Which book promotion sites actually work?

Like most authors, I'd rather be writing than marketing. The idea of hiding away from the world, with just the cat for company, sipping tea all day and writing tome after tome of Hugo-award-winning brilliance that millions will ... err, sorry about that.

The fantasy author writing without marketing – it's just a dream!
Image care of wallpaper wind.com

... Back to reality now.

The business of selling books is mostly about writing good stories, but it's also about getting your publications in front of readers' eyes. Unfortunately, marketing is necessary. So, how can you go about navigating all those sites? How do you know which ones will make money for you, and which will just take it?

As a newb at this advertising stuff, here's a few things I've found useful.

· Experiment. The only way you're going to find out which promotion sites work for you and your books is to try them out. Well, that's what I've been told on good authority from other authors, and this year I've made it my goal to experiment every month and start collecting my own data.

· Join forces with other authors. Having author buddies is awesome for so many reasons, including this one. Even if you only know one other author, it's good to share your data to get a bigger picture of effective sites for advertising. It's particularly useful to form a small group of authors who write in a similar genre.

A secret meeting of authors to share their book promotion data.
Image care of Larry Elmore

· Check out Sharon Karaa's ebook promotion sites review. Romance authors are renowned for supporting each other and sharing their data. Karaa is one such author who is sharing the love this month, generously providing her data free to all authors in a very helpful spreadsheet (future updates will be available for a measly $1). This is highly recommended and worth checking out, and Karaa would like authors to spread the word about it, so if you get a copy be sure to tweet, or tell your writer friends about it.

· Check out Indies Unlimited. I enjoy following IU's blog, which is full of useful posts for Indie authors. They have a handy list of promotional sites, and Indies can also advertise there for free . They are running a survey at the moment in an effort to collect more data about promotional sites. Also, check out their  reader's choice excellence awards survey.

I'll report back in a year or so with any pearls of wisdom I may have gleaned about promotion. In the meantime I'd love to know: do you have a favourite promotion site or strategy when it comes to book promotion?

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