By Amanda Miller

Faced with the arduous task of marketing a book, you may conclude that writing it was the easy part!

Most authors—both traditionally and independently published—eventually face a laundry list of marketing tasks, including devising an overall plan, and finding ways to garner more reviews and generate early buzz about their books.

To tackle the above, you’ll need some basic tools in your promotional toolkit. But with tons of new marketing platforms coming out every couple of months, it’s hard to know which ones to use, where to invest your time and money, and what will actually work.

To that end, here are 5 tried-and-true tools that are simply indispensable:

1. Kindle A+ Content: to enhance your KDP sales page.

The new kid on the block for indie authors is Kindle A+ Content. While it was previously only available to select publishers, now Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform has made it open to all.

A+ Content is a marketing tool you access through your KDP account. It enables you to create content for your book’s sales page. For example, you can share your brand story, author bio, editorial reviews, and more.

Amazon has semi-strict guidelines for what you’re allowed to feature on this page, so read through their guidelines before getting started.

Will this lead to more book sales? That’s certainly the idea behind Kindle A+ Content. In fact, Amazon reported that “Having A+ content on a detail page has been shown to attract more customers and can help to increase sales by an average of 5.6%* once the content is added to the page.”

2. Publisher Rocket: to choose the right keywords for Amazon.

To pluck your book from the heap of obscurity that is Amazon, you’ll want to choose the best keywords and categories for your book to upload into your Amazon KDP account. You’ll also need to know the most profitable keywords for Amazon ads.

Publisher Rocket is a paid tool that offers a nifty database that houses Amazon searches and reports data on those searches; with this data, instead of choosing keywords randomly and crossing your fingers, you can guarantee you are choosing the BEST keywords and categories to help you with your book marketing with Publisher Rocket.

You may also have questions about Amazon ads: How do you set them up? How much you should spend? And do they work? Publisher Rocket has a free Amazon ads course ( https://kindlepreneur.com/free-amazon-ads-course/)  that will walk you through how to:

• Create your Amazon Marketing Services account in minutes.
• Identify dozens of books comparable to your own and and the keywords to target for maximum reach.
• Set up your first ad campaign so you can start selling more books.
• Understand the Amazon ads dashboard so you’ll know exactly how you’re doing.
• Test and optimize your campaigns so they convert at their highest potential.

3. Freebooksy and Crave Books: to help readers discover your book.

One of the biggest struggles for authors is reaching readers outside of their immediate network of friends, family and acquaintances. There are many sites that charge a small fee for access to a database of readers that have already said they read your genre. Here are two below that I recommend checking out.

Freebooksy: By purchasing a subscription list from Freebooksy, your ebook will be sent directly to the inboxes of readers who enjoy your book’s genre. This can lead to buzz surrounding your book, more readers, and in turn, possibly more book reviews, which will help boost your Amazon algorithms.

CraveBooks: This is another promotional platform similar to Freebooksy, designed to help authors drive traffic to their books through a variety of targeted deals.

Here’s how it works: You create a free account, log into their dashboard, and choose from a range of promotional options depending on your goals and budget. It’s especially great for indie authors who want a simple, DIY way to run their own book promos without hiring a marketer.

Let’s say you want to offer your ebook for free for one day. You can log in, pick the “Free Ebook Daily Deal,” and CraveBooks will feature your book to their audience, helping you get more visibility and downloads. They also offer additional options like book blog promotion, social media promotion, audiobook features, and more.

4. Podmatch: to get on podcasts.

Being a guest on a podcast is a great way to demonstrate your authority and share your book and its message. To that end, Podmatch connects podcast hosts with those looking to be interviewed.

You can upload your profile for no charge, but be sure to pepper your profile with representative keywords. This enables podcasters who are looking for your subject matter to more easily find you. Alternatively, you can search podcasts that share your demographic and pitch them.

To become a guest, often podcasts will have a page for you to submit your information. If you don’t get an immediate response, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not interested. Sometimes requests can get lost or overlooked, so be sure to follow up with subsequent requests.

Remember: during your podcast interview, you aren’t there to pitch your book. Rather, you’re there as the expert in your field. The host will pitch your book for you.

5. Mailchimp or  MailerLite: for email marketing and newsletters.

If you’re serious about showing up as a real-deal author—someone who plans to keep writing, growing, and connecting with your readers—then building an email list is one of the smartest moves you can make. An email list is your direct line to the people who care about your work, who want to hear from you, and who might just be waiting for your next book. It’s how you stay connected and nurture a loyal reader base on your own terms.

Platforms like Mailchimp and MailerLite help you manage your email address list and send out emails or newsletters to hundreds of people with the click of a button. They’re user-friendly, cost-effective, and widely used by indie authors. If you don’t already have an email marketing system, take a moment to explore these two options, compare their pricing, and choose one that aligns with your current needs.

These questions will help you form your own email plan:

• What kinds of emails do you want to send?
• How often can you realistically show up in your readers’ inboxes?
• What tone feels most like you?

You don’t need all the answers now. Just start paying attention, then commit to showing up consistently, even if it’s once a month. Your readers will thank you for it.

Regarding newsletters, here’s a tip: Before creating your own newsletter, subscribe to newsletters from authors you admire, especially those in your genre. Pay attention to how often they email, what kind of content they share, and how they talk to their audience. Do they send personal updates? Book launch news? Writing tips?

Book marketing isn’t easy. It takes persistence and patience, and the plan is never the same from author to author or genre to genre. But these 5 tools are universally useful, so stick them in your toolkit and have some fun!

Amanda Miller is a publishing consultant with My Word Publishing. She guides authors through the entire publishing process: production, publication, distribution, even marketing. To speak with Amanda, go to: https://www.mywordpublishing.com/our-team/amanda-miller/

 

BlueInk Review offers serious, unbiased reviews of self-published and traditionally published books penned by writers drawn largely from major mainstream publications, such as The New York Times and Washington Post, editors of respected traditional publishing houses, and high-profile blogs. Select reviews appear in Booklist magazine, a highly respected review publication that reaches 60,000 librarians. For more great tips about writing, publishing and marketing, sign up for our free newsletter.