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

PREPARING A TASTY LOGLINE

Don't forget to vote for Victor in the Gatekeeper Contest. Alice is talking about going door to door, and her stomach is rumbling. Just trying to watch out for you guys is all :

http://www.wattpad.com/1073509-the-legend-of-victor-standish?d=ud

You need the right ingredients to prepare a delicious logline :

I.) TITLE :

It must be short, magnetic, and say it all.

Sure, piece of cake ... Devil's Food Cake. Darn hard, but it can be done.

EXAMPLES :

THREE MEN AND A BABY.
(You just know it's going to be a comedy of errors, and you know all the players in just 5 words.)

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD

(It says it all in another 5 words : horror, action, the living versus the undead)

SEAN OF THE DEAD

(In 4 fours you get comedy, horror, and you know it is going to be a toss-up between a floundering human against hordes of shambling dead.)

II.) The sweet/sour sauce of IRONY with a hint of the spice of SAY WHAT?

BLIND DATE :

She's the perfect girl -- until she takes that first drink.

(You see it all, don't you? In just 10 words. Comedy of a guy finding his dream date, only to see his dream become a nightmare.)

DIE HARD :

On Christmas Eve, a cop tries to repair his broken marriage, only to find her company's building seized by terrorists.

(Twenty words this time, but they spell out irony, desperation, action, and thrills.)

III.) Remember THE GOOD; leave out THE BAD and THE UGLY :

PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES :

Two polar opposite men must scramble across country in whatever vehicle they can to make it home for Thanksgiving.

(This title is the good -- you know from it that it is a comedy and the venue where the action is going to take place.)

DUE DATE :
(This is basically the same movie, but the title is vague. Is it about an expectant mother? The only draw is Robert Downey, Jr.

But your novel will not have that catalyst. In novel loglines, the magic must be in the prose.)

RUBY TUESDAY :

(Do you have any idea what this novel will be about? Is it a name of a girl, a store, a restaurant, a name of a covert Intelligence plan? This is an example of an UGLY title for a logline.)

IV.) THE HOOK :

SHORT TIME :

A timid cop on the eve of retirement finds he is dying from a disease not covered by police insurance. To protect his family's future, he must have none.

The cowardly lion must die in the line of duty. The only problem : his partner wants to live out the week!

(Long but you see it all. Fifty words gives you the whole novel :

the fear, the love, the desperation, ... and the partner going crazy trying to stay alive.

If you needed to, you could use just this one sentence :

To protect his family's future, a timid cop must insure he has none.)

VI.) The whole picture :

A.) All the above examples gives the agent the entire novel in just one short logline. You must do that -- and fast to snare the eye-weary attention of an agent numbed by a long line of vague, rambling loglines with no clear conflict and intended goal.

B.) How do you come up with that?

Think of your novel as a movie poster. The iconic image, the swirling glimpses of the dangers and allures in the background. Put the movie poster of your novel in 30 words or less -- and you have a winning logline.

C.) Create an itch the agent must scratch :

1.) With a title that grabs the collar of the agent :

I DIED YESTERDAY

2.) With irony that won't quit :

A teen finds the love of his life looking down upon him as he lies in his coffin.

3.) With a logline that gives you goal, obstacles, and resolution in one mental flash :

A mysterious funeral director tells the ghost of a teen he can be with the girl he loves always ... if he convinces her to take her own life. The teen must decide what true love really is.

@) There. I hope I have helped in some small way. Roland
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