fbpx

Tag: promoting

Results of the 8 Hour Ebook Challenge

1 Comment

Last week, author/blogger J.A. Konrath issued a challenge – write and publish an ebook in 8 hours. About 140 people responded, and he published a link to everyone’s works. Some were serious, others absurd.

I decided to try it. I wrote a story under a pen name (no, I won’t tell you which book is mine). It went live on Friday, set for free for the next five days through Amazon’s Kindle Select program.

On the first day, before Konrath had written his post and with no advertising or acknowledgment, it had 80 downloads. By last night, the last day of the promotion, that number was close to 400, and at one point it was in the top 2500 for Kindle downloads. Not bad for something that took about eight hours to write, format, and publish.

But will it translate to sales? I’m thinking of turning it into a (super secret) series; if I get the next one done soon enough, will people pay for it after reading the first one? Can I build momentum for these books with no additional advertising on my part?

Only one way to find out. :)

An example of genre-hopping that works

1 Comment

Recently I’ve heard quite a few writers concerned with genre-hopping. Many agents and publishers discourage it; if you want to write different stories, you write under different pen names. It keeps your fans compartmentalized – for example, the romance fans don’t have to read sci-fi they may dislike – but it’s harder to build that elusive platform, as you’re essentially building two (or more, depending on how many pen names you go with).

So, can you be successful as a genre-hopper? My publisher, Evolved Publishing, has no problem with it (they’re leniently awesome about a lot of other stuff too).

And in the past few months, I’ve come across a really good example: the band Imagine Dragons.

At first, I wasn’t big on them. “It’s Time” is a blatent rip-off of Sigur Rós’s “Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur,” a song I happen to love but most people have probably never heard. “It’s Time” is fun, hopeful, light. It’s played on most Top 40 radio stations.

And then I heard “Radioactive,” which is not really fun or hopeful or light. And it’s played almost exclusively on rock stations.

Intrigued, I got their album, Night Visions (and I highly recommend you do too). It’s a mix of light pop songs, dark rock songs, and some Caribbean steel drums that conjure up memories of the lobster from The Little Mermaid. And the mix is working, because their debut album has gone platinum in the US (1 million+ albums sold).

I think part of their success is their marketing approach: target pop people for the pop songs and rock people for the rock songs, each of whom will buy the whole album and probably enjoy it.

The lesson for writers, I guess, is that you need to cast a wide net. My novel, The Lone Wolf, is women’s fiction and I’ll market it towards women’s fiction writers, but chances are they’ll enjoy my other stories when they read them (or at least buy them). Readers who enjoy my darker short stories will buy the novel and appreciate some of the darker characters. I hope.

What’s your take on genre-hopping and marketing: good or bad? Why?

Creepy advertising

2 Comments

I’m a pretty quiet, reserved person until you get to know me well.  And along with that, I really dislike being hit on. No, I mean that. I’m not comfortable with pick-up lines or compliments from people I don’t know well.

So imagine my horror when I set up a newsletter with MailChimp, and the primate at the top of the screen greeted me with this:

Followed on the next screen by this:

which included a link to a YouTube video of a gorilla Phil Collins.

Not cool, MailChimp. Not cool.

Nonetheless, I’m going to continue using them for my newsletter, which I plan to send out to notify people of new releases and big shiny special news. If you want my updates, please sign up!

T is for my Kindle story "Tim and Sara" #atozchallenge

Comments

Day T of the 2013 Blogging from A to Z April challenge. Today’s topic: “Tim and Sara,” my short story available on Kindle (and soon to be Nook, whenever I get to it).

The victim of debilitating flashbacks, Tim is content to spend the rest of his life at Kirkbride, a state mental hospital. But his friend and fellow resident Sara is concerned that she has to save her soul before it’s too late, and so she devises a plan to break them out of the hospital. Can Tim help his friend while holding onto what’s left of his sanity?

Last summer I decided to try the ebook self-publishing route with one of my longer short stories, “Tim and Sara.” I put it on Amazon for $.99, gave it away for free for a few days, and sat back to watch the results.

To date, I have 9 reviews on Amazon (1 on Amazon.ca) and 1 on Goodreads: 7 5-star and 3 4-star.

What readers are saying:

“…a deep look into fragile minds, victims of sadness, coping as best they know how.”

“Martin sets a scene full of vivid imagery and compelling dialogue.”

“Her writing is clear and colorful, and Tim and Sara’s plight is immediately gripping.”

“…a fascinating look at a complex relationship and how we’re sometimes pulled into each other’s destinies.”

“Never guessed where this was going to take me. Surprises to the end.”

“Tim is a well-defined character, who will cast shadows in my mind for a long time.”

I’m really proud of how good the response has been, and it’s encouraged me to self-publish a couple short story collections, including the upcoming The Futility of Loving a Soldier, which should be out May 25th, and Between Light and Dark, hopefully out around Christmas (and containing a story about Sara and what drove her so “bat shit insane,” as Tim puts it).

If you haven’t read “Tim and Sara” yet, what are you waiting for?  For the price of a cheeseburger, you could read a story readers are raving about.

#Free ebook for Halloween!

Comments

What better way to celebrate Halloween than with a scary story ebook, free through midnight PST on November 1st?

The victim of debilitating flashbacks, Tim is content to spend the rest of his life at Kirkbride, a state mental hospital. But his friend and fellow resident Sara is concerned that she has to save her soul before it’s too late, and so she devises a plan to break them out of the hospital. Can Tim help his friend while holding onto what’s left of his sanity?

Here’s what readers are saying:

“Surprises to the end.”

“A deep, intriguing, vivid story.”

“Martin’s characterization is perfect – it’s a fascinating look at a complex relationship and how we’re sometimes pulled into each other’s destinies.”

Get your free copy now, and don’t forget to rate and review on Amazon and Goodreads!

Publishing Part 1: Marketing

Comments

Over the weekend I attended a writing workshop at the local writing center.  The day’s four sessions focused on various aspects of publishing.  I thought I’d share what I learned here, as well as my own experiences.

Part 1 (today): The Fifth Dimension – Marketing
Part 2: Dipping Your Toe Into the ‘E’ Pool; E-Books 101
Part 3: Get Into The House (Finding an agent)
Part 4: DIY Publishing – Is It For You?
Part 5: My own insights into marketing: social networking and blogging

The Fifth Dimension – Marketing

This session was hosted by two local self-published writers: Jane VanVooren Rogers, editor and author of a poetry chapbook entitled How to Avoid Being and Other Paths to Triumph, and Jane Reinhardt-Martin, self-published author of several books including Flax Your Way to Better Health.

Jane Reinhardt-Martin’s books fit a very specific niche market, so she’s been able to sell over 50,000 copies in the last ten years.  Jane VanVooren Rogers, on the other hand, has a small poetry chapbook from a local publisher, so she has a lot of different challenges than the first Jane. 

Here are the useful points I learned:

  • Get your book listed in Bowker’s Books In Print; if your title won’t scan at a register, bigger places won’t be willing to sell it (according to a Barnes and Noble manager).
  • Books-A-Million and Barnes and Noble prefer to work through a distributor, not through the author herself.  While this could potentially be a good sales avenue, distributors typically require you to give them thousands of copies upfront.  And if your books are damaged or discontinued, you’re stuck with all the unsold copies.
  • If you want your book sold in local bookstores, go to the really local ones; Books-A-Million and Barnes and Noble aren’t big on self-published locals taking up shelf space or doing book signings.  Independent small business owners, however, can be receptive to your works.  One bookstore owner in town offered to split both the overhead and profits from books he sold by local authors, and another store – a fair trade craft-type place – lets authors not only sell books, but have book signing parties at the store.  At the very least, it doesn’t hurt to ask.
  • When deciding on the price of your book, consider the cut others may take.  Yes, it’s your book, but in the example Jane Reinhardt-Martin gave us, her book cost $2 to produce (she went with a local printshop after negotiating with several in the area).  A bookstore she approached would buy it from her for $4, then sell it for the list price of $10.  That left her with a profit of $2 – not the 100% most people would expect.  Jane VanVooren Rogers sells her books herself through Amazon, so she has to factor in their cut.
  • Attend trade shows, conferences, book signings – anything you can where potential RELEVANT readers might be.  For example, Jane Reinhardt-Martin attends flax seed trade shows, and some of her biggest customers are flax sales people, because everyone wants to know about the product.  Jane VanVooren Rogers attended a regional writing conference and split a booth with several other local writers.  At one point, she walked around and traded books with other authors; while it didn’t increase sales, it helped get her name out there.
  • Consider what your purpose is with your book:  money, getting your story read, or a mixture.  Jane VanVooren Rogers bought some ad space on Facebook for a month, targeting people in the Midwest who like the arts.  While she gained over 100 likes on her Facebook page, it didn’t translate into sales.  Same with trading her book with other authors.
  • Get something tangible to promote your book: postcard, bookmark, even just a business card.  That way people will remember who you are and what you wrote.
  • And finally, consider your audience’s access to computers.  Jane Reinhardt-Martin sticks an ordering form in the back of her books, so that people can easily send a check or money order to get more copies.  A lot of people prefer snail mail (or stores) to Amazon.  Make sure the book is easily available.
  • Jane Reinhardt-Martin recommends checking out some advice by Brian Jud on CreateSpace.  She gave us handouts of his “Marketing Plan for Non-Fiction Titles,” but he has guidelines for fiction as well.

Unfortunately, the session didn’t focus on online marketing except in brief passing – social networks like Twitter and Facebook, blogs, Goodreads, Amazon reviews, etc.  I’ll focus on those in part 5.

Is this advice helpful?  Does it mesh with your own experiences?  Do you have anything you can add to the list?

Breakdown of my free story promotion

Comments

This past weekend I decided to offer my short story ebook, “Tim and Sara,” free on Amazon (it’s normally $.99).

Since I listed it two-and-a-half months ago, I’d sold less than a handful of copies, and those were in the first couple days.  Granted, I hadn’t promoted it much (okay, at all).  And now the problem was that it didn’t have any reviews.  Why would someone spend a dollar, the equivalent of a cheeseburger, on an unreviewed story by someone they’d never heard of?  Personally, I’d go for the unhealthy goodness of a McDonald’s McDouble instead too.

What I needed, more than earning 1/3 of that cheeseburger, was exposure.  So I took advantage of one of the features of Amazon’s Kindle Select program: 5 free days within a 90-day period.  I picked the weekend, as it coincided with Six Sentence Sunday, as well as the following Monday so that people who do all their online stuff at work would see it too.

I tried hard to get the word out:

  • Scribophile, the writing community website I use.  I started a thread about the free ebook, plus sent out a bulletin to all the people who’d added me as a favorite. Estimated reach: 50-2000 people?
  • Facebook, both my personal account and my writer account.  For my personal account, so as not to bug people who don’t care, I only mentioned it twice – late Friday night/early Saturday morning, and Sunday morning.  My Facebook account is hooked up to Twitter, so whatever I post on one automatically goes to the other.  While there’s some overlap between who follows them, they reach slightly different groups.
  • Twitter.  This was where the big push happened.  I tried to tweet something every 2-3 hours.  I noticed that after every tweet, I’d immediately get a few more downloads.
  • Appeal for the community to spread the word.  I asked people to retweet, and I’m grateful to so many who helped out – @scribophile, @MelissaSasser, @KellyMatsuura, @JessicaMLoftus, and @anthro78, among others.
  • Goodreads.  On Sunday afternoon I remembered this site and I created an event announcing the free book.  I invited all my friends to attend, but I’m not sure of the effect of this, as it was so late.  Next time I’ll do it a few days or maybe a week ahead of time.
  • LinkedIn.  I use LinkedIn for professional networking, so I’m very careful not to post anything that’ll appear to be spam.  I include fiction on my list of publications, but I don’t really advertise them.  I put an announcement up on Saturday morning; it was probably quickly buried. 

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but here’s what I got:

  • 151 downloads.  The majority were from the US site, with about 10% from the UK site and 1 from Germany
  • At its peak (Saturday night), the story reached #1990 on Amazon’s Free in Kindle Store list.
  • 5 reviews on Amazon (4 5-star and 1 4-star).  I’m guessing that most people downloaded it and haven’t read it yet; I’m expecting more reviews in the next week or so.

 Lessons learned:

  • Twitter is the best way to reach people you don’t know.
  • Perseverance is key.
  • My fellow writers are awesome.

I’m not sure how a free weekend will translate into sales, but it at least gained me some exposure.  I’d like to put another short story/novella on Amazon, to see what happens to sales of your other stuff when you’re giving one book away.  And now that I know how easy and exposure-getting the Kindle Select program is, I hope my next story is free in the near future.

Thanks again, everyone!

#Free book + Six Sentence Sunday 8/19 #sixsunday

1 Comment

Today’s six are from “Tim and Sara,” the story I recently listed on Amazon.

Sara puts her hands on my shoulders, stares me in the eyes. “This is real important, what I have to do. My soul is on the line, Tim. My soul. They told me this is my last chance for redemption. And I know you have issues too, but I can’t let you mess this up for me, comprende?”

Like what you just read?  You’re in luck! “Tim and Sara” is available free on Amazon through Monday!  Get it, read it, review it, and tell your friends!

And as always, post a link to your six sentences blog entry, or join the fun at the Six Sentence Sunday website.

I’m back

1 Comment

A few weeks ago, I announced I’d be taking a break from blogging and writing for awhile, as I tried to settle my life.

Although I’m still unemployed, I’ve pretty much settled into new digs – staying with my dad for awhile.  My son just started kindergarten, my dad’s off at work during the day, and his girlfriend has moved into her own place, leaving me hours of uninterrupted time to focus on writer stuff.

Also, I’m happy to announce that my flash story “The Business Trip” has been published by the fledgling Free Flash Fiction, and response to it has been good (okay, any response to a story I write is good, but this one seems to be striking an empathetic nerve in a lot of people).

So in celebration of being back, and having a story accepted, this weekend I’ll be offering another short story, “Tim and Sara,” for free on Kindle.

The victim of debilitating flashbacks, Tim is content to spend the rest of his life at Kirkbride, a state mental hospital. But his friend and fellow resident Sara is concerned that she has to save her soul before it’s too late, and so she devises a plan to break them out of the hospital. Can Tim help his friend while holding onto what’s left of his sanity?

It’ll be free Saturday, August 18th, through Monday, August 20th.  Get it, read it, review it, and tell your friends!

The Musings of E.D. Martin © 2011-2020 Privacy Policy Frontier Theme