Lindsay - July 2, 2020In this week’s show, Jo, Andrea, and Lindsay talk about increasing sales in the major bookstores other than Amazon (i.e. Apple Books, Barnes & Noble Nook, Google Play, and Kobo Books). In the past, we’ve talked a lot about Amazon and being exclusive with them, but we wanted to discuss how to improve sales as a wide or non-exclusive author trying to get a foothold in the other stores.
In the intro, Lindsay shared some data from a survey that Written Word Media did on “How Readers Pick What to Read Next”
Next, we brainstormed a big list of things you can do to help gain visibility and start making more sales in other stores:
- A permafree Book 1 (you can alternate which one is free when you have multiple series, so it’s more of a deal when it goes from paid to free) + promotions of the Book 1 (Freebooksy, Ereader News Today, Bookbub, boosting posts on your Facebook platform)
- Bookbub PPC ads/Facebook Ads to stores other than Amazon (you’ll get fewer impressions/clicks, but you may pay less for clicks too).
- Sharing free bonuses related to a series in all the places you can put them up (your website/social media/Wattpad) and asking people to share–people are more likely to share freebies.
- Big full-series bundles (above $9.99) that are not on Amazon but are on stores that allow you to make 70% at any price. A complete series bundle that doesn’t make sense on Amazon can make sense at $29.99 on Apple or Kobo.
- Linking to your books in all the main stores (if you initially release exclusive to Amazon, go back to chapter previews/bonus stuff on your site and update those Amazon links with a Books2Read or other universal link).
- Making audiobooks wide and applying for Chirp deals and other promos — you can now upload direct to Kobo, and Findaway Voices gets you into many other stores.
- Sharing publicly and vocally your support for other stores: making links on your website and social media noticeable.
- Tagging their stores regularly in your social media posts.
- Focusing on getting reviews on other sites–make sure your review team reviews in every place.
- Telling readers about promotions that take place in other stores. (All of them do regular promotions. Do this even if you’re not involved in the promotion.)
- Telling readers benefits about shopping with other retailers. (Kobo, for example, almost always has a thing going on where new accounts get a $5 credit.)
- Having a promotion every single month (not on the same book), following the above advice. (Wide distribution favors frequent, smaller events.)
- After you’ve been doing the above regularly, reach out to the individual locations (consider picking just one to focus on at a time for this part) and ask them about promotional opportunities.
- Let them know your sales numbers and what you’ve been doing to push readers to those specific sites.
- Tell them you’re open to working with them in the future.
- More often than not, this gets your foot in the door for merchandising opportunities, and that’s where the money frequently is at in other retailers.
- The whole point: don’t make your business be Amazon centered.
- Make sure you have access to the promotions tab on Kobo and submit your books frequently and regularly.
- Again, this puts you in the front of their mind over at Kobo.
- Working directly through the individual bookstores can often give you a leg up on getting promos there, but a good relationship with the book distributors can make up for that. Smashwords has been instrumental in getting Jo set up with marketplace-specific marketing.
- If you follow the earlier advice and end up with a contact within one of the individual stores, be sure to be aware of all of the promotional options that are available to you.
Google Play Specific Tips
Thanks to Ricardo Fayet from Reedsy for sharing these in his newsletters.
Google Play is a store unique to each reader: The Google Play team says “Nearly all of Google Play Books merchandising is driven by an algorithm. As a result, every reader sees a different personalized bookstore.”
There’s a focus on deals, so price promos (or free Book 1s) can be featured and pushed here.
Focus on new arrivals. “If you look at the top of the page, one of the main navigation elements you’ll see is ‘New arrivals.’ This gives new releases a great deal of visibility on the store. From some quick research, it seems that new books feature on this page during their first 30 days — making this very similar to Amazon’s Hot New Releases, except it gets extra visibility.”
Ricardo on the Google Play search algorithm: “Based on my own (experimental) research, it looks like Google places much more importance on “keyword matches” in title/subtitle, categories, and blurb than Amazon. Inversely, it seems to place less importance on sales. Which means that you can get your book ranking high for high-competition searches — even if it’s not selling well yet!”
How to Publish on Google Play Books in 2020
Kobo Specific Tips
Remember, the US is not their biggest market by far so probably don’t try to target Kobo US readers. Here’s some data taken from the Reedsy Learning course on “Kobo Hacks for Optimizing Sales,” written by Mark Lefebvre: Breakdown: 50.68% – Canada 11.07% – United Kingdom 10.71% – Australia 9.06% – United States 4.04 % – France 3.00% – New Zealand 2.99% – Rest of World
Ricardo: “When running Facebook ads for authors recently, I found that ads pointing to their Canadian store (targeting a Canadian audience) converted a lot better than US ads pointing to their Walmart store.”
They’re looking to promote audio right now (directly uploaded through KWL), as mentioned in a recent KWL podcast: Marketing Your Books on a Global Scale.
Apple Books Tips
Apple has rebranded to make itself friendlier for authors (you no longer need a Mac — you can now use their online, browser-based portal, in combination with iTunes Connect (which is also browser-based)).
They have a help page for authors now: https://authors.apple.com/. On it, they say they give 70% to all titles, regardless of price, there are no third-party ads, no limitations on free books, and no file delivery fees.
Features: The tolerance of Apple Books readers for higher prices; the huge advantage given to pre-order sales on the store; and the effectiveness of “free first in series”
Human curation, so you need to be selected by the merchandising team, rather than figuring out how to work the algorithms.
Apple Search Mechanics: Ricardo found that keywords in the title/description did help books come up, but sales/downloads also seemed to figure in and also that price didn’t seem to figure in. Lots of free results came up, so this may be why permafree Book 1s still do well at Apple.
Articles: Reedsy’s email on Apple Books and Visibility: https://mailparrot.reedsy.com/emails/1f6dbef8e5
Apple Search Mechanics: https://mailparrot.reedsy.com/emails/b097a92ede
How to Publish (and Sell) on Apple Books in 2020: https://blog.reedsy.com/how-to-publish-on-apple-books/
Listener Questions:
Vania: This is more of a craft question, but with all you being so prolific, I wonder how you keep your plots and tropes fresh? And if you think about writing to market when you plan a new project or if you just write what you want? Or a little of both? Thanks!
Scot: If you have a stand-alone novel in your back list, do you still or occasionally run ads directing traffic to it? Or does it just get what it can from the halo effect of your readers seeking out your other works? Similarly, are there books/series in your back list you feel don’t warrant ad spend or other regular promotion? Is it a case of only pushing your best earning series?
Andy: Craft question if you’re taking those! I’m new to series writing. First book is finished and second is outlined. My question is: are there any rules of thumb regarding what needs to be retold or reestablished from book to book? I’m struggling with how deep to go. For instance, should you write your second book with enough info to be easily read by people who have not read the first?
