Authors, Writers, Publishers, and Book Readers

E- Book Promotion Days

Those of us in the independent sector of publishing will no doubt know that marketing a new book is akin to burning pound or dollar notes. You do all the promotion, you blog like mad, network like a social prostitute and throw money on great ideas, and all you get as a reward is one measly sale on Amazon.

But the other great thing you notice is that one measly sale makes a significant difference on your chart rating, promoting your book thousands of places up the scale. Many of us will know with the monolithic world of Amazon, that being at the top of your various genre charts is vital to the Mr and Mrs Bloggs of the world seeing your book and considering a purchase. But whilst you are dwindling in the realms of number 100 or even 1000 in the genre not even the most avid book searching geek is going to delve that far to find you.

This week I have attempted a bit of a promotion and it seemed to work in pushing my kindle book ( A Very English Revolution) to the front page of the Political Thriller chart, and that’s with only minimal additional sales (less than 10 I think). Maybe there is a chance that Bloggs will get his wallet out now.

This morning I thought of a great way for all of us to do something similar to help each other.

My idea is to promote our e-books as a collective. I have chosen e-books rather than paper copies because most of us sell e-books a much lower cost so it makes the exercise more viable than paper, although if it’s successful maybe we can consider paper as well.

Here’s the idea.

We create a list of interested authors who all possess a kindle. I can keep a register of interested parties or publish it somewhere, whatever we choose. Each author agrees a promotion day and the others share this on their blogs and social networks. When that day comes around each of us buy and download the book on the same day, therefore boosting that days sales ranking. If there are enough of us doing it then there is a chance of success.

Success breeds success, so if it works for one person then others will follow and each of us will have more of a chance to make front page heaven. Of course this does require trust in our fellow authors to do the deed, but what can I say? It’s an idea, if it works then we all win. You never know we might be downloading a great book we might otherwise totally bypass.

Interested to know what people think. Please share it around writer sites, as the more people are interested the more we can make this work. People can find me out in the virtual world but otherwise a mail at norristeve@gmail.com will engineer a direct response.

7 members like this

Comment by Stacy Eaton on September 30, 2011 at 4:20pm: Steve count me in.

Comment by Catherine Green on September 30, 2011 at 8:36pm: I don't have a Kindle (yet!). But I do have a friend with one, maybe I can sweet-talk her... ; )

Comment by Stacy Eaton on September 30, 2011 at 9:55pm: You can always purchase the kindle and just read it on your computer.

Comment by Steve Norris on September 30, 2011 at 9:57pm: Good point - kindle for PC is free

Comment by Stacy Eaton on September 30, 2011 at 10:05pm: Yes it is!!!

Comment by Catherine Green on September 30, 2011 at 11:10pm: Yes but I can't read very well on the computer screen, at least not for any length of time. I much prefer the hand-held device. I have dodgy eyes!

Comment by Stacy Eaton on October 1, 2011 at 1:11pm: You do know that they have just added some new Kindle devices... and the original kindle is now down to $79 (US) That is a nice price break - I love the new Kindle Fire - I think It's going on my x-mas list and then I will give my kindle to my daughter.

Comment by Steve Norris on October 1, 2011 at 2:02pm: To be honest...and I know this might sound a little bit alien...but the point of this promotion is to buy the books...if you read them all well and good. But the price we are mostly selling kindle books at makes it cheap enough to be fairly disposable. I dont like to think of our work this way, but this is a cooperative exercise to boost sales.

Comment by Stacy Eaton on October 1, 2011 at 2:06pm: Steve... lol... I understand that! Most of us spend more on crap lunch at McDonalds at $7.00!! or a Mocha Iced Latte at Starbucks at $3.75. all money that gets wasted on crap. I don't have a problem spending a dollar or two or even three helping and author out - even if I don't read the book.