The Complete Guide to Selling Books
Okay, not complete, but some thoughts anyhow...
I get asked, way more frequently than I used to, hey Craig, as an independent author, how do you sell all those books? For starters… all is not that many. But I have been really pleased that the last year or two has shown a steady increase. No, I don’t sell books everyday. But I do sell them every month. And then there are the KENP page reads… some months better than others.
Anyhoodle. I thought I’d jot down a few of my experiences, in the hopes that it may give others some ideas, or warnings, at least.
Also warning… this is all top of mind stuff. If you have questions, put them in the comments below. Or look for me over on the twitter-box (or recently the blue sky thing.)
Oh, and I’m not going to put up a bunch of links. I figure we can all google as needed. But again, ask me if you can’t find a site.
Freebies
Good lord, people like free stuff. My first self-pubbed novel, Correction Line was my first experimentation with giving away free copies. This was quite a while back, like more than a decade. I ran some free promotions through Amazon, and advertised it maybe on twitter (early days), and maybe one website/newsletter that I can’t even recall the name. It was a while ago, so it’s foggy. But I do know that I gave away at least 5000 e-books of that novel. Did it produce more sales, or at least lots of reviews? No, not really. I’m guessing a lot of people never even read it. More on that later.
Freebies with Benefits
Not sure what else to call this. But I learned from a UK writer friend of mine that if I coordinate an Amazon (KDP) free promo with a newsletter with a good subscription base, then cool things happened. I’ve tried out Many Books, Fussy Librarian, and Booksy/Written Word. For each of them you have to pay a fee to appear on their newsletter which is sent to subscribers—the numbers are wild. I think FL has 300k. Prices range around $75-$150 for that one day hit. Many Books was cheaper, Booksy was more money. FL has been the most successful for me.
The coordination is what paid off. I mentioned I gave away 5k+ copies of Correction Line, but it was scattershot. In a FL campaign, I gave away a few thousand books in 2 days, and then there was a sales bump after, and more reviews and ratings. But still, you’d think you get hundreds of reviews… but the truth is, many people get these books and never read them. They just like free. Which is fine.
The other bonus is your book goes up the Amazon rankings - a couple of mine hit number one, and stayed in the top 20 for quite some time. (Though, after the promo be prepared for them to drop like a stone.)
And yet another bonus is when the book climbs the rankings other websites start to mention it, and that’s when the giveaways really start churning.
Small Marketers
I call these folks small marketers, because they don’t cost much, but they don’t really create much either. I’ve pulled the trigger on a few to try them out. Sometimes they kick out a review, maybe a sale or two, but not much. They cost around $25-$50. You get some instagram, facebook, and twitter posts out of them. Sometimes a review.
I’m getting more and more of these all the time. 90% I ignore, unless I’m bored, and feel like doing something.
Big Bucks Folks
Okay, I have laid down some big cash a couple of times—notably with the last Luke Fischer book, Three Minute Hero. I researched a few of the bigger sites, and after a lot of back and forth, put some fairly serious (for me) dough down. I won’t name the site here, because I did actually like what they offered and delivered. Also, they won’t promote everyone, there is a screening, and they have to deem you “worthy.” When they said yes, and I said yes, it came close to two grand when it was all added up.
It was exciting in the beginning. A one-day sale record was 46 books. Wow. But only that one day.
And I have still not made that two grand back. But if anything, the exposure might have added to my reputation/pedigree. Someone recently said I was a leading voice in the independent author movement… I’m not. But it was nice to be thought of that way.
What did I learn here? Some big carrots can get dangled, but it doesn’t mean they will work. Book Bub is an example of a place that is quite costly, and I’ve heard that in the early days they produced a lot of sales for authors. I mention them because I’ve never used them. And recently, I’ve heard they are not doing as well (for authors I mean).
Medium Buck Folks
I’ve also given some money for promotion at wonderful sites like Crime Fiction Lover and the Thrilling Detective Website. I say wonderful because the editors who run those sites are lovely people, and the cost was worth every damn penny. I recall spending less than $100 for each. Both of these places, and others like them, have lots of visitors to their sites. I can’t track how sales were directly impacted from appearing on these sites, but I did see bumps. And once again, reputation.
Blogs, Podcasts, and Stuff
I’ve done guest interviews on some blogs, and a few podcasts. Again, very difficult to track any sales, but it increased the visibility of my books. Usually these are all free—though, you can go on blog tours for a cost (people try to sell me them all the time). I’ve never pulled the trigger on a blog tour, as I’ve heard they are not that effective.
I love doing podcasts, I like to think I’m a decent guest. There was one with a huge following that I “almost” got on. I believe it would have made an impact, but the host sort of drifted off. Still, if you can get on a podcast, do that!
Twitter, the book, the gram, and the Tik of Tok
This probably needs a post on its own. Twitter (no, fuck off, I’m not calling it the other thing) has been my number one place for finding readers. I’ve experimented with the others— and found that some algorithms are better than others. All of them like money. For example, Tik Tok views went from 200 to 6000, when a $50 promotion on a post was done. Book sales out of that? Doubtful. Same for fbook and the gram.
Amazon Ads
Don’t work. At least not for me. And I took a course and everything.
Maybe they work for some, but unless you are a full-time stats person, willing to monitor and maintain numerous ads and keywords in a strategy more complicated than GrandMaster level chess… forget it.
(Side rant: some of the people that these ads have worked for put out books faster than Keeblers put out cookies. And um, not very good ones.)
What have I really learned?
This post is somewhat scattershot, but oh well. I wanted to just put up some of my experiences on spending marketing bucks.
Moreover, I have learned what people like, and what is most important to readers:
1. Write a good book.
- duh. But the thing is, it takes time to find readers. And if you are more interested in cranking stuff out so you have volume, then it’s unlikely you are going to find a lot of readers. Still, I could be wrong here. I see absolute garbage books with more than 1000 ratings, and they keep pumping them out.
2. Write a series
- another duh. But this is the thing that changed things for me. When Luke Fischer was only one book (Surf City Acid Drop), it kind of limped along. But as soon as there was a 2nd book (and eventually a 3rd), everything changed. And I do mean everything. Readers do love a good series, and will wait for a new release, and gobble up the books in succession. This is what happened to me (or it’s my guess.)
3. Don’t write too slow
- like me. I wish I could put them out quicker, but I know they wouldn’t be as good. Still, I keep an eye on the calendar. And I don’t want people to wait too long for a new Luke book. It’s also one of the reasons I post on this platform—I want to let people know that more books are coming.
4. Play the long game
- it takes quite a while to build a readership. I feel like I’ve barely begun. But it has been incredibly rewarding. And for the most part (except for point 3), I’m okay with going at a slower pace.
Anyway… ask me questions. I’m happy to share.
My husband says that giving books for free is a losing proposition, because, I quote: things you get for free are not valued. After reading this post, I suspect he's right.