I'm Contagious...Pass me On!

AS you delve deeper into the world of e-Book Marketing, you begin to learn new terms and methodology (see, I'm already using big words!). Apart from tag clouds which I learnt about yesterday, apparently today's lesson is all about going viral.

Now, you can imagine what initialy crossed my mind...careful, I thought we had entered one of my stories. Well, no, it's all about linking, sharing and passing on. Did that sound bad to anyone else?

As my first try, I decided to see what could be done with The Wildwose. It's FREE, is an interesting premise and hopefully people will enjoy the read as a reward for their eforts.

So...LINK ME, SHARE ME, PASS ME ON!!!!

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/32297

Smashwords update

So, first day over and The Wildwose seems to be doing alright - over 200 page views and 50+ downloads. It has already helped provide some traffic for Sudden Dearth itself and so maybe a revisit of my strategy to short stories rather than a FREE novella makes more sense. Time today to think about it.

Oh, and if anyone needs reminding, you can download 40% of Sudden Dearth FREE as well.

Watch this space...

Smashwords

An interesting statistic is that The Wildwose, since I put it up this morning, has been seen and downloaded more times than Sudden Dearth in nearly two weeks. Could it be that it's much shorter than Sudden Dearth and in our fast-paced world attention spans wander too...we're losing, again? Chris Hughton needs to put a rocket up someone's ar...where was I? Oh, yes, I personally think it's the great cover by Diggory, it sort of smacks you between the eyes with its awesomeness.

Anyway it's now on Smashwords at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/32297 and is absolutely FREE.

SALIGI will be following soon. Watch this space...

The Wildwose Part II

So, woke up this morning feeling fine...sorry, too much coffee. The cover art, awesome work by Diggory Steele-Perkins, is ready and I posted it on the FB page. Checked some of the Sudden Dearth page stats and found that there are now 342 likes, 100 active monthly users and that there were 999 page views yesterday! Smashwords page views and sample downloads are rising.

Looks like the marketing is starting to work...but I need more readers, followers and connections so, back to the grindstone.

Watch this space.

The Wildwose

Very near to posting The Wildwose on Smashwords - it should be available this weekend if I can agree on the cover art and pester my long-suffering wife to make sure I haven't screwed up the formating with my edits. As soon as it is ready, I will let everyone know.

As background, this was a short story wot I wrote a while back (apologies to Ernie Wise). A few people who got the chance to read this at the time mentioned that it would have made a great comic book...or it was something to do with a clown, anyway... I would be interested to hear what people think.

It is, like Euthan Palace and A Cold Dish, set within the Urionverse, yet at a time distant from Sudden Dearth. It was an idea started as a potential book, which then became a short story, kept for future reference. I think it works as a short story, but I'm biased, so would be interested to hear from you...yes, you at the back!

Watch this space...

Marketing SUDDEN DEARTH Part II

So let's see where we are...number one, write a great book (well it's written anyway), number two, write another one...what the! Oh yeah, got a couple more somewhere. Number three, maximise distribution - that is what I'm working on, but it takes time. Number four, give (some of) your books away for FREE. Check. I will be posting a short story and a novella for FREE on SW real soon, and anyway there's Euthan Palace, 26S, Urion's Belt...wait a minute, am I charging for anything! Crap, what's next?

Okay, calm down, number five is trust your readers and partners which I do anyway, so no worries there. Number six is have patience and seven is marketing starts yesterday. Sod it, I knew I was too late...oh yeah, see number six.

And last but not least, number eight, architect for virality. Well I can be as contagious as the rest of them, so we're set, no?

(Tips extracted from The 7 Secrets to e-Book success by Mark Coker)

Marketing SUDDEN DEARTH

This promises to be an interesting journey, as the fresh rush of viewers trails off from the initial page impact. I have spent some time studying various success stories, blogs with tips and even the Smashwords own marketing guide. Armed with my list I have begun...

It's opening up new skills today, as I learn how to link all of my preferred sites via URL either to here, or direct to the book page. Not everyone is standard so I now have a list of URL formats required by different places. Signatures on sites now include my link too. I have yet to stoop to begging, but that apparently is an option for the future!

I will give updates on here and my FB page on how I get on and am expecting the FREE copy of SALIGIA to help in the process. That is of course is someone likes it.

Watch this space...