Showing posts with label promotion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label promotion. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Sunday, February 2, 2025
Friday, October 9, 2015
[Link] Why Facebook Cannot Help You Sell Books
By Michael Alvear
As an author, book marketer and social media specialist, I cannot think of a single more wasteful thing an author can do for book sales than to market on Facebook. Put simply, there is no evidence that Facebook can sell books, unless you’re a celebrity with a mass following. There is, however, plenty of evidence that Facebook is both a waste of time and money if you’re an unknown or midlist author.
To understand why Facebook is so demonstrably bad at selling books, you have to understand two key concepts that agents, publishers and marketing experts fail to mention whenever they encourage (and sometimes force) authors to build their “platforms:”
1. You Need at Least 20,000 Facebook Followers to Move Product
No, that’s not an official figure, but based on my experience and that of my clients, 20,000 followers seems to be the minimum amount you’d need to make any real headway. The average person, though, has just 338 friends. So let’s be practical: how on earth are you going to get to 20,000 “friends” or fans as an unknown or midlist author? What can you possibly post on a regular basis that would be so compelling, entertaining or informative that people would flock to “like” your page or become a friend? I hosted a TV show on HBO and England’s Channel Four. I’m well known in my niche market and after five years I have 5,000 Facebook followers. What nobody tells you is how extraordinarily difficult it is to establish and grow a fan base on Facebook. It is so difficult that even small companies outsource the job to experts.
Read the full article: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2015/why-facebook-cannot-help-you-sell-books/
As an author, book marketer and social media specialist, I cannot think of a single more wasteful thing an author can do for book sales than to market on Facebook. Put simply, there is no evidence that Facebook can sell books, unless you’re a celebrity with a mass following. There is, however, plenty of evidence that Facebook is both a waste of time and money if you’re an unknown or midlist author.
To understand why Facebook is so demonstrably bad at selling books, you have to understand two key concepts that agents, publishers and marketing experts fail to mention whenever they encourage (and sometimes force) authors to build their “platforms:”1. You Need at Least 20,000 Facebook Followers to Move Product
No, that’s not an official figure, but based on my experience and that of my clients, 20,000 followers seems to be the minimum amount you’d need to make any real headway. The average person, though, has just 338 friends. So let’s be practical: how on earth are you going to get to 20,000 “friends” or fans as an unknown or midlist author? What can you possibly post on a regular basis that would be so compelling, entertaining or informative that people would flock to “like” your page or become a friend? I hosted a TV show on HBO and England’s Channel Four. I’m well known in my niche market and after five years I have 5,000 Facebook followers. What nobody tells you is how extraordinarily difficult it is to establish and grow a fan base on Facebook. It is so difficult that even small companies outsource the job to experts.
Read the full article: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2015/why-facebook-cannot-help-you-sell-books/
Sunday, March 1, 2015
[Link] Fiction Writers: How to Find Your Ideal Reader
by Joel FriedlanderIn my last post, I covered how to find your ideal reader for nonfiction authors. For nonfiction, your ideal reader is identified by what problem he’s trying to solve. Fiction, on the other hand, is trickier. You’re trying to discover your reader based on how he finds new novels he enjoys.
You could say his “problem” is finding books that satisfy his particular tastes, especially when he doesn’t have anything new to read – all his favorite authors are between books, he’s read all their offerings, and now he’s forced to search for something else to feed the craving. If you’re a hard core fiction fan, you know just how real this craving can be!
Before you can identify who your audience is, you need to know what you are offering. To do this, answer the following questions...
Continue reading: http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2015/02/fiction-writers-how-to-find-your-ideal-reader/
Friday, February 27, 2015
[Link] 5 Sites to Promote Your Book on a Shoestring Budget
When it comes to promoting your book, you have to spend money to make money.
How many of you have been told that?
The first time I heard it, my heart filled with desolation. I live in the real world where disposable income is as rare as the unicorn–in other words, it doesn’t exist. What chance do I have of being successful with my marketing endeavours without the coin to back it?
The answer is: I don’t know. My book is relatively new (just over a month old at the time of my writing this) and it’s really too soon to tell. Nevertheless, I thought I’d share some of the places I’ve found online that allow me to advertise my book for free. Here are the 5 sites that top my list so far.
Continue reading: http://indiewritersupport.com/profiles/blogs/5-sites-to-promote-your-book-on-a-shoestring-budget
Friday, December 7, 2012
[Link] How to Sell More at Comic Cons
 |
| Me at Alabama Phoenix Festival last year. |
Last week I read a tweet from someone who was berating the fact that he’d taken 100 copies of his comic to sell on his table and only managed to sell one copy. It’s unfortunately a very common occurrence, but these 5 strategies will help you ensure that you leave the hall smiling and with a much lighter load!
1. Grab attention
This sounds obvious but it’s amazing how many comic creators try to leave their table do the talking, and that table only displays one or two items. If you’re sitting in Artists Alley, surrounded by competition, it’s easy to be ignored by the hoards of passers-by.
There are a number of ways to grab people’s attention – either through your actions, or your props.
Continue reading: http://thecomicacademy.com/marketing-2/sell-comic-cons/
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
[Link] The World Doesn’t Stop Because You Published a Book: Eight Important Things I Learned While Promoting KINGDOM
Just in time for Devil’s Night (dystopian fiction sprung to life) here’s the final guest post on KINGDOM’s October blog tour. While the tour runs through November first, today is my final guest post, so I wanted to share some of the lessons I’ve learned, both through my own experience, and observing the actions of other authors. I’m not an authority on self-publishing/promoting—not by a long shot.
- Be Polite, or The World Doesn’t Stop Because You Published a Book.
- Be Prepare to Spend Some Money.
- Give Back to the Community.
- Hire a Professional Blog Tour Company.
- Don’t Waste Time and Money Chasing Traditional “Big” Media Coverage.
- Don’t Use Family and Overly Effusive Friends to Promote Your Work.
- Even if Your Book Doesn’t Suck, Someone Will Think it Does. And that’s a Good Thing!
- Acknowledge Those Who Contribute to Your Success.
Continue reading: http://seventhstarpress.blogspot.com/2012/11/kingdom-tour-anderson-odonnell-guest.html
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
[Link] How do books get discovered? A guide for publishers and authors who want their books to find an audience
by Patrick Brown
We've all fallen under the spell of a truly great book. But where did we originally hear about it? How did we come to choose that particular book from among the literally millions of books in the world? Did a friend hand it to us and say, "You have to read this!" Or did we hear about it on NPR's "Fresh Air"? Or was it a Goodreads Recommendation that convinced us to give it a try?
From the publisher's perspective, discovery has always been shrouded in mystery, a sort of alchemical process through which readers find books they love. With a community of more than 7 million people and 250 million books shelved, Goodreads is uniquely equipped to shed some light on this eternal question. On Wednesday, our CEO Otis Chandler gave a talk at the Tools of Change conference in New York City presenting some data that helps get at one of the most pressing questions facing the publishing industry today—how do readers discover books?
What we found is that readers discover books in several different ways. While this may not seem surprising, it should serve as a reminder to authors and publishers that no one promotion or marketing technique is enough. To successfully promote a book, you have to reach out to readers in a variety of ways.
Below is a pie chart of the various methods Goodreads members use to find books on the site:
What we found is that readers discover books in several different ways. While this may not seem surprising, it should serve as a reminder to authors and publishers that no one promotion or marketing technique is enough. To successfully promote a book, you have to reach out to readers in a variety of ways.
Below is a pie chart of the various methods Goodreads members use to find books on the site:
Continue reading: http://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/343-how-do-books-get-discovered-a-guide-for-publishers-and-authors-who-want
We've all fallen under the spell of a truly great book. But where did we originally hear about it? How did we come to choose that particular book from among the literally millions of books in the world? Did a friend hand it to us and say, "You have to read this!" Or did we hear about it on NPR's "Fresh Air"? Or was it a Goodreads Recommendation that convinced us to give it a try?
From the publisher's perspective, discovery has always been shrouded in mystery, a sort of alchemical process through which readers find books they love. With a community of more than 7 million people and 250 million books shelved, Goodreads is uniquely equipped to shed some light on this eternal question. On Wednesday, our CEO Otis Chandler gave a talk at the Tools of Change conference in New York City presenting some data that helps get at one of the most pressing questions facing the publishing industry today—how do readers discover books?
What we found is that readers discover books in several different ways. While this may not seem surprising, it should serve as a reminder to authors and publishers that no one promotion or marketing technique is enough. To successfully promote a book, you have to reach out to readers in a variety of ways.
Below is a pie chart of the various methods Goodreads members use to find books on the site:
What we found is that readers discover books in several different ways. While this may not seem surprising, it should serve as a reminder to authors and publishers that no one promotion or marketing technique is enough. To successfully promote a book, you have to reach out to readers in a variety of ways.
Below is a pie chart of the various methods Goodreads members use to find books on the site:
Continue reading: http://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/343-how-do-books-get-discovered-a-guide-for-publishers-and-authors-who-want
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