Don't you think? Well, thanks to Amazon's free promotions, for the next 48 hours Laryn Rising will be blessedly visible as a free book on Amazon. I really don't know how readers find books on promotion. It's like this big, magical mystery that completely evades me. If I were to go on Amazon right now and try to find my book listed as free-for-today, I would be lucky to find it.
Yet there are all these Amazon wizards out there who will not only find it, but download it. And they'll do it at all hours of the day and night. It's crazy, they're crazy, and I love them.
I've had a lot of people ask me lately about marketing my book, and how my sales are going. When I tell them that I'm getting ready to run another free promotion on Laryn Rising they always look at me a little funny and say, "Free? Why would you want to give it away for free? What can you possibly get out of that?"
I can totally understand why someone would ask this question - especially when you tell them that you hope to give away not just a few books, or a few hundred books, but a few thousand books. Seriously, the more the merrier! And the reason? Because out of every 500 people who download my book for free, about 450 of them will put it in their kindle archives with all the other (hundreds) of books they regularly download for free (because remember, these people are the Free Book Wizards who do this all the time) and hopefully they'll get to my book someday. Statistically speaking, only about twenty of them will actually buy it and read it right away, and should all twenty of those wonderful people recommend it to five people (even if they tell them that it is the most amazing and life-changing book they have ever read), only a few will actually remember the name of the book once the conversation is over - and even fewer will take the time to find it and buy it while the recommendation is fresh in their head.
If you do the math you'll quickly realize that you have to give away a LOT of books to get any sort of immediate return in your sales. I think most of us know that generally we read a book because someone we know read it and recommended it to us. Even if you hear about a book that sounds interesting, aren't you way more likely to buy it if one of your friends says, "Yeah, I read that book and it was amazing!"? So if you consider the fact that virtually NO ONE will ever hear about my book unless they stumble onto it through a random amazon search or hear about it from a friend who read it, my future sales depend on these free promotions - and on the people who read my book and pass it on.
So yes, it is with great relish and anticipation that I offer my book - FOR FREE - to the world for the next 48 hours. So if you know anyone who got a new Kindle or Ipad for Christmas (I'm not on the Nook at the moment) then by all means tell them to get my book while it's free! Then tell them that if they're super awesome they'll read it (starting tomorrow), review it (probably the next day, because obviously they won't be able to put it down), and share it with everyone they see for the next week. (Or month.)
Oh, and if you want to read my first author interview, check it out here on my sister's hilarious blog (but be warned, it can be rather addicting once found - particularly if you enjoy comic realism) and find out all sorts of things you'll never learn about my book anywhere else (because only my sister would ask those questions).
Friday, December 27, 2013
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Consider Me Reformed!
For pretty much my whole life (as in up to this minute) I have been a happy-go-lucky reader of books. I read a book, and if I love it I probably tell my friends to read it - if I remember - but other than that I simply move on and find another book. Happily. Completely oblivious to the plight of the poor author who is desperately hoping that I will do something to promote the book that I loved so much.
It's true. Until I became the desperate author, I never really thought about the fact that reviewing a book on amazon, pinning a book on pinterest, sharing it on facebook, emailing a link to my friends, or even simply being a member of goodreads might actually help promote a book that deserves promotion. Now, however, now I get it. Big time. Basically, because my book is not in bookstores (yet), not sitting around on someone's coffee table or even on their bookshelf (because there is no paperback available - yet), unless someone happens to put in one of the searches on amazon that brings my book up, they will never know it exists.
Therefore, they will never be able to buy it. Even if they would want to should they have come across it.
Isn't that tragic? And so incredibly fatalistic! Gah! It practically gives me hives just thinking about how hard it is to get my book out there. Seriously. And so, I am now going to make a public vow that from this moment forward I will pay more attention. If I read a book that I love, I will check the reviews - and if there aren't more than 200, I will write one. I will then check the publisher, and if it is an indie book I will pin it, share it (somewhere), and add it to my shelf on Goodreads.
And while I'm on the subject, I would like to thank all those (especially all those who don't know me personally) who have done any of these things for my book! It is so exciting to find it pinned, or shared, or to have someone tell me that they read it because a friend sent them an email with the link and a big fat recommendation. These things almost always lead to someone else somewhere finding my book, and that has to happen if it is ever going to get anywhere.
(Or if I'm ever going to be able to buy my husband the truck that I promised him. The same future/imaginary truck that made him suddenly much-more-supportive-of-his-author-wife's-authoring, if you get my drift.)
Basically, what I'm saying is that without awesome people willing to help promote my book, there may not be anymore of them. (Let's face it, my husband is an awesome guy, but he only has so much patience.) So thank you again to anyone who has done anything to spread the word about Laryn Rising. I will be forever indebted.
It's true. Until I became the desperate author, I never really thought about the fact that reviewing a book on amazon, pinning a book on pinterest, sharing it on facebook, emailing a link to my friends, or even simply being a member of goodreads might actually help promote a book that deserves promotion. Now, however, now I get it. Big time. Basically, because my book is not in bookstores (yet), not sitting around on someone's coffee table or even on their bookshelf (because there is no paperback available - yet), unless someone happens to put in one of the searches on amazon that brings my book up, they will never know it exists.
Therefore, they will never be able to buy it. Even if they would want to should they have come across it.
Isn't that tragic? And so incredibly fatalistic! Gah! It practically gives me hives just thinking about how hard it is to get my book out there. Seriously. And so, I am now going to make a public vow that from this moment forward I will pay more attention. If I read a book that I love, I will check the reviews - and if there aren't more than 200, I will write one. I will then check the publisher, and if it is an indie book I will pin it, share it (somewhere), and add it to my shelf on Goodreads.
And while I'm on the subject, I would like to thank all those (especially all those who don't know me personally) who have done any of these things for my book! It is so exciting to find it pinned, or shared, or to have someone tell me that they read it because a friend sent them an email with the link and a big fat recommendation. These things almost always lead to someone else somewhere finding my book, and that has to happen if it is ever going to get anywhere.
(Or if I'm ever going to be able to buy my husband the truck that I promised him. The same future/imaginary truck that made him suddenly much-more-supportive-of-his-author-wife's-authoring, if you get my drift.)
Basically, what I'm saying is that without awesome people willing to help promote my book, there may not be anymore of them. (Let's face it, my husband is an awesome guy, but he only has so much patience.) So thank you again to anyone who has done anything to spread the word about Laryn Rising. I will be forever indebted.
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