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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47721
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Do you HAVE to? Of course not. But how many copies are you expecting or hoping to sell?

I've self-published 4 books. All non-fiction, which I think is rather a different market from fiction, but whatever.

If your book is listed on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or some other online bookstore, some number of people may stumble on it. But I wouldn't count on that being many. I may sell 2 books a month that way.

If you want more than that, you have to do SOMETHING to bring your book to people's attention. It would be nice if you could write a book and people would somehow just magically hear about it and rush out and buy a copy, but sadly, it doesn't work that way.

I have a website for my books, but I've found that has generated very few sales. Maybe it's not well enough done. Well obviously there's SOMETHING wrong with it or it WOULD be generating sales.

Mostly I rely on advertisements in magazines or websites related to the subjects of my books.

My father wrote a book and his sons are in a country band, so he sells books at a table at their concerts.

There are many ways to advertise. Print ads like me, a web site, email blasts, radio, selling at conventions, etc. The trick is to figure out what's appropriate for your book. You will likely find that some forms of advertising or publicity that work for others don't work for you. Some things that might work may be out of your budget. Like, prime-time TV commercials might be great, but there's no way I could afford it. Find what works for you and then keep doing it.

Original score: 2