Top 3 Book Marketing Strategies for Self-Published Authors

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My top three book marketing strategies are Amazon ads, content marketing and email marketing. Email is the one I would start with, because you own the audience. When I began I had zero traction until I learned Amazon ads, and the blog posts I wrote still bring in traffic today. Here is what worked and what didn’t.

What did not work for me?

I dabbled in social media. Every link I put on Twitter got 20 clicks immediately, which turned out to be robots. I put links in Facebook groups for authors and readers looking for free books, and that did not influence sales. Free campaigns through services that send your book to their readers got me thousands of downloads during the five-day free period in KDP Select, but did not translate into more sales afterward. For KDP Select, KDP describes a 90-day program. I also put out a few blog posts on my books, and I am still getting traffic from Google to the website I set up. But I saw zero traction until I got serious about Amazon ads. Read quitting KDP self-publishing.

Strategy 1: How do Amazon ads help me sell books?

Another self-publisher had taken a training on ads and I followed the steps. My sales jumped. That was when I knew I could get books to sell. Ads need a cover that matches, a title that pulls people in, reviews and a description that convert the people who click.

Amazon’s description of Sponsored Products: ads in shopping results and on product pages, pay-per-click, with a daily budget and bids you set and payment only when someone clicks. Reports show how your ads and placements perform. My own ads have been shown over 200 million times. Ads play a key role in my marketing even today, although they are not my number one method. I have helped coaching clients set up their ads.

Two details help when you set ads up. Amazon says Sponsored Products has no monthly or upfront fees, and you can target by keyword or by product. You can pick the keywords yourself or let Amazon target them automatically (Amazon Ads). The daily budget is not paced through the day, so a small budget can be spent early, which is why I start small and watch the first results.

Strategy 2: How does content marketing help?

You keep putting out content that drives people to the sales pages of your books. It still works for my very first book and my earlier books. Blogs, videos and podcasts keep working long after you publish them. See 3 ways to find more readers.

Strategy 3: Why is email marketing the most important?

Because you own the audience. Authors lose Amazon accounts, sometimes when automated systems misread what happened. If that happens, you lose your readers, unless they are on an email list. Then you can tell them where to find your books somewhere else.

Second, you can drive the whole list into your latest book at once, which boosts its basic sales rank and gets Amazon’s engine going. Third, you can ask people who know, like and trust you to leave honest reviews. Read setting up an advanced review team. Almost every marketer will tell you email is the most lucrative form of marketing, though I did not find a number to cite. My full method is in my method for marketing a book. If you haven’t started, start today. If you have no books out, get one out first.

What rules apply when I email my list?

In the US, the FTC’s CAN-SPAM guide asks for accurate sender details, a subject line that matches the message, a clear note when a message is an ad, a valid postal address, and a simple way to opt out that you honor within 10 business days. The FTC says each email that breaks the rules can cost up to $53,088 (FTC CAN-SPAM guide, August 2023). Most email services build these in, but check your own setup. Other countries have their own rules, and I am not a lawyer.

Which marketing have you tried for your books? Tell me in the comments. If you would like help setting up ads, content and an email list that work together, book a free 25-minute discovery call. Coaching is available too: group coaching is $47 a month and 1-on-1 coaching starts at $147 a month, both monthly, cancel any time, with a 7-day money-back guarantee.

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