Chris Stralyn wrote:

OK, since I feel like I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing while trying to promote my book, I've found myself open to almost anything that will get my title some exposure. Seems like I've done the "usual" things like giveaways, bookmarks, buttons, bumperstickers, author signings, etc. Now I'm concentrating on a few "outside the box" type of things I've stumbled across. 

Here is what I hope could be my biggest "outside the box" endevor.

After joining the Staples Reward Program, I got an email about how Staples promotes small business. I followed their link and discovered a contest for small businesses where the winner gets $50,000 worth of commercial advertising, and I figured hey, independant authors are a small business, right? So I created a 15 second video and sent it in. It was denied. 3 days and dozens of emails back and forth later.... they conceded that an independant author could be considered a small business, and allowed the entry.

Now I just need to get some votes. I don't expect to win, if fact, I think I prefer NOT to win - as then I would be responsible for the taxes on the $50,000 prize. But I figure if I can get enough votes to boost my entry into the top 20 or so, I'll get a tremendous amount of exposure for my book. And hopefully that could translate into some sales.

So....

I'm asking for your help. Please click the link below, watch the 15 second commercial, and then vote for Chris Stralyn - Independant Author. 

Thanks!
Chris

Vote for my video on Facebook and I could win a free TV commercial from Staples! https://apps.facebook.com/smallbusiness … ofile/128/

Chris, I thought about trying this as well, but I believe there is no way in hell to win this as an author. And gave up on it. I'll vote for you though and wish you luck.

ah, heck, I voted for you anyway, Mr. IndependAnt. 

s_thatcher wrote:

The reality is, unless you have signed with a publisher who has distribution (not POD) and is experienced in promoting and marketing your novel, and can get it onto bookstore shelves...

Anyway, good luck.

I don't know. Check out this inde writer and how far he has gone from construction worker to where he is today.

http://theworstbookever.blogspot.com/


Also you may want to read the section titled "So what is up with Amazon Kindle Select?". I found that one exceptionally interesting.

Susan

hmmmm, this is what his Amazon page says today:



SWEET DREAMS (The Justice of Revenge) (A Mark Appleton Thriller) [Kindle Edition]
Aaron Patterson (Author)

    Format: Kindle Edition
    File Size: 586 KB
    Print Length: 401 pages
    Publisher: StoneHouse Ink; 2nd edition (December 1, 2008)
    Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
    Language: English
    ASIN: B001N0LLP4
    Text-to-Speech: Enabled
    Lending: Enabled
    Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
    Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #572 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
        #9 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery > Hard-Boiled
        #10 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Mystery > Hard-Boiled
\

Hmmm not toooooo bad for a book that was published in 2006, I believe. Not too shabby, his business either - all done by marketing himself, no matter how many followers he has, he generated them, not the brick and mortar big guys.


Some of his poor, over used authors:

Arson [Kindle Edition]
Estevan Vega (Author)

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 392 KB
Print Length: 336 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1615666036
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: StoneGate Ink; 1 edition (May 25, 2011)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English
ASIN: B0052ZRKAG
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
Lending: Enabled
Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #54,714 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

***hmmm, 10 months, still holding.



Airel (The Airel Saga, Book 1) by Aaron Patterson and Chris White (Paperback - Aug 31, 2011)

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 1134 KB
Print Length: 392 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0982607865
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: StoneHouse Ink; 1 edition (April 26, 2011)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English
ASIN: B004Y72XFA
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
Lending: Enabled
Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,410 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #63 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Fantasy > Epic
    #79 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Fantasy, Futuristic & Ghost
    #83 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Epic

Wow! Another ten month  - I'd take those numbers too!



Homeward [Kindle Edition]
Melody Carlson (Author)

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 485 KB
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: StoneHouse Ink; 2 edition (September 27, 2010)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English
ASIN: B00457VKK8
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
Lending: Enabled
Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,533 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #96 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Religious Fiction > Romance



Wow! 96 in the kindle store after two years. F**K-me -this guy Aaron is not doing his authors too bad.

I could drag a few more of his 40 some odd authors up here, but you guys who have books on amazon get my drift - it takes someone with an ebook for sale to know just how good these numbers really are--know just how much profit that Kindle book pays even at 50%. As for royalties, you do understand you have to sell through them, right.


He's a friend of yours, thatcher? - damn girl, I'd be using that boy, I was you. Do you mind if I mention your name?

My sales are doing just fine, thanks for asking.

How is your querying going for The American? Good I hope!

Last edited by Susan Stec (01-29-2012 07:33:34)

haha -- Grilling burgers in the dead of winter? So do I! I'm also on my deck in my parka, beer in hand, flipping this or that... all year long. I'm liking you better already.

damn girl, I'd be using that boy, I was you

Use him for what? A loan? I don’t write genre fiction or religious/inspirational, or maybe I would. Besides, I’d be a terrible self-publishing candidate. Although I wouldn’t skip a beat to promote my novel, I have little interest in marketing it. There’s a distinction. I’m lousy at sales.

#96 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Religious Fiction > Romance
Wow! 96 in the kindle store after two years. F**K-me -this guy Aaron is not doing his authors too bad.

I confess ignorance to what those secondary numbers mean. Are those the TAG thingies people click on? Are they related to sales? I guess they’d have to be... But those numbers are a bit of a fudge if not associated with sales. And yeah, Aaron's and et al's numbers *are* good! I never said they weren’t. I can’t even imagine the hard work it took/continues to take. Some writers are born with the knack (marketing). I wish it was in my make-up, for sure. Authors of strictly ePubs and PODs do the bulk of their own marketing. And I support them on Facebook, Twitter, etc. I respond to requests for votes on various things… all that. I’ve put their books on my Kindle. My name appears in a few of their acknowledgements. But, I honestly think the Staples contest is a waste of time for an author-as-small-business. Not to say I don’t think of self-published authors as small businesses. I do.

How is your querying going for The American? Good I hope!

Thanks for asking. It’s going as expected. Slow. Steady. (Wins the race?)
See MY PLAN A http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/forum/v … p?id=17876
I have a full out – like forever at a university press. I’ve had a partial request with Algonquin – Rejected! Still awaiting word from McSweeney’s and others… I’ll be sure to keep you posted. TPOM is also going through another fine-tuning before I send it off to the Faulkner’s for the big prize. Last year it was a finalist in the novel-in-progress, and short-listed in the completed novels category. Not really worth a hill of beans in the long run, but… it’s all I got. Oh wait, I had a short story accepted by an online publication "Atticus," but decided to decline, because I think it’s too good a story to go unnoticed there, which it would've. I’m duotroping short stories like mad—print journals only. Most of them gleaned from TPOM. I've sent 4 to Tin House -- 3 Rejected! But this 4th one is ... My theory is that the targeted journals I've been sending to are getting used to the characters, story. I'm doing that 'targeting' for many, many literary journals. Australia seems to like them the most.

My submission method works good for me. I’ve seen what happens to those who publish too soon. So what if my novel languishes on my hard drive 'til death? I’d rather remain unpublished than suffer the heartbreak of being Amazon-ranked in the millions. THAT would kill me. So...self-preservation?

Regardless of what path we choose -- as writers, the best thing we can do is get busy writing our next novels.

Happy Writing!


FYI: Robin Lee Hatcher’s my friendly neighbor, too. So’s Tony Doerr, Alan Heathcock and Denis Johnson. I know all of them but Denis, and he’s the one I’d want to know the most. Check out Jesus' Son.


AND, I watched This Week with George Stephanopoulos this morning and saw the finger waving woman’s book sales that soared afterward. However Republicans want to spend their money is fine with me…    After Gingrich’s and Boehner’s claim of ‘Obama attacking’ people, did you hear the Kimmel joke? Two peanuts were walking down the street. One was a salted. Hahahaha

Last edited by s_thatcher (01-29-2012 19:30:05)

jano.donnachaidh wrote:

You might check out http://www.pumpupyourbook.com/.  It is a virtual book tour where you guest on blogs and receive a few reviews, some of which are syndicated in a few high-traffic newspapers.   The bronze package is $299.

And the gold package is just $599! I got the impression Chris was wanting to think 'outside' the box (with the Staple contest and she'd exhausted all the normal fare you mention); not think 'outside' her pocketbook. But what do I know...

The key is to get word out.  Word of mouth is the single strongest sales tool. If people don't know a book exists, they can not buy it. hope this helps, cheers, jano

Truer words were never spoken!

Incidentally, I've been looking forward to purchasing the collection of poetry by some of my favorite TNBW poets, Said & Unsaid. Imagine my surprise when I just now checked on Amazon and found it was released weeks ago, January 21! How did I miss all the word-of-mouth buzz? It's what I get for sleeping. Congrats TNBW poets!!!!!!

http://www.amazon.com/Said-Unsaid-Colle … amp;sr=1-7

How do I get it for my Kindle? Can you provide a direct link? I see nothing about it on your website. I see nothing about it anywhere.

Just wanted to touch base with everyone. My entry in the Staples small business video contest is doing ok. It's not in the top twenty yet, but is moving up a bit everyday. I DONT want to win the contest, just want to get into the top twenty so that my little 15 second video gets more views. The contest runs into early March, so there's still time for more votes. While there is no real way to track if any sales are made by people who saw the video, I did get one message thru Facebook that said they saw the video, found my website, and then bought the book. Checked Amazon, and there was indeed a sale that day. Success! That was all I wanted from this entry...more people to see that it existed. I've also had more visits to my website in the past few days...could be a coincedence of course.

Jano, thanks for the info and links. I'm already on goodreads, but will check out pleasurereads as well. And thatcher was right...I've already done most of the "usual" things for promoting - and with Seriously limited funds here,  the only promotions I'm doing are either free or very cheap! Haven't done a blog tour - too much work involved for me to do one right now. Maybe this summer.

The tip for searching books on Amazon was great. I knew about tagging, but not the search tip. Thanks!

Getting the word out is my only focus right now - which is why I originally entered the Staples contest. I've also recently signed up to attend a local "Authors Tea Party". Really doesn't seem like my kind of thing...and I have no idea what I will talk about for 15 minutes, but it's a free event sponsored by my local library and I figured if nothing else the handful of people likely to attend will at least hear about my book and go home with a bookmark.

And there you have it. Published my print edition in mid October, Kindle edition in mid December. To date I've sold a total of 128 books.  I'm happy with that number - works out to about a book a day so far - but of course it'd be great to sell even more.

So....any more "out of the box" ideas?

Chris

Chris Stralyn wrote:

Just wanted to touch base with everyone. My entry in the Staples small business video contest is doing ok. It's not in the top twenty yet, but is moving up a bit everyday. I DONT want to win the contest, just want to get into the top twenty so that my little 15 second video gets more views. The contest runs into early March, so there's still time for more votes. While there is no real way to track if any sales are made by people who saw the video, I did get one message thru Facebook that said they saw the video, found my website, and then bought the book. Checked Amazon, and there was indeed a sale that day. Success! That was all I wanted from this entry...more people to see that it existed. I've also had more visits to my website in the past few days...could be a coincedence of course.

Jano, thanks for the info and links. I'm already on goodreads, but will check out pleasurereads as well. And thatcher was right...I've already done most of the "usual" things for promoting - and with Seriously limited funds here,  the only promotions I'm doing are either free or very cheap! Haven't done a blog tour - too much work involved for me to do one right now. Maybe this summer.

The tip for searching books on Amazon was great. I knew about tagging, but not the search tip. Thanks!

Getting the word out is my only focus right now - which is why I originally entered the Staples contest. I've also recently signed up to attend a local "Authors Tea Party". Really doesn't seem like my kind of thing...and I have no idea what I will talk about for 15 minutes, but it's a free event sponsored by my local library and I figured if nothing else the handful of people likely to attend will at least hear about my book and go home with a bookmark.

And there you have it. Published my print edition in mid October, Kindle edition in mid December. To date I've sold a total of 128 books.  I'm happy with that number - works out to about a book a day so far - but of course it'd be great to sell even more.

So....any more "out of the box" ideas?

Chris

128 books. Not too shabby ;-)