Frugal Book Promotion Ideas

Hello. Thanks for the advice and information. Never ever giving up is key. When I first published an education textbook as a co-author - it took me 4 years of offering my services politely every six months. I never thought I would get an offer. It seems that we all have different routes to getting published but what I see as constants are: determination, patience and relentlessness. (skill helps too!!! :-) ) Again, thanks for sharing.

Regards,

Randall

Billy, great hub of advice, for sure. I'm working on a book right now and have been writing for years. Very nice interview you have in here too! You should write a non-fiction book too.

These are great ideas here Bill. I've shared these with my author friends.

Well I have been off hubpages for a while, was away on vacation and came home to an ill parent. Just starting to catch up on my reading and commenting. These are some great suggestions. I really like the local bookstore idea and am glad to see that they are interested. A friend of mine published his own book a while ago and I will be sending him this hub. Hope you are well Bill.

Bill, I'm about halfway through the process of getting my first book published through Create Space. I'm taking it one step at a time and will worry about marketing when I get there, but these are great suggestions. What are the titles of the books you've published?

Great ideas. I'm currently looking into getting a website thanks to you!

Billy, you are such a kind person to be giving us your ideas that took SO long for you to work up. You will not be forgotten, for you are one of those people that does kind things out of love.

Thanks for the suggestions. I would not have considered consignment shops as a potential partner. Great idea!

good advice, thanks for writing this ^_^.

I can attest to the success of #2. When I did it for my book, it was such fun for the store and myself because nobody had ever approached them for a book-signing before. Also, by signing all their remaining books after the event, they couldn't return them anymore to the publishers, which means I wouldn't lose any royalties from their sale. Voting this Up and Useful.

Such practical and commonsense advice. Thanks for sharing your wisdom. I was impressed that you sold 22 books through Facebook. I await reading more about your endeavors and learning more from you. Great job, Bill.

Bill, I wish I had known this when I published my poetry collection 12 years ago. I was a teenager, and knew nothing about promotion. But I was able to sell 1000 copies.

Great ideas Bill. I will keep this in my mind and pin it for later use. I have not written a book yet, but who knows one day I´ll do it. Thanks for sharing.

Great hub! This is so useful for me as I am writing my first novel! Thank you for sharing!

Great tips; self-promotion is my least favorite thing as well. Shared this with other author friends on FB and Twitter. I had not thought of approaching local businesses, and since I live in a rural area, that could be a priceless tip. Thanks!

Great points here and very useful.Thanks as always for sharing Bill and enjoy your day.

Eddy.

Some of these ideas take so little effort. Thanks for the reminder and the encouragement. You are good to know!

Hi Bill - superb advice here as always - I'll be sure to keep these ideas in mind when nearing publication :)

Hi Bill,

Yes I am up again, just brought Coco for a walk in the SNOW . . . . what a picture, black lab against a carpet of untouched white!This is a great read and so on the money for using some creative thinking. I have never published a book but would love to in the near future and would love your thoughts on E-books? Are they a good way to go? Loved your ideas about using the library and book shops for readings and creaft fairs are great too having done them for my cards, jewelry and pottery. Thanks Bill for another gem I will definitely keep but voted up, interesting, useful, shared and pinned.

What great ideas! It would never have occurred to me to try these different venues. I guess it never hurts to ask around. Thanks, Bill.

Thank you for these tips. As I am finding promotions, my sales are going up, My disability makes it slow going.

Great ideas, I am already using most of them to promote my books..

Fine places for promoting our works!!Thank you for sharing this great information. Voted up, useful and interesting. Sharing too.

These are great ideas... I haven't written a book but I will keep these in mind just in case I do. You have given me some inspiration for my crafts though, thank you! voting up, useful and sharing!

Thanks for these ideas, will keep them in mind. I agree very much with using your own website to promote your book. It starts with that!

There you go again, helping in anyway you can. You get my vote for the most giving man on Hubpages. Thank you Bill...

Great useful hub full of information and encouragement. Sounds like a big and major accomplishment!

Thank you, Bill, for your generous suggestions and realistic advice for fellow writers. Compared to the rigors of writing the book, it is the marketing and PR which are most demanding ... in my opinion.

Thank you for all the help that you are giving to your fellow writers, Bill. This is yet another very useful and generous hub!

Good advice as always. I don't treat selling my books as book promotion; I think of selling books as selling ME! Probably because my subjects are non-fiction, marketing advice books, I use my books as my "business cards" for my speaking and consulting work. Fiction authors can use them that way, too, promoting themselves as storytelling "experts."

Great advise, bill.

Now, only wish this editing goes smoothly that I can publish my Ebook.

By the way, I am assuming we order some hard copies and keep them handy for the above promotions?

I am going to check your book mentioned above. Thanks a lot, bill

Great ideas and in small towns the local newspaper will probably help out too! They have an author...why not?

Bill, these are great tips! As you know, I self-published my first poetry book. I paid a $75 fee to have my book listed in the Ingram catalog that bookstores use to order their stock. I've already made back the $75 in online sales, but still need to convince book stores to stock my pride and joy. I intend to go to my local Books A Million with my book in hand to see if they will stock it.

Your other ideas are awesome. I never thought about doing a reading (gulp!). This is another one to bookmark to help my career.

Thank you my friend and trumpeter of writers! (Let me know when you get sick of the trumpet reference!) :-)

These are soooooo helpful. And they are like no brainers only I didn't think of them. Inexpensive is where you got me....that is a synonym for my middle name which is CHEAP.

One day I will market my book using your tools.

Thanks Bill

I can always count on you.

Many Angels are headed your way along with hugs and blessings :) ps

What great ideas Bill. You are very creative. Maybe someday I'll write a travel book about Italy :) For anyone who is writing a book your hub is a must read. Great job.

Awesome tips and information Bill. This is inspirational and should be of help to many of us!

Mark

This will definitely help me in the long run.

Great ideas Bill. I'm enjoying this series and learning all along the way.

Thanks.

This is great advice :) following the hub for future reference when I hope to write a book of my own someday :) Great hub

I have done the things you have suggested and to tell you the truth, what you suggest here has been my most effective ways of marketing. Two thumbs up!

These are some really good ideas. I think I mentioned when I wrote my book in the 90s it was a piece of cake. No internet marketing..just letters and phone calls..It was a huge success. Today even though the internet looks appealing everyone and their grandmother is using it..I think most of us are tired from seeing so many promotions. Anyway your ideas are realistic and mostly just take some legwork..Going to promote your book on all of the above.

Well, I bought your book and looking forward to reading it. I will also share this on facebook as a friend of mine could use this advice. Actually he is in that linked in writers group you started. Good luck selling your book!

When one has done most of these suggestions there still remains the question of how can I better promote my book? Selling twenty copies here and there does definitely help the Ego. I think a partnership with another related professional or author could help promote both.

Great suggestions Bill - I am certainly not ready to write a book but hopefully in the future. Great tips I will have to bookmark for later!

You have some great ideas, here. Too many people cross their fingers every day, waiting for someone to discover them. Whatever it is you want to do, it requires effort to be successful, amIright? I thought you had your book available in Kindle form. Am I missing something? Cuz that's entirely possible.

Very interesting. I don't think I'll ever write a book, though. And I'm with you on self-promotion. I am far, far too shy to stand up and give a talk in public!

I am sure these ideas will be useful to those with the right personality and will-to-do,

Bless you :)

Thanks for the ideas. I've used some in the past and will borrow some in the future. It's wonderful for an author to encourage other authors and not see them as the competition.

There is nothing I'd rather not do than pitch my book to my friends and family. For one thing, they aren't my target market. Your ideas give me other options.

I'd add: send out press releases. Two of my books are in the University of Georgia bookstore just because I'm an alum.

Loved your suggestions and wouldn't have thought bookstores if you were not covered by an agent and possibly self-published, but seriously thanks for enlightening me on that. Have pinned this Bill to refer to (I always pin your publishing articles, because quite frankly they are filled with such great information). And I have also voted way up, tweeted and shared!! :)