What marketing advice can you recommend?
in Off-topic
Spotlight Admin
2 hours ago
I was asked in a chat on X a question about marketing books. I'm going to share that here to help others who might want to know what I've learned over the course of 18+ years of this.
The question was "How do you promote books while staying anonymous?"
My answer:
"How do I promote *my* books? I don't. I've been around long enough and have enough series out, that with all the places I've had them listed and the numbers of ratings, they sell themselves.
When I started, the mantra was that the best way to market was to write more books. That's still the best way... if you write series. Once you have a longer series (I'd recommend at least 5 books in a series so the rest of my advice actually has a payoff), make the first book perma-free (if wide distribution, make it free elsewhere so Amazon price matches to free--an old trick).
That free first book is the gateway drug for readers. You'll only get maybe a 3-5% read-through for the rest of the series, but it's the easiest marketing and doesn't cost anything except as a loss-leader. And with free, you can use services that promote free books. Those little boosts will help build up the ratings numbers that help the algorithms to get you noticed. But there are caveats--many people grab freebies just because they're free. They don't intend to pay for anything (hence the low read-through rate), and you're likely to hit more readers who aren't your audience and they'll let you know in negative reviews. If your book is good enough, those negative reviews will be few and far between."
I had a reader once email me that if not for the free book, they never would have tried my series, but they were glad they had—they enjoyed the whole series. I was still fairly new then with around a quarter of the number of books I have now.
I'd also add that for myself, I would rather have 1/20 readers read the whole series than none at all.
I should add that it's not as easy to get noticed now as it was when I started, and it wasn't easy then! It's only because of my multiple series and being able to get enough reviews of those first-in-series books that I regularly sell books without paying for marketing. But it's not at the pace it was back in the 2010-2013 era of early ebook and self-publishing adoption. I knew things would slow down, but it was fun while it lasted.
The best advice is still the same… write more books! More books = more chances of being discovered. And the more places you list those books (like this platform), the more likely they are to get noticed.
Feel free to add your experience and any advice you've found helpful.
The question was "How do you promote books while staying anonymous?"
My answer:
"How do I promote *my* books? I don't. I've been around long enough and have enough series out, that with all the places I've had them listed and the numbers of ratings, they sell themselves.
When I started, the mantra was that the best way to market was to write more books. That's still the best way... if you write series. Once you have a longer series (I'd recommend at least 5 books in a series so the rest of my advice actually has a payoff), make the first book perma-free (if wide distribution, make it free elsewhere so Amazon price matches to free--an old trick).
That free first book is the gateway drug for readers. You'll only get maybe a 3-5% read-through for the rest of the series, but it's the easiest marketing and doesn't cost anything except as a loss-leader. And with free, you can use services that promote free books. Those little boosts will help build up the ratings numbers that help the algorithms to get you noticed. But there are caveats--many people grab freebies just because they're free. They don't intend to pay for anything (hence the low read-through rate), and you're likely to hit more readers who aren't your audience and they'll let you know in negative reviews. If your book is good enough, those negative reviews will be few and far between."
I had a reader once email me that if not for the free book, they never would have tried my series, but they were glad they had—they enjoyed the whole series. I was still fairly new then with around a quarter of the number of books I have now.
I'd also add that for myself, I would rather have 1/20 readers read the whole series than none at all.
I should add that it's not as easy to get noticed now as it was when I started, and it wasn't easy then! It's only because of my multiple series and being able to get enough reviews of those first-in-series books that I regularly sell books without paying for marketing. But it's not at the pace it was back in the 2010-2013 era of early ebook and self-publishing adoption. I knew things would slow down, but it was fun while it lasted.
The best advice is still the same… write more books! More books = more chances of being discovered. And the more places you list those books (like this platform), the more likely they are to get noticed.
Feel free to add your experience and any advice you've found helpful.