Crossroad Press, publisher of my first novel, DIABLERO, and of my coming young adult sci-fi thriller, CHLOE JOHANSSON and THE GOD PARTICLE, has been around now for several years and has published something in the vicinity of 600 titles. So if anyone knows about marketing in this age of e-books, it would be author and publisher David Niall Wilson.
How should authors promote their books – specifically eBooks – is a question that – as you might imagine – is very near and dear to me. I’ve studied it. I’ve lived it. I’ve come to some conclusions, and while I’m sure some will come as no surprise, and some will irritate, frustrate, or anger a few readers, I’m going to pass on what I’ve figured out so far.
Selling
your eBook is no different than selling a traditional book. Famous authors sell
a lot of eBooks. Midlist authors sell more than most, but less than famous
people. So it goes. The only advantage that eBooks have is the Internet, and
the Internet is not ‘easy’.
There
are now thousands of newsletters, groups, message boards, blog rings, etc.
dedicated to “marketing” your eBook. There are a sackful of social media sites
and ‘tools’ people will push as ‘the’ way to sell your books. They will offer
to doctor up your SEO. They will talk about Facebook and Twitter campaigns.
They will set up blog tours for you.
Here’s
the truth. ALL of the things that you have heard of can sell books, but the key
– the simple key that is always missed – is that whatever you use to promote
your work has to reach people who are readers. Most of the above-mentioned
tools and methods are best at connecting you to thousands of other authors
trying to sell their books, but very few of them are buying books. You might
get into a reciprocal setup where you all buy one another’s books and review them,
but that is the equivalent of a circle jerk, and won’t do a thing to promote
your book.
Here’s the simple truth. The only thing that will sell eBooks is getting a clickable link in front of a large number of people who a: read books and b: don’t know who you are. Your Facebook feed is seen by … your ‘friends’. If you are an author, it probably has a fair number of other authors and publishers on it – but a limited number of people who are your fans, or who read regularly and are there for books. It’s not an effective tool for selling books unless you find a way to draw people to it who are only there to read.
Your
Twitter feed – if you are outgoing, charming, handsome, beautiful, funny, etc –
you may be able to use it to raise your number of useful followers. If you can
engage famous people and get them to promote you in any way, retweet your
promotional links – that can work too. If you are just a regular Joe, don’t
have a lot of time to hang out on line and create a “personality” – again –
it’s a very limited tool and not that useful in selling books.
THE
most useful promotion on the Internet is simple to define and very, very
difficult to achieve. The best way to sell eBooks is to get a one-click-to-buy
link either visible on a major retail site, or on some other site with heavy
traffic. Yes, I realize this means that it’s just as hard to sell a ton of
copies of an eBook as it was to sell traditional books. It’s the truth, and I
think, the first thing I said.
My
suggestion is this. With patience, and care, you build your presence. You
write. You write steadily and do not spend more time promoting things you have
already written than you do writing new things. Keep a steady flow of new
material out there. You have a blog or a website – depending on your skill
level. Keep it populated with new content. Write about yourself and your work,
even if no one seems to be paying attention. Link those posts to your Twitter
account, and your Facebook account. Use tags and key words on your posts so
that people find them. Make sure there are links to buy your books on your
website, synopses of the books, maybe a few sample chapters. Do NOT make the
whole site nothing but a static advertisement, make it someplace people might
return to. Make sure it has the RSS feeds and a newsletter form where people
can subscribe.
If
you use Facebook – have one page for your personal contacts, and one page for
your author’s page. Don’t put the same content on both. Don’t make new pages
for your new books…use the one page, and build the following for that. Do not
invite everyone to events every time you release a book, etc…only the same
people who see your feed see those, and only a small number of them will opt
in- just post your material on your author’s page.
Twitter
– the same. You have already set up blog posts to populate it, but you have to
seek out interesting people, talk with them, get them to acknowledge you and
talk back – build a network. If you do this well enough, after a while, you’ll
see the numbers of your followers grow. One of the best ways to find
interesting people to follow is to go to the Twitter page of people you admire
– and see who THEY follow.
Spend
some time on each site every day, but not so much you don’t have time to write.
If you are talented – if your books are good – you will gain traction. Always
look for ways to get that treasured one-click-to-buy link in front of as many
people who have never heard of you as possible. Don’t waste your time marketing
over and over to the same tiny pool of people…and write. Did I mention that?
Spending a year selling the one book you wrote is a recipe for failure.
If
you get help, or pay for help, check that help out carefully. Ask them to prove
results, and not just in numbers of possibly fake friends or followers, but in
sales. If a new promotional tool (that costs nothing) becomes available – try
it – give it an honest evaluation. If it works, great. If not, move on. Don’t
listen to gurus. Most of them don’t really know why they sold a lot of books,
but are perfectly willing to sit on soap boxes and explain it – OR – they tell
you things that are only part of the picture without explaining the contacts
that got their one-click-to-buy links in front of a lot of people.
Trust
your instincts. Be patient. Write.
I
hope this has – in some way – been helpful.
David Niall Wilson
Crossroad
Press
