XPost from /writing: I'm going to self-publish next week, where should I start to promote (with little to no budget)?

I'm publishing my first book next week on iBooks, Nook and Kindle. I've already gotten everything in order for that and don't need help with it. Where should I start promoting my book? Niche places on-topic and for the genre? Book sites? List it in some places? if so, where? Give out promo review copies?

Thanks

BTW, because it was asked, it's a nonfiction book, I do have a blog and I'm using social networks and goodreads to promote so far. I'll be starting on some niche forums related to the content soon.

Here's the other comment thread:

http://www.reddit.com/r/writing/comments/mw53m/im_going_to_selfpublish_next_week_where_should_i/

Here's some suggestions by others so far.

Print out bookmarks (people fucking love bookmarks), flyers, business cards, postcards for your mailing list, you name it. Vistaprint lets you do a lot of things for free, and lots of other sites are pretty cheap as well. You can excerpt the book and print it as a booklet (You can do this using Word or InDesign, and you can print it out yourself or at Staples or something). Even Barnes & Noble will usually let you put out bookmarks or a small stack of flyers, but it depends on how strictly your store follows the rules. Use your website or blog, if you have one, and exploit any social media sites that you are a part of. Facebook lets you run cheap ads for just a few days at a time if you need it, so that's an option. Give out free copies, even in advance. If the person/people love it, they will give you a good review (you might want to remind them afterwards) and this will create sales. Get your friends and family to review it on sites like Amazon or wherever you're selling it. Network using goodreads.com. They also have ads, but they're more expensive than Facebook and I think the shortest period of time you can advertise for is a month. See about speaking at local bookstores or universities. Does your book tie-in to anything? Would any of the local businesses be interested in having this on their shelf, even if they're not a bookstore? Local coffee shops are great.

You gotta have a website. The tie it into other sites with similar topics. I do a webcomic site and it's pretty common to do link exchanges to generate cross traffic.

Do you have a blog and/or a web site? That should be the first order of business. Locate sites that review books of your genre. (NOT sites that review for pay.) Ask for submission details. Find forums of readers (not just writers) in the genre and start posting on a regular basis. Most forbid outright promos, but don't mind if you pimp your book in the signature line.

Print Flyers/Posters/Information Cards Leave these on counter tops in Cafes, Coffee Shops, on the lounge tables in Bookstores. You could even, buy a newspaper (just to get inside the stand) and put a flyer in each newspaper. When the open it up to read it, bam free advertising. Leave them at the gas pump in the brochure (usually for gas cards) boxes. Online Promotion well, you could always tell us what the book is, maybe someone here will check it out. Create a blog/website and promote that way, using the flyers/posters to draw people to your site. Start becoming active on book forums online. On the Kindle, have your friends leave positive reviews on the book. Get the book in peoples hands for free, as long as they are willing to write a review on the book. ( don't do this to much now ;) haha)

How do you publish for Nook? Last I saw they didn't do the self-publishing thing... permalinkreportsourcesavereplyhide child commentssource [–]Valkyrie44 () 1 point (+1/-0) 6 hours ago (1|0) Barnes and Noble's self-publishing platform is called Pubit, which IMO is about as horrible a name as you can choose, but there it is. permalinkparentsourcereportsavereplysource [–]TrindadeDisciple () 1 point (+1/-0) 54 minutes ago (1|0) "which IMO is about as horrible a name as you can choose" LOL Thanks. permalinkparentsourcereportsavereplysource [–]KeepingTrack (_) [+1][S] 1 point (+1/-0) 11 hours ago (1|0) http://www.lulu.com/blog/2011/09/13/ebooks-made-easy-with-new-lulu-free-epub-converter-and-ebook-publishing-tools/

http://pubit.barnesandnoble.com/pubit_app/bn?&t=pi_reg_home

Depends on what your book is about. Fiction or non-fiction? Blog tours are always a good idea, especially if your book is fiction. permalinkreportsourcesavereplyhide child commentssource [–]KirbyTails () 2 points (+2/-0) 9 hours ago (2|0) Not to sound insanely ignorant here, but could we get some clarification on the term "blog tour"? Like, what does that entail? permalinkparentsourcereportsavereplysource [–]WickedDarkMage () 1 point (+1/-0) 6 hours ago (1|0) I'm pretty sure it's when you guest write an article on someone else's blog. Or do an interview that they then put up on their blog. permalinkparentsourcereportsavereplysource [–]BaldCanary (_) 1 point (+1/-0) 3 hours ago (1|0) Also sending out review copies or doing interviews (basically, helping them provide content). You can also offer blogs your contact info so if they want commentary on related to the topic of your book they can contact you. It is a really good, easy-ish, free idea for promotion.