I am always surprised when people say something won’t work. Been hearing this about Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads for a while. Here are a few key things everyone should remember.
- You only get out what you put in.
- Nothing is easy.
- You get what you pay for.
They are all pretty much the same thing, but roll into one giant idea. All three of those networks sell books. FOR SURE. I can track numerous sales to my activity on all three networks. How? Interaction. I give away books on all three. I have thousands of friends, followers, buddies, whatever, on all of them.
When I first starting networking years ago, I was happy with 100 of my closest friends and family, until I realized I wasn’t selling any books. At some point I had a moment…”Lightbulb!” –Gru
I wasn’t getting anything out of any of those because I wasn’t putting anything into. I decided to give it a three month effort and see what happened. So I began upping my friends, etc. As my followers increased, I started a huge rise in my sales. Now when I say huge, I mean from ZERO sales to 4 or 5. I know, it isn’t much, but 4 or 5 after two years of zip, nothing, nada…I was tickled. So I kept at it. Then I started having months where I was selling dozens of books and stories. Holy crap…could it be?
Now keep in mind, these were my ONLY forms of promotion…period. It could be nothing else. So I ramped it up a bit more. So at this point, about 6 months later, I was hitting triple digits on some of my books/stories. Lesson? IT TAKES EFFORT.
Don’t say nobody on Facebook cares what you had for dinner. I have people ask.
Don’t say the senseless chatter on Twitter is of interest to anyone. I have a couple people who REMIND me when it is time to go get my hair done so I can post the pics of my new dos. Seriously.
And as far as GoodReads goes…it is a site for READERS. Seriously folks, they are LOOKING for books to buy and the key search function on GoodReads is Amazon.com. This must click somewhere for someone. The more people you interact with the better your chances of selling them a book or two.
Last example. Yesterday, I posted a recommendation on GoodReads to go buy our new Steampunk anthology, “Her Majesty’s Mysterious Conveyance.” Within ten minutes we had sold five Kindle downloads. Coinkidink? I think not.
Good promo doesn’t have to be expensive, but it will take time and effort, and often that time is far more valuable than money.
Journey of the Heart 