Too Many Websites

I'm at that point in the self-publishing adventure where I'm looking for opportunities to market my book.  And I'm almost running into too many website choices.

There are plenty of recommended sites out there, but I'm seriously doubting the need for them all.  Currently, my silly fairy tale is available through Amazon, Smashwords and Barnes and Noble.  I point to these sites with my Facebook account, my Twitter account and this blog.  How many more sites should I dump my details into?  There definitely seems to be a point of diminishing returns.

A website such as bookdaily.com wasn't too tough to set up with my author profile and book information.  But why?  Are there users going to that website to look for a book over a much more comprehensive site like Amazon?  There's another website, published.com, that seems to do the same thing, but won't let me edit details about my profile or book very easily.  Somehow the website has me down for my fairy tale twice, but won't let me delete one of the postings.  And, try as I might, I can't get an image for the book cover to upload.  Is this site really going to bring me any sales?  It's difficult to believe that it will.

As a web designer and programmer, I've been in those conversations where someone's got the bit in their teeth about "inventing" a new website that the world is going to flock to.  "It's going to be great!  It's going to be awesome!  It's going to have shooting lasers and holograms and everyone is going to want to go there!"  Yeah, right.  These projects would leave me feeling ill.  Just look at the difficult time Google+ is having trying to get into a market already dominated by Facebook.  And is the Bing search engine taking over for Google?

So, unless these sites can truly be innovative, there doesn't seem to be a point.  And, if they can't get the basics down (such as letting me upload a cover graphic), there REALLY doesn't seem to be a point.

Another website, books2heart.com, gave me a little hope in that you can submit your book and offer it for free to people willing to read it and give an honest review.  Again, the site seems to be a little hit or miss in its functionality and I wonder if anything will come of the time I spent submitting there.

I feel I'm getting more traffic just using the forums for the Kindle and the Nook and others to get my book info out there.

Next on the list: tackling the Goodreads author program.  I'm skeptical.