Sandra Golden
New Member
Beginning to promote my book series so I could use help. What sites do you place your book trailer? What sites do you use to blog? How often do you blog? I have a lot of questions could anyone mentor me?
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Where do you promote your books?
- Thread starter Sandra Golden
- Start date
Meadow337
Former Moderator
What sites do you place your book trailer?
There aren't really any. And 'free' reviews aren't free.
What sites do you use to blog?
pick one any one and get started. Don't depend on content around your book, people want to get to know you. You are what sells the book, not the book, not the blurb you write or your trailer.
How often do you blog?
you need to blog often and you need to make it interesting enough to keep people reading. I would say it takes at least 2 years to develop a reasonable following, longer if you are an unknown. Get every family member and friend you can find to follow your blog and visit it to get your numbers up so that you can start being tracked by google.
It's probably too late for this book to use blogging as an effective tool, you might get it right by the next one if you start today and keep at it.
There aren't really any. And 'free' reviews aren't free.
What sites do you use to blog?
pick one any one and get started. Don't depend on content around your book, people want to get to know you. You are what sells the book, not the book, not the blurb you write or your trailer.
How often do you blog?
you need to blog often and you need to make it interesting enough to keep people reading. I would say it takes at least 2 years to develop a reasonable following, longer if you are an unknown. Get every family member and friend you can find to follow your blog and visit it to get your numbers up so that you can start being tracked by google.
It's probably too late for this book to use blogging as an effective tool, you might get it right by the next one if you start today and keep at it.
JCBC
New Member
Sandra, I have written two blog posts about promotions, Free Promotion Results and Top Promotion Sites, on my Decogito blog at DeCogito . You have to scroll down a little to find them, but the first lists the sites I used for my 5-day free promotion and the second post lists sites I have either used or researched.
We don't encourage off-site links to your own blog so I have copied the post below:
Free Promotion Results
If you're thinking of trying a promotion centered on Kindle free days, you might be interested in these results.
Some experienced promoters recommend doing one or two free days at a time to get acquainted with the process and spread the promotion out over time. For some reason, though, I decided to do a blitz and use all five days in a row. I timed it for January 10 to January 14 because after the holidays more people might have time to read and the winter weather inhibits outdoor activites. That part worked well, I think.
During the holidays my family and I were in Japan, so I had some work cut out for me the week we returned. In that week I did the following:
* Posted an announcement of my book's free status on every free promotion site I knew - These included:
- IndieAuthorland
- askdavid (There is a one time $15 support package that covers any and all books for a year)
- World Literary Cafe
- Book Marketing Network
- BookGoodies
- Books on the Knob
- ereadernewstoday
- Pixel of Ink
- Biblioconnection
- Author's Den
- Black Caviar Book Club
* In addtion I paid two sites for a listing:
- Sweet Free Books ($5)
- Hot Zippy (formerly Bargsinbookhunter -$15)
* Posted announcement to discussion groups and forums I belong to including:
- AbsoluteWrite
- Kindle Boards Book Bazaar
- BookandReader
- Goodreads
- flurriesofwords.blogspot
* Daily Facebook posts
* Twitter several times a day (I included separate tweets for amazon.uk and usa - also japan (long shot)
* Linkedin update
* Google+ posts
There were maybe a half dozen more that I posted on as I found sites, but I don't remember them. And I got sick during the promotion and didn't check back and monitor the promo sites as I had planned to do. Askdavid and IndieAuthorland were the most visible promtions and I got a five star review from an askdavid subscriber. Askdavid provides a promotion summary via e-mail that was above and beyond what others did. IndieAuthorland retweeted my promtional tweets to their followers.
So what was the result? 1217 downloads
You may think that is paltry, but it's a lot more than the zero I had before. I was pleased to get a five star review right away too. That means someone read the book immediately, while many might post a review when they read it later. Of course, some may never read it, but there's the hope anyway.
Sales rank on Amazon is not important to me but it did move up about 210,000, though still closer to the bottom than to #1.
Was it worth it?
Being a realist, I don't think "real sales" will imrpove that much because of the promotion. But my goal was to increase readership with getting reviews a strong secondary goal. Okay, I only got one review so far, but I know from my three other books that Amazon reviews are hard to get sometimes. All in all, I am pleased with the experience and I learned enough to make it better next time with my new book coming soon, Murder by Number. I hope this blog post was helpful to someone who may be thinking about promoting their free days. Go for it! Jeanie
We don't encourage off-site links to your own blog so I have copied the post below:
Free Promotion Results
If you're thinking of trying a promotion centered on Kindle free days, you might be interested in these results.
Some experienced promoters recommend doing one or two free days at a time to get acquainted with the process and spread the promotion out over time. For some reason, though, I decided to do a blitz and use all five days in a row. I timed it for January 10 to January 14 because after the holidays more people might have time to read and the winter weather inhibits outdoor activites. That part worked well, I think.
During the holidays my family and I were in Japan, so I had some work cut out for me the week we returned. In that week I did the following:
* Posted an announcement of my book's free status on every free promotion site I knew - These included:
- IndieAuthorland
- askdavid (There is a one time $15 support package that covers any and all books for a year)
- World Literary Cafe
- Book Marketing Network
- BookGoodies
- Books on the Knob
- ereadernewstoday
- Pixel of Ink
- Biblioconnection
- Author's Den
- Black Caviar Book Club
* In addtion I paid two sites for a listing:
- Sweet Free Books ($5)
- Hot Zippy (formerly Bargsinbookhunter -$15)
* Posted announcement to discussion groups and forums I belong to including:
- AbsoluteWrite
- Kindle Boards Book Bazaar
- BookandReader
- Goodreads
- flurriesofwords.blogspot
* Daily Facebook posts
* Twitter several times a day (I included separate tweets for amazon.uk and usa - also japan (long shot)
* Linkedin update
* Google+ posts
There were maybe a half dozen more that I posted on as I found sites, but I don't remember them. And I got sick during the promotion and didn't check back and monitor the promo sites as I had planned to do. Askdavid and IndieAuthorland were the most visible promtions and I got a five star review from an askdavid subscriber. Askdavid provides a promotion summary via e-mail that was above and beyond what others did. IndieAuthorland retweeted my promtional tweets to their followers.
So what was the result? 1217 downloads
You may think that is paltry, but it's a lot more than the zero I had before. I was pleased to get a five star review right away too. That means someone read the book immediately, while many might post a review when they read it later. Of course, some may never read it, but there's the hope anyway.
Sales rank on Amazon is not important to me but it did move up about 210,000, though still closer to the bottom than to #1.
Was it worth it?
Being a realist, I don't think "real sales" will imrpove that much because of the promotion. But my goal was to increase readership with getting reviews a strong secondary goal. Okay, I only got one review so far, but I know from my three other books that Amazon reviews are hard to get sometimes. All in all, I am pleased with the experience and I learned enough to make it better next time with my new book coming soon, Murder by Number. I hope this blog post was helpful to someone who may be thinking about promoting their free days. Go for it! Jeanie
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Meadow337
Former Moderator
I would be interested to compare those results if you had promoted a book in the same way that people needed to pay for. I think a lot of people will download a freebie, but translating that into actual sales is a whole other kettle of fish.
I will also still stick with what I said above - blogging and other social media are very effective tools but you have to build a following that is not based on your books. People must follow you because your stuff is interesting and adds value in some way. Interest in what you are promoting is secondary for your followers. And it takes time. You can't just start because now you want to promote a book. You need to invest your time and energy into it and it will reap rewards in the end so it is worth it, it just isn't an instant solution to promotion.
I will also still stick with what I said above - blogging and other social media are very effective tools but you have to build a following that is not based on your books. People must follow you because your stuff is interesting and adds value in some way. Interest in what you are promoting is secondary for your followers. And it takes time. You can't just start because now you want to promote a book. You need to invest your time and energy into it and it will reap rewards in the end so it is worth it, it just isn't an instant solution to promotion.
Meadow337
Former Moderator
Book Marketing Tools, Book Marketing Resources, Book Marketing Websites - 101 Book Marketing sites - no idea how up to date this list is as these sites tend to come and go and many no longer accept submissions - but its a place to start.
You can submit a trailer to TehutiBlue
and YouTube, if you have a blog post it there as well.
If joining forums make sure you know the policy regarding self promotion before posting it.
Do not pay for reviews.
Search where you have your blog for blogs or reviewers that specialize in your genre. Also search Goodreads as well.
Twitter and Pinterest are popular but I have yet to figure out Pinterest.
Agent Janet Reid advises to only promote your work once every ten tweets and be sure to engage on sites you join, not just self promote. The more you engage with members the more people become aware of you without the need to constantly promote your work.
and YouTube, if you have a blog post it there as well.
If joining forums make sure you know the policy regarding self promotion before posting it.
Do not pay for reviews.
Search where you have your blog for blogs or reviewers that specialize in your genre. Also search Goodreads as well.
Twitter and Pinterest are popular but I have yet to figure out Pinterest.
Agent Janet Reid advises to only promote your work once every ten tweets and be sure to engage on sites you join, not just self promote. The more you engage with members the more people become aware of you without the need to constantly promote your work.
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Meadow337
Former Moderator
I would say even less. While I'm not active on Twitter or FB I am active on Weibo (the Chinese equivalent) and the celebs that don't go on and on about whatever thing they are promoting and talk about themselves and what they are doing, which may indirectly also be the thing they are working on, do better. I know my reaction is fairly typical - why should I care about what you are doing if I don't care about you?
And the good old fashioned way to get people to care about you is to share about you.
Engage with your followers. DO NOT block them or ignore them. There is one author that I would not read ever again because of s.th that happened on Twitter if he wasn't so jolly good and I know it bothers him not one bit if I do or don't read his books, but nice person he is not.
(And don't ask I won't say who he is.)
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Meadow337
Former Moderator
I have to say that I hope this thread is providing information for some other readers of this forum, as the OP hasn't even come back with a response yet. Kind of annoying really. Its polite to respond in some way when you ask for advice and then people take the time and effort to reply.
I follow very few celebs on Twitter maybe 5. I stopped following one because day after day it was 30-40 tweets about his new movie and nothing else. After a week or so of it, I had enough and unfollowed.
I check my tweets to see if they have a response because they don't always show up in my feed and I always reply. If someone takes the time to comment on what I say, I respond.
I check my tweets to see if they have a response because they don't always show up in my feed and I always reply. If someone takes the time to comment on what I say, I respond.
Meadow337
Former Moderator
LOL good, but actually I was making a general comment in response to your general comment
I will qualify what I said earlier - tweet about you, but only things you don't mind the whole world knowing. It's so easy to forget you aren't just talking to a small circle of friends / "friends". If your tweets / posts / whatevers are public (and they should be if you are trying to build a following) any one in the whole wide world can read them.
I know your comment was general, I was just saying I like to check my tweets.
I'm amazed and not always in a good way at some of the things people post of social media sites. Nothing posted on the internet is private and people say things and post pics that are shocking. I don't know if it's ignorance about how dangerous it is or they really want to have that follow them for the rest of their lives.
I had a friend who went to a music festival and if the women pulled their shirts up for a picture they got a free ice cream. She did it. I told her that pic was probably uploaded to porn sites and who knows where else and it may come back to haunt her for the rest of her life and she didn't believe it. Insisting it was nothing but harmless fun. Some people are willfully ignorant.
I'm amazed and not always in a good way at some of the things people post of social media sites. Nothing posted on the internet is private and people say things and post pics that are shocking. I don't know if it's ignorance about how dangerous it is or they really want to have that follow them for the rest of their lives.
I had a friend who went to a music festival and if the women pulled their shirts up for a picture they got a free ice cream. She did it. I told her that pic was probably uploaded to porn sites and who knows where else and it may come back to haunt her for the rest of her life and she didn't believe it. Insisting it was nothing but harmless fun. Some people are willfully ignorant.
Meadow337
Former Moderator
I know your comment was general, I was just saying I like to check my tweets.
I'm amazed and not always in a good way at some of the things people post of social media sites. Nothing posted on the internet is private and people say things and post pics that are shocking. I don't know if it's ignorance about how dangerous it is or they really want to have that follow them for the rest of their lives.
I had a friend who went to a music festival and if the women pulled their shirts up for a picture they got a free ice cream. She did it. I told her that pic was probably uploaded to porn sites and who knows where else and it may come back to haunt her for the rest of her life and she didn't believe it. Insisting it was nothing but harmless fun. Some people are willfully ignorant.
I couldn't agree more!
I have a compiled a list of promotional websites -
http://www.winchad.com/1/post/2014/03/top-100-websites-for-book-promotion-and-author-promotion.html
It took me hours and I would have preferred to be writing or reading. I hope it helps all authors and gives you more time to write.
This comment has been mutiposted but will allow it to stand here because it is totally germane to this discussion. One other post in Shameless Self-Promotion Forum will likewise stand as it may be of value to some of our members. All others have been deleted. - DATo
Forest Girl
Member
Another avenue is local book signings. Generally local booksellers are happy to promote area writers. I was able to do several book signings in my city. I don't know your target audience; my series is young adult. I offered to speak to middle school students in the classroom about my books and ending up selling several sets of my books to the teachers.
Good luck!
Good luck!