How would you go about promoting a novel?

Horny Devil

Banned 12 years ago

What's the website url? What's the novel about?

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1 reply

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wpo1408 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Horny Devil

What's the website url? What's the novel about?

It is called:

"Behind the Smile"
the story or Lek, a bar girl in Pattaya.

I don't know which genre that comes under, but I would call it a fictional biography.

The website is:

Behind The Smile
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Behind The Smile ~ the Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya, Thailand ~
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spirtx

12 years ago

Try using PPC to get more exposure and sales fast

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Alexa Smith

Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by wpo1408

Any ideas, please?

Hi Owen,

The author John Locke has written a book, available on Kindle, called something like "How I Sold A Million Books" (which he did, in the first 5 months of 2011). I think it's $2.99. You don't need a Kindle to read it: you can download "Kindle for PC" free. It's worth reading, anyway - you'll get a lot of good ideas from it.

In this forum, and here, too there are sections where authors discuss exactly what you're asking about: you might find useful stuff there, too.

I think this is a question on which you need from input from novelists with websites specifically,too, rather than just e-book writers, because you clearly need traffic of rather a different kind from that of most Warriors.

[ 5 ] Thanks
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wpo1408

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Hi Owen,

The author John Locke has written a book, available on Kindle, called something like "How I Sold A Million Books" (which he did, in the first 5 months
......
In this forum, and here, too there are sections where authors discuss exactly what you're asking about: you might find useful stuff there, too.
.......

Hi Alexa,

I have joined the forums you suggested and will look for the ebook later.
Thanks for the suggestions.

Regards,
Owen

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Behind The Smile ~ the Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya, Thailand ~

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jamesrich1

12 years ago

PPC is good to get immediate traffic but if all your going to make is a quick $20 you will lose money promoting it. Using paid traffic is good if the novel was the front end product of your funnel. Its best if you focus on building your credibility up and getting a following going to make it easier to sell your book.

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RyanLeonard 12 years ago

Is it on amazon? Is it digital, print, both? You said novel, so I'm assuming fiction (obviously). What platform are you using to sell it?
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- wpo1408 12 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by RyanLeonard
  
  Is it on amazon? Is it digital, print, both? You said novel, so I'm assuming fiction (obviously). What platform are you using to sell it?
  
  Hi,
  
  It is on Amazon, Kindle and CreateSpace and it has its own website, but that does not rank well even though 'Behind the Smile' (the book's title) is not sought on much. Add my name - Owen - to the search changes the result dramatically.
  
  I also use it in my email sig file.
  
  PPC is risky as I get +/- $3 a sale of the $9.99 cost of the book.
  
  Somehow, I get more money from the sale of a paperback than from Kindle.
  
  Thanks
  
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  Behind The Smile ~ the Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya, Thailand ~
  
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Adevictus

12 years ago

I would reach out to a bunch of podcasts to see if you can get any air time to discuss yourself and your book on top of what has already been suggested in this thread.

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Karson 12 years ago

I saw a guy in a coffee shop just the other day doing a presentation/reading. He video recorded it and put parts on youtube and also made a nice video of it for his webpage.

Maybe worth a shot!

Cheers,
Karson
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Rose Anderson

12 years ago

See if you can send out some review copies to bloggers that review books in the same genre.

Rose

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sparky

12 years ago

I assume these are printed books. You can offer them in giveaways, I think goodreads. com do it. They're very popular, but obviously beware of postage costs

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automaton

12 years ago

Use social networking and social bookmarking, press releases with what you accomplished and quotes from readers, PPC as others suggested.
Thinking outside of the box methods: just put it on torrents, document sharing sites like Coelho did; it didn't caused his sales drop, it only made him more popular.

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wpo1408

12 years ago

Originally Posted by automaton

Use social networking and social bookmarking, press releases with what you accomplished and quotes from readers, PPC as others suggested.
Thinking outside of the box methods: just put it on torrents, document sharing sites like Coelho did; it didn't caused his sales drop, it only made him more popular.

The problem with 'giving it away' is that Kindle will then delete it from its list.
I have had problems with that and ebooks only a week ago, although you can give it away through Kindle for five days, I think.

I just don't see the benefit.

Owen

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Simon Ashari

12 years ago

You would need a ridiculous conversion rate to sell a novel through PPC.

Does your novel have a hook? Something that distinguishes itself from other novels?

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wpo1408

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Simon Ashari

You would need a ridiculous conversion rate to sell a novel through PPC.

Does your novel have a hook? Something that distinguishes itself from other novels?

I don't really know as I have never read any books like this one.

People tell me and the titles suggest that most, if not all, books on Thai girls are adversely critical. I try to look at it more from the girls' point of view, but I don't know whether that is unique.

Owen.

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Chris-

12 years ago

Give the first chapter for free, which includes an ad at the end for subscription to the other chapters, such as $1 a month. Then get lots of reviews done of the first chapter, approach review sites, relevant blogs, etc. do guest posts on relevant blogs talking about your book, etc.

Also offer it on all other available platforms. For example, why not put it up on Amazon as a Kindle? It's easy enough to convert text to Kindle format and Amazon is very GOOD at selling stuff, so why not?

Chris

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Alessandro Zamboni

12 years ago

If your ebook will come in paperback format, you could make some promotional on the libraries who accept it. You can sign your books when requested, and you can earn as well as your favorite library.
It's what I will do as soon as I will get my Italian recipe book ready

Otherwise, for digital book, try to post some comments on blog who review your same niche ebooks, and leave your title as name, and your selling url.

Thanks and see you soon,
Alessandro Zamboni

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wpo1408

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Alessandro Zamboni

If your ebook will come in paperback format, you could make some promotional on the libraries who accept it. You can sign your books when requested, and you can earn as well as your favorite library.
It's what I will do as soon as I will get my Italian recipe book ready

Otherwise, for digital book, try to post some comments on blog who review your same niche ebooks, and leave your title as name, and your selling url.

Thanks and see you soon,
Alessandro Zamboni

Hi Alessandro

It is in paperback too, yes, but I live in the middle of rice fields 75 km from the nearest supermarket and there are four foreigners within 30 km of me.
Two have never read a book in their lives, one is too mean to buy new and one is Dutch with a poor command of English.
It is devoid of potential customers here

I like the idea of forums though and will get onto that right away.

The profit margin on a paperback does not really warrant going far to sell it.

For example, one copy through CreateSpace costs $9.99 + $9.25 postage to Thailand - $19.24
Pricey, or not?
I can buy the book for $3, but with postage it still comes to more than the cover price.
Buying 12 or more does not reduce the postage and packing a lot.
Going to Bangkok, 500 km away, with 100 books staying in a hotel does not work out.

I have to find ways of selling online really.
I have plenty of time - in hours per day - but it would be nice to get sales moving obviously.

Regards,
Owen

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Chris-

12 years ago

as someone else says "if your book is in paper format, get libraries to order it". These days it is easy enough to get a book published in paper format, yourself, I have heard that Amazon might be able to do it for you, and certainly some of the POD (print on demand) sites can do so, for quantities as little as one.

Some libraries have a policy where by they will order a book (and pay for it) if someone requests it, so go and order your own book at a bunch of libraries

Chris

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wpo1408

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Chris-

I have heard that Amazon might be able to do it for you, and certainly some of the POD (print on demand) sites can do so, for quantities as little as one.

Some libraries have a policy where by they will order a book (and pay for it) if someone requests it, so go and order your own book at a bunch of libraries

Chris

Hi Chris,

It is with Kindle and Amazon, but also CreateSpace, Amazon's POD supplier.

I like the idea of ordering it through libraries, but I live in Thailand now and I have never seen a library, 'though they must exist, just not in the middle of the 1,000's of acres of rice where I live.

I'll get my mum to order one at home though.

Thanks,
Owen

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AdwordsMogul

12 years ago

I would say get John Locke's book.

The first thing you need to do, is the same as with marketing anything else: you have to know WHO would be passionate about reading your book.

You have to figure out what these people want and then show them how you book gives them that.

Once you know those things you will be in position to decide the best way to reach them.

Otherwise you'll just be spinning your wheels for a long time - till you give up.

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wpo1408

12 years ago

Originally Posted by AdwordsMogul

I would say get John Locke's book.

The first thing you need to do, is the same as with marketing anything else: you have to know WHO would be passionate about reading your book.

You have to figure out what these people want and then show them how you book gives them that.

Once you know those things you will be in position to decide the best way to reach them.

Otherwise you'll just be spinning your wheels for a long time - till you give up.

Hi,

The book is aimed at the 100,000's of middle-aged male tourists who come to Thailand every year.
Ideally, I would like to see the book in each departure lounge bookshop, but getting it there is not easy.
The publisher can add it to their list of 'new books', but that is the easy bit.
I assume there has to be some kind of buzz about the book to make a bookseller select it for the shelves.

I will pay the publisher to put it forward to booksellers, but first I want some comments from people who have read the book and at the moment, that is only me.

10-12 copies have been sold to people I know, so I just have to wait to get some feedback, some of which can be added to the cover.

This becomes a lot more difficult once the book is available to bookstores.

Thanks,
Owen

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Resale Rights Ninja

12 years ago

Interviews, go on tour, get on oprah...

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Randall Magwood

12 years ago

Put it on Amazon and Barnes and Nobles. And create a website for it also.

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leningovea

12 years ago

What about looking for list owners related to that kind of offer?

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Paul Gram

12 years ago

You really need to create some PR and build yourself a brand as an author. You need to be prolific and communicate often with your readers and potential readers to create some raving fans. Once you accomplish those tasks, other people will do all of the selling for you.

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How would you go about promoting a novel?

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