6 ebook marketing strategies with hands-on examples of how to get quality leads and boost sales

You have an ebook idea. Or maybe you’ve already written one, and you know it will help many people. But you also have no clue how to market your ebook, and it’s holding you back.

The solution?

Start with simple and effective ebook marketing ideas to promote your ebook.

Promotion needs to be a big part of your ebook launch strategy. Without a clear plan for finding buyers, you’ll struggle to sell your ebook.

And your audience won’t receive its valuable help or insights.

To get started, here’s our list of ideas to promote your ebook and sell it to hundreds of happy readers.

Ebook promotion idea #1: Attract the right target audience with a lead magnet

A lead magnet is an incentive for your audience to join your email list and one of the best ways to get more subscribers.

It’s usually a downloadable document, like a PDF guide, checklist, or printable. And it’s free—your subscriber’s email address is the ‘payment’.

The ultimate rule of lead magnets? The more specific they are, the more targeted an audience you’ll attract. Offer something closely related to your ebook to build a list of excited future ebook buyers.

Here are two ways to put this ebook promotion idea into action:

1.1 Turn your ebook’s first chapter into a lead magnet

Giving the first chapter of your ebook for free is an easy, quick, and straightforward way to build hype and your email list.

It’s a great idea because:

• A free chapter gives people tips they can implement and see results instantly
• You’re teasing the quality of the full, paid ebook, which removes fears around paying for it
• It leaves subscribers craving for more, so they’re more likely to buy
• You can create this lead magnet even before you write the complete ebook

Ebook lead magnet example by Discovering Dyscalculia

Discovering Dyscalculia offers coaching, a book, a blog, and other resources to those struggling with a learning disability in math.

To promote the ebook also named Discovering Dyscalculia, its creator, Laura M. Jackson offers a free chapter as a lead magnet:

It’s an excellent way potential buyers can see what they’re in for before they buy—and as they join the Discovering Dyscalculia email list, Laura can nurture them by sending information and other offers.

1.2 Create a free ebook related to your paid ebook

Your lead magnet can also be an ebook—a free one!—or a similar resource closely related to your paid ebook’s topic. A solid ebook template can make this a really easy strategy to implement.

A free ebook will attract the most relevant subscribers and bring them lots of additional value. By doing this, you’ll grow the trust of your email subscribers because you’ve given them a complete guide to achieving something meaningful at no cost.

This way, when you promote your paid ebook to them, they’ll already know your ebooks are worth their time and attention—and now money.

Ebook lead magnet example by Tom Hirst

Tom Hirst, a freelance WordPress developer, created a free ebook called 10 Steps To Becoming A Better Freelancer around three months before launching his paid ebook, Pricing Freelance Projects.

Around 2,000 people downloaded the free ebook, which allowed him to reach out to them when he released the paid ebook.

Tom didn’t stop at sharing his free ebook once. During this promotional time, he added it to his X/Twitter bio right next to the paid ebook. By doing this, he increased his chances of getting a new subscriber and potential new customer with every new follower.

Ebook marketing idea #2: Nurture and engage your audience

As a creator, everything you do online contributes to your ebook promotion (and product promotion in general).

But remember that social media platforms are rented land, and the best way to use them is to combine social media with email, a.k .a. a platform you own.

For example, bring value and transparency to your followers through micro-content—posts on LinkedIn and X/Twitter, Instagram posts, and pre-recorded videos—and use that content to lead them toward your email list and, ultimately, your ebook.

Here are a few ways to do so:

2.1 Show what’s inside with a table of contents

Sharing your ebook’s table of contents is one of the easiest ways to stand out from other ebooks and products on the same topic as yours.

It’s similar to the first chapter strategy from above because you’re giving an inside look into your ebook and the confidence to make a purchase.

Table of content example by Julia Evans

Julia Evans, a software developer, uses this strategy to promote her own take on the ebook format she calls zines—paid PDF downloads full of short, informative comics that teach programmers about a specific topic.

2.2 Launch an ebook giveaway campaign

Ebook giveaways work hard to help you grow on several fronts by:

• Growing your email list with people interested in your ebook topic
• Increasing your social media following
• Building hype and reach in a short time period

How does this approach work? The basis of an email giveaway is gifting a hyper-valuable resource—in this case, an ebook, but it can be another resource, a strategy session, a physical product, or a bundle—in exchange for an email signup, a social share, or a combo of the two.

Ebook giveaway example by Psyrex Music Collective

Mark Parkins is the creator behind Psyrex Music Collective, a music studio and education hub on home recording and music production.

To promote their ebook The Ultimate Handbook to Equalisation, the Psyrex Music Collective ran a giveaway. Participants had to sign up to their email list and share the promotional post on social media, and five of them were selected to receive the ebook for free. This helped them generate buzz around the ebook and build an audience more likely to buy it.

2.3 Create a challenge related to your ebook’s topic

Another strategy that does several jobs well is an email challenge focusing on the same topic as your ebook.

Let’s say your ebook is about building a regular meditation routine. Your email list challenge can then focus on small steps that lead to a regular meditation practice—you could name it the 5-Day Meditation Challenge.

This both grows your email list with people looking to add more mindfulness into your day and promotes your ebook at the end. And the best part? You build it once and reap the rewards on autopilot for as long as you want to keep the challenge active.

Ebook promotion tip #3: Pre-sell your ebook

Instead of writing your entire ebook before kicking off sales, you can outline your ebook idea, share it with your audience, and use pre-orders to spark engagement and attract early supporters.

Pre-selling your ebook means you’re getting actual money from people who want the ebook before you’ve even finished writing it. There are several upsides to this:

• You get to validate your ebook idea—financial commitment for a product that isn’t even ready is a huge signal your idea will work
• You generate revenue before you write the ebook
• You create a group of early adopters who will likely share and support your launch once the ebook is ready

3.1 Validate your ebook idea

Have an engaged social media following? A simple act of asking…

“I’m considering writing an ebook about [topic] that would cover my [years of experience] for those who want to [achieve a goal]. Is this something you’d love to read?”

…can help you confirm an ebook idea is a good one—and attract early customers.

Other than early revenue, this also builds your marketing engine for later, thanks to reviews and shares from those validating your idea.

Example by Steph Smith on X/Twitter

Steph Smith, a writer and growth marketer, used this strategy to originally build momentum for her Doing Content Right ebook (which has since become an online course).

First, she tweeted about her product idea, which came from an outline she wrote a year prior, asking her followers if they’d pay $10 for it:

Just hours later, after getting feedback from her followers, Steph shared her commitment to writing the best guide on this topic and a link to pre-order the ebook. On top of that, she offered the ebook for the initial $10 price, but with a caveat: she added tiered pricing, which meant the ebook price will go up after the first 30 orders.

This worked amazingly well. Steph got early supporters and amplified her marketing efforts down the line, with customers ready to write ebook reviews and share her ebook with their followers.

3.2 Host a webinar related to your ebook’s topic

Webinars let you dive deep into a topic, prove your expertise, bring value to a viewer, and promote your ebook.

Planning and running a webinar is a great marketing tactic for your creative business. Wistia found it to be one of the highest-performing video formats for small businesses, so when you pair it with your ebook promotion, you reap double rewards.

Try pairing your ebook pitch towards the end of your webinar with a discount for attendees for maximum results.

Webinar ideas to promote your ebook

Need some ideas for your ebook promotion webinar? Here are some to give you a creative kick:

• If your ebook topic is The Ultimate Guide to Home Organization With Kids, your webinar can be about steps to declutter a home
• If your ebook topic is The Pinterest Strategy For Maximum Traffic, your webinar can be an introduction to optimizing Pinterest for SEO
• If your ebook topic is The Complete Hand Lettering Guide, your webinar can focus on an introduction to hand lettering, covering essential materials and letter families

3.3 Use Kit Commerce to make pre-selling your ebook easy

There’s nothing worse than wanting to promote and pre-sell your ebook, only to realize you need to jump through a dozen hosting and payment hoops to make it happen.

The solution is simple: an all-in-one platform like Kit Commerce that makes it easy to create a product page and share the link with your audience to kick off your pre-sale period.

Your ebook pre-sale page can be ready in minutes. First, you’ll define your ebook’s name, price, and the page URL:

You can then add your sales page headline, copy, CTA, image, and brand colors and tailor every step of the purchase journey to your brand. This includes not just the landing page but also the checkout page, confirmation page, and transactional email.

All you need to pre-sell your ebook is in a single dashboard, only a few clicks away, and ready to go almost instantly.

Ebook marketing tip #4: Build a conversion-oriented sales page

You’ve worked hard to attract the right people to your ebook sales page, so make sure it’s set up so visitors are incentivized to buy your ebook.
Start with the basics: use strong messaging relevant to the problem you solve and share how your ebook helps. That includes:

• An attention-grabbing headline
• Visuals that resonate with your target audience
• Clear signup forms and call-to-action buttons
• Copy that promotes benefits through paragraphs and bullet points

Then, add more detail on your ebook landing page:

4.1 Include a video

A landing page video helps you connect with your visitor, draw them in closer, showcase your personality and help the visitor resonate with your ebook’s mission.

For example, you can show your face, processes, behind-the-scenes, or anything else you know would appeal to and help form a connection with your target audience.

In the case of an ebook sales page video, you can show yourself implementing one of the strategies from the ebook, show a snippet of your ebook, or go into more depth about the issues your ebook solves.

4.2 Create mockups of your ebook

Yes, your ebook is a digital product—but creating a mockup image of your ebook and adding it to your sales page is a great idea nonetheless.

It will help your future customers imagine themselves owning it and get a better idea of its perceived value because you’re showing it’s not a cheap PDF file but a body of impactful knowledge.

Use a tool like DIY Book Covers or one of many book cover templates to create yours.

Ebook mockup example by Nicolas Cole

Nicolas Cole, the co-founder of the cohort-based course Ship 30 for 30, leaned on an ebook mockup to level up his landing page.

This approach helped differentiate the ebook from other resources by Nicolas, like his newsletter, course, and YouTube channel.

4.3 Consider offering additional ebook resources

Which extras would make your ebook impossible to resist?

Think about offering additional resources along with the PDF file your customers will get:

• Additional reading formats, like EPUB (for the Universal Book Reader app) or MOBI (for Kindle)
• An audio version of the ebook
• Exercises, worksheets, or templates
• Additional video tutorials or interviews

Example of the extras Nathan Barry adds to his ebook offering

Nathan Barry, the founder of Kit and a creator himself, published Authority—a step-by-step guide to self-publishing. But instead of only offering it as a PDF download, he also added:

• An audiobook version
• Expert interviews
• Tutorial videos
• Additional resources

Ebook promotion idea #5: Use email marketing automations to get more sales

The benefit of automated email sequences is right there in their name: they’re automated. You only need to write and set them up once—they’ll do the hard work of promoting your ebook on autopilot.

Here’s how email automation works with sequences. You define an action that triggers an email, or a series of emails, in the days that follow.

For your ebook promotion and launch, you can use these two triggers:

1. Downloading a lead magnet, like a free chapter
2. Showing interest in your ebook by clicking a link or signing up through a book announcement landing page

Let’s dive into each of these.

5.1 Market your paid ebook to people who signed up for your lead magnet

When subscribers download a free chapter of your ebook, you give them a taster of the full meal. But no matter how good the free chapter is, you still need to remind them to check out the rest of your ebook—otherwise, they may not remember to do so themselves.

A simple way to do this is to send an automated email a couple of days after they downloaded the chapter. Your email should cover two things:

• Ask what they thought about the chapter and share how they took action from it
• Share the call-to-action to the ebook landing page where they can purchase the full ebook, with a bullet point summary of what it will help them do

Set this up once and reap the rewards for many months to come.

Automation template: Pitch your ebook with a free chapter

Got the free chapter ready? Your email copy to deliver it, too?

Here’s a Kit automation template that will do all the heavy lifting for you. It includes a free chapter trigger, a pitch email, an ebook purchase tag, and a thank you email.

Use this free chapter automation template

5.2 Advertise the release of your new ebook

There are other ways to track subscribers that would love to hear when your ebook is out.

The explicit one is having an announcement landing page where they register their interest for it.

The implicit option? Tagging subscribers who have clicked on links in your emails that relate to your ebook or the topic of the ebook.

You can then use those signups and tags as triggers for an ebook release email.

Automation template: Release a new ebook

Want to launch your ebook to a warm audience?

In this Kit automation template, the trigger includes those who signed up for announcements or were tagged as interested in your ebook based on their interactions with your emails.

They receive an announcement on a defined date and your follow-up emails based on whether they bought the ebook or not.

Use this ebook release automation template

Ebook marketing tip #6: Expand your reach to new audiences

Our final ebook promotion tip? Promoting your ebook means promoting yourself as a creator. Ebook marketing should simply fit into your consistent marketing efforts. Here’s how:

6.1 Ask buyers to share their feedback on social media

Existing customers are one of your best marketing engines—and one creators tend to forget about.

This marketing strategy is simple: reach out to your ebook buyers and ask them to share their review of your ebook on social media, like their favorite takeaway or something they managed to achieve thanks to it.

You can then reshare these posts, use them on your sales page, and even in your ebook promo emails.

6.2 Reach out to influencers

Take note of relevant creators in the industry and any connections you’ve already built. If you can get your ebook on their radar, they might share it with their audience and significantly increase your reach.

This might take some upfront work, like:

• Asking the creator for a quote or an example you can feature in your ebook first
• Offering something else in return, like sharing their content or products with your audience
• Building a relationship over a longer period of time

Whatever approach you choose, make it a two-way collaboration and effort.

6.3 Get interviewed on podcasts

Podcasts are a fantastic way to share your expertise, personality, depth of experience, and your unique approach to solving specific problems to new, large audiences.

Take some time to find podcasts that closely relate to your ebook topic and that your target audience already listens. For example, if your target audience includes freelance designers, they might be listening to podcasts that are freelance-specific, design-specific, as well as those that explore the creative process—all of which are great options in this case.

Approach podcast hosts with personalized pitches and watch your audience—and, ultimately, your ebook sales—grow.

6.4 Speak at events or summits

There aren’t many things that launch your expertise to a large new audience as loudly as standing on a conference stage, whether in-person or virtually.

If this sounds too intimidating, look at it this way:

You’re a pro. You already know your content inside out. Event organizers are hungry for reliable, thorough speakers that will bring tangible value to their attendees. Your talk should never be focused on pitching a paid product, but you can mention it towards the end.

Look for events with open speaker calls or pitch your favorite online summit creator for consideration at their next event. When doing that, focus on what you can do for them and be specific with your topic pitch.

6.5 Ask other creators to recommend your work

Join forces with others in your niche to send each other quality subscribers and buyers.

The best way to do it? By using a recommendation engine like the one from Kit. With Recommendations, you can tap into a huge network of creators and suggest their newsletter to your subscribers—and vice versa.

You can search for creators within specific categories and team up with them on a regular basis. This will grow your audience on autopilot and set up a great foundation for your ebook launch period.

Create a powerful ebook marketing plan

Now you know: there’s nothing that can stop you from launching a successful ebook. Whether you’re just starting to write it or it’s ready for your readers, you can focus on any of these ebook promotion ideas and examples to get it in front of your target readers.

The best part? You don’t need to start from scratch with any of these tactics. Kit gives you dozens of landing page templates to kick off your marketing plan, and thanks to Kit Commerce, you can start selling your ebook without extra tools or payment processors (even on a free plan!).

You’ll build an ebook marketing machine, create another income stream, and keep more money from your ebook sales. All you need to do is get started with Kit.