Did you know that if just one person goes into a library and asks for your eBook and if it is listed in the librarians’ catalogs, then the library will buy a copy of your eBook in order to lend out.

And did you know that it only takes just one library purchase for your eBook to be given a Machine Readable Catalog record (MARC), which then makes your eBook even more noticeable and accessible to all other libraries.

In the US, there are over 100,000 libraries – 16,421 public libraries and 93,861 school libraries that could buy in your eBook. And you don’t have to be based in the US to have your eBook included in the US library system.

Why is this new idea a clever marketing strategy?

• your marketing efforts directed to telling people how they can get to read your book for free will draw significant interest and traffic to your website

• through a sales page included in your eBook, you can offer the library reader an opportunity for them to own their own copy, which gives you the possibility of multiple sales for every library purchase - you could even include an affiliate program for even greater sales opportunities

• on your website telling people how to get a free read of your eBook, you will also be selling copies to those people that just have to download it ‘now’ – the fact that they have a choice increases sales.

• do you need to offer a money-back guarantee when people have the choice to read it for free first before making a purchase

• you can legitimately use the word ‘free’ in your promotions – e.g. Google Adwords editorial review panel have accepted the library strategy as a legitimate use of the word ‘free’ and will allow this word in their ads, which drives more traffic

• your eBook being available through the public library system gives your eBook invaluable credibility as an authority in the particular genre in which you specialize

• you can write articles for publication in newsletters and ezines promoting your free eBook that will now not be rejected as blatant advertising

• if you use eBay to sell your eBook you can use your ‘About Me’ page to tell people how they can get it for free if they weren’t successful in the auction – completely within eBay rules

• libraries are often interested in having authors nights where you can give a short talk about your eBook – this can lead to you being invited to address larger audiences where you could also sell CD-rom versions of your eBook

These are just a few ideas for getting more promotion.