Advertising and Marketing Resources For Self-Published Authors

On this page you’ll find a host of resources to suit every budget; 95% of these resources I have personally used, whilst others have been highly recommended by other authors within the author community. From promo sites and email marketing providers through to writing software, editors and book cover designers.

Promo Sites

I have personally used all of these book promo sites and whilst I can't guarantee results, they have proved to be a fantastic addition to my promos and launches. Keep in mind that some of these promo sites require a minimum number of reviews on your book(s) in order for them to accept you. And most of these sites have options for promoting both free and discounted books.

Freebooksy - Free books only. $30 - $200 depending on genre. Also offer series promotion and send readers to your Amazon series page

Bargain Booksy - Discounted books only. $20-$195 depending on genre. Also offer 'Deal of The Day' promotion

Books Butterfly - Guarantee certain number of sales. Prices range from $100-$1800 depending on number of guarantee sales

Book Doggy - $24 for discounted book, $21 for free book. They offer a discount if you promote 5 or more books with them

Book Barbarian - Science Fiction and Fantasy books only. Prices range from $35-$55 depending on the price of your book

My Book Cave - Prices range from $11 - $33, depending on genre and the price of your book

BookSends - Prices range from $10 - $250, depending on genre and the price of your book

Fussy Librarian - A favourite of many authors! Prices range from $12-$21, depending on the genre and price of your book

LitNuts - A simple, flat fee of $20, whatever the genre and price of your book. PLUS, here's some deals exclusively for my audience:

- ACOS8 - try out a LitNuts Featured Books Promotion for just $8 (one-time use)

- ACOS30 - a 30% discount on a LitNuts Featured Books Promotion (on-going use)

BookRunes - Another site with simple pricing; $25 for a discounted book and $40 for a free book

eReaderIQ - $15-$40 depending on the price and genre of your book

eReader News Today - Another favourite of many authors. $40 - $140 depending on genre and price of your book

Robin Reads - Free or $0.99 books only. Prices range from $60 - $85 depending on the price and genre of your book

BKnights - Promotes free and discounted books. Can book you in last minute, even just 24-48 hours in advance. Only costs $5

BookBub Featured Deal - The 'crème de la crème' of promo sites! Difficult to be accepted, particularly if you're in KU. Prices range from around $100 - $2,800, but you almost always make that money back within 24-48 hours of your promotion with BookBub

Book Cover Design

Damonza - my go-to Book Cover Designers ($595 - eBook and Paperback/Print on Demand covers)

Go On Write ($40 - pre-made covers. They also do custom covers from $150)

The Book Cover Designer (Marketplace of pre-made book covers from various designers. Prices range from $15 - $800)

100 Covers ($100 for eBook cover only. Upgrade for Paperback/Print on Demand covers for an additional $200-$300)

Book Formatting

Scriviner - Works on Mac and PC. One time fee of around $60

Vellum - Works on Mac only. One time fee of $200 for eBook formatting only. $250 for eBook and Paperback formatting

Reedsy Book Editor - Free book writing and formatting tool. Can only be used through an internet browser, such as Google Chrome. 

Atticus - An amazing piece of book formatting software from Dave Chesson and his team over at Kindlepreneur. Allows you to have complete control over the look and style of your book.

Email Marketing 

Mailerlite - A simple, clean and free email marketing software. There is a free plan available for upto 1000 subscribers. Pricing from $10 per month. 

ConvertKit - more expensive option, but also very powerful. Allows you to tag subscribers based on their behaviour with your emails. Pricing depends on number of subscribers, but starts from $29 per month. They have a free option, but it's very limited as to what you can do with it.

Business Tools

BookFunnel - perfect for delivering reader magnets, such as free eBooks and free audiobooks to fans. You can also join Cross/Group Promotions with other authors. Various pricing options available, from $20 - $250 per year. You can also choose to pay monthly, from $10 per month, though if you want to integrate your email marketing provider (e.g. Mailerlite) with BookFunnel, you'll need to pay an extra $5 per month on the monthly plan and $50 per year on the annual plan.

Prolific Works - very similar to BookFunnel in that you can deliver reader magnets to readers and join Cross/Group Promotions. Personally, I feel that BookFunnel is more user friendly and intuitive to use than Prolific Works. They have 3 pricing plans, the first is free and allows you to deliver unlimited reader magnets to readers, as well as run giveaways. The second package is $20 per month and on top of their free plan, also allows you to integrate your email marketing provider to Prolific Works. Their top package is $50 per month, with the main addition to their middle package being that you can have 5 pen names under one account. 

StoryOrigin - A tool similar to BookFunnel and Prolific Works that allows you to join Cross/Group Promotions with other authors, as well as newsletter swaps, deliver reader magnets, create universal book links and organise review copies for your biggest fans. At the time of writing this, StoryOrigin is still in Beta and therefore free to use. 

Keyword Research

Publisher Rocket* - An amazing tool from Kindlepreneur for finding profitable keywords, categories and Amazon Ads target research. *Full disclosure, this is an affiliate link; I will receive a small payment from Kindlepreneur if you decide to purchase Publisher Rocket through my link.

Self Publishing Titans  - several free Google Chrome plugins to help with keyword and niche research

Helium10 - Have a free keyword and niche research Google Chrome Plugin, as well as a paid ($97 per month) in-depth research tool. Primarily used by eCommerce Amazon sellers (i.e. not books) this tool does have some useful features for authors too.