Amazon, Wattpad, Instafreebie, BookFunnel, Goodreads … where’s the best place to find new readers?

Let’s say you have a new book. Congratulations! Oh. Now what?

Even if you want to give it away for free, what’s the best place to do so? Maybe you have the first in a series and you’re happy to give that away with the hope that they’ll want to continue?

There are so many books and so many sites, what’s an author to do?

Where are the readers?

There’s a case to be made for those experienced authors who say that Facebook is for watching cat videos and Amazon is for buying things–books among them.

We’re authors. We hang out in, around, uh, near other authors–and readers. Where do the readers hang out? They hang out where the stories are. Where are those? Easy:

1. Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, etc.
2. Audible, other audiobook retailers
3. BookBub, Instafreebie, BookFunnel, Wattpad, and other free book lists
4. Overdrive and other library apps
5. Bookstores … 😉

Should we put our books onto all of those places? Some of them? Free? Paid? Combination?

Is there a secret formula for an author to reach the right readers?

Well, if there is, I certainly don’t know what it is.

What’s an author to do?

Test. Measure. Test some more. Take in the feedback, the stats, the results. Then keep going, adjusting, fixing, and finally, with your group of readers, it will matter less and less where they are and more and more where you are as you have a cadre of readers who will follow you wherever you go.

But first, you’re going to need to go to them.

If you’re waiting for my advice, I’m going to try to use Amazon even as a testing ground because there are just so many readers on there.

I’ll keep you posted. Now I need to get back to writing.