Free Promotion for Indie Authors

[Michael Gallagher]

Howdy-

For those of you who don't know me, and as a means of introduction, I am the publisher of several blogs focusing on the Kindle, including one that has been the #1 paid subscription Kindle blog in the Amazon storefront since 2010.

I am looking to promote independent authors like you on my newest blog titled Kindle Books for a Buck (or Less).  Several of you have participated in a promotion with this blog over the past few months, with some of you having outstanding increased sales while others (to be honest) didn't perform so well.  Basically, I need an inventory of books to promote in this blog at no cost to you - yes, free, nada, zero.

What are my requirements?  Rather than have a long-winded post like I am prone to do, just point your web browser to http://ebooksforabuck.wordpress.com/for-authors/

If you meet the requirements, and want free publicity for your book, feel free to contact me via email at michael at fkbooksandtips dot com

Regards,

Michael Gallagher

[LisaGraceBooks]

I'd just like to mention that Michael's blog is one of the best. He's responsible for a huge chunk of my 11,595 downloads I had when I ran my book free in December.

[Lanie Jordan]

Sounds like a good opportunity! I don't qualify, but I'm sure you'll get a bunch of people willing to be promo'd. 

[SaraJoEaston]

That's quite a nice thing you're doing! When I meet the requirements, I'll keep this in mind.

[Elizabeth Ann West]

Thanks, Michael!

Just sent you an email. LOL. I had to count my reviews but thankfully, I qualify.

[Wren Emerson]

Do you run free book promos or only books that are priced at $.99 permanently?

[JRainey]

So no books with vampires at all? Even if they're definitely not your typical paranormal romance or stake-em-till-they-drop kinda book?

Alrighty, then, it's gonna be a while before I have a book out that meets your requirements, but thanks for the offer, anyway!

[Tammie Clarke Gibbs]

Sent you an email. Thanks for the opportunity.

[Beatriz]

Howdy-

For those of you who don't know me, and as a means of introduction, I am the publisher of several blogs focusing on the Kindle, including one that has been the #1 paid subscription Kindle blog in the Amazon storefront since 2010.

I am looking to promote independent authors like you on my newest blog titled Kindle Books for a Buck (or Less).  Several of you have participated in a promotion with this blog over the past few months, with some of you having outstanding increased sales while others (to be honest) didn't perform so well.  Basically, I need an inventory of books to promote in this blog at no cost to you - yes, free, nada, zero.

What are my requirements?  Rather than have a long-winded post like I am prone to do, just point your web browser to http://ebooksforabuck.wordpress.com/for-authors/

If you meet the requirements, and want free publicity for your book, feel free to contact me via email at michael at fkbooksandtips dot com

Regards,

Michael Gallagher

I left you a comment.  Why do you only want to promote the dirt cheap books?  Why not $2.99?  That's not a lot of money and last time I looked, you couldn't even buy coffee with it.

[Sean Patrick Fox]

This is a great opportunity, Michael, thanks for helping out indie authors!

[JTCochrane]

This is really cool.  I sent you an email.

[KateDanley]

Just wanted to say that I got a lovely sales bump from Michael's blog when I was running a 99-cent sale. It's a fantastic resource!  Thanks for supporting us, Michael!

[Selina Fenech]

This is sort of on topic, but a little bit off-
I wanted to take advantage of this wonderful offer, but didn't have enough verified reviews. I put a request out to my facebook fan page to request some Amazon verified reviews, and gratefully five people responded. But three of them were Amazon UK sales, and they weren't able to tick the Amazon Verified Purchase option. Does anyone know why? Is it something to do with Amazon UK or some conflict between Amazon and AmazonUK? 

[JTCochrane]

Just wanted to say thanks to Michael and to tell the other authors on this site that the offer is real.  Michael put my first book on his blog and I started selling.

Thanks Michael.

[billb]

I don't qualify.

How does one go about getting legit reviews? Obviously you can't solicit them.

It bugs me because the few people who have read my book enjoyed it but I only have 1 review on one of them. The rest, none. I was hoping my short stories would get some because how easy would that be...nothing yet.

There are probably plenty of resources out there, I don't mean to derail the thread.

[Selina Fenech]

How does one go about getting legit reviews? Obviously you can't solicit them.

It bugs me because the few people who have read my book enjoyed it but I only have 1 review on one of them.

When a reader comes to you (email, twitter, facebook, wherever) and says they liked your book, a personal thank you note, followed up with a "If you've got time, I'd appreciate if you share your thoughts about my book on Amazon" works well for me at getting readers to take the time post reviews. Although I'm still having trouble getting verified ones though (see post above about UK Amazon issue).

[Michael Gallagher]

Do you run free book promos or only books that are priced at $.99 permanently?

I do mention free book promos on my Free Kindle Books and Tips blog (http://www.fkbooksandtips.com) - just send me an email to michael at fkbooksandtips.com a couple of days in advance: I usually set those posts up early each morning before heading off to work.  If I pick your book for that blog, I will send you a note back so you can track it during the day.

Michael

[Michael Gallagher]

I left you a comment.  Why do you only want to promote the dirt cheap books?  Why not $2.99?  That's not a lot of money and last time I looked, you couldn't even buy coffee with it.

Because the name of the blog is eBooks for a Buck or Less vs "eBooks for under Three Bucks!"

On a more serious note, many of you - as well as me - discount a buck to 99 cents on a periodic basis to promote interest and drive traffic to your other offerings.  If you're not doing that, you should consider it: most, but certainly not all, of you are probably not making many sales at $2.99 so why not try to drive some interest with your book offerings vs. having them collect dust on a virtual shelf?  Then again, it's your call.

[Michael Gallagher]

This is sort of on topic, but a little bit off-
I wanted to take advantage of this wonderful offer, but didn't have enough verified reviews. I put a request out to my facebook fan page to request some Amazon verified reviews, and gratefully five people responded. But three of them were Amazon UK sales, and they weren't able to tick the Amazon Verified Purchase option. Does anyone know why? Is it something to do with Amazon UK or some conflict between Amazon and AmazonUK? 

My personal opinion is because they are two separate legal entities, and this is how a lot of US corporations structure their overseas ventures.  Most of the non-USA sites are in separate legal entities that have basically the same e-commerce platform, but don't "talk" to or comingle with each other back and forth for legal reasons.  This way, if Amazon Germany as an example were hit with a massive suit and were to legally go out of business, or hackers hit them with a denial of service attack, it won't take down the entire structure.

On the other hand, since the various legal entities obviously have agreements in place for the licensing of content and sharing the book descriptions, it would only seem natural to share the reader comments.

[JRTomlin]

Because the name of the blog is eBooks for a Buck or Less vs "eBooks for under Three Bucks!"

On a more serious note, many of you - as well as me - discount a buck to 99 cents on a periodic basis to promote interest and drive traffic to your other offerings.  If you're not doing that, you should consider it: most, but certainly not all, of you are probably not making many sales at $2.99 so why not try to drive some interest with your book offerings vs. having them collect dust on a virtual shelf?  Then again, it's your call.

And why on EARTH would you assume that we could only make sales at 99 cents?!

Thank you, my novels do not collect dust on a virtual shelf. It is indeed our call and assuming that most of our novels will only sell if we price them at 99 cents is just a tad offensive.

[Michael Gallagher]

And why on EARTH would you assume that we could only make sales at 99 cents?!

Thank you, my novels do not collect dust on a virtual shelf. It is indeed our call and assuming that most of our novels will only sell if we price them at 99 cents is just a tad offensive.

JR-

I did not say, or even try to imply, your books will sell if you only price them at 99 cents.  Sorry to see you read it that way - I'm just trying to do a little good here and there vs. trying to have you or anyone else take offense, and I am glad to see your books are doing well.  However, as someone who has a little experience selling over 250,000 of my own books on the KDP platform, what I was trying to imply was sometimes discounting a single title to 99 cents will drive sales to your other, higher-priced titles.  While my method has certainly been beneficial for my own pocketbook, I am glad your method is working out for you.

On a general note, there really has been a lot of snarly people with this round of asking independent authors if they would like some free promotion - the tone of crappy emails has been frustrating - so I guess from now on I'll just quit asking this board to participate and wish each of you the best with your marketing efforts.

[foreverjuly]

JR-

I did not say, or even try to imply, your books will sell if you only price them at 99 cents.  Sorry to see you read it that way - I'm just trying to do a little good here and there vs. trying to have you or anyone else take offense, and I am glad to see your books are doing well.  However, as someone who has a little experience selling over 250,000 of my own books on the KDP platform, what I was trying to imply was sometimes discounting a single title to 99 cents will drive sales to your other, higher-priced titles.  While my method has certainly been beneficial for my own pocketbook, I am glad your method is working out for you.

On a general note, there really has been a lot of snarly people with this round of asking independent authors if they would like some free promotion - the tone of crappy emails has been frustrating - so I guess from now on I'll just quit asking this board to participate and wish each of you the best with your marketing efforts.

This is really unfortunate that you're getting the reception you did. All you tried to do was offer a mention on your blog (way more popular than a lot of the blogs people try to tout around here), and you get bitten and chewed on by people trying to make assumptions about your intent or find a reason to take offense with you. I'm disappointed it's turning out that way and am kind of shocking that people would take the time to email you to express negative sentiments like that. If an apology is worth anything from me on behalf of the community here, I'm sorry. I thought it was a good, reasonable offer.

[Michael Gallagher]

And why on EARTH would you assume that we could only make sales at 99 cents?!

Thank you, my novels do not collect dust on a virtual shelf. It is indeed our call and assuming that most of our novels will only sell if we price them at 99 cents is just a tad offensive.

JR-

You didn't seem to mind when I promoted your books (at no cost to you) when you offered your books for free, and you didn't seem to mind when 70,000 pairs of eyeballs saw your book on my blog the day after Christmas and other days:

http://www.fkbooksandtips.com/2011/12/26/freedoms-sword-free-from-amazon-kindle-store/

http://www.fkbooksandtips.com/2011/12/14/a-kingdoms-cost-free-from-amazon-kindle-store/

http://www.fkbooksandtips.com/2011/06/30/wings-of-evil-free-from-amazon-kindle-store/



Your calling me a tad offensive in a public forum such as this is more likely than not the straw that broke the camel's back, especially when I have offered you and others something at no cost to you, and spcifically for you have given you a piece of valuable advertising space for free.  I imagine you had well in excess of 15,000 downloads of your book on the day after Christmas when you offered it for free after I posted it to the main blog.  As one of the guys who had a big hand in promoting your books, which have undoubtedly led to increased sales and higher rankings you are enjoying today, I find your comments fairly offensive.  I'll make sure to not promote your books on the main blog in the future.

[TiffanyTurner]

Michael,
Thank you for taking the time to help other Indies. I believe my first book fits what you need. It has been on the price matching roller coaster the last few weeks. So, it's currently free on the Kindle. When it returns to normal price, it will be $0.99.

The Lost Secret of Fairies
Children's Middle Reader/Fantasy Adventure
Here's the link:
http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Secret-Fairies-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B002C1A2BM

Congrats with the turn out of your blog. You're doing us all a great service. 

[Beatriz]

Because the name of the blog is eBooks for a Buck or Less vs "eBooks for under Three Bucks!"

On a more serious note, many of you - as well as me - discount a buck to 99 cents on a periodic basis to promote interest and drive traffic to your other offerings.  If you're not doing that, you should consider it: most, but certainly not all, of you are probably not making many sales at $2.99 so why not try to drive some interest with your book offerings vs. having them collect dust on a virtual shelf?  Then again, it's your call.

I didn't mean to sound snappy, I know you're trying to do good here and shouldn't be getting your head cut off.  I guess I was just frustrated by the price limitations because otherwise I would qualify one hundred percent, but there's something to what you say, and when it's time to renew KDP in March I will think about it and maybe that will spark up sales because sticking to my guns is not going me much good, that's for sure.