The Most Bang For Your Buck!

Good morning!

I know. It's way too early to be so chipper and I'm not really that chipper yet myself. I just thought I'd annoy everyone first thing on Sunday morning. I've only had about 3 sips of coffee myself. :-)

Anyway, today I'm blogging about advertising. I heard that collective groan out there. o_O

What should you pay for, participate in or whatever to get the most out of your advertising dollar. I'm in no way a guru of advertising, but I thought I'd share some of my thoughts and things I've tried.

The number one way to sell books? Write more books.

That's right. Write more books. When a reader finds you and enjoys the first one, they are going to want to look for more. This step costs you nothing more than the time to write the next one and sell it to the publisher. Readers are hungry for cheap and entertaining material. With the economy so bad right now, if they can lose themselves in a great story for a few hours for a small amount, they'll be all over it. (Readers, pipe in here and give us your opinion, too)

Number Two? Answer emails.

Yep, if you have your signature set up with your books titles, buy links, etc., every time you answer an email, you are advertising yourself. The more someone sees your name, the more likely they are to recognize it and think, "Wow. She's all over the web. I need to see what she's got going on."

Number Three? Guest blog

Again, you are getting your name out there and name recognition is the name of the game for an author.

Number Four? Post on facebook.

I'll admit, I pay for a facebook ad. It's not much per week, but my fan page likes have double over the last month or so I've been doing this. The more facebook people who like your fan page, the more your name gets out there on their newsfeeds when you post. I also have my fb page set up to auto post to my twitter as well. You can set the amount per day you spend and it doesn't have to be a lot.

Number Five? Write series pieces.

Readers love series pieces. They get into the first set of characters in a book and they want more. They want to see what happens. They love reading the next set of characters and visiting old ones in a new book.

These are just a few tips I've learned. Not everything will work for everyone, but I've lost count of the times people have come up to me at conferences and said, "I've seen your name all over the place." Name recognition is imparative for an author and it equates to sales. If your publisher doesn't have you up on Amazon, B&N, ARe, Bookstrand, Fictionwise, etc., bug them to get your book up. The majority of sales come from these third party sites. If you are self-published, do the same thing. Most of these guys will list your book even if it's not through a traditional publisher route, but check with them.

~ Until next month

Sandy