Once your e-book (or paper book) is placed in the Kindle Store, how do you actually start to make sales? Eventually, the quality of your book is what will determine whether or not it takes off.

However, in order for your book to have a chance to get it in front of enough readers (and reviewers) you need to promote it heavily. There are many ways to do this without incurring any costs, just your time.  One easy way, beside all the social media sites, is to promote it on Amazon directly.

Browse Kindle forums and boards and become an active member, preferably before you even finish your book. This gives you enough time to get acquainted with the whole process, to be known as an author and to show off your book as soon as it is available.

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KindleBoards    
The are great places to network with book lovers and authors.  Don’t just promote your book, but aim to add to the community as well.  It’s a fine line between sharing information about your book, starting to sound like a used car salesman, and outright spamming.  Again: Become a member of the community, participate in discussions, let others know what you are reading and tell about your writing experiences, etc.  Don’t use KindleBoards solely as an advertising platform for your book.

KindleBoards Tips and FAQ for authors
Authors: get to know these tips and tools available on KindleBoards:

What are the forum procedures to promote my book?
KindleBoards is a great place for authors to promote their work. But before you post, know our rules of the Forum Decorum.

How do I put a linked book cover in my post?
You can make book cover links and text links, for your book using our Link-Maker.

How do I make a signature that includes clickable images of my book covers?
Click here for a tutorial  http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,46766.0.html   on how to make linked text and book cover graphics.

How do I let readers open an online sample of my book?
One easy way is to use our sample page. Just put your book’s ASIN into the following link: http://www.kindleboards.com/sample/?asin=XXXXXXXXXX

How do I get a profile page for my book and appear on the KB Books page?
A profile page is a clean web page for your book – with no distracting links or menu options. Everything on the page is all about your book – just put your ASIN into the following link:

http://www.kindleboards.com/book/?asin=XXXXXXXXXX

You can even customize it, using the Author Control Panel, to add other links to your book, video trailers, and more.
- It features a large display of your book cover (500-pixels high).
- It includes your current book description and current customer reviews from Amazon.
- It (optionally) displays an online sample of your work right in the browser.
- You can customize your book’s profile page, with an author message, video trailer, links to other purchase sites, and many more options.  Check it out by clicking the Author Control Panel link, which is in the lower right corner of your book’s profile page. And while you’re there, be sure to set the right genre for your book… this is what KindleBoards uses for its “KB Books” lists of authors and books.

Is there an easy way for readers or authors to recommend my book through Facebook or Twitter?  Yes. Use our “Like it!” page.
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Short Intro from the Forum Decorum
Excerpt from the guidelines about getting the word out about your books:

- You may post one thread about your book, in the Book Bazaar board in “Writers’ Café” You can use that thread to introduce your book, include a brief review, etc.”

- Authors are strongly encouraged to use the link maker to include a link with a cover of their book, which takes interested folks directly to Amazon where people can read reviews, sample the book and buy it if they want.
- You are welcome to keep your thread “lively” by posting information about your book (reviews, author interviews, etc.) – but do not do so more than once per week. Of course, you can always reply to comments from others in the thread.
- Links to your website. You may have a discrete link to your site in your signature, subject to the signature guidelines.

Signatures:
Generally, you may have text and/or graphics in your signature, including hyperlinked text and graphics. A signature, in length and height, can be no larger than approx.10 lines. It is 89 default font characters wide and 10 default font characters high. That’s about 800 x 140 pixels. This is enough for book covers, plus two lines of plain text.
Another way to promote your book: Kindle Book Corner.
Let others do the promotion and recommend your book! This is a fantastic means for your friends, family and fans to show support and to recommend your book including an image of the cover. It is for quick recommendations, like you are sitting with a friend at dinner and you say “Hey, I just finished this amazing book and I think you would love it!” That kind of thing…

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<a href=”http://www.hypersmash.com”>Hyper Smash</a>

Margaret Kell Virany

They all knew my parents’ romantic story and had lavished praise on the print version. I couched this as a genuine seasonal message but must confess visions of five stars beside my title in the sales catalog were dancing on a hidden agenda inside my head!

My connections are not pushovers; they are mostly hardy, elderly folks, not intimidated by Amazons and they expect to get into heaven without a password. Still, I needed to line up reviewers even before my book was published so I made a polite suggestion and gave simple instructions on ‘how to submit a review to Amazon’ in a straightforward way.

Two months later my book is in the hands of 4,593 readers who likely made their final decision after they saw the 4+ star ratings. The Internet-savvy on my list (a niece, a second cousin-in-law once removed, a new friend and the 85-year old Wilderness Wanderer) immediately submitted five-star reviews.  Several octogenarian college friends, one of them almost blind, struggled or got help but managed to do me this favor.

• R. called himself Accountant’s Vision, in case he made typos.
• J-M invites her unemployed engineer son-in-law for breakfast every morning and is still hoping this will lead to a review-writing moment.
• B. said she was glad she had friends who were keeping up with the Internet and thanked me for nudging her into the e-book era.
• J. is so proud of her new skill she’s eager to do it again.

A Christmas letter requesting reviews may be a little out of order, but my friends who used it as a chance to update their brains found some joy.

Guest post by author Margaret Kell Virany
see her books at:
www.amazon.com/author/margaretvirany

or here:
www.margaretvirany.com

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<a href=”http://www.hypersmash.com”>Hyper Smash</a>

What is freelance writing exactly?
Wikipedia explains: A freelance writer, also called “Independent contractor”, is somebody who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular employer long term, unless they offer great writing opportunities and conditions.  They typically keep the copyright to their works and sell the rights to publishers in time-limited contracts. In contrast, intellectual property created under a work for hire situation according to the publishers’ or other customers’ specifications are referred to as “independent contractors” and similar terms. They have no copyright to the works, which are written as works made for hire, a category of intellectual property defined in US copyright law — Section 101, Copyright Act of 1976 (USC 17 §101).

Websites for Freelancers

http://www.freelancewriting.com
In its fifteens year now, FreelanceWriting.com delivers daily and real-time freelance writing jobs for freelance writers – free! Their Writer’s Guidelines database consists of more than 1118 guidelines for freelancing. But there are more valuables on this webpage: video tutorials, sample query letters, writing contests and author interviews.

http://www.freelance-zone.com
Since ten years, Freelance-Zone.com has offered articles and advice for freelance writers, but since freelancing is both a career choice and a lifestyle, they have expanded to cover anything related to living in the freelance world, covering topics such as social media, writing and career resources, getaways for writers and other great ideas.

http://www.writersweekly.com
They claim to be the highest circulation freelance writing ezine in the world. Sign up to get freelance job and paying market listings for writers every Wednesday by email. The site features among other, interesting and valuable articles by Mark Levine, attorney and author of The Fine Print of Self-Publishing. Also: Whispers and Warnings for authors and Writing markets database for markets that welcome new writers.

http://www.writers.ca/whattopay.htm
PWAC’s (Professional Writers Association Canada) rate guidelines are based on fee information we have collected from PWAC members across Canada and from various industries that regularly hire writers on a freelance/contract basis. Join to get listed in their database of freelance writers. Copyrights are explained, and guidelines for writing contracts are given.

http://www.Savvybookwriters.wordpress.com
Regularly posts freelance writing offers, writing and editing positions, writing contests, grants, writers conferences and retreats. Lots and lots of marketing tips for freelance writers and how to sell your published work.

http://www.getpaidtowriteonline.com
Tons of valuable tips for online writers from Sharon Hurley Hall, journalist, ghostwriter and freelancer herself. She says: “It includes straight talk about writing skills and resources, self promotion and writing markets that will help you to launch yourself as a freelance writer. I’m pleased to say that some of my regular readers have used my advice to build successful freelance writing careers of their own.” 

What are your experiences with freelance writing? And do you know of any other websites that cover broad aspects of freelance writing, including freelance opportunities?

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<a href=”http://www.hypersmash.com”>Hyper Smash</a>

Just found on the Internet:: Open letters to media job boards everywhere

Laura Roberts writes: Here is the text of an email I just sent to Media Job Search Canada, and which I have forwarded to MediaBistro. It can equally well apply to any media job boards everywhere that uphold this offensive policy of posting scam “jobs” meant to trick and/or entrap young, inexperienced writers:

“Dear Media Job Search Canada
As a hard-working freelance writer, I’d like to make a suggestion for your media job-posting site: Don’t post ads from “pay-per-click” sites like Suite101!  To me, this is not a job. It is insulting to see these types of scam ads on media-friendly, media-focused job boards, as the “pay” depends on the writer’s constantly pimping links to friends, family and random strangers. You are only “paid” when you reach a certain number of views on your articles, and for most writers on the site, places like Suite101 never pay out. Period. How do I know this? I “worked” for them, and have never received a paycheck for any of the articles I wrote for their site.

This is not a job, it is a scam. To post ads from scammers like these demeans all media job-seekers, and suggests that we are not worth paying for our efforts. We ARE worth paying, and I would really like this ad—and others like it—banned from your site.”

My fellow writers, please do not apply for these types of “jobs.” They are not jobs, they are scams. Even if you are just starting out, you are a professional writer, and professional writers deserve payment for their work. If you must write on spec or for free in order to achieve clips for your portfolio, do it for a reputable company, one whose work you have read and admire. There are plenty of great magazines that are run by unpaid volunteers, and I would much rather see my friends and fellow freelancers contributing to these types of endeavours than getting scammed by scumbags like Suite101 and their ilk.

P.S. To clarify, I do respect MediaBistro as an authority on media jobs, which is why I find it puzzling that they, too, are posting “jobs” from people like Suite101. Suite101 is perpetually “seeking writers.” Is it any wonder, given their lack of payment?  Also, if you’d like more comments/info on Suite101, WritersWeekly has a forum full of comments and complaints about them.”

Read more about this and view all the interesting comments ….
http://buttontapper.com/2009/09/17/an-open-letter-to-media-job-boards-everywhere/

Or this one from another author:
“First, for the pitiful pay they offer, they take ALL rights: “…with Demand Media being deemed the sole author of the contribution and the owner of all rights…”  That’s right.  You write it, you sell it to them, and you earn nothing more after the initial low fee, even if they syndicate it and sell it over and over again.  They can edit it, remove your name, and more.  Theirs is a work-for-hire contract. Let me tell you folks…$5 to $20 for all rights is, in our opinion, downright insulting, especially since resources and references must be cited, a free graphic must be chosen and included….”
http://www.writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/005650_10142009.html

Or this one:
Dear Mr. XYZ Startup,
Thank you for finally getting back to me, but I can’t live on “impact” and “possibly fame,” neither of which pays any bills. It is my opinion that if you can’t afford to pay the writers who will create content for your site, you shouldn’t start a business at all on the Internet. Professional writers need to be paid a professional rate for their work, just like any other skilled profession, such as doctors or dentists.
DeAnn Rossetti
Freelance Writer/Reporter
27 years of award-winning copy
http://writersweekly.com/this_weeks_article/007138_01112012.html

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<a href=”http://www.hypersmash.com”>Hyper Smash</a>

The Canadian Writer’s Market offers practical advice on everything from manuscript preparation to copyright law, from information on pay rates to writers’ workshops.

It includes comprehensive and up-to-date listings for:

• consumer magazines
• literary and scholarly journals
• trade, business, and professional publications
• daily newspapers
• book publishers
• literary agents
• awards, competitions, and grants
• writers’ organizations and support agencies
• writers’ workshops, courses, and retreats
• Provincial & Federal Support Programs
• Creative Writing & Journalism Courses at Colleges & Universities

What it is missing
Rates charged for writing and editing services by freelance writers and editors in Canada. The book contains some useful information but is missing this valuable piece, included always in the American Writers Market.

The Canadian Writer’s Market, 18th Edition by Joanna Karaplis is not available as an e-book, Amazon.com automatically switches over to Amazon.ca, the Canadian Amazon site.

Price:
Amazon.ca CDN$ 16.92 Today
Amazon.uk £12.53 Today

To check out Canadian writers markets online or find information about Writers Associations you can also go to

http://www.writers.ca/markets/index.html
http://www.cwj.ca/

<a href=”http://www.hypersmash.com”>Hyper Smash</a>

 

Among other reasons, you work so hard on your manuscript to eventually get published and paid for your writing.  ”2012 Writers Market” can help you find success: Over 9,000 listings for book publishers, literary agents, magazines, online publications, contests, conferences and more!

What would you like to accomplish?
Find an agent for your fiction book, sell non-fiction articles to magazines or a film script to production companies, publish or make some money on the side?

In this annual “bible for writers” you will find places to sell your writing, whether you’ve got a book, manuscript, or an article idea. Make some money on the side and know how much to charge for these gigs with their popular pay rate chart. It includes topics from tackling content factories to negotiating contracts and from managing time and organization to make the most of the money writers earn. What it is not: a quality control of publishers. To be sure, go to “Writer Beware” or research for any complaints about certain publishers. Thank goodness they omitted some of the worst ones…

What’s more?

• Manage your submissions with easy-to-use record keeping tools
• Stay abreast of the latest publishing industry news
• Gain advanced publishing and marketing knowledge from Q & A’s with publishing experts
• Use information specific to your writing needs–whether you are interested in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, children’s, script writing or agents.

What I like
Articles on freelancing, social media book marketing and the inclusion of some smaller, more genre specific markets. And a huge section of contests, grants and awards are a huge treasure trove for me. This book is a fantastic resource for every freelance writer, not matter what level. Whether you have never written anything and don’t know where to begin or if you are an experienced writer looking to sell a manuscript, you will find it here. And the valuable article “6 Ways to Protect Your Writing”. Then there are useful legal explanations, copyright and publishing contract tips.

However, nobody is perfect!  What I miss is a category index. If an author is looking for a publisher that accepts science fiction submissions she or he has literally to go through every publisher to find the handful they need. The text is sometimes hard to read due to the grey (instead of black) font. And then there are typos or grammar errors – dear editor!

How much is the “2012 Writer Market”?
Recently, I wrote an article about price comparison – and sure enough, there was a huge difference! (more than 100%) in e-book prices when I typed the title in at Luzme.com:

Google              $9.12      February 20

Amazon            $9.12      February 20

Sony                $11.99     February 20

Apple                $14.99    February 20

Kobo                 $18.59    February 20

B&N                  $19.49    February  18

The soft-cover version with over 1,000 pages is $18.25 at Amazon – one of the few books I prefer to have in paper instead of digital.

<a href=”http://www.hypersmash.com”>Hyper Smash</a>

Since its inception in 1996, Odyssey has become one of the most highly respected full-time workshops for writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Top authors, editors and agents have served as guests, and 56% of graduates go on to professional publication.

Class meets for four hours each morning, five days/week. Half of class time is spent on lectures, writing exercises, and discussions; the other half is spent workshopping student stories. Students devote afternoons/evenings to writing, critiquing each other’s work, and completing class assignments. Guest lecturers visit one day/week and Jeanne Kalogridis, New York Times best-selling author, spends a week with students as writer-in-residence. College credit is available. Application deadline: April 7, 2012. 

More info: http://writing.shawguides.com/OdysseyTheSummerFantasyWritingWorkshop

Hyper Smash

The Goodreads Author Program is a completely free feature designed to help authors reach their target audience — passionate readers. This is the perfect place for new and established authors to promote their books.

What Can You Do as a Goodreads Author?

• Take Control of Your Profile
• Make your profile a dynamic destination for curious readers. Here are some of the features you can use on your profile:
• Add a picture and bio.
• Share your list of favorite books and recent reads with your fans!
• Write a blog and generate a band of followers.
• Publicize upcoming events, such as book signings and speaking engagements.
• Share book excerpts and other writing.
• Write a quiz about your book or a related topic.
• Post videos.
• Add the Goodreads Author widget to to your personal website or blog to show off reviews of your books.

Promote Your Books

• Get the word out! Here are some of the promotional tools available on Goodreads:
• Sign up to advertise your book to up to the Goodreads Community—7,100,000 readers!
• List a book giveaway to generate pre-launch buzz.
• Lead a Q&A discussion group for readers.
• Participate in discussions on your profile, in groups and in the discussion forums for your books.

How Do I Join?
If you are already a Goodreads member, make sure you are signed in. If not, Sign up for an account.
Search for yourself and click on your published author name. The author name is listed below the title of your book in the search results.

Who Can Join?
The Author Program is designed for both, writer with published books, or who are in the process of publishing a book. It’s best if your work is on a bookseller’s website, such as Amazon.com or BN.com, but we will accept any author who has published a book. This includes authors from other countries as well as authors who are self-published (such as through Barnes & Noble pubit! or services like Lulu). If your book is self-published and is not yet in the Goodreads database, you may manually add it.

If you are a writer but have not yet published a book, you may want to check out the writing section of your profile where you can post your writing for others to read and review.

from http://www.goodreads.com/author/program

The Internet offers a cornucopia of free and effective promotion tools for writers. They can achieve these marketing goals through online activities in a fun way, as most writers already like to hang out in cyberspace and blog away.

Join Book Communities
As an author it is a MUST to be a member of these communities and a free (other than your time) way to introduce your book(s) and show your book titles. Join Goodreads, Wattpad, Scribd, BookMoch or Shelfari. More on my blog about book communities and for direct links. Post snippets (or chapters) of your book to excite potential readers at Wattpad – see my blog about Wattpad: 15 million readers before the book was even published.

Use your signature
Never send out an email without your author’s signature. You have probably heard this advice before, but: do you use the gains of e-mail signatures to market and promote your books?
Every day you send out emails to friends, business colleagues, your lawyer or accountant, potential clients, potential readers … If you have an email signature, you are constantly sending people “passive” marketing, spreading the word about you, your brand and your books. Create your email signature right now!

Involve social networks.
Show up on Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, Facebook and Linkedin (at least Google+ and one more of these). Click on “public” when posting on Google+ and your content will be immediately picked up by Google’s search engines. If you share interesting links (and your blog posts), and offer great free information, you will quickly become a favorite in these social networks. Your followers and connections on Social Media will later become your fan base, read and subscribe to your blog posts and newsletters and buy your books.

Comment on other blogs.
Take the time to find bloggers who write about topics similar to those you write about. When they have something good to say or you can add something to what they have written, leave a comment on their blog. Each time you do so, you leave behind a link to yourself, your website, or your blog. If people who read your comment find what you have written interesting, they will click on the link to find out more about you. They may then decide to become regular blog readers or subscribers, newsletter subscribers, or book buyers.

Start and maintain a blog yourself.
Blogs serve as the best tool for increasing online visibility as these are constantly updated and thus attractive for search engines. The more visible you, your book, your website, and your blog become, the more traffic (readers) your blog will attract. This means more buyers for your book now or when it is released. To create a successful blog, write about something you feel passionate about and do so often and consistently. That’s all it takes.

Contribute content to e-zine article directories.
Recycle parts of your blogged book manuscript or blog posts into short articles you can post in content farms or e-zine article directories, such as Ezinearticles.com, Amazines.com, Freezine-articles.com and many more. Often they have a resource box for a short bio and a link back to your website, book, blog, or subscription form. These articles are picked up by other bloggers, newsletter editors, e-zine editors, etc., and each time your resource box is featured. Readers click on your links to find out more about you, subscribe to your blog and newsletter or purchase your book. You can even use an e-zine article distribution services, such as www.submityourarticle.com, and get your articles distributed to hundreds of e-zine directories at once, making
it available to hundred thousands of new readers and possible book fans. Or you can really do it on a shoestring and create your own data bank of e- zines and submit your articles to them.

Announce your new book at http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com
You may provide up to 500! words, describing your book and yourself, as well as a jpg from your book cover. The blog about your work will be published in no time and read by thousands of potential readers every month. Not only that: the complete article will appear automatically on social media sites, such as Google+, Chime.in and other sites.

Optimize your Amazon Page
What you can do to climb up to bestseller status:

- “autograph” Kindle books
- choose the best categories for your books and update them regularely
- add tags/keywords/subjects to your book listing for more exposure
- add lots of reviews, “About the Author” and additional information to your Amazon sales page
- get the most out of your Amazon Central account, create a brilliant authors page
- find out which part of your books your customers highlight the most on the Kindle and post it on your website or blog.

No Money? No Problem!

Success in social media book marketing and with the tools described here, doesn’t require any financial investment. Depending on your level of involvement, it may demand a time commitment, at least in the beginning. Yet, as more you use these marketing tools, as faster you can handle them and as more visitors and buyers you will get.

For authors it is a MUST to be a member of these communities and a free (other than your time) way to introduce your book(s) and show your book titles.

BookTalk: Here you will find an online reading group and a book discussion forum that can help you discover new books (yours?).

They write: “If you’re an author or publisher looking to promote your books we welcome you to use BookTalk.org as a tool to reach a vast audience of book lovers. We have a Google Page Rank of 5, over 14,000 members and close to 700,000 site views per month.

Our book discussion forums are free and open to anyone including authors and publishers. Create a free account and tell us about your books in either the Fiction Book Forum or Non-Fiction Book Forum.

Mail a few copies of your print book and it will be advertised. We will advertise your book on our Home page for 15 to 30 days and on our Featured Book Suggestions page permanently. Mail your books to the below address. Once we receive them you will see your books advertised within a few days. You don’t have to email us to ask if we want you to mail a few copies. Just ship them and wait for your ad to appear. The system works flawlessly and is easy for both of us.”

However, there are way more book communities:

Wattpad: Join the Wattpad community to read, vote and chat with readers and writers for free. If you are a writer but have not yet published a book, you may want to check out the writing section of your profile where you can post your writing for others to read and review.

Goodreads: The Goodreads Author Program is a completely free feature designed to help authors reach their target audience — passionate readers. This is the perfect place for new and established authors to promote their books. Use Goodreads also to get book recommendations for your own reading, keep track of what you’re reading, and socialize over books. 

Scribd: Find out what others are reading on Scribd.
BookMooch:  Exchange books with other members.
Shelfari: Build a virtual bookshelf, see what others are reading, and discover new books.
Reader2: You can find new books to read and put your reading list online with Reader2.
aNobii: You can create and find book lists within this reading community.
Listal: Here you can list, rate, and discover books and lots of other media.
WhatsOnMyBookshelf?: This site offers readers a way to trade books with a simple point system.
Revish: Read, review and share books with other Revish members.
KindleBoards: Authors are always welcome to post about their books in the Book Bazaar.

Book Communities are a great way to kick-start your online self promotion, and get involved with a community of like-minded individuals at the same time. However don’t join to only promote your book, but to discover what other authors write and recommend them. Give & Take!