written by Book Cave

To sell books, you need to find more readers. Spreading the word about your ebook can be challenging, but there are a lot of ways you can promote yourself and promote your ebook on Facebook.

1. Set up landing pages to link to from your Facebook posts

When people see and click on your promotion Facebook posts, you want to take them to a page on your website that will encourage them to buy your books or signup for your newsletter. That page needs to be attractive, well-designed, and have a call to action (like links to buy the books or a signup button).

2. Create an author page

You’re limited on what you can do with Facebook if you’re just using your personal Facebook profile. We recommend setting up an official author page so you can more easily promote your ebook on Facebook. With a page, you can schedule posts, use ads to get more likes, and can easily advertise to those who’ve liked your page.

3. Ask readers to share posts with others

Many people are willing to pass on the word but don’t even think to do so. If you ask them to share, they are more likely to hit that share button, meaning that more people will see your post. This can be accomplished by saying “Please share with your friends!” at the end of the post. Naturally, you don’t want to do this with every post.

4. Keep Facebook posts short

Followers are more likely to read and respond to a short post. A post with a short question and a link to a longer blog post is a great tactic.

5. Post things that will encourage engagement

It may surprise you to know that Facebook does not show all of your posts to all of your followers. Facebook uses an algorithm to determine how many posts it shows to how many people. Basically, more engagement = more reach. If more of your followers like your posts and leave comments, then Facebook will in turn show more of your posts. Drive engagement by asking followers a question with everything you post, even if it’s just a link to an interesting article. This means that not all of your posts will be “promotional.” This is important for more than just Facebook’s algorithm: people don’t like to be continually sold to, and they may leave if they don’t feel that your page offers anything other than promotion.

6. Make posts interesting

Images are a great way to keep posts interesting. If you link to a webpage that has a share image, Facebook will automatically insert the image for you. (So with all your blog posts, make sure to have great images!) You can also post funny images or memes. If you’re just posting straight text, make sure to ask a question or use a statement that compels participation so the post will hold people’s interest.

7. Post about giveaways

Readers love getting books for free! Giveaways for books that are downloaded directly from a landing page (rather than bought from a retailer like Amazon) and can even include additional prizes, like a gift card. These giveaways can be a book you’re giving away yourself as a subscriber magnet (where readers have to sign up for your newsletter to receive a new book), or it can be a group giveaway that you’re doing with other authors. These kinds of posts often get a lot of shares as well and will help you gain more followers organically, without paying money. Make sure this post links to a great landing page; Book Cave provides this landing page for you when you use our subscriber magnet services.

8. Post about sales on your books

Unlike a giveaway, when a book is on sale, even if it’s on sale for $0.00, readers buy it directly from the retailer. If your book is only on sale at one retailer, like Amazon, your Facebook post can link directly to Amazon. If it’s on sale at multiple retailers, link instead to a landing page on your website that links to all the retailers where it’s available.

9. Post about upcoming releases

Those who are following you on Facebook are doing so because they like your books, so they’ll be ecstatic to learn about new releases—especially if that new release is on sale for a limited time. Make sure to provide a link where they can go to actually buy the book.

10. Post book trailers

Videos are a great way to catch people’s attention; Facebook even has an autoplay feature that starts a video if it’s showing on the page. Creating a book trailer can be time-consuming, and it should be done well. Only try this if you have the time and talent (or know someone who can do it for you).

11. Promote your ebook on Facebook using ads

Ads can be tricky to get right, but when done properly, they can have amazing effects. An add should have only a small amount of text, with most of it being an eye-catching image. The best ads promise viewers something: offering a free book (could be in return for a newsletter signup) through an ad can be very effective. Make sure the ad links to a compelling landing page on your website or on the website that is hosting your book (like your landing page for your subscriber magnet on Book Cave). When creating an ad, make sure to adjust the audience and the times it runs to reach those you know will like your books.

12. Track and adjust your Facebook ads

Like we said, getting ads right can be tricky, which is why it’s important to check them regularly, track how they’re doing, and make adjustments to the audience, the times, or even the image itself. Please note that any comments, likes, or shares on your ad are removed after you edit it, so give your ad some time before you decide that it’s not working. You may just want to duplicate the ad and make the changes to the new ad, keeping the old ad as a backup. You can easily turn ads off and on.

13. Boost posts on your page

When you boost a post, you pay a fee for it to appear higher on Facebook users’ news pages, which means they’ll be more likely to see it and respond to it. The posts you boost should be those that promote your ebook or bring users to your website in some way.

14. Invite those who have liked your posts and your ads to also like your author page

Facebook makes inviting people to like your page easy: just go to a post and click on the text that shows how many people liked the post. A popup will appear that lists all the people, and on the right of each name will be an invite button. Click on each one to invite all those people to like your page. More likes means that more people will see and share your posts. Also, you can directly advertise to everyone who likes your page, so the more likes you have, the better.