kindle analysis paralysis and real publishers

by 58 replies
77
hi

i am stuck before the announcement of my kindle fiction book - can you guys give me a checklist of what i must do ?

heres what i have so far

- press release
- reviews
- blog giveaways
- facebook
= forums


should i have done some promotion beforehand ie chatting on forums?

how do i get out of this thing, because i want it to be 'perfect'..i know i have to do ready fire aim but im too scared

also secondly do you guys have any experience in getting to real publishers? how did you do it and how long did it take?
#main internet marketing discussion forum #analysis #kindle #paralysis #publisher #publishers #real
  • You can try kindle select program and get initial lift to your book sales. This will help you in getting reviews thus will increase your sales. In "Kindle Select" you will get five days for distributing your eBook for free. But if you opt for the program you can't place your eBook on any other platform or even on your website for 90 days.

  • Frankly, these day, friends don't let friends sign with trad publishers... Really.

    Contracts are getting worse and worse.

    Do minimal promo for a first/single fiction title.

    More important -- get yourself BIC and write the next book FOR THE SAME READERS

    Depending on the genre/sub-genre, figure 3-7 books to get traction

    Oh! And Congratulations You are now one book ahead of millions of wanna be writers ;-)
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    • Banned
      Ooooh, I'm glad it was you who said this (i.e. so that I immediately know to take it seriously!). Very interesting comment.
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    • Bleary eyed, wrong time-zone, wrong day.. I was like WTF?...get yourself BIC..?

      BIC.. BIC?.. grr.. bring it closer?... better internet connection?..
      barf into can?... beyond introspective criticism?.. be in control?..
      bong intensive coughing?.. before I collapse?...
      aoow, now I remember! butt in chair..

      analysis paralisys indeed :p
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    • Absolutely.

      My wife was at the Romance Writers of America convention in Atlanta this past week. She said many of the programs were about self publishing.

      There were two ladies, who together gave a 2 hour program, and between them they have sold around 4.5 million (yes that is with an M) books in the past 2 years! Self-publishing!

      My wife ordered the audio recordings of the convention. I can't wait to hear them.

      :-Don
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    • Yet another of the hundreds of stories from authors who were traditionally published. It's the midlist who paid the heavy price... and most everyone IS midlist.

      Now, thanks to inde pubbing, midlisters can do VERY well. ;-)

      And, remember, since we don't have a backlist, BIC for the frontlist is all the more important.

      A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: Guest Post by Geraldine Evans
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  • Concentrate on social media to gain exposure. For example, you tube, twitter, pinterest, etc. I have gotten good results with pinterest as you can upload your book cover. This takes people to my site where they get more information on the book and a link to amazon.

    Also, ask your friends for reviews. If you get enough sales and reviews in the 1st week then you are placed in "HOT NEW RELEASES" section by amazon. This can be a big boost for you. Don't forget to gift copies of your book to professional reviewers. Yeah, they can really move sales up.
  • Stay away from real publishers - it's simply not worth it.

    As far as:
    - press release
    - reviews
    - blog giveaways
    - facebook
    = forums

    All good ideas. The more, the merrier.
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  • Get in with KDP select, they give you five days of free promo you can spread out. When you do a promo get the free book highlighter service from this site... Authors and Publishers: How to Sponsor Kindle Nation Daily | Author's Corner @ Kindle Nation Daily

    Also sign up at shelfari.com and be sure your author profile is complete at amazon.

    Also make videos for youtube, have someone interview you about the book via hangout or skype.

    It ain't gonna be perfect... EVER. So don't get hung up on that, just pull the trigger and make adjustments as you go along.
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    • Just cus we are Indie does not make us NOT real publishers...hummph!

      I guess that is not real money I am making from my eBooks....geez!
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  • I would use PPC and drive the traffic to an opt in page.
    I would then use an auto responder to create product launch hype and then launch the product.

    This is one of the ways I use PPC to make my entire living online

    Hope this helps
  • thanks everyone, more questions

    the list of stuff i need to do

    - is it okay just to say, get the reviews done, then research which blogs to make announcements on etc?

    i guess im looking at it like the build up to an internet marketing product. you know getting everyone juiced up and then announcing it. how important is that build up?

    i mean , you know, im a nobody, right? so how much anticipation can i create? as opposed to say if i was a big name in the internet marketing field or having someone push me big on their lists etc

    ...just do it?
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    • Some plain talk... take it or leave it... apologies if it's blunt, I am eating breakfast before my AM walk... I have a date for 5-10k words on my next novel today, so every word here is one less on it LOLOL

      That buildup is totally unimportant and meaningless.

      Successful Fiction writing is TOTALLY different than IM... and it is a mistake I see IMers make all the time.

      They waste their time promoting when they have only a single piece of fiction...

      There are experienced and successful (read -- multi-millionaire) writers advising -- don't bother to pubb until you have 3-5 books ALREADY WRITTEN.

      If you do pubb a single work, then get Butt In Chair ASAP so you can write the next book and then next one and then next one (all aimed at the same readers.)

      ALL promoting does at the beginning is keep you from writing.

      If you have nothing else for readers to read... you are wasting your time and theirs.

      An important important subtlety here is, and part of the FICTION VS IM mind shift needed, is an understanding of the hungry crowd.

      In IM, you are looking for the people with problems... and you solve their prob, which can be done with a single product, although, obviously more than one (upsell and/or downsell) is ideal.

      In FICTION, you are feeding *addicts* (apologies to those who may have loved ones with true issues, but I haven't been able to come up with a better analogy before my morning coffee.)

      FICTION readers are jonesing for the next book in their fav sub-genre. If you don't have another one and another one and another one to send them to, they'll devour yours like starving locusts and move on.

      The odds that your book will be memorable enough for them to remember you until your next release are remote. No matter how good your book is, this is just reality.

      Releasing the first book without others ready to follow within 30-90 days wastes the impact of that first book...

      Stop right now and buy a copy of The Naked Truth about Indie Publishing. If you like to take notes and mark things up, skip to the chase and buy a paper copy...

      Read it, absorb it, and then BIC for your next fiction book...

      The folks writing The Naked Truth, walk the walk.

      They aren't IMErs trying to game the system or make a living doing WSOs... all 10 authors are G-E-N-U-I-N-E NYT Bestsellers...

      And don't be put off by how they are marketing The Naked Truth, it has valuable info that will work for ANY fiction sub-genre.

      Now... get BIC. ;-)

      Off for my morning walk and a heavy writing day! I need all 8 books done before I start releasing in early Sept!

      Best of luck with your writing, which ever path you choose!
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  • I have two books on Kindle not doing much of anything for sales, but that is ok as it was a learning lesson for me to go through the process. Writing and uploading a Kindle book is easy. the hard part is the marketing of the book, which can be time consuming and not very rewarding. However some folks do very well with Kindle, so worth investigating further on your part. Good luck!
  • TinkTB yes i already have 3-5 already written,
    its sounds like i need to be ready with 3-5 books before i even start publishing the first one . At this rate, once the ball starts rolling inbetween releasing one book a month

    Speaking of which, can you guys give me specific places where I can do the following for childrens books

    - promo on 5 days on kindle
    - tweeting on facebook forums and PR
    - submitting on blogs

    basically im trying to organise a timetable for what to do. I know promoting once a day on facebook etc is a good idea, but still - any specific childrens book promo suggestions?

    1 hour facebook ( does anyone know of a good childrens book facebook)
    1 hour forum chatting to other authors ( does anyone know of chatting to other children authors and what i should be saying to them)

    by the way re forum chatting and facebook it sounds like i should be building a name for myself but how can you do it when you have promo facebook pages like this

    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kindl...93696014038356

    that dont allow participation?

    did you guys check out this thread?
    http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ens-books.html

    RenfromPenn had exactly the same problem - and she has published 4 books and apart from not writing a series, and im beginning to think it was because she didnt do enough promo beforehand

    analysis paralysis
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  • Remember, this is a marathon.

    For kids books, try reaching out to the HomeSchoolers and Mommy bloggers.
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  • Thanks TinkBD

    One last question do people mean by 'gift'? and which one of the following is the best - 1, 2 or 3?

    1. publish
    2. give them 99c voucher to purchase book with and to review? ( then after 2 weeks, reduce price to 0c and submit to promo sites)

    1. publish
    2. give them link to 0c book to review ( and then submit to promo sites at same time)

    1 publish
    2 send them PDF copy of book hoping they buy the book at 99c ( and 3 week later, change price, and submit to free promo sites at KDP at 0c)
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    • I'm not sure what you are asking. Sorry.

      You can gift/buy a copy of your book using Amazon for anyone if you have their email address. I believe that it will count towards your purchases... If you have a 70% royalty, doing so will only cost you 30% of the cost.

      I haven't been watching this carefully so things may have changed, in which case I hope someone will correct me ;-)
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  • So im guessing its option one to choose -
    1. publish
    2. give them 99c voucher to purchase book with and to review? ( then after 2 weeks, reduce price to 0c and submit to promo sites)
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    • No, not a voucher... Go to your book and gift IT...
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  • also wanted to ask, if i have 6 books ready to go, should i just put them up for sale all at once, or just promote one by one? i mean if as you say, its not until you have many books that you get recognition , shouldnt i just get all 6 out there and then start promoting all of them equally?
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    • I strongly suggest you invest in a copy of The Naked Truth about Self-Publishing... Chapter 8, by Liliana Hart, has a comprehensive explanation of the Amazon algos... I'd give the Chapter name, but it's too naughty! LOLOLOL

      And remember, the book was written by 10 authors, most of whom have earned over a million $$s writing fiction on Amazon... without resorting to black hat or other questionable methods... I know... a tough concept here... It took most of them about 2 years of hard work to reach that magic tipping point.

      The book has just been published so you can figure the info is at its freshest right now ;-)

      Yes, you can pubb all at once, but you won't be maximizing the Amazon Algos if you do so...

      I pubbed all at once the last time I pubbed, in part due to the timing. This time I will be experimenting... spreading out the 4 books over a period of time...
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  • Thanks TinkBD, really appreciate you helping me, I will publish soon and keep you and anyone else interested, on how it goes. Will purchase that book. I need a break from all this analysis and organising lol
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  • also how do i set the price at 0c?

    DropZone

    FYI i sent two emails to amazon contact help( about different matters) and they still havent replied to me, so its not like im not trying.,..
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    • ok i googled and found this

      put the book on BN first and make it $0 and check the box in Amazon that says available for a lower price. This sets in motion the ability to make the price 0$. The book can't be in the KDP Select Lending program as one of the rules is that only Amazon can be distributing the book.

      anyone know what BN means? And if i cant put it in the KDP system, means that i can only lend it to FREE PROMO BLOGS, which means that after 1 month, i have to set it back at 99c and enlist it in KDP right?
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  • also found a thread on promotion, in case anyones interested. http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...-what-now.html
  • Just be aware that once you put it on smashwords it's nearly impossible to get them to pull the titles so you will never be able to put that book in the KDP select program. IMHO KDP Select has lost most of its value anyway, but the thing is if you use this method then you won't be able to change the prices quickly or easily (smashwords takes a long time to make the changes).

    It can takes months for your book to go free on Amazon using this method, so you will have to wait until it does BEFORE you notify the free promo blogs.

    While you are waiting write the next book, as Tink advised above.

    I'm not sure why you keep saying "send it out for review" Do you actually have people lined up that you are sending this to?
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    • Hi Cashcow

      Thanks for the answer., yes ive decided im going to gift it at 99c,

      1. email the reviewer with the gifted copy, and let them grab it ( i pay for it as TinkBD said)

      2. once 3 weeks are up, just put it on KDP, i know its starting to lose its effect but its better than nothing

      3. once my month is up, Ill put it on smashwords, to be honest its childrens book so idea how many people sell these different formats. my goal is just to build a following

      to answer your q , yes i do.
  • Plus im an unorganised person ( getting the steps right, and sticking to it and following a structure that actually works as opposed to one that doesnt) so i have to work twice as hard as probably most people on here who can cruise through things that much easily
  • If you already lost your account, how do you plan to publish on there again?

    They have very sophisticated techniques to detect people that have been banned. I don't know if they go after the people so much now as they used to but its not enough just to open a new account with a different email or ip etc.. I even heard of someone forming an LLC to get around this and they were detected and closed down.
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    • Haha thats what happens when you start being too open and honest on here - it backfires on you.

      Well basically im coauthoring with my friend write books - we are using his account.
  • One last question, is writing a series simply filling in the section called 'is this book part of a series'
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