Since I’m officially part of the indie community with the publication of Dust to Blood, I’ve discovered that a lot of my friends and family don’t understand that supporting my effort isn’t only about buying my book (though I love it when that happens, too!). There are a bunch of things they can do to help both me and any other authors they like that don’t involve cash outlay–and help just as much to get the word out to a wider community.
As an educational opportunity, then, here are a few things you can do to help me promote my book:
- “Like” or “Tag” my book’s listing at Amazon.com or any of the other online vendors where you find it. Doing this helps increase the searchability and visibility of my book to Amazon’s search engine, so it’s more likely that people who are interested in what you’re interested in will see my book.
Liking happens at the top of the page:
While tagging happens toward the bottom of the page:
- The next level of complexity up: Just share the fact that I’ve written a book. Word of mouth is the way most people find new books, so the more people who tell others about it, the more likely I am to build up a community of readers who are interested in more of my work. This includes posting mentions about my book in your online social space of choice, like Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Shelfari, or any others.
- The biggest compliment I can get is an actual review. It helps other potential readers know that someone else has vetted this to a certain extent and it won’t be a waste of their time. Even reviews that are not all perfume and roses help me develop as a writer–and are yet another indicator of whether a potential reader might be happy reading this book, even if it didn’t hit the reviewer’s wheel-house.
To thank you for taking the time to learn about this side of the publication and promotion of indie books, I’m posting a give-away that’s the brain-child of Emily Casey, a fellow indie author. The more of these things you do, the more likely you are to win one of the books participating in the promotion:
