Two easy ways to save money in your book promotion
I’ve said countless times in this blog that if you want to get people to read your book, you have to give away a lot of copies. To reviewers. To bloggers. To the editor of your college alumni magazine. To the women in your yoga class. To the guy who cuts your hair. To the people you meet at Starbucks. Basically to anyone and everyone you think might like the book enough to spread the word about it.
That can be a lot of books. But you have to do it!
I always recommend giving away print copies with a personalized inscription for two reasons. First, because it’s classy. Second, because it’s harder for someone to “forget” to read a (signed) physical book than an eBook buried in a Kindle library.
How to save money
If you’re going to mail signed copies, use the book rate at the post office. It’s almost half the price! The one downside is that you have to wait in line because the self-service kiosks don’t offer the book rate, but it’s worth it to save so much money.
To give away eBooks, I recommend “gifting” a copy via Amazon. All you need is the email address associated with the recipient’s Amazon account. Click “Give as a Gift,” type in a personal note before sending, and you’re done! And guess what? You get the royalties on the sale, which brings the purchase price down.
Note: Multiple indie authors who read my blog have contacted me offering to email me a “free PDF” version of their book. You know what that does? It makes me feel like they want my endorsement, but not enough to (pay to) send me a real book. Not the best approach, in my opinion.
Source: Maria Murnane
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