LAST UPDATED August 1, 2018 by DIANA URBAN
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
- Promoting Backlist Books
- Author Case Studies
- Other Insights
Before Publishing
Creating an Online Platform
- What to include in an author website
- Author websites with stellar designs: 29 examples
- Creating an author website: 5 platform options
- 45+ Author Websites with Stellar Designs
- Writing an author bio: 10 examples
- 35 Fantastic BookBub Author Profile Examples
- How to get more BookBub followers
- How one author got 25K BookBub followers
- Adding BookBub follow buttons to a website or blog
- 50 Stellar Examples of Author Facebook Cover Photo Designs
- Authors on Twitter: 55 Stunning Header Image Examples
- How to Grow an Audience as a Newer Author
- 14 Ideas For Getting More BookBub Followers
- How Authors Can Guest Write for Blogs (And Why They Should!)
- How Recommending Books Can Grow an Author’s Audience
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
- 12 Questions to Ask When Hiring 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
- How to get readers hooked from an ebook sample
- How to write an elevator pitch for a book
- How to improve a book’s description 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 use a book’s back matter to sell more copies of other books
- How to find images for book marketing campaigns
- How to Write Attention-Grabbing Promo Copy for Books [Book Marketing 101]
- How to Promote Your Book Before It’s Published
- 6 Book Ad Design Tools Authors Can Use
Running a Preorder Campaign
Optimizing the Back Matter
- 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
- 11 Creative Ways Authors Announced Their Book Launch
- 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
- 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
- 5 Unconventional Book Launch Ideas from Professional Marketers
After the Book Launch
Building Buzz for a Book
- 11 Creative Ways to Boost Reader Engagement
- A Guide to Getting More Reader Reviews
- How to Promote Your Book for Free
- Browse through 119 book marketing ideas
- Download a collection of 180+ book marketing examples
- Marketing tactics traditionally published authors use
- How to get more book reviews
- Free tools that can help build book buzz
- How to using Facebook groups to build book buzz
- How to use videos to engage with readers
- How to use blog tours to promote books
- How to promote books at conferences
- How to get a book more international exposure
- Hiring a book publicist: 10 questions to ask
- What to blog about
Running BookBub Ads
- How to use BookBub Ads
- Set a goal for your BookBub Ads
- Designing BookBub Ads creative (20 examples with high CTRs)
- How to test an ad’s design
- How to Test Your BookBub Ads for Better Results
- How to set the targeting for a BookBub Ad
- 8 Ways to Target Readers Using BookBub Ads
- How to improve the ROI of your ads
- 10 Successful Advertisers’ Tips for Targeting Readers with BookBub Ads
- Biggest BookBub Ads Mistakes Authors & Marketers are Making
- Ads Bidding for Authors: Strategy Guide + Bid Calculator
- Tips for Troubleshooting BookBub Ads Campaigns
- How to Create Eye-Catching BookBub Ads Images
- Boosting Sales of Discounted Books with BookBub Ads [Part 1: Free Books]
- Boosting Sales of Discounted Books with BookBub Ads [Part 2: $0.99+ Books]
- 5 Mistakes To Avoid in Your BookBub Ads Designs
- 9 Book Marketing Goals You Can Accomplish With BookBub Ads
- Tutorial: How to Use BookBub Ads to Promote Any Book
- 20 BookBub Ads You HAVE to See for Design Inspiration
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
- 14 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
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
- How to discount an book in India
- 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?
Success Stories from Authors
- Becoming a bestseller with a coordinated marketing plan
- Selling 100x more copies of a book series
- How to Amplify a BookBub Deal as a Traditionally Published Author
- How I Hit a Bestseller List with a Traditionally Published Book
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
- 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
Promoting Backlist Books
Maintaining Book Sales
- 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
- 17 Fantastic Ways to Sell More Books for the Holidays
- 5 Book Marketing Strategies All Authors Need to Try
Using Social Media
- Twitter for Authors: How to Connect with Readers & Writers
- How successful authors use Twitter
- Twitter mistakes too many authors make
- The Writer’s Guide to Instagram: Tips from Top Bookstagrammers and Authors
- How Authors Use Instagram Stories to Connect with Readers
- 15 Ways Authors Use Facebook to Promote Their Books
- How Successful Authors Use Social Media: 23 Content Ideas
- Tips on using social media from a literary agent
- Recommending books on on BookBub: 21 author examples
- Publishing content to social media: 23 author examples
- Using images on social media: 25 author examples
- Boosting reader engagement: 11 creative ideas
- Promoting a book on Instagram: 15 author examples
- Promoting a book on Instagram: 15 publisher examples
- Promoting a book on Pinterest: 23 author examples
- Promoting a book on Pinterest: 16 publisher examples
Author Case Studies
Running a Preorder
- How Kathryn Le Veque promoted a preorder to launch it as a USA Today bestseller
- How Cheryl Bradshaw used preorder marketing to build her book’s platform
- How Melissa F. Miller used preorders to boost new release sales
Launching a New Book
- How J. Kenner wrote and launched 12 books in 6 months
- How Daniel Arenson launched a new book and sold 20K copies
- How Jules Barnard launched a bestselling book with a free promotion
- How Vanessa Vale hit the USA Today bestseller list three times
- How Beth Revis promoted a new book to existing readers
- How Julianne MacLean launched a new series book
Selling More Backlist Books
- How Kelly McClymer became a bestselling author
- How Glynnis Campbell sold 100x more of her book series
- How Andrew Carr’s box set hit the USA Today bestseller list
- How Mari Carr created a box set to boost ebook sales 350%
- How Tricia O’Malley A/B tested her cover design to boost sales
- How Ann Christy increased sales with an international promotion
- How Julia Kent increased international book sales
- How Johnny B. Truant redesigned his covers to boost sales
- How Cheryl Kaye Tardiff sold 130x more books with Countdown Deals
Using BookBub Ads
- How an Author Doubled First-in-Series Sales Using BookBub Ads
- Promoting a new release with BookBub Ads
- Promoting a box set with BookBub Ads
- Promoting a new sequel with BookBub Ads
Other Insights
Publishing Trends
- Publishing Trends: Tropes Readers Adore Across 15 Fiction Genres
- Do BookBub Members Buy Full-Priced Books?
- What you don’t know about bargain ebook buyers
- Things to know about BookBub subscribers
- Global BookBub reader trends
- 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 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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