Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Fresh out of ideas on how to help your writing take off? You’re in luck.

We’ve compiled a list of 89 book marketing ideas that will change your life, build your brand, and sell your book. There’s something for everyone on the list.

Best of all, the list is free. Completely free.

Sound intriguing? Read on.

89+ Book Marketing Ideas That Will…

Increase your web presence:

  1. Create a testimonial page on your website
  2. Add the free My Book Progress plugin to your WordPress website to update your visitors about the status of your upcoming book.
  3. Retweak the SEO on your site
  4. Ask fans to post their reviews on your Facebook page
  5. Ask fans to post their reviews on Amazon
  6. Ask fans to post their reviews on Goodreads
  7. Sign up for Twitter
  8. Clean up your social footprint
  9. Create an author FB page and use it instead of your profile
  10. Sign up for Google Authorship
  11. Offer bloggers advanced reading copies
  12. Go on an online book tour
  13. Create a book launch team
  14. Host Q+A sessions on Google+
  15. Create Facebook Friday videos
  16. Register as an author on Amazon
  17. Register as an author on Goodreads
  18. Create a book trailer
  19. Add the free My Book Table plugin to your WordPress website to boost book sales.
  20. Create a hashtag for your next book

Build your fan base:

  1. Start a FB campaign to increase your fans
  2. Start a Google Campaign to increase traffic to your site
  3. Start a controversial web series
  4. Link up with other writers for your controversial web series
  5. Start weekly twitter chats with readers
  6. Keyword your blog posts
  7. Create a monthly newsletter
  8. Create an affiliate program
  9. Host guest bloggers
  10. Become a guest blogger
  11. Create business cards with your web address on them and hand them out
  12. Put your photo on your business card for stronger branding
  13. Start commenting on other blogs (early and often)
  14. Host regular author hangouts on Google+
  15. Host regular author interviews on Google+
  16. Record your Google+ hangouts and put them on YouTube
  17. Get social media coaching

Cultivate Community:

  1. Create an online community with a forum
  2. Say thank you to readers with special incentives for being a fan
  3. Ask your reading community to design merchandise for your store
  4. Create a fan page for your main character (works well if they are in a series)
  5. Ask fans to create their own book trailers and post them online
  6. Offer core fans advanced copy of future books
  7. Ask fans to post pictures of “character spottings”
  8. Offer “extra features” on your website
  9. Use Twitter hashtags
  10. Poll your readers and listen to what they say
  11. Answer all your blog comments
  12. Engage with your fans on FB
  13. Ask your fans to post pictures of them reading your book

Make some extra money:

  1. Repackage old blog posts and sell them as an e-book
  2. Join an affiliate program
  3. Speak on the core topic of your book
  4. Become a content writer
  5. Host paid webinars
  6. Freelance with niche magazines
  7. Sell ads on your website
  8. Sell ads in your newsletter
  9. Write a new ebook tailored to your fans
  10. Mentor another writer
  11. Become an Amazon Affiliate (and use MyBookTable)
  12. Offer customizable ebooks for readers
  13. Sell your book on your site, not just Amazon

Tweetables:

  • The @AuthorMedia crew just gave me 89 free book marketing ideas. Watch out world! – click to tweet. 
  • My sales should spike soon. I’m going to try out some of the book marketing suggestions from @AuthorMedia. – click to tweet.
  • 89 Book Marketing Ideas That Will Change Your Life. Try one today! – click to tweet.
  • Have you tried any of these marketing tips from @AuthorMedia? They look great! – click to tweet.
  • Dang. I needed book marketing ideas and I found 89 of them via @AuthorMedia.  – click to tweet.
  • If you write books, you should look at this list ASAP. Unless you are my competitor. – click to tweet.
  • Need some book marketing ideas? One of these ideas should do the trick! – click to tweet.

Build your brand offline

  1. Write a Press Release
  2. Ask to be interviewed by your local paper
  3. Ask to be interviewed by the paper your book is set in
  4. Ask to be interviewed by the local radio host
  5. Ask to be interviewed on the local morning show (read this article first)
  6. Partner with a band that has the same cause as you
  7. Go on a physical book tour
  8. Start thinking local
  9. Sell themed merchandise (Think “Team Edward” shirts)
  10. Rent a billboard
  11. Host a book release party
  12. Link with an activity that supports your cause and sell your book there
  13. Create a viral video about a scene from your book

Find a Place To Give a Book Reading:

  1. Your local coffee shop
  2. A hospital
  3. A retirement community
  4. A rehabilitation center
  5. A local church
  6. A locally owned bookstore
  7. The library (try the five closest to your house)
  8. The local community college
  9. A school
  10. Wherever the main setting of your book is
  11. Google+
  12. Videos you upload to Facebook
  13. Goodreads

Discover where to donate your book (and make new fans):

  1. Women’s shelters
  2. VA hospitals
  3. Homeless shelters
  4. Children’s hospitals
  5. Retirement homes
  6. The five closest libraries to your house
  7. The library in your hometown
  8. Summer camp
  9. Community libraries at coffee shops
  10. The local community college library
  11. The libraries in the town where the book was set in
  12. BookCrossing.com
  13. Local B&B’s
  14. Local motels
  15. Prisons
  16. Church libraries
  17. Rehab centers
  18. Cruise ship libraries
  19. Doctor’s offices
  20. Community centers
  21. Senior Centers

Become an expert:

  1. Listen to the Novel Marketing Podcast.
  2. Become a HARO source
  3. Get active on LinkedIn
  4. Write Op-Ed pieces on the core message of your story
  5. Write freelance pieces on the core message of your story and pitch to niche publications
  6. Give lectures on the core message of your story
  7. Host webinars with other experts
  8. Create a series of web-videos interviewing experts on the core message of your story
  9. Make sure your author about me page is interesting and relevant
  10. Create a Meetup group

Have any book marketing tips you’d like to add to the list? Leave them in the comment section.

Need help implementing some of the ideas? Author Media can help.

Liked it? Take a second to support Caitlin Muir on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!

Want more help?

Get a weekly email with tips on building a platform, selling more books, and changing the world with writing worth talking about. 

You have Successfully Subscribed!