It’s
late October 2011, and my book just went live on Amazon. I wrote a book. It bears
repeating…I wrote a book. So now I had to let people know about it! My goal
that day (I think it was 10/27/11) was to try and get as many people that I
knew to buy the book - that day - so that it would debut with a high ranking on
Amazon. In my humble opinion (I hate texty acronyms), that Amazon is king, and
a books ranking, reviews, and presence on that site is the key to success. I
will blog more about the specifics on that another day. But on October 27th, my
goal was to come out with a bang. That morning I sent an email to all of my
friends, and basically anyone whose email was stored in my computer over the
last five years. Here is the email I sent:
Subject:
My
book is on Amazon!
Email:
Yes,
I wrote a book! It's titled, One Pink Line...and so begins my Shameless
Self Promotion Tour (SSPT)!
As
some of my favorite people (and those most inclined/willing/obligated to buy,
read, and positively review my book!) I have a huge favor to ask. If you plan
on buying One Pink Line through Amazon, please do so TODAY!
Why
is she being so bossy you ask? Because my goal is to try and boost my Amazon
rating, and one of the factors are purchases per day. Let me also follow that
request with...please don't feel obligated! I swear I will never really
know/care if you bought it, so you can simply tell me you enjoyed it and I'll
gladly believe you.
And
if you don't buy it today...any other day is entirely acceptable. The link is
below, and please forward this to any of your fabulous
friends/family/enemies/book clubs who might be interested. Did I mention
SHAMELESS!?
Thank
you!!!!!!!!!!
-D
Okay,
so I came across like a bit of a spaz, but most of these people know me pretty
well, so it wasn’t entirely intrusive. I’m not sure of exactly how many people
I sent that email to, but it worked!
Yup,
there’s OPL in all her hot pink glory at #4 right under James Patterson and John
Grisham. It bears repeating…James Patterson and John Grisham! I was astounded,
and this was the paperback version, my Kindle copy hadn’t even been available
that that point. I sold 106 books on that day alone (gives you some insight
into what Grisham/Patterson are doing pretty much every day), and that was
enough to allow me to debut at #4 in Contemporary Fiction. Now, let’s not be
fooled, it stayed in the top 20 for a few days, and then moved quickly down
into the thousands. But that’s the paperback book, and no one cares so much
about that one. It’s the kindle copy that is the true measure of success.
Prior
to the kindle version of OPL becoming available, I did extensive research on ebook pricing, and would encourage anyone
else to do the same. Ultimately, you should do what you think is best for you,
but there are so many great articles out there on this critical topic. Here is
one in Huff Post by fabulous author Melissa Foster.
Many
indie authors like myself were offering their ebooks for $.99 or FREE. I simply
could not bring myself to do that, so I chose another popular indie price
point, $2.99. I have seen $2.99 referred to as “the new $.99” but the royalty
difference is significant. If you price your book at $.99, Amazon will give you
a 35% royalty rate, and you will make $.35 per sale. Whereas, if you bump your
book price to $2.99, Amazon will give you a 70% royalty rate, and you will make
$2.09 per sale. To me, that is a significant difference, and yet I don’t think
that $2.99 is a significant price for a reader to pay for a good book. In fact,
I think it’s an amazing opportunity for readers to discover new authors with
very little investment.
So
I priced my ebook and uploaded it to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and
Smashwords. And there it was, uploaded and ready for sale, now all I had to do
was sit and wait, and surely people would just find it and buy it. Right? Eh,
not so much.
In
my opinion, Amazon is the key to success. It’s as simple as that, and I knew
that going in. And as much as friends and family helped boost my initial debut,
they would never be the key to my long-term success. Again, I did extensive
research on what other successful self-pubbed authors had to say, and I learned
early on that I needed to ingratiate myself to Amazon. If you are a writer
considering self-publishing, some of the absolute BEST articles on the topic can
be found on Joe Konrath’s blog. He has so much fantastic information, I suggest you set aside a day or
two and read as much as you can.
In
order for my ranking, and overall presence, on Amazon to improve, I needed
sales for my book. And in order to get sales from strangers, I would need some
good reviews. Let me just say, when it comes to reviews, I’m completely
shameless in asking for them. If someone contacts me and says they
enjoyed my book - I ask them to leave a review on Amazon. I was
actually surprised by how many people I begged asked, who had no idea they had the
option of writing a review on Amazon. These same people had all admitted to
reading reviews of other books, but had never attempted to leave one
themselves. So if you’re an author, and wondering why people aren’t’ leaving
reviews, I would suggest asking them to do so. Reviews are a critical factor,
along with sales and magic dust, which contribute to boosting a books ranking
on Amazon. Therefore, I will continue to pester people about reviewing my
books…assuming they enjoyed them.
My
next post will focus on sales numbers. I’m not really one to chat about how
many copies I’ve sold, but I always appreciate when other authors share their sales
numbers because it gives/gave me hope. Please ‘join this site’ on the right so
I can look popular and important.
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