Book Marketing Tip #14: Participate in Online Forums

NOTE:  In January 2018, an updated and expanded edition of The Smashwords Book Marketing Guide was released, offering 65 book marketing ideas and new "Deep Dives" sections exploring social media strategy, how to work with beta readers, and how to earn free press coverage. 

To download the new Smashwords Book Marketing Guide for free, here are the coordinates:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
iBooks
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Smashwords

The new 2018 edition of The Smashwords Book Marketing Guide is also available as a serialized podcast on the SMART AUTHOR podcast, starting with Episode 10.

Click here to access all SMART AUTHOR podcast episodes.






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The information that follows on this page is from the 2013 edition of the Smashwords Book Marketing Guide, which will remain here for historical purposes only.


Book Marketing Tip #14:  Participate in Online Forums


If you’re like most authors, you probably participate in a lot of online forums or newsgroups.  If your forum has a location for book announcements, then post a note about your book along with a hyperlink to your author page or book page at Smashwords. 

When you introduce yourself, consider telling folks there about your book.  Before you post about your book, make sure such posts are allowed.  Don’t spam the board with notices.  Not only would that be disrespectful, it’ll probably get you banned from the site.  After you post your notice, you can usually subscribe to that thread so you receive an email whenever anyone replies.  If they ask you a question, go ahead and reply.  Engage your readers in discussion, and by starting a conversation, you’ll expose your book to even more people.

There are many great general ebook-related communities where authors connect with readers.  Consider participating in Amazon’s Forums, Kindleboards.com, Nookboards, Goodreads, Ebookgab.com and Mobileread.com.  If you write romance, check out the All About Romance message boards at http://aarboards.com/  Smashwords has a Facebook forum at http://facebook.com/smashwords

You should participate in these communities.  Don’t just flog your books.  Join the conversations, add value to the conversations, and make new friends.  Did you write a book about gardening?  Join a gardening community.  Did you write a book about overcoming, or coping with, some medical condition?  There are communities for that too.  Just Google “topicname community” for a long list of prospects.  When you join a community, study the community’s rules before posting.  If the community doesn’t allow posts about your book, consider adding mention of your book in your signature.  See Book Marketing Tip #5 above.