REVIEW
Marketing Your Book on a Budget
by Kathryn Elizabeth Jones
Marketing Your Book on a Budget is written by Kathryn Elizabeth Jones, editor-in-chief at Idea Creations Press. You can read my 5-BD review below.
Description
How does an author best get book reviews? What of interviews, blogs and social media? How can a new author expect to be seen while crowding the lane with other authors of his/her genre?
Marketing Your Book on a Budget is tiny for a reason; any author can afford it. But be prepared for the endless information enclosed. You'll never wonder again about the best ways to speak up about your book, get free advertising, or learn why postcards can help you get the word out faster and easier than any other way.
It’s easy to say you’re going to market your book, far more difficult to actually do it, but this handy guide will help you every step of the way, even while your heart is pumping wildly the first time you have to speak about your book to someone else.
Excerpt
Reviewers. Who are they and how do they help in selling your book?
Who are they?
Book reviewers are a little like editors and a little like book readers. They tell the public what they like and don’t like about your book, may spell out some grammar problems, but usually take the approach of giving you as positive a review as possible—even if they don’t particularly like your book.
You will, however, come up against reviewers who take the negative approach, so expect to get reviews not to your liking. Read the review and then move on. Don't contact the reviewer and ask a bunch of questions about why he/she wrote such a negative review. Don’t write something scathing back, or feel that you must somehow get their review taken off of Amazon. Keep moving forward. There have been a few times when I've wondered if the reviewer actually read the book I'd written, and I decided to look to the reviewers who liked my book and to my heart for the truth.
Where do you look?
When looking for a book reviewer, (though reviewers span the newspaper and magazine worlds), where you’re really going to gain interest is through blog reviewers. Though the first two sources will get the word out, more and more readers are turning to the Internet for answers to the question, “What is the next book I should read?”
Why not be where the readers are?
For my first book, there were few blog reviewers out there, but things have changed. When I began searching online for reviewers for my book, “Conquering Your Goliaths: A Parable of the Five Stones,” I was pleasantly surprised at the growth of book bloggers.
Not only were there multiple sites available but sites that gave me a list of reviewers, the types of books reviewed, where the reviews were posted, how long the reviewer had been blogging and what form of book they accepted (PDF, paperback only; I’ll discuss this more in detail later). Time was saved in searching the Internet for individual reviewers who may or may not have been interested in my book.
Here are four ideas to get you started:
- www.Stepbystepselfpublishing.net/reviewer-list.html. The reviewer list is easily accessible on the site by clicking on the link on the main page, "Reviewer list."
- Book Reviewer Yellow Pages is a book brought to you by the site above, but portions of the listing come to you FREE through email. If you join the mailing list at: www.stepbystepselfpublishing.net you'll get a monthly list of new reviewers sent directly to your email.
- The Indie View (www.theindieview.com/indie-reviewers/) offers an updated monthly list of new book reviewers.
- Wise Words-Book Blogger (www.louisewise.com/p/authors-directory.html) gives you an authors' directory, in addition, get a list of places to market your book, book publishing services, cover designers and more.
Book Trailer
Review
By Lynda Dickson
Marketing Your Book on a Budget covers such topics as reviews, interviews, blogging, social media, word of mouth, presentations, book signings, contests, and postcards. Whilst especially pertinent to newly-published independent authors, it is also a handy reference for all authors. At the end of the book, the author also includes some handy information about her publishing services company, Idea Creations Press.
This is a little gem of a book. The author provides practical advice on how to market your paperback or ebook at hardly any cost. These are tips learned though her own personal experiences in marketing her first and subsequent books.
As the author states, "It's been said that writing a book is difficult, but marketing is the hard part that comes after that." Let Kathryn ease your way.
From the Author
When I was young I thought I had to sound like a great writer to be one. It was all so overwhelming; now I know I only need to sound like myself. My ideas come from two primary sources. My work might spark from the enlightening words of a friend, teacher or writing prompt. At other times, I am sitting in a very still space and the words I should write come to me like a powerful and glowing wind.
My favorite tool is the pen. Though computer keys get the words down quicker and easier, I like to put pen to paper, smell the ink, see the words as they are developed and renewed by new phrases or thoughts.
I enjoy traveling to wherever the character takes me. This often means even I am surprised and warmed at the outcome. In the end, when my writing is done, I like to watch the eyes of the reader whenever I can. Their reflective expression gives me the greatest glimpse into what my writing has become.
Before I was one, I loved to read books-or at least, pretend to. I couldn't walk yet but I would crawl to the bottom shelf for what I wanted. My Grandma says my books were placed near the floor for that very reason, and my mother speaks of me pulling my favorite book from the shelf and crawling back to the couch with the book safely in tow.
I would sit on the couch and pretend to read, speaking the language of some foreign diplomat-or perhaps, the tongue of angels, my mother wasn't quite sure which, and when I was done, I would crawl back to the shelf for another story.
When I am not writing I'm reading. I am an avid reader of the scriptures and books of spiritual merit. I have been married 32 years and enjoy teaching and working with youth and children-including my own three girls, three grand-daughters and grandson.
A published writer since 1987, I have published books, newspaper and magazine articles for teens and adults.
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