By Athar Majeed
To expose your ebook to many readers as possible, here are some creative ideas to promote it.
Just like its paper counterpart, an ebook requires effective promotion strategies to reach the readers. Frankly speaking, no matter how great and informative your book is, it would serve its purpose only if it gets into the hands of the readers. Effective marketing strategies evoke the curiosity of people even before the launch of the book. This is important as online media platforms are already stacked with thousands of ebooks on similar topics as yours. That’s why promotion is your only way to get the attention of the Internet users.
Here are some clever tips ways to promote your ebook to boost sales.
Give It Away for Free
Have a look at the options given below
- Pay $25 and Download the Book Now
- Unlock the Book for Free
If you are like most people, you would like to go for the option 2.
But that doesn’t mean you are giving the entire book for free.
The giveaway can be two or three chapters from your book. Experiencing the excerpt of your book will give an idea of your content to a reader. If it’s impressive, they are likely to buy the whole package. And if they don’t buy your book anyway, it costs you nothing, right?
Here are the ways to give away free chapters of your ebook:
- Leave the link of PDF format of ebook on your website, mailing list, and social media platforms.
- Create a separate page to host your downloadable ebook.
- Upload the free downloadable file to cloud storage service like Google Drive and create an access link.
- Conduct a contest and give away copies to the winners.
- Send the copies to bloggers and professionals as well.
Here is an ebook giveaway by AirTurn:
Generate Buzz
Creating an up-front excitement in advance of your actual ebook launch can help. It is just like dropping a film trailer!
It evokes the curiosity of the users about your product. For example, you can drop the post reading “Coming Soon” to your Facebook page to catch the attention. You can also share the post on your Instagram regarding how much pages you have finished.
The more eager readers are, the better it would be for your sale. At least, they would try to figure out what is coming from your side. Here are some tips that help you create buzz about your ebook:
- Talk about your ebook on your social media networks.
- Mention the specialty of the book and how it can benefit the users (even before you finished the book).
- Let them know about an ebook launch party.
- Use a “Coming Soon” message on your website or social media page.
- Post trailer on YouTube.
Work Over the Appearance
The cover of a book is the first thing a user notices before anything else. An appealing ebook cover captivates the prospective readers in a matter of seconds.
Here are some tips to design a killer ebook cover:
- Use a descriptive image. But that should be according to the content of your book. For example, images like server or CD go well an ebook on IT. To make it more appealing, you can use surreal images.
- Use readable typography
- Take care of space between each word or element
- Keep the aspect ratio to 3:2
Work Over Your Landing Page
A user reaches your landing page once he or she clicks over ads or other links. The presentation of your landing page may influence the user’s interest. So, you need to create an effective landing page to capture the visitor. Successful landing pages convince users to take the action to subscribe, sign up or buy.
Landing pages of ebooks by leading brands like Microsoft, HubPages, and Salesforce can be a great source of inspiration. And all of them have some the following things in common:
- The headline explains the benefits of ebook and looks catchy as well.
- Sub-headlines break the information into some small digestible segments.
- Use of bullet points to give a sneak preview of content.
- Use of “Call to Action” phrases like “Download Now”, “Buy Now” and “Click Here”.
Use Social Media to Promote Your Ebook
With 2.77 billon social media users, social media platforms can help get exposure and generate leads. However, it may take time to show results. Or you may consider it a huge time waste at some point. Therefore, limit your exposure only to popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Keep in mind that constantly posting about the launch of your ebook can irritate your followers. Instead, build communication with them by interacting and responding to their queries as well. Think of social media as a place to interact with the customers, not to bombard them with your ebook advertisement. You can update your Facebook Cover page with the image of your ebook.
Choose The Right Ebook Promotion Sites
Promotions sites are the best way to get your ebook in front of millions. Some ebook promotions sites are free while some are paid. The paid ebook promotion sites generally have more advantages. Some of the popular ebook promotions sites are eBooks Habit, BargainBooksy, Freebooksy, New in Books, and BookBub. Make sure to read their guidelines as each site may have their own set of conditions. For example, BargainBooksy is free while eBooks Habit charges between $10 and $20. Also, read the guidelines for the limit of pages these sites accept.
Implement Aggressive Marketing Strategies a Week before the Launch
As you come closer to the date of launch, you are likely to sit back and relax. But the work is not over yet.
In fact, you need to be more active than before. This is the time to send emails and build your contact with potential influencers and bloggers. Ask your friends to tweet or write about your ebook on the platforms they use.
Wow! @JeffGoins is giving away his best advice totally FREE in his new ebook: https://t.co/5ROsqxbh4u
— Darren Rowse (@problogger) November 2, 2015
If you have some budget, create a press release and submit it to PRWeb or pay individuals to drop tweets about your book. Implementing such strategies will keep the people aware of your ebook. Use the same promotion strategies after a week or two of launching the book.
Last Note
So now you know how to capture attention for your ebook. However, these strategies shouldn’t be implemented in a mechanical order. Carefully monitor them if they are working or where you need improvement. Best of luck!
Athar is a co-founder of SavahApp, a product that helps teams with all-in-one platform for prototyping, design collaboration, and workflow.