Smashwords Book Marketing Guide Update - 5 Sites Promote your Ebook

I updated the Smashwords Book Marketing Guide this morning. This free ebook that offers 27 easy-to-implement book marketing ideas that can be implemented at no cost.

I made various minor updates, and then added a new Tip #27, which I'll excerpt here:

Tip #27: Promote your book to top ebook listing sites

Many popular websites and blogs specialize in providing directory-style links to ebooks, and routinely link to Smashwords ebooks. The sites I list here collectively drive *thousands* of readers to the book pages of Smashwords authors each month. There is no cost to the author, although you must earn inclusion from the operator of the site. Many of the sites specialize in free books, although some will list priced books if you provide them a time-limited Smashwords coupon that will enable their visitors to access your book for free. I’m a big believer in such promotions, because it’s a great way for you to gain a lot of readers in a short period of time, and many of these readers could be your first fans and your first reviewers. Before you contact the web sites below, be sure to study the sites, their book categories and their rules. Provide them direct hyperlinks to your Smashwords book page, and pay careful attention to any other information they request, such as book descriptions, price, book cover image, etc. If you carefully follow their instructions and match your book to their needs, you’ll maximize odds of a listing. Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Free-Online-Novels.com - This is a popular web site run by author Jennifer Armstrong. She provides links to ebooks in all categories, with one simple requirement: The ebook must be free. Submission instructions: http://free-online-novels.com/submissions.html


2. Ebooks Just Published - This great site is operated by Mark Gladding in Australia. It lists both free and paid books. Submission guidelines: http://www.ebooksjustpublished.com/authors/


3. Online Novels - Online Novels provides an attractive directory specializing in free books. Unlike the Free-Online-Novels.com, however, Online Novels will occasionally list books that are free for a limited time, such as Smashwords books that have 100%-off coupons. Consider using your Smashwords Coupon Generator to create a 100%-off coupon, and then contact this site and ask them if they’d consider linking to your book at Smashwords and publishing the coupon code. Be sure to let them know when the coupon expires! Submissions link: http://online-novels.blogspot.com/2008/10/submissions-and-broken-links_02.html


4. Getfreeebooks - An attractive directory of free ebooks. The operators ask that you carefully follow their submission guidelines, outlined here: http://www.getfreeebooks.com/?page_id=81


5. Finding Free Ebooks - This popular site lists free ebooks, and also will list books that carry a price if you provide them a time-limited coupon code. You’ll find submission instructions at the home page http://finding-free-ebooks.blogspot.com/


6. Books on the Knob - This listing isn't yet in the Guide, but I'll add it as soon as I learn the submission process. This blog specializes in listing bargain books and book promotions, so your book doesn’t necessarily need to be free to earn a listing.

If you know of similar free sites popular with readers that welcome indie ebooks, please suggest them in the comments section. I'm not necessarily looking for reviews sites. The sites above rarely do reviews, though they remain very popular with readers.

Even if you're not a Smashwords author yet (hey, why not?), you can benefit from the Smashwords Book Marketing Guide. Download it at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/305

Smashwords Book Marketing Guide Updated (plus links to other useful book marketing books)

This morning I published a new edition of the free Smashwords Book Marketing Guide, a primer on book marketing. Share it with your author friends.

Even authors and publishers who don't publish on Smashwords will find value here (why they wouldn't publish on with Smashwords is beyond the realm of common sense!) .

Some of the new updates include:

1. New tips on how to use Smashwords Coupon Generator to build buzz, readership and reviews for your book.

2. Expanded section on how to (and how not to) use Twitter to promote your book.

3. New common sense tips on how to locate and participate in online communities that will be interested in your book and your subject matter expertise.

4. And several other minor updates across 19 other tips.

And while you're donning your marketing hat, check out the growing library of other Smashwords books that offer other great marketing tips for indie authors and publishers, including:

Self Publishing Manual Volume 2 by Dan Poynter
Our #1 best-selling self publishing title and a great source for social media marketing tips. If you haven't already seen it, drop everything and read our exclusive interview with Dan on the future of books.

4Ps to Publishing Success by Shelley Lieber
Learn how to treat publishing as a business. See our exclusive interview with Shelley for more information

From Book to Market: Internet marketing, sales and promotion for your book by Joanna Penn
Joanna is a great source for marketing tips. We hope to do a Q&A interview with her in the next couple months.

Internet Marketing Guide for Writers and Businesses by Sylvia Hubbard
Name your own price. An interview with Sylvia coming soon!

Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors by Steve Weber
This book is packed with tips, and it's free. Steve wrote an interesting editorial at Teleread over the weekend on his experiences with Amazon.

POD'd The How to Guide.. and converely why you shouldn't by Don Meyer
Just in case some of you think I'm blindly pro all-things-self-publishing (well, maybe sometimes), here's an interesting book that provides the other side of the story. It reads almost like a personal memoir of someone who went through the POD publishing process and came face to face with the difficulties of getting your book out there. Consider it a well-written and worthwhile reality check. Don used a POD vendor who required him to purchase copies.

Happy marketing!