It's been two weeks since I launched my novel, Unbound Brothers.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DKA096W/ref=s9_simh_gw_p351_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1DMBXDBY9KJ8QFGJQ699&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1389517282&pf_rd_i=507846
After finally weening myself off the sales ranking merry-go-round (more on that later) it's become clear that an increased web footprint is the key to exposure.
How do you do that? Well, at the moment I'm still finding my way; social media, FB, twitter etc and then finding forums to join, bloggers willing to read and review. The mix appears endless.
As of this week, I have done done the following.
1) Facebook - constantly bugging your friends can get wearing, but I don't think a weekly or bi-weekly reminder is excessive. Especially as many of them rely on the same methods for exposure.
2) I took out a free advert at
http://www.free-press-release.com/ I don't know it it's had any effect, but the more the merrier right. There are other sites, such as,
http://addictedtoebooks.com/submission and you can find more here,
http://rachelabbottwriter.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/5-sites-to-promote-your-ebook-for-free/ but many of the better sites require 5 or more reviews at Amazon.com of 4 stars or more. They say this is a way to ensure quality, but...
3) So my next thought was to ensure that the required reviews are there - time to call in those favours. Contact as many of your writing fiends and ask if they are willing to review for you. Don't be shy because that will get you nothing. You can do the same for them.
4) Join forums. I have joined 3 so far and it's beginning to pay-off. Here they are,
Goodreads
http://www.goodreads.com/ ,
UK Kindle Users Forum
http://www.kuforum.co.uk/kindleusersforum/index.php
and Kboards
http://www.kboards.com/index.php
There are more and I'll be exploring them shortly.
How has this affected my sales? Well it's difficult to say. They have remained constant and it makes me wonder whether they would have died altogether if I hadn't have pushed on.
Final thoughts on Amazon sales rankings - they're meaningless. They reflect the overall position of any sales against all sales at a particular time. For example on Amazon.com I was ranked around 310,000 one hour and then after a sale I was up at around 55,000. I guess if you sell 10 in a row you'll shoot up the rankings, but as it's a snap shot you can rely on it as an indication of sales. Obsessive though.
