eBook Marketing Strategy + Handling Negative Feedback From So Called Friends

9 replies
Hey all,

Making a killing in downloads from my ebook marketing so far. On the first day I go over 130 downloads. I have 11 this morning and still climbing. I wanted to ask about strategy because it's only free for four more days before it goes back to it's regular price. How do you make sales afterwards. Do you keep marketing it and telling people to buy it at full price $7.99 or offer a discount?

Feedback from so called friend: So one of my buddies hasn't been talking to me. He's a word colleague of mine. I'm using social media to pretty much market my book. He pretty much seems like he's hating on me which kinda sucks ha. Anyway, I don't gives much F#$k but wanted to know how you all go about the negative emotions from people.
#called #ebook #feedback #friends #marketing #negative #strategy or
  • Profile picture of the author jamescanz
    Originally Posted by rollingsolo View Post

    Hey all
    Why hello there.

    Originally Posted by rollingsolo View Post

    Do you keep marketing it and telling people to buy it at full price $7.99 or offer a discount?
    That's completely up to you.

    And despite how much great advice you get on this thread...

    You will never ever know the best approach until you put them into fruition.

    (and especially because there's so little detail about what you'd be selling and how)

    Pick a price and roll with it immediately.

    Originally Posted by rollingsolo View Post

    He pretty much seems like he's hating on me which kinda sucks ha. Anyway, I don't gives much F# but wanted to know how you all go about the negative emotions from people.
    Sounds like you do "gives much F#$k", otherwise you wouldn't be asking, right?

    Either way...

    Dealing with people like that will become more and more common as you build upon your success.

    Friends, family, relatives, strangers, forum members, you name it...

    There's a ton of that mumbo-jumbo out there...

    Because at the end of the day, it's easier to tear someone else's building down rather than them creating one on their own.

    It's just something you learn to manage more appropriately as time moves along.
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    • Profile picture of the author rollingsolo
      Right on man! Thanks for the reply and insight.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Meaney
    Use it as a means to sell a higher priced product.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jordan Mortimer
    Depending how long the ebook is, it would make for a great tripwire/one time offer ($1-10) in your sales funnel.

    You can also advertise it on Amazon Kindle to generate leads, by putting your email in the first few pages that they can preview.
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    • Profile picture of the author rollingsolo
      Before the free promotion I had it on sale for $7.99. I got some sales on it but not a lot at all. It's 32 pages. Cookbook/ Travel stories. Was thinking of selling for $4.99.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jordan Mortimer
        Originally Posted by rollingsolo View Post

        Before the free promotion I had it on sale for $7.99. I got some sales on it but not a lot at all. It's 32 pages. Cookbook/ Travel stories. Was thinking of selling for $4.99.
        As mentioned, try using it in your sales funnel to sell a core product. So you can sell it normally for $7.99

        But when people opt in for a different free lead magnet, you can then do a one time offer (OTO), selling the book for $1-4. This generates buyers who are 10x more responsive to your offers (as long as your book as worth 10x what they paid for it).

        Then once they buy the OTO, you can have a core product, and then profit maximizer offer in place further down the funnel.
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  • Profile picture of the author quadagon
    Where are you selling your book?

    I'm guess it's kdp but you've not said.

    Really until there is a bit more info you are just going to get generic advise some of which may not even be possible let alone suitable.
    Signature
    I've got 99 problems but a niche ain't one
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    • Profile picture of the author rollingsolo
      The book is being sold on Amazon Kindle in eBook format. I'm marketing on Facebook groups I belong to and got over 150 downloads from there alone. I also posted in on my instagram and marketed it every day a different section of the book to offer value. I also added it to a forum I'm a long time member of and got downloads from. In total close to 160 free downloads. It may not be that much but I'm psyched on it.

      Tomorrow is the last day for the free download so I made another post in the FB group to tell people to grab a copy. I didn't pay for any FB ad's yet but was thinking about doing that. Perhaps I should have done that from the start.
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  • Profile picture of the author quadagon
    Cookbooks are a complicated product to sell they either rely on being really niche specific for example 'BBQ Food for Vegans' or are sold on the back of celebrity - sometimes its a combination of being a minor celebrity/authority in a micro niche.

    The good news is you can make yourself a micro celebrity in a niche.

    To start with have a look at your book and make sure that you've defined who your target market is then make sure that you are listed in the right categories on Amazon. Some people search through the categories on the left to get to where they want to be on the Amazon store if you are not in the right place it can be problematic.

    Also your not going to sell 101 recipes with Veal if you are listed under vegan cookbooks

    Make sure you have a professional looking book cover with a visible title.

    You should also make good use of your choice of keywords and use the space that Amazon gives you to sell the book.

    Then you want reviews. But before we get to reviews lets start with an IM staple:


    Build A List

    Its almost cliche but you really need to build a list. This allows you to keep in contact with buyers and prospects and will save time and money on future launches.

    One of the benefits of the marketplace you are in is that you have an almost never ending supply of source material. You can send subscribers to your list:
    • Recipes
    • Book Reviews
    • Product Reviews
    • Seasonal Promotions (seriously Halloween,Christmas, thanks giving, valentines it never ends)

    Its really only limited by your imagination and desire.

    You can also earn from your list by being an amazon associate.

    To get subscribers its about building traffic to your site. I would probably do the things that you are doing now but instead of promoting Amazon I'd promote mygreatcookbook[dot]com.

    If you are using instagram and pinterest remember they are visual mediums and exploit this with great food photography. Comparison photographs are something that not enough food marketers use.

    Compare a McDonalds cheeseburger to your own recipe one or a microwave lasagna to your fresh authentic Italian masterpiece.

    If you hijack big brands these things can go viral quickly. Include a discreet watermarket of your url on the image.

    I know you've said you do some promotion on a facebook group but I would expand the net and get involved with more groups and forums related to your target market and get them to your website site.

    Once they arrive at your site have an exit intent pop up which asks them for their email in exchange for some benefit.

    Make sure its value linked to your product so perhaps '10 Recipes you can cook in 10 minutes'.

    The freebie needs to stand alone and have merit by itself - so no free chapters or samples.

    For the fiction writers I work with I am big fan of giving away a part of the series for free. This is one reason why later on I'll mention writing more books.

    We build the perceived value of the freebie by showing that this book is for sale on Amazon for $9.99 but you can get it here for free.

    Once they have signed in you will need an auto-responder to send them a link to the download. Make sure to put a link inside the freebie to your amazon book page

    I would also take this opportunity to send them to a thank you page which sells your actual book on amazon.

    This works well but is especially effective if you are running a countdown deal.

    You can also promote your website inside your books. Do this early on and take advantage of the 'look inside' feature and you can get sign ups from people who haven't purchased your book.

    I like to include a sign up at the back that is for customers only and position this as an exclusive club. I much prefer dealing with buyers.

    When you have a list you can then launch a book to it to get momentum early on. I'd recommend segmenting your list and promoting your book to the least responsive part first and the most responsive last.

    From my data it appears that Amazon likes a steady increase of sales over time. You are better off having the sales in example a even though it's the same amount units.

    Example A

    Sunday - 2
    Monday - 3
    Tuesday - 5
    Wednesday - 10
    Thursday - 15
    Friday - 25
    Saturday - 40

    Example B

    Sunday - 100
    Monday - 0
    Tuesday - 0
    Wednesday - 0
    Thursday - 0
    Friday - 0
    Saturday - 0

    Get Reviews

    They aren't as important to the Amazon algorithm as they once were but verified reviews for social proof are still important. Its too late for this book but you really want to be doing this step before you do a free launch.

    You can get reviews by seeking out reviewers on amazon, on social media, from your email list and failing that your EYK* List.

    If you are going for amazon reviewers who see themselves as professional reviewers make sure to invite them first - its a nice ego stroke for them. Be pleasant and professional and remember you are asking for their help - it never hurts to let them know which reviews of theirs you liked.

    A little used technique is to ask the reviewers on other amazon sites not just those on amazon.com - you can ask them to post their review on amazon.com as well as their home country.

    *EYK stands for Everyone You Know.

    This is a simple exercise where you list literally everyone you know plus their friends that you know and their family that you know.

    Here you are building up a list of people to ask to download the book and leave an honest review.

    You want to prioritize this list into who is in your target demographic as you want your first 100 sales or so be to super targeted. The reason for this is that you want to kick the amazon machine into gear and get it to take note of what other books they've previously bought. You can appear in the 'customers who bought this also bought...' this way which will increase organic sales.

    This is also the reason I don't like doing wide book promotions. I virtually never use the free days as I want quality over quantity.

    One of my favorite things to do with the EYK List takes a little investment but works wonders.
    • Buy ten $5 Amazon gift cards
    • Set you book price to $4.99
    • Ask your EYK person if they would give your book an honest review
    • Get them to buy the book then and there
    • Give them the Giftcard to buy the book
    • Encourage them to leave honest feedback

    Don't be shy asking them to do buy it then and there, most people have the app on their phone or at least internet access. Heres how I do it (not word for word but you get the just):

    Did I tell you I've just launched my new book cookbook its got 101 delicious easy recipes all with chocolate. Here let me give you a copy. Do you have your phone? Great go to amazon and search for it. Here use this to buy it.

    Then the reciprocity kicker

    I think you'll really enjoy it- hey could you do me a favour and leave me an honest review on amazon by the end of the day/week because that will help other people to decide whether to buy it or not

    One of the beauties of this is that you get a verified sale but also if you are enrolled in KDP select you will get $3.50 back (bit less with taxes and fees). When you get your payout reinvest this money into more reviews.

    When you are asking for reviews you want to make it as easy as possible for the person to leave a review. The vast majority of people who use Amazon don't leave reviews. I imagine most don't even know how. You can help them:
    • Log out of your amazon account
    • Open an incognito window and go to Amazon
    • Find your book page
    • Scroll Down to where it says write a customer review and click on he link
    • As you are logged out it should take you to a log in screen. Copy the url on this page and use this link to send it to people.

    As an example if I was Robert Cialdini I would use this link:
    leave a book review

    If I was already signed in it would take me straight in to review the item, if I am not signed it its one click and I am at the review page.

    That link actually looks like this

    amazon[dot]com/ap/signin?--_encoding=UTF8&openid.assoc_handle=usflex&openid.c laimed_id=http%3A%2F%2Fspecs.openid.net%2Fauth%2F2 .0%2Fidentifier_select&openid.identity=http%3A%2F% 2Fspecs.openid.net%2Fauth%2F2.0%2Fidentifier_selec t&openid.mode=checkid_setup&openid.ns=http%3A%2F%2 Fspecs.openid.net%2Fauth%2F2.0&openid.ns.pape=http %3A%2F%2Fspecs.openid.net%2Fextensions%2Fpape%2F1. 0&openid.pape.max_auth_age=0&openid.return_to=http s%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Freview%2Fcreate-review%3Fie%3DUTF8%26asin%3D006124189X%26channel%3 Dglance-detail%26ref_%3Dcm_cr_dp_d_wr_but_top
    That is ugly so you might want to use a url shortner.

    Lets take this one step further. Use an amazon associate link for your product and do the same. That means if they buy anything on there visit to amazon then you earn a little bit extra.

    I would strongly recommend being an amazon associate as you can then build links to track how successful your book marketing is and which channels you should double down on and which you should ignore.

    I've mentioned links previously and these could all be amazon associate links.

    Don't be afraid to

    Give Reviews

    Its an often under utilized technique but leave reviews for other books in your niche. Mention you are an author and give an honest review. If you have a list you can ask your subscribers to vote yes on the Was this review helpful to you?question.

    Good reviews establish your authority and expertise in the market.

    I honestly wouldn't just do this on Amazon but on Goodreads and even short book reviews on Youtube.

    There is a natural extension to this and that is to run an niche specific book review website.

    Pricing

    Pricing is a difficult one. Some people will say go to 2.99 then work up until you find your sweet spot. I've conflicting ideas on this and would be more inclined to start high and work down.

    As an indicator of price go to the best seller list in your two categories and note the prices and page length of the top 100 books. Whats the top end of the market and whats the mean price.

    I was recently working with an author and we discovered that the mean price was $8 and than all of the top 20 were priced higher than this. We naturally launched her book at a higher price point because that's what the market could stand and accepted.

    If she'd followed the generic advice of launch at $2.99 she would have been loosing $5 a sale.

    Ultimately though with price its all about testing and tracking.

    Write More Books

    It may sound counter intuitive but one way to sell more books is by having other books.

    You can then include links in your books to your other books. In the sci-fi and fantasy genre's I always encourage people to try and launch two or three books at a time.

    Although your market is very competitive you do have some advantages. Crowd sourcing works wonders in this market. This year we've worked with a TV chef/actor on a book which is a collection on other people's favorite recipes.

    You could easily replicate this by engaging people on social media with questions like 'whats your favorite meal from childhood' or ask for 'your grandma's best recipe''.

    Imagine you collected 100 crowd sourced recipes around a niche. In the book you thank each person who provided the recipe and include a photo of them. Do you think that those people will promote your book?

    What if you deliberately selected the recipes of people with large social media following? If each person has only 200 followers you could be putting your book in front of 20,000 straight away. I'd also run a free plus shipping offer for the paperback version to the 100 lucky people.

    What if you ended the book title with the year? Rinse and repeat every 12 months.

    Place the book at $1 and sell it to the contributors using the gift voucher method I outlined in the get reviews section.

    Sell a real book

    Look into print on demand make sure you sell a real version of the book - even if its just through create space. There are a lot of people who still use cookbooks and not tablets in the kitchen.

    As an idea of best practice for future book releases I think I would be very mindful of three key things:
    • Write with a marketing strategy already in mind
    • Don't wait until your book is finished to market it
    • Build a list

    If you take nothing else away just keep rereading those last three bullet points. Best of look with the cookbook.

    Any questions just ask

    Q.
    Signature
    I've got 99 problems but a niche ain't one
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