Ask HN: How do you market your self-published book? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How do you market your self-published book?

4 pointsclarky075 comments

I recently published a book and while the initial feedback I've gotten is all positive, the sales aren't quite where I was hoping they'd be, or where I think they could be.

Things I've done:

Show HN - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6399339 - good feedback, but it only got to the top of page 2.

Reddit AMA - http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1mpx4x/iaman_app_developer_and_selfpublished_author_who/ - went over really well but I was mostly talking about my business and didn't try to sell the book much. Tough to market on Reddit without getting downvoted to oblivion. Stayed on front page of AMA subreddit most of the day though.

Mailing list / blog - I've been giving a sample chapter on signup to my mailing list for awhile as well as sending out an email to everyone on launch. I've also talked about it on my blog a bit, and there is a prominent link in the sidebar.

Things I've considered, but haven't had time for yet:

Guest posts

Podcasts

Press Release

More consistent blogging on my own site

????

Has anyone had a successful self-published book? What tips do you have? Thoughts on which of things I've been considering would have the best ROI? What other things might be better?

I debated linking to the book here as I really don't want this to seem like one of my marketing attempts, but perhaps conversions are a problem in addition to just getting more people into the top of the funnel. I'd love to get feedback on this page as well - http://buildanappbusiness.com/

Good info - thanks for starting this. I'm along for the ride of it (i.e. watching this thread for good info). I've self-published a book years ago and my only "marketing" was listing it on Amazon. That was in 2008 IIRC and, for me, the PIA of formatting the e-book for the various formats was just so much work that I've not written another.

When I look at your list, I see a lot of things that I'd put in the "publicity" category rather than in the pure "marketing". Both are good, but there's a time and place for each. Maybe you were just doing what amounts to "brand awareness" and expecting the results of "targeted marketing"? I think of "targeted marketing" along the lines of running ads in AdWords, AdSense, on other sites, in other newsletters, etc.

I forgot to mention I did a small experiment with adwords, but the clicks were far to expensive to actually make money with it.

The marketing funnel is breaking at the top because you are asking for my email in exchange for a chapter of your book, which is unfair because I don't even know you and all of a sudden you're going to learn a lot about me. Remember Godin's Permission Marketing.

Make the product your hero. Right now it's tucked away at the very bottom behind a paywall (I pay with my email). Let me read your free chapter right away, no string attached. Then you can start selling to me.

Quickest fix though is just to move that 'For a Free Chapter Join our Newsletter' call-to-action to the very top. Check your analytics after that and I bet you conversions will improve drastically.

I would even go so far as to just make the whole page a free chapter and having the newsletter call to action and that's it. You can start selling the book in the newsletter, which is far more likely to drive a sale (engaged prospects) rather than fly-by lurkers.

Thanks for the suggestions. I had been considering making the sample chapter more prominent.

That's twice today I've recommended this guy:

http://nathanbarry.com/

Read some of his articles about how he marketed his books.

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