Low-cost advertising, and finding people who WANT to review your books!

Hey guys!

I just wanted to share a hidden gem that I recently discovered on Twitter. AuthorScope, is a very affordable and great way to get your books in front of MILLIONS of their followers. At just $49 for 224 tweets in one week, it's the best bang for your buck that I've run across! Once the holidays are over, I definitely plan on using them.

Which brings me to my next point - FREE advertising just isn't gonna cut it. I've tried this route, hitting up every free promotional site I can find, and while it did gain me a few sales, it wasn't enough to make it worth the hours I wasted scouring the internet searching for them.

What I've read in the blogs of successful Indie authors, as well as the advice from a friend who sells Erotic Romance ebooks on Amazon and makes millions from it - you HAVE to pay for advertisement in order to make money. The old saying, "It takes money to make money," is absolutely true here! This is an investment that will pay for itself, and I don't know why I haven't used this sound advice sooner. But, 2018 is a brand-new year, and I will learn from my mistakes, and hopefully teach you how to learn from them as well.

Another awesome site I found on Twitter (Twitter has TONS of book-promotion sites to choose from, just do a search under Book Promotion), called Tweet Your Books http://tweetyourbooks.com .

This site offers 10 tweets per day posted to their 1.5 Million followers for only $10, PLUS a post on their Facebook page for each day tweeted. There are other packages as well, and all are VERY affordable! Honestly, Twitter seems to be the way to go as far as advertising on a shoe-string budget, like my situation - the prices for most of the programs are much more reasonable than the blogging sites or "pay-per-click" ads, such as Google, Amazon and Facebook. That can get expensive, and FAST!!

This site also has a feature that is a Godsend for me and other authors out there who are looking for readers who not only love to read, they love to REVIEW, and are looking for new books to gobble up! Just click on the FREE REVIEWS tab on the link I just posted.

Some simply want to read and review, while others are what are called "Reciprocol Reviewers." What this means is that they have written a book that they would like to have reviewed, and are willing to read and review your book in exchange for you reading and reviewing theirs - which is a fair trade, BUT very BAD idea, as far as Amazon is concerned, anyway.

As it turns out, Amazon is very much against the policy of trading reviews, and as stated in this blogger's valuable advice: "This is a bad idea.  It’s fine to blurb each other—that’s what the Big Five have always done. But don’t use Amazon’s customer reviews to do it." ..."In fact if you review that author within a few weeks, you’re going to set yourself up to lose both reviews—and a whole lot more. I’m not saying this happens every time. But if you get caught, things could get nasty for both of you." - http://annerallen.com/2016/10/amazons-new-review-rules-should-authors-worry/

So, don't use the "Reciprocol Reviewers," if you're planning on doing Amazon reviews but the ones who don't ask for "review for review" would be a great choice. Now, you could always tell the reviewer this: "Since Amazon has changed their policy on review exchanges, I would be more than glad to review your book on Smashwords or Goodreads, if you're listed on those sites."

But in all, there are still some reviewers on there who just love to read for the sake of reading, and would like to do a review afterward, so be SURE to visit this website, because they will not only help you with advertising, but reviews as well, so it's totally a WIN/WIN!! Here's their blog page for more info: http://www.tweetyourbooks.com/p/free-reviews.html

I'm VERY excited to start using these sites, especially to interact with some of the reviewers listed. I am more than willing to review someone else's work in exchange for them reviewing my own...we Indie Authors have to help one another in any way we can, so please do the same - on Goodreads or Smashwords, that is!  :)


Until next time, I am A.H. Shelton, and I thank you for stopping by! :)

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