Do you want to get your book in front of more readers?
Do you want to get your book into the hands (and onto the e-readers) of more readers?
Do you have a backlist and want to use them to promote your front list?
Do you struggle to find the time to chase down every opportunity to tell every possible reader about your great and fantastic story?
Well, truly what author has any kind of time like that? (Shoot, I’d like to have that kind of time period. ;-))
It is possible to get your book in front of, and on the screens of more readers. It is possible to use your backlist to help you sell your front list.
And it is possible to wisely invest in your career as an author, while still having the time to write your next great book–while also not watching all of your hard-earned profits go spiraling down the drain.
Okay, okay, I want to know more. What are you talking about?
Are you listing your book for FREE or at or less than $2.99 for a quick period of time?
Then you don’t want that sale to go to waste.
The more downloads you get, the more people are seeing your book, your name, and are ultimately reading your book.
And the more people who are seeing your book and reading your book and liking your book, are very possibly going to go back to your name on their favorite retailer’s site and buy more of your work.
When you invest in promoting your book’s sale, when your book is free or on sale for less than $2.99, you are maximizing the potential in this sale to reach more readers that you otherwise would not be able to reach within your sphere of influence.
How does this happen?
There are many internet sites that will allow you to share about your FREE or promo’d book. Many are well-known such as:
- BookBub
- EReader News Today (ENT)
- The Fussy Librarian
- And more!
And while these sites are great (and you should absolutely try to have your book featured on their sites!), they are often hard to break into due to their extreme popularity. But what many authors don’t realize is that there are also many, many more sites dedicated to letting readers know about your latest and greatest book. They are small and they are large, boasting good website traffic numbers and numerous newsletter subscribers. There are Facebook groups–all combined to give you the absolute most bang for your buck and getting the news of your book promotion in front of as many readers as possible.
You could easily spend hours upon hours, tracking down all of these sites, submitting all of your information and working hard to get the word in front of readers.
Not many of us have hours upon hours to sift out the sites that aren’t monitored, have broken URL’s or are a waste of time, because they don’t fit your genre.
But you don’t have to.
That is where this service comes into view, offering to save you those hours with a carefully curated list of sites that are known to accept submissions, give good viewership to potential readers and offer either the option for a free listing on their site or the promise of a guaranteed feature should you choose to purchase that.
I have done all of the hard work for you, spending hours creating a comprehensive list of sites that are actively accepting submissions. Sites that will either list your book for free or allow you to pay a fee to have their book featured. Sites that email their promotions out to numerous readers, eager for the next great book they can enjoy for a deal–and the next great author they can discover!
Why this service is valuable to self-published and traditionally published authors:
Has your publisher alerted you to a sale upcoming on one of your books and you want to see it be as successful as it possibly can be?
Are you self-published and wanting to boost your readership and see not only your download numbers rise, but also the sales on your other books (especially if the book you are promoting is part of a series?)
Whether you are self-published or working with a traditional publisher, every author wants to let more readers know about their books.
How it works:
Congratulations! You’ve decided that you’d like to go forward with investing in this way during your free or sale promotion. Here’s what you need to do next:
(Self-published authors will need to complete all steps. Traditionally published authors will only need to do the final two, once they are notified of the sale by their publisher.)
1): Decide if you are listing your book of free or, for at or less than $2.99
2): Decide on the dates, making sure they are at least one month out to allow for proper planning and scheduling for your promo, and if you are self published, make sure that Amazon will approve your pricing change and dates
3): Decide on your budget (helpful tips for deciding this below)
4): Contact me! and let’s get this promo on the calendar and start telling readers about your book!
Important things to consider:
Budget:
Not all of us are able to afford spending thousands of dollars putting our name and book up on a billboard for thousands of people to see as they hurtle down the freeway. And to be frank, I’d say 99.999% of us will never even consider this kind of promotion.
But most of us can afford to spend a little bit to put our book and name up on online billboards. But what you are comfortable spending can only be determined by you.
Which is why it’s important before you schedule your promotion, to know how much you are able or willing to spend.
If your book is listed for free: many sites will list your book on their site and email it to their subscribers for free. But your spot on their site and in their newsletter is not guaranteed. Because these sites are inundated with requests due to their generous offer, you run the chance that they won’t pick your book. But you can always try going the free route–free is good, right?
Most sites will offer to guarantee to list your promotion on their site and to their subscribers for anywhere between $5-50. And many sites are worth paying this money as you should see a good return for your investment.
If your book is listed for a sale price of $2.99 or less: many sites will not list your book for free and you will have to pay a fee based on the site (usually between $5-50) to list your book and have it sent out to their subscriber base. There are still a good many sites that you can promote on for either a reasonable price or free to make it worth seeing if investing in this way boosts your readership (this will be different for every author).
Bottom line: you will be able to do more for free if your book is listed for free, over having your book listed for a discounted price.
A few numbers from previous promotions:
*Numbers are based on an author’s promotion and the comparison between a free listing and a $.99 promotion for two different books at two different times. All numbers are subjective to many factors including, but not limited to: author reach, timing, money invested, genre, etc. These numbers listed below should only be considered as an example, and not as a guarantee.*
Free book listing over the course of 3 days (over a weekend): Approx. 3,500 downloads of promoted book with subsequent sales on author’s next two books in the same series, totally 144 copies of all three books purchased by readers once sale ended and in the two months following the promotion. With the hope that the investment will continue to prove profitable later as readers continue to read their free download.
Sales for book listing priced at $.99 over the course of 22 days (the majority of one month during the summer): Approx. 200 copies of promo’d sale book across the 22 days and approx. 30 copies of second book in same series as promo’d book sold during the month of the sale.
Example from another multi-published author who offered a backlist book for free over the course of 5 days (over a weekend): Approx. 3000 downloads of promoted book, which per author is approx. 1500 more downloads than on a typical sale author has done for previous older, backlist books. Promo has generated several sales for another book in the series, those numbers which are yet to be determined for maximum value to the author.
FAQ’s:
Q: Where will my book be listed?
A: As many sites that will take your listing! As mentioned above, many sites will allow you to query them to list your book that is free for free on their site. But this is not guaranteed due to the high influx these sites receive for their generous offer. This is where it’s important for you to decide what your budget is and if your book should be listed for free or for a discounted sale price. I have a list of 50+ sites to submit to, but many on this list will not allow queries to list your book for free if the book isn’t free. Make sense?
Q: Will you submit my book to Bookbub?
A: No, I will not be submitting your book to Bookbub, but here is why: Bookbub requires an author account and to submit your sale, you need to use your account. I don’t want you to have to share your password and username and this submission is a task that can easily be handled by your personal VA or yourself. Breaking into Bookbub and having a sale accepted for promotion on their site is widely known as one of the best ways to promote your book and sale. If Bookbub accepts your sale, I would wholeheartedly encourage you to invest your marketing dollars in this way. However, if Bookbub is not able to accommodate your promotion request, I believe the service outlined on this page can be very helpful to you. Let’s chat!
Q: What can I expect from you?
A: Once you have decided to use this service for your promotion, and you’ve contacted me, you can expect the following to happen:
- Clear and prompt communication from beginning to end of your promotion
- You will receive a Google Survey to fill out which will ask you to provide all of the pertinent information about you and your book that these sites will require
- We will work together to make sure we target the sites you know you are interested in paying to be featured on or discuss secondary options from my list you are interested we query
- You will be given immediate access to a Google spreadsheet that will catalog what sites have been submitted to, the status of those sites and how much has been spent of your designated budget–and what it has been spent on
- Promotional backend work will all be done at least two weeks before your promotion. Some sites will not accept information on your promotion until it starts–which I provide the first day your promotion starts to make sure we reach as many sites as possible with the news of your sale.
- You will receive all receipts from all paid listings and an invoice for my service fee, all of which you can use for taxes.
Q: Do you do promotions for general market fiction or nonfiction?
A: At this time, I do not offer this service for general market fiction/nonfiction. I do accept a select number of Christian nonfiction titles a year, based on my calendar availability.
Q: What is the cost?
A: The cost of targeting as many sites as possible regarding your promotion (based on whether it is listed for Free or a promo’d sale price) is $75. This does not include your budget for the sites you wish to target for featured listings. This is a separate budget that you will have to decide upon and will be different for every individual.
Q: What is a good recommendation for how much my budget should be?
A: This amount will be different for every individual based on what they are comfortable with spending. However, based on sites that we will most likely be targeting/recommended that we request a feature listing on, you can expect to spend around $150, though I had an author pay $50 for their promo work and still had a great sale. Again, this amount is easily adjusted based on your needs and interests and budget.
Q: How does it work paying for the featured listings?
A: Once you have decided on your budget amount, you have two options: you can send that amount to a secure PayPal account which I will use to draw from to pay for the featured listings on the agreed upon sites. For every paid listing, a receipt will be forwarded to you for the necessary tax purposes and so you can also know where all of your hard-earned dollars are going.
OR: I can forward the invoice directly to you and you may pay for it directly. Either option works–it all just depends on what you prefer and what works best for you!
Q: Do you guarantee how many people will see or download my book during it’s promotion?
A: Unfortunately, I cannot guarantee or promise how your promotion will perform. You will receive the same hard work and effort as the author before and after you, but numbers cannot be guaranteed and will vary based on every author, the time of year you’re promoting, the genre, your book’s cover, the promo price and a host of other variables that simply cannot be controlled. That is what makes any work you do to promote your book an investment.
Q: How far ahead do I need to contact you to book your services?
A: Please contact me at least one month before your scheduled promotion so we might have time to fill out all the appropriate forms, discuss your budget and I will also have the time to make sure your promotion is scheduled on as many sites as possible! Please note: I am only currently accepting a small handful of clients a month for this promotional work and slots fill fast! Booking on my calendar is based on a first come, first pay basis.
Q: Do you require a deposit or do I have to pay up front?
A: To secure your promotion on my calendar, a nonrefundable deposit of $25 is required and will be applied to your total bill of $75 for this service. Should something happen that requires your promotion to be rescheduled for a later date, I will happily work with you to reschedule your promotional work on my calendar.
Endorsements:
More and more in today’s world, trust is a critical factor, especially in business. So when you find someone who not only goes well above and beyond in excellence, efficiency, and value, but in whom you also have absolute trust, you just have to sing their praises. For me, as an author who despises promotion, Casey Herringshaw has proven to be such a person and a true godsend for any author lucky enough to work with her.
With minimal direction, Casey takes a promotion project off your plate and doesn’t just run with it, she flies, producing amazing results in record time as she handles all those annoying book-promotion details that I—and every other author—absolutely hates. I know that when I turn a project over to Casey, I can breathe a huge sigh of relief and get back to writing, completely assured that every detail will be executed with the utmost professionalism, excellence, speed, and especially value, which is so very critical to indie authors like myself. I trust Casey explicitly, and I promise that any author working with her just once—definitely will too! ~Julie Lessman, best-selling and award-winning author.
Most everyone who is in the publishing world realizes the trials of getting news about your book out to the world. It’s not a feat for the weak so when a knowledgeable, professional, and enthusiastic person offers an opportunity to help you navigate book promotions, you take her up on it. Casey Apodaca’s experience in the publishing world as well as her natural love for story made her an excellent candidate to offer options to promote my book. The cost was effective and the results were almost immediate. She gave detailed information about how the promotions were being executed and I was kept aware of the process throughout. I’d recommend her services to any author who is looking to promote a new book, older book, series, or even themselves. ~Pepper Basham, historical and contemporary romance author of The Mitchell’s Crossroads series and The Red Ribbon.
To say I am pleased with Casey’s work would be an understatement. Throughout the process of our promo, she was extremely professional, kind, and patient. Not to mention, the immediate results she got blew me away (in fact, I’m still shocked). She’s an absolute rockstar at what she does and I’m already looking forward to working with her again. If you’re a new or experienced author looking to get the ball rolling with your work, look no further than her. You won’t regret it! ~Natasha Grantz, author of The C.U.L.T.U.R.E Challenge
Are you ready to get going? Let’s meet some new readers!
Congratulations! You’ve made it this far and you’ve decided that you’d like to go ahead and invest in your promotion in this particular way, or maybe you just have a couple more questions. I’d love to hear from you and perhaps even partner with you! Click the “contact me” option below and let’s get to work getting your book out in front of as many readers as possible!
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