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

4 points

13 years ago

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/

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