Book Marketing Show Podcast with Dave Chesson

Author conferences might seem downright scary to those who have never been. But I can tell you from personal experience that the ones I’ve gone to have had a prolific change in not only the way I write, but also the way I work with others.

In this session of Marketers & Coffee, I’m bringing on my friend Craig Martelle who runs the 20Booksto5k Facebook Group. He’s created a community where authors can share ideas, learn from one another, and grow. But today, we’re talking about author conferences.

Craig is also putting on the 20BookstoVegas Conference in November so he’s a great person to have a chat with about how authors can get the most from these conferences.

For more information, visit the show notes at http://kindlepreneur.com/e48

When Ethan Jones first published his book, he sold five copies the first month. As the years went on, he improved his marketing skills and improved as a writer. He decided after six years to do a complete rewrite, cutting almost 15,000 words, editing chapters, and added a better ending. He also added a cliffhanger so readers would want to move on to the next book in the series.

One thing Ethan did was instead of putting up a new version of the old book and keeping the reviews, he republished the book. Even though the reviews weren't awful, they were at about 3.8 stars, and many of the reviews reflected the old version. When he republished the book, he wanted to start fresh without any of the old reviews.

There are two ways of uploading a new book to Amazon:

• If you decide to make it a new book, you can do what Ethan decided to do and republish it without any of the old reviews.
• The other option is to publish the new book, but contact Amazon to transfer the reviews over.

We’ve talked in past episodes about authors republishing their books with new covers, but Ethan had already changed the cover a few months prior to the new release. He had also changed the description for the book.

Ethan used a three-pronged approach for pre-launch:

• He worked with his list.
• He used paid promotions.
• He contacted author friends for help with promotion.

By the time Ethan was ready to launch his book again, he had about 10,000 readers in his email list, which was incredibly important for him. He asked them to either put a review of the new book if they read the older one and he offered to send them the new version so they could read it and consider leaving a review. He also lowered the price to $0.99, which is a lowest a book can launch at.

In the years of being an author, he had made friends with other authors and reached out to them to add his book to their email newsletter, which helped market the book. He also used AMS ads and Facebook ads, and book promotion sites to help him with his launch.

After all his efforts, the final comparison is his first edition of the book went from 10,000 sales over the course of six years at $2.99 to 1,000 copies during the first two weeks of the new version’s release at $0.99.

Ethan Jones is an Amazon bestselling author of the Justin Hall spy thriller series; The Carrie Chronicles, which features Justin Hall’s partner; the Javin Pierce spy thriller series, and the Jennifer Morgan suspense thriller series.

Ethan is a lawyer and lives in Canada with his wife and son.

Find links to resources in the show notes at http://kindlepreneur.com/e47

Social media seems like an obvious choice when it comes to marketing your book. Now, in this episode, we’re not talking about Facebook ads, but we’re talking more about using social media, specifically Facebook, as a way to connect with your readers and attract new readers.

When Allison Garcia started marketing her book using Facebook, she set up a Page, as many authors do, and posted updates every few weeks. Once all her friends and family bought her book, she decided to get more serious about selling her book and began posting more often and consistently.

She joined The Author Transformation Alliance Group on Facebook and took part in reader attraction challenges, which boosted the number of times she was posting, as well as posting content other than just “Buy my book.” This brought people to her page, who then helped share her book with others in their circles.

The content she began posting was contant she thought people were going to be interested in and connect with, but still keeping it relevant to the book, itself. Because she writes Latino Christian fiction about undocumented immigrants, she posts relevant news stories, as opposed to posts about Stephen King’s new book, since it has nothing to do with her genre.

A lot of her Page’s success has come from sharing important posts that people are more willing to share, as well as word of mouth about her, as an author, in general. She has also taken advantage of spending a few dollars here and there to boost posts from her page. She’s also been more encouraged to go to in-person events, which has grown her page and email list. These also led to making connections to future events she could attend.

Now Allison has a launch team, many of whom have come from her newsletter, and she has found her book ranking highly in Kindle sales of her book. Between interacting with her readers and learning from her past mistakes, she now finds marketing fun, rather than painful.

Allison K. Garcia is an author and Licensed Professional Counselor. Her short stories and books have been the recipient of numerous award nominations and honorable mentions. She has been featured in local newspapers for her connections in the Latino community in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

A member of cultural competency committees for work and a participant in several Dream Act rallies and other events in her region, she also sings on the worship team and enjoys get-togethers with the hermanos in her church. With the help of her husband, Julio, and their son, Miguel, she has been able to nurture her love for the Latino people.

For more information, visit the show notes at http://kindlepreneur.com/e46

Even the most nit-picky of writers needs someone to look over their work from time to time. Having a proofreader means there is an extra set of eyes and, in many cases, a fresh set of eyes that might catch things that, as the writer, you might not.

Caitlin Pyle is a proofreader for books and teaches others to become proofreaders. Not only has proofreading become her full-time job, but it has also helped her and her proofreading students make connections to other authors.

For more information, visit the show notes at https://kindlepreneur.com/e45

You’ve written your book and the hard work is done, right? Nope! As an author, you’re not just looking to write a book, but you’re hoping to sell that book, too. Our guest today talks about what she did for her launch and how it set her on the path to great book sales, as well as opportunities.

Amy Lyle is an author, comedienne, actor and screenwriter whose book launch kicked off with a party that set her book up for consistent sales and lots of publicity opportunities that followed.

For more information, visit the show notes at https://kindlepreneur.com/e64