50+ Ways to Market Your Book

It’s important to remember that book marketing is not something you do once and tick it off your to-do list. It requires regular and consistent action on your part. You should be taking action every single week to promote your book, and multiple times a week if you can.

That’s why we’ve put together a comprehensive list of 50 ways to market your book, covering a range of traditional and digital methods to help you reach different audiences.

Please note that some of the links in this article are affiliate links, which means that we may receive a small commission if you make a purchase on the website, at no extra cost to you.

Create an Amazon Author Central Page – When you’re in KDP, go to Marketing, then Author Central. This will create an author profile for you on Amazon, which is especially important if you have multiple books. Readers will click through to your profile and see that you have more books. Here, you can add
Join the Goodreads Author Program – Create an author profile on Goodreads, or convert your existing reader profile to an author account. Learn more here.
Claim Your Bookbub Author Profile – This is especially important if you want to apply for Bookbuk Featured Deals in the future. Sign up for Bookbub and create your author profile.
Create a Professional Website – If you don’t already have one, now’s the time to set one up. It doesn’t have to be an elaborate website; all you need to start with is a few pages: a home page, an about (you) page, a book page, and a contact page. You’ll also want a place to collect people’s emails to build your email list, so it’s a good idea to offer a free chapter from your book in exchange for signing up for your newsletter. Here is a great example of a simple website for a single book. You need a place that’s yours to drive traffic to. Social networks come and go, but a website is yours. It’s best to choose your own name for the domain, rather than the book title, especially if you plan to write more books in the future.
Email Signature – Add your book cover, tagline, and purchase link in your email signature. That way, every person you email will see that you’ve got a book out.
Blog Regularly – Share updates, insights, and related content. This is a great way to engage with readers. If you write nonfiction books, your blog posts should be SEO-optimized, using keywords and phrases that will help drive new traffic to your website.
Email Newsletter – Build a subscriber list and send regular updates.
Social Media Marketing – Use platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to share about your book and topics related to your book, including links to your blog posts. Every bit of content you create (podcasts, videos, etc.) should be shared on social media—and not once, but multiple times on multiple platforms. Remember that social networks will only deliver your content to a small number of followers, your followers will not see all of your posts. Every piece of content, every event, and every interview should appear on social media multiple times. We can also help with creating and posting on your social networks.
Create Quote Graphics – Pull interesting or inspiring quotes from your book and create graphics to share on social media. Remember to share a link to purchase your book online.
Share Online Reviews – Take screenshots from the best Amazon reviews, book blog reviews, and any press coverage you receive and share them on social media. Remember to share a link to purchase your book online.
Create Universal Links – Use https://booklinker.com/ to create a universal link that automatically diverts to each viewer’s local Amazon website. Remember, not all readers are located in the USA, which means that they may not use Amazon.com. Make it easy for people to purchase your book by automatically directing them to the website they actually use to purchase their books on Amazon.
Online Blog Tours – Participate in or organize virtual book tours. You can hire people to do this for you or arrange it yourself. Essentially, this is where you contact a number of book bloggers who specialize in your genre of books and arrange for them to publish their reviews of your book all around the same time. Often, the book reviews will be posted one every day for a number of days. You will usually create graphics for social media inviting people to visit each blog on the day the review is posted. This gives visibility to your book and also to each writer’s blog. It’s a win-win.
Book Trailers – Create engaging video trailers for your book. You can do this via Canva, or hire someone on Fiverr who specializes in this. Then, share the trailer on your own YouTube channel and on other social networks. Here is an example of a trailer done in Canva, and here is one that was created by someone on Fiverr.
Guest Blogging – Write articles for relevant blogs. This is especially useful for nonfiction writers: search for similar blogs on your topic and ask if you can write a guest post for them. You can also propose a blog post exchange, where the other person writes a post for your blog. If you’re a fiction writer, try to make friends with other authors in your genre and propose a guest post exchange. Aim for win-win situations, rather than asking people you don’t know for a favor.
Podcast Interviews – Appear on podcasts that cater to your target audience. Put together a list of topics you can speak about and pitch yourself to shows. PodcastGuests.com is a free service that makes this easy. You’ll get a twice-weekly email with opportunities, and you can also pay to have a speaker profile listed on their website. You might find this blog post to be useful: Podcast Pitching Etiquette: Top 10+ Tips on Pitching Yourself to Be a Guest on Someone Else’s Podcast.
SEO for Your Website – Optimize your website for search engines. You can hire someone to help with this or do it yourself. One easy way of doing this is to write blog posts around certain keywords or phrases. Select a series of 3-5 cornerstone posts to get started, and write 3-5 blog posts around each topic. You’ll need to do keyword research first to ensure that you’ve selected the best keywords to target.
Online Ads – Use Amazon Advertising, Google AdWords, Facebook ads, etc. This is a good way to waste money if you don’t know what you’re doing, so either start with a small budget and keep your eye on the results or hire someone to set things up for you. We have found Amazon Advertising to be particularly helpful in selling books, and recommend Mark James. You can have a free 20-minute call with him to see if Amazon Ads are right for your book.
Goodreads Giveaways – Run book giveaways on Goodreads. You can do an ebook or print giveaway.
Amazon Optimization – Optimize your book’s listing on Amazon. If you haven’t already, make sure your book description uses all the relevant keywords. We use a tool called Publisher Rocket to select the best keywords for our clients’ books. Learn more about how to select the best keywords for your book here.
Get More Reviews – Get reviews from bloggers and online book reviewers. The best way to do this is to ask people. Add a page at the end of your book to ask readers to review the book online if they enjoyed it. Some people use online services to send ARCs (advance review copies) of their books to reviewers, but I’ve not had great experiences with these services, nor have other authors I know. The reviewers seem to see themselves as professional book critics and are incredibly harsh with reviews.
Book Clubs – Engage with book clubs, and propose your book for discussion. Think about how you can add value by providing extras to the club: create discussion questions and offer to meet up with the club to answer any questions they might have about your book.
Create Your Own Group – Create your own read-along group where you walk readers through your book. You can cover a different chapter each week and answer readers’ questions along the way. This is especially useful for nonfiction books.
Public Speaking – Speak at conferences, schools, or community centers. This can be a great way to get speaking engagements in your local area.
Local Bookstore Events – Organize signings and readings. This is especially helpful if you know a lot of people in your local area or have a big community already. Hold a big launch party and book signing, and either bring copies for the bookstore to sell (arrange terms with them in advance) or ask the bookstore to order copies in bulk via Ingram or Gardners (ensure you’re distributing to these places via IngramSpark).
Library Events – Host events or readings at libraries. This is also a good idea if you have a big local community. If you don’t, it can be a good way to bring awareness to your book. If you’re a nonfiction writer, you can
Press Releases – Send out press releases to media outlets. If you’ve not done this before, you might want to hire a PR agent to do this for you. In the UK, we recommend Helen McCusker at BookedPR.
Online Book Launch Party – Our friend Alice Jennings did a fun online book launch party on Zoom when her book was released, complete with party favors and games. This is a great way to raise awareness and get people excited about the book, and you can do it all from the comfort of your home.
Book Fairs and Festivals – Attend and exhibit at book fairs. If you work with a PR agency, they may provide this as part of their services: when Holly worked with Helen McCusker for the launch of her book If Trees Could Talk, the launch plan included an appearance at the Victorious Festival in Portsmouth, where Helen’s company had a stall.
YouTube Channel – If you don’t already have one, start a channel with book-related content. You can talk about the book and share your book trailer. If you’re a nonfiction author, you can create short videos around your topic. You can also create interviews with other people around your topic or book. Always share the links on social media. It’s not enough to put a video online; you need to promote the video.
Bookmarks and Business Cards – Design and distribute them at book-related events that you attend. If you’ve written a nonfiction book that ties into your business, you can create business cards with your book cover on one side of the card. If you have multiple books, you can create business cards on Moo.com with multiple designs.
Local Radio Interviews – Appear on local radio shows. A PR person can help you with this, or you can contact local radio stations on your own. Be sure to research the station beforehand, so you know which specific show you want to appear on.
Magazine Articles – Write articles or get featured in magazines. This is especially useful if you’re a nonfiction author and can write interesting and useful articles around your topic.
Networking Events – Attend literary and publishing events and get to know other authors, especially those in your genre. When you know other authors, you can arrange to cross-promote your books by creating interesting content such as interviews, guest blog posts, etc. If your book is business-related, business networking events can be a great place to discuss your book.
Writing Competitions – Enter competitions to gain visibility for your book. Even if you don’t win, people will be looking at the list of contestants and this will give your book extra visibility.
Cover Competitions – You may also come across book cover competitions online. They are often free to enter. This is also a great way for your book to be visible to new audiences.
Workshops and Courses – If you’re a nonfiction writer, offer online or in-person workshops related to your book’s topic. This is a great way to engage with people one-on-one on your topic and help them even more. Once you begin offering workshops and courses, be sure to add this to the back of your book so readers know this. You can also create packages where you include a copy of your book with the course.
Referral Programs – Offer incentives for people to refer new attendees to your online courses. They invite their friends and community, and you offer them a commission. ThriveCart is one easy way to do this.
Create Merchandise – Offer themed merchandise related to your book. This is especially popular with romance authors, who often produce canvas bags, bookmarks, mouse pads, and other items with the book cover design on them. You can do this inexpensively through Vistaprint.
Crowdfunding Campaigns – Pre-fund your book through Kickstarter. There is an excellent book by Russell P. Nohelty and Monica Leonelle called Get Your Book Selling on Kickstarter: Why You Should Use Kickstarter to Sell More Books and How To Design Your Campaign, Budget For Profitability, Market … and More. It will teach you everything you need to know about the process.
Reddit AMAs – Host an “Ask Me Anything” session. If you’re active on Reddit, you’ll know which subreddits may find a Q&A session with you to be interesting. Approach one of the moderators and ask them if it’s possible. Be sure to promote the event on your social media so you have a good turnout.
Live Video Sessions – Engage audiences with live talks or Q&A sessions on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.
Free Webinars – Offer a free webinar around the topic of your nonfiction book. Promote it on social media to get a good turnout. Share a link to your book at the end, and if attendees have enjoyed your content and found it useful, they will likely click through to make a purchase. If you record the webinar, you can share it on YouTube and offer it available as a replay on your website.
X (formerly known as Twitter) Chats – Host or participate in X chats on topics related to your book. People may click through to your bio and start following you, where they will learn about your book.
Pinterest Boards – Create pin boards for inspiration related to your book. Pinterest can also be a great way to drive traffic to your website. Create boards for interviews you do about the book and book reviews you receive. Also, create separate boards for each type of content you create: videos, blog posts, and podcast episodes. If you blog, you can create a separate board for each topic of your cornerstone posts.
Cross-promotions With Other Authors – Partner with other authors for promotions. You can interview each other, write guest blog posts for each other, and appear on each other’s podcasts. Look for ways to support each other online.
Hire Book Promoters – As soon as you publish your book, you’ll start getting spammed by people who want to promote your book on social media for a fee. Not all of these are a good investment. If this is something that you want guidance with, we can help with an Online Book Launch. This is something you should do within launching your book, as soon as you have at least five 5-star reviews on Amazon. It’s a good idea to do this every six months to continue to drive traffic to your book listing.
Author Newsletter Swaps – If you use BookFunnel to distribute your book (either for ARCs or via direct sales), you can sign up for Author Swaps. In these swaps, you agree to promote the other author’s book in your newsletter in exchange for them promoting yours.
Sign up for HARO – Help a Reporter Out is a way to connect journalists and experts. You’ll get daily emails from journalists who are looking for experts to contribute to their articles. This is especially useful for nonfiction authors. Sign up here.
Donate Books – Sometimes an opportunity will arise to donate your book to a good cause, like this opportunity for women authors to donate books for International Women’s Day. This gets your book into the hands of someone who has probably never heard of you, and if the reader enjoys the book, they may recommend it to friends.
Collaboration Box Sets – Collaborate with 3-5 other authors in your genre to create a box set of your books. You’ll each promote the box set, driving traffic to the sales page and getting new readers.
Discount Collaboration – Partner with authors in your same genre and agree on some dates when you’ll all reduce the price of your books to either $.99 or free. Then, set up a page like this on your website to promote the deal. You’ll all promote the offer on social media, driving traffic to your web page, where readers will find links to get the discounted books.

Whatever you to do market your book will be more effective if you have a lot of reviews and ratings. Getting new reviews should always be a priority. Don’t just stop at 5 or 10 or whatever you have now. When a book has many (good) reviews, it gives readers the confidence to take a risk on a new author.

These methods provide a varied approach to marketing your book, allowing you to engage with different segments of your audience in meaningful ways. But remember: you do not have to do every single one of these things! The more you do to market your book, the better—but the best strategy is to find something you like and do more of that.