Tips for Self Promotion, Sales, and Advertising discussion
Amazon Tips
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How to hit #1 on Amazon...
Hey Todd, Thank you for your kind words. That was also my husband's favorite part (and he hates reading fantasy).
I appreciate that you "get it" (I like to play with a lot of foreshadowing) ... I LOVE it when readers "get it." … does a little happy dance.
The Arthurian Legends are not the easiest “read.” Like I mentioned, the names are hard to pronounce, not many people named Bob :]
In all sincerity, I truly appreciate your taking the time to read Merlin's story.
Hi Todd,I submitted my book info on your website. Please tell me if everything looks okay.
Also, for members in this thread, feel free to send me a GR email if you want to do an immediate tag exchange!
Thanks!
-Vince
Hey Vince, I really liked your book. The cover piqued my interest right away, and then I read the first few pages on Amazon...what a fun adventure. You weave a wonderful tale.Thanks for bringing .Constellation Chronicles: The Lost Civilization of Aries to our attention.
Dear Comrades,I've been quietly auditing all your posts, learning from every one of them, but not ready to jump into the conversation since I had nothing to add but appreciation. My memoir about my mother, THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE, will be published in time for Mother's Day. It doesn't yet have a cover, but I have been tagging it with glee!
Thank you.
Nancy Bachrach
Hey Dee - I'm going to finish your book today - woohoo!T
Hey Todd,My stomach is in knots...I am a nervous wreck. I hope that the woohoo is a good sign...Holding breath and turning blue...
All teasing aside, with the tens-of-thousands of books out there, it is a humbling experience that you are reading, let alone reviewing my novel.
Thank you so much for your thoughfulness, not just for my book, but doing this for all of us.
Dee Marie
Dee wrote: "Hey Vince, I really liked your book. The cover piqued my interest right away, and then I read the first few pages on Amazon...what a fun adventure. You weave a wonderful tale.Thanks for bringin..."
Dee,
Thank you for the wonderful words about Constellation Chronicles! It means a lot to me, especially since it's coming from a fellow author who has garnered a perfect score of reviews on Amazon. (Nice work on Sons of Avalon!)
Let us continue the tagging!
-Vince
All,I hope to update the website this weekend, write a review of Sons of Avalon, send out a newsletter and begin "vespa". My kids have a pinewood derby race, birthday party and major school events this weekend but I'll try my darndest to get to it all!
Again thanks for the support!
Todd
Hey Todd,Did you have any idea what you were getting yourself into when you started this? Please remember, family first...the rest of us can wait!
Have a great weekend.
Dee Marie
Todd wrote: "Hi Vera,You can tag your own novel with a number of tags. These tags will show up on your Amazon page as long as you have purchased something from Amazon. However, you only have one vote for eac..."
Hi Todd,
Thanks for the response. I just tagged your book on Amazon and sent mine in for tagging as well. Hope I did it right. Love reading everyone's posts. I'm learning. Marketing my book has been a real eye opener.
Hey Vera, what is the title of your book?
Big smiles! I spent my afternoon tagging the books of my friends on amazon today. When you all have free time, could you tag mine as historical fiction? If you are not my friend, and would like to be, please ask, because I would love to tag your books, too. Much success to all. Hugs, Kathy
Hi Todd and his Tagging Team,Can anyone tell me the significance of the smiley wearing sunglasses that decorates some authors' pages and not others in the Tag You're It section.
Is it random or does it have a meaning. Just curious. From one who does have a smiley!
And a smile on her face at the drop of Amazon ranking figures from 7 digits to 6! Soon be #1 !
Cheers
Carole
Hey Stuart! Good to see you. Writing takes so much of our inner beings that as a group we can be much more nuturing. (my opinion) At least the people in this group are, and I commend each and every one. Isn't the word for lover of words "lexophile" someone correct me if I am wrong.
Hello All,I am Chariss -- new to the group and new to this site, but would love to play the tag you're it game. My book just received a Mom's Choice Gold Award, in inspirational religious books. Would love for everyone to help me get it tagged on Amazon.
I will go there now and hit some of your books. Great thing about keeping two web browsers open! ;-)
Please help me out, too.
Hi Chariss,I just tagged your book Make a Joyful Noise: Searching for a Spiritual Path in a Material World.
*Dances away, singing* Tag You're It...:]
Dee Marie
Sons of Avalon: Merlin's Prophecy
Hey Carole,Cheese-and-Rice...Look at your numbers grow! I am impressed :]
As to the sunglass wearing smilies...I am not sure what you are referring to, but they sound real cool :] Are they on the Amazon.com site? Or on Todd's "tag me" site?
I am sOOoo confused...it is still early here, and although I have been writing since 5 this morning, I just now am drinking my first cup of coffee :]
Sorry I could not have been more helpful.
David wrote: "I just wanted to touch base with everyone on this. How is it working for you? Amazon sent me an email stating they rejected some of my tags because they were in my title, yet they still seem to..."
Hi David, I may be late, but still a quick study. I have faithfully tagged all the books posted on Todd's review page and am trying to find books by others just from their names. I would say "most" people will tag. I even sent to my close friends and family asking them to tag my book -- I only have 2 tags todate. mine and my sisters. lol or ;-) It is all good, but like you would love to benefit from this, too. Maybe it would help if we listed our book and author name in the messge each time we made a comment. ??? It couldn't hurt and it helps others find us to tag.
Shirley wrote: "Rowena I am a computer embryo. It takes me a while. I am on library things also. Are you on Shelfari? Or should I ask is every body on Library things and shelfari.How do you get on Amazon Connect?"
I am on Shelfari and librarything. Lets add each other?
Hey Chariss - welcome aboard!Todd
Dee,Writing early - good for you! Early morning is when I do my best work.
Just wrote the first draft of the review for Sons of Avalon. I plan to clean it up and post today (though I hear the kids getting up so we'll see).
T
Thanks Todd,But, as I mentioned in an earlier post...family first :]
I work early in the morning too... but for me it's the end of the day, not the beginning. I go to bed at about five these days. I think I'm living on US time.
The Americanization of Gina…Too Much Fun!
Hi Dee,My book is fiction. The title is Dancing Backward In Paradise. How about yours? I have a new novel coming out in a couple of months. Spent a lot of money on the first book trying to market it and very little of this expense was worth it. Always looking for new ways to get the book out there. Online reviews and interviews have helped some.
OH I love the title Vera-Jane,Dancing Backward In Paradise: A Novel
I am off to tag it right now...
My novel is Sons of Avalon: Merlin's Prophecy, an Arthurian adventure that begins with the birth of Merlin and ends with the conception of Arthur. What makes my this retelling unique: the story explores the teen years of both Merlin and Sir Lot, and their rise to power.
Dee,I added your book to my wishlist. It sounds very interesting. I've always been fascinated with Merlin and Arthur.
Have a great day!
~Jaimey Grant, author of Heartless, A Regency Romance
Oh thank you so much Jaimey (I love the spelling of your name)It is always a humbling experience to have someone add my book to their "to read" shelf. Especially with so many amazing books out there.
I appreciate your thoughtfulness,
I am off to tag your book on Amazon :]
Jaimey...I forgot to mention, your cover art is really beautiful!
I've been busy tagging also. I tend to do it in spurts.
Dee wrote: "OH I love the title Vera-Jane,[b:Dancing Backward In Paradise: A Novel|3024123|Dancing Backward In Paradise: A Novel|Vera Jane Cook|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I...|..."
Dee wrote: "OH I love the title Vera-Jane,
[b:Dancing Backward In Paradise: A Novel|3024123|Dancing Backward In Paradise: A Novel|Vera Jane Cook|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I...|..."
Hi Dee, thank you. I am going to tag your book too!
Thank you so much, Dee! Compliments are always appreciated. :opI stole my husband's name. I thought it sounded like a neat author name so I changed the spelling a bit and here I am.
The flower on Heartless is a fringed tulip that my mom grew. I love taking pictures of flowers. The flower on the cover of Betrayal is a lily from my sis-in-law's garden and my other two book covers are pics I took at our old property in Maryland. Spellbound features the crick in our backyard during snowfall and Redemption is sunbeams. (Redemption didn't turn out exactly as I'd wanted. **shrugs**)
Thanx for the tags and have a great day!
~Jaimey
Dee,Review is posted! Wonderful book - congratulations.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43...
Todd
P.S.posting to all the usual places; also started posting all my reviews on Authorsden
Dee, congratulations on the five star review! :o)
Gina,Wow you're fast (probably read the review when the typo was still there - argh!)
T
I was poised and ready to pounce :PAnd now I can't wait to get past the next few hectic weeks so I can finally settle down with my copy of Sons of Avalon. It calls to me... but I have to do that horrid stuff called 'work' first :o(
Todd,
Waiting for a review is nerve-racking…waiting for a review from someone whose opinion you respect is…excruciating. This has been a very humbling experience.
Your review means a lot to me. Not because of the rating, but more importantly, because of the time that you put into actually reading and writing a review…time that you could have spent with your family or on your own writing.
You have taken on a huge task of promoting authors…I know that I speak for all the members of the “Tag Team,” when I state that we are all grateful for the time, energy and dedication that you have put into this selfless venture!
Thanks you so much for supporting our craft, and promoting the comradery of authors!
Sincerely,
Dee Marie
Hey Gina,Congrats on your 5 star as well. I am still reading your beautiful art book, and can hardly wait to delve into the grumpy man novel :]
Mod
I'm back from Guernsey in the British Channel Islands, where I have been for a month, with access to the internet for less than half an hour a day, so if it was one of mine got a 2-star review from Todd, it wasn't I who clicked it, either way.
I did tag a few more books from Todd's site on the day that the library dragon nodded off, and left me at the puter for over an hour.
In the meantime, Knight's Fork won the amazonclicks.com December award for Authors' Choice for Book of the Month.
I am thrilled! I don't think I asked for votes (legal to do) but if I did, and anyone here responded, thank you!
As for two-star reviews... there are readers who say that they are deeply suspicious of any book that has only 4- and 5-star reviews. For them, a two-star might be the deal breaker that causes them to snatch up that book, so a fair two star isn't necessarily a kiss of death.
Because I am a Romance author, I seldom review other Romances (it seems like a conflict of interest) but if I do, I only go public with reviews of books I can honestly praise.
If I were to receive a 2-star review (wait, I have. RT gave Insufficient Mating Material a 2, and Forced Mate was gang-flamed on Amazon in December of 2004), I would hope that the reviewer would say something rather provocative that would at least excite curiosity.
All the best,
Rowena Cherry
Hi, everyone! This is not about reviews, it's about what I've been up to lately. I have something to post that has nothing to do with selling books, and yet may benefit my/our efforts more than the six grueling weeks I devoted to an Amazon event that flopped.Here's my gift to you today: Our family has raised/lived with/loved Peruvian Paso horses since the late 1980s. We're mostly in retirement mode these days. Someone started a social networking site for the Peruvian Paso horse community.
OHMIGOSH! I've been on it for days chatting and making friends. Take a look at the site. I'm going to open it to our page, you can read about our family and horses, Rancho Vilasa, Barry and Sandy Nathan Hopefully that link will work. I started looking at some of the other ranches. Videos of the horses came up. With music! I was jumping up and down, wanting to ride, and forgetting that I'm on the injured reserve list these days. The Paso community is worldwide. Please take a look at what I think are the most beautiful horses in the world and one of the most exotic horse cultures.
How does this relate to us? Where's the marketing link? I went down the list of ranches and became "friends" all over. As a gift for becoming a friend, I gave everyone my little e-book abut a premature foal born on our ranch, Tecolote Finds a Friend. This is a true story, illustrated with photos taken as the action happened. It's beautiful, a tear jerker, and heart warming. Here, you can get it here:
Sandy Nathan's Newsletter
The bottom line with this is that I've already gotten MANY more newsletter/email sign ups than I did drudging away on that Amazon thing––absolutely effortlessly. It's been a blast!
How often do we forget our own communities? Obvious connections that we haven't looked into? How often do we forget that it isn't our will as writers and supposed movers of our lives that make things happen?
I mean, why did that guy start the web site for Peruvian horses just now when I needed to learn that lesson?
I'm going to start writing up my Amazon bestseller day on Your Shelf Life: How Long Will You Last? on Monday. And I'm on the radio next Thursday.
And I'm tagging away dutifully,Todd, and enjoying your book.
Sandy
Numenon
Dee wrote: "Hey Carole,Cheese-and-Rice...Look at your numbers grow! I am impressed :]
As to the sunglass wearing smilies...I am not sure what you are referring to, but they sound real cool :] Are they o..."
The Smilies?
They are on Todd's site http://tagmybookonamazon.wordpress.co...
You'll see the cheery little fellows as you scroll down the pages. They are alligned next to Publisher and the date. Not everyone has one, and I am intrigued to know why?
I have just finished tagging this list from the beginning up to January. Will do more later.
Carole
Mod
It seems to me that some authors haven't added the tags they request us to click to their own book pages on Amazon!
Extraordinary!
So, I click Todd's link to Amazon, and I try to find the tags requested on Todd's site, and a whole bunch of different tag words are there. Sometimes none of the words I'm expecting are there.
Newbies... you don't need to request tags for your own name or your book title. Any reader who knows your name or your title can find you on Amazon without the help of tags.
You do need to mention your genre, sub genre, and hottest topic. That's how readers who have never heard of you, but love your genre/subgenre/topic will find you. IMHO.
That's why, thanks to this group, if you search for "Futuristic Romance" on amazon, you'll see my covers.
Best wishes,
Rowena Cherry
Mod
http://www.critters.org/predpoll/auth...
That is the link for nominating yourself at the bottom of the page as best author (debut, I think) but there are many categories.
All over the internet, you will see authors announcing that they "have been nominated", and asking you to please vote for them.
You can nominate yourself, too. You only get one vote per category (a subsequent vote by you overrides a previous vote), so if you have a 2008 release, nominate it in every relevant category.
Nominate your cover art, your editor, maybe Todd's site as a helpful resource page!
The poll closes on January 14th
Best wishes,
Rowena Cherry
Knight's Fork (full length Romance/ Futuristic/ Fantasy, Science Fiction)
Mod
Rowena,
As a tagger, I wonder if I am missing something here. I have tagged every author on Todd's tagging site up until January. (continuing that tomorrow)
On each occasion I have selected the new book, memorised the tags the author asks for, click on the book cover pic to get to his Amazon page.
I scroll down to the Tagging area, Pick up the tags the author asked for and tick them. Most times the correct tags were available. For some I had to look in 'see more tags' to find the correct ones to tick.
On a couple of occasions I found the ticks already there in red, and realised I had tagged this particular book before. So, rather than waste the effort of getting there, I ticked a different couple of tags if they were available. (Not the same ones as that would subtract the tag from the totAl)
Then I would return to todd's site ready to go to the next author.
At no time did I make any connection between MY BOOK Ferryman and the author I was tagging for. My book Ferryman is also on Todd's list in the January collection, my preferred tags are noted on that page, the same as everyone else's. I hope people who I have been tagging will also reciprocate.
Where I am puzzled is that you say: >>>>>You do need to mention your genre, sub genre, and hottest topic. That's how readers who have never heard of you, but love your genre/subgenre/topic will find you. IMHO.<<<<
As this is already mentioned as my three allowed tags on Todd's site --- where else am I supposed to mention it?
Am I doing things correctly, or am I involved in the glitch you see? Please advise.
Carole
Tips for Self Promotion, Sales, and Advertising
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Dee,
Just read the section at Stonehenge - great! My favorite part so far!
By the way, great handling of the various story arcs - nice teasers without closing too soon - very nice.
Todd