How in the world am I going to get motivated AGAIN to market this book

Phew.  I have not done a thing when it comes to getting word about this book out there.  To be honest, I assumed women would be sitting up late at their computers typing in "Louisiana divorce marriage bridesmaid love" in the search engine of Amazon.  Apparently women are not doing that.

With lackluster sales (make that no sales) and a product that is stale to me, I have to find a way to get motivated to 1) market this text and 2) write the next one.  Here is my plan of attack:

Guerrilla Marketing
- Go to law schools and post the flyer (I really think law students might find this easy to read.  I also hope they read it, find something I messed up on, and email me so I can fix it.).
- Prepare a press release (Why are these so hard???).
- Prepare order forms for retailers to order directly from me and then I drop ship it to them (How the hell do you do this?  They need to send me money up front.  Will they?).
- Just go ahead and see if a publishing house will accept the book and let them deal with this part (That is starting to sound better and better).

Writing the Next Book 
- First off, I need to do this for myself.  I get so annoyed with myself for not doing something.  In the end, my procrastination is just as much work as doing something.
- NaNoWriMo - I love this site.  I know I should simply start writing today, but there is something so pleasant about starting Nov. 1st.  It is definitive.
- Outline, outline, outline.  Outlining what I want to say rather than just writing all over the place.  Now, that is something I could start right now...

Oi vey,
Camille



 

KDP Select: What the hell was that about?

Frankly, I feel like I got a little used.  That is the nicest way to say it.  Apparently KDP Select through Amazon.com was going to be a way for my work to reach more people.  I was hoping it would generate, I don't know, a COMMENT in the comment section from a reader who actually read the book.  Nothing.  Silence.  I thought maybe going into it would get me a, gee, idk, SALE.  Neither of those things happened.  Rather, I got 5 days of people accessing my book for free, seeing that it was getting traffic, and then nothing for three months.  Amazon Prime really is taking away the fun in this self-publishing process, but what are we suppose to do?  There are little options.

Now, my book is not worthy of, "Oh my gosh, I just read this awesome piece of prose.  You have to check it out."  You may have that nugget of awesome, I don't.  I have a legal information book with a narrow audience.  Needless to say, my marketing is going to need to look beyond this resource...

Eck! You mean my friends might actually read it!!

Any time you write something and you put it out there for the world to see, it is a little scary.  At least for me it has been pretty scary.  But, one of the main requirements of self-publishing is forwarding the notice to your friends and family.  "Hi!  I wrote something.  Please read it and forward your thoughts.  Especially if you see a typo or two!"  

Thus, when I received the following email from a close friend (who has critiqued my work in the past), I was elated.  It was so thoughtful of him to send a little hip-hip-hooray my way :)  

--------------

I started reading it last night and I'm in Chapter 5.  I love the writing style! Everything just flows so naturally, so conversationally.  And the humor is a great touch too! I never thought a book about marriage could be fun to read. Honestly, I'm learning a lot about marriage law that I had never really thought of.  And...I haven't seen a single typo yet. I have to say, I'm impressed.  Not bc I didn't think you were a good writer, but bc writing a full book is so damn hard.  I know I wouldn't try to do it.  

You are good.  Keep writing.  

--------------

I feel all warm and fuzzy now.  Plus, I needed the confidence boost to start the next book.  Happy days!!

Camille 

Author Central Profile Developed

Phew.  That took some mindjuice...

When I originally posted my book on Kindle, I waited to work out the kinks before developing the hardcopy version on CreateSpace, another Amazon publisher.  Once I had completed that, it asked me if I wanted to develop a Kindle page.  Well, no, I already have one.  I simply declined that option.

Once CreateSpace approved my book (i.e. not porn), they started posting the hardcopy version of my book in a separate doo-dad from the Kindle version.  Considering it is difficult to explain, here is a screenshot of what it looks like:

I have to get these two listings together.  So, in the Community section of kdp, I found people mentioned the need for an author page on Author Central.  When you create an Author Central page, the commentor indicated it would essentially meld the two together.

First off, go to authorcentral.amazon.com.  Once there, you need to set up a new account.  Everything should be fairly easy from there.  The only reason I write this post is that I had difficulty bringing in my twitter account and my blog accounts.  I believe the main difficulty with the twitter account was the kinks in the author central site itself.  I mean, what is so difficult about "@FromTheProposal".  It should have simply accepted it, but no.  I had to do it a couple of times.  So, if you have this issue, I am just sayin': don't give up.  Simply keep inputting it until it accepts it.

If you also have a blog, you need to figure out the RSS url, not the blog's URL.  For this, simply visit your blog's help section.  I use Blogger and it was very simple.  The trick was simply visiting "Blogger Help" and then inputting my inquiry, "RSS URL".  From years of trying to figure out Excel, I have learned to simply give up and search the help section.  It always works out that way.

Anywho, here's to hoping that the two listings will meld within the next 24 hours!

Camille

P.S. - Make sure you double-check your author central.  I just did and they had the second listing!

UPDATE: Here is my profile: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B008QXS2EY  They still haven't melded the two texts together.  Shit.

"Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed"

As I ponder over the issue of rewriting my book's description, I decided it was time to review my links.  See what kind of action the text has been having.  First off, the free 5 day KDP Select advertising as definitely come to a close.  How can I tell?  The views of the text came to a complete halt.  At the very end, the number was 62.  The problem is that Amazon doesn't tell me if this is 62 different downloads or 62 times one or two people accessed the file.  Maybe it was just someone reading a chapter at a time.  We don't know.  Obviously, there were no sales during this time period.

Next up, I decided to go back to the actual page for Amazon.  It is still free for Prime members, but Kindle members must pay $9.99 (they can also simply order the book for $9.99).  I am tempted to drop the Kindle price, but this is legal information.  If it were a simple short story, I would totally offer it for $.99, but this is something different.  I think.  Am I wrong?

Finally, as I scrolled the page, I noticed the "Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed" list.  I found this to be very informative.  Here is the screen image:

I don't know if you can see this, but it appears we are 1) definitely dealing with a woman and 2) a woman who is short on funds and 3) a woman who is seeking order in her life.  We have Feng Shui, managing money, and exercise/diet books.

My marketing sense tells me I should communicate the "order" this text will provide the reader.  Maybe something like, "Coupling with the one you love is a special time in both of your lives, but finding yourself and order in this matrimony is especially important for your overall well-being..."  I am not sure what I will ultimately prepare, but at least this feature provides a window into who my audience is and what they are looking for.

They are definitely looking for something in the price range of $2.99...Hmmmm....

On another note, my parents sold one book at their store!!!  Woohoo!  It is the little things in life.

Have a great day,
Camille

...and they said KDP Select wasn't worth it!

When I first posted the book on Kindle, I had a lot of questions on the process and visited the Community Pages for answers.  What I learned was that people thought KDP Select was a complete sham.  Posts said it wasn't worth it, it was waste of time, etc.  It made me quite skeptical of the program.  But, I never let others dictate what my overall goals are...

I signed up.  For 90 days, it will be completely free to Kindle Owners (I originally thought it was just prime...) and I will receive 5 days of promotion on the site.  Now, I am not sure where that promotion is or how it is being pushed to Kindle people, but 47 people have taken advantage of the text in the past three days.  That is a lot of people checking this thing out!  AND, CreateSpace has the option up for purchasing a hard copy...But why is it not on the same link.  Need to check that out...

I find this information helpful because before the KDP Select do-hickey I had no idea if anyone was even coming across the text.  Amazon will show you the purchases (obviously), but not the views.  Although I am not making money, the positive part is simply knowing people are taking a look at what I have put out there.  This has really motivated me to keep outreaching.

I definitely think a new book description is in order.  I am going to rewrite that portion and see if that drives sales.  Although Prime is not making me a profit right now, it has given me a great boost in my confidence.

KDP Select - Why not...

So, CreateSpace has encouraged me to enroll my book on KDP Select.  This is Amazon's doodad.  I suspect the goal is to encourage Kindle purchasing?  I am not sure what the end result will be.  What I am hoping for is that readers will post comments so I can get a sense of how people react to the text.  See if they highlight any issues, concerns, or (better yet) praises.  

KDP Select also permits 5 free days of advertising.  I went ahead and took advantage of that.  I am sure I wouldn't forget to do it later, but why not start it ASAP.  Again, simply hoping for a little buzz.