Inkshares Community discussion
Promotional Strategy Discussion
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Top 3 (or more) Ways You Got Pre-orders
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Hrm. Here is my current stats from my Inkshare dashboard:Twitter: 5.1%
Email: 20.2%
Google: 3.2%
Nerdist.com: 1.7%
Reddit: 1.6%
Inkshares: 10%
Facebook: 55.9%
The rest are micro percentages of TinyUrl or PopcultureHQ.
It's a stark contrast from Trekonomics updates who had larger sources of media. Most of mine is clearly coming from friends of friends. My book got approved to pitch in a few gaming communities with over 7,000 facebook followers, so it makes sense.
But, this is the raw data from my feed.
Mod
well I can add something to the list of things that don't work...Asking independent bookstores to support your book.
Emailed 100 of them (the list took about 6-7 hours to compile), and in 2 weeks have gotten exactly 1 response.
That response was a firm no. To a question I didn't ask. They somehow thought I was asking to do a talk about my book, which would be difficult, seeing as the store was in Boston...and I'm in Australia.
So yeah...
I'd be wary of 'work/don't work' lists. I mean, don't ignore them, but don't dismiss something because it didn't work for someone else.Take social media for example: Facebook was amazing for my first campaign. I reached out to friends and families and communities and got a pretty good response. Second campaign? Not so much. It wasn't bad but a lot of people are still waiting on the first book so it was a hard sell. What I'm saying is that it depends on your message, your audience and your current situation. If you're a frequent Twitter user with a huge, engaged following, you'll do gangbuster there. If you just popped onto Twitter to promote your book with no other background and that's all you tweet about, probably won't do well.
Don't stop at 'this didn't work' and ask 'why didn't this work?'.
As for Inkshares; they are doing things to put themselves out there (the contests, other things). You all caught that deal they have with UTA? That is pretty significant. Getting a couple of high profile authors to suddenly be under the Inkshares label will attract more attention than almost anything else they could do.
I don't think that everything they're doing is perfect. I think Cara hits the nail on the head that the website could be better at connecting writers with their audience. I'm going to be sending them an email with a few suggestions (trying to keep it reasonable) which leads to what is great about Inkshares: They listen to ideas. So if you think something could be improved, I encourage you to contact them.
Yeah I emailed them the other day with some suggestions that they're looking into, primarily about connecting to readers.I suggested that they could have users specify the genres they're interested in on their profile and then give authors a sortable index of readers to find the ones best suited for us to pitch to.
They seemed receptive to the idea, so we'll see
I had thought of something similar. Clearly the reader profiles are lacking. As a reader, I should be able to input some preferences of genres. Maybe have some sliders to pick how much of what we like more.Meanwhile, writers should be able to say more about their book. We get to pick a genre and that's cool but I'd love to be able to add a few tag (maybe a max of 5) to create a more precise portrait of my book.
Then, the system could match reader profile and book profiles and generate a custom weekly catalogue of suggested titles along with stats about each book, etc.
That's what I imagine would be the most efficient but also not something you can pull out of your ass in an evening.
Hi everyone! I'm an author and I just published my first novel. I send requests to 2 publicists in Reedsy and one of them wanted me to pay her $1,500 so that she could contact 100 bloggers. I don't even have that sum of money! Does anyone know how to get reviews in goodreads? I need help in promoting my novel.
J-F wrote: "I had thought of something similar. Clearly the reader profiles are lacking. As a reader, I should be able to input some preferences of genres. Maybe have some sliders to pick how much of what we l..."I've even wished readers could put more information about themselves/book preferences while looking for people to pitch to. I sort of hate how I currently have to pitch nearly blind in reference to reader preferences.
J-F wrote: "I had thought of something similar. Clearly the reader profiles are lacking. As a reader, I should be able to input some preferences of genres. Maybe have some sliders to pick how much of what we l..."Hi Francesca, welcome to the group. I want to redirect you to post this comment as a new topic in this section, rather than in this thread. This thread of discussion is meant for discussing ways of getting backers for Inkshares campaigns. I like your question and think it's a relevant discussion topic. Perhaps you might find something under: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...
Mod
This is a great idea! It would cut down on spam pitches, too - why send out 100 pitches to readers when 50 of them don't read sci-fi (or something)? Great idea.
Here's what I'm going to try over the next few weeks:
- Go to libraries, approach people who are on the computer and ask them to sign up right then and there to get the $5 sign-up credit. If I can actually show them how, it gets them over the first hurdle.
- Park myself in my local coffee shop with my computer and ask patrons to come over and sign up with my help. Again, helping them get past that first hurdle. No weird obligation, since they'll order later anyway - there's no way I'll know they didn't order and shame them for it or something.
- After I have a refined pitch, I'm trying this strategy at Fall Con: have a computer right at my table, asking people to give me a chance. They can watch the video if they want, even. They can browse the books for each of my coloring sheets if they want, too - I'm hoping we all get a bump from my convention table.
- Reach out to my friends/family who may have referred other people to my book, but not realize they earned credits and can buy another copy of my book. There might be some out there...
- Start pulling together a more polished version of my first 3 episodes as a preview and actually print out a few copies with createspace. Then I'll have a physical object in hand to show people that it's real.
- Set up an in-person appointment with someone at a local independent bookstore and bring in the physical book to show them. I think in-person might work better than email (but I could just be delusional...)
- Send out a call for help on facebook to all middle and high school teachers I might know - a teacher just bought my book for her classroom and that's a market I haven't tapped yet. In fact, teachers LOVE free books, so if I could get them to refer other teachers to me, they might be able to build up credits and buy OTHER Inkshares books for their classroom!!! I want to try this strategy with college libraries, too.
- Shoot a couple tutorial videos with screenshots showing people how to sign up, where their credits appear, where to leave reviews and how to make recommendations and referrals. Yes, you can all link people to these videos when they're done. We need them!
So that's my plan right now... I'll let you all know how it goes.
(Follow-up: if you have a book you want to add to a "recommended" list for teachers to look at once they have credits, send it to me with a note about the general content at cara.c.weston@gmail.com! I'm thinking YA books are probably pretty popular in high schools, but I think all sorts of stuff might work. Some schools like banned books, what do I know?)
Cara wrote: "- Shoot a couple tutorial videos with screenshots showing people how to sign up, where their credits appear, where to leave reviews and how to make recommendations and referrals. Yes, you can all link people to these videos when they're done. We need them!..."
But that's another thing that's been bugging me...why are people finding it so hard to sign up to Inkshares and order a book?
If I had a dollar for every person that's told me they won't do it because it's too hard or confusing I'd have quite a lot of dollars.
The process seems really straightforward and simple to me and yet if we're at the point where we're having to create multi page documents and videos to explain to people how to use the site, then there must be something wrong that I'm completely missing.
Like if you sign up, and put all your details in, it's literally 3-4 clicks of the mouse to buy a book. I can't understand why the people we're trying to sell to are having so much trouble...
One of the things I think confuse a few people is that the login page and sign up page are the same. So they enter information and suddenly are taken to a page called Reader Writer with no information as to what this page is and what to do from there. They don't all realize that this is THEIR profile page and that Reader Writer is just a temporary name they need to change.I have so many Reader Writers who bought my books...
I really think they need to do away with the temporary 'Reader Writer' name on signup altogether and force people to enter a name or a username. Most people are probably just clicking straight past it and not realising their input is required.
I've also had this issue with reader writers. Or on Facebook people went and followed but didn't
Ok I wish I could delete that last... But I'm on the goodreads app, not the browser. My 50lb Dog jumped into my lap and when I grabbed my iPad out of the way I hit post... Anyway, I was trying to say that many said they would preorder but they only 'followed' thinking that was all they had to do. Others were completely confused, even though we had outlined step by step instructions in just about every post. The problem with that is the attention span of most Facebook users doesn't go beyond the continue reading button. They see it, think, oh that again, they want to show support so they hit like and move on.
Early in the campaign I ran into the pitch problem. I had no idea how it worked, Inkshares needs better instructions for authors too. A getting started tutorial that explains all these things. I'm not a blogger, I'm not used to html, I still haven't figured out how to have more than one chapter with links at the bottom to the next chapter. I figured out Wordpress quicker than the Inkshares site. I had sent a test pitch to my husband to figure out what he saw when he got it. But nothing happened. I contacted Inkshares and asked about it. I also asked them who the readers are on the list they sent me, whether they are readers interested in my genre or completely random. I never got an answer. Once they got the pitch working correctly I sent a pitch to every name. I didn't get even one response. I wish I could have been able to pitch to my preferred audience. I didn't contact Inkshares about it again since they didn't respond the first time. It gave me the impression they weren't interested in changing anything that would hinder the minimalist design of the site. I don't know, maybe they are only interested in the ideas that came from those higher in the ranks...
Paul wrote: "Cara wrote: "- Shoot a couple tutorial videos with screenshots showing people how to sign up, where their credits appear, where to leave reviews and how to make recommendations and referrals. Yes, ..."I'd been wondering the same thing. I found the sign up process to be one of the easiest I've ever done. I think JF may be right in his response. It may be the sign up is too easy and leaves people thinking they missed a step, as odd as that seems to me.
When I started my crowdfund campaign, it was before the change from $ amount pledged to number of copies sold. But most of the same issues that got in the way and hurdles that needed to be overcome are still the same.I had a LOT of people who told me they were interested, told me they would pre-order but never seemed to get around to actually doing it.
I didn't want to badger anyone, so I tried to understand what was keeping them from "pulling the trigger" and what could I DO to make it easier for them.
People are busy and their OWN issues are understandably much more important to them than my need to raise a dollar amount quota from backers.
After talking to a few select people, I realized that the very act of going online, giving Inkshares enough info for them to set up an account with a log-in and a password and inputting a credit card etc = the whole process was seen as too time consuming or just too much of a bother.
Some people said they never use their credit cards online. And some friends just pulled a Twenty dollar bill out of their pockets and said "Here, just order a book for me".
I replied and said, "I can't, that's not how it works - I need to prove that Real People will actually take the time to BUY the book". This reply was met with a look of dismay.
I had failed to fund a Kickstarter for this same book one year earlier and it was TOTALLY my fault due to a lack of effort. I put up the campaign, notified my network and then sat back and waited for the avalanche of pledges to flow in. I didn't want be that annoying jerk who pestered people until they backed me just to get me off their back.
That failure was a valuable lesson for me. By the time I was ready to start an Inkshares campaign, I pledged to myself that I WOULD MAKE THIS WORK! I would work my butt off - DO WHATEVER it takes and vowed that FAILURE was NOT an option. I REFUSED to LOSE!
I made up separate prospect lists and developed different strategies on how I marketed my campaign to each list.
For the list of those who had expressed an interest in my campaign, but for various reasons were never going to get around to actually placing an order at Inkshares here's what I did.
I wrote up each name, along with their mailing address and email address. Then I approached two close friends who were VERY enthusiastic about my project. They believed in my mission and were willing to help me out.
I gave them ownership of this list, which had 26 prospects on it. They approached the prospects in person, told them how enthusiastic they were about my book and said they would "handle" all of the details of placing the pre-orders or the backer donations. All these prospects needed to do was hand over some cash or a check.
This strategy was Spectacularly Successful! Every single one of these prospects got on board! I had taken away their excuses and made it easy for them to help me out. Even for those who were financially challenged, they could give up five bucks for an ebook.
My friends verified the info, mailing address etc and placed the orders in the prospects name and set up a separate Inkshares account for each one. My friends deposited the money they had gathered from the prospects and then used their own credit or debit cards for these "proxy" orders.
I believe that my ATTITUDE going into the campaign is what ultimately made it successful. I only got pre-orders for 600 books, but that was more than I needed according to the rules in place at the time. I made the $$$$ goal that Inkshares set for my campaign.
I have NO DOUBT that if they made me pre-sell 1,000 copies, I would have made that happen too.
So get tough, roll up your sleeves, BELIEVE in yourself and MAKE IT HAPPEN!
It's even better now I think, because there is this wonderful community of authors currently in place (and growing) that will help you achieve your goals. When I started, this wasn't the case.
I flew to San Fran last February for the Abomination launch party and met many of the Inkshares principles. Until that point, I had been communicating via email.
When I introduced myself to Jeremy Thomas, he said "I love your ideas for author cooperation and am working on building that capability into the website, based on your suggestions."
With over 1,100 projects on Inkshares right now, I'm happy to see that cooperative spirit I championed almost a year ago, is in full swing!
Good luck, my fellow Inksharians!
I totally relate, Richard! This is such a great thing to see. I started in April when the pre-order-based funding model started, but it wasn't until the Nerdist Collection Contest and the opportunity for authors to work together arose that things really kicked off. I'm excited to see this continue to evolve, as I think in the big picture it's going to be good for the Inkshares community and the overall Inkshares vision.
It's too bad this community wasn't alive back during the Sword & Laser contest. In the end it too people like Joe to pull this group together and John and Cara who participate extra-actively here to really stimulate it's growth into something tangible. Doing an entire month and a half of this without people to share about the experience was rough.
JF, the beautiful thing is there WILL be another contest -- maybe a few months down the road, perhaps? -- and now this group is here and will continue to grow. I'm looking forward to how the next contest will look with this community already in place (and who knows, maybe a budding forum on Inkshares' site?)
Mod
I've had a couple people do that to me, too - they just want to hand me $10. I haven't figured out a way to handle that, but I'm going to try this strategy you outlined - somehow letting them pay for it and receive the book without having to remember to do it themselves at some random time. Hmmm...
Cara wrote: "I've had a couple people do that too . . ."You just take their cash and info and set up an Inkshares login for them - the book will be mailed to them or if it's an eBook purchase, they will get the download link.
Have a relative or close friend actually make the purchase (in the real buyers name) - you don't want the purchase on your own credit card because then it might look like you are the buyer.
Hi gang! I'm new to the group, and excited to join. I discovered Inkshares because of The Nerdist contest and joined up. Unfortunately I was 2 weeks late to the game, but gave it my best shot!
So far I have 91 preorders, almost entirely from Facebook.
For FB, I created a page for my scifi thriller, Mechcraft. I then shared with everyone in my friends list, explaining how Inkshares worked and the awesomeness of the contest. Next I paid for FB advertising in 3 different ways: campaign for the FB page (which links to my Inkshares), a campaign for the Inkshares page directly, and a campaign for a "call to action" to preorder the book on my Inkshares page.
I spent about $90 over 4 weeks, reached over 40,000 people, but only 183 clicks to the page.
Friends and family made up about 40 of the preorders, a good ratio out of the total of 335 FB friends.
The ads gained another 40 or so. Essentially I paid a little over $2 per preorder.
The rest of my preorders have come from Inkshares authors and a few Twitter people.
My methods so far:
FB
Email to contacts
Word of mouth IRL
I'm looking forward to reading more great ideas here!
Write on!
Brian
https://www.inkshares.com/projects/me...
3 WAYS TO SELL PREORDERS:::1.) Making a Facebook and an Instagram page specifically for my book was a huge way for me to reach people with fun pictures, quotes and videos!
2.) Another way I made my sales were working avenues in my community! I set up at events or establishments including a table with a banner, flyers, business cards containing a link and QR code directly linked to my Inkshares preorder page. I worked a table at a music hall, a boutique, a wine bar, a fundraiser in which I made a $1 donation for each book preordered at the event.
I also contacted my local newspaper who featured my personal journey, my book as well as Inkshares on the front page.
3.) The last way I reached people were sending out emails daily. Mostly these emails were personally written to individuals. I tried to avoid mass messages as much as possible!
Thanks for that info, Kacie!What did you say to the local paper to get them interested?
Thanks,
Brian
As far as getting the attention of my hometown newspaper, I wrote an email letting them know I was a local girl, born and raised here. I shared a bit about writing my first novel and having the opportunity to get published by a "new form of crowdfunding publishing called Inkshares". They made a story sharing a little about myself, a brief synopsis of my book as well as some info about Inkshares! So everyone wins really ;)
Mod
I've been trying to figure out what unique angle I could use to convince news outlets to cover my book, and I guess I never considered that Inkshares itself could be the angle - they're a new way to get published! Why did I not think about this before? You're a genius!
Cara wrote: "Kacie wrote: "As far as getting the attention of my hometown newspaper, I wrote an email letting them know I was a local girl, born and raised here. I shared a bit about writing my first novel and ..."Haha! Well, thank you! ;)
Brian wrote: "Excellent! Thanks!"You're so welcome! :)
Brian wrote: "Hi gang! I'm new to the group, and excited to join. I discovered Inkshares because of The Nerdist contest and joined up. Unfortunately I was 2 weeks late to the game, but gave it my best shot!
So..."
I'll look up your books Facebook page! In case I've missed it on inkshares...
The Inkshares page is still funding, couple more months. But here is my FB page as well:
https://www.facebook.com/Mechcraftbook
Thanks! :)
John wrote: "J-F wrote: "I had thought of something similar. Clearly the reader profiles are lacking. As a reader, I should be able to input some preferences of genres. Maybe have some sliders to pick how much ..."Hi John. Thank you for your suggestion.
#1 Mentioning it to someone friends/family/coworkers/clients and then sending them a link that evening.#2 Email
#3 Inkshares Authors
I ran a few Facebook adds but they were a bust. I think that an extended promotion might be more beneficial but the cost can't be justified at the moment.
Mod
Take one EXTREMELY supportive supporter + A public proclamation that they will match any order that comes in w/in a 24 hr period of time (up to a cap of their choosing) = Pre-Order madness!
They are coming in so quickly that I can't even process it. Best day of the campaign by far.
That's great Christine - we all need those few supporters who are willing to go above and beyond to help us reach our goals. Many of us are surprised upon seeing who steps up and who doesn't.
Christine wrote: "A method that is currently working like wildfire for me right now:Take one EXTREMELY supportive supporter + A public proclamation that they will match any order that comes in w/in a 24 hr period ..."
the only problem with that is that it will cap out at 10 copies per 'supportive supporter'. Still, that is essentially 20 copies per supporter, so if you could line up multiple people to do it, it's feasible.
The cap does make it harder though.
Still not sure about that idea...