Who are the people who can help you sell more books?

I thought about this after an article source mentioned that his company had acquired a firm that specializes in connecting brands with “influencers” — influential social media personalities.

The companies or brands pay social media influencers to showcase their products to followers. They also advertise on influencer blogs and pay bloggers to write “sponsored” posts about the brand and its products or services, too.

There has to be transparency, of course — the FTC requires influencers to state that they’ve been paid to try and/or write about the brands.

Ethics obligate influencers to disclose their brand relationships, but so do their relationships with their followers. They know that fans count on them to provide information they can trust.

The author connection

What does this have to do with authors?

It illustrates how important key influencers are to good marketing. And good marketing is the difference between a good book that sells and a good book that doesn’t.

Plus, if the big consumer brands are connecting with their audience’s influencers in ways that help them sell more products, shouldn’t you be doing it, too?

The most important reason to identify your reader infuencers, though, is to solicit endorsements. It doesn’t cost you anything, and endorsements carry weight.

Reader influencers play a role with your audience

An influencer is someone who is both active online and respected and followed by your target audience.

“Key” refers to the influential people at the very top of your list. They’re the reader influencers who have the most clout and audience respect.

To find your key influencers, you have to be clear on your target audience. It’s essential that you know who is most likely to buy your book. (For more on that, read “The powerful and effective formula for more book sales.“)

When you know your target audience, you can figure out who they listen to and respect.

Fiction vs. nonfiction reader influencers

People who influence fiction readers are usually different from those who influence nonfiction readers.

Novelists, start with the most popular authors in your genre.

A historical romance author, for example, might include Diana Gabaldon and Beverly Jenkins on their list of key influencers.

A novelist’s list might also include BookTokers, BookTubers, genre bloggers, prolific genre readers, and any well-known genre publishing house editors.

Add lesser-known influencers in those categories, too. They are going to be more accessible than those at the top. (But I believe in starting at the top and working my way down.)

Nonfiction influencers are usually industry or topic experts and leaders.

A cookbook author’s target audience can be influenced by any high-profile food personalities, including TikTok chefs and popular Food Network show hosts.

Successful serial entrepreneurs and technology startup founders probably influence the audience for an entrepreneurship book.

How to find your reader influencers

The question for many authors is “How do I figure out who influences my readers?”

You might know the answer already without realizing it: Who influences you?

• If you write fiction, you’re probably influenced by certain novelists or recognize the names of up and comers. Start there.
• If you write nonfiction, who are the topic experts you’re following already?

Expand your search from there.

Tools to help you find influencers

Whether you have a list of influencers already or not, a handful of tools can help you expand your search.

Social media

Use hashtags on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter to find people posting about what you write about. Check follower counts and engagement. Who’s the most popular?

Google

Type what you you’re looking for into the search box; dig into the results.

LinkedIn and Facebook groups

Both social networks offer groups for a wide range of topics. Group founders, leaders, or administrators are often experts on the topic being discussed.

In addition, many group members are also influential experts.

Trade association officers and leaders

Trade and industry association officers and committee chairs — such as the board of directors of the Romance Writers of America — are usually widely respected in their fields.

Conference speakers

This is a great way to identify influencers on their way up. Study the speaker line-up for conferences you’d consider attending if you could.

Followerwonk

Follwerwonk is a multi-layered social media management tool. The free version lets you schedule content across multiple social media platforms.

But the power is in the paid version. Identify potential influencers with the profile search function, which lets you find people through bio keyword searches.

Subscribe for one month for $15 to get everything you need, then cancel. (Or, get hooked on Followerwonk’s analytics and stick around!)

What do you do with your reader influencer list?

Once you’ve created your influencer list, become known to the people on it. Get on their radar.

It’s a slow, subtle, process.

But it’s a simple and easy one:

• Follow them on social media.
• Share their content.
• Comment on their content.

When commenting, be sure to say something that adds to the conversation. There’s nothing wrong with “Nice post,” or “Good point,” but both are generic comments that won’t help you stand out.

And your goal is to stand out in a good way. When you stand out, you get noticed.

The big ask

When your key influencers know who you are, you can ask for their support.

Ask them to “blurb” your book. A blurb — testimonial or endorsement — from a key reader influencer tells readers that your book has been expert- and authority-tested and approved.

If you haven’t done this before and appreciate step-by-step instructions and templates, get my multi-media training program. “Blurbs, Endorsements, and Testimonials: How to Get Experts, Authorities, Celebrities, and Others to Endorse Your Book” has everything you need to know to reach the right people with the right message.

Alternatively, work toward the kind of word-of-mouth recommendation that can help sell books. Send your book with a personal note that suggests that their followers will be interested in it with a brief explanation of why.

If they oblige, be sure to extend the impact by resharing what they’ve posted with your followers.

Got a big marketing budget along with an audience that pays attention to social media influencers? Explore a paid relationship with a less-popular influencer who might be willing to talk up your book for a fee (and disclose that it’s a paid post, of course).

Don’t skip this step

Whether you ask anything of influencers or not, you need to be familiar with the most influential people in your niche, genre, or category. When you don’t…and that becomes clear…readers won’t have faith in your ability to meet their standards.

via GIPHY

You can’t give readers what they expect when you’re so out of touch that you don’t know who represents the best in your genre.

Make connections that are important to your career and build trust with your readers by identifying and connecting with key reader influencers. It’s easy…and it’s free.

Start thinking about your influencers today — now. Who is one of them? Tell us who it is and why in a comment below. 

Editor’s note: This article was first published in February 2017. It has been updated and expanded.)

3 Amazon secrets every author needs to know

By Rob Eagar

Amazon is more than a website. It’s become the most powerful book-selling machine ever invented. Consider these mind-blowing statistics:

• Amazon sells nearly 50 percent of all print books in the U.S.
• Amazon sells more than 70 percent of all e-books in the U.S.
• Amazon is the largest sales account for almost every publisher in the U.S.

If these facts don’t get your attention, allow me to make things very clear:

Amazon sells more books than anyone else.

If you want to sell more books, then you must

learn how to sell books on Amazon.

You may not be able to control Amazon’s dominance over the publishing industry. But, it’s possible to use Amazon’s power to your advantage if you use these three little-known secrets.

Secret 1: Amazon will help identify how to find your target audience.

Authors constantly wonder who their readers are. Unfortunately, Amazon doesn’t share customer contact information, so you never know who actually buys your books.

However, there is a secret way to identify your target audience.

Go to your book’s detail page on Amazon and look at the section called “Customers Also Bought…” This information reveals titles and authors that are similar to you and your book.

How is this data helpful? It explains where to direct your advertising efforts on Amazon, Facebook, and BookBub.

For instance, if you see “Author X” frequently displayed on your “Customers Also Bought” list, then you should advertise to people who like Author X.

Why? Because Amazon verified that people who like Author X also like your books. This information can help save a lot of time and money determining the best way to maximize your advertising budget.

Secret 2: You can grow your author email list using Amazon’s huge audience.

Amazon attracts more book readers than any other resource on the planet. Did you know you can convert those readers into email subscribers for free?

It’s possible when you use Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) service to set up a permanently free e-book that drives readers to your author email list. I call this free resource a “Bait Book,” because it serves as appealing “bait” that attracts new readers to you.

Here’s how it works:

• Create an e-book using KDP and offer it as a perma-free Kindle download.
• Add a special offer inside the book for more free content that gives readers a link to a landing page (a single-purpose web page) where you make the offer and collect emails.
• When they go to that landing page, they can join your email list to access the bonus content.

Once you set up your Bait Book, it will run nonstop on Amazon’s website to help build your email list while you write your next book.

The best part is that you can create everything for free. Plus, you can purchase inexpensive Amazon ads to help promote your Bait Book and make sure the right type of reader sees it.

Secret 3: You can change your book’s marketing copy at any time for free.

Language is the power of the book sale.

If your book’s marketing description looks bland on Amazon’s website, your sales will be stunted. But, if your marketing copy sizzles, your sales can skyrocket. It’s imperative, then, to make your book appear as enticing as possible to shoppers on Amazon.

While many authors believe that description is locked into place forever, they’re wrong.

Whether you’re a traditionally-published author who is disappointed with the marketing text your publisher used or you self-published with a company that set up your page, you have more control than you think.

Using this third secret, you can make important changes to your book’s marketing copy when you want to change your description or you receive a new endorsement, win an industry award, or hit a bestseller list.

Here’s that third secret: Amazon offers a hidden “back door” into its website that lets authors update their book’s marketing text whenever they desire.

All you have to do is set up a free Author Central Account. Once you’ve done that, you gain full control over your marketing text, editorial reviews, and author bio. This puts the power in your hands to make sure shoppers see the best version of your book on Amazon.

Want to learn more about selling more books on Amazon?

I hope you will take advantage of these three secrets to sell more books on Amazon. There are several other ways to increase your sales at the world’s largest retailer, too.

Please join Build Book Buzz’s Sandra Beckwith and me to learn more in a free webinar on Wednesday, May 6, 2020 at 2 pm ET (calculate for your time zone). This one-hour event will feature additional instruction, an opportunity to ask questions, and an inside look at my popular online training program, “Mastering Amazon for Authors.”

We’ll also offer a special money-saving discount code that’s exclusive to webinar attendees, and Sandra tells me she has a surprise in store, too.

Don’t miss this exclusive Amazon event. Register here today: https://www.startawildfire.com/webinar-registration

What do you want to learn about selling books on Amazon? Tell us in a comment! 

Tip of the Month

I like to share a “Tip of the Month,” a free resource or tool for authors, on the last Wednesday of the month.

This month it’s the free Amazon training webinar described above.

Join us on Wednesday, May 6, 2020, at 2 p.m. ET (calculate for your time zone) to learn:

• The difference between a good and bad Amazon book page
• Why self-publishing a book with Amazon makes sense
• The benefits of using Amazon ads to promote a book

Can’t attend live? Not a problem! We’ll send the replay link to everyone who registers.

Grab your spot now so you don’t miss out! Just click on this link: https://www.startawildfire.com/webinar-registration

Most authors feel a great sense of accomplishment when they hit “publish” on Amazon and make that labor of love available for purchase.

The smile that comes with that achievement quickly fades, though, when you discover that nobody is buying your book.

Once you take friends and family out of the mix, you’ve got no movement — no sales.

It’s discouraging. And it’s frustrating.

But it’s also typical, so know that you are not alone.

And know that you can turn that around if you work to avoid these three author mistakes.

Mistake 1: Asking other authors, “What are you doing to market your book that works?”

Why it’s a mistake: Each book has its own audience. If you write children’s books, your audience goes beyond the age range you’re writing for to adults who will buy your books for their children and grandchildren, as well as other adults who might purchase them as gifts. Those aren’t necessarily the same people who read science fiction.

Or memoirs.

Or are concerned about global warming.

Unless you’re asking authors who are writing for the audience you’re trying to reach, the answer to that question could be useless. Doing what they’re doing might very well be a waste of your time.

The fix: Be thoughtful and honest about who will love your book. (Pro tip: It’s not everyone.) Those people are your target audience — not mine or anyone else’s.

Then figure out where to reach them online and in the real world.

Yes, this takes effort. But nobody said marketing a book was easy.

Learn more about how this works in “The formula for more book sales.”

Mistake 2: Refusing to invest in your book’s quality.

Why it’s a mistake: Books sell by word of mouth. If your book isn’t exceptional, readers won’t recommend it.

Most authors need help to go from good to great. If you expect strangers to spend money on your book, you need:

• Excellent content.
• A compelling cover that’s appropriate for the genre.
• A plan for helping readers discover your book.

A professional editor will help most authors improve their manuscript; a professional cover designer will create a cover that appeals to your target audience.

Both come with a traditional publishing contract but when you self-publish, you have to find and pay for those professionals yourself.

Once you’ve got the best book possible, you need to let the right people know how it will transform their lives.

The fix: Ask successful authors to recommend a good cover designer, editor, and proofreader.

If you can’t afford to pay appropriately for decent help, you will want to manage your expectations about sales.

While the professionals are improving your manuscript and creating the ideal cover, you can start exploring your marketing options. My free Book Marketing Plan Template will walk you through the process.

Mistake 3: Not tracking your marketing activities and results.

Why it’s a mistake: You won’t know what works and what doesn’t if you aren’t linking tactics to outcomes. This is important because your goal is to do more of what works and less of what doesn’t.

If you’re making mistake number one — blindly following the lead of others — you’ll uncover that mistake if you’re watching what happens when you do something to promote your book.

Similarly, you’ll notice when you’re doing something right.

The fix: Try one new marketing tactic at a time, watch your Amazon ranking for changes, and record both the activity and results in an Excel file. Then watch for patterns.

For example, when I changed the keywords for my book’s Amazon listing, I sold more books immediately. I wouldn’t have seen that cause and effect if I wasn’t checking my sales.

Here’s what my tracking file looks like so you’ve got a starting point. Create an approach that works for you.

Find publishing success in 2018

Make 2018 the year you do what it takes to become a successful author. That starts with:

• Knowing who will love your book and learning how to reach those people with messages that will motivate them to buy, read, and recommend your book.
• Publishing the absolute best book possible — and accepting the outcome when you can’t do what it takes to meet conventional publishing standards.
• Doing more of what works to market your book and less of what doesn’t.

With some knowledge and effort, you can do it!

What’s your biggest book marketing challenge right now? Share it in a comment — maybe we can help. 

(Editor’s note: I highly recommend subscribing to BookBub’s Partners blog — use the email form in the upper right to get it delivered to your inbox.)

How to run a successful book preorder campaign

By Diana Urban

Making a book available for preorder can be a great way to build buzz and drive word-of-mouth sales for an upcoming release. It can also help you hit a bestseller list, since many retailers count preorder sales as release day sales.

But driving sales for a book that isn’t immediately available to read can be a challenging task. To help you brainstorm how to convince readers to buy early, we’ve put together a list of ideas for running a successful book preorder campaign. I hope these strategies implemented by fellow authors can give you some inspiration!

1. Run a BookBub Preorder Alert.

One of the easiest ways to let your fans know that you have a book up for preorder is to send a BookBub Preorder Alert. This is a dedicated email announcing your book’s availability, with retailer links to the preorder. Only your BookBub followers receive these emails, so they’re highly targeted and cost-effective (at only $0.02 per eligible follower). When Carrie Ann Ryan sent a Preorder Alert for Inked Expressions to her 12,000 followers (at a cost of $225), she sold about 350 copies and generated at least $1,200 in revenue.

2. Add a link to the preorder in an already-published book.

By linking to the preorder in the back of a previously published book, readers will be able to order the new book right after they finish reading, without having to remember to buy it later. For example, Erin McRae and Racheline Maltese linked to the preorder of Phoenix in the back matter of their previous two books:

3. Discount an older title and cross-promote the preorder.

Once you’ve updated the back matter of a previous book, discounting that book can help attract new readers and drive preorders. After Melissa F. Miller made Irrevocable Trust (a sixth-in-series book) available for preorder, she updated the back matter of her box set of the first three books in the series to include a link to the preorder. Then she ran a $0.99 BookBub Featured Deal on the box set, which went on to hit the USA Today bestseller list. This introduced tons of new readers to the series and boosted preorder sales. You can read more about Melissa’s preorder marketing strategy here.

4. Offer freebies for preordering.

Many authors offer giveaways to readers who preorder. This gives readers an extra incentive for preordering; they may need an additional nudge since they can’t get the instant gratification of reading the book right away. In these promotions, readers usually need to email a copy, screenshot, or picture of their receipt to receive whatever the author is giving away. This might include:

• Free swag packs: often includes books, bookmarks, personalized notes, or other swag
• Digital swag packs: often includes booklets with author commentary, exclusive short stories, or high-resolution posters
• Long excerpt: offer several chapters of a book before it’s released
• Deleted scenes: provide loyal fans with deleted scenes of a previous novel

For example, Tiffany Schmidt ran a preorder offer where she gave away swag packs with relevant items (including candy, a sticker, a signed bookmark, and a personalized note) to everyone who preordered Hold Me Like a Breath.

5. Build an author street team or fan club.

Many authors create a street team or fan club via a private Facebook group to garner reviews and word-of-mouth buzz. Fans who join often become advocates for the author in exchange for sneak peeks and exclusive content. These groups are a great place to announce that a preorder is available, like Megan Erickson did in her Facebook group Meg’s Mob:

6. Promote the preorder with the cover reveal.

If you can have a book available for preorder in time for its cover reveal, linking to a page where readers can preorder their copy in the cover reveal announcement can help you get early sales. J. Daniels included preorder links in her cover reveal post for Bad for You, linking directly to each retailer product page:

7. Run a BookBub Ads campaign.

BookBub Ads let you market any book — including preorders — at any time to BookBub’s millions of power readers. These ads appear at the bottom of BookBub’s daily emails, and many authors have promoted preorder books via this platform.

When CD Reiss wanted to let her fans know her new sequel (Separation Games) was available for preorder, she ran a BookBub Ads campaign promoting the preorder. She specifically targeted her own BookBub followers and ran the campaign during the four days prior to the book’s launch.

Here are just a few more examples of preorder campaigns on BookBub Ads:

8. Email your subscribers about the preorder.

Some authors send their subscribers an exclusive look at the first chapter of a book that’s available for preorder to get them excited and encourage them to buy. For example, Heather Sunseri sent an email to subscribers notifying them that Covered in Darkness was available for preorder. She included the first chapter in the email itself, a link to read the first seven chapters of the book, and retailer links so readers could preorder the book right away.

Here’s what the intro of this email looked like:

9. Update social media header images.

An author’s social media header image — such as on Twitter and Facebook — offer a great branding opportunity for preorder books. In Sandra Brown’s Twitter header image, she had a direct call-to-action to preorder her upcoming novel Seeing Red.

10. Give away ARCs to drive early reviews.

Some authors run fun giveaways on their blog or social media profiles to provide advance reader copies to their most loyal fans. This helps to drive early reviews for a book and build buzz online. For example, Julie James ran a giveaway for her book The Thing About Love on her Facebook page, and included preorder links in the description for people who wanted to order their copy right away.

Still have a question about a successful book preorder campaign? Ask it in a comment. 

Tip of the Month

I like to share a “Tip of the Month,” a free resource or tool for authors, on the last Wednesday of the month.

If you’re looking for an agent to represent your book to publishers, you’ll love this month’s tip. It’s AgentQuery.com, a free, searchable database of literary agents. The site also offers AgentQuery Connect, a free social networking site.

It can be one of the tools you use to connect with just the right agent for your book. As you might know, other options include referrals from author friends with representation, looking in the acknowledgements of books that are similar to yours, and searching through the Guide to Literary Agents 2018.

Happy hunting!

I brought that corporate approach to lifelong learning with me when I became self-employed. The world is changing quickly, so I invest in both in-person and virtual training and education. It helps me embrace what’s working today and ditch what worked five years ago, but isn’t relevant anymore.

I am, after all, running a business here. And if you want to sell books, you need to start running a business, too.

But this “authorship is a business” concept only applies if you want people to discover, read, and recommend your books. You might be someone who writes books as a hobby and isn’t interested in readers and sales.

Which one are you?

A hobbyist writes for the pure joy of writing. That author can’t imagine not writing. The process itself is the motivation — and it’s a good one!

While the author who wants to sell books might also love to write, she knows that there’s much, much more to book publishing than writing. It’s a business that covers book production, distribution, marketing, promotion, and publicity.

Of course, there are always expenses associated with running a business. And that brings me back to my first point about professional development. If you plan to self-publish, you have to learn how to manufacture a book. (I’ve counseled many authors who made costly mistakes because they didn’t learn about the process before they started.)

Know how to market your book

And no matter how you publish — self or traditional, e-book or printed book or both — you will need to know how to market your book. It’s not an “if you build it, they will come” business. Nobody can buy a book they’ve never heard of. To sell more books, you have to learn about marketing.

Get everything you need to know in the four modules of each of the two Book Marketing 101 courses — there’s one for fiction, another for nonfiction. Visit our course site for details, and start making a difference with your book marketing now.

What’s your best tip book publishing and marketing tip? Share it in a comment! 

Tip of the Month

I always share a “Tip of the Month,” a free resource or tool for authors, on the last Wednesday of the month.

Help a Reporter Out — HARO — is a free service that connects journalists with expert and other sources for interviews and information. It’s a great tool for authors interested in the free news media exposure known as publicity.

But it’s only useful to authors and journalists if the people responding to source requests — you — know how to respond appropriately and effectively.

And most don’t, as my own email inbox shows.

I recently used HARO as a journalist to find sources for a trade magazine article. One of the respondents, a publicist, provided a name and phone number for an individual, and nothing more. No explanation of who he was, or why he would be the perfect source for my assignment. Her message to me was useless (and a waste of her client’s money).

I don’t want you to  make the same mistake, so download my free “How to Respond to HARO Requests” cheat sheet. It tells you everything you need to know to snag that priceless interview that will help position you as an expert or authority.

In a recent online discussion, an author observed that when you write books on different topics, each with its own audience, it’s hard to build up a fan base.

She’s right.

She was referring to nonfiction, but many novelists have this problem, too. They write books in multiple genres and have to start from scratch with the marketing when they move into a new category. For example, they might write a science fiction book, then shift to poetry before moving on to steampunk.

This is a common situation. These writers follow their muse or interests. They’re not interested in focusing on one topic, genre, or audience. They write what they want to write about.

Fair enough.

But they’re often the people who complain the loudest that their book sales aren’t what they think they should be.

I’ve got a two-step solution for them.

Step 1: Sell more books by going pro

Write an excellent book and package it so that it looks like it’s traditionally published. 

If you’re still designing your own covers and not hiring an editor and a proofreader, I’ve got no sympathy for ya.

We do judge books by their covers. Yours has to look great. In addition, the book must read well, whether it’s fiction or nonfiction, and be error-free.

Step 2: Sell more books by focusing

Stop writing about whatever nonfiction topic appeals to you; stop changing fiction genres.

Instead, write more books on your favorite nonfiction topic. Write either a fiction series or several books in the same genre.

Don’t write a book about how to train a pet therapy dog, then move along to cooking with quinoa and later to 100 exercises with a stretch band. Similarly, don’t write a historical novel and follow it with a vampire romance before trying your hand at children’s books.

While there might be some audience overlap, for the most part, you’ll need to find a completely new audience for each book.

Pick one and stick with it.

Here’s what will happen

When you write more books on a single topic, stay within a single genre, or write a series, each book becomes a gateway to your other books in that genre or subject area.

For example, the authors of What to Expect When You’re Expecting, first published in 1984, could have stopped there. They wanted to write the book they couldn’t find in stores, and they did it. Done!

But given that book’s remarkable success (in 2007, USA Today ranked it as one of the 25 most influential books of the past 25 years), if they had stopped with one book, they wouldn’t have enjoyed their current empire. That first book led to the “What to Expect” book series, an income-producing website, and a major motion picture.

The women who read What to Expect When You’re Expecting 30 years ago went on to buy and read What to Expect the First Year, What to Expect the Second Year, and so on.

As their babies grew, so did the “What to Expect” backlist. That purchasing pattern continues today.

And what if J.K. Rowling had stopped at Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone?

I’m sure you get the point: If your books are good, fans want to read more of them.

So why are you letting them down by switching to a new topic or genre? Why aren’t you giving them more of what they want? Why aren’t you building a fan base that will buy more of your books?

“You don’t understand”

This is where many of you are feeling a little annoyed with me and thinking, “You don’t understand.”

Oh, but I do!

I understand that you can’t expect to to sell more books if you aren’t willing to do what it takes to make that happen.

And how do you do that?

Scroll up to Step 1 and Step 2.

After you’ve built up a substantial following and the books you wrote for a single, focused audience are selling well, you can consider shifting to a completely new topic or genre. The income you’ll generate from selling several books to one audience will help underwrite your work to reach a different audience. Follow the same procedure — Steps 1 and 2 — before moving along again.

It’s all about achieving success by focusing on one topic, audience, or genre long enough to have a backlist of books that will sell well before writing for a different market.

Need help making sure you’re positioning those books properly on Amazon? You’ll love our one-hour training video, “How to Sell More Books on Amazon.” You’ll learn about keywords, categories, and more.

Do you agree or disagree with this two-step strategy? Why or why not? Please share your opinion in a comment.

She posted that she was “flattered” to have been selected for a promotion that would cost her $1,500. The promoter had convinced her that being selected for the “opportunity” was a privilege she had earned. She believed him, too naive to know how it really works.

How does it work?

Some sales people will take as much money as they can from anybody.

As soon as you say “Yes!” to $1,500, they tell you that you’ve qualified for a Super Duper Gold Star package that they are only offering to Super Duper Gold Star Authors — you! It costs $500 more, but you will be among the most elite of all authors when you take advantage of this amazing opportunity to showcase your book!

The next thing you know, your credit card is charged for more than you should spend for a promotion of questionable value.

Fortunately, the hive mind revealed that the sales person was re-selling an opportunity that the originator was offering for just over $300 to anybody with a book – no screening, no “your book is so special” B.S., no hard sell. Just pay the fee and you’re in.

Oh, you flatter me

Flattery will get you anywhere, right?

(I hope you answered, “Wrong.”)

And yet, there are some promotions that are worth their cost. For example, I know of one virtual book tour service that charges a fair fee for good work for fiction. And Facebook advertising is both smart and affordable when you have the right pieces in place before spending the money.

To be successful at selling books on social media, authors need to be able to answer these questions:

• How do you assess the value of an online book promotion opportunity? (Did you know there’s a tool for that?)
• Where will you find the readers for your books? (You don’t want to be spending your time on the wrong network as so many are.)
• At what point should you consider paying for opportunities to get your book discovered by the right readers, especially when it comes to Facebook ads?
• What can you do online to sell books without spending anything?

How to do it the right way

I’ve asked social media expert Chris Syme, who has advised hundreds of fiction and nonfiction authors, to answer those questions and many more in a webinar titled, “How to Sell More Books With Social Media.” It’s a live training event, but we’ll send the replay link to anyone who registers, so go to the information page now to see what you’ll learn and to register.

What you learn could save you thousands of dollars while it generates thousands in book sales. (And, you’ll get that promotion evaluation tool I mentioned above!) How can you lose? Get the details now and register here so you don’t miss out.

What question would you like to ask social media expert Chris Syme about how to sell more books with social media?

Tip of the Month

I always share a “Tip of the Month,” a free resource or tool for authors, on the last Wednesday of the month.

My friend Amy Collins at book distribution consultant New Shelves Books clued me in to this month’s, “Adobe Voice.” It’s an easy-to-use free app that lets you create a short video using your iPhone or iPad’s microphone and Adobe’s clip art, photos (or your photos!), or text.

To show you how it works, I created this little video in just five minutes as soon as I downloaded the app. I can’t wait to play with this great tool some more, but in the meantime, here’s my very first video:

Pretty cool, right? Imagine how much fun you could have creating short messages to share with your social networks! Sharing icons built into the app make that process super easy.

If you know other authors who will find this tool handy, be sure to share the link to this blog post with them. Tips help everyone and I’m so glad Amy shared this one with me!

I’ve created a short video that shows how to link your image quotes to any book sales page. Watch the one-minute video here to see how quickly you can be selling more books on Pinterest:

Prefer to read how to do it?

Here’s a loose transcript for those who prefer to read, not watch:

If you have an image quote on a Pinterest board that isn’t linked to your Amazon sales page, you could be missing out on sales. So, you want to make sure those image quotes are linked to your Amazon sales page. I’ll show you how using an example from my Pinterest account.

It’s three steps:

1. Start with “edit” at the top of your pin.
2. Go down to the website blank and paste in the URL for your book’s sales page on Amazon or any other online retail site.
3. Select save.

Click on my pin and you’ll see that it goes right to my Amazon sales page. It’s as easy as edit, paste, and save.

Do you think your Pinterest activity is helping you sell books? Why or why not?