Which methods really work in selling your book?

As I asked you in the other thread you started in our Book Promotion room,

Old Hack said:

Have you read the big sticky about how to promote effectively?

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If your answer is no, you need to remedy that before you go any further. Here's a link.

Spamming writing forums with links to and mentions of your work won't help, by the way. Just in case you were thinking of doing that.

Check out the plethora of self-publishing threads in this forum. You will glean a lot of information.

The main thing with author promotion (over the sort of things publishers can do) is nothing is amazingly effective. You won't do one thing and see a thousand sales. It's more about doing lots of little things and noting which get a response. This can be different for every book, as it depends on the book and you.

As an example, Twitter is great for me, because I spent time talking to people on Twitter and generally not being a self-promotion robot. It's meant some direct sales, reader response and stuff like guest blogging opportunities. The author who can't be bothered with Twitter, and posts "Buy My Book" once a day, may as well not have an account and focus activity elsewhere. They're likely to say Twitter did nothing.

So, try some stuff out. It's the only way to really know.

Polenth said:

So, try some stuff out. It's the only way to really know.

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This, x1000!

The "Lemons Market" works OK for getting my foot in the door, although the eBook isn't actually a lemon. In other words a cheap price eliminates a customers perception of risk. One flagship book sold cheap to give you market research information and "signs of life" to indicate directions to go for.

Only best if you have more than one book though. From experience much better than offering one for free, I once tried to eliminate customer information asymmetry completely by doing this but it was a grande waste of time. Another example: on Kobo 98% of people who look for free stuff don't go on to buy.

Exposure is the main thing. My best seller print on Amazon is only so because people know it exists, as it's in a non-saturated market. My other books are and sell practically nothing, so as bad as that may seem it is good to know the formula is simple = Exposure.

Here's the thing: how to reach readers is going to vary wildly on how a particular group of readers within a genre look for books. I know that doesn't seem to make sense, but how to market to romance readers, for example, is drastically different from how to market to thriller readers, or literary fiction readers. They simply don't look in the same places for information about new books, nor do they respond to the same types of promotional material.

So, what do you write?

Polenth said:

The main thing with author promotion (over the sort of things publishers can do) is nothing is amazingly effective. You won't do one thing and see a thousand sales. It's more about doing lots of little things and noting which get a response.

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This is so true. I find each little thing I do has a teeny tiny but noticeable impact lol, but it adds up.

Grimball4 said:

It all sounds like a full time job...

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It can be, but it doesn't *have* to be. I've found that the best promotion for my published books is to write another book.

Beachgirl said:

It can be, but it doesn't *have* to be. I've found that the best promotion for my published books is to write another book.

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I second this. While I believe there are many things we do to help get exposure and promote our work that can't be tracked directly to sales (but do assist us long-term), writing another book has consistently proven to be the best thing to garner sales for me (and many others).

I would also add that time spent honing your writing skills is well spent, too.

Unfortunately there are no roadmap about how to become a best-selling author. You have to just pander to the right sort of people and get them to enjoy your stuff. It's extremely difficult at the best of times.

Beaviz81 said:

Unfortunately there are no roadmap about how to become a best-selling author. You have to just pander to the right sort of people and get them to enjoy your stuff. It's extremely difficult at the best of times.

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What do you mean, exactly, by "pander to the right sort of people and get them to enjoy your stuff"?

I've been running into a wall with promotion since the summer. I have been doing all the good stuff talked about before, but somehow since May, my sales have just dropped. In April I had a great month. I don't understand what happened.

Conventions are a great (and fun) way to promote.

Do:
1. Have something more than your books just lying on a flat table. Banners, grid cages for book displays, anything other than just books alone. A tablet displaying a video also is great. So is anything that draws attention without being the center of attention (your books).

2. Candy in a bowl (grin). Kudos if bowl is interesting.

3. Business cards and other such media. Sure, pens and more expensive swag if $$ is no object, but keep in mind that three-quarters of any swag will probably be wasted.

4. If it's a comic-con, hey, dress up! Be one with the masses.

5. Panels. Try and get on one if they exist. Same with readings.

6. Tables cost lots of money? Share with another author.

7. Arrange table/panels well ahead of time - as early as possible (and yes, this could be six months or more early).

8. Smart device with a credit card reading app on it like Square. Great for those impulse buys.

Don't.

1. Get aggressive and start thrusting things in peoples' hands. The stuff will end up in the basket along with a chance to impress.

2. Political hassles with staff. Avoid like the plague.

3. Any public disparaging of event or handlers - could get you uninvited at more than the event in question.

4. Come late or leave too early. Nobody likes an empty table. Especially the staff.

5. Drink too much after hours. See #4.

Kerry

Why I wouldn't buy your book

rosehips said:

I've been running into a wall with promotion since the summer. I have been doing all the good stuff talked about before, but somehow since May, my sales have just dropped. In April I had a great month. I don't understand what happened.

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Hi Rosehips. I followed the link to your story. Here's why I wouldn't buy it.

1. The title is pallid and difficult to read on the first pass. It doesn't stand out on the cover.

2. The cover is amateurish and looks like it might have been drawn by the author. Or a friend. The story seems to be fantasy, yet there is a 1920's flapper on the cover. Mixed messages.

3. The blurb is dull and tells us little about the story. "For ten years Myadar has accepted her life as the estranged wife of a nobleman, running his estate and raising their young son.(Okay, but not thrilling.) Everything changes when Myadar is summoned to the capital to begin a new life as a courtier in the decadent, scheming royal court.(Why? What precipitates this change?) In a land on the cusp of a new age of modernity,(Be specific. Since we don't know anything about the tech level of this land, this statement gives us no clue as to WHAT is changing.) Myadar must decide whether to oppose the rising tyranny that threatens to destroy everything she loves, and risk her own life in doing so.(Again, why? How did we get from 'housewife and mother' to 'opposing the the rising tyranny'? You've made no mention of tyranny, other characters, dramatic events or anything that gives this book colour.)

4. Price. I don't know you from Adam, and I certainly wouldn't spend more than $0.00 - $0.99 on a new, unknown, self-published author. If I've read one of your books and liked it, then I would be willing to spend more.

5. I read a couple of paragraphs of your opening sample. Your writing isn't riddled with errors or anything horrible, so you're already one step ahead of the pack. However the opening passages weren't particularly engaging, and the tech was all over the place. Boxy old cars and then suddenly robotic chauffeurs. I gave up at that point.

I'm sorry to be a downer, but you're computing with hundreds of thousands of other self-published books. I have plenty of friends who self-pub, with mixed success. If you can't engage the reader before they've even bought the book, then your chance of making any sales at all are extremely slim.

Good luck!

M.

rosehips said:

I've been running into a wall with promotion since the summer. I have been doing all the good stuff talked about before, but somehow since May, my sales have just dropped. In April I had a great month. I don't understand what happened.

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rosehips, check out this thread. There's a lot there which might help you.

lol I just saw on yahoo answers that the best way to promote your book is to go on youtube and do something incredibly crass and then sell t-shirts.
(I do not personally endorse this, although I have a sinking feeling that it works better than any method I use.)

Hmmm…maybe if I post a video of my dog doing something incredibly crass?

You're right, a viral video would probably work better than anything else. Sad but true.

Old Hack said:

rosehips, check out this thread. There's a lot there which might help you.

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I read this before, and am doing most of it, although not as much as I was because I've been frustrated. I think the main issue with The City Darkens is it's unusual. It's dieselpunk, and as one PP showed, that genre doesn't make a lot of sense to some. Anyway, it's not just the dieselpunk book that's not selling; in fact, that's my newest, and I'm not surprised it's taking a while to get noticed. I appreciate the feedback, particularly on the description--I always struggle with those, and I'll have to revisit it.

My other books, four in a mystery series and one stand alone, used to sell pretty regularly. Nothing spectacular in terms of sales, but regularly. Since April, I'm lucky if I sell two books in a month. Something weird happened. I thought it was because in May I stopped doing promotional tweets (which I did IN ADDITION to personal tweets, and decided to eliminate because I didn't want to contribute to the flow of Twitter spam anymore), but when I started them back up for a month in June, there was no change. So I eliminated them again. Anyway, I only posted because I wondered if maybe there was something going on folks here had heard about... a new Amazon algorithm or something.

I'm always looking for ideas for promotion. I appreciate the feedback you all have given me.

gingerwoman said:

lol I just saw on yahoo answers that the best way to promote your book is to go on youtube and do something incredibly crass and then sell t-shirts.
(I do not personally endorse this, although I have a sinking feeling that it works better than any method I use.)

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snerk.

which makes me ask about book trailers. I never watch them myself - unless someone shoves them at me - and I never buy based off the trailer.

So who watches them? They don't provide a free tee shirt, so that's a double downer!

I'm afraid I have my doubts that low tech trailers (bunch of cut out static pictures and some music) sell many books. I've seen some awesome trailers by big publishers that made me want a book. *sigh*