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Tuesday, June 5, 2012

HOW DO YOU GET READERS FOR YOUR BOOK?



Without readers, your book or eBook will fail.

A book without a reader is like a bow without an arrow.

SO ...

I. How do you get readers?

John Locke and others say you need to decide which audience to target BEFORE you write your book.

And that makes cold-blooded sense ... still, I write for me. I bet you do, too.

So you know who your audience is: folks who like to read what you read.

O.K. Next question:

II. Where do you and they hang out?

Being on forums all day is not something most people can ... or should do.

I know I spend a lot of time on Google:

III. GOOGLE AdWORDS:

In the Google’s Adwords Keyword Tool, put in some relevant words, which might be ‘Kindle thriller, ‘Ebooks,’ ‘cheap fiction,’ etc.

The word ‘ebook’ for example may have a higher search volume than ‘Kindle book’ or ‘digital book.’

In your Adwords campaign, prefer the keywords with the highest volume. This list of keywords will come in useful not only for your Adword itself, but for getting your ad to display when it should.

Once you have created your Adword campaign, you will need to type in the list of keywords suggested by the Keyword Tool.

This list of keywords will trigger your ad to appear if someone uses those keywords in the Google search bar.

Once you have gone through all the steps, you will need to wait for your Adword campaign to be approved which could take a few days or weeks.

If you are aiming for a Christmas market, create your campaign well in advance. You can pause your campaign if it gets approved early,

and then activate it when required.

IV. COST OF GOOGLE ADWORDS:

AdWords gives you control over your advertising costs. There's no minimum spending requirement.

You get to set the maximum amount you're willing to spend each day and choose how you'll spend your money.

A few other factors, such as ad quality, determine the exact cost of a click on your ad.

But if you've set a maximum CPC bid of $1 for your ads, then the most you'll pay when a customer clicks your ad is $1.

And if your competition bids only $0.50 for the same ad position, you'll only need to pay $0.51 to show your ad, assuming your ads are similar in all other aspects.

IT IS A MATTER OF HOW MUCH, IF ANYTHING, YOU CAN AFFORD TO SPEND IN MARKETING YOUR BOOK.

V. YOU'RE LOW ON FUNDS ... so WHAT IS FREE?

YOUR TITLE!

You want a title that grabs the readers' attention, that makes them want to pick up the free sample chapters of your eBook to see what this riveting title means.

A title that gets your book picked up when someone Google searches a keyword.

THE HUNGER GAMES or END OF DAYS (alright, I'm doing a little dreaming here!)

VI. BIRDS OF A FEATHER

1. Web sites on the same (or a similar) subject as your ebook that may want to place a link, write a review, or post an excerpt from your ebook (with a link).

2. Book review sites and thematically appropriate ezines. Offer them free electronic review copies. Every review on a book review site equals a new link, and even ezines often will post reviews on their sites.

3. Web sites where you can post info on YOU and your ebook yourself. You have a book on school bullying?

Go to www.familyeducation.com and say you have a list of five approaches for children to make bullying a thing of the past.

I hope this has helped in some small way, Roland

35 comments:

  1. These are really great suggestions, Roland! Thanks!

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  2. Kittie:
    I thought about what I would like to know more about, set out to learn it, and passed it on to my friends here. I'm glad you found some of them useful, Roland

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  3. Never thought about ads.
    Never really thought about my audience before I began writing either. Of course, time has proven I wouldn't have had a clue of the real audience of my books.
    I do a lot of guest posts though. Guess I have that going for me.

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  4. Alex:
    You are a name in blogdom. We small potatoes have to hustle just to get a fleeting glance!

    The number of guest posts you do certainly helps. Best wishes on your writing your third. Roland

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  5. Wonderful tips...now, just have to write that book.

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  6. These are awesome tips! I always wondered about the Google adwords. Thanks for explaining. :)

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  7. Gail:
    Page by page, and it will be done in no time. My fingers are crossed for you.

    Christine:
    Thanks. It's funny how things we see every day sometimes are things we know so little about. Have a special new week, Roland

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  8. I haven't looked at Adwords at all, but it's something I should totally do. But then I'm not promoting any particular one work at the moment...

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  9. Trish:
    Google AdWords is a resource I am thinking about. But I am doing more research on it. I wish you success in your publishing dreams, Roland

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  10. Great tip! I've got to check out Google Adwords!

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  11. Heather:
    Let me know what you think of it after you do, all right? Have a great healing evening. Roland

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  12. Very helpful! Thank you. I'll pass this along.

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  13. Thanks, Sharon:
    I hope this helps somebody reach more readers. Roland

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  14. Thanks, Sharon:
    I hope this helps somebody reach more readers. Roland

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  15. As someone who will soon be needing to find readers, this was very helpful. Thanks!

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  16. Thanks for the tips Roland, good advice here!

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  17. I love that the title of one's book is a great marketing tool - free and totally yours to do with!

    Take care
    x

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  18. Great suggestions, Roland. I've not explored AdWords. One positive is that for every click (and therefore every expense, you've potentially made a sale...which could turn out to be a good ratio) Do you have any information on the ratios of clicks to sales? If not, I'm sure I can google until I locate something on the topic.

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  19. M.J.:
    We newbies to fiction need all the edge and tools we can get!

    Thanks, Kyra:
    I hope they help you.

    C.M.:
    I tried to help in some small way. Happy that you found something you could use.

    Kitty:
    Yes, your title is yours to do with as you choose -- if you are self-published. Sometimes publishers insist on their own ... as in the case of THE TOMB. When its author complained there was no tomb in THE TOMB, the publishers told him that his book, THE KEEP, did so well, readers would buy it on the title alone. And when they found there was no tomb in THE TOMB, they would have already bought the book! Publishers!

    Nadja:
    I found it all depends on the product (book) you offer. The more accurate your keywords are, the more sales you will have per click. In the end, it is all a matter of taste and whim on the clicker's part. I hope this helped.

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  20. Hi Roland,

    Stupid question: how do you advertise on Google?

    I liked the tip about advertising on relevant sites. I think I should do a prison book tour, ha ha.

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  21. Jennifer:
    No question is stupid. There is free advertising on Google for your counseling business, did you know that?

    Many small businesses do not know that you can get some free advertising on Google, using Google Local or Google Maps.

    Google is looking to increase the value of their local search and their mapping application,

    so they have a simple way for you to tell them some information about your business, and now they are infusing those results into their main search engine.

    It is basically a way to advertise your business on Google for free, and everyone loves a free advertisement.

    This will help your advertisement show up in searches and can help you get more traffic, leads and customers.

    The link to how advertise your book on Google is:

    https://accounts.google.com/ServiceLogin?service=adwords&hl=en_US&ltmpl=jfk&passive=false&ifr=false&alwf=true&continue=https://adwords.google.com/um/gaiaauth?apt%3DNone%26ltmpl%3Djfk%26ltmpl%3Djfk&error=newacct&sacu=1&sarp=1

    I do not know if the cost is worth the return right now. I am still doing research on it.

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  22. Jennifer:
    There is this though:

    There's no minimum spending requirement –

    the amount you pay for AdWords is up to you.

    You can, for instance, set a daily budget of five dollars and a maximum cost of ten cents for each click on your ad.

    But that still is $150 per month. How many of those who clicked would buy? I'm still researching that question.

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  23. Thanks for sharing what you've learned with us. My website apparently Googles well for 80s bars at eastern illinois university - and yup, that pretty much describes my target market, hehe.

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  24. Go Roland, you really are becoming tech savvy arent' you! Great post.

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  25. Roland, I'm nowhere near you in the process. I've written a memoir that still needs a million revisions. I'm trying to get some energy to actually do this. When I do I'll remember your kind advice. Thanks so much.

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  26. Good analogy, and good advice. Thanks, Roland.

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  27. I totally needed this information! I've been wondering how on the earth to find non-writer readers, almost since I started blogging. You have some great ideas. Thanks for sharing them!

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  28. This was a really helpful list of tips. Thanks for the post!

    And I love the trailer for your book.

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  29. Wendy:
    If only. I am still struggling!

    Myrna:
    I wish you luck with your memoirs. Page by page will get it done!

    Milo:
    We are dependent on readers for our success, aren't we?

    Lara:
    Like you, I knew we have to break out of the choir, to stop singing to each other ... to find non-writer readers. Google AdWords seems one way ... if you want to invest $150.

    Golden Eagle:
    I tried to find out the answer to a question that has been bugging me and Lara -- how to reach out to non-writing readers, to draw attention to our writing from the entire audience readers.

    I'm glad you like the video. Didn't Wendy Tyler Ryan do a great job?

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  30. Great suggestions and lots of work Roland. I hope your books are going well.

    Denise

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  31. thank you for that thorough lesson! i am bookmarking ths for when i get published =)

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  32. Denise:
    It is a lot of work. But to succeed as a writers, we need to break out of the ghetto of singing to the choir with our books. We have to hit the mainstream readers somehow.

    Tara:
    I hope it helps you then. Good fortune in getting published!! Roland

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  33. How does Search Engine Optimization (SEO) work? adwords campaign management

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