Hi fellow authors and writers,

Not long ago I mentioned that I would be providing more information on marketing opportunities and other developments related to it that came my way. This is the first in that series of posts.

Shortly after posting about marketing and how necessary it is these days, my good friend Iseult Murphy got into contact with me. She was really excited for me and wanted to bounce some ideas back and forth.

One of the first opportunities related to marketing she told me about was BookSprout.

BookSprout is a site and app for readers and authors alike. For readers, they can find new reads, follow their favorite authors, and get involved in ARC reviews.

For authors, this is a great free way to promote themselves, get more exposure, and some reviews in the process.

Firstly, by creating your author account on BookSprout you get an author page where you can showcase your work. Readers can quickly access your works via Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and any other sales links you setup, as well as add you as a favorite and follow future publications.

But the really great feature with BookSprout is that you can create an ARC of any of your works for free. You can set up an arc of a new title or previously published title of yours and open up an ARC for up to 20 people to provide reviews (with paid plans you can have more people sign up).

You set a due date for your book to be reviewed, and then by the time that’s up you’ll have more reviews, free and clear. You will have to provide your book/work for free, but in return you can gain new readers and fans while building your base.

There are also paid monthly plans with numerous benefits, and although I am not currently exploring those options, I am sharing their general pricing structure below should you be curious.

Now for me, I primarily was interested in this opportunity because I wanted to increase my fan base and reviews. I have a good number of reviews on my debut novella Reaper, but you can never have enough, and I want to boost attention on my first published work while I continue to edit my sequel. The more of a base I have, the better my sequel will perform.

So right now I have an ARC open and four people signed up after a few days. While that’s not the full twenty slots, it’s good progress and I plan on sharing my ARC link with fellow readers and authors on social media to help fill in the remaining spots.

In a few weeks, I’ll be following up on this post with the final result of my experience with BookSprout once my ARC event is through.

Overall, BookSprout seems very promising, but the decision is really up to you. Below are the pros and cons I’m seeing, but I’m feeling very hopeful about this site and what it has to offer.

Pros

• Free with paid options for better reach
• Permanently extend your reach to potential readers
• Get more reviews on your works
• Opportunity to gain new fans and followers

Cons

• Possible sharing of your work from readers involved in ARCs
• ARCs aren’t featured on the site with the free plan, so you may need to advertise yourself on social media to fill up the slots.

That’s a Wrap!

Alright folks, that’s my marketing post about BookSprout. How about you? Have you ever used a service like this before? What was your experience? Feel free to share your opinion in the comments, and have a great day!

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