I’m working off a bottle of Baileys Irish Cream, so I’ll try explain this as . . . I don’t know what word I want to use here.
I just saw that I have 155 sales (17 free downloads from Smashwords). I can only figure that this is related to the on-line advertising that I’ve been doing. So, to any authors out there I highly suggested looking at the ‘Book Advertising Sites’ page that I created under links. If you don’t have your book out yet then I highly suggest you make a folder to bookmark these sites for future use.
Even if you go for the free or cheapest services, your book is still on those sites getting attention. I did stuff with all of these sites even if I had to go free and I think it has helped me a lot. So, this is a testimonial post that is to say that these sites worked and are still working for me. It is still important to maintain a website/blog, facebook, twitter, and other social media, but these sites do help. I hope you try them and they work for you too.
Legends of Windemere 
Reblogged this on readfulthingsblog and commented:
An author shares his experiences for the betterment of others!
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So I reblogged you and just wanted to say how great I think it is that you are so helpful to other authors! Thank you for what you do:)
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You’re welcome. I’m just trying to return the favor. 🙂
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Pingback: Note to Aspiring Authors | Wyndy Dee
Hey, thanks for this post! I published 3 books last year with Lulu.com & really haven’t seen many sales at all despite actively promoting, advertising & networking on WP, FB, Twitter, LinkedIn & currently freelancing on oDesk! I will most certainly check out the site(s)!
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You’re welcome. I went Amazon/Createspace and Smashwords, so I don’t know much about Lulu.com. How is that site with e-books? If you go on Lulu.com, do you have to stay exclusively with them?
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Lulu is a free self-publishing site. You can publish your books 100% free & have the option of paying for pre-publishing packages for editing, promoting, etc… You retain 100% of the rights to all your work & can republish your books with another publisher at any time. You can also publish ebooks, I’m trying to find out how to copy my books into ebook format.
Lulu is great if you’re a new, up & coming writer/author trying to get your name out, or trying to publish for the first & want to have something to show for. . .BUT, outside of a few relatives & close friends, you’re not going to see a great deal of sales, so you really have to push hard on promoting/advertising
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That’s what I ran into when I tried self-publishing a few years ago. The hard part with new self-published authors and paperback is the price. It’s hard to convince people to take a risk on a paperback that’s more than $10, which is why the ebooks seem to be a more successful track. I’ve got my book down for .99 cents to build up a fanbase and I’ll probably keep it there while the others are priced higher.
There are various free ebook converters on-line, but it depends on what format Lulu.com uses. I’ve seen stuff for MOBI (this might just be Amazon) and for epub. With Amazon, they did the conversion for me from a Word document. They have the same I retain rights and they don’t charge for services. Their special program KDP Select is where they do a lot of promotional stuff and it’s free to join, but you have to make your book Kindle exclusive. So, I haven’t gone that route yet.
If Lulu.com allows you to publish through other services then I’d recommend Smashwords. It’s a catch-all site for the non-Kindle ebook readers and you only have to upload a formatted Word document. They have a guide for that and they give you a list of things you have to fix if you try to upload an unformatted book. Having multiple sites where my book is available has been very helpful.
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Yeah, it definitely can’t hurt having using more than one site; the more sites, the bigger the audience, & better sales opportunity.
I really want to do ebook; simply because I know its a huge & booming market right now. I feel like if I could go the same route you went–drop the price really, really low to gain an audience/following & regular price my paperbacks, that would help a lot!
Its my goal this year to be able to quit my regular FT job & transition to writing FT & professionally, but I just have to build & establish the income, so that it at least matches my FT pay now. We’re only a week or so into March, so its still early & a lot has already begun to happen for me, & I strongly believe if I can expand on these things, it will truly happen by year’s end (if not before)
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I’d definitely suggest doing a .99 cent ebook on Amazon and see if you can keep Lulu.com for your paperback. You can raise the price as you gain a fanbase or put out more books. I’ve seen some people wait a month before raising it to $1.99 and it’s usually a good idea to stop at $2.99 until you get a very big and stable fanbase. The $2.99 is the lowest amount that you can have and get a 70% royalty from Amazon. My idea might be a little skewed because I’m working on a series where the first 3 books are done and the fourth book is being edited.
I’m unemployed right now, so I figured it was a good time to take the risk since no jobs were coming my way. I just blog, advertise, and write every day. I’ve been hoping that I can prove to my family that this is a viable career by June. If I don’t prove this then I have to go either food or retail, which I’d like to avoid.
Another strategy that I’ve been using is sending free copies to reviewers who have blogs and offering trades with other authors. I read and review their book then they do the same for me. It helps with networking, helping your peers, and building up reviews.
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I wanna say thank you for this information, was really helpful. And i’m also trying to make my writing a big part of my life, showing my family that i can be a job. I’m blogging too, and reviewing simple things as movies, tv shows and some books while I’m writing my own. So i’m looking forward to promote my book when is ready.
Thanks again
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You’re welcome. The proving yourself is probably one of the hardest things. I’ve found that loud gloating over any bit of success can help. Also, poetry might help too because it shows your writing ability and it’s very popular on WordPress.
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Pingback: Note to Aspiring Authors | mreuther
I am very pleased you are following my blog. Hope it is worth your while because yours is worth mine – John
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I’m definitely enjoying what I’ve read of your blog so far. I’m hoping to get more into it once I get this toddler off my back. Blogging while being a human jungle gym isn’t as easy as I thought it would be.
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Great post ,very informative.Thank you for liking my post ( You were created beautiful).My warm regards.jalal
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Thanks for the follow. Looking forward to your blog. And hoping to learn more about self publishing which is on my bucket list.
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Nice to meet you. Hopefully, my experience and stories can help you out. I’m figuring this out while I go along, so I’m looking at it as me making mistakes that my followers don’t have to.
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Reblogged this on Time to Write and commented:
This author is over 2k units sold now. Good resource post, as there is a link to a list of book advertising sites. Check it.
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Thanks for taking the time to help others out! And thanks for the tip!
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You’re welcome. Always glad to help.
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Charles, first, thanks for checking out some of my poems. And second a mea culpa—I’m not sure I can fully comment on your dilemna as I have next to zero expectation to make a living as a poet (make that zero). So this may be a case of the amateur coaching the pro. Nonetheless—here I go! I kept thinking about your post yesterday and have a few small notes based on my experience to add to the many replies above. When I started my blog (just recently) I kept thinking all my friends would share it and it would go viral in minutes—I know—how deluded can you be—but hey, I’m a poet! Comes with the territory. Point being—of course, no one shared it, in fact, people I hoped would do so, didn’t—other poets in my circle. And that really cut to the quick. But here’s the thing—I spent about 24 hours really down about it and then said to myself—I’m not going to depend on FB for that kind of publicity/ marketing. Which made it remarkably easier on me—and allowed me to keep enjoying using FB. So, keep fighting the good fight and think of better ways to get your audience (a little harsh but ….) Incidentally, one of the reasons I chose to write you (as you have lots of comments so far — this post has worked well for you!) was after reading and mulling over your post, I went to FB and a friend—who is not a poet—had shared my blog, which I thought was charmingly coincidental. Totally unexpected on his part. The point being—just take FB for what it is and when one of your friends does share your work—enjoy it as a pleasant surprise.
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Thanks. I’m happy to hear that you got a share on FB. I get a few from the same folks, so I’ll admit that it isn’t totally useless. I still get irked at the friends who repeatedly hit ‘like’ as if that’s going to help, but I think the sting is starting to fade. One of my friends who does the following and sharing told me to ignore them and take it as a lesson in figuring out which friends will back me up in this. If anything, I have a much shorter list of people to think when I win an award for my novels. 😉
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Let me know if you need an ode composed when they build you a triumphal arch! Or, perhaps rude limericks using the names of all your FB friends who irk you—very reasonable rates 🙂
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I like that limerick idea. 🙂 Some of my friends have such rhyme-able names.
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You rock! I will tweet and spread the word. Continued success!
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Thanks. I really appreciate it.
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