For book/ebook authors, publishers, & self-publishers
What's Working for You?
I'd like to start a new forum where people can talk about what's working for you right now in marketing your book.
I think this will help other authors to prioritize their activities if they can find out what's working for other people. This would be especially valuable to new authors.
I've share the hottest tool that I'm using right now. And that's Twitter. As you will note on the main page of this Book Marketing Network website, both my http://www.bookmarket.com website and this network have been rising in Alexa ranks (and visits) because of my use of Twitter.
I think this will help other authors to prioritize their activities if they can find out what's working for other people. This would be especially valuable to new authors.
I've share the hottest tool that I'm using right now. And that's Twitter. As you will note on the main page of this Book Marketing Network website, both my http://www.bookmarket.com website and this network have been rising in Alexa ranks (and visits) because of my use of Twitter.
Views: 8357
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by J. Steve Miller on
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Brian,
That's a cool strategy - giving away the first book of a series in e-book form to gather fans to read your next books. What's the process for getting your books into barnesandnoble.com ? My books are in Amazon.com, through CreateSpace, available through Ingram and Baker & Taylor, but not in Barnes & Noble.
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Permalink Reply by Brian Rathbone on
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Hi Steve,
B&N is releasing their PubIt interface sometime soon, but in the meantime, Smashwords.com is the best way to get onto B&N, Sony, Apple, and Kobo. The formatting guidelines (see Smashwords Style Guide) can be a little intimidating, but it's not all that bad. Just give me a shout if you get stuck.
Sincerely,
Brian Rathbone
http://brianrathbone.com
http://twitter.com/brianrathbone
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Thanks Brian! Since I control my rights, I can put it up anywhere I like, in any format. Do you recommend other places and formats as well?
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Good move keeping your digital rights. I think more authors should be conscious of that.
Goodreads is now selling ebooks in ePub format.
Google Books is about to start selling ebooks in PDF and ePub formats
ScribD
obooko.com distributes free ebooks
If you are interested in Mobipocket or having your ebook as an actual iPhone application, have a look at my company, White Wolf Press, which does digital publishing.
http://whitewolfpress.com
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By the way. I created my ePubs through Smashwords, tweaked them with free software called Sigil, and then viewed them with the Stanza free reader software.
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Thanks for the specifics! That helps!
J. Steve Miller
President, Legacy Educational Resources
Author of Enjoy Your Money! How to Make It, Save It, Invest It and Give It
"The money book for people who hate money books."
http://wisdomcreekpress.com/press_kits.html
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I just wanted to follow up on this post. When I originally made Call of the Herald free, I was disappointed that Amazon's DTP would not allow me to make it free. I left it at $0.99 and it did OK. Today, however, I found that Amazon has put it on sale for free. I'm not sure how long it will last, but it has climbed to #130 in the Free Kindle store and #5 in Epic Fantasy. Pretty amazing given that I had no idea it was coming.
Grab your free copy of Call of the Herald while it's still free on Amazon:
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Permalink Reply by John Kremer on
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Congrats to those listings. 99 cents is almost like free. But free is a great way to expose your book to a lot of new readers who will talk about it to their friends and get the word of mouth going on your book.
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Thanks John. I appreciate it. I ended up moving over 2500 copies in 4 days. My goal, right now, is to expand my audience, and the free ebooks are doing that job nicely. I realize that not everyone has more than one book to sell, so this approach may not work well for everyone, but if you do happen to have a series of books available or just multiple books, making one title free is a great way to drive sales to the subsequent titles.
Free ebooks are very easy to promote. There are many forums with Freebie or Self-promotional threads. Be sure to read (and obey) the forum rules and be polite, and you can find a lot of new readers that way. It doesn't hurt to be active in these forums in a non-promotional; way as well. If people see that you are interested in more than just promoting your books, they tend to take you more seriously and are more likely to engage with you.
This approach also seems to work best when the free title is available on multiple platforms. Just having a free PDF on your website won't achieve the same results as being free on B&N, Smashwords (and thus Sony, Kobo, iBookstore), iTunes, etc.
One last note, since Amazon put my title on sale for free, I still got paid the royalty for the $0.99 retail price. It's not a huge amount of money, but it does add up.
All the best,
Brian
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Permalink Reply by albertasequeira on
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My mistake is not getting involved with the chatrooms on these sites.
My sequel Please, God, Not Two; This Killer Called Alcoholism is due in print in two weeks or less. I think you are right about going to your audience. Everytime I do, I sell close to 20 books or more. Not earth shaking but better than 3 or none at book signings.
I felt good getting a call from the director of the Dighton (MA) Library. I used to live there and all three of my memoirs are about my life there. She wants me to do a 30 minute talk and book sign. The director wants to play it big in the town newspaper with me coming back for the event. That will be Oct. 2nd. I'm already spreading the word.
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Alberta,
Can you tell us precisely what you do in chat rooms? Are they specifically chat rooms on the topic of alcoholism? How much and how long (period of days) do you have to chat before you get 20 sales? Any other tips along these lines?
Congrats on your October library talk!
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Hi Steve,
I'm having a problem with knowledge in chat rooms. I introduce myself and chat about any topic I find interesting. I do mention I have the three memoirs.
I had a woman, Elizabeth Bennett, from SC who runs alcholic programs herself and she had informed me about an event at a school in my area with a program on the topic of substance abuse with the students. Sadly, I had plans that evening and missed it. Elizabeth sent me the whole article and I now have the name of the woman who runs the substance abuse programs in all the school in New Bedford, MA. I calling her next week.
A man gave me the info on who to contact to get all the 114 names to the companies in the Taunton Industrial Park. I already met with the Holiday Inn Event Manager, Cindy, on holding an event for all of them to show what I can offer to their employees. She even gave me someone to contact to see if they will sponsor me.
I enjoy joining in on any topic in the chat rooms because I believe all authors have experiences, good and bad, that can help all of us and can give us great leads.
I probably didn't answer your questions with the chat rooms. My platform is building and I am very determined by next summer to be known with my speaking. Have ideas for other books, but they will be more "fun" projects. My main goal is to reach out with my talks.
Wish I had some super ideas for everyone. I'm just going along slower than I'd like but at least I'm moving. Like we all hope: "To be in the right place, at the right time, with the right person!"
Believe it or not, Steve, I haven't sold a book from a chat room. If I run a special on my site, giving a book away; lets say to the fifth person ordering one, I get sales. The other big sales are with my talks.
Now that the sequel is due out in two weeks, I'm reaching radio stations and newspapers for interviews in September. In 2007, President George Bush, announced September as the month for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Awareness. I'm hoping this gets me a spot.
I wish I had great insight for all of you on how my books are hot and selling, but I believe I have to continue getting serious with constant speaking engagements.
I got excited with my second director of a library calling me to talk. Hopefully some year, my phone will be hot with calls instead of me looking and calling.
Thanks for asking about my adventure!
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