What Promos worked for you?

Writing another book. The more books you write and have available, the more exposure your titles receive.

Twitter and Facebook will not sell your book. Instead, set up both these channels to funnel readers back to a page on your blog where you can sell your book. Don't be scared of pushing your book, if they have clicked that link then they are interested. If you don't want to create a special page then think about directing them to your Amazon page.

I wrote a 3 part article that was released in a magazine discussing two dozen promo avenues and their relative rank based on actual site hit data. I put it up on my site for a workshop I give so if ya want to read it go to Davisstories.com, click the yellow button near the upper left corner ("So you what to write a novel") and the article is one of several on the next page (Self promo: what works/what doesn't). Hope it helps.

I agree that writing another book and then another and another, etc. What has also really worked for me is having a few 'free reads' on my blog. They are short stories in the same series', and I post chapters ever-so-often. And I try to ensure each chapter ends on a cliff-hanger...On my blog I also give snippets occasionally and will give book updates, especially as release dates get closer.

The trick is not to go nuts with blog posting anymore than you'd want to spam your Twitter/FB followers. I post maybe every two weeks. I don't use twitter (closed my account) and rarely post to my facebook page--I've found that EVERY author I know Tweets/FB and now I just ignore them...if I ignore the authors I know, you can bet that I won't 'see' an author I don't know...
YMMV

kmullican said:

Marketing is my weak point. I spent months on Twitter and Facebook as one expert recommended. Quite frankly, I saw a bit more blog traffic, but it didn't affect book sales at all.

I've done interviews etc.

Has anything worked for you? If so, what?

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The landing page on your blog and website should have a clickable widget of your book cover that will take buyers right to Amazon. Also add a call to action blurb over the widget saying "BUY MY BOOK."

This will up your conversion rate to a fraction of one percent which can sell a lot of books once you get heavy blog traffic.

I noticed a sales jump when I ran a giveaway on my blog. The contest got reposted,retweeted, etc by a lot of people and it drove a lot of new traffic my way. I think some of the people decided to to bother with the contest and just bought copies. I'll probably run another giveaway in the future.

As a reader, I'm completely uninterested in authors. I don't follow ANY online. I just want to know when the next book is coming.

I'd expect that writing more books is the very best way to promote your work. Getting reviews never hurts, so if you can lure readers or reviewers to give you one, do that.

Michael Davis said:

I wrote a 3 part article that was released in a magazine discussing two dozen promo avenues and their relative rank based on actual site hit data. I put it up on my site for a workshop I give so if ya want to read it go to Davisstories.com, click the yellow button near the upper left corner ("So you what to write a novel") and the article is one of several on the next page (Self promo: what works/what doesn't). Hope it helps.

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This link comes up as "not found". Is there another link?

Try to get other bloggers to cover your book. I've found that having someone review my book - even if their review is negative - will increase my sales.

Thank you for making this thread and for everyone's most excellent answers.

<-- Much to chew on.

BubbleCow said:

Twitter and Facebook will not sell your book. Instead, set up both these channels to funnel readers back to a page on your blog where you can sell your book.

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Agree with this. The old wheel and spoke model works well. These outer channels should feed back to a central hub, wherever that may be

Matthew (Turndog Millionaire)

Thanks for sharing your insights, everyone. I know I learned quite a few helpful things.

I see a lot of things about on-line book marketing that advise you to do a blog tour. What the heck is a blog tour? How do you go about it? How do you tour and where do you tour to?

Has anyone here done blog tours? And did they see any sales increases from doing them?

JoyceH said:

I see a lot of things about on-line book marketing that advise you to do a blog tour. What the heck is a blog tour? How do you go about it? How do you tour and where do you tour to?

Has anyone here done blog tours? And did they see any sales increases from doing them?

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I'd like to know, too. How do you get people to read your blog?

Thanks

If you want to get people to read your blog you have to read theirs, and join in with the ongoing discussions there. Don't spam their comments with exhortations for them to buy your books, or with requests that they read your blog and comment there in return: just join in with the chat. They'll follow your links back to your blog, and conversation will ensue.

A blog tour is where you have a series of articles on various other people's blogs. To organise one you have to be on friendly terms with a lot of people who blog in your sphere, or you have to pay someone to organise it for you.

Meanwhile, I hope you've all read and understood this post.

Old Hack said:

If you want to get people to read your blog you have to read theirs, and join in with the ongoing discussions there.

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I was hoping people might accidentally type in my blog domain.

I re-read that post. Thank you for reminding me about it. It takes me a few times before things sink in.

JoyceH said:

I see a lot of things about on-line book marketing that advise you to do a blog tour. What the heck is a blog tour? How do you go about it? How do you tour and where do you tour to?

Has anyone here done blog tours? And did they see any sales increases from doing them?

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Basically it's you writing for other people, not selling you book per se, but providing some cool content and what not. Then, in the byline, you have a nice little link to your new book.

The idea of Guest Blogging isn't new and really does drive traffic to your site/product (i've seen this first hand)

A Blog tour is doing many of these in a short burst. So you do a post on my Blog, an interview on X, and another post on Y

It adds exposure and drives people to your book. If you hit several Blogs in the same niche at the same time, it can really do wanders. I recently bough Platform by Michael Hyatt and the $100 Startup by Chris Guillabeu by seeing them appear everywhere.

Hope this helps

Matthew (Turndog Millionaire)

I think blogs and giveaways are a great way to drive traffic to your books, but also having other writers review your work and post their reviews on Amazon is incredibly helpful. I joined a few review groups and found that my sales immediately increased when I had a few reviews. They don't even have to be positive reviews!

Whether you are trying to sell books 10 years ago (like I was) in a brick and mortar store, shaking hands, schmoozing store reps, trying to get a write up in the local paper, etc. OR whether you are doing it today trying to get followers on Twitter, FB, getting friends on GoodReads or doing a "blog tour" (seriously, how things have changed) - the key, number one thing I have found is:

YOU HAVE TO BE A PART OF THE WRITING/BOOK COMMUNITY AND WANT TO SHARE SOMETHING THAT WILL LAST!

You can't just roll into a blog/forum/post and say "yo, check out my new book, it rocks, tell your friends" and you can't just mass email all 600+ of your FB friends and say "finally, after months of hard work my new book is out, it's only $2.99 on kindle, go get it" - you will be vastly disappointed!

Don't write a book/story to sell it - write a story to add something to somebody's life; whether it's humor, intrigue, hope, or just entertainment. But write a good story, nay, write a great story that will want people to keep turning the pages. Then, as part of a writing community (whether in real life or online - I would suggest both) people will know that you have finished it, people will want to read it, and then, because they know you aren't just trying to make a quick buck and force it down their throats, they will share it, the sales will come, and you will have enriched others.

And (even more importantly) because you are a WRITER, and not just a guy/girl trying to publish a book, you will have continued to write and become better and have more stories to share, and over time they will keep coming back, wondering what you are working on and you will continue to be able to give and give and give.

That's how I see it anyway...it's a beautiful thing - the legacy that a writer can leave. We really can make a difference for lots and lots of people!

Lots of good insight in this thread! Happy to now know what a blog tour is, lol.

csorensen said:

Whether you are trying to sell books 10 years ago (like I was) in a brick and mortar store, shaking hands, schmoozing store reps, trying to get a write up in the local paper, etc. OR whether you are doing it today trying to get followers on Twitter, FB, getting friends on GoodReads or doing a "blog tour" (seriously, how things have changed) - the key, number one thing I have found is:

YOU HAVE TO BE A PART OF THE WRITING/BOOK COMMUNITY AND WANT TO SHARE SOMETHING THAT WILL LAST!

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Nope.

Your readers are not necessarily "part of the writing/book community". Writers should not focus on selling their books to other writers: it's readers they need to find.

I read the Kindle boards and my heart sinks at the sound of all the promotional subtexts there. By all means congregate with other writers for encouragement and support; but don't count on them for sales.

I have a few friends who have active, popular blogs with huge numbers of followers: those blogs (and the rest of their online presence) represent a huge platform in all the ways we're told is good. They've all written related books, and have used their blogs, Twitter, and Facebook accounts to promote them, just as we're told to do. Those books are great: really helpful, well-written, and solid; and they've sold bugger all.

You need to get your books in front of its real readers. Not in front of your writer-friends.