The advent of technology has allowed independent authors to market and sell their work. Marketing may be a challenge but when done the right way, can be a breeze. Here are 3 simple and efficient ebook marketing tips to consider when reaching out to readers.
The ability to sell eBooks as an independent author has simplified drastically over the past few years. EBook marketing has become easier to handle due to readers’ interest in downloading books to their mobile devices, and helping drive the e-reading revolution. Taking on the right approach to marketing an eBook is critical to selling it to your potential audience, and as long as you understand a couple of factors pertinent to decision-making, you should be able to quickly drive more sales without even having to be a qualified marketing expert. The following tips will help you gain a better understanding of how you can implement better strategies for marketing eBooks, and how you can increase people’s interest in reading it.
1. Give It Away for Free
Whether they are commuting to work or back home, relaxing in their Malibu beachfront vacation house, or enjoying a cup of their favorite tea blend while snuggling near the fireplace, people are consistently looking for interesting materials they can read in their spare time. A great marketing strategy you should be using is giving away your eBook for a limited period of time, such as 30 or 60 days, before starting to charge money for it. Free eBook giveaways are typically best when it comes to generating word of mouth, as they enable your readers to familiarize with your writing style, and decide whether they want to read more of your work in the future.
According to eBook innovator Seth Godin, giving away your first eBook for free constitutes an excellent opportunity to market it. Godin encourages new authors to send their eBook to twenty closest friends, and wait for it to be shared further. “If each of those twenty people send the eBook further to another twenty people, then you will have 400 readers for your eBook,” he says. “And if those 400 will send it further to another 400, you will soon have eight thousand readers. If you manage to get a minimum of twenty thousand readers after having distributed the eBook for free, then you already have your own audience.”
2. Set the Right Price
An author’s work is definitely worth millions, but you cannot expect every single reader to be willing to spend that much on a few hundred pages they will likely finish reading in a couple of days. Even if your eBook takes on an interesting approach to a controversial matter, your potential readers will not be willing to risk spending much money regardless, especially if it happens to be your first published work. As such, selling it for a much lower price constitutes a good opportunity to get them to take a chance on your book. The point is convincing them of the quality of your book, so they will eventually become willing to spend more on your next one.
Darcie Chan, author of “The Mill River Recluse,” used the same eBook marketing strategy in order to get the audience to read her work. She lowered the price to a whopping $0.99, and she ended up selling several thousand copies a day. Although she did not make much money considering the low-price take she went for, Chan’s opportunities doubled since she now has an established fan base. Thanks to her success, she is extremely likely to receive a substantial advance from a major publisher, or sell her next eBooks at much higher prices.
3. Partner with eBook Blogs
In today’s ever-changing online environment, readers’ buying decisions are very much impacted by reviews published on specific eBook blogs. When you are marketing your eBook, getting it positively reviewed or promoted on one of these blogs is going to help you generate more sales, and earn much more from the first few months prior to publishing it. Most people who are actively seeking new reading opportunities are accessing these blogs on a regular basis, meaning that there is a very good chance to see yours featured there as well.
Many eBook blogs and websites enable you to get your eBook listed for free, but there are others that might charge you a fee, particularly if they generate large amounts of traffic every month. For example, Kindle Nation provides sponsorship opportunities for marketing eBooks that can go up to $400, offering you the chance to run web-based ads on other eBook-related websites, such as GoodReads or IndieReader.
In Summary
Marketing an eBook might be a time-extensive process that will require you to devote your resources to selling it to potential readers, and establishing your own audience. Thanks to the simplicity of the strategies we provided above, you should be able to get people to read your eBook - and become interested in your future ones - pretty soon.
Creative Writing: Finding Your Inspiration
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Co-Author: Writing a Book in Collaboration
These days, authors often collaborate with each other to produce the best work possible. By collaborating with another author of the same mind, the two of you may be able to produce a successful masterpiece that is esteemed by millions. The goal of producing a top-selling book may feel more reachable if you have the support of a co-author. Consider the following tips and you’re well on your way to the bestselling list!
A Discussion of the Self-Publishing Model
With the rise of self-publishing, a new niche of independent or indie authors has emerged. There are pros and cons to everything, and self-publishing is not exempt from this unwritten concept. Without the assistance of service companies, one might wonder if self-publishing has a broad scope. It’s up to you to decide whether the pros outweigh the cons. Once you decide which path to take, go for it and give it all you’ve got!
