Here's what I found:
The authors that were having the most success were indeed doing things that lesser selling authors weren't. The most successful authors had book trailers for their books, they all had a website that they actively kept up, and many had a blog that they kept up with at least once a week. They didn't spam social groups with links, but actually participated - however lightly, on a regular basis with most of them. They entered book contests, and were quick to take advantage of anything that resulted in free exposure such as joining certain book clubs.
Yes, I said book clubs :) Author/Reader book clubs aren't a big thing yet- I call them the best kept secret of the Indie world, so if you haven't joined one yet, you have no idea what you're missing. You can find one here http://www.authorscave.com/bookclub/ You do have to be a general member of Authors' Cave to participate as an author, but it's FREE to join and the benefits are great. You really should get in on the ground floor of this.
With this extra knowledge, I felt there must surely be a way - an all-inclusive way, to tie it all together. Oh, indeed there is! After intense searching over the past 2 months for what would be the ultimate social marketing tool, I, along with my 2 associates at www.authorscave.com have devised an all-inclusive marketing strategy.
As an example, here is the Media Kit that Ginger did for The Dark Days Series she wrote with her daughter, Taylor. As you'll see, it contains:
- All 4 books and their blurbs
- Introductions to her main characters
- An excerpt from Book 1 of her series
- The series video trailer
- An excerpt from the audio book
- The author bio
- All her social media links
- And buy links for each book
Imagine, one link that would say all you could ever want to prospective buyers about your book(s), in an attractive layout, with all the buy links, and social media connections. It's no secret that magazines are very popular. Why? Smart marketing people know how to layout the contents with eye catching pictures and text on articles that draw readers in. Digital Magazines are even more popular.Video trailers are great, but with this you can achieve equally great results at a fraction of the cost.
With unlimited colors, text, graphics, as many pages as you need, and the ability to place video and audio in your marketing kit, the seasoned marketing experts at Authors' Cave can put together a media kit for your book(s) that will vastly improve your chances of enticing readers to buy your book(s)! You'll have a link you can post to readers and groups, the code to embed the actual eZine on your website and blog, and can also download it to share as you will.
To get the marketing experts at Authors' Cave working on your ultimate marketing kit, email a representative at support@authorscave.com
Great post Chameleon! It's such fun and easy tool to use and I love that it's concise and gets everything out in one place!
ReplyDeleteExactly, and that's why I'm predicting that this will become the hottest, and smartest, way to market books. Readers can read, watch, and listen to everything you have to say about your books - all in one neat little package.
DeleteNo more posting the video here, the audio there, chapter excerpts on this website or that. It's all right here. Just one beautiful magazine all about your books! I love it, and most importantly, the markets prove readers love them! I can't wait to get mine done for my books :)
That is brilliant
DeleteG.P.A., Ginger has gotten a nice bump in downloads and sales from posting that around. It's proving to be a really good marketing tool!
DeleteReally great information! A Marketing Kit ties it all together and is such a great way to package your work. I love it! (And it is actually a fun process once you get going!) :)
ReplyDeleteYes, ma'am, it certainly is!
DeleteVery interesting! I'll look into this some more.
ReplyDeleteNora, it is proving to be a phenomenal marketing tool. Ginger was having mediocre to moderate sales on this book/series, but since she started using this her views/downloads/and sales have risen considerably. I really can't recommend it enough for people who want a smarter, and extremely effective way to get the word out about their book(s) in a really classy way. Book links are so drab, and have become so tiresome. There just isn't anything exciting about them. But this? It's incredibly enticing!
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