I know everyone is probably getting tired of seeing my posts about book marketing, so I think I will wrap up the series with Book Marketing Part 4 – I can see clearly now! This one will deal with more of the sites I have discovered and have either tried or want to try. Hopefully, these will help you with your own book marketing efforts!
AUTHORSdB:
AuthorsdB is a great site that is free for authors to join. I’m listed there, but I have to admit I need to explore the offerings the site offers. I know that there are reviewers, author services, and some marketing help at AuthorsdB. You can grab a widget, enter your cover in a cover contest, and a lot of other things. Check it out and see what they can do for you!
IndieReader:
IndieReader.com is another site I have visited and am interested in trying out some of their services. They offer everything from reviews to news articles about the Indie book world. The reviews, though, are not free. They will do a review for $225 (with a turnaround time of 5-9 weeks) or a rush review for an additional $75 (with a turnaround time of 4-6 weeks). If your book is reviewed and receives a 4 or 5 star rating, IndieReader will include your book in their curation service that makes recommendations to Scribd, Bibliolabs, Huffington Post, and USA Today.
There are many other services available on IndieReader, so I’m planning on doing more investigation and see what opportunities are there!
theindietribe.com:
Theindietribe.com is a cool site that offers a lot to authors. From proofreading, review exchange (you do have to buy the books to review), writing tips, and many others, it is a one-stop shop for many authors. As with IndieReader, I will have investigate all of the offerings and opportunities at theindietribe! Look for a follow up report in the future.
The Readers Gazette World:
The Readers Gazette World is something new to me. I recently started following them on Twitter and have been impressed by the amount of activity I see there. I haven’t signed up on their website yet, but I will check it out in the next few days. You have to use Facebook to access most of the features of the site, but they offer quizzes, games, blogs, and short stories, as well as promotional opportunities.
Self-Publishing Review:
Another site worth looking at is Self-Publishing Review. They offer book reviews for a price, but the prices range from $59-$249 and the turnaround time is 2-4 weeks. The lowest price option doesn’t include a star rating, so if you want that option, you have to pick one of the other options. SPR also offers editorial services, a book launch service, and SPR Awards, so give them a look.
Readers Favorite:
Readers Favorite is a great site that offers reviews and awards for deserving books. I submitted my first book for a free review and it took a while before it was picked up by a reviewer, but picked up it was. I can’t wait to hear back for my reviewer. Readers Favorite only posts 4 and 5 star reviews, but if the review doesn’t meet that standard, the author is contacted with constructive criticism.
However, if your book earns a 4 or 5 star review, they do a great job of getting the word out. If you happen to receive a 5 star review, then you get an award that you can place on the book and everyone can see it is an award-winning book. They also sponsor the Readers Favorite Book Awards that can get more publicity for your book. It costs $89 to enter in one category. Add your book to multiple categories for an additional fee. I may enter my book!
Check out Readers Favorite and see if it’s a fit for you. I know it’s something I will use!
Bublish:
Another site that I’m taking a close look at is Bublish. Bublish allows the author to upload an .epub of their book(s) and publish excerpt bubbles along with background from the author. A basic membership is free, but for $9.99/month (or $99/year), there are some extras. I like the concept and read a couple of bubbles from authors on the site. The bubbles were great and the background from the author helped put them in context. Bublish runs a lot of Twitter promos for the bubbles, so here is a great opportunity to get exposure for not a lot of money. I’ll be setting up my Bublish account in the very near future and will provide an update on how it goes.
Book marketing Part 4 wrap up:
That’s it for now. I hope I have been able to provide some new sites and promotional and marketing opportunities for Indie authors (and even traditionally published authors who are working on promoting your books). I know working on this series of posts has helped me define what my marketing focus will be in 2015. I’ll be putting my marketing plan together using some of the information I gleaned from my research, and I’ll let you know how it goes. Book Marketing Part 4, as well as the other posts in the series, hopefully added a few more tools to your toolbox!
Connect with me:
If any of these ideas from this post (or the previous 3 posts) have helped your marketing efforts, please leave me a comment and let me know. If you want to connect with me, I can be found at Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads, and you can always contact me at bill@williamlstuart.com.
You can find The Gemstone Chronicles on Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes&Noble, and many other outlets. If you read one (or all of them), please consider leaving a review. I would love to know what y’all think!
Hi William,
Thank you for this list. Just when I think I have enough resources, you let me know there’s more to check out. They certainly look useful and I’m going to see if they would be suitable for me.
Regards,
Mark.
Hi Mark. It’s a never ending (and ever growing) list, but I hope some of them help you! Let me know how things go! And, if you find something that works well for you, please let us know.