How this guide will help you

Self-publishing requires a monumental effort and yes, the process is long (as this post is). But fellow author lets me tell you something, self-publishing is like traveling, it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey. There’s so much to learn along the way and as you may know, with practice comes expertise. Eliminate from your mind any preconception about the burdens of self-publishing. Get into a positive state of mind and stay positive along the way. Remember, you get what you want, so go and get that Law of Attraction working for you.

In this comprehensive guide to self-publish your E-book I will cover every step in an author’s journey. Based on your comments and further research I will gladly edit this post to keep it updated and relevant. If you find this guide valuable, please share it and bookmark it for further use.

(last updated: February 2017)

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe

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Joining a book club will also help you stay motivated. Remember that reading is to authors what exercising is to athletes. Surrounding yourself with fellow writers, self-publishers, and bookworms will provide you helpful insight. Ali Luke also suggests “…to plan your e-book before you start writing. This means having a clear outline that has, at the very least, a title for each chapter. Yes, that might seem a bit boring, but it will make the writing stage far easier (and more fun). Try freeform brainstorming or mind maps or index cards as creative alternatives to help get your ideas flowing.”

Grit, the magic combination of passion and long-term perseverance. Along with your self-publishing journey, you will inevitably get distracted by the zillion distractions of today’s modern life. Find a consistent time each day, or several times a week, to work on your e-book. You might want to try the Pomodoro technique (25 minutes writing, 5-minute break) to use your time effectively during writing sessions. Anyone can write for just 25 minutes, don’t you agree? Make writing a habit.

Follow the next advice to make sure you have enough money to publish your E-book:

First-time writers encounter problems calculating the amount of money they will need to start writing their E-book. Consider the self-publishing task as a long-term investment since the average writer starts making real money until after a year the earliest. There are “hidden” costs authors fail to foresee and prepare for. Hopefully, you’ll already have money saved up and set apart just for your E-book publishing expenses.

“My ambition comes from my passion: finding what I love and then expanding on that.” -Miranda Kerr

It is good to add that you shouldn’t start writing for the wrong reason, yes, money. What really reaches individuals is passion and constant effort. I recommend watching Simon Sinek’s TED Talk “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” where he emphasizes that “People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it” and that “The goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe”. His talk has inspired entrepreneurs, authors, leaders, writers, and CEOs – watch it and get inspired .

According to Google, more than 130 million books exist in the world and each year around 2 million books are published all around the planet. Competition is fierce, but don’t worry, your book will be a success if you find your niche and write an E-book for it. In the overcrowded world of books, it is fundamental to write for a highly focused niche. The book business demands heavy marketing efforts, defining your niche market properly will ease marketing your E-book and will pay off your investment. Truth is a smaller niche is bigger business.

“A mentor is someone who sees more talent and ability within you, than you see in yourself and helps it out of you.” -Bob Proctor

First things first, get yourself a mentor . Have you heard about the phenomenon of deliberate practice ? If not I highly recommend listening to Freakonomics’ podcast on How To Become Great at Just About Anything . This phenomenon is related to the need of putting 10,000 hours of practice to learn a skill but, according to scientific research, the quality of your practice matters as much as the quantity. Ever wondered why Olympic records keep constantly falling? Top athletes are trained by top athletes who themselves were trained by top athletes and so on. A mentor knows the best methods from experience and provides almost instant feedback which shortens the learning curve according to Anders Ericsson’s book Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise . Getting ongoing good feedback to focus on specific techniques leads to real improvements . Deliberate practice needs well defined specific goals and it needs stretching out from the comfort zone. Knowing this, select your mentor wisely to receive proven E-book writing tips and follow this guide’s advice to get the most out of your mentor:

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Preparing the Ground for Self-Publishing Your First E-book

Starting Your First E-book

Pre-Launch E-book Promotion

Self-Publishing Your E-book

What To Do After Publishing Your First E-book

“It occurs to me that our survival may depend upon our talking to one another.” ―Dan Simmons

A – attention (awareness): attract the attention of the customer/reader. I – interest of the customer. D – desire : convince customers that they want and desire your book and that it will satisfy their needs. A – action : lead customers/readers towards taking action and/or purchasing.

– Use the AIDA model . AIDA is an acronym used in marketing and advertising that describes a common list of events that may occur when a consumer engages with an advertisement.

– Identify and create a list of your top influencers. Influencer marketing effectiveness has increased thanks to the wide-spread use of social media. If influential people write, tweet, post about your E-book then your E-book will reach and convince more readers.

– Embrace the power of the #Hashtag . Create a hashtag that resonates with your followers and relates with your book’s theme. You can use Hashtags to easily track the ongoing conversation your followers are having on social media.

– Share your goals . Let people know you are writing and share important milestones along your self-publishing journey. There are 5 reasons to make goals public, verifiable, and open: accountability, clarity, progress measurement, motivation, and connection.

Jennifer McCartney suggests hitting the road and assisting book conferences to find inspiration and network. She writes, “Writers’ conferences, book fairs, and festivals are an important tool for indie authors looking to market their work to a wider audience. Attending these events allows authors to network with agents, publishers, and other authors, as well as to meet fans and learn more about the industry in general.” Find her complete article and a list of almost 100 relevant conferences and events for authors here .

It’s no secret that community building is an important factor of an E-book’s success. Hop onto the bandwagon of social media and connect with your audience. Having an online presence is as important as having real human interaction. Attend relevant conferences, cultural events and concurred cafés like the Crémerie-Restaurant Polidor which is said to have been a favorite of André Gide’s, James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Antonin Artaud, Paul Valéry, Boris Vian, Julio Cortázar, Jack Kerouac, and Henry Miller. Most cities have bohemian locations where you can mingle with fellow literature enthusiasts.

“Why is your bio so important? In addition to sharing basic information about yourself, adding your website and email address turns any social network bio into a potential source of referral traffic . Especially on company pages, the opportunity to describe your products and link out to an external website makes bios a powerful marketing and sales tool. Plus, including your Twitter handle or Google+ page in the personal information section of another social network is a simple form of cross-promotion that could help grow your social following across the board.”

With so much potential value in each social media profile, it’s worth investing the time and effort required to set them up properly. (Or, if you’ve neglected yours for an extended period of time, it can be just as important to give it a complete overhaul.)”

“Your social media profile is a window into your personality, your job, your interests—sure, but if done correctly, it can be so much more than that. It can drive people to your website or other online assets; it can promote some of your best content, and it can lead to new clients and sales. When you reach out to a new contact or prospect, the first thing they’re going to do is look you up online. Your profile needs to be both impressive and discoverable.

– The Good Old Pen & Paper are your best allies. It’s not always possible to carry a laptop around (or having more than 10% of battery in your smartphone) so as a last helpful tip I suggest you to carry a small notebook around (and a pen) with you at all times. We never know when or where the creative juices will flow so better be prepared.

By following the same simple steps of dragging and dropping a JPEG image file to your screen you can create eye-catching E-book Videos that look as if you’ve invested hundreds of dollars in them. Don’t believe it? Click on the button below to create yours!

Did you know that you can now also create Book Video Mockups with Placeit!? Have a look!

– Placeit is a free easy to use 3D book mockup generator, it contains the largest library of handcrafted mockups and templates for your book marketing needs. Whenever you are ready, go and create a book cover to better promote your book.

– iBooks Author is an amazing app that allows anyone to create beautiful iBooks Textbooks — and just about any other kind of book — for iPad and Mac.

– Hemingway App is a free web app helps to improve your writing skills, by highlighting words and phrases you should reconsider, for bold, clear writing.

– Google Docs – Access, create, and edit your documents wherever you go — from your phone, tablet, or computer — even when there’s no connection.

– Ulysses provides a pleasant, focused writing experience combined with effective document management, fast syncing and flexible export. With Ulysses you can transform your texts into beautiful PDFs, Word documents and E-books, properly formatted and styled. It also lets you export to HTML, ready to be used anywhere on the web.

– Scrivener is a powerful content-generation tool for writers that allows you to concentrate on composing and structuring long and difficult documents. While it gives you complete control of the formatting, its focus is on helping you get to the end of that awkward first draft. A favorite of many.

How to Write an E-book with the Help of Tools:

The secret of getting ahead is getting started is using the best writing tools available. As Vita Sackville-West once said, “A man and his tools make a man and his trade”. There are a plethora of tools available for the modern writer, be sure to use the ones that suit you best and you feel comfortable using. Most of the following tools have a user-friendly interface for users of all ages so don’t hesitate in giving them a try. Choose a determined app depending on what platform you plan to publish your E-book on.

Building Buzz

Pre-Launch E-book Promotion

What you will learn in this section:

Pre-launch checklist

How to price your E-Book

Launching an email marketing campaign

Everything you need to know about E-book metadata

The Devil is in the Details

A book’s success is determined by multiple factors and one of them is its title, use the book title checker and see if your book name is original. Since we judge books by their covers and around 40% of a book’s cover is the title you must invest time and energy finding the best possible title for your E-book. Book success is not guaranteed merely because of a good title but a bad title can definitely doom it. In a nutshell, your book title should possess all of these attributes:

Attention Grabbing

Memorable

Informative (gives the idea of what the book is about)

Easy to say

Not embarrassing or problematic for someone to say aloud to their friends

Chairman and co-founder of Book in a Box, Tucker Max, writes a comprehensive guide on how to pick the perfect book title which you should check out.

Format your E-book manuscript properly. Set up your page size, choose a font, choose a font size, justify your text, number your pages, set up your margins and chapter headings, insert illustrations, and prepare both your front and back matter. Once you have all these aspects covered, read your manuscript out loud one more time and make corrections. Next step, hire an expert editor to proofread your book. Be open for early criticism, the feedback you will get from professionals and peers is important and you will still be in time to make corrections both in form and substance.

“Books aren’t written – they’re rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn’t quite done it.” ―Michael Crichton

Book aesthetics truly matter. Same story as with the book title, E-book cover design must not be taken slightly. Your E-book cover art must be enticing and must stand out from the rest. Go ahead and try Placeit’s book cover maker, it is the easiest way to have an awesome looking E-book cover art for your book done in seconds. See how easy it is to create your own book cover art.

Once you have a couple possible designs, split test them with peers and on the internet. You can also use Facebook reactions to ask questions to your followers or to create a poll to help you decide. Check which one performs better and go for that one. Here’s an example of how a post could look:



Once you have a well designed and peer-reviewed kindle cover design, you should create a 3D ebook cover mockup template to showcase your E-book to potential readers in a professional manner. Thanks to E-book cover maker tools, you can share your work in a context that relates to your audience. Find below how easy it is to create E-book covers for promotional marketing campaigns. We actually wrote a guide on how to promote your E-book online and off, you should check it out. And if you need some inspiration, here are a bunch of great premade book cover examples to get you started.



How to Make an E-book Cover Step One Head to Placeit.net and click on the Print tab on the upper left corner. Step Two On the left side, you will be able to see the Print catalog, click on Book. Now go and browse the more than forty 3D E-book designs. Then Select your favorite E-book design. You can choose a Landscape Book Mockup, Hardcover Book Mockup, Square Book Mockup, Photorealistic Book Mockup, or many others. Step Three Click on the Upload Image white button or simply drag & drop your E-book cover on top of the book area. Each design displays a recommended resolution. If your image is of a different size Placeit’s powerful software will do the best to make it look professional. https://blog.placeit.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/self-publish-an-ebook.mp4 Step Four Click on Download -> select the resolution that you need and click on Purchase -> type in your email and password and click on Sign up -> click on Purchase one more time then introduce your payment details and click on Pay to download your professional book cover. https://blog.placeit.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/how-to-self-publish-an-ebook-usa.mp4 Optional Step Add Text / Effects as desired, apply, and save. https://blog.placeit.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/self-publishing-ebook-guide.mp4 Step Five Click Download. Your download will now be processed in Placeit’s powerful servers. Step Six You will receive an email with a direct download link when your high-resolution 3D E-book cover design is ready OR you can also get your image(s) by accessing to My Drive on the top right corner on Placeit.net. [Find here more Book Templates]

Your E-book’s Price

Congratulations, chances are that by now you are almost ready to publish or print your E-book. According to Millcitypress, $3.99 is the most popular price to sell your E-book for. This magic price doesn’t apply to every self-publishers E-book out there and setting this price for your E-book is just a recommendation. Price psychology is an interesting subject and I recommend you to get informed about it. Only you know how valuable your work is and how much you’ve spent on it so do not necessarily go with price best practices. Also, consider that you make a royalty out of the E-book’s retail price so make sure that you are satisfied with the final amount that you will be receiving.

Let’s suppose you sell 100 E-books. Here’s what your approximate royalty would be. (All amounts rounded to the nearest dollar.)

List Price Amazon.com BN.com Apple iBookstore Other Retailers $2.99 $209 $194 $209 $120-$160 $3.99 $279 $259 $279 $160-$219 $4.99 $349 $324 $394 $200-$274 $5.99 $419 $389 $419 $240-$329 $6.99 $489 $454 $489 $280-$384 $7.99 $559 $519 $559 $320-$439 $8.99 $629 $584 $629 $360-$494 $9.99 $699 $649 $699 $400-$549

[You can find this table on Millcitypress blog]

Pre-Launch E-book Promotion

Strategically Plan Your E-Book Launch

Deliberately plan your E-book launch date, what do you want the media to say about your book, who you want talking about your E-book, and how you can turn your E-book launch into something worth talking about, maybe even making it viral.

Make Noise or Your E-Book Launch

Start working with the media in advance of your E-book launch. Even if you don’t have great success in the beginning, it will give you something to build on.

Take Pre-Orders of Your E-Book

Have a way for prospects to sign up for updates. Then make sure those updates offer a link to pre-order as soon as it’s possible. Try Campaign Monitor to build your E-book’s marketing campaign.

Building an email list to inform your users about your E-book release date is important. Setting up an email marketing campaign is not as complicated as some people think. Software like Campaign Monitor or Mailchimp is perfect for this and it is inexpensive and easy to use. It is important to have clearly defined goals for your email marketing campaign. You may want to get recipients to visit your blog, download a preview of your E-book, purchase your E-book or write a review on a specific website. You may already have several emails in your contact list with which you can start your email marketing campaign but that should only be the beginning. Check Campaign Monitor’s advice to build an extensive email list and follow their instructions to get started with email marketing.

Create simple subscribe opportunities (website, your social channels, twitter lead generation cards, email signature, etc.) Offer a valuable incentive (early access, discounts, offers, etc.)

E-book Metadata Is More Important Than Ever

In a few words, Metadata is extra information that a file (like an EPUB) contains that allows it to be categorized by genre, author, title, etc. It makes your E-book easier to find. You should include keywords and data in your E-book’s Metadata that you think could help a reader find your E-book in the vast ocean of E-books.

The most important information (metadata) an E-book file must have are both the copyright and what the E-book is about. You should allocate enough time to fill up every piece of metadata information that a platform requires from you. Even if it seems like filling up all the required information will take a lot of time, believe me, it is worth the burden.

There’s core metadata and enhanced metadata. If you don’t want your book to have a chance of succeeding just fill up its core metadata if you want it to have great success keep on reading. Core metadata is the very basic information every professional E-book must contain like its title, where can it be sold, in what language it is written, etc. Enhanced metadata’s purpose is to enhance both computers’ and humans’ experience. It can include information about the author, reviews, images, and any other information that makes an E-book unique and thus worth to read. Find more information in the following links.

Further reading on metadata:

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Preparing the Ground for Self-Publishing Your First E-book

Starting Your First E-book

Pre-Launch E-book Promotion

Self-Publishing Your E-book

What To Do After Publishing Your First E-book

It’s Time

Self-Publishing Your E-book

What you will learn in this section:

How to publish your E-book on different platforms

“Publishing is the final step in making a book; if I was afraid to publish one, I wouldn’t write in the first place.” -Charles Stross

E-book Self-Publishing Platforms

Today self-publishers have to choose between a multitude of options that a few years back were unavailable. Some authors prefer to publish on popular platforms and some others prefer to publish on less popular platforms because there is less competition. What’s true is that each platform has its own loyal customer base but if a reader doesn’t find a specific title in a platform then the reader will look for it in the next popular platform. Invariably, there are always pros and cons for authors. I strongly recommend that you look into all of the available options and follow with what works better for you.

Here are the instructions on how to publish your E-book on five different E-book platforms:

Publish Your E-book On NOOK Press (Barnes & Noble) Start by signing up for a Nook Press account. After you have registered, sign into the main page of the Nook Press dashboard. To start a new project, click “Create New Project”. Now you will give your project a name. This project name will show up in your project list. It doesn’t have to be the same as the title of your book. Fill out each section before your ebook project is complete. Most of this information is Metadata which is important for your ebook’s success. Click “Save & Next” at the top of the page. Enter your Rights & Pricing information. Then answer “Other Information” section. Finally, enter any Editorial Reviews (from blogs, news articles, fellow authors, etc.) you might have. Writing several positive reviews will help to convince readers. You will now be ready to publish your ebook on Barnes & Noble, it should take no more than two days for your book to be available for purchase. [This is a shorter version of this awesome Ebook Nook Press guide by Sarra Cannon] [Find Nook Press specific Marketing Tips, Toolkits & more at The Nook Press Blog]

Publishing Your E-book on the iBooks Store iBooks Store Checklist: – Get an Apple ID (go to the My Apple ID website) – Enable iTunes Connect with your Apple ID. – Grab Apple’s E-book software: iTunes Producer is available from the Tools section and iBooks Author is available from the Mac App Store. – Grab an EPUB file converter. You will be able to submit a book made with iBooks Author or any other book in EPUB file format (.epub). You will be guided through the required steps and then asked to Open iTunes Producer. Once in iTunes Producer add your cover art, provide metadata, payment details, and price information Allow maximum a day to view and edit your E-book details. All books must be reviewed and approved before they’re available on the iBooks Store. [Publishing process found at the iBooks Author FAQ Section & iBooks Store Publishing Overview]

Publish Your E-book on Lulu To start a new E-book project:

1. Click Create > Create E-books.

2. Review the E-book options. If you are doing it yourself, click Make Your E-book.

3. Enter a title and author name.

4. Select your project’s availability: “Sell this book” or “Make available only to me”. Click Save & Continue. Now you are sent to the ISBN section. Note: If you want to create an E-book that is going to go to retail channels, you will need an EPUB. The Lulu EPUB Converter can create one for you or you can upload your own. Get the Lulu EPUB Converter here. What to do next: 1. Select Make an EPUB or Make a PDF.

2. Click Browse and search your computer for the file you want to use.

3. Highlight the file and click Upload.

4. Click Save & Continue to convert your file into an E-book. Describe Your Project & Add Cover Image

Fill in the description fields and click the ‘Save & Continue‘ button. Set Your Project Price, click Review Project, and if everything is to your liking click Save & Finish. Your E-book will now available on Lulu and if you have selected retailer options, it will be queued to be reviewed by the Lulu Quality Assurance Team. [Lulu’s Publishing Guide found at Lulu’s Knowledge Base]

Publishing Your E-book on Bookbaby 1. Register on the site

2. Create and save a quote here

3. Templates will be provided for your size manuscript and cover artwork in your saved quote.

4. Download the templates from the saved project listed under the manuscript and cover art sections of your project and import into your graphic design program. (If BookBaby is designing, you can skip this step).

5. You’ll need a single page spread PDF of your (proofread and edited) manuscript

6. You’ll need a separate PDF of your cover artwork

7. Upload your PDF’s into the appropriate placeholders in the Project Center

8. Walk through check out. What happens next? 1. Bookbaby will convert your files to 3 different formats (PDF, mobi and ePub)

2. Bookbaby will send you an ePub galley proof so that you can view your files on any type of reader or mobile device for playability

3. Bookbaby will distribute your book to all of their partner sites

4. Bookbaby will collect your royalties from your sales

5. Bookbaby will report your royalties via My Account

6. Bookbaby will pay out your royalties according to your instructions in My Account under Payment Info. [Visit Bookbaby’s Self-Publishing Step by Step Guide]

Continue reading, or skip to another section of the guide:

Preparing the Ground for Self-Publishing Your First E-book

Starting Your First E-book

Pre-Launch E-book Promotion

Self-Publishing Your E-book

What To Do After Publishing Your First E-book

The Day After

What To Do After Publishing Your First E-book

What you will learn in this section:

How to promote your E-book in social media

in social media How to promote your E-book on KDP and Bookbub

The importance of getting reviews

Free Advertising for Your E-book

By now you probably are a published E-book author. Hopefully, your book is a great success and it is doing well. Nevertheless, a little help never hurts. Here are 5 tips to expand the reach of your E-book without spending much:

USB Sticks : You shouldn’t stop attending writer’s events after publishing your E-book, actually you should attend to more of them after publishing your E-book. Buy bulk cheap USB sticks and place a copy of your E-book in them. Next time you attend an important writers event (or family/friends gathering) give away USB sticks to people you meet who could be interested in your book. With some luck they will read your E-book and review it, if they like it, they will also buy it.

: You shouldn’t stop attending writer’s events after publishing your E-book, actually you should attend to more of them after publishing your E-book. Buy bulk cheap USB sticks and place a copy of your E-book in them. Next time you attend an important writers event (or family/friends gathering) give away USB sticks to people you meet who could be interested in your book. With some luck they will read your E-book and review it, if they like it, they will also buy it. Run a Facebook/Twitter Contest: Use an E-book cover maker to get people’s attention and simply publish a post on your page with an image of your E-book mockup. Something as simple as: “LIKE this post to win a FREE copy of my E-book” Or perhaps you want people to like & comment: “Want a FREE copy of my E-book? LIKE this post & COMMENT about why you should win. We’ll pick a random winner.” You can even require contestants to post photos: “In the comments below, post your best picture of you reading my E-book. One lucky commenter will win $80!” Make people answer a trivia question to enter your contest and only those who answer correctly qualify to win: “How did Tom & Jerry first met? Correct answers have a chance to win a FREE copy of my E-book!” Get creative and make use of the new Facebook reactions to create a fun contest.

Use an E-book cover maker to get people’s attention and simply publish a post on your page with an image of your E-book mockup.

Outreach via email: Craft a great email copy and outreach bloggers, editors, writers, authors who could promote your E-book (for free if possible) in their blogs or social media accounts.

Craft a great email copy and outreach bloggers, editors, writers, authors who could promote your E-book (for free if possible) in their blogs or social media accounts. Reddit: Here’s a short list of subreddits where writers and authors gather. Feel free to participate and follow each subreddit’s rules. https://www.reddit.com/r/ebooks/ (On the right side you can find more E-book Sources ) https://www.reddit.com/r/BookPromotion/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Bookselling/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Publishing/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SelfPublishing/ https://www.reddit.com/r/selfpublish/

Here’s a short list of subreddits where writers and authors gather. Feel free to participate and follow each subreddit’s rules.

Facebook Groups: Facebook Groups is another excellent place to promote E-books and mingle with authors going through the same situation as you. Join these communities, follow their rules, and promote your E-book politely. You will want to use a cover creator to make your posts stand out from the rest. https://www.facebook.com/groups/selfpublishingandbookmarketing/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/821811664605563/ (Authority Self-Publishing) https://www.facebook.com/groups/184413921615603/ (Self-Publishing) https://www.facebook.com/groups/AmazonSelfPublishing/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/115577718474963/ (Self-Publishing Help) https://www.facebook.com/groups/446652865452260/ (Self-Publishing) https://www.facebook.com/BookMarketingAuthorPros/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/976086735798716/ (Marketing Tools for Authors) https://www.facebook.com/groups/ForLoveOrMoney/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/YAauthoralliance/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/IndieBookPromo/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/509197505915958/ (Selling for Authors) https://www.facebook.com/groups/smarterartist/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/selfpubsupportgroup/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/315694258441389/ (Cheap Bookies) https://www.facebook.com/groups/1527178870911751/ (Offbeat Writers) https://www.facebook.com/groups/145324212487752/ (Writers Unite!)

Facebook Groups is another excellent place to promote E-books and mingle with authors going through the same situation as you. Join these communities, follow their rules, and promote your E-book politely. You will want to use a cover creator to make your posts stand out from the rest.

“Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you’re doing, but nobody else does.” – Stuart H. Britt

Paid Advertising for Your E-book

Facebook Advertising

Advertising Best Practices for E-books

Using Facebook Ads will help you to reach your audience driving more sales. We have recently released E-book Facebook Ad Images you can use when advertising on Facebook. Have a look!

Here are 8 best practice tips to help you optimize your ads.

Include a call to action within the first 90 characters and tell your customers what you want them to do. For example, tell them to subscribe to your email list or to download your E-book.

within the first 90 characters and tell your customers what you want them to do. For example, tell them to subscribe to your email list or to download your E-book. Use high-quality attractive lifestyle photos, bright product imagery or videos to grab the attention of potential customers. Create a visual representation of the words in your ad or Post.

attractive lifestyle photos, bright product imagery or videos to grab the attention of potential customers. Create a visual representation of the words in your ad or Post. Always refresh your ad creative every 1 to 2 weeks for the best performance, in other words, combat Ad fatigue . When everyone in your target audience has already seen your ad many times, it becomes more expensive to achieve desirable results.

. When everyone in your target audience has already seen your ad many times, it becomes more expensive to achieve desirable results. Include the most important content in your post in the first 90 characters . If you want visitors to your website, link to it upfront.

. If you want visitors to your website, link to it upfront. Identify your target audience . Think about your best current customers and use Facebook’s targeting options to reach a similar audience. For example, if you do not think French-speaking customers will be interested in your E-book, only target English speaking countries.

. Think about your best current customers and use Facebook’s targeting options to reach a similar audience. For example, if you do not think French-speaking customers will be interested in your E-book, only target English speaking countries. Organizing and promoting an event gives you an opportunity to attract new customers and bring previous customers back. Use Page Post ads to increase reservations or attendance to an event.

gives you an opportunity to attract new customers and bring previous customers back. Use Page Post ads to increase reservations or attendance to an event. Boosting posts will ensure your most important messages are seen by your fans and their friends. Boost posts about sales during the holidays to get in the news feeds of current customers and use targeting to expand your reach to new ones.

will ensure your most important messages are seen by your fans and their friends. Boost posts about sales during the holidays to get in the news feeds of current customers and use targeting to expand your reach to new ones. Facebook Offers allows you to promote special discounts to Facebook fans and non-fans in your specified area.

[Find out more about Facebook Advertising Best Practices]

Twitter Advertising

Select a campaign objective: Send people to your site, (to purchase, signup, etc.) Grow your follower community on Twitter Collect emails from interested people Reach more people and drive a conversation Find out more about Twitter Advertising.

Decide on a landing page

Create a hashtag for your book

for your book Use a URL shortener

Identify a series of “tweetable” quotes from the book

from the book Automate the delivery of your tweets.

Further reading:

Advertising for KDP Select

Amazon Marketing Services

Creating your ad in 5 easy steps:

1. Choose which book you’d like to promote

2. Choose your campaign type

Sponsored Product ads : keyword-targeted ads that appear below search results and on detail pages.

: keyword-targeted ads that appear below search results and on detail pages. Product Display ads: readers and genre-targeted ads on detail pages.

3. Select your targeting to reach the right customers.

4. Set your bid and budget: Cost-Per-Click (CPC) Bid or Campaign Budget

5. Set your campaign dates

[For more details on advertising with KDP Select, see Getting Started with Amazon KDP Ads Guide]

Recommended KDP Select reading:

BookBub

BookBub is allegedly one of the best E-book promoting services. It is a free service that helps millions of readers discover great deals on acclaimed E-books while providing publishers and authors with a way to drive sales and find new fans. Its members receive a personalized daily email alerting them to the best free and deeply discounted titles matching their interests as selected by the editorial team. BookBub works with all major E-book retailers and devices and is the industry’s leading E-book price promotion service. Find out more about becoming a BookBub partner here.

Don’t forget to visit this amazing compilation with comprehensive E-book marketing tips: The Top Guides to Online Advertising for Marketing Book

“Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.” – David Ogilvy

Aim for the 5 Stars

Getting reviews is of maximum importance for your E-book’s success. Readers get a book recommended by a friend, they add it to their “To-Read” list and forget about it for a while. Then, when they are looking for their next read, they find your book on their list. They go online and either make a Google search or look for your book directly on Amazon, Goodreads, whatever. This is the moment of truth! Does the book have 1 or 2 reviews or maybe none? Does the book have 2 or 3 stars or maybe one? Chances are he/she will not get your book and instead will consider another book from their list. Now let’s picture a different scenario, the book has 50 reviews maybe >100 reviews. The reader will then read the reviews and short description because so many people before they found it interesting, therefore they will very likely get the E-Book. This is how most readers behave and is also one of the many reasons to get positive and organic reviews for your E-book. Getting reviews in the first days weeks of your book release is important to plan your outreach efforts with time.

Now let’s picture a different scenario, the book has 50 reviews maybe >100 reviews. The reader will then read the reviews and short description because so many people before they found it interesting, therefore they will very likely get the E-book. This is how most readers behave and is also one of the many reasons to get positive and organic reviews for your E-book. Getting reviews in the first days weeks of your book release is important to plan your outreach efforts with time.

Why getting E-book reviews is important:

Consumers/readers read online reviews before buying/reading.

Consumers/readers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

Positive reviews build trust.

Here are some tips on how to get E-book reviews:

Do some research and build a list with the Top Reviewers of books of a similar genre or plot story as your E-book and get their emails.

Craft a short email and reach out to these power readers and kindly request them to read and review your book.

If necessary, give away your E-book for free. Follow up if no answer is received and also be thankful when you receive a review.

Another approach is to remind every person you know is reading or has finished reading your book to post a review, tell them it will just take 2 minutes no more.

Include at the end of your book a Call-To-Action. This might be the easiest and most effective way of getting reviews. If a reader is seeing this last page it means the reader has put the effort to finish your E-book so why not rate it and review it if it’s as easy as clicking the links.

Thank you for reading our E-book self-publishing guide, feel free to go back to any section you want by clicking the links below:

Preparing the Ground for Self-Publishing Your First E-book

Starting Your First E-book

Pre-Launch E-book Promotion

Self-Publishing Your E-book

What To Do After Publishing Your First E-book

Don’t forget to Bookmark this guide for future reference.

Read our recently released guide that is focused exclusively on book marketing.