38 book promotion ideas, sorted by cost and by job.
A list you can choose from. Every idea says how to do it, what it costs in time and money, and which job it serves: clients, talks or readers. Where a Scribe Media author did it, the story is linked.
How to use this list. Find your book's job and budget in the table, pick three ideas, and put them on your one-page plan. No reader and job named yet? Start with Lesson 1.
Pick by budget and job
Free is your time only. Copies is author copies and postage for a few dozen books. Bigger is copies by the hundred, travel, an event or a production such as an audiobook. Numbers are ideas below.
| Cost | Clients | Speaking | Readers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 5, 10, 19, 20, 25, 33, 34 | 27, 28, 29, 30 | 1, 4, 6, 7, 11, 13, 31, 35, 38 |
| Copies | 9, 18, 21, 22, 37 | 8 | 2, 3, 14, 16 |
| Bigger | 23, 24, 26 | 15, 32 | 12, 17, 36 |
The authors named are Scribe Media authors. Their results are strong, not typical, and nobody can promise them.
Before anyone reads it
In depth: Lesson 3 and Lesson 4.
1. Set up your Amazon page by Amazon's rules
Free, an afternoon. Readers. Write seven keywords, three categories and a description of about 150 words, and claim your Author Central page. Everyone you send to the book lands here.
2. Ask for pre-readers in public
Copies. Readers. Post an open call where your reader is and choose from the replies. Ron Thurston did this on LinkedIn for Human Pride, chose about a hundred readers and had about 20 reviews on launch day (story). Never require a review.
3. Run a Goodreads giveaway
Copies. Readers. Joy Lane's 100-copy giveaway for F College had 240 sign-ups before she had told her friends (story). Read Goodreads' current giveaway terms before you plan one.
4. Test the idea as a post first
Free. Readers. Post one chapter's core story and see who responds. When Patti Temple posted about the ageism she had faced, thousands of people contacted her (story).
5. Collect three endorsements your reader will recognize
Free. Clients. Ask three respected people for two sentences each, for the cover and your Amazon Editorial Reviews. Scribe's chapter on getting blurbs covers how to ask.
Other people's audiences
In depth: Lesson 5, the podcast tour.
6. Pitch podcasts your reader already hears
Free, about two hours a week. Readers and clients. Shortlist 30 shows, listen to two episodes of each, and pitch what the host's listeners will get. Hadley Ott reached about 15 podcasts this way (story), and Dr. Valerie Rein made more than 100 podcast appearances after her book (story).
7. Put the book first in the pitch
Free. Readers. Lead with the book and one idea for the listeners. Kristin Birdwell, who hosts a show, says a guest with a published book "automatically gives me a conversation frame or direction" (interview).
8. Mail signed copies to hosts
Copies. Speaking and readers. Kyle Thiermann mailed about 150 signed books to hosts, and one led to a spot on a Kreischer podcast (story). Add a one-line note.
9. Print the cover on the mailer
Copies. Clients. Rachel A. Williamson ships every book in an envelope with the full cover printed on it. The packaging has drawn podcast invitations (story).
10. Get into alumni and association newsletters
Free. Clients. Pitch the editor. A few weeks after Candler Cook's launch, a CEO read about the book in a fraternity alumni email and asked for an introduction; six weeks later Cook had a new job with him (story).
11. Write an op-ed from a chapter
Free. Readers and speaking. Turn your strongest chapter into a piece for a publication your reader reads. Michael J. Boydell's op-ed in a national newspaper named the idea that became his book's central argument (story).
12. Start a show named after the book
Bigger, mostly in hours. Readers. A show with the book's title markets both and gives you a reason to contact people. Kristin Birdwell's Sex, Drugs, & Soul show has run to roughly 120 episodes (interview).
Events and bookstores
In depth: Lesson 6, launch week, and the book signing and launch event guide.
13. Ask a bookstore you love to host the launch
Free. Readers. Tell the owner why the store matters to you. Eddy Arriola emailed the Miami bookstore he had loved for decades, and its 175 seats sold out within an hour (story).
14. Walk in and ask for a table
Copies. Readers. Nicholas Capman arranged a signing at his local Barnes & Noble by asking in person. About 60 people came and about 60 books went out (story).
15. Launch where the book's community gathers
Bigger. Speaking and readers. Bring a helper and a way to take payment. MyLinh Shattan launched Raising Athena at West Point during a reunion, to 500 returning alumni, and was later booked as featured speaker at Flag Day (story).
16. Keep a box of books in the car
Copies. Readers and clients. Erik Huberman does. The Milken Global Summit bookstore ignored his email, so the next year he asked, and it sold his books on consignment, paying only for copies sold (interview).
17. Tour bookstores and talk to groups
Bigger, in travel and time. Readers and speaking. Pair each stop with a group that meets there. Craig Stanland toured bookstores and spoke to groups to meet readers in person (story).
Copies that win clients
In depth: Lesson 7, the book as a sales tool.
18. Hand one over at every first meeting
Copies. Clients. Jake Falcon gives a copy of Retiring Right to every person at a first meeting (story). Mark Aho buys 100 copies at a time to hand out (story).
19. Point prospects to the chapter
Free. Clients. When a sales call raises a question, Mario Simonyan's team says he covers it in chapter three and offers a mailed copy or the PDF (story). Map your common questions to chapters.
20. Keep the book in frame on video calls
Free. Clients. Put it where the camera sees it. Capman keeps his book on the shelf behind him for every call (story).
21. Give every new client a copy
Copies. Clients. Every new client of Capman's firm gets a box with the book and a thank-you card. Erik Huberman gives his book to every client, employee and partner (interview).
22. Send 100 people a copy and a handwritten note
Copies. Clients. List the people most likely to refer work. Brandon Pipkin's firm listed about 100 key people in its network and sent each a book with a handwritten note (interview).
23. Mail copies to prospects every month
Bigger. Clients. Do the copy math first. Michael Erath's firm mails 75 to 100 copies a month to targeted prospects at about $16 each, logs each by name, and calls the book its best lead magnet (story).
24. Offer to ship the book free to your ideal buyer
Bigger. Clients. Richard Shaull offers his ideal buyers a free copy and counts qualified copies placed (interview). Honor every request to stop.
25. Put a code inside the book
Free. Clients. A free tool or session also works. Deneen Allen runs promotions where a reader finds a code inside the book that opens a free month of her Firecircle community (story).
26. Send a box that makes a splash
Bigger. Clients. Keep it for your highest-value prospects. Pipkin's firm mails prospects a box with both of its books and a small screen that plays a welcome video when the lid opens (interview).
Talks and bulk orders
In depth: Lesson 8, speaking with your book.
27. Ask the host to buy a copy for every seat
Free to ask. Speaking. Ask about the budget before the fee. Ron Thurston writes a book purchase into his speaking agreements; Boot Barn bought Retail Pride for all 700 store managers at his keynote (story).
28. Pitch campuses and associations first
Free. Speaking. Start where your reader already gathers. Kris Holmes was invited to speak at Washington University's business school (story); Hadley Ott turned one introduction at Notre Dame into a hundred pitches and a talk at Ole Miss (story).
29. Apply to festival programs
Free. Speaking. Look for mentor and session applications. Kristin Birdwell applied to be a storytelling mentor at South by Southwest and has done it a couple of years running (interview).
30. Offer bulk copies after the talk
Free to ask. Speaking and clients. Have a bulk price ready before you speak. Bank of Queensland bought 50 copies after Tofe Evans spoke and booked him for a country-wide tour (story), and Teradata's CMO bought 150 copies of Mark Organ's book (story).
31. Get the book onto a reading list
Free. Readers and speaking. A Texas A&M professor bought 300 copies of Lorenzo Gomez's book as required reading (story). Rich Kurtzman's first university order was 75 copies; a later single order was 400+ (story).
32. Trade the audiobook for an email at the end of a talk
Bigger. Speaking and clients. Amazon does not tell you who bought. Pipkin's team ends talks with a QR code that gives the audience the audiobook free in exchange for an email address (interview).
Keeping it working
In depth: Lesson 9, year two, and Lesson 10 for knowing which ideas worked.
33. Send guides from the book to subscribers
Free. Clients and readers. Offer one short guide per chapter topic; the author newsletter guide has a 12-issue plan. Dr. Monifa McKnight invites readers to subscribe on her site and sends guides tied to the book's leadership topics (interview).
34. Make it required reading in your own programs
Free. Clients. Assign it in every program you run. Greg Hiebert assigns his book in the leadership programs he runs, and CEOs have bought it for 500 of their top leaders (story).
35. Make a simpler video version of one part
Free, in hours. Readers. Simplify one section for non-readers. Chris Belchamber made a video of part one of his book with his son for people who will never read a finance book (interview).
36. Build a companion tool
Bigger. Readers. Paul Zak's The Little Book of Happiness has a QR code to a free app for trying its activities (interview). Carrie Cox built a habit app with a team mode for groups doing her book together (interview).
37. Sell signed copies from your own site
Copies. Readers and clients. Add a bonus that Amazon buyers do not get. Williamson sells signed, personalized copies through her own shop, with a free 25-page implementation guide, which gives her buyer details Amazon does not share (story).
38. Answer every reader, and thank the ones who pass it on
Free. Readers. After Richard Harris launched, a retired judge in a small Indiana town began handing his book to strangers, who then wrote to him (story). Reply to each reader who writes, and thank anyone who tells you they passed the book on.
Publishing on your own? Read marketing a self-published book.
Turn three ideas into dates
Enter your launch date, the book's job and weekly hours for a week-by-week plan.