Cheap and Effective Ways to Promote Your Books

By Lynette Rees

I thought it might be an idea to share here what I do to promote my books.

I like writing articles, so that’s an easy way for me to promote. For example, I have a romantic comedy coming out shortly, so I’ve written an article entitled, ‘Crafting the Romantic Comedy’ and started circulating it at various article banks.

One article I wrote last year, just before the release of a romantic suspense novel, was entitled, “Seven Ways to Inject Suspense Into Your Novel”. A couple of weeks later, I was amazed to see it as the lead article in The World Wide Freelance newsletter, which has a circulation of 20,000. As a knock on effect, people contacted me after seeing the article via that newsletter and asked me to take part in live chats and interviews at their websites. They also asked my permission to publish the article as well.

I try to gear the promotional article up to suit the particular book coming out at that time and include a link to it in the bio.

You can find article banks by use of a search engine. Of course, if you can go the extra step and get your article published in a relevant magazine, so much the better. Last year, I managed to get my article, “Five Reasons I Chose to E-publish My Novel”, printed in The Romantic Novelists Association magazine.

Another idea I’ve had is to have my book covers printed on postcards. A friend gave me the link to a reasonably priced online printer, who also supplies 250 free business cards, so I’ll get some of them printed the same time. Here's the link: VistaPrint.

Or how about putting out a press release, either in the local newspaper and/or online? See here: PR Web Direct.

I’ve also started including leaflets to my books that are due for release in other books I sell, so the reader, if he or she likes my style, may consider purchasing the new book when it comes out.

I also involve family and friends who are marvelous promoters. My mother, for instance, likes nothing better than telling her friends at The Salvation Army and Age Concern about her daughter, the author! Several have bought not just one book but the follow up as well!

My husband has promoted my books both at the bowls club and at work and I’ve had several orders that way.

These are just a few ideas I use to promote my books, low cost ideas that cost little more than your time to write an article or issue a press release!

Lynette Rees’s romantic comedy, A Taste of Honey, has just been published by Samhain Publishing. Her non-fiction ebook, Crafting the Romance Story, is available for beginners.

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