There are two main aspects of a successful Kindle income, which is to write at a high standard and to market the finished books as widely as possible. If any of these components are missing then you will have a hard time making any money at all. For those of you who have mastered the art of writing and would like to know how to market your work effectively then read on for 5 tips that can set your Kindle books apart from the competition:
Join a Related Forum
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One of the most effective marketing techniques that always works if executed correctly is forum marketing. To get this right you need to sign up to a relevant forum. For example, if you wrote a book on recipes that help people lose weight then you would sign up with a weight loss forum. Then you would proceed to publish high quality posts where you genuinely help the members of the forum. As you begin to gain the trust of the forum community they will begin to see you as an authority figure. At this point it is a great idea to insert a link to your kindle book in the signature file and you should begin to see a big influx of sales, provided that you have picked a popular forum with a lot of active members. A contributor to About.com suggests how to find the right forums:
Look for popular forums that cover your niche topic. Start by asking your employees, suppliers, and customers which online communities they hang out in. Also try searching forum hub sites such as Board Reader, Big Boards, and Board Tracker using niche-specific keywords.
It might be worth your time to market on a couple of forms at once in order to extend your reach, but only do this if you have the time, because if you don’t then you will spread yourself too thin.
Create a Series of Books
A great way to get people to buy a book from you in the future is to create a series where one book builds upon the previous one. For example, if you are doing a recipe book on how to lose weight, then your next one could be how to cook low fat meals in less than 20 minutes. The idea here is to advertise your sequel in the first book so that your readers can anticipate it, and then buy it when it comes out. Furthermore, you can advertise any previous books when you write new ones as that will increase the sales of books which you have written in the past. Such advertising is a great marketing strategy that doesn’t cost you any money, and it is one of the reasons why writing books mainly in one niche is a good idea.
Go The Extra Mile
It’s important to do the extras such as write a high quality description, get an attractive front cover, and seek professional reviewers to rate your book. The more professional your book looks the more attractive it will be some to your potential readers. The saying “don’t judge a book by its front cover” means well, but in reality a lot of the time if the book does not appear to be attractive on the outside then people won’t even give it a second glance. M. Louisa Lock from She Writes explains how to get your book ready for sale:
Your product description needs to be well-written, your excerpt must be available, and you should have at least 4-5 reviews written by professional reviewers (not just friends and family members).
The reason why it is important to go the extra mile is because even a little improvement in the cover design or book description can lead to a significant increase in sales.
Facebook Fan Page
Having a Facebook fan page where you interact with your readers will go a long way towards increasing your sales. No matter what niche you are writing in your readers will be on Facebook, and why not capture their attention by creating a fan page that is dedicated to your books? Readers may even share your fan page with their social circles which will increase the chances of your Kindle book going viral. A writer from A Good Read explains how one writer is already promoting her books:
She has a fan (business not personal) page on Facebook and constantly interacts with her readers. She either tells tidbits about her life or she asks thought provoking questions that makes her fans want to respond. You should be doing the same.
Social media is becoming increasingly popular as the years go by which is why you need to capitalize on that traffic by creating assets on there such as fan pages where you can advertise your Kindle books.
Create A Blog
Having your own blog where you can blog to your audience about the different aspects of your kindle books and why they must be bought is a priceless form of advertising. This is especially true if you manage to get a huge following through the search engines and PPC campaigns. Once the potential buyers land on your website you could capture their e-mails so that you can market to them on a regular basis. However, with e-mail marketing you must provide them value in addition to your sales pitches. For example, to make your e-mail list feel extra special you could give away the first chapter of one of your upcoming kindle books. This not only shows that you want to provide value to your subscribers, but it will also act as a great form of advertisement in itself, because if they find the opening chapter compelling then they will want to buy the book in order to read the other ones, too.
Also, don’t forget to update your blog and send e-mail messages periodically, because if you don’t then your audience will feel as if you have forgotten about them and they will focus their attention on another blog.