Tag: inexpensive book advertising

Creative Book Promotion Ideas Courtesy of a Failed Kickstarter

crazy marketing ideas for authors hat-591973_960_720Happy Tuesday! The strange journey known as Kickstarter is now over, and I still have so much to share. You can read the previous articles in my Kickstarter adventure series here. This part will cover advertising, advice, and avoidances. Trust me, you’ll want to read this even if your plan is to never run a Kickstarter.

Advertising:

I hope to see this change over the years, but for now there is nowhere that truly supports a book Kickstarter. Video games, gadgets, films, even comic books have Facebook groups, special advertising websites, Twitter accounts, and all the things we tend to utilize outside of Kickstarter for promoting our books. Novelists have none of that. The websites you normally post your free/discounted books on? Most of them ask for an ASIN number, which you don’t have because your project hasn’t been published yet. Because of the strangeness of the terrain, I found myself performing guerilla advertising. Is that a real term? Don’t know, but it defines this madness fairly well. Continue reading “Creative Book Promotion Ideas Courtesy of a Failed Kickstarter”

Book Promotion Site Spotlight: BookDoggy

bookdoggyToday we have a special treat – my first ever interview! Since the interviewee is a dog, like me, our admin thought it would be a good idea to call me in for this one – you know, so I could see eye-to-eye, so to speak, with the subject. In case you don’t know who I am, I’m Mr. Pish, the IU mascot, and author of a bunch of books – more than I can count on my paws, anyway. And today I am excited to interview the lovely black Lab – BookDoggy – about her new book promotion site.

Hi there, BookDoggy. Welcome to Indies Unlimited. I guess I need to start by asking: how did a nice dog like you get involved in promoting eBooks?

I didn’t think authors were getting their money’s worth from most promotion sites and I thought I could do a better job. Continue reading “Book Promotion Site Spotlight: BookDoggy”

Some Book Promotion Sites Have Lost Their Luster

helpful bob hammondBob Hammond here. And just as I promised, too. I am living up to my new year’s resolution by paving it forward and providing all you little indies with tidbits of info to help you be successful in 2016. After 2016, you’re on your own.

In any case, this past Monday, Belinda Claymore – wait, my personal assistant just nudged me and said “Melinda Clayton.” I don’t know who that is. Probably one of my many fans. She can wait a minute or two while I tell you this very important information. Anyway, this Lucinda chick wrote an article about book promo sites losing their effectiveness. I decided it was time for me, Bob Hammond, to look into what Matilda had written to see if I could come up with some empirical evidence to either back it up, or debunk it. So, I had one of my many personal assistants who had run promos on some of my bestselling novels keep track of all the statistics. Because – you know that if there are no sales, it can’t be any of my books at fault. It must be the site!

About a year ago, I gave Judy my American Express Platinum card and told her to have at it. Now, today, exclusively right here on Indies Unlimited, we’re going to release her results. That’s right, I’m going to share my secrets with you, because that’s the kind of guy I am. Helpful. In any case, here are a bunch of numbers and dollar signs and website names that frankly mean nothing to me, but maybe they will be helpful to you. Continue reading “Some Book Promotion Sites Have Lost Their Luster”

Local Television Advertising for Authors

k. rowe ad on tv
Click to enlarge

Once in a while you just have to stick your neck out there and do something a bit insane. I’d never even thought about advertising on television. What Indie author makes enough scratch to have commercials? It turns out, $40 will get you a month’s worth of air time — your ad being viewed three to five times an hour. Continue reading “Local Television Advertising for Authors”