Most of what is called book marketing is work on things a reader never sees as marketing: the description on the retail page, the keywords behind it, the list of people who hear about the book before it exists, and the copies sent out early enough to produce reviews on launch day. Very little of it happens after publication, which is the part that surprises most first-time authors.
This guide gathers our posts on marketing a self-published book in one place: building an audience you own, the retail page itself, review copies, and the routes into bookshops and libraries. Each post answers a single question and stands on its own, so start wherever your question sits rather than at the top. We add to the guide as we cover more ground, so it is worth bookmarking.
One caveat: nothing here is a growth formula, and we do not claim a tactic works because it worked for someone. Where a post describes a result, it says whose result it was and under what conditions.
An audience you own
- Owning your audience: why a list beats a following, and what that means in practice.
- A list before the first book: how to build one when you have nothing to sell yet.
- Reader magnets: what to offer in exchange for an email address.
- Newsletter swaps: how authors trade audiences, and what makes a swap worth doing.
- An “also by” page: how to list your other books where readers will actually find them.
The retail page
- The book description: how to write the blurb that does the selling on Amazon.
- Backend keywords: what the seven fields are for, and how to choose what goes in them.
- Author Central: how to set up the author page, step by step.
- A+ Content: the extra modules on a product page, and what to put in them.
- A series page: how to set one up, and when Amazon will show it.
- Paperback pricing: what you earn at a given price on KDP and IngramSpark.
- 3D mockups: how to make the image of the book you use everywhere else.
Review copies and reviews
- Running an ARC campaign: how to organize advance copies so reviews land at launch.
- Choosing ARC readers: who to send to, and who to turn down.
- Galley, ARC or proof: three early copies with three different jobs.
- Finding beta readers: where to find them, free and paid, and what to ask for.
- Paid editorial reviews: what they are, what they cost, and where they belong.
- Quoting a reader review: what you are allowed to reuse from a review someone wrote.
Bookshops and libraries
- Into bookshops: the three things a shop needs before it can order your book.
- How libraries buy: the acquisition routes, and how a self-published title reaches them.