Organize your ebook promotion and maximize your sales – part 1
If you want to maximize your ebook promotion, if you’re on a tight budget and mostly have to do everything yourself, if you’re short on time, all you need to do is organize it right so you’ll save a lot of time and will do it much faster in the future.
If you’re already a published author, I’m sure you know that indie publishing is a complex business that takes a lot of time. If you’re only planning to become an indie author, learning some things in advance will save you time and nerves. Most of it you only have to learn once, and for you next promotions you’ll only need to adjust your strategy based on your experience.
1. Choose your strategy
Depending on how much time and money you’re willing to spend on the promo, choose the amount of sites you will submit your book to (5 paid or 50 free?), which social websites you’ll have to cover (~1 hour for 20 Facebook or G+ groups), what else do you plan to do (press releases, guest posts, author interviews, etc.)
2. Make a list of ebook promotion sites you will use
There are a lot of those lists on the Internet, but you only need the sites that are still working and suitable for your book and budget. You’ll need to submit your book in advance, so make this list 2 weeks before your book promo.
3. Make a table for your list
Use 3 columns: link, comments, status. Separate the sites in two groups: submit in advance or on the day the book will be free. Then separate these groups again into paid and free sites. If you can pay for a guaranteed listing, focus on those that send out newsletters and give social media bonuses. Read about it in Book promotion ideas: choose the best
In the comments column write everything you need to know about a specific site: how many days in advance you need, how many reviews, what rating, how often you can submit your book. Even if you can’t use the site now, it’ll be useful the next time. Use the status column to keep track of the listing process: some of them require registration, others may have technical problems, so you'll have to return to them later. Even if you use only a few sites, it’ll be easier if you write everything down in a document that you can use over and over.
4. Set up everything you can in advance
You’ll have a lot of tasks during your promo days – unload this time as much as you can, preparing everything you can in advance. If you plan to make a blog post that your fellow indie authors could share and help your sales, write it before the promo and schedule so it would post automatically. Press releases, author interviews, Facebook and G+ groups – you can prepare it all in advance. Finish all the other unfinished work. There will always be something that will slow you down, and you’ll end up spending more time than you had planned – it’ll be easier if you won’t have to worry about what you will wear tomorrow to work or regret that you weren’t able to help your promotion in all the ways you had planned and missed a few hundreds of potential readers.
Still think indie publishing is easy? Wait for the second part of this topic!
Meanwhile, read about 15 things you should know before starting your KDP ebook promotion
