C.L.’s Comments (group member since Jan 14, 2017)

C.L.’s comments from the Navigating Indieworld Discussing All Things Indie group.

Honestly I don't do a "newsletter". I keep an email list and I send an email when I want to tell people something - like, hey, I'm part of the Navigating Indieworld Spring Event, check out these awesome books, or hey, I have a free story for you to download.

Mostly I'm just collecting contact into for people who have my book. When my sequel is ready for beta reading, I'll put out a call for beta reading among the people who cared enough to download the bonus novella which takes place in between the two books. When the sequel is ready for pre-order I'll email the whole list to let them know that it is available to build sales and reviews.

I also have an automation sequence set up so that any time someone downloads my bonus novella they get an email asking if they were able to load it onto their reader okay, and then another a few days later asking what they thought about it. Every now and then someone replies which is nice because then I can build a relationship with that reader. But automated sequences cost money so you probably aren't ready for that yet.

Re: Books Butterfly - the Amazon policy on third party promotions warns against using any promoters who guarantee a certain number of downloads - they usually use bots, and if you're caught paying a company that uses bots, Amazon will remove all of your books permanently.

And Instafreebie gives a month free of their pro plans so you can capture emails without it costing a dime. Even without joining a group giveaway you get a trickle of downloads, but the group giveaway snagged me 500 emails. You can go into the Instafreebie forums to find giveaways in your genre.

Oh, and I emailed those people and offered them my bonus story for those who are waiting for the sequel and 100 of them downloaded that, so that means that 20% of the people who downloaded the book must have read it/been interested enough to get the novella.

You'd be better off doing an Instafreebie - put one of your books on Instafreebie and join in a group giveaway with some other authors. You can set it to get the email of everyone who downloads your book and you can expect anywhere between 200-500 downloads. That's a bunch of new email addresses. Wait a while, email people and ask if they liked your book, and then send them a link to all of your other books.

There are a LOT of successful authors who use this method and make a killing at it. I'm desperately trying to get my second book out so I can emulate them because it's such a proven strategy.

By contrast, while I got a bunch of downloads from a recent KDP Select promo event, it did nothing for my sales of my book and I have no way of letting any of those people know when my next book comes out.

I don't think there's much benefit to taking your ebooks off of KDP. You can use Draft2Digital to upload your ebook to other platforms like Kobo, Nook etc but the only way to have your ebook available on Amazon is to have it on KDP.

If you mean taking it out of KDP Select, just wait your your term to expire and don't renew.

My book is listed on both and the quality is identical - my proof from Ingram got mixed in with my createspace proofs and I couldn't pick it out again afterwards.

Createspace is really good about replacing poor quality books. Over Christmas they had mine printed at a different facility and the red balance was off - the heart on the cover looked burnt sienna and the purple shades on the arms looked blue. I sent photos and they sent me a new shipment free of charge and free return shipping on the bad copies.

Regarding Goodreads Giveaways, I don't think of that as a way to get reviews. I think of it as a way to get exposure. I did a giveaway and my book got added to something like 400 people's to-read lists. I also saw a spike in sales of my ebook at the same time.

Here's what I recommend:

1. Join Instafreebie, and take the free month of the paid version.
2. Specifically ask for reviews in the backmatter of your book - "if you liked this book, please leave a review!" with a link.
3. Upload your book and create a giveaway. Make opt-in for an email list required, and hook the account to a mail chimp or other emailing service. Mail chimp has a free option and links directly to Instafreebie, so it's nice and easy.
4. Go to the Instafreebie forums and look for a group giveaway in your genre, and join - all that means is that you give your book link to whoever is organizing the giveaway, and you promise to help promote the giveaway much in the way that we just did for Navigating Indieworld's recent giveaway.

I organized a giveaway with 24 other authors and got 500 downloads of my book, which means I also got 500 email addresses.

5. Send them an email after a week or so thanking them for downloading your book and telling them a bit about yourself, the book, or anything that is friendly and not salesy or spammy.
6. Send them an email after three weeks or a month asking them what they thought of the book, and suggesting that they leave you a brief review - then give the review link. You can also give them a link to your other books in the hope that you get some sales.

I haven't emailed and prompted for a review yet but I've gotten two or three reviews at least organically from the original 500 downloads.

Alternatively, you can list do a review alert through Xpresso Book Tours. It's 40 or 50 dollars and I got probably ten or so reviews out of it.

Woo hoo! Glad someone who downloaded my book was rewarded for it!

Nicole wrote: "Carole wrote: "CL- Will I lose all my reviews if I change the ISBNs?"

No, it will link to your existing Amazon page. You may have to request it to be linked, but once they link it, all the reviews..."

I think there's a way on Amazon to merge various editions of a book, like on Goodreads, but I haven't had to do it myself. If it's the same book I'm pretty sure they pick up on it and combine the editions.

Sam (Rescue Dog Mom & Writer) wrote: "What about proof copies? Are you able to purchase your own books from IS at a discount like from CS? Thank you."

Yes you are. Prices are slightly higher than createspace though.

Erica wrote: "C.L. wrote: "Hmm, I have my book available through Createspace AND Ingram Spark. I wonder if this has anything to do with the new KDP paperback? Even Createspace is emailing me and pushing me to tr..."

I did Ingram Spark because brick and mortar stores prefer it - they don't like supporting Amazon, Ingram allows for deeper discounts for booksellers, and it lets you make your books returnable which is important if a bookseller is going to take a risk on your book.

I did Amazon because I can make the price much lower there, and Amazon prefers to promote its own business more than Ingram Spark's business. They make more profit off of my sales and will be more motivated to push and promote my books.

I have my own ISBN, and since editions are identical I can use the same ISBN for both. You can't use a createspace ISBN on Ingram spark, but you can do whatever you want with your own.

Oh, and the great thing about making my book cheaper on Amazon is that it forces retailers like Barnes and Noble, who get my book through Ingram Spark, to price match. So they lower the price on their side of the table, without me losing my cut through Ingram Spark. Mwahahahahaha.

But who would we be promoting the books TO? Each other?

Hmm, I have my book available through Createspace AND Ingram Spark. I wonder if this has anything to do with the new KDP paperback? Even Createspace is emailing me and pushing me to try KDP paperback...

Found this:
https://www.launchdigitalmarketing.co...

Based on the discussion about clickbait titles for classic works of fiction, what would be the clickbait title for your book(s)?

Here's mine:

He said he loved her for her brains. You won't believe what she found out next!

Oh man, this would be a good thread - check out the fun section.

Are there specific hashtags we should be using? I already am sending a mass email about it but I'm doing social media posts as well.

I added the event to my Facebook page, and I've scheduled a mass email for the big day!

Marie wrote: "Marie wrote: "I've seen all kinds of books get accepted by BB, anything from indie with homemade-looking covers and only a handful of reviews, to trad best seller books. I don't see the rhyme and r..." WOO HOOO!

I feel like I need more texture - it sounds like a good basic start to the story but who are these people? What was the mistake? What makes this plot unique from all the other stories out there?

Serialization worked great for Andy Weir's The Martian. There's even a new app specifically for serialized stories - what's it called again... Oh yeah https://www.serialbox.com/how-it-works