The process of self-publishing your book is pretty straightforward, and more importantly, free on websites such as Amazon and the KDP program. But once your book has been published on their website, it can quickly disappear amongst the competition. If you do not learn how to market your book effectively, then there is a high chance no-one is ever going to see your book, which means no sales. So how can you market your book without spending a fortune? What are the marketing techniques that work? Here are some of the ways I have used that have given me proven and positive results.  

Facebook: Having your own Facebook fan page is always a great idea to promote your new book, and keep your followers up to date with up and coming projects. Many writers would suggest joining writer’s groups and placing a link to your book there. In my experience, I have found these groups are jammed packed with other writers all placing links to their books, and take no notice of other content on the page. However, placing an advert on Facebook is highly effective and can cost as little as $20. You can target specific people who have an interest in the genre of your book. Ensure your targeting is as specific and targeted as possible. For example, if you have written a science fiction novel then you can target people who follow famous science fiction authors. There is a wealth of information on the internet on how to do this to achieve maximum exposure and interest.  

Twitter: A great place for authors to promote their work to their followers, and to interact with other authors or industry professionals. The short word limit does not have to inhibit you either; use this platform to show off your great personality. One person that does this really well is Brian Rathbone.  

Instagram: The key to using this platform effectively is to remember quality not quantity will get you great results. This platform also encourages using hashtags, unlike Facebook and Twitter. Make your pictures top quality and interesting to ensure you stand out.  

Local Media: Your local newspaper or radio station will love a famous writer in their neighbourhood. You may not think so, but writing and publishing a book is a fantastic achievement. You have to learn to promote yourself because your local community would love to read about your success.  

Reviews: Get your book reviewed. Contact well-known reviewers, bloggers in your niche or reviewing websites for them to review your book. Many will not respond, but you only need one or two reviewers to reply and the momentum will start to build. They will leave a review on websites such as Amazon and Goodreads and from there more readers are likely to see your book and leave reviews and so on. For a small cost, you can get your book professionally and honestly reviewed on websites such as Readers Favourite in as little as two weeks. Many people read reviews before deciding whether or not to purchase your book.   

Medium: Finally this is a new platform I only discovered yesterday. All you need is to join medium.com, set up your profile including tags that are relevant to the genre of your book, and begin to place short articles of around 300 words. You will also need a blog page to send people where they will have the opportunity to see your book and make a purchase. For example, if you have written a fantasy novel, you could write an interesting short story set in a fantasy world. At the end of your article, there always has to be a call to action, such as read part two on my blog. Ensure that you also engage with other people on the site such as placing comments on other articles as this will gain more visitors to your blog. Make your articles controversial and intriguing for maximum engagement and interesting enough for your readers to want to visit your blog and discover your novel.