Promoting Erotic Fiction -- Ideas for self-promo & for working together w/ multiple authors

CaPooF

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Right now I have to get manuscripts written, so I can start having a backlist.

That's exactly why I'm not doing much promotion yet, and very little in the way of give-aways. Getting someone interested without a backlist won't help me much, LOL.

What do you guys think of a give-away that offers a free short story to the winner - one where they get to set certain elements, like m/m or f/m, setting, or theme, and is then written specifically for them?
 

c.m.n.

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The only time I've seen authors write free stories for people was during the Sandy relief benefit. People would donate a certain amount of money and the person who donated the most would have a story written by the author of their choosing. (something like that)
 

CaPooF

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It's not a prize I would offer, because of legal reasons. Strong danger of the 'winner' thinking they own the story. I've seen it happen in fanfic.

Hm, that's a good point.
 

Beachgirl

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Awesome info on the blog hop/tours, Lori. I feel much better informed now.

I post on the RoRR Chatters Yahoo group and Siren's yahoo group for readers when I have new releases. I usually see a slight uptick in sales within a couple of hours of those posts.

I use Vistaprint for business cards and I leave them everywhere. Mr. Beach says you can tell where I've been by the trail of business cards behind me. I leave them in the ladies rooms at restaurants, coffee shops, inside romance books at the grocery store and airport bookshops, etc. Basically anywhere I can possibly leave one.

So far that's as much promote as I've done. Now that I know what it is, I'd love to do a blog hop. I could also do a giveaway for one of my backlists.

I ditto the idea of sequals being great for promoting previous books. In the last two days since Black Tide went on pre-order, I've seen an uptick of sales through BookStrand for the first two books in my Panther Key trilogy. The fact that readers are getting them through BookStrand instead of Amazon makes me very happy, since my royalty is higher.

I haven't done much with Goodreads, other than set up my author account. The same goes with Amazon's Author Central. I do tweet my new releases once or twice and link to my blog or my author page on Siren's site.

That's about it, I think, but I'm definitely game for some joint promo. I think it would be great to pitch in and help everyone out.
 

Filigree

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I joined Triberr but haven't joined any tribes - and the ones who invited me, didn't quite seem to fit.

Anyone else use Triberr? It seems like a confusing mess, and I've had several authors tell me it seems to regularly devolve into Twitter spam. Anyone else try Triberr, and seen any use to it? I don't mind reposting friends' tweets and blog posts if I like them, but I don't want to wear out welcomes.
 

thethinker42

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I've been hearing Triberr is very counterproductive. It essentially boils down to members spamming their followers' twitter feeds, and I know a lot of Twitter users are unfollowing people who actively use it.

So...I would avoid it.
 

MsLaylaCakes

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I've been hearing Triberr is very counterproductive. It essentially boils down to members spamming their followers' twitter feeds, and I know a lot of Twitter users are unfollowing people who actively use it.

So...I would avoid it.

I would be one of those Twitter users :tongue . It's not that I have anything against Triberr--if I suddenly find random things (horoscopes, product recommendations, etc.) in my feed from people I don't know, and all of those are RT'd by a single user, then that user gets unfollowed just so that my feed clears up a bit.
 

Ken

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... maybe some of you should team up and promo your books together,
even if you're not working under the same label and whatnot. Particularly if you know someone you get along with here and elsewhere. Sound business partners often arise from sound personal ones. G'luck.
 

thethinker42

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... maybe some of you should team up and promo your books together,
even if you're not working under the same label and whatnot. Particularly if you know someone you get along with here and elsewhere. Sound business partners often arise from sound personal ones. G'luck.

That's... kind of the idea ;) Hence why the thread title says "...And for working together with multiple authors." Self-promo, but also how to promote together. Blog hops/tours, joint ads, etc. :)
 

Jamiekswriter

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Lori -- thanks for starting this thread. Did you see a noticable bump in sales from the rwr ad? I've got a release coming out soon and was considering ponying up either for the color back cover or *eek* inside cover or full page. But . . . . I keep waffling. On the one hand, I know RWR is read pretty much cover to cover by a lot of my potential buyers . . . on the other hand . . . I've never bought a book based on an RWR ad. I have, though, taken note of a cover and put it on my "to buy" list. So I was wondering if you thought you saw enough sales to warrant the ad cost? Thanks :D -- Jamie
 

thethinker42

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I'm not sure if the ad is out yet, TBH, but I'll check. I do know I saw a noticeable rise in sales after a book was reviewed in RT, so I'm curious to see how well ads work in the same magazine.
 

thethinker42

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Also, I'm happy to answer questions based on my experiences, and offer whatever info I have, but I may be scarce for most of March as I will be on vacation. So if any posts are directed at me and I don't respond, I promise I'm not ignoring anyone! :)
 

Fallen

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Ann_Mayburn

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Thank you, Ann. I didn't even know about Author's Assistant sites. May I ask, have you used anything like this?
Yes, I have. I've used them to help set up my street team on FB, and am currently using one for setting up a blog tour for one book, and another for sending out reviews for my first self-published book coming out in April. I could send out the eARC's myself and keep track of it all la la la, but I would rather use this particular companies service because I know they have inroads with many of the review sites and they have a moneyback guarantee. If at the end of their service I'm not satisfied, I don't pay. But in this case I'm paying it now because I know they will do a good job.

The one setting up the blog tour has been awesome. She handles all the bullshit of contacting the blogs, setting up if they want an interview etc, keeping track of who needs what when, and bugging me because I'm a SUPER procrastinator at doing guest blogs. I hate blogging but it really does help to get my face out there since I don't have my own blog. Plus, she offers the book for review to each review site so that helps as well.

Feel free to ask me any questions you want in a PM. :)
 

Fallen

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Yes, I have. I've used them to help set up my street team on FB, and am currently using one for setting up a blog tour for one book, and another for sending out reviews for my first self-published book coming out in April. I could send out the eARC's myself and keep track of it all la la la, but I would rather use this particular companies service because I know they have inroads with many of the review sites and they have a moneyback guarantee. If at the end of their service I'm not satisfied, I don't pay. But in this case I'm paying it now because I know they will do a good job.

The one setting up the blog tour has been awesome. She handles all the bullshit of contacting the blogs, setting up if they want an interview etc, keeping track of who needs what when, and bugging me because I'm a SUPER procrastinator at doing guest blogs. I hate blogging but it really does help to get my face out there since I don't have my own blog. Plus, she offers the book for review to each review site so that helps as well.

Feel free to ask me any questions you want in a PM. :)

That's really good to know. Thank you! I can certainly see the benefits, especially if you have no blog. :)
 

WriterInChains

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Thanks for this thread, everyone--much good info here!

My blog doesn't get a huge amount of traffic all the time, but I'm happy to host anyone who has a new release or is having a giveaway & would like to trade spots. I'm also a member of a group blog & the other gals write ERom in many genres so I could host there as well if it's a better fit. (I really should put that link in my sig!)

And Cup O Porn is awesome. They hosted me shortly after my debut release in December & my blog & sales were very healthy, but even more important -- Evaine was great to work with.
 

nkkingston

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Has anyone tried advertising on Coffee Time Romance? I hadn't even heard of The Romance Studio until a few weeks ago, but the impression I'm getting here is that people have found it worth paying for.

I really need to pick up my pace writing. At the speed I'm going it'll be nearly two decades before I've got 7 novel length books out! Though there's a chance I'll be out of a job soon, which might give me the time and motivation to get going.
 

KimJo

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I don't know if I've had any luck with paid ads. Then again, I haven't often used them, because I don't often have the money to pay for them. (Even the low-priced ones are out of my budget if it means I have to choose between paying $5 for an ad that might not work vs. putting an extra $5 on my credit card bill to get that paid down.) Honestly, I prefer the free methods of promo; for example, The Romance Studio, in addition to offering paid advertising, offers many services that are free, like their frequent release parties.

I'd like to see others weighing in on paid ads vs. free promo; has anyone found that the paid ads get you more attention/sales?
 

TheaBlowsKisses

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Has anyone tried advertising on Coffee Time Romance? I hadn't even heard of The Romance Studio until a few weeks ago, but the impression I'm getting here is that people have found it worth paying for.

I really need to pick up my pace writing. At the speed I'm going it'll be nearly two decades before I've got 7 novel length books out! Though there's a chance I'll be out of a job soon, which might give me the time and motivation to get going.

I have a Virtual Blog Tour starting with Coffee Time Romance at the end of the month - it's my first paid promo, and I'll be sure to report back on how it goes!

Other than that...I have no idea what works and what doesn't, so I've just been reading through this thread and absorbing everything like a sponge. ;) Some days, "build your backlog!" is the only thing that gets me to open up the document and get down to business....