Methods For Getting Started With Low Budget Book Promotion

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.     

5 Tips for Writing a Self Help Book

By: Dr. John Chuback

I wrote my book, Make Your Own Damn Cheese, after many years of formal academic and personal-development study. Having become a Board-Certified Cardiovascular surgeon, I was professionally quite successful but still felt somehow personally unfulfilled.

My deep dive into the self-help genre was motivated by an intense desire to understand not only why some individuals are more successful than others but, more importantly, who we really are at our essence, what makes us tick, and how do we ultimately achieve true inner peace and happiness.

After 20 years of exhaustive research into these questions, Make Your Own Damn Cheese was my contribution to the field of self-discovery, self-expression, and self-acceptance.

Below are tips for other authors thinking about writing a self-help book:

Tip #1 Study Self-Help

Well, I think this may sound a bit obvious, but if you want to write a book in the self-help genre, I think you need to begin by being a student. The best way is to read, watch, and listen to everything you can get your hands, eyes, and ears on. Self-help may seem like a niche field of study at first, but it’s extremely vast when you begin to look at it.

Tip #2 Add Something to the Conversation

You have to study to be confident that you have developed some reasonable degree of expertise in the area you are interested in.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself: do you have practical experience or formal training and education in the area you are pursuing? Do you have a personal or professional track record for success in this area of self-help?

This is going to be vital if you want to be taken seriously or even noticed at all. Publishers, and the general public alike, will ask, who are you, and why should we listen to you? It’s important to feel that you have something to add to the conversation. You can’t expect to be published if you are going to rehash a lot of previously existing information. What do you have to say that is new?

Tip #3 Find your Niche within the Niche

There are so many areas of sub-specialization here. Always try to find your niche. For example, you can specialize in topics such as positive thinking or combatting pathologies like anxiety and depression. You can also look at issues, such as physical health, fitness, exercise, etc. Whatever it is, make sure you specialize; this will help you to stay unique.

Tip #4 Use Technology

In one of the earliest and best-known self-help recordings called The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale in 1957, he begins with the following words, “We live today in a golden age. This is an era man[kind] has looked forward to, dreamed of, and worked toward for thousands of years. But since it’s here, we pretty well take it for granted.”

One thing I do not want you to take for granted is the mind-boggling technology that almost all of us in the United States have at our disposal. Your mind is like a nuclear-powered engine of imagination and creativity.

As we go through the day, we are continuously coming up with great ideas. Many of these ideas can be used in your self-help book. Unfortunately, we tend to forget even our most innovative thoughts.

For that reason, I urge you to keep your smartphone at the ready at all times and become well versed in the audio-command functions of creating notes, text messages, e-mails, and voice memos.

If you can get into the habit of sending yourself these ideas for your self-help book, the project will begin to write itself. As you get back to your laptop or desktop computer and organize and develop these snippets of inspiration you collect throughout the day, you’ll be shocked to see how much information naturally comes together as a cohesive message. I’ve been putting this simple technique to good use for years and couldn’t imagine living without my “peripheral digital brain” with me at all times. 

I became so frustrated thinking to myself that I would write it down when I got to the office and then either forget what my idea was or even forget that even had an idea. Use the technology you have at hand and learn how to use it well. All you have to do is dictate or record your ideas for books, articles, chapters, etc. and then later flesh them out and bring them to their full state of maturity.

Tip #5: Write a Self-Help Book

Like tip #1, this may sound ridiculous, but it’s not. Writer Joseph Epstein has been quoted as saying that 81% of Americans would like to write a book. That’s 200 million people! So why were only 329, 259 books published in the United States in 2011? The answer is obvious, most people who think they have a book in them and that they should write don’t. Who are you? Are you the person who is going to let your self-help book die inside of you? Don’t be that person. Be the individual who, no matter what, sits down and actually writes your book. Don’t worry about anything else. Just finish the job. If you don’t, you shouldn’t be teaching self-help, you should go back to tip #1 and study it some more.

ABOUT DR. CHUBACK

Dr. John Chuback is the founder of Chuback Education, LLC. His passion is to assist patients with personal development achievement by figuring out how to set actionable, attainable goals. He is also the author of the self-help book, Make Your Own Damn Cheese.  

Some Novel Tips for Writers to Beat Creative Crisis

by Dorian Martin

The life of writers is all about ups and downs. One day you feel inspired and can write a hundred pages. The next day you feel broken and can’t find suitable words to finish a sentence.

If you are going through a creative crisis and are looking for help, check out the following tips on how to get your life back on track. Do your best to take control of the situation and find inspiration again.

Practice gratitude

Can you describe yourself as a grateful person? If you do not feel thankful for everything you already have in your life, you should reset your mindset.

Numerous scientific studies have proven there is a link between gratitude and creativity. It means that if you start practicing gratitude, it will be easier for you to beat the creative crisis.

Here are a few tips on how to start a “gratitude journey”:

●      Keep a gratitude journal on a daily basis. Write a list of 5 things you are grateful for.

●      Write “thank you” letters to people who helped you in your life. List all the good things they have done for you.

●      Stop complaining. Focus on things you have rather than things you have lost.

Find a new hobby

If you feel stuck in your life and work, you should find a new way to express your creativity.

Have you ever tried to watercolor flowers, decorate cakes, or play the guitar? Have you ever wanted to learn how to dance salsa or make clay pots? It’s time for you to try new activities and explore new forms of art.

“If you immerse yourself in a new creative hobby, you will unlock your creative potential. You will overcome the crisis and find inspiration for writing,” says Elisabeth Glover, a psychology writer at TrustMyPaper.

Take a look at your past achievements

It’s common that writers tend to undervalue their past achievements and doubt their talents. So if you worry that your writings are “not good enough”, you are not alone with your problem.

To get your confidence back, do the following:

●      Take a look at the best works that you completed in the past few years

●      Choose your favorite passages and read them aloud

●      After that, ask yourself a question: “Is it even possible that such a masterpiece was created by a person who has no talent?”

You do have a writing talent, and that’s an obvious thing! You have already achieved success as a writer once, and you have all the skills necessary to create even better pieces in the future. Reread all the positive reviews you have ever got, and you will get inspired again.

Travel to a new place

Your creative crisis will not end soon if you keep spending all your time in the same place and talking to the same people. To get your writing power back, you should travel to the place you have never been to and meet people you have never seen before.

“Travelling is one of the most effective ways to get positive emotions and find inspiration. So if you have been dreaming about a trip to Paris or Bali, it’s time to make your dream comes true,” says Tom Anderson, a travel blogger and writer at WowGrade.

Go exploring new cultures, tasting new cuisines, and admiring nature’s beauty – and your problems will solve themselves.  

Hike more

Hemingway was a big fan of hiking and mountain climbing. Together with her first wife, he often went on in the French countryside during their years living in Paris. According to Hemingway’s biography, their hikes were typically in the 12 – 20 mile range.

Long-distance hikes helped the famous writer not only to keep a good physical shape but also to avoid creative crises.

So if you like hiking and mountain climbing, try to practice more often. It’s highly likely that it will stimulate your creativity, and you will want to get back to writing. 

In conclusion

Remember that no matter what is going on in your life, everything is in your hands. If you want to feel the joy of writing again, try out the tips given in this article. Make the first step and become a happy, successful writer.

Dorian Martin is a blogger and novel writer. Currently, he works as an editor at Studicus and IsAccurate. His biggest passions are jazz, baseball, and medieval art.