Promoting a self published book is not easy. In this post, I’ll share some of the things I’ve done to promote my self published book, “When Mommies Get Sick,” and some strategies currently in the pipeline.

When I felt ready to publish When Mommies Get Sick, I opted to self publish through Amazon KDP. The KDP program was flexible, user friendly, and allowed me to keep creative control. Learning to digitize my artwork and correctly format everything had quite a learning curve, but thankfully I was able to clear those hurdles in the end.

I felt the pros of self publishing outweighed the cons, given my situation and my goals. I knew there was a lot I’d have to figure out on my own, and promoting my book was part of that.

I have never been involved in sales. Ever. I’ve never been interested in becoming a sales person. Serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was a wonderful experience, but the part that required approaching random people and striking up a conversation about the Church was extremely difficult for me! And I wasn’t even selling anything! I was trying to share something I deeply care about.

Fast forward to today - I have my beautiful book in my hands, it’s available online, and the masses should just be magnetically drawn to invest, right?

Unfortunately, no. When you self publish, nothing happens unless you are willing to put in either a lot of time and effort, or a lot of money for someone else to put in the time and effort.

Post It On Social Media

The first thing I did once my book was published was post about it on my social media. It was a very vulnerable, but very exciting feeling to present to my friends and family something that meant so much to me. That effort yielded hundreds of "likes,” dozens of comments, and even a few shares.

Did that effort translate to sales? Yes! A couple dozen copies were sold just because I posted on my own social media. It was humbling to see those first copies being sent out. I was deeply touched to think that something I wrote and illustrated was going to be read, and would be finding a home on someone else’s bookshelf.

Fiverr

I wanted to keep the momentum going, so my next step was to seek out a book promotion gig on Fiverr. I found a gig that wasn’t terribly expensive, and went for it. They agreed to promote my book for one week on their website, on twitter, and on several Facebook pages that each had thousands of members.

It was worth a shot. They did exactly what they said they’d do. Unfortunately, each of the Facebook pages they promoted on were just book promotion pages. Yes, there were thousands of members on each page, but it appeared non of those members were interested in anything except promoting other books. There weren’t any real, potentially interested readers.

Likewise, their website was full of wonderful posts, but all the traffic on the site appeared to be other people like me, checking the site to make sure their book was being promoted.

The week-long Fiverr gig didn’t yield a single sale.

Facebook Groups

The Fiverr gig did give me an idea, however. If that company could promote my book on Facebook groups, why couldn’t I? I could track down pages that actually pertained to my book and post about my book myself.

I did several different searches, read through the posting rules, and posted about my book where I could.

For every dozen or so posts I created, I noticed one or two interested comments, and a sale or two on my KDP Report. In the end, it was worth a try, but I didn’t feel it was worth the time to continue.

Author Read Aloud

As I was exploring different Facebook groups, I stumbled upon someone asking if there were any authors interested in reading their book to some classes at her child’s school. I sent her a message, saying I was interested and we set up a Zoom call with the school.

That was a neat experience! I was able to share my book with several classes at once and get live feedback from people I had no previous connection to. To be flooded with positive feedback from people who didn’t know me beforehand was extremely humbling. In fact, they liked the book so much, they ended up purchasing a copy for each of the school’s classrooms!

I enjoyed that experience so much, I ended up doing several in-person, author read alouds at one of our local elementary schools. Although that hasn’t resulted in any more sales, it has brought me so much joy! I love going in, reading my book to the kids, and answering their questions afterward. I love seeing their eyes light up and their creative gears begin to spin as they learn about the writing, illustration, and publication processes.

Little Free Libraries

Another place I’ve tried to reach potential readers is at Little Free Libraries. Everywhere I go, I look to see if there is a Little Free Library nearby. If so, I’ll drop by and leave promotional bookmarks with a QR code that leads to my book on Amazon.

It’s hard to tell if that is doing anything to effectively promote “When Mommies Get Sick,” but I always say any excuse to drop by a Little Free Library is a good one!

Flyers

I created some promotional flyers, which also contain a QR code to help guide potential readers to my book. I was able to have several of them placed in doctor’s office exam rooms. Again, it’s hard to tell if that’s doing much, but you never know who might stumble upon them!

Local Book Stores

The thought of randomly walking into local bookstores and asking if they’d be interested in carrying my book made my blood run cold at first. To be honest, it still gets my heart racing. However, I’ve had a decent amount of success doing that!

Many bookstores have an entire section dedicated to local authors. I have been walking in, asking the manager if they carry local authors, and if so, we move on to talking about what I have to offer.

My first shot at this was with Storybook Nook at Gardner Village. I’d been frequenting that store for years so maybe I shouldn’t have been quite as nervous as I was… Nevertheless, I took a deep breath and dove on in. The store owner agreed to carry my book!! She bought a few copies as a trial run and put them right up on the shelf. I’m sure you could hear my internal screams from clear across the world!

I made sure to post a flyer at the nearby petting zoo, to try to increase my chances of someone finding my book at Storybook Nook. I hope they sell!

Go check out When Mommies Get Sick at Storybook Nook!

At the Library

Someone told me the library wouldn’t be able to carry my book without an LCCN (Library of Congress Catalogue Number), or text along the spine (Amazon won’t print text on the spine if the paperback book doesn’t have enough pages).

I may not be a natural sales person, but I definitely have a natural, indefatigable sense of ambition.

I submitted my book to the Salt Lake County Library system anyway.

I got an email a week later saying the library system had bought 5 copies of my book!!! Stay curious, my friends, it never hurts to try for yourself!

In the Pipeline

I’ve got a few other promotion experiments in the pipeline. They include:

Doing a storytime at the library - how else will anyone know to look for it??
Author read aloud at bookstores - they often let you stick around and sign and sell books
Craft fair and farmers market
More school read alouds
Instagram giveaway

Have you ever tried to promote a book before? What other strategies would you add to the list? Comment below!

When mommies get sick, and sometimes they do, how do things change for me and for you?

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When mommies get sick, and sometimes they do, how do things change for me and for you? 〰️