How to Promote YOUR book on Amazon discussion
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"If your books are good, someone will, eventually, notice them, while the wannabee swappers will be nothing but distant memories of a bad spam day on Goodreads.""Someone"? Who, exactly? With thousands of books being released every day, it's awfully hard for "someone" to notice them, no matter how good it is, unless you've got the bucks or the reputation to get it in front of lots of people.
GR is a community. A community of authors and readers. By doing swaps with other authors, I've made a lot of contacts (I'd even go so far as to call a few of them "friends"), broadened my horizons, and joined a community of people with the same passion for the printed word as myself.
Poo-poo it all you want, but don't lump every author who does review swaps into one category. I have never - NEVER - asked anyone to give a dishonest review, and I would never entertain the notion of giving a book a five-star review unless I thought it had earned it. And I have also NEVER given a book a Rating if I had not taken the time to read it.
While some might regard review swaps as nothing more than mutual back-slapping, I don't, and I know a lot of other authors who don't either.
You make it sound like authors who do review swaps are people who lower their standards all the way to zero for the purpose of selling their own books. I do not appreciate that, but then, I'm sure you've already "disregarded" me, so never mind.
James, your participation in this community can take whatever form you deem necessary or worthy. You can be active or passive, it's up to you. I've learned more about marketing from people I've met on GoodReads than I ever thought possible. I may not have sold a million copies of my book yet, but as far as I'm concerned, the experience has been well worth it.
Well, those were two very...passionate points of view. I heard them both before regarding the review swap. I have given a less than perfect review but I reached out the author first. Turns out, he understood and thanked me. But in the end if you don't believe it review swaps, that's entirely up to you. Pat, you mind if I call you Pat? I hear you - My intention is to get more involved and I'm interested in the free book thing. But my continued weakness is getting over that hump to reach my audience.
Thanks, James. My simplest advice to you is simply do research. Talk to authors and ask them what approaches worked best for them. There are ways to market your book for dirt cheap prices and some are free. Not all are effective, but if you find one that works for you, wonderful. But by making connections in the author community, there is simply no downside that I can think of. There are author groups on FB (I'll PM you the address of one that I love), and you can also check out absolutewrite.com for just about everything under the sun when it comes to writing, publishing, and marketing.And, if you please, I prefer Patrick.
Hi Henry,You should take Patrick's advice. He sounds professional and seems to know what he's talking about.
Juliet
Professional? Wow, no one's ever called me that before!Seriously, though, thank you, Juliet.
Very much so, Henry. Different strokes for different folks, right?
I think you just have to make an experience with all of this. for yourself. I haven't made swaps, but I made the mistake of having other authors review my books. It never ended well and ironically those were the ones who stood out with their negative rating. Might be just an coincidence.However: reviews are the best marketing, you just have to be careful which person you ask. And I talk about reviews, not ratings. Even a low rating can have a good review as in: telling possible readers enough to make them decide for or against your novel.
So, because of my experience, I'd follow Henry's advice.
Plus, I stayed away from reviewing other author's because there are still people outside who cannot take a low rating well. And I'm not speaking about the authors themselves but 'fanatics' (I'm exaggerating on purpose), who might get the idea to retaliate.
I'd say: become a GR user, invent some time and energy in making friends, but try to stay neutral.
...and people are wondering why I am so careful...no, I mean it. I have started to take a very close look at users who over to review my books, because I don't want just 5 star ratings, but helpful reviews.
But I've been there already
James, if I may...I would hardly deem myself worthy yet of the title of author, however, I do have one self-published work. I agree whole-heartedly that the key to promotion, without the huge budget, is to integrate, to take part and to genuinely communicate with potential audiences. The best and cheapest way to do that is to find yourself some good book bloggers OR join a well recommended review group.
Now, I heard all the stories about back-slapping groups of so-called authors, rating rubbish with 5* in order to mutually boost their ratings. This only suffices to empower untalented scribblers to produce yet more rubbish and tar some really good indie writers with a very thick painting brush. True, you can give your book away, you'll get plenty of takers I'd wager, but that's no guarantee of a good or indeed fair review.
I am a member of such a review group (banish me now!) however, like Patrick, I take both my writing and my reading and reviewing VERY seriously. Like you, no doubt, I have had to learn from scratch, stumbling into an excellent author group on facebook called the Indie Author Review Exchange which, I'll say now, is far from just authors swapping reviews. We also help eachother with writing issues and so much more and I guarantee, we're far from just 5* back patting.
If your book isn't up to scratch, you can be sure the group will let you know about it BUT they will also advise and assist if you ask them. As for marketing, again, a genuine group will be able to advise of their own methods, one of which is the book blogger forums.
As patrick said, with 30k books A WEEK being self published, any reader will look at a book's reviews and not necessarily bother to read up on the author, given that most readers won't read the acknowledgements pages in the actual book either.
The beauty of Goodreads and places like it, is the option for the reader to seek out the author and talk to them directly, something you'd find difficult to do with someone like Stephen King or E.L. James I think. Everyone becomes a book reviewer... if they can get it for free. Be careful who you give it to.
I find it interesting how quickly these conversation descend to 'I was the victim of personal attacks' or 'if you don't do what I do your doomed to fail'. To be honest, that why I stayed away from this page. I want to sell my book. If I make some contact and friends along the way great. But if someone says something to me that critique my work, even better. Because the first thing I'm going to do is ask why; and then, how do I make it better. So that said, I see nothing wrong with review swap. I do have a problem with personal attacks. And since I'm a grown man, I'll just move on and not let that ruin my day.I don't know, I just want to find a way to get exposure, not step on toes.
James, that's how I feel. It'll be a pleasure to interact, become accustomed to your writing style, and in time review, possibly even suggest as I would expect any of the authors of our group to do to my own work. I can only think that some authors are not as lucky to find a group worthwhile or constructive.
@ James, whatever your ultimate marketing experience do share it on my blog post (which includes some good groups and marketing tools that I've used):https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
All the best.
Thanks Norrilhuda - checking it out now.What if there was a way to make reviews anonymous? Would that make over inflated reviews less likely?
I missed something from the first response to this thread - I have a book on amazon.com now - how do I make it temporarily free?
Despite the strong opposing views, this is a great thread. I feel your frustration James and I'd like to add my two cents, it may or may not help much. I agree with just about everyone that shared here. I published my book in Nov '14 and jumped right into the turbulent waters of self marketing, self promotion, and self doubt. Here's what I've come to realize:-Both Henry and Patrick make excellent points. Review swapping DOES increase awareness, sales (after you've increased a fellow author's), and input. It ALSO encourages a friendliness between swappers and constructive critique for your work. However, in my experience, the reviews are more times than not, dishonest. I've participated in several swaps and found that most reviews of my book were posted AFTER my review of theirs was posted and gave the exact rating that I'd given theirs. If mine was more critical (discussing erroneous writing and the like) then I could expect the same review of mine. So...when participating in swaps, do your research first. Go to their GR and Zon profiles and look over their review histories. That should tell you the type of reviewer they are. Most, not all, expect stellar ratings, they know you may not be their target audience but need sales NOT input.
-It's difficult to take advice from someone who's head is barely above the water next to you. These threads can be helpful when relating to another's writing/sales woes, but won't necessarily know the RIGHT way to promote your book. There really isn't a right way, but if you research the authors of top selling Amazon books they all say the same thing "Just Write!" Write often and write well. You could garner hundreds of reviews from friends and by way of swaps, but if you don't have quality material, it will fail. Many of those authors have dozens of books so developed a following and readership, it started small and it moved along slooowly for them as well.
-But what if I have a GREAT book that I KNOW people will love? Then spend more time marketing to your target audience than to other authors. Word of mouth only works through an open mouth and many of your "review swappers" are tight-lipped. Join GR groups within your books genre, read along with your future readers and interact in the forums with them.
-We are all still learning in a perpetually changing market place. We compete with one another but many are willing to help in anyway we can. I'm not an expert, hell I've only made a bit of pocket change from my little book, but I've learned some very valuable lessons. Your book is a beautiful piece of your mind, know when and where to share it.
-Now, I'm sure you've discovered these lessons for yourself so I apologize for that. As for your initial question (if you don't have the answer yet), Free books! One Amazon, you can only do a free promo if you are in the kdp, otherwise you need to manually change your book price. Through kdp, go to your bookshelf->KDP Select- Promote and Advertise-> then choose Price Promo and start and end date. Free book through GR: Go to drop down arrow next to "Explore" and click on "Giveaways". On the right hand side it prompts "List Your Giveaway". Click that and enter your info. You must be able to provide the physical copy of your book, number you'll giveaway, etc.
I hope this helps! Good luck with everything, James!
@ Henry - nah, that's ok.@Raquel thanks for the info about kpd, which I am a part of, but more importantly thanks for your insight into this whole self-publishing thing. It a bit overwhelming but it's good to know you're not in the fight alone. Solid advice. It's too bad about the swapping thing. The could be a valuable resource for new writers. I honestly wish someone would point out my errors - then I wouldn't have to hunt for them on my own.
About the kpd - I'll jump on that after work.
Henry's right there, James. I belong to two local writers' groups, and they're fantastic (I live in Phoenix, a huge city). I encourage you to do the same.
Yup. Already have a writers group. Henry - please. No way did I say anything about not wanting your input. You asked me a question; I answered it. I'd rather stay on point, Ok?
James wrote: "@ Henry - nah, that's ok.@Raquel thanks for the info about kpd, which I am a part of, but more importantly thanks for your insight into this whole self-publishing thing. It a bit overwhelming but ..."
Absolutely! I hope the promo works for you. I look forward to seeing you succeed. Again, great topic! It was interesting to see the different points of view.
Side note: I'm only saying this based off of info from your profile, I know you said you'd swapped before but if you decide to try it again, you should try sending a confirmation email to the recipients thanking them for their time and review then place links to each forum your book is available. That way, you don't just get 1 review but 3+ per reviewer and you can be sure they advertise where you need them. None of your past reviewers posted on GR or Amazon UK.
Thanks to Raquel and Patrick who gave me some valued input on launching a free promo. Thanks to everyone jumping in on this thread and helping the new guy. I felt it went well. This, of course is just the beginning. Seeing an increase of traffic on my facebook.com page...now if only that was the same for sales....
So. If you were to summarize the main points of this forum into a nifty thingie, what would that be? ^^
Hey James I think a lot of us are in the same boat. I have no idea how to market, but I've picked up a few things.First, I clicked your link and it took me to the paperback, I recommend always linking to the ebook first. This book says it's number 3 in the UrbanKnights Series... where are books 1 & 2? I clicked on your author name and it didn't take me to your Amazon author page... do you have one? I did notice you have several books, but again none linking to the first two.
Now, I'm still trying to figure out how to get more reviews on amazon, but I have had a few more here on goodreads.
Mid March I got the heck out of kdp, it did nothing for me. I had only one book and no one cares about a series if only one book is out. Second I set it to free by uploading to smashwords and price matching. Note, your desired free book should be .99 I had no luck getting it free until I lowered it.Then I posted it on a free ebooks website...I'm still doing this. Now it sucked seeing a bunch of free downloads and receiving only a handful of ratings and a review--and not on Amazon. What it did though, was find the people will buy my next. I now get at least 2 buys a day with for me, an unkown is amazing. I'm a reader, an avid one as well as an author, I rarely take chances on unknown authors. I get the free book and if it's good I grab the rest. If it's exceptional I grab everything they ever wrote.
I'm learning reader interaction (if you can find them!) is key. Link every book to your online sites--all of them. Interact with people, people who read, write and love books similar to your genre. As I said I'm learning this is key. Just as important as having a great blurb (which I'm about to go revise mine) and having a good cover.
If you ever figure out how to track down those elusive reviewers without the soul destroying task of emailing bloggers who rarely respond, please share!
Well, I clicked your goodreads account and found all your Nights books. You may want to change your author name to match on amazon.
Thanks, Fanny. good input. As it turns out, I'm having all kinds of trouble out of amazon.com. First, author's page - gone. Had one with pictures and everything. Then one day - poof. The first two books of the series - are now 'currently unavailable. My paperback version is all messed up. I'm not very happy with amazon right now. Guess I have to look into the other sites.
My title is Pale Horse and it's at
http://www.amazon.com/Pale-Horse-Jame...
I'm sure I'm doing everything wrong from soup to nuts. Please help de-idiotize me!