Writing a book is the easy part compared to marketing. So, you have a well edited book with a stunning cover, but how do you get it noticed? My first book was published in 1998 and I now have twenty published books in a range of genres. I have tried Facebook adverts, Facebook book pages, Twitter and Twitter book pages, Google+ and Pinterest. I have tried blogging and bloggers, book websites, Amazon and Goodreads, Smashwords, LinkedIn and author sites. The problem with these is that you are trying to sell to other authors. Readers don’t go to author sites. After nearly twenty years of trying to sell my books, I have reached the conclusion that there are a couple of ways that work best.

Reviews still work, even though Amazon has changed all the rules and seem to have their own way of allowing or disallowing these. I have had many discussions with them about reviews that have been disallowed by verified purchasers because they may be known to me. Yet there are still books that make it into the top ten with paid for review systems. I was once reading an e-book – which was actually quite good – and suddenly saw that the reviews were coming in by the hundreds, even as I was watching. Clearly, these were paid-for reviews. Many just gave a one word review and a five star rating. The book went to number 3 in a few hours. I queried this with Amazon, but they obviously have their own rules and regulations and no one is going to influence them in their kingdom. True, they have recently made some changes, but one word reviews do not give a potential reader an accurate idea of the quality of the book. Authors are aware of these anomalies, but many readers are not. If a book is high in ranking, they are much more likely to buy it than one that is much lower and with few reviews.

Still on the subject of reviews, be aware that if you have a professional review, you can add it to your book details under editorial reviews via your author page on Amazon.

Second are newspaper and magazine articles. Many readers will impulse buy when reading such an article. Try to word it rather about points of interest instead of ‘Please buy my book.’ For example, if your book is set in a particular area, go to a newspaper in that area. Likewise, if a book is about a particular subject, such as a children’s book about bullying, look for publications that are specific to that subject. But first and foremost is your local newspaper, but don’t forget the angle – location, characters, theme, how long you have lived in the area, and why, etc. Get to know the name of a local journalist and try to speak to them personally. I’ve turned up at my local newspaper office on several occasions, handed out copies of the book I want to promote, and talked to them about my ‘angle.’ They may not prioritise your story, but chances are they will have a slow news day soon.