I’ve been selling eBooks now for about 18 months.
Not a whole lot of time, but I’ve sold damn near close to 1,500 of the suckers in that time, and over 43 titles.
Now, some people sell that many copies of their first book on their first day and in their first hour.
That’s great, but I think of two things when I hear about those people.
First, what will that person do in 6 months? Next, how does this person that knows nothing at all about eBook marketing help me, an author that’s struggling and frustrated like shit? How do they help me sell my book?
They don’t, and that’s why I decided to write this article for you today. Here are 5 interesting ways to sell your eBook.
Not a whole lot of time, but I’ve sold damn near close to 1,500 of the suckers in that time, and over 43 titles.
Now, some people sell that many copies of their first book on their first day and in their first hour.
That’s great, but I think of two things when I hear about those people.
First, what will that person do in 6 months? Next, how does this person that knows nothing at all about eBook marketing help me, an author that’s struggling and frustrated like shit? How do they help me sell my book?
They don’t, and that’s why I decided to write this article for you today. Here are 5 interesting ways to sell your eBook.
Read Your Newspaper
I love my local paper, The Missoulian. It’s owned by out-of-state corporate interests that could really give a damn about the people living here.
That’s great if you want to get a good dialogue in the paper and on the site. See, I comment regularly on my local online newspaper, and I frequently drop links to my books when appropriate.
Alright, alright…it sure helps if you’ve got 3 history books about your state. But what if you’ve got a sci-fi book or a romance book?
No problem, I see the newspaper do actual articles that get in the print version…I see this all the time! Of course they won’t do me, but hey, who’s counting?
Anyways, comment on local stories, get people to know you, and casually mention your book when appropriate. Trust me, just about every topic under the sun will come up in these hot-button articles, and you can find a way to sneak your book in there. Hell, I just did it today with my new China book!
That’s great if you want to get a good dialogue in the paper and on the site. See, I comment regularly on my local online newspaper, and I frequently drop links to my books when appropriate.
Alright, alright…it sure helps if you’ve got 3 history books about your state. But what if you’ve got a sci-fi book or a romance book?
No problem, I see the newspaper do actual articles that get in the print version…I see this all the time! Of course they won’t do me, but hey, who’s counting?
Anyways, comment on local stories, get people to know you, and casually mention your book when appropriate. Trust me, just about every topic under the sun will come up in these hot-button articles, and you can find a way to sneak your book in there. Hell, I just did it today with my new China book!
Make a Bumper Sticker
I will admit this is something I haven’t done, and I’ll give you two reasons why.
First, I was running a political campaign for six months so I couldn’t print up advertising materials without a lot of hoops and bullshit and rigmarole. Next, now that the campaign is finished I’m like Hillary in 2012…I have no money.
But if I did I’d get a bumper sticker. What would it look like? Something like this:
First, I was running a political campaign for six months so I couldn’t print up advertising materials without a lot of hoops and bullshit and rigmarole. Next, now that the campaign is finished I’m like Hillary in 2012…I have no money.
But if I did I’d get a bumper sticker. What would it look like? Something like this:
Now, I took Art in 6th grade, so don’t feel bad if you can’t come up with this and have to hire someone. That’s what I did on that main logo and then using the skills I picked up in middle school I added that “.com” on the end there.
This is a good bumper sticker, and when people are stuck in traffic and breaking the law by talking on their phone, there’s a good chance they could visit my site, or book on Amazon, or whatever!
The point is, driving like an idiot and then having a way for someone to bitch you out later is a great way to get an additional sale, and possibly a review. Check back next week for “5 Interesting Ways to Get a Bad Review on Amazon.”
This is a good bumper sticker, and when people are stuck in traffic and breaking the law by talking on their phone, there’s a good chance they could visit my site, or book on Amazon, or whatever!
The point is, driving like an idiot and then having a way for someone to bitch you out later is a great way to get an additional sale, and possibly a review. Check back next week for “5 Interesting Ways to Get a Bad Review on Amazon.”
Do a Mass-Mailing
Back when I was in politics there was another guy running for a separate office in my same district.
His name was Doug Coffin and he spent about $1,200 to send out these campaign flyers to…oh, maybe 3,000 households using the US Postal Service’s bulk shipping rates.
He did this about three to four times during the campaign and got a lot of name recognition and votes. He also lost pretty handily too.
The point is, if you want to spend a lot of money with no guarantee that you’ll sell a single book then bulk-mailings and other similar things that can be done online or with expensive marketing sites are a really good idea.
Remember, Doug lost his race and spent a lot of money to do so, but he still had 756 votes out of 2,392 cast, or about 31%. Maybe those mailings had something to do with that, and if you want to do the math you might get a table that looks like this:
His name was Doug Coffin and he spent about $1,200 to send out these campaign flyers to…oh, maybe 3,000 households using the US Postal Service’s bulk shipping rates.
He did this about three to four times during the campaign and got a lot of name recognition and votes. He also lost pretty handily too.
The point is, if you want to spend a lot of money with no guarantee that you’ll sell a single book then bulk-mailings and other similar things that can be done online or with expensive marketing sites are a really good idea.
Remember, Doug lost his race and spent a lot of money to do so, but he still had 756 votes out of 2,392 cast, or about 31%. Maybe those mailings had something to do with that, and if you want to do the math you might get a table that looks like this:
Huh, maybe Doug was onto something. So will this strategy work for you? I guess there’s only one way to find out…so visit your local Post Office today!
Get on the Radio
Don’t have $1,200 to piss away? Don’t feel bad, I don’t either. Instead, why not try to get on the radio?
Sound farfetched? Yeah, it is.
But I did it last week on a show, and yes, once again it was because of politics. But it was also because of writing.
I wrote post about nonprofits on another website back in May, and that got read by a lot of people. So after that I get invited on this show, and that goes in AM drive time on…Saturday!
Who knows what the reach of that might be, but I’m willing to bet it was larger than what Saturday morning normally would have been.
What’s the point? Try to get yourself out there on other platforms, and possibly to a new and engaged audience.
Sound farfetched? Yeah, it is.
But I did it last week on a show, and yes, once again it was because of politics. But it was also because of writing.
I wrote post about nonprofits on another website back in May, and that got read by a lot of people. So after that I get invited on this show, and that goes in AM drive time on…Saturday!
Who knows what the reach of that might be, but I’m willing to bet it was larger than what Saturday morning normally would have been.
What’s the point? Try to get yourself out there on other platforms, and possibly to a new and engaged audience.
#5
What are we up to now, four? Damn, one more, huh? I was already grasping and reaching on those last two. Thank goodness I didn’t put this last one first, huh?
So, what is this last one? Well…there isn’t one. There, I said it! There isn’t a last one. Yeah, I fucking lied to you, I’ll admit it, shoot me dead!
I’ve taken advantage of you and betrayed your trust, and all for the simple reason of putting that ‘5’ up there in the title and not a ‘4.’ I’m selfish and I’ll probably burn in Hell.
But the bottom line is that a lot more people will click on this article if it’s got that ‘5’ there, because we like round numbers.
I’m counting on that like of round numbers to get me some hits on this article, and thus some extra eyes on that massive list of titles you see in the sidebar over there.
Yeah, there’s lots, and I’ve got to write long articles so people will get down to my newer books. Those aren’t selling as well, and maybe it’s because my articles are too short. So if you’re a self-published author with a ton of books then your main SEO strategy is to write super-fucking long articles so people get down the page and see all your books.
How far did I get this time? Ah hell…only down to English Last...my worst damn book! Well, I’ll just stop while I’m ahead. I hope you learned something.
So, what is this last one? Well…there isn’t one. There, I said it! There isn’t a last one. Yeah, I fucking lied to you, I’ll admit it, shoot me dead!
I’ve taken advantage of you and betrayed your trust, and all for the simple reason of putting that ‘5’ up there in the title and not a ‘4.’ I’m selfish and I’ll probably burn in Hell.
But the bottom line is that a lot more people will click on this article if it’s got that ‘5’ there, because we like round numbers.
I’m counting on that like of round numbers to get me some hits on this article, and thus some extra eyes on that massive list of titles you see in the sidebar over there.
Yeah, there’s lots, and I’ve got to write long articles so people will get down to my newer books. Those aren’t selling as well, and maybe it’s because my articles are too short. So if you’re a self-published author with a ton of books then your main SEO strategy is to write super-fucking long articles so people get down the page and see all your books.
How far did I get this time? Ah hell…only down to English Last...my worst damn book! Well, I’ll just stop while I’m ahead. I hope you learned something.
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