The Lazy Writer’s Guide To Marketing

I’m always looking for easy when it comes to marketing my books.

Probably because marketing is something that needs to be done consistently, so activities that take less time and energy are preferable. But also just because I’m kinda lazy.

I’m always on the lookout for things that will get my books in front of readers with a few clicks and a few minutes, things that will run on their own, things that I can set and forget.

So here’s my list:

• Free–Free is the lazy marketers best friend because readers will download your book and a certain percentage of them will actually read it. Paradoxically, the hope with free is actually that you will receive something in return–a review, a sale of another book, a newsletter sign up, word of mouth. Free gets you readers and you need readers. 🙂 Setting a book to free at retailers is very easy, with the exception of Amazon who will need to price match your book to free (assuming you sell books wide), but even that is pretty easy.
• Kobo Promotions–I love Kobo promotions. Number one, they are extremely easy to submit to, and number two, they work pretty well sometimes. In order to access these you have to upload your book direct to Kobo through Kobo Writing Life. But other than that, you simply go to you Promotions tab on your dashboard, browse through the available promotions and submit to one, which will take you probably two minutes. They can vary in price, but overall I think they are pretty reasonable.
• Bookbub Featured Deals–A Bookbub Featured Deal is the holy grail of advertising for indie authors which means they are very selective! But they are extremely easy to submit to, so why not? Assuming you have an account set up with them, you can submit a book for a featured deal in just a few minutes. And, bonus, they are very fast to get back to you on whether or not you’ve been selected. Easy peasy.
• Cross Promotions–You can find these in a variety of ways, but they are great for pooling resources with other authors to find new readers for your books. Basically, you submit your book to whoever the organizer is, which usually just takes a few minutes, and then once the promotion is live you share the promotion with your newsletter, your blog, your social media, etc. and the other authors in the promotion do the same. Everyone benefits from everyone else’s audience/followers.
• Newsletter Swaps–Same idea as the cross promotions, but on a one to one author basis. You can find these in a variety of ways also, but the basic idea is to get with an author in a genre you write to feature your book in their newsletter while you feature theirs. You just have to swap book info and you get exposure to each other’s audience.
• Advertising Space You Already Have–The pinned tweet on your twitter profile, your website sidebar, your newsletter, your Facebook page header, your email signature. These are just a few places, but think about space you already have that people see on a regular basis. Put your book info there. This might take a little more effort if you need a graphic but still pretty easy. And it just sits there showing itself to people without you having to do anything. 🙂
• Bargain eBook Newsletters/Websites–The effectiveness of these varies as well as how much they cost, but they are usually easy to submit to. Experiment a little and see which ones work for you. Book Raid is one I used recently with pretty good results, and they charge you based on how many people actually click on your book, which is unique.
• Hidden Gems Books–They do a few different things, but the main thing they do is run ARC programs for authors. I’ve used them twice and they are very easy to work with and you get early reviews for your books. They’re not a cheap service, but for what you get I think their prices are well worth it. If you’ve ever tried to find ARC readers yourself, you will be very pleased with how easy Hidden Gems is to work with and how nice it feels to get this task off your plate.
• Browse Writer Sanctum—Writer Sanctum is a forum for, well, writers and they have a section for book marketing. I’ve found quick, easy marketing ideas here just by browsing through threads. So take a look, you never know what you might find.
• Smashwords Coupons–If you upload your book to Smashwords you can take advantage of their public coupons, meaning you can attach a coupon code to your book that is displayed right on the book page. The nice thing about this is that it shows your original price and then the discounted price. Also, you can be found by readers browsing in the Special Deals section of the site. I haven’t had any amazing success with this, but it is easy and you may just catch a pair of eyes with your discount.

So there you have it. Some lazy ways to market your book. If you have your own lazy way, I’d love to hear about it. You can leave it in the comments below.

Photo by elizabeth lies on Unsplash

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Amanda Linehan is the author of North, about a young woman on the run from her past, the law and an old adversary out to get her. Her newest release is Bored To Death: A Vampire Thriller, about a 300-year-old vampire trying to restore the balance between life and death. She has published five novels. Get a free short story every month when you sign up for her newsletter.