Book Marketing Using Paid Promotion: Targeted Email Lists | The ...

One of the keys to promotion is building an email list of fans who like your books. This is a non-negotiable in terms of book marketing, but building that list often takes a long time!

Blogging, social media, speaking events and networking are brilliant but they are all long-term marketing activities that don?t result in sales and ranking spikes.

One way to move the needle quickly in terms of sales and ranking is by using paid promotion sites that have lists of avid readers who might be interested in your book.

This is a short-term tactic, not a long-term strategy so should be used in conjunction with other marketing.

Note: This is NOT the same as ?buying email lists? which is a scam ? don?t do that!

Who should consider paid promotion?

It?s worth using paid promotion if:

• You have a book with a great cover and great reviews. The social proof of reviews is critical for people to trust the buy process.
• You can reduce the price easily and quickly for a short period ? which means you need access to the ?back end? of the publishing process, which generally means it?s open to indie authors only
• You have more than one book, and it?s definitely worth putting the first of the series on special
• You have a budget for promotion, as you may not make back what you spend ? results vary.

What is BookBub and how does it work?

BookBub is a free service for readers to get a daily email with curated books on special ? either free or reduced. As a reader, you can enter your email and then choose the categories you?re interested in. It?s quick and easy to sign up.

On the other end of the process, they also offer a paid promotion service to authors where you can advertise to this list.

I like the fact that the listing is curated, so not all books are accepted, only the ones with good reviews. You can?t automatically pay, they have to check your book out first. This is a great idea because it means their list stays happy and keeps buying. An email list becomes unresponsive if you send out stuff they don?t want.

Yes, their prices are high and change monthly BUT you have to weigh up the up-front price over potential book sales and the impact on your rankings and the algorithm. Exact outcome is hard to show over the long-term, but my results are below.

Anecdotal evidence: My experience

OK, first up ? any results will vary depending on an incredible number of factors, so don?t assume my results will be yours if you try this route. My husband is a statistician and he has also reminded me that this is anecdotal evidence only, and not statistically significant, so don?t apply my results to your possible situation.

Also, we all know that the algorithms at Amazon and other sites change regularly and what worked this week might well not work next week!

Plus, these sites change a lot, prices change monthly and new players emerge. So take this as one example in a snapshot of time!

Pentecost is an action-adventure thriller, the first in my ARKANE series. You can read more here. It has 92 reviews with 4 star average on Amazon.com, 31 reviews with 4 star average on Amazon.co.uk and 215 reviews on Goodreads fed to Kobo with 4 star average. So it was in a good position before the promotion and there are 2 other books now available, Prophecy and Exodus. Pentecost is also available in print.

Service used:

* BookBub 1 day promotion for Pentecost, An ARKANE Thriller (Book 1). Cost ~$200.

* I went for the Religious & Inspirational list instead of the Thriller list because this series often ranks well in that category anyway. Even though the books are not religious, they are based on Biblical and supernatural themes. It?s a smaller list than the Thriller one and therefore is much cheaper, but doesn?t go to as many people.

* Reduced price from $2.99 to 99c on Amazon and Kobo (as those are the sites it?s easiest for me to change prices quickly on). I decided to use a price instead of going free because I wanted to actually make some money and the algorithms prefer paid books these days.

Stats prior to the promotion:

Amazon.com: #41,304 in Kindle Store

Amazon.co.uk: #6023 Paid in Kindle store, #26 in Religious Fiction

Kobo: #908 in Religious Fiction & Literature

Day of the Promotion

Books sold in day of promotion + 2 days afterwards:

* Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk: 717 at 99c and 30% royalty = $215.10 (Pentecost only)

* Sales of Prophecy and Exodus were also up ? ~50% more, so ~45 copies at $4.99 = $157.18 (70% royalty)

* Kobo: 10 @ 99c = $3 (hmm ? )

Approximate income: $375.28

Highest ranking reached:

Amazon.com: #236 in Kindle Store, #3 in Kindle ? Religious Fiction, #3 in Genre Fiction -> Religious & Inspirational, #2 in Christian/Literature & Fiction/ Mystery. #14 in Movers & Shakers.

Amazon.co.uk: #2658 in Kindle Store, #11 in Religious Fiction,

Kobo: #431 in Religious Fiction

Stats a week after the promotion:

Amazon.com: #7532 in Kindle Store, #26 in Christian/Literature & Fiction/Mystery

Amazon.co.uk: #12,637 Paid in Kindle store, #44 in Religious Fiction

Kobo: #260 in Religious Fiction & Literature

The books are slowly dropping, but the rankings have definitely been impacted over the last week.

Was it worth it?

Yes, it was definitely worth it, and I will certainly use the service again but I would probably go for the Thriller listing instead in order to reach more people and attempt a higher place on the charts. The Religious & Inspirational list was possibly not the best as many people would be looking for the more Christian end of the reading scale.

In terms of ranking and visibility, it was definitely great for moving Pentecost back up the charts. I made my money back, which was great, but the spike in the data was more important in the longer term.

I have had similar results from a paid promotion before when I used Pixel of Ink who are no longer doing this service.? New sites also spring up all the time, so keep an eye out for opportunities.

Have you used paid promotion for your book? Would you consider it? I?d love to know your thoughts so please leave a comment below.

Top image: Bigstock price tags

Tagged as: bookbub, email marketing, paid promotion

Source: http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2013/04/06/paid-promotion/

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Trish Stratus reveals pregnancy during WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony

Trish Stratus is one of the newest WWE Hall of Famers, but this fall, the first-ever Diva of the Decade will add yet another honor to her list of accolades: motherhood.

?I just wanted to let you all know that in September, I?ll be delivering a little Stratusfaction,? an ecstatic Trish announced to the WWE Universe, which responded with overwhelming approval for the mother-to-be.

?It was awesome,? Trish told WWE.com moments after her bombshell announcement. ?As a public personality, you wonder what?s the right time to tell everybody. Of course, when I got the news I would be inducted this year, I definitely found out I was pregnant, and so I thought, ?Oh my gosh, I?ll be four months, I should tell them!? ?

It was a conversation with a longtime friend who made up Trish?s mind to break the news on her big night.

?Me and Stephanie actually talked about it and thought it would be a great chance to announce it,? Trish said. ?It?s my family out there. They?ve been part of my life for so long, the WWE Universe, and to actually share the news with them was wonderful. And the reaction was nice. They like the Stratus baby!?

So, is an in-ring future in the cards for said Stratus baby?

?Whatever he or she would like to do, I will support just as I was supported by my family,? Trish said of a possible heir to her Hall of Fame legacy.

Congratulations, Trish and husband Ron!

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Source: http://www.wwe.com/classics/wwe-hall-of-fame/trish-stratus-reveals-pregnancy

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All 18 taxis in NH's largest city pulled off road

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) ? Odds are you won't get a cab in New Hampshire's largest city after police sidelined all 18 licensed taxis for inspection failures or failing to show up for inspection.

Seventeen cabs in Manchester were cited for mechanical violations. The 18th was sidelined for failing to show up.

Police Lt. Maureen Tessier said Tuesday six of the 18 cabs had such severe defects including conditions that could compromise their brakes inspectors pulled their registrations and they had to be towed.

Queen City Taxi has surrendered its operating permits to the city clerk's office. The taxi that wasn't inspected belongs to Manchester Taxi Dispatch. The companies haven't commented.

Tessier says officials appreciate the inconvenience to those among the city's 110,000 residents who rely on taxis and will work with the companies to get the taxis back on the road.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2013-04-02-No%20Taxis/id-ab861725d8b643e7b1718b98fc08c579

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Visualized: AT&T's network-boosting Small Cell

WiFi used to be the only somewhat reliable way for a carrier to plug up holes in its network coverage. It's a tactic AT&T's used to great effect in many metropolitan areas where it offers wireless service. But short of acquiring more spectrum -- a costly and time-consuming process littered with legal roadblocks -- the operator's been exploring an alternative solution: small cells. Testing for these stopgap signal boosters (pictured above) has already been underway since late 2012, with a trial case study in Crystal Lake Park, MO that proved outdoor reception could improve by almost 100-percent. And that test site is just the start of a greater small cell rollout that should place over 40,000 of these units throughout AT&T's nationwide footprint by 2015. So if you're tethered to the operator's network and sick of spotty coverage, help is most definitely on the way.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Networking, Mobile, AT&T

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/jQsnFUQ20U8/

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Mark Sanford wins Republican runoff in South Carolina (Washington Post)

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Syrian jet fires missile at Lebanese town

BEIRUT (AP) ? Lebanon's official news agency says a Syrian jet has fired a missile that slammed into a house on the outskirts of a Lebanese border town.

The National News Agency says the attack hit the edge of the town of Arsal on the Lebanese side of the frontier on Wednesday. The report said there were no casualties, although the strike did cause material damage.

Lebanon has been on edge since the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad began more than two years ago.

Lebanese gunmen supporting opposing sides of the Syrian conflict have frequently clashed in Lebanon, raising concerns that fighting could spread and reignite Lebanon's explosive sectarian mix.

Arsal is a Sunni Muslim town that has backed opposition fighters in Syria. Arms smuggling into Syria is widespread in the area.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-jet-fires-missile-lebanese-town-105643664.html

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Release for man convicted in deadly '70 Ariz. hotel fire

PHOENIX (AP) ? Louis Taylor was just a teenager when he was convicted of starting a Tucson hotel fire that killed 29 people. He has since spent more than four decades in prison, consistently maintaining his innocence.

On Tuesday, Taylor is expected to be released as part of a deal with prosecutors that forces him to plead no contest in the case, but sets him free about a month after his 59th birthday.

Taylor was sentenced to 28 consecutive life sentences in the December 1970 fire at the Pioneer Hotel where employees of an aircraft company were celebrating at a Christmas party.

Many guests were trapped in their rooms as the blaze engulfed the building, and fire truck ladders were too short to reach the upper floors. Some people jumped to their deaths while others burned in their rooms. Most victims died from carbon-monoxide poisoning.

Taylor, who is black, contends he was wrongly convicted by an all-white jury after he says police failed to investigate other suspects. Reports at the time indicate Taylor was helping people escape the blaze before being arrested later that night. He was never charged in the death months later of a 29th victim from injuries sustained in the fire.

His appeals were exhausted after the U.S. Supreme Court denied him a new trial in 1983.

Reports in 2002 by CBS' "60 Minutes" raised questions about whether the fire was, in fact, arson.

Police at the time then began reviewing evidence, and a volunteer legal group, the Arizona Justice Project, examined case files to determine whether he received a fair trial. However, the lead fire investigator on the case told The Associated Press he stands by his determination that it was arson.

"Yes, definitely, there's no question about it," Cy Holmes, now 83, said Monday.

The Arizona Justice Project, which works on behalf of inmates believed to be wrongly convicted, asked a court in October to dismiss the case or hold an evidentiary hearing, noting several experts using modern forensic science could testify that it was indeterminable whether the fire was arson. The lawyers also contend prosecutorial misconduct at Taylor's trial when his defense was not provided with reports indicating no accelerants were found.

Attorney Michael Piccarreta said this weekend that Taylor still maintains his innocence but will plead no contest Tuesday to get out of prison quickly.

Piccarreta said Taylor's lawyers believe he would have eventually prevailed at a new trial, but the process could have taken more than a year, during which Taylor would remain in prison.

It wasn't immediately clear why prosecutors agreed to a deal that would set Taylor free, and messages left by the AP on Monday at the Pima County Attorney's Office were not returned.

Holmes, who runs Cy Holmes Fire Investigations in Elk Grove, Calif., said the techniques he used to determine the fire was arson are the same procedures used currently.

"Basically, what I did 42 years ago and the manner in which I did it is still valid today," he said.

Holmes said the new findings by Taylor's defense experts are based on incomplete information, noting much of the evidence was destroyed in the 1990s or disappeared after civil attorneys took possession when they sued the hotel.

He also added, "They didn't spend two full days digging through that place."

Holmes acknowledged he didn't find any accelerants, but said it was clear the fire was started in two places. His findings of arson were based, in part, on bats that were found in the hotel hallways, and the patterns in which they were burned.

Holmes defended his comments at the time profiling a potential suspect, some of which are now being used to accuse authorities of racism in the case.

He said he told the City Council after the fire, "He's probably a negro, and he's probably 18," basing his theory on years of experience investigating arson cases, Holmes told the AP.

"But that statement had nothing to do with Louis' prosecution," Holmes said. "I wasn't part of Mr. Taylor's guilt. I was just involved in determining whether or not the fire was arson."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/release-man-convicted-70-deadly-ariz-fire-184038341.html

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