Book promotion websites in Germany
So you’ve just published your translated book on Amazon, Apple, Tolino, or other platforms. Now what? How do you find new readers in this foreign market, in a language you don’t know?
Doing a free or reduced price deal, in which you offer your book for free or for a bargain price for a limited amount of time, is always a good way to gain sales and increase visibility of your book (but take care to change prices on all sales channels at once so as to not violate the Fixed Price Law). If possible, enlist help from your translator. They can help you by posting links on Social Media sites. However, their reach is limited and may not include your target audience. That’s where book promotion platforms come in. They will feature your book deals on their site or send newsletters out to subscribers to help you reach a whole new readership.
Here is a list of book promotion websites in Germany. Some of them offer free services, others are paid. I’ve also created a PDF as an overview that you can download here if that’s easier for you. If you want to use these sites, you can find detailed tutorials in my online course “How to promote your book in Germany“.
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XTME: Promotion of free and discount deals for Kindle ebooks
With over 5000 visitors each day, and 2000 newsletter subscribers, xtme features fiction and nonfiction. You can submit a book without any reviews to feature new releases, but results will probably be better with several reviews under your belt.
The books are hand-picked from all submissions by the owner of the website, Johannes Zum Winkel. You can contact him in English and discuss your marketing needs directly.
SERVICES:
| Promotion of discount deals | The ebook deal must be cheaper than 1 €: Basic service is free |
| Promotion of free ebooks deals | Basic service is free. For consideration of your book on very short notice, 9 € service fee will be charged. Sponsored features can be booked for 19 – 29 €. You can also submit your free English ebook to xtme:englishbooks |
| Banner ads with author intro | 1 – 5 days from 9 – 100 € |
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Buchregen – Discount promos, reviews required
Featuring reduced price promotions via their newsletter as well as on the website.
Requirements: At least 3 reviews with at least 4.0 average and at least 100 pages.
SERVICES
| Discount deal promo | about 30 € (1 day) |
| option to book Facebook advertising | from 5.95 € (+1,500 people reach) |
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BuchDeals – Promotion of free and discount ebooks
They offer a newsletter service with ebook deals to subscribers as well as an app with an advertised “Book of the Day”. Read more about Buchdeals here.
| Book is offered for at least 50% reduced price, or free. |
| Book cannot be offered for a lower price 90 days prior to of following the promotion on BuchDeals |
| Only short term discounts (no permafree) |
| High quality (edited) books with a minimum page number (fiction: 150 p., nonfiction: 100 p., Children’s books: 20 p.) |
| Available on most, if not all, sales channels |
| Promotion on BuchDeals only once every 3 months |
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Bestebookfinder – Ebook promo and banner ads
SERVICES:
| Banner ads for free ebooks and discount deals | TAI 12 – 25 € |
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BuchFans – Promotion of free and discount books
Anybody (not just the author) can report ebook bargain deals or giveaways. An interesting add-on is the possibility for readers to submit book reviews or recommendations that might be published on the website.
SERVICES:
| Listing of bargain deals and giveaways | free |
| Sponsored posts | 60 € |
| Banner ads (1 week) | 60 € (in bundle with sponsored post: 100 €) |
| Banner design, Facebook promotion, remarketing | 60 – 90 € |
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ebook-Rabatte: Promotion of ebook discount deals
In contrast to XTME, Ebook Ninja, and others, it doesn’t focus on Amazon Kindle books only. Featured books may include links to all your sales channels.
SERVICES:
| Promotion of ebook discount deals | 2.50 € / day |
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ebooks-unlimited: Promotion of KU books
This website promotes books in KindleUnlimited. They don’t have to be discounted for the promotion.
SERVICES:
| Promotion of ebooks in KU | 2 € / day |
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EbookWatcher: Free and discount promos
EbookWatcher sends daily newsletters to subscribers with free and discounted Kindle books. They also have a shop with a variety of promotional options such as featured articles, Facebook giveaways and cover polls.
SERVICES:
| Promotion of discount deals for 3 or 7 days | 43 – 57 € |
| Promotion of free ebooks for 3 or 7 days | 12 – 19 € |
| Banner ads for 3 to 10 days | 15 – 30 € |
| Featured book article | 71 € (Can also include videos and reading sample) |
| Facebook giveaway | 139 € (Only for print books that you send to them) |
| Polls for book cover or blurb | 59 – 79 € (Create a poll to test two covers or blurbs against each other) |
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Tolle Buchangebote – Promotion of free and bargain ebooks
REQUIREMENTS:
-Book is offered for at least 25% reduced price, or free.
-More than 5 reviews averaging at least 3.5 stars
-Price promotion runs for at least 7 days
SERVICES:
| Promotion of free and bargain ebooks | Free |
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Lesedeals
Promotion of free and heavily discounted ebooks. Authors may submit their books for free.
SERVICE:
| Features your free and discount promotion | It’s free. |
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KindofBook
Promotion of free and heavily discounted ebooks. Authors may submit their books for free.
SERVICE:
| Features your free and discount promotion | It’s free. |
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Ebook Top Deals – Facebook and Twitter only, bargain ebook deals
Everybody can submit a book as Top Deal. It is expected to support the page by liking, sharing links, tweeting, etc. You will not be able to submit again, if you don’t help in the promotion.
SERVICES:
| Promotion of discount deals | Free |
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Ebook Ninja – Promotion of free and discount deals for Kindle ebooks
Similar to XTME with a smaller readership: 500 page views a day, 55 newsletter subscribers, as well as 800 Facebook fans and 300 Twitter followers.
SERVICES:
| Promotion of free and discount deals | service is free |
| Banner ads | featured 1 week, service is free (for now) |
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Schnulze der Woche – Romances, only new releases
A newsletter to all lovers of romances, features new releases in the genre every week, mostly between 0.99 and 2.99 €. Authors can submit their new releases for consideration, or book a giveaway or presentation.
SERVICES:
| Feature as “Schnulze der Woche” (romance of the week) | Free (but only selected titles) |
| Book giveaways or sponsored posts | Small fee (ask: info(at)schnulze-der-woche.de) |
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Ebook Bargains UK
Yes, this is a UK site, but they send out daily newsletters to subscribers in several other countries, including Germany. They claim to be the world’s first and currently only international ebook promotion newsletter.
SERVICES:
| They offer multiple listing options for low prices (from 5 GBP). Find out specifics on their website. |
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PAPIERLOS LESEN (Paperless reading)
A site that focusses on E-Reader tests and ebook recommendations. High traffic (35,000 visitors a month), therefore prices are on the high side.
SERVICES
| Banner ads | from 49 € upward |
| Sponsored posts about your ebook (written by the owner of the website) | 99 € |
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Seite 99 – Features an excerpt from page 99 of your book
This is an interesting concept. The assumption here is that starting to read a book in the middle (on page 99) will give you more information about the quality of the book and whether you are going to like it or not, than starting at the beginning. If page 99 is exciting, captivating and entertaining, readers will want to get the whole book.
SERVICE:
| Features your excerpt of page 99 and the link to the Amazon sales page. | It’s free to submit your book, and it doesn’t have to be a price deal. |
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Was lese ich (What I read) – Content-specific book lists and reviews
When submitting a book to be featured on this website, authors can choose on a sliding scale to what extend a certain element is represented in their book (for example: a little Action, lots of Romance, no Sadness, some Magic…). Authors can also choose to offer review copies to book bloggers (rezi-suche).
SERVICES:
| Book listing and finding book bloggers | Service is free |
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Suchbuch.de – Book listings and banner ads for print and ebooks
SERVICES:
| Book listings with excerpts | free (add category for 1 €/month) |
| Banner ads | 5 – 25 €/month |
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Snapbooks– An app for ebook deals
REQUIREMENTS:
-Book is offered at least 50% reduced
-Deal is offered for a limited time
-Book is available on all sales platforms (no Amazon exclusive books)
SERVICES:
| Promotion of discount deals | 1 week featured as a Top Deal: 250 € (only now, introductory price) |
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Ebook News – Banner ads, book excerpts, and sponsored posts
25% discount for self-published authors on all of their services.
| Book excerpts featured on the blog (1 week) | 150 € (till March 31, 2015) |
| Sponsored posts (1 week) | 250 € (till March 31, 2015) |
| Banner ads (1-12 months) | 50 € and up |
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There’s also a helpful website called ebook-vermarkten.de that features a shop where you can buy ads on many of the promo sites mentioned above, all in one place. For more information, see this post.
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Need help navigating any of these sites? Check out my course for screenflows on all of these websites.
