Power and absolute power.

There are two phrases I often hear: “Power dressing” and “Power nap”. I’ve tried neither, but I do have a new phrase: “Power promoting”. Before 2017 dawned, my idea of promotion and marketing was never really based on a firm foundation of experience, but more a kind of subjective approach which sometimes resulted in a few book sales. I’d listened to the experts, watched the videos and believed I could eventually master the game, but the trouble was it left me little time to write. So as the New Year dawned and I had finished my latest book, I decided it was time to get “down and dirty”. Not a buzz phrase, but something all military pilots would recognise. So, with that killer instinct burgeoning inside, I started paying more attention to the good results others were coming up with, and not always by paying through the nose.

I started with BookBub and came unstuck, which is unusual for what is generally recognised as the Holy Grail of advertising. I also used eReader News Today (ENT), which helped a little, and also submitted my book to Kindle Scout. I promoted that as best I could, but compared to the numbers I could see on the top books in ‘Hot & Trending’, I didn’t know squat (another little buzz word). There were authors ripping people like me apart with their statistics, and I had no idea why or how, but assumed they had more reach in the game and worked hard at it; they had built up a following, a readership, call it what you like, but they had more access than me.

Then along comes Paula Wynne, a very successful woman in the business of marketing, and promotion. She managed to get her first novel well up into the higher reaches of Amazon and attract some sterling reviews and maintain a healthy ranking. I wanted some of that, so when the opportunity came up to team up with her, I grabbed it. And that’s when I discovered the real meaning of time consuming, repetitive and sometimes numbing work at the keyboard. Write a book? I don’t have time! But in my own defence, I know that as I become used to following the diktats Paula hands down to me, the easier it will become (please).

It isn’t just Paula Wynne and working with her that has upped my game. I have teamed up with a couple of moderately successful writers to do some cross-promotions. And I have opened a new list on Mailchimp to collect the names of those who subscribe as a result of my new direction. I have joined instafreebie and I am also taking part in a Romantic novel promotion for Valentine’s Day with Chindi authors. All this means more visits to Twitter, Facebook, and countless other groups that I never knew existed. And there I find the new world of cross-promotions and authors helping each other, plus countless offers to boost sales, help you to become a best-seller. It’s like the iceberg: my involvement is at the tip, while below the surface there are thousands of us at it. And no doubt more will be jumping on the bandwagon.

Well, we all deserve a chance and hope to reap what we sow. But will all this work? I’ll know later in the year. At the moment my daily sales are moving along at a better rate than they were two weeks ago, but I have to put that down to the follow-on effect of the BookBub promotion. Hopefully my “Power promotion” will turn out to be a winner.

Here’s a couple of links that might interest some of you. Find out more about the Chindi Romance competition at www.chindi-authors.co.uk. Paula Wynne can be found at www.bookhub.online, and another author I’m working with is Paul Caselle who’s latest release is at http://amzn.to/2lu1SkC

I’ve begun toying with an idea for a new novel, but ‘toying’ is exactly that: I don’t really know where I will go with it. I’ll try anyway. Wish me luck!

Work, work, work. And more work!

Busy week again, but nothing to do with working on my next novel; it’s all about promotion and marketing — the buzz words in the self-publishing game. Can’t do without it unfortunately. It is so time consuming too. During the week I added a few books to Instafreebie and Bookhub. For the Instafreebie site I had to use Calibre to convert to ePub. At first I wasn’t sure I was doing it right, but eventually it all came good and I now have five books uploaded. I have another four to go. I’m also uploading to Bookhub: something I need to do to take advantage of my Gold membership with that site. And at the same time I have been posting as part of a cross promotion with Paula Wynne who runs Bookhub. I will soon have some work to do for Paula Wynne as part of an agreement to work together. Whether any other writers are involved or not, I’ve no idea, but I would imagine there will be a few. With luck it could be a very productive period.

My sales have improved marginally now that the BookBub and ENT promotions have finished. I’m giving some thought to using Mailchimp for advertising on Facebook when I get ready to launch my next book. It’s something new they are pushing. It looks pretty straightforward, but not proven yet.

My Kindle Scout campaign is not making any headway: the results dribble along but I’m nowhere near the “Hot & Trending” level. If you haven’t voted for me yet, I would appreciate it if you would click the link and leave your mark.

https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/1EC59ZYJLQ07G.

Getting back to the cross promotion I’m doing with Bookhub: this is a free competition to win a bundle of thrillers. The competition runs from the 1st – 7th. February, so there is still time to enter before the closing date. Click the link: http://bit.ly/2kgf3IC Good luck!

My author group, CHINDI, are running an invitation to all Romance writers to participate in a Valentine’s day promotion. This is a first for us as we move into a new format for our group. This is a “toe in the water” attempt to build our fan base, and those Romance writers who take part. If you are interested in taking part as a writer, then have a look at the Chindi website at http://www.chindi-authors.co.uk.

On the domestic front I have been talking to SKY and BT. It’s because I have decided to move from the former to the latter. I’ll save myself about £40 a month, which I could use towards marketing. Wish me luck!

In the Mix

Bit of a bumpy week for me with regard to promotion and marketing. I had a Bookbub promotion, which failed to achieve the results I had hoped for. I have just about covered the cost of my investment, but on the bright side I have been able to reach more than 1000 new readers across the world. I can see the results showing up in India, Canada and Australia, which is like a small, but growing market for me.

The other kind of bumpy promotion is getting my head into gear with respect to a new venture: I have teamed up with author Paula Wynne and agreed to work on a project through her website in return for some valuable, online promotion for a year. This isn’t about just getting my books on a website, but becoming part of a successful writer’s team in the hope that it will open more doors for me. I find it difficult to put my writing head aside and dive into marketing. Paula asked for “savvy social media” partners. Savvy? Me? Well, I’m about to find out.

The other, developing side of the on-line presence is the new direction in which my author group, CHINDI, is going. After a board meeting (sounds important), the changes we thought would be beneficial were put to the members. So far the reaction has been good. The first change comes tomorrow evening when, instead of the usual, formal monthly meeting of the members, we’ll be having a social chat. Those of us who can make it will be meeting up at a restaurant in Chichester for a coffee and natter about what we are up to and how we see the group progressing. I’m hoping to be able to spend a bit of time with Helen Christmas and Christine Hammacot; two authors who will be with me for a talk/seminar during the Chichester Literary Festival. We’ll be talking about writing a crime/mystery novel: the whole aspect from creation to publication. Should be fun.

My Kindle Scout submission seems to be floundering. I spent the first week in the ‘Hot & Trending’ list, but now my ranking there has fallen away. It’s all about putting yourself about on-line and asking (begging) for votes. The problem is: where do you find those people who are not your usual followers? I paid for a small Fiverr.com advert in which the deal was three days of tweeting to something like 150,000 followers. Sounds impressive, but I do have my reservations about the impact Twitter has unless you’re a celebrity. As I’m talking about it, why not vote if you haven’t already done so? https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/1EC59ZYJLQ07G.

Once the Kindle Scout submission has finished, I will publish the book and do a bit of advertising. I think by that statement it is clear that I don’t expect an Amazon offer to publish the book. Still got my fingers crossed though.

My promotion for The Devil’s Trinity at £/$0.99 is likely to run for another day or so, and then the price will go up. I’ll be pushing that too, but I think it has just about run its course.

I have received my first instruction from Paula and need to concentrate on what is expected of me, and in return experience the value of this kind of cross-promotion. Wish me luck!