Book marketing 101 at eBookSwag

Many blogs do a bait-and-switch where they sucker you in with content and then deliver the sales pitch right at the end. But I am doing my pitch first, and then telling you why eBookSwag can help your book meet new readers.

If you've followed me over my career, you have probably seen book marketing that ranges from cold cash purchases to downright gimmicks. I've had a lot of fun, given away a ton of free books, more than 30 Kindles and Kindle Fires, thousands of dollars in gift cards, and sold a lot of books and met tens of thousands of readers. Some of my stunts include a giveaway of three of my permanent teeth to promote They Hunger, chances to be drawn as a character in my comic books, paying book bloggers 15 percent of my income to promote my books, casting actors for the parts in the fantasy movie versions of my books, and hosting a paranormal conference for the primary purpose of inspiring my novel.

Just this year, I've helped give away several million ebooks (including about three-quarters of a million of my own) and created viral marketing campaigns where people voluntarily promote books and contests in exchange for the chance to win prizes. I've held a 90-day blog tour among several others of shorter duration, I've put book bloggers in my ebooks, I hung out on Amazon forums back before it was poison, I've helped writers in manners both overt and subtle. I am not bragging, because it has all been fun, and the best of it has been value added and inspired and taught me. I don't like to do things unless everyone wins.

And the secret to book marketing is that there is no secret, or at least not a secret you can count on repeating time after time. Even New York publishers with all their millions and industry contacts strike out about 80 percent of the time. There's no silver bullet, only a loaded gun. I've bought ads and book sponsorships and placements at nearly every ebook site in town. Some work better than others, and some work but not consistently. I am now applying my experience to eBookSwag with my partner Michelle and our staff. It's a mixture of lessons I have learned: giveaways, audience building, good books, fun, a community, everyone wins.

If you are an author, check out our low-cost sponsorships. Because I am an author myself, I understand your needs. While no one can guarantee success from any marketing effort, and the best of such efforts are multiple "efforts" and not just an ad, I invite you to look at what we offer and see how it compares to everything else out there. We don't want your money just to dump it into another black hole. We only want you to join in if you think we add value to the reading community. There's plenty of noise in the world, but there's only one eBookSwag.

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