What's Working for You?

[John Kremer]

I'd like to start a new forum where people can talk about what's working for you right now in marketing your book.

I think this will help other authors to prioritize their activities if they can find out what's working for other people. This would be especially valuable to new authors.

I've share the hottest tool that I'm using right now. And that's Twitter. As you will note on the main page of this Book Marketing Network website, both my http://www.bookmarket.com website and this network have been rising in Alexa ranks (and visits) because of my use of Twitter.

[John Kremer]

Twitter is simply a tool, not a big deal. But it does have impact. It is driving 10 to 20% of the traffic that comes to my main website at http://www.bookmarket.com. That means I'm getting 5,000 to 10,000 more visitors to my website each month.

I have 13,700 followers, so many of the people coming from Twitter don't follow me but catch a mention about my site from someone else - someone who is following me.

Now, Twitter is simply a tool. The more important thing to do on the Internet is to create relationships with targeted high-traffic websites who already have the audience you want to reach. That's the first and key lesson I teach in my Ten Million Eyeballs Internet marketing self-learning course (http://www.tenmillioneyeballs.com).

This network generates about 3 to 5% of the traffic that comes to BookMarket.com. Most of my traffic comes from Google and my partner websites.

[Steve Miller]

Good comments, Stacy. Concerning your comment, "I also think it's too hard for an author to say what's working and what's not."

I think that's typically true. I published my first book with a traditional publisher. Since traditional publishers start off sending catalogs to distributors and bookstores, sales can start off with a bang and it's hard to track whether future sales are a result of past or present marketing.

But since I published my latest book through my own publishing company, and almost all sales are through Amazon.com, I can see pretty quickly what's working and what's not. (Each Amazon sale is reported within 24 hours). At this point, I think I can account for about 95% of my sales. Basically, when I do some promotion, the book sells. When I don't, nothing sells - Nada, Zero. That makes it easy to track what's working. It's only been out for three months, so these are just my initial efforts.

Here's the good, the bad and the ugly:

1) When my wife told her friends on Facebook, several sold over the next few days. Then, nothing.

2) When MidWest Book Review put out a five-star review of my book, three copies sold over the next 24 hours, then nothing. (More may come later, since they'll recommend it in their publications to libraries, etc.)

3) When I was interviewed on Fox 5 News, Atlanta, and CBS Good Day Atlanta (twice), none sold. Yet, the stations did a great job of pushing the book and showing how to purchase it. (As some research said, "viewers view, readers read.") But I paid $40 each to get rights to use these interviews, and put them up on YouTube, linking back to my Web-based press kit. It was a great way to get some expose and to get a professional promo videos on the cheap! I don't think anything has sold as a result of the YouTube Videos, but as I pursue other publicity, radio stations can see how I do in an interview.

4) About 8 sold after the financial columnist at the Oakland (California) Tribune wrote a column on it.

5) Most sales have come from people giving it as gifts. Example: One CPA bought 100 copies to give away to grads. A pastor bought 30 copies to give to grads. (Since I gave them a discount by ordering directly through me, I know these sales.)

6) I sent a press release through 5 recommended press release sites and haven't noticed any response.

7) I sent an e-letter to about 8,000 members of my two educational websites (together, these sites get about 900 unique visits per day. I thought this would be a main avenue of sales, since these people already use my resources and trust me. I think I sold about 4 copies as a result. A huge disappointment.

I'm not discouraged. I'm finding ways that work and ways that don't work. As I narrow down what works, I keep pursuing those avenues. I have a 50 page marketing plan and pursue it relentlessly. Eventually, I hope that word of mouth will take over and reach a tipping point.

I'm tracking everything I do at http://freelancewriterblog.blogspot.com/, in case you want to see where I've been and the honest results of each effort . If I end up selling a million copies, I'll be able to write a book about how I did it, to help other authors. If I fail grandly, it's still helpful for other authors to know what worked for me and what didn't.

And here's the press kit I'm building as I go along: http://wisdomcreekpress.com/press_kits.html .

[Dr.Mani - Internet Infopreneur]

Thanks, Steve, this is VERY helpful data for me at this point in time. I appreciate you sharing it with us all :-)

Dr.Mani
ThinkWriteRetire.com

[Susan Klopfer]

Twitter just got me a one-hour interview with a reporter from the Christian Science Monitor.

[Vincent Di Fondi]

Hi Susan, I just joined Twitter. How did you do it? Congratuations!

[Bob Sanchez]

One thing that's helped me is to always keep copies of my two books in the back of my car. Then when someone says "Where can I buy a copy of your book?" you can tell them they can get it from you right then and there.

Also it helps to have business cards with you advertising your book. One thing I have tried is tacking one up on any bulletin board that seems friendly to local businesses. Does it help sales? I have no idea, but it can't hurt, and the card costs me only a penny or so. Sometimes people will come up to me at a book signing and tell me they've heard of the book but can't remember where. Just getting your name and the book's title out there is helpful even when it doesn't result in an immediate sale.

[Joely Black]

I have to say I completely agree with you about Twitter. When AMNAR: THE AWAKENING launched on Podiobooks.com on Monday, the only real promotion it received came from my blog and using Twitter (where I'm known as TheCharmQuark). By Wednesday it was the top most downloaded audiobook, and today it's at No.2. This is very impressive as I'm going into negotiation with software and games developers and it presents a very good case.

Twitter has to be used in the right way to make it work, and I know it intimidates a lot of new users. If you're prepared to do the work to keep talking to your fanbase and build up a good reputation it can really work wonders for you.

Joely

[Steve Miller]

Joely, mind if I copy your remark to another forum I'm discussing this topic in? In your case, Twitter and your blog certainly worked. I'd like to hear more details about specifically how you used your blog and Twitter. What do you blog about? How often do you post a blog and tweet? How long have you been doing it? Did you already have a following from former book? Any tricks or tips?

And congratulations on "the top most downloaded audiobook!" Wow!

[Dr.Mani - Internet Infopreneur]

I *just* this morning made my book 'live' on CreateSpace, and will soon
begin putting to work all the extensive research on book marketing I've
been doing these past few weeks - including reading 'Amazon Bestseller'.

My plan is to use a dedicated minisite for my book as the central hub,
drive traffic to it through a blog, and leverage my presence on Twitter,
Facebook and on relevant forums to assist this.

I'll also be using Google Adwords for traffic, and doing a virtual blog
book tour shortly. Have got some cool endorsements from top experts in
my niche, and must make the most of them in selling the book.

For the 'bestseller' project, I have outlined a six-week system which
will be implemented from today. I'll post updates on how things go.

One idea I'm testing is to offer special deals on bulk orders of 10 and
25 copies each, for folks to use as gifts/giveaways to their friends
and clients. Self-publishing gives a price flexibility advantage
that I'll try and use to make it more attractive to place bulk orders
than for single copies!

All success

Dr.Mani
Author: Think, Write & Retire!
http://www.ThinkWriteRetire.com/book.htm

[Steve Miller]

Dr. Mani, can't wait to see how your plan works. Just a caution about expectations - in two of the books I read on marketing and specifically on optimizing for Amazon sales, they mentioned that these techniques take time - up to a year. I think they want to see consistent sales over time as they decide how much to help people find you. Please let us know what works and doesn't work for you. This is great for all of us.

Here's what I'm learning about press releases, which paid off this week for me.

1) I sent a release through several free press release organizations. This was a general release about the publication of my book, but put in a newsy way that showed how it addressed some of today's issues. I didn't get any response, but did find the release posted on an Atlanta business site.

2) A month later (last week), I sent exactly the same release through a paid service ($175) that claimed to have a targeted list. The company is Bostick Communications, who intrigued me with an e-mail advertising their services. Within 24 hours, I received over 20 responses, including a TV request, a radio opportunity (which I did this morning), and requests from newspaper columnists and bloggers who review books.

My contact at Bostick answered my questions promptly and thoroughly prior to taking my money. Then, he approved my release and told me that they'd wait until Monday to send it, since they get less response toward the end of the week.

I'm sure there are several organizations you could use to send out a targeted press release, but this one worked for me. btw, I'm not connected with Bostick in any way, other than having paid them to do the press release.

[Dr.Mani - Internet Infopreneur]

I read that post yesterday on your blog - and even shared the link to your blog on Twitter with my audience :-)

Thanks, Steve. I'll certainly share updates as things move. I take your point about not expecting the moon (though I'll be shooting for the stars!)

All success
Dr.Mani
www.ThinkWriteRetire.com

[Dr.Mani - Internet Infopreneur]

UPDATE: Steve, just thought I'd share some data with you.

I posted a press release to PRweb.com on 11th August.

Today, I got the stats report. The release has received 9,872 impressions and 628 reads.

So far, it hasn't led to any news stories or interviews, as far as I can see... but still, it's pretty good exposure for an $80 investment.

All success
Dr.Mani
Author: Think, Write & Retire - How To Turn Words Into Wealth, Easily!
http://www.ThinkWriteRetire.com/launch.htm