UK Amazon Kindle Forum discussion
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How to publicise an e-book?
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Personally, I've got a Facebook page, Twitter account, and mention my books in my email/forum signatures.Taken part in various read+review thingies that some groups have on here, whereby I give out free copies in exchange for reviews.
Also uploaded them to torrent/pirate sites, and posted on the respective forums pointing people towards them.
I'm not rich, so please don't think I'm any kind of expert.
Erin wrote: "Hi there,I want to know if anyone has any advice or experience in marketing e-books and if so would you be willing to share your fountain of knowledge with the group? Any info, experience or advic..."
Hi Erin!
Any Indie will tell you that writing, editing, proofing and publishing your book is the easy part!!! Selling it is the hard bit!!!
Some people enter their books into KDP Select. I have never attempted that strategy and have not really heard much to recommend it. Often, despite many downloads, 'sales' remain as good or as bad as before the book was free.
Actively taking part in forums such as this one is an excellent way for you and your book to remain visible. But be careful, people are not as interested in your book as you are (unfortunately!!!). They will soon get tired of you if your posts are always about your novel. Make a real effort to engage with readers on another level and they will respond favourably to you. Most importantly ALWAYS BE POLITE!!! Even if some idiot has just jumped down your throat for no reason (not a problem in this group but elsewhere… well it’s a jungle out there!!!). As the Author you have to take the moral high ground and fume WITHOUT TOUCHING YOUR KEYBORD!!! Remember; the internet NEVER forgets!!!
Have you tried contacting review blogs??? Most groups have a 'bloggers thread' where you can find reviewers who are interested in the genre you write. I know this is a really obvious thing to say, but be polite in your cover email. Make sure that the reviewer you are contacting is happy to review Indies and stick to their guidelines. If they say that they do not read Horror/ Y/A / Erotica etc. that means THEY DO NOT READ Horror/ Y/A / Erotica etc.
If you receive a review that is unfavourable DO NOT RESPOND!!! Unless you intend to be super duper conciliatory and thank them for their honest opinion. They bought your book; they are ALLOWED to hate it. If they are a reviewer you contacted, YOU ASKED THEM for their opinion. A review is a subjective opinion and cannot therefore be 'right' or 'wrong'. Bad reviews hurt and it sucks to get one but just remember; there are people out there on this planet right now who don't like chocolate. If something as universally yummy as Chocolate gets bad reviews then what hope do the rest of us have?!?!?
Not sure if this is of any help, but from one Indie to another: Go forth and conquer!!!
:-D
We only jump down throats to deposit chocolate. :)
Patti (Migrating Coconut) wrote: "We only jump down throats to deposit chocolate. :)"Which is why we love you, Peppermint P.!!!
www.kindleboards.com is a great forum to hang out on for an author as they allow you to have a signature which includes thumbnail images of your book covers (which link to your books on Amazon) as well as links to your website, etc. That's excellent exposure.
I might check that one out, although I spend too much time hanging out anyway.
Thanks Natasha, I might have a look round there. Like Alexandra, though, I feel I spend too long gossiping and not enough time writing. Mind you, at least I can call it work, just like I tell my hubby that when I'm lying in bed reading, I'm actually working. ;)
I have Twitter and Facebook as well as a blog (which I don't write often enough) and a website (which I don't update often enough). I don't know if having any of them sells books, but it can't harm.I agree that the Kindleboards are a great place to hang out for information about promotion possibilities, but I have to admit there are times when the perspective of a few there annoys me and I swear never to go back...but then I do.
The best thing you can do, I think, is just to be yourself wherever you go. Relax, forget trying to sell your book for 99% of the time and just enjoy the company. If people like you, they'll look at your book/site/blog/FBPage out of interest. If you constantly push your book in front of their faces, they'll ignore it and you.
If you feel you must promote, there are definite places where you can promote and others where you definitely can't. Read rules very carefully wherever you go. Put yourself in the place of the reader and don't overdo it, even in those places where it's allowed.
Good luck!
Yeah I made a sale through google plus last night and a couple through FB but it does get annoying sometimes with all the promos and I do at least try and get involved. Selling books is not going to happen overnight... people will tell their mates who will pass it on. It never ceases to amaze me how may people put their book on KDP then 2 weeks later when they have made 2 sales to their mum and their cat they give up. If the book is good it will sell, all be it slowly at first.I was finding myself always on forums and fb and not enough time writing.
I keep considering SW and Kobo, but tbh I am lazy and not sure I want the hassle of setting that all up for different formats and watching another sales report.
I must confess I don't know much about Google+I have had a play with setting up my account on it this afternoon and have "liked" a couple of things, but tbh I haven't a clue what I'm doing. I can't find any friends and have no idea how to tell people what my profile page is.
I might just stick to FB and my website.
I'm still waiting for that eureka! moment when suddenly a cunning plan hatches in my mind to sell a million books on a budget of £50 a year (assuming I can sneak that past my partner).I'm not convinced that a good book sells itself - I've a fear that any book good/bad can languish unseen for decades without throwing loads of money at publicizing it (or a very lucky break).
I've tried the giving away free copies in exchange for reviews thing, but no-one ever got back to me (OMG - maybe the book is that bad people are too kind to comment?).
So you're not alone. But hope springs eternal..
I find that most of the review blogs worth investigating have very long lead times (at least a couple of months) because of the volume of material submitted to them. Which is totally fair enough, but it's just one more thing that emphasises the importance of playing the long game when it comes to marketing your work.I've tried to promote mine by engaging with people on social media and forums and the like - trouble is, I get distracted and often forget that I'm supposed to be plugging the book. My Twitter followers have almost no idea that I've published one...
My best policy has been to contact bloggers and carefully reading their review policy to check you aren't being rude by emailing them if your book doesn't match their genre, etc.There is usually a long wait time, a few months most, but you have to be patient in this business and be grateful to accept any review opportunity which comes your way. If it takes years to build up a fan base than so be it.
When searching bloggers, I tend to choose them not by the number of Google friends they have but the number of comments that they usually have on their posts. I had a review/interview with a blogger who had over a 1000 friends of GFC but zero comments when it came to her posts. While another, with less friends, had consistently up to a dozen or more comments. I could then interact with the people commenting and gain more exposure.
good luck!
Hi Erin, go to the forums for your genre, many will accept post signatures. You can post reviews of books you like and start a debate on one of the hot subjects or ask a question you know is going to divide the community - without causing ill feeling.Do NOT spam your book, but maybe ask for one or two beta readers for honest criticism
We are making regular sales each month, and it appears to be a combination of the following things: 1. We have a blog with almost 1000 followers, where our books are linked. We write about whatever we are passionate about -- issues, education, politics, and sometimes book reviews. 2. I have joined several author groups where we cross-promote through facebook, Twitter and Pinterest groups. 3. I try to be on Goodreads regularly, participating in discussions, and I frequently recommend other authors' books for the topic rather than mine, but include my book's picture/link in my post. We have 41 titles out so I just pick the newest, or one related to the topic. 4. I did go with KDP select on my newest books and it did result in daily sales after it went off free. I do not plan to keep it in the program after the 90 days are up. 5. Keep writing more books, good ones, in a variety of genres, well-edited, with nice covers.
oops, justlost my message in the ether. I'll start again. A big thanks to Erin for asking the question, it is something I struggle with. And thanks to all for your generous answers. Mary, can I ask you one thing, what do you mean when you say your books are "linked" ? Do you mean they are linked to Amazon? And Anthony, when you say go for forums for your genre, do you mean forums here on Goodreads and/or Amazon, or elsewhere? And sorry for being dense but can't think at the moment, but What does "accept post signatures" mean? Cheers to all! :)
Marianne, we have links to Amazon and Smashwords on our blog for our books. An example of post signatures is what we can do here on Goodreads: Post a small image of our book cover that links to the Goodreads book page. On Kindleboards you can create a signature with several of your book covers -- small images -- each one linking directly to the Amazon book page. There is a limit to the size ans shape of this signature on Kindleboards and a limit how many covers you can include, I believe. It's kind of tricky to set up the signature but they give step-by-step instructions and there are tutorials as well. Kindleboards is a huge site and you have to be careful about how and where you promote. Goodreads works better for me for building relationships and finding readers, but there is much information available at Kindleboards.
The biggest thing that's worked for me to help drive sales is lowering the price of my first book to .99. (I haven't tried KDP Select.) I also promote in groups on Facebook that allow it, and I belong to Triberr and some tweet groups that help promote blogs and books through Twitter. I also interact in some of the Goodreads groups and of course have politely approached bloggers for reviews. I've also received reviews through some groups on Goodreads, such as Making Connections, which has an Authors Requesting Reviews (ARR) program. Another thing I've tried recently that I think has been very helpful is participating in monthly blog hops with up to 200 other authors and bloggers. We band together and offer three grand prizes (usually an Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card around $100, a Kindle Fire or B&N Tablet, and a swag pack of print books and such that the various participants have donated) and we each offer a prize on our own blog. The most successful blog hops I've been on are offered by Carrie Ann Ryan. Many of them are romance oriented, but not all. You can sign up for them here:
http://carrieannbloghops.blogspot.com/
Also, another tip for making the blog hops successful is to use RaffleCopter (http://www.Rafflecopter.com) to run your giveaway. You can give people various tasks to get more entries for your prize (such as joining your mailing list, following your blog, following you on Twitter, or liking you on Facebook), and that helps you keep in touch with them afterward. I've found after doing several of these hops that as people are exposed to my book (through various venues) several times, more of them are buying it. That rule that people need to see something three or more times before they'll investigate/buy it is true.
Oh and one more thing: I'm trying to be increasingly conscious of the various markets around the world. The UK is my second largest source of sales after the US, so I'm trying to remind myself to post UK-specific retailer links alongside my US ones whenever possible. If I recall correctly, the US has the highest concentration of ereaders right now, so you might want to remember to post the US and UK links when you promote. I see lots and lots of interesting books from folks in the UK, but I often have to do an extra search on Amazon US to find the book because all I have is a UK link. Not everyone will bother, or will realize that a book on Amazon UK is most likely also on Amazon US.
Another thing I'm going to experiment with (once the prequel novella to my series is finished) is to try a blog tour and also try to have more of a range of prices. I'm planning to price the novella at .99 permanently (and I might try KDP Select as well) to attract folks willing to try at that price and then have the rest of the novels in the series at prices ranging from 2.99 to 4.99.
I hope some of this helps, and thanks for sharing your tips. I'll have to spend more time on KindleBoards (and actually get my signature working!).
thanks, Mary and Dana. I'm going to need to sit down and digest all this information. One question:as far as I can tell, we can't reduce the price of the kindle books below £1.49 unless we use KPD select – is that correct? Anyone know? Thanks again :)
People have succeeded in making their books free by having them free in another venue, such as Kobo, and reporting a lower price, as well as having other customers do the same. It is a tedious process but useful if you have a series and wish to make the first book free permanently as an enticement to buy the rest.
ah ha! Thanks for this, Mary. it's great to find a place where so many people are happy to share their knowledge. :)
I can't really say that being in KDP improves sales, I set my book to be free for 3 days and it got good download stats (ranked in the top 40 free sf ebooks) but when the price went back on I don't think many paid money to read it.Having just checked. I've sold about 10 copies. Better than nothing, I guess.
I got up to #3 in SciFi adventure with my KDP free foray, just about 1000 downloads, but it was a ton of work posting on the free listing sites. The second time, and when I also ran the illustrated version free on one overlapping day, I wasn't able to lay all that groundwork. The result was far fewer downloads and no real sales boost. Not sure taking the time to "get the message out" does more than bring in more free downloaders who wouldn't pay for the book or share the knowledge about it anyway. I got one review which was precious, but I am disillusioned with KDP, tak it all together.
I've not used Select, but then I've not sold many books either. I'm not really interested in engaging with the whole culture of free stuff, to be honest. I've received enough reviews to know they make bog all difference to sales, so I don't think there's much to be gained in giving my work away.
Can I just say that spamming people in private messages is so NOT a good idea?Not that any of our lovely authors would ever do that.
Ouch. Spamming i private messages. I reported somebody for that, friending a bunch of people and messaging them. Andrew, we give away ebooks to get known. This is our first time, and I'm not sure we'll do it again. But it did result is almost daily sales and borrows, and our other books are linked in the back. Also opened up some international traffic. :-)
If you're giving away something for nothing, I'd suggest perhaps a short taster, to hook people and draw them into the books
Yes, we have short stories and excerpts at 99 cents (in US). We really find that's a better way to draw readers, but wanted to give the free days a try jut this once. Still in the plan until Jan but probably won't do it again.
I would just add that Google+ has recently instituted "Communities," which are another good way to get word out. I'm in several science fiction Communities. If that's your genre, just contact me at google.com/+PaulLevinson and I'll invite you in.
Rob wrote: "I'm still waiting for that eureka! moment when suddenly a cunning plan hatches in my mind to sell a million books on a budget of £50 a year (assuming I can sneak that past my partner).I'm not conv..."
The only person who took a free print book off me never reviewed it. I've made it a policy never to send print books to reviewers from there on. I gave her a gentle reminder after about 3 months and she wrote me a lovely and very apologetic message saying that it would be the next book she read to review.
Nothing happened.
I asked politely one last time and when I didn't hear back I chalked it up to experience.
Like you, I fear she loathed it! ;-)
Just to add my twopennorth, I'm with Mary and co... I tried select but didn't achieve much. I think it might work if you switch the novels you have in there or maybe add each new launch for its first three months. However, I think Amazon has too much of the market, it earns billions in the UK and doesn't pay one penny of corporation tax and I believe in free markets which means that giving one company monopoly is a bad idea.I firmly believe that word of mouth is the best seller and finding somewhere on the web that will expose your books to people who are not other authors. Take E L James - she got a huge following on a fanfiction site, so when she launched her books a whole bunch of people wanted to buy them, which they did, in a short space of time, which catapulted her up the rankings... I suspect that's what you have to do. Get your writing exposed somewhere that's not about writing, per se. Like a fan fiction site. So people get to like your writing and buy your books incidentally. Then the personal recommendations start and you're set.
Cheers
MTM
Hi, I wanted to ask those who have a facebook page to promote their books, how is it working for you?
Sara wrote: "Hi, I wanted to ask those who have a facebook page to promote their books, how is it working for you?"Well, I use a pseudonym as I have published my own personal diary. I have not told my friends or family about it. Consequently, I cannot promote my book's page via my main Facebook account or get people I know to 'like' it.
I have such a lowly number of 'likes' that I'm too ashamed to disclose it here. You'll have to click and find out ;-)
We have 3 fb pages for our books: One for our publisher imprint, Findley Family Video, one for Sophronia Belle Lyon, my pen name for a new series I've started, and one for hubby's sci fi books. Most of the likes and interactions come from other authors, so I'd have to say they don't seem to accomplish much. I think M.T. is dead right. We've got to find readers, but everywhere I go I find other authors. God bless you all, and I know you're readers, too, but how do we find more readers? I have this terribly niche genre that I've practically created, Steampunk Literary Tribute. I know there's Steampunk Holmes and Edgar Allen Poe as a detective and others, but I don't know how to contact readers ... sigh.
Mary wrote: I don't know how to contact readers ... sigh. "If you've published anything via Amazon KDP, I'd recommend www.kindleboards.com.
... Ooh, I've got another 'like.' Thank you so much, Mary ;-)
I guess I should go back to Kindleboards. I am actually trying to branch out to non-Amazon venues. Nothing specific against Amazon that hasn't been said before, but I'm trying to diversify. I want to explore other possibilities. :-)
Hi Natasha and Mary, thanks for the posts. I'll like you in a minute, Natasha, so you can have one more ;-).I write with a pseudonym as well and my private facebook page has no connection with my writing one. Some of my personal friends have 'liked' me but I have very little followers there and I think it's a bit of a waste of time. Don't know what to put there to make it interesting.
I will take a look at Kindleboards, thanks for the tip!
Mary, I have that problem on Twitter. I want to connect with READERS and now only WRITERS follow me. It's really nice, but I would like to conncet with readers, and readers that read what I write.
Oh well, I'll have to re-think this facebook page thing again.
Have any of you discovered book/review sites specific to the UK/Ireland/Australia/NZ markets? Most of the ones I've found are US-centric. I'd love to get the word out to the other English-reading folks out there.
I am not sure if this is helpful but someone shared it on Google plus. http://www.colleensayre.blogspot.co.uk/.Lance- some of the facebook sites are UK - UK fantasy and such. I am not sure if they review but they do let you promo your book in some and they are useful for contacts.
I want to know if anyone has any advice or experience in marketing e-books and if so would you be willing to share your fountain of knowledge with the group? Any info, experience or advice welcome...