Marketing Tips for Kindle and Print-on-Demand Paperbacks
by Aysha Griffin
Five essential marketing strategies that take place before the book is even on the market
1. Write a good book! There is no substitute for a quality idea/story, well researched, clearly and elegantly written, and throughly edited and proofread.
2. Title: Choose a title that’s catchy and easy to remember. But before you commit to what seems a brilliant idea to you, there are two remarkable and free resources you MUST employ if you want your book to stand a chance at high rankings on Amazon and Kindle: use Google’s keyword Tool to identify popular phrases, and then use the Amazon search function to see similar titles, and how well they are ranking.
Google gives you insight into most-searched phrases, based on what you type in. Then take those popular phrases, which might make a good title for your book ,and do an Amazon search. The titles that drop-down, before you click on the page, are the most-searched. This does not necessarily mean those are high-ranking books. Click on the various pages and see what’s there. Go to individual books and look at their rankings (far down the page). You are looking for the best sellers with a similar title, then craft yours to compete. Ideally, your title should tell the reader exactly what the book is about; who it’s for, and what they will get from it. Obviously, this applies non-ficton. Use subtitles to further explain the benefits of the book and employ keywords.
3. Categories: While at Amazon, note the categories of the top-sellers with similar titles. You will get to choose a main and two subcategories when uploading your POD or Kindle book. You may want to choose a subcategory with less competition. You can always change this later, but always wait a few weeks to see how your book ranks before changing categories.
4. Price: Experiment. Noone knows what the “sweet spot” is for selling your book. You can always change a price, but easier to go down than up. Setting the price for a paperback e-book. A low price can make a huge difference in enticing readers. But consider your royalties and discounts for print books, and keep in mind that Kindle offers 70% royalty if your book is priced $2.99-$9.00; otherwise you receive only 35% of the price. Some authors believe pricing at 99¢ will “make it up in volume” and expose them to new readers. It’s a strategic call. Beware of “KP Select” program, which puts you in a pool of books with a split payout – this can work well if you can sell a decent volume during your participation in the program (minimum 90 days), but it requires you to not offer your eBook in any other markets during that time. Also, carefully consider offering your book for free, as free often equates in the minds of readers to “no value.”
4. Description: Short, sweet and to the point. What type of book are you selling and why should the reader want to read it? Hopefully, the description has a great teaser.
5. Cover: Make the cover as professional as possible. Just like the title, the cover should convey the genre of the book. For ideas, look at traditionally published books similar to your own.
Marketing for Kindle eBooks
Marketing online is the surest, easiest way to connect with readers.
The message boards on Amazon.com have two forums for Kindle readers: the Kindle Community and the Kindle Book Community. Both have threads set up for indie authors to promote their books. Another message board, www.kindleboards.com, has a similar set-up in a section called “The Book Bazaar.” When posting you have an opportunity to develop an online persona. Make it a good one. Don’t badmouth anyone or anything, and be thankful to people who buy your books.
Have friends who honestly like your book leave positive reviews on Amazon, to get the ball rolling. You don’t needs hundreds or dozen of reviews. Six intelligent, well-written reviews, with the positives and negatives – too many over-the-top raving reviews are a bit suspect.
Leave comments on blogs with a lot of traffic and join the conversation, but also identify yourself as a Kindle author. This works particularly well if you’re responding to a blog post about publishing, eBooks, or Amazon. You can leave relevant comments on the websites of major newspapers in other countries, the Washington Post, and The Huffington Post, etc. eBooks are in the news a lot now – timing is everything, and this is an opportunity that might not be around in the future.
Once your rankings improve, the internal Amazon system helps by positioning your books under people’s preferences and under “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought.”
Marketing for Paperbacks
Network online: Facebook (personal and business page), your website, blog, Twitter, LinkedIn… but whatever you choose to do, do it consistently.
Participate on message boards, not necessarily to plug your book outright, but to be part of the community. Make sure your book title and link is part of your signature line.
Make your book title and link part of your email signature for all correspondence.
Contact local bookstores and coffee shops to see if they will sell your book, either through a distributor or on consignment.
Arrange for appearances at schools, book clubs, civic groups etc. Initially offer to speak for free and arrange to sell your book as part of the event.
Donate books to libraries, for credibility and just to get your name out. Also, offer to send copies of books to book bloggers for review.
Send press releases to local media (TV, Radio, Newspapers, and Magazines) in the hope you and your book will be profiled/ interviewed. It’s helpful to have a hook – is the setting of the book local, about a timely event or hot topic? The media is sometimes reluctant to devote space to self-published books. If they feature you, it’s more likely to be from the standpoint of the story behind the story, or because of your expertise.
Order postcards or bookmarks from Gotprint.com or Vistaprint.com.
