Smashwords Book Marketing Guide

Learn how to market any book. This popular book marketing primer has helped over 100,000 authors and publishers dramatically improve their book marketing results.

The Smashwords Book Marketing Guide contains practical, easy-to-implement advice on how to market any book. 41 simple, do-it-yourself marketing tips explain not what you can do to market your book, but also explain the context and thinking behind each recommendation. The marketing techniques apply equally well to both ebooks and print books.

Here's what you'll learn in the Smashwords Book Marketing Guide:

Table of Contents

Introduction: About the Smashwords Book Marketing Guide

Background on Smashwords

Setting expectations

How Smashwords helps authors and publishers market books

Adopting a proactive marketing mindset

Marketing starts now

Hyperlinks help readers discover books

The importance of authors helping authors

41 Marketing Tips (all free to implement!)

Tip #1 – Update your email signature

Tip #2 – Post a notice on your web site or blog

Tip #3 – Contact your friends, family, co-workers and fans

Tip #4 – Post a notice to your social networks

Tip #5 – Update your message board signatures

Tip #6 – How to reach readers with Twitter

Tip #7 – Publish more than one book to create a multiplier effect

Tip #8 – Advertise your other books in each book you publish

Tip #9 – Make it easy for your readers to connect with you

Tip #10 – Issue a press release on a free PR wire service

Tip #11 – Join HARO, Help-a-reporter-online for free press leads

Tip #12 – Encourage fans to purchase and review your book

Tip #13 – Write thoughtful reviews for other books

Tip #14 – Participate in online forums

Tip #15 – Experiment with coupons

Tip #16 – Write a blog

Tip #17 – Write guest columns for blogs

Tip #18 – Invite other authors to post to your blog

Tip #19 – Do QA interviews of other authors on your blog

Tip #20 – Join the conversation on blogs

Tip #21 – Organize a blog tour

Tip #22 – Use Google Alerts to discover where the conversations are taking place

Tip #23 – Leverage YouTube videos to reach readers

Tip #24 – Print up business cards

Tip #25 – Encourage your fans to become affiliate marketers of your book

Tip #26 – Create a reader’s guide at the end of your book

Tip #27 – Insert sample chapters from your other books

Tip #28 – Do a sample chapters swap with another author

Tip #29 – Invite other authors to join you at Smashwords

Tip #30 – Promote your book to the top ebook listing sites

Tip #31 – Read the Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success

Tip #32 – Upgrade your cover image

Tip #33 – Share these marketing tips with your fellow authors!

Tip #34 – Create an online calling card with About.me

Tip #35 – Create a presentation and upload it to SlideShare.net

Tip #36 – Join LinkedIn, post links to your books

Tip #37 – Do a presentation at your local library on ebook publishing

Tip #38 – Tweak your Viral Catalysts to make your book more discoverable and desirable

Tip #39 – Link to every retailer to reach more readers

Tip #40 – Distribute your book as a preorder

Tip #41 – Publish a Smashwords Interview

Other Kindle Books by Mark Coker

Smashwords Style Guide (how to format and produce an ebook)