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Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Guest Post : Creating Something For Free by Penny C Sansevieri, Author of 'How To Sell Books by the Truckload on Amazon'


CREATING SOMETHING FOR FREE
- Penny C. Sansevieri
          I talk a lot about “owning the shelf,” meaning publishing a lot of books. But what if you just have one book that you’re trying to market? Making that one book free all the time does not make sense. Instead, consider this: at a recent conference I was at I spoke to an author who wrote a science fiction book about three years ago. It did poorly, he admitted, and he wondered if there was anything he could do. Since the book was long (400 pages) I suggested that he cut the book into segments, design new covers and have the books released in a series as an eBook on Amazon. Many romance authors already do this, but few authors that I’ve spoken with have ever done this to invigorate an older book or to create more books on your shelf. By chunking up a longer book, you create more interest by drawing readers into your book via a series. In some cases you may feel there isn’t a natural breaking point for the book, but I would argue there is. Consider bringing in a seasoned content editor to help you decide. The point being, you may be sitting on a lot of tools already. Turning one book into a series is a great way to drive more attention, more readers, and more sales. And, if you do that, you can have one book that’s always free.
          The importance of free is often misunderstood and underestimated. We live in a society of readers being inundated with options and new books. Last estimate there were 3,500 books published every day in the US, but this number does not include books that go straight to digital since those aren’t often counted (many authors publish directly through KDP without an ISBN number which is normally how these are tracked). Needless to say, the competition is great. Sometimes standing out means reaching your tribe one reader at a time, and while this might sound tedious, it does in fact work.
          I spoke to some authors at Romance Writers who were big-name, bestselling authors who told me that they were worried because their sales were dropping and what should they do? Many of them started writing in an age where they could easily own the market. There wasn’t a ton of competition and a single post on social media could sell a hundred books. Sadly, those days are gone. If you’re reading this thinking: this is me, my sales are dropping! Take heart. You can turn this around. Restart your thinking and pretend that today is the first day of your writing career. Starting with a fresh look is often the best way to kick any marketing campaign into a better, and often higher, gear.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
          Penny C. Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., is a best-selling author and internationally recognized book marketing and media relations expert and an Adjunct Professor with NYU. Her company is one of the leaders in the publishing industry and has developed some of the most cutting-edge book marketing campaigns. She is the author of fourteen books, including How to Sell Books by the Truckload. AME is the first marketing and publicity firm to use Internet promotion to its full impact through online promotion and their signature program called: The Virtual Author Tour™ To learn more about Penny’s books or her promotional services, you can visit her web site at http://www.amarketingexpert.com.
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Copyright ã 2015 Penny C. Sansevieri

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for sharing this post! I really appreciate it!

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