When You Least Expect It by Margo Hoornstra

You know how opportunity strikes when you least expect it? That happened to me recently. This is how it went.

It’s no secret I suck at promo. My website needs to be updated, but I just hadn't gotten to it yet. All I needed to do was send an email to my webmistress to get the ball rolling. Expense was one reason. Lack of motivation was the other. Who really, really goes to my website anyway?

Bad decision on my part. Some Free Read download short stories on my website through The Wild Rose Press now went nowhere when TWRP disconintued the program a few months ago. I hadn't bothered to have them taken down.
Unforgivable on my part, but there it is.

I also wanted to somehow up my general discoverability on the internet, but had no clue how to do that either, short of hiring a public relations agency which, for me, would be cost prohibitive.

What to do? What to do?

In order to supplement my author income (ahem) and because the job affords me lots and lots of down (in other words writing) time, I work as a substitute administrative assistant for a couple of local school districts. My boss in one is also second in command of the PR Department.

Imagine my surprise the other day when she told me she’d Googled (it’s now officially a verb) me and was very impressed with my website. Although she did mention she noticed a couple of glitches I needed to fix. One of which was some promised free downloads that went nowhere.
Wait! What?! Someone noticed?

When I cited the problems I had with promo, she and her assistant went on to explain the best and cheapest way to better promote myself on line. Turns out you can ‘claim’ yourself on Google and add relevant information that will pop up in a search. Who knew?
That conversation got me off the dime and I emailed my webmistress to get things rolling again. Voila, just like that the stories are fixed and we have a process going again.
But that's not all. Turns out my 'boss' also does the website for the district which is, I must say impressive. We talked a little about that, too. If things don't work out they way they are not...I have options.
Cool!

Then, I can’t leave this out, BONUS, she asked which of my books was my favorite and which she should buy. After smiling shyly, I suggested the three stories in one, Saturday In Serendipity, to give her more bang for her buck.

Needless to say, I’m thrilled. Could it be promo and I aren’t so hopeless after all?

How about you? Any fortuitous events in your recent history?

Be on the the lookout.

They’re there.

My days to blog here are the 11th and 23rd. For more about me and the stories I write, please visit my (soon to be revamped!) website.

How Do HOT Covers Affect Free Promotion? by Jannine Gallant

There's been a lot of discussion about promoting books by offering them for free on a few of the various author loops. Some think it's a great idea. Some view it as cheapening something they worked hard to create. I'm actually for it since, over all, free has affected my sales in a positive manner. I see it as one more tool to get my book into the hands of readers who have never heard of me. But all my attempts at giving my books away for free have not had the same results. Being of an analytical frame of mind, I have to ask why.

To date, I've had three experiences with free books. Some were offered multiple times, but my figures reflect the best results for each. They vary widely, as you'll see. For each of these promotional efforts, I used the same tactics. I blogged all over the place. I plagued my Facebook friends and posted about my free book on various FB sites designed for this purpose. I tweeted my brains out and begged my author buddies in several support groups to do the same. Most importantly, I submitted my books to all the free listing sites out there. A lot of the results had to do with which books were featured, and that's kind of a crap shoot. However, I think there's one other important element. The cover.

All that squawking and shouting about your book drives initial downloads and moves you up in those oh so mysterious and important Amazon rankings. If you can tip your book into the top #100, you stand a chance of success. In this case, success being thousands of downloads. The key at that point is to stay in the top #100. By the time you get there, everyone on social media is tired of hearing from you. Basically, your book cover now has to do the work for you. Readers actually look at those free books in the top 100, and yours has to catch their eye for them to download it. I have to say, covers do matter. The hotter the better!

So, here are my results. My first attempt at Free was with Lonely Road To You. This was part of a group series, and 5 authors participated in the promotion effort. The result, almost 3,000 downloads. Follow up sales. Pathetic. My conclusion, 3000 downloads didn't make a blip in the market.

My second foray was with the first book in my indie series. We'll Never Tell came in at just under 12,000 downloads. The results were an upsurge in sales for the whole series that lasted well into the month. I was pretty darned happy about this one!

And finally, Asking For Trouble, which had it's free day a week ago. Downloads almost hit the 17,000 mark! I was pretty impressed. The results have been steady sales but not what I'd hoped for in the way of numbers. This book has a prequel, and it has also had some new traffic. My conclusion is book #1 in a series will generate the most sales over all after the free days are over.

But what about that hot factor? Check out my covers. Lonely Road To You is pleasant but not spectacular. We'll Never Tell is eye catching but not really hot. I wasn't quite ready to go bare-chested with that one. Asking For Trouble has a hot cowboy splashed across the front.  What do you think? 5,000 more downloads for Mr. Sexy. I have a feeling there may be more bare chested covers in my future!

Find out more about me and my books on my Website. Follow me on Facebook or Twitter.