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 JE Thompson on October 31, 2011 at 1:59am: Steve Count me in....Julius

Comment by Matt T. Schott on October 31, 2011 at 10:35am: I think I'm in. Its a great idea Steve. I've been an unenjoyed union electrcian for 8 months now. How many books would I have to buy in a week, month? My book is only $2.50 on Kindle. I don't want to commit if I can't afford it, I think I can but. Have you come up with a plan of action? Once some one is in, how long will they stay in the group once thier book is promoted? Can a person leave the group without feeling guilty? Will my name come up again if I stay in the group? I really like the idea and want to be part of it. Maybe you can post a mocked schedual.

Comment by Stacy Eaton on October 31, 2011 at 11:25am: Julius - Matt - Welcome! Glad you all joined us and the discussion!

What Steve and I have been talking about is doing a group promotion - if we have 10 authors - for 5 days we promote each other hard - we also purchase each other's books (the ones we are promoting) on those days to help with sales and rankings. It is amazing what a few sales in a day does to rankings and having them cross promote to other books.

I am not sure what most authors have their books prices at - but mine are currently $0.99 each. So that's a buck you would spend on me that day - if 10 people are involved - that is 9 people buying the book and it would bring my sales ranking up pretty far. If I sell 4 books in a day - I get into the 20,000's. 9 books would take me way up high - and everyone else too.

We need to know how much the books are that everyone wants to promote for this. Matt you say yours is $2.50 - I have no problem with that price - but I wouldn't want to spend a week buying 9 books at $5.95. That is alot of money.

I know John Walker's books are $0.99 each - what about the rest of you... What are you prices?

Comment by Matt T. Schott on October 31, 2011 at 11:47am: My Indian name is Matty Two Cents. How about we promote 2 authors a week for 5 weeks. We can focus more on the 2 authors, amazon reviews, comments on thier blogs and our own blogs. I'm just spit balling, throwing ideas out there. I'm in by the way

Comment by Stacy Eaton on October 31, 2011 at 11:51am: Matty Two Cents... That sounds like a doable thing.. Let's let Steve weigh in as this was his idea!

Comment by George Stringfellow on October 31, 2011 at 2:56pm: Glad to see this idea is moving forward. I have two novellas on Kindle, one priced $2.99, one priced $3.99. Far as I'm concerned you can pick one or the other. I also have limited funds but am committed to what you all decide.

Comment by Catherine Green on October 31, 2011 at 3:23pm: Hello Everyone. I am also on limited funds, and while I opted in quite happily to this plan, I must let you know that my eBook is priced at £4.99. I can't change that because it is set by my publisher, sorry. I understand if you don't want me to partake, but if you do I am still happy to purchase and cross promote.

Comment by Steve Norris on October 31, 2011 at 11:17pm: Hi All sorry for the delay in getting on today, busy day at work

I think 2 books a week is a good idea. Mine book is priced at approx. £2 and $3. Catherine you can discuss Kindle pricing with Sarah at Mirador. I agreed to reduce the price to target increased kindle sales.

Perhaps with the interest of our new colleagues we have enough to put a plan together. What do with think?

Comment by James Nelson on October 31, 2011 at 11:25pm: Where will you be promoting? How do non contributers know what books to buy? Do we just go to Amazon and choose by author?