Every author dreams of seeing their book reach a wide audience, get plenty of reviews, and climb the bestseller lists.
One great way to make this dream a reality is by using book promotion sites. These sites help you showcase heavily discounted ebooks to eager readers, usually for a fee.
How It Works
How these sites work is simple, you submit details about your book, like:
The title
The genre
The description
The cover image
Some sites have a selection process, while others accept most submissions that fit their basic criteria.
Once your book is accepted and you’ve paid the fee, it gets scheduled for promotion on a set date.
On that day, the site will feature your book in their newsletter, on their website, and sometimes on social media, reaching thousands or even millions of potential readers.
Popular sites include:
BookBub
Bargain Booksy
Freebooksy
To make these promotions really work, you need to focus on two key strategies:
Getting readers to explore the entire book series
Extending the promotional period from one day to two weeks or even two months
Here’s an example I picked up from Harry Bingham, an author who really knows his stuff:
Let’s say you have a six-book series where each book is usually $4.99, and you decide to offer the first book for free.
The Naked Promotion Strategy
You’ll offer the first book for free (down from $4.99) during the promotion. After the promotion ends, the price will go up to $2.99.
This strategy might attract some readers, but many could find the series too pricey and only grab the free book without buying the rest.
This leads to a slow trickle of new readers, which doesn’t do much for boosting your sales rank or visibility.
Let’s step it up a notch.
The Enticing Promotion Strategy
You’ll offer the first book for free (down from $4.99) and then set it to $2.99 after the promotion ends.
This approach is better because readers see the free book as an entry point to an affordable series, making them more likely to buy the other books right away.
Even though $0.99 sales aren’t huge, they help boost your sales rank and visibility, making your series more attractive when prices go back up.
But there’s an even smarter way to do it.
The Crafty Promotion Strategy
You’ll offer the first book for free (instead of $4.99) and set it to $2.99 after the promotion ends.
Books #2 through #6 will be $0.99 on a Kindle Countdown deal for a few days after the promotion, then go back to $4.99.
If you make your subsequent books exclusive to Amazon, you can earn a 70% royalty share with a Kindle Countdown deal.
This way, you get more profit while boosting your books' visibility and sales rank.
This method helps you get the most out of your promotional efforts and increase your overall profits.
The Ultimate Promotion Strategy
To take things even further, use your own email list to co-promote the giveaway.
While the promo sites have big email lists, your list is full of readers who already know and like you. Use this to your advantage.
During this promotion, the first book will be free instead of its usual $4.99. After the promotion ends, the price will go up to $2.99.
Books #2 through #6 will be just $0.99 on a Kindle Countdown deal for 4 days right after the promotion ends, then return to $4.99.
Send out emails on the first four days of the promotion and consider sending a teaser email a few days before to get everyone excited.
Even if many of your readers already own some of your books, they might not have the complete set.
This promotion is a great chance for them to fill in any gaps at a bargain. Plus, it might encourage them to share the deal with their friends.
By letting your fans know about this offer and encouraging them to complete their collection, you’re making a generous offer that they’ll appreciate.
With the support from both your readers and the promotional sites, you’ll see:
A big boost in your sales rank
Increased visibility for a longer time
More sales, including new readers who will buy at full price eventually
In the end, this strategy will lead to greater sales and better visibility for your series across multiple promotional platforms.
You can read more about Harry’s strategy here.
That’s it for this week. See you again next week.
Cheers,
Alex.
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