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HOW TO LEVERAGE THE Power OF FREE & BARGAIN BOOK PROMOTIONS EFFECTIVELY HOW TO LEVERAGE THE POWER OF FREE & BARGAIN BOOK PROMOTIONS EFFECTIVELY PAGE 2

INTRODUCTION:

Whether you’re an author beginning your publishing journey or a writer who can’t seem to gain traction in Amazon.com’s marketplace, the sheer volume of ebooks available can seem daunting. While the competition might seem insurmountable, the trip to the top of the pile doesn’t necessarily have to be a treacherous one. Not as long as you’re actively putting effort into your marketing activities and embracing tactics that truly work—tactics like free and bargain book promotions.

What are free and bargain books? They’re books given away or deeply discounted to help writers reach specific marketing objectives. Whether it’s exposing an author brand to a new audience, driving traffic to an author website, or stimulating sales, freebies and discounts can give an author’s brand a fighting chance in a super tough market.

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SECTION 1 WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO PROMOTE NEW & EXISTING BOOKS “

“ Without promotion, something terrible happens…nothing. – P.T. Barnum

There’s a place where unloved, unread novels go to die and it’s somewhere at the bottom of Amazon’s sales rankings. Unfortunately, their untimely demise is the result of writers fading into obscurity because they believe their work is done once they hit the publish button. The problem with this lackluster approach to self-publishing is that customers can’t purchase titles they’ve never heard of from authors they don’t know. In fact, there would be no point in publishing a manuscript in the first place.

Promoting new and existing titles ensures your brand has a voice and that potential readers can hear it. It puts your books up front and center so that no one can miss their existence. To be a successful author in the 21st Century requires a willingness to be entrepreneurial. That often means taking a step back to establish how you can create campaigns and leverage certain tools to generate the type of publicity that contributes to long-term recognition and success.

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SECTION 2 BOOK PROMOTIONS AS PART OF BOOK MARKETING

In a climate where it has become harder and harder to capture attention, book promotions can help turn heads in your direction and away from the competition. For independent authors and publishers, discounting a book can have a marvelous impact on the growth and sustainability of an author brand or business.

ATTRACTING NEW READERS WITH PRICE: Offering a book at a radically reduced price opens opportunities for you to introduce your work to new customers. If readers love it, they’ll often return for more. You’re essentially turning browsers into buyers and buyers into fans. A good marketing strategy will then turn those fans into advocates, bringing in new readers as a result.

GAINING FAVOR WITH YOUR EXISTING FAN BASE: Rewarding your loyal readership with a freebie or $0.99 book is an incredible tool for building loyalty. They gain something of value. You gain something of value. Everyone wins in this scenario.

TEMPTING RELUCTANT CUSTOMERS: Sometimes you need to give prospects who are on the fence a little push to get them over to your side. If you’ve provided something entertaining and valuable, they’ll likely stick around where your grass is greener.

CREATING WORD-OF-MOUTH MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES: People love free stuff. When they love free stuff, they talk about it—to their family, to their friends, and to their neighbors. With the advent of social media, they now share it with hundreds—if not thousands—of complete strangers (who also happen to love free stuff).

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GROWING STEADY STREAMS OF REVENUE: Authors who strategically use freebies and discounts as part of their overall book marketing strategy have the opportunity to create long-term revenue growth. For example, offering the first book in a series for free can prompt the purchase of other books in the series. Readers might have not sampled the authors writing at all if the first book wasn’t for free.

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SECTION 3 KDP OVERVIEW

Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is Amazon.com’s ebook publishing division. It offers independent authors and publishers an easy, fast, and free way to publish their books on Kindle devices and Kindle Apps worldwide. Users retain full copyright over their work and control every aspect of their book including price setting and manuscript updates.

Once a polished, properly formatted manuscript is ready, it takes approximately 5 minutes to publish and 24-48 hours to appear in Kindle stores. Unlike traditional publishing, KDP enables authors to enter the market quickly. Since Amazon.com is the largest online retailer in the world, it also allows authors to reach millions of readers in the process.

Depending on certain pricing policies, eligibility factors, and the country in which the book is purchased, KDP authors can earn up to 70% in royalties. They can also run promotions through KDP Select, which can help improve visibility, increase targeted traffic, boost downloads, improve sales rankings, encourage reviews, and more. This favorable activity then encourages Amazon to promote a book more earnestly, putting it on lists like “Hot New Releases” and “Deal of the Day”.

DIFFERENT WAYS TO MARKET VIA KDP SELECT

Although a good promotional plan should include a combination of effective marketing strategies, Amazon’s KDP Select conveniently offers a powerful set of merchandising programs for promoting ebooks to prospective readers. By enrolling in KDP Select, authors have an opportunity to reach new audiences, maximize potential sales, earn higher royalties for books sold in certain parts of the world, and earn a share of the KDP Select Global Fund collected from Kindle Unlimited and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.

Each enrollment period lasts 90 days and can include a single title or an entire catalog. Unless an author opts out of KDP Select when the 90-day period ends, enrollment will automatically renew. Once an enrollment term begins, authors have a 3-day grace period in which they can cancel as long as they haven’t used any free promotion days. Although KDP requires exclusivity for the digital version of a book during this time, authors and publishers can make up to 10% of an enrolled KDP Select book available on other sites as a sample.

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With that covered, let’s look at some key ways to market via KDP Select:

FREE PROMOTIONS

For a limited time during each enrollment period, you can make your book available to customers at no charge. This can have a significant impact on the number of downloads you receive, effectively improving your sales rank, generating exposure for your book and author brand, and driving sales after the promotion period.

If you opt to use KDP Select’s Free Promotions tool, you cannot run a Kindle NOTE Countdown Deal within the same enrollment period.

KINDLE COUNTDOWN DEALS

When opting into this promotion, KDP lets you offer a time-based discount to encourage customers to buy at a reduced price. Kindle Countdown Deals include incremental price increases that you can set to take place over a 7-day period. You can also create one Kindle Countdown Deal for each marketplace (Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk) during a 90-day KDP Select enrollment period.

KINDLE UNLIMITED

When you enroll a book in KDP Select, it’s automatically included in Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program. The program is a subscription deal for which readers pay a monthly fee to read any of the KDP Select books. This entitles you to a share of the KDP Select Global Fund any time individual customers read pages of your book for the first time. Your book will continue to be available for purchase in the Kindle Store to readers who aren’t subscribed to the Kindle Unlimited program.

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OTHER PROMOTIONAL TOOLS AND PROGRAMS

KINDLE OWNERS’ LENDING LIBRARY: As with Kindle Unlimited, your KDP Select books are automatically included in this program. The Kindle Owners’ Lending Library is available to Amazon Prime members who may choose one book per month with no due dates. Each “borrow” by an individual customer earns you a share of the KDP Select Global Fund.

KINDLE INSTANT BOOK PREVIEWS: You can let readers preview your book for free by embedding a preview link on your author website or by sharing a link via text, email, or your favorite apps. Besides keeping traffic on your site, this tool gives readers a direct link to your book on Amazon for purchase. If you’re signed up for an Amazon Associate account, you can add your account number to earn a little extra on copies you sell through the link.

KINDLE MATCHBOOK: Allow customers who buy other versions of your book to purchase the Kindle version at a discounted price.

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KINDLE PRE-ORDERS: Generate pre-sales for new titles by letting customers order your book as early as 90 days prior to release. The advantage of this tool is that you can raise awareness for a book launch by promoting your pre-order page on your author website, Amazon Author Central page, Goodreads page, social media channels, and more. In addition, pre-orders contribute toward sales rank, which can increase your book’s discoverability.

AMAZON GIVEAWAY: Create publicity, grow your followers, and reward your readership with an Amazon Giveaway. Simply select your book published through KDP as the prize, follow a two- step setup process, and then promote your unique giveaway link to your audience.

ADVERTISING FOR KDP SELECT: For your books enrolled in KDP Select, you can gain more mileage from your promotions and reach more targeted readers by buying cost-per-click ads through Amazon Marketing Services (AMS). You can target these ads based on interest or product. Ads targeted by interest are eligible for placement on Kindle e-readers.

What’s to come…

FREE PROMOTIONS Find out why giving your book away for $0.00 is such a powerful marketing strategy, what KDP Select’s free promotions look like, and how to use this tool effectively.

KINDLE COUNTDOWN DEALS Learn the value of time-based discounts, what your Kindle Countdown Deals should look like, and how to set one up properly.

FREE & BARGAIN BOOK PROMOTION CAMPAIGN TEMPLATE Find out how to optimize your ebook, ebook product page, and Author Central page in preparation for your promotion. Campaign template included!

FREE & BARGAIN BOOK PROMOTION SITES Find out why you should submit your book promotions to free and bargain book promotion sites.

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SECTION 4 FREE PROMOTIONS

What are Free Promotions?

When you enroll your book in KDP Select, you have the option to set the price to $0.00 for 5 days out of every 90-day enrollment period. You can schedule these free promotional days as you see fit—consecutively, in groups, or individually. You do not need to use all 5 days, but keep in mind that they do not roll over to the next enrollment period.

Free promotions generally run from midnight to midnight (Pacific Time) and the latest you can wait to schedule a free day is the day before your promotion’s start date. While your book is free, it will have a sales rank in Amazon’s free list. Although you won’t be eligible to earn royalties on these days, you will be able to attain a variety of benefits from a potential increase in downloads.

What Do Free Promotions Look Like?

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Why You Should Use Free Promotions

To most authors, it seems crazy to give away a free book—even if it is just for 5 days. However, this marketing strategy offers several fantastic benefits that can potentially lead to higher earnings and a wider readership. Here are some of the key reasons you should add Kindle Free Promotions to your book marketing plan:

GAIN EXPOSURE: A free book is likely to generate tons of downloads, which Amazon’s algorithms take into account when allocating a sales ranking. If a campaign is run in conjunction with other promotional activities, a book has a better chance of making it onto Amazon’s Bestseller lists. The result is increased visibility for both your book and your author brand.

BUILD YOUR AUTHOR BRAND AND GROW YOUR FAN BASE: If you’ve created a great ebook that generates word-of-mouth marketing, garners reviews, and shoots your book up the charts, your brand can gain some serious credibility. It’s then easier to grow your following and enroll those followers into your email list

CREATE PUBLICITY: People love free things and will often share with family and friends, effectively generating more buzz about your book.

INCREASE REVIEWS: Free promotions can help generate reviews. Besides contributing to better rankings and spurring sales, reviews are great sources of social proof for future promotions and marketing activities.

RAMP UP SALES OF OTHER TITLES: Whether your book is an individual title or one in a series, your giveaway can help promote other titles. Customers who enjoy your writing and find value in your freebie are more likely to part with their money for your other books.

When a book receives positive recognition, Amazon is more inclined to promote it to its huge database of customers even after the promotion ends. That means a freebie could lead to more paid downloads for you in the long run.

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How to Use Kindle Select’s Free Promotions.

Log into your KDP account and on your Bookshelf scroll down to the KDP Select book you want to promote. Hover over the ellipsis button under the STEP 1 Book Actions menu, wait for the popup menu to appear, and then click “Promote and Advertise.”

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Scroll down to “Run a Price Promotion” and then select “Free Book Promotion.” STEP 2 Kindle Countdown Deal will be selected by default. Once you’ve changed it, click the “Create a new Free Book Promotion” button.

Enter the start and end date of your promotion. You can view how many days you have left by looking directly beneath the start date field. If you STEP 3 haven’t used any, the “Free promotion days used” will read 0/5. Once you’ve set the dates, click “Save Changes” and start preparing for your Kindle Free Promotion days.

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SECTION 5 KINDLE COUNTDOWN DEALS

What are Kindle Countdown Deals?

Kindle Countdown Deals is a Kindle Select benefit that enables you to offer limited-time discounts on your ebooks. It’s available in two marketplaces, namely Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. Unlike Free Promotions, you can’t split a Kindle Countdown Deal into multiple promotions. You can, however, create one deal per marketplace during a 90-day enrollment period.

For your book to be eligible, it must be enrolled in KDP Select for at least 30 days. In addition, the digital price of your book cannot change for 30 days before or 14 days after a promotion. Depending on the regular price of your book (which must be between $2.99 and $24.99 or £1.99 and £14.99), you can select a maximum of 5 price increments with the minimum discount for your book being $1.00 (or £1.00). The latest end date for a Kindle Countdown Deal is 14 days before your KDP Select enrollment ends, so it’s crucial to plan your campaign properly. There is a caveat: if you renew your book’s enrollment for a further 90 days, the last end date may fall on the last day of your current KDP Select period.

During your promotion, customers visiting your book’s product page can see both the regular price and the promotional price. They’ll also be able to see a countdown timer that indicates how much time is left until the price increases. Kindle Countdown Deals can run for a minimum of 1 hour and a maximum of 7 days with prices increasing in increments. The lower the ending list price, the fewer increments you can choose.

In addition to earning royalties on sales during the promotion period, you can sign up to Amazon Associates and make a little extra in affiliate earnings while promoting your book.

What Do Kindle Countdown Deals Look Like?

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Why You Should Use Kindle Countdown Deals

Kindle Countdown Deals is an awesome addition to the KDP Select family of promotional tools and programs. Why? Well, for one, it gives you a chance to test the KDP Select waters without having to give your book away for free right off the bat. Here are a few other reasons you should give Kindle Countdown Deals a try:

IMPROVE YOUR BOOK’S DISCOVERABILITY: Amazon has a dedicated website for Kindle Countdown Deals, which can drastically increase your chances of bargain-hunting readers finding you. In addition, customers are more inclined to take a chance on an author they don’t know if the book is available at a reduced price.

CREATE A SENSE OF URGENCY: This is one of the oldest marketing tricks in the book and it still works phenomenally. Amazon’s countdown clock on your book’s product page shows customers how much time they have left before they’ll have to pay a higher price. The urgency and excitement this type of promotion creates is likely to drive sales for your discounted book.

CONTINUE TO EARN HIGHER ROYALTIES ON LOWER PRICED BOOKS: When royalties would only be 35% on books priced below $2.99, you can still earn 70%, if that’s the royalty option you chose when creating a KDP account.

BOOST YOUR EARNINGS THROUGH AMAZON ASSOCIATES: If you’re an Amazon affiliate, you can put more money in your pocket during a promotion by promoting your Kindle Discount Deal with the relevant link.

SHOW READERS THE VALUE YOU’RE PROVIDING: Customers can see the regular price along with the discounted price. If you’ve produced a well-written, interesting book, readers will know your regular price is worth it.

OPTIMIZE YOUR MARKETING EFFORTS: KDP offers real-time reporting for Kindle Discount Deals, which means you can monitor your performance and test discounts to see what works best.

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How to Use Kindle Countdown Deals

Log into your KDP account and on your Bookshelf scroll down to the KDP Select book you want to promote. Hover over the ellipsis button under the STEP 1 Book Actions menu, wait for the popup menu to appear, and then click “Promote and Advertise.”

Scroll down to “Run a Price Promotion,” select the Kindle Countdown Deal STEP 2 option, and then click the “Create a new Kindle Countdown Deal.”

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Enter your chosen marketplace, start date and time, end date and time, STEP 3 number of price increments, and starting price. Click “Continue.”

A table will appear below your selections. If you’re happy with the way the STEP 4 promotion will run, click “Add Promotion.”

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SECTION 6 CAMPAIGN PLAN FOR PROMOTION

Although Amazon is in many ways a powerful marketing machine, the company is just a distributor. As an author and publisher, the onus is on you to market your books and spread the word about your ebook promotions. Without a proper campaign plan, KDP Select’s promotional tools are unlikely to deliver the results you desire. The following preparation checklist and campaign template can help you on your journey to literary success.

PREPARING FOR A PROMOTION

Preparation is essential if you hope for a well-executed and well-received campaign. The following checklist can help ensure your book and your author brand are represented properly:

YOUR BOOK’S COVER:

Your cover will shape a potential reader’s first impression, so the last thing you want is a low quality image combined with a typographic train wreck. Review your cover to ensure it:

Stands out in search results Is easily readable Alludes to your book’s genre Sets the right mood and tone Persuades browsers to give it a chance Hints at the quality of your writing Is branded correctly

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YOUR BOOK’S CONTENT: Your book is a marketing tool, so make sure you’re using it to its fullest potential. Front matter and back matter can help grow your email list, promote older books, advertise new releases, and more. Ensure your book has:

A call to action that encourages readers to join your mailing list A backlist of your books Calls to action for current promotions Social media, website, and contact info A teaser chapter of the next book in the series or an excerpt of a standalone Other bonus content

YOUR AUTHOR CENTRAL PAGE: Help readers find out more about you by ensuring your Author Central profile is complete and optimized.

Make sure your bio is updated and keyword rich Check your profile picture Link your blog or website Add upcoming events Upload a book trailer if you have one Claim the books you’ve authored or co-authored

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YOUR BOOK’S METADATA AND BOOK DESCRIPTION: Besides helping readers find your book on Amazon, you should reel them in with a compelling book description that nicely summarizes your story and characters. Here are a few other things you can do to prepare:

Update your book page’s metadata to ensure it’s searchable Make sure your title and subtitle contain relevant short and long-tail keywords Review your book’s description Add contributors or publishers involved in your book Make sure your books are categorized correctly

YOUR REVIEWS: Reviews make a strong impression, legitimize your book, attract a wave of new readers, and help give you a competitive edge over other books in the same genre. Readers are selective, so make sure you have some good reviews before running a promotion. Add reviews you received outside of Amazon to the editorial reviews section of your book page Enlist your current fan base to review your book Offer review copies to relevant bloggers and reviewers

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A Promotional Campaign Template.

Pre Promotion

Select a date or date range for your promotion. Determine whether there are any holidays or significant events that might affect your promotion. Decide whether you want to run any paid advertising. If so, plan your ad dates, budget, and the ad objectives. Collaborate with authors, bloggers, podcast hosts, and 7-8 Weeks Prior content creators to coordinate a blog tour. A tour can include interviews, guest posts, and live chats. It’s crucial that you share the same audiences. Join forums, Facebook and Google+ groups, and other online communities where your target audience might interact. Spend time engaging with them and offering value to the community.

Sign up for an Amazon Associates account to create an affiliate link for your book. Use this link in your promotions so that you generate affiliate earnings for each paid download or borrow. If you’ve chosen to go the paid advertising route, schedule 4-6 Weeks Prior promo advertisements with services like BookBub, Reading Deals, The Fussy Librarian, etc. Get at least 5 good reviews posted to the promo book’s Amazon product page.

Write your guests posts and then send the content to relevant hosts. Submit your free promotion to book blogging sites, as well as free and bargain book promotion sites. Some of them require a few weeks’ notice, so make sure you check their requirements 2-4 Weeks Prior in advance. Submit the book to free and bargain book promotion sites. Send Tweets, Facebook messages and emails to authors willing to cross promote.

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Schedule your Kindle Free Promotion or Kindle Discount Deal for your selected dates. Notify your email subscribers of the impending promotion. You can do this through a dedicated email blast or as part of your newsletter. Prepare promotional graphics and copy for your social media 1 Week Prior posts. Use appropriate hashtags such as #ebook, #free, #freeebook, #bookpromo, #bookgiveaway, #freekindlepromo, #kindlefreebook, and #freekindle. Create and schedule Facebook and Twitter ads if you’re purchasing pay-per-click ads. Write a series of blog posts for your own author blog. Include your Amazon affiliate link.

Confirm that your promotion is scheduled for the next day. Record your unit sales, sales ranking, and category ranking. 1 Day Prior Write an email to notify your family, friends, and work colleagues of your promotion. Include a social media snippet they can use to spread the word through their networks.

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During Promotion

Record your unit sales, sales ranking, and category ranking each day. Publish your posts to Facebook and Twitter. Encourage followers to share with their networks. Publish your blog content. Submit to free and bargain book promotion sites that only accept submissions on promo days. Alert your followers on Goodreads. Add “free book” or “freebie” to your Amazon book tag. Pin pictures of your book’s cover to Pinterest along with a message and a link to your promo. Schedule additional social media posts as you see fit. Search Twitter for Kindle-related addresses and then tweet them a link to your promo. Send the email you created the previous day to friends, family, and coworkers. Capture screenshots as your book reaches significant milestones. Let your online communities and groups know about your promotion. Send a reminder to your email subscribers. Monitor your reviews and thank good reviewers. Invite them to “gift” free copies to their loved ones and friends. List your promotion on KindleBoards. If you’re leveraging Amazon’s Free Promotions and your promotion is going well, add another day if you have any days left.

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Post Promotion

Publish Tweets and Facebook that encourage borrows. Include hashtags like #amazonprime and #borrow. Continue to thank and engage with reviewers. Remove “free book” or “freebie” from your Amazon book tag. Gift free copies to help keep the momentum going and your book visible. Once your enrollment ends in KDP Select, set your price to $0.99 and promote your bargain book. Compare your sales stats to determine the impact of your campaign. Assess what went well and what you can improve upon for future campaigns.

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SECTION 7 FREE & BARGAIN BOOK PROMOTION SITES

Why You Should Use These Sites?

Let’s first be clear about what these sites are and how they make their money. Essentially, free bargain and book promotion services are businesses that have spent a significant amount of time cultivating massive email lists of highly targeted and ravenous readers. When you submit your book for promotion, they send their subscribers an email blast that includes your book cover image, a brief book description, and a link to your Amazon book page. That link is an affiliate link through which they earn a small percentage on Amazon sales. While many of these sites will advertise your promotion free of charge, some do require payment.

So, why should you use these sites? Well, they have massive email lists of highly targeted and ravenous readers. Successful book promotion is mainly a numbers game, which means that growing your targeted readership is a priority. It’s how you make it to the top of the pile. Although you’re not always guaranteed placement in their email blasts, these sites are effective promotion vehicles that can help you gain exposure, increase downloads, and build a sustainable author brand and business.

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How to Use These Sites?

Each site differs in terms of their submission requirements, free and paid submission plans, and your book’s eligibility. You’ll need to check the sites you want to use, but the majority of them require the following information:

Your email address The start date of your promotion Your promo book’s Amazon ASIN The end date of your promotion The title of your book The genre or category of your book Your author name Your Amazon.com URL A short descript of your book (usually Your Nook URL sent with the cover image to their Your iTunes URL subscriber list) Your Kobo URL The regular price of your book Your Smashwords URL The promotional price

If you don’t have the patience or the time to submit to each of these sites individually, you should consider using the eBook Submission Tool from Book Marketing Tools. Your book will need to be free during the promotion period and have at least five reviews, but you only have to fill in one form and the tool will submit to 30+ sites in a matter of minutes. It’s that easy! Your book submission tool to submit to dozens“ of sites in just 5 minutes really worked. Over 7500 readers downloaded“ The Woman in the Photograph last week. Thank you.

— Mani Feniger

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CLOSE

If you liked this guide, please let your fellow authors know about it and about BookMarketingTools.com

Shawn & R.J.

Book Marketing Tools

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