Krista Bunskoek's Blog

Congrats! You’re about to publish your ebook on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). Maybe it’s your first, maybe it’s your tenth.

But wait – before you hit that yellow “publish” button – have you thought about how you’re going to market your masterpiece?

Whether your goal is to sell a million copies or just to get your words to connect with the right people who will appreciate your work, you need to plan and act on a great online marketing strategy.

Believe me, just because you’ve put your content into a book doesn’t mean people will be tripping over in crowds to buy it. I know, I’ve done it and I learned the hard way.

Marketing your ebook online can be a tough sell. The reality is that most self-published ebooks are lucky to hit 100 sales (sorry for that splash of cold water). But if you’re willing to do the work, there’s plenty of potential for success. You really do have the world at your fingertips – go ahead and make the most of it.

Here’s 10 steps to marketing your ebook online.

How to Market your Amazon Ebook: Pre-Launch

When you self-publish on Amazon (or any other ebook publishing platform), you’re more than just the author. You’re also the publisher. And that means you get to do the work of any good publishing house team of book editors, graphic designers and marketers. This article is about the marketing side, so I’ll be sticking with methods on how to get your creation viewed, loved and downloaded into the right ereaders.

Aside from the book editing (best to get at least one fresh set of eyes on it), the book title (very important to selling your book as well as SEO) and the book cover (yes, people do judge a book by its cover), there’s a number of pre-marketing steps you need to take.

1. Create a Blog

Hopefully you already have a website and you write blog articles related to your subject matter regularly. If you don’t, start one now.

A website gives you a ‘home’ online. These days, creating your own website is really very easy. There’s lots of places you can get free sites from (just Google it – my personal fave is the free wordpress.com), and most make it very basic to upload design templates and images, so you can create a site that’s reflective of your book and resonates with your audience.

Make sure your site has a blog on it. Why?  A blog gives you a chance to showcase your writing, engage with future readers, and (once published) drive traffic to your ebook landing page. And besides, you’re a writer, and a blog gives you a pretty cool outlet to write and write often.

Be sure to enable comments and include social share buttons on all your blog posts to encourage reader engagement.

2. Start to Market with Pre-launch Landing Pages

I know, I know, you’ve read all about the value of building up a great email list – even before you start to publish. Every book I’ve read about ebook publishing told me this too. And it’s true.

Collecting emails is the smartest and most effective way to keep in touch with your future buyers. It’s also a really cool way to start generating interest in your book with pre-launch promotions.

The best ways to do this is through email-gated landing pages (don’t know what a landing page is, but were too shy to ask? Check out my article “What is a landing page?” – you’re welcome.)

There are tons of pre-launch campaigns you can run on your website landing pages. For example, you can generate leads and excitement about your upcoming ebook by:

Getting people to choose a book cover (with an email-gated vote contest)

Hosting an email-gated sweepstakes to give away a free copy of your book
Engaging your audience by asking for their input about your book characters if it’s fiction (such as a choice your main character must make)
Engaging your audience by asking for subject matter advice if it’s non-fiction (you can motivate responses by including the best quotes in your book)

Pre-launch promotions can help to start generating that all-important buzz – before you even publish. The more excitement you can generate leading up to your launch, the better chance of success your product will have.

Keep in mind too, that Amazon has lists of top 100 bestselling books. If you can generate a groundswell of interest leading up to publication your book just might make it on to a genre specific list.

Aside from the dream of being on a bestselling book list, getting into a top 10 spot also helps to sell more of your books. People looking for a new read are more likely to buy a popular choice on a bestseller list.

3. Hyper-target your Reach with Facebook Ads

I hope you’re already marketing your author profile on Facebook and Twitter too (and Good Reads – you definitely need to be networking on the site to connect with your niche readership).

Now, you might be getting lots of engagement on your blog already through your website’s social functions (yes, some websites, like the wordpress.com sites, let you follow fellow bloggers), and you might be getting lots of engagement and click-throughs on your social sites too.

But, you probably want more site visitors, right?

That’s where advertising on Facebook comes in.

Now, I only recommend that you spend money on Facebook Ads if you’re really serious about selling your ebook. If writing that book was a hobby and you really just enjoyed the process and the people you met along the way, don’t spend lots of money trying to advertise it. The average ad on Facebook costs about $0.50 per click, so do the math for your book (or series of books) to determine if they’re worth it for you.

Having said that, Facebook Ads can be a super effective method of promoting your pre-launch ebook campaigns, get more Likes for your Page and raise awareness about your ebook. The ability to hyper-target your advertising to reach your exact demographic also makes Facebook Ads an incredibly reasonable ad spend.

You can target by:

All the demographic data Facebook has (such as age, gender, relationship status, location and occupation)
Pages people Like (such as other books or subjects similar to yours)
Friends of Fans (to reach Facebook Friends of people who already Like your Page)
And tons more

Use Facebook Ads to drive Likes on your page and traffic to your email-gated pre-launch website landing pages.

4. Send out Email Automation Campaigns

When you start to get lead information from people who are genuinely interested in your upcoming book, it’s the perfect opportunity to stay in touch.

Send out regular emails to keep people posted on the progress of your book, more pre-launch campaigns you’re running, new blog posts and to ask people to connect with you on your social sites too.

You can even send out pre-written emails to be triggered and delivered at timed intervals with email automation campaigns. That way you can pre-plan your emails and not have to worry if you got busy with the many other tasks you have going on in your life and happen to, uh, forget to send out your bi-weekly or weekly messages.

The more people get to know you and your work, the more likely they will want to buy your book to support your efforts.

Additionally, from a marketing perspective, email automation campaigns keep building up the buzz about your book launch. If you can do it well, more people will be lining up to buy your book on that all-important first day. And, as mentioned above, the more sales you get in a short time, the better chance you have of getting noticed on a bestselling list.

How to Market your Amazon Ebook: Launch

Okay, so now that you have an excited, intrigued and super-engaged future readership, you’re getting close to having a successful book launch. It does take about 24 hours for your book to go live on Amazon – and other sites like iBookstore, Nook Press and Kobo can take a bit longer. Be prepared with a few more steps to take, just before you press that ‘publish’ button.

5. Make an Ebook Landing Page

Create a landing page (now that you know what a landing page is) on your website where you give your ‘book blurb’ showing the benefits of your book and creating the hook. Include your book cover image and book trailer (if you’ve made one).

If you have ecommerce or payment gateway abilities on your site, link the Call to Action button (your ‘buy now’ button) to it, so people can buy directly from you. Or link it to your Amazon KDP book page once it’s live.

I’d highly recommend you make your landing page in advance to your launch. That way you’re not super stressed and rushed to make a last minute marketing page. Keep it private until the big day.

Once your book has been vetted through KDP and is live, make your ebook landing page public.

By having an ebook landing page on your website (whether you’re selling you book directly or through Amazon), you give yourself more marketing opportunities to promote your book and drive traffic to your site. You can make Google Adwords or Facebook Ads that link directly to your website, for example.

6. Announce your Book Release

Just like a traditional publishing house would, you should promote your ebook with a press release or at least an article on your blog announcing the official launch of your KDP ebook.

Pitch your book to publications that are read by your specific niche readership. This could include:

Online publications in your niche (if your book is about surfing – pitch to surfing sites, for example)
Popular (or engaged) blogs related to your book subject matter (get in touch with the main bloggers to pitch)
Local newspapers and online publications (create a press release with a ‘local author’ spin)

Advanced tip: You could also syndicate your press release through PR sites (there are generally costs associated with these), or sign up for HARO (help a reporter out) to pitch your release when a journalist is looking for a story just like yours.

Be sure to send out your announcement to your email contacts to share your great news and generate a buzz with people who are already interested in your work.

7. Promote your Amazon KDP Ebook to your Email Leads and Social Media!

Once you’ve hit the publish button on Amazon KDP, send out a series of personalized emails to your entire prospect database.

Send out your first email before your book is live. Let your engaged readership know that your book is just hours away from being shipped to the Kindle store. Build anticipation by reminding your readers of the hard work you’ve done and the benefits they’ll get from reading your work.

As soon as your book is live on Amazon, send out a second email, with a link directly to your NEW book! Now’s the time you really want to push the sale. If you can get even 30 books to sell on your launch day, you’re likely going to make it to a best selling list (and you already know the benefits of getting on that list).

Over the next few days, keep sending out emails with your excitement. Tell your readers about any updates you’ve had with your launch. If you received press coverage – brag about it. If a reader reviewed your book, tell people about it (and encourage other customers to do the same).

Promote your launch on all your social media sites too. Include the link directly to your Amazon page to make it easy to immediately buy your book.

How to Market your Amazon Ebook: Post-Launch

Once your book is launched, and you’ve successfully made it on at least one sub-genre bestselling list (you can do it!), you still have tons of opportunities to keep promoting your masterpiece. In fact, the marketing is just beginning.

There are hundreds of ways to promote your ebook online. I’ll give you my top three best methods of connecting with the right readership and getting more copies of your book sold.

8. Set up a “Review your Kindle eBook” landing page

There’s nothing so rewarding as getting your first book review (and hopefully it’s a good one!). To persuade people to write good things about you, you could send out your ebook to review sites or ask your friends. Both of these are great methods, particularly the former. There are lots of great book review sites (including reviews within the GoodReads site – which show up on certain ebookstores too). Find your review sites within your genre and submit your book.

There is a more advanced way to get reviews too. I’d suggest you do this, as you’ll likely get reviews back. And those reviews will be from genuine fellow authors who already hold you in a good light.

What’s this advanced method?

Offer to review other authors’ ebooks – for free.

Create a landing page on your author blog, where writers in your niche can submit (or link) to their work. Let them know that you will review their book, and post that review on your blog (with a linkback to their site and book page).

When you offer to give reviews, you can also ask fellow self-published authors to reciprocate. They’ll likely be more receptive and willing to give you positive feedback.

The more you can connect with your community and niche of fellow self-published authors, the better marketing potential you have. If they share your ebook with a review on their blog, you’ve just exposed your market reach to their audience too. It’s a very ‘pay it forward’ type way of getting your name out there – and you may just sell more books by doing it.

Example of a few reviews on the GoodReads site:

9. Schedule a Virtual Book Tour

You’ve heard about the elusive yet alluring traditional book tour. Maybe you’ve been to a few, to see your favourite authors. Maybe it’s been a dream of yours to actually go on one of your own.

There’s now a modern version, that’s some smart indie authors do. I call it the virtual book tour.

A virtual book tour is a pretty cool method of getting out the word for your ebook. It takes the concept of the old-school in-person book tour, removes the costly travel expenses, and gives you the opportunity to speak to more of your audience in a shorter time.

It’s best to schedule a book tour with back-to-back interviews, podcasts, webinars and Google+ Hangouts (G+ hangouts are particularly great for sci-fi or tech related books).

A short time frame gives you a rapid, condensed hit to your book title (and hopefully book sales). And, as you know, if you can get your book onto the top bestsellers within your particular genre (no matter how small a niche it is), your book appears on Amazon’s top 100 list. This can exponentially increase book sales and awareness.

How to make a book tour:

Contact influential and highly engaged bloggers within your niche.
Pitch your book and ask for an interview – offer the interviewer something in exchange such as an interview swap, book review or guest blogging opportunity.
Try to schedule your ‘tour’ within a one week or day time period.
Promote your book tour on your social sites and to your email subscribers.

Take your book tour a step further by making recordings of your interviews and sharing them on a “book tour” page you create on your website. Include links back to your influencer’s sites.

10. Promotions and Referral Coupons

Just like in a bricks and mortar bookstore, a great promotion can send your sales through the roof.

Kindle has exclusive book promotion offers for its authors. Take part in these, when you can. A few times a year (or so), KDP authors can give away their books for free – for a limited time.

Now, you may think this goes against your goals of making money from your creative work, but it actually helps to spread the reach to your readership. I’d suggest you take part in these sitewide offers when you can.

Free promotions are particularly effective if you have a series of books. Give away your first book for free and promote your additional books with images of your book covers on the last page of your free book.

Another great promotional method is referral coupons. You may know the concept of referral coupons from large multi-national retailers. Starbucks frequently uses them, for example, as have traditional walk-in bookstores. Why do you think they deploy marketing tactics that get people motivated to spread the reach of their product and bring in new customers? They work, and have been working to increase sales for decades.

What’s new about referral coupons is that they’re now very easy to make yourself, and you can easily make them online.

To make a referral coupon, uh, use a easy software tool (like Wishpond). Then set up your coupon directly on your website or Facebook Page.

Make an offer to give away your book for free, for example, if a participant refers and gets three people to buy your book.

This is the best kind of word-of-mouth marketing. Your dedicated and loyal audience will tell their friends about you. Friends tend to trust the advice of friends, particularly when they’re recommending something personal, like a book.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading my two part series on how to market your Amazon KDP ebook. I hope you’ve enjoyed it and that you learned something new.

Publishing your own ebook is a great experience. Although you’re not likely to sell a million copies and retire on a yacht somewhere, reaping in the royalties, you never know! Remember, the average self-published author is lucky to sell about 100 books. But if you’re smart and persistent, you could make enough to live off of for a while.

Give these marketing steps a shot. I really do want you to succeed! Let me know how you do and share your ebook marketing tips in the comments below.

- Krista Bunskoek

Ah reviews! Love them or loathe them – they are important.  

As a self-published author, there is nothing quite like getting reviewed. Nothing so frightening, and nothing so rewarding.

Getting reviewed spontaneously, without asking for it, without paying for it, means someone out there actually took the time to read your work!

And not only that, but they were moved enough to actually write about it.

As an indie author, I can tell you there really is nothing like getting a good review!

(And please, if you are reading an indie author, and you don’t like the book, and the author is not well known, and maybe has sold 50 copies max — please, please, please – don’t write a review!! That is just cruel and unusual punishment. And believe you me, we writers live in our heads enough to punish ourselves just fine, thank you. )

And if you are a writer – which hopefully you are!  -  reviews are a great way to get your name out there too!

Review books you like. Review books which are similar to yours, or books which you’d think readers of that book would be interested in reading books like yours.

On Amazon, for example, you can submit your rating and review directly to the book’s page. And your name will link to your profile page, where you can showcase your books. This way, if someone is interested in the book you just reviewed (and hopefully they are, because you liked it! ), they may just stumble upon your book too, from your review! And so on, and so on.

Put your review on GoodReads too. The GoodReads reviews are great on the site itself, as it helps fellow authors get to know what books you like. And it helps other indie authors be known, with a third party endorsement – you! And not only that, but GoodReads reviews are streamed on to eBookstores such as the Kobo. So, yes, that means your review goes even further.

I know I am so appreciative of the reviews I’ve gotten.  Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Reviews are probably the best gift you can give to a fellow writer.

Pay it forward.

Go ahead, write a positive review!

Help out your fellow indie author community!

And, if you want to be a bit more pro-active in getting your book reviewed out there, fellow indie author DL Morrese has wonderfully compiled a list of over 85 indie author review sites! Thank you for sharing your hard work DL!  http://dlmorrese.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/a-list-of-indie-book-reviewers-3/

 Do you have a favourite review site? Do you have a book you’d like others out there to review?

Post it below!

Reblogged from Kristen Lamb's Blog:

The Spawn’s First Novel, “akjehsubfuirewagh6r5″ now available on Kindle.

Happy Monday! Okay, last week, upon my return from Thrillerfest, we explored what I felt were the 5 top mistakes that are killing traditional publishing. Then, on Friday, we talked about how self-publishing can help writers as a whole, even traditional writers. It is a wonderful time to be a writer, but I want to make myself crystal clear.

Read more… 1,890 more words

Great post by Kristen Lamb on the realities of self-publishing! It's harder than it looks! I sure wish I'd read this post before I jumped into the foray!

Wow, little did I know, when I published my eBook last year, that the work was just beginning!

Books – whether in eBook or paper format – do not sell themselves.  (Even to family and friends!  I, perhaps foolishly, gave my book away for free to those that I know, and yet they didn’t seem to think to purchase it once it had a price tag on it! Ah, book selling! Ok, one of my friends did purchase it, but…)

As a self-published author, the challenge of marketing your book, getting it profiled, and getting into people’s hands to read can be a more arduous road than one might anticipate.

I personally have decided to make to most of this, and over the past ten months have been learning intently about the vast and seeming endless social media space.

I’ve connected with hundreds, if not thousands, of  fellow indie authors from around the world.

My first and favourite social connecting tool has been and is, Twitter. It’s through Twitter that I sold my first book! And it’s through Twitter that I learned so much about eBooks, and writing, and trying to market what you’ve created.

I also love using WordPress as a blogging tool. There are so many authors out there! It is a great way to connect with you all, regardless of where you are in the world.  The writing community on WordPress is huge, and really very supportive.

It’s been incredibly wonderful learning from the vast wealth of knowledge shared out there by others.

Anyway, as I stray back on topic on this sunny summer day…

I am in the process of compiling my learnings on eBook marketing, with the intent to ‘pay it forward’ and make it into an eBook to share with fellow and future fellow eBook authors!

I plan to have it available for you early this Fall… Stay tuned!

Ah, the sun is out, and the livin’ gets a little easier.

I love the summer to take the time to read a lot more, and to write.  

I’m always getting to know more indie authors, particularly fellow flash fiction writers. But I also like to read some of the big names too.

Here’s a few authors on my reading list:

Alexander McCall Smith (love the comfort of simple wisdoms; and the No. 1 Ladies Detective series, best red with a cup of red rooibos tea!)
Elizabeth Gilbert (can read Eat, Pray, Love until I just can’t read it anymore)
Robert Ludlum (classic! and nice to balance out the calmness)
Orson Scott Card (yes, classic sci fi, thanks E, you know who you are)
Daniel H. Wilson (Robopocalypse – a must read again for our times)
Michael Christie (brilliant, realistic, character driven author who writes about the down and out in my hometown)

What are you reading this summer?

Settings. They can create, enhance,  deepen, enrich, colour, lead… your story. For some stories, such as historic fiction, the setting is almost a character onto itself.

For a writer, the power of observation is key. You may have a scene in your head. One in which your characters will go play. But how do you get that setting into words? How do you make it come alive? And are there bits of details in the setting that might become relevant to your story?(For example, is there a tattered paint peeled red kettle on the stove that evokes a memory in your character, etc.) Is there something rather boring or mundane in your scene? Can you describe it, look at it more and more, and start to observe the depth and detail to it?

I rely on the cardinal rule of Five Senses. Sight, Smell, Taste, Touch, Sound.

I might do some timed exercises like these:

1. Describe the room you are in right now. Use all of your five senses.  Take 10 minutes. Go!

 

2. Where did you last go away for a holiday? Did you visit a building that you recall? Using the five senses, describe it.  Take 10 minutes. Go!

 

3. Imagine an apartment building that you have never been to. Describe a condo in the building. Take 15 minutes. Go!

 

How do you work on your settings?

Other setting sources you might like:

Susan Squires Guest Blog: Set the Stage, Part 1 by Shannon Donnelly
A World Away – Geographical Settings in Fiction Posted by Isabel Costello
Fiction Writing Lesson 1: Setting By Taylor Houston

I’m noticing something really cool going on in the self-published realm. eBook Trailers.

Yes, to be a self-published author is great.

No, it’s amazing.

But it does take a lot of talent! Not only do you have to be an excellent writer, passionate about the thrills of character details and life background, passionate about sharing your observations of life that resonates with your readers and you, passionate about solving the conflicts in a way that makes sense with your story…you have to also be passionate about exploring the social and technological side of writing (yes, there is a social side to writing).

I’m seeing more and more, that really creative, talented authors are actually delving in to the video making scene.  They may not be award winning, but it’s really cool to see indie authors making their own (or getting help to make their own) eBook trailers.

I tried my hand at this. Check it out:

It’s a fairly simple trailer. I made it in Windows Live Movie Maker (which you can download for free). For Mac users, iMovie is a super cool tool to use – and actually has some pretty amazing trailer templates!

If you want to make your own trailer, here’s a few tips I’ve learned so far:

1. Think of your storyboard.

What are the elements you want to put in your trailer?
How will you make it flow?

2. How will you make your trailer?

Do you want still photos, moving videos, animation?                      

3. Be sure to include your eBook’s title and cover, your name, and where to find your book!

 Do you have an eBook trailer? Share it!

Do you have any suggestions or thoughts about eBook trailers? Share them!

The debate continues as we indie authors pave our way on the new eBook highway. How do you price your book? 0.99c or 2.99c or some other price?

Though I haven’t compiled a lot of data on this, it seems most of us are going for the 0.99c rate.

Are we undervaluing our work?

I mean, in the ‘real’ world, out there, 0.99c seems low. When I talk to my non-writer friends and I tell them my book is only 0.99c, they kind of laugh (politely, but that subtle smirk is seen to the keen writer’s eye!).  And for those friends who’ve actually bought and read my book, they tell me my book is priced too low. Yes, they would actually like to pay more! (My fragile writer heart/ego beams at this!)

Plus, at 0.99c, you only get 30% royalty at Amazon. Granted, that is much better than a traditional book royalty of about 10%, if that. But, price your same eBook on Amazon at 2.99 and up, and you get 70% of the book’s sales.

So, I’m following the advice of Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords (and all-knower of indie author stuff!). In his recent slideshare for indie authors, he states: “Data indicates that some authors are probably under pricing their works, and might want to experiment with slightly higher prices” .

My book was 0.99c. I’m now pricing my work at 2.99c. It’s tough to do, but I’m going to try it.  Value my own efforts!

What do you think? If you have an eBook, how do you price yours? If you read eBooks, what are your views on pricing?

Here’s a few other articles on eBook pricing you might want to read:

International bestselling indie author Melissa Foster weighs in: http://www.melissafoster.com/content/are-ebooks-too-cheap

Bob Mayer writes on The Pricing of ebooks and Perceived Value: http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/the-pricing-of-ebooks-and-perceived-value/

Vote your views on indie author Glen Krisch’s post: http://glenkrisch.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/on-ebook-pricing-vote-in-my-new-poll/

 

 

I don’t normally do this, but I just receieved an email from Seth Godin. If you are in the self-pub world and you don’t know who Seth Godin is, you ought to at least check out The Domino Project site!

I’m thinking that it’s ok to share the email/ blog post directly with you – seeing as social media is all about sharing and virality… Here is what he wrote today:

“One of the things that’s happening in 2012 is that self-publishing of books is no longer a quirky outsider effort, but instead more and more often being seen as smart alternative to getting picked by the mainstream houses.

Andrew Hyde goes into great detail of the revenue stream of his self-published book. There are ton of question marks about the best method to go to the reader, and as those settle down, we’ll see more discussions like this one.

It reminds me of the way people talked about building their own websites in 1998.” http://www.thedominoproject.com/2012/06/self-publishers-begin-to-explore-the-business.html

Clearly, this resonated with me. Self-published indie authors: we are on the frontier! And darn it! We get to have say in it!

What are your thoughts?

One of the most influential, prolific and talented writers of our time.  Ray Bradbury.

It’s sad to see him go. But, wow, I’d like to give him thanks for living the way he did!

My most memorable influences from Mr. Bradbury came in Grade 9. I recall, rather vividly, sitting in class, as a young aspiring writer myself, reading the required Fahrenheit 451. It was written decades before then, but the realism and the path we were on rang true: the television screens which took over housing walls, and society’s obsessions over the small, sensationalized news headlines.  Yeah, he wrote about that  – in 1953.

I am certain this one book of his made me even more determined to one day write a book of my own. And dang gum it, to ensure that books  - in whatever form they may be – will not burned by the powers that be.

Thank you Ray, for your more than 500 books, and for contributing your genius to shaping the world we live in today!