Contributed by Margot Conor
Whichever way you publish, your sales will depend on your ability to market your book. Traditional publishers will do some promotions but how much they do will depend on who you are, and how much they believe in your product.
But let’s face it, no one else cares as much as you do about your book, so it will be largely up to you to market it. It's your marketing strategy that determines how much money you can expect to make from your book.
Statistically, 80 % of readers get their next read from written word media. It is the #1-way readers find their favorite books. If you don’t know what that specifically refers to… it’s newsletters.
These newsletters are directly from authors or newsletters from organizations that promote books. Most authors today know how important it is to grow their audience through a newsletter.
Getting your book titles seen by readers, outside of your personal contacts, will be a big boost for your sales.
Here are a few ways to take advantage of these phenomenal opportunities, gain exposure to thousands of subscribers who read company newsletters, and pick up new followers for your creative works:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/
Goodreads platform has over 125 million members, it is likely the biggest database of books on the planet. I did’nt find how many subscribers they have for their newsletter. But there are other ways to utilize their site to get more visibility by using their Lists.
Here are the methods for using Goodreads to promote your book:
-The “Similar To” algorithm: connects books on similar topics, and gives you a selection to choose from. Find user lists which have books similar to yours. Use genre, theme, and other specifics. Add your title to those lists. Spread this out over time. don’t do it all in one day. Also, join as a reader and compile your own lists, and of course, add your own books to them.
-The “Listopia” Feature: a more general genre search offers Featured Lists.
These include: Best books ever, Best books of the 21st century, Best books of the decade, Best books of a specific year, Best books of a specific month and year. Users choose and rank them.
-By Book Title: Chose a title that you use as a comp for your book, (something comparable by genre, mood, style, theme). Use this feature to “look for Lists with this book title.” It gives you access to how other readers listed the book you like (your comp), and what books they feel are similar.
Add your book to the lists of comparable book titles. If those readers liked your comp, they should like your book too. Books rise on the list to the top as readers vote for them.
Even if you are a fledgling author with no book published, I recommend joining GoodReads as a reader and starting your list of books you love. If you have a book or multiple books published, begin adding those titles to various featured lists, as outlined above, to gain more visibility.
The survey information below is gleaned from Written Word Media. I include it in this article because it corroborates my point that these companies have thousands of dedicated users that welcome the information shared in their newsletters. You can benefit from that as well.
Freebooksy: https://www.freebooksy.com/
You’ve probably been told if you can offer a free book, it will get you a lot of readers. Although it is a hard choice to make. After all the time and money you put into creating your book, offering it for free, seems counterproductive. Some authors use a Novella, while others who are perhaps more prolific, bite the bullet and use their first book, or the first in a series, for promotion.
Freebboksy’s site notes 519K readers. But a more recent poll by Written Word Media says they have nearly 700K newsletter readers. Which means they are growing fast!
Seventy-five percent of subscribers use the Freebooksy newsletter to find their next read.
Here is a step-by-step process of how to get your book promoted on this site: https://www.writtenwordmedia.com/best-way-to-promote-on-freebooksy/
Bargain Booksy: https://www.bargainbooksy.com/featured-books/
If you can’t make yourself give your book away, this might work for you. It is a site that sells discounted books.
Bargain Booksy Review is a promotional book-deal site that will share your book to several mailing lists they maintain. You pay a fee to have your book reviewed and promoted to one of their niche-specific mailing lists. They have 400K newsletter readers.
More than 70% of their subscribers use the Bargain Booksy newsletter to find their next book.
To help bring even more attention to your Booksy Profile, you can use their Boost option to increase your exposure.
The basic options are very affordable, Bargain Booksy Features range in price from $25-$240. Prices vary depending on your book's genre and promotion type. For more detailed information go to this link:
https://www.bargainbooksy.com/sell-more-books-with-bargain-booksy/
Red Feather Romance: https://www.redfeatherromance.com/
This service has 176K newsletter readers and they read more than10 books per month. More than 80 % of their subscribers use the Red Feather newsletter to find their books.
It will cost you a little to promote your book on this site, but it’s pretty reasonable.
NewInBooks: https://www.newinbooks.com/
They have 130K readers and on average their readers spend $25 per month on books. Seventy-five percent say they love the NewInBooks newsletter.
There’s a fee to get mentioned in their newsletter, it’s part of their Book Launch promo stack. Cost to the author: $299 to $499. But they have a lot of engaged subscribers, so this is not a bad way to advertise.
According to surveys, a little less than half of modern readers are Kindle Unlimited subscribers. This means having an e-book option is important.
Wishing you all success on your writing journey!
Please copy and paste URLs for the sites you'd like to check out that aren't hyperlinked.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Margot Conor has been writing for as long as she can remember, but it wasn't until the COVID lock-down that she had enough time to dedicate to the craft and bring something to completion. Having finished her first novel, she went through the grueling two-year process of editing. Now she has jumped into the author's world with both feet. She's preparing to debut her first novel, which means learning how to promote it. The last year has been spent attending many writing retreats, seminars, and writers' events. She also listened to presentations specifically on the topic of publishing and book marketing. She will be sharing what she learns with the reader.
You can learn more about Margot and her writing at her Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/margotconor/
7 comments:
Now, my "can't help myself" question, Margot. I know it often very hard to trace sales, but do you believe your paid-for exposure sells enough books to cover their cost with your added royalties? I always advise my clients to factor in side-benefits like networking opportunities or exposure that leads to another truly frugal way to be seen by your audience. My "The Frugal Book Promoter" mentions recycling excerpts from your book or articles related to it. In detail! LOL.
Very best,
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Margot, helpful list of newsletters that authors can try to get their books onto. And Carolyn's right about authors needing to weigh the pros and cons of marketing and other expenses to create a book. I was on a Facebook group for children's authors today and one author was looking at an illustrator with fees of $400-$600 for each interior illustration. Considering a picture book needs a minimum of 12 (24 if the author wants an illustration on every page) interior illustrations along with the covers, that's a crazy amount. Most self-published picture book authors don't make back their investment. Authors need to factor everything in.
Hi Carolyn, I agree advertising won't pay off unless you have built a following. But some of these can help you build that following, so yes I suppose it is a trade-off.
I have been meaning to get your book, it sounds very insightful, and informative.
Karen, this will change with the advent of AI. I hate to say it, but illustrators are going to have to adjust their fees or they will be priced out of the market altogether. As soon as AI developed, it changed everything. And it is only getting better rather rapidly, it isn't going to go away. Artists need to incorporate it into their workflow. This should reduce costs. I am also a visual artist with 30+ years of experience. I also publish a fine art magazine, which means I've built relationships with artists over the years, and I know how much controversy there is around AI. My take on it, there is no time to cry over it. The world changed in an instant. We have to adjust and move forward. But the upside... illustrations will cost less very soon.
Margot, AI is definitely going to play a factor in art and writing. There are already lawsuits by authors claiming AI programs have used parts of their works. It's going to affect pricing across the board. People are using AI writing programs to slap together books and publish them. I fear the self-publishing arena will get a stigma again because of it.
I used AI art for the logo of my children's book publishing service - it was a fluke that I got an AI Microsoft page and started playing with it. I haven't been able to find the page again. And I've been using ChatGPT for some of my blog posts. I do revise the posts, but they give a solid foundation.
Karen, what is the cost for GPT? Are you using it enough to pay for itself?
Best,
Carolyn
Carolyn, I'm using the free version. I'm not sure if they will at some point start charging.
Margot, thank you for your informative post. I haven't tapped this side of publishing--exploring opportunities in newsletters and AI, so I find your suggestions and the WOTM comments very helpful. Yikes, there aren't enough hours in the day!!!
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