By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Amazon has been in the news recently because of growing pains (shipping issues regarding timely delivery) and other problems it’s experiencing…most notably their possible plans to spike the price for Amazon Prime in response to low 4th quarter profits.
But I’ve been noticing other things—marketing related—that I’ve found very interesting. And it’s made me wonder if it’s possible to adapt some of our own promo activities. One program that Amazon has launched that I was late discovering (I had a friend inform me of it) is the Kindle First program. Basically, Amazon Prime customers can sign up for a monthly email that allows them to choose one of four books for a free download to their Kindle. The cool thing is that these books aren’t yet released. They won’t launch until the following month.
My friend was amazed by this. These were all releases from large publishers with the potential for big sales. Why give them away for free each month?
To me, the answer was easy—to get reviews. Books with more reviews get higher visibility on Amazon, resulting in more sales. So, if a book launches and it’s already got 200 or 300 reviews or more on launch day…that can be a terrific sales tool.
How can we replicate something like that on our end, as self-publishers? Well, to get early reviews, we do have some options. We can delay a release for the purpose of garnering these reviews, order print copies of our new book, and hold a Goodreads giveaway. We can hope those folks will write reviews (I’ve had mixed success with this for my Penguin ARCs). Or we can connect with readers who have enjoyed our books previously and offer them an advance reader copy for a fair review. These readers should disclose that they received the books for free in the hopes of a review. The point is that this would be done in advance of the release.
I’m buying lots of books from Amazon. I don’t mean to. And as I’ve mentioned before, I’m thrifty. But I get emails for Kindle Daily Deals and I buy on average 3 books a week. I’ve always got a book to read. I read quickly and then move on to the next one. We can’t replicate the Kindle Daily Deal (or we’ll annoy readers to death if we announce a book special each day), but we might be able to do something with Amazon’s “Promotional Credit” program.
Basically, I purchased the latest Louise Penny book on January 25 and, immediately following the purchase, I received an email with the subject “Your Amazon.com Promotional Credit.” The email stated: “Get a Popular Kindle Book for $0.99.
Purchase a qualifying mystery & thriller book for Kindle and get a credit to purchase a popular book for $0.99. Kindle books can be read on any Kindle device or with our free Kindle reading apps.”
A link directed me to a page that stated:
“If you received an email from Amazon.com with a link to this offer, you have qualified for a credit to purchase the Kindle books shown below for $0.99. The credit has already been applied to your account. Only the Kindle books below are eligible for this promotion – you can use your credit to purchase up to four of them for $0.99 each. To purchase a book, click on it, then click the “Buy” button. Please note that the price shown will not change to $0.99, but your code will be applied to your purchase automatically, reducing the purchase price of the item to $0.99. You may use your code toward multiple eligible book purchases (up to 4 in total). To make another purchase, simply come back to this page and select another Kindle book….Complete your order before this promotion expires at 11:59 p.m. (Pacific Time) on January 31, 2014.”
When I purchased the book, I had no idea it was part of a promotion. Did I buy a $.99 book from Amazon after getting this email? Yes, I did. Again, I’m assuming this is Amazon and either authors or publishers collaborating to get readers of a particular genre introduced to a new author in that genre. And then buy more books at a regular price later.
So, here’s where I wonder if we could somehow set up cross-promotions with other authors in our genre. Ours would have to be different, since we can’t send emails to readers after their purchases like a retailer can. I know everyone’s back matter in their ebooks is precious space (readers get upset if they think they have 2% of a book left to read, but then find it’s all acknowledgments and teaser chapters and promo). But what if we offered a discount coupon code for our book in the back of a friend’s book? Then, obviously, we’d have to either link to our own website or give an email address. We’d fulfill the coupon by sending digital file ourselves, or we’d need to link to a retailer like Smashwords, which does have a way to promote using coupon codes.
I’ve been hooked by Amazon’s “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” feature for years now. It’s because the books listed are similar in some ways to a book I’ve just bought (in anticipation of a good read). Apparently, this is called an “Application Programmable Interface,” or API. No, there’s no way we can do that. But what if there were an author, again, who wrote books very similar to ours? In my case, regional humorous mysteries. Couldn’t we trade out a “suggested reads” promo with each other?
And finally, there’s the Kindle Countdown Deals, which have had a bit of buzz online lately. We can’t replicate this, but we can sign up to be part of it. The problem is that your book must be enrolled in KDP Select to do it. I haven’t chosen to be part of KDP Select because of the exclusivity involved. I’m at the point where I’m making decent income from other retailers now and would rather not rock the boat. This program does have merit, though. You get a cool countdown clock on the book’s listing, along with a clearly reduced list price. And you receive royalties on the regular price. It’s worth mulling over.
I think what appeals to me here are the fact that these are fairly easy, fairly non-confrontational means of getting our books into the hands of readers who may appreciate them. And no, I’ll likely never get around to this stuff because I’ve not done any promo lately and am slammed with the books and the social media and business aspects as it is. But it interests me. Have y’all done any promo like this? Seen it done effectively? What do you think of some of the promo methods that Amazon had been employing lately?
It’s a few months old now, but I really like the Kindle Matchbook program. I’ve seen plenty of readers suggest that ebooks could or should be free/cheap with a paper book.
It’s also something that indies can replicate, using a coupon code in the back of the paper book.
Russell–Good point! I thought that was a very smart approach that Amazon took and you’re right…there’s no reason at all that we couldn’t copy that.
Elizabeth – First, I should say that I haven’t done any solid promo lately. But I have noticed some of what Amazon’s doing. Whatever you think about it, it seems to work. And I think the smart author takes a close look at different promo programs and thinks about what could be adapted for her or his own books. Some couldn’t be adapted without the author coming across as really obnoxious. But is really low-key and draw-you-in. And that can work.
Margot—Low-key is always so much better, isn’t it?
When one author recommends another author’s work to their own fans, that’s huge social proof.
It’s also a huge responsibility: it absolutely must be sincere. Folks are smart enough to know the difference between “you might like this” which is vague, and might work, and “I read this and loved it!” which is the best possible marketing for an author.
Can’t just be an exchange, quid pro quo, you mentioned me so I have to mention you. And that’s where it gets sticky, keeping it honest without offending each other.
Oh, good point. And this is exactly why I like to bounce these things on my blog…y’all have smart ways of looking at this stuff. Yes we would *definitely* want to make sure that it’s not cronyism or looking like it. It would have to be either phrased carefully (like an ad–which is really very similar to what we see in publishers’ paperbacks still), or a *genuine endorsement*. In which case we’d have to make sure we really meant it.
I like the idea of a promotional code in the back of another author’s book.
I do too. Non-intrusive. :)
Interesting information. I’m impressed with Amazon’s ingenuity. I was amazed to click on my kindle fire and have a book ad. Slide one side to get into my kindle, slide the other side to buy the book. The price for that promo was high (for me, anyway). I think it was over $100. Cool idea though.
Julie–Yes! I’ve seen that, too, and I’ve got a cheap Kindle…very nice idea. And the screen stays on, even when the device is sleeping. I’ve got my Kindle beside me now and the screen says “Kindle Monthly Deal” (another promo I didn’t mention here) and says “a selection of mystery and thriller books for $3.99 or less.” Their marketing doesn’t stop, but it’s not annoying. Well, maybe some of their promo emails are annoying, but I filter which ones I want to receive.
Joel Canfield makes a very good point: social media used for marketing inevitably leads to “cronyism.” How can a writer say what he actually thinks about a book he doesn’t like, written by someone who has done him favors in the past and who may do him favors in the future?
Barry–It’s a tough subject. And a problem in publishing–both traditional and self-pub. I’ve been blurbing 3-4 books a year for both Penguin and self-pub. Fortunately, I’ve *liked* all the books I was asked to blurb. But what if I didn’t? How awkward would that be?
I’ve 30 years of sales & marketing background in technology and I’ve thought about it several times but never initiated it. I’d think it would have to be a collective, like the old farming collectives (try not to read that as “socialist” but rather “mutually beneficial”).
Drilled down to the level you mentioned (IE regional humorous mysteries, historical mysteries, sci-fi, espionage, etc), it should work fairly well. The trick would be how to offer and execute a discount effectively. I’ll give it some thought.
Peace, Seeley
Seeley–Yes, this tends to be one of those things I really enjoy *thinking* about, but never get around to doing. Marketing fascinates me…as long as I’m not the one doing it…ha!
And I agree…it would have to be couched as a way to help the reader find new books in that particular sub-subgenre to really be effective. Or even sub-sub-subgenre.
I’ve always been leery of KDP Select.
Amazon also sends out recommendation emails based on purchases and browsing history. Wish we could do that.
Diane–Me too. And yet I was reading Konrath rave on it the other day…and I’m thinking…am I being dumb by not participating in KDP Select? But I guess I’ll just keep on being dumb for now–it worries me to be exclusive.
Oh, wouldn’t that be amazing if we had the capability to do those recommendation emails?
While KDP Select seemed to work for a while, now it has come to a complete stop, I’m afraid. Free promotions don’t seem to work any more, and as for their new Countdown program, it didn’t work one bit for me or any of my colleagues. I’m seriously considering discontinuing it.
Thanks a lot for the great post, you make some very useful points! I’ll have to think about it.
That seems like a really good marketing too. But I’m much more of a social media kind of person.
Gina–I know what you mean. Although I really just hang out with writers on social media. Not really what I’m supposed to be doing! :)
What a great thread! So many creative ideas. I wonder, how could we (small group here) get our author pals from other groups to participate with us? With a larger group, maybe there will be;
1) More great ideas, and 2) Some way to organize the effort for the stated goals. Any thoughts about doing something like that?
Walter–It’s hard to get something pulled together sometimes. I know that I was approached directly by an author (via email) because her book was frequently recommended by Amazon to people who bought my books and vice versa. I didn’t know her, actually, but she offered to trade ads in our reader newsletters. Of course, sadly, at the time I hadn’t even gotten my reader newsletter off the ground yet so I wasn’t a very good candidate for what she was proposing.
What I’m thinking, along these lines, is that you’d want to do something like that—you’d want to look at the Amazon algorithm results on your book’s page on Amazon, under “customers who bought this item also bought” and then perhaps contact some of those authors directly via email. It’s more likely that a cross-promo would work when you’ve narrowed down to a very specific subgenre.
Actually, Elizabeth , what I was thinking was this. Take the best/most effective ideas from a bunch of writers. Form an amalgamation of them. Recruit a sponsor, someone with a reason to spend a few bucks because, if it succeeds, he will benefit more than he spends to support/sponsor the group. Sponsor supplies an admin staff to do the grunt work (needed, but boring and it takes away writing time.) Anyway, you get the idea. Given something on this order, we could replicate, on a smaller scale, what Amazon does so effectively.
Walter–Ahh, I see. That could make for effective promo. You’re right–the community here is likely smaller than what you’d need to pull people together. You’re welcome to use my ideas, for what they’re worth. :) I do know there are large communities of writers on the Absolute Write forums and the Kindle Boards…those might be good places to bounce ideas or pull together a group.
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