How To Publish Your Book – Without Spending Any Money – Part 4

By Word Ninja

Part 4: Marketing​

In this final article in the series, I offer some ideas for free book marketing. These are primarily short-term tactics until you can afford to pay for marketing and promo.

Advance Reader Copies (ARCs)​

Use social media or Goodreads groups to build a relationship with ARC readers in your genre. Post that you’re looking for ARC readers for your book.

Newsletter

Some newsletter providers offer a free plan that includes a website and/or landing pages. These free plans allow for a limited number of subscribers, so you won’t have to pay until you exceed that threshold. To build your fan base, share the signup link to your newsletter in the back matter of your books.

Book Promo​

• Social media: You can create free images and videos for use on social media in Canva.
  • TikTok is the best social media outlet for promoting books. Author Kate Hall at Alyne Digital has some free resources on creating engaging content. Search on her name to find interviews where she gives an overview of her tactics.
  • Focus on one or two social media sites that you enjoy spending time on. Be sociable and share the books of other authors as well as your own. Be kind and don’t get caught up in drama or politics. Never badmouth other authors or readers. Don’t complain about negative reviews or low sales. Be professional.
  • Louise Myers offers some free social media resources on her blog. Be sure to sign up for her newsletter.
• Word of mouth: Ask people you know to share your book on social media and to tell their reader friends about it. The goal is to target people who already read the kind of books you write, not to convince everyone you know to buy your book.
• Blog: Blog about your book. Penguin Random House offers this article on how to write an engaging author blog post.

I hope these tips help you write, publish, and market your first book without breaking the bank. Good luck as you begin your author journey!

Written by Word Ninja

Sample book cover created for free in Canva