*If you're here for the
Listing Blog Hop, scroll down. :)
***
Some publishers set up free days on
Amazon for their authors. This program is called Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) in
which Amazon publishes your eBook three months sooner than your release date
and during this time you get 5 free days. So many first-time authors don’t know
how to promote these free days. I didn’t when Hurricane Crimes was free, so I had to learn.
First,
let me warn you about expectations.
Free days are great for first-time authors because it gets your name out there and your eBook into many Kindles. But...
Free days are great for first-time authors because it gets your name out there and your eBook into many Kindles. But...
1.
Not everyone who downloads your eBook will actually read it. Many people just
love the word FREE and will one-click every free eBook they can find.
2.
Many authors shoot to the top of Amazon’s 100 Top Free Ebooks list. But this
won’t happen to everyone.
Now that those pesky expectations are out of the way, let me tell you how you can promote your free days:
1.
Create an event on Goodreads. Goodreads is always my #1 tactic for spreading the word about a new release, sale, or giveaway.
2.
Make a special post on your blog to announce it. (You can even create a Google Form to ask bloggers to post about your free eBook. After they sign up, send them all the info, including an HTML code for their ease.)
3.
Of course share the news on Facebook and Twitter.
4.
Also share the news on Google + (tag your circles) and any Yahoo Loops you’ve joined.
5.
Now the one that’ll take the most time...submit to free eBook websites. You can
find them by simply using Google.
Here
are some websites you can use to promote free days:
TIP #1: Check their guidelines. Many of these sites require you to submit your book info ahead of time. And some of them cost money or don’t accept short stories.
The results of my Free Days for
Hurricane Crimes:
Hurricane Crimes reached #10 in the
Top 100 Free Suspense books, making it an Amazon Best Seller (or
freebie), which thrilled me to no end. It also cracked the Top 100 Free list for
Romantic-Suspense at #22. After that, Hurricane Crimes clung to the low 400's, staying
around #20 in the top free suspense books.
Number
of free downloads - 2,324.
TIP #2: You can do all of these things when promoting a book sale. Just look for discount eBook sites instead of free ones.
For
more tips on how to promote see:
QUESTION:
Have you put any of your eBooks for free? What did you do to promote it and what was the
result?
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Research for my unpublished series:
- Types of fighting styles
- Military guns
- Helicopter machine guns
- Military combat uniforms
- Code Red
- Arrow quivers
- Sai daggers
- Circular saw blades
- Taser guns
- Bones in arms
- Tourniquet
- Seizures
- Carotid artery
- Thoracic curve
Research for Seismic Crimes:
- China Town
Research for new WIP:
- How to hot wire a car
- How to escape from a trunk- Crossbow pistol
- Throwing knives
- Road flares
- Voodoo
- Zombies
