Book Marketing for Self-Published Authors
Most book marketing advice for self-published authors is a list of forty tactics with no way to rank them. Here is the only ranking that matters when your time and budget are both small: does the thing keep working after you stop paying attention to it, or does it expire? Sort every option by that, do the permanent ones first, and buy the temporary ones only when a launch needs a spike.
Free
no fee, no card
2 days
usual turnaround
Forever
no expiry
What lasts
A page that stays up
Anywhere your book has a permanent page with a buy link is an asset. Your Amazon page, your own site, and listings that do not expire. Skriuwer's free listing is one of these.
Reviews
Reviews decide whether the deal sites accept you and whether browsers click. They are slow to earn and never expire. iWrity, our review-exchange tool, exists for this.
A spot in an article that ranks
A paragraph inside a best-of list that Google already sends readers to keeps working every month. On Skriuwer that is what a placement buys.
Your mailing list
Readers who opted in are yours for the next book. Everything else on this page should point at getting more of them.
What expires
Deal newsletters
A BookBub, Freebooksy, or Fussy Librarian feature is one day of visibility. Good for a launch spike, then gone.
Ads
Amazon and Facebook ads work while you pay and stop when you stop. Fine if the maths works, painful if it does not.
Social posts
A post lives for a few hours. Useful for the readers you already have, weak for finding new ones.
Promo-day listings
Sites that need your book to be free or 99 cents promote the price, not the book. When the price goes back up, the traffic stops.
A plan that fits in one evening
- Fix the Amazon page: blurb, categories, keywords. Our iWrity toolkit has checkers for all three.
- Get the first reviews. Ask readers you already have, and use a review exchange for the rest.
- Put the book on permanent listings. List it on Skriuwer for free, set up a Goodreads author page, and pick one genre-matched site from our free promotion sites list.
- Only then spend money, and spend it on things that stay: a placement in an article that ranks, before a one-day newsletter feature.
Free listing, optional placement
The listing itself is free and permanent: your own book page, an Amazon buy button, and a badge for your site. Free pages stay out of Google on purpose.
Want readers? A placement puts your book inside one of the best-of articles that bring the traffic, and opens your page up to Google. One-time fee per book, no renewals. Buys the spot in the article, not the listing.
1 book
€29
one placement, one-time
3 books
€24 / book
€72 total, save €15
5 books
€19 / book
€95 total, save €50
10+ books
€14 / book
Best for series and publishers
Do the permanent thing first. It is free.
No fee, no card, no account. Fill in the form and we build your page, usually within 2 business days. Add a placement later if you want readers.
List my book for freeWant readers too? Placements from €29, one-time
Common questions
Where should a self-published author start with zero budget?
With the things that last and cost nothing: a clean Amazon page, a few honest reviews, and permanent listings like the free one on Skriuwer. Add a Goodreads author profile and one genre-matched free site, then build from there.
Is paid book marketing worth it for a first book?
Usually not until the page converts. Ads and deal features send traffic to your Amazon page. If that page has no reviews and a weak blurb, the traffic bounces. Fix the page first, then buy visibility.
What does Skriuwer offer self-published authors?
A free, permanent listing with a buy button and a badge, optional placements inside our best-of articles from €29 one-time, and iWrity for getting the first reviews. All three are built around things that do not expire.
How many marketing channels should I use?
Fewer than you think. One permanent listing, one review channel, one launch-week deal feature, and a mailing list is a complete plan for most first books.