Five Best Practices When Promoting Your E-books

2020-10-08 | Ink it

Julio Mondragón | Editor at Ink it

Like in any other transaction, there is a series of key elements to follow in order to maximize exposure and profit, and the world of digital books is no exception. But, what are those elements? In the following article we’ll tell you what aspects you should consider, so you can give your e-books top visibility to your readers.

1. Metadata: your e-book’s DNA

Have you ever wondered what the importance of metadata is? In short, it is your book’s ID. Similar to cataloguing data, metadata is not only essential to publish an e-book in digital stores, but also to look them up. As your metadata becomes more and more precise, it is easier for the buyer to find your e-book within stores and make the purchase.

2. ISBN: Physical or digital?

You may already know this, but it’s worth mentioning. Each and every book, whether it’s a physical or digital copy, must have its own ISBN regardless of the fact that two copies could be two versions of the same title. Anyone could think (inaccurately) that if a physical copy already has its own ISBN, the digital version shares automatically the same ID number. For this reason, it is important to get an ISBN for each version so you can optimize in-store search.

3. Digital shop windows for your sales promotions

Every now and then, digital stores launch sales campaigns to help their editors to increase sales. Options may range between regular sales promotions (i.e. based on book genre like novel, thriller, bestseller, history, etc.), or holidays (New Year’s, Valentine’s Day, World Book Day, Christmas). These platforms offer digital shop windows to display your e-books and latest releases. Seize the chance to use these spaces!

4. Social media and the echo effect

Nowadays, a major part of our lives has become virtualized. It seems like if something happened outside social media, it didn’t happen at all. In this sense, what should we do when an online store decides to spotlight one of your titles? Share it on your social media and invite friends and relatives to share it on theirs. Also, you can launch ad campaigns: email lists, Google ads, and, of course, social media ads. This boils down to the implementation of synergic scenarios or, in short, creating an echo effect for your titles.

5. Digital vs physical books

As odd as it may seem, sales strategies usually differ from digital to physical books. However, the ideal strategy considers promoting both versions at once in order to maximize exposure and profit.

It is important to bear in mind that a frequent mistake when publishing an e-book is leaving behind the extra material the physical version includes (e.g. student’s book, CD, maps). This misleads people, since they expect to get the same content as the physical version does. Make sure you digitize all your material!

We hope these tips help you increase the exposure of your e-books and, of course, your sales.

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