You might wonder which marketing medium is best for you to use for long-term book marketing success. This guide will cover how we teach our authors to market their business books.
How to Think about Book Marketing
When it comes to selling a business book, the essential thing you can do is organize your thoughts around three key principles:
1. Your book is a marketing tool, not the product you are selling.
2. Book promotion is a long-term process, not a one-time event.
3. Nobody cares about your book; they only care about what it brings them.
Your book is a marketing tool, not the product you are selling
Most business book authors make the error of attempting to sell their works. That is incorrect. Because book sales are rarely their primary purpose, their major purpose is to obtain something else by using the book.
We like to argue that authors don’t want a book; they want the benefits that a book provides. Almost 80% of our authors consider a book as bringing them one of six primary benefits:
1. Raise Visibility/Profile—books may boost your visibility in a variety of ways, such as by making it simpler to acquire media attention or raising your profile in your industry.
2. Increase Authority/Credibility—books assist an author in establishing authority and reputation in their profession.
3. Get New Clients/Opportunities—books may assist in generating new business and other possibilities via various platforms and places.
4. Speaking Engagements—a book is almost necessary for becoming a paid speaker or often getting booked for any public speaking.
5. Leave a Legacy—a book may help you leave a legacy and tell your experience to others.
6. Impact Others—the first question somewhat covers this, but you could also put it here. This is frequently the primary advantage for certain authors. They either don’t care about what they’ll acquire from their book or merely care about it as a bonus. It’s worth noting that any book must have an impact on others in order to be effective; it’s simply that authors place a far larger premium on this than others.
If you use the correct book marketing sites, you might obtain a sudden rush of short-term sales.
Unfortunately, the majority of articles concerning book promotion services are poor. They’re just lists that link dozens of sites without any information about how successful they are (or aren’t).
At Savvy Book Marketing, our mission is to help unlock the world’s wisdom by helping everyone write their book, and we will help you here.
So we are sharing my list of the best book promotion sites for nonfiction based on what we use for our clients in Savvy’s Book Launch service.
We evaluated ten of the most popular websites to discover what worked and what didn’t. For the best sites, we added individualized guides and tips to help you get the most out of each one.
But first, we’ll go through how we tested various book advertising services.
Testing Book Promotion Sites
Most book promotion services articles are way too broad, covering sites for every genre under the sun.
We focused our test exclusively on nonfiction.
For each site, we evaluated 3 to 5 books from a variety of subgenres, including business books, memoirs, and self-help books.
We recorded average daily book sales prior to the test and compared them to book sales on the day of the promotion and for a few days after that.
To make a fair comparison, we discounted each book to $0.99 for every promotion.
Here are the best book promotion sites in 2022, based on the number of additional copies sold.
The Book Promotion Services We KNOW Work
BookBub
BookBub was by far the best of the book sites we evaluated, with 300-500 more sales on the promotion day.
It was also the most costly, but it was well worth it.
BookBub is a global service that sends users daily emails. It has Featured Deals on drastically discounted eBooks as well as free eBooks organized by category. It also sends out emails to promote new releases.
Email users sign up for exactly the categories they desire, and they can specify their favorite shop. So the email list is extremely targeted.
BookBub runs eBook promotions for:
- Kindle (Amazon)
- iBook (Apple)
- Kobo (Walmart/Rakuten)
- Nook (Barnes & Noble)
- GooglePlay
Your book must be eligible for at least one of these, although we strongly prefer Amazon. The Kindle is by far the most important participant in the digital book business.
You may also run your promotion in different regions:
- US
- UK
- Canada
- India
- Australia
Despite having a considerable worldwide presence, most BookBub subscribers are in the United States.
This is a critical point:
Getting a BookBub promotion is not guaranteed.
You’ll have to:
- Create a free BookBub Partner account.
- Claim your author profile
- Utilize your author dashboard to apply for a Featured Deal or a Featured New Release.
Bargain Booksy
Bargain Booksy was the second-best performer on the day of the campaign, with 30-40 more sales.
The service is substantially less costly and also a lot less difficult.
There are just three nonfiction categories available:
- Cook Book and Nutrition (list of 81,000 for $25)
- Self-Help and How-To (73,500 for $30)
- General Nonfiction (77,000 for $25)
To be eligible, your book must be:
- Priced between $0.99 and $5.00
- Over 50 pages
- Meet their editorial review process
Although no minimum number of reviews is required, Bargain Booksy maintains the right to refund your money if your book does not satisfy its criteria.
BookSends
BookSends placed in third, with 20-30% more sales on promotion day.
With 30,500 members, all nonfiction books are grouped together in a single category.
The price of the book determines the cost of the promotion:
- $0.99 books are $40
- $1.99 books are $60
- $2.99 books are $80
- Free books are $75
We are unable to comment on the “Expand Your Audience” or “Facebook” choices because we did not utilize them.
To be eligible, your book must:
- Be on Kindle
- Have a minimum of five Amazon reviews with a “high overall average.”
- Have an attractive cover
- For the deal, it must be more than 50% off AND priced at less than $3.
- It should not be a novella or a compilation of short stories.
Even if your book satisfies these basic requirements, it may not be approved. BookSends has the right to deny a book based on its quality, topic matter, or space limits in the newsletter.
ManyBooks
ManyBooks finished fourth with 10-20 more sales.
Your book must meet the following requirements to be eligible for a ManyBooks Newsletter Promotion:
- Be on Amazon
- You must have at least 5 Amazon reviews
- With a rating of four stars or higher
- Have a professional cover image
- Also included is a “captivating” description to “entice” readers
- Must be at least 50% discounted or free
- Be the best deal on the book in the last 3 months.
Books Butterfly
Books Butterfly’s case was unique. We witnessed an additional 30-40 sales every week on average.
The majority of our other success stories saw the majority of their purchases on the day the email was sent out.
On the promotions page, there are other options, but we choose the “Silver 50.”
It costs $90 for indie authors and assures 50+ sales weekly. Thus, we discovered that it fell short of its claim.
But we include it here because it did generate enough sales to be worth mentioning.
How to Get the Most Out of Your Next Book Promotion
Following a few easy book marketing strategies can help you get the most out of every campaign, regardless of your site.
Polish Your Book Page
A superb retail book listing will bring in new customers. Make certain that every part is professional and reflects your book’s positioning:
- Your book cover
- Your book description
- Your editorial reviews (if any)
- Marketing details
Has your book ever gone on to become a best-seller? Is it well-reviewed on Goodreads? Has it been reported in the media? Make a list of any accolades your book has received.
List Your Book in Kindle Unlimited
Adding your book to Kindle Unlimited (KU) might provide an additional stream of readers for any book marketing.
KU users can read KU novels for free, and Amazon compensates writers depending on the number of pages read.
This is an important source of revenue for many authors.
If you are a Kindle Direct Publishing author, you may register your book for KDP Select using your author dashboard. However, read the terms carefully.
Once you’ve entered your eBook into KDP Select, it must be available solely on Kindle for the following three months.
This is a good compromise for many authors. However, if your book is doing well on other digital marketplaces, KDP Select may not be the greatest option.
Pay Attention to the Author’s Marketing
Your author brand is just as crucial as your book in the nonfiction market.
Make sure your author page, Facebook page, LinkedIn profile, WordPress blog, Goodreads profile, other social media sites, and anyplace else readers could discover you are presenting your brand.
This contains the proper author information and author photo.
If you’re an indie author, I highly suggest our self-publishing course.
It’s 100% free and will teach you everything you need to know about author marketing; book positioning; and producing a high-quality, professional book.
Savvy Book Marketing’s Book Launch
It’s much more than just a book marketing website. It combines six complete services into one.
Work Launch provides the following services to serious authors who wish to use their books to create considerable revenue:
- Launch Week Coordination
- Media Placements
- Content Publication
- Influencer Relationships
- Reviews
- Paid Ads
Your book needs a smart, coordinated marketing approach with a track record of success. Authors that have used our Book Launch marketing services to promote their works have reported:
- Amazon advertising with 5 to 18X ROI and 6 to 7-figure impressions.
- Forbes and MSN.com both include it.
- 6 to 7-figure new speaking and consultancy revenue.
- Book reviews in major magazines such as Kirkus Reviews.
Of course, we can’t guarantee your specific results, but every Book Launch author receives the same degree of personalized, focused attention from our book marketing experts.
We’ve launched over 100 books using our Book Launch package, delivering at least 10 confirmed media hits for everyone.
Set up a free consultation with Savvy Book Marketing before launching your next work.
Final Thoughts
Promotion is an investment in and of itself, and book marketing is no exception.
We strongly advise creating an integrated marketing plan for each book you create.
But when it comes to a sudden surge of digital book sales, nothing tops BookBub. It’s pricey, but that’s because it works well.
BookBub is difficult to enter, and the other sites that did well are worth investigating.
However, all of the successful advertising sites have stringent standards for the books they accept.
So put in the effort:
- Write a great book
- Have it professionally edited
- Make sure it’s well designed
- Give it a fantastic cover
- Write a great book description
- Create your author brand
Savvy Book Marketing is proud of its ability to produce quality, creative content at a fraction of the cost. They have a long history in the industry and have won many awards. Get in touch with Savvy at 1-877-427-7477.
