I am looking for ways to market my book on a zero dollar budget?

[Phoenix]

For starters I wrote a book titled "Trial of the Dreamer" and I need ways to market it to large groups of people on a non-existent budget. I have:
Posted videos on youtube, my website, and the group I started through facebook
I'm handing out information cards
mentioning it through facebook.

It's published in e-book format through amazon.com
and in print through wordclay.com

There has got to be some other ways I can market my novella on a non-existent budget due to the fact that I have no money to put into a marketing plan. I know there has to be something else I can do. Any ideas?

[RunningBear]

Be active on as many writing forums as you can, and include a link to your website in your signature and profile.

Don't have a website? Get a free blog from blogger.com and tailor it to your needs. Include a blurb and an excerpt, plus a link to buy it.

Ask if you can display a card or poster in local bookshops, charity shops, newsagents, libraries.

See if you can sell a few copies at car boot sales, markets, jumble sales etc.

Get people you know to read it and post reviews on your Amazon page.

Maybe you could join Shelfari and include it on your 'shelf'? (In Shelfari people who read the same books as you can see what other books you liked. Not sure if it would necessarily recognise a self-published book though, but it's worth a try, right?)

[Kissy Cat Lover]

advertise it on Craigslist.

make flyers and put up at local universities and colleges, or at institutions that might be interested in your topic (for instance, if it was about the Civil War, you could distribute flyers at a Civil War museum, Civil War club, etc).

look for local bookclubs and suggest it to them as a topic.

ask local libraries if you could hang up a flyer.

look for book forums and book club forums on the internet and suggest it.

ask your friends to spread the word around the office.

see if local yoga or fitness studios would allow you to post a flyer.

call up a local newspaper and ask them if they would be interested in doing an editorial on a local writer or a book review of your book.

[Joss]

The question is: Why did you self-publish when you don't have any money to market, promote, and advertise your book? You NEED money in order to make people aware that you and your book exist and give them reasons why they should buy it.

You've most likely done all you do as far as "free" marketing goes. Get a blog and start linking to other writers and making comments on those writers posts (not spamming, but REAL comments about the post). Every time you post, your name will link to your blog where you have info about your book. You have to give people a reason to buy a self-published book by an author they've never heard of. Who is most likely to read your book? Do you know this information? Find out who is most likely to read your book (don't say "everyone" because that's not true and shows that you didn't even bother with marketing [trying to find the demographics] before publishing). Go to the places where your typical reader is most likely hanging and start handing there, too. Many forums will let you put a link your signature, so put a link to your website or blog where people can find info about your book. Try not to make it look like one big advertisement for your book, because many forums have rules against advertising. Also read the forum's guidelines about linking because some don't let you link to a commercial product.

Otherwise, you want something that one can really only get with a real publisher. This is something you should have thought about BEFORE publishing.

[akaMaryn]

Phoenix, you've probably shot yourself in the foot by paying to publish, and this book will never run, or even walk without a big limp, figuratively speaking.

As you're learning, self-published books do poorly on ebay, amazon, the publisher’s website, and the author’s own website.

Marketing a pay-to-publish book is damned difficult. Many of the avenues open to traditionally published authors are not available. Chain bookstores won't host signings or carry copies (although they will order them for customers). Newspapers, magazines, TV, and radio don't want your press releases and won't do interviews. The library system won't accept free copies. Writing- or book-related conventions won’t let you set up a sales or autograph table, don’t want you on their author panels, and forbid you giving away promotional material.

The author's blog, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and other electronic self-promotion efforts seem to have little effect in terms of increased sales.

About the only marketing I've seen have any effect for self-published authors is active participation at forums and chats dealing with the subject of your book. Find your niche market and determine where online they hang out. Some sites may allow you to discuss your book *if someone asks about it* (but will ban you for bringing it up more than once). Some may allow a link to a point of sale in your profile, or to your blog or web-page which in turn links to a point of sale.

You'll sell a few more copies than you might have, but overall, like most self-published books, regardless of quality, total sales will probably remain below 100 copies. More often, the number hovers somewhere around 2/3 to 3/4 of your total number of friends and family members. This compares pretty unfavorably to the thousands of copies a moderately-selling book from a conventional publisher can anticipate.

Sorry about that. Write another one, and get a real publisher this time.

[Link Blog]

Also see Google Books Partners Program