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| We all need more book reviews, don't we? |
Last month at a writers conference I attended, a workshop speaker said the average Kindle e-book sells only seven copies. (Tweet that!) I asked her to repeat that just to make sure I heard it right. Yep, that's what she said. Seven copies.
That's pretty sad, actually. But I have a hunch I know why some Kindle e-books sell so few copies. Many authors have the mistaken idea that they can put their e-book up on Kindle and it will sell just because it's there. This is not true. Like anything else in life, nothing happens without some effort.
So the question becomes, how do you let people know about your Kindle e-book? (Tweet that!)
One way to get any book noticed is with book reviews. But that's not the only way. There are probably millions of ways you can accomplish this, but let's list just a few to get you started, and then we'll talk about how to get reviews of your book.
Ways to get your book noticed
If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, you know one thing I'm big on is saving time. (Tweet that!) So the first thing I like to do is figure out ways to get organized. At the top of that list is finding ways to cut down on repetitive tasks that take time. Why keep reinventing the wheel?
As you look for ways to market your new e-book, you will be needing some of the same things over and over again. So instead of looking up a link to your book on Amazon over and over again, why not just create a place to store that and other items that you create?
I use Excel spreadsheets to store my links, my Tweets, my notes, and other data that I create. You may wish to use Google docs so this information is available to you online no matter where you are. I used to use a Word document, but it got quite cumbersome to try to find what I wanted. Using an Excel spreadsheet allows me to find what I want more quickly.
So what do I store in my Excel spreadsheet? Here are some ideas. I encourage you to create your Excel spreadsheet or Google doc right now and add information to it as we go down the list:
- The link for your book on Amazon.
Go to Amazon.com, find your book, copy the URL at the top of the page, and paste that into your Excel spreadsheet. Now you never have to go find that link on Amazon again. (Tweet that!)
- Create a short link to your book.
I like to use bit.ly.com. You can use their free program to create a short link to your book. Simply enter that long URL, and let bit.ly shorten it for you. Then you can also customize your short link to put your book's title as the short link. Keep it short. Keep it easy to remember. (Tweet that!) Then take your new short link, copy it, and paste it into your Excel document. Bit.ly will keep statistics of how many people click your link which is fun to know.
- Create Tweets that lead to your book.
You can take the time right now to create half a dozen Twitter messages that you can use over and over. Review my blog article from July 1, 2012, "Making the Most of Using Twitter," and be sure to use the three parts of an effective Tweet.
I like to use HootSuite.com to create my Tweets. This helps me get the lengths right. HootSuite will change your links to an owl.ly.com link, which is fine because HootSuite will also keep statistics on how many clicks that link receives. However if you don't want your bit.ly link changed to an owl.ly link, simply change that part when you store it in your Excel sheet.
As you might have guessed, I suggest you save all the tweets you create in your Excel sheet.
- Send your Tweets out periodically.
If you want to let people know you have an e-book on Kindle, and how to find it, you have to tell them. Duh. So send these tweets out periodically. Obviously you don't want to send out self-promotional tweets so often you drive people crazy, but in my opinion sending them out once or twice a day is not too often. Your Tweet is one drop in the fire hose that is Twitter, so to get them seen they need to be sent out repeatedly. (Tweet that!) Just don't send them out every five minutes.
If you want help keeping your Tweets rolling, you can get my free document "3 Free Low-Maintenance Ways to Keep Your Tweets Rolling!" by subscribing to my newsletter here: bit.ly/DiannesNews
- Use your link on Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs, etc.
You can also use the same messages as a starting point for messages on Facebook, LinkedIn, in your blog post or guest blog posts, etc. Be sure to always use a link back to your book. One of the keys to marketing a book is to make it as easy as possible for a potential buyer to complete a transaction. So make sure your links take them directly to your book on Amazon where they may purchase it.
Also, if you have a Page on Facebook, as opposed to a profile, you can schedule posts to go live in the future. You can use the link you stored in your messages to create Facebook posts to run periodically in the future, such as once or twice a week or twice a month.
- Include your short link in your email signature line.
Use this simple step to let people know about your e-book every time you send out an email. People who receive emails from you will be interested in the Kindle e-book you have to offer, so let them know about it.
- Include your short link in your online bios.
Anywhere you have a bio online, for example on your blogs, on your website, on Facebook, on Twitter, include your short link to your book.
I'm sure you can think of many more ways to let people know about your book. Any time you create something new, be sure to store it in your Excel spreadsheet. That way you don't have to create it again the next time you want to use it. (Tweet that!)
Ways to get book reviews on Amazon… And more
Another way to let people know about your book is to get reviews on Amazon. These same reviews can also be posted on Goodreads and other sites, blogs, Facebook… The list is endless. But it can be a real challenge to get those Amazon reviews.
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| Seen on Facebook, shared from TallPoppies.org/. |
Because getting Amazon reviews is a dilemma for me too, I recently went looking for help. I found the following article helpful, and I'm working to put it into practice.
- "How to Launch Your Book with at Least 25+ Amazon Reviews" by Tim Grahl
I'm creating a list of people willing to review my e-books. I'm storing that list in the same Excel document. Simply use another sheet in the same Excel workbook and rename it Amazon Reviewers. (Tweet that!)
Here is another article I found very helpful"
- "How to Get Book Reviews -- The 5 Myths" by Shelley Hitz
If you want more, here are some other articles I found in my search:
- This one has no date (which I despise) so I have no idea how old it is, but for what it's worth: "How to Get Reviews by the Truckload on Amazon"
Finally, be sure to review these guidelines from Amazon. You might want to also share them with the reviewers you recruit.
I hope this gives you plenty of information to get started on your journey of letting people know about your fantastic Kindle e-book, or any other book you have out. (Tweet that!)
Please come back next month when we're going to talk about two exciting new programs Amazon offers: Followers and Giveaways.
