Self-publishing books is on the rise, as even celebrity and well-known authors opt for that route to publication. In fact, Lulu.com reports that the number of print titles they produced in 2011 was approximately 50,000, which represented a 9 percent increase over the prior year. In addition to their print sales, they also published over 115,000 new e-book titles last year, which was a 22 percent increase. Self-publishing has been made easy, but authors can increase their chances of sales success by making marketing a priority.
“Authors don’t need to spend a lot of money to market their books,” explains Sarah Gilbert, director of sales at Lulu.com (www.lulu.com), a self-publishing company. “There are plenty of marketing options that are either free or quite affordable, all of which can help authors to reach their target market and sell more books.”
Here are 5 ways that authors can help to market their self-published books on a shoestring budget: