I took my mother out to breakfast this morning, then took her to Walmart. I put a new battery in the garage door remote (it still doesn’t work.) I’ve cleaned out 15 years’ worth of clutter from my billfold. I even flipped through the stack of magazines I never have time to read. I wonder if these are the kinds of things normal people do to fill their days.

As for things weighing heavily on my mind, there is one thing that has been bothering me lately. I’ve put off discussing it because I don’t have an answer. I don’t really even know the question yet, but here it is in its present incomplete form.

Today, anybody can publish anything to Amazon’s Kindle. Some writers are even turning their backs on contracts with traditional publishers so they can enjoy the freedom and high royalties available to self-publishers via Kindle. The question that’s been churning around in my head is, “Why do people assume that either of these scenarios is going to last?”

Amazon has already started a program to eliminate a large portion of the duplicate content available on Kindle. The hundreds (thousands?) of folks dumping public domain and PLR articles onto Kindle are seeing their titles disabled as quickly as Amazon can identify them. I’ve heard that Amazon has also been removing titles that get an above average number of returns or negative reviews. As the Kindle brand grows and Amazon signs more talented writers into their stable, how long will it be before they start some kind of screening process to weed out competition with their own titles? Is it in their long-term interest to have 100,000 good titles available rather than a million mediocre titles? Will Kindle’s reputation take a heavy blow from disgruntled readers who feel they have to waste time and money wading through a slushpile to find the rare bits of writing they enjoy?

And lastly, why in the world (I can’t even express how flabbergasted I am about this point)…why in the world are authors so eager to bet their future on Amazon’s high royalty rate? In what universe does a company dominate a market and then not take advantage of their monopoly? I would bet my soul that at some point, maybe not until Amazon has driven a few publishers out of business, Amazon is going to slash royalty rates. When you’re the only viable game in town, you can do whatever you want. And Amazon wants to make money.

And herein lies the reason my question is incomplete. I have spent the last few years floundering in the world of Internet Marketing. I’m no good at it, but the one hard rule I’ve learned is to not put all my eggs into one basket. I have built entire websites around a single product, spending thousands of hours developing and promoting it, only to see the company fold or drop their affiliate program. Suppose you quit your day job, turned down a publishing deal, produced a successful series of books, sold a few thousand Kindle editions at $2.99 (to get the 70% royalty), then woke up one day to find Amazon had changed the royalty rate to 15%? What will you do about it? What can you do about it?

There are alternatives to Kindle, but, come on, we all know there aren’t any good alternatives. The only partial solution I have running around in my head is you must figure out a way to make your book sales a “component” of your income strategy. Make them a lead-in to other products or services you offer for sale on your website? Convert them to screenplays? Convert them to TV/movie scripts? Create cellphone apps that tie into your book? Videos? Audio books? Board games or online games? Motivational speaking? Seminars? Music? I wish I knew.

See? I have no answers. I joined a Facebook group called Gonzo Book Marketing for Authors, hoping to find some answers, but, judging by the lack of ideas there, either everyone is satisfied with their 35% or 70% royalty and think it will last forever or they are as clueless as I am about how to make their book a “component” of their long-range plan. The creator of the group converted one of his books into a script for a play, then mailed postcards to 200 high school drama departments telling them about his play. I don’t know if he got any response, but it showed me at least one person is thinking in the right direction.

Or, I’m completely wrong and Amazon loves authors and will continue publishing anything and everything for everybody and only wants to keep a few pennies from each sale because, well, that’s how they roll.

So, what do you think? At what point(s) will Amazon begin reducing royalties? Do authors have any options or are they congenitally joined at the pocketbook to Amazon? Is there such a thing as a marketing plan for an author that goes beyond “sell books?”

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Any Amazon customer can add tags to your book. They can also vote tags up or down, indicating whether or not they agree with the tags.

Amazon uses these tags as one of the parameters when deciding where to place your book in search results. If someone searches for UKULELE FOR BEGINNERS, Amazon searches for matching titles, then looks at book descriptions and finally looks at tags. Using some algorithm known only to them, they then rank the matching titles and display them to the customer.

[Off-topic comment: I am only guessing at the sequence Amazon uses when deciding which book to list first, second, third, etc., but I think I'm pretty close to being right. If you have a book about ukulele for beginners and you title it "Play That Thang!" with a description like "Be the life of the party! Everybody loves the uke player!", you are not going to show up in the top million results for UKULELE FOR BEGINNERS.]

From time to time, I read a forum post from an author expressing their angst at the inappropriate tags associated with their book. The good thing about tags is that anybody can tag your book. The bad thing is that anybody can tag your book with whatever tags they like. So somebody could tag our ukulele book with things like ‘this book sucks’, ‘grating instruments’ or ‘overpriced’.

My question to those who are upset with inappropriate tags is “why do you care?”

First of all, hardly anybody will search for THIS BOOK SUCKS, and if they do, they aren’t going to buy anything in the search results anyway. But let’s say they do search for THIS BOOK SUCKS. Do you want your book to show up in the search results? OF COURSE YOU DO! You want your book to be on top of every search result, whether it belongs there or not. Do you want your book to show up if somebody searches for UKALALY FOR BEGGINERS? OF COURSE YOU DO! I think you should tag your book with every possible misspelling of ukulele. Actually, if somebody misspells a word and that misspelling matches one of your tags, your book will automatically be placed above every book that isn’t tagged with that particular misspelling.

Switching roles from author to marketer is always difficult. Force yourself to tag your book like a marketer, not an author. Tag your book with ‘guitar for beginners’, ‘childrens music’, ‘don ho’, anything potential buyers might search for.

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I had been watching the cat for about an hour. She was sitting there, watching the ground for any sign of movement. She seems to catch a field mouse nearly every day. I thought, ‘she must have a very small brain if she can sit there this long, just watching the ground.’ By that time, she had my curiosity aroused and I decided I would sit there and watch her until she got bored and did something. Forty-five minutes later, she stood and stretched, then sat back down.

It was almost noon and I was starting to get a little hungry. I had eaten a snack cake for breakfast, just like I do every day. The cat sat in the doorway, like she does every morning, waiting for me to finish so she could lick the wrapper. When I threw the wrapper away, she sat down beside her food bowl because she knew she was getting fed next. You’d think she would get bored, going through the same motions every day, but she doesn’t. While I’m in the bathroom, she always eats her breakfast, then sits beside the back door, waiting to go outside. I try to sit out on the deck every day. I’m not the type to just sit around the house; I try to get outside for the fresh air and exercise.

About one o’clock, her ears perked up and she crouched down on the fencepost. I could feel my heart rate go up a little. Maybe she was finally going to do something instead of just sitting there. After a few minutes, her ears went back down and I knew the opportunity was lost. But she had seen something, so there was hope yet. I decided to skip lunch. After watching this long, I didn’t want to give up until she did. I found myself watching the ground, too, looking for any sign of movement.

About three o’clock, I heard a scuffling noise and raised my head off my chest. She was playing with a mouse on the deck. I must have been daydreaming when she caught it. I wish she would just eat them and not bring them home. She always plays with them until they finally die, then I have to put them in a plastic bag and throw them in the trash. Like I don’t have better things to do with my time.

This one finally quit moving, so she abandoned it and went down into the yard. Like she does every afternoon, she prowled around, looking for grasshoppers or anything else that moves. She pounces on them like they are some dangerous prey, then eats them and goes back to prowling. I guess it doesn’t hurt her to eat them. Judy didn’t want her to eat bugs, but I never saw the harm in it. It’s good for you to vary your diet.

She was still just a kitten when Judy died. I tried to give her to my grand-daughter, but she said I should keep her. She said it wasn’t good to be all alone, that the cat would keep me company. If I wanted company, I’d go to the Senior Center. I have enough to do without keeping track of a stupid cat.

It was starting to get dark, so I got rid of the mouse and went inside to watch my game show. I try to never miss it. It’s hilarious how people get flustered by being on stage and can’t guess the puzzles, even when they have most of the letters. I hardly ever guess the answers, but I don’t live in California or go to the movies, so most of the puzzles don’t mean anything to me. I always turn the TV off when it’s over; there’s nothing but junk on in the evenings.

I opened the refrigerator door and looked around inside. I knew there was nothing to eat in there, but I always do it anyway. Since Judy died, I haven’t felt like doing much shopping or cooking. It’s just me and the stupid cat, so what’s the point? I ate another snack cake for supper. As usual, the cat was sitting at the back door, waiting to come in to lick the wrapper. While I watched her licking it, I kind of felt sorry for her. How boring it must be to go through the same motions every day with nothing to look forward to but licking the wrapper.

I picked her up and took her to the bedroom with me. While I got undressed, she curled up on Judy’s pillow. She sleeps there every night. I probably shouldn’t let her, but somehow it’s comforting to have her there. I gave her a little pat before going to sleep. I thought maybe I should buy her a little toy so she would have something to do all day. But today is Saturday and I don’t like to leave the house on Saturdays. Maybe next week I’ll buy her a little something.
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The door to the deck was open and we started hearing strange noises outside, kinda like electricity jumping an open circuit. JC went to the door and said, “Man, this is weird.” We all went out on the deck and everything was kinda glowing, like it does sometimes before a summer storm. But the wind was pretty calm and the clouds were so low it seemed like you could throw a rock up into them.

Every 30 seconds or so, we could hear electricity jumping around in the clouds. There was no thunder or lightening, just a crackling here and there. Johnny said it was like there was almost enough electricity to lightening, but not quite enough to actually make the commitment.

We listened for a couple of more minutes and Jimmy said, “I wonder if we was to shoot a gun up amongst the clouds, it would cause a spark or something and set off a lightening bolt.”

We all looked at each other and Doug said, “I’ll get my gun.”

He put a bullet in it and said we should go out front where we could stand up on top of a little hill. We all ran out the door, whooping like a bunch of rednecks. As we were running up the hill, I noticed the hair on my arms standing up and heard a little crackling in the hair on my head. It was like the air was full of static electricity. Since everything seemed so full of electricity, I thought “This just might work.”

When we got to the top of the hill, we all formed a circle around Doug and JC yelled, “Shoot the gun, Doug, shoot the gun!”

Doug held the gun up high over his head pointed at the sky, flipped the safety off, let out a “Yee-haw!” and then, just before he pulled the trigger, “BOOM!”

When I talked to the paramedic the next day, he said the lightening bolt that hit Doug’s gun had knocked us all about 20 feet down the hill, but didn’t do us any real damage. Doug was less lucky, having acted like a lightening rod. He said once the burns had healed, Doug might not have full use of his faculties, which was worse news for Doug than it would have been for any of the rest of us.

Since we felt partially to blame for Doug’s mishap, we decided to do something to help him out. JC said we ought to put up his fence for him, but home improvements are kind of a personal thing and I was afraid we wouldn’t do it to his liking, so we decided we would just take turns bringing him beer every Saturday, at least until he was able to drive again. We all felt good about that. I mean, what are friends for?

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Unless you have unlimited funds, you can’t put your book’s title in front of every potential customer. The best you can do is make sure that whenever (and wherever) someone is looking for a book, you are there.

Below are 37 ideas for promoting your book. Very, very few authors will apply all of these tactics, but the more you implement, the greater your exposure and the greater the chance of being noticed. They are in no particular order, except that the first three are more geared toward new authors.

I won’t go into much detail on any of them. If any solicits a lot of comments, we’ll explore that one in more depth in a future post.

1. What’s in a Name? (Part 1)

Using Amazon as an example, people frequently search for books using keywords. Let’s say they search for ‘strong women.’ Which book do you suppose has the best chance of showing up in the search results, “Grandma Was Our Rock” or “Grandma Norma – A Woman of Strength?”

I’m not saying “In Cold Blood” should have been titled “Needless Brutal Murder,” but, if you have the option, consider how people will search for your book when deciding upon a title.

2. What’s in a Name? (Part 2)

If you’re in love with the title of your book or you’re an egotist or you’re using a traditional publisher, skip this step…and the next one.

If you have an existing book that isn’t selling well, consider re-releasing the book with a new title, new pen name, new cover and rewritten synopsis.

If possible, try promoting the book from a different angle. There are a lot of websites that automatically list new releases.

3. What’s in a Name (Part 3)

Unless you have a unique name, find a good pen name. For best results, you want to dominate Google and Amazon for your own name. You can’t do that if your name is “Kathleen Smith”, but you can if your name is “Kathleen Shoop.” You want to make it easy for people to find your second, third or fourth book.

4. Write More Books

It’s difficult for an author to build a following from just one book. If someone likes your first book, they are much more likely to buy your next book. It’s the old sales adage, “it’s much easier to keep a customer than to find one.”

5. Facebook Author Page

(These next four tips are closely related. Every author should strongly consider using all four.)

You want to make it easy for people to find you and all your books. For a good tutorial on the effective use of Facebook pages, check out the free report Facebook Fan Pages for Photographers. (Most of it applies to authors, too.)

6. Facebook Book Page

You should create a separate Fan Page for each of your books. You can make announcements and engage conversations here.

7. Author website

Believe it or not, some people’s lives don’t revolve around Facebook. Check out the websites of your favorite authors for ideas about what you can do with your author website to acquire and retain loyal readers.

8. Book website

In addition the ideas in 6 & 7, above, your book website should include a press kit for your book. Include everything that might be requested by a potential reviewer, interviewer, agent or publisher. (e.g., synopsis, author bio, book cover, sample chapter)

9. Amazon Author Central page

The Amazon Author’s Page includes a photo and bio, as well as listing all your books. You can also upload a video and automatically post your latest Tweet.

10. Twitter

I’m the world’s worst Tweeter, but I’ve been told that you can create a following of readers and/or fellow authors. Maintaining a dialogue keeps you in people’s minds.

11. Use multiple platforms

If you restrict your book to one platform, you have zero chance of capturing customers who only use a different platform. Consider Kindle, Createspace, B&N, Smashwords, Overdrive and others.

12. Craig’s List Ad

Craig’s List has a For Sale / Books category. Once a week or on a rotating schedule, list each of your books. List them in as many cities as you can (within the Terms of Service.)

13. Create a Blog

Write about your books, write about writing, write about the topics covered by your books. Again, check out what your favorite authors are doing. Make sure your blog includes an RSS feed so people can follow you.

14. Blog Tours

I know very little about these, but some authors swear by them. As I understand it, a group of authors agree to write guest posts on each other’s blogs on some type of schedule. Each post gives you a link back to your own blog as well as whatever exposure you get from the fans of each blog for which you write a guest post. Here’s a description of blog tours.

15. Mailing list

Mailing lists are arguably the most effective method for retaining potential customers. You give people an incentive to sign up for your mailing list, then use the list to announce your next book. If you have maintained a good relationship with the members of your list, your percentage of sales should be high.

16. Book Review Sites

People are wary of buying books from an unknown author. There are hundreds of blogs & websites that will post book reviews, sometimes for free, frequently for a fee. Depending on the size and reputation of the review site, a good review from one or more of these sites could give your sales a push.

17. Tagging

Books listed on Amazon can contain “tags.” These tags are one or two word categories that apply to your book, such as ‘fan fiction’ or ‘women sleuths.’ Amazon uses these tags when organizing the placement of books within search results. Each book can contain multiple tags. Anyone can add tags to any book, but if you don’t tag your own book, no one else is likely to. There are “tagging circles” on the Amazon discussion boards where people agree to tag each other’s books. These can be time-consuming, but results are undeniable.

18. Goodreads.com

Possibly the most popular place for authors to promote their books. An account is free and you can list your books, form a book club or book list, and get known by participating in the discussion boards.

19. Kindleboards.com

The most heavily-visited discussion forums about all things Kindle. Authors aren’t encouraged to promote their work here, but you can list your books in your sig.

20. Shelfari.com, Librarything.com, etc.

These are sites built for book lovers, but each has an author’s section and/or author pages.

21. Google “free advertising”

Type “free advertising” into Google. List your books anywhere that seems to fit.

22. Book signings, book fairs, writer’s conventions

Are they worth it? Probably not, unless your publisher is hosting a major launch of your book. In most cases, your time & money are better spent on one of the other activities on this list (or, egad, writing.)

The exception is, sometimes, specialty occasions. If you live in Las Vegas and a local resort is having an Urban Fiction Convention and you write urban fiction, go and pass out business cards or freebies. Just keep the financial balance in perspective.

23. DIY Interviews

Look around for websites & blogs that have questionnaires for you to fill out about yourself or your book. You won’t get much exposure from these, but each one is one more chance to get noticed by a potential customer.

24. Loan yourself out

Develop relationships via Facebook, Twitter, discussion boards, etc. where you agree to review each other’s books, write jacket notes or prefaces.

25. Squidoo lens

I’m out of my league here. Some people swear by Squidoo, the rest of us wonder why. Use your profile to self-promote. Check out Allan R. Wallace for an example of somebody who “gets it.”

26. bloggerlinkup.com

This free service is similar to HARO (Help a Reporter Out.) Once you sign up, they will put you on an email list that lists bloggers looking for expert sources, requests for guest posts, bloggers and web masters offering guest posts, and PR reps and others seeking reviews of products. When you see a request that you can fulfill, just respond directly to the requester.

You can also submit your own requests which will be forwarded to the list.

27. hootsuite.com

Automatically submits posts to multiple social networks & feeds. Various plans available, including “free”.

28. 99-cent-network.com

If your novel sells for 99 cents, you can list it here for free, but you must cross-promote their site (using Tweets, Facebook posts, etc.). Buyers go here looking for bargains.

29. Multimedia Release

This one isn’t for people lacking imagination. Release your book in conjunction with other products, such as activity books, games, puzzles or merchandise.

30. Book Trailers

Just like movie trailers, book trailers are videos which aim to arouse anticipation in the hearts of potential customers. When they work, they work. If they are badly done, people will assume your book is also badly done. And if you figure out how to get wide exposure for your trailer, you can write a book about how you did it when most others couldn’t.

31. Network on writing and reading sites

This is a catch-all tip in case the point wasn’t clear in the previous tips. Getting your name and expertise recognized in forums where readers or writers hang out will go a long way toward building confidence in the probable quality of your writing.

32. Paid ads

Most people waste money with their first foray into paid ads. With enough diligence, some authors have found it possible to develop an inexpensive ad campaign that results in a profit rather than a loss. Don’t enter this arena unless you are sure of what you are doing. Then ask your peers why your plan won’t work. Then develop a more realistic plan.

33. Offer pricing incentives

Don’t tell any of your author friends that you’re doing this or you may start an argument. If you have multiple books for sale, but are not getting any sales traction, consider slashing the price of one of them just to get one of your books moving. Once readers know your work, they are more likely to buy your other books.

34. Local media

Your local newspaper, TV stations, radio stations or regional magazine may be willing to highlight a local author. Query them to find out what you need to do to make your situation interesting enough to feature in their venue.

35. Press releases

Think of these as just one more Google vote for you. They may or may not be seen by anyone of importance, but they may provide valuable “link juice” for your book or website.

36. “Reviews Greatly Appreciated”

Positive reviews are your most valuable asset. At the end of your book, why not ask people for a review? “If you enjoyed this book, please leave a positive review at xyz.com. Thank you for reading “Mama was a Pistol.”

37. “If you enjoyed this book…”

If you’re selling a Kindle book, include links to your other books at the end of the book.

“If you enjoyed “The Black Fawn,” you may also enjoy these other books by Jim Kjelgaard:
  Please Retrieve
  The Fork in the Trail“

(I’ve read conflicting reports that Amazon allows you to link to anyone except Amazon. To get by this, I created a “redirect” on one of my websites that anyone can use. Just link to http://bitelets.com/product.php?asin=B004O0U16K and replace the B004O0U16K with your book’s asin. It will send the reader directly to the Amazon page for your book.)

Which of these tactics have worked for you? Which haven’t worked? What methods have you used to increase sales?

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I have accumulated a virtual stack of e-cookbooks for which I own resale rights. I thought about creating a website to sell them, but there are so many free recipes online, I didn’t think they would sell very well. So, I thought maybe I could create a market where a market didn’t apparently exist. What if I sold the cookbooks really cheap and donated part of the price to charity? I could market them to people who cook as being cheap cookbooks and I could market them to other folks as a way to contribute to a charity while getting something of value in return. That’s how eBooksforCharity.com was born.

Originally, I was going to try donating to several charities, just to widen the potential target audience. But, since I am selling the books so cheap, I would only be able to give a few cents to each charity. So I decided to begin by focusing on a single charity. If the site is successful, I’ll add another charity or two. I chose the Grant County Animal Shelter in Williamstown, KY because I have personally adopted a dog and a cat from them and I know how hard they are trying to provide for the animals in their care. I hate to say anything bad about them, but there was a time when they were a terrible animal shelter. They were basically a place to take unwanted animals to be killed. But, with a change of personnel and an awakened community awareness, they have completely turned things around. Last year they processed about 1,500 dogs. Fewer than one percent of healthy dogs were unadoptable and had to be euthanized. They are working small miracles on a very limited budget.

So, we’ll see how it goes. Hopefully, I’ll make enough money to pay for the hosting, the Grant County Animal Shelter will be able to buy some much needed supplies and my brother and I will feel just a little better.Similar Posts:

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When a high school closes, it is frequently a big loss to the community it served. The closing of small town schools, especially, leaves a big hole in the hearts and lives of its alumni and citizens. ClassicSchools.com tries to gather information about these schools and posts what it finds in either an article or a blog post. They currently have identified and listed over 3,000 closed high schools.

To pay the bills, they also create and sell “alumni apparel” or “reunion apparel” for many of the schools. They sell them through a third party, but ClassicSchools sets up the apparel by specifying the school colors and mascot. Imagine how much attention you would receive if you showed up at your next alumni gathering wearing a Johnson Tigers shirt or jacket.

ClassicSchools.com also has pages where you can find old high school yearbooks. They have a list of all the yearbooks available from Amazon as well as access to online yearbooks you can view for a fee.

They recently started an online store where you can select from hundreds of thousands of products for college and pro teams. They have a button on the home page to take you to the store, so the store doesn’t interfere with the main goal of providing information about closed high schools.

They have a unique, informal partnership with illinoishsglorydays.com. Illinois High School Glory Days has a page for each of hundreds of closed Illinois high schools. Rather than duplicate their efforts, ClassicSchools.com links all of their Illinois schools to the respective pages on Illinois High School Glory Days. They are also working on an informal arrangement which will allow them to link to and promote the Indiana High School Basketball History website.

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