I’m going to be upfront and
announce right here that this post is only for those of you who have products
to sell over the holidays, especially those who are selling their novels on
Kindle.
For the rest of you it’s way too
early to be driven to distraction by those annoying holiday c’mons that start
earlier and earlier each year. So go enjoy your Halloweens and Thanksgivings
and assorted holidays and we’ll get back to you to peddle our wares at a more
appropriate time.
On the other hand if you’re
looking for ways to make some extra holiday money, you might like to stick
around.
But first, attention all
novelists! Attention all novelists! Now is the time to begin preparing your
novels for Christmas sales. People are always
looking for books to give as presents but in these financially tight times, one
may not be able to afford to buy say Stephen King’s follow-up
to The Shining, Doctor Sleep.
Hardcover
Book $18.00 on Amazon $21.00 at Wal-Mart at Retail $30.00
Kindle:
$10.99
However if you become an
affiliate of the top ten books on Amazon’s Kindle, as well as an affiliate for
Kindles themselves and Amazon gift cards, those surfing the web just
might stop by and buy a few of those Kindle reads along with your novel which
just so happens to be right there along with the Kindle Best Sellers.
Another thing to do is get ready
to promote your novel to as many people as you can, so start saving up for
facebook ads, Adwords ads, etc. Also
download the list of the 35 FREE sites I provided in my newsletter. (If you
missed out, go to the ‘Zack’s Tips’ box on the upper right and enter your name
and email address and don’t worry, I don’t spam or sell email addresses and I’ll
send you the list along with an additional 28 free facebook book posting
sites.)
NOTE* The holidays will be here
before you know it and most of those sites require a 2 week to a month lead
time plus, it takes some time to enter the information into each site so submit
your name and email now, get the list and get started, because those sites are
a first come first serve so the closer we get to the holiday the more likely
you’ll be locked out and as such lose sales.
Remember if you want to sell your
books you have to get them out before the public.
Do you have a Youtube book
trailer? No? Why not? People surf YouTube almost as much as they surf facebook.
Here’s a link to one of mine:
If you do have a book trailer on
YouTube, in the description box start with a link to your book on Amazon
Kindle. This way if your trailer has captured their attention, they can click on
the link, go to Amazon and download your book right then and there.
If you have the essential ‘First
5 Pages’ then copy and paste them directly below the Amazon link. This way they
can read that dazzling opening and once they’re thoroughly engaged in your book,
place a ‘WANT TO READ MORE?’ and again provide the link.
Another thing you’ll need is a
facebook fan page. Why? Because people spend a lot of time on
facebook so it makes sense to feature your book there. Here’s
one of my facebook fan pages: https://www.facebook.com/writepublishandmarket?ref=hl
Here are instructions on how to
make one of your own: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-set-up-a-facebook-page-for-business
Here’s another issue. What if you
have a really good book but little or no reviews? Again in these tough times
people are very wary of purchasing anything that doesn’t have confirmed value.
So you’re going to need reviewers.
But there’s a problem. People
are busy. If you send an email, facebook post or linked in request for a review
you will get some takers. However, in my experience offering to write a review
and actually sitting down and writing one are two different things.
So you need to find people who
actually do write book reviews.
NOTE* DO NOT pay for a review. If
you do Amazon will likely drop you. So contact those who write reviews
regularly. So how do you do that? One way is to go to your genre on Amazon, find
a popular book similar to yours with a lot of reviews. Click on the reviews,
then click on each reviewers ‘SEE MORE OF MY REVIEWS’ link, read them, then
contact them and request that they read yours.
If you don’t have that kind of
time then I suggest you have a look at this:
I bought this product
and it is everything they claim it is. These guys are reputable so their 30 day
no question asked guarantee is on the up and up. Plus the AZON bonuses are
worth the purchase price alone. So look it over and decide if it will help your
book sales. If so, you have thirty days
to test drive it, if it doesn’t help then get your money back.
I am also a big fan
of Market Samurai which they let you try out for free http://marketsamurai.com/c/Zackary
Give
it a look I think you’ll be impressed.
For those of you I may have lost
when I said become an affiliate and sell the Amazon books on your site what I
meant was go to www.Amazon.com scroll down to the bottom and under MAKE MONEY WITH US click on 'Become an Affiliate’
By doing that Amazon will give
you a link to include in anything your write, be it a blog post or email or an
article on www.goarticles.com When
someone clicks on that link and buys ANY PRODUCT on Amazon, you get a
commission. The amount depends on the price of the product.
So there’s my Christmas & Chanukah present
to you.
I’ll be writing a lot about books
sales and affiliate marketing over the next few weeks so stop by regularly, and
don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter. I save the best tips for them.