Writer Sanctum
Writer's Haven => Marketing Loft [Public] => Topic started by: shadcallister on September 12, 2019, 05:07:39 AM
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Just wondering what experiences people have had with posting a sample chapter on their author website? Is this useful to readers, does anyone look at it and go on to buy from there? is there any point to doing this when readers can view the LookInside on the Amazon page just as easily?
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One thing you can do with your website is link your blog posts on Amazon, saying you have a sample chapter. The blog posts show up at the top of your author page. That's why I did my sample chapters on mine, since my website is fairly new and I have no followers yet. It's relatively simple and it was a way to highlight the book before I got the preorder up and the look inside is not available on preorder, and look inside is wonky at best. Did I get anything from that? One like on my website. Was it worth it to do it? Shrugs, didn't hurt.
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It all depends on your big picture, which is your brand. Diana Gabaldon (Outlander) routinely posts passages on her site, but that's her thing. In a vacuum, posting bits on your site won't do anything. In concert with everything else, they could be the tipping point. And that's the key to branding - synergy.
The problem with everyone else's experience is that it's not yours. Not your name. Not your books. Not your voice. There are so many moving parts in this business that it's really impossible to duplicate someone else's path to success. The big picture strategies and tactics are all still valid, but their effectiveness comes down to execution. Commodity strategies, on the other hand, are much easier to duplicate because those sales are driven primarily by marketing.
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It all depends on your big picture, which is your brand. Diana Gabaldon (Outlander) routinely posts passages on her site, but that's her thing. In a vacuum, posting bits on your site won't do anything. In concert with everything else, they could be the tipping point. And that's the key to branding - synergy.
The problem with everyone else's experience is that it's not yours. Not your name. Not your books. Not your voice. There are so many moving parts in this business that it's really impossible to duplicate someone else's path to success. The big picture strategies and tactics are all still valid, but their effectiveness comes down to execution. Commodity strategies, on the other hand, are much easier to duplicate because those sales are driven primarily by marketing.
On the other hand, DG has millions of fans that pant in anticipation of every word. She usually takes four years between books, too, so those snippets keep her fandom going. (2/16/20)
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Gotcha. I think I'd rather drive traffic to the Amazon product page, not to my site to read an excerpt. And I'd rather get visitors that are on my site over to Amazon as quickly as possible to make the sale, not puttering around with ancillary content.
At least that's the model I've currently got; maybe in the future if my site becomes more of a reader destination for news/bonus content etc., then it would make more sense to host sample chapters and excerpts.
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I use them and I don't think they hurt anything. If someone is already on my site, it's one less click to read the first chapter than sending them directly to Amazon.
It also keeps them looking at my books rather than being lured to all those pretty 'also boughts' covers. LOL :angel:
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How many daily visitors do you get to your website now? That's the key. If it's in the hundreds or the thousands, then it might help, but if it's a handful I'd say the effort probably isn't worth it.
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As a reader I only visit an author's website after I've finished and liked a book. I wouldn't think that many new readers would check out your website before buying your book unless you have an ad that sends them to your website. Posting sample chapters is a good idea if you already have a fanbase. Many best selling authors use this tactic to get readers excited about a new release.
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I'm just not sure what the point would be with almost every selling website out there having some form of the Look Inside. There's no sense posting one or two chapters when. for instance, my book Into The Wishing Well has eight or nine chapters in the Look Inside.
If I wanted to do something like this, I'd write what a lot of writers call a Reader Magnet. A short story that isn't published on the sales websites. It could be a prequel story to the main novel or a completely different story thread dealing with another event or aspect of your main character's life.
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I'm just not sure what the point would be with almost every selling website out there having some form of the Look Inside. There's no sense posting one or two chapters when. for instance, my book Into The Wishing Well has eight or nine chapters in the Look Inside.
If I wanted to do something like this, I'd write what a lot of writers call a Reader Magnet. A short story that isn't published on the sales websites. It could be a prequel story to the main novel or a completely different story thread dealing with another event or aspect of your main character's life.
Look inside isn't available while the book is on preorder.
I'm not saying everyone should do this, but I'm kind of puzzled everyone's so opposed to it. It took me five minutes to put the first five chapters on my website, and I'm a complete idiot about word press. And I have gotten preorders, despite telling no one about the book. I really only did the preorder because I knew when I wanted to release it and I wanted to experiment with AMS/AA on it before the release. Did people go to the website and read it and get hooked? Maybe. Not trying to convince anyone to do anything, but it's free and it can't hurt anything so it's going to be part of my strategy from now on.
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I'm having way too much fun with book trailers right now, so I post those on my website along with a sample chapter. I think it all helps, but who knows how much?
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I'm not saying everyone should do this, but I'm kind of puzzled everyone's so opposed to it.
I don't think anyone said they were opposed to it. If you want to do it then by all means do it. I just don't see it being useful to me.
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I've been wondering which ranks higher in the search engine rankings, the Amazon author page or the author's website.
I've a suspicion that the Amazon page would rank higher, because of Amazon's power, let's all it, in the search engine world, but haven't researched this.
All this depends on whether someone types the author's name in the search engine search box, I imagine.
Do readers search for authors in this way?
Do they search for specific authors at all?
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Since this was a task I could handle before the caffeine hit my brain I threw a bunch of authors into the search.
Everyone except James Patterson and Steven King, you just got a list of their books, not the author page just books.
Or in a couple of cases an audio book was first on the list.
Patterson & King had a sponsored ad ahead of their books (Dead End Girl) not that it matters what book it was but it
was the same book for both and then Patterson had a sponsored ad for his own book before the list began.
When I say list I mean the larger thumbnails of books, but I didn't know how else to describe it.
I didn't get brought to the author page for any of them, but that doesn't surprise me.
I even put in "name author page" and got basically the same results.
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Would I be better off writing? is a real thing. We all have to guard against time sucks, because they add up. As I said above, the trick is to identify things that work together, thereby creating synergies. Start with tactics that have the most impact first, and then round out your marketing mix with additional initiatives as opportunity and time allows. In my opinion, sample reads on websites are pretty far down the list.
We've moved into a market dominated by pseudo-celebrity status, the currency of which is likes and shares. The internet has fragmented the overall market to the point that now, even very small niches have their own superstars - the old: big fish in a small pond cliche.
I would say that the first tactic would be to drive people to your site, which is probably going to require more specialized content than sample reads. Once you're getting traffic, then add the samples to give them a reason to stay.
The key to marketing is making yourself familiar to your target audience. Humans accept the familiar, and in time, fold it into their worldview, which means buying your stuff.
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The key to marketing is making yourself familiar to your target audience. Humans accept the familiar, and in time, fold it into their worldview, which means buying your stuff.
I suspect my target audience are like me in that they strongly dislike Facebook, Twitter and all the other selfish media garbage that's so popular these days.
And that makes them hard to find and they don't know to look for me. So . . . :shrug
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The key to marketing is making yourself familiar to your target audience. Humans accept the familiar, and in time, fold it into their worldview, which means buying your stuff. (snip)
I agree. :dog1: