As the dramatic leader in online book sales, success on Amazon means success for your book. Optimizing your book’s retail page, taking advantage of the marketing, promotional, and content opportunities that Amazon offers, and generating social proof through reviews is imperative to Amazon’s algorithmic driven marketplace and connecting with book buyers.

The graphic above is a brief overview of the Amazon ecosystem and the ways that you can maximize success.

You have a book publishing soon, but the market is saturated with breaking news, world events, and competitive book publicity. It is not uncommon during this time to feel overwhelmed about creating buzz for your book that will reach your target audience, raise your expert profile, and generate book sales. Thankfully, whether you are launching a book, e-book product, service, or project there are strategic solutions to position your launch in the marketplace.

Whether you've written a book, are a professional speaker, or simply want to grow your reputation and influence in your industry, spreading the word is the name of the game. Building a strategy that amplifies your core message and reaches your ideal audience can seem complicated—not least because there are so many options at your disposal.

eBook promotions have become a common book marketing strategy, but why?

An ebook is considered on promotion if it is priced below $4.99 for a limited time and supported with an advertising or marketing campaign to raise awareness and drive a sharp increase in sales. At Greenleaf, we recommend pricing ebooks at $0.99 for no more than 1 month to create a sense of urgency in readers and encourage immediate action.

Selling an ebook at $0.99 obviously isn’t going to make anyone rich, but there are three main reasons why running an ebook promotion is good for your book:

1. Ebook promotions increase the visibility of your book and can bring attention back to the book page months, even years, after publication. By discounting the ebook and supporting that price drop with advertising and promotion, you have the opportunity to reach readers that you may not have reached at publication, drive traffic to your retailer book pages, and potentially set yourself up to become an Amazon Best Seller.
2. Reviews are vital to a book’s long-term success, and by reducing your ebook price for a limited time and marketing that promotion, you are seeding books to avid readers for potential review. Having a consistent flow of feedback from readers updates retailer algorithms for better book promotion, produces social clout and educates purchasing decisions from interested readers, and keeps your book page active and relevant.
3. Running an ebook promotion gives you a reason to communicate with your community and a value add to offer them for their support. This is content you can share on your social media sites, blog, and in your newsletter, and something that your community can share with their network to amplify the reach of the promotion.

Now that you know what an ebook promotion is and why you should consider it, let’s talk about what it takes to run one.

1. Decide when you want the ebook promotion to run and for how long. Consider relevant holidays, anniversaries, and current events that relate to your content. Focus on limited time promotions and creating a sense of urgency and uniqueness around the promotion.
2. Because ebook promotions are a common book marketing strategy, ebooks no longer sell just by virtue of being discounted, so be sure to support your promotion with advertising through platforms like Amazon and Facebook which allow you to target readers based on their interest in ebook communities and bestselling books in your genre. Targeted advertising lets interested consumers know about the limited time promotion and brings them as close to the point of purchase as possible.
3. Shout it from the roof tops! Share the promotion with your network by posting on social media and sending a dedicated newsletter to subscribers. If your community has purchased the print book, encourage them to buy the ebook for easy reference and to recommend the book to their friends, family, and colleagues. Other ways to engage with this promotion on social media include sharing snippets of positive reviews the book has received, thanking your network for their support, reminding your followers of the promotion’s limited nature, and updating them on best seller statuses. An ebook promotion is also a good milestone to reflect on the impact that the book has had for you and your readers in a thoughtful blog post.
4. Submit to bargain ebook sites for additional promotion. Sites like BookBub have built large genre-specific mailing list and promoting to those subscribers can drive significant sales. Note that all sites have their own submission and editorial guidelines, so be aware that you may need to schedule your promotion around their availability in order to take advantage of promotion.

Ultimately, an ebook promotion is not going to pad your pocket, but it is a great opportunity to re-energize your marketing for the book by expanding your reach and reconnecting with your followers and supporters. Let us know if you have additional questions about setting up an ebook promotion or additional ways to market your book and Greenleaf’s marketing and branding team will reach out to help.

Many authors are all too familiar with a cruel irony: After writing the tens of thousands of words and surviving round after round of editing, one of the hardest challenges can be finding the right words to talk about and promote their book.

When Greenleaf’s CEO, Tanya Hall, published her book, Ideas, Influence, and Income, our marketing team treated the launch just as we would any other Greenleaf book. We discussed goals, expectations, budget, and timeline and developed a marketing strategy that we felt set the book up for success.

As the publication date of your book draws near, it's important to take some time to review the pieces of your branding and marketing strategy to ensure everything is working towards your ultimate goal, whether that's book sales, establishing your expert brand, or securing speaking or consulting work.

The title (and subtitle) of a book does a lot of heavy lifting. It has to attract the intended audience, communicate the book’s promise, differentiate the book in the marketplace, and accurately convey the book’s theme and content.