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Name your most successful marketing technique
Robert wrote: "Here's a POTENTIAL success story, to stumble back to the topic (topic? oh yes topic! Success Stories).One of the buttons under author's books on Goodreads is for "libraries". Click on it and you ..."
Robert, where is this button?
Norm Hamilton
Author of The Digital Eye and the soon to be released From Thine Own Well
Indie Writer Book Reviews
Services for Writers
Website
email: Norm Hamilton
My most successful marketing wss putting my book on Ereaders News Today. I got 350 sales in half a day.
Hi Norm,Anytime I click my cover on Goodreads it calls up a summary page. About ten lines down in the middle it says "Get A Copy" and then a green bar lists Kobo, Online Stores, and Libraries.
Thanks Abby.So those are libraries you can add or remove as you wish? That doesn't necessarily mean that the book is in the library though does it?
Yes, it does mean the copy must be in the library. The 'library' link goes directly to Worldcat, which is a data base of all the libraries in the world. They add your book to their holdings, you don't add them. But, in order for them to add your book to their holdings, they need to have a physical copy of the book. Hence the suggestion to donate a copy.
This is for a print book. The question of whether they add ebooks as well is a good one, which I don't know the answer to. I would think that as ebooks get more popular among libraries, those copies too, will increasingly be added to the library shelves, even if they are virtual shelves.
Kate,you're welcome. Worldcat is an amazing thing. I use it for research all the time. Trying to find information about an obscure English or French book from 1760?
Worldcat will do it every time. Not to mention the other 300 some odd years or so since then.
The proximity can be important too. I'm lucky, I live within easy driving distance of about a dozen world class colleges in Western Mass.
Robert wrote: "Donna I wish you all the luck you deserve. Oddly enough, even if your publisher agrees that 4.95 is viable, that still would appear to be an outrageous sum by present-day standards. I would love to..."Robert,
I do have a quality book, one that has been "...carefully groomed to be attractive and compelling for a consumer," the consumer, ironically, being writers, although readers from all walks of life have enjoyed it, which you can see from the reviews.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Writers-Con...
When I first published "The Writers' Conference," I set the price at $4.99, but I have since lowered the price to $3.99. The price won't go lower unless I do a promotion. For the promotion on Tuesday, October 15th, "The Writers' Conference" will be 99 cents for one day. The purpose of the promotion is to introduce readers to the novel, which in turn introduces them to my work. This is a one-day promotion, and the people who get the book for this price are getting a bargain. At the same time, I'm getting new readers who may tell others about my book.
I posted an article about writers' conferences that was followed by a number of interesting comments from other writers. You might want to look at it:
http://www.indiesunlimited.com/2013/0...
Thx for comments Marian. It's interesting to me that you have a paperback as well as an ebook out there. When I was studying how to bring my book out I learned that if a paperback gets bought by a library, often the first thing they do is rip the covers off and replace them with a library binding, often a case laminate. So I decided to save them the trouble and got a case laminate from the get-go.
Marian wrote: "For the promotion on Tuesday, October 15th, "The Writers' Conference" will be 99 cents for one day. ..."Marian, do you do this by going in to KDP Direct and changing the price or is there somewhere to set it to drop for a day?
Norm Hamilton
Author of The Digital Eye and the soon to be released From Thine Own Well
Indie Writer Book Reviews
Services for Writers
Website
email: Norm Hamilton
Norm wrote: "Marian wrote: "For the promotion on Tuesday, October 15th, "The Writers' Conference" will be 99 cents for one day. ..."Marian, do you do this by going in to KDP Direct and changing the price or ..."
You go on KDP to your bookshelf and change the price. You change it back when the promotion is over.
You have to know how to use Twitter. You don't just post a bunch of tweets saying, "Buy my book." You engage in conversation with folks, you retweet their tweets, you provide something of value with your own tweets. You work on building a relationship because you're giving something, not just asking for something.
I've been working hard on it for about a year and it's becoming successful for me. Because of Twitter I've been able to make connection with some bloggers who were more than happy to review my book when I asked. I contributed a chapter to a book, and that author is now happy to publicize my book.
I'm working on publishing a new edition of worship resources, so I'm "dribbling content" through Twitter. I know people are clicking and at least in some cases, using them. When the book does come out, I will have an established relationship with these folks and they will already appreciate their work.
It's one of my pet peeves when people will pay to have a bunch of post/tweets dumped, all focused on sales... and then complain that social media doesn't work.
Has anyone been successful with Kindle countdown deals? I just ran some and my sales were better without them!
Helen, I paired a Kindle Countdown promotion with a Bookbub promotion, and had good luck with it. Haven't tried doing just a Countdown promotion.
Helen wrote: "Has anyone been successful with Kindle countdown deals? I just ran some and my sales were better without them!"I concur, Helen. I've tested them when they started, you couldn't even enter them, the system was permanently failing :-) I did no separate promotion. I got only the stray sales that I normally get as well. Although each book started at 99 cent (even the 8.99 ones).
In my view, customers aren't yet used to that. May change over time.
Walter wrote: "Helen, I paired a Kindle Countdown promotion with a Bookbub promotion, and had good luck with it. Haven't tried doing just a Countdown promotion."Bookbub is pretty pricey do you
see a significant enough return to justify it?
Walter wrote: "Helen, I paired a Kindle Countdown promotion with a Bookbub promotion, and had good luck with it. Haven't tried doing just a Countdown promotion."I suspect the success of your promotion was due to Bookbub.
I have no doubt that the success of my promotion was due to Bookbub.Countdown did two things: it made the mechanics of participating in the Bookbub program easier, and it improved the revenue generating effect of the promotion (since royalties remain at 70% below $2.99, down to a lower limit of $0.99, during the length of the Countdown promotion). The caveat here is that Countdown is only available to members of the KDP Select program.
Helen, I earned back the ad fee on the first day of the promotion. But as I mentioned above, I also enjoyed a 70% royalty below the Amazon limit for such at $2.99 via Countdown. Now, increased marketing opportunities through other venues, such as Barnes & Noble, could make up that difference, but I have no experience with that, since I only sell on Amazon at this time as a member KDP Select.
One thing to keep in mind, Bookbub only accepts around 20% of the books submitted, so you'll want to read its Submissions tips to improve the chances your book will be accepted for a promotion. This is what makes Bookbub work - the filtering effect - for its subscribers.
I think BookBub's acceptance percentage is higher than 20%, at least from what they claim. I also keep hearing from authors good reports of success with them. Is it appropriate to ask here exactly what Countdown is and how it works? Or can you point me in the direction of the info?
I tried to track down the site where I got the 20% figure from, but haven't found it yet. I did find a Bookbub employee interview stating that they turn down more than half of submissions from publishers, so if I'm not misremembering that 20% figure, then it must have applied to independent and/or self-published authors.Countdown is a marketing tool for members of the Kindle Direct Publishing Select program, so you have to be a member of that program in order to qualify for it. Here's a link that explains how it works: https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A...
But as was mentioned upstream, and IMO, I think that a Countdown promotion works best in conjunction with a separate marketing effort, such as a Bookbub promotion.
Not yet. Tried once but didn't advertise much. I think it has greater potential for boxed sets, where the reader can see real value.
BookBub has requirements: good cover, ten positive reviews, and maybe no erotica. Reviews are critical to author marketing.
I didn't have much luck at all with a Goodreads giveaway and a Goodreads ad, and some Twitter marketing. Almost zip "luck." I'm a bit miffed. I think things have to get better on the Goodreads advertising -- it is currently in beta stage -- so we should expect improvement. Right now I'd avoid it.
New topic: has anyone had luck using youtube to promote your books? youtube is high in the ranks of social media -- maybe third next to Twitter and Facebook. Anyone have thoughts or experience with youtube?
The best marketing I have had success with is the Amazon Kindle Countdown Deal I ran. Although it was only within the US and UK market my novel Cold Fear sold really well. I'll be having more to get those sales back up again. :)
https://www.goodreads.com/SuzanneBrandyn
Suzanne, did you advertise with BookBub or anywhere else?
Not with my latest venture into marketing. I wanted to test the veracity of Goodreads marketing. I did a tiny bit of twitter, but that's all. A full fledged marketing venture would certainly include BookBub and others. This was just a test. it failed, but I learned a lot and will know what BR can do well and what it cannot ... at this moment. This takes me back to the fact that GR advertising is in the beta stages ... so I expect a much better product in the future. When marketing, and singling out one advertising option, you can see what works and what doesn't. It's very revealing.
I'm confused. Judy asked Suzanne a question, Pam answered it? (Above)
Walter wrote: "I tried to track down the site where I got the 20% figure from, but haven't found it yet. I did find a Bookbub employee interview stating that they turn down more than half of submissions from publ..."Walter, thanks for directing me to KDP. To be honest, there is so much to read, and so many links to find out necessary info, I ended up getting dizzy. I'll do it again when my brain is more alert and if I'm considering it myself. I just wish these services would tell you straight out how much money things cost!
Marcy wrote: "I'm confused. Judy asked Suzanne a question, Pam answered it? (Above)"Marcy, You have every right to be confused. ;)
Yes, I'd still like to know Suzanne's answer. From my own experience, you don't get a lot of success from any KDP Select giveaways or sales unless you also advertise them. (pixel of ink, etc.)
I am about to do a countdown deal with one book which is in KDP select. It is not selling any other way so I have little to lose from trying it out. I did use KDP Select for my first book launching with free give away days and had a good response when it was free. I've blogged about my experience with various marketing elements and previously commented here. I'll be updating my figures on my blog at the end of this month when I celebrate my first year as a self pub.
I'm enjoying this discussion, so I thought I'd add my two cents. I've been self-publishing my ebooks since 2009, and for me there has been no magic formula for success. I've tried social networking, blogging, paid advertising, pretty much the whole nine yards, and I can't point to one thing that has been a smash success. There are times when I post on Facebook or Twitter and I get a sales uptick, and other times when nothing happens. I have seen an increase in sales recently when I ran some Google Adwords campaigns for a free sample version of my "Rose Of Skibbereen" family saga. It's really hard to point to a one-to-one relationship between marketing and sales, though. I had my best month ever in December, and January is looking great also, but right now I'm not running any ads. I think it's really just a case of continuing to publish good work and building an audience one reader at a time. Stay the course.John
John/Philip, It is a "crap shoot" isn't it. [Husband's word.] We just keep plugging away, learning new things, trying old systems, adapting to what has been altered. Discoverability. We all seek it. We're all in search of the "magic bullet." When you find it [if you find it] we'll probably read about it in the Wall Street Journal. [See Russell Blake article in WSJ that ran on Wednesday, January 8th. The man is an unreal machine!
Nice comments and even the little line 'stay the course' boosts you just a bit. A few words can go a long way in keeping the positive tone, it's where you want to be anyway ... proud of your own work.
ditto! And have a good weekend to you all. Keep on writing! ;)
John wrote: "I think it's really just a case of continuing to publish good work and building an audience one reader at a time. Stay the course."Well said (or written as the case may be). We just work to connect with fans and continue to publish the best stuff we can.
Great article about Russell Blake. It seems like the key to his success is volume. Back to writing! ~
Philip wrote: "I am about to do a countdown deal with one book which is in KDP select. It is not selling any other way so I have little to lose from trying it out. I did use KDP Select for my first book launchi..."We did both KDP select and the 3 day sale that started the book at 99cents. We gave away hundreds of free books. We sold a fee books st the 99 cent sale.
We are still trying but so far it is very slow. Darlene torday
We did book signings, but the bookfest in September was the best for face to face sales.
I have finally bitten the bullet and committed to the cost of some professional editing. I hope this will translate into improved sales.Any advice on how to market the new editions when they are done?
Philip wrote: "I have finally bitten the bullet and committed to the cost of some professional editing. I hope this will translate into improved sales.Any advice on how to market the new editions when they are..."
What exactly is, "Some Editing?"
You either are getting your book edited, or not.
My first two books are now being professionally edited, which I could not afford when I first published them, not because I did not want to, or think it was not worth it.I of course hope to recoup the investment through better sales and then take that route going forward but it's a huge risk financially with no guarantee of outcome, hence the question about how I should market them afterwards.
I arranged with my editor ahead of time that I would be able to list that she edited my stories as part of the ebook's description. (If you want, you can check out the description of Dead Doughboy Walking for an example.) Not all editors allow this, but I feel editors add real value and since not all indies hire one, I wanted to include it as part of my sales pitch.
Kevin wrote: "I arranged with my editor ahead of time that I would be able to list that she edited my stories as part of the ebook's description. (If you want, you can check out the description of Dead Doughboy ..."That is helpful info- I will check, they are also adding some marketing post production so that will also help
I do some editing for clients, and I'm curious about this, listing the editor in the book's description, which I've never heard of before. Is your editor insanely famous? Otherwise, how exactly does this help sell the book?
I have a question relevant to marketing, but if it doesn't belong here I'll start a new topic. I'm wondering if anyone creates a marketing plan, i.e., decides beforehand which marketing techniques to use, how much to spend, etc., and then executes the plan step by step? Or do people do it haphazardly and as ideas occur? Very curious to know how you all go about it.
I have a budget for each book launch and a checklist of things to do shortly after the book is published, then a checklist of things to do to promote the backlist when a new book comes out.
Marcy wrote: "I have a question relevant to marketing, but if it doesn't belong here I'll start a new topic. I'm wondering if anyone creates a marketing plan, i.e., decides beforehand which marketing techniques ..."Hi Marcy,
I've done two books, had them edited by betas/formatted by a publisher with my approval (paid for that) and then once ready put on all my social medias and this time did a book blog tour (also paid very small amount) and then did a book trailer (put it everywhere) and now taking a deep breath. I will send it off to my local paper, book store and hopefully, eventually attend an open book festival to market it there by myself. I've recommended it to friends per facebook, etc. but don't want to push that way too much. Fingers crossed!!!
Oh yeah, one more thing, I entered several national and world-wide contests. Here's the great news: I received an Honorable Mention in London. I plan to tout this in another month or so and may try to get it in the paper before that (libraries, too).
I haven't had great success yet, except in reviews, they've been good to very good.
Before I start the third and final book, I may do all those things. I need a lit agent/publisher who wants me.
I have seen authors thank their editors in acknowledgements, but never in a books description. Unless your editor is someone very well known and famous, well, the readers really won't know who the editor is or care. I could list my mom with her maiden name and most readers would not be any wiser...
THE Group for Authors!
Books mentioned in this topic
The Watchman's File (other topics)The Watchman's File (other topics)
Rose of Skibbereen 1 (other topics)
Rose of Skibbereen 1 (other topics)
Cold Fear (other topics)
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One of the buttons under author's books on Goodreads is for "libraries". Click on it and you find out which libraries have entered your book into their data systems. Much to my surprise, I had about a half-dozen libraries listed. The reason is clear...I've been sending complimentary copies to a few libraries that I have relationships with.
But that's not what the success story is. I think that this listing points up a potential route to sales and visibility, at least for people who are writing serious library books. If you're putting this time and effort in, why not donate some books to the key libraries in your field? This will increase visibility and who knows, might lead to some other distribution paths, recommendations, reviews, or the like.
I'm not sure, but the fact that I registered the book in the library of congress programs (PCN) might have helped also. Apparently this is an entirely different data field than Bowker's, but somewhat similar in that other organizations hook up to their hoses and download the data.....