The promotions for my book launch for Northern Survival are almost complete.
Here’s the summary of what I’ve done to promote the book and where it appeared in the past week. My price stayed at, what I’m now calling, the launch price of $1.99. On October 15th, I will increase the price to $4.99.
The Laker – Free
About two weeks ago, I wrote and submitted an article about my book to a local online newspaper. On September 19th, it appeared: Author From Milford Releases Latest Book Northern Survival. I love free publicity. I’ve had various articles published in this newspaper (formerly The Weekly Press), including my weekly Garden Tales column a few years ago, interviews of other authors and other press releases for my books. The newspaper has changed form and editors, but it’s still alive.
Hot Zippy – $24 USD ($32.57 CAD)
On September 23rd, I ran an ad with Hot Zippy. I’ve never used this service before, and, as mentioned above, I did not reduce the price of my book.
The website to book the promotion is here. They have a few genre sites, and the one that suited my book the best was Romance.com. Books are promoted through an email subscription and social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest).
In hind sight, I don’t know why I bought the ad at Hot Zippy. It was expensive. Looking at their stats now, I don’t see anything indicating they reached a large audience. I’ve seen numbers easily ten times these in other promotional sites.
- 4,721 Facebook Followers
- 2,907 Twitter Followers
- 236 Pinterest Followers
- 3,882 Email Subscribers
However, now that’s it’s done, I await the results. I mean quality is better than quantity.
Reviews
A local publication advertised they had limited openings for reviews, but in general, they didn’t accept self-published books. I submitted my book anyways, telling them this was far from my first project. I provided a brief summary of my writing experience (that I’ve been published in non-fiction since 1997, that my genealogy column ran for 15 years in local newspapers, and my other books averaged 4-star reviews). Within 24 hours, I received an acceptance, and I sent a paperback copy of Northern Survival directly from Amazon to the reviewer (to avoid delay and reduce contact – in case that was a concern of the reviewer).
Someone from a local newspaper contacted me and asked for a copy of my book. They were happy with the eBook, so I sent them an Amazon gift card for the price of the eBook, and they used that to buy the book. This cost me hardly anything, considering 70 cents of the $1.99 was returned to me in royalties.
Other Promotions
As always, I added posts to my McGyver blog, my Instagram (the image below) and this website.
A Box of Books
On Friday, a box with 10 books arrived from KDP Print. These were the first I received of this book from this printer and I must say, they are lovely. Adding the printing price, dollar exchange, tax, import fee and delivery, the cost was $8.23 per book. How much will I sell the paperback for? I believe I’ll put $15 on it.
I ordered the books September 5th. They were shipped September 18th, and they arrived September 26th by Canada Post.
Conclusion
I had requests for the mentioned reviews because of activity with the book. The activity was generated from me being proactive and seeking out other places to showcase it.
This Just In
As I sat at my computer to finish off this weekly review Saturday night, I found an email from someone I’ve known for many years. We don’t meet up often, but our paths cross in the community and at some of the common events we attend. I didn’t know she was reading my book, and I was pleasantly surprised by her comments.
I just finished reading your book Northern Survival and wanted to congratulate you on such a great read. From start to finish, it kept me reading and I loved the story. I read it in a day and a half. It is so nice to realize that I know such a good author. I will certainly read your other books.
While this review will never see Amazon or Goodreads, I love it just the same. I’m happy to hear when readers enjoy reading the books I enjoyed writing.
HAPPY WRITING
Marketing “Northern Survival” Sunday Update #1
Marketing “Northern Survival” Sunday Update #2
Marketing “Northern Survival” Sunday Update #3
I always appreciate your shares on what’s working in sales and promos. Congrats again Diane! P.S. Your Twitter name isn’t attached to the share button?
Thanks, Debby. I’m learning a lot through this launch promotion. I don’t have Twitter for Diana Tibert or Diane McGyver, so I’m guessing that is why it’s not attached.
Ohhhhhhh, ok. Well, just know I always tweet your posts when I visit here. 🙂
Thank you for sharing, Debby. I control the Twitter with Quarter Castle Publishing, and while I’m not on their often, I do try to share fellow authors like yourself. I think I shared your most recent review.
Yes, you did thank you. 🙂
Loved this book, Diane. I featured it on my blog last week (https://worddreams.wordpress.com/2020/09/25/two-stories-of-survival/)–lots of people are excited about it! You have a wonderful way with telling a story. Good luck with marketing this. I bet it’ll be easier than you think.
BTW, I tried to post the review on Amazon and made the fatal mistake of including a quote from the book with a f*** word in it. They threw it out and wouldn’t accept even an edited version. Sigh. It is on Goodreads, though.
I just checked, Jacqui, and the review is there with no F*** word. I didn’t know about that restriction at Amazon, and I will keep it in mind for the future. Thank you.
I might have read it years ago but completely forgot. And I was quoting your wonderful book, not commenting. Still, they’re Amazon!
Thank you, Jacqui. Amazon has its own rules, some that don’t make sense to me, but they must see some reason for them.
Jacqui, I visited this morning and will again later today. Thank you for sharing your review on your blog. I see that excitement. It’s lovely to know others are enjoying the story. I enjoyed writing it.
Sounds like you’re taking all the right steps and learning which ones aren’t along the way.
Yes, John, it’s getting easier to see what works and what doesn’t.