Book Promotion | Self-Publishing Review

The Truth About FTC Guidelines For Paid Book Reviews

A flurry of nervous blog posts about “the dangers of paid book reviews!” and “Google Penalties!” drove me to dig deeper into exactly what FTC guidelines mean for sites like SPR. Here’s the upshot of three months of advice and research.

I contacted the FTC, and spoke to an officer about paid book reviews. It is about time we all had it from the horse’s mouth.

Here’s the take-home:

The FTC Guidelines that the doom-n-gloom bloggers have been banging on about (with Matt Cutts of Google quotes akimbo PENALTIES! BOOKS BEING REMOVED! SHOCK! HORROR! SIX-FIGURE FINES! YIKES! END OF THE […]

Cate Baum2019-02-03T09:30:11+02:00February 19th, 2015|Categories: Resources|Tags: Book Promotion|

Six Reasons Why Some Books Will Never Be Bestsellers

Often authors ask, “Why am I not selling any books?” after spending time, and often money, on pushing their books like crazy on self-publishing them. Here, we take a look at why that happens, and what you can do about it if you are in that exact situation.

1. Niche means niche, and if it’s niche…

Issue: A niche subject has a finite market, whatever you do.

Solution: Think of a new angle to market your book to a broader market. But accept that if you wrote a book about a real niche interest, such as coin collecting, corset making, […]

Cate Baum2019-02-03T09:01:26+02:00February 18th, 2015|Categories: Features|Tags: Amazon, Book Marketing, Book Promotion|

How to Choose Kindle Keywords

One of the more confusing aspects of publishing to KDP is selecting keywords. For many writers, finding that sweet spot for the right keywords has been the difference between sales and obscurity. Like Google SEO, there’s a bit of an art to it and it’s important to experiment if your sales are currently flat.

First, Amazon makes it somewhat easy. They list the keywords that you have to have in order to list in certain categories. For example, take a look at the Young Adult category. Some of the keywords are obvious but the “Angels & Demons” category needs the […]

Henry Baum2019-02-03T09:36:35+02:00February 12th, 2015|Categories: Features, Resources|Tags: Amazon, Book Promotion|

Self-Publishing Starter Kit

We get a lot of questions here from writers just beginning to self-publish who have little to no idea about the process. They’re all asking about the most basic nuts and bolts: how do I self-publish? We’ve gathered together the best services currently running (and have been running for a while) to publish a book quickly and professionally.

There’s still a fair bit of DIY involved with the services listed below, but you’ll have a more professional book and keep a larger share of the royalties.

So here’s a basic starter pack for the novice self-publisher who wants more of […]

Henry Baum2022-04-22T08:49:42+02:00January 28th, 2015|Categories: Features, Resources|Tags: Book Cover Design, Book Formatting, Book Marketing, Book Promotion|

Ten Ways To Get Your Book “Review Ready”

As the owner and editor of Self-Publishing Review, I deal with hundreds of self-published and indie books every year. People ask me, “How do I get a good review?” Apart from actually writing a good book (snort) there are a few other things you can do to make sure you get your readers to invest and feel they can sing your praises on Amazon, Goodreads or Barnes and Noble.

1. Get a professional edit for your manuscript. This is 101 stuff, but still I see authors saying they are doing it themselves, or have let it loose on a friend. […]

Cate Baum2019-02-03T09:33:04+02:00January 23rd, 2015|Categories: Features, Resources|Tags: Book Promotion|

Five Ways To Sell More Books On Amazon

While there are other sales options open to you as an indie author, Amazon sales will feel like they count the most to most writers. Here are five quick ways to help you sell more books on Amazon.

Research Bestseller Keywords And Apply Them To Your Subtitle

Use the same keywords as bestsellers in your categories so that when customers search by keyword “Customers with Similar Searches Purchased” will then show your book in the search results for higher ranking but similar books.

As I have mentioned before, keywords on Google don’t really make sense in the same way […]

Cate Baum2019-02-03T09:35:17+02:00January 22nd, 2015|Categories: Features, Resources|Tags: Amazon, Book Promotion|

Why Amazon Reviews Just Aren’t Enough

With the fall in prices for trad published books, the indie Kindle goldrush may be over, so Cate Baum looks into Amazon’s algorithm and how its search engine works for authors and their books – and why Amazon reviews are not enough to sell a book – and maybe never have been.

There’s a lot of misinformation around about paid reviews, customer reviews, Fiverr reviews and the ethics and technical issues surrounding them for book sales. Frankly, I’m tired of the many forums banging on with the phrase, “I am totally against paid reviews.” And yet the hallowed Amazon […]

Cate Baum2019-02-03T09:28:40+02:00December 15th, 2014|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Promotion, Book Reviews|

Ten Ways To Publicize Your Book You May Not Have Thought Of

You’ve tried putting your book on all the usual sites, getting reviews and talking about it on forums and still you aren’t getting the sales you imagined. What can you do to improve this situation? Here are ten lesser-known insider ways to publicize your book.

1. Engagement, engagement, engagement

It’s not going to be enough to rock out a load of reviews and post your book on all the usual websites. It’s akin to spreading your wares very beautifully on a market stall that nobody can see. You’re going to have to get in deep with forums, groups and reading […]

Cate Baum2019-02-03T09:04:29+02:00October 23rd, 2014|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Promotion|