I often mention that promoting stand-alone books requires completely different strategies to promoting a series. Marketing strategies, like the highly effective tactic of making one book permafree as a gateway into a series, won’t work for stand-alones. So, how does one go about that?
Bookbub Partners has the answer here. Continuing my Bookbub Insightsseries of posts, here are 6 ways to increase sales of stand-alone books.
1. Cross-promote your standalone title in similar books
Cross-promotion isn’t just for books in a series. Standalone books present just as big of an opportunity to gain loyal fans. If readers fall in love with your writing style, or the way you build tension, or the elegance of your descriptions, or the steaminess of your romance scenes, they’ll seek out your other books, whether your characters from this book continue their story or not. In fact, over 60 percent of readers have purchased other books by an author they discovered through an ebook price promotion.
Make it easy for readers to discover your standalone books by promoting them in your other standalones’ back matter. If you have a large backlist, feature books from the same genre or the ones you think fans of that book would enjoy.
Here are some more Bookbub resources to help you learn how to do this:
Consumers care about more than prices. This is, in essence, the argument Authors United make in their formal letter to the Justice Department, as they request an investigation into Amazon’s business practices. According to Vauhini Vara fromThe New Yorker magazine, “The list of signatories fills twelve pages and reads like an unusually expansive long list for a prestigious writing award; the five hundred and seventy-five writers includePhilip Roth, V. S. Naipaul, and Ursula K. Le Guin, along with many longtime contributors to this magazine.”
The letter begins, “We are not experts in antitrust law, and this letter is not a legal brief. But we are authors with a deep, collective experience in this field, and we agree with the authorities in economics and law who have asserted that Amazon’s dominant position makes it a monopoly as a seller of books and a monopsony as a buyer of books.” A monopsony is a market situation in which there is only one buyer.
For the full article follow this link: http://www.mybookishlife.com/authors-request-investigation-of-amazon/
“Adding Fire to the Fuel: Challenging Shame and the Stigma of Alcoholism” by Scott Stevens turns the spotlight on some very important, yet lesser known or discussed aspects of alcoholism: Shame and Stigma. We all know some about recovery and the 12 Steps programme but we probably do not emphasize enough or know about the many ways that society and its attitudes prevent people from seeking recovery. Be that the advertising industry that tempts people into drinking and glorifies it, or the shame of drinking or not-drinking. Blaming and prejudices. In this brilliantly written book so much is said that rings true. I am an ex-smoker and I feel that Stevens does to alcoholism what Alan Carr did to smokers: Intellectualising the problem, educating people and using statistical data to prove his points. I personally know of two people whose lives have been changed by Stevens’ books, one of which even has been in direct contact with the author. Read this book, for it will make you understand more about a very common problem that is often brushed under the carpet. Here is a man who lived and survived the problem. This intellectual dissection of the problem is disarming and unique. A remarkable book – highly recommended.
Scott Stevens has been a guest on my blog several times, once with an interview and also with a feature about his alcohology app. He has written two previous books on Alcoholism and his latest book “Adding Fire to the Fuel” has just been released in the kindle version.
Scott launched the e-Book, launched the redesign of his website (www.alcohologist.com) and taken on an executive role with a new luxury addiction rehab.
Adding Fire to the Fuel
ISBN: 978-1- 63192-906-9
The book on Amazon US and Amazon UK
PRESS RELEASE:
HEALTH REPORTER TO LAUNCH THIRD ALCOHOLISM BOOK
@ SAN FRANCISCO’S REEL RECOVERY FILM FESTIVAL Burlington, Wis., May 8, 2015 –
The stigma of alcoholism is what keeps many alcoholics from seeking help for their disease. The controversial subject is captured in Adding Fire to the Fuel, the third recovery-oriented book by award-winning author Scott Stevens.
Stevens … is rolling out the new book at what he calls “the right time for the recovery movement, in conjunction with two of the nation’s most meaningful organizations dedicated to reducing stigma. Much of what is known about the disease of alcoholism connects it to flaws in genes which control metabolism of alcohol as well as the brain’s risk/reward biochemistry.“
It’s a disease.
Same kind of chronic, progressive, incurable-but-treatable, primary and fatal classification as cancer or diabetes.
When we handle people with those other diseases with empathy, and dish out distaste to alcoholics or recovering ones, we create a social and economic problem that’s passed its tipping point.”
The new book, available at all retailers following the California launch, looks at the stigma around alcoholism and alcoholism recovery as a $226 billion annual problem hiding in plain sight.
“The story of alcohol and America’s affair with it keeps it from being recognized as the problem. Instead, people with the disease of alcoholism are considered the problem. ‘Alcoholic’ is a pejorative today. That’s ripe for change,” says the author.
The third-leading cause of preventable death and illness stays under the radar because of good advertising and bad stigma, according to Stevens.
“Its purveyors are proclaimed as charitable kings. Those who use it and discover alcohol has health and social consequences, are labeled as villains, killjoys, weak, weird, or morally off. What that stigma does to keep people from getting help also keeps the discussion of what alcohol does to you behind the wishful-thinking-driven chatter about what it does for you. The tipping point has passed. The status quo: No longer sustainable or acceptable.”
_______________________ http://www.alcohologist.com __________________________
Adding Fire to the Fuel examines: How families and communities feed public and self-stigma even while the stigma holds them back; How stigma has become a barrier to many who want help; How to hang on to sobriety in a pro-alcohol world; And how PANonymous alcoholics will reduce stigma more than all the protests combined.
Adding Fire to the Fuel (ISBN: 978-1- 63192-906-9). Stevens says :
“It’s an honor to be involved with two of the groups so influential in tearing down stigma and portraying alcohol accurately. We all endorse the fact that sobriety is a better thing to have than to lack.” He adds, “There’s an impressive recovery atmosphere in northern California that is as robust as you find in Arizona, Florida, Texas and other locales. It’s a great place for a recovering alcoholic like me to debut a book like this one.”
The independent author launched Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud at Milwaukee’s largest independent bookseller, Boswell Books, in 2013. ###
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stevens is a noted journalist on alcoholism and a founding influencer of the world’s largest medical portal, HealthTap.com. His books on the disease include 2010’s What the Early Worm Gets and 2012’s Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud, which earned finalist honors in the Indie Book Awards and USA Best Books Awards in 2013. For more information on the new book, please visit http://www.alcohologist.com and for information on the film festival, please visit http://www.filmfestsfbay.org.
Another well written and informative book on Scott Stevens’ experiences with alcoholism and recovery. The stigma of alcoholism is covered extensively in this book and insight is provided into understanding the stigma that many recovering alcoholics face in their new world without alcohol. Scott Stevens is an expert on the subject of alcoholism and recovery. He brings his perspective and draws people in with his clever and engaging writing style. I am looking forward to his next writing endeavor.
Well-written from the first page to the last, this book was both educational and insightful. The author did a fantastic job of opening the mind of his readers and challenging assumptions of alcoholism. I particularly enjoyed the chapters about the aging risks and the risks to teens. Overall, I highly recommend this one to anyone dealing with alcoholism.
This is a powerful and invaluable book about an issue related to alcoholism. It has ‘in-valuable lessons for everyone, including non-alcoholics.
Using literary and philosophical quotes as headings the chapters all hit home with a few very well-put truths about alcoholism, society and human behaviour.
Blame has never helped anyone. The stigma attached to alcoholism, the stereotypes, prejudices and misinformation contribute largely to the problem because they stop people from seeking help.
Stevens is an award-winning journalist with great analytical capabilities, a sharp dissecting mind and first-hand knowledge of the subject – and all of this shines through every chapter.
Stevens has done a lot of research and adds well-presented statistics and data to bust a few myths and support his many so truthful statements and thought-provoking questions.
“Has every Kenyan won a marathon? Is every alcoholic a train wreck?”
The book is full of knowledge, clarifications and pointers and the world would be a more compassionate and better place if everyone read and took a leaf out of this book.
To quote one of the great chapter headings / quote from Johannes Kepler: “I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses.”
As society we have a lot to learn. How we treat our weakest and vulnerable and how we help them – active and passive- says a lot about us. Information and the right attitude are still not widely spread. The book is a useful tool to help us with this. A must read for anyone.
Here is a re-blog of my interview about Amazon over at theprose.com
In the past few weeks, people have come out from behind their writing desks in veritable droves to share their stories with us. As a result, we are learning more every day about the lack of transparency at Amazon. We briefly touched on the topic in an article called “The Politics of Privacy” which referenced UK author and prolific book reviewer, Christoph Fischer. He agreed to give us an interview, in which he states that his recent experience with Amazon was a sobering one.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR EARLIEST DAYS AS A REVIEWER/AUTHOR ON AMAZON. TAKE US BACK TO THE TIME WHEN YOU WERE HOPEFUL AND EXCITED ABOUT THE FUTURE. WHEN DID THAT CHANGE?
Almost as soon as I had published my first book and was waiting and hoping for reviews, I understood their importance for indie authors. So I began to review everything that I read (including Stephen King and Armistead Maupin novels). I was a novice to social media and slowly got to know other authors and readers via Goodreads and Facebook author/reader groups. I learned how to use Twitter and my blog to connect with readers.
Armistead Maupin
I was naïve to connect to all of them, accepting all friendship requests and following everyone back on Twitter. On Twitter and FB, I also found many interesting books and invited authors onto my blog. Little did I know that this would come to haunt me and make me a ‘fraud’ in Amazon’s eyes. (Amazon took also my reviews for Maupin’s books down, thinking that I’m friends with him. I wish!)
I’ve heard of big review purges on Amazon when I first started out reviewing: They were mainly targeted at non-verified purchases and the problem was resolved by adding the phrase “I was given a copy of this book in exchange for a review.” Many authors had, however, irretrievably lost hundreds of legitimate reviews over this. At the time I believed that Amazon had good reasons to do this, even though it felt odd. Amazon had welcomed me as writer with open arms and I didn’t want that romance come to an end over its reviewing policy. I carefully labelled all of my reviews according to that rule from day one.
The other, more legitimate target was people writing multiple reviews. One author was rumoured to have written 600+ reviews for her own books by constantly creating new Amazon accounts and again, I naively stood behind this enforcement. I had met said author and deemed her capable of it. She had to be guilty. Amazon and Goodreads used IP addresses to stop this practise. However, what they also did was deleting reviews by husband and wives who shared a computer and a taste in similar books. The stubbornness and brutality that the victims of those purges reported astonished me.
Since I never lost any reviews I still quietly trusted the system – until it happened to me. I wish I was friends with Armistead Maupin, whose books I reviewed. I wish Armistead Maupin and 1700 author ‘friends’ had paid me to review their books.
All anger aside: I completely understand that Amazon needs to do something about fake reviews and can’t discuss its methods in public. But the cold, impersonal and authoritarian style it goes about it and the lack of common sense shows a bullying side to the company that has sobered me up.
IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT ANALOGY BEST DESCRIBES THE CURRENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AMAZON AND INDIE AUTHORS?
“Sink or swim” or “take it or leave it.”
Amazon knows it is the market leader and can enforce its rules because indie authors have no alternative (yet). They are consumer orientated which is not a bad thing per se. In the UK they are however currently subjected to scrutiny for refusing to pay minimum wage and the working conditions for delivery drivers on Amazon Prime. You can see they are only interested in market dominance, not how they get there. I no longer deem them a reputable company, nor do I feel as if I was their partner in my publishing experience.
Do bestselling New York Times authors not constantly receive reviews and promos from other authors?
Not all changes are necessarily bad. I was dead set against KU. I took all of my books out of the programme but Amazon even honours books that were purchased under the KU scheme and are only being read now. I write long books so I earned more from those past sales than I would have had the books sold now. For authors of children’s books, however, who by nature of the genre cannot write 400page books this is hugely unfair. They miss out on promotions that are exclusive to the KU/ KDP Select programme or on proportional royalties.
The system needs refinement. Readers need to be protected from intrusion onto their kindles and given a choice whether they want to volunteer that information to Amazon. This is electronic spying that should be optional and consensual to be legal, not just part of a ‘if you want a kindle you need to accept these condition’ all-or-nothing style.
Kindle Scout is a good programme as far as I can see. A bit extreme to lock you in for five years exclusively but I am sure if Amazon wishes to push a book it will sell it. It has the infrastructure and can exploit it as it wishes.
WHAT MESSAGE DOES THIS SEND TO NEW AUTHORS? HOW DO YOU THINK THE NEXT GENERATION OF UP-AND-COMERS FEELS ABOUT THIS? WHAT SUGGESTIONS WOULD YOU GIVE THEM FOR ESTABLISHING A SECURE FOOTHOLD IN THE LITERARY COMMUNITY? (FOR EXAMPLE: SHOULD THEY BE BLOGGING? INTERACT MORE WITH THEIR PROSPECTIVE AUDIENCE THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT?)
You raise a very interesting question. Since Amazon does not reveal the source of its ‘knowledge’ on how people are related, anything could be used and brand you a ‘fraud’: Connections on Facebook, Twitter and blogging.
Unless you can afford to pay someone on a different computer to connect to readers (who might be authors) you are definitely handicapped.
Amazon used to cut out the middle man: the publisher who wouldn’t read your submissions. They promised to help with selling our books. Now they only help you selling them if you put them in Kindle Direct Publishing or Kindle Unlimited. I know that Apple and iBooks are coming after Amazon and I hope they do so fast.
THE LAST TIME WE CHECKED THERE WERE 14,451 SIGNATURES OF THE REQUIRED 15,000 ON THE PETITION. WHAT’S THE NEXT STEP ONCE THE SIGNATURES ARE COLLECTED? WHAT ACTIONS WILL FOLLOW, AND WHO BEARS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF KNOCKING ON AMAZON’S DOOR WITH THE NEWS? WHAT DO YOU PREDICT WILL HAPPEN AFTER THAT?
I have no experience with petitions so I would guess the people who started the petition will knock on Amazon’s door. Amazon has been known to listen when a big enough PR tipping point has reached. I hope that it will re-tune its algorithms. It came up with a solution once before (‘I was given a copy of this book for review’). It can be resourceful and is not a mere evil machine.
With enough publicity, common sense may prevail.
REALISTICALLY, AMAZON WILL ALWAYS BE AT THE TOP OF THE PROVERBIAL FOOD CHAIN. ASIDE FROM ORGANIZING BOYCOTTS AND SIGNING PETITIONS, WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF WAYS THAT INDIES CAN AVOID GOING DOWN THAT ROUTE? ARE THERE OTHER, NOTABLE COMPANIES THAT OFFER SIMILAR SERVICES (PUBLISHING, REVIEWS, E-COMMERCE) TO INDIE AUTHORS? ARE ANY OF THEM OWNED BY AMAZON?
Friends in the business world tell me that Apple and Amazon are big competitors. Apple and Google both have bones to pick with Amazon. iBooks is the most likely to succeed. With a revamped interface and a big enough investment they can do it.
I hope that the trend of cheap and simple will revert when enough small companies have gone out of business. It’s woken me up of what we let Amazon do on a wider scale and I am buying local and at other retailers again where I can.
Dear everyone, I’m taking a summer break from blogging – with only one or two scheduled posts on the horizon until mid-September.
Please forgive me for not commenting, liking or reading blog posts over the next few weeks. Due to a bereavement and a holiday I will be off the grid until then.
Thanks for your understanding.
R.I.P. Beautiful Molly. The best companion a man could have. Thankfully she went sudden and quickly. She had a great life but she will be sadly missed.
In 1918 young Zacharias Nielsen boards a ship in Copenhagen to join the Red Guards in the Finnish Civil War. Encouraged by an idolised teacher with communist leanings, he follows the call for help from his Nordic Comrades, despite his privileged background.
His best friend, Ansgar, has opposing political ideals to Zacharias but, for his own personal reasons, finds himself soon stuck in the Scandinavian North with Zacharias and Raisa, a Finnish nurse who helps them in their new life.
Through the years that follow the brotherly war the trio see the political landscape in Finland and Europe change as Communists and Fascists try to make their mark and attempt to change the world order.
Our heroes must find their own personal and ideological place in these turbulent times as friendship, honour, idealism and love triangles bring out some personal truths.
The book spans almost thirty years of history and the various Finnish conflicts: Civil War, Winter War, Continuation War and the Lapland War. Watch the political and personal self discovery of characters in search of their own revolution.
Amazon Vine Voice Review:
“Christoph Fischer is a skilled and accomplished story teller. He maintains a cracking pace. He has clearly researched his subject matter well. It is admirable how Fischer gets to grips with a complex set of political intrigues but yet keeps it simple and never descends into turgidity.
As a Finn myself with a keen interest in history, I waited for the author to trip up on fact. However, he never did. This is a feat, as many books have strange ideas about Finland.
My interest was driven by the Finnish Civil War of circa 1917. I was impressed the novel also covers the Winter War, the Continuation War and touches on the interests of Denmark and Estonia viz a vis Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany.
The political intrigues and the characters different ideological viewpoints are well-handled.
Fischer does an excellent job in distilling the macro into the micro. This talent could be compared to Kazuo Ishiguro’s gift of “writing in the miniature”.
I am not a great fan of “love interest” situations and the character Raisa almost fell into the danger of being somewhat two-dimensional, slightly redeemed as the book went on.
The relationship between main protagonists Zacharias and Ansgar is portrayed beautifully. Ansgar’s tale is a particular horror story all the more for it being one true of Nazi occupied Denmark and its collaborators.
The depiction of the ideologist Holgar Beck is also poignant.
Scott Stevens has been a guest on my blog several times, once with an interview and also with a feature about his alcohology app. He has written two previous books on Alcoholism and his latest book “Adding Fire to the Fuel” has just been released in the kindle version. I’m honoured to feature him again on this occasion. I’m using his press release to share this great news with you. I can’t wait to get the time to read and review this one and do another interview with him . Alcoholism is such a big problem and is often brushed under the carpet. Here is a man who lived and survived the problem and has made a difference in so many people’s lifes ever since with his publicity work and an intellectual dissection of the problem that is disarming and unique. His is a cause close to my heart.
Scott launched the e-Book, launched the redesign of his website (www.alcohologist.com) and taken on an executive role with a new luxury addiction rehab. All in the last six days.
Adding Fire to the Fuel
ISBN: 978-1- 63192-906-9
The book on Amazon US and Amazon UK
PRESS RELEASE:
HEALTH REPORTER TO LAUNCH THIRD ALCOHOLISM BOOK
@ SAN FRANCISCO’S REEL RECOVERY FILM FESTIVAL Burlington, Wis., May 8, 2015 –
The stigma of alcoholism is what keeps many alcoholics from seeking help for their disease. The controversial subject is captured in Adding Fire to the Fuel, the third recovery-oriented book by award-winning author Scott Stevens.
Stevens … is rolling out the new book at what he calls “the right time for the recovery movement, in conjunction with two of the nation’s most meaningful organizations dedicated to reducing stigma. Much of what is known about the disease of alcoholism connects it to flaws in genes which control metabolism of alcohol as well as the brain’s risk/reward biochemistry.“
It’s a disease.
Same kind of chronic, progressive, incurable-but-treatable, primary and fatal classification as cancer or diabetes.
When we handle people with those other diseases with empathy, and dish out distaste to alcoholics or recovering ones, we create a social and economic problem that’s passed its tipping point.”
The new book, available at all retailers following the California launch, looks at the stigma around alcoholism and alcoholism recovery as a $226 billion annual problem hiding in plain sight.
“The story of alcohol and America’s affair with it keeps it from being recognized as the problem. Instead, people with the disease of alcoholism are considered the problem. ‘Alcoholic’ is a pejorative today. That’s ripe for change,” says the author.
The third-leading cause of preventable death and illness stays under the radar because of good advertising and bad stigma, according to Stevens.
“Its purveyors are proclaimed as charitable kings. Those who use it and discover alcohol has health and social consequences, are labeled as villains, killjoys, weak, weird, or morally off. What that stigma does to keep people from getting help also keeps the discussion of what alcohol does to you behind the wishful-thinking-driven chatter about what it does for you. The tipping point has passed. The status quo: No longer sustainable or acceptable.”
_______________________ http://www.alcohologist.com __________________________
Adding Fire to the Fuel examines: How families and communities feed public and self-stigma even while the stigma holds them back; How stigma has become a barrier to many who want help; How to hang on to sobriety in a pro-alcohol world; And how PANonymous alcoholics will reduce stigma more than all the protests combined.
Adding Fire to the Fuel (ISBN: 978-1- 63192-906-9). Stevens says :
“It’s an honor to be involved with two of the groups so influential in tearing down stigma and portraying alcohol accurately. We all endorse the fact that sobriety is a better thing to have than to lack.” He adds, “There’s an impressive recovery atmosphere in northern California that is as robust as you find in Arizona, Florida, Texas and other locales. It’s a great place for a recovering alcoholic like me to debut a book like this one.”
The independent author launched Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud at Milwaukee’s largest independent bookseller, Boswell Books, in 2013. ###
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stevens is a noted journalist on alcoholism and a founding influencer of the world’s largest medical portal, HealthTap.com. His books on the disease include 2010’s What the Early Worm Gets and 2012’s Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud, which earned finalist honors in the Indie Book Awards and USA Best Books Awards in 2013. For more information on the new book, please visit http://www.alcohologist.com and for information on the film festival, please visit http://www.filmfestsfbay.org.
…presenting Author friend, Lizzie Lamb… in all her glorious Scottish-dom…
…every now and then, along comes a Guest Blog Post that doesn’t just ask to be included on here, but batters down the barricades and climbs in regardless… with my dear scribbling pal, Lizzie Lamb’s immersion in full-on Scottish-dom, how else could it be ?… here’s her effervescent offering for yeez to enjoy :
THE EVER-WINDSWEPT AND INTERESTING, LIZZIE LAMB
I’ve always loved romantic heroes, be they highwaymen, pirates, Regency bucks or men in kilts.
I think the element of ‘costume’ removes the hero from the real world and transports both him and the reader into the realm of fantasy. The costumed hero is, generally, aristocratic – and while he does not have to work to earn his daily crust, he often has emotional scars which only the heroine can heal. And, in the case of men in kilts, there is the additional tease of whether or not they’ve gone ‘commando’, in true Scottish fashion. So, while I loved the Wicked Lady, Frenchman’s Creek and the Scarlet Pimpernel, my favourite books and movies are Scottish-themed.
My interest began as a child in Scotland, reared (courtesy of Saturday morning cinema) on the exploits of highlanders featured in such movies as Rob Roy, Bonnie Prince Charlie, The Ghost Goes West (one of my favourites) and -sob- Grey Friar’s Bobby. After the movie (or fil-um, as we pronounced it) the children in my street would re-enact Rob Roy’s leap and subsequent escape through the waterfall, and the scene from Kidnapped, where Davie Balfour is almost murdered by his evil uncle. Our dogs were dragooned into being “Bobby”, loyally guarding his master’s grave on Grey Friar’s kirk. But they never quite ‘got’ what was required of them and were always wandering off, much to our annoyance.
Since KDP introduced Advertising Marketing Services (AMS) for KDP Select books earlier this year, I’ve placed 50 ads on a variety of nonfiction Kindle e-books.
I’ve also placed over a dozen ads with Goodreads. It’s interesting to compare the two options for advertising e-books.
AUDIENCE
There are two great things about advertising right on Amazon’s website or on a Kindle device (both are possible with AMS via KDP):
Many of the customers who see your ad are already shopping for other books, i.e. they are looking for books to read, they have their wallets out, and they are ready to spend money.
Since they are already on Amazon, your ad isn’t interrupting some other activity and trying to persuade customers to leave one site to visit another.
If you advertise at Goodreads with a link to your Amazon product page, you’re asking readers who were busy doing something else at Goodreads to stop what they were doing and visit another site all together.
You could instead advertise at Goodreads with a link to your book’s Goodreads page or a giveaway page, but if your ultimate goal is a sale, that’s an indirect way to go about it.
However, the way the self-service advertising options are presently setup, Goodreads ads seem to have an advantage with branding. We’ll return to this important point later.
TARGETING
The targeting options are considerably different with Amazon and Goodreads advertisements.
Amazon offers two kinds of targeting with AMS via KDP:
Interest targeting competes for ads based on category. Amazon has recently improved interest targeting by adding subcategories. Some books do fall nicely into one of those subcategories, but those subcategories are still too broad for other books, especially in nonfiction.
Product targeting lets you search for specific books or other products by keyword. Amazon has an advantage here, as Goodreads doesn’t offer keyword targeting, nor does Goodreads let you target specific books, nor does Goodreads let you target other products besides books (like movies).
Goodreads also offers two main kinds of targeting:
Goodreads also has categories to choose from, but these tend to be very broad.
I prefer not to select any categories, but to target by author instead. Visit Amazon and search for very popular books that your specific target audience is likely to read. Then enter those author names at Goodreads to target readers of those authors.
A great thing about Goodreads is that when you target specific authors, they will show your ad to Goodreads readers who have given those authors high ratings.
Imagine if you could target customers at Amazon who rated similar books 4 or 5 stars. You have to love Goodreads for this option.
I try to avoid other targeting options at Goodreads, such as gender, age, or country, since some accounts may not have selected an option.
for the full article please follow this link to chrismcmullen’s blog
“MIEDO: Living Beyond Childhood Fear” by Kevin Cooper is a gripping drama that slowly creeps up on you. We know of the fear the young boy lives with from a haunting prologue, before taken back to happier times. As we follow the seemingly biographical childhood desciption we wait for the event that will turn things from unspoilt to spoilt. Childhood fear is something so painful and damaging and the author really brings out the horrors of it. Trauma, paranoia and insanity blend together. A well written and powerful novel.
Official blurb:
Miedo is a Biographical Drama and horror/psychological thriller. The story begins a.s a life loving child who is brought up by his grandparents He undergoes traumatic changes in his life. Do these changes eventually drive him to the edge of insanity? Are the paranormal incidents he experiences real or are they part of a mental state? That’s up to the reader to decide.
Kevin Cooper is the founder of Kev’s Author interviews, and Author of the Month which are the primary focus of his blog: http://kevs-domain.net/
If you are a writer and are interested in getting more exposure for your works Kev’s blog is the place to be. More can be found on his KAI & Contact page. He also does book reviews for authors he has interviewed.
Kev is also a musician. He writes all his own songs and sometimes posts them to Youtube. More on Kev’s music can be found on his music blog here: http://kevsmusicblog.wordpress.com/
I often mention that promoting stand-alone books requires completely different strategies to promoting a series. Marketing strategies, like the highly effective tactic of making one book permafree as a gateway into a series, won’t work for stand-alones. So, how does one go about that?
Consumers care about more than prices. This is, in essence, the argument Authors United make in their formal letter to the Justice Department, as they request an investigation into Amazon’s business practices. According to Vauhini Vara from
“Adding Fire to the Fuel: Challenging Shame and the Stigma of Alcoholism” by Scott Stevens turns the spotlight on some very important, yet lesser known or discussed aspects of alcoholism: Shame and Stigma.
