Book Marketing Show Podcast with Dave Chesson

You’ve written your book and the hard work is done, right? Nope! As an author, you’re not just looking to write a book, but you’re hoping to sell that book, too. Our guest today talks about what she did for her launch and how it set her on the path to great book sales, as well as opportunities. Amy Lyle is an author, comedienne, actor and screenwriter whose book launch kicked off with a party that set her book up for consistent sales and lots of publicity opportunities that followed. For more information, visit the show notes at https://kindlepreneur.com/e64

Back in Episode 61, we talked about what it’s like to work with publishers and the differences between legitimate, illegitimate, and vanity presses. But in today’s episode, we talk with an author who has gone the traditional publishing route and self-published. She has also set up her own publishing company. Anna David became well-known as a freelance writer for magazines and newspapers. When her first novel was picked up, her publisher, unfortunately, ended up in the midst of a scandal, and the book was published under a fake imprint. Although she received plenty of press, the book did not sell well. This was back in the early 2000s, before everyone, it seems, was on social media. But Anna also realized that unless you are a major celebrity, publishing houses will only do so much for your book. She found even if the publisher is paying you upfront for the book, you still have to know how to market yourself. She also says it’s important to focus on owning your audience and making sure it’s not an audience you’ll lose should you decide to switch to another publisher or self-publish in the future. Anna has now become a publisher for others with her friend Kristen McGuiness. She helps new authors establish a writing presence, and she also helps authors with their writing and marketing. One of the most important lessons to take from this episode is just because you’re able to land a contract with a publishing company, it doesn’t necessarily mean success. Even with traditional publishers, it’s still important you know how to market your book yourself. For more information about Anna, or any of the resources mentioned, visit the show notes at https://kindlepreneur.com/e63

Book writing software. There are a lot of options. In today’s episode, we’ll talk about three of the most common ones: Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and Scrivener. Microsoft Word is familiar to many and may already be on your computer. Google Docs is free and cloud-based, meaning you can access it from anywhere. Scrivener has the most bells and whistles, though, and is designed with authors in mind. Each one has pros and cons, and depending on your style of writing, you may prefer one over the others. For more information, visit the show notes at https://kindlepreneur.com/e62

As an author and consultant who has worked with a number of book publishers, it’s important for us authors to understand how publishing companies work, what they look for in books, and what authors need to consider before signing anything. The biggest thing to consider is these companies are looking for books that will sell. There are four main things to take into account when it comes to leveraging your book: There are so many independent book publishers now, you may find it’s easy to find a publisher that is perfect for your genre or book style. You may even find publishing companies that are focused even more on particular niches within that genre. If you’ve already self-published, having good sales numbers is also appealing to publishing companies. Even if you’re not published yet, you may have already been building an email list or your social media following. Publishing companies are able to see those numbers as absolute sales, and they’ll see you as a good risk to take. I’ve even seen one author leverage different publishing companies against one another to get a six-figure deal. If you find a publishing company that seems to fit your genre, you may want to look at other books they have published to see their core style. If you’re able to write in that style, you’ll look more appealing to that company. Before You Sign You may have found what you think to be the perfect publishing company for your book. But before you sign anything, you should be aware of the different ways deals can be structured. When talking with Jeff Goins, another author, he said when you sign a deal with a publishing company, how much they give you upfront is usually an indication of how much effort they’re going to put into your book marketing. If they put money up front, they have more skin in the game to recoup those costs. Find out what kind of support you’ll receive from your publishing company. Will there be a marketing team? What kind of marketing are you expected to do? After a Rejection Understand that you may get rejected, as well. J.K. Rowling is known for getting rejected by many publishers until her agent called in a favor and begged a publisher to read the first “Harry Potter” book. But if you get rejected from one of the major publishing companies, you may be passed along to their vanity press, which is like a subsidiary of the bigger company. You may have to pay to get published through these, plus you’ll have to do a lot of your own marketing. And on top of that, they still get a cut. Smaller publishers may be able to give you more personalized attention. Be sure to do your research on the ones you find, though. It’s easy enough to create a limited liability corporation, throw up a website, and call yourself a publisher, but find out if they actually have the skill-set to get your book in front of the right market. Regardless of your decision to sign with a big or small publisher, it’s still important you learn marketing. Gaining a following and an email list is essential, as well. These are tools that will help you sell your own books, as well as pitch your books to publishers. Resources Referred to in this Episode: Jeff GoinsSetting Up a Book Publishing Company

Facebook can seem like an intimidating place to put yourself out there as an author if you’re not used to it. You may wonder how to navigate between using it for personal reasons versus using it as a marketing arm of your books. But it can be a powerful tool and, used correctly, can help your readers connect with you more. Audrey Hughey helps her students in the Author Transformation Alliance use tools like Facebook to help market their books without coming across as too pushy or “salesy.” She talks about how Facebook pages can be set up separately from our personal profiles and what kind of content works to our advantage when it comes to selling without seeming “salesy.” For more information, visit the show notes at https://kindlepreneur.com/e60

When you first start out as a writer, you may be looking to supplement your income. One great way of doing this is to become a ghostwriter. A ghostwriter is an author who is paid to write a book for someone else. It may not seem like it carries the same weight as authoring your own book and seeing your name on the cover, but there are a lot of reasons not to discount ghostwriting. For one thing, it could bring in enough income for you to be able to quit your 9-to-5 job to focus on becoming an author, like our guest on today’s podcast, Matthew Thrush. Matthew is a six-figure ghostwriter. He went into it with the idea that he liked to write, but quickly realized that he was able to quit his day job to become a ghostwriter for others. For more information, visit the show notes at https://kindlepreneur.com/e59

Writing a book is hard. Sometimes when we find our books aren’t selling well, we may have to make the choice between reviving it or letting it go. In this Reviving a Dead Book case study, we look at an author who decided not to revive his first book, but instead tried reviving his second. Then, he was able to look at both to see the difference a revive can make. Stuart Thaman wrote his first book in college during NaNoWriMo and it was picked up by a publishing company, but didn’t initially do well. He honed his craft, began writing more, and learning more about marketing. Now he’s considered one of the top book marketers and helps publishing companies with their AMS ads. For more information, visit the show notes at http://kindlepreneur.com/e58

Writing a children’s book is not something to go into lightly. Sure, it may sound like less work because they’re typically fewer words, but there are things to think about you may not be prepared for. But if you have ever thought about it, it’s a great market to get into. About 40 million children’s books are sold online every year. Eevi Jones has written more than a dozen children’s books of her own and uses her knowledge to teach others the skills needed to write, publish and market their own children’s books. The tips she shares in this episode will help you think about the different factors to consider when writing a children’s book, as well as get you started in the right direction. For more information, visit the show notes at http://kindlepreneur.com/e57

Michael Knight who went from doing OK with sales of his book to seeing some major changes after taking my free AMS course and using KDP Rocket. One of the things I talk about in the KDP Rocket course is that you may find keywords to use for your book you may not have immediately thought of before. Michael is still learning what keywords work best with his book for AMS ads, which he talks about in the episode and gets ideas for even more keywords that may attract his ideal reader to his book. For more information, visit the show notes at https://kindlepreneur.com/e56

If you’re using CreateSpace to create and market your book, you won’t want to miss this ingenious way you can price your book higher, sell it for a lower price, and still get the royalties that come from the higher price. While you may not necessarily use this tactic, I do encourage authors to test different prices for their books anyway to see what works best for them. Former guest Derek Doepker stumbled upon this hack and talks with me today about how it works and how we can use it ethically. This is within CreateSpace’s terms of service, but when you use this hack, you want to make sure you’re adjusting the price so it make sense for the size of your book and still gives Amazon and Barnes & Noble a profit. For more information, visit the show notes at https://kindlepreneur.com/e55

One of the most important things you’ll be tasked with as an author is to come up with a title for your book. Many authors think it’ll just come to them. However, after sitting in meetings with publishing companies, I know that doesn’t just happen. Publishers have a process because they know book titles can make all the difference in the sales of that book. In this solo episode, I talk about using data from the market and how to do research to make sure you come up with a title that grabs the attention of potential readers, how to use similar books as inspiration, and how to test your title. For more information, visit the show notes at https://kindlepreneur.com/e54

Derek Murphy continues our discussion on book cover design. We’ve both tried to make our book covers stand out, but many designers will tell you a cliche book cover may do really well because it’s what the audience wants Derek has spent plenty of time reviewing what kinds of covers work better to convey what the book is about. This translates into more clicks on an ad with a cover that is intriguing to them. For more information, visit the show notes at https://kindlepreneur.com/e53

It’s important to understand which links Amazon prefers you use for your book and how trying to game the system with a different URL won’t work. Jesse Lakes, co-founder of Geniuslink, is today’s guest. His service helps authors create links for users to click, which then opens the Amazon store for their country. He talks about the URL Amazon prefers to market your book and why it’s important not to try tweak the link. For more information, visit the show notes at http://kindlepreneur.com/e52

For new authors without much of a following, the idea of a book marketing service may seem appealing, but you should be wary of them. I’ll be going over some of the things you should think about when it comes to book marketing services, as well as listing some red flags to be aware of if you do decide to use one. Not all book marketing services are bad, in fact there are some out there that may be able to help with your marketing just fine. Although any good book marketing service will most likely put authors through a submission process to make sure they have the capability to be able to market your book; in fact, many act similarly to a publishing company. However, nobody is going to better than you at marketing and selling your book because nobody has as much skin in the game. For more information, visit the show notes at https://kindlepreneur.com/e51

My response to a recent guest post on Kindlepreneur from John Pinedo about creating a hardcover version of your book and having it sold on Amazon. John used Lulu to create a hardcover version of his book and wrote about it in his guest post, but there are other options for doing this. There are two guests for this week’s episode, John and Eevi Jones. Eevi, who has also written a guest post on Kindlepreneur, used IngramSpark to create hardcover versions of her children’s books. In the two interviews, we compare the pros and cons of using each platform so you can decide, as an author, which one would work better for you. For more information, visit the show notes at http://kindlepreneur.com/e50

Fiverr may not be the first place you think of when it comes to where to go to find someone to design a book cover for you, but if you’re on a limited budget it’s not a bad option to look at. For those who may not know, Fiverr is an online marketplace where people will post jobs they can do that cost as little as $5. There is also a lot listed that is more than $5, but the name comes from the idea that you can find people willing to do the work for little money. Finding someone to design a book cover on Fiverr can be tricky, but in this episode, I’ll talk about three ways to approach finding an artist in order to get you the book cover you not only want, but is also good quality. For more information, visit the show notes at https://kindlepreneur.com/e49

Author conferences might seem downright scary to those who have never been. But I can tell you from personal experience that the ones I’ve gone to have had a prolific change in not only the way I write, but also the way I work with others. In this session of Marketers & Coffee, I’m bringing on my friend Craig Martelle who runs the 20Booksto5k Facebook Group. He’s created a community where authors can share ideas, learn from one another, and grow. But today, we’re talking about author conferences. Craig is also putting on the 20BookstoVegas Conference in November so he’s a great person to have a chat with about how authors can get the most from these conferences. For more information, visit the show notes at http://kindlepreneur.com/e48

When Ethan Jones first published his book, he sold five copies the first month. As the years went on, he improved his marketing skills and improved as a writer. He decided after six years to do a complete rewrite, cutting almost 15,000 words, editing chapters, and added a better ending. He also added a cliffhanger so readers would want to move on to the next book in the series. I did pretty much all that I had learned in order to make a book more captivating for the reader. One thing Ethan did was instead of putting up a new version of the old book and keeping the reviews, he republished the book. Even though the reviews weren't awful, they were at about 3.8 stars, and many of the reviews reflected the old version. When he republished the book, he wanted to start fresh without any of the old reviews. There are two ways of uploading a new book to Amazon: If you decide to make it a new book, you can do what Ethan decided to do and republish it without any of the old reviews.The other option is to publish the new book, but contact Amazon to transfer the reviews over. We’ve talked in past episodes about authors republishing their books with new covers, but Ethan had already changed the cover a few months prior to the new release. He had also changed the description for the book. Ethan used a three-pronged approach for pre-launch: He worked with his list.He used paid promotions.He contacted author friends for help with promotion. By the time Ethan was ready to launch his book again, he had about 10,000 readers in his email list, which was incredibly important for him. He asked them to either put a review of the new book if they read the older one and he offered to send them the new version so they could read it and consider leaving a review. He also lowered the price to $0.99, which is a lowest a book can launch at. In the years of being an author, he had made friends with other authors and reached out to them to add his book to their email newsletter, which helped market the book. He also used AMS ads and Facebook ads, and book promotion sites to help him with his launch. After all his efforts, the final comparison is his first edition of the book went from 10,000 sales over the course of six years at $2.99 to 1,000 copies during the first two weeks of the new version’s release at $0.99. Bio of the Author in the Case Study: Ethan Jones is an Amazon bestselling author of the Justin Hall spy thriller series; The Carrie Chronicles, which features Justin Hall’s partner; the Javin Pierce spy thriller series, and the Jennifer Morgan suspense thriller series. Ethan is a lawyer and lives in Canada with his wife and son. Find links to resources in the show notes at http://kindlepreneur.com/e47

Social media seems like an obvious choice when it comes to marketing your book. Now, in this episode, we’re not talking about Facebook ads, but we’re talking more about using social media, specifically Facebook, as a way to connect with your readers and attract new readers. When Allison Garcia started marketing her book using Facebook, she set up a Page, as many authors do, and posted updates every few weeks. Once all her friends and family bought her book, she decided to get more serious about selling her book and began posting more often and consistently. She joined The Author Transformation Alliance Group on Facebook and took part in reader attraction challenges, which boosted the number of times she was posting, as well as posting content other than just “Buy my book.” This brought people to her page, who then helped share her book with others in their circles. The content she began posting was contant she thought people were going to be interested in and connect with, but still keeping it relevant to the book, itself. Because she writes Latino Christian fiction about undocumented immigrants, she posts relevant news stories, as opposed to posts about Stephen King’s new book, since it has nothing to do with her genre. A lot of her Page’s success has come from sharing important posts that people are more willing to share, as well as word of mouth about her, as an author, in general. She has also taken advantage of spending a few dollars here and there to boost posts from her page. She’s also been more encouraged to go to in-person events, which has grown her page and email list. These also led to making connections to future events she could attend. Now Allison has a launch team, many of whom have come from her newsletter, and she has found her book ranking highly in Kindle sales of her book. Between interacting with her readers and learning from her past mistakes, she now finds marketing fun, rather than painful. "I've grown to enjoy marketing, which is something I did not enjoy at all" - Allison Garcia Bio of the Author in the Case Study: Allison K. Garcia is an author and Licensed Professional Counselor. Her short stories and books have been the recipient of numerous award nominations and honorable mentions. She has been featured in local newspapers for her connections in the Latino community in Harrisonburg, Virginia. A member of cultural competency committees for work and a participant in several Dream Act rallies and other events in her region, she also sings on the worship team and enjoys get-togethers with the hermanos in her church. With the help of her husband, Julio, and their son, Miguel, she has been able to nurture her love for the Latino people. For more information, visit the show notes at http://kindlepreneur.com/e46

Even the most nit-picky of writers needs someone to look over their work from time to time. Having a proofreader means there is an extra set of eyes and, in many cases, a fresh set of eyes that might catch things that, as the writer, you might not. Caitlin Pyle is a proofreader for books and teaches others to become proofreaders. Not only has proofreading become her full-time job, but it has also helped her and her proofreading students make connections to other authors. For more information, visit the show notes at https://kindlepreneur.com/e45