13 Ebook Marketing Strategies

Thanks to modern publishing techniques, anyone who loves to write has the ability to create an ebook that can bring them success. Much of the success or failure of an ebook lies not with the publishing company you choose to use, but with the marketing strategy that is employed. Many don’t even try to market their ebook at all. Others try to utilize traditional forms of marketing used by printing industry and they just don’t work. You’ve got to be different to stand out.

It all begins with your ability to craft unique, creative content for your book. It’s got to be something that targets a specific demographic and will naturally tempt them to want to read it. It’s going to be your job to figure out what that hook is going to be and then make it the centerpiece of the remainder of these marketing ideas for your ebook.

Great Marketing Strategies for Ebooks

1. Wait For It
Publishing an ebook takes some time unless you’re self-publishing through a PDF file. Give yourself at least 3 days to begin promoting your book because unless you’re a famous author like James Patterson, people won’t want to wait. They want your link to work and let them purchase your book for download. If it doesn’t offer that, then you’re out a sale permanently.

2. Avoid Promotional Materials
Ebooks that have standard cover art like you’d see on any other traditional book perform better because consumers see them as a legitimate book instead of some piece of marketing that they’ve got to pay for in order to see.

3. Get Reviews
Random reviews are nice, but knowing what is going into your reviews is nicer. Talk to your family and friends about reviewing your ebook so that when the book is live, you can get a traffic boost with some decent feedback supporting you.

4. Offer More Value
Ebooks are often used on a squeeze page because they offer visitors more value for the price. You can make this work in reverse for your ebook as well. Add more value to your ebook download, like providing other free downloads, to squeeze out a few more conversions from your listings.

5. Join a Marketing Club
There are a number of organizations that will review your book for free and even list them on their own websites for added exposure. Get involved and make sure that your book is listed so that people will be tempted to take a look at what you’ve got to offer.

6. Always Follow Up
Feedback is critical to the success or failure of your ebook. If you know what is working and what is not, you can adjust your marketing scheme so that you can target the strengths of your work that people are actually seeing instead of the hook you thought you put into it.

7. Don’t Take It Personally
The biggest failure of an ebook marketing campaign is the response of an author to negative feedback. There are some people who just troll listings and get a kick out of leaving negative reviews on your ebook. Others might be offended at what you’ve written and decide they need to grind an ax through their review. If people don’t know what they’re talking about, then these are people that can be ignored. If there’s legit constructive criticism, however, make sure you respond to it so that you can work to improve the quality of your product.

8. Get Onto YouTube
Having a wide array of products that support your listing is a great way to enhance awareness of your ebook. One of the most effective methods is to create a YouTube video that promotes your product. You can make it a behind-the-scenes type of interview, create video clips that reenact portions of your ebook, or just utilize strong graphics and a memorable soundtrack.

9. Find the Right Niche
Is it better to be a big fish in the ocean… or a big fish in a little, tiny pond? For most ebooks, the answer is the latter. Find a specific niche for your listing and then promote it directly to that demographic. Otherwise you’re likely just going to become a speck in a very big sea.

10. Get Into Social Media
The top posts on Facebook that create engagement are photographs and poll questions. Make sure you get a specific Facebook page created to promote your book and then utilize these specific elements to gather attention to your ebook. Make sure you know your audience as well – not every ebook should be Facebook orientated. Twitter, Google Plus, or even Pinterest may be a better option for your ebook based on its content.

11. Have a Website
It doesn’t cost a lot to get a specific domain up and running to promote your ebook. Instead of making it book specific, however, consider making the page be about you as an author and your ambitions for a writing career. List your best attributes and get people excited about the value that you bring to their ebook reader.

12. Interact on the Niche Forums
The biggest opportunity to engage people on a 1:1 basis is often missed because forums are largely ignored. Join a forum and get to know people. Talk about things they care about and look for an opportunity to discuss your ebook. If you try to do the hard sell right away and are aggressive with your posts, you’ll just be ignored.

13. Be Active and Be Local
People tend to want to know the author of an ebook in some way before wanting to invest in the product. Join your local writer’s club and attend offline events so that you can begin networking to build relationships. Support the work of other writer’s in your group and ask for the favor in return. That way you’ll have reviews coming in that are mostly supportive… and maybe a few extra paid orders too.