How do I generate interest in my new thriller/horror book on a tight budget?
So I’ve published my first book and added the title to Amazon Books (Frightful Family Tales by Donna Leach) only to find it is listed at like 200,000 down the list! I have a blog and website and sent out announcements to friends and family. What next? How do I generate interest in the title. Do I go on a direct e-mail list campaign and if so, where do I find one with people interested in my book genre? It isn’t exactly my masterpiece, however, it has unusual stories of a creepy nature, and I am using the book to teach me the ropes of the POD world and marketing while I finish my novel. Any suggestions? I’m on a tight budget.
Self-published books do poorly on ebay, amazon, the publisher’s website, and the author’s own website.
Marketing a pay-to-publish book is damned difficult. Many of the avenues open to traditionally published authors are not available. Chain bookstores won’t host signings or carry copies (although they will order them for customers). Newspapers, magazines, TV, and radio don’t want your press releases and won’t do interviews. The library system won’t accept free copies. Writing- or book-related conventions won’t let you set up a sales or autograph table, don’t want you on their author panels, and forbid you giving away promotional material.
The author’s blog, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and other electronic self-promotion efforts seem to have little effect in terms of increased sales.
About the only marketing I’ve seen have any effect for self-published fiction sales is active participation at forums and chats dealing with the subject of your book. Find your niche market and determine where online they hang out. Some sites may allow you to discuss your book *if someone asks about it* (but will ban you for bringing it up more than once). Some may allow a link to a point of sale in your profile, or to your blog or web-page which in turn links to a point of sale.
You’ll sell a few more copies than you might have, but overall, like most self-published books, regardless of quality, total sales will probably remain well below 100 copies. More often, the number hovers somewhere around 2/3 to 3/4 of your total number of friends and family members. This compares pretty unfavorably to the thousands of copies a moderately-selling book from a conventional publisher can anticipate.
I’m sorry not to be able to offer much real hope for promotion, but I figured you’d rather hear the truth than sugar-coated lies which might cause you to waste your time or money.
If you want sales, or fame, or both, POD won’t get you there.
Book Marketing on a Budget: Planning a Book Marketing Campaign that Works
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