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What's your best marking tip?
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Riley wrote: "With perseverance! It takes years to become an "Overnight" success. Don't worry K.P., we all have faith in you! "
I like you, Riley. And I totally agree! Stick with it, K.P., I've been doing this for many decades and refuse to give up. :)
didn't mean to explode y'all. after my puter on the fritz and aruging with some clown giving me lip about success I just wanted to start chokeslam some folks. seriously this crap weather and being sick not helping my cause any. I'm starting to not enjoy the only outlet I have. according to the haters and naysayers I wasted my life and education on a glorified hobby. you can only push yourself forward so far before you start believing the hype. I'd keep drinking to drown out the noise but my liver protests. T_Ti just don't know why having tried all those things have not worked for me. everyone on this board that I know have had degrees beyond of what I could ever produce and I'm back at square one of just not getting it. I really don't want to quit but it's either stabbing folks or nothing at all to keep the peace. I hope y'all don't come across such haterade I keep coming upon for some reason....-_-||
same platitudes apply. keep working hard never give up success in some form will happen etc etc...
Mod
Sometimes, K.P., we have to listen to our own inner critic and ignore the outer ones. I know that can be tough, but it can become crucial. If you let others dictate the kind of writer you are, you are not being true to yourself. I know you know this. "Good books" is subjective. What one calls "good" another will not, so that's an easy one to ignore. Do you like your books? If you do, someone else will. Not everyone. Ain't no author alive or dead that has figured out how to please everyone.
"Target audience" can be tough words to hear for writers like us, 'cause we're not "mainstream". That does not mean we can't find readers, it's just tougher for those of us on the fringe. Word of mouth has been working for me. When I meet someone that I just know would enjoy my work, I start to mention my writing here and there in conversations and pretty soon they're buying some of it. I don't ask them to buy anything, I just pique their curiosity enough that they do buy a story. Then they often go get another.
Along those same lines, though, I will warn some of these people which stories they will not like. I had a coworker express interest in one of my books and I warned her she would hate it. She bought it. She hated it. So, I gave her another book free.
Takes a bit longer to build an audience this way than just writing what you know will sell and sell big, but it's better than trying to write mainstream when you know that's not the kind of writer you are.
Don't want to be a party pooper (and don't want to sound negative, though I'm aware it may come out like that), but some things must go this way. And as harsh as it sounds, not everyone is meant to be a bestseller author or even a recognised one.Doesn't mean you have to quit, but if you have neither fun nor money out of writing... there's surely something wrong. Have you tried taking a longer break from writing and focusing on other things you enjoy (or finding some other hobby)? It helps some and may eventually give you new ideas on what to write about.
K.P. wrote: "START RANT - I'm ready to put the hammer into the whole thing. it seems to be an exercise in frustration. and even after trying all the "right" things I get told (again) to write "good books", find..."Dwayne speaks the truth here. I'll just add this. You define your own victory conditions in this business -- no one else. No one can tell you what "success" is when it comes to your writing, and that you need to meet this or that target. That's up to you.
So my marketing tip here (left out of my first post) would be this: First define success. Then figure out what "marketing" means with respect to that definition -- your definition. It may seem axiomatic, but it might bear repeating that we can't "market" if we haven't first defined what we are trying to achieve.
When I say "trying to achieve", I don't mean "would like to achieve". I mean go-no go criteria: "If this cannot/does not happen, I pack it in and do something else." Define that, plan around that, and stick to that. Add the "like to have's" later.
But if you accept the success criteria of others and try to base a plan on that, the chances of any kind of success go down.
It does too often seem that you're doing everything you're supposed to be doing, and spending all day doing it, and absolutely nobody's paying any attention. Then you make a sporadic sale or two and you wonder, Where the hell did that come from? What small thing in one small moment of the day did I do right? That's one reason I've come to consider this as nothing more than a hobby—a full time hobby, but a hobby nevertheless. I've made enough money off of it to pay for my own paperbacks and hardcovers to put on my own bookshelf, books that never existed before I started this hobby, and that has to be satisfaction enough.
Great thread, April.i did an experiment a few weeks ago, wherein I mentioned an update only on twitter w/a link to only the 3rd part (which was by accident) in my wattpad short and saw a few more reads in that 3rd part only.
Wisteria wrote: "Great thread, April.i did an experiment a few weeks ago, wherein I mentioned an update only on twitter w/a link to only the 3rd part (which was by accident) in my wattpad short and saw a few more..."
Wisteria, it's a great idea to set up experiments to test different promotion methods. For example, I have an indie author friend who advertised one of her books using one venue, and she advertised her other book using a different venue. She was able to see which ad had the most impact. It wasn't a perfect experiment in the scientific scheme of things, but she did discover that one ad venue performed better for her than the other did. Experiments are good. I'm always doing experiments to find the most effective way of promotion a book. I run experiments by geographic region and by age range, especially.
Are folks here aware of book listings within Facebook?A book may be published with an ISBN, listed with booksellers, and maybe even listed on the author and/or publisher's Facebook page, but that doesn't automatically get the book listed as a book within Facebook's own list of books. One has to go in to Facebook books and "add" the book with its' ISBN. Doing that should make the book more likely to come up in Facebook searches.
Mod
A book may be published with an ISBN, listed with booksellers, and maybe even listed on the author and/or publisher's Facebook page, but that ..."
Oooohhh...Another topic to research, thanks Bekka
hey gang, thanks for putting up with my rants Dwayne, kat, Owen and you guys weren't harsh nor negative at all. I did some more research and tried to see what my target was. tried various focus groups. and it's all over the board. -_-|| so since I got nothing concrete to work with (audience tastes keep changing and I simply don't write fast enough) I'm going back to my other glorified hobby - video game creation. I get the same static about that (despite my degrees ) but hey at least it's beautiful and interactive lolz
Mod
Say what? Make your books into a game! I wish I had programming skills, but I smoked too much pot in high school, and it sucked away all my ambition to learn programming.
Riley wrote: "Bekka wrote: "Are folks here aware of book listings within Facebook?A book may be published with an ISBN, listed with booksellers, and maybe even listed on the author and/or publisher's Facebook p..."
You're welcome. :)
@riley - yeah I had a several readers hit me up saying how awesome my books would be as video games and comics. programming and drawing are my two other skills I'm good at (besides writing) and it's been quite consistent so this year I'm changing my focus. I will still publish books just not at the frequency I was doing for the past 3 years. so I will lurk more often here on gr and buy books I find interesting. I'm not too much of the mainstream book crowd anyway and I found some gems here by interacting and getting to know folks. I hope y'all do well this year!write on!
K.P. wrote: "@riley - yeah I had a several readers hit me up saying how awesome my books would be as video games and comics. programming and drawing are my two other skills I'm good at (besides writing) and it'..."KP, there's a woman who self-publishes comic books on Amazon. Her name is Grace Buchele Mineta. That's something for you to consider, too, if you draw comics.
http://www.amazon.com/My-Japanese-Hus...
Bekka wrote: "Are folks here aware of book listings within Facebook?A book may be published with an ISBN, listed with booksellers, and maybe even listed on the author and/or publisher's Facebook page, but that ..."
This is interesting Bekka - can you give me an idea of how I would find this on Facebook?
My best Marketing success so far may not be considered just marketing! I obtained an artist booth at a Phoenix Comicon (after one year on the wait list) and sold books, T-shirts and a jewelry item an artist made by design. We also gave away buttons and temporary tattoos.
The temporary tattoos and buttons are definitely marketing and getting my brand out there. The T-shirts are sales, brand building, and marketing. I sold more books in that three days then in the previous four months combined.
While there I networked with other exhibitors and specifically other authors. Their best advice: keep doing shows and keep producing books. The more content, the more sales.
The book I was selling and building a brand for, is the first in a series of seven. I am in it for the long haul and am open to it reaching its tipping point sooner rather than later ;)
My ahah moment is this: I made enough money to cover my costs for the weekend (table cost, merchandise costs, food & travel) experienced some easy networking, and had fun. I am an extreme introvert and getting out there was tough but paid more dividends than any marketing online so far!
(The book series is a hero-esc team of seven people, hand picked from throughout time, sent back in time to fix and tweak things for the greater good. . .or so they think! This is a perfect theme for the Comicon audience (someone in earlier comments called this PLACE I believe).
Some of the exhibitors attend 30 shows a year and sustain themselves while getting their art out there (novels, comics etc included).
So my best marketing win in the last year (read ever!) was being an exhibitor at a Comicon big enough to obtain sales and gain exposure.
Susan wrote: "Bekka wrote: "Are folks here aware of book listings within Facebook?A book may be published with an ISBN, listed with booksellers, and maybe even listed on the author and/or publisher's Facebook p..."
When you log in to Facebook, you'll see on the left side of the screen a list of categories of subjects to like as part of your personal profile - movies, music, books, etc. Navigate to the "books" and do a book search WITHIN THAT AREA for your book. If your book isn't listed - which it may not be - Facebook will give you the option to add it. In order to add it, you'll need the book's ISBN number in addition to the book title, author name, and a jpg of the book cover (yes, you add the cover image as a jpg and ONLY as a jpg).
Facebook also has an Author Marketing App.https://apps.facebook.com/authorapp/
"The Author Marketing App is a great way to give Facebook users an overview of your published work. It installs as a tab on your Author Page and allows you to add details about your books and upcoming events. If your books are listed on Amazon, listing the books is as easy as entering the ISBN; we'll take care of the rest!"
Excellent directions Bekka! I put in the titles of my 2 books and they popped up! When I click on them, it takes me to the Goodreads site. Thanks for sharing this, I truly appreciate it. Once again helpful & informative information provided by this group - thank you!!
When deciding on whether or not to become a member of a certain social media site first decide these things:-If it will benefit you
-It will be helpful and useful to you
-You get a general idea of how it works
-Become a member because you want to not because you were told to or give into peer pressure
-You'll keep up a schedule and post when need be
Firstly, get your keywords right on Amazon. It's not widely publicised, but certain keywords will ensure you get listed under sub catefories. e.g for romance: https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A... Also, for those new to the author game, have a browse of my blog post. I know I found comfort in researching this post:
http://tlclarkauthor.blogspot.co.uk/2...
Goodreads ads, I still do every so often. They don't seem to generate sales, but I do get a few 'to read's.
fb ads (boost post) hasn't worked wonders.
My Twitter ad campaign for my latest book seems to have worked well.
Any ad you run needs to be sharp and punchy with short paragraphs. There's a limited space to get your point across. And you need great pictures if you're advretising on fb or Twitter; more and more people are image focussed, and scroll over text.
Like others have said, there's no hard and fast method.
What's good for the goose isn't always good for the gander. ;-)
Trial and error; find what works for you and keep doing it.
Hope that helps. Good luck.
xx
Hi Wendi,Did you promote the countdown dealt at all? I just set one up for next week, and I am excited to see the results.
Thanks
Wendi wrote: "I released the 2nd in my series on Tuesday and put the first on a countdown deal for $0.99 for the entire week. I saw a big jump in sales, as well as pages read through KU, so I am keeping my finge..."
I have found that posting the entire first chapter of my books with a pic of the book and purchase links has worked to my benefit. It draws a reader in and the link to buy is right there so they can find out what happens next! Easy to do on Facebook and Google+. For Twitter, I post a link to my website page where I've got the first two chapters for whichever book I'm promoting and add the cover pic to my Twitter post.
Hey everyone!After reading through the comments I am coming to the conclusion that the majority of you are - or were - using KDP Select so that you could do a countdown promotion. For someone who is not enrolled in Select (because they have their work posted elsewhere and for sale on other sites), what would you suggest is the best promotion for increasing your Amazon rank? Thank you in advance!
N. wrote: "Hey everyone!After reading through the comments I am coming to the conclusion that the majority of you are - or were - using KDP Select so that you could do a countdown promotion. For someone who..."
I think you could temporarily reduce the price anyway? Much of the benefit of a Countdown promo comes from advertising the book, which most sites will only let you do if it's cheap and/or a discount of the regular price.
Do you know if Amazon makes this process easy for non-select members?
I would note the additional hint of caring about reviewing! No matter, if you beg, pay, or earn reviews due reviewing yourself.
Customers seem to react much less hesitant, when a book or ebook is already reviewed several times.
Another option I learned about is 'acquiring' the foreword or preface written by a really famous author. Such lures customers, too, as it seems.
Customers seem to react much less hesitant, when a book or ebook is already reviewed several times.
Another option I learned about is 'acquiring' the foreword or preface written by a really famous author. Such lures customers, too, as it seems.
N. wrote: "Do you know if Amazon makes this process easy for non-select members?"If your question is about changing a book's price, KDP allows you to change your price at will.
On KDP Select, there are restrictions on changing your price is you run countdown deals (for obvious reasons).
Also, Amazon does list countdown deal to give them some additional visibility. We have never bothered to advertise our countdown deals ourselves and they have still generally done well.
Andrè wrote: "Customers seem to react much less hesitant, when a book or ebook is already reviewed several times. ..."I'll just add this depends on genre and other factors. I've seen books sell quite well before they got any reviews. Reviews are cut both ways.
@April. - I checked out the link and loled at the sample of misadventures. I think I have a decent shot at making other products (games, comics) to go along with my books. it might help sales since folks I know don't read and my own books don't fit Amazon's neat categories =_=
Owen wrote: "I'll just add this depends on genre and other factors. I've seen books sell quite well before they got any reviews. Reviews are cut both ways. ."
True, and thank you!
True, and thank you!
Previous post deleted for going off topic and straying into the negative. We have a rule: no telling anyone what they 'need' to do and this includes hiring an editor/cover designer/etc. Everyone on this forum is aware that they have the ability to hire help if needed.
Although from last year, bookbub has some Statistically significant data about bargain ebook buyers compiled from some surveys they ran.At the macro-level their survey respondents were female genre-fiction (romance-mystery-thriller, but some sci-do & fantasy) readers of above-the-median income.
Here's the link from one of my Twitter followers:
http://insights.bookbub.com/things-yo...
Wisteria wrote: "Although from last year, bookbub has some Statistically significant data about bargain ebook buyers compiled from some surveys they ran.At the macro-level their survey respondents were female gen..."
Interesting. Thanks for posting it.
Wisteria wrote: "Although from last year, bookbub has some Statistically significant data about bargain ebook buyers compiled from some surveys they ran...."Bookbub does have some interesting data. We contacted them with some question about hwo they reached their conclusion. I've pasted their reply below:
"The data we used for this article is from our own sales data and reports from our partners. We survey every author we work with after their feature to learn about the impact the promotion had on sales of both the featured book and their other books.
The statistic that free books drive 10x more downloads than $0.99 deals is based on all free books we feature, not just those in a series. If your goal is to drive sales on the whole series, a free promotion for the first book is especially effective because those tens of thousands of new readers will get hooked and go on to purchase the next books, too. Some authors may have different marketing goals, however, which is why a $0.99 feature might make more sense for them—for instance, if they’re trying to hit a bestseller list. You can learn more about how to use a price promotion to achieve different marketing goals here: http://insights.bookbub.com/book-mark...
And I certainly understand your concern that readers may not actually read a free book they download, but 60% of our surveyed subscribers say that they always read the discounted books they’ve discovered. You can see this information in the 2nd panel of the infographic here: http://insights.bookbub.com/why-smart..."
Note that this applies to Bookbub subscribers and I would not assume it to apply more widely. In fact, the indications are that it doesn't. Bookbub subscribers appear to be more motivated than people who download book during free promo on Amazon or GR giveaways. But the insights are still valuable, IMO.
For authors with series, this Bookbub article may be of interest:
http://insights.bookbub.com/which-boo...
This is the article referred to above in their reply.
With perseverance! It takes years to become an "Overnight" success. Don't worry K.P., we all have faith in you!