Book Promotion Sites: How to Tell the Good Ones
There are hundreds of book promotion sites and most of them are visited by authors, not readers. Before you submit anywhere, paid or free, ask five questions. Here they are, with Skriuwer's answer to each, so you can judge us by the same standard.
Free
no fee, no card
2 days
usual turnaround
Forever
no expiry
Five questions for any book promotion site
Who actually visits the site: readers or authors?
Many book promotion sites are visited almost entirely by authors looking for promotion. Readers never go there. Look at what the site ranks for. Skriuwer ranks for readers searching the best books in a genre, and the promotion pages are a side door for authors.
Does the listing stay up, or does it expire?
Deal features last a day. Some directories delete you after a year or when you stop paying. A Skriuwer listing is permanent. Nothing on it renews because nothing on it expires.
Is the price on the page?
If you have to email for a quote, the price depends on you. Skriuwer's listing is free and the placement prices are printed: from €29 one-time for one book, down to €14 per book at ten or more.
Does the site fit your genre?
A romance-heavy site does a history book no favours. Skriuwer's readers come for history, mythology, true crime, psychology, philosophy, and narrative nonfiction, with fiction listed where it fits.
Is paid content labelled?
Sites that hide paid placements as editorial picks will eventually be caught by readers or by Google, and your book goes down with them. Every Skriuwer placement is labelled as paid and the link carries rel="sponsored".
For the full list of free sites, sorted by what each asks for and how fast they respond, see free book promotion sites for authors.
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
Judge us by the five questions. Then list for 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
Which book promotion sites are free?
Skriuwer's listing, Goodreads, Amazon Author Central, most free-ebook aggregators, and reader communities. Our blog keeps a longer list of free sites with what each one requires.
Are paid book promotion sites worth it?
Some, for a launch. Ask the five questions above first. If a site cannot tell you who visits and what it costs, it is not worth it at any price.
How many book promotion sites should I submit to?
All the free permanent ones, one paid feature for launch week, and stop. Twenty submissions to sites nobody reads is a week lost.
What does Skriuwer do that other sites do not?
Lists the book for free, permanently, without a discount requirement, on a site readers already visit for genre lists. The paid option is a placement inside those lists, one-time, labelled.
Related: ebook promotion sites, book promotion services, and BookBub alternatives.