Neil D. Ostroff's Blog, page 9
April 15, 2014
Does blogging sell books?
Does blogging sell books? This is the question every author who blogs wants an answer to. Well, I have my own opinion and I believe that the answer is yes, but not for the obvious reason of exposure.
I believe authors who blog become better writers because unlike fiction, which requires the writer to immerse themselves into their imagination, blogging, which is mostly nonfiction, requires a different type of thought process. Blogging forces the fiction writer into another genre.
Blogging helps to sell books simply because it makes a better author of those books. If I stumble upon an author blog and I like the material the author blogs about I will take a look at the books they’ve written. I concede to the notion that the quality of blog posts indicates the quality of the manuscripts written.
Blogging allows the author to share daily updates of their works, engaging their readers into the process of writing the book itself. It allows reclusive writers the chance to interact with their fans without ever leaving the safety of their writer’s cave. Blogging sells books not because of exposure, but because it humanizes the author whose writing the books. It brings the writer’s soul into the mind of the reader and there is no better way of gaining a following than that.
I started my blog a few years ago and was delighted when I got my first follower. I remember when my page view counter hit one thousand and I nearly burst into tears of joy. I couldn’t believe that absolute strangers were interested in and reading my posts. Now, at well over a quarter million hits with an average page view of two hundred to five hundred hits per day, I find that I get as much pleasure out of interacting with my followers as I do writing my fiction. And at the end of the day it makes more people interested in the books that I’ve written.
To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING
Click here to read my blog!
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
I believe authors who blog become better writers because unlike fiction, which requires the writer to immerse themselves into their imagination, blogging, which is mostly nonfiction, requires a different type of thought process. Blogging forces the fiction writer into another genre.
Blogging helps to sell books simply because it makes a better author of those books. If I stumble upon an author blog and I like the material the author blogs about I will take a look at the books they’ve written. I concede to the notion that the quality of blog posts indicates the quality of the manuscripts written.
Blogging allows the author to share daily updates of their works, engaging their readers into the process of writing the book itself. It allows reclusive writers the chance to interact with their fans without ever leaving the safety of their writer’s cave. Blogging sells books not because of exposure, but because it humanizes the author whose writing the books. It brings the writer’s soul into the mind of the reader and there is no better way of gaining a following than that.
I started my blog a few years ago and was delighted when I got my first follower. I remember when my page view counter hit one thousand and I nearly burst into tears of joy. I couldn’t believe that absolute strangers were interested in and reading my posts. Now, at well over a quarter million hits with an average page view of two hundred to five hundred hits per day, I find that I get as much pleasure out of interacting with my followers as I do writing my fiction. And at the end of the day it makes more people interested in the books that I’ve written.
To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING
Click here to read my blog!
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
April 11, 2014
Creating characters from scratch
I’m often asked by media and friends how do I create my characters? At last count I have somewhere in the neighborhood of over one hundred spread over my nine published and three unpublished books. These characters have detailed histories and vivid personalities. Some are absolutely terrifying, some are adventurous, and some are tragic. All of my characters are like my children and they all have one thing in common. They are not modeled after any single, real person that I know.
Each of my individual characters are a conglomeration, a mix, of people I’ve known and associated with over the course of my life. This naked truth always perplexes my friends who often tell me that a certain character is just like them in every way and how much they relate to that particular character. I’ve even had an old girlfriend (before I was married) get angry with me because she thought a character in one of my novels was too much like her. I had to assure my ex that the psycho girl (who needs to be highly medicated but isn’t taking her anti-psychotic pills) in my novel was not based on her, but on at least eight different people, most of whom I went to college with. I’m not certain if she believed me or not but I recently noticed that she un-friended me on Facebook.
When I write I transform into and become my characters. I become the clairvoyant prostitute and the daring young man fighting an alien insect invasion. I am the disfigured 9/11 hero and the dignified young woman dying of cancer. I immerse myself in these characters and their worlds and live for a time in the fantasy. It would be hard for me to pretend to be someone I know as a person, if that makes any sense.
To read more about my world and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
Each of my individual characters are a conglomeration, a mix, of people I’ve known and associated with over the course of my life. This naked truth always perplexes my friends who often tell me that a certain character is just like them in every way and how much they relate to that particular character. I’ve even had an old girlfriend (before I was married) get angry with me because she thought a character in one of my novels was too much like her. I had to assure my ex that the psycho girl (who needs to be highly medicated but isn’t taking her anti-psychotic pills) in my novel was not based on her, but on at least eight different people, most of whom I went to college with. I’m not certain if she believed me or not but I recently noticed that she un-friended me on Facebook.
When I write I transform into and become my characters. I become the clairvoyant prostitute and the daring young man fighting an alien insect invasion. I am the disfigured 9/11 hero and the dignified young woman dying of cancer. I immerse myself in these characters and their worlds and live for a time in the fantasy. It would be hard for me to pretend to be someone I know as a person, if that makes any sense.
To read more about my world and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
March 31, 2014
My 13th novel is complete
Today, I finished my 13th novel. It took exactly thirteen months and ten days to complete. It is a science fiction story that takes place fifty years after Earth has driven away an invading alien species. The book is called THE END TIME and should be available by early May.
My next novel is going to be more literary and hopefully have a deep impact on readers the way DROP OUT has. That seems to be the way I've been writing these last few years, one sci-fi novel followed by a literary or thriller. Switching genres used to drive my agent crazy but as I'd say, the story is inside me and has to come out.
I also want to once again mention my new page on Enovel authors at work.http://enovelauthorsatwork.com/ They are a great group of writers who are really making an impact. I can't wait to see what the future holds for all of us.
My next novel is going to be more literary and hopefully have a deep impact on readers the way DROP OUT has. That seems to be the way I've been writing these last few years, one sci-fi novel followed by a literary or thriller. Switching genres used to drive my agent crazy but as I'd say, the story is inside me and has to come out.
I also want to once again mention my new page on Enovel authors at work.http://enovelauthorsatwork.com/ They are a great group of writers who are really making an impact. I can't wait to see what the future holds for all of us.
March 26, 2014
The miracle way to sell more books
After breaking contract with a prominent NY literary agency nearly four years ago to pursue the ebook/indie publishing revolution I can now confidently say I know what it takes to sell books. This revelation comes after spending thousands of dollars on every marketing and promotional tool, sponsorship, and gimmick available. I can say that although some of these applications yielded modest sales, nothing compares to the secret I’m about to reveal. So here it is the miracle way to sell more books. Ready? Drum roll please.
Word-of-mouth!
Yep, it’s a simple as that.
“Oh, come on,” you say; and like in the Geico ad, “Everybody knows that. But how do you get word-of-mouth for your book?” Therein lies the hard part. There is no instant solution for getting your book noticed, if it were easy then everyone who ever wrote a story would sell millions of copies. The way to get people interested in your book is to engage in forums and topics on books and writing. I can’t tell you the exact number of books I’ve sold because I’ve engaged someone online, but it far outweighs the amount sold by spending money on promotions.
What I’ve discovered is a whole internet universe of potential readers and a whole lot of writers willing to help each other out. For example, through forums I’ve met an exemplary group of writers who have started the group Enovel Authors at Work. For the zero cost of participating in cross-promotion, they have put me and many of my books up on their website http://enovelauthorsatwork.com/neil-d... I’ve already noticed an increase in sales.
My point is it takes community to start the buzz on your book. You can’t be a lone island in a sea of titles. Helping each other out will reap many rewards. The internet is like an infinite spider web; tapping just a small portion can cause the whole structure to vibrate. Working together with writers and readers to garner exposure. This does work! Don’t waste money on paid advertising/promotion, there are just too many books out there to choose. Let a human being spread the word for you.
To learn more about my books and myself, please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING.
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
Word-of-mouth!
Yep, it’s a simple as that.
“Oh, come on,” you say; and like in the Geico ad, “Everybody knows that. But how do you get word-of-mouth for your book?” Therein lies the hard part. There is no instant solution for getting your book noticed, if it were easy then everyone who ever wrote a story would sell millions of copies. The way to get people interested in your book is to engage in forums and topics on books and writing. I can’t tell you the exact number of books I’ve sold because I’ve engaged someone online, but it far outweighs the amount sold by spending money on promotions.
What I’ve discovered is a whole internet universe of potential readers and a whole lot of writers willing to help each other out. For example, through forums I’ve met an exemplary group of writers who have started the group Enovel Authors at Work. For the zero cost of participating in cross-promotion, they have put me and many of my books up on their website http://enovelauthorsatwork.com/neil-d... I’ve already noticed an increase in sales.
My point is it takes community to start the buzz on your book. You can’t be a lone island in a sea of titles. Helping each other out will reap many rewards. The internet is like an infinite spider web; tapping just a small portion can cause the whole structure to vibrate. Working together with writers and readers to garner exposure. This does work! Don’t waste money on paid advertising/promotion, there are just too many books out there to choose. Let a human being spread the word for you.
To learn more about my books and myself, please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING.
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
March 8, 2014
Getting on the bestseller list
I read an article recently defining what it meant to be an Amazon bestselling author these days. Keep in mind this is an Amazon bestseller not a New York Times bestseller. The general rule is if your book sells between 150-500 copies in a twenty-four hour period its ranking can get low enough that it can be considered a bestseller.
That said, I am an Amazon bestselling author three times this year. Once in August, I stayed on the list for three whole days. But what does it all really mean? As those authors who have hit the list know, unless the momentum continues for weeks you’re probably not going to get rich because of it or even make a decent living. But is that really the point if you are a life-long, obsessed writer? Getting wealthy would be a great perk to the tens of thousands of hours spent isolated in a room with only a keyboard and your own imagination as entertainment, but if you’re a true artist what matters is reaching the audience.
Knowing that thousands of people have read and continue to read my books is worth its weight in gold. Receiving congrats and admiration from old friends and new ones makes up for the financial loss of earning thirty-five cents a book royalty instead of what used to be anywhere from a few bucks to a lot of bucks the old traditional way.
As the market continues to flood with new talented and wannabe writers, it will get harder and harder for the cream to rise to the top as they say. I’m already seeing that with paid and free promotions. Three years ago, when I published my first ebook, a spot on KND or Kindle Boards almost guaranteed that you’d sell books. New websites for readers and writers were popping up almost daily and catching a spot on these sites guaranteed exposure. Now, there are so many sites readers get lost and overwhelmed at the amount of material thrust in front of them, and with so many choices, it’s just a plain numbers and luck game if they buy your book.
Case-in-point, in the past two months I was offered to post my book descriptions and links on no less than six new websites for readers for free as long as I promoted these sites to my many followers and groups, which I happily did. I’m always game for more exposure no matter what the result. These sites let me know when I’d be featured and I heavily promoted those days. Again, I am grateful for the opportunities and appreciate the exposure, but here’s the thing, I couldn’t see any improvement in sales from any of the sites on those promotion days.
It takes a lot of time to plug in marketing information, time that takes away from writing that next book. It’s true that word-of-mouth is by far the biggest seller of books, but it seems that with the internet and worldwide exposure, that word-of-mouth can get lost in the chatter of so many new books. I may never hit the Amazon bestseller list again (hopefully I will) but it was certainly a boost to my writer’s ego to know that for a brief time I was ranked right up there beside such great writers as Ann Rice, Stephen King, and Suzanne Collins. It made all the years spent weaving my tales worth it.
To learn more about my books and myself, please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING.
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
That said, I am an Amazon bestselling author three times this year. Once in August, I stayed on the list for three whole days. But what does it all really mean? As those authors who have hit the list know, unless the momentum continues for weeks you’re probably not going to get rich because of it or even make a decent living. But is that really the point if you are a life-long, obsessed writer? Getting wealthy would be a great perk to the tens of thousands of hours spent isolated in a room with only a keyboard and your own imagination as entertainment, but if you’re a true artist what matters is reaching the audience.
Knowing that thousands of people have read and continue to read my books is worth its weight in gold. Receiving congrats and admiration from old friends and new ones makes up for the financial loss of earning thirty-five cents a book royalty instead of what used to be anywhere from a few bucks to a lot of bucks the old traditional way.
As the market continues to flood with new talented and wannabe writers, it will get harder and harder for the cream to rise to the top as they say. I’m already seeing that with paid and free promotions. Three years ago, when I published my first ebook, a spot on KND or Kindle Boards almost guaranteed that you’d sell books. New websites for readers and writers were popping up almost daily and catching a spot on these sites guaranteed exposure. Now, there are so many sites readers get lost and overwhelmed at the amount of material thrust in front of them, and with so many choices, it’s just a plain numbers and luck game if they buy your book.
Case-in-point, in the past two months I was offered to post my book descriptions and links on no less than six new websites for readers for free as long as I promoted these sites to my many followers and groups, which I happily did. I’m always game for more exposure no matter what the result. These sites let me know when I’d be featured and I heavily promoted those days. Again, I am grateful for the opportunities and appreciate the exposure, but here’s the thing, I couldn’t see any improvement in sales from any of the sites on those promotion days.
It takes a lot of time to plug in marketing information, time that takes away from writing that next book. It’s true that word-of-mouth is by far the biggest seller of books, but it seems that with the internet and worldwide exposure, that word-of-mouth can get lost in the chatter of so many new books. I may never hit the Amazon bestseller list again (hopefully I will) but it was certainly a boost to my writer’s ego to know that for a brief time I was ranked right up there beside such great writers as Ann Rice, Stephen King, and Suzanne Collins. It made all the years spent weaving my tales worth it.
To learn more about my books and myself, please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING.
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
February 26, 2014
Websites all writers should be on.
I’ve been doing a lot of marketing/promotion lately for my books and have come up with a “must-be-on” list for writers who want to promote their books. These website provide free services that can really get your books noticed. There are many other sites out there but I highly recommend you concentrate your marketing efforts on these. If you check their Alexa rankings you’ll see that they far higher than most free writers sites.
Between finishing my latest novel and marketing and promoting my other books I haven’t tim e to explain what each site is like and how they work. The instructions for signing up are simple and if you take time to fill out your profile information you will get noticed. My books are on all of them and so should yours.
One other thing. If you have a website or blog add it to http://www.pingomatic.com. It is a free service that lets search engines know your site is active.
Also check out my blog: Always Writing http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com for tips, inspiration, and personal experience on selling ebooks in today’s publishing world.
Did I mention all the sites below are free?
http://www.Linkedin.com
http://www.Thebookmarketingnetwork.com
http://www.Authorsden.com
http://www.Shelfari.com
http://www.Goodreads.com
http://www.scribd.com
http://www.Bookwhirl.com
http://www.Indieauthorsunite.com
http://www.Bookblogs.com
http://www.Booktown.com
http://www.Bookdaily.com
http://www.Published.com
http://www.Bookhitch.com
Between finishing my latest novel and marketing and promoting my other books I haven’t tim e to explain what each site is like and how they work. The instructions for signing up are simple and if you take time to fill out your profile information you will get noticed. My books are on all of them and so should yours.
One other thing. If you have a website or blog add it to http://www.pingomatic.com. It is a free service that lets search engines know your site is active.
Also check out my blog: Always Writing http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com for tips, inspiration, and personal experience on selling ebooks in today’s publishing world.
Did I mention all the sites below are free?
http://www.Linkedin.com
http://www.Thebookmarketingnetwork.com
http://www.Authorsden.com
http://www.Shelfari.com
http://www.Goodreads.com
http://www.scribd.com
http://www.Bookwhirl.com
http://www.Indieauthorsunite.com
http://www.Bookblogs.com
http://www.Booktown.com
http://www.Bookdaily.com
http://www.Published.com
http://www.Bookhitch.com
February 23, 2014
Great book selling results!
The Ereader News Today http://ereadernewstoday.com/more-barg... feature yielded very nice results and I sold enough copies of DROP OUT to hit below 1,500 ranking in the entire Kindle store yesterday. I highly recommend all authors give this site a try. It costs nothing upfront but they do take a small percentage out of units sold through their link. I know author’s hate to give up even one penny of their royalties, but trust me the exposure and amount of sales make up for it.
I also recommend Choosybookworm https://www.facebook.com/choosybookworm which is a Facebook and Twitter book marketing page. This is a totally free service. The page only asks that you like it and promote it in return.
All in all good results and I’ve already received a few new five star reviews on Amazon because of the sales. Please check out my blog for many more writing tips, marketing websites, what works and what doesn’t, along with my journey through the indie publishing world.
ALWAYS WRITING
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
I also recommend Choosybookworm https://www.facebook.com/choosybookworm which is a Facebook and Twitter book marketing page. This is a totally free service. The page only asks that you like it and promote it in return.
All in all good results and I’ve already received a few new five star reviews on Amazon because of the sales. Please check out my blog for many more writing tips, marketing websites, what works and what doesn’t, along with my journey through the indie publishing world.
ALWAYS WRITING
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
February 21, 2014
Hitting the best seller list
Today is the day of my Eareader News Today promo spot. Last time ENT featured my book it went to #176 in the entire Kindle paid store and briefly #1 in the romantic suspense department. Of course, that was only for a few hours. But what a thrill.
Here is the link to the site. Please check it out and I urge all authors to submit their books to ENT. They only get a small percentage of your sales and make no money if your book doesn’t sell through their link.
http://ereadernewstoday.com/more-barg...
You also get listed on their Facebook page which has several hundred thousand likes.
http://www.facebook.com/EreaderNewsToday
By chance, I also have another promotion today going on at choosybookworm. This is a totally free Facebook promo spot and I also encourage all authors to submit their works to this site. It doesn’t cost anything but the five minutes it takes to submit and who knows how many people will see the spot.
https://www.facebook.com/choosybookworm
Please check it out. Thank you.
Here is the link to the site. Please check it out and I urge all authors to submit their books to ENT. They only get a small percentage of your sales and make no money if your book doesn’t sell through their link.
http://ereadernewstoday.com/more-barg...
You also get listed on their Facebook page which has several hundred thousand likes.
http://www.facebook.com/EreaderNewsToday
By chance, I also have another promotion today going on at choosybookworm. This is a totally free Facebook promo spot and I also encourage all authors to submit their works to this site. It doesn’t cost anything but the five minutes it takes to submit and who knows how many people will see the spot.
https://www.facebook.com/choosybookworm
Please check it out. Thank you.
February 20, 2014
Don’t make these mistakes.
My father always told me that it's okay to make mistakes, it's how you learn. Well, I'm about to tell you the mistakes I've made while marketing and promoting my books so that you don't have to go through the same mistakes when you market and promote your own books. I'll put them in list form so it's easier to digest.
Number 1. When posting on forums don't just promote yourself with no other redeeming information. When I first started out I'd post summaries of my books and links to buy them on sites that specifically said no self-promo. I didn’t listen. The result: I got banned from these sites and all the networking they could have provided. Provide content marketing material when you post. Writer’s are always interested in information that can help readers find their books.
Number 2. Don't write articles that tell people how they are going to feel about your book. For instance, don't write a blurb that says, "This is the best book you'll read all year". Statements like that really turn off the reader. Let the reader decide if they like what you’ve written.
Number 3. Don't believe the hype that paying for click advertising or putting up banners are going to increase sales. The most important driver of sales is word of mouth through social sites and networking… using grassroots marketing. If you’re looking for the prestige that comes from seeing your book ad on a popular website, then go for it. But statistically, it's a very small percentage of people that will actually buy the book through a paid advertisement. Sorry, but it’s a fact.
Number 4. Don’t think that by spamming social network sites that you’re somehow going to go viral (meaning tens of thousands of people clicked on your info) and sell a million books. Most social network site followers don’t want to see you blurbing about your book a dozen times a day. They would rather watch kittens playing piano.
Number 5. Just because you wrote a book, published it, and sold a few copies, don’t think you’re going to be able to quit your job and retire. That only happens to lottery-winning writers. I’ve had a few tweets and postings go viral and it led to just a small increase in sales. It’s a cool feeling knowing so many people have checked out your stuff, but not profitable.
Number 6. Write for yourself and don’t try to copy what’s out there just because what’s out there is selling now. Be original and write what you want. That’s the only true way of gaining a loyal reader following.
So there you have it. These are the mistakes I made early on in my writing career that cost me loads of time and briefly damaged my professional online persona. Do the exact opposite of these six things and I guarantee you’ll see your sales rise and people will begin to notice you.
I also wanted to let everyone know that I have two promotions going on tomorrow. One from Ereader News Today and one from ChoosyBookworm.com. I highly recommend that authors try to promote on both sites. ChoosyBookworm is a free service and Ereader News Today gets paid on commission. They don’t make any money from your promotion if you don’t. I think that’s one of the best deals there is for exposure on the internet.
To learn more about my books and myself, please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING.
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
Number 1. When posting on forums don't just promote yourself with no other redeeming information. When I first started out I'd post summaries of my books and links to buy them on sites that specifically said no self-promo. I didn’t listen. The result: I got banned from these sites and all the networking they could have provided. Provide content marketing material when you post. Writer’s are always interested in information that can help readers find their books.
Number 2. Don't write articles that tell people how they are going to feel about your book. For instance, don't write a blurb that says, "This is the best book you'll read all year". Statements like that really turn off the reader. Let the reader decide if they like what you’ve written.
Number 3. Don't believe the hype that paying for click advertising or putting up banners are going to increase sales. The most important driver of sales is word of mouth through social sites and networking… using grassroots marketing. If you’re looking for the prestige that comes from seeing your book ad on a popular website, then go for it. But statistically, it's a very small percentage of people that will actually buy the book through a paid advertisement. Sorry, but it’s a fact.
Number 4. Don’t think that by spamming social network sites that you’re somehow going to go viral (meaning tens of thousands of people clicked on your info) and sell a million books. Most social network site followers don’t want to see you blurbing about your book a dozen times a day. They would rather watch kittens playing piano.
Number 5. Just because you wrote a book, published it, and sold a few copies, don’t think you’re going to be able to quit your job and retire. That only happens to lottery-winning writers. I’ve had a few tweets and postings go viral and it led to just a small increase in sales. It’s a cool feeling knowing so many people have checked out your stuff, but not profitable.
Number 6. Write for yourself and don’t try to copy what’s out there just because what’s out there is selling now. Be original and write what you want. That’s the only true way of gaining a loyal reader following.
So there you have it. These are the mistakes I made early on in my writing career that cost me loads of time and briefly damaged my professional online persona. Do the exact opposite of these six things and I guarantee you’ll see your sales rise and people will begin to notice you.
I also wanted to let everyone know that I have two promotions going on tomorrow. One from Ereader News Today and one from ChoosyBookworm.com. I highly recommend that authors try to promote on both sites. ChoosyBookworm is a free service and Ereader News Today gets paid on commission. They don’t make any money from your promotion if you don’t. I think that’s one of the best deals there is for exposure on the internet.
To learn more about my books and myself, please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING.
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
February 10, 2014
Little surprises!
When you’re as active on writer’s sites as I am you occasionally receive what I like to call a little gift from the creative spirit. Case in point, yesterday when I received notice that one of my posts on Kindle Direct Publishing forum was tweeted by them.
https://twitter.com/AmazonKDP/status/...
I was a little dismayed, I must admit, because I didn’t even know that KDP read the author forum let alone would actually take the post and promote it. I didn’t ask them to do it and wholly appreciate that they did. So, what happened?
With just that one tweet I suddenly saw my books sales begin to increase, literally every fifteen minutes another book would sell. I watched my blog counter (which the links to the post) nearly quadruple its regular hits, and at one point I was getting ten hits a minute. The exposure continued as people re-tweeted and Google + the post, and as of right now, I’m still getting emails from interested readers and my blog counter continues to rise.
So what has this taught me? Well, I must say since there is no way to pay KDP to tweet a post, you must write something pretty darn interesting to get their attention. Also, I’ve paid for many sponsorships over the years some costing hundreds of dollars. I got the same results or better from this free tweet, leading me to believe that I must concentrate on writing strong, interesting posts that will garner attention from the mainstream rather than just posting about my personal book publishing odyssey.
And the last thing I learned from this is that just when you think you’ve been lost in a sea of manuscripts and that no one is reading your stuff or paying attention to what you’re writing, something like this little surprise happens and makes it all worthwhile.
To learn more about my books and myself, please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING.
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
https://twitter.com/AmazonKDP/status/...
I was a little dismayed, I must admit, because I didn’t even know that KDP read the author forum let alone would actually take the post and promote it. I didn’t ask them to do it and wholly appreciate that they did. So, what happened?
With just that one tweet I suddenly saw my books sales begin to increase, literally every fifteen minutes another book would sell. I watched my blog counter (which the links to the post) nearly quadruple its regular hits, and at one point I was getting ten hits a minute. The exposure continued as people re-tweeted and Google + the post, and as of right now, I’m still getting emails from interested readers and my blog counter continues to rise.
So what has this taught me? Well, I must say since there is no way to pay KDP to tweet a post, you must write something pretty darn interesting to get their attention. Also, I’ve paid for many sponsorships over the years some costing hundreds of dollars. I got the same results or better from this free tweet, leading me to believe that I must concentrate on writing strong, interesting posts that will garner attention from the mainstream rather than just posting about my personal book publishing odyssey.
And the last thing I learned from this is that just when you think you’ve been lost in a sea of manuscripts and that no one is reading your stuff or paying attention to what you’re writing, something like this little surprise happens and makes it all worthwhile.
To learn more about my books and myself, please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING.
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
