Tips for Self Promotion, Sales, and Advertising discussion

Has anyone offered a small incentive to get people to review their books online? An author emailed me and offered a $10 Amazon gift card if I bought his book and reviewed it. I have an ebook on Smashwords (http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...) and I was thinking of offering a small incentive for reviews.

Paid reviews are highly frowned upon in the industry so I would stay away from doing this. If your readers find out it will not only discredit the reviewers but also yourself tremendously.

It is okay to give out free copies for review, but to add further incentives, especially payment, is something I would steer away as far as I could.

I am afraid to try that method in that there are critics who would challenge the ethics of it. As an English instructor, I know from experience that peer reviews and journal reviews are deemed reputable and you want to make sure your works relfect such. Try using social networking to begin the foundation of marketing.

Yeah, what's next? $5 a star? let's not let it get crazier than it already is. rotf

Maybe I should have been clearer. I was really thinking of a $5 Amazon gift card. That's a paltry amount, not even enough to buy one e-book. It's a gesture, that's all. I hardly think that something like that is going to have people beating down my front door to read my book, and it doesn't strike me as payola. I merely thought it would get some people to read the book who might not have done it otherwise.

Why don't you just give away the first chapter? If it's good, they'll want to buy it.

The book is free.

Oh, I see. You want reviews. Social networking?

John, I think you are very much mistaken with your "gesture" thought. Even though it may not strike you as "payola," a $5 Amazon gift card is payment. It doesn't matter how much it is, really, but as soon as you begin giving real incentives to reviewers, these reviews will be biased, and neither your readers nor your peers appreciate that. It makes you look like a real schmuck, to be honest - no offense meant.

I know, it is hard to wait for reviews. I know exactly how you feel. I wish I had some reviews on Amazon, or some more here on Goodreads, and some on my own site, but my business acumen always gets the upper hand and tells me not to jeopardize my reputation. The damage you'll do to your rep will be much more than those $5 Amazon gift cards, trust me.

Don't pay anyone anything for reviews. Giving them the book to read and asking for a review is good enough. I think a lot of times people don't think to write a review once they finish reading something, so they might need a reminder. You might offer something like the first chapter of your NEXT book free or something like that.

That is a good idea Archelle

I agree with those who urged not to give any kind of incentive for a review. My book is nonfiction, and I received many responses to my direct marketing campaign requesting a review copy. I, in turn, requested a blurb or review or comment to add to my Reader Comments page in exchange for the "review" copy. It worked beautifully for me.

If your book is a specific genre or nitch you can look at some of the Goodreads groups and see if you can find a reader-review match.

John,
If you give your book (just a copy or 10) away as part of the GoodReads author giveaways and also as the LibraryThing.com giveaways, you should receive reviews.

Especially on GoodReads the system is set up with the expectation (and strong encouragement to the winning readers) that they shall promptly review the books they win.

Not all winners do keep to the spirit of the bargain and review, but those that do are awarded notional extra entries in their future bids to win free books to read and review.

Don't pay for a review. Don't do a reciprocal review.
And... watch out if you mean to send out an ebook, because some people who advertise themselves as Beta Readers and Reviewers are active members of file sharing sites.

Great advice about reviews by a variety of generous authors can be found on http://1stturningpoint.com

http://1stturningpoint.com/?cat=55

Interesting, conversation. Has anyone ever heard of Apex reviews?
http://www.apexreviews.net/
They will review your book for free, tear sheet and all, but they also offer other services (such as book trailers). I am seriously thinking about getting a book trailer, press release, ect. package (on sale this month for $49.00). I asked a few questions. They said that negative reviews are handled privately directly with the author and aren't published. The author would be able to approve the trailer before its release. They have a Goodreads link and so I automatically assumed they were reputable. Do you think that this water is too muddy to swim through? Should I just chuck the whole idea until the book gets more standard reviews? (I already have nine on Amazon, two I knew were going to be posted, the others I have no clue who they are). What do you think?

I can't imagine a $49 book trailer would be very good, but who knows? Make sure you look at others they've done for that price. I did my own but graphic design etc. is what I do to earn a living.

here's one: http://jguevaranovels.com/book-video-...

What do you think? Will it sell more novels? I haven't noticed, but it might be too early to tell.
j

Elizabeth wrote: "Interesting, conversation. Has anyone ever heard of Apex reviews?
http://www.apexreviews.net/
They will review your book for free, tear sheet and all, but they also offer other services (such as b..."

For a time I considered hiring Apex Reviews to create a book trailer for me until I decided not to pony up the cash and create the trailer myself. But if you're curious, here's a book trailer Apex Reviews created for a fellow GoodReads author. It's a good way to gauge what the quality of your video might look and sound like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwpYR8...

j,

That's a nice trailer you have there. A tad too long for my taste, though. I'm a firm believer in a quick grab.

Check out my trailer for the Jason Dark series, if you're interested - it is also self-made.
http://www.youtube.com/user/JasonDark...

As for the Apex trailer Kevis posted, I thought the quality wasn't bad - if that's a $49 trailer, it's actually pretty good I'd say. Though I found it lacking a bit of inspiration and the art was a bit uneven. But hey, for $49, that is still pretty impressive.


One of the other question is, however, what do you do with a book trailer? Where do you post it, announce it, promote it, and how do you get people to find it?

It's the average length of most trailers. I would have preferred a quicker hitter, like you said, but the novel is a bit broader in scoop than most stories, so was difficult to cram it into the short space that it did. Wish I would have provided more of my own pics, and could have had it redone, but it was already 6 weeks past schedule and I needed it in time for Twain's Demise Centennial, so I took what I got on first review.

I've seen yours before. You have a good voice doing the narration. accompanies the dark, eerie, mood well.

j

Actually, that is a professional voice actor I hired. He does a lot of movie trailer and commercial work.

Put us in touch, I'm looking for a voice for the next one. also looking for someone that can do a good Twain voice for an audio book.
Is it worth your time to get into doin trailers. Say, for example, if I provided the copy, pics, music and storyline and all you had to do was assemble it? for 49-bucks :)
j

j wrote: "It's the average length of most trailers. I would have preferred a quicker hitter, like you said, but the novel is a bit broader in scoop than most stories, so was difficult to cram it into the sho..."

In the case of having a shorter video, I would have to agree with Guido. Most people lose attention around the one minute mark of the average book trailer (I certainly do!). My experience has taught me that less is sometimes more, especially when it comes to a book video.

Not so long ago, a blogger used my first self-made video as an example of what he hates about indie book videos. Thing is, he compared my video, which cost me nothing but time to make, to a big budget live-action Hollywood style book video. A completely unfair comparison to be sure. But the discussion that followed between the blogger and his followers was very intriguing. In a nutshell, it was consensus among various readers that long book videos (anything over one minute) loses the reader. I highly recommend that any author interested in having a video produced for their book visit the blog. I'm sure you'll find it very informative. Here's the link for those who want to check it out:

http://ccfinlay.livejournal.com/14400...

A big thank you to all who have participated in this discussion. That what I love about Goodreads, ask a question and someone has an intelligent answer!

Glad to help, Elizabeth. :)

j,

I can put you in touch with the voice actor but you need to understand that he will charge you around $600 for the voice-over on a trailer like mine. Professional voice actors are not cheap. After all, that's how they make their living.

I recently did a little business with a start up voice actor, too.

You can hear his voice on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_ydNf...

Find out about Scott Merrill here
http://skippy.net/voice/

John,

Have you found the group AUTHORS READING AUTHORS?

It's on GoodReads and is exactly what you are looking for. Find it by clicking on Author groups in the green textlink sidebar under groups.