While I am busy pecking away at the second novel in the Skid Chronicles series I have also been looking at how to widen my readership for the first book in the series and make my fortune. Yeah right. Making a living at this would be great but I am not about to give up my day job.
I've tried quite a few things to sell copies of my first novel and get a few good reviews on Amazon as that is the key it seems to me-good 5 star reviews. I have twisted people's arms and basically told them to buy my $0.99 novel and write me a good review. This tack has had limited success even when I have offered to give people a dollar as there are far more people that have said to my face that they will download the Kindle version or buy the hard copy than have actually done so. Amazon has pretty good reporting. Clearly I haven't twisted enough arms hard enough.
I have also tried Google Adwords and Facebook adds to no avail, admittedly I can only send people to the Amazon pages via my still dirtbike themed website. Note to self....spend some time on developing a new page. It might help.
All I can say is that I am pleased I tried this avenue but didn't spend too much money in this area. I did spend a chunk of cash on 't' shirts that I mostly gave away that apart from my wife to be I don't believe anyone actually wears. If you want one drop me line.
I've created a Twitter account along with all those other people who create accounts to self promote their product or service. But Twitter is a bit like Facebook, just because you have 'friends' doesn't mean they are going to read your posts and even if they do, it doesn't mean this is going to translate into any sales.
My latest scheme as per all the reading I have done is to generate a media release for the book. Now I just need to find out where to send it. I have never felt comfortable with self promotion and rejection but my skin is getting thicker so maybe I will just send it too as many people as possible. The good old shotgun approach.
Finally all the good blogs and websites say that all I have to do is create is a community of interest and I'll become an instant online best seller and make my fortune.
So if anyone actually reads this blog and wants to become part of my community you can join me on Facebook or Twitter-I promise not to twist your arm. But in case you have forgotten here is the link to the book......amazon.com/Skid-Tasting-plant-ebook/dp/B009FIAMXS
Actually mostly what I have learnt is that there is plenty of good reading out there and at the end of the day nothing much has changed in the world of publishing. While we can do a lot of things to promote our masterpieces and be successfull at it (in an ideal world successfull for me would be making my living out of writing) at the end of the day luck and being in the right place at the right time has a lot to do with it.
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1 comment:
Hi Keith
I often read your FB updates and I read this blog post.
I do so for a couple of reasons I suppose... (btw I was not going to leave a comment,
but my 2 cents might help)
Firstly I enjoyed your book and look forward to the sequel.
Secondly I have bee watching what you do for promotion of the book and yourself.
Why?
Because believe it or not you are on the outskirts of internet marketing (that term is
the big picture)
I have here in front of me a list of ideas that I wanted to share with you, but scraped the
idea of writing them here because I did come here to write about what you should do.
That is your decision.
What I will do is say that you need to start getting involved with like minded people
(online) if you have not already.
Facebook groups, Skype groups, Indie writer forums, LinkedIn.
I sell art online. It has been a huge learning curve. I have owned and run businesses
where I sold cars, motorcycles and riding gear. They were nothing like doing business
online - that said, in hind sight I didn't know shit about advertising and creating brand awareness.
Can I make a suggestion?
The is a paid forum (don't worry you can check it out for 7 days for free) called WPGoldmine.
The owner Mark Thompson (www.mjthompson.net) is down to earth and the people in the
forum are super helpful.
Yes it is mostly about internet marketing - which is really boiled done to doing business online.
There is category in the forum on Kindle and self publishing that is very active.
Go and check Marks blog, there is a link to the forum from it if you find you might want to check
it out.
At least sign up for Marks email updates. You can always unsubscribe if you don't like them.
I do not know Mark personally but I have found his group a great help.
OK...so much for a short comment
Cheers
Graeme
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