A Writer’s Short Story:
Book Promoting & Writing Your Next Book
by Gita V. Redding
“My books aren’t selling,” I complained. “I worked very hard on them and I know they’re good. I’ve got reviews from strangers to prove it.”
Silence. God wasn’t listening to my moan. Of late, it had become an everyday affair.
“I took early retirement because I wanted to write.
I typed thousands of words using my index fingers. I edited each book until I was sick of it. I tested my books on beta readers. I spent a lot of time and effort on the covers.
Do you know that Amazon and Smashwords have different formatting guidelines? And the formatting for the print edition is again different. I am not computer savvy and it took a lot of effort but I uploaded my books in all the formats.”
“What are you unhappy about?” God asked.
“My books aren’t selling. After all the work I put into them, my books aren’t selling. When they are free, thousands of people download them. But when they are priced, even at the minimum $0.99, barely anyone buys them.”
“You quit your job, worked your fingers off, and published four novels, eight chapter books, and four short story collections.”
“Yes,” I said, pleased that God had kept track of my books. I waited for him to continue but he didn’t.
“And?” I prompted.
“What are you unhappy about? You wanted to be a writer. You worked hard and have sixteen books to show for it. Aren’t you thankful I put you on earth in the age of Amazon and Smashwords?”
“MY BOOKS AREN’T SELLING!”
“Work on that,” God said, and tuned me out.
He was, as usual, spot on. My marketing efforts were always brief and sporadic. I spent a lot more time writing than promoting. I decided to keep my next book on hold and plunge into promoting the ones that were out.
Book promotion is all about improving visibility. Amazon’s search engines display books according to price range, highest to lowest or lowest to highest, or as per average number of reviews.
“What are you unhappy about?” God asked.
“My books aren’t selling. After all the work I put into them, my books aren’t selling. When they are free, thousands of people download them. But when they are priced, even at the minimum $0.99, barely anyone buys them.”
“You quit your job, worked your fingers off, and published four novels, eight chapter books, and four short story collections.”
“Yes,” I said, pleased that God had kept track of my books. I waited for him to continue but he didn’t.
“And?” I prompted.
“What are you unhappy about? You wanted to be a writer. You worked hard and have sixteen books to show for it. Aren’t you thankful I put you on earth in the age of Amazon and Smashwords?”
“MY BOOKS AREN’T SELLING!”
“Work on that,” God said, and tuned me out.
He was, as usual, spot on. My marketing efforts were always brief and sporadic. I spent a lot more time writing than promoting. I decided to keep my next book on hold and plunge into promoting the ones that were out.
Book promotion is all about improving visibility. Amazon’s search engines display books according to price range, highest to lowest or lowest to highest, or as per average number of reviews.
There are always too many free or $0.99 books out there so I needed more reviews. In fact, two or three hundred reviews at least if I wanted my books to appear within the first five pages.
I did not have more than a dozen reviews at present. I couldn’t get two or three hundred reviews. I needed a different strategy. I needed professional help. I invited my friend and her son, who is an MBA in marketing, for tea.
“Marketing is based on four Ps. Product comes first,” Anil said. Anil works for a global company and draws a six figure monthly salary. He is giving me his precious time because I have known him since he was a toddler.
“Anil, the books er…the product is good. Here, read the reviews.”
“Later. Determination of Price comes next.”
“My novels were at $3.99 and the chapter books at $0.99. Now they are for $0.99 and free because I read somewhere that readers don't like to risk more than $0.99 cents on books by unknown writers.”
“The third P is the distribution channel which takes your product to the customer.”
“My books are in all the major e-stores and the print editions are on amazon.”
“That’s good. The final P is the Promotional Strategy. It must be aimed at making an integrated effort to discover, create, arouse, and satisfy customer needs. You must not think about merely selling a book; that is short term. You must create a readership that is convinced it cannot do without any of your books. How have you been promoting your books?”
“I joined Goodreads, Book and Reader, and LibraryThing. I post my new releases and offers in their promotional folders and ask for reviews. I'm not sure it helps because very few people view those folders. I also have a facebook fan page. I tried to get a book included in Bookbub but they rejected it. I advertised through The Fussy Librarian and got a few sales.”
“Do you have a blog?”
“I’m not a blogger. I don't have the talent for blogging.”
My friend interrupted. “You are a writer. Why can't you blog?”
“I write fiction. Blogging is different. Every writer is not a blogger, nor is every blogger a fiction writer.”
“You can post short fiction on your blog.”
“I can’t. I like to work on one project at a time.”
Anil glanced at his watch. He had a meeting to attend.
“Anil, your mother told me your company markets the best brands. How do you pick the products?”
“We prefer the top brands because it is easier to build a campaign around their products.”
Not very different from BookBub, I thought.
“Anil, how do you buy a book?”
Anil looked uncomfortable. “I usually download free books from amazon. I don’t get much time to read so there’s no point in buying books.”
“How do you select the free books?”
“From the average rating based on customer reviews.”
After Anil and my friend left, I had another conversation, not with God, with myself.
“Do you have the time and money to promote your books?”
“No.”
“Do you have the energy to promote your books?”
“No.”
“Do you enjoy promoting your books?”
“No.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Write my next book. Send out a few review requests. Not freak out over sales reports.”
“Let’s do it. What shall we write?”
“A regency romance. I've never written one before.”
I did not have more than a dozen reviews at present. I couldn’t get two or three hundred reviews. I needed a different strategy. I needed professional help. I invited my friend and her son, who is an MBA in marketing, for tea.
“Marketing is based on four Ps. Product comes first,” Anil said. Anil works for a global company and draws a six figure monthly salary. He is giving me his precious time because I have known him since he was a toddler.
“Anil, the books er…the product is good. Here, read the reviews.”
“Later. Determination of Price comes next.”
“My novels were at $3.99 and the chapter books at $0.99. Now they are for $0.99 and free because I read somewhere that readers don't like to risk more than $0.99 cents on books by unknown writers.”
“The third P is the distribution channel which takes your product to the customer.”
“My books are in all the major e-stores and the print editions are on amazon.”
“That’s good. The final P is the Promotional Strategy. It must be aimed at making an integrated effort to discover, create, arouse, and satisfy customer needs. You must not think about merely selling a book; that is short term. You must create a readership that is convinced it cannot do without any of your books. How have you been promoting your books?”
“I joined Goodreads, Book and Reader, and LibraryThing. I post my new releases and offers in their promotional folders and ask for reviews. I'm not sure it helps because very few people view those folders. I also have a facebook fan page. I tried to get a book included in Bookbub but they rejected it. I advertised through The Fussy Librarian and got a few sales.”
“Do you have a blog?”
“I’m not a blogger. I don't have the talent for blogging.”
My friend interrupted. “You are a writer. Why can't you blog?”
“I write fiction. Blogging is different. Every writer is not a blogger, nor is every blogger a fiction writer.”
“You can post short fiction on your blog.”
“I can’t. I like to work on one project at a time.”
Anil glanced at his watch. He had a meeting to attend.
“Anil, your mother told me your company markets the best brands. How do you pick the products?”
“We prefer the top brands because it is easier to build a campaign around their products.”
Not very different from BookBub, I thought.
“Anil, how do you buy a book?”
Anil looked uncomfortable. “I usually download free books from amazon. I don’t get much time to read so there’s no point in buying books.”
“How do you select the free books?”
“From the average rating based on customer reviews.”
After Anil and my friend left, I had another conversation, not with God, with myself.
“Do you have the time and money to promote your books?”
“No.”
“Do you have the energy to promote your books?”
“No.”
“Do you enjoy promoting your books?”
“No.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Write my next book. Send out a few review requests. Not freak out over sales reports.”
“Let’s do it. What shall we write?”
“A regency romance. I've never written one before.”
About the Author
Cheetaka, Queen of Giants is available as an ebook on amazon, smashwords, apple, and other ebook stores.
Amazon Author Page
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