I wanted to pass on some great advice that I just read from Ruth Francisco. Ruth has a number of books published on Kindle - as a way of thanking her for this great advice why not buy one of them? Here is a random link to one of them that is very well reviewed:
http://www.amazon.com/Sunshine-Highway-ebook/dp/B006O1IIKS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1332903814&sr=8-2
OK onto the great advice.
For those new to epublishing, the Kindle Select program allows indie publishers (e.i. writers who self-publish to Kindle) to offer their books for free for 5 days every three months. In turn Amazon requests an exclusive. The question is how to best make use of a free give away promotion. Here's some tips I've picked up.
1. Wait until you have at least 6 good reviews before going free.
2. There has been much discussion about how many and which days to choose. I am tending to believe 1 or 2 day promotions are best, Wed, Thurs, or Sunday. Try skipping a day between two free days.
3. Several weeks before your free promotion, alert ENT (Ereader News Today) and POI (Pixel of Ink). (Several authors suggest one month for POI.) Google their names and look for sign-up forms. Alert other book blogging sites, particularly those in your genre. This squidoo lens has links to other sites to notify your free dates: http://www.squidoo.com/going-free-kindle-ebook-promotional-campaigns-for-authors
4. On the first day of your promotion, alert all your followers on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter. Ask your Twitter followers to retweet your promotion.
5. Twitter about your book to all Free Kindle twitter addresses (do a search for them on Twitter). Here's some to get you started.
@DigitalBkToday
@kindleebooks
@Kindlestuff
@KindleEbooksUK
@KindleBookKing
@KindleFreeBook
@free_kindle
@FreeReadFeed
@4FreeKindleBook
@FreeKindleStuff
@KindleUpdates
6. Email all good reviewers of all of your books. Many reviewers have email links on their Amazon Profile. Invite them to "gift" free copies to friends.
7. List your link here on Kindleboards, both on this link for free books, and on your individual book thread in the Bazaar.
http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,97167.0.html
8. List or update your book thread on mobileread.com about your free book.
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/
9. On the first day of your free promotion, get up very early (like 3 A.M.) and add your book to the Amazon Kindle Forum thread for free books. Also add a comment to your book on the Amazon Kindle Forum Meet Our Authors thread that your book is free.
10. If you have several titles, try staggering free promotions. Free promotions seem to work particularly well for books in series, drawing people to buy other books in the series.
11, Try organizing a free promotion with four or five other writers, preferably around some theme. Each of you can blog and tweet about the other writers' free books, sharing the burden of self-promotion.
12. After your free promotion when your rank is slipping, gift copies of your book to boost your rank.
13. Several weeks after your promotion, run a .99 special on your books that are NOT in Kindle Select. Simply change your prices on Amazon, or lower your prices on Smashwords. Amazon will match the price. It will appear that you are slashing your prices, with the original price and discount. (Everyone likes a deal.)
I will certainly be following this advice next time around!
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Amazon KDP - the first 90 days
I have just completed 90 days of being signed up exclusively to the Amazon KDP program - so how was it for me?
There were two main benefits that I was looking for - for people to borrow my book out of the lending library (so I would be paid a fee) and also to take advantage of the 5 free days of free promotion in that period (i.e. I was allowed to give the book away free for 5 x 24 hour periods.
The lending was not at all a success! Only one book was borrowed in the whole three months, earning me a whopping $1.60! To be honest, I cannot say I am surprised for a number of reasons. Firstly, I am a very small fish in a big pond and there are hundreds and thousands of other options. Secondly, my book has been priced at either 99 cents or 2.99 and one would think that borrowers would prefer to borrow a bestseller and save themselves ten bucks (the borrower can only borrow one book free per month). Thirdly, because I am enrolled in this program, savvy borrowers will know that I am likely to offer my book for free at some point in the 90 days, so why waste a borrow?
Frankly, I think it highly unlikely anyone is sitting around daily just praying that I will give my book away - chance would be a fine thing!
Anyway, I was always more interested in the freebie side of the equation. This was rather more successful although of course not in the least lucrative. I reckon that I gave away well over 600 books during the 5 free days, with a peak of 200 books in one of those days. Not bad, although I could probably have done better.
How did I use the free days? I spread them out. One right at the start and one very near the end and the other three pretty evenly spaced. I didn't opt to roll 2 or 3 days together as I wasn't sure that was the best way to approach it. I am not really any the wiser having done it all day by day. I think it is more fun to spread it out, personally.
However you space it, the key is to be as well prepared as you can be and make sure your advertising on various sites and boards, or Twitter is all in place for your free day. The days where I did not advertise as much showed much lower downloads. One snag is that by the fifth day, if you are using the same marketing channels, you may not be reaching as many new people as you would like.
Did my free sales generate any further sales when I reverted back to a selling price - the answer is yes but not a huge amount and the trickle soon dried up completely. You do get the benefit of appearing in Amazon's "people who bought your book, also bought this" section, which must have some real benefit. But there was no real explosion of sales, even though I got pretty high up in the free charts.
Did I get a lot of reviews from the freebies? Hardly any, which is disappointing but hardly surprising - for a start I don't know just how many people actually ended up reading the book in the end, and secondly, why should I expect people to leave a review just for me, out of the kindness of their hearts - how many reviews have I left for other Indie writers - perhaps two or three at most.
Having said all of that - have I re-enrolled in the program for another 90 days? Yes I have - probably through a sense of inertia as much as anything (you are automatically re-enrolled if you do not opt out). We will see how it goes this time, but like anything else - you only get out what you put in...
I am also conscious of the fact that to upload my manuscript to other sites such as Smashwords or Barnes and Noble would require some re-formatting and jumping through hoops - and I am not sure I am going to see the sales from it. My understanding is that Amazon is currently where it is at from a e-book perspective.
There were two main benefits that I was looking for - for people to borrow my book out of the lending library (so I would be paid a fee) and also to take advantage of the 5 free days of free promotion in that period (i.e. I was allowed to give the book away free for 5 x 24 hour periods.
The lending was not at all a success! Only one book was borrowed in the whole three months, earning me a whopping $1.60! To be honest, I cannot say I am surprised for a number of reasons. Firstly, I am a very small fish in a big pond and there are hundreds and thousands of other options. Secondly, my book has been priced at either 99 cents or 2.99 and one would think that borrowers would prefer to borrow a bestseller and save themselves ten bucks (the borrower can only borrow one book free per month). Thirdly, because I am enrolled in this program, savvy borrowers will know that I am likely to offer my book for free at some point in the 90 days, so why waste a borrow?
Frankly, I think it highly unlikely anyone is sitting around daily just praying that I will give my book away - chance would be a fine thing!
Anyway, I was always more interested in the freebie side of the equation. This was rather more successful although of course not in the least lucrative. I reckon that I gave away well over 600 books during the 5 free days, with a peak of 200 books in one of those days. Not bad, although I could probably have done better.
How did I use the free days? I spread them out. One right at the start and one very near the end and the other three pretty evenly spaced. I didn't opt to roll 2 or 3 days together as I wasn't sure that was the best way to approach it. I am not really any the wiser having done it all day by day. I think it is more fun to spread it out, personally.
However you space it, the key is to be as well prepared as you can be and make sure your advertising on various sites and boards, or Twitter is all in place for your free day. The days where I did not advertise as much showed much lower downloads. One snag is that by the fifth day, if you are using the same marketing channels, you may not be reaching as many new people as you would like.
Did my free sales generate any further sales when I reverted back to a selling price - the answer is yes but not a huge amount and the trickle soon dried up completely. You do get the benefit of appearing in Amazon's "people who bought your book, also bought this" section, which must have some real benefit. But there was no real explosion of sales, even though I got pretty high up in the free charts.
Did I get a lot of reviews from the freebies? Hardly any, which is disappointing but hardly surprising - for a start I don't know just how many people actually ended up reading the book in the end, and secondly, why should I expect people to leave a review just for me, out of the kindness of their hearts - how many reviews have I left for other Indie writers - perhaps two or three at most.
Having said all of that - have I re-enrolled in the program for another 90 days? Yes I have - probably through a sense of inertia as much as anything (you are automatically re-enrolled if you do not opt out). We will see how it goes this time, but like anything else - you only get out what you put in...
I am also conscious of the fact that to upload my manuscript to other sites such as Smashwords or Barnes and Noble would require some re-formatting and jumping through hoops - and I am not sure I am going to see the sales from it. My understanding is that Amazon is currently where it is at from a e-book perspective.
Marketing Your Book - A Tip
It is hard to believe that it is not far off 2 months since my last post! I have been busy doing other things but I decided it was time to come back to my blog and kickstart the activity.
I certainly don't claim to be an expert on marketing a book but here is one thing that I am trying to do, when possible. I am trying to be alert to items of news which have some link to the story or characters in my book - and then use them as a marketing opportunity.
You might find that these opportunities are few and far between, and they may come along out of the blue - in fact they usually do!
A golden opportunity came my way a few weeks ago and I have to confess that I didn't make as much of it as I should have. Here is an extract from the Guardian newspaper:
Coca-Cola and Pepsi are changing the way they make the caramel colouring used in their drinks as a result of a California law that mandates drinks containing a certain level of carcinogens bear a cancer warning label.
The companies said the changes will be expanded nationally to streamline their manufacturing processes. The changes have already been made for drinks sold in California.
Coca-Cola and Pepsi account for almost 90% of the soda market, according to industry tracker Beverage Digest.
The American Beverage Association, which represents the broader industry, said its member companies will continue to use caramel colouring in certain products but that adjustments were made to meet California's new standard.
"Consumers will notice no difference in our products and have no reason at all for any health concerns," the association said in a statement.
A representative for Coca-Cola, Diana Garza-Ciarlante, said the company directed its caramel suppliers to modify their manufacturing processes to reduce the levels of the chemical 4-methylimidazole, which can be formed during the cooking process and as a result may be found in trace amounts in many foods.
"While we believe that there is no public health risk that justifies any such change, we did ask our caramel suppliers to take this step so that our products would not be subject to the requirement of a scientifically unfounded warning," Garza-Ciarlante said in an email.
The Centre for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group, in February filed a petition with the US Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of ammonia-sulfite caramel colouring.
A spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration said the petition is being reviewed.
But he noted that a consumer would have to drink more than 1,000 cans a day to reach the doses administered that have shown links to cancer in rodents.
The American Beverage Association noted that California added the colouring to its list of carcinogens with no studies showing that it causes cancer in humans. It noted that the listing was based on a single study in lab mice and rats."
Of course, if you have read my book you should be able to spot the tie-in to my story - a forced change to the recipe of the a soft drink beverage. I did take the opportunity to post a couple of Twitter feeds encouraging people to read about another beverage company who had been forced to change their recipe, but I wish I had done a bit more. In an ideal world, getting some kind of newspaper coverage or interview would have been ideal - easier said than done of course when you are an Indie writer.
Sometimes, the opportunity is much smaller, such as when I saw the picture of a dead bird pictured on a friends facebook page (it had flown into one of their house windows) - that was an easy opportunity to comment on the picture - all the friends who clicked on the picture would have learnt about my book - and the good thing is that it all happens in a natural, non-invasive way (and it is free of course).
Another great example I have was when there was talk of Sir Fred Goodwin of Royal Bank of Scotland fame (or should that be shame) being stripped of his knighthood - an event that once again had close parallels with an element of my story.
I am sure that if you keep your eyes and ears open you will find many examples relevant to your book.
I certainly don't claim to be an expert on marketing a book but here is one thing that I am trying to do, when possible. I am trying to be alert to items of news which have some link to the story or characters in my book - and then use them as a marketing opportunity.
You might find that these opportunities are few and far between, and they may come along out of the blue - in fact they usually do!
A golden opportunity came my way a few weeks ago and I have to confess that I didn't make as much of it as I should have. Here is an extract from the Guardian newspaper:
Coca-Cola and Pepsi are changing the way they make the caramel colouring used in their drinks as a result of a California law that mandates drinks containing a certain level of carcinogens bear a cancer warning label.
The companies said the changes will be expanded nationally to streamline their manufacturing processes. The changes have already been made for drinks sold in California.
Coca-Cola and Pepsi account for almost 90% of the soda market, according to industry tracker Beverage Digest.
The American Beverage Association, which represents the broader industry, said its member companies will continue to use caramel colouring in certain products but that adjustments were made to meet California's new standard.
"Consumers will notice no difference in our products and have no reason at all for any health concerns," the association said in a statement.
A representative for Coca-Cola, Diana Garza-Ciarlante, said the company directed its caramel suppliers to modify their manufacturing processes to reduce the levels of the chemical 4-methylimidazole, which can be formed during the cooking process and as a result may be found in trace amounts in many foods.
"While we believe that there is no public health risk that justifies any such change, we did ask our caramel suppliers to take this step so that our products would not be subject to the requirement of a scientifically unfounded warning," Garza-Ciarlante said in an email.
The Centre for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group, in February filed a petition with the US Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of ammonia-sulfite caramel colouring.
A spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration said the petition is being reviewed.
But he noted that a consumer would have to drink more than 1,000 cans a day to reach the doses administered that have shown links to cancer in rodents.
The American Beverage Association noted that California added the colouring to its list of carcinogens with no studies showing that it causes cancer in humans. It noted that the listing was based on a single study in lab mice and rats."
Of course, if you have read my book you should be able to spot the tie-in to my story - a forced change to the recipe of the a soft drink beverage. I did take the opportunity to post a couple of Twitter feeds encouraging people to read about another beverage company who had been forced to change their recipe, but I wish I had done a bit more. In an ideal world, getting some kind of newspaper coverage or interview would have been ideal - easier said than done of course when you are an Indie writer.
Sometimes, the opportunity is much smaller, such as when I saw the picture of a dead bird pictured on a friends facebook page (it had flown into one of their house windows) - that was an easy opportunity to comment on the picture - all the friends who clicked on the picture would have learnt about my book - and the good thing is that it all happens in a natural, non-invasive way (and it is free of course).
Another great example I have was when there was talk of Sir Fred Goodwin of Royal Bank of Scotland fame (or should that be shame) being stripped of his knighthood - an event that once again had close parallels with an element of my story.
I am sure that if you keep your eyes and ears open you will find many examples relevant to your book.
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