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I guess if I had to boil it down to one thing, I’d have to go with “Don’t be afraid to spend money, to make money like any business worth you’re time.”
Here’s my breakdown. Having lots of books written (13? I’ve lost count), a perm free Bookbub promotion for the first in a series (50K downloads so far, Spent $160 and have made over $2K so far from book 2+3.) and targeted FB ads (which make approx $6 for every $2 I spend)
ReplyThose are great tips, thank you Jill!
How do you target your FB ads? Just curious. Thanks 😉
ReplyKnowing my book will most likely be published by the end of this year, this is really going to help. Thank you, Rachel!
Replyyou’re quite welcome, Courtney — I’d love to know what you end up using and how it goes for you!
ReplyThere are some awfully useful tips here, Jill. I especially found it interesting to see how many folks spoke about making public appearances at high-traffic events. I have attended a horror festival (where I paid for a table) and a paranormal convention (where I received a speaker’s fee for an hour performance of ghost stories and was GIVEN a table for the event) this month so far and moved a very satisfying amount of paperbacks at each of them.
Results from events like these are HIGHLY relative. I sold about thirty books at the paranormal convention and about the same at the horror festival. Considering that I only had to shell out twenty five dollars for the table at the horror festival I more than made my money back.
I am booking a table at a local Farmer’s Market a little closer to October and have also purchased table-space in a HUGE local science fiction convention. I am pretty sure that I will move a modest amount of copies at the farmer’s market – but I have a goal of selling 1000 paperbacks at the scifi convention.’
That’s the plan, anyways. We’ll have to see if I can pull it off.
ReplyRachel, I have been following you for some time, but today you have given me a nudge, for which I am very grateful. … Thanks. @LatelaMary
ReplyAn update on my oxymoronic “Free Sale” – I did two free days along with a $200 Facebook ad (which got 474 engagements – not worth it) and an Amazon ad (which I spent $50 of a $300 budget with 49,000 impressions and 129 clicks) and sent out tweets on the hour for 24 hours. Results – 972 downloads. Since the “free sale” ended 2 days ago, with the Amazon ad still running, I sold 6 copies and got 1 new review so far. My Kindle Abnormalized page count went from 5500 to 6300 in the same 2 days. Not sure what that means. Bottom line – combine free days with tweets and at least an Amazon ad. It works. And if those 972 people get an email from Amazon when my next book comes out, well…. The “free sales” have put my book in the hands of at least 10,500 people to date. That has to be good.
Replyappreciate the update, Stacey — have you considered doing a newsletter campaign also?
In addition, I recommend advertising on the free sites using Author Marketing Club or Book Marketing Tools — free to hit them all up but time-consuming OR it’s 14.99 to send out an announcement to about 35-40 free sites — if you want to be on the ‘biggies’ i.e., Freebooksy or Kindle Nation Daily and others, you have to contact and pay them directly — but that can also help.
I find that FREE days are anything but, LOL, but they do help exposure and ranking immensely.
ReplyI definitely agree with you that free days are never free. This is all about investing in the next book(s). I appreciate, as always, all the great tips. I’m going to try these on my next free day. Thank you!
ReplyI do a lot of social media, as you know ..but recently I have read quite a few posts that say most sales come from people finding your stuff on Amazon…and using the correct ‘tagging’ or Kindle key words is what sells books. Which figures for me, as most of my ebook sales are in the US, yet I don’t interact with many US people on social media. Hmm….
Reply[…] Scott Bell shows how to create some buzz for your book, Rachel Thompson has tips from authors on how to increase your sales, and Porter Anderson shows what reader analytics can teach authors and […]
ReplyI don’t have the resources for paid marketing, but I blog regularly now and I’m interacting online more. 2016 will be the year in which I discover more ways to engage my audience without directly marketing my books. I want to find the sweet spot where selling my books is incidental to my online activity. Hopefully, then, when I can afford some proper paid marketing, I will have a solid foundation to build on.
ReplyThere’s so, so much you can do to optimize your marketing that’s totally free! I hope you’ve signed up for my 30-day #Free Marketing challenge, Woelf — I’ll be sharing a lot of free ways you can market free. Not every tip will be be free, but there will be options for when you can do some paid paid marketing.
You’re on your way already! Blogging is a great way to help your Google ranking and utilizing social for interacting with readers is great! Occasional promotion is fine — once you’ve established that fan base, they’ll do the promo for you. good luck!
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