an ebook but to connect with readers.

Mailing Lists, Ho!

Site Cost Erotica allowed? Details author’s website free yes An author’s website should be your first choice for giving away a free ebook in exchange for signing up for your mailing list. Book Funnel $20 to $250 a year yes BookFunnel is a little pricy but on the upside it makes it incredibly easy for a reader to download your ebook. InstaFreebie (aka Prolific Works) free to $50 a year yes InstaFreebie is a slightly cheaper alternative to BookFunnel. There’s an ongoing debate as to which is better. StoryOrigin free unknown This site is explicitly designed to help authors grow their mailing list.

Those sites are great if you want to build your mailing list long-term, but what if you want to promote your career and build an audience?

Author Promotion Sites

Site Cost Erotica allowed? Details eReader Girl $100 unknown “Author of the Week” featured post Indie Author News unknown unknown Site promises author interviews and banner ads but does not give specifics. Book Praiser free to $180 unknown Not a deals site so much as an author and book promotion service.

Do you just want to give away an ebook today?

There are hundreds of sites that can help in a wide variety of ways. Some just list your ebook deal on their site, while others have an email newsletter. Some are free, while others charge fees.

Let’s start with the free sites (in no particular order).

Free Book Promotion Sites

Paid Book Promotion Sites

The following sites don’t offer a free tier.

Disclaimer

One problem with this type of post is that sites like the ones listed above are changing every day. New ones open every so often while (thanks to Amazon) existing sites sometimes go out of business or just disappear. The links listed above were valid when I published this post, but I can’t guarantee that the sites will still be there when you click on the link.

Please do let me know if any of these sites go dark (or if a new one launches), and I will be sure to update this list.