I have a secret weapon when it comes to marketing: my day job revolves around search engine optimization. Essentially, I get paid to learn how to boost visibility for products, which of course helps me personally.

Since I already get paid to do this, I do not need you to pay me. I’m not going to release an expensive course or a book like many other authors. Rather, I will give you a general overview so that you know what to look up elsewhere.

First, let’s look at the bad news so you know what you’re up against.

The average self-published, digital-only book sells just 250 copies over its lifetime.

90% of self-pubbed books never sell more than 100 copies.

Many don’t sell any. At all. Ever.

For full disclosure, I sold 485 copies of my first book, 9 Years Yearning, between June 2024 and July 2025. Definitely not best seller numbers, but better than the lifetime estimate of 250 books.

So now that I’ve shown that I beat the odds (modestly though it may be), let’s talk about why others don’t get the same numbers.

Self-pubbed books don’t sell well for several reasons.

Firstly, a lot of self-published books suck. There’s no getting around that. And consumers know that many self-published books suck, so they’re leery of purchasing them at all.

A lot of authors do not want to spend any money making a good product, but you’ve gotta. Self-publishing is a business, and every business has expenses. The typical business spends about 10% of its budget just on marketing.

I know it’s not what you want to hear. After all, KDP is free, right? Yeah, technically.

Getting attention on Amazon or other book publishing platforms is not free, though. You’re competing with millions of other books, including tradpub ones with a much bigger budget. So you have to splash some cash, but you’ve got to do it strategically.

Don’t use paid advertising for your first two books.

There are some people out there that insist you should never, ever buy ads, for any reason. They believe these companies are exploiting starry-eyed authors to make money without actually pushing their product at all.

While I am pretty anti-giant-companies in the first place, I do not think this is necessarily true. Rather, I believe that too many authors and artists jump the gun on advertising because they want instant success, and then they start spending way too much of their budget on advertising in hopes that it will help them gain traction.

The writing business doesn’t work that way, and here’s why. You need to have a catalog of books to sell so that you make more money per click.

Let’s say two authors have the exact same advertising budget, but Author A has only one book available and Author B has a five-part series.

Author A advertises their one book and gets one sale per 10 clicks. That’s a pretty impressive ratio! But they’re still only making one sale per 10 clicks.

Author B advertises the first book in their series. Like Author A, they get one sale per 10 clicks. But that one sale, assuming the rest of their series is good, turns into five sales. In short, they actually got five sales per 10 clicks as opposed to Author A.

If you’ve poked around Amazon ads already, you’ll notice that you have to put in bids for each term you use. Because Author A can only get one sale, they have to bid low for every term, making them less likely to be seen at all. On the other hand, Author B can make up to five sales per click. They can bid higher because their profit margin is higher, and they will beat out Author A every time.

I didn’t start messing around with ads until I released my third book, Funeral of Hopes. I then paid a marketing company to set up my Amazon ads for my first book, 9 Years Yearning, for about $100. I didn’t set up ads for any of the other books – just the first one, relying on readthrough rates. It takes time to start getting sales from ads, but I did get a few sales on the very first day, which tells me that the ads are working and I just need to be patient.

Also, it’s better not to use free promos until you have a second book out that readers can jump to. Otherwise you’re just giving stuff away and not getting any benefit from it because people won’t remember to check for you when you release the second one. I didn’t do free promos until I had Pride Before a Fall available for preorder, and I did get some sales that way.

When you’re first starting out, your primary goal is to build out your catalog and organically grow your readership. Self-pub books don’t gain traction immediately, and this is normal. Just like any business, it takes a while to start making a profit. Keep your head down, make a good product, and things will grow over time.

Find a professional cover artist.

Remember, you are competing with thousands of other books, most of which will have professional covers. We all claim that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but that’s exactly what people do.

The Kindle freebie covers are not enough. Frankly, they are ugly. They scream unprofessional, and they will make people assume that your work isn’t very good. That is not a fair assumption in many cases, but it’s what people think. Reality doesn’t care whether we agree with it or not.

There are plenty of great artists out there who can bring your vision to life. Fiverr has tons of lovely designers; mine is Katarina, and she will be working with me throughout the series. But there are other places, so do your research before spending any money. I’m likely going to use a different cover artist for the paperbacks when I make those, just so that readers have a reason to want the print version.

Use reliable beta readers/editors.

Now, it’s possible to find free beta readers, but ultimately, you get what you pay for. Beta readers are essential to ensuring that your product will captivate readers; you can’t skimp on it.

Some beta readers will just tell you that your work is great because they want you to leave a nice review. While we all love a good ego boost, this isn’t helpful.

Tell them precisely what you want them to focus on, like characterization, plot, continuity, emotional resonance, worldbuilding, tension, or structure so that they know what you want them to focus on. Ask direct questions, such as, “I want to be sure I’m not being melodramatic,” or, “I want to know whether the plot makes sense.”

If you have a very particular section you need help on, call that out. Also tell them whether you don’t want help with things like grammar or syntax.

Not only does this allow for more focused feedback, it also signals that you’re serious about receiving constructive criticism rather than looking for a pat on the back.

I provide a list of my beta readers and other vendors on my Resources page if you’re looking for quality services.

Create graphics as your advertising.

Humans are visual creatures. Even readers, famously known for liking words, will gravitate toward visual content. As such, good graphics are your friends and can do more for you than paid ads.

If you purchase cover art, it’s pretty easy to make hundreds of different images by turning it into a PNG, removing the background, and combining it with something else.

As you have probably noticed, I like to use Unsplash pictures and add text with Canva for quick and easy new images. You can even make GIFs by animating the letters or pictures.

I’m particularly proud of this advertisement for Pride Before a Fall because I think it’s really funny.

Canva also has preset templates for different social media platforms, booklets, business cards, flyers, and much more; you can even get them professionally printed right from the site. This is great if you want to do in-person advertising later.

I am still working on the graphics element of advertising, studying what makes a good graphic and refining my approach. This, too, is normal; it’s not like we were all automatically taught what to do when we wrote a book. Again, keep your head down and keep going. You’ll improve over time.

Focus on just a few platforms for marketing.

If you don’t like a platform, don’t use it. You may miss out on some potential sales, but ultimately, it’s very hard to build a following from the ground up on every single platform; your readers don’t want to follow you everywhere.

I enjoy writing on WordPress because I like sharing what I’ve learned over 15 years of working on my craft. It’s a marketing tool, but it also makes me happy, so it’s a good use of my time.

Ultimately, we want to spend as much time as possible doing things that feel good, because that passion shines through in our efforts and makes people want to engage with us.

Offer something of value to your readers before they buy anything.

In the SEO world, content is king. Identifying high-value keywords and integrating them naturally into your content builds your authority while boosting your visibility.

This is one of the easiest things for authors. After all, the whole point of writing books is to communicate something to our readers.

Most importantly, it develops a personal connection with your reader so they want to support you – and tell others about your work. Because you have provided them with something useful, they are more inclined to purchase; it’s the “free sample” method. I’m always so happy when someone links my articles, as it shows I’m helping them.

Build your online presence through a website or newsletter.

Social media is ephemeral. People see your post, move on, and don’t think about you again. It’s difficult to create a good internal navigation system because those platforms aren’t build for that.

Again, that’s why I like WordPress. (I promise that nothing I mention here is sponsored; I’m genuinely happy with these products.)

I can make pages that are always available and easy to find, and then I can make posts that are curated on the blog page. Categorization makes it simple for readers to find things that are only about one topic, while tags help draw in more people.

Having a large content catalog is critical for SEO, as is good internal linking, and WordPress helps with that.

Yes, WordPress does require a subscription if you want all the goodies, but it’s a better use of your budget than advertising because your content stays organized and available. Paid ads require constant purchases, while WordPress only requires a purchase once a year.

Be consistent.

The Rule of Seven in advertising is that a potential buyer must see your call to action seven times before they are willing to convert (ie, buy your product). The more exposure you can receive, the more times your message is seen, and the more likely that someone will get intrigued by your work.

As such, you must put consistent effort into your advertising. Pick a specific platform, develop a content calendar, and stick with it.

WordPress is great because you can schedule posts months or even years in advance, making it much easier to stay connected with your audience. Just as with advertising your books, build up a backlog of material and schedule it to publish on certain days.

You also need to create a consistent niche rather than blogging about anything and everything. If you make one post about gardening and someone gets excited about it, they’ll expect more of that content and grow frustrated if they see you blogging about other random stuff.

What to spend money on as a beginner author

The golden question: how to use your limited funds for maximum benefit. Here are my recommendations.

• Cover artists and designers.
• Beta readers and editors.
• Writing aids like books, programs, etc.
• WordPress domain or other website provider.
• Canva subscription.
• ARC platforms like BookSprout, which we’ll discuss elsewhere.

You also need to know what not to spend money on. Here’s what I think.

Meta or Amazon ads (at least at first).

An “agent.” This should be a duh, but you’d be surprised how many people get duped into paying for an agent when they intend to self-publish. Real tradpub agents don’t ask for money from their clients because they are paid through commissions instead.

Any vanity press or company that promises to help you publish your book. Kindle Create is completely free and can help you distribute through other channels like Draft2Digital or Ingram Spark if you so choose.

Influencer posts. They are helpful for showing up on search results, but remember that you should spend as little as possible on marketing for your first few books.

Marketing services like social media management or SEO agencies, though you can certainly use these later on in your career.

Marketing courses or books. You can learn nearly everything you need to know from free resources. David Gaughran has a free, very extensive course; much of what I offer here is derived from his advice.

NetGalley, which is an ARC platform geared toward publishing houses. Way too expensive for your needs.

Self-publishing takes a lot of work, but it is also very rewarding.

Writing and marketing is exhausting, especially in addition to my full-time freelancing job, but I am happy to do it because I love the Eirenic Verses and sharing advice with people. I’m losing money, but that’s okay. Making something I care about is worth all the struggle, the sleep deprivation, and everything else. Over time, I’ll recoup my losses and get into the black.

Your life may look different from mine; you might have kids, an ailing parent, a stressful job, or other commitments. That’s alright! I’m not judging you if you can’t throw everything at your book business.

Take care of your real life first before you worry about marketing. Your well-being, and that of anyone who depends on you, should always be your top priority.

So, you’re not required to spend as much time as I do on writing/marketing, but you will have to devote a lot of energy and money to get good results. You may take a longer time to build traction, which is totally fine. Chip away at it one day at a time.

I hope you’ll decide it’s worth it. People deserve to hear about your books, and you deserve that self-satisfaction.