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Welcome. Toss a blanket down, sit for a while under the willow, relax, and enjoy what's written below.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Sharing Ideas For Book Advertising.


Welcome To My Willow Tree,

I was asked how to advertise your Indie book on a limited or nearly non-existent budget. I did what I saw others doing, posting on several different Facebook pages, Twitter, Goodreads and similar sites, but many times I saw that it was the same group of authors, especially on Facebook, that were trying to sell to each other. I needed a niche market that I know would like supernatural mysteries.

I came up with an idea and so far it has worked for me. I had two supernatural mystery short stories sitting in my files. I read them over to be sure they were interesting enough to sell and put them together in one tiny 47 page e-book. I made my own simple cover for $5 and added a friendly paragraph at the end of the second story asking if my reader had time to please go to Amazon and leave a review or click on the like button if they felt it deserved the click because it was the only way Indie authors have to find out if someone likes or dislikes what we are doing. I was also sure to add the link to my blog where I have all my other works listed. I self-published the book using Amazon’s KDP program and offered it at $0.99, but the big thing was I offered it free on a weekend. Several hundred copies were grabbed which meant the possibility that several hundred people read my little ad at the end of the book.

I received one review, and it was a 5 star review. I was thrilled with the comments made. I noticed increased traffic to my blog and an uptake in sales of my other books. How many of those sales came from my ad I’m not sure, but I know I will offer the book for free again soon. We need to find ways to get our books in the public eye and if offering a little something for free brings them to buy our other books we’re doing a good job. Not to mention that once they read a short story or two they know our style without an investment of money on their part. They are more likely to buy a novel next time. I found this worked better than offering a novel for free. It is possible that since they were short stories people read them quickly and didn't have to read several chapters before liking or disliking your style. A small thing can bring in big sales. You just need to find what works for you.

If you have any unique ideas you'd like to share about book advertising, please share in the comment section.

Have a blessed week,

Marianne