R.P. Dahlke's Blog: Infrequent ramblings, page 27
July 1, 2012
promotion for authors
"Nothing stays the same," sure is appropriate for writers! And most of it, I'm happy to say, that's been a good thing for us writers, especially us Indie authors. Take promoting for instance. It used to be that you couldn't get a leg up on promotion unless you were a big name NY Times best seller. And if you could get a bit of tiny space in print, it cost an arm and a leg!
Not anymore. I now promote my books with a combination of FREE promos, sites where I list my books, and sites where I post my FREE days for Kindle e-book giveaways. I also pay for ads.
Yes! A few months back, I wouldn't have dreamed of paying for an ad, but God bless Twitter, Facebook and all the other free places where I promote my new releases and FREE days for Kindle giveaways just weren't adding up to the kind of sales I'd been hoping to see.
And since most of my working career has been spent in sales, I've always known that if you have a good product you have to advertise. So, I started researching the subject, and in doing so, I did some random ads, looking for what might be the most effective. I finally decided on a set of criteria that I would follow for my future selections.
They have to have the following:
1) A nice, bright and professional looking e-newsletter w/more than one author/book per send out. Daily or weekly posts.
2) Twitter w/RTs
3) Facebook
4) GoodReads or any additional site to help spring the posts to more groups.
5) A nice variety of promos that range from one day to one month's worth of exposure
6) Prices can't be so high that they break the bank!
7) Giveaways, like Raffle Copter to support something nice like a Kindle or a Kindle Fire
8) Easy to set up promotion and paypal links.
9) Communication has to be good between the managers and the author.
My short list as of this posting, includes the following sites:
The Kindle Book Review
Digital Books Today
World Literary Café
Indie Author News
And my new favorite: eBookSwag (clever use of the word, swag, which indicates gifts to be had. Their prices are low, and the site is very proactive with clever and fresh ideas to promote).
Note: I prefer names that include ebook, or Kindle, or even Digital Books, instead of Indie Author News, but when I looked up Indie Author news on twitter, they had 11,000 followers! I signed up for a promo and they tweeted the "L" outa my book.
Now I'm not saying that these sites will guarantee immediate results. I use them as part of my ongoing monthly promotion, and I rotate the sites so as not to look like I'm spamming the world! The above sites, in my book, are ones that I've learned to trust. How much do I spend? My rule of thumb is, 10% of my income from sales every month. If I have a new book release, and I increase it to 20% for a new release for the next two or three months.
I use the above in addition to my Facebook, Good Reads, Twitter and Kindle FREE day spots to promote my books. I also am constantly on the lookout for new bloggers and read for review sites. I've met some wonderful new friends this way. Never can have enough of those, can we?
Here's me, wishing all of my writing friends, a ton of success! And as Mel Fisher used to say, "Today's the Day!" (He's the guy that discovered the Atocha and the Margarithe treasure ships off Florida).
A Dangerous Harbor
and the Dead Red Series: A Dead Red Cadillac, #1 in the Dead Red Series
A Dead Red Heart, #2 in the Dead Red series
A Dead Red Oleander
Not anymore. I now promote my books with a combination of FREE promos, sites where I list my books, and sites where I post my FREE days for Kindle e-book giveaways. I also pay for ads.
Yes! A few months back, I wouldn't have dreamed of paying for an ad, but God bless Twitter, Facebook and all the other free places where I promote my new releases and FREE days for Kindle giveaways just weren't adding up to the kind of sales I'd been hoping to see.
And since most of my working career has been spent in sales, I've always known that if you have a good product you have to advertise. So, I started researching the subject, and in doing so, I did some random ads, looking for what might be the most effective. I finally decided on a set of criteria that I would follow for my future selections.
They have to have the following:
1) A nice, bright and professional looking e-newsletter w/more than one author/book per send out. Daily or weekly posts.
2) Twitter w/RTs
3) Facebook
4) GoodReads or any additional site to help spring the posts to more groups.
5) A nice variety of promos that range from one day to one month's worth of exposure
6) Prices can't be so high that they break the bank!
7) Giveaways, like Raffle Copter to support something nice like a Kindle or a Kindle Fire
8) Easy to set up promotion and paypal links.
9) Communication has to be good between the managers and the author.
My short list as of this posting, includes the following sites:
The Kindle Book Review
Digital Books Today
World Literary Café
Indie Author News
And my new favorite: eBookSwag (clever use of the word, swag, which indicates gifts to be had. Their prices are low, and the site is very proactive with clever and fresh ideas to promote).
Note: I prefer names that include ebook, or Kindle, or even Digital Books, instead of Indie Author News, but when I looked up Indie Author news on twitter, they had 11,000 followers! I signed up for a promo and they tweeted the "L" outa my book.
Now I'm not saying that these sites will guarantee immediate results. I use them as part of my ongoing monthly promotion, and I rotate the sites so as not to look like I'm spamming the world! The above sites, in my book, are ones that I've learned to trust. How much do I spend? My rule of thumb is, 10% of my income from sales every month. If I have a new book release, and I increase it to 20% for a new release for the next two or three months.
I use the above in addition to my Facebook, Good Reads, Twitter and Kindle FREE day spots to promote my books. I also am constantly on the lookout for new bloggers and read for review sites. I've met some wonderful new friends this way. Never can have enough of those, can we?
Here's me, wishing all of my writing friends, a ton of success! And as Mel Fisher used to say, "Today's the Day!" (He's the guy that discovered the Atocha and the Margarithe treasure ships off Florida).
A Dangerous Harbor
and the Dead Red Series: A Dead Red Cadillac, #1 in the Dead Red Series
A Dead Red Heart, #2 in the Dead Red series
A Dead Red Oleander
June 27, 2012
new review Dying for A Dance
Dying for A Dance (2nd in the series) by Cindy Sample Who would think that a simple bridal dance could become a problem? But when Laurel’s best friend, Liz, decides that the entire wedding party will have dance lessons, trouble steps all over Laurel’s feet. And it isn’t only that she’s clumsy on the dance [...]
June 25, 2012
FREE Frid 6/25 to 6/2712: A Dangerous Harbor
Popular first in a trilogy. Romance, mystery and sailing in Mexico.
A Dangerous Harbor
Here's the scoop:
Bleary-eyed and sleep deprived after a long overnighter into Mexico, solo sailor and SFPD police detective, Katrina Hunter, thinks the mermaid twenty yards behind her thirty-two foot Westsail is nothing more than a sailor’s hallucination But everything she knows about floaters convinces her to turn her boat around for another look.
Now, alone and isolated in the Mexican port’s police station for six hours she’s convinced that reporting the body of a floater to authorities was a mistake. Even the arrival of a handsome, if somewhat dour, Mexican/Italian investigator does nothing to dispel her growing anxiety that she’s about to be charged with the murder.
Chief Inspector, Raul Vignaroli, is as surprised by the attractive solo-sailor as he is to find that she’s a respected member of the San Francisco police force, and after some well-placed phone calls he’s sure that he’s found the perfect partner to help him solve a murder, if not the cure for his broken heart.
Released, she's free to go. But leaving the police station hits a snag when two policemen march in, dragging a listless prisoner between them. But before Katy can dodge them for the exit, the prisoner raises his head and a startling pair of aquamarine eyes meet hers. He straightens his back, wincing at the angle of his cuffed wrists. “What the… Whisper?”
Suddenly, the sound of the ceiling fan is terribly loud. Blood pounds in her ears, her mouth goes dry, her palms are damp and her feet are nailed to the floor. In a knee jerk reaction, she hisses, “Don’t call me that!”
A DANGEROUS HARBOR: romance/mystery & a bald parrot now @KINDLE: http://amzn.to/uWzIUl
A Dangerous Harbor
Here's the scoop:
Bleary-eyed and sleep deprived after a long overnighter into Mexico, solo sailor and SFPD police detective, Katrina Hunter, thinks the mermaid twenty yards behind her thirty-two foot Westsail is nothing more than a sailor’s hallucination But everything she knows about floaters convinces her to turn her boat around for another look.
Now, alone and isolated in the Mexican port’s police station for six hours she’s convinced that reporting the body of a floater to authorities was a mistake. Even the arrival of a handsome, if somewhat dour, Mexican/Italian investigator does nothing to dispel her growing anxiety that she’s about to be charged with the murder.
Chief Inspector, Raul Vignaroli, is as surprised by the attractive solo-sailor as he is to find that she’s a respected member of the San Francisco police force, and after some well-placed phone calls he’s sure that he’s found the perfect partner to help him solve a murder, if not the cure for his broken heart.
Released, she's free to go. But leaving the police station hits a snag when two policemen march in, dragging a listless prisoner between them. But before Katy can dodge them for the exit, the prisoner raises his head and a startling pair of aquamarine eyes meet hers. He straightens his back, wincing at the angle of his cuffed wrists. “What the… Whisper?”
Suddenly, the sound of the ceiling fan is terribly loud. Blood pounds in her ears, her mouth goes dry, her palms are damp and her feet are nailed to the floor. In a knee jerk reaction, she hisses, “Don’t call me that!”
A DANGEROUS HARBOR: romance/mystery & a bald parrot now @KINDLE: http://amzn.to/uWzIUl
June 12, 2012
A DEAD RED OLEANDER, 3rd in the Lalla Bains humorous mystery series is launched!
Click here to Amazon Readers are saying: “I’m so happy that Lalla Bains is back! This is was my favourite book of the three and it’s all there: crime, mystery, suspense and great characters! I really liked the glimpses into Lalla’s thoughts as she goes back and forth with new theories. Her dad completely lost [...]
June 3, 2012
Another great Kindle Read: Just Add Water
Just Add Water by Jinx Schwartz Kindle only $2.99 Hang onto your funny bone, because this book is guaranteed to be a laugh a minute. Hetta and her friend Jan are two California professionals living the “good life”; working during the week, and on the weekends “trolling for triceps” in San Francisco’s better watering holes. [...]
May 14, 2012
Quinn Checks in: another terrific Kindle read for only $2.99
Quinn Checks in by L.H. Thomson Mystery series featuring insurance investigator, Liam Quinn Kindle $2.99 Liam Quinn is a product of Philadelphia’s aptly named, Fishtown; a rough, elderly neighborhood out of which he develops a talent for boxing and a love for art. He has a dad and a [...]
May 11, 2012
FREE, May 11th & May 12th: A Dead Red Cadillac
This wildly popular first in this mystery series, featuring Lalla Bains, ex-model turned crop-duster will be free Friday, May 11th and Saturday, May 12th A cross-dressing convict, a crazy Chihuahua & drug running crop-dusters all conspire to ruin Lalla Bains’ 40th birthday party Reviews: “Ex model and motorhead, Lalla Bains, pilots us through a murder investigation [...]
May 10, 2012
The Agatha Christie Triviographyy & Quiz Book
Kathleen Kaska’s Three Mystery-Trivia Books Updated and Reissued by LL-Publications. The Sherlock Holmes Triviography and Quiz Book features hundreds of trivia about the world’s most famous detective, answering such questions as whether or not Sherlock Holmes ever uttered the phrase “Elementary, my dear Watson”. Kathleen Kaska draws upon the entire Sherlock Holmes canon, plus [...]
May 9, 2012
Review: Mai Tai Butterfly, romance, humor and Maui for only $2.99
Mai Tai Butterfly by JoAnn Bassett Another good deal/good read Amazon/kindle: $2.99 I love the first line of this book,” My life ended with a letter bomb. It made for a quick exit—like a magician’s trick: now you see her, now you don’t. The limb-from-limb pain came later.” There’s no doubt that Nola’s twenty-five year [...]
Review: Mai Tai Butterfly, romance, humor & Maui for only $2.99
Mai Tai Butterfly by JoAnn Bassett Another good deal/good read Amazon/kindle: $2.99 http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_... I love the first line of this book,” My life ended with a letter bomb. It made for a quick exit—like a magician’s trick: now you see her, now you don’t. The limb-from-limb pain came later.” There’s no doubt that Nola’s twenty-five [...]
Infrequent ramblings
Most of the time, I chose to leave my ideas for my myseteries. But, since you asked...
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