How do I sell/promote my new Self-published book?

[Joss]

Well, congrats on writing a publishing your book. I think social media is obvious. If you don't have twitter or facebook or a blog, then start those. Of course, if you don't plan on participating much on them then it might not be worth your time, but then again, you have to make it worth your time if you want to sell books.

Get on twitter and start following people. Comment on their tweets. Retweet their tweets. Interact with them. THen, when you tweet somethign about you or your book, they're likely to show you the same respect and retweet it to all their followers. With blogs, follow other writers and reviewer blogs. Make regular comments and become active on their blogs. If you get in good with them and they start recognizing your name because you're now a part of their blog then this makes it easier for them to say yes if you want them to review your book or let you do a guest blog post. You have to give it out if you want it in return. Visit some self-published authors twitter, blogs, and facebook pages and see how they handle it and get ideas from them. You can set up a facebook author page, but you need to get a certain amount of likes before you can customize it. Network. That's part of it. Also, dont' over-advertise yourself or your book. That's how you loose fans on facebook and followers on twitter. No one wants to hear everyday or many times a day about how they should buy their book or how great your book is. So, keep those types of posts to a minimum if possible. For instance, I read from a publicity agent that for every 2 facebook posts you make on your author page about your book, make 10 other posts about things other than your book, such as your personal life, for example. Readers wnat to know more about their authors on a personal level, so if you're comfortable with sharing then share. Visit some author twitter accounts and see the types of things they share with others about their personal lives. I mean, you dont' need to mention every time you're going to the toilet. Just things that will help people connect with you on a personal level.

There are many self-published review blogs, so that's your next step. Again, make sure you're active on their blog and comment on their blog posts. Follow their blogs. Try to be the first to comment so they're more likely to read it. Big Al's is just one (can't remember the address, just know about it because of a lot of controversy from a month or two ago about one of the books he reviewed).

And, of course, make sure you put forth your very best work. One way to kill your book and future books is if you start getting a bad reputation for putting out crap. If you can afford a professional editor then hire one. Writers are not capable of editing their own books to perfection. Hire a professional cover designer if you have to. Lots of readers aren't attracted to books that look like they were created in Paint. And, if you can afford it, hire a company to help with promotion and marketing and publicity.

As for your website, make your "excerpts" a little more professional-looking. Don't have the paragraphs bunched up like that. I'm also confused about why you posted short excerpts from different chapters. Usually authors tempt people with large excerpts from the beginning of the book. Some times they'll offer a whole chapter or two so the reader can get a feel. Here, you're picking and choosing short excerpts and this makes me, as a reader, think you're picking the very best and if I read the book then I might be disappointed by the rest. I'm not saying this is true, this is just the impression I"m getting from your excepts. Look around on different author websites and see how they offer their excerpts. It's always good to go with what has been proven to work.

this is a personal annoyance, so take it with a grain of salt. Telling me how I should feel after reading your excerpts is mind-numbing. I almost left the page without reading. Except, since I want to help you and offer you advice, I decided to trudge through it. Don't tell a reader how they'll feel after reading your book. Let your words in the book speak for themselves. In other words, let the sample you've given speak for itself. You dont need to tell me how great your book is. It should speak for itself. Show, not tell. Lastly, It's a short book and it's over-priced. Consider pricing it competively. A 159 page paperback is not worth $19.