What's Next For Indie Authors… After KDP Select?

Okay, I'll say it… it's the big elephant in the room, anyway. Authors everywhere are wondering what's coming after KDP Select. Word is there are over 100,000 authors enrolled in Amazon's hottest marketing platform, and more are coming everyday. So what happens when the program is saturated beyond it's current level?

I know you're worried. I hear authors every day talking about the delays in their "free day" and less than stellar sales compared to one or two months ago. The Amazon brainchild is a great idea and can work wonders for indie and newly published authors with little to no platform, but what happens when it is no longer effective? What happens when there are 150,000 or 200,000 or 300,000 authors fighting for a successful free promotion?

To answer that question I've come up with a few predictions.

Prediction #1:
Obviously Amazon has plans to expand on their promotions because when you schedule your "Free Book" promotion they ask you want kind of promotion. Well, there is only one at the present time. This tells me they've planned for additional promotions in the future. As a book promoter I know there are hundreds of ways to spin a new promotion. And with Amazon's resources, the sky is the limit. I believe they can offer a wide assortment of "promotions" like a free public announcement in their daily news letter, or a feature in a "HOT Prime reads" email blast. Basically Amazon has the power to promote anyone they want and if they want to promote you, if you have good reviews and a nice cover, you can become a bestseller, on the house.

Here's what I mean. Amazon's algorithms include lots of great stuff that everyone wishes they understood. Mathematically, it probably looks something like this only far more complicated:

a123*n^2 +200*n+a5 is in O(n^2) where n = your book(s) and a = Amazon's promo of choice. 


Now just add water and you can either come out smelling like a dew dampened rose or a pair of sweaty socks. It all depends on what Amazon plugs into the formula. So I think Amazon will add promotions that continue the carrot-dangling effect we are all feeling now.

Prediction #2:
I think Amazon can create multiple levels of promotions. For example, if you're enrolled now, as I am, we could all be in "Phase One". When they reach a calculated saturation point, say 150,000 lab rats, they can move us into "Phase Two" and hold any new comers in phase one for a select amount of time. Phase two could very well be an entirely different set of promotions, or free days with additional options to choose from. I do not think more free days would be advantageous as I am less excited to use my free days compared to how I felt two months ago.

Amazon could effectively create "Genre Promotions" or "Rating Promotions" or reward authors with "Loyalty Promotions". Anything is possible with these turkeys; they're brilliant. They are way ahead of the curve. They are water, wind, fire, and ground breakers.

Prediction #3:
Enough authors will leave the program when it becomes saturated, leaving a more vibrant and robust community of authors who will once again thrive in the Select program. If this happens, you better believe Amazon will reward those peeps.

So if you're concerned with how you're going to market your books when KDP Select is no longer "da chit", fear not. In my opinion, Amazon is NOT going to tuck their tale and limp home to their dog house. They're here for the long haul, and they intend to be profitable, and yes, on the willing backs of authors like you and me.

I'm good with that. Amazon's quadroupled my royalties in the last three months, so they're my new best friend.

Unlike Barnes & Noble, Amazon is made up of forward thinkers and Ace MBA's. I've put my faith in a few significant things like God, the food I put in my body, and the people I love. But I would almost, at the risk of sounding sacrilegious, put my faith in Amazon's shrewdness.

The question is not what or how they're going to adapt, but when the new program will take place. Scott Nicholson and I both predicted that the Select program could have a six-month life span. But I think this program is pulling a Benjamin Button on us because it's growing weaker by the day. Therefore, I'm guessing that Amazon will roll out another program of some kind by mid to late summer. I also think there's a chance that Amazon is just waiting to release the next monster as soon as Smashwords or B&N attempt a counter attack. The result, in my opinion, will continue to benefit indie authors and readers everywhere.

If all of this confuses you, I'd invite you read The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe. This book is the 101, 201, and 301 of indie authorship courses. I filled it with stuff like this and more from cover to cover. Don't believe me, just read the reviews.

Finally, if you're looking for a new promotional opportunity, I highly recommend that you register for THE BEST INDIE BOOKS of 2012 at The Kindle Book Review, my sister site. This contest is designed to help promote quality indie authors. Even if you don't win, you will walk away with a nice title that'll look nice on any book page. Click here to learn more info.

Jeff Bennington is the best-selling author of Reunion, Twisted Vengeance, and The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe.

When Do Writers NEED Readers?

Question: When do writers need readers?

Are you laughing yet? I don't mean laughing like I said something funny, but laughing as in what kind of idiot would ask such a stupid question? The answer is obvious… ALWAYS.

Okay, so that was a silly question. But what I really want to know is, if the answer is so simple, why is it so hard for writers to find what they need the most? Why is it so complicated to get the masses to read our work? The answer to that question is simple; usually because no one knows who we are. If you don't believe me you should read the chapter "Why No One is Buying Your Book" in The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe. I hear the author knows his sh**.

Anyway, I've come up with a great way for all of you self-pubbed…. eh hem… I mean Indie Authors (with caps) to get noticed. And so far it's working. My new method is bringing in one new reader for every new author. That doesn't sound like much, but in the context of my method it is absolutely brilliant.

I love that word ~> Brilliant. Brilliant sounds so distinguished; especially when it rolls off the tongue of one of my UK pals. Anyway, I digress. Squirrel!

So what's the new method? What's the new marketing wiz kid come up with this time? Well, I'd tell you but I'd have to kill your neighbor. Why your neighbor? Because you'd be a suspect, and not me. And then you'd go to prison, because I'd fix it so all the evidence would point to you because I didn't really want to kill your neighbor in the first place. I just want to keep my marketing secrets private, not go to jail. Geesh.

Actually, I'm not like that. Actually, I'd only write about killing your neighbor, but I'd still tell you everything. LOL!

Okay, all jokes aside, I want you to know what I've come up with and why it's working. So now that I have your attention, I'm going to be serious for as long as I can stand.

The Marketing Blitz that I've constructed isn't new, but I'm using it in a new way. The tool is the writing contest I've initiated at The Kindle Book Review…. The Best Indie Books of 2012.

Here are a few ways this contest is going to help you sell your books:

• I've made it easy to be recognized. The contest is designed to weed out any books that miss the mark ~ poor editing, poor writing and story telling, etc. But it is also designed to recognize all of the books that make it through our initial screeners. Those who clear the screeners are entered as a "Semi-Finalist". So you can see how this can benefit you; your book gets screened, given a quality stamp, and you do not have to win. You can use the "Kindle Book Review's Best Books of 2012 Semi-finalist" title on your book page, giving you instant credibility. And in truth, if you make it past the screeners, you have accomplished a level of professionalism that your audience is looking for because our reviewers are avid readers and quite discerning.

•  We are Giving away Books. Freebies always grab reader's attention. Currently, we've received as many "reader submissions" to win the kindle and join our mailing list as we have author submissions. This is an excellent trend! This tells me that these folks are interested in indie books and viewing the books advertised on our site. Some have commented already that they are eager to find new authors. And that's what we all want. Isn't it?

• Most writing contests are strictly aimed at authors. This contest is aimed at both writers and readers. So not only can you follow the contest to see who advances, but so can readers. If you don't think our new mailing list followers aren't interested in who the best indie authors are, you are sadly mistaken. Kindle and Nook readers love buying books that are well written, and at indie authors prices (99¢-$4.99). And why shouldn't they when they can get equal pleasure from a quality indie author who sells for less.

• If you win, or at least make it to the finals, you will have some serious leverage working in your favor. Think of the glory. Think of the tweets! I can see it now... "Your Book Title ~ Winner of The Best Indie Books of 2012 - Your Genre!" Can you see the crowds swarming to your Amazon page? Okay. Slap, slap, slap. Wake up! It doesn't work like that, stupid. However, accolades and awards do help sell books.

So if I haven't convinced you yet, listen to this. We have made it easy to submit. We have made the process very simple. You'll need a Kindle formatted book. But if you don't have one, we've even provided a link to a site that can format your .doc file for free. We really tried to make this as simple and painless as possible. Never mind the fact that you could win a hundred bucks AND free advertising! We're also giving away a Kindle Fire, loaded with some of the best indie books out there. 

I truly hope you take advantage of this cross-promotional opportunity.

One more thing. PLEASE OH PLEASE, help us promote this contest with tweets, blog posts, facebook "likes" and shares. This contest is as "grassroots" as it can be and it will, in the end, help promote all indie and small press authors. So on behalf of all your fellow brothers and sisters in the indie author movement, and those registered in the contest, we thank you.

Jeff Bennington is the best-selling author of Reunion, Twisted Vengeance, and The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe.

Five Ways to Meet New Readers. #Supernatural #Ghosthunter

Want more readers? If you're a novelist, author, self-pubber or writing enthusiast in search of more readers, I'd like to suggest a few things that are making a huge dent in my newly acquired readership. And when I say newly acquired, I'm talking about the last few weeks. Here are some great ways to reach out to new readers.

• Tweet the things you write about. Lately I've been tweeting more about ghosts and supernatural events, like "Have you seen a ghost? I have. What was your experience?" I've even started collecting ghost and supernatural experiences from my readers and friends. This has made for some very interesting, and scary conversations.

• Freebies. This isn't new around here but giving your book away is another tool to grow your reader cult. There is a really simple way to do this… KDP Select. But there are other ways. Some use coupon codes. I like to hand sell, walking around facebook and twitter and calling readers in my genre. "Anyone want to read an edge of your seat supernatural thriller? FREE to the first 10 who respond." Try it. You just might get a few extra reviews and you don't have to use a KDP "free promo".

• Being nice. If you're on twitter, how about "Mentioning" and "Retweeting" bibliophiles, avid readers, and/or other writers in your genre. This is a form of cross promotion and general niceness. Helping readers and writers grow there twitter following will come back to you. 

• Hootsuite.com. For many of you, this is already part of your tool chest, but there are those of you who have never heard of Hootsuite. This tool allows you to schedule tweets and manage all of your social media sites (Twitter and Facebook) from one page. Very handy. Only costs $5 a month and the first month is free to try.

• Tweetadder.com. The number one thing that has helped me grow my audience in the last two weeks is Tweetadder. Tweetadder.com offers an amazing tool for anyone interested in growing their twitter base, targeting an exact audience. With Tweetadder, I can piggy back off of popular authors in my genre. I can also meet readers who mention that they read about ghosts, the supernatural, or suspense thrillers in my genre. And it does so much more. This really is an amazing tool. It costs $74; a one time charge, including a lifetime of free updates. Very much worth the cost.

Speaking of free, TWISTED VENGEANCE and REUNION and KILLING THE GIANTS are free today. If you enjoy supernatural thrillers, I'd urge you to get a copy, read and review one or both of these books. I recently started writing book two of the Twisted series, so if you like it, there will be a follow up soon. And if you need help marketing your book or in general need help getting a handle on this indie author gig, get a copy of The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe; you won't regret it.

Jeff Bennington is the best-selling author of Reunion, Twisted Vengeance,  The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe and other thrillers.

eBook Marketing Gem Recovered in Email

Hey Writers and Publishers, Do I have a special treat for you today. Cutting straight to the chase, here's a copy of an email I recently sent to one of my clients seeking advice in making his next step towards marketing his book. I'm cutting and pasting, so excuse the raw nature of this post… oh, and grab paper and pencil, you may want to take some notes. I'm addressing this to "Author X" for confidentiality purposes.

Before I begin, please commit to sharing this after you've read it. It has some good stuff. Here ya go...

Hi Author X,

Here's the deal: Everything I tell you is subject to change. The book promotion business is changing rapidly and I'm very serious about that. KDP Select has been working wonders for newer and seasoned authors, but its effectiveness and results are changing with each new author who joins.

With that said, I'll give you the best advice I can give.

1) GENERAL INFO: To begin with, the best marketing is usually free and KDP Select is the prime choice at the moment. As we previously discussed, I'd recommend scheduling a "Free" promo with them asap. Fridays have been my best day for one day promotions. You will find that you'll give thousands of copies of your book away, but doing so will come back in additional reviews and exposure. After the free day, your sales will pick up, potentially matching your ranking in the free store, but not guaranteed. 

2) LATEST TRENDS: I am currently giving my books away in three day increments, rotating each book in the 3 day cycle, but you might want to do a 2 day promtion after your initial one day promo. My one day promotions have not been as effective, but I'm in experimental mode to see if giving away a different book every 3 days increases overall traffic with a consistent stream of book buyers instead of the "Big Bang" that often comes with the KDP Select "after shock". 

3) SCHEDULING: I'd suggest laying out a calender and plotting your coming free days. You have 90 days and 5 free days goes quickly with one title. And as my dad would say, don't blow your wad all at once. Spread out these precious promotional days. With one title in the select program, you will burn through them and quickly become addicted to the treasures they bring… especially with a cover like yours, which is sure to stir up interest. With this in mind, if your one day promo does well, you might consider using your other 4 days individually; if not, stiick with two promotions.

4) TWEETING: Once you have plotted your promotional days, begin the layering process. One of your promos will revolve around your KND Sponsorship, but you can't pay for that kind of promotion every day. Not worth it. So here are a few additional ideas to fill the gaps…

 ~ Join The worldliterarycafe.com "Tweet Teams". You will have to register for this site, but the tweet teams is very much worth it. When you enter the site, you'll find several boxes on the right side. Look for the one that says "Tweet Teams". Click on the box and follow the tweeting instructions to a "T". The tweeting format they suggest is very effective. Only thing is, you have to reciprocate the RT's. 

*** Suggestion: I pay my 16-year old son $20 a week to do this for me every day. He saves me a lot of time. All I do is post my tweets and he RT's all the other tweets for me. I also pay my 14-year old son to "Share" all of my Triberr posts. Again saves me a lot of time. If you have someone who can do that for you, I'd use them. If not, I'm sure my son would do it. 

***When it comes to promoting your books prior to the "free" day(s), I suggest contacting Anthony Wessel at digitalbooktoday.com Tell him I sent you. He will add your book to his squidoo page that features a top 100 free ebooks. He does this every day and gets a ton of traffic. 

***Another trick I use is tweeting several folks who feature free books. I do this the day before or day of my free day. Here are the twitter handles for those folks: @DigitalBkToday @kindleebooks @Kindlestuff @KindleEbooksUK @KindleBookKing @KindleFreeBook @free_kindle @FreeReadFeed @4FreeKindleBook @FreeKindleStuff @KindleUpdates

Here's the link to that post: http://digitalbooktoday.com/maximize-your-kdp-select-free-days/ 

I highly suggest you read this post. It is full of GREAT information.

5) NEWS FLASH: Tell everyone in your circle when you have a free day. Give your book away like crazy on those days ONLY. When you give, give big. Any other day, you should get paid. So before you start your free day this Friday, you should tell your Facebook friends, write a blog post, schedule tweets etc. And yes, you should do this every time you run a free promotion. Do this knowing that the more successful your free days are, the more successful your follow up days will be.

6) DEFINITION OF SUCCESS: A successful free day is 5-10,000 downloads. A successful 2 day freebie is 10-15,000 downloads (FREE). A successful post free day is the top 500 ranking or better. Hitting the top 100 is huge. That will mean anywhere from 500-1500+ sales per day.

7) TWEETADDER: If you are not using TweetAdder.com I STRONGLY suggest you do. Tweetadder will grow your twitter following like nobody's business. I paid $74 for this (one time) and I have grown my twitter followers by 50% in the last 2 weeks… and they are all targeted followers. Go to this site and watch one of their videos on what tweetadder can do. It is amazing. I am having conversations with NEW READERS almost every day thanks to this KILLER program. You can basically run your twitter account on auto pilot, except for your personal interaction. This tools definitely drives sales. You can actually pull followers from other authors in your genre.

8) HOOTSUITE: This is my homebase for ALL of my social media. This is a must have tool. Hootsuite.com cost $5 a month (first is free to try) and this is where I schedule ALL my tweets. One tweet can go to all my twitter accounts and facebook accounts, simultaneously. Hootsuite and tweetadder make a perfect international marketing tool that I can no longer live without. I count tweetadder and hootsuite as free promotion because tweetadder is a one time fee, but sooo worth it, and hootsuite is only $5 a month, big deal.

9) CROSS PROMOTION: Start promoting other authors in your genre. You'll be amazed at how many return the favor. Doing so will drive their readers to your books. This is especially easy to do, on auto pilot with tweetadder.

10) PAID PROMOTION: When you schedule your free days for the next 90 days. Build a few paid promotions around that. Here's what I suggest for April (assuming you have one paid promotion that month). 

~ Pay $50 for your a featured month ad spot with the 99-cent-network.com. They host 99¢-$3.99 books. Pay $15 for a 99-cent-network news spot. This will make your book a featured book in their weekly (Fri) newsletter. This will be your "background" or static ad.

~Spend $25 at kindlenationdaily.com for a "FREE" day promotion.

~ Schedule a Social Media Buzz with digitalbooktoday.com, worldliterarycafe.com, and thekindlebookreview.blogspot.com. Plan ahead. All three of these sites fill up these spots very quickly. They cost $35 for worldliterarycafe and $40 for digitalboktoday and  thekindlebookreview.blogspot.com. However, running all three spots on the day AFTER your free day is proving very effective because all three of us use Triberr as one of our tweeting tools. These 3 promos, when scheduled close together, make for a huge social media shout; much better than a static ad. Please re-read the chapter in The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe "The Ultimate Promotion".

11) MONTH OF APRIL: So here's what April could potentially look like for you… You schedule one or two "free" days on the 26th and or 27th. You have a KND Sponsorship scheduled for April 28th. You also schedule a "Social Media Buzz" on or around the 28th. This will strengthen your sales on the "day after free" and increase your shot into the TOP 100 paid. That is the goal. That is the only reason to promote heavily like this. It may or may not work. The more quality reviews you have by then, the better off you'll be. Reviews are huge. We'll talk more about that later. But what about the rest of the month you ask? The rest of the month is pure preparation for your "big show" on the 28th. This is where the actual work comes into play.

~ You must start soliciting reviews through March and April. Tweet free giveaways to readers who read in your genre, and hand your book to kindle readers until you get 10 reviews. That is the requirement at both kindlebookreview and digitalbooktoday. You must have several good reviews for your KDP promo to blast off. Watch the top freebies. Most have great reviews with either lots of good reviews or a few great reviews. The indies who make it to the top 100 paid (See Cheryl Kaye Tardif) have masses of great reviews that they've accumulated over several months. You have very few. 

~ Start running tweetadder and hootsuite immediately. Build your twitter audience so you have more people who will respond to your forthcoming promotions. Use this time to really bulk up your platform and social media. 

~ Start retweeting the above mentioned twitter sites that promote freebies. Let them get to know you and appreciate your Retweets and mentions. I know that just sounds silly, but it is a game that works. Schedule daily retweets of some of the bigger indie authors in your genre. Don't know who they are? Go to Amazon's top 100 categories. Look up their amazon author pages, follow them on twitter and start promoting their books. You'll be amazed how willing they are to return the favor when you need them to tweet for you (April 26-28). Generosity really is a means to sales, believe it or not.

~ Schedule a Contest on your blog. Giveaway a digital copy of ALL your books to one lucky commenter. It doesn't matter what you write about, just get readers talking about your book(s). Build excitement. I'm doing this with my "every third day giveaway". I'm getting more feedback, more twitter mentions and more activity on my facebook wall. Also, blog more if needed.

~ Don't forget, through this you will post tweets every day at worldliterarycafe tweet teams. 

*** If you do all of this, April will be a very busy month for you and you will have started generating buzz that may have a significant impact on your April 28 promotion. Do what you can in March, and consider scheduling another free day in early April (Fri). 

If this is not what you expected, I wouldn't be surprised. Authors like Scott Nicholson and myself are using almost 100% free promotions. This obviously works better when you have a whole list of books that you can rotate in and out of the free store. But this will happen for you in time as you transfer your other titles into the KDP Select stream, so to speak. 

I know you will have questions. Biggest thing is to start twetadder and hootsuite. I'm serious about that. If you miss this, your social media will suffer and this will all be more difficult and a steeper climb. Keep in mind, this will become your second job, potentially filling every free minute you have.

If you want to learn more, get a copy of The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe in Kindle and/or Print.

Jeff Bennington is the best-selling author of Reunion, Twisted Vengeance, and The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe.

A Book Marketing Experiment That's Actually Working

So far my marketing experiment is working. 

I mentioned in my last post that I had worked with Soren Petrek, author of Cold Lonely Courage, helping to send his book into Amazon’s top 100 a few weeks ago. He reached #76, and is currently holding around #2,200. He is still ranked in a category list, and was previously in the six digits.

My next client, Laura Rizio, just went through a coaching session a couple weeks ago. When she approached me, she was ranked over #100,000. After evaluating her platform, book page, cover, etc, I saw a few things she had going for her and a few things that she needed to change. She is now ranked #120. She hit #96 over the weekend and has held her ground on the strength of her excellent reviews.

As you can imagine, Laura was ecstatic. Here’s what she had to say:

"Jeff Bennington of the Kindle Book Review is the BOMB. I was fortunate to stumble on the Kindle Book Review site looking for a way to promote my book, Blood Money. I knew that the book was good and had promise but no one was seeing it.

I was lost, literally. 

A few books sold here and there but this was not where I knew I should be. I needed to advertise the book but found no good way to do this. The other venues, which I won't mention, were a waste of time and money. I needed a road map to break through to Amazon Kindle readers—to let them know that I existed.

Jeff was there for me all the way, from creating a dynamic book cover to a road map which brought Blood Money from 12 sales in January to over 25,000 downloads as of this writing.

Here are a few things that we did:

• Re-designed my cover
• Re-designed my product description page and fixed a few typos.
• Re-designed my print cover to match the new ebook cover.
• Enrolled in the KDP Select program.
• Changed my price to make my KDP Select promotion more successful.
• Layered my marketing as I rolled back into Amazon's paid store when my promo ended

I couldn’t have found a more professional service or a better mentor. Lucky me." ~ Laura Rizio

And that, my friends, is what I'm hoping to accomplish with my next three(3) author apprentices. Yes, I said three. When I posted the previous blog entry, I had already decided to help Bert Carson, author of Fourth and Forever.  I've also made a decision with the final two authors who dared to sign up last weekend. 

And the winners, based on the quality and quantity of reviews are….drum roll please…
Deborah Hughes, author of Be still my Love, and Robbi Bryant, author of The Beautiful Evil. 

Both books have received rave reviews but their sales have much room for improvement, which makes the task ahead even more of a challenge. I chose these books to demonstrate that the best thing you can do to sell is to have a great story and good editing. Those two items will always come first. The rest is where many authors fail: packaging and promotion. After reading through the Amazon samples, I believe these two books have what it takes to excel.

A Beautiful Evil is currently ranked #381,778 has 14 reviews and a 4.9-star rating.
Be Still, My Love is ranked #120,546 and has 17 reviews and a 5.0 star rating.

My goal is to give each of these authors over 20,000 new readers two to three weeks and help them to sustain a better sales rank by simply changing a few things that I think can make a big difference. Everything that I do with these authors is in my book, The Indie Authors Guide to the Universe.

If I did not pick you, it was not because I didn't think your book has potential. All of you have excellent reviews and if you tweak just a few things, I think you could see an increase in sales and readership. But since you took a chance on me, I want to give each one of you a FREE copy of The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe. When you read it, I hope you are motivated to stay in the game, encouraged to meet the challenges that indie publishing brings, and learn how you can effectively price and promote your books. If you posted your book in my contest, go to my "Contact" page and send me an email. 

Jeff Bennington
Author of Reunion, Creepy, and Twisted Vengeance
Founder of The Kindle Book Review