LEVERAGE the Power of FREE & BARGAIN BOOK PROMOTIONS EFFECTIVELY HOW to LEVERAGE the POWER of FREE & BARGAIN BOOK PROMOTIONS EFFECTIVELY PAGE 2
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BOOKMARKETINGTOOLS.COM HOW TO LEVERAGE THE Power OF FREE & BARGAIN BOOK PROMOTIONS EFFECTIVELY HOW TO LEVERAGE THE POWER OF FREE & BARGAIN BOOK PROMOTIONS EFFECTIVELY PAGE 2 INTRODUCTION: Whether you’re an author beginning your publishing journey or a writer who can’t seem to gain traction in Amazon.com’s marketplace, the sheer volume of ebooks available can seem daunting. While the competition might seem insurmountable, the trip to the top of the pile doesn’t necessarily have to be a treacherous one. Not as long as you’re actively putting effort into your marketing activities and embracing tactics that truly work—tactics like free and bargain book promotions. What are free and bargain books? They’re books given away or deeply discounted to help writers reach specific marketing objectives. Whether it’s exposing an author brand to a new audience, driving traffic to an author website, or stimulating sales, freebies and discounts can give an author’s brand a fighting chance in a super tough market. WWW.BOOKMARKETINGTOOLS.COM HOW TO LEVERAGE THE POWER OF FREE & BARGAIN BOOK PROMOTIONS EFFECTIVELY PAGE 3 SECTION 1 WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO PROMOTE NEW & EXISTING BOOKS “ “ Without promotion, something terrible happens…nothing. – P.T. Barnum There’s a place where unloved, unread novels go to die and it’s somewhere at the bottom of Amazon’s sales rankings. Unfortunately, their untimely demise is the result of writers fading into obscurity because they believe their work is done once they hit the publish button. The problem with this lackluster approach to self-publishing is that customers can’t purchase titles they’ve never heard of from authors they don’t know. In fact, there would be no point in publishing a manuscript in the first place. Promoting new and existing titles ensures your brand has a voice and that potential readers can hear it. It puts your books up front and center so that no one can miss their existence. To be a successful author in the 21st Century requires a willingness to be entrepreneurial. That often means taking a step back to establish how you can create campaigns and leverage certain tools to generate the type of publicity that contributes to long-term recognition and success. WWW.BOOKMARKETINGTOOLS.COM HOW TO LEVERAGE THE POWER OF FREE & BARGAIN BOOK PROMOTIONS EFFECTIVELY PAGE 4 SECTION 2 BOOK PROMOTIONS AS PART OF BOOK MARKETING In a climate where it has become harder and harder to capture attention, book promotions can help turn heads in your direction and away from the competition. For independent authors and publishers, discounting a book can have a marvelous impact on the growth and sustainability of an author brand or business. ATTRACTING NEW READERS WITH PRICE: Offering a book at a radically reduced price opens opportunities for you to introduce your work to new customers. If readers love it, they’ll often return for more. You’re essentially turning browsers into buyers and buyers into fans. A good marketing strategy will then turn those fans into advocates, bringing in new readers as a result. GAINING FAVOR WITH YOUR EXISTING FAN BASE: Rewarding your loyal readership with a freebie or $0.99 book is an incredible tool for building loyalty. They gain something of value. You gain something of value. Everyone wins in this scenario. TEMPTING RELUCTANT CUSTOMERS: Sometimes you need to give prospects who are on the fence a little push to get them over to your side. If you’ve provided something entertaining and valuable, they’ll likely stick around where your grass is greener. CREATING WORD-OF-MOUTH MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES: People love free stuff. When they love free stuff, they talk about it—to their family, to their friends, and to their neighbors. With the advent of social media, they now share it with hundreds—if not thousands—of complete strangers (who also happen to love free stuff). WWW.BOOKMARKETINGTOOLS.COM HOW TO LEVERAGE THE POWER OF FREE & BARGAIN BOOK PROMOTIONS EFFECTIVELY PAGE 5 GROWING STEADY STREAMS OF REVENUE: Authors who strategically use freebies and discounts as part of their overall book marketing strategy have the opportunity to create long-term revenue growth. For example, offering the first book in a series for free can prompt the purchase of other books in the series. Readers might have not sampled the authors writing at all if the first book wasn’t for free. WWW.BOOKMARKETINGTOOLS.COM HOW TO LEVERAGE THE POWER OF FREE & BARGAIN BOOK PROMOTIONS EFFECTIVELY PAGE 6 SECTION 3 KDP OVERVIEW Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is Amazon.com’s ebook publishing division. It offers independent authors and publishers an easy, fast, and free way to publish their books on Kindle devices and Kindle Apps worldwide. Users retain full copyright over their work and control every aspect of their book including price setting and manuscript updates. Once a polished, properly formatted manuscript is ready, it takes approximately 5 minutes to publish and 24-48 hours to appear in Kindle stores. Unlike traditional publishing, KDP enables authors to enter the market quickly. Since Amazon.com is the largest online retailer in the world, it also allows authors to reach millions of readers in the process. Depending on certain pricing policies, eligibility factors, and the country in which the book is purchased, KDP authors can earn up to 70% in royalties. They can also run promotions through KDP Select, which can help improve visibility, increase targeted traffic, boost downloads, improve sales rankings, encourage reviews, and more. This favorable activity then encourages Amazon to promote a book more earnestly, putting it on lists like “Hot New Releases” and “Deal of the Day”. DIFFERENT WAYS TO MARKET VIA KDP SELECT Although a good promotional plan should include a combination of effective marketing strategies, Amazon’s KDP Select conveniently offers a powerful set of merchandising programs for promoting ebooks to prospective readers. By enrolling in KDP Select, authors have an opportunity to reach new audiences, maximize potential sales, earn higher royalties for books sold in certain parts of the world, and earn a share of the KDP Select Global Fund collected from Kindle Unlimited and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. Each enrollment period lasts 90 days and can include a single title or an entire catalog. Unless an author opts out of KDP Select when the 90-day period ends, enrollment will automatically renew. Once an enrollment term begins, authors have a 3-day grace period in which they can cancel as long as they haven’t used any free promotion days. Although KDP requires exclusivity for the digital version of a book during this time, authors and publishers can make up to 10% of an enrolled KDP Select book available on other sites as a sample. WWW.BOOKMARKETINGTOOLS.COM HOW TO LEVERAGE THE POWER OF FREE & BARGAIN BOOK PROMOTIONS EFFECTIVELY PAGE 7 With that covered, let’s look at some key ways to market via KDP Select: FREE PROMOTIONS For a limited time during each enrollment period, you can make your book available to customers at no charge. This can have a significant impact on the number of downloads you receive, effectively improving your sales rank, generating exposure for your book and author brand, and driving sales after the promotion period. If you opt to use KDP Select’s Free Promotions tool, you cannot run a Kindle NOTE Countdown Deal within the same enrollment period. KINDLE COUNTDOWN DEALS When opting into this promotion, KDP lets you offer a time-based discount to encourage customers to buy at a reduced price. Kindle Countdown Deals include incremental price increases that you can set to take place over a 7-day period. You can also create one Kindle Countdown Deal for each marketplace (Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk) during a 90-day KDP Select enrollment period. KINDLE UNLIMITED When you enroll a book in KDP Select, it’s automatically included in Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program. The program is a subscription deal for which readers pay a monthly fee to read any of the KDP Select books. This entitles you to a share of the KDP Select Global Fund any time individual customers read pages of your book for the first time. Your book will continue to be available for purchase in the Kindle Store to readers who aren’t subscribed to the Kindle Unlimited program. WWW.BOOKMARKETINGTOOLS.COM HOW TO LEVERAGE THE POWER OF FREE & BARGAIN BOOK PROMOTIONS EFFECTIVELY PAGE 8 OTHER PROMOTIONAL TOOLS AND PROGRAMS KINDLE OWNERS’ LENDING LIBRARY: As with Kindle Unlimited, your KDP Select books are automatically included in this program. The Kindle Owners’ Lending Library is available to Amazon Prime members who may choose one book per month with no due dates. Each “borrow” by an individual customer earns you a share of the KDP Select Global Fund. KINDLE INSTANT BOOK PREVIEWS: You can let readers preview your book for free by embedding a preview link on your author website or by sharing a link via text, email, or your favorite apps. Besides keeping traffic on your site, this tool gives readers a direct link to your book on Amazon for purchase. If you’re signed up for an Amazon Associate account, you can add your account number to earn a little extra on copies you sell through the link. KINDLE MATCHBOOK: Allow customers who buy other versions of your book to purchase the Kindle version at a discounted price. WWW.BOOKMARKETINGTOOLS.COM HOW TO LEVERAGE THE POWER OF FREE & BARGAIN BOOK PROMOTIONS EFFECTIVELY PAGE 9 KINDLE PRE-ORDERS: Generate pre-sales for new titles by letting customers order your book as early as 90 days prior to release.