Lisa Emme's Blog, page 20

A Needle in a Haystack

As promised, I’d like to tell you a bit about the experiment I’m trying on Amazon to see if it increases my sales (as touted by the free video series by Nick Stephenson that I watched – more details and sign up here).

Amazon is basically a huge search engine. In fact, it is the second largest search engine on the internet next to Google. To increase your sales on Amazon, beside having lots of helpful (as determined by Amazon users that read the reviews and mark them as helpful) positive reviews, you need your book to filter to the top of search results so that people can actually find and buy your book. And that’s the hard part.

The trick is to figure out what category and keywords that result in a smaller search results base best fit your book. For example, I orignally placed Dead and Kicking in the category “Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Fanatasy -> Paranormal & Urban”, a category that yields almost 39,000 results. Talk about a needle in a haystack!

So after watching the webinar, I spent an hour or so exploring categories on Amazon to try and find a better fit, i.e. a category that still applies to my book but that has less competitors. I finally settled on “Mystery & Thrillers -> Suspense -> Paranormal” which only has about 3000 books listed. Much better! What makes it even better still, is this happens to be a category on Amazon that will then use your keywords to further filter the genre. So, by adding Vampires as a keyword, suddenly the results set is 730 titles. Use the keywords Werewovles & Shifters and it’s reduced even more to a much more manageable 509 titles. The chances of a reader finding my book just got a lot better.

Will this have a noticeable result on my sales?  I sure hope so.  It’s too early to tell right now, but I will definitely keep you posted.

 

Indie Author Q & A

S.I.A. – Support Indie Authors

Stop by the SIA page to check out the latest interview with Indie Author Martin Wilsey.  He claims to be a ‘frightener of children’ and a carnivore.  Hopefully the two are unrelated.

Find out more in An Interview with Martin Wilsey.

You’ve Published Your Book – Now What?

Well, it’s been a little over a month and a half since Dead and Kicking was released. So, what have I been up to? Mainly stalking my book on a regular basis on all the online retailers and trying to learn the ins and outs of marketing.

So far, I can’t really say I’ve learned all that much…

 

Really the only thing I can say for certain.

 

It’s basically been trial and error and hit or miss. I’ve tried a couple of things in the way of promotion, but as of yet nothing has really paid off. Luckily, I’m starting small – $10 promotion type things. I have another one coming up in December with the Fussy Librarian, which I hope will result in sales. I guess we’ll see.

Being able to even try the Fussy Librarian promo hinged on getting reviews. Something that continues to be difficult. It’s hard when you know your book is out there but don’t get any sort of feedback. I’ve sold several hundred books by this point, but the reviews are coming in at a trickle. What does that mean? Does it mean anything? Beats me.

I’m truly thankful for the reviews I have so far. If you took the time to write a review and posted it somewhere, I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate it. If you could take the review and post it to a few other places (like Kobo, Barnes & Noble and iTunes where I really need some reviews), I’d appreciate it even more. Reviews are so important in getting you exposure and, of course, the more exposure you have the more books you will probably sell.

In my next post, I’ll tell you a bit about the experiment I’m conducting on Amazon to try and increase sales. Stay tuned.

Looking for a Steamy Romance?

So, you’ve seen me wearing my urban fantasy author hat, but did you know that I also write sweet and sexy romance? The first novel I ever finished was actually a romantica.

What’s that you ask? Romantica is a hybrid of the romance and erotica genres, providing satisfaction in more ways than one. You get the HEA (happily ever after) of a romance with the sexy, steamy, sometimes kinky scenes from erotica. In otherwords, it’s a lot of fun to read!

I will be releasing Home Again, my first foray into this genre in March 2016.

 

 

The big news today though is that I have joined forces with a stellar mix of fellow Canadian romance authors to form the Kinky Canadian Romance Author and Book Fanatics group. Kind of a long name, but we simply call ourselves #KinkyCanadianReads.

Check out our group on Facebook and like our page to join in on the discussion of all things romance, with a Canadian flavour.

Indie Author Q & A

S.I.A. – Support Indie Authors

Stop by the SIA page to check out the latest interview with Indie Author Benita Prins, writer, musician, book collector and fellow Canadian.

Find out more in An Interview with Benita Prins.

I Love this Review

A little part of me can’t help but go ‘Squeeee!’ when I read a review like this about Dead and Kicking.  Click on the picture below to go to the review on Amazon, and please let them know if you thought the review was helpful.  It helps.

And also, I apologize. I really didn’t think of it as a cliffhanger.  I was thinking of it as more of a hook to the next book.  Honest.

You’re on your own. Sorry.

lisaemme:

My thoughts exactly (as I have mentioned here before), but Ana does a great job saying it again.

Originally posted on AnaSpoke.com:

Let me start yet another controversy by saying:

Winning a writing competition or landing a traditional publisher is not a guarantee of author success.

Ok, ok, stop shooting! I know, those were my goals not long ago, and they are traditionally equated to striking gold and really “making it” as an author. And yes, winning a Pulitzer, perhaps, can make a difference. Or, you know, landing a million-dollar deal which gets you a ton of publicity. However, I now know the simple fact that publishers would invest very little into promoting your book, unless you are Stephen King.

Before we get into the argy-bargy of traditional vs self-publishing, let me illustrate my point with some evidence.

Exhibit A: Pitch Week

I just found out about this competition and I was actually going to write this post about it and encourage everyone to apply. Then I’d decided to check the current sales ratings of…

View original 435 more words

Indie Author Q & A

S.I.A. – Support Indie Authors

Stop by the SIA page to check out the latest interview with V.M. Sawh.  His series Good Tales for Bad Dreams sounds intriguing.

Find out more in An Interview with V. M. Sawh

Paris, je t’aime

Fun Friday

Lol…. An Introspective Pug