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Should You Publish Your Book Wide or Go Exclusive with Amazon?

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When you’re publishing your books, you have a big choice to make: Should you publish your book exclusively with Amazon or put your book up on all the retailers? We’ll break down the options in this post to help you make the right choice for yourself. 

Are you wide? Or exclusive?

Uh, I’m … unsure?

These terms (wide and exclusive) are often thrown about in author groups, and I get asked about them a lot. Since I have books published that are exclusive to Amazon and ones that are available on wide retailers, I thought I could give an inside look at what these two choices mean, and why you might choose one over the other.

LISTEN TO EPISODE 193 – SHOULD YOU PUBLISH WIDE OR EXCLUSIVE?

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WHAT IS WIDE VS EXCLUSIVE?

I’ll do a quick breakdown. Most indie authors put their book up for sale on Amazon–and you should. It’s the largest book retailer. You can be on Amazon and not exclusive to Amazon.

If you choose to enroll your book in KDP Select, you’re making the choice for your ebook (not print) to be exclusive with Amazon for the duration of your contract (which is 90 days in Select).

WHAT DOES EXCLUSIVITY WITH AMAZON ENTAIL?

This means a few things. You can sell digital copies on Amazon and get paid that way, but also have readers who subscribe to Kindle Unlimited “borrow” your book.As those readers read through the book, Amazon tracks the pages read and pays you accordingly.

And by “accordingly,” I mean that Amazon makes up a rate that they think is fair and pay you that rate. They set the rate. They track it. They pay you.

If you are enrolled in Kindle Select, it’s a 90-day contract and you cannot offer your ebook anywhere else–libraries included. It must be exclusive to Amazon.

Being wide simply means that you make your book available multiple places and it’s not enrolled in the Kindle Select program.

WHY AUTHORS MAKE THE WIDE VS EXCLUSIVE CHOICE

I’m going to explain some of the factors that authors might take into account as they’re making the wide vs exclusive choice so that you can have ideas of what

Ethics

I’m starting with ethics, because for many, the choice on whether you go wide or exclusive is one of ethics. Some people take issues with various things about Amazon, from the size to the massive stake in the market to the fact that they set the prices in Kindle Unlimited.

Many people don’t want Amazon to own them and don’t like how Amazon can set and change the rate that they’re paid for pages read. There are also things happening like scammers hiring click-farms to scroll through their ebooks in KU, making bunches of money. Others find ways to inflate page reads or stuff books withe extras–which is a bonus to readers who might buy a book and get ten, but it’s a violation of Amazon terms and a way to game the system.

Often, Amazon doesn’t do anything about that. In short, many people don’t want to give Amazon exclusivity for personal, ethical reasons.

Money-making

You can make money being wide and you can make money being exclusive with Amazon. You can actually make a LOT of money with select, even thought each “page” is a fraction of a penny to Amazon. It’s also possible that you can promote a 99 cent book and get the visibility from the sale, but make MORE than that through the pagereads.

Personally, I used to be about 80% income from Kindle Select (pages read) but as I’ve moved one of my series wide this year, that number has moved up to being more than a 50/50 split with more on sales–JUST on Amazon. I’m still making more money on Amazon than other retailers, but if I toss in that money I’ve made on retailers like Apple and Barnes and Noble, I’m making a bit more now outside of Kindle Select and the exclusive books.

a graph showing sales on amazon

Ease

Many people recommend that authors start out in Kindle Unlimited and being exclusive because this gives readers a reason to try a new author, since they can just borrow the book. That’s a great point.

Some genres also tend to read more in Kindle Unlimited, but I’d like to point out that I’ve seen all genres represented in wide sales outside of Kindle Unlimited. You CAN be in a hot KU genre, but still make money wide.

Kindle Unlimited can be a great place to start with, particularly in certain genres, so often this is something people will say to new authors. Being in Kindle Unlimited does NOT mean that you don’t have to promote your book though. There are TONS of books in KU, so you still have to promote.

Going wide really is a different mindset. It takes a bit more work, and some longevity. It means finding and connecting with other wide authors for cross-promotion, and look for promotional opportunities that aren’t just for Kindle Unlimited subscribers.

Other platforms often have promotions and things that you can take advantage of as an author there, but you’ve got to do a little digging to find them.

Culture

This might sound odd, but there are certain cultures of readers. This is a massive sweeping generalization. But often, the KU readers are voracious and hungry, but they may not commit as much to being a superfan of one author. They want to read and they want to read NOW! They burn through books quickly and can be a little undiscerning. (I’m a KU reader, by the way, so I’m cool pointing this out, even though it’s also not necessarily true for me.)

I’ve found personally that a lot of KU readers (of mine) are older, or are on fixed incomes. They won’t dip toes outside of KU. They only read what’s in there.

Authors often talk about the wide readers being more discerning, more willing to stick with one author and even pay higher price points because they LOVE that author and their books. Snag a wide fan, and you can snag a fan for life who will stick with YOU and read YOU because they love YOU, and not just because you are a faceless entity on KU.

Again, generalization. But this is something I’ve seen authors talk about. I have also seen rabid fan bases for both KU and wide authors, but I’m pointing this out as something to consider. Kindle Unlimited is like Netflix and encourages bingeing of books and that type of behavior.

Long-term goals

This is the one I want to highlight. I’m all about finding your why, considering ROI, and looking at it all in terms of the long-term goals. I said when I started writing clean romance that I wanted to build and Emma Empire. I’m well on my way.

Kindle Unlimited has helped me get started. I used the ease of it, and the fact that my genre is very hot there, to make a name for myself and build a readership.

Long-term? I’d love to be wide. ALL wide. I’ve started with one series, where I saw a pattern of success already in wide books, and I was able to secure my first two BookBub Featured Deals for those, which helped me launch those books wide. (It’s why my sales right now are beating my pagereads.)

One important thing to realize (that I’m all-too aware of) is that how you start is how you train your readers. If you START in KU and build a KU fan-base, that’s going to be a hard sell to people who are used to your books being “free” in Kindle Unlimited.

The series I took wide was an already established one of mine. When I just launched a book wide for the first time and at a higher price point… it did not go so well for me. Many of my fixed-income, KU readers just couldn’t hack a $4.99 price point.

HOW TO MAKE THE CHOICE

I’m not going to make the choice for you or say that one is better. We’re all on our own journeys, and I feel confident saying that authors should make the best choice that suits their needs and their goals.

Take into consideration the factors above. Look and listen in Facebook groups to authors who are making the journey. Think about your long-term goals and also your short-term goals. Consider your genre. Think about how you feel being exclusive to Amazon.

And don’t let anyone make you feel guilty or weird about your choice! This is just a business decision you can make for your own reasons. I don’t agree with everything Amazon does. I’m also grateful that they opened the doors that make this current indie publishing world so accessible.

TIPS FOR GOING WIDE

I think if you’re going to go wide, you need to hang out with wide authors. Get in the mindset. Study what works for them. Network with other wide authors. Wrap your mind around the mindset shift.

The best place to do that is in Erin Wright’s group, Wide for the Win. As I suggest with ALL Facebook groups, don’t hop in there and start asking questions about your own journey or how to get out of KU. Read and listen first. See the culture and group rules. There are tons of helpful people and lots of files and pinned posts with answers to many of the questions you might start with.

Other resources: 

  • Listen to Erin Wright talk about being wide on Joanna Penn’s podcast HERE.
  • One author’s wide vs KU case study
  • My Facebook group (wide AND exclusive are welcome)

Big Book Launches vs Low-Key Book Launches

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I’ve talked before about book launches and share a simple book launch framework. But I wanted to focus here on the tale of two launches: the big, splashy book launch and the low-key, chill book launch.

But wait, isn’t there just one way to launch a book? Go big or go home?

No. I’m not really into one-size-fits-all for most things, and book launching is one of them. I’m going to go over some reasons why you might choose one over the other and end with some encouragement no matter which launch plan you choose.

LISTEN TO EPISODE 192- BIG BOOK LAUNCHES VS LOW-KEY LAUNCHES

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app!

BIG BOOK BOOK LAUNCHES

The idea of big book launches comes from traditional publishing. It’s how book launching has been DONE. It’s how it’s still done, for the most part, in the trad pub world. Many indie authors choose this method as well.

When it comes to a big book launch, it means that you’ve got all your ducks in a row to have the best first day and week possible.

You’ve got the print book ready. Possibly already sent out to bookstragrammers and reviewers, if you send hard copies.

You might even have the audio version ready.

You’ve been building your platform, priming your readers, doing countdown graphics and cover reveals and so on.

You’ve stacked promos. You’re running ads.

You have Facebook parties and takeovers scheduled.

The day of your big launch comes, and you’re online constantly for days or a week. You might not be sleeping. You’re hitting refresh on sales, you’re checking the ranking. You’re checking reviews.

You’re on social media, posting your books, posting links in groups, telling everyone and anyone and their mother’s brother about your book.

You email your list. You check open rates and click rates.

You are celebrating wildly, or you are in despair. It’s exhausting, and it’s also exhilarating. It’s your party, so you can laugh or cry if you want to. Then you might sleep for a week after.

(You can also do a more bootstrappy version of the big launch where you’re still focusing on all these moving parts and having them ready on launch day or launch week, just with more focus on organic reach and less on ads.) 

That is a big book launch in a nutshell. Did I miss anything? Let’s move on to a low-key book launch.

low key book launch image with fireworks

LOW-KEY BOOK LAUNCHES

A low-key launch is one that doesn’t necessarily focus on the first day or week of a book launch being a huge spike or explosion. The Writing Gals call this a slow launch–watch this great video on that for more. 

Your book publishes, and you probably remember. (I have honestly had a preorder launch before and I totally forgot. Maybe that’s TOO low-key.) 

You email your list. You might post in your Facebook group. You remind your review team to review.

While you might do all the things listed above in terms of promoting, you’re doing so at a different pace. The focus is NOT the first day. Or even necessarily the first week.

You aren’t focused on the first day or even first week of your launch. Your goal is to sell books more slowly, building up, and hopefully becoming sticky. (As in, you’re holding your rank on Amazon.)

Overall, the actions are similar, but the timing is a lot more flexible.

 

WHICH KIND OF LAUNCH IS RIGHT FOR YOU?

Only YOU can answer that. But here are some factors to consider in your decision on your launch plan:

  • Where you are in your author career
  • The money you have to invest
  • Your goals
  • How often you publish new books
  • Your mental state and how you handle stress

 

WHO SHOULD RUN A BIG BOOK LAUNCH

Okay, I’ve given you some factors to consider as you decide what kind of launch to have. Here are some of my personal recommendations.

Big launches work best when:

  • You are a traditionally published (but indies can rock a big launch too!)
  • You publish 1-4 books a year
  • You have the time and money to invest in a big launch (you can still bootstrap one big launch, but it’s not AS effective)
  • Your goal is to make a giant splash or hit a bestseller list
  • You can handle the pressure and intensity mentally and emotionally

WHO SHOULD CONSIDER A LOW-KEY LAUNCH

Here are some considerations if you are thinking about a low-key launch. These work best when:

  • You’re an indie author
  • You publish more frequently (big launches exhaust your list and audience)
  • You have a flexible budget (you can invest a lot or a little)
  • Your mental state doesn’t benefit from the pressure of a big launch

FINAL WORDS ON LAUNCHING

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all launch. Choose what works for YOU. Take into account your budget, your goals, your time, your publishing schedule, and your mental health.

One big thing to remember? Writing a book is a long-term investment.

I’ve made the most money this year on a series that was written starting two years ago. The latest book is almost a year old now. But the series is bringing in the most money.

a look at my book sales

What does that tell you? 

Launching is great. But your book is not just valuable during launch week. Your book is a digital asset. And once it’s published, you have a lifetime where you can earn money on that book. I have NOTHING against a big launch, but often, there is a lot of pressure and focus put on launching. Your books can sell for weeks, months, and years to come.

Check out this graph. The two big spikes toward the end are BookBub Featured Deals, but you can see my sales ramped up. I changed covers and started running Facebook ads to this series to a wide (not just in Kindle Unlimited) audience.

Be encouraged. Launching is great. Launching matters. But once your book is out in the world, KEEP WORKING TO SELL IT. Your income doesn’t end launch week. Neither does promotion.

So… chill out about your launch. Go big. Go low-key. But don’t go home. Your book has a longer footprint than it’s launch. If you don’t hit your goals, don’t freak out. Your book can still sell and make you money over time.

Want more launch resources?

I also have a whole paid workshop on launching if you want to go all in. CHECK OUT THE WORKSHOP!

How to Choose the Right Book Cover

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In a recent post, Nate Hoffelder shared four mistakes you might be making with your book covers. Because book covers are so important, I wanted to create a companion post on how to choose the right cover and give some recommendations. 

Why do we need to are about book covers? We’re writers!

Right. But if you want people to READ your words, you need to get them in the door. The book is the MAIN way to get them in the door. The blurb, cover, ads, and other things factor in, BUT the cover is the very first thing.

Did you know that humans process visual information in thirteen milliseconds? That’s less than a blink of an eye.

So, as we dive deeper into book covers, I want you to be thinking of your book cover in a blink.

Listen to Episode 190 – How to Choose the Right Book Cover


Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app!

Learn how to choose the right book cover and why it matters

HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT BOOK COVER

The genre needs to be clear at a GLANCE.

Back to that whole thirteen milliseconds thing… your book cover is sending information at a rapid rate to your potential readers. They won’t even REALIZE it. Mostly, that first look is subconscious.

Readers need to immediately and subconsciously identify with your cover for the best results. Because in a scrolling world, you want them to stop that scroll and go for the click.

Each genre has symbols and often even colors that are associated with it, even at a level you might not think about. Billionaire books have a man in a suit. (If they DON’T, that’s okay, but they may not be conveying the right thing fast enough.) A lot of paranormal romance or urban fantasy (yes, very different things, but also some blurred lines in the indie world) will have certain colors (like a turquoise or purple) and magic floaty elements. (I’m sure there’s a technical term.) Space opera likely needs a spaceship of some kind. Find out those elements and make sure they’re properly conveyed.

 

It should look like other INDIE books. (Usually.)

It CAN work to go by traditional publishing if you’re targeting books in a genre where it’s clear even in traditional publishing what the genre is. (Ex: Women’s fiction) Some genres (like YA or literary) don’t have enough of the same signals consistently. And they don’t NEED to as much in trad pub.

Why?

Because they have a bigger budget and different tools than we might have as indies. Trad pub doesn’t have to be as clear at a glance. They have the ad dollars and the bookstore real estate to push books that you can’t tell from a glance. We don’t have that kind of time. We have a blink, remember?

I’ve seen some indies really successfully target those traditionally published books and do really well. But, you need to consider if your books can stand up next to them in your cover, style (aka: quality of writing), blurb, price, AND ADVERTISING. You’ll for sure need ad dollars to have your books even SEEN next to those books that you’re considering as comps.

If you’re not sure that would work for your genre, then look to indie books for comps. These are the books you’re not necessarily competing against (readers often read so much that I think of this as comparable books, not competition books) but want to target in advertising. You want to signal to those readers that they’ll like your book as well. Look on the bestseller lists and check out trends and covers that are doing well in the indie space.

 

It should convey the IDEA rather than the LITERAL story.

Overall, you’re trying to capture the readers for a genre. They’ll get the literal story inside the pages. The cover gets them in the door. Conveying the genre is more important than your specific story.

Caveat: Readers might get annoyed if you use a redhead and the person is a blonde. For romance, sometimes I’ll find the stock photos before I actually choose how they look. Don’t have the money for a custom shoot or the time for hours on Depositphotos.

 

Should stand out in the RIGHT way.

Authors often talk about wanting to stand out.  Being DIFFERENT or CREATIVE isn’t necessarily good. You want to look like the other covers in terms of the genre (am I hitting that point hard enough??) but you can stand out by having an attractive and eye-catching cover that’s professionally designed.

That’s where you stand out. Not by being the only cover in a genre that looks like X.

 

Make sure it’s CURRENT. 

Trends change. Even in the past few years in clean romance, I’ve seen changes in the kinds of fonts used and the kinds of images. Check to see how trends change.

Make sure you’re not using an older (but still bestselling) cover as your main comp. I’ve seen some older books with meh covers doing well. Either they’ve got lots of ad dollars or a great story or millions of superfans. Or a combo. Don’t make that the book you use as the basis for your covers.

 

Don’t try to squeeze too much TEXT on the cover. 

Readers will be seeing a thumbnail. If possible, make sure they can read the title and author name. If they can’t, the kind of font should at least convey the genre in a small size. Most of the time, taglines and subtitles and series titles aren’t visible.

A note about subtitles and Amazon’s metadata guidelines: There is some debate about whether your subtitles need to be on your cover. I had a print book issue where the rep from Amazon told me it was being rejected for that. Then they sent me the guidlelines, which said the subtitle does NOT need to be on the cover. But if you USE a subtitle somewhere (like the title page), it needs to match what you enter as you upload the book in your metadata.

As an extra side side note: I personally like subtitles that make the genre more clear can help the reader experience, that is, if they aren’t too crazy with like 500 keywords jammed in there. Amazon DOES say on the print version that they don’t want genre descriptors in the metadata, so use at your own risk. On the ebook terms of service, however, they say that “a subtitle is a subordinate title that contains additional information about the content of your book.” Uh, okay. Super clear. Some things are more blatant in terms of violation, like using twenty keywords or advertising type phrases like “the best romcom of 2020!” Use these at your own risk.

 

 

TIPS FOR ASKING FOR FEEDBACK

Big groups, especially where it’s mixed genres, are not the best place to ask. 

You’ll get varying opinions, some from people who aren’t authors and don’t know your genre. It’s hard to tell who people are, what they’ve published, and whether they have any real KNOWLEDGE of your genre.

Try to find a smaller, genre specific group. That’s MORE helpful, but you still also might be getting advice from someone who is struggling to sell their books or never written a book or who has NO idea.

  • I’ve got a smaller critique group that IS mixed genre, but have more specifics about what you need to post with your cover or blurb, AND how you should frame responses so people know who to listen to. (Hopefully.) Join Create If Critiques!

 

Your readers are NOT always the best.

They’re already your superfans. Often, they’ll buy whatever you write. They will not usually be super helpful with their responses to your book covers.

It CAN be great to have readers join in if you’re debating between a few that would both work well. Then they have some ownership. But overall? Not the best help.

 

TIPS TO FIND DESIGNERS

Ask friends writing in the same genre who they use. Look at bestselling books on Amazon, then check the look inside and see if they thank their designer on the title page.

I also lurk in cover design groups with lots of designers sharing premades. You’ll see the various styles of different designers.

Even if you don’t buy a premade, you can know who to hire for custom covers based on the work the designers share. I personally love getting a premade and then hiring them to do a series in that same style. It works really well!

The first in this series was a premade, and I asked the designer (Evelyne from Carpe Librum) if she could make it a series. DID SHE EVER!

Here are some of my favorite designers and FB groups to find designers:

THE FINAL WORD ON CHOOSING A BOOK COVER

Overall, go with what will SELL over what you LIKE. This isn’t an art competition. (Though I do LOVE a gorgeous cover…) Don’t base this on emotion if you want to sell books. Base your choice on what will sell more books.

Here’s a glance at the original and the updated versions of my books with E.C. Farrell, the Supernatural Reform School Series. Before… I liked them. (And they were like $30 each.)

But the new versions are SO MUCH MORE SUITED TO THE GENRE AND EVEN THE NICHE OF ACADEMY BOOKS. They were still reasonable at like $150 for print and ebook. But so much more on target. They immediately picked up in sales.

The new ones were done by T.M. Franklin of Bargain Book Covers. Amazing. I’ve gotten a few others from her that I love!

 

So… you got this? Hook them with your book cover in a blink.

Four Ways to Screw Up Your Book Cover

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The following guest post from Nate Hoffelder of The Digital Reader is going to help you. Big time. You’re going to find four mistakes that you might be making with your book covers… and what to do instead. 

When it comes to getting your next reader, book covers are the most important part of a book. They are the one part of the book that a reader is sure to see, and covers are often both the first and last time that a potential reader will consider your book.

Book covers are critically important, and yet both publishers and authors are still getting them wrong. I was browsing Twitter the other day when Mike Cane sent me a link to a tweet by a book lover who was upset over how a cover looked on a Kobo Clara HD.

 

They’re right, it does look bad. But the thing is, the cover doesn’t look that much better in color. I think it is nearly illegible.

The real problem here is that the publisher went with a cover design that would catch your eye if you saw it on a shelf in a bookstore, but is also nearly illegible on most screens. 

I’d like to help you avoid making the same mistake, so here are a few points to consider when choosing your next book cover.

Four Ways to Screw Up Your Book Cover

FOUR WAYS TO SCREW UP YOUR BOOK COVER

1 // Don’t make your genre immediately clear at a glance. 

I know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but everyone does. We make snap judgments based on looking at a cover for all of half a second, and one of the factors we consider is whether the book we’re considering is in a genre we read.

Each genre has its own specific details that readers will use to identify a book’s genre. This happens on an almost instinctual level. If a potential reader thinks your book is in a different genre, or even worse if they can’t tell what genre the book is in, they will pass on your book before even reading the title or the blurb.

When designing your cover, before to test it with beta readers. Ask them to tell you the genre, and have them guess the story and main character. If they get details wrong, you might want to redesign the cover.

 

2 // Don’t consider how the cover will look on various screens. 

While your marketing plan may be built on selling a lot of print copies, the simple truth is most potential readers are going to see it on a screen first. Most book sales occur online, and that is true for both print and digital. (And even if the next copy of your book is sold in a bookstore, there’s still a fair chance that the reader first discovered the book online.)

Luckily for you, this is a really easy thing to test. One of the steps in designing a book cover is to show it to beta testers online, so all you have to do is listen to their feedback for clues that suggest that they had trouble seeing your book cover. They might not think to say that a given cover is illegible, but if they express difficulty in making out details, that could be a sign that the design doesn’t work on a screen.

 

3 // Don’t look at your cover at the thumbnail size most retailers will display. 

Speaking of buying books, you should also make sure that your book cover is still appealing when it is shrunk down to the size of a postage stamp. If someone finds your book in a search on Amazon, chances are it will look like this:

Or it might appear as a sponsored product (if you run ads) or under one of the many-changing carousels that Amazon uses, like customers also bought or books you may like, shown here:

 

As you can see in the screenshots, each cover thumbnail is next to the book’s title, so you don’t really have to worry about making that legible when the cover is a thumbnail. You do however have to make sure the cover is appealing, and that readers can correctly identify the book’s genre.

 

4 // Don’t look at your cover in grayscale. 

eReaders like the Kindle are not as popular today as they were eight or ten years ago, but there are still a lot of readers who use their ereader everyday. You need to make sure your cover looks good in grayscale on an epaper screen.

Luckily for you, the Kindle and most other ereaders are actually very good at automatically converting color images to grayscale. A few months back I happened to have a reason to test how the Kindle handled highly detailed astronomy photos. I found that they were quite recognizable even though I did not take any steps to prep them for the Kindle’s E-ink screen. 

Even so, you should still test your book cover on (at least) the Kindle so that you can make sure it is legible.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS ON BOOK COVERS…

Nate has given some great food for thought about covers. They’re the first way a reader comes in contact with your book. Our brains process visual images in less than the time it takes to blink. Thirteen milliseconds, in fact. So if your cover is not painting a clear picture QUICKLY of your genre in a way that’s attractive and will work on various screens and sizes, you’re missing an opportunity!

Don’t make these four mistakes with your book covers!

ABOUT NATE HOFFELDER

Nate has been helping people fix broken tech since 2010. He repairs and maintains WordPress sites, and acts as a virtual IT department for authors. He also blogs about the Kindle and indie publishing. You may have heard his site, The Digital Reader, mentioned on news sites such as the NYTimes or Forbes.

How to Utilize Free Book Promotions or 99-Cent Sales

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This post is going to dive into how to get the most out of free book promotions or 99-cent sales (which will include KDP countdown deals). You’ll walk away with a better idea of the strategy behind these kinds of promotions!

 

LISTEN TO EPISODE 189- HOW TO UTILIZE FREE BOOK PROMOTIONS OR 99-CENT SALES

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app!

Two of the tools used frequently by authors are free book promotions or 99-cent sales. If you’re exclusive to Kindle by being in their Kindle Select program, you’ll have a free book promotion or a Kindle Countdown deal per each enrollment period. (The enrollment period is 90 days.) If you’re NOT inside KDP Select, you can manually change prices or use a promotion tool from within your dashboard.

But just making a book free or running a sale is NOT ENOUGH. There are so many free books and books on sale in the various retailers that you really need to have a strategy behind making this choice and a promotional plan in place.

learn how to get the most out of free book promotions and sales

YOUR WHY BEHIND THE PROMOTION

There are multiple reasons why you might be running a sale or a free promotion on your book. Different goals might mean different strategies. Here are some different reasons you might be running a free promo or sale:

Discoverability – A free promotion or sale is a great way to introduce new readers to you and your books. Both can help your book go up in the ranks to be more visible on retailers as well.

Sales – Free promotions and sales often have the added effect of selling more of that book.

KU Page Reads – If your book is in Kindle Select, that means readers who have the Kindle Unlimited subscription service can choose to borrow your book rather than pick it up and “buy” it for free or 99 cents. So you can see increases in page reads (which you still get paid for) if someone checks it out on KU rather than buying.

Boosting overall sales – These promos and sales can help hook the readers into a longer series and help the sales of your backlist.

WHEN YOU SHOULDN’T RUN A FREE BOOK PROMOTION

I found out the hard way that free book promotions aren’t that helpful without more books in the series or in your backlist. (To be clear on those terms–I mean other books in that same series when I mention series, and when I talk about backlist, I’m talking about other unrelated books you’ve written.) 

There are tons of freebie-seekers out there. Often they’ll stockpile books and won’t read them. This doesn’t help with discoverability, as they may not ever “discover” you. Which means that while free is great for finding new readers, it’s not a magic cure-all. And if they DO love you, but you have no other books, they might totally forget about you before your next books come out.

Without having other books in a series or a larger backlist, there’s no solid way to recoup the cost of your promotions. (I’m going to talk about investing money in a moment.) With a series and a backlist, you’ll have other books people can buy to help offset any advertising costs.

I would recommend waiting until you’ve got at least two other books in the series or at least a handful of other books in your backlist before running a free promo. Not everyone writes in a series, but if you DO, then I’d save that free book promotion for the launch of a new book in the series or when you have a new book on preorder.

WHY YOU SHOULD PAY FOR PROMOTIONS ON A FREE BOOK OR SALE

As I’ve mentioned, there are tons of books for free at any given time on any given retailer. If you don’t do something to boost the visibility of your free or sale book, you’re not likely to reach any of your goals.

With a few paid promotions, your book can go from a dozen downloads to thousands, which puts your book on more readers’ devices and will help you achieve those goals. I’ve also found that I make more sales the days following a free promo, likely due to people opening the emails from the promo sites a few days later and picking up your book when it’s no longer on sale or free.

The following screenshot shows my income for December 2018. That big spike in sales? That was the day AFTER my free promotion where I paid under $150 in promos. I made $340 the next day.

 

(Note: This was one of the highest day-after sales I’ve had, but many of my free months look like this on the graph. To do well, your book also has to be on point for the genre in terms of the cover and blurb.) 

This screenshot comes from that next month. I wanted to show both together, as my highest day here was also the day after a free day. BUT I had a new release. Look at the previous pic and you can see the sales starting to pick up from that new release. I was also running FB ads at that time to the new release. So the highest day STILL was the day after a freebie, but it didn’t look like as much of a spike as I had other paid promos on a new release launch.

While it seems counterintuitive to PAY for promotions on a cheap or free book, I’ll often more than make my money back on the next day or few days with that book or within the series or my backlist. Without promotions, your book won’t be found, won’t be downloaded, and it’s really going to feel like a waste.

WHERE SHOULD YOU PROMOTE YOUR FREE/SALE BOOKS?

I don’t have a cultivated list here, but there are some great other sites that compile effective sites for promotion. Check out:

One tool I really like is called KDROI. It’s by the maker of KDSPY, which I also loves, and is a chrome extension that lets you go onto your book’s page on Amazon, click a button, and submit your free or 99 cent deal automatically to sites that have a listing for free.

I’m an affiliate for this program, which you can snag for under $50: GET KDROI!

Below is a screenshot of what it looks like in action. A few clicks and BOOM. It will submit to a number of sites all on its own.

I would highly recommend making a spreadsheet to track your free days and promotions, especially as you’re testing out which sites have the best results and work best for your genre.

WHAT PROMOTION SITES TO AVOID

As a note, I almost NEVER pay to promote books with sites that only do social media shares. Overall, email sells books. Social media typically… doesn’t.

Sometimes I’ll check these sites who email me bragging about their 200k Twitter followers and how they’ll tweet my book 400 times. I click on the books they’re promoting on Twitter and check the rank. I’m NEVER impressed. So, I only pay for sites that send emails.

It’s also wise to check Facebook groups you’re in to see if they have a curated list or to ask other authors in your genre which sites work best for them. It’s not always the same across the board.

OTHER WAYS TO PROMOTE

If you don’t have tons of money to dedicate to a promotion, consider working with other authors. You can all email for each other on the same day, or set up a sales page on a website or through Bookfunnel or Story Origin for a limited time with all the books.

You can ask for authors to swap with you on the dates of a sale, just as you would ask for swaps with a new release. Or, you can set up a Facebook group swap with other authors. If they post for you in their author groups on the date of your promo, you can swap back and do the same for them when they have a sale or promo.

There are thousands of FB groups that allow promotion. Most of these are what I like to call link graveyards where authors drop links to die, but some are legit reader groups where people are looking for books to read. Create a nifty graphic for your free promo. Post in those groups. It doesn’t cost anything but time, though the effectiveness may not be fantastic.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON UTILIZING FREE DAYS AND SALES

These are still great tools, though I’ve seen the effectiveness wane as I’ve been around longer. Why? Back in 2018, I was new. My books hadn’t been seen or read by tons of people, so it may have been more of a novelty. Now, readers may already have purchased my books. Some of them have already been free once before.

I tend to run some kind of sale or promotion every month of the year because I have a big backlist. I’m either releasing a new book, putting a book up for free, or running a sale. Possibly a combination. All of these activities keep your books moving and selling, which keeps them alive and continues to sell your backlist.

Don’t be afraid to run sales, and if you’re concerned about the perceived value of your books, think of the long game. One free book could bring you thousands of new readers who buy more and more of your books. It’s definitely a strategy worth trying, as long as it’s part of a strategy and you have a plan for promotion.

 

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