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Marketing Your Book: The Difference Between Traditional and Digital Strategies

NDP

Marketing a book is about making sure the right readers find it—but the way you reach those readers can look very different depending on the strategy you choose. For authors and small publishers, understanding the difference between traditional marketing and digital marketing can mean the difference between a quiet launch and a successful one.

Traditional Marketing: The Classic Approach

Traditional marketing refers to the offline methods that have been used for decades to promote books and other products. This includes tactics like:

• Print advertising (magazines, newspapers, flyers)
• Bookstore events or signings
• Press releases and media coverage
• Mailing campaigns or newsletters
• Trade shows and literary festivals

These strategies have a long track record and can lend credibility to a book. A feature in a newspaper or a well-known literary magazine can give your book an instant sense of authority. Physical events like signings and readings allow authors to connect personally with readers—a powerful way to build a loyal audience.

However, traditional marketing also has drawbacks. It can be costly and time-consuming, and it’s often difficult to measure results with precision. Tracking exactly how many readers saw an ad, attended an event, or bought a book as a direct result can be tricky.

Digital Marketing: The Modern Reach

Digital marketing, on the other hand, is all about online channels and platforms. Common tactics include:

• Social media promotion (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn)
• Email newsletters
• Paid ads (Google Ads, Amazon Ads, social media ads)
• Blogging and SEO-driven content
• Virtual events and online book tours

The biggest advantage of digital marketing is measurability and reach. You can see who clicked your link, who visited your page, and who bought your book. Social media also allows for highly targeted campaigns—you can reach readers who already enjoy books in your genre, follow similar authors, or live in a specific location.

Digital marketing is also more flexible. Campaigns can be adjusted in real-time based on results, and many tools are available for authors on a budget. Even small authors can build meaningful online communities with consistent, authentic engagement.

Which Should You Choose?

The answer is rarely “one or the other.” Traditional marketing builds credibility and personal connection, while digital marketing provides reach, measurable results, and ongoing engagement. Most successful authors and small publishers use a combination of both.

For example, a book signing at a local bookstore (traditional) can be paired with social media promotion and follow-up email campaigns (digital) to maximize audience engagement. Even a modest budget can go a long way when the strategies complement each other.

Key Takeaway:

Understanding the difference between traditional and digital marketing helps authors make smart choices with their time, money, and energy. Traditional marketing builds visibility and authority in the real world. Digital marketing allows you to target, measure, and engage in ways that were impossible even a decade ago. Combining the two creates the most powerful launch and long-term strategy for your book. For authors willing to plan carefully and invest thoughtfully, mastering both approaches ensures your book gets seen, remembered, and recommended—offline and online.

March 7, 2026 0

Editing vs Proofreading: Why Your Manuscript Needs Both

By Brandie Richardson

In the journey from rough manuscript to finished book, there are several stages where a story is refined and strengthened. Two of the most commonly discussed are editing and proofreading. While they are sometimes used interchangeably in casual conversation, they serve very different purposes in the publishing process.

Understanding the distinction helps authors know what kind of support their manuscript needs and when to seek it.

Editing focuses on improving the quality and clarity of the writing itself. It looks at how the story is told, how ideas are presented, and how effectively the manuscript communicates with the reader. Depending on the type of editing involved, this stage may address everything from large structural issues to the finer details of sentence flow.

At the broader end of the spectrum, editing may involve examining story structure, pacing, character development, or the organization of ideas. An editor might point out where the narrative slows down, where a character’s motivations need to be clearer, or where a chapter could be strengthened to improve tension or readability.

At a more detailed level, editing can also involve refining language. This might include adjusting awkward phrasing, tightening sentences, improving transitions, and ensuring the tone remains consistent throughout the manuscript. The goal is not to change the author’s voice, but to help the writing express that voice more clearly and effectively.

In short, editing shapes the manuscript itself.

Proofreading, on the other hand, happens at the very end of the process. By the time a manuscript reaches proofreading, the story and the writing should already be finalized. The focus is no longer on improving the narrative but on catching small technical errors that may have slipped through earlier revisions.

Proofreaders look for things like spelling mistakes, punctuation errors, missing words, formatting inconsistencies, or small typographical issues. These are the kinds of details that can distract readers or make a finished book appear less polished if they remain in the final version.

Because proofreading deals with surface-level corrections, it is typically the last step before publication. Once proofreading is complete, the manuscript should be ready for printing or digital release.

The difference between these two stages is largely about scope.

Editing looks at the manuscript with a wide lens. It asks whether the writing is clear, engaging, and effective. Proofreading uses a magnifying glass, scanning for small errors that remain after all other revisions are complete.

For authors, one common misunderstanding is assuming proofreading alone will fix deeper issues in a manuscript. While a proofreader can correct spelling and punctuation, they are not usually tasked with restructuring sentences, refining pacing, or addressing narrative problems. If those issues exist, they are best addressed during the editing stage.

That is why the order of these services matters. Editing strengthens the manuscript first. Proofreading then ensures the final version is clean, professional, and ready for readers.

Both stages play an important role in producing a polished book. Editing helps a manuscript become the strongest version of the story the author intends to tell. Proofreading provides the final layer of precision that ensures nothing distracts from that story once it reaches the page.

Together, they form the finishing steps that transform a manuscript into a professional, publication-ready work.

March 7, 2026 0

Understanding Alpha and Beta Readers: The First Audience Your Story Will Ever Have

By Brandie Richardson

Every book begins as a private world. At first, it exists only between the author and the page, shaped through long stretches of drafting, revising, and refining. Eventually, though, every manuscript reaches a point where outside perspective becomes essential. Writers know their stories intimately, sometimes so intimately that it becomes difficult to see where a new reader might feel confused, disengaged, or unexpectedly delighted.

This is where alpha and beta reading become an important part of the writing process.

Alpha and beta readers both provide feedback before a manuscript moves into professional editing or publication, but they participate at different stages and with slightly different goals.

Alpha readers are often the first people outside the author to read the manuscript. At this stage, the story may still be rough around the edges. Plot threads might need tightening, character motivations may still be evolving, and certain scenes might exist more as scaffolding than finished structure.

Because of this, alpha readers focus primarily on the big picture. They react to the story as it unfolds and help identify areas where the narrative may not yet be working as intended. They might notice where the pacing drags, where a character’s decision feels unclear, or where the story seems to skip over information readers need to understand what’s happening. In many ways, alpha readers help test the foundation of the story before the author invests time polishing the details.

After revisions have strengthened the manuscript and the narrative structure is complete, beta readers typically step in.

Beta readers experience the story much closer to the way a general audience would. At this stage, the manuscript should have a clear beginning, middle, and end, with most structural issues already addressed. Beta feedback tends to focus on the overall reading experience: whether the story is engaging, whether the pacing holds attention, and whether the emotional beats land the way the author intends.

They may comment on whether the opening pulls them in, whether certain scenes feel slow or rushed, and whether the ending feels satisfying. When several beta readers respond similarly to the same moments in the story, those patterns can provide valuable insight into where a manuscript may still benefit from revision.

When authors begin looking for alpha and beta readers, they often have two main options: volunteer readers or professional readers.

Volunteer readers are extremely common and can be a valuable resource. Friends, writing group members, fellow authors, and early fans often enjoy being part of the creative process. Their reactions can feel very similar to the responses of everyday readers encountering the story for the first time.

The advantage is clear. Volunteers are usually easy to find, enthusiastic about helping, and typically free. For many writers, especially early in their careers, volunteer readers provide a supportive way to begin gathering feedback.

However, volunteer feedback can vary widely in depth and reliability. Some readers provide thoughtful, detailed notes, while others may offer only general reactions. Personal relationships can also influence how feedback is delivered. Friends and family may soften criticism out of kindness, while fellow writers might focus heavily on stylistic preferences that don’t necessarily reflect how typical readers would experience the story.

This is where professional alpha or beta readers can make a meaningful difference.

Professional readers approach manuscripts with experience and a structured method of analysis. Because reviewing manuscripts is part of their work, they tend to provide more detailed feedback, clearer explanations, and observations grounded in storytelling principles rather than personal taste alone. They can identify patterns in pacing, character development, and narrative structure that less experienced readers might overlook.

Another advantage is consistency. Professional readers usually provide organized reports, actionable suggestions, and predictable timelines, which can help authors plan their revision process more effectively.

Of course, professional feedback does involve an investment. Yet many authors find that this stage can be one of the most valuable places to invest in their manuscript. Early, informed feedback can prevent larger problems from carrying forward into editing or publication, where revisions often become more complex and costly.

That does not mean volunteer readers have no place in the process. In fact, many successful authors use a combination of both. Volunteer readers provide a range of genuine reader reactions, while professional readers offer deeper analysis and experienced insight. Together, they create a more complete picture of how the story is functioning.

In the end, alpha and beta readers represent the first audience a manuscript ever meets. They step into the story before it reaches the wider world, helping the author see the work through fresh eyes. For writers who want to give their manuscript the strongest possible foundation, thoughtful feedback at this stage can make a remarkable difference. Whether through trusted volunteers, professional readers, or a blend of both, investing in early critique helps ensure the story that finally reaches readers is the strongest version it can be.

March 7, 2026 0

All in Good Time (The when of story planning)

Welcome to week two in our 2018 Writing a Novel Blog Series!

Identifying the when that your story takes place in as the first step in your book’s outline allows other aspects of the story to fall into line more easily. Not only does it guide you toward the clothing, behaviors, and speech patterns that will allow your characters to blend into the story seamlessly, it will also save you time by directing you to specific areas of research.

Remember our sample from last week? Consider the section in bold print.

“Viago skulked in the dank, dimly lit alley behind the Bow Street Runners headquarters of London’s Bow Street Number 4, as it was known through the seedy underbelly of the city. He’d been crouched in the same spot for what seemed like hours, waiting for the flood of thieves and pickpockets that he knew would be coming. The air around him was wet. The mist that would become the morning dew already thick in the air. It clung to his wavy, shoulder-length hair and dripped down the back of his neck to saturate the thin t-shirt inside his cheap fake-leather coat, making him wish he’d thought to grab the thick woolen scarf he’d received for Christmas.

He bounced on the balls of his feet, his toes barely cushioned against the stone roadway by the worn rubber soles of his shoes, trying to increase his body temperature as he waited for his mark. He was still alone – of that he was certain – unless one considered the occasional clop-clop of the horse’s hooves as the delivery men made their early rounds through the city streets or the even less-common backfire from a horseless carriage.”

Creativity is a fantastic tool, and one of the joys of writing fiction is that the author is not restrained by rigid boundaries. That said, creative license can’t be used to alter real life facts unless the author is clearly creating a unique universe. Specifically to this point, automobiles did not exist in London at the same time as the Bow Street Runners. This may seem nit-picky and unimportant, but the smallest detail can ruin a book for a reader.

In Viago’s story, the author had chosen the time frame as eighteen-hundreds England. However, by not settling on a specific time frame before the author began writing, they allowed themselves a bit too much freedom to imagine, and it resulted in the research not being narrowed down far enough. Had they narrowed it down further to a specific year, or even decade, a google search would have allowed an excellent starting point.

If your story is centered in a real-life event – two athletes from warring nations falling in love while competing in the 2012 Summer Olympics, for example – identifying your when presents no challenge and you can move on. Ditto for authors who are creating their own universe. But if your story is set in a real time and place, you’ll want to decide on a century and then make a second list to help narrow it down.

When:

Length of time?

This might seem silly, but it can make a huge difference. Does your story take place in a single day? Over a long weekend? Through the course of a year? Or over the lifetime of one or more of the characters?

What decade, century, year is it? (Hint: you only need one answer!)

From one year to the next, there have always been changes in the clothing styles, the type of work that people undertook, and the leisure activities that they engaged in, but for stories set in modern times, you will actually do the longevity of your book a favor by not leaning too heavily on social details. For example:

“Brian shifted in his Batman sleeping bag. The lumpy cotton stuffing was doing even less to protect his forty-year-old back from the racks in the concrete sidewalk than it was to keep the twenty-degree weather at bay. Still, he reasoned with himself, once the store opened and he held his newly-released iPhone 6 in his hand, the discomfort would all be worth it.”

You see how the addition of the iPhone’s series (6) immediately points out the lag between when the story was published (or written) and when you read the passage? With one little change – the deletion of the detail – the story becomes timeless. After all, it’s not like iPhones are going away any time soon!

“Brian shifted in his Batman sleeping bag. The lumpy cotton stuffing was doing even less to protect his forty-year-old back from the racks in the concrete sidewalk than it was to keep the twenty-degree weather at bay. Still, he reasoned with himself, once the store opened and he held his newly-released-and-long-awaited iPhone in his hand, the discomfort would all be worth it.”

Once you move past the pesky social lives of the time, there are also legal, political, religious, and economic variances to consider. Throughout history, these have usually been spread more widely apart on a timeline than the social changes.

Depending on the country, political changes can be anticipated at somewhere between two and ten-year intervals, whether that is a 4-year presidential upset in the United States or a modern-era English Parliament election every five years. The more significant economic changes usually begin within a year of political transition, whether that is a new democratic leader or a death in a monarchy or dictatorship.

Legal changes can be harder to anticipate, but a good rule of thumb is to anticipate them within a year of significant political changes and within six months to two years of a major criminal event or social tragedy (think a terrorist attack or a plane crashing due to over-tired pilots).

Religious changes are the most widely spaced events on a social timeline. I am not aware of any generally accepted algorithm for anticipating them, but they tend to slowly evolve over decades or longer.

All of that matters for one reason. Once you have narrowed your when down to your specific time frame, you can pinpoint the significant events that took place before, during, and after it and use that information to bolster your setting, your character’s backgrounds, and your sub-plots.

When you fill in your when list, don’t limit yourself to the events of the country, hamlet, or town that you are anticipating your story taking place in. Your main character may be a Texas mail-order bride from Russia, but its always possible that the reason she allowed herself to be sold was that her husband was killed in the terrorist bombing in Moscow’s Metro in 2010, right?

When you prepare your when, you can do it in any format that you like, but my preference is to start with a simple outline:

When:

Duration:

Year:

Political:

Legal:

Economical:

Religious events:

This list can also come in handy when you’re working on character backstories, you might want to hold onto it until we reach our who post! Up next week, it’s all about location, location, location when we decide where the story takes place!

January 8, 2018 0

How do you write a book?

“How do you write a book?”

An amazing number of the conversations that I’m involved in start with this question. And, based on the amount of money that is spent on writing books, computer programs, plot generators, and the like, many more people out there are struggling with it. Now, not to vilify those tools – for that’s all they are, tools, and they can be a lot of fun – most beginning writers will succeed faster by starting with the basics instead of wasting their hard-earned money on get published quick promises.

And so beginith Nom de Plume’s 2018 Writing a Novel Blog Series…

Every book begins with a story. On the most basic level, every story begins with the same five components, and you already know them. They are the elements in a news report, the particulars of a wedding invitation, the juicy details in the gossip that your best friend just whispered behind a cupped hand. They are the building blocks of our societal lives. I’m referring, of course, to the simultaneously acclaimed and bemoaned when, where, who, what, why, and, for the purpose of plot, how.

I know, I know. Half of you just rolled your eyes. The remainder groaned. It seems like the most basic of information. Still, take a moment to think back to the last book you read. Were there holes in the plot? Characters that you never received the most basic back story for? At the end of the book, could you have explained the location or described the setting that the story took place in? Surely you knew what happened, but why did the conflict become an issue for the characters? How did they move past it to reach the conclusion?

Not only would I suggest using this specific list for beginning writers, I strongly advise answering the questions in the order listed. A surprising number of authors begin by sketching out the main character who has been lurking in the shrouded safety of their deepest thoughts. Then they make glaring errors when they plop him into the setting.

Imagine, if you will..

“Viago skulked in the dank, dimly lit alley behind the Bow Street Runners headquarters of London’s Bow Street Number 4, as it was known through the seedy underbelly of the city. He’d been crouched in the same spot for what seemed like hours, waiting for the flood of thieves and pickpockets that he knew would be coming. The air around him was wet. The mist that would become the morning dew already thick in the air. It clung to his wavy, shoulder-length hair and dripped down the back of his neck to saturate the thin t-shirt inside his cheap fake-leather coat, making him wish he’d thought to grab the thick woolen scarf he’d received for Christmas.

Wait..what?

Unless our friend Viago is a time traveler – and he isn’t – how can he be wearing rubber-soled shoes, a thin t-shirt, and a fake leather coat? None of those items existed yet in London when the Bow Street Runners were laying down the law. This is one of the most obvious examples that comes to mind of an author who created a character first and then wrote the scene around him. You can see it didn’t mesh well.

When:

The intricacies of a period can vary widely in only a few months or years. In our example above, we know that the story must be set between the years of 1749 and 1839 because the Bow Street Runners only operated between those years. This raises another issue. The first motorized vehicles didn’t arrive on London streets until at least sixty years after the Bow Street Runners disbanded in 1839. By failing to properly research the period that the story was set in, the author created a number of issues that had to be revised.

Where:

Everything takes place somewhere, and the location of that somewhere is going to impact the descriptions of your characters. If your story takes place in historic London, as our sample did, you’re unlikely to find American cowboys, Italian mob bosses, reality television stars, or low-dollar private dicks in fake leather coats and cheap running shoes. Once you know where your story takes place, crafting your characters becomes a much more fluid process.

Who:

Who are the characters? What is their motivation? Within the first twenty percent of a book, we should be able to identify the main factors that contribute to each character’s persona. We should know their strengths, their weaknesses, and be able to get a feel for how their past resulted in both.

Many authors get caught up in the who of the moment – in crafting deliciously complex characters that leave us emotionally invested in every aspect of their existence – but neglect to tell us why they are complex or how they became the characters that they are.

(In fairness to Viago’s creator, it is impossible to show in the two paragraphs I used, but Viago is actually an incredibly complex character. He is an attractive young vampire who has spurned others of his own kind, only preys on criminals, and continues his human life’s work as a private detective solving crimes for the forgotten citizens of London.)

What:

The what is the meat of your story sandwich, but some authors get so caught up in other aspects of their writing that they inadvertently neglect it. The what should be more than what happened. It should also include what did each character do or contribute (or not) to the situation(s) at hand. What was said? What was meant? What was felt? This doesn’t mean that you need to write a hundred different what questions for each event, but you should understand the causes, feelings, reactions, and implications for the main characters even if you don’t specifically spell each and every one out.

Why:

Ahh…the why! The intertwining motivations of your characters. The history behind the choices they have made in the past. The reasons for the decisions that they are making now and those that they will make in the future.

This is your opportunity to weave all of the details that have been dancing through your subconscious into a story tapestry, and plotting them out ensures that you won’t miss any!

(Why does a down-on-his-luck vampire private investigator struggle to remain on the straight and narrow? Why does he remain a fringe member of law enforcement instead of surrendering to the demon inside him and killing his way through the innocent patrons of a London theatre? Why does he only feed on the criminal element? Hmmm…. I think one of our most popular NDP authors will be telling us more soon…)

How:

The nuts and bolts of your plot. The minutia and details of how the characters reached the climax. The blind psychic describing to the police the way the knife plunged into the victim that thrashed on the floor in the cheerful kitchen. The tiny Welsh pony struggling up a mountain-side with the rider’s legs dragging the ground on each side. The spurned boyfriend smirking in the light of his cell phone as he catfishes his ex on a dating site, determined to draw his lover back. How it all came together!

Starting next week, I will cover each of these in greater detail in a weekly blog post and I look forward to your feedback and questions!

Every life has a story, and yours is worth telling!

January 3, 2018 0

A lovely letter from The Trevor Project <3

Brandie,

I hope you are having a great start to your week!

I was going through our records today and noticed that Nom de Plume has made multiple wonderfully generous gifts to The Trevor Project, and I wanted to reach out and express our gratitude for your continued support of our life-saving mission. Last year, The Trevor Project’s services impacted the lives of over 200,000 young people. It was also our first year of offering two days per week of our innovative TrevorText service and, due to this increase in service, we were able to answer 33% more texts from youth in crisis than in the previous year.

As we ramp up our work this year in response to an ongoing surge in need and a climate that remains hostile to these young people, we want to let you know that your generosity helps us reach more young people than ever before!

If you have the time, I would love to hear more about your company and what made you choose to support Trevor.

Thank you again for your tremendous dedication to our mission! If there is anything I can ever do to assist you, or should you like to learn more about how your giving directly impacts the lives of LGBTQ youth, please do feel free to reach out to me at any time!

All the best,

Rebecca

Nom de Plume Publications Response to The Trevor Project:

Hi Rebecca!

On behalf of our authors and, of course, the readers who make our donations possible, I am thrilled to receive your letter!

Nom de Plume Publications is a very small publishing company that provides a wide range of a la carte publishing services to independent authors. When I formed the company in the spring, it was with the keystone belief that giving back to the communities that support us is incredibly important.

In that spirit, we invite our authors to join us in donating 5% of their monthly royalties to charities with a proven positive impact in the community most closely associated with each genre.

The donations made by Nom de Plume Publications to The Trevor Project represent 5% of the gross monthly royalties received on projects (digital, print and audio) published in the LGBTQ genres during that month. Two of our authors – Kian Rhodes and Dion Demetri – make up more than 80% of the donations to your organization. With Ms. Rhodes’ immensely popular series The Omega Auction (gay paranormal romance MM) coming to Audible in the coming months, we are excited to predict that our support will only increase!

We donate to your organization for one simple reason: as an entity, we believe in the work that you do! Growing up is hard enough when you fit easily into societies pre-determined slots of acceptance; for LGBTQ youth, those challenges are often times so much harder. There is no mistaking the importance of the services that The Trevor Project provides to LGBTQ and questioning youth in their darkest hours.

Thank you again for your lovely letter and, on behalf of myself, the Nom de Plume authors, and our readers, thank you for the work that The Trevor Project does!

Sincerely,

Brandie Chesser
Owner
Nom de Plume Publications, LLC

October 4, 2016 0

Your book is available on Amazon! Now what?

You, the self-publishing author, have spent weeks, months, possibly even years, writing your book. You poured everything you had into it; sweat, blood, tears but it’s finally finished! Your cover is dramatic, creative, and engaging. The book itself? A literary work of art. You publish and wait for that first review to come in. You wait. And wait.

Then, a friend, associate or another author has an idea. Why not contact people who have reviewed other books in your category on Amazon and email a free copy with a request that they review it? Brilliant idea, right? As it turns out, not necessarily.

We (NDP Publications) receive many, many requests to provide book reviews. Many are accompanied by an attached pdf file of the book in question. Due to the inherent conflict of interest, NDP does not provide book reviews. We do, however, respond to those authors to explain why the method that they are choosing to market their masterpiece may not be the method most likely to benefit them. Today, we’ll lay it out for everyone else.

Our writers have hundreds of reviews (combined – of course) – some great, some less than encouraging, and even a few declaring that our writers shouldn’t quit their day jobs – but none that qualifies as a “bought” review. A “bought” review meaning the book was offered free or at a discount specifically in exchange for a review.

As anyone selling anything on Amazon is required to know, all people responding to a request for an Amazon review – even if you send it to their email with a PDF copy attached – are required to attach a disclaimer stating that they received the book (or whatever the product is) in exchange for agreeing to review it*. So while you may be able to rack up ten or fifteen reviews in a few days, the required disclaimer can leave potential customers with the impression that you have to “buy” reviews. Instead of encouraging people to take a chance on your story, those reviews can have the opposite effect and instead actually cost you sales.

They also have the potential to negatively impact your sales in two additional ways:

People who post a lot of Amazon reviews (which will be anyone you find on an Amazon top reviewer lists) are frequently targeted by Amazon’s verification process as posting fraudulent reviews if they post a review on anything that doesn’t show “verified purchase.” A verified purchase meaning it was ordered through Amazon. That review is then removed, and the reviewer blocked from leaving one at all – sometimes on your future items as well.

If you end up with a high percentage of reviews that Amazon can’t verify a purchase on, they can, and occasionally will delete all of your reviews as presumed fraud. Especially if those reviews are marked as fraudulent by another Amazon user. This, unfortunately, is an all too common “sour grapes” response by fellow authors who aren’t getting reviews.

Here’s the tried-and-true marketing recommendation that we make to our authors:

Do collect the email address from the profiles of people who have reviewed other books in your category. In addition to the emails that you collected, make a list of bloggers and Facebook pages (easy through Google and Facebook search) who focus on the topic that your Amazon category correlates with. They are frequently looking for related ideas to send out in emails and tweets just to keep their name in front of their customers. Free marketing!

Once you have your marketing list, use the Kindle marketing program to make your book free for a few days – preferably on a weekend. (I usually tell our authors to limit it to 2 days to apply urgency to the call to action.) People are much more inclined to leave a review when they feel that they got a bonus such as a free copy to keep instead of checking it out on KU.

Then, purchase an ad on Facebook with the link to the free book and schedule it run concurrently with your promotion. Use the advanced options to target the ad to people with specific interests that relate directly to your book. For example, a romance novel should be targeted to people who have “romance stories” in their interests. Our authors usually set the “lifetime” dollar limit at $20 per ad and see excellent results.

Email a press release to your marketing list first thing in the morning on the first day of your marketing push. It should be labeled “press release” and include the name of the book, publisher information (if applicable), a brief synopsis of the story, a picture of the cover and include the link to get their FREE copy.

At the bottom of the press release, simply state that “reviews are always appreciated and encouraged” and include the link to your book on Goodreads as well as Amazon. (It’s amazing how much bigger of an impact Goodreads reviews have over Amazon reviews). You have now offered a free copy as a marketing inducement which does not require the reviewer to post the dreaded disclaimer.

As with everything else in life and business, there is a potential downside to this method: If your book is enrolled in the Kindle Unlimited program (KDP Select), you will not be paid for pages read in that book during the time it is listed for free. In the long run, the sales that you will garner will usually well exceed the $0.0047 (approximate) payment per page that you lose during that two-day marketing push.

Good luck with your release!

*It is important to be familiar with all applicable policies. Specifically, if reviewers are suspected of posting “bought” reviews and not posting the required disclaimer, Amazon does reserve the right to remove your book and cancel your Kindle Direct account. For additional information, read the policies regarding manipulating reviews.

August 30, 2016 0

because your story deserves to be told.

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