Share Your Successes!

Nick Russell

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As I said in the blog, you have to walk a fine line between promotion and spamming. I mention the books regularly (not daily, or even weekly) in my RV blog, which has a very large daily readership, and I also have ads for my books n all of my blogs. I also have a blurb about my books in every issue of the Gypsy Journal.

I post frequently to my Facebook Author's Page, I make posts on Twitter, I use links in my signature line on posts on various internet forums. Big Lake has been reviewed on Goodreads, but I am not active there, nor have I done guest posts on book blogs. I just really have not had the time to look into all that. I have been interviewed on a couple of writer's blogs.

I'd say the big thing I have done, even before my books came out, was develop a community of very loyal readers (I hesitate to say fans, that sounds too egotistic) through my blogs and the Gypsy Journal. I have had a lot of success by asking my readers to help spread the word, and they have done so admirably.

We just held a rally for our readers in Yuma, Arizona, and I presented a couple of seminars on e-books and mine specifically. I also had 30 printed copies of Big Lake available, and sold out of them during the rally.

It's not one big thing, it's a lot of little things that all add up.
 

BjornAbust

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This is a terrific thread. Very inspirational stuff. I've dabbled with the idea of self-publishing in the past but have consistently stayed my hand. I don't know that I'll try it in the near future, however I have a few questions concerning the promotion of self-published books that people in this thread may be able to answer for me.

I don't really have any friends; my family doesn't use social media and I haven't a blog or any other such thing. Without any sort of pre-existing audience or base, how might I advertise a self-published book? I have read that many authors spread the word through social media to their friends and family, however that's not really an option for me. Should I start a blog and try to gather up a fanbase for that first? What other things might I do, starting from zero?
 

Elena Andrews

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As I said in the blog, you have to walk a fine line between promotion and spamming. I mention the books regularly (not daily, or even weekly) in my RV blog, which has a very large daily readership, and I also have ads for my books n all of my blogs. I also have a blurb about my books in every issue of the Gypsy Journal.

I post frequently to my Facebook Author's Page, I make posts on Twitter, I use links in my signature line on posts on various internet forums. Big Lake has been reviewed on Goodreads, but I am not active there, nor have I done guest posts on book blogs. I just really have not had the time to look into all that. I have been interviewed on a couple of writer's blogs.

I'd say the big thing I have done, even before my books came out, was develop a community of very loyal readers (I hesitate to say fans, that sounds too egotistic) through my blogs and the Gypsy Journal. I have had a lot of success by asking my readers to help spread the word, and they have done so admirably.

We just held a rally for our readers in Yuma, Arizona, and I presented a couple of seminars on e-books and mine specifically. I also had 30 printed copies of Big Lake available, and sold out of them during the rally.

It's not one big thing, it's a lot of little things that all add up.

Great advice, Nick. Thanks!
 

merrihiatt

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I don't really have any friends; my family doesn't use social media and I haven't a blog or any other such thing. Without any sort of pre-existing audience or base, how might I advertise a self-published book? I have read that many authors spread the word through social media to their friends and family, however that's not really an option for me. Should I start a blog and try to gather up a fanbase for that first? What other things might I do, starting from zero?

There are quite a few Facebook pages that you can post on with a link to your book. If you search for book or e-book, they should pop up. You would need to keep going back to those pages, maybe once a week, and posting a link. I'm not saying that will give you sales, but it is one thing you might want to try.

AW has a thread for self-promotion, so you could also put a link to your book there, and in your signature line.
 

MysteryRiter

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Well, I scheduled my first KDP Select free day promo April 7th and 8th. Hope it does something for sales!
 

MysteryRiter

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Thanks guys! Fingers crossed!

Not my success, but I've been stalking watching one author rise in popularity very rapidly. She's now got a substantial, very devoted fan base and her books sell pretty darn well. I sense the next Amanda Hocking.
 

BradyBones

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I've managed to sell two copies of The Boy in the Window since releasing it on the 9th. For the very little promotion I've been able to do, I'm pretty happy with even a meager showing!
 

Dani

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Thanks guys! Fingers crossed!

Not my success, but I've been stalking watching one author rise in popularity very rapidly. She's now got a substantial, very devoted fan base and her books sell pretty darn well. I sense the next Amanda Hocking.

Interesting link. She seems very popular. I love breakout authors =D. One of her books had over 100+ five stars. Pretty cool. ANd good luck to you. May you follow in her footsteps and bypass quickly =-D

I've managed to sell two copies of The Boy in the Window since releasing it on the 9th. For the very little promotion I've been able to do, I'm pretty happy with even a meager showing!

\o/ Good news is that 2 sales mean two readers. And word of mouth is the fastest way to get to the top. =) Best of luck!
 

MysteryRiter

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Interesting link. She seems very popular. I love breakout authors =D. One of her books had over 100+ five stars. Pretty cool. ANd good luck to you. May you follow in her footsteps and bypass quickly =-D

Haha! Yeah, she's insanely popular. And beyond just sales, she has a very loyal fan base. It sounds like Hocking to me...

And thanks! It would be nice, but I'm not really aiming to become a successful self-published author. I only plan to put out a few short pieces and it's nice to feel "read" from that; I'd rather go commercial if given the chance and once I can finish editing this damn novel! Haha.

And I stalked checked your link. You seem to be selling! :hooray: Congrats to you! :D
 

BradyBones

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Thanks, Dani, I really appreciate your kind words. I've really enjoyed your updates in this thread. Please keep them coming!
 

triceretops

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The sources here were not all verifiable, or at least a lot of the links were not provided for where the information came from. I pulled this list from the Chronicles website, and it's showing the figures of some of the popular self-published authors who've struck gold. You can make of this what you will. I thought it was an interesting case study.

<LIST REMOVED BY MODERATOR>



Authors who have sold more than 50,000 self-published ebooks to date (in alphabetical order)


<LIST REMOVED BY MODERATOR>


Mod note: Tri, I've removed the quotes you provided because they're far too long to be allowable under the principles of fair use. If you'd like to edit your comment to provide a link to the first list on the Chronicles website, I'd be glad. Feel free to delete my comments from this post when you do so. -- Jane
 
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MysteryRiter

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I can't verify this myself, but I suspect that A.K. Alexander, author of Daddy's Home and some others has sold over 50k. Her book was in the top 20 for some time (I was stalking it). FWIW, I also get to do an interview with her!
 

Nick Russell

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As of now, I've sold over 104,000 copies of Big Lake since I uploaded it in May, 2011.
 

triceretops

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The sources here were not all verifiable, or at least a lot of the links were not provided for where the information came from. I pulled this list from the Chronicles website, and it's showing the figures of some of the popular self-published authors who've struck gold. You can make of this what you will. I thought it was an interesting case study.

<LIST REMOVED BY MODERATOR>



Authors who have sold more than 50,000 self-published ebooks to date (in alphabetical order)


<LIST REMOVED BY MODERATOR>


Mod note: Tri, I've removed the quotes you provided because they're far too long to be allowable under the principles of fair use. If you'd like to edit your comment to provide a link to the first list on the Chronicles website, I'd be glad. Feel free to delete my comments from this post when you do so. -- Jane

Thank you so much for correcting that. I wasn't aware of that problem with the list.

Tri
 

Old Hack

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You're welcome, Tri.

Just for everyone's notice: you're welcome to link back to blog posts, articles, and internet stuff here at AW; but when you quote anything at all (here or anywhere else) you MUST follow the principles of fair use. Otherwise not only do you risk violating copyright laws, you're failing to respect the writers who wrote it. This stuff is important.
 

Elena Andrews

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Just wanted to update people on how the KDP transition is going. We did a free promo on March 8/9 and back to 1.99 on the 10th. Sales were very strong for the first week after going to 1.99 and slowly tapered off but the refreshing thing is that there have been at least a few sales each day since the 10th and that's with me doing minimal marketing as I focus on finishing book #2.

It'll soon be time to do another free day and see if that causes a stronger surge again in sales after that but so far so good and I'm very happy with the program.
 

ripple

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I've sold 4 copies of Night of the Purple Moon since Mar 25.

2 nieces, a mystery relative, and me.

It's a start!

I just scheduled April 11 for a free day. I contemplated 2 days, but... it's a start.

I wish my book cover would show up with my name on the left. It's sitting somewhere in an absolute write server properly formatted.

By the way, thank you to everyone for your comments on my various posts... I'm learning more from everyone everyday
 

JoyceH

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There are quite a few Facebook pages that you can post on with a link to your book. If you search for book or e-book, they should pop up. You would need to keep going back to those pages, maybe once a week, and posting a link. I'm not saying that will give you sales, but it is one thing you might want to try.

Interesting! I found the "Promote Your Book" page - are there others?
 

Rob Lopez

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Just wanted to update people on how the KDP transition is going. We did a free promo on March 8/9 and back to 1.99 on the 10th. Sales were very strong for the first week after going to 1.99 and slowly tapered off but the refreshing thing is that there have been at least a few sales each day since the 10th and that's with me doing minimal marketing as I focus on finishing book #2.

It'll soon be time to do another free day and see if that causes a stronger surge again in sales after that but so far so good and I'm very happy with the program.

Congratulations, and good to hear.

I'm signing up to KDP soon (once I've made it out of formatting hell), so that's encouraging news.