Why Should You Promote Your E-Book?

I’ve spent a lot of time writing about books, but there is another subject that I don’t often think about and should; that is promotion.  After all, I have a blog and I publish hubs and Squidoo Lenses.  I’ve added the link to where readers can buy my book wherever I can… I think I’m doing enough promotion.

And I believe now that thought process is… wrong.  This process forgets the fact people know you- or at least want to know you and not your book.  A writer’s life is about writing, and about being a person people are interested in.

I think good promotion doesn’t mean putting a book on a shelf with a sign and hoping that it will somehow sell.  I don’t agree with over-marketing a book, but there are ways to let the world know about your book.  Many of them are free.  Word of mouth goes a long way.

One of the best ways to promote your work is by offering free books.  Giving them away — as gifts to people or for reviewers to read and comment on other social networking sites.  I’ve given some thought to the price of my book and how that might be a hindrance to buyers. If it’s a niche market the price has to be good for the readers to get interested in. Not that I feel my book is not worth it, but I am a first time author, and that is a sticking point for some readers.

So what about publishing an e-book as opposed to a paperback edition?  Why should you promote your e-book?

Yes, you should promote your e-book to your readers, and you should learn from your mistakes.  I hope I have learned from mine.  This is the means to make money with your writing.

My book is not as strongly promoted as it could be, and this is why I sell about one e-book per week, at least on Amazon.com.  On Amazon.co.uk (available to UK customers) and Amazon.de (the e-book is only in English) this is a different story and I believe I need to re-think my promotion strategy on those sites better.

I believe that because many people think of Transylvania, Romania as being “far removed” from the Second World War, it is interesting to see that there is a market for this book out there.  There is a market but it is localized to several communities in the North American area.

There lies, for me at least, the question:  How does a writer, like me, promote an e-book, a history book and reasonably priced at $2.99, in a small market? The fact that it is independently published could be a difference-maker, but if the writing is good, that should not matter.  Generally, it does not if I have an established relationship with my would be readers

I will continue to look at my numbers in more detail, but I think what I am doing now works well. I suspect that November will be the time of year when sales will be better, given the focus on World War One and Two, but until then I will need to promote the book a lot better.

Where will you promote your book, and how will you promote it?