Author Resources
Here are a few resources that can help you lift off into the wide world of publishing.
“Layering” your promotions with several of these sites can make a HUGE difference in the sales of your book. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Great Websites for Marketing & Connecting with Readers:
- HOW TO HIT #1 in THE AMAZON KINDLE FREE STORE.
- DigitalBookToday.com (Book Buzz Circle)
- WorldLiteraryCafe.com (Book Buzz Circle)
- The Kindle Book Review (Book Buzz Circle)
- The Women’s Nest (Book Buzz Circle)
- 99-cent-network.com - monthly promotions and events
- goodkindles.blogspot.com - nice book blog
- booktweetingservice.com - tweets to large audience $29
- kindlenationdaily.com - large audience with lots of promo ops.
- The Independent Author Network - nice site to build online presence
- Kindle Boards - talk books, and daily book/banner ads that are affordable.
- Author Marketing Club - FREE! A slew of great stuff for authors (Free promos, support, reviews)
- Kindle Mojo – A book promotion site
- BookBub.com - pricey but has a large email following
- Bookgoodies.com - author features/reviews/free book posting
- eReaderNewsToday – ads
Places to Promote Your Freebie Days:
- Top 100 Best Free Kindle Book List brought to you by digitalbooktoday.com
- WorldLiteraryCafe.com (tweet Teams/Free day announcements for members [free])
- bookdaily.com - get your book excerpt mailed to thousands of opt in readers
- storyfinds.com - great site to promote freebies and 99¢ books
- bargainebookhunter.com - Offers free promo & sponsorships.
- eReaderNewToday – free ebook submissions
- booktweetingservice.com – tweets to large audience $29
- ebookswag.com - Promotes to a decent sized facebook crowd.
- Freebooksy - Promote free books & offers paid features.
- freeebooksdaily.com - Announces free books and does author interviews.
- kindlenationdaily.com - large reach but expensive.
- centsibleereads.com - up and coming free/low cost book promtion with a friendly touch
- Kindle Mojo – a book promotion site for freebies and non-freebies
- Kindle Book Promos - Free book announcements/Sponsorships
- Book Daily.com - Emails daily book excerpts to their reader list
- Author Marketing Club - FREE! Free day promos and book promos
- BookBub.com - pricey but has a large email following
- Bookgoodies.com - author features/reviews/free book posting
- BookDealHunter – promotes freebies
- Free Kindle Books and Tips – Promotes quality free kindle books
- Free Today – Post free books. Facebook focused.
- GetFreeBook.com – List free books
- zwoodlebooks.com - Posts free books and reviews books
How can I get a “mobi” version to keep as my own?
I don’t have a Kindle file. How can I properly format my book? First of all, if your book is already published to Amazon, you should have a “mobi” file (more about that in a second). We recommend that you have your ebook professionally formatted because it is always best to have your own digital files to provide to reviewers, etc. You can also download your ebook file by going to your KDP Bookshelf, click on “edit book details” and then scroll down the page until you come to “Preview your Book” and click on the blue link “downloadable book preview file”. This is a mobi formatted file.
Recommended professional ebook formatting Services:
- Ted Risk at Dellaster designs
- makemyebook.com
- Rachelle Ayala (Rachelle also formats for print, beta reads, etc)
Other Ways to Find New Readers: 77 Ways to Find New Readers by Laura Pepper Wu
Get a GREAT Author Website from 30 Day Books. I did! You can see it at jeffbennington.com
Get Reviewed:
- The Kindle Book Review!
- booktweetingservice.com – free reviews
- zwoodlebooks.com
- authormarketingclub.com
- WorldLiteraryCafe.com
- Goodreads.com
- Utilize KDP Select for acquiring reviews.
Get Featured: INDIE SPOTLIGHT at www.rickiwilson.com
Tweet Hashtags “#” and Twitter Folks to Help Promote Your Freebie:
- #kindle #kindlefire #ebooks #FREE #mustread #goodreads #greatreads #freeebooks #Kindlefreebooks
- #AmazonPrime #Kindledeals #kindledeals
- @FreeKindleStuff @FreeReadFeed @free_kindle @Freebookdeal @freebookpromos @frebooksy
- @KindleBlaze @KindleBookBlast @KindleBookKing @KindleDaily @Kindlbookreview @digitalBKtoday
- @KindleFireDept @KindleEbooksUK @KindleFreBook @KindleFreeBooks @KindleFreeStuff @KindleKing
- @KindleSurprise @KindleUS @KindleUK @KindleDE @KindleES @Kindle_Max @kindle_mojo @Kindlefreebies
- @Kindlestuff
If you know of other Twitter groups, Facebook pages, etc, please let us know in the comments.
Great Websites to Learn From:
- The Writing Bomb - Good info for indie author’s
- thecreativepenn.com - One my favs for indie authors; Joanna rocks.
- thebookdesigner - great site for indie info
- A Newbies Guide to Selfpublishing - J.A. Konrath is always entertaining and has good info
- Scott Nicholson’s Blog - A clear leader in the indie field; worth your time
Editors & Proofreaders & Cooperatives
- Marketing/Publishing Consultation from bestselling author Jeff Bennington
- Hocks Editing Services - my editor
- Jodie Renner Editorial Service - Full line by line editor. Very Good.
- manuscriptproofing.com – quality editing and proofing services by TJ.
- Dellaster Designs: ebook Formatting (epub & mobi) - my ebook formatter
- Independent Authors International: An author cooperative. - Author services available through group share
- digitalbooklaunch.com - author services, cover, etc.
- Voice Over Professional ~ Contact Phil Hodges for Audio books, podcasting,and video.
The following is a list of key elements that will affect your biggest and best opportunity to FINALLY get noticed on the world stage:
- Your Book Cover is the very first thing readers see, so it only stands to reason that it better be AWESOME. Unfortunately, many self-published authors have an unprofessional looking cover, yet expect professional results. Your cover needs to grab a reader’s attention, draw them in, or create enough curiosity to earn a “click”. If your book cover is lame or screams “self-published” you might get far fewer clicks than if you spent a little bit of money on a sweet cover. And in the world of KDP Select promotions, a loss of clicks can mean a loss of several hundred to several thousand dollars. So it is definitely worth the expense.
- Your Book Blurb is your sales pitch, and you don’t have much time to convince a book buyer to spend their dime on you. With so many books for free, and at affordable prices, your product description should be catchy, to the point, and professional. If you have misspelled words, or the layout of your product description is sloppy, too long, too short, or has bad formatting, a reader might assume that the book has similar issues. An ideal book description should include at least two quality reviews that build immediate credibility, followed by a brief, accurate, and compelling product description.
- Your Price Point is critical. I mention pricing in my forthcoming book, The Indie Author’s Guide to the Universe, in detail. But my opinion of book pricing has nothing to do with the value of your book, it has to do with the size of your audience. Therefore, if you’re a newer author, and if you do not have many reviews, or awards, I would not recommend pricing your book over $2.99 during a KDP promotion. Unless your book really catches fire, a newer author is at risk of losing sales when over priced. In fact, check out the top 100; you’ll notice that there are more low priced books than ever before.
- Reviews sell books. The more you have, the more credibility you will have with your potential buyers. If you have very few reviews, you might not sell near as many books with your free promotion than if you had 10, 20, or more quality reviews. Likewise, if you have received poor reviews, there is a greater chance that you might not experience the same success as some authors have had with KDP Select. If you need more reviews, check out The Kindle Book Review among other sites. You can always solicit reviews from book bloggers.
- Layer your Marketing. The Select free promotion is the best shot you may have to get your book promoted on a world stage. You have to throw everything you’ve got into this promotion. I recommend scheduling multiple promotions on the day, and days following the moment your book returns to the “paid” store. I discuss the concept of Marketing Layering in detail and provide a few websites that will coordinate this effort in my book.
So here’s the deal: You have 90 days to use your 5 free days with KDP Select. If you are lacking in any of the elements listed above, I’d urge you to utilize your time and resources to get as many of these points nailed down BEFORE you offer your book for free. If you don’t, you could get a whole bunch of nothing from what I consider one of the best promotional opportunities in the history of publishing.
Want to know more about Marketing Layering, Pricing Strategies, and everything else you need to know about indie publishing? It’s all in The Indie Author’s Guide to the Universe.
If you know of other GREAT author resources, please let us know in the comments!
May i suggest the adding The Pantheon Collective website to the great websites to learn from list: http://www.pantheoncollective.com!
Hi Omar, I’d be happy to. Looks like you guys post some good information. I would ask that you return the favor. http://thekindlebookreview.net Could you please list us as a site for reviews/promotion/author resources?
Definitely!
I have a few more resources to suggest. For promotion of free days, I find http://ereadernewstoday.com/ent-free-book-submissions/ to be very helpful.
And for indie authors, http://selfpublishingpodcast.com/ is fantastic. The guys curse a bit, but the information and the humor is well worth overlooking that.
http://BookDealHunter.com is another great up and coming place to promote your books on their free day. I recommend adding it to the list.
Hi there! Would you consider adding us to your list? We do a lot of free book postings and occasional reviews. http://zwoodlebooks.com and @zwoodlebooks
We’re also building a database of author resources and would be happy to add you.
Sure. I checked out your site. I’ll probably add you to my personal “Free book” promo stop on my next freebie run. Thanks for stopping. Please let me know when you have added us to your list of author resources.
Here you go.
http://zwoodlebooks.com/authors-and-publishers/resources/
We added you under our “Promotion” and “Review” tabs. If any of the information is incorrect, please let me know.
Thanks!
Thank You!
Thanks for sharing all of the info. I’ll be sure to check some of it out.
Don’t forget http://viewBook.at/ – a new, free service for Kindle authors that allows them to create short links to their books – that work for all territories! Visitors to the links are automatically directed to the book’s listing on the appropriate Amazon store for their location.
i.e. viewBook.at/FiftyShadesOfGrey
No more sending out multiple, long-winded URLs for readers in different parts of the world!
You can get a link for your book at http://viewBook.at
Thanks for this!
This is absolutely great!!!!!!!
Glad I found your page. The information here is very helpful. People have said a picture is worth a
thousand words. The words here are worth a thousand pictures! Thanks for sharing these great
resources.
Please add MoreForLessOnline.com/blog to your list! We list free kindle books daily on this blog.
I feature fellow authors on INDIE SPOTLIGHT, and I’d love to be included on your list. I created a sidebar link for THE KINDLE BOOK REVIEW. http://www.rickiwilson.com/indie-spotlight.html
Thanks!
Will do!
Hi Jeff,
I just wanted to let you know I’ve included your blog in my selections for the Versatile Blogger Award. It’s just a way for bloggers to support each other, as far as I can see, but this section of your blog really helps me, so I wanted to publically acknowledge you!
http://youaresunshine.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/winning-the-versatile-blogger-award
Jules
Hi there! We would love to be added to your list. At BookFreebies.com we post regular links to the latest free ebooks, while allowing authors to promote their work.
http://bookfreebies.com
Many Thanks