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Circular Book Marketing and Web SEO

Circular book marketing used to include book readings at libraries, interviews on TV and radio, book signings at bookstores and then talks at the local Rotary and the Ladies Club. The idea was to get a little grassroots campaign going to garner publicity. Successful book sales started this way spread like water flowing from a broken dam across the fertile fields of readers. You can still make a dent in your paperback sales by following a similar path. For everyone else, the web-savvy sellers, and those who are learning, you've got to produce a circular-style bunch of links to your website and your friendly book bloggers and sales outlets. I read a lot of books, more than I write, and I also read a lot of book reviews. Usually, I'm looking for something about the story a book brings, but I take everything the reviewer says and let my mind wander over their words before making up my mind. I don't get too hung up on an editing error or two, I want that great story!

The Power of a "First" Free Book

Want to be a successful self-published author? Consider sacrificing your first-born new book to the reading (and buying) masses. It’s not a new idea in self-publishing I blogged about it eight years ago and got a terse comment from another author who said I was behind the times. That might be. Still, driving future sales with a book giveaway is one of the best features of Amazon's Kindle program. The marketing aspects are sound - introduce readers to an author's work and hope there's a land-swell of interest and word of mouth that propels new sales. It’s especially powerful in the age of KU, or Kindle Unlimited. Read New Books for Free Kindle Unlimited isn’t free books; it’s an unlimited reading of a large group of what Amazon has to offer, at $9.99 each month. It used to be that readers couldn’t pass up a free book. Now, with KU, you’ve got a lot more competition, so, even if the idea of a free book is sound, it only translates to future sales if the author