How can I market or advertise my e-book?

[Gordon Lynch]

Though some authors shy away from the task of marketing, many eventually consider it an enjoyable and rewarding part of being a writer. You can promote your e-book in many ways:

Craft a powerful sales page. Create a sales page on your own website — a popular technique for niche nonfiction e-books. If you sell your e-book via Amazon and other online stores, your e-book will have, within each store, a sales page that's designed to sell your e-book. Include a blurb that hooks readers, briefly highlight your credentials, and provide excerpts from good reviews.

Reach out to book bloggers. Many enthusiastic readers run blogs where they review books — often including e-books and works of independent authors (rather than authors promoted by large publishing chains). Sending review copies of your e-book to suitable book bloggers can build lots of online buzz.

Build an audience on your blog or e-mail list (or both). Creating your own blog or e-mail list gives you full control over the material you publish. You can produce any type of material, from short pieces of text to podcasts, videos, or free e-books. By encouraging readers to subscribe to your blog or e-mail list, you can easily reach them whenever you have information to share.

Use Twitter and Facebook to engage with readers and fellow writers. Social sites such as Twitter and Facebook are useful ways to network with other writers and to engage in casual conversations with readers. As you build a following on these sites, you can direct those people to your e-book — and to your blog or e-mail list.

Use Goodreads and Shelfari to promote your e-book among interested readers. Whereas Twitter and Facebook are both large, well-known sites, Goodreads is designed specifically for readers. You can start a reader account at any time and then upgrade to an author account when it's time (or nearly time) to publish your e-book. Goodreads gives you lots of tools, such as groups and giveaways, to help promote your e-book.

Shelfari, which is similar to Goodreads and run by Amazon, integrates with the Amazon dot com site to add extra information about your e-book for Kindle readers.