Global Warming Thriller A week or two ago I got Lightning listed as perma-free, put a bit of simple eBook marketing behind it, and got that book moving again.
This post will discuss ways you can get your book doing the same, although I’m just pointing out what I did, so don’t get all flustered if it doesn’t apply to you. Remember, eBook marketing is a tough ballgame, and you’ll fail a lot, maybe more than you succeed.
For many authors, this little run at the charts would be a joke. But I’ll throw it up for you to get some info from, because I know every little bit can help.
This post will discuss ways you can get your book doing the same, although I’m just pointing out what I did, so don’t get all flustered if it doesn’t apply to you. Remember, eBook marketing is a tough ballgame, and you’ll fail a lot, maybe more than you succeed.
For many authors, this little run at the charts would be a joke. But I’ll throw it up for you to get some info from, because I know every little bit can help.
Targeting Your Audience
One of the first things you’ll want to do if you’re going on a wild, roller-coaster-like perma-free or free eBook ride is to target your categories.
For lighting I had these, which are viewable from my KDP Bookshelf screen for Lightning:
For lighting I had these, which are viewable from my KDP Bookshelf screen for Lightning:
Categories and Keywords are one of the most important visibility tools Amazon gives an author
So I’ve got Action & Adventure and Thrillers – those are my two categories, the places I can be in the Top 100 on (there are many Top 100 charts on Amazon).
Where can I find info on Amazon keywords for my eBook?
Amazon categories are based on genre and you can do a simple Google search on Amazon keywords to pull up a screen that will give you various keywords to get you into appropriate sub-categories of your category.
That screen looks like this:
That screen looks like this:
Finding out what Amazon keywords are good for your book
Now, this is pretty basic eBook categorization shit right here, but I’ll go through it nonetheless.
All you need to do is pick out those keywords most appropriate to your book genre and list them as your 7 Amazon keywords like I had back there on that product page above (notice the two red circles, did you?).
All you need to do is pick out those keywords most appropriate to your book genre and list them as your 7 Amazon keywords like I had back there on that product page above (notice the two red circles, did you?).
Amazon Keywords page for authors
In this case I’ve underlined the words that will help me, based on Lightning’s genre and the categories I’ve selected.
Could I choose romance keywords and categories for Lighting, some of you may be asking? Yes, I can, and I can also kick myself in the head for being stupid.
Could I choose romance keywords and categories for Lighting, some of you may be asking? Yes, I can, and I can also kick myself in the head for being stupid.
Optimizing Your Product Page
Alright, so I’ve got my categories and keywords, now what? The book’s not free yet or not moving yet or not promoted or whatever, so I’m going to spruce up that blurb.
Here’s what my old one looked like:
Here’s what my old one looked like:
Pretty fucking bad, huh? It’s too short and doesn’t give me any keyword loving (something I always forget).
Here’s my updated one, for this perma-free run:
Here’s my updated one, for this perma-free run:
I’ve done a few things.
I want to say, this blurb is far from perfect and it’s probably still got more flaws up the wazoo than I’d care to hear about right now (I’m kind of hungry and thus cranky).
But I can fix things. That lack of keywords in the description? I should look at the sidebar subcategories and add some of those (that’s coming up). I should also fix that terrible last sentence (it’s bad, right?).
- I’ve turned 1 paragraph into 3;
- I’ve added more proper nouns;
- I’ve added more keywords (police detective…well, I should have added more);
- I’ve given my blurb its own short plot;
- I’ve added an excerpt.
I want to say, this blurb is far from perfect and it’s probably still got more flaws up the wazoo than I’d care to hear about right now (I’m kind of hungry and thus cranky).
But I can fix things. That lack of keywords in the description? I should look at the sidebar subcategories and add some of those (that’s coming up). I should also fix that terrible last sentence (it’s bad, right?).
Product Page
Alright, I’ve got my new blurb saved, now I need it on my product page. I’ll go through Author Central because it’s faster. One problem this poses, however, is that your book description’s formatting gets all whacky looking:
Amazon blurb messed up after Author Central changes
I really don’t need short sentences and then really long ones. Shortly after you load up an Author Central blurb (blurb/description = same thing), make sure you check it and redo the formatting.
Results of the Promotion
Yes, let’s get to the chase shall we, no fucking around. This is what my book looked liked before the perma-free promotion:
Really, just three “Also Views” and not even a ranking (did anyone but this book?).
So I shared the hell out of it on social media and elsewhere and then the book got some traction and started moving.
So I shared the hell out of it on social media and elsewhere and then the book got some traction and started moving.
It only took me around 7 downloads to get a ranking of #17,506 in the Free Store. That also put me onto the Action & Adventure – Suspense category and the Kindle Short Reads – One Hour (33-43 pages) category for Mystery, Thriller & Suspense.
That’s what I wanted, based on those keywords and category placements I chose earlier. And that meant I had the visibility I needed to get more downloads. Something that helped that was sharing my book to 30 Facebook groups that except free eBook promotion:
Promoting an eBook on Facebook
The highpoint of the promotion was getting up to 39 downloads, which put me at a ranking of #4,629 in the Amazon Free Store:
Rankings after an Amazon perma-free promotion
Since then the book has sunk down quite a bit, but I’ve also tried out a new marketing tactic with it:
Yeah, that’s my Amazon Look Inside for Lightning, which means I’m offering Fire for free to email sign-ups.
I read about this a week or so ago on a post by Nick Stephenson, and I thought I’d give it a try. It’s also something that got me thinking to Mud, my Book 3 for this series, and something I could get done in a week if I really wanted to.
These stories are easy to write, and they’re probably the closest I’ll come to anything like the Tavis McGee series by John MacDonald…just with global warming being the key villain.
Anyways, thanks for reading, and if you haven’t checked out Lightning yet, know that it’s available on all eBook channels…for free! And if you want more eBook marketing advice, get it all in my book How to Write, which as more than 500 pages just waiting to help you get sales.
I read about this a week or so ago on a post by Nick Stephenson, and I thought I’d give it a try. It’s also something that got me thinking to Mud, my Book 3 for this series, and something I could get done in a week if I really wanted to.
These stories are easy to write, and they’re probably the closest I’ll come to anything like the Tavis McGee series by John MacDonald…just with global warming being the key villain.
Anyways, thanks for reading, and if you haven’t checked out Lightning yet, know that it’s available on all eBook channels…for free! And if you want more eBook marketing advice, get it all in my book How to Write, which as more than 500 pages just waiting to help you get sales.
RSS Feed