The most common comment I see in any writer's group is a plea from people who feel they are spending too much time on marketing and not enough on writing.
As Kait knows book marketing is a complex business and it is rarely in the author's skillset. But to contract a good marketer isn't cheap, and for independents other necessary purchases - such as getting a good editor and buying in a cover are usually higher on the priority list. Even if you are trade published when it comes to marketing DIY is the usual approach.
There are numerous books on how to market books and a few of them are even quite good., Most of the bad ones obsess about "Amazon algorithms" and fancy "foolproof" sales techniques, their writers, the 21st equivalent of the old-style medicine hucksters with the cure-all offered on Amazon rather than from the step of a cart.
There are two simple facts you need to know about book sales. Firstly that even in the digital age, word of mouth is what sells books. 29% of readers—by far the highest percentage—bought based on recommendations from friends in forums, blogs and message boards aimed at readers.
The second is that the next most important factor in book sales is that the reader has read your books before. ie it's repeat business.
So the key point when you want to sell a book is to get others to tell others about it, and secondly involves what might fancily be called "audience management" - to keep your previous readers informed of what you are writing next.
That's quick to say but not so easy to do and there are surprisingly few tools which enable to easily to do either, and when they do exist they are never in the same place.
It's a very simple portal which enables you to list and present your books in an attractive online format. And once listed for us to promote them for you.
Listing is quick and easy... and it's free (and always will be).
It comes with a "Tell a Friend" Book Marketing and Reviews Engine and audience management built in and we can (optionally) gateway you to other services.
At the moment the front page of the site is focused on getting listings but once we have enough books listed it will change to become a reader portal providing a gateway for your books to book buyers.
So rather than moaning about how difficult book marketing is, why not do something about it and list your book? And tell all your friends to do the same.
Any questions on what it does or how it works, please post and I will come back to you.
As Kait knows book marketing is a complex business and it is rarely in the author's skillset. But to contract a good marketer isn't cheap, and for independents other necessary purchases - such as getting a good editor and buying in a cover are usually higher on the priority list. Even if you are trade published when it comes to marketing DIY is the usual approach.
There are numerous books on how to market books and a few of them are even quite good., Most of the bad ones obsess about "Amazon algorithms" and fancy "foolproof" sales techniques, their writers, the 21st equivalent of the old-style medicine hucksters with the cure-all offered on Amazon rather than from the step of a cart.
There are two simple facts you need to know about book sales. Firstly that even in the digital age, word of mouth is what sells books. 29% of readers—by far the highest percentage—bought based on recommendations from friends in forums, blogs and message boards aimed at readers.
The second is that the next most important factor in book sales is that the reader has read your books before. ie it's repeat business.
So the key point when you want to sell a book is to get others to tell others about it, and secondly involves what might fancily be called "audience management" - to keep your previous readers informed of what you are writing next.
That's quick to say but not so easy to do and there are surprisingly few tools which enable to easily to do either, and when they do exist they are never in the same place.
So we came up with the idea of http://bookbzz.com
It's a very simple portal which enables you to list and present your books in an attractive online format. And once listed for us to promote them for you.
Listing is quick and easy... and it's free (and always will be).
It comes with a "Tell a Friend" Book Marketing and Reviews Engine and audience management built in and we can (optionally) gateway you to other services.
At the moment the front page of the site is focused on getting listings but once we have enough books listed it will change to become a reader portal providing a gateway for your books to book buyers.
So rather than moaning about how difficult book marketing is, why not do something about it and list your book? And tell all your friends to do the same.
Any questions on what it does or how it works, please post and I will come back to you.
Conrad Murray
http://bookbzz.com