Today, I'm over at M. Pax's blog talking about preparing to give a writing workshop. M. Pax, however, is over here talking about two dreadful words: Book Marketing.
All this blog swapping is just so wonderful. Thanks for exchanging sites with me today, Cherie. I have much to thank Cherie for. She’s such a knowledgeable and fantastic person, and a talented wordsmith. [Aww, thank you, Mary!]
My thoughts on Nine Marketing Tactics
1. Ad on
Goodreads. I bought advertising with them 2 years ago, which just ran out. I
think it did help get my name out there early on, but can’t say it had much of
an impact in recent months.
2. Website. This costs me $96 a year. Worth every penny. The networking we all do together is worth its weight in gold. You people are awesome! Thank you. Sincerely.
3. The trifecta: title, cover, blurb. I now hire out my covers. I toy with blurbs. If you change them every 4-6 weeks, it can give you a boost in visibility on Amazon and B&N. I now write two blurbs for each book and swap them out every 4-6 weeks, alternating.
4. A free Bookbub ad. Bookbub graciously gave me an ad at the end of June. Yay! My downloads went as fast as they did when The Backworlds first came out and the sales of the sequels went up a lot. I made triple my usual in July. Then it slowed down again. Siiigh. So, if you can get a Bookbub ad, you’ll get more out of it if you have other books out.
5. Perma Free. I keep The Backworlds free all of the time. This is my workhorse. It takes a beating, but that’s OK. I’d not have steady sales of the sequels otherwise. I will repeat this marketing plan in the future – first free, release the second in the series shortly after. Smashwords now allows us to have preoders, including Kobo, B&N, and iTunes. I will take full advantage of that with the next series I launch.
6. Twitter / Triberr – I notice that I get more downloads/sales on days I tweet my book than I days I don’t. Triberr gives me a constant stream which gets me more followers. All those tribemates also tweet my blog posts. In all social media, remember you’re a public person and a business. Keep your personal views and life private.
7. Newsletter. I don’t beg for followers on this. I only want people to sign up who are truly interested in more books by me. I don’t want numbers for the sake of numbers on my mailing list. I want my true fans. I call them my uber fans. They're awesome.
8. Events. I take advantage of promotional opportunities when they come up. IWSG, Indie Life, Writers4Writers, and Blog Blitz are all brilliant. I now host the annual Realms Faire which is all about giving back and promoting other authors. This year’s event is the week of Nov. 11. You can still sign up to participate. It’s all about helping you promote your work.
9. Marketing Packs. Grouping together with writers who write in the same genre. I created Untethered Realms, a group of speculative fiction writers. We band together to help promote each other, give each other advice, and help each other out. It’s like having an office. We learn a lot from each other. Why stumble around alone when you can stumble around with others?
What has and hasn’t worked in your marketing efforts?
2. Website. This costs me $96 a year. Worth every penny. The networking we all do together is worth its weight in gold. You people are awesome! Thank you. Sincerely.
3. The trifecta: title, cover, blurb. I now hire out my covers. I toy with blurbs. If you change them every 4-6 weeks, it can give you a boost in visibility on Amazon and B&N. I now write two blurbs for each book and swap them out every 4-6 weeks, alternating.
4. A free Bookbub ad. Bookbub graciously gave me an ad at the end of June. Yay! My downloads went as fast as they did when The Backworlds first came out and the sales of the sequels went up a lot. I made triple my usual in July. Then it slowed down again. Siiigh. So, if you can get a Bookbub ad, you’ll get more out of it if you have other books out.
5. Perma Free. I keep The Backworlds free all of the time. This is my workhorse. It takes a beating, but that’s OK. I’d not have steady sales of the sequels otherwise. I will repeat this marketing plan in the future – first free, release the second in the series shortly after. Smashwords now allows us to have preoders, including Kobo, B&N, and iTunes. I will take full advantage of that with the next series I launch.
6. Twitter / Triberr – I notice that I get more downloads/sales on days I tweet my book than I days I don’t. Triberr gives me a constant stream which gets me more followers. All those tribemates also tweet my blog posts. In all social media, remember you’re a public person and a business. Keep your personal views and life private.
7. Newsletter. I don’t beg for followers on this. I only want people to sign up who are truly interested in more books by me. I don’t want numbers for the sake of numbers on my mailing list. I want my true fans. I call them my uber fans. They're awesome.
8. Events. I take advantage of promotional opportunities when they come up. IWSG, Indie Life, Writers4Writers, and Blog Blitz are all brilliant. I now host the annual Realms Faire which is all about giving back and promoting other authors. This year’s event is the week of Nov. 11. You can still sign up to participate. It’s all about helping you promote your work.
9. Marketing Packs. Grouping together with writers who write in the same genre. I created Untethered Realms, a group of speculative fiction writers. We band together to help promote each other, give each other advice, and help each other out. It’s like having an office. We learn a lot from each other. Why stumble around alone when you can stumble around with others?
What has and hasn’t worked in your marketing efforts?
M. Pax-- Inspiring the words she writes, she spends her
summers as a star guide at Pine Mountain Observatory in stunning Central Oregon
where she lives with the Husband Unit and two demanding cats. She writes
science fiction and fantasy mostly. You can find out more by visiting her at:
For two years Craze’s dear friend, Lepsi, has been missing. The murmurings of a haunted spaceship might be a message and may mean his old pal isn’t dead. The possibility spurs Craze and Captain Talos to travel to uncharted worlds, searching. Out there, in an unfamiliar region of the galaxy beyond the Backworlds, they stumble upon a terrible truth.
Meanwhile, Rainly remains on Pardeep Station as acting planetlord, dealing with the discovery of her lover’s dark and brutal past. Alone and questioning her judgment, her introspection unlocks more than heartache. Latent protocols in her cybernetics activate, forcing her to face a sinister secret of her own.
In the far future, humanity settles the stars, bioengineering its descendents to survive in a harsh universe. This is the fourth book in the science fiction series, The Backworlds. A space opera adventure.
Amazon
/ AmazonUK
/ Nook / Smashwords
/ Kobo / Other Outlets
