I have limited experience when it comes to Amazon’s e-book marketing (or any other kind of book marketing) but I am sure of two things: (1) The numbers are daunting. (2)Visibility and placement are key to success. Fortunately, there are authors who have been down this road and most are willing to share how they’ve increased their visibility and found success.
Amazon uses algorithms http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm to determine where your book will be placed amongst those million+ titles. No one but Amazon knows exactly how this works, but author David Gaughran of Let’s Get Digital shed some light on the subject in his post Popularity, Visibility & KDP Select He always offers practical, well-thought out advice, so if you’re considering e-publishing, put him on your must-read list. His posts tend to be sporadic so it’s best to sign up for them.
Another post that I found valuable is Louisa Locke’s http://mlouisalocke.com/2012/10/18/update-on-categories-and-keywords-why-authors-should-still-care/ She gives great advice on picking the keywords and categories that help readers find you. Another must-read.
If you’re planning on doing a free promotion on KDP Select check out http://ebook-reader-vergleich.org/promoting-ebooks-with-kdpselect.html
Blogs I highly reccommend:
http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/
http://www.thepassivevoice.com/
http://writersinthestorm.wordpress.com/
Each of the following books on e-publishing offer something slightly different:
Joe Konrath’s Be the Monkey — Ebooks and Self-Publishing: A Dialogue Between Authors Barry Eisler and J.A. Konrath http://www.amazon.com/Be-Monkey-Self-Publishing-Between-ebook/
Michael Alvear puts a different spin on the industry with Make a Killing on Kindle (Without Blogging, Facebook or Twitter) http://www.amazon.com/Blogging-Facebook-Guerilla-Marketers-ebook/
James Scott Bell’s Self-Publishing Attack http://www.amazon.com/Self-Publishing-Absolutely-Unbreakable-Publishing-ebook/
David Gaughran’s Let’s Get Digital http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Get-Digital-Self-Publish-ebook/ You can also buy it at http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/lets-get-digital/
If you’ve noticed my page has suddenly turned green, it’s because I’m finally working on a new look. I put it off because I tend to panic when attempting anything more difficult than inserting a link. For the moment, I’m using one of the stock WordPress headers, but my inner-control-freakishness creative soul won’t allow that to continue for very long.
I won’t be posting Thanksgiving week. Stay safe and have a fantastic holiday!
Thanks for sharing all those links, Diana. They are really helpful and I hope I can put them to use soon.
You’re welcome. I’m happy to follow behind the trail blazers. If I had to figure this stuff out on my own, I’d probably be banging my head against the wall.
Great resources. Thank you for the links.
At the risk of sounding sappy, I want you to know that your sense of humor has been an inspiration to me. I’m really happy we’ve kept in touch.
Thanks for the blog love, Diana. You have a wealth of information for e-pubbing here. It’s going to take me a while to get through it this week-end, but I’ll be sharing it. Thanks again.
-Fae Rowen
You’re welcome. I think Writers in the Storm is a great blog. I only wish I’d found it earlier.
Awesome!
Cool!
The odds are against every writer. What a strange obsession we share!
As usual, today’s post was quite practical.
If we were normal, we wouldn’t be writers!
Love the new look to the blog, Diana :)
Thanks. It’s still a work in progress.
Thanks for such a very helpful post.
You’re welcome. I’ve enjoyed your posts, too.
Wow! Nice gathering of links, looking forward to diving into all the info. Thanks! :)
I’ve spend the past year reading everything I could find on self-publishing and I felt that the links I’ve posted were consistently well written and informative.
This blog was so informative. In business, we usually do a week of teaser advertising before the new product hits the market. I’m a lawyer so I never new why, but reading this makes me realize that the teaser advertising is what puts the product in place to receive these boosts from early sales. Late to the show, but it is starting to come together.
LaDonna K. Ockinga
Currently writing Suriviving Love
I’m happy you stopped by!
I’m doing a lot of reading about marketing and self-promotion. Let’s Get Digital is a great book. He makes it seems so easy. Yeah, right! Thanks for the other links and references. You are truly a gem. I love a person who wants to see other writers be successful!
Trying to find our way is this new industry is challenging. Every little bit of knowlege helps. I truly believe that ‘passing it forward’ brings success.
Thanks for the information.
Have a great week. :-)
You too!
This was really helpful…..Thanks for sharing it! Have a wonderful Holiday :)
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks for another informative post! Tweeting this now to get the word out! :)