Grand Total of 1

popmuze said:

Any suggestions on how to move the dial from the one sale I've gotten of my ebook since I put it up on Kindle two weeks ago? It's a non-fiction title on music from my out of print back catalog, selling for $3.99. I'm not ready to reduce the price just yet.

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What have you been doing to promote it/drive people to the site? Do you have a blog, twitter, etc.? Also, do you frequent other sites (blogs, forums, etc. especially those related to your book topic) with interesting posts and your ebook link in your sig?

Hopefully that will be some help.

Jodi

Write the next book.

I'm not convinced any of the promotion really matters, except "write another good book that people want to read."

ios said:

What have you been doing to promote it/drive people to the site? Do you have a blog, twitter, etc.? Also, do you frequent other sites (blogs, forums, etc. especially those related to your book topic) with interesting posts and your ebook link in your sig?

Hopefully that will be some help.

Jodi

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Promotion is HUGE. I just started doing all that since I got an agent and figured it would help SHOULD my book sell.

Anyway, you need to promote as much as possible. My cousin who's published through HarperCollins promotes herself like crazy. She even ended up getting interviewed on Italian TV for William's wedding.

How?

She walked over and said, "I write books on royalty. I'm an expert on royalty. I'll give you an interview for free."

Corny? Maybe, but it worked.

Write another book? Send this one to review blogs and industry places that might do reviews?

But so far I've seen nothing increase sales except putting up more work and occasionally making something free for a short time (which really works best if you have other work up for sale).

Bruce, I assume that you're talking about When the Music Mattered?

Put it in your sig line here; put it in your sig line in your email. Put a big banner on the top of your web page: Now Available on Kindle! with the link.

And put out a half-dozen or so more collections from your files.

Best of luck.

As mentioned, only by making people that would be interested in your book aware that it exists can you get more sales. I recommend doing a giveaway on LibraryThing as well. Just give out some copies of your ebook, request a review, and hope that you get enough positive reviews to make it worthwhile.

People like to know what other people think before they will buy a book, so having some reviews under your belt, plus actually getting people to talk about it, is a powerful tool. Word of mouth is everything in this industry.

popmuze said:

You mean something like this?

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No, something more like this:

When the Music Mattered
Portraits from the 1960s
by Bruce Pollock

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FB

Like lots of pages for people who might like your book - I can give ya this one straight off (I thought I was liking a vintage group but it's all music and overwhelming) 'we love all about the 50s 60s 70s' then actually comment on what THEY post with your page (you should also have a FB page). Go find your audience and think less about promoting to them and more about interacting with them and letting them find you back.

annie
http://dearhelenhartman.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dear-Helen-Hartman/274750725872876?sk=wall

popmuze said:

Uncle Jim, I keep getting the same error message. How did you do what you did?

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What error message are you getting?

Here's the complete code (replace < with [ and > with ] to make it work):

<URL="http://www.amazon.com/When-Music-Mattered-Portraits-ebook/dp/B006058IDU/"><IMG>http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51qkbF7VLYL._AA160_.jpg</IMG></URL><URL="http://www.amazon.com/When-Music-Mattered-Portraits-ebook/dp/B006058IDU/">
When the Music Mattered</URL>
Portraits from the 1960s
by Bruce Pollock

popmuze said:

Any suggestions on how to move the dial from the one sale I've gotten of my ebook since I put it up on Kindle two weeks ago? It's a non-fiction title on music from my out of print back catalog, selling for $3.99. I'm not ready to reduce the price just yet.

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Find a way to generate bigger sales...like join the amazon affiliate program and offer the kindle through it on your own website, and tell people if the buy it, forward the receipt to your email and you will sell them your book for half price (and note...by using Paypal, you can sell your books through your website with a higher profit margin).

Being a lesser known author, you may have to lower the price of your book even if you don't want to. OR, as already suggested, write more books.

Popmuze,

Pretty much all the bases have been covered here, IMHO.
I would add, be patient. In the last nine months I've put up 6 short stories and only made 17 sales. (Which I'm pretty exstatic about, BTW. Nobody to 17 sales in 9 months on six shorts! You know how close I am to making the goals on my business plan?!)

Seriously, though. More material, and be patient. Overnight success is like getting hit by lightning. It's an electrifying experience (pardon the pun) but rather unlikely overall. Hang in there!

Rather than a raw URL, why not use the words?

If You Like the Beatles... Here Are Over 200 Bands, Films, Records, and Other Oddities That You Will Love

In the "Edit Signature" block, paste in:

If You Like the Beatles... Here Are Over 200 Bands, Films, Records, and Other Oddities That You Will Love

Highlight this. Click the little icon in the top bar of the block that looks like a globe with a bit of chain (that's a link to the world-wide web). You'll get a pop-up box. In that, type (or paste) the URL that you're aiming for: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1617130184/?tag=absowrit-20

Save, and there you have it.

Or, by Ringo! =)

Hey popmuze - I'll keep it simple. Don't get stressed out trying to do Twitter/Facebook/G+/Goodreads and a million other things. Start by going where Beatles fans are, since Beatles fans are the target market for your book. Post and comment on their blogs, be helpful on their forums, make friends with them on Twitter, and so on. Even better, create something for free that Beatles fans will love (like a blog, website, video, tribute song, anything you can think of) and they will come to you.

But I guess you know Beatles fans better than I could - so you're the perfect person to work out where they hang out, and to reach them there.

Good luck!

Write another book. In the new book include a link to the first.