Guest Post ~ AboutTheAuthor.co.uk – A Fast and Easy Way to Promote Your Book, For FREE!, by Richard McMunn

I sat down to write my first physical book in 2009, and I have to say it was one of the best things I have ever done.

Since then, I have written and self-published in excess of 150 books. Although it has been a truly life-changing experience, I often found it challenging in the early days to promote my books without having to pay through the nose for the privilege. Through my own personal experience, paying for book promotional services does not always lead to any decent exposure, or even any book sales, to be honest!  In fact, I have often found that I can get far greater exposure for my books by using the many free resources that are out there.

On that basis, I decided to sit down and think about how I could not only help myself promote my own books, but also help other authors to gain free exposure for theirs, too. After a quick Internet search I soon realized that the domain name www.AboutTheAuthor.co.uk was available to purchase. I was actually amazed that the domain was still available to buy, and so I quickly snapped it up for the princely sum of £2.99. I then hired a website developer to create the design for me, and the rest as they say, is history!

I invested quite a bit of my own money into getting the website designed and built, and it has always been my intention to make it an entirely free resource for authors. Basically, I wanted it to be a place where every author could go to in order to promote his or her books.

The website has been a huge success and has attracted hundreds of authors from across the globe. Once an author signs up for their free account, they are then able to: 

• Upload their book to the website, free of charge;
• Upload an image of their book and create a book description;
• Submit an author biography and links to their own website;
• Add BUY NOW buttons and sell their book(s) directly from their own dedicated author page;
• Create and upload a YouTube video to their author page, which can be used to promote their book;
• Offer their book for sale at a discount and also link it to their own website, Waterstones, Amazon and the Book Depository;
• Connect with their readers and fans by inserting their social channels into their page, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter.

In addition to all of the above free features, an author can also tweet and share their page to their Twitter and Facebook followers. Conversely, fans of their books can leave an independent review on the website based on their experiences of the content.

The website is growing very fast indeed and I have plans in the future to develop it further, whilst still keeping it as a free resource for authors around the world.

Hopefully you will take advantage of it yourself by signing of for a free author account and you will also let other authors know of its existence. After all, we can all do with a bit of free exposure for our books every now and then!

Richard McMunn

To start promoting your book on the About The Author website, please visit:

www.AboutTheAuthor.co.uk

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About the Author

Richard McMunn is a former Fire Officer who has written and self-published over 150 books to date. He is the founder of How2Become.com, the UK's leading careers information website. In addition to writing his own books he is passionate about helping aspiring authors achieve their writing and publishing goals. He is always looking for innovative ways to help authors promote their books to a wider audience. Richard lives in Kent, England and spends much of his time in the Lake District, walking with his Labrador dog, Ben. Follow Richard on Twitter @RichardMcMunn.