Now sales are flagging, how do you boost them?

Promotion is great, obviously. But how to get some free promotion and get the word out there?

Start a competition or offer your book as a prize to companies already running competitions.

Get your book into local shops, cafes, hairdressers, etc. If you can not afford to put some books in each place, then get some flyers printed or some bookmarks. Put these in places for people to pick up.

Ask your library about running a writing workshop or starting a writing group. Hopefully, you can find a group of people that will support you and help you promote your work, and you can do the same for them.

Think outside the box…or even inside the box.

Christmas eve boxes are a big thing at the moment.

Offer your book, or if you have a few different books that you have published in the box, with some hot chocolate, a mug (Book branded if you like), and things that work well with the age group you are aiming at. Kids – a teddy, some sweets, colouring book and pencils, adults – some items that fit in with your genre, sci-fi, horror, etc. Candles for relaxation books, dog treats for a book about dog care, seeds for gardening books…. the list goes on and on.

You can make it as expensive or as cheap as you like.

Include a voucher for money off a future book or offer a lower price for buying two or more boxes.

Start a Youtube or Tiktok challenge/dance. Make it relevant to your book, dance with the book in your hands or balanced on your head, throw it up and clap so many times before catching, read in a weird or scary place (be careful, don’t take risks).

Do something strange with your book readings.

Read some excerpts of your horror book at midnight in a spooky old house, get other horror authors involved, hold a séance (if you are ok with such things) offer tickets, advertise the event and mention the house’s history and any rumours of ghosts, etc, you can set up a few books on the edges of tables that may topple and make people jump or check for drafts and be sure to sit people in them, a cold chill goes a long way.

Read a book about fairies out in the forest, offer a forest walk, a chance to see a fairy ring (set this up in advance, with either moving some already growing mushrooms or paint some pretend ones and plant them in a ring around a tree) mention the chance to see fairies, you can even set up some dolls high in the trees or other things to amaze the children, they will shout out when they spot them.

There are so many places you can do readings, if you think about it and get other authors of the same genre involved, the possibilities are endless.

Make a funny or scary book trailer if you can. If it is funny or scary people will share it. Do a magic trick (a good one) be entertaining, think of what goes viral, or what is popular on television.

Just remember to be proud of your hard work. Keep pushing it and the sales will happen, get people talking, get publicity. Let people know you exist. They can not buy your book if they do not know about it.

Good luck