Posts
VISBILITY
of course
But outside you dating Kanye West and me dating Taylor Swift that kind of visibility isn't going to happen.
Besides some prices for success are too high to pay!
PRICE you might say
And you would be both right and wrong. Life is like that, isn't it?
It's not how low you price your book, but how you phrase that pricing.
Let's be realistic.
We are all basically unknown commodities.
Why should a reader pay your price to read your book?
Because YOU make them believe they will get their money's worth.
99.99% of your target audience has never heard of you.
They have no idea what to expect.
Why should they?
They don’t understand what value you provide.
TIMES HAVE CHANGED
Even this year the tide of events and inventions is altering the world we know.
The world of reading is not the same one you grew up in.
THERE IS SO MUCH BECKONING TO THE POTENTIAL READER TO DO
BESIDES READ
We're providing entertainment.
And there are a lot of sure-fire SOURCES of entertainment out there from FACEBOOK to NETFLIX.
Why should someone turn from them to a book from a minor author like you?
SEX
But aren't all those bare-chested covers beginning to blur on the bookshelves?
Of course I am not adverse to romance and allure in my own novels
But I insist on putting heart, humor, and supernatural allure to them as well.
Nobody NEEDS fiction.
It doesn’t solve any of life’s problems – other than an escape from boredom.
You have to communicate the value of your brand and make it clear what
you’re delivering,
how you’ll deliver it, and to whom.
Who is your
target audience?
What will people “get” from reading your book?
If this
isn’t clear, readers won’t understand your product so they will not buy it ... not even at 99 cents.
PROCRASTINATORS
We have all been one a time or two or three in our lives.
Limited-time promotions or bonuses work well for them.
Scarcity is the key.
Tell
someone they can’t have something if they wait
– if you’ve done your job
properly, they will take action.
Now, my NOT-SO-INNOCENTS are both 99 cents ...
but only during October's DON'T BUY MY BOOK! Blog Tour.
I have not made an issue of it because, to me, it seems like threatening my friends.
I just am offering the books at 99 cents now, and then November 1st they go up to $1.99.
Not much of an increase -- just enough hopefully to better off-set expenses.
THE LAST FAE
in paperback is now selling for $6.50
(pretty good price for a paperback, right?)
THE NOT-SO-INNOCENTS AT LARGE
in paperback goes now for $8.50
(The lowest that Createspace
will allow me to sell it.)
But come January 1st, they go up to $9.99
because I will do a couple of Sci Fi Conventions in the New Year,
And I want to sell them at my table for $10 so I can't very well sell them cheaper on Amazon.
NOW, WHY DO YOU THINK READERS ARE NOT BUYING YOUR BOOKS?
LET'S GET A CONVERSATION GOING!
I think the main reason is not being well-known. Without a big publisher pushing us as a best seller, it will just take time to build a following.
ReplyDeleteYou're pretty well-known, Alex. But it will take Neil Gaiman saying he likes your novels before they spring to the limelight!! :-)
DeleteI'm not so sure that nobody needs fiction--maybe not for survival but beyond that it is a part of every culture. But getting people to notice YOUR fiction, now that's a challenge.
ReplyDeleteI have Elu, the Apache shaman, tell Victor Standish, the brash Kim of the French Quarter: "You NEED to eat, sleep, and breathe, boy. Everything else is extra!"
Delete:-) Sigh. I am having a hard time getting folks to notice my books. Maybe some things were just not meant to be. I won't stop trying though!