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Monday, July 2, 2012

How I doubled sales of my book in the last period

I am a novice as promoting my work. As a newly published author (More Than A Job came out in March) I am still learning the ropes. My first check as an author was both exciting - Hey I can get paid to do this! And deflating - All that work for this little return?

So I started paying attention to what other authors were doing. Here is a short list of ways I am promoting them and me:

  1. I post to this blog at least five days a week, and feature other authors who (hopefully) bring their readers to my blog, and I can showcase them to my readers.
  2. I make the blog visual, and as often as they will share personal pictures, personal. Since I have a lot of pet lovers among my readers, (I find posts about pets get a higher hit rate) pet pics are welcome here. This isn't just about selling my books - it is also about developing a group of friends who read them. I want to connect and animals are a great way to do that.
  3. I tweet the blog posts 2 or 3 times a day. Finding a hook - something catchy, controversial or racy -- always brings more lookers to the blog. As do cute animals and the word Christian.
  4. I ask my guests to post that they are visiting on their social media - lists, twitter, Facebook, etc.
  5. My tweets are automatically posted to Lynette Endicott's Facebook page, and then I like from my my real name and the author page hosted by that name, so they show up to all my people.
  6. At least once a week I post something about my writing journey to my real name on Linked In with a link to my blog or website.
  7. I "like" other authors, read their posts, retweet, share and otherwise promote the interesting things they are saying.
  8. I visit other blogs to be interviewed there.
  9. I explore other venues. Right now Klout and Pinterest are possibilities that I'm tracking.
  10. I watch the numbers. When there is a spike in blog visits or website visits I check to see why.
In all of these, I have several strategies:
  • Set up an account in my author name that is separate from my real life and focuses on writing.
  • Get the word out to as many people as I can to like, join, follow. Continually ask readers to act to follow the cause.
  • Support other writers, and they will support me and sometimes even become my readers.
  • LIMIT the time spent on all this. I set a goal of finishing within an hour a day.
  • Keep up with the latest through subscriptions (usually in digest form) regarding marketing on the internet, social media, 
Result? Well, my second check was more than twice as much as my first, so the good news is that I'm getting better at this. Since the next book, Animal Instinct with Tami Dee, is out August 21 I want my skills to be up to the task.

Tami, by the way, has an author ap on Android, iPad, iPhone etc. Download it and check out her books and this new ADDITIONAL way to market!


4 comments:

  1. Terrific post, Lynette. I saw the title on the DBP loop and thought, now who of us wouldn't want to read a post like that? I will certainly tweet it!
    Blessings~
    Naomi

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  2. Great post, Lynette! Wow, you have this promo thing down to a sicence, great job!!! I love the new look of this blog, by the way, and thanks for the sout out regarding my app.
    You're a great team player and Desert Breeze is blessed to have you as an author.
    Tami

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  3. Thanks You guys. I am still new at this and sales are not huge but doubling will get us there if we keep it up.

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  4. Some great advice and tips there, Lynette! I force myself to do the promotion because it's necessary (if I want to sell books!) but I do struggle with keeping it up sometimes.

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