Level Up Your Book Sales: Advanced Strategies for 2025 Without Social Media

Sick of socials? Try these five powerful ways to market your book without relying on social media.

Photo by Samurai Stitch on Unsplash

Social media can be an excellent tool for book promotion, connecting with readers, and building your online author platform, but it’s not the only way to try to sell books.

Whether you’re overwhelmed by algorithms, tired of all the politics (see my last post on Facebook’s new ‘strategy’), or prefer alternative methods, many effective strategies can boost your book sales and visibility.

Here are five powerful ways to market your book without relying completely on social media.

1. Leverage Book Blogs, Podcasts, and Media Outreach

One of the best ways to drive sales is to promote your book to established audiences. Instead of posting on social media, pitch yourself to book bloggers, podcasters, and media outlets that cater to your target readers.

• Book Blogs: Many book bloggers accept guest posts, interviews, or review copies. Reach out to bloggers in your genre. Here’s a helpful list.

• Podcasts: Authors can benefit from appearing on podcasts, especially in niche markets. Check out Podchaser to find relevant shows.

• Press Releases & Media: To get quoted in articles, use free Connectively (previously referred to as HARO—Help a Reporter Out). 

  You can also submit press releases through platforms like PRWeb.

• Need a PR company? Send me an email, and I’ll send you my recommendations.

💡 Example: Colleen Hoover’s books skyrocketed in popularity partly because of blogger reviews and traditional media features (even before #BookTok took off).

2. Build and Nurture a Newsletter Subscriber List

An email list is one of an author's most valuable assets. Unlike social media, where algorithms control your visibility, email marketing gives you direct access to your audience whenever you want to communicate with them, whether via a newsletter company or here on Substack.

• Own Your Audience: Social media platforms can and often do change rules or disappear, but you control your email list.

• Convert Readers into Buyers: Email marketing consistently outperforms social media in sales conversions (aka, from click to sale). Readers who subscribe to your list are likelier to buy your book than someone who casually scrolls past a social media post.

• Engagement and Relationship Building: Regularly sending newsletters allows you to build a personal connection with your audience by sharing behind-the-scenes insights, book updates, and exclusive content.

How to Grow Your Email List

• Offer a freebie (novella, short story, bonus chapter) for signups.

• Use a landing page with a clear call to action (services like ConvertKit can help).

• Add a signup form to your author's website and book pages.

• Promote your list in guest blog posts, podcast interviews, and events.

• Try a BookSweeps or some other subscriber-building strategy.

💡 Example: Joanna Penn (The Creative Penn) successfully sells books through her email list, keeping readers engaged with writing insights and book recommendations.

3. Optimize Your Website for Direct Sales

Your author website is your 24/7 book marketing machine. A well-optimized website and an engaged email list can generate ongoing book sales.

• SEO-Optimized Book Pages: Ensure your book’s sales page is search-friendly with relevant keywords, a compelling description, and purchase links. I recommend working with Authorbytes, the premier author website design company. They have many different options for most budgets.

• Lead Magnet & Email Marketing: Combine your website with an email list to nurture potential readers.

• Blogging: Write helpful, searchable content related to your book’s themes (e.g., a historical fiction author can write about real-life events in their book).

• Newsletter: Start your own Substack! More here ⬇️

4. Maximize Retailer & In-Person Sales Channels

Selling books directly to readers or through established retailers can drive long-term sales without social media.

• Amazon Ads & Metadata Optimization: You don’t need social media to rank on Amazon—strategic keywords, categories, and Amazon Ads can do the heavy lifting. (Metadata optimization is fancy for adding keywords, headlines, subtitles, and alt-text. More on that in a future post.)

• Book Signings & Events: Local bookstores, libraries, and festivals offer great sales opportunities. IndieBound can connect you with independent bookstores in your area.

• Book Subscription Boxes: Services like OwlCrate and Book of the Month can feature your book, bringing in hundreds or thousands of new readers (though pretty spendy).

💡 Example: Author TJ Klune’s books gained traction through indie bookstore promotions and word-of-mouth before becoming bestsellers.

5. What About Goodreads and BookBub?

Both sites are all about readers and books. If you haven’t yet created your author profile on these sites, you’ll need to do so.*

*Note: For these sites to approve your author account, your book must be available on Amazon (preorder is fine).

You can run ads on both site (do your homework first!) and even pre-launch giveaways on Goodreads. Cost: $199 for up to 100 winners. KDP fulfills the ebooks for you as part of the price. You can also connect with all who enter (usually in the thousands).

I’ll discuss the specifics more in a future newsletter. For now, create your accounts, add your bio, share some favorite books, and follow people.

Do We Really Need Social Media?

While these alternative marketing strategies can be highly effective, it’s essential to acknowledge that traditional publishers (and book PR companies) often expect authors to have a social media presence.

And social media is this generation’s ‘word-of-mouth.’ Readers won’t find the book or author they’re looking for on social media if you’re not on social media.

Many publishing houses and book PR companies consider your online platform part of their decision-making process because it helps gauge your audience size and engagement.

If you’re pursuing traditional publishing, building an essential social media presence can improve your chances of landing a book deal. Remember: they want a ‘sure’ deal.

Final Thoughts

Social media is helpful, but it is only one tool for book marketing. As I have repeatedly mentioned, relying solely on social media to sell books is not a good use of your time or budget.

Our author platform comprises many of the above strategies; no ‘easy’ button exists.

Social media aims to build relationships with readers

and grow your online presence.

Learn more here ⬇️

Want more book marketing strategies? 📩 Sign up for my newsletter for expert book promotion tips!

Would you like help implementing any of these strategies? 😊 Visit me at badredheadmedia.com or email me at badredheadmedia@gmail.com.

Books To Read

If you love short stories and poetry, pick up Land of the Story Tellers by Stephen Deck here. Deck worked on these stories for twenty-five years. More on his site here. He’s also an extremely talented photographer.

I’m enjoying this excellent crime/suspense/thriller series from Vince Defilippo, Mayhem on Mulberry (Books One and Two are available now…more to come!) Learn more about Vince here.

Coming Up Next Week:

Join me for my monthly audiospace on Twitter/X, next Wednesday, February 5, at 2 pm PT/5 pm ET. Click here to set a reminder and add it to your calendar.

Topic: Open Q&A: ask me anything about book marketing!

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Happy writing!