How to Promote a Self-Published Book
Most guides on how to promote a self-published book give you forty tactics and no order. Order is the whole trick. Do the steps below in sequence and you will spend nothing until step four, and by then you will know whether spending is worth it.
Free
no fee, no card
2 days
usual turnaround
Forever
no expiry
The seven steps
- 1
Fix the product page before anything else
Cover, blurb, categories, keywords. Every promotion you do sends people here. If the page does not convert, promotion just makes the bounce faster. Our free KDP tools check keywords, categories, and description formatting.
- 2
Get the first reviews
Ask the readers you already have. Use a review exchange for the rest. Deal newsletters will not take you without reviews, and browsers do not click a book with none.
- 3
List the book where the listing stays up
Skriuwer (free, permanent, one form), Amazon Author Central, Goodreads, your own site. This step costs nothing and is the one most authors skip.
- 4
Pick one launch-week feature
A deal newsletter in your genre, with a discount to match. One is enough. Stack them only if the first one paid for itself.
- 5
Show up in one reader community
A subreddit, a Facebook group, a Discord. Contribute for a few weeks before you mention your book, then mention it once.
- 6
Spend only on things that last
A placement inside an article that already ranks keeps working after you pay once. Ads work while you pay. If the budget is small, buy the permanent thing first.
- 7
Collect readers for the next book
A mailing list link in the back matter. Every step above should feed this one, because the next launch is easier when you already have readers.
Step three is the one you can finish right now. List your book on Skriuwer, then set up Author Central and Goodreads while you wait for the page to go live.
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
Step three takes two minutes. 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
How long does it take to promote a self-published book?
The permanent steps take one evening. Reviews take weeks. Ranking in Google for a best-of list takes months. Plan for a slow build and treat launch week as a spike on top of it, not the whole plan.
What is the cheapest way to promote a self-published book?
Free permanent listings, one contribution-first community, and a mailing list. All of it is free. The Skriuwer listing is the fastest of these: one form, live within 2 business days.
Should I promote before the book is out?
Set up the permanent pages before launch so they exist on day one. You can list a pre-order on Skriuwer as long as the Amazon page exists.
Do I need a publicist or a promotion service?
Not for a first book. Every step on this page can be done alone. Services make sense when you have a backlist and a budget, and even then, check what is permanent and what expires.
Related: where to promote my book, how to get my book noticed, and book marketing for self-published authors.