The best aspect of my job is that no two campaigns are exactly alike—every book, every author, is unique. We don’t take a plug-and-play or a one-size-fits-all approach, and therefore we strive to bring at least one unique marketing or advertising idea to every campaign we execute. This is what has set us apart from other PR companies, and this approach is what can set your book apart from the rest. If you execute everything outlined in the previous chapters, your chances of successfully launching your book are pretty high. But by incorporating a little something extra, your odds get even better.
There are a lot of marketing tools, terms, and buzzwords out there. Fellow authors will tell you about all the things you have to do to market your book, or a friend of yours in consumer marketing may drill into you that X or Y is the “next big thing.” The rules for marketing are the same as publicity: if it doesn’t reach your target audience, then there’s no point doing it. Certain initiatives may work for marketing Coca-Cola or Lexus, but they won’t work for selling books. When brainstorming marketing ideas, think about your target audience of readers and evaluate whether or not these efforts will reach them. Will these initiatives serve to complement your publicity efforts, making multiple impressions on the same group of people, giving them the feeling that they’re seeing your book everywhere? If the answer to these questions is yes, then the idea is worth considering, as long as you have the time and the budget to do it right.
The promotions outlined in this section are by no means the complete list of the only ones worth doing. At Kaye Publicity we have firsthand experience with each of these campaigns and are sharing our experiences with you because we feel that they may add value to your promotional plan as well. If a marketing or advertising opportunity isn’t listed here, that doesn’t mean it isn’t worthwhile; it just means we haven’t tried it.
Any campaign comes with a certain amount of risk, but by asking the right questions and doing the proper research, you can minimize that risk. Not every idea that pops into your head is worth doing, and the latest marketing trend may not apply to you and your audience. But if there’s potential to reach your target audience and earn a big return on your investment, then it’s worth a shot. The only thing worse than failing is never having tried at all.
This is one of the most underestimated promotion tools authors have at their disposal, especially if you’re marketing to an older crowd. Not everyone is on Twitter, or spends a lot of time on Facebook, or reads the news online. But almost everyone, about 86.5% of the US population, has an email address.[16] They may rarely use it, but if an email is in their inbox, they’ll see it, unlike Twitter and Facebook posts, which often get lost in the shuffle.
There are a few email marketing services, some are free and some cost a small amount for every send. The one we use the most often is Mailchimp. It’s easy to use, highly customizable, and free if your mailing list is under 2,000 subscribers. There is also TinyLetter, which happens to be a spin-off of Mailchimp, which is an emailing service that is more personal and has fewer business features and analytics. Many authors say they prefer TinyLetter because it feels more personal and less like blatant self-promotion. Other services include Constant Contact and Vertical Response, both of which are paid services (usually pay-per-email sent) and a bit more difficult to customize. Some users report their emails are less likely to get caught in spam with the services Constant Contact or Vertical Response than with Mailchimp, but I haven’t had the experience of my Mailchimp messages being flagged as spam.
Once you decide which service works best for you, create an account, create a list, and prepare a sign-up form. Add the newsletter sign-up form to your website and Facebook page (most have a Facebook integration tool that makes it easy). Once a month or so, remind your Twitter followers to sign up for your newsletter and include a link. I also advise authors to roll it in with a contest—maybe everyone who signs up before a certain date will receive a signed bookmark and bookplate, or one lucky winner will receive an Amazon gift card. Whatever it is, hosting a contest will encourage people to sign up and you’ll grow your list much faster.
Technically, people have to sign up for your mailing list themselves; you’re not allowed to add people without their permission. Many authors will stick to that rule; others will ignore it completely and add every person they ever met or swapped business cards with to their mailing list. I believe the ideal approach is somewhere in the middle.
Create a spreadsheet of friends and family members you think will be interested in receiving your newsletter and won’t be offended when it arrives in their inbox. Add any fans that have written you expressing interest in your work. If there are authors who have emailed you asking for a blurb or to read their manuscript or to connect them with your agent, add them to your list. My rule of thumb is that if they’ve expressed interest in you and your work, or if they’ve asked you for professional assistance, and they aren’t likely to get offended by receiving an email from you, add them. They can unsubscribe if they want.
Do not add book critics who have reviewed your book, but have never written you separately. Don’t add people you met at conferences and never corresponded with except to say, “Nice meeting you.” If they wouldn’t know you by name, they don’t belong on your list.
Many of you won’t feel comfortable doing that, and that’s fine. But most of us in the industry expect to be added to authors’ mailing lists, especially if we’ve written them in the past. To be honest, sometimes it’s a nice surprise. If I meet an author at a conference, get their card, and email them to say, “Nice meeting you” or “I loved your latest book,” I won’t always go to their website and seek out a newsletter sign up. But if they add me and they don’t send too many e-blasts, I definitely won’t unsubscribe and I am grateful for the reminder when they have a new book out.
When it comes to figuring out frequency of emails and what to include in each, a lot of it is common sense: don’t send emails every day, don’t be overly promotional, and don’t only send when you have a book out, but don’t send emails when you really have nothing to say. There are a few different ways to execute email marketing effectively, but whatever you decide, I recommend sticking with it and remaining consistent. If you decide to send semi-monthly or quarterly newsletters, stick with that schedule. If you only send 3 emails a year when you’re gearing up for a book launch, maintain that. Don’t change it dramatically just because you have a book out or there’s an initiative your publisher wants to promote. You train readers to know what to expect from you, and if you deviate too far from that expectation, you’ll lose subscribers.
If you write multiple books a year, publish in multiple arenas, or just have a lot going on that would interest your subscribers, then I recommend a quarterly or semi-monthly newsletter. This will allow you to connect with your readers on a regular basis and provide new and interesting information with each email. If you write one book a year or less, and that’s really the main focus of your email marketing, then you can opt to send 2–3 newsletters around your book launch, and that’s it. For this, I recommend sending one 8 weeks out, one 4 weeks out, then one on launch day.
When scheduling an email marketing campaign, you also want to consider the date, day of the week, and time it’s going out. About half of your subscribers will check their email at work, probably after they’ve cleared their professional inboxes. The other half will check it before they start their workday or in the evening when they return home. People’s inboxes are the fullest on Monday morning and emails sent on Friday afternoon are often overlooked. You want to pick the optimal time for people to open and read your content, rather than when they’re more likely to just delete the email because they’re pressed for time and overwhelmed by the amount in their inbox.
I used to always send emails midday, thinking that people are less likely to delete messages when their inboxes have been cleared. But a recent study conducted by Boomerang for Gmail[17] revealed that email is 30% more likely to be opened if it’s sent between 6–7 A.M. I started using this tactic in our own newsletters and right away we noticed an increase in open rates. I attribute this to the type of content we’re sending; recipients may be more inclined to read a newsletter while they’re brushing their teeth, waiting for the train, or having their first cup of coffee. Wait too long and they’ve already started their day—they don’t have time to read about your upcoming book.
I usually send emails Tuesdays–Thursdays, unless Monday or Friday is a holiday, in which case I send on Wednesday. Lastly, you want to avoid sending e-blasts during the week of spring break, Thanksgiving break, or other times of the year when people travel. Your message will likely get buried under the rest of unwanted and non-emergency emails, and eventually deleted.
The content of the newsletters will vary depending on the schedule, but the key rule is the same: be consistent. If your newsletters always include some personal anecdotes, photos from research trips, little known facts about the region you write about, etc., then keep that up. Some authors, like Susan Dennard, opt to send a more service-based newsletter that includes writing tips, prompts, and publishing information. If you prefer to keep it about the book, that’s fine too. But it’s awkward, not to mention jarring, for your readers to transition from writing humorous, anecdotal, first-person emails about your recent research trip to an all-business, straight–book-information type email.
If you’re opting for the “only around the book launch” schedule, then I recommend including the following content in each newsletter:
If you’re aiming for more of an anecdotal or service-based newsletter, you’ll still want to send out a launch day announcement with links to buy the book. Since you wouldn’t have sent the previous two promotional newsletters listed above, I recommend including the tour dates, reviews, and an excerpt if available.
For all email blasts sent, you should ask yourself the question, “What benefit is the recipient getting from my newsletter?” The answer to that question should not be the privilege of receiving information about your book. Maybe it’s writing tips or advice. Maybe it’s extra content unavailable to the general public. In our newsletters, we give away free books with every blast. Whatever it is, there should be some tangible benefit for subscribing to your list. No one would sign up to receive an advertisement in their inbox each month.
This platform originally launched as a place for writers, mostly teens, to publish fan fiction. Unpublished authors would post their works in progress on the platform and other users were able to critique their work, encourage them to keep going, or simply vote it up or down. Many users have managed to build a large following of readers before their books were even finished, let alone published, so it became known as a community setting that could help an unknown writer launch a career.
However, now that Wattpad has grown to include more than 40 million readers and writers, many established authors also use the site to generate buzz and attract new readers. There are many possibilities, depending on your content and audience, but here are two ways our team has utilized Wattpad to build our authors’ brands:
Like Kickstarter and Fundly, which bring masses of people together to fund a project, a crowd-sourcing campaign brings readers together to advance your story. About four to five months ahead of your book launch, post the first 5 pages to Wattpad. On your homepage, as well as your social media pages, let your followers know that you’ll post the next 5 pages if a certain number of them vote for the excerpt, or even just read it. This gives readers a responsibility; if they want to read more, they have to earn it. It will encourage them to share your content and get their friends to read your work, thus building a network of readers. Other than a few social media posts, it requires minimal effort on your part.
For the past few years, publishers have encouraged authors launching a new series or who have a lag in between books to publish a novella or short story linked to the world of their novels. The traditional strategy—which rarely works—is for publishers to release this content on Amazon for $0.99 or $2.99 prior to the new book’s launch in the hopes of drawing in new readers. The reason it doesn’t work is the same reason why many full-length books don’t sell well: there’s no audience. Throwing up a book on Amazon doesn’t mean people are going to download it, even if it’s free.
But Wattpad has a built-in audience of readers who are used to reading new work from unknown authors. These readers are much easier to reach than the browsers on Amazon.
If you have a deleted scene from your book, a story that happens before the start of the series or in between books, or a minor character you’ve always wanted to write a novella about, this is the perfect opportunity to build an audience before the book comes out. Again, other than a few social media posts, it requires minimal effort on your part.
With its large, influential community, Wattpad is a powerful tool, though it’s not for every type of author. While there is a growing audience for chick lit and fantasy, the most popular categories by far are romance and teen fiction. If either of those are your genre, then you should be on Wattpad.
One final note is that, like any other social media platform, it’s important to be an active participant. I’m not saying you need to spend time reading content on Wattpad, but if people are commenting on your work, make it a point to respond to those comments and engage with your followers.
On paper, Goodreads seems like it would be the ideal tool for authors. It’s an online community of readers who share what they’re reading or want to read, rate and review books, and have online discussions. Authors are able to have a profile with all their books listed, host Q&As, and incorporate their latest blog posts and tour dates. Readers can become “friends” with the author or just follow their updates. By marketing to a Goodreads audience, you’re reaching a captive audience of readers.
So why does the mention of Goodreads trigger a groan from so many authors and publishing pros? I believe there are two reasons.
First, many authors used Goodreads regularly as readers. They enjoyed keeping track of what they were reading, reviewing the books they finished, and being an active participant in the community. But as soon as they became a published author and their personal profile had the “Goodreads author” stamp across it, the expectations changed.
As an author, it’s never a good idea to review other authors’ books. If you’re critical, it could hurt your relationship with that author and the book’s publisher. Remember, you may be published by Penguin today, but you could easily be moved to Harper or Simon and Schuster tomorrow. Never burn your bridges. If you praise a book, your review could be taken as a blurb and used for future books, ones that you haven’t read and aren’t vouching for, which can hurt your brand in the long term.
Rating a book is okay, but only if you can honestly give it five stars, the highest amount allotted. Anything less would be deemed as criticism and reflect poorly on you. That being said, I do recommend adding your favorite books to your bookshelf and giving them five stars, especially if readers who like those books would also like yours.
The second reason is that the Goodreads community can be vicious. Unlike retailer sites such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble, which only allow you to post a review after the book is out, Goodreads allows readers to post reviews as soon as the book is listed. There are many people who will review a book without having read it, just because they have a beef with the author or have an axe to grind. It can be brutal on an author to receive such negative feedback before the book is even out.
Whenever authors freak out to me about their Goodreads reviews, especially those prior to publication, I tell them this story. One of our authors called me, very upset, that he had received a two-star review on Goodreads. I told him to chill out, that it wasn’t a big deal and they don’t know what they’re talking about.
“No, they really don’t,” he said, “because this review is for the book I haven’t even finished yet.”
I went online and sure enough, someone had already posted a page and a poor review for a book they couldn’t possibly have read.
So, if Goodreads is such a hotbed of bitterness and negativity, then why even bother? Because even though there are many members who just want to complain, there are twice the number of readers who use Goodreads to discover new books. They may not always post the most in-depth reviews, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t reading.
When it comes to your Goodreads presence, I recommend the following:
In addition to your author profile, Goodreads provides additional marketing opportunities, some worth more than others.
As a Goodreads author, you have the opportunity to host a sweepstakes, giving away copies of your book. Many publishers and authors give away advance reader copies (ARCs) prior to publication to generate early buzz and potentially secure early reviews. You can also give away finished copies once they’re available. Until recently, giveaways were only available for physical books, so this promotion was unavailable to e-only authors, but in May, 2016, Goodreads announced that they will be offering this marketing promotion for e-books as well.
I find giveaways to be useful for a few reasons. First, they often prompt Goodreads users to add your book to their “shelves,” their virtual “to-be-read” pile. Those who win those early copies will often review the book in advance of publication, which helps with generating early buzz. Lastly, if someone has your book on their to-read shelf and you create a giveaway, they will receive an email announcing that the book is available to win. This is free advertising, which creates additional impressions of your name and book cover.
What I see many authors getting wrong is the timing and amount of books being given away. The timing of the giveaway needs to be very strategic. For advance reader copies, I recommend scheduling the giveaway as soon as they’re available and closing it three weeks later. This time period usually falls 4–5 months in advance of publication. This way, the winners will have time to read and review the book before it’s out. If you’re giving away finished copies, you can schedule the promotion closer to the publication date, but the giveaway should close at least two days in advance of your pub date. Everyone thinks they’re a winner, and if they’ve entered to win a free copy of your book, that means they’re going to hold off on buying it until the giveaway closes, just in case they win. You want your readers buying the book as soon as it’s available, and closing the promotion prior to the pub date will help ensure that happens.
In terms of quantity, much of that will depend on book availability. If you have access to all the ARCs and finished copies you want, then I usually recommend offering 5–10 with each giveaway. More than that saturates the market and less than that decreases people’s odds so much that they’re discouraged from entering. I’ve seen a lot of publishers trying to generate early reviews by giving away dozens, sometimes even a hundred ARCs in advance of publication. I don’t believe that tactic works. If the only purpose of giving away books is to generate early reviews, then you’re better off relying on your newsletter or circle of friends to read the book and post their reviews. The percentage of giveaway winners who review the book is fairly low, so while giving away 5–10 will only yield a handful of reviews, it also doesn’t break the bank or take hours to ship—and it raises awareness for the book in the process.
While I do not recommend this expenditure, there are those who believe it yields results, so we’ll look at the two main advertising options Goodreads offers—and why I don’t think they’re worthwhile.
The simplest and most affordable is the self-serve advertising. These ads boast text and your book cover image, similar to the Facebook ads you see in the sidebar. These appear alongside your recommendations, but are clearly marked as “sponsored books.” The self-serve ads don’t require any graphic design and are pay-per-click, so they accommodate even a modest budget.
There are also larger display ads that are featured throughout the site. These are significantly more expensive and there is a minimum advertising budget, usually around $5,000. This does not include the ad creation, which you would need a graphic designer or creative agency for. These ads are more visually appealing and make a longer lasting impression.
Many authors and publishers swear by these ads, but personally, I’ve never seen the return on investment. The self-serve ads don’t receive the clicks and are often hidden at the bottom of pages or off to the side, so while they’re affordable, they don’t showcase or enhance your brand in any real way. The display ads, on the other hand, are seen by everyone and do make a longer lasting impression. However, I have a difficult time justifying the cost and I’m not really seeing the return on investment. Investing $5,000 means that, in the end, you have to reach somewhere around 10,000 new readers (more if you’re traditionally published, fewer if you’re self-published) to make it worthwhile. I understand that advertising seldom directly leads to purchases, but even so, it’s hard for me to envision 10,000 readers seeing that ad, and seeing it in enough other places to make them buy the book.
We’ll talk more about advertising later in the chapter, and there are types of advertising that do make a difference. But with Goodreads, I just don’t see the value.
Content marketing has been all the rage in recent years, especially among online business owners. This is where content that appears on your site, usually in the form of a blog post, is aggregated to other high-traffic sites around the web. When you finish reading an article on People.com or CNN.com you’ll see a box of “Other articles that may interest you,” with accompanying images. Clicking on those articles will take you off People or CNN and to another site where that article is published. Rather than enticing potential customers through advertisements (which most of us ignore), you’re drawing people in through content that interests them.
Most authors and publishers haven’t caught on to content marketing, but it’s only a matter of time until they do. This is a low-cost way to drive a lot of traffic to your site and reach your target demographic.
There are two companies that are the primary players in content marketing: Taboola and Outbrain. Both these companies work the same way: you load the content you want to promote and upload the corresponding image, and you pay every time someone clicks on the article. There’s usually a minimum buy for the year, but it’s pretty low. They each offer different levels of support, and they will help you if your content is underperforming. The only major difference between the companies is the website partners. I recommend receiving lists of partners from both companies, reviewing those lists, and evaluating which is better for reaching your target audience.
Cision, the company we use for our media database, has also gotten into the content marketing game, partnering with both Taboola and Outbrain to reach the widest network possible. This sets them apart in that you can sign with one company and reach the list of two, but since they’re playing middle man, it also means their pay-per-click rate is slightly higher. If you find that content marketing is really working for you and you want to do it on a larger scale, but you don’t have time to manage multiple accounts, then you may want to pursue Cision. Otherwise, I recommend picking one of the two main players, reaching a smaller network of websites, and paying less per click.
Since the goal is to get people to click on your link, I see many companies using click-bait headlines that will entice people to click out of curiosity. This works to drive traffic, but in order to be effective, what you’re selling needs to directly link to the content you’re promoting. While the latest dirt on Kim and Kanye or ten ways to reduce belly fat may entice people to click, unless that’s the type of book you’re selling, it’s not going to translate into sales.
As the phrase “content marketing” suggests, when it comes to a successful campaign, content comes first and the marketing comes second. Go back to your list of guest article topics and pick one or two that would appeal to a wide audience and have the most potential to be “clickable.” Write those articles and post them to your blog or website. Make sure everything else on your website is up to date and that your book links and other important information is easy to find.
Once you have prepared the content, I recommend trying a variety of headlines to see which one generates the most click-throughs. For example, if I wanted to market the article Sophie Littlefield wrote about reinvention after divorce, I would try these headlines:
There are many more possibilities, but this is a good start. Using Taboola or Outbrain’s self-serve platform, post each of these headlines with a link to your article and an accompanying image. I also recommend mixing up the imagery as this sometimes affects what people click. Once all of the links are loaded and approved, those articles will start feeding out to the various webpages.
After a week, take a look at which articles are performing the best. Most people just take a look at the click-throughs, but I also encourage you to look at the back end and see what those people do once they get to your site. If one headline has received 100 click-throughs, but the people who clicked from that headline don’t click through to other pages on your site, then it may not be your top performer. Your top performing headline is the one where the most people click through and stay to read more of your content. If they click through to your books page or click one of the buy links, even better. Once you identify the top performers, I recommend pausing the rest of the campaigns and diverting all your funds there.
A few words on pay-per-click advertising: There are a lot of options out there, but content marketing has proved to be far more effective. We have grown increasingly immune to advertising and we tune so much of it out. On the flip side, we’re reading more and more content online and are very susceptible to click-bait. How many times have you seen something on Twitter or Facebook, or at the bottom of the Huffington Post article you just finished reading, and clicked on it out of curiosity? Users may ignore your ads, but they’ll click on your shared content, and if that content is on-brand and your website is user-friendly, chances are, they’ll read much more once they get there.
One of the most fun and rewarding aspects of my job is the opportunity to think outside the box and come up with creative ways to market our authors. Many times, this includes getting involved with other businesses or community organizations.
By definition, partnerships are mutually beneficial. It’s not just one person helping another. The key to getting corporations or community organizations to team up is to emphasize how the initiative will help them, not you.
When we started plans for Running with the Devil (the first book I worked on), we discussed doing a book trailer. As we addressed in the “Social Media” chapter, these previews for the book are expensive, difficult to distribute, and generally aren’t worth the return on investment. But we decided that if we could find a way for a company to sponsor the trailer and promote it through their channels, then it would be worth the time and money to execute it. Since the main character is an ultramarathon runner, our first stop was running shoe and apparel companies. After reaching out to the big guns (Nike, New Balance, etc.) we successfully connected with Sugoi, a smaller, but popular, fitness apparel company.
The pitch didn’t include all the ways we needed their help. Instead, I focused on Jamie’s brand and how aligning their company with her would help them in the long run. A runner herself, Jamie would be connecting with other runners to promote her book, and the Sugoi connection would increase their brand awareness. We also offered a box of books that the reps could give as gifts to their biggest accounts—a nice gesture of appreciation on their part as well as a way to build buzz for the book. Once they saw how we would help them, they were more willing to help us. In the end, they sponsored the trailer, posted it on their corporate site, and reviewed the book on their blog. All of these initiatives cost them very little, and both parties benefited from the increased exposure and opportunity to reach a new audience.
With every author, we try to think of companies or organizations who may benefit and be open to partnering for cross promotions. We’ve managed to secure successful partnerships with Blick Art Supplies, Lurie Children’s Hospital, CheapOAir, and others. The first step, as always, is to think of your target audience. Then, think about the hooks in your book that align with companies, products, or organizations that reach your target audience. One of our authors wrote a book called The Dog Park, so we partnered with area pet stores for events and hosted a table at a PAWS run. Dog lovers tend to enjoy reading books featuring dogs, so these events reached our target audience. If your book is about landing your first job, consider teaming up with area colleges or recruiting agencies. If your protagonist has some sort of disability or has recovered from an illness, seek out nonprofits that benefit people with those disabilities or illnesses. As long as there is a clear hook and the opportunity to reach your target audience, it’s worth a shot.
While it’s always worth trying the bigger companies, I wouldn’t hold your breath. I’ve had numerous conference calls with companies like Apple or Bloomingdale’s trying to secure a partnership, and while they never led to anything, it was worth trying and at least we made the connection. Oftentimes, the smaller companies and start-ups are more open to experimenting with fresh ideas, and there are fewer hoops to jump through. When you create your list of companies and organizations to contact, I recommend pulling together a mix of large, medium, and small. The large companies may take more time and energy to get through to, but if they get on board, it’s well worth it.
I’ve touched on advertising a bit throughout the book in the context of social media and online platforms, but since it’s a part of so many promotional campaigns, I feel it demands its own section.
Many authors and publishers choose to focus more on advertising than media coverage, and in some ways, I understand why. Unlike media, which is never a sure thing, advertising is pay-to-play. If you pay for the placement, you get it. It’s a guarantee. But unlike media coverage, where readers actually read the articles and absorb the information, advertising is often tuned out, an image or graphic given only a second of attention. People need to see or hear something multiple times before it sticks in their memory, and while I believe it only takes three or four media placements to do the trick, advertising alone requires 7–10 impressions before it sticks.
There are many different types of advertisements:
All of these are clearly defined as advertisements. You write the script or create the graphic and the message, and it’s clear to the consumer that it’s a sales tool. A compelling, well-placed ad can make an impression, but since you have to make so many impressions for someone to remember the product, these ads often aren’t worth the return on investment. Furthermore, if an ad campaign isn’t also complemented by a nationwide publicity campaign, then the rate of people who see your ad and actually buy your book goes way down.
Another type of advertisement is called an advertorial. This is a blend of advertising and editorial where a company or individual pays for editorial coverage. It’s written by someone on staff, using the same editorial format as the rest of the publication. Advertorials can be in magazines and newsletters, and even television shows are doing paid spots. Unlike traditional advertisements that people quickly identify as advertisements, advertorials are often mistaken for editorial coverage, which makes a longer lasting impression. You have to look closely and read the fine print to see that it’s paid placement, and most people don’t take the time to do that.
There is no substitution for media coverage when it comes to making an impression, but if you’re unable to secure that coverage, advertorials can be the next best thing. Those worth doing aren’t necessarily cheap, but if you have the budget and want to dedicate a portion of it to advertising, I’d spend money on this over a similar-priced display ad.
I could spend an entire book evaluating various forms of advertising and identifying which ones are worth it and why, but that’s not the focus of this book. Our focus is on building your author brand. While advertising can be a great complement to your other initiatives, advertising alone doesn’t build a brand. Think about your other publicity and marketing initiatives and consider ways you can reach that audience again through forms of advertising. If you’re executing a YouTube campaign, then securing some pay-per-click advertising with YouTube and other social media channels could tip the scales in your favor. If you’re targeting women’s magazines and have a bigger budget, then an advertorial with PureWow or another women’s lifestyle publication could make a difference. Advertising should serve you by making additional impressions, not the only one.
In recent years, one of the most effective ways to build an audience for an established author is to play around with prices of e-books. All successful self-published authors will tell you that pricing plays a key role in the success of the book. If you’re a debut author with a traditional publisher, e-book pricing strategies may not have the same effect. But if you’re self-publishing or have multiple books out with a traditional publisher, pricing is an important factor to consider when it comes to attracting new readers.
For those of you with an extensive backlist, I recommend graduated e-book pricing. Let’s say you have a series of five books: I recommend placing the first one as free. Readers are risk averse, but if you write quality books and a compelling series, you will hook readers from Book One. The next two in the series should be listed at $3.99. This is slightly higher than “sale price” e-books, but still cheap enough that readers won’t think too much about purchasing them. Book Four should be listed at $4.99 and book five at $5.99. By the time readers are on the fourth and fifth books, they’ve committed to the series and won’t mind paying the higher prices for the most current books.
Nonfiction is a bit different. Even if you’ve written multiple books, they’re usually not a part of a series, and if they are, readers don’t devour a series of nonfiction books in the same way. Because there are so many different genres and subgenres of nonfiction, I recommend doing market research to see how things are priced. Keep in mind the length of the book and whether it is self- or traditionally published. Shorter books are often priced lower, traditionally published books are usually priced higher, etc. Look at the books similar in subject, length, and type of publisher, and place your book somewhere in the middle. If books in your category range from $3.99–$12.99, then I recommend pricing around $5.99.
If you’re with a traditional publisher, you have limited control over pricing. It can be frustrating for many authors to have a $12.99 e-book that simply won’t sell. Most publishers won’t budge on the list price of an e-book, but they may be open to running a sale or discount promotion to build an audience for your frontlist. Some examples include:
Discounted Preorder Price: When you preorder a print book from an online retailer, it’s usually discounted from the normal retail price, so why wouldn’t it be the same for e-books? Some publishers have become more open to down-pricing the e-book while it’s available for preorder, then raising the price on the pub date. If the e-book is normally $11.99, but preordering will only cost $7.99, it incentivizes readers to order early and boost numbers the week the book goes on sale.
Discounting Backlist Titles: If your publisher isn’t open to negotiating the retail price of your e-books, they may be open to discounting one or two of them for a limited time. If you write a series and you have a new one coming out, then I recommend discounting Book One in the series a couple months before. This will attract new readers and get them hooked on the series before the latest installment is available. If your books normally retail at $9.99 or higher, then I recommend discounting the first one to $2.99. If your books retail for less, then push for $0.99. Again, you’ll have less say with a traditional publisher, but it never hurts to ask.
Bundle Discount: In our instant-gratification culture, many readers like to read multiple books in the series or all three books in a trilogy at one time. This mirrors the trend in binge-watching an entire television show season (or series) all at once instead of in weekly episodes. Rather than reading one book a year when they come out, some would rather wait and read all the installments at once. To attract these readers, many publishers will sell a collection of e-books and price it less than buying each individually. Not only does this allow you to move more books at one time, it also gives you a new product to sell without writing anything new.
Reducing the price of your e-book isn’t enough to attract new readers. You have to let those readers know that your book is on sale. You can (and should) promote the sale price through social media, but you’re just reaching your current readers, not new ones. Fortunately, the rise of e-books also brought about a rise in different ways people find out about new and sale-priced e-books.
The primary way readers find out about sale-price e-books is through newsletter subscriptions. These newsletters include BookBub, Book Gorilla, and Riffle Select. There are probably more, but these are the ones we have the most experience with and have found to be effective. They all work the same way: you pay to have your discounted e-book included in their daily e-blast and on their website. The cost varies depending on the newsletter, and the cost is directly related to the number of subscribers.
BookBub is by far the most expensive, ranging from $55 for the smaller lists (Parenting, Dark Erotica) all the way up to $2,300 for the various mystery lists. However, they have, by far, the largest reach. Their top mystery list reaches over 3 million readers, and even their smaller lists reach hundreds of thousands. Because they have the largest reach, BookBub can also be the most competitive, depending on which list you’re submitting for. For every book that gets accepted for a promotion, there are dozens more that don’t make the cut. Having a decent sales record and lots of positive reviews, along with submitting to the appropriate list, will better your chances of being selected.
Riffle has a smaller subscriber list, around 100,000 depending on the list, and therefore doesn’t have the same impact. However the cost is only $25–$100 depending on the genre, so even if it makes a small impact, it can be worth the return on investment. Book Gorilla falls in the middle, both in terms of subscribers and costs.
There are also numerous websites and blogs that post e-book discounts. Most of these sites don’t charge to be listed, but since it’s editorial, they won’t list every book that’s submitted. However, it’s free to submit, so it’s worth a shot!
The last, and sometimes most effective, way to market e-book discounts is through the online retailers. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, and Kobo all have a vested interest in promoting discounted e-books since they benefit from the uptick in sales just as much as you do. Most of the retailer promotions—Kindle Daily Deal, B&N Free Friday, etc.—are secured by traditional publishers and are highly coveted since they make such an impact. If you’re with a traditional publisher, I recommend asking if they will be putting you up for any of these promotions. If you’re self-published, it can be more difficult, but not impossible. Since it’s based on how well the retailer thinks your book will sell, having a strong sales record and many positive reviews will help tip the scales. There are also a few distribution companies made specifically for self-published authors that work with the retailers to secure these types of placements. As your distributor, they’d receive a cut of every sale, paying a cut of something is better than receiving all of nothing.
When it comes to getting the most out of your sale-price e-book, more is more. Don’t just go for one e-book newsletter—submit to all. Promote the sale on social media and submit the deal to the retailers for special promotions. The more you can get the word out about the book, the better the book will sell and continue to sell, even after it returns to its normal retail price.
This is only a small sampling of the marketing tools available to authors, but they’re a great place to start. Are you considering one that isn’t included here? I’m a strong believer in trying new things, as long as those things reach your target audience and aren’t so cost prohibitive that you could never really earn a return on your investment. Experiment with new things and get creative, but make sure to do your research first and always evaluate your end results.
[16] “Internet Users,” Internet Live Stats, http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/.
[17] Boomerang, Nov 12, 2015. Boomerang for Gmail Webinar Recording. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwv4cue9c5k&feature=youtu.be.