On a monster thread begun in January on the KDP, I have had a lot of questions regarding what to do, what to do....to sell ebooks.
I am going to attempt to address a # of suggestions and items brought up and also remarked upon, but I may miss some. As to worrying about the German Amazon right now, you'd do better to concentrate on UK, and in fact you'd do better concentrating on Kindle US. Consider the numbers. For an entire month, I sell maybe a hundred copies of my books to UK, and to date zero to Germany. That 100 from UK took a year and a half to get up to! So...might seem a lot but consider the fact I have 47 books on my Bookshelf. So...my US sales per month are averaging 900 to 1000 books sold, so...think about that - where the numbers are, where the eReaders are searching for genre fiction.
Where then should you and I concentrate our efforts?
Now this is just my opinion but....
AS to bumper stickers, magnetic signs on my car....personally, two things...I like my car pristine, and I'm no fan of bumper stickers unless they are really funny! (EXP. seen in Florida: When I get old, I am going to move North & Drive Slow)
As to large door magnets (which you can have made as with all this kind of paperwork with Vista Print), again don't like it on my car, Petey. Petey would not like me for it. Secondly, I do not believe people read moving print, and while parked in a parking lot, no one or very few see these items much less read them unless you are a plumber, and they need a plumber at the moment, thata sort of thing.
As to Flyers or other paperwork you can get into a goody bag at a Writers Conference, that makes good sense, especially if the conference is a Readers Conference (most writers are too busy pushing their own book or books to be buying much). Still with conferences, if you contact those organizing the conference, they usually invite ads and News Releases to slip into their giveaway bags which go to all conference folks, and as one person suggested, take out an ad in the conference book (but this can get awfully pricey; still it is more effective, I believe, than is a car-sign magnet or bumper-sticker.
I do believe in business cards; always a good thing when you can slip one to a person with your book cover and where to find the book. They do get used, I feel. Baseball card-styled informational cards I suspect would be a great item at a conference, signing, fair, event--especially if you can list all books on the back of the card, a bit of bio, etc. Many authors I know do "postcards" which are like the card idea. On the back a list of items in a series seems a great idea to me.
BIG HOWEVER: in ebooks you will be reaching a great deal more people with ONLINE marketing gymnastics rather than paperbound gynastics or what is termed book marketing. An eFlyer, an ePostcard, an eBusiness Card - iMoves are the kinds of "moves" you want to make and put your energies into to reach larger numbers faster.
Let's use our imaginations. Ever see an eBusiness Card? I got the thought from thinking of the questions y'all are raising here. Can you imagine a series of eCards per each book that can be set up on a site or at a url or displayed on facebook? I have to give this some thought. If I can get my Signature on the Title Page of my last three novels, I should be able to figure out how to do an eNews Release on Facebook that might take the form of a business card that I can throw out there online.
Just my ramblings. Think of these thoughts a diving boards in the pool for any and all to share and use. Like all the arsenal that writers use, the writers' tools and toolkit. Look, there are plugs in the walls here, and you just can as easily plug in as anyone else. Use the ideas and mold them to your needs. That is why I started this thread which has gone to 47 pages in search of imaginative ways to please people with our books.
For example - what I did for a book trailer, with Media One and my book covers, my photos, and my browser - anyone can do. I am a computer cripple compared to anyone younger than I. Still, I made a video and easily, with guidance via Media One, placed it up on YOUTUBE, and you can do as I did. So this is kinda sorta iMove Flyer is going to reach more people, do better for your bottom line and for the book. Your iFlyer or eFlyer is a flyer with moving images!
That url is then so easy to send to folks and get into their hands, so to speak as I am about to do right here and now: http://tinyurl.com/3kts6vl - after I put it through http://www.tinyurl/.
Rob
http://www.robertwalkerbooks.com/ - new stuff/free stuff
I am going to attempt to address a # of suggestions and items brought up and also remarked upon, but I may miss some. As to worrying about the German Amazon right now, you'd do better to concentrate on UK, and in fact you'd do better concentrating on Kindle US. Consider the numbers. For an entire month, I sell maybe a hundred copies of my books to UK, and to date zero to Germany. That 100 from UK took a year and a half to get up to! So...might seem a lot but consider the fact I have 47 books on my Bookshelf. So...my US sales per month are averaging 900 to 1000 books sold, so...think about that - where the numbers are, where the eReaders are searching for genre fiction.
Where then should you and I concentrate our efforts?
Now this is just my opinion but....
AS to bumper stickers, magnetic signs on my car....personally, two things...I like my car pristine, and I'm no fan of bumper stickers unless they are really funny! (EXP. seen in Florida: When I get old, I am going to move North & Drive Slow)
As to large door magnets (which you can have made as with all this kind of paperwork with Vista Print), again don't like it on my car, Petey. Petey would not like me for it. Secondly, I do not believe people read moving print, and while parked in a parking lot, no one or very few see these items much less read them unless you are a plumber, and they need a plumber at the moment, thata sort of thing.
As to Flyers or other paperwork you can get into a goody bag at a Writers Conference, that makes good sense, especially if the conference is a Readers Conference (most writers are too busy pushing their own book or books to be buying much). Still with conferences, if you contact those organizing the conference, they usually invite ads and News Releases to slip into their giveaway bags which go to all conference folks, and as one person suggested, take out an ad in the conference book (but this can get awfully pricey; still it is more effective, I believe, than is a car-sign magnet or bumper-sticker.
I do believe in business cards; always a good thing when you can slip one to a person with your book cover and where to find the book. They do get used, I feel. Baseball card-styled informational cards I suspect would be a great item at a conference, signing, fair, event--especially if you can list all books on the back of the card, a bit of bio, etc. Many authors I know do "postcards" which are like the card idea. On the back a list of items in a series seems a great idea to me.
BIG HOWEVER: in ebooks you will be reaching a great deal more people with ONLINE marketing gymnastics rather than paperbound gynastics or what is termed book marketing. An eFlyer, an ePostcard, an eBusiness Card - iMoves are the kinds of "moves" you want to make and put your energies into to reach larger numbers faster.
Let's use our imaginations. Ever see an eBusiness Card? I got the thought from thinking of the questions y'all are raising here. Can you imagine a series of eCards per each book that can be set up on a site or at a url or displayed on facebook? I have to give this some thought. If I can get my Signature on the Title Page of my last three novels, I should be able to figure out how to do an eNews Release on Facebook that might take the form of a business card that I can throw out there online.
Just my ramblings. Think of these thoughts a diving boards in the pool for any and all to share and use. Like all the arsenal that writers use, the writers' tools and toolkit. Look, there are plugs in the walls here, and you just can as easily plug in as anyone else. Use the ideas and mold them to your needs. That is why I started this thread which has gone to 47 pages in search of imaginative ways to please people with our books.
For example - what I did for a book trailer, with Media One and my book covers, my photos, and my browser - anyone can do. I am a computer cripple compared to anyone younger than I. Still, I made a video and easily, with guidance via Media One, placed it up on YOUTUBE, and you can do as I did. So this is kinda sorta iMove Flyer is going to reach more people, do better for your bottom line and for the book. Your iFlyer or eFlyer is a flyer with moving images!
That url is then so easy to send to folks and get into their hands, so to speak as I am about to do right here and now: http://tinyurl.com/3kts6vl - after I put it through http://www.tinyurl/.
Rob
http://www.robertwalkerbooks.com/ - new stuff/free stuff
A widget from BookBuzzr is useful and you can have a 'widget' signature through Wisestamp from BookBuzzr. Part of fReado.com
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