6 Strategies to Promote You and Your Book for Free

Promotion, promotion, promotion...it's the only way to create visibility for you and your book. And, as many of us have limited funds and cannot afford to pay a publicist or marketer we need to look at strategies that we can use for free.

In addition to the very basic strategies of creating a marketing plan; creating a blog; posting to your blog regularly; and becoming involved in article marketing, there are another six strategies that are free and sure to help create visibility for you and your platform.

1. If your book is published, go to your local library and ask if they will carry your book. You can also ask if you can give a presentation.

2. Contact your local newspapers and ask if they will do a feature on you. Local papers look for local news; having an author in the neighborhood is news. When my book, Day's End Lullaby, became available, my local paper did a ¾ page spread on the book, me, and my co-author. It was great exposure.

3. Join groups and forums that focus in the area you write. Social networking is a wonderful way to increase visibility. There are also many marketing groups you can join to increase your promotional strategy knowledge.

4. Post reviews of books you've read on sites such as Amazon, Goodreads, LibraryThing, and Shelfari. This is another useful marketing tool that will increase your visibility and build up your platform.

5. Submit your book to reviewers. This is a great promotion tool; having good reviews to post on your site, and sites such as Amazon is an important aspect to selling books, and selling books is what book promotion is all about.

6. Create a signature for your emails. This signature is another means of allowing your platform to take root. Include your sites' urls, the name of your book/s, maybe a quote you like to live by and any other information that will show who and what you are.

These six strategies should help you create and increase the visibility you need to move forward in your writing career. There are many other strategies, but these should be the basics to get you started.

And, remember if you need help with content, creating a blog, or you're working on a book and need help, DKV Writing 4 U offers a number of professional and AFFORDABLE writing services. You can pick up two FREE e-books about writing and marketing while you're there.

Karen Cioffi is an author and freelance writer. She is the creator of VBT Writers on the Move; co-moderator of a children's critique group; a reviewer for BookPleasures.com; a reviewer for Muse Book Reviews; and on the team of DKV Writing 4 U.