We frequently have the opportunity to do two things. First, talk to authors regarding results, strategies, and trends they see in ebook marketing. Second, to analyze the data we get in terms of clicks and sales from our Daily Deal emails. What we wanted to bring you was a synthesis of those two things, over a year into our existence as a company.
The first important thing to note is that free ebooks reign supreme. For the last year, our marketing to subscribers has featured free and discounted ebooks. Our landing page has both types of ebooks highlighted all over it. In spite of this, our click through stats consistently show that our free ebooks perform very well and growth in clicks for those free ebooks is robust. Our click through stats also demonstrate that while clicks for discounted ebooks are growing, they are not on the same pace as free ebooks.
This leads to our second conclusion. The authors who are performing best have one or more series, and they use their free days with Amazon to constantly stay in front of readers. This should not come as a surprise, as authors with more inventory do have more opportunities to market and should typically generate more revenue from sales. We don't need to get onto a soap box and tell you all to write more. You gals and guys are some of the hardest working, passionate people we know. The reason we bring this conclusion up is that many of these successful authors we speak to do not view an advertisement's success based solely on how many sales they generate. Sure, number of sales is objective, tangible, and is a component of return on investment. However, the intangibles these authors also consider include: (1) getting reviews, which are the most valuable form of marketing for an ebook, and the hardest thing to come by; (2) getting readers hooked on a series; and (3) the age-old marketing principle of primacy and recency. The more readers see your name, the more credibility they give you and the more likely they are to give your work a chance.
Phew--long paragraph. The next conclusion is shorter, promise.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that the most successful authors are also the most dedicated marketers. We're talking about lists of 200+ ebook marketing websites that they have culled down to the best. We're talking about intense rankings and time-sales analyses. And, it truly comes down to the fact that even with the best product on the planet, if people don't know about it through marketing, all you've got is the best low selling product on the planet. So, this conclusion is for the less seasoned authors. Seasoned authors---we know you understand the tremendous amount of work it takes to properly market your ebooks. But, we think that reality is something that newer authors have to come to grips with.
Let's wrap it up (this is starting to feel like it may be multi-part). First, realize that free ebooks are the best way to get more eyes on your ebooks. Second, don't give up on discounted ebook advertising, but consider the intangibles that come with both free ebook and discounted ebook ads. If you get one sale from a $10 discounted ebook ad but you get a five-star review from that ad, how much was that worth? $50, $100? Your other option is to write 500+ book reviewers who have waiting lists longer than a Stephen King horror novel (all respect to the master). We promise you that a $10-$30 ad with us is a shorter and less time-intensive path to more reviews. Finally, acknowledge that until you have built-in name recognition, marketing (a lot) is a must.
Perhaps if we get time away from our own marketing, reviewing submissions, constantly working to improve our website, and managing our email list, we will post a Part II that gets more granular with respect to results we see. Stay tuned.
