Here are the popular search
choices:
New books
New books for 2015
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New books to read
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New books by Nicholas Sparks
New books out this week
New books released in 2015
So James Patterson and Nicholas
Sparks, how about sharing the wealth--or at least in search results?
Here's the rub. Readers buy
the books of these two authors, so the search engines assume you are looking
for them. The attention is well deserved--great books. People in my
mother-in-law's assisted living residence share Patterson books, and at the
used book store in my Iowa town, the owner wants "any Nicholas Sparks
books you want to trade."
Search for old books and the
most frequent references are to the Old Testament, followed by the value of old
books. My personal favorite was 'old laws still on the books.'
Authors tend to regard their
books as something between a major accomplishment and a precocious (or is it recalcitrant?)
child. Having created them, we want them read, not relegated to the bottom 
I've developed some ideas for
publicizing older books, and will update this post with additional ones as I
hear from blog readers. Several ideas may make more sense for a series, and
some pertain more to self-published authors.
1) In the back of every book,
mention older ones. With ebooks you can have links, but I also have a note that
encourages readers to let local librarians and bookstores know they liked a
book and that it is available in multiple formats.
2) Self-published authors can
easily add links to new books in their older books. If you work with a
publisher, ask if they would be willing to add links in newer books to previously
published books. If they do reprints of your paper copies, most do this
automatically, but don't hesitate to ask.
3) My blog has a link entitled
(imagine this) Find My Books. I used to list the web addresses, but am switching to just
putting the site name with the appropriate hyperlink. I tweet the link to this
page periodically, and put it on the back of bookmarks or other swag for
in-person events.
4) Play with prices. I have
eight books and a prequel in the Jolie Gentil cozy mystery series, and have
begun an approximately eighteen-week process of dropping them (one at a time)
to 99 cents. This gives the chance to do a blitz of bargain tweets, Facebook
posts, and inexpensive online ads. The book will be new to nearly everyone who
sees these promotions.
5) Ask for more reviews. This
can be in the back of every ebook, with gentle phrasing such as, "If you
enjoyed this book, please let other readers know by writing a review on the web
site from which you purchased it. Thank you!"
Books two and three of my series have
relatively few reviews compared to the others. I published the first three
within a few months (having worked on them for a long time), and didn't put the
effort into seeking reviews for books two and three. Fewer reviews lead to
fewer sales. The 99 cent price point will bring in a few reviews. It's never
too late to get more. The first book (Appraisal for Murder)
was stalled at 25 for quite a while. It's up to 39 now, simply by putting the request
in the back and doing a bit more free advertising. Many people get hundreds of
reviews in the first six months. I don't, but the numbers will keep growing if
I keep working.
6) Promote every site that
sells your books. I love Amazon. Its business model changed my life. However,
their promotion methods change, and you don't want your sales to rely solely on
Amazons algorithms.
There are fewer books for sale on many
other sites, so yours stand out. My older books sell more (proportionately) on
non-Amazon sites. You can create pages on your blog or web page for each book,
or you can use Kindle
Boards to have a page
per book. Why Kindle Boards? Because in one place a reader
can see links to all Amazon sites (U.S. and international) and three other
sites of your choosing.
7) Put your books in more
formats. Suddenly an older book is new again. It takes a lot of effort to put
out an audiobook, but it can be done at no cost to the author, through ACX (an Amazon company). I also have almost all my
books in large print now. Some people say they don't want to take the time
because there might be relatively few sales per year. So what? Do the large print formatting
while you watch TV (and then proof). As a largely self-published author, I do
this at will. A publishing contract may give a publisher all rights for a
period of years, or could be just for some formats. Check. Do it yourself if
you can.
8) This one is heresy. After
thirty years of nonfiction research/report writing work, those skills are
pretty well honed. However, since 2010, I've improved some technical aspects of
my fiction writing. I am going through early books in the Jolie Gentil series
and a couple of stand-alones and taking out extra "I said" and
"she said" phrases and doing a few other minor things. I doubt anyone
who read a book earlier would even notice, but it makes for a smoother read,
which can lead a reader to another book. No, I don't add a new ISBN number.
9) Read, read, read books on
book promotion. There are countless more ways to promote via social media than
there were when your earlier books were published, and ebooks on marketing are inexpensive
or sometimes free. In the physical world, recommendations for media packets have
evolved to less is more. Get current with Jeffrey Marks' Intent
to Sell: Marketing the Genre Novel for
a resource that deals with all forms of publicity
10) Pretend social media does
not exist and promote without turning on your computer. What?! Some of us don't
put much time into putting our faces (and copies of our paperbacks) in front of
local media or the kinds of organizations that are mentioned in our books. My
Jolie series features a real estate appraiser, and she now runs a food pantry,
as a volunteer. My real estate agent in Indiana loved my books. Have I visited
real estate and offices in my new town of Springfield, Illinois? Nope. I only
made the rounds of some local media outlets and libraries. So, I bought a bunch of
"Mystery Peeps," which are marshmallow candies of unknown flavor. I
will drop these, plus one of my mysteries and some bookmarks, at some local
businesses and media outlets.
11) Help others. Every time you
give books to a charity auction or do a session at a library, you get new
fans. Auction baskets are a really good place for those extra older books.
12) Cross promote with your
blog. See what I did here? I have links to some of my books and other blog
posts. On the blog, I have an index of posts. Each
item can lead a reader somewhere else. If I do a blog post on planting
false clues, there will be a link to one of my books as an example. If your
social media presence is all "buy my book," you will be boring and
few people will act on your pleas.
Things I'm thinking of doing
1. Sending a letter, to
librarians and bookstores within fifty miles, highlighting nearly all of my
books. In the past, I've publicized primarily new releases. I'll send a few
bookmarks and information on how to buy the books on Overdrive. If your ebooks
are not there, many librarians cannot purchase them.
2) At the back of ebooks, adding
information about how to order paperbacks, including large print, and
audiobooks.
Things Other Authors Are Doing
Send your ideas to me via
comment here or email to elaineorr55@yahoo.com. I'll mention your
tip in this post and credit you with the idea.
"Telling Readers about Your Older Books," Copyright 2015 by Elaine L. Orr
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Check out Elaine's web page or sign up for her newsletter.
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Check out Elaine's web page or sign up for her newsletter.
Thanks for the shout out!
ReplyDeleteWell deserved!
Delete