BOOK PROMOTION SITES--THE ONES THAT ACTUALLY WORK! > Likes and Comments
Welcome David and Ari!I suggest you scroll back to all the posts. There is a wealth of information on advertising there.
Someone asked about Itsy Bitsy for sales. I've used them several times and I'm the one who recommended them here. You will get a lot of exposure on blogs, facebook groups and social media. That will result in a lot of reviews. The sales will come later from constant exposure. don't expect the sales from your book tour.
Effie wrote: "Welcome David and Ari!
I suggest you scroll back to all the posts. There is a wealth of information on advertising there.
Someone asked about Itsy Bitsy for sales. I've used them several times a..."
Thanks Effie
I suggest you scroll back to all the posts. There is a wealth of information on advertising there.
Someone asked about Itsy Bitsy for sales. I've used them several times a..."
Thanks Effie
Effie wrote: "Welcome David and Ari!I suggest you scroll back to all the posts. There is a wealth of information on advertising there.
Someone asked about Itsy Bitsy for sales. I've used them several times a..."
No, it was exposure I was after! And I think I've got it, so thanks for the recommendation.
Welcome, David and Ari! So glad you found us. And already you've received so much good advice. And congratulations on your new books!In harmony with everyone else, just go back and read all the past comments and you will learn a lot. I, too, agree that social media is only good for interacting with other authors. Promotion sites and tours are what will work best.
Here are a few more promotional things I plan to do: Design a magnetic car sign advertising my website. The old one I had caught a lot of attention and gave exposure to my books.
Having t-shirts with my website printed on them. And of course, bookmarks to pass out.
Anything you can do to get the word out, right?
I actually don't agree about social media. I do agree that I have made a whole network of contacts, some extremely helpful. However, I've made connections with readers also. I've found it to be a beneficial tool. Especially instagram. As I'm sure you all know, it is now owned by facebook. I boost my posts on facebook and also option to promote on instagram for as little as 10 nor 15$ for anywhere from 1 - 7 days - the total budget, not 15$ per day. I reach thousands of people during that time and I get hundreds of engagements in likes and comments. My sales have spiked since I started doing this. Also, remember that sales are not always immediate. the more someone sees your book in their feed, the more recognizable it will be. They will think, "I've been meaning to read that book." Eventually, they will buy it. As a reader this happens to me. So as a n author, I think what the reader in me would be attracted to.
I think you do meet some readers through social media--I have. But I feel other avenues have worked better for me. On the other hand, I'm going to try what you've done with boosting and see if it works for me. I think my problem is I hate FB.
I know some people hate facebook, but if you use it as a tool properly, it can be very helpful. Plus there are a ton of book sites you can post on too, at no cost!
David wrote: "Depressed author. I have tried to blog on Tumblr etc. but unfortunately I am of the older age group and I have no idea how to go about it -- social media is a strange mystery to me..."All a blog is, is short-form writing that the public can see. Since you're writing non-fiction, write about different aspects of your subject. Don't write research papers, but instead the kind of thing you would submit to, say, American History magazine, except shorter. You can also highlight episodes in your books with additional information, profiles of the people involved, maps and pictures, and so on.
Look at it as an extension of your writing. I think a blog works better for non-fiction authors than for fiction. I write fiction and used to blog relatively often, but I've moved most of that to Facebook.
Whatever you do, don't write about writing. There's a gross surplus of amateur writers doing that. Until you get a few NYT bestsellers under your belt, nobody really cares what you have to say about writing.
You will need to learn at least the rudiments of social media. The ...For Dummies books are a decent start, and there are a zillion videos and how-to guides out there aimed at virtually every demographic. It looks harder than it really is... unlike writing, which is far harder than it looks.
Hello everyone! Oops, I think I posted my comment on the wrong folder. And I think I might have mistakenly attributed the starting of this group to Effie. Oh well... so happy to find my old friends here :)Life has gotten a lot busier for me, haven't been on GR much, but I'll be reading you when I can. Looking forward to all your wonderful advice and wisdom. Cheer all!
M.
Effie wrote: "I actually don't agree about social media. I do agree that I have made a whole network of contacts, some extremely helpful. However, I've made connections with readers also. I've found it to be a b..."Effie, how often do you post on Instagram? I've heard it's a greedy place! but maybe that's just for food bloggers.
Hi M. So glad to have you back! Actually, it was Groovy who began the discussion on the old thread and continued it here by starting this more recent one.Lexie, I am a food blogger too. When I started my instagram account I only had a food blog and my tag name was the same as my blog name - cheffieskitchen. I finally switched the name to Effiekammenou_author since promoting my books was mainly what I do. I still use the same account to promote the blog though. I try to post at least once a day, sometimes twice. With twitter, it seems the feed is fleeting and people post continuously throughout the day. With Instagram it's considered obnoxious if you post too much in one day - or so my kids tell me and I listen! LOL
The good thing is that when you promote an ad for as little as 10$, they will control when it reaches (based on your preferences) and that post can reach different eyes for days!
Even once a day seems quite a lot! Is that fresh content every time?
Hi All, Has anyone any experience of promoting books on Pinterest.
David wrote: "Hi All, Has anyone any experience of promoting books on Pinterest."A bit but I don't know how successful it is. I have a board for each of my books with the cover image, any previous cover images, and photographs / images that inspired the book, show where it is set, illustrate people's clothing, etc. (my books are historical fiction). I have about 50 followers, I think.
Pinterest is something that keeps coming up. I haven't concentrated on it. I like your idea of creating a board for each book, Lexie and showing photos that relate or inspire the book. There are only so many hours in the day so I tend to stay with what I know how to navigate well.
Once a day on instagram is not too much. You need for potential readers to constantly be reminded that your book is out there.
Between the book ads my cover designer created for me and the ones I've created on Canva myself, I have a lot of content. Eventually I do repeat but it takes a while.
Pintrest - I too have a board for each book plus a couple of other random interest boards. I've never seen much activity from it.Curious about Instagram and wonder again what links (not sure you can put active links there) or ways for people to go to your book. Any thoughts from this group?
Effie wrote: "Pinterest is something that keeps coming up. I haven't concentrated on it. I like your idea of creating a board for each book, Lexie and showing photos that relate or inspire the book. There are ..."
sorry, I only meant that once a day must be quite time-consuming for you, not that you were overloading your readers!
It only takes a few minutes to post. So the post goes up and any text you want to add goes into the comments section, hashtags included. You can add a URL that links to where you sell your books but it is not clickable. If you make your instagram a business account, you can promote the as and reach thousands of people. When you set up the promotion, they ask where you want traffic to go to and that is clickable.
Effie wrote: "It only takes a few minutes to post. So the post goes up and any text you want to add goes into the comments section, hashtags included. You can add a URL that links to where you sell your books ..."
Effie, thanks for the info. Do you know what they charge for a business account?
Nothing! You can change to a business account any time you want. It give you the ability to promote your posts. You can't do that on a regular account. You pay by the promotion and set up how much you want to spend on each post.
Thanks Effie. I think I should go for it.
Has anyone tried the free book promotion sites on Facebook. Are they genuine. If you have which do you consider the best. I'm absolutely hopeless in marketing so any help would be really appreciated.
David wrote: "Has anyone tried the free book promotion sites on Facebook. Are they genuine. If you have which do you consider the best. I'm absolutely hopeless in marketing so any help would be really appreciated."I have, David. I can't say for sure that it has turned into any sales, but I post on several of them semi- regularly just so my books are in sight. I think their effectiveness is limited, but its hard to say.
Has anyone tried promoting on ManyBooks.net? Are they credible? What were your results?
Someone has told me to post on bookswifi.com Has anyone heard of them.
M. I have used Manybooks often. They are credible and my results were good. Not as good as ENT but decent.David, I never heard of that site, but I will look them up.
Effie wrote: "M. I have used Manybooks often. They are credible and my results were good. Not as good as ENT but decent.
David, I never heard of that site, but I will look them up."
Thanks, Effie.
David, I never heard of that site, but I will look them up."
Thanks, Effie.
Itsy Bitsy Book Tours has continued to turn up trumps in the last few weeks since my launch - they didn't promise reviews (quite rightly) but in fact over twenty of the tour hosts have reviewed, so my stats have stayed good! Thanks again Effie for recommending them.
That's good to hear, M. Good! I don't know what "turn up trumps" means, but I'm glad that it's working, and you got some reviews.
That's great, Lexie. I'm happy when my recommendations work out. I've used them three times with great success.
Groovy wrote: "That's good to hear, M. Good! I don't know what "turn up trumps" means, but I'm glad that it's working, and you got some reviews."We should have that on Words/Phrases we love - to turn out well, to give a good result!
Apparently another glitch is affecting authors who publish to Amazon :(. It shows books that should be LIVE as "currently unavailable". I'm still flustered from the free promotion glitch that almost cost me hundreds of $ in advertising. With this new one, I would not recommend scheduling promotions in the near future until it is fixed. Maybe bookmark the KDP page in the below link and check back to see if it's fixed. Description of the issue in an author blog:
https://the-digital-reader.com/2018/1...
KDP's response:
Hello,
We're experiencing an issue that has made some eBooks unavailable in the Kindle store in different marketplaces. Our engineers are working to solve this issue as quickly as possible. We'll update this post to keep the Community informed once this issue has been resolved.
We appreciate your patience and understanding in the meantime.
Regards,
Kindle Direct Publishing Team
https://www.kdpcommunity.com/s/articl...
Marie Silk wrote: "Apparently another glitch is affecting authors who publish to Amazon :(. It shows books that should be LIVE as "currently unavailable". I'm still flustered from the free promotion glitch that almos..."Ugh, sorry to hear that, Marie, that's awful :(
Thanks for warning us!
Hopefully it will be fixed before Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Books might not be big sellers then, but a lot of people are shopping those days and can tack them on or shop for readers in the family.
My little baby thread/group has grown up so much while I've been away! :') Thanks so much Groovy for getting all these people here.There's some absolutely amazing advice here. Keep it up, guys, and I'll input my own where I see fit. What I'm most interested in lately is what makes certain promo sights --such as Book Baby, eReader News, even normal social media-- work for some and not others.
Lastly, has anybody tried Book Butterfly and/or any of their options?
https://www.booksbutterfly.com/
Never use books butterfly. They are a scam. IF, and it's a big if, you get the sales they promise it is only because they have people to purchase the book at the promo rate. You are not gaining real readers.
Effie wrote: "Never use books butterfly. They are a scam. IF, and it's a big if, you get the sales they promise it is only because they have people to purchase the book at the promo rate. You are not gaining rea..."Effie, thanks for that tip. I've never used them but won't bother now.
Hi, David!! Welcome back!!!For those new here, or have returned home:), Effie has an entire list of websites that work and those that you should steer clear of. And there is a lot of helpful advice from everyone here that will save you a lot of time and money, and where you will get those successful sales. Marie Silk's threads are very inciteful (oops, I meant insightful) and (If I missed anyone, please forgive me, but you're included too) So, go back and read the earlier threads.
I hope everyone's promotions are doing very, very well. Let us know. And I hope you all have a safe, fun weekend no matter how cold it gets:)
Here's advice Effie posted a while back (maybe on our original thread), which I saved as it's so helpful re promo sites. I hope she doesn't mind my re-posting it. Effie’s post on promotions:
Yes, I believe books butterfly guarantees the sales by buying the books themselves. But what does that accomplish? It may help your ranking for a day but you are not gaining any real readers.
Everyone wants to know which are the best sites. I'm going to break down my results for this countdown promotion. I think in general, these sites are the ones with the best rep and you can count on them. My genre is women's fiction/contemporary romance. It's a very popular genre. I would check out the site you want to advertise on and see how many books in your genre are listed. It will help you determine if the audience is there.
The top sites were Bargain Booksy & ENT (eReader News Today). Both gave me 100 sales or over.
Mid-range results came from Reading Deals, which gave me 45 sales & Book Gorilla, which gave me 49.
The day I advertised with Fussy Librarian and Many Books (on the same day) I had 49 sales combined from the two sites.
The lowest performers but still a decent result with 30 - 35 were Read Freely & The Kindle Book Review.
Just Kindle Books has done okay for me in the past but not as good this time, but he is good and reputable.
Booklover’s Heaven is cheap (5$) so, although it doesn't generate major sales, it gives me exposure.
The same for Booktastic $10 & My Book Cave which I think was only $15.
Don't bother with books butterfly, awesome gang or any of his affiliates. I also stopped using a site called bookgoodies a while back. Same idea as awesome gang. Multiple ad sites and something tells me they are partnered.
Build up your newsletters. That's free! And tweet, instagram and Facebook. You don't have to boost your posts. Hashtag what applies and you will get an audience.
Hi D.J.! I don't mind at all. I'm glad you reposted as this comes up often. I hope it helps. Just remember, everyone has different results depending on genre and other factors. Book Barbarian is said to be amazing for Sci-fi and fantasy. I know many authors who have used that site with success.
Yes, Book Barbarian is definitely worth a shot if you're an SF or fantasy author. You usually have to book more than a month in advance though. My last promo was a bit of a flop, as I left it too late to get onto some of my best sites. For newbies, here's an article link I posted earlier from an author who has written in various genres. I agree with a lot of it but, as Effie says, everybody's experience will be different depending on genre, previous sales, other advertising, other books for sale, reviews etc. It just gives you a rough idea what promo sites are useful and which aren't.
http://nicholaserik.com/promo-sites/
Hi all,Just made the jump into Instagram. Spent the last day or two doing the learning curve. I've set up a sale with BargainBooksy for the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend for book 2. I also might try to use Instagram to get the word out about it early next week.
I hope all is going well for others!
Yes! Theresa create some posts and put them on instagr4am. If you set up your account as a business account you can promote the posts.
Still working on the Instagram thing. A few posts seem to go through but I'm not much with anything even resembling an ad. Maybe I need to change to a business account. Thanks for all the insight from this group.
Effie wrote: "Yes! Theresa create some posts and put them on instagr4am. If you set up your account as a business account you can promote the posts."Thanks Effie! I have a few posts up and have it set up as a business account so I can promote posts. I'm going to try and boost a post or set up an ad for the coming sale.
Effie wrote: "Great! Let me know how you make out!"I will let you know, Effie! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Happy Thanksgiving, Theresa, and best of luck on your sale!
MarieSilk, I like blending in some history with my books. I don't usually go into too much detail because it can bog things down , but it adds a little something to the stories.
Welcome to the new members. There's a lot of good information here. I agree social media doesn't do much for sales, but it is fun to engage with readers and potential readers (when they interact.) As Marie Silk said, sometimes its like talking to wall.