Tag Archives: YA Coming of Age

Aug 27 2014

Amazon Marketing 101

When I was trying to think of what to blog tonight, I realized I never posted about the marketing tips I learned from Quinn Loftis, Ella James, and Eva Pohler at the UtopYA2014 conference in June. My notes are somewhat scattered (just like their owner!), but hopefully this info will help someone!

How to hit the Top Rated Lists without much effort and minimal sales:

Do a soft launch of 48 hrs- have a team of people buy it to start ranking & post reviews but the big Facebook & Twitter party is 2 days later-also helpful to make sure the manuscript looks right if you’re self publishing. Hint: Every time you have to reload your book on Amazon, you loose rankings. Refreshing also hurts ranking- use rank obsession.com– updated more frequently than other sites- & will send you new reviews. Tip: Don’t release on weekends & Tuesdays because Tues is when big houses publish & can’t compete with that & people are busy on the weekends.

 How to use tags and categories properly:

Amazon keywords: put them in your blurb- i.e. YA Romance, YA Trilogy. Google key words to find most searched keywords. If it’s already in your author bio, pick something else because it’s already metadated. Some things like paranormal romance will have way too many books to get noticed so be more specific. “Google ad words.” Optimize website with key words, too.

The importance of pricing:

Indie prices typically do best between 99 cents & $3.99- trainings readers to take a chance on you. Indies, you can make book free on Kindle if you make it free somewhere else like B&N & then they’ll price match. Once the last book in your trilogy or series is published, it’s a good idea to make your first book free through a bookbub ad. Keep your finger on the pulse by looking at the top 100 books in your categories.

Free advertising:

The best kind of free marketing is not advertising at all but just being present on social media sites with authentic interactions.

Have Calls to Action- 90% chance of people responding. Ex: Laura Howard’s Q of the Day on Facebook.

On Facebook- don’t just post blog automatically to your page- insert image and then write 1-3 lines of text with link at the end, because FB drives more traffic to you if you post like that. Also 30 second videos rank higher than anything else. Post natively to Twitter as well- will see a difference with your blog. Don’t pay to booster posts because then FB knows they can get you to pay instead of having them booster it for you.

Google Hangout for book club discussions and school visits around the country, etc: in it’s simplest form it’s a live YouTube. Under your Google Plus account, look at the button for it. Use Twitter hashtag for questions during the hangout – it can also be embedded to watch later. Under your Google pic in the box put your Twitter name & hashtag you’re using. It’s kind of like doing the author FB party but one step up. Do a theme for the hangout: like wearing your pj’s, Star Wars, or anything fandom your fans would get excited about. You should be a fan of what your readers are fans of & interact with those hashtags on Twitter. For example, you can tweet during the favorite TV shows but remember time differences and don’t give away spoilers.

Facebook, Tumblr, & Twitter are the big social media forums right now. If you’re new to Tumblr (like me, follow me here), look at YA authors Cassandra Clare & John Green– rock stars at Tumblr!! All YA authors should be on it. Be creative and have fun! Example idea: Costume ideas for your book characters. Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest are also great sites for interacting. Just remember that social media is to congratulate, celebrate, & “Wow look at this!” Not for “Now hear this!” Stay away from religion and politics when you’re in author mode.

Love it or hate it, Amazon is the world’s largest bookstore. What do you do to market your book?

By the way, thank you for all the tweets last week while 18 Things had it’s 2-day 99 cent sale! When my publisher ran a 99 cent sale six months ago, it got down to #114 overall on all of Amazon and was #1 in 3 categories! Not quite as good this time around, but #169 overall & #1 in 2 categories isn’t too shabby (and still holding there since Thursday)! And it’s given a boost in sales to 18 Truths as well! Muchos gracias, for my early birthday present, amigos ❤

1 best seller in YA Paranormal

May 21 2014

What’s Your System?

Today I have my good buddy, Teshelle Combs, guest posting. She is the award winning author of the YA action/romance novel, The System, and YA contemporary fantasy novel, Core. Take it away, T!!

Tessa's photo

Hey everyone! I’ve launched a brand new series! ‘The System’ is YA, action/adventure, sci-fi/romance. And it’s gooood.
I wanted to share with you what it’s like to release an indie title, just in case you’re curious about seeing the inside of my brain.

6:30 am – Wake up way too early so you can make sure your book is actually up on amazon, even though you checked it 12 times the night before.
7:00 am – Refresh the page and check one more time.
7:15 am – Start tweeting about it for all your UK and EU fans who are probably on their lunch breaks. Freak out when they interact with you because you still can’t believe people think the virtual “you” is cool enough to talk to.
8:00 am – Check on your sales. They’re trickling in now.
9:00 am – Start annoying everyone who was dumb enough to sign up for your book release event on facebook. Tell them obvious things about how you’re ‘so excited.’ What you don’t tell them is that you’re having a series of small panic attacks. ‘What if no one buys anything? What if no one cares? What if they buy my book and they HATE it?!?!’
10:00 am – Eat breakfast, feed your baby, and juggle your phone in one hand so you can refresh you sales page every 30 seconds and see each sale as it rolls in because about now you’re manic and obsessing and you can’t stop checking.
11:00 am – Thank God your baby is napping and now you can get onto your lap and tweet and annoy more facebook and goodreads fans and thank people who are kind enough to retweet and share your book. Check on all the sites that agreed to promote you.
11:15 am – Freak out because you forgot to check your sales and OH MY GOD, some more people bought ‘The System’ and you may not end up being a failure after all!
12:00 pm – Eat before you pass out. Remember to blink. Remember to swallow the food in your mouth. Remember to breathe. Because by now you can see how well you’re ranking well on amazon.com and it’s giving you an aneurism.
1:00 pm – Post too many screenshots of your amazon ranking and beg people to get more copies because you’re DOING IT!
2:00 pm – Scheduled nervous breakdown. Because there’s no way someone can bottle up so many firework emotions for a whole day. Cry a little in the bathroom.
3:00 pm – Text your best friend and have her tell you to stop crying in the bathroom because you’re being ridiculous now.
4:00 pm – Call your mom and have her tell you to stop crying in the bathroom. But she tells you that you’re an inspiring, perfect human being in her eyes and she’s so proud and now she’s crying and you’re crying and everyone’s crying.
5:00 pm – You forgot that most people don’t sit on their phones all day while they’re at work. So now everyone is at home and on twitter and facebook and they’re being sweet and amazing and sales are picking up and you’re ranking number one in a few things.
6-9:00 pm – Keep yelling to your husband that you’re selling more books until he gets sick of hearing it. But you can’t stop yourself. For better or for worse, right??
9:30 pm – Gasp! Remember you’re doing a free promo of your first book alongside your launch of ‘The System.’ Check on the free stats for ‘Core.’ And realize that you’re KILLING IT. Then you start crying because OH MY GOD!
10-11:00 pm – It dawns on you. You’re indie. Which means you did this all on your own. And if it wasn’t for great friends and fans, you’d be nowhere doing nothing. And you go to bed with a smile. This is all you’ve ever wanted to do, and you’re doing it. You’re doing your dream.

The System cover art large

The System

1 + 1 = Dead.

That’s the only math that adds up when you’re in the System.

Everywhere Nick turns, he’s surrounded by the inevitability of his own demise at the hands of the people who stole his life from him. That is, until those hands deliver the bleeding, feisty, eye-rolling Nessa Parker. Tasked with keeping his new partner alive, Nick must face all the ways he’s died and all the things he’s forgotten.

Nessa might as well give up. The moment she gets into that car, the moment she lays her hazel eyes on her new partner, her end begins. It doesn’t matter that Nick Masters can slip through time by computing mathematical algorithms in his mind. It doesn’t matter how dark and handsome and irresistibly cold he is. Nessa has to defeat her own shadows.

Together and alone, Nick and Nessa make sense of their senseless fates and fight for the courage to change it all. Even if it means the System wins and they end up…well…dead.

Find the ebook for only 99 cents on Amazon!

Side note from Jamie: I got to Beta Read the first 5 chapters of The System and it’s AWESOME!
core-paperback

 

Cale can’t lie.

If only he could lie to the girl with the hard eyes and clenched fists, if only he could twist the truth, maybe he’d win her trust. But Cale can’t lie. And the only way to get ‘her’ is to tell her exactly what he is.

Journey through fight clubs, sky dungeons, and the perils of a forbidden world. Join Cale–an eighteen year old with one impossible secret–as he tears through the calloused blockade that is Ava Johnson.

And fearless Ava, buried in secrets of her own, faces the most frightening truth of her dark life.

She must learn to need someone.

Amazon: Also 99 cents right now!!
Another side note: Teshelle did an author visit at my middle school with this book (her debut novel) and the kids went nuts for it! Had to skip over some of the steamier parts when reading it to my class though.

You can connect with Teshelle at any of these places:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/teshellecombsbooks

Website: http://teshellecombs.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TeshelleCombs

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7038103.Teshelle_Combs

Email: teshellecombs@gmail.com

Thanks for stopping by Teshelle! And to everyone else, thanks for reading 🙂 Did you relate to Teshelle’s experience? I know I went through the same thing when publishing 18 Things and 18 Truths, even with the help of a publisher. If you’re still waiting patiently (HA!) to be published, don’t give up! Everything happens in God’s perfect timing.