Social media is often ineffective in promoting books on Amazon. Using social media such as Facebook and Twitter to help advertise books and ebooks is extremely time-consuming.
From my experience, social media is becoming less effective in increasing book sales. When I started using Twitter and Facebook in 2010, there was definitely some benefit.
But the population of authors on these sites has escalated so much over the years. It is now tough to get noticed in the crowd.
The time spent or perhaps wasted on trying to gain leverage on social media could be better spent writing new books, which is by far a better way to increase book sales. The more titles you have published, the more books you are likely to sell.
Promoting books on Amazon without social media
Amazon is the biggest retailer of ebooks and books, with approximately 70% of the market. So having your books on Amazon is a must.
While there are many good arguments for having your ebooks available on other retailers such as Apple, Kobo, and B&N or aggregated through Smashwords, these retailers provide very few promotional tools.
Amazon, on the other hand, provides a lot of promotional aids.
Of course, they are mostly only available if you enroll in KDP Select and grant Amazon exclusivity to your ebooks.
This is always a tough decision to make.
But it is worth considering that this only applies to ebooks.
So if you publish in paperback, your books will still be available on B&N and other online retailers of paperbacks.
My advice to get off the social media merry-go-round is to enroll in KDP Select.
Then you can use the promotional tools it offers, such as Author Central, Free Days, Countdown Deals, Kindle Unlimited subscription borrowing, and most importantly, Amazon advertising.
Promoting books on Amazon without using social media is relatively easy. But you have to have all the basics in place.
Get the book basics right first
But before we start, you need to get the basics right to make sure your book is presented on Amazon in a way that will attract readers.
Here is a short checklist, and I have included links to other articles for more detail on each topic.
1. You must have a fantastic cover
Get a book cover that will attract attention.
Forget do-it-yourself covers and get a professionally designed cover.
It is quite inexpensive, but this investment will pay dividends.
2. Write a great book description.
This is what gains a potential reader’s attention, so it needs to be well-written and not a quick two-sentence summary.
It should be at least 500 words.
3. Check that your book is listed in the best categories
Make sure you select the best categories (genres) and seven effective search keywords for your book.
These are called your book’s metadata.
It is the most crucial element in making sure your book can be found by potential readers searching for a new book to buy.
Books that gain few sales usually use very poor metadata. So this one change can make a huge difference in sales.
4. Use your Amazon Author Page on Author Central
You gain access to many ways to improve your book page on Amazon and add much more detail by using Amazon Author Central.
It is also where you can add editorial reviews for your books. This is a vital element, especially when launching a new book.
5. Make your book description stand out
Take the time to learn just a few basics of using HTML tags, and you can make your book descriptions really stand out on Amazon.
6. Make sure your ebook and paperback versions are linked
Check that your ebook and paperback appear on the same sales page on Amazon.
If they are not, contact KDP, and they usually have it done in a couple of days. Or you can read our article on how to merge your Amazon book sales pages.
7. Check your ebook price
Is it too low?
$0.99 ebooks can scream cheap and nasty. I recommend a minimum price of $2.99 for a novella and $3.99 -$4.99 for a full novel.
What promotion and advertising can you do now that your book looks great and is listed correctly?
Free Ebooks
I know authors hate giving away free ebooks. But by using the KDP Select 5-day option, free ebook downloads can improve a book’s sales ranking and attract book reviews.
It is very important in making a book more discoverable. I usually split my free days into 2-2-1 across the 90 days.
Countdown Deals
You cannot use Free ebook days, and Kindle Countdown deals in the same 90-day period, so alternate these promotions every 90 days.
In my experience, Countdown Deals work best on higher-priced books. I wouldn’t use it for ebooks under $3.99.
If you have several titles, save time by setting up your Free and Countdown promotions for the following three months in one sitting. I then keep a note in an Excel sheet to track my promotions.
Amazon PPC Ads
Use Amazon KDP Ad Campaigns.
It places ads for your books exactly where you want them – right in front of the eyes of Amazon customers looking to buy ebooks.
These ads appear on Amazon book pages, and if you select the ‘by interest’ option when setting up your ad, your ad will appear on Kindles too.
This is a great advertising tool for promoting books on Amazon.
For between $0.45 and $0.70 per click, this is far better value than spending hours and hours on social media.
Time is money, so this is a viable and economical way to promote your books.
What is worth noting is that you only pay for clicks, but you get impressions for free.
It means that 1,000s of Amazon customers will see your book for free. Now that beats social media.
Facebook Page
This is a bonus idea, and okay, it uses social media, but it is not a time-wasting exercise.
Set up a Facebook Page for you as an author. Add a few posts and make it attractive, and occasionally post something.
But the most important reason to have a Facebook Page, as opposed to your personal Facebook profile, is that you can access Facebook advertising.
It operates on a similar basis to most pay-per-click advertising. But because Facebook has 1.6 billion users, it is a market you can’t ignore.
You can narrowly target Ads on Facebook. So you can expect to reach people who have a real reading interest in your genre.
I don’t use Facebook ads regularly. But when sales dip, I use them to boost sales, and from this, boost my book sales ranking.
However, in my experience, an even better and more economical way to leverage a Facebook Page is to pay for Likes via Facebook Ads.
Likes are long-term, cheap at between $0.10 – $0.15 per Like, and bring you high-value followers.
Another way to leverage your Facebook Page is to add a shop. Yes, you can add a bookshop to your Facebook page.
Use cost and time-effective book promotion and advertising
The options I have listed above involve investing time in getting your books looking right, listed correctly, and ensuring that your Amazon book page will attract readers.
But you should consider the value of your time and how much you waste on social media promoting your books on Amazon instead of writing new ones.
Perhaps a $30.00 -$50.00 advertising budget per month will be money well spent.
And remember, the real benefit of buying promotion on Amazon, and to a lesser degree on Facebook, is not only a matter of clicks but also about visibility.
Thousands of potential readers will see your book, which is precisely what book marketing and promotion are all about.
The more times someone sees your book, the more chance you have of making a sale.
How many hours do you spend on social media to make book sales? Lots?
Perhaps it’s time to drop the idea altogether and let Amazon, and maybe Facebook, do all the work for you so you can do what you do best.
Write more books.
Related reading: How To Promote A Self-Published Book In 9 Steps
Hey Derek – It’s quite a relief to know that there are a number of viable, and less time consuming, alternatives to social media.
This is such great advice, thanks for sharing!
Great advice!
All these tips look spot on to me. (One question: are “impressions” just presentations of your title in emails and lists like “people who bought that also bought this”, or what? And, if, say, 10,000 people clicked on your book and none bought it, wouldn’t that cost you $7,000, at $0.70/click?!)
I have the same question, Luke. Did you ever get/figure out an answer?
The only social media sites I have not been banned from are Instagram and linkedin. I have been banned from all the others, because I believe in free speech. I am 74 and I do not get along with all the current censorship.
A few sites even told me they will not accept my book about gun control. I suppose its because of the narrative. This is why I am searching for ways to sell my ebook without social media.
I’m far from any expert, but I lost a bundle on this ppc junk. I had something like 60,000 impressions and no sales on google, it cost me so much, as I never understood how google ppc worked. I still do not understand it, and yes you have to pay through the nose for it, with no guarantee of any sales.
I will never use google again. Their instructions are completely lacking for newbies.