Book Promotion Articles | Self-Publishing Review

3 “Great” Book Marketing Ideas That Were a Waste of Money

Indie author Duke Diercks talks about Facebook Ads, digital marketing, and how he “stalked” Adam Sandler…

If you’re paying attention, I put the word great in quotes. That’s because perhaps I alone thought these ideas were great – at least one of them anyway!

Here’s the deal: as a newly self-published author, I was eager (read: desperate) to get my book noticed. I also have a background in digital marketing so I am familiar with certain online advertising avenues. Immediately, I came up with two ideas to get some exposure:

Facebook Advertising
Advertising on a High-Traffic Blog

The third idea[…]

Duke Diercks2018-05-26T15:50:28+02:00March 23rd, 2017|Categories: Features, Member Blog|Tags: Book Promotion Articles|

3 Golden Rules For Your Amazon Author Page

A Guest Post by Kindlepreneur’s Dave Chesson on the importance of the Amazon Author Page.

In the increasingly crowded world of self-publishing, it’s important for authors to do everything in their power to stand out from their competitors.

Of course, a quality book is always the best way. There is no substitute for a carefully crafted, well-edited book with an attractive cover.

While an author’s book is and always will be the main way to attract sales and fans, it is far from the only way. In fact, as more and more self-published authors up their game in terms of […]

Dave Chesson2020-02-08T16:01:03+02:00March 13th, 2017|Categories: Features|Tags: Amazon News and Tips, Book Promotion Articles, Dave Chesson Articles|

Mythbusting The Amazon Algorithm Part III – Verified Customer Reviews and the New Amazon Guidelines

There are some home truths we need to examine that authors are not really grasping about the Amazon Algorithm since I started this series. So in this installment of “Mythbusting,” I’m going to get into what the algorithm’s new Machine Learning model and new Amazon Guidelines mean for Verified Customer Reviews.

MYTH 1 – By figuring out what keywords people search for you can get customers to find your book

TRUTH – Meh. Here we go again. My answer to this is “Are you a robot?” You would have to be Hal 9000 since the new algorithm came along. Let’s […]

Cate Baum2020-02-20T13:25:23+02:00February 23rd, 2017|Categories: Features|Tags: Amazon Algorithm Tips for Authors, Amazon News and Tips, Book Promotion Articles, Book Reviews|

Amazon Reviews: How Readers Look At Them, And How To Sell Using Them

*This article on Amazon Reviews has been updated to reflect new guidelines!*

SPR has been working on a ton of resources to get you to shine on social media this week, and here we’re looking in detail at how book reviews will lead to sales.

Reviews are the only way to get those buyers to click that Buy Now button on your Amazon book page. As a culture, we have built up a respect for peer opinion, but it’s also important to remember that Customer Reviews on Amazon are the last port of call for a buyer before purchase.

And […]

Cate Baum2019-04-12T14:01:25+02:00January 30th, 2017|Categories: Features|Tags: Amazon News and Tips, Book Promotion Articles, Book Reviews|

Amazon Book Reviews – “Allowed” and “Not Allowed”

There still seems to be some confusion around what Amazon calls its Editorial Review section. Despite there being very strong evidence that it is a good idea to have editorial reviews for your book, authors are still, yes, still, muddling these up with the dreaded “paid” review. As COO of one of the major services delivering editorial reviews and mailout services, it’s about time I made yet another attempt to clear up this misinformation.

Paid Reviews are NOT Editorial Reviews – May this be your mantra

When authors talk about “paid reviews”, they are talking about individuals who offer […]

Cate Baum2020-02-21T06:34:05+02:00September 12th, 2016|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Promotion Articles, Book Reviews|

Promoting Your Book 101: Google vs Amazon vs Facebook vs Twitter

Often we are faced with a daunting task of promoting our books. But how? What is the difference between promoting on Google and Amazon? Why does it matter what sort of promotion you do as an author?

Lately I have been surprised by the amount of clients missing the basics. Here’s a quick guide to fill in some gaps in knowledge.

First Things First – The Plan

Most authors buy promotion without having a plan. What is the goal? How many books do you aim to sell? Do you want reviews, ranking, or to build up your social media followers? […]

Cate Baum2016-09-05T11:14:41+02:00September 1st, 2016|Categories: Features|Tags: Amazon News and Tips, Book Promotion Articles|

Why It’s A Bad Idea For Authors To Do Review Swaps On Amazon

So many times authors join a social media group called “Review Swaps” or “Author Swaps.” These groups have been set up quite innocently so that authors can get free Amazon Customer Reviews. Unfortunately swapping your book for a review on Amazon is actually a pretty bad idea – and I have found a lot of authors still don’t understand why. Let’s take a look.

If you can be proven to be connected or you are directly in touch with someone who leaves a Customer Review, this is against Amazon policy and can result in that review, or worse, that person’s […]

Cate Baum2019-02-03T09:34:25+02:00July 2nd, 2016|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Promotion Articles|

35+ Alternatives to BookBub – UPDATED

This post was first published in February 2016. Because Amazon clamped down on affiliate-linked services using free or discounted books to garner affiliate fees from Amazon in May 2016, we have added a new column below that shows which services use an affiliate tag to profit from the book’s sale and could affect your book’s campaign. Note this is probably only affecting free books, as then Amazon was paying out on a loophole into the negative, but we advise to proceed with caution with any service that uses an affiliate tag system.

So let’s move on to the information.

As […]

Lysa Grant2020-02-21T04:34:55+02:00June 23rd, 2016|Categories: Features, Resources|Tags: Book Promotion Articles, Newsletter Campaign|