by Ashley Halsey

Being a successful author doesn’t only mean writing good books. It means selling them too. The book world is a complex, almost cryptic one in which no-one has really cracked the algorithm for sales success. All sorts of different books sell, and sell well. There certainly isn’t a problem with the industry itself, in spite of the doomsday predictions that accompanied the arrival of the kindle and the development of modern technology. But, it can be very difficult to know how to get your book out there, most of all when you don’t have much money to promote it with. Well, if this sounds like you (and if you’re the average author it probably does) then read on to learn a few tips for book promotion on a budget. It’s time to show your hard work to the world.

Social Media

First things first: you can’t have a conversation about marketing anything in the contemporary era without discussing social media. Social media is an incredible resource that has to be used. You’d be shooting yourself in the foot to ignore what is the biggest gift for authors light on cash to promote their book. “Social media can simply achieve so much for you, without even spending a dime. Build up a network, interact with readers and authors. Find people to give advanced copies to. Attract the attention of editors or publishers. There are simply so many benefits to take advantage of that it can be hard to say what is best about it”, says Zoe Talbot, writer at Writinity and ResearchPapersUK. Get involved as soon as you can. Spread across multiple platforms all linking to one another and start sharing your book.

Social Media Advertising

Not only is social media probably your best friend on the ‘free’ end of your promotion efforts, it’s even valuable if you’re looking to spend money. Social media advertising allows you to create hyper-focused advertising campaigns that can reach thousands and thousands of people for as little as $30. If you don’t have much money, these adverts will allow you to do an immense amount without burning through your bank account. Almost all platforms have this ability but Instagram is probably where I would recommend that you begin. There’s a colorful community of book enthusiasts and an excellent paid promotion market for you to start using to your benefit.

Utilizing Influencers

Ok, last social media one I promise. As if the first two points weren’t enough, there is a third, incredible resource that social media facilitated: the influencer. Influencers are people who have somehow acquired a large following on social media. You can use influencers by getting them to talk about your book on their page to expose it to their large following. “There are influencers in all sorts of different industries, the book industry included. You should try, at first, sending your book to them for free and seeing if you can get some unpaid shout outs. Failing that, influencers will do a great deal for your book that makes paying them worth it”, advises Mark Cherry, marketer at DraftBeyond and LastMinuteWriting.

Build A Website

It’s a great idea to have an author website that you can showcase your work through and even sell your book through. It isn’t difficult to get a website and designing one yourself or with a tech savvy friend is easier than ever before thanks to sites like Wix and Squarespace. Design it nicely and link all of your socials to and from it to build your own network.

Do Guest Blog Posts

Getting your content on other peoples’ sites really helps elevate your profile in the world of the internet. It seems like you are doing the blog a favor by writing for it, but you also get the chance to spread the word about your work, to attach your name to the post and, in most cases, to put a link to your website as well.

Conclusion

Most promotional techniques for authors without real marketing budgets involve using the internet. It doesn’t matter what your book is about, there are always ways for you to take advantage of the range of incredible opportunities that the digital world provides.

Ashley Halsey is a writer, working at LuckyAssignments,  GumEssays writing on all sorts of topics relating to travel and personal development. She spends most of her spare time traveling with her family and gathering information for her latest piece of writing.