So, I’ve been doing good with the sales considering it’s the summer. The free weekend isn’t doing as hot as the previous one even with more advertising. I’m learning my lesson not to release a book in the summer until I have such an amazing fan base that I can do no wrong.
Here are a few things I learned so far:
- I have no idea what works and what doesn’t, so I don’t want to cut anything out.
- Real life friends and family have been oddly silent this time. Probably pissed most of them off with constant book-related Facebook posts.
- No idea if .99 cent price is helping the sales. Tempted to jack up to $2.99 earlier, but I should stay the course. Make Labor Day the final .99 cent day and try to bill that weekend as a sale.
- The big push that happened to the first book seems to have been caused by getting onto the Top 100 Lists. I’m on the Hot New Release lists, which helps. It’s those big lists where you see the big names. That’s my goal and I’m not sure how to reach it.
That’s the big question here. What does an indie author do to get more exposure when they’ve already signed up with all the sites they can find, guest blog, interview, and constantly tweet during the day? The book trailer fell through for now and I don’t know how to make one with the pictures that I have. It’s confusing because I still don’t know how I made my way onto the list for the first time and I’ve been told this is a superior book. Maybe I need more reviews, but that’s beyond my control.
Guess this week will continue being a nerve-wracking adventure. Any other authors find some trends or tricks that seem to really work?
Legends of Windemere 
I’m considering starting a religion. It worked for L. Ron Hubbard, and I know I’m a better writer than he is.
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That idea crosses my mind once a week. The tax exemption might work if we can describe our novels as holy books. Discount printing?
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I like this idea also.
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If you make your religion awesome enough, I would definitely join.
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Pizza and cupcakes would be sacred.
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See, that’s something I can get behind!
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There is a locally published free newsletter here in Orlando called The Orlando Weekly. It used to be considered a sort of underground paper. They publish stories about indies all the time….bands/musicians, authors, books, movies. You can pick one up just about anywhere.Young people in particular, but a lot of folks my age and older, have discovered this magazine. The Enzion Theater (a local indie movie house), and the local ballet, art galleries, coffee shops, drama theaters, etc… advertise in it. They also do book reviews, movie reviews, and list all of the local happenings in a printed news feed of sorts. People grab this weekly paper to see what is going on where because they also show what bands are playing at which venues. They keep it for the feature articles. Anything that is hot gets put in here weekly. They just added a Books to Read list, and I am thinking of posting my book there. It’s free. I also think I will ask them for a review. Maybe I’ll get a feature or something who knows. You are so close to NYC. I am sure there are periodicals you can post in….not everything is done online.
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I remember that paper. I picked it up a few times and tried to write articles for them, but never got very far. I almost wish I still lived around there to take advantage. I’ll take a look for local magazines. So far none of them have had any book-related content. Mostly coupons and local news.
I’ll contact a few people in NYC to see if they know of any magazines. Thanks.
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You might be able to submit without necessarily being local. I will check on Monday.
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Thanks. I just went wild on a bunch of Facebook pages and I’m seeing a pretty sudden boost. That’s pleasantly surprising. Think I might start posting my books on there every 2-3 days.
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That is great that you’re still on the Hot New Release list! Great job!
And I have no suggestion. You know me, I don’t know much and I suck at marketing.
Sold four copies the first day and not much of anything since then. I did book pinning (haven’t checked that for two days so not sure if my book is there or not), AskDavid.com, also tried Novelspot and something called Book Hitch (?maybe?).
But I have my fingers crossed that the day will come soon when you get that awesome fan base. 🙂
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Try Facebook Groups. I just made a post about it because I got an immediate result. I’m talking seconds after I promoted, I got a few sales.
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I’ll give it a shot. Thanks.
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What about fantasy fan pages? Can you advertise on those…surely they have them. My youngest son has been into anime for years. He visits fan pages all of the time on the internet to talk to other people with similar interests. (He is stuck on a farm in the middle of nowhere.) One thing that is big down here right now is theme parties. Have a book launching party complete with characters (you might have to rent elves and dwarves).
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Book launching party doesn’t work too well with eBooks and I don’t have any local people to help. Most of my friends are distance. I’m looking at the Facebook fan sites for Fantasy and Indie authors. Apparently, NYC doesn’t have any physical papers to support artists. It’s all on-line according to my friend who is in that area.
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It’s good thing I read this, because I was just about to ask you what works and what doesn’t. I’m not even kidding.
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It’s really hard to tell since I did everything at the same time. One thing I did maybe 30 minutes ago was post my book on a few Facebook groups. Sudden jump in sales, so I might be doing that every few days.
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So Facebook groups actually work? Well that’s food for thought. I might have to keep that in mind for when I finish this poetry collection. I should probably bookmark this post.
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I put a note in my Advertising Links page. Bookmark that for all the juicy tips. I’m as surprised as you are about the Facebook groups. The immediate reaction is what caught me off-guard.
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You should try to remember that the book is now written. You’re not so much trying to sell the book as you are trying to sell the idea of the book. The quality of the book is mostly irrelevant, apart from how good it does in reviews, obviously. So focus on it being a superior book because that is the least effecting factor of the whole shabang!
Have you considered doing a free sale on the days that are your hotspots? You know weekends suck, especially Sunday, so arranging something to get you onto the lists isn’t worth the hassle unless you give it its maximum potential. Try doing a free three-day course for Monday to Wednesday, or whenever your high selling days are. 🙂
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Not sure about going free on the high selling days. Those are the days where people are actually buying the book. Once I make it free, the book is moved to the Free eBook List, so it isn’t eligible for the Top 100 Lists. Those free downloads don’t add to the amount, so it would return at a lower rank and all those people that would have bought it for 99 cents are now in the free list. Weekends seem to be better for this type of promotion because they aren’t big selling days and a free book would be more enticing.
Unfortunately, the free days aren’t used as they once were. Amazon no longer counts them toward your total amount or keep you on the Top 100 Lists because of complaints. So, they are better used for holidays and when the book is not selling. Learned that lesson back in April.
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If the free books don’t count towards any of that, is there truly any benefit at all to them?
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I’ve been wondering that myself after the last one. They can help with a series to bring overall attention, but I would only use it in conjunction with a holiday. Even then I’m not sure. Amazon really made them less useful than they once were.
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I’m just taking a guess, but I’ve a gut feeling that the belief it helps series is more myth than reality. It might net you an extra sale or two, but nothing on the grand scale. The people picking up free books on holidays are probably the type who won’t be buying books anyway.
It’s a nuisance with the change to how they work but I can certainly see the necessity for it from all sides. At least .99 is still a bargain! Your “free weekend” can be a drop from 2.99 to .99. 🙂
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It happens depending on the series, genre, and marketing. People will get the first book for free and grab the others as if it’s a package deal. Doesn’t happen as often as it should.
The free weekend drop that you’re suggesting does make more sense, but Amazon has free books listed separately. They’re out of the pack unlike the low priced ones.
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Looks like the experimentation shall continue so! 😛
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