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Need Some Advice on Where to Advertise!
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try a book trailer or some other tie in (video game? tshirts? figurines?). otherwise you're competing with many other sci fi titles and the glut of 99c books and the usual $2.99 crowd. you already have 35 positive reviews. (woot)
so work on your next series.
also books tend sell in cycles. i notice my titles depending on season sell more than others... so that's something worth thinking about.
K.P. wrote: "try a book trailer or some other tie in (video game? tshirts? figurines?). otherwise you're competing with many other sci fi titles and the glut of 99c books and the usual $2.99 crowd. you already..."
Thanks....all good ideas. I've got a book trailer already, and I am currently working on the third book in my MG mysery series. I'm just trying to get my foot in the door, so to speak with this trilogy. I think it's good enough...I just need to get to the audience!!! ;)
Have you ran any successful ads?
i tend to run campaigns taking advantage of various holidays and shopping trends. those always do well. i also aim for 4 - 6 books released a year...
There's never any guarantee, regardless of how much you pay, and where you list your book. All you can do is promote everywhere you can, try and make your book stand out from the crowd somehow, and cross your fingers.
right what victoria said. i spent almost 3k in marketing and sold only 130 copies combined in the 10 years I've had books in print... throwing more cash won't help matters much. i could be facetious and suggest getting a review by kirkus, publisher's weekly & booklist but cmon, they're just overpriced sock puppets (paid reviews)...
Tara, Most books, seminars, and courses, focused upon literary marketing and promotion, recommend a multiple approach; many at little or no cost.
Website - Professionally designed and dedicated to a specific book and its author. Include a blurb, author's bio., event announcements, and a secure interactive communication page.
Business Cards, Book Marks, Push Cards, Thank-you Cards - Professionally designed and dedicated to a specific book and its author.
Literary Websites Participation - Not just in the self-promotion threads, but in non-related discussions as well. Allow members to get to know you as a person and fellow reader as well as an author.
Public Appearances - Literary Festivals and Conventions, Public Libraries, Book Clubs, and Book Stores; prepared to deliver a well-rehearsed presentation with book-signing pen in-hand.
I wish you success in this endeavor.
I'm surprised by your results on readcheaply, as I've always had a lot of downloads via them (by far the best free listing site based on my own experience). Best paid, for me, has been 'ereader news today'.
Victoria wrote: "There's never any guarantee, regardless of how much you pay, and where you list your book. All you can do is promote everywhere you can, try and make your book stand out from the crowd somehow, an..."Yes. ..I think you're right.
Here's to hoping the planets align. :)
K.P. wrote: "right what victoria said. i spent almost 3k in marketing and sold only 130 copies combined in the 10 years I've had books in print... throwing more cash won't help matters much. i could be facetiou..."Ouch! That's a lot. Doesn't it make you cringe to hear others talk about a slow day with only a hundred downloads? ;)
Jim wrote: "Tara, Most books, seminars, and courses, focused upon literary marketing and promotion, recommend a multiple approach; many at little or no cost.
Website - Professionally designed and dedicated..."
Thank you for your very thoughtful reply, Jim! I appreciate it.
I've done most everything you suggest (always working to improve) and I've started making public appearances. I have made my most sales through those!
I'm trying to get to more conferences. I'll be at galacticon in Seattle this summer!
I have found the site SimilarWeb an indispensable tool in deciding where to focus my efforts to publicize my first book.Essentially, it gives you a measure of the number of monthly hits and their geographical distribution for just about any site on the web (sites with very low traffic will sometimes not appear, or will have no data). The first thing I do when I am thinking about devoting attention to a site for marketing purposes is to pull up its stats on SimilarWeb - it provides enough data to make an instant yes/no decision in most cases, although volume/origin of traffic will not always be the determining factor.
David wrote: "I'm surprised by your results on readcheaply, as I've always had a lot of downloads via them (by far the best free listing site based on my own experience). Best paid, for me, has been 'ereader new..."Thanks David! I might try ereader. I've had good results with read cheaply before with advertising free books. Maybe the .99 cent sales are slowing down? Or it might be because it was a Wednesday. .. or maybe my book or blurb isn't appealing.
Luke wrote: "I have found the site SimilarWeb an indispensable tool in deciding where to focus my efforts to publicize my first book.Essentially, it gives you a measure of the number of monthly hits and their..."
Sweet! Thanks for that link and info. I will certainly check it out!
Tara wrote: "Sweet! Thanks for that link and info. I will certainly check it out!..."Cool, hope you find it useful. It also gives you other good metrics like whether a site is trending and what the top referring sites are.
Shari wrote: "I'm not entirely convinced advertising does the job. I think it's more a "word-of-mouth" thing among readers.The fantasy series I write under my real name started selling well after the first boo..."
Yeah, I have entered three contests this year, both for my book Bloodline and my kids book, The Mystery of Hollow Inn. (hopefully one will pan out)
I'm also planning on releasing a book later this year that'a an adult thriller. I'll have three different genres covered then. :)
Hi TaraIf you think selling scifi is tough you should try poetry - nightmare.
Linda wrote: "Hi TaraIf you think selling scifi is tough you should try poetry - nightmare."
Wow...I an imagine. Not exactly big platforms for getting it out there. :(
Mark wrote: "After doing all the work to publish and fully market our works, there is only one thing left - readers, and word-of-mouth which will happen if they value it enough to pay the price. In a world of ..."
You are so right
i usually dont do free copies on kindle and such - as they end up on torrent sites. i easily found my smashwords editions of my doorstoppers (originally at 20%) floating on torrents and getting good reviews (wtf) . my going there suggesting buying a full ecopy from amazon @ 2.99 dint translate to sales. if i added the dls to my piddling sales, i'd pay for a few conferences, bus tix & hostel stays. yes word of mouth is important. but it's an organic shot in the dark. so just keep creating. the more works are visible you might get found...
All good advice.I think one big piece is patience. I need to work on that. ;)
@ Tara, hi, Emily V (group mod, Books Blogs & Authors) sent an email to I guess group members about her blog page and your interview on it - she also mentioned that there weren't that many takers for your free giveaway. Friendly Authorly Advice:
I went to your book page 'Bloodline', it makes no mention of a giveaway (unless some other book in the series that is up for grabs, you need to throw the giveaway on GR and put it on your status updates, events and GR blog post) - basically start with the basic - follow the options available in the platform you already have.
I also had a hard time searching for your book in the two groups that we are both a part of! Put your book in relevant sections as available as a GIVEAWAY.
Promote the great reviews your book has got on GR and other sites. Even a local bookstore can keep pamphlets of 'GIVEAWAY GRAB FEST! AVAILABLE NOW! SEE THE LINK BELOW' (you get the drift right?)
Don't spend money on adverts unless the website has a huge traffic that will get you eyeballs and return for investment. I have shared my own experience (and weblinks of places to promote - facebook, blogs, websites etc.) in my post:
https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
I am about to write a new one that will detail the 5-day free e-novel statistics and which strategies worked.
Best of luck with your efforts.
I have one of my books, Bloodline
On sale for .99 cents. (normally 2.99)
I have tried this twice before in the two years that it's been out. The first time, I paid for a few of the ads (only 5, 7 and 15 dollars), but only had a few downloads during the week.
The last time, I only did free sites, but had the same results.
This time, since I have 35 reviews now and the trilogy is complete, I was really hoping for better results. I've signed up with some free site (read cheaply, read freely, ebooks habit and awesome gang)
So far as I know, one of them ran yesterday (read cheaply) and I've had seven downloads so far. As sad as this is...that's the most I've ever had in one day. :(
BUT...it has now of course died back off. I broke into the top 30,000 but have now slid back into the 50's. AGHHHH.....
I need some help in figuring this out. Does anyone have some advice on which sites are best for advertising .99 cent books? I have decided that I'm willing to pay a little bit for an ad, if I feel sure enough to get some sort of results from it.
I believe I have a good cover. I've got 35 reviews on Amazon with a 4.5 rating. Is my blurb bad? Is it just that the scifi genre is so BIG that's it's almost impossible to get noticed? Too many free books out there?
*SIGH*