THE DOs and DOs OF MARKETING

THE DOs and DONTs DOs OF MARKETING

You know how you read an article or blog, and that usually leads you to another, and then another? Yeah well I’m guilt of it too. And the other day, just wandering and getting lost led me to a rather long winded blog written by an author (unknown to me) about authors seeking reviews for their books. In fact, it was so long I didn’t even read it all. I skimmed, gathering enough outraged from it that I sustained it was more a rant then a helpful blog. I concurred my judgement of her statement that “…authors who ask or seek out reviews for the books are lowly characters…” to be overly sanctimonious coming from someone whose books have 91, 64, 97, 72, 191… and so on reviews for their books. How easy it is to cast judgement on other authors when you’re already up at the top.

Who the author was is irrelevant for this blog, what is relevant, is YOU, author, should not listen to such tripe and do whatever it is you need to do to market your book. And that usually requires trying out several things. If you’re like me, you’re lucky you get 10 reviews on a book, so yes of course when I have a new release coming out, I send a copy out to several review bloggers with hopes they will read it and enjoy it enough to give it a god review. It doesn’t always work out that way. Sometimes my books never get accepted, sometimes the review is mediocre. Because let’s face it, not everyone is going to like my books. But that is beside the fact. Once I give or sell my book, what others think of it is their business and not mine. But that doesn’t discredit that book reviews are a fundamental tool in marketing. If your book is on Amazon, reviews play a big part in the algorithm [like it or not], the more reviews you have the more frequently your book will show up in Amazon’s own site search engine. THIS DOES NOT MEAN ITS OKAY TO BUY REVIEWS! That’s like cutting in line and other authors will not think twice of knocking you off the mountain peak if they find out you cheated to get there.

Marketing doesn’t have to be a competition, it’s just about getting noticed.

I was talking with another author the other day, whose books I enjoy and I am thrilled that he even talks to me. Well the conversation turned to marketing as he is about to venture into a whole new genre for himself and he asked if I had any suggestions. I sent him a list of things, which he was rather shocked that I would be so open and sharing with information some deem as secrets of forbidden knowledge and should never be shared.

The thing is, they’re not secrets and the other thing is they don’t always work. I seem to be cursed where nothing helps my books. But again that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give them try yourself, after all what works for them may not work for you, but quite the opposite can also happen; what didn’t work for may turn out stupendous for you; catapulting your book into the hands of a plethora of readers who will then swoon and wager for more and next thing you know you’re on the best sellers list. Which in some retrospect is part of the game.

Yeah… yeah… we write for the love of writing, sure, but we publish for a completely different reason. In hopes of being successful at selling books. So never mind those telling you:  “Oh, I tried that, it didn’t work.” or the “You should never…”. Try a little bit of everything, find out what works for you and never give up!

SOME MARKETING STRATEGIES TO TRY

Website book ads – static advertising only works if the place where it’s located at gets enough visitors, so make sure it’s a popular site with heavy traffic and a good chance that a strong percentage of its viewers might be readers of the genre your book falls into. The other percentage you hope to persuade to give something new a try.

Blog tours and PAs – Bloggers and other authors keep their own websites busy by hosting other authors and guest bloggers, but finding them all, then scheduling a tour and making sure everyone gets all the info is time you probably would rather spend writing. So why not let someone else do it for you? This type service has seen a huge boom over the years, so there are plenty of them out there to choose from and price shop to fit your budget. Be sure to schedule with someone who caters to your genre. It won’t do you any good to schedule a tour for your Het-romance if your tour manager usually only works with an audience for MM Romance. Also, these cyber space promo pros usually offer a few other services to help you out and give you your time back for more writing. So see what else they can do for you.

Facebook ads – if you try these, pick up a preloaded credit card to use for your budget, not your regular card or debit, as FB sometimes continues to charge, even long after your campaign has ended. And since there is NO customer rep contact even for advertising clients to call up and tell them to knock it off or dispute billings issues, its best to just use limited cards and avoid getting overdrafted. ALSO make sure once your ad goes live it actually links to your buy source. I have seen numerous book ads that once clicked only took me to the facebook homepage. So make sure you are getting what you paid for.

Goodreads – at least there, everyone you encounter is looking for a book, so it makes sense to blog and advertise there. Just don’t read the reviews. Remember those are none of your business.

Thunderclap – is an all new thing, unsure if it’s useful or not. I think it can be, so long As you make sure to manage the supporters you get to insure at least 2/3 to 3/4 of them share a common interest for the same genre as your book is listed in. I mention this because you have to have a minimum of 100 supporters or your ad doesn’t go out. So in that first start up you’ll take whoever is willing. But Katty Waffle’s Candy Cakes and Truffles Shop [I totally made that up] who signed on isn’t going to get your Scifi Space Opera anywhere near the geek readers you want, but she was no. 63 in your supporters so you didn’t tell her to poo off. The good thing is, it’s free, so it can’t hurt.

Book Reviewers – submit copies to reviewers that run a blog and will also copy to amazon and goodreads. You can do this even before your book is out. If you’re planning on giving out a few copies to individuals in hopes of some reviews, you may want to wait until you’re closer to your book release or after, so that they can review while its fresh in their minds and not forget to post it up. But remember, what their opinions is, isn’t important. In fact, a mix of rating does more for your book in the readers’ eyes than 100 – 5 stars. The latter is more likely going to raise up suspicions.

Magazine ads – I only know a few authors who do these and I suppose it has a lot to do with price. Because they don’t come cheap. But those who do use magazine ads, declare a good amount of success with them. Again be conscious of your marketing target audience.

Twitter blasts – This is no different than a televising commercial, You create a sort ad with a link to your books and it gets posted to a mixed bag of viewers you hope were looking at the time your shout out went up and even greater hopes that a few of them might be interested in your book. Except you have no way of knowing for sure the number of viewers your single shout out ad might reach. Because of this secular unknowing I don’t recommend you shelling out any exorbitant amount of money for these. I have seen fees running from $75.00 to $200.00 for one single twitter shout out. Instead, head on over to Fiver and you can get the same damned thing for $5.00.

Well, my blog is getting a little long in the tooth now, so I’ll close it up. Just remember, never let anyone tell you not to give it a try. And always give everything a trial sample at least once, if your budget can support it. Also, don’t be afraid to try new things or share what you know with others. If you give an author a hand up, there’s a good chance they’ll return the favor.