Photo by Sergiu Vălenaș on Unsplash

In today’s world, whether you publish through a publisher or you self-publish, you will still need to do your own marketing. Now that my first book has been published, I am trying to figure out what marketing strategies work best.

So, what have I done so far?

1. I have set up an author’s page on Amazon and Goodreads.
2. I do my best to post here on my blog five days a week, but because I also take my aging mother to medical appointments and have responsibilites in my own household, I don’t always accomplish this goal.
3. I have a personal page and a professional page on Facebook. If you don’t follow me, please do: my Facebook professional page and my Personal Facebook page. I try to post something on these pages at least once a day, and I try to read and respond to friends’ posts, and to the group posts on the groups I’m a part of. Facebook also has ways to promote posts and I think they have ads available too, but I haven’t tried any of that. I’m just trying to get to know people and connect with readers.
4. Amazon also has ads, but I haven’t done any of these yet either. There is a cost for ads no matter what website or social media page you’re on. I’ve heard some of the ads are reasonable and worth it, but I’m not ready to try that yet.
5. I also answer two questions a week on Goodreads and am trying to connect with readers on there as well. Goodreads has some suggestions for authors to do to engage with readers, and they have some marketing tools and suggestions as well. Again, I have not done any of these yet or looked into them in detail.
6. I’ve been told “word of mouth” is still very effective in selling books, and in the beginning, I have seen that working. I sold a decent amount of books because of that. However, my sales have slowed down, so I need to start looking into and trying some other things. It’s all a process of learning and trial and error.

I have not found much on Barnes & Noble’s website in the way of promoting books, and, honestly, I don’t know if many people buy books from their website. My books been on their website for several weeks now and hasn’t made a single sale. I know Amazon is the place many people go to, not just for books, but for lots of other things. I see their vans all over my town and neighborhood almost on a daily basis, and definitely on a daily basis from October through January.

So, what about you other authors who visit here? What have you done and found effective in selling your books? Please leave a comment in the comments section. I love when we writers/authors can help each other. That’s why I share the posts I share here.