15 things you should know before starting your KDP ebook promotion – part 2
In 15 things you should know before starting your KDP ebook promotion – part 1 I've explained why I decided to put together a list of all things a beginning indie author should know. It's getting a lot of views, so here's the next part:
6. Don’t forget about the technical aspects of the platforms you’ll be using.
When making a plan (how much time you’ll need for this and that, and when you will do it), check in advance how those sites work. For example, on Reddit you’ll have to wait 5-10 minutes between each post in different subs. I was surprised when it turned out that even though I had an account there for years, I still had to wait and ended up submitting for 2 hours instead of 30 min.
7. Don’t forget about the site once you set up an account there, but check if everything’s good before the promo.
I had a bad little incident with Facebook. I registered there earlier, filled my profile, and joined some book advertising groups. I didn’t even post anything there, didn’t spam, nothing. Then my promo starts and I go there to post in all those nice groups – and WOW, my account is blocked! It looks okay, but I can’t post in groups and can’t join new ones. I guess some automatic spam-control got to me, but since FB doesn’t really have any support service, after dozens of complaints they never unblocked me. In the end I had to pay another $5 to someone on Fiverr to post for me, which she did in the middle of the night in the US and most countries, and by noon my book was totally lost. I could’ve used these $5 for another book promotion, and there actually are some cheap ways to promote your book.
8. Don’t focus your paid promotions on one day if you have a longer promo and if you’re on a tight budget.
Spread your promotions instead. Use social media and free books listings on your first day, this way people will see your posts on FB, G+ and Reddit for the whole period of your promo. Then blast some email promo on the second day to keep up the sales. And so on. It’s called layering, and it’s also good before the promo and after it. There are a lot of opportunities to raise awareness of your book, seek them out and analyze which are good for you. But remember to think how your reader thinks, avoid everything boring or spammy, you’ll end up wasting your time.
9. Don’t rely on just one big promotion/don’t think that expensive means effective in this business.
I already posted about the differences of ebook promotions and why not all of them work. During one of my free promos I had 2 paid promotions, one cost $30 and the other $5. The first gave me a nice spot on their main page, tweeted for me to 100K followers, and posted my book on FB. The other one simply sent out my book to 17K urban fantasy readers (target audience, good) and tweeted 3 times to 130K followers. Want to know which results were better? The $5 promo. Why? Because it wasn't my target audience on the first one. Read Book promotion ideas: choose the best
10. Don’t waste your time on small-audience sites and forums.
I posted on a few book forums where they had threads for free books. Most of them only had 30-50 views in 3 days. If you think it’s useful, I’ll disappoint you. Seriously, don’t waste your time on sites like that, pick the most popular ones and only post there. Results will be the same.
The last part of this topic will come out soon. You can subscribe and get a notification about it.
