54- Hitting the USA Today Bestseller List!

Listen to the companion podcast episode 

Great list and analysis of recommended promo sites (by Nicholas Erik)

I am beyond excited to announce that I have finally hit the USA Today bestseller list! My book,
LOCH, came in at #114 for the week ending 4/22. (Good thing they don't cut it off at 100, huh?) When my friend Joanna Penn hit the USAT list, she did a helpful writeup of the strategies she used to get there so I thought I'd do the same.

I started by lining up a Bookbub ad. I was fortunate to get one on a Wednesday, early enough in the week to have the long tail sales count toward the USAT list, but not so early as to be overwhelmed by the Big 5 new releases that come out on Tuesdays.

USA Today's rankings cover a Monday-Sunday period, so my promo efforts ran throughout the week, beginning on Monday 4/16.

In order to be considered for the USAT list, a book must have at least 500 US sales with a store other than Amazon, so I targeted iBooks with one dedicated ad and one tweet.

The book I promoted was discounted (from $3.99) to $0.99. I had never done a promo on this particular title, so it was the first time that subscribers to the various lists were seeing it on sale.

I didn't really expect to hit the list. My intent was simply to stack a few promos and have a nice week of sales. I threw in the iBooks-specific ad simply because it's a good practice. Once I saw how well my Bookbub promo performed, I knew I had a chance. I could have done more/better things had I planned ahead and believed I had a chance.

THE CAMPAIGN

Sunday:
Lowered the price to 99 cents on all ebook platforms. I really should have done this on Saturday since certain distributors (*cough* Nook *cough) can be slow about updating prices, but I had a brain cramp.

Monday:
EReader News Today promo: $40
Bookbub CPC ad (iBooks US only) $99.99
AMS Ad (ran throughout the week) $13.77
Shared on Twitter

Tuesday:
Bargain Booksy Promo: $55
Book Adrenaline Promo: $10
Emailed a segment of my mailing list.

Wednesday:
Bookbub Sponsored Ad: $740
Manybooks Promo $29

Thursday:
Emailed the bulk of my mailing list
iBooks-specific tweet
Posted on my Facebook author page

Friday:
Kindle Nation Daily "Fire eBook Of The Day" Promo $99.99

Saturday: 
Booksends Promo: $40
Bookbub CPC ad (all major US vendors targeted) $200.93
Facebook Ad $99.84
Posted in a Kindle discount group on Facebook

Sunday:
Facebook Ad continued
"Last chance" tweet
"Last chance" post on my personal FB page
Posted in a readers' group on Facebook

SALES

Monday
Kindle: 201
D2D:  8

Tuesday
Kindle: 152
D2D:  18
Wednesday
Kindle: 3,606
D2D: 1,069

Thursday
Kindle:  475
D2D: 301

Friday
Kindle: 172
D2D: 95

Saturday
Kindle: 194
D2D: 71

Sunday
Kindle: 140
D2D: 60


Week: 
Kindle: 4,940 (US 4,206)
D2D: 1,622

INVESTMENT/RETURN
Ads: 1428.52
Revenue: 2330.58
(Excluding Google Play and increased sales on other titles in the series.)

48- The State of Indie Publishing

Listen to the podcast episode

As the year winds to a close I polled a variety of indie authors to get their thoughts on the current

state of indie publishing from their perspective. I got feedback from a wide range of authors, from those who are just starting out all the way up to authors earning six and even seven figures. Here are some quotes and common themes:

-KDP 50 % royalty?

-Concern about obvious book stuffers and other scammers sucking up a large part of the KU pool and clogging the bestseller charts in certain genres.

-Concern about Amazon's tendency to unjustly punish legitimate authors for suspected TOS violations while turning a blind eye to obvious scammers.

-Some authors feel that permafree first book in series isn't as effective as it once was. Others still find them effective, but usually find it necessary to advertise those free books on a regular basis.

-Discovery continues to be a challenge. Being productive is no longer enough.

-With Amazon deleting reviews and Facebook suppressing so many posts, how effective are street teams these days?

-Cross-promotion is still effective. Work together with other authors. Multi-author boxed sets are great!

-Posts in Facebook groups seem to get better visibility than posts on author pages.

-The quality of the product being put out by some of the top indies is virtually indistinguishable from that of top publishing houses.

-Urban Fantasy is becoming a tough, tough nut to crack.

-There's a glut of books in the romance genre. Lots of authors trying their hands, lots of miscategorized books, lots of stuffed books and scam boxed sets.

-Miscategorization in general is a concern. Authors are putting books in categories where they don't belong just to try and get some visibility.

-Marketing is essential, but in some ways more challenging than ever. Every time something works, lots of other authors copy the technique and it soon becomes ineffective.

-Facebook Ads are no longer of much value. AMS ads are better. Not great, but better.

-Barriers to print sales make it difficult for indies to do well in that format.

-For authors with a lot of titles, it's important to regularly promote back-list titles. The books are "old" to you, but to a reader who has never read them, they are "new" books.

-Blog tours can be fun but aren't particularly effective for selling books.

-Bookbub is getting harder and harder to get into and the results have diminished, but it's still worthwhile. Keep trying to get one!

"It seems to me that indie fantasy is stronger than ever. Great new talents are on the rise and the veteran indies continue to put out wonderful material. With new and increasingly better resources, it's getting more difficult to tell the difference between indie and traditional publishing as it pertains to quality."

"I'm rowing twice as hard to go half the distance in the thriller genre." 

" I think authors who got in 2012-2014 and established a core readership with a good-selling series are still doing well. However, I think it's harder to build a new series if it's a different genre than what you're already known for."

"Those who have paid attention, and have embraced marketing and other realities of the market have done far better than those who just did the same thing over and over. For example, KU has become virtually mandatory for space opera or mil sci fi. There are times when literally every book, or 95 books, of the top 100 are in KU. Without KU, you simply can't rank unless it's a book with a movie or a real classic getting a resurgence."

"Main obstacle as I see it is discoverability. I have yet to draw any real attention to my works."

"There seem to be quite a few authors out there making a good living off of self publishing, but it is hard to stand out among the huge amount of other books out there."

"Too many indie authors think they’re competing with other indie authors, so instead of networking and cross-promoting, it’s a shouting contest."

"It doesn't help that many people still consider independently published works to be sub-standard."

 "My single biggest gripe is with physical books. There is still a huge barrier to entry, there, and it's stacked against the smallest players."
 
"There are things I still haven't worked out. My mailing list has 1 (yes, one) person on it, and that took a while. I've only been at this fiction publishing lark for 3 months, so I'm not too worried, right now."

"My one novel is making enough to buy coffee now and again. I expect when I keep putting out books I can buy more coffee. Then when I have more coffee I will be able to write more books. Eventually, I will buy enough coffee that I will own the coffee shop. I'm not SURE if it works that way, but that's what my hat told me last Thursday."  

 

Generating Interest in an Older Series

Listen to the companion podcast episode.

One of the questions I've frequently been asked is, "How can I generate interest in an older series?" It's a good question. We all want our back-list books to continue earning for us. What can we do if an older series isn't performing?

I'm going to assume you've already tried the standard advertising techniques discussed in previous posts and episodes. If not, go back and take a look at recommendations.

1. Write a new book in the series.
This one's the most obvious. New books generate interest in the older titles. Even with series that can be read in any order, many readers still prefer to read chronologically. Putting out a new book, especially if it hits some bestseller charts, should generate interest in book one, in particular.

But what if the series is complete and there's no good way to add a new book?

This is the situation that most commonly prompts the question of how to renew interest in a series. A few ideas:

2. Give the series a new look:

Redesigning the covers can be a great way to spark sales, especially if your covers look "old." I recently overhauled the look of my Dane Maddock Adventures series:

You can see the differences right away. The new covers are sharper, more eye-catching, and have a consistent design that ties them all together. (Hat tip to Kent Holloway Book Cover Design for the excellent job!)

Why does a book cover refresh make a difference? When people are clicking through Amazon or the store of their choice, their eyes slide right past the unappealing book covers. They don't stop to digest every little thing they don't like. They don't commit the author's name to memory and vow never to buy one of her/his books again. Even if your covers aren't bad, they won't be right for every reader. There are bound to be plenty of readers who would enjoy your books, but haven't paid them any mind in the past because the covers aren't to their taste.

What else can I do/ what if I can't afford a cover refresh?

3. Put book 1 free or on sale and PROMOTE it.

It's not enough to put book 1 at .99 or free. You need to get the word out. If you're going the freebie route, I've had excellent results advertising with Freebooksy.

Also consider lowering the price of book 2 to entice readers to make an impulse buy. If you have several books, consider staggering the prices: Book 1 $0, Book 2 $0.99, Book 3 $2.99...

Also, Freebooksy has a feature which allows you to promote an entire series.

But won't I lose money if I slash prices?

That depends on how many you're already selling. Do the math. Experiment. Compare results.

4. Promote the old series to your established readership.

Readers can be funny. Just because someone follows you on Facebook or subscribes to your newsletter doesn't mean (s)he has read everything you've written or even taken a look at your full catalog. There's no harm in occasionally reminding your readership that a given book or series exists. I like to do it in the form of a giveaway, either by setting the book for free, or using the coupon code feature at Smashwords.

5. Book bundles

We discussed book bundles in a previous episode. Options include:
Curate your own, working with other authors.
If you have several series of your own, offer a bundle of all the book 1s.
List your book with Bundle Rabbit in hopes of being picked up for someone else's project.
Offer a series bundle. I've found this especially effective with my Absent Gods series, particularly in audio. Bundles have the added benefit of being more likely to get picked up for a Bookbub ad.

Those are just a few ideas. I hope you find them helpful. Feel free to share your own tips.

Promo Week Results

Listen to the companion podcast episode

Last week I ran a special promo for Blood Codex, a book I co-authored with Alan Baxter. The promotion coincided with the release of Anubis Key, the second book in the series. I was curious to see how the combination would impact sales and promised to share the results with readers and listeners.

By way of comparison, I did a similar promo earlier in the year for Changeling, book two of my Jade Ihara series, written with Sean Ellis. While this isn't a perfect apples-to-apples comparison, I think there are enough similarities to make it worthwhile to look at the two side-by-side.

Similarities:

• Both are action-adventure novels written with a co-author, and each currently has only two books in the series.
• Each was built around a Bookbub, and in both cases I utilized some other advertising strategies.
• Each was a $4.99 book marked down to .99.

Differences:

• The Blood Codex promo coincided with the release of another book in the series, and likely benefited from increased visibility.
• For Blood Codex, I took advantage of a few additional advertising opportunities that either weren't available at the time or I wasn't aware of.
• Blood Codex promo ran for a full week. Changeling ran for a shorter period of time. 

Changeling promo: 

• Ran ads with smaller newsletters leading up to the release.
  
• Ran Facebook ads.
• Social media announcements.
• Bookbub ad
• Total unit sales across all platforms: 2,200
• Oracle, book 1 in the series,  sold 383 copies that month (after selling only 41 the previous month.)
• Sold 117 copies of the Changeling audiobook (almost all Whispersync), up from 8 the previous month.

Blood Codex promo

• Ran ads with smaller newsletters leading up to release. (Book Adrenaline, Booksends, Bargain Booksy, Ereader News Today.)
• No Facebook ads
• One boosted Facebook post
• AMS ad
• Mentioned the sale in the same newsletter that announced the Anubis Key release 
• Social media announcements
• Bookbub promo
• Bookbub  sponsored ads targeting iBooks and Nook
  
• Total unit sales across all platforms: 3,591

Observations:

• I've had better Bookbub results in the past, but typically with book bundles, which tend to move more copies than single books.
• AMS ad resulted in 23 sales, but barely paid for itself since the book is 99 cents.
• Bookbub sponsored ads resulted in very few clicks, I suspect partly because they were targeted at smaller vendors, but mostly because I ran them at the end of the promo period, and most customers had probably already seen the book advertised that week.
• Facebook sponsored ad had modest engagement but I'm not sure how much value I got from it.
• I tried out Book Adrenaline, the new thriller list for Book Barbarian. Results were modest, but I still have high hopes for their future since I think Book Barbarian is a great service.
• I think including the discount in my newsletter made a big difference. I try not to send too many newsletters, but I think I will start sending one out when I have a similar promo in the future, especially if I can coordinate it with a new release.
• It's difficult to measure the effect the Blood Codex promo had on Anubis Key sales, but it took only four days for Anubis Key to surpass the what Blood Codex sold in its first month last year. How much of that is due to the series being more established, or the fact that Anubis Key had a preorder period, it's difficult to say, but I do believe it made a difference.
• It took two days to get the Kindle version restored to full-price because a couple of the smaller vendors I reach through Draft 2 Digital were slow in updating the price. I generally like to make my books as widely available as possible, figuring any sale through these small channels is "found money," but if they're going to mess up my promotional strategies, they might not be worth it for what little money they bring in.
• Starting the promo four days before the Bookbub ad made a difference in helping the book "stick" high in the rankings. Hopefully the added visibility.
• Even if I hadn't run the Bookbub ad, the combination of smaller newsletters, AMS ads, Facebook post, and my own efforts probably accounted for several hundred sales. They might not have paid for themselves outright, but they definitely moved me up the charts. So, even if you can't get a Bookbub ad just yet, there are still opportunities out there for gaining increased visibility. 

That's all for now. Hope this has been helpful!

Don't Be "That Guy"

Listen to the companion podcast episode.

I've seen a few things very recently that are definitely on the "don't" list for authors. I thought I'd share a few along with some discussion.

Lets start with this email to an editor after the editor politely declined the opportunity to edit the author's work for free:

So much wrong here:

• It's not the fault of other professionals that you didn't set aside money to do what you need to do in terms of preparing your book for publication.
• A "publishing professional" would know that people like editors, cover artists, book designers get paid for their services when those services are provided.
• Exposure won't pay anyone's rent or mortgage, especially from work done for a beginning author who clearly has no clue.
• Presumably, the author intends to charge for his book and earn money from his writing. Why shouldn't the others involved in the process expect the same?
• Don't waste time trying to talk people into splitting future proceeds for your book which is going to be Yuge! (I mean, huge.) It makes you look foolish. 
• The choice to indie publish is a risk, but it's a risk you choose to take. Others are under no obligation to take that risk with you.
• Just because someone is foolish enough to work for free doesn't mean everyone else should, too.
• This author is very lucky the editor chose not to share his name. The internet never forgets.
•  If your budget is tight, start right away setting aside change, looking for corners to cut, or opportunities to make a little extra money. 

Here's something posted in a Facebook group:

Once again, we have the issue of someone looking to get something for nothing, but there's another problem here: the "trust" issue. Some authors are paranoid about people stealing their amazing book or idea, so much so that they include threats of lawsuits in cover letters to potential agents, editors, and other industry professionals. If someone is dishonest enough to steal your work, a threatening paragraph won't deter them . The only thing you'll accomplish is making yourself look like someone with whom no others would like to work.


And then there's this, which apparently transpired on Facebook, but I saw on Twitter:

I'm a believer in authors acting like adults and making their own informed decisions. If an author takes a look at this publication and thinks, "Sure, a photograph of the back cover is plenty of payment for my work," that's her or his prerogative. I would urge you however, to value your work more than that. I've been there. My first sale was a poem for $1. The next was a piece of flash fiction for $10. I wanted to "feel" like a writer. I wanted to be able to say I'd sold something, anything. But the good feeling didn't last long, and afterward I felt like a tool for making a big deal out of those sales. Some thoughts to consider:

• Don't start at the bottom with "For the Love" or "Token Payment" markets. There's no harm in starting with markets that actually pay. Worst case, you get rejected. It's not the end of the world.
• If you don't think your work is good enough for anything better than a publication that pays in photos of the back cover, then maybe don't put it out there. Perhaps you can come back to it later, after you've honed your skills, and improve it.
• You won't build an audience by appearing in these sorts of publications.
• Professional editors don't care that you've been published in this sort of market.
• Readers definitely don't care that you've been published in some collection of which they've never heard.

Don't flog your one book over and over to the same group of people.

A few months back I joined a group dedicated to a specific subgenre. This group welcomes self-promotion, but I didn't do that right away. I noticed that this group is heavy with authors, which isn't exactly fertile ground for book sales, but I thought I might make some connections. I liked and replied to some posts, shared things I thought would be of interest, shared freebies or sales of books (other than mine) that I thought would be of interest to the group. It was a long time before I shared anything of my own, and I've only made two self-promo posts in the entire time I've been a member.

Let's contrast that with another group member. We'll call him "Bob."

• Bob has one book. 
• Bob's cover isn't terrible, but it definitely isn't good. 
• Bob's product description literally tells us nothing about the plot. The first paragraph is a discussion of the classic niche into which this book fits. The second paragraph gives a sketch of the main character. It concludes with a ine from the author, praising his own work. I'm not even kidding.
• The book itself has some issues. The formatting of the ebook is messed up. The writing is okay, but with beginner mistakes front and center.
• Despite these issues, Bob's book is terribly overpriced.
• Bob's book is, unsurprisingly, ranked in the millions. He hasn't sold a copy in months.

How does Bob promote his book? By coming almost every single day to this small group, a group heavy with writers, and posting a link to this same damn book, always citing (in all caps) some Amazon customer review. Bob, if no one in this book has bought your book yet (and they obviously haven't based on your ranking) they're not going to.

If you feel you positively must flog your book to other authors (not a great idea) make sure they've at least opted into your mailing list.

This is the story of a well-known, bestselling, traditionally-published author. We'll call her "Jane." Jane recently got an awesome book deal from her publisher. (Awesome for Jane! I mean that.) Apparently feeling the pressure of the healthy advance she received, Jane decided it would be a good idea to create a newsletter and add all of her professional contacts to it without their consent. Because Jane has long been an officer in a professional authors organization, she had loads of contacts with whom she had corresponded.. As you can expect, things got ugly when Jane spammed everyone in her professional network prior to the book's release.

Let's hit a few high points:

• When Jane created her newsletter, her particular provider required that she check a box saying that all her contacts opted in to her newsletter, and were not being added without their consent. Jane lied.
• Jane's newsletter service provider apparently gave her the boot for violation of Terms of Service, because on release day, Jane spammed us all again using a different newsletter provider.
• Setting the spam issue aside, there were other flaws in Jane's plan.
• Jane made no effort to make her newsletter engaging or attractive, or to even have an obvious "buy button." Instead, she wrote a lengthy letter (several paragraphs) with a hyperlink buried in the middle. 
• Jane used the wrong strategy with her fellow authors. We generally know our genres and know who we like. We aren't going to respond to a sales pitch from our colleagues. What we might do, if we have a good relationship, is help you spread the word. If you don't mistreat us.
• Jane could have reached out personally, preferably individually, to people within her professional network and asked for help. That would have been a lot more work, but it probably would have been more effective, and Jane would not have a reputation as a clueless spammer.

Those are just a few incidents from recent weeks. I'll do a "Stupid Author Tricks" episode some time in the future. Feel free to share things you've seen that are on the "Don't do" list.

Reaching New Readers Part 2- Paid Advertising

Listen to the Companion Podcast

Newsletters

Bookbub

• Biggest and Best
  
• Good for free or discount
• Probably the only one that will directly pay for itself
• Usually get a boost in other titles, especially if it's not book 1 of a series. 
• Expensive. Cheaper for free, price goes up depending on genre and price point.
• Difficult to get selected

 Getting selected:

• The more reviews the better
• Bundles better than single titles
• Wide is better than KU
• Free easier than discount?
• Keep trying. Selections are seemingly arbitrary.
•  Don't do it until you have 2-3 books in your catalog, otherwise you're wasting your visibility with no other books for the reader to buy. 

Bookbub Sponsored Ad

• Works like Facebook ads- choose your target and pay for clicks
• Seems best for free. 
• Some results for 99 cents.
• Not effective for full-price.
• Good part of a launch strategy if launching at a discount.
• Set a budget, know what you can afford to spend.

Other Newsletters

• Lots of options
• Most are not effective for anything other than free.
• Can have some effectiveness if you stack them or if you just want to reach a few new readers.
• Some only advertise Kindle books.
• Easier to get accepted, especially if you're in KU.
• Some have restrictions like: minimum number of reviews, only first book in series or standalone, only certain genres.

Newsletters to consider:

Freebooksy (great for free)
Robin Reads (also great for free)
Bknights (operates through Fiverr. Minimal results, but okay for the price.)
Booksends (some results for 99 cent books, good for free)
Kindle Nation Daily/Book Gorilla (not as effective as they once were, but okay)
Book Barbarian (SFF only, some restrictions. Okay results for the price.)

I know there are some effective Romance-only newsletters out there, but it's not my genre.
Lots of other bargain newsletters, but most are ineffective. Check the forums in places like Kboards, ask other authors about their experiences before spending your money.

AMS Ads
Only for books you've published through your own KDP dashboard. Can't do it for books published by someone else.
Can have a sponsored ad, can have Amazon auto-select keywords, or you can choose your own keywords.
I prefer custom keywords, loaded down with titles and authors from the genres I'm targeting.
Can refine keywords and bid amounts on keywords based on their effectiveness.
Can have up to 1,000 keywords.
Pay for clicks.
Results are not huge put tend to pay for themselves.
Very much worthwhile, especially at launch.

Facebook Ads
Diminishing results
Targeting specific authors and vendors.
Pay by click.
I use them sparingly as a part of my overall strategy.
Mark Dawson is the expert.

On a budget?
If your budget is limited, AMS ads are great, as well as in inexpensive newsletter like Bknights.

Reaching New Readers Part 1-Strategies and Practices

Listen to the companion podcast episode

You’ve published your book (maybe two or three). You’ve used best practices. You’ve done everything you can to get off to a good start. Now your sales have stalled. How do you go about reaching beyond your existing audience and reaching new readers? 

Visibility is the key.

• A reader can’t buy your books if (s)he doesn’t know it exists.
• Even with Amazon, which is better than its competitors in terms of providing visibility, you won’t get much attention if your books aren’t selling.

How to get visible?

• Write multiple books in the same genre (readers don’t tend to cross over), preferably in the same series. The more titles you have, the greater the chance someone will discover your work.
• Make sure each book links to the next in your series.
• Offer your first book at a discount or free.
• Price pulsing- strategic, short-term price changes as a way of gaining visibility on bestseller lists or moving up on also-bought lists.
• Be sure to spread the word when you do this.
• Write a prequel and give that away for free (a short story could work in this case.)
• Put a “call to action” right after “The End.” (Try my next book, join my mailing list.)
• Write Kindle World stories for other authors in your genre.
• Don’t need permission
• Gets your name in front of readers in your genre
• You can make a little money.

Social media

• Facebook
• Images perform better than just text.
• Posts with hyperlinks are suppressed.
• The more engagements (likes and comments) the more likely it will appear in others' feeds.
• Twitter
• Use an image.
• Search out appropriate hashtags. 
• Separate links for different stores, use their handle and hashtag.

Cross-promotion with other authors in your genre.

• Announce one another’s new releases or special sales/giveaways.
• Newsletter "swaps."
• Boxed sets of your own books
• Good for short-term promos.
• Always have something at full price- don’t put everything in the set.
• Boxed sets with other authors (not short story collections.)
• Mutual promotional efforts
• If you curate it, have a plan in place before you approach other authors.
• Bundle Rabbit

Giveaways

• Insta-Freebie- give away free ebooks, bring in new subscribers to newsletter, gain new readers. Free or paid options.
• Goodreads giveaway- don’t give away more than a copy or two. Limited effectiveness.
• Amazon giveaways- jury is out.
• Wattpad- probably not much potential here, but some authors have had modest success, especially in YA/NA.

Next time- Paid Advertising

Indie Publishing Success- Pre- and Post-Launch Checklist

Listen to the companion podcast episode

What are the steps you take when preparing for a book launch, and then launching your new book? Here is an overview of some of the things I and other authors do.

Well in Advance

Know your genre/subgenre and know what’s selling, particularly among indie authors. Pay close attention to: book cover, product description, and pricing. (Many authors with big publishing houses sell books on their name and publisher’s marketing clout and not as a result of their book cover, etc. No harm in looking at those too, but definitely pay attention to the indies.)

 

Get a good book cover. This will be a great promotional tool. If your budget is limited, check out some of the great sites that offer pre-made covers. If even those seem to expensive, save your pocket change, skip the coffee and fast food, look for ways to cut corners. Your cover is worth the investment.

Familiarize yourself with the categories and subcategories that will be the best fit for your book. Look for those where you’re likely to get visibility. Don’t go for crowded categories that are dominated by the bestsellers.

Preorder or not? There are valid arguments on both sides of the discussion. I won’t rehash them here, but if you go with a preorder, take the time to understand how preorders work on the various sites, and definitely don’t miss your deadline, especially with Kindle. In fact, it’s probably best if you don’t even get close to your deadline before you upload your final manuscript.

Send out ARCs to review sites. I don’t believe these lead to many sales, but it doesn’t hurt. It can also provide you with promotional material (quotes that you can use on the product page, teasers…)

 

Solicit blurbs/endorsements from other authors. These aren’t crucial, but, like reviews, they can provide promotional materials, and can also be a source of keywords if you include them with your product description.         

Sparking Interest

Send book to street team/ARC group

Set up an ARC giveaway on Goodreads.

Post teasers on Facebook author page

•             Cover reveal
•             Announce release date
•             Post cover image and synopsis
•             Preorder link if appropriate
•             Author blurbs/endorsements
•             Snippets from the book

 Post a preview of the first chapter on website

Shortly before release, give away a few ebook copies of the previous book in the series. If the new book is not part of a series, you can give away something else, though that’s not nearly as likely to spark excitement in the new book. Don’t give away copies of the new book (except for your street team/ARC group.)

Create a custom header for your Facebook author page, using the book’s cover art. Include the title and the date it’s scheduled for release.

Depending on timing and your relationships with other authors in your genre, you might be able to plan a “newsletter swap” in which each promotes the other’s new book. This isn’t something I’d recommend unless you have a close working relationship with the author, and your books are in the same subgenre.

“Housekeeping”

Your new book should include: an invitation to sign up for your newsletter, an invitation to buy another of your books, and a hyperlinked list of your available books. Invitations to buy book/join mailing list should be immediately after The End and on the same page- not after a page break, otherwise the reader is unlikely to see them. Some authors also like to put a newsletter invite in the front matter. There’s no harm in that, but due to the way reading apps work, there’s a good chance it won’t be seen.

If your book is Kindle-exclusive, use “SmartUrl” to create hyperlinks. If your book is “wide,” use Books2Read. That way you can use the same set of hyperlinks for every vendor (or you can use SmartURL for Kindle and Books2Read for everything else.)

 Make good use of your keywords on Kindle. Utilize them to get your book into as many (appropriate) categories as possible. You don’t have to limit yourself to the two you select.

Remember that your product description can be used to generate keywords. If you have a blurb/endorsement/review snippet that compares your work to that of a popular author, you may include that in your product description as “Praise for…” and that author’s name becomes a keyword attached to your book.

Add the new book to:

• Website
• “Books by” lists in other books
•  Claim the book in Author Central
• Catalog list on Amazon author page
• If you use other Author Central Features, such as “From the Inside Flap” or “From the Back Cover” to list your books, add the book there, too. 

If book is part of a series, go to the previous book in the series and, immediately after The End, add an invitation (with hyperlink) to buy the new book.

If book is published “wide,” consider using a service like Books2Read to set up a single landing page with links to all the different vendors.

If book is Kindle-only, create a SmartUrl to create a single hyperlink that will automatically redirect customers to the Amazon store for the country in which they reside.

When Kindle and paperback versions have appeared on Amazon, you might have to contact KDP and request that the two versions be linked. It’s supposed to happen automatically, but it often doesn’t.

Launch Prep

Choose your price. Some authors like to launch at a reduced price as an added incentive. If your regular price is $4.99, consider launching at $2.99 and advertise it as 40% off the regular price (or go $3.99 and advertise it as 20% off.) Emphasize it’s a limited time offer.

Set up a newsletter announcement

• Snappy bit of copy about the book.
• Include cover image
• Synopsis
• Endorsements
• “Buy” links
• Make sure to have something else of interest in your newsletter; not just “buy my book.” I like to include a giveaway of some sort, “Coming soon” info on books in-progress, and maybe something else interesting (anecdotes, autobiographical bits…)

 Update the appropriate part of your website/blog with appropriate info.

Schedule Facebook post(s.)

I like to post the cover and synopsis as the main post, and then post links as replies. Facebook seems to suppress posts with links unless you pay to boost the post.

I restrict almost all of my publishing-related posts to my author page, but I make an exception for new releases and special sales.

Plan/Schedule Tweets

            Twitter isn’t particularly effective for book sales, but there’s no harm as long as you don’t overdo it. Consider separate tweets for various vendors and use the appropriate hashtags for the vendor and genre. You never know- you might get some retweets.

            Spread the tweets out so you don’t overdo it.

            Include the cover image or other visual with your tweet- not just the link.

Plan/Create/Schedule Ads

            I’ve been experimenting with AMS ads with enough results to feel like they’re worthwhile. I like to use custom keywords, with author names and book titles in my genre, and titles of popular new and upcoming releases.

            If the book is part of a series, it might be worthwhile to also run ads for previous books in the series.

            Facebook ads- I’m seeing less and less ROI, but I still work a FB ad into my launch strategy.

            If you publish through Kobo, check your dashboard for advertising options.

           

Launch Day and After

Post the announcement to your social media, website, etc…

Newsletter blast(s)- I prefer to split my list into segments and send out announcements either on three-four consecutive days, or every-other day. Having several consecutive days of good sales helps your rankings more than one very good day and then nothing.

Ads- I like to run AMS ads from the start and save the Facebook ad until the book has been out for a few days.  Monitor the results of your AMS ads and increase the “bid” amounts for keywords that seem to be performing well.

Bookbub new release announcement- If you have a Bookbub author profile with followers, you can “claim” your new book and Bookbub will send out a new release announcement shortly thereafter. I like to wait until all of my newsletter blasts have gone out, and then claim the book in Bookbub a few days after that.

If your book is part of a series, run a special promotion on a previous book in the series. I recommend waiting until post-launch sales have slowed down. If you can’t schedule a Bookbub ad, look at sites like Freebooksy, Robin Reads, Book Barbarian, or a Bookbub sponsored ad (if you’ve been approved.)

That's the basic overview. If you have other suggestions, please share them!