LAST UPDATED SEPTEMBER 8, 2023 by AJ YEE
At the BookBub Partners Blog, we’ve published dozens of posts on book marketing, publishing insights, and self-publishing tips. We’ve compiled these posts into an ultimate guide to book marketing as a digestible resource for all of this valuable content. We will regularly update this page with the latest content as we publish it, so be sure to bookmark it for future reference!
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Table of Contents
- Before You Publish
- Launching a New Book
- After the Book Launch
- Running Price Promotions
- Backlist Book Promotions
- Social Media Promotion
- Audiobook Marketing
- Author Case Studies
- Other Insights
Before Publishing
Creating an Online Platform
- What to include in an author website
- How to sell books direct from your website
- Author websites with stellar designs
- Creating an author website: 5 platform options
- How to write an author bio (plus a downloadable checklist!)
- BookBub Author Profile examples
- How to get more BookBub followers
- How to add BookBub follow buttons to a website or blog
- How to grow an audience as a newer author
- How to grow a wide global audience
- How authors can guest write for blogs
- How recommending books can grow an author’s audience
- Surprising perks of recommending books on BookBub
Designing a Book’s Cover
- How to test a book’s cover design
- Hiring a book cover designer: 20 designers & resources
- How to create a successful book cover
- What kind of cover design sells more books in your genre?
- Book cover mistakes to avoid
- Questions to ask when hiring a book cover designer
- How to work effectively with a book cover designer
- Cover reveal checklist: how to run one & what to update after
Preparing Book Marketing Assets
- How to find & reach the right readers
- Clever ways authors can learn more about readers online
- Cover reveal checklist: how to run one and what to update after
- How to get readers hooked from an ebook sample
- How to write an elevator pitch for a book
- How to write a book description (tips from BookBub editors)
- How to improve a book’s description copy
- How to write attention-grabbing promo copy
- The most important elements of a book’s description copy
- How to get blurbs for a book and use them in your marketing
- How to find images for book marketing campaigns
- Book ad design tools
- Creative book unboxing videos
Running a Preorder Campaign
- Survey: How authors use preorders to promote new books
- Should you make a book available for preorder?
- Ways to sell preorder books: 17 ideas
- How to promote a book before it’s published
Optimizing the Back Matter
- How to use a book’s back matter to sell more copies of other books
- How to cross-promote other books in the back matter
- How to promote a sequel in a book’s back matter
- How to add links to an ebook’s back matter
Launching a New Book
Driving Sales for the New Book
- How to run a book launch for maximum sales (& hit list!)
- The ultimate guide to promoting a book launch [free download]
- Book launch checklist (a marketing timeline for launching a book)
- How to use price promotions to market a new book release
- Creative ways authors announced their book launch
- How authors used New Releases for Less to support a book launch
- How to launch and promote a new book that’s part of a series
- How to launch a new book using BookBub’s marketing tools
- Sample marketing timeline for launching a new book
- How to run a virtual launch event
- How to run a virtual book tour
After the Book Launch
Building Buzz for a Book
- Browse through 119 book marketing ideas
- Download a collection of 180+ book marketing examples
- How to get more reader reviews
- How to promote a book for free
- Marketing tactics traditionally published authors use
- Ways authors use crowdfunding platforms
- How to get a book more international exposure
- How to use videos to engage with readers
- How to use blog tours to promote books
- Hiring a book publicist: 10 questions to ask
- Creative ways to boost reader engagement
- Outside-the-box book marketing ideas
- What to blog about
- How to promote books at conferences
Running BookBub Ads
- How to use BookBub Ads (beginners tutorial)
- How to promote any book with BookBub Ads
- How to design BookBub Ads creative (20 examples with high CTRs)
- How to test an ad’s design
- How to set your bid (strategy guide + bid calculator)
- When to use CPM vs. CPC bidding
- How to set the targeting
- How to improve your ad’s results with testing
- How to improve the ROI of your ads
- Troubleshooting tips
- 9 ways to target readers
- How to create eye-catching ads
- Boosting sales of discounted books [Part 1: Free books]
- Boosting sales of discounted books [Part 2: $0.99+ books]
- Biggest mistakes advertisers make with BookBub Ads
- Mistakes to avoid in your designs
- Mistakes to avoid in your targeting
- How many authors should you target with BookBub Ads?
- Top tips for choosing author targets
- Book marketing goals you can accomplish with BookBub Ads
Choosing Tactics for Different Book Types
- How to increase sales of standalone books
- How to promote a series to keep readers hooked
- Tips on creating single-author box sets
- How to promote nonfiction books
- Fantastic marketing tips for debut authors
Promoting a Book Series
- Which book in a series should you discount?
- How to promote a sequel
- How to sell an ebook series
- Benefits to promoting a series book
- Ideas for promoting sequels or later-series books
- Brilliant ad designs promoting books in a series
Analyzing Your Results
Running Price Promotions
Why You Should Run Ebook Price Promotions
- Why smart authors and marketers discount their books
- Book marketing goals you could achieve with price promotions
- Why ebook price promotions make you more money
- Should you discount an ebook?
- Do ebook discounts devalue content?
How to Run Ebook Price Promotions
- The best price for an ebook promotion
- The right time to discount a book
- How to lower the price of an ebook
- How to discount an book in the UK
- How to discount an book in Canada
- The most common international ebook discounting errors
Making an Ebook Free
- How to make an ebook free (temporarily)
- How to make an ebook permafree (and why you should)
- Do free ebook promotions really work?
Other Discounting Best Practices
- How long you should run an ebook price promotion
- Why an ebook’s original price impacts sales
- The best day of the week to discount an ebook
- Why an ebook price promotion may not have worked
- How to promote an ebook price promo on social media
Submitting a Book to BookBub
- Featured Deal checklist: how to prepare and promote a deal
- How BookBub’s selection process works
- How to optimize your BookBub Featured Deal submission
- 9 reasons a book was rejected for a BookBub Featured Deal
- How BookBub Featured Deals are priced
- Free vs. discounted: how BookBub’s selection rates vary
- Facts about BookBub subscribers
- What is the BookBub “halo” effect?
- 11 BookBub myths busted
Backlist Book Promotion
- How promo-stacking helps authors hit bestseller lists
- How to market a book after the new release buzz dies down
- How to sell more copies of an older book
- How to cross-promote books with other authors
- Ways to sell more books for the holidays
- Book marketing strategies all authors need to try
- Reviving backlist books you thought were dead
Social Media Promotion
General Social Media Tips
- Choosing the right platforms & avoiding burnout
- Boosting reader engagement: 11 creative ideas
- Engaging readers through live streaming
- Publishing content to social media: 23 author examples
- Using images on social media: 25 author examples
- Recommending books on BookBub: 21 author examples
- How authors support each other on social media
- How authors express gratitude to readers
- Tips on using social media from a literary agent
- Tips from top bookstagrammers and authors
- Tips on using Instagram as an indie author
- Using Instagram Stories to connect with readers
- Boosting a BookBub promotion on Instagram
- Promoting a book on Instagram: 25 author examples
- Promoting a book on Instagram: 17 publisher examples
- Bookstagrams of ebooks: 38 examples
- Creative ways authors promote nonfiction books on Instagram
TikTok
- How to connect with readers & writers on Twitter
- 55 author Twitter header image examples
- How successful authors use Twitter
- Twitter mistakes too many authors make
- Promoting a book on Facebook: 15 author examples
- 50 author Facebook cover photo design examples
- How to use Facebook groups to build book buzz
- Promoting a book on Pinterest: 35 author examples
- Promoting a book on Pinterest: 16 publisher examples
Audiobook Marketing
Producing Audiobooks
Promoting Audiobooks
- Marketing audiobooks: 13 ideas for getting new listeners
- Bookstagrams of audiobooks: 17 examples
- Audiobook BookBub Ads
Running Chirp Featured Deals
- Tips on optimizing your Chirp deal submission
- How to make the most of a Chirp audiobook deal
- How to drive audiobook series follow-on sales
- Ways your Chirp deal gets extra visibility
Author Case Studies
Running a Preorder
- Promoting a preorder to launch it as a USA Today bestseller
- Using preorder marketing to build her book’s platform
- Using preorders to boost new release sales
- Doubling exposure for a new release
Launching a New Book
- Promoting a new book to current fans and new readers
- Launching a new book in Kindle Unlimited
- Writing and launching 12 books in 6 months
- Launching a new book and selling 20K copies
- Launching a bestselling book with a free promotion
- Hitting the USA Today bestseller list three times
- Promoting a new self-published book vs. traditionally published
- Launching a new series book
- Launching book 4 in a series
- Launching an instant-NYT bestselling debut book
- Hitting the USA Today bestseller list with a multi-author anthology
- Writing & promoting a multi-author book series
- Boosting an anthology’s retailer ranking to #1
Selling More Backlist Books
- Making six figures as a self-published author
- Making more money with a free first-in-series book
- Becoming a bestselling author
- Selling 100x more of her book series
- Hitting the USA Today bestseller list with a box set
- Creating a box set to boost ebook sales 350%
- Using different book bundling strategies to drive sales
- A/B testing a cover design to boost sales
- Increasing sales with an international promotion
- Promoting an international Featured Deal
- Maximizing your first Featured Deal
- Increasing international book sales at a low cost
- Redesigning covers to boost sales
- Redesigning covers to secure a Featured Deal
- Selling 130x more books with Kindle Countdown Deals
- Amplifying a BookBub deal as a traditionally published author
- Hitting a bestseller list with a traditionally published book
- Getting a self-publishing career off the ground
Using BookBub Ads
- Doubling first-in-series sales
- Driving 10k new release sales
- Generating steady book sales
- Promoting a new release
- Promoting a box set
- Promoting a new sequel
- Launching a new series
- Growing a new pen name
- Promoting a debut novel
- Driving series sales
- Successful advertisers’ tips for targeting readers
- Why testing BookBub Ads targets pays off
Getting More BookBub Followers
- Getting 25K more BookBub followers as a self-published author
- Going from 0 to 6.5K BookBub followers as a traditionally published author
Promoting Audiobooks
Other Insights
Publishing Trends
- Trend Watch: What’s Popular with BookBub Readers
- Author newsletter trends from a survey of 500+ authors
- Do BookBub Members Buy Full-Priced Books?
- What you don’t know about bargain ebook buyers
- Things to know about BookBub subscribers
- Will you sell more books on a holiday?
Tips from Traditional Publishing
- Traditional to hybrid: how to carry readers to a new book
- How an author ran a price promotion with a Big 5 publisher
- How to strategically price a new book to drive more sales
- How to use ebook price promotions as a discovery tool
- A literary agent’s advice on book marketing and discounting
- Q&A with a Literary Agent on Querying, Trends, Subrights & More!
- How to time an ebook price promotion for maximum visibility
- Coordinating an ebook discount and TV adaptation
- Relaunching and marketing a book after getting the rights back
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