The Most Super-Duper, Exhaustive, Comprehensive, and Current Listing of Free and Paid Book Advertising Websites and Ideas
Hi, everyone,
As mentioned in the previous post, I have found the hard way that advertising books on social media is not a very good or even a decent marketing strategy, if it is, in fact, your one and only strategy. As an update, I have to let you know that it does work, though – I have ignored Twitter for a few days last week in the wake of this realisation, and my book sales dropped from an average of 11 per week to 3. Not a huge difference in numbers, but let’s express it in percentage points…OH MY GOD, I’VE LOST 75% OF SALES! Sorry for yelling, but you get my point, right? Keep working at social media, but do consider doing what the pros have always done – broadcast to unsuspecting masses.
I hope I can help by sharing this list of book marketing sites and ideas with you. I intend for it to be a continuous work in progress – I plan to update it as I go and then reblog once I have something super exciting to report. Even if you don’t want to advertise a book, the sites below are excellent resources to find free or bargain-priced books.
First, how about the NUMBER ONE THING I’VE LEARNED from doing this research? It’s simple – you must plan an overall sales strategy, preferably over the whole year. Why? I’m glad you’ve asked:
The main reason for this is that once you’ve had a sale or a free promotion for your book, many sites WILL NOT CONSIDER promoting your book at a higher price for 30-90 days (see below for details on each site).
Some sites you can notify on the day of the promotion, others you have to notify well in advance.
Holidays. You might want to schedule your sales to be around Christmas? Or beach vacations? Or Independence Day?
And now, without further adieu, here are the advertising sites (some of which I’ve used), in alphabetical order:
Addicted to eBooks: Can post a free or low price ($5.99 or less) ebook only for free! The catch is that you will not know when it is posted on the front page, but at a cost of nothing, why not? They don’t accept erotica and you have to have at least 5 reviews. You can only submit your book once.
My experience: I have applied for an account on 25 September and got approved on 28 September. Created a profile and Shizzle, Inc ad on 28 September. Considering paying $15 for a week-long sidebar ad and a Facebook post, although as of 8 October the profile by itself has not made any impact on the sales.
Ask David: only for KDP Select freebies. Schedule free days up to 30 days in advance.
Author Marketing Club: subscribe to get marketing tips. 25K+ subscribers. Free subscription or optional premium membership. Very flashy website, and it kept sending me to the premium membership form – I almost gave up, but luckily found the Free Membership Form eventually.
My experience: I have signed up to try some of the tools.
Awesome Gang: Appears to be run by the same person that runs the Discount Book Man. I was pleasantly surprised that the top books in their “featured” list had great Amazon rankings (not to say it was all due just to the Gang, no matter how Awesome). That’s only for $10!! They say their newsletter goes to 4,600 subscribers, and they have almost 50K Facebook fans.
My experience: I was pretty impressed with the apparent value for the money, so submitted Shizzle for a promo on 10 October for a $10USD.
BitTorrent: this is a bit “out there” idea, as this is the site often blamed for piracy. It has over 200 MILLION users. This seems great if you have a series – just give away the first book in the series for free, to build a fan base which will come back to buy the rest.
Booksends: claim that big-name publishers advertise with them. NOTE: the promo price has to be the lowest of any within the previous 90-day range.
BookBub: you will need to set up an account, after that you can go straight to Submit a New Deal. The price to list a free promotion is $70, and a $0.99 sale is $140 FOR THE US ONLY. Ouch. Another issue that the sale price has to be the lowest of the last 90 days. Apparently it’s so popular that it’s difficult to get selected, despite the cost. There’s an excellent series of articles by an author Nicholas Rossis, which describe tips and tricks on how to get selected.
Book Goodies: post your book for free, but only once, and you have to fill in an author interview (answer questions). So, you first have to complete the interview, then wait 2-3 weeks for it to be approved, then list your book. Cumbersome – yes. Free – hells yes. Please note that you give the website the right to publish your interview and your photo (if you choose to upload a photo).
My experience: I have answered interview questions and it was live just a week later on Book Goodies website. I received an email notification of the interview being posted on 5 October and it already had 3 Facebook and 4 Twitter shares. On 8 October it had 14 Twitter shares.
Book Gorilla: seems a cheaper option, while still being quite popular and famous. This explains why they are BOOKED UP TO 2 MONTHS IN ADVANCE. Once again, the price of advertising depends on the book price – $4 to $50. You can also ask to be “starred”, although they will decide if they want to do it, based on your book quality – that would be an additional $100. They themselves say that it’s not likely to make much difference.
My experience: I have submitted a request for Shizzle, Inc to be promoted on 28/11/2015 on a $0.99 sale, for $40 (Group B, humor). It took several days for the request to be approved and for the invoice to be issued. They changed the invoice to $50, because I guess they’ve put it to Women’s fiction category. I have asked why, and no reply for a couple of days – they appear to be slow with customer service. As of October 3 – still no reply, just another reminder to pay, so I’ve paid. No confirmation of payment, so I’ve emailed and asked if my promo was scheduled, to which they did reply.
Bookreader Magazine: top featured title was in top ranking within its category, which got me excited right away. Some eh titles, too. They have 23,000 Twitter followers and around 730 Facebook fans. The submission page looks just like the one for Pretty-Hot.Cost to be featured is $20. Use coupon code Awesome Save $10. They are very strict on your book pricing – you can’t advertise at a price that is higher than the lowest price within the last 30 days. Also, can’t advertise more often than once every 2 weeks.
My experience: I’ve only done a free author interview. No apparent impact on sales.
Book Review Directory: a book review blog, in September 2015 it has 95 reviewers. They odder a sidebar ad for $25, but there’s no mention of traffic or number of followers.
Cheap Kindle Daily: free listing of your book at any price, but only 96 followers and they require that you put their badge on your site.
Choosy Bookworm: a blog, no info on the followers or subscribers. I might try the free ad feature, although a spot is not guaranteed.
Digital Book Today: a bolg with 20-24 thousand visits per week. Lots of options for promotions, quite confusing, actually. Can submit a free Amazon promotion for free or choose paid options.
Discount Book Man: appears to be run by the same person as Awesome Gang. Submit your book for free, or opt for a $15 “featured” promo. I’ve looked at their featured list – the books with professional-looking covers had relly good rankings.
My experience: I submitted Shizzle, Inc on 27 September (for free). No apparent impact on sales.
eBook Hunter: see HotZippy.
eBookasaurus: advertise your free book for free. Or list your bargain book – a premium listing is just $10. Could not find any mention of the number of subscribers or followers.
My experience: will consider for free days.
Ereader News Today Scroll all the way to the bottom to find “authors, submit your free or bargain book here”. The cost is $25. Takes a few days to set up, get approved, and pay the invoice – allow a few working days before your promo date.
My experience: I have submitted Shizzle, Inc for consideration and got approved a few days later. Paid $25 on 29 September – the ad will be live on 10 October. I have read in a testimonial from a bestselling author that they’ve worked for her, so keeping my fingers crossed.
Flurries of Words: just a $5 donation for a listing, but the site has only 424 followers. Also, clicking on the cover image of featured books does NOT take you to their sale site.
My experience: Pass.
Free Book Dude: list your free book for free or choose from various paid options, from a $10 sidebar ad to a $100 for a 5-week promo. I was concerned that it looks like there’s only 285 members and no mention of traffic stats or the number of subscribers, so I’ve opted for a guest blog. If the guest blog gets much traffic (without me reblogging it), I will consider paid offers.
FreeBooksy: you can advertise free and bargain books.BargainBooksy – $70 to reach 104,000 subscribers to the Chicklit genre. For some reason, it was $100 to promote a free book in the same category! It had testimonials from a few real people, but I have not yet committed to buying any promos.
Free eBooks Daily: It doesn’t look flash, but when I checked ratings of the top featured titles, their ratings were in the top 10 on free bestseller lists! I will definitely consider this for a future free promo. Cost – just $3!!
Free eBooks for Young Adults: free services, although it looks like a baby blog. I’m not sure if it’s suitable for Shizzle, Inc, but it may be perfect for your novel.
Free Kindle Books and Tips: claim to have 675,000 subscribers! Apparently run by an author who has sold over 1 million Kindle copies! Your book MUST have an average 5 stars from at least 8 reviews on Amazon (unless it’s a new release). Very picky – rejects 75% of author submissions. The cost is $25 for a regular post for a book priced at $1 or less, plus various other options. They have a free app – with very mixed reviews (on Amazon).
My experience: I’ve requested to reserve a special promo spot for Thanksgiving weekend sale. On October 1 I got a reply that my description was too brief, and so my book was not going to be considered for promotion, but I could reapply with a better description. Meanwhile, I have checked the titles posted as “Featured Posts” on the site. Most of them had rankings worse than mine (while I have not yet paid for any promos). The one that was actually quite high in rankings, had only 1 customer review (which was poor). Yet this site demands high reviews before posting. This left me wondering if I will actually try to resubmit or will leave it alone.
Free Online Novels: for free novels only. I assume they have to be free permanently, not just temporary giveaways. It’s a free service, but my book is not free most of the time. Not for me.
Get Free Books: very straightforward submission for free ebooks.
Good Kindles: $10-$20 to permanently feature your book on their site, with options to “bump it up”. This one is different from most big sites in that they do not require your book to be discounted. The site has 88K Twitter followers, and I’ve checked some of the promoted books – they have decent ratings.
My experience: I’ve bought a $9.95 promo for a weekend of 3 October, when Shizzle is priced at $2.99. This will be a real test of the site’s services, as $2.99 is a regular price, and I have not scheduled any other promos for that weekend. This is what my page looks like. As of 8 October, there has been no impact on sales. I’m not sure if I will try again for a $0.99c sale.
GoodReads: Great for everything, except (in my opinion), paid advertising.
My experience: I have paid $20 and tried every combination of keywords, tagline, and target audience. I have started with 10 cents per click, then 20, then 30, and finally 40 cents. As of 8 October, after a month, not a single click. I think my $20 will sit in that account indefinitely…
Hot Zippy: parent company for Bargain eBook Hunter, PixelScroll and Romance eBook Deals. $15 and completely automated purchase. They require a 3-30 day notice.
iAuthor: a UK site, professional-looking, with quality-looking titles in collection. Advertise your book for free.
My experience: created a profile and a free advert on 28 September 2015. It looks fantastic, and my embedded sample is displayed right under the title, so it draws attention (no need to click on a link). No impact on sales whatsoever by 8 October.
Ignite Your Book: very straightforward submission, free service, for free books only.
Indie Book of the Day: submit your free and “soon to be free” books 7-30 days prior to sale.
Indie Book Promo: claim to have over 250K Twitter followers, 15,000 Facebook Fans, just over 20,000 Goodreads subscribers, and a “huge number” of Google+ followers. I’ve clicked on a few titles that are at the top of current display – their rankings were from great to terrible. Advertising prices start at $25 for a month.
My experience: I have bought a month-long sidebar ad, starting on 27 November, for $25. Will also provide an author interview.
IndieReader: I had a look, and the look of the site turned me off – it just looks like a blog full of ads. It doesn’t say anything about the subscriber list, or how many followers it has, but it does invite you to pay $25 for a day of advertising your free book. It’s a “nah” for me.
Inspired Reads: turned out to be a Christian Kindle book site (not that there’s anything wrong with that!). Not for the foul-mouthed Isa, though…
Kickstarter: this is not a book advertising site, per se, but I am toying with an idea to do a fundraiser to help me write the second one (I desperately need to take some time off work). Something like “donate $25 and get an autographed copy of the second book in Isa Maxwell series” or “donate $3 and get a free ebook.”
Kindle Nation Daily: appears to be run by the same people as BookGorilla (based on the payment info). They claim to reach 174,000 subscribers, but the cheapest “sponsorship” option is $29 and is fully automated – after reading the description I was a little worried that I might pay and end up with a technical error.
Kindle on the Cheap: a baby blog with 204 followers, but a free service.
My experience: nothing to lose, so I’ve submitted Shizzle, Inc on 27 September. No impact on sales as of 8 October.
Many Books: claim to have 110,000 subscribers – the basic promo is just $25. The book must have at least 10 reviews on Amazon with an average of at least 4 stars. A book can be featured only once in any 3 month period. They claim that a $35 promo of a free book is guaranteed to get you at least 1,000 downloads.
My experience: Must try in the future.
NetGalley: I would love for someone to tell me if they’ve had success with this one. The site suggests that I may be able to connect with professional readers and media, but at the $399 just to list, or $599 for a six-month listing and one promo, it seems steep. I will pass for now.
One Hundred Free Books: looks like it’s free.
My experience: submitted Shizzle for October and Thanksgiving promos on 27 September. No reply as of 8 October.
People Reads: have a few testimonials, but no information on followers or size of the subscriber list.
Pixel of Ink: might as well go straight to Pixel of Ink Author’s Corner, which will inform you that apparently advertising with them is very limited and is available through BookSends. Once I’ve arrived there, it turned out that Shizzle, Inc is not currently eligible, as it has been offered for free in the last 90 days – they will only list it if it is free again. Also, the sale date must be between 3-30 days from submission. The cost – $20 to reach 18,000 subscribers to Women’s fiction. I will try this later.
Pretty-Hot: top free promoted books had amateur covers and ugh rankings on Amazon. They have 7500 Twitter followers and around 5690 Facebook fans. It’s free (with an optional $25 featured promo). Use coupon code Pretty to save $10 on featured ad.
My experience: I listed Shizzle, Inc on 27 September 2015 for free (no featured ad) – no increase in sales as of 8 October.
PixelScroll: see HotZippy.
Read Cheaply: require your book to be high quality – edited, proofread and have good reviews. I might try this a bit later, when I have a paperback version on Amazon. Will not feature the same book more than once every 4 months.
Reading Deals: 80,000 twitter followers. Can submit your book for free, but a spot is not guaranteed – a $15 guarantees a promo.
Romance eBook Deals: see HotZippy.
Snickslist: list a free giveaway once it’s actually free. No erotica.
Story Finds: they have 4,000 Twitter followers. Well, I have over 20,000 and I have been marketing to them hard, with very little results. 6,320 newsletter subscribers is a bit better, and they have 900 new visitors to website per day. Still, for $50-60 spotlights, I’m not sure I will make my money back.
The Books Machine: sells a membership for $10 per month. I’m not yet clear on how it works or if it’s worth it. Requires authors to give away free copies.
Zwoodle Books: advertise your free book for free, or donate $5 to a charity. The promoted books’ ratings varied from good to eh, but I really liked that the site requires the author to pledge not to ever buy paid reviews. In this day and age, this just might make Zwoodle a more trusted resource for readers. Will definitely use for the future free promotion.
TIPS ON BUILDING A PROMOTION STRATEGY:
Maximise your KDP Select promo days
