Tag: promo

BookBub for Authors Who Don’t Run Ads

Promo Tips

Man holding cell phone in black background.

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Although I haven’t run a BookBub ad, I have an author profile on BookBub.  It’s free and there are excellent reasons for having a presence there, whether or not you ever intend to run an ad.

Perhaps the biggest reason is that BookBub will update your followers when you have a new release. This is what my readers received from BB on the 23rd:

BookBub also can help us connect with new readers by emailing subscribers and suggesting authors to follow.

Tom Corson-Knowles of TCK publishing points out that linking your author profile on BookBub to your website also is a huge SEO boost for your site.

I wondered, when I set up the profile there if my readers were BookBub subscribers. But with absolutely no effort on my part, I have over two hundred followers there.  So…the answer is yes.  :)Continue reading

Twitter Moments

Promo Tips, Uncategorized

Hand holding a cell phone with a picture of a Twitter bird on the screen with 'Twitter Moments', the post title, superimposed on the photo.

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig 

I spend a good deal of time finding and scheduling content for Twitter, but not a lot of time on Twitter.

In the last month or so, however, I did get on the site long enough to check out their ‘Twitter Moments’ feature.

Twitter states:

Moments are curated stories showcasing the very best of what’s happening on Twitter. Our Moments guide is customized to show you current topics that are popular or relevant, so you can discover what is unfolding on Twitter in an instant.

That sounded just a little too airy for me.  I found another description from Nate Swanner on The Next Web who stated:Continue reading

Instafreebie’s New App

Promo Tips, Tools for Writers

A hand is holding a cell phone and the post title 'Instafreebie's New App' is superimposed on the left side of the photo

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

In the early days of digital reading, we had to carry a device around to read on.  I still have two very early model kindles at home.

But now it makes so much more sense to be able to read on our phones.  We’re already carrying the devices and we’ll always have something to read if we have an app…no need to try and remember to bring an extra device along.  I’ve found that I get so much more reading now that I’ve got my book with me wherever I go (and reading is vital to writing).

The problem my mother had with devices and phones was how to get her book onto the device. I wrote her a detailed set of instructions, but it was still difficult for her.  She had librarians show her how to put library books on her kindle account, but it never really sunk in.

During giveaways, I’ve found that there are plenty of my readers who faced similar confusion about transferring the books to their phones or devices. I tried to walk them through it, but it was always tricky.  I’ve found that Instafreebie has helped a lot.  I’m able to provide readers (giveaway readers, ARC readers, the occasional disgruntled reader) with links to the free books and Instafreebie’s instructions (and support) are usually enough to guide them through the process.Continue reading

Inexpensive Promoting

Promo Tips, Uncategorized

A pink piggy bank is on the left side of the picture. The post title, Inexpensive Promoting, is on the left.

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig 

Anyone familiar with this blog knows that I’m not a fan of old-fashioned promoting. I think I’ve sold a lot more books by using better book metadata and following best-practices for SEO on my book pages on my website.

But sometimes…you’ve got to promote the old-fashioned way. In my case, it’s usually by request.  My audiobook producer is big into old-fashioned promo: going out into bookstores for events, doing book tie-ins, and that type of thing. He’s really, really good at it. In the past, he’s asked me for free printed copies of my books to tie-in with the audio versions for giveaways at all kinds of special events. I’ve sent them over to him…just very happy that I wasn’t doing the promo legwork myself.

It’s expensive, though. Even getting the author copies from CreateSpace.  There’s the buying of the books, and then the shipping of the books.  If you’re talking a fair number of books or doing something regularly, it does add up.

This time I told my producer that I’d like to do something a little different (and basically free on my end).  I used Canva to design bookmarks especially for my audiobooks and then added an Instafreebie code to provide a free ebook. Realizing a lot of other writers might be going to summer events, I thought I’d share what I did. (And I used to be a VistaPrint customer…nothing wrong with that, except this particular project required immediacy. I couldn’t wait).Continue reading

Tech Tools and Promo Tips

Business of Writing, Promo Tips, Uncategorized

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Tools and Tips for Writers

Here are a few updates on what I’ve found helpful or interesting lately in the promo and writing worlds.

For the writer who has multiple releases a year, a Coming Soon page on your website. This was suggested to me by a reader who was having a hard time keeping up.  The important thing with this page is to keep it updated since it’s not one of the pages we’re on very often.

A nice link to add to the Coming Soon page (along with other pages on our site) is a link to our Amazon Author Central page with instructions to follow us there.   I just put a simple: ” Follow me on Amazon for release updates” up.Continue reading

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