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 October 1, 2011 at 2:09pm: yep! You can count me in! If we have 10 authors - or even 15 - you are talking 10-25 dollars - I blow that on soda, coffee and crap in 5 days. I'd rather put it to good use.

Comment by Steve Norris on October 1, 2011 at 2:13pm: sadly so far - we only have me and you Stacy signed up. lol... Any one else want to join our party?

Comment by Catherine Green on October 3, 2011 at 3:42pm: Yes this is true, but I can't just buy a book and not read it, there's something almost sacriligeous there! Of course, books do sometimes spend a few years on my 'to-read' pile, but the intention is always there. Stacy, yes, I discovered those new Kindles the other day. I will keep an eye out and hopefully get one soon.

Comment by C. A. Lofton on October 3, 2011 at 6:22pm: I've been writing and getting ready for a book signing so I just have time to read a few things per day. Your idea got my attention. Great idea!! I do not have a Kindle but, plan to buy one soon. Please count me in. I think we should help each other in such a manner and was thinking along the same lines. I asked my 'friends' to look over my website and give their input but, got very little response and gave up on presenting the idea of buying each others books as a form of support. Book sales is more about the 'buzz' and hype. Not only should we buy the books - we should go back and review them as well.

Comment by Amanda Chambers on October 3, 2011 at 7:45pm: And for those who are planning to buy a Kindle at some future time: you can purchase the books, and they stay in your Amazon account. Then when you do buy a Kindle, your books are there ready to load on your Kindle.

Comment by Stacy Eaton on October 3, 2011 at 7:47pm: Very good point Amanda!

C.A. - I'm like you - I like to review all the books I read. Do we count you two in?

Comment by C. A. Lofton on October 3, 2011 at 8:37pm: Stacy,

Please count me in too. Will buy,read & review my Authors.com books!!

Comment by Stacy Eaton on October 3, 2011 at 8:38pm: Awesome!

Comment by C. A. Lofton on October 3, 2011 at 9:27pm: Amanda Chambers,

Great to know - good information about Kindle ebook purchases. Now, I can support others and build my go2 library at the same time. Thanks sooooo much.

Comment by Steve Norris on October 3, 2011 at 11:04pm: just need a few more to make it worthwhile :)

thanks everyone - this could be good for us all

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