Sites That Promote Ebooks

1. 70

   William F. Torpeyposted 15 years ago

   A close friend of mine has written about how she tried to cope with her husband's battle with a brain tumor caused by cancer and the difficulties she faced after his death. She recently had an ebook published that I have tried to help her promote. I don't know anywhere better than HubPages to look for Websites that might be appropriate for her to contact. If any of the authors here can suggest some appropriate sites, I'd be very grateful.

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2. 80

   ProCWposted 15 years ago

   Couldn't she sell it on amazon and/or ebay?

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3. 70

   William F. Torpeyposted 15 years ago

   I'm afraid she doesn't know anything more about this business than I do. Neither of us has ever sold anything on Amazon or Ebay, so we wouldn't know how to go about it.

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4. 91

   Squimpletonposted 15 years ago

   What about lulu? Many people sell ebooks on lulu.com.
   And she should have a hub promoting her ebook.

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5. 70

   William F. Torpeyposted 15 years ago

   Thanks for the lulu site, Squimpleton. I'll let her know about it right away.
   
   This stuff is all pretty new to my friend, Linda, but I'll talk to her about joining HubPages. I wrote a little something myself this week about her situation on this hub:
   
   http://hubpages.com/hub/Surviving-the-Death-of-a-Spouse

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6. 61

   Marian Swiftposted 15 years ago

   Linda is a most admirable human being.  William, you are wise and gracious in the ways of friendship.  Thank you for sharing Linda and Gene's story.
   
   Lulu.com has a great reputation and appears to be easy to use.  E-books can also be published for Amazon's Kindle (...here...).  It's a new-ish service -- can't vouch for or against -- but it might be an option worth looking at.

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7. 70

   William F. Torpeyposted 15 years ago

   You are very kind, Marian. The Kindle site looks pretty good. I'll pass the information along to Linda along with the Lulu site. I knew the folks at HubPages would come to the rescue!

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8. 86

   Isabella Snowposted 15 years ago

   The problem with Kindle, is the electronic reader costs a fortune, and the format the book is sold in will only be readable on the Kindle. Most ebook readers use readers based on .lit, .pdf, or .prc format.
   
   (They say the Kindle reads unprotected mobi files, but most "published" ebooks are protected. They also say you can go through the hassle of using 3rd party software to convert pdf files -- but I cant imagine bothering with that, when there are plenty of other readers that work without the hassle.)
   
   I think Create Space offers the best deal for print books and other media, and its part of Amazon.com -- if she wants to make the book a paperback instead of an ebook, as I dont think they do ebooks.
   
   http://www.createspace.com/Products/BooksOnDemand.jsp
   
   Alternatively, she could send the file (before selling it) to an ebook publisher and see if they are interested in it. There is good money in ebooks if youre an author with a good publishing company.

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9. 70

   William F. Torpeyposted 15 years ago

   Thanks, Isabella, for all that information. I'll pass it along to Linda as well. She did have the ebook published by Chipmunka Publishing from the UK. I don't know if that will prevent her from having it promoted on other sites. I know it will help a lot of people who need help under very trying circumstances, so I'd like to see it made available to anyone who could benefit from it.

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10. 86

    Isabella Snowposted 15 years ago

    Is it still under contract? If so thats a very different situation and she needs to read the terms carefully. Promotions, when under contract, are usually limited to general advertising, which usually has to be paid for by someone -- and often the author, unless they are a NYT bestseller.
    
    Maybe I dont understand what you are asking for here -- but if you really only want to promote, and not publish (since it sounds like its already published) magazines and author review sites seem to be the most popular options available.

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11. 70

    William F. Torpeyposted 15 years ago

    I guess I'm looking for author review sites, Isabella. I wasn't sure if she could have her ebook on more than one site, but apparently that's not possible. Are there a lot of author review sites?

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12. 86

    Isabella Snowposted 15 years ago

    Most publishers do not allow "their" books to be sold on other sites, and they usually only send books to places like Fictionwise when the book sales start to slow on their own sites. There are a lot of author review sites and also groups on places like yahoo groups.
    
    Many reviewers will review a book in exchange for a free copy. A lot of bloggers do this. But I cant tell you which to try for this genre, as I have no experience with it. Its something she should either ask her publisher for advice on, or something she should google.
    
    Id suggest starting with non-fiction or self-help reviews, or summat. Sorry I cant give you more advice, but I write a completely different genre.

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13. 0

    dabblingmumposted 15 years ago

    May I make a suggestion, as an e-book author myself, instead of just offering up a review of her book to other sites, how about having her go on a blog tour. I have found blog tours take up far less commitment than actually reviewing of e-books and they tend to be more favorable. If someone on the blog tour would also like a copy of the e-book for review, she could offer one up, but this way she gets the word out with minimal effort on the blogger's parts.
    
    Basically, she would look for sites that would want to talk about her situation because that's the audience that would most likely buy her e-book. She can do that by typing in keyword phrases into the search engines. i.e.: cancer blogs, spouses of cancer, cancer survivors, diagnosed with cancer, health issues, etc.
    
    Once she gets a list of sites and contact information she could write to request a short Q&A interview on their sites. She could even provide a Q&A segment with a short intro and a short ending, explaining more about her e-book, to the bloggers for easy cut and paste.
    
    Here's an article I wrote up on hosting a blog tour:
    http://www.thedabblingmum.com/writing/h … ogtour.htm
    
    Once she gets all the tours done, she could list links with small caption to each blog on her own website, in her media information, and on her publisher's site (if they offer an author area).
    
    Here's how I did mine:
    http://thedabblingmum.blogspot.com/2006 … books.html

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14. 0

    dabblingmumposted 15 years ago

    Also try this in the serps: "review site for e-books"

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15. 86

    Isabella Snowposted 15 years ago

    Again, her contract needs to be referenced. Some publishers will not view a regular blog as a promotional site, which could mean she is expected to pay for the donated copy herself, since contracts state how many you may give away for private or promotional use.

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16. 0

    dabblingmumposted 15 years ago

    True. Always check with a contract regarding giving away promotional materials and review copies.
    
    I think that's another great reason to go on a blog tour and just do up some interviews and get some nice coverage. You don't have to worry about buying review copies because you aren't giving any books way--and you don't even have to offer a copy of the e-book for review or as a token of appreciate when requesting to be interviewed. If the person being interviewed really has something to offer the blog readers, the blogger will appreciate the chance to share.

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17. 70

    William F. Torpeyposted 15 years ago

    Wow, what great information. Thanks again Isabella, and thank you dabblingmum for all the knowledge and help. I'll pass it all along to Linda, which I know she will greatly appreciate.

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18. 88

    compu-smartposted 15 years ago

    Wow Wee Wiliam!
    
    I am glad to see you have been getting lots of help here and was not surprised!, these forums are like gold mines of information and help from diamond people!
    
    
    Good Luck!,

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19. 70

    William F. Torpeyposted 15 years ago

    You're right, compu-smart. Thank you, and I want to thank all of you HubPages authors who have given me such helpful information. Linda works every day, except Tuesdays and Sundays, but she is excited about all the help she's receiving and thankful as well.

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20. 60

    psioniposted 15 years ago

    If she would like to sell the ebook herself- off of her own website- then she should sign up for Clickbank.com-  http://www.clickbank.com/sell_products.html
    
    It is the largest ebook marketplace online, after Amazon and Ebay, and has over 50,000 affiliates who will promote the ebook themselves.
    
    If she does not have her own website, then she should sign up at Wordpress.com for a free site.

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21. 57

    patnamohanposted 15 years ago

    Amazon or Ebay or clickbank is good place to sell

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22. 70

    William F. Torpeyposted 15 years ago

    Sounds like really good advice, psioni. I'll pass it along to Linda.
    
    And thanks, patnamohan.

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23. 70

    darksideposted 15 years ago

    Someone is about to get a major snipping.

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    1. 64

       Mishaposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       It smells like ban

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