But how are they going to see it? If you just upload it to Kindle Direct Publishing, it could sit there for days, maybe weeks, before anyone sees it. You can tell your friends and family about it and you'll probably get a handful of sales, but still not enough to get it noticed by the public in general.
So how do you get that attention and get your work in front of a lot more people? There's really only two ways. Advertise it and spend a lot of money you might not have, or release it to your mailing list at a low price.
Mailing list? What mailing list?
If you don't have subscribers to your newsletter, you need to start now. Right now! Not tomorrow, or next week. It takes a long time to create a mailing list and usually it's just not possible without having written a book or two in the past with a call to action to join the newsletter.
With a mailing list of only 700 subscribers, I was able to launch my most recent book to #436 in the Kindle store, selling 260 copies in half a day after announcing it in my newsletter and another 150 the next day.
This simple secret, gave me instant high ranking, making my book visible to a lot more people. After the launch, you can see it leveled out to about 40 sales and 25 borrows per day.
I started this mailing list in May of last year, so it's not even been a year yet. I send an email once a month, keeping my readers up to date on how the next book is coming along and occasionally asking their advice on a character name or something.
So get started setting up your mailing list. NOW dammit!
Outstanding! I love seeing how well a loyal and awaiting mailing list can skyrocket a new release. I've got a mailing list and am working to build it as I go.
ReplyDeleteI am taking that last line to heart and finishing up my "incentive" for new subscribers!
Take care,
Jeremy
Awesome! I continue to be in awe of your success, Wayne. Whenever you speak up, I listen. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteClearly, this strategy works for someone with a few books out, but what about that person releasing that first book? How do you get readers to notice your first release?
ReplyDeleteSadly, gaining subscribers is the result of having a subscription at the end of your books, so a mailing list won't be nearly as beneficial for a first book. That leaves two options, one I don't recommend and the other I highly recommend. You can advertise, digging into your pockets to cover the ads. Or, simply forget you wrote that book and get to work on the next one. Nothing sells a first book better than a second one. By the time the second is ready to launch, you'll have a small mailing list. These will be good for a few fast sales. As your titles increase, so will your mailing list and the results. I'm not a big proponent of advertising until the release of at least the second, preferably the third book.
DeleteAs a non-book writer, I'm very interested in the ins and outs of book selling. I've always been told that I should have a newsletter as a blogger but that's never made sense to me. I have NEVER signed up for a newsletter for any blogger or news outlet. But I do sign up to those who are selling me something I want like stores and authors.
ReplyDeleteIt's one of those things that makes sense, but you just don't think about. A great way to make your readers a community, and a great way to sell books. Win-win. Good advice.
How did you start your mailing list?
ReplyDeleteJust before publishing my third book, I signed up with MailChimp and included a link to subscribe at the end of all three books. It built slowly from March of last year until the end of December when I did a free promo with BookBub and had over 53K downloads. Since then I've averaged 5 new subscribers per day. It really only started being an effective tool when I released my fifth book in late September with about 400 subscribers.
ReplyDeleteImpressive story and sales. Congratulations. :)
ReplyDeleteI just self-published my first novel, The Road Home, on amazon, and I did not have any promotion plans in place before hitting publish. What other tips and techniques for self-promotion can you offer, especially for someone like me who doesn't even know other writers? I want to learn to network and promote, but I feel a bit overwhelmed. Appreciate any advice. :)
Hi Rachel. Congratulations on publishing. It is quite overwhelming, but you're not alone. Get plugged into the writing and publishing community. The best source for indie info on the net is the Writers' Forum on KBoards.com. At any time of day, there are literally hundreds of other indie authors on the site. I'll give you the same advice I give every first timer. Forget you wrote it. Otherwise, you'll spend countless hours checking sales and trying different promotions. Only one thing has proven to be a successful first book seller and that's a second book. Pour all that creative talent and energy into your writing.
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