Amazon selects CHILDREN OF THE FOG for a special promotion

Just over a week ago, a representative from Amazon contacted me to ask if I'd consider putting CHILDREN OF THE FOG, my bestselling supernatural suspense, in a special promotion. So after a few emails back and forth, I of course said YES. I'd be foolish not to take them up on some free advertising and exposure.

For the month of July, CHILDREN OF THE FOG is listed on the 100 Kindle Books for $3.99 or Less page on Amazon, in the Deals section and under the Mysteries and Thrillers category.

So for all of July CHILDREN OF THE FOG is on sale for only $0.99 (list price: $3.99).

YOU HAVE 10 SECONDS TO MAKE A DECISION:

Let A Kidnapper Take Your Child, Or Watch Your Son Die.

Choose! 

Sadie O'Connell is a bestselling author and a proud mother. But her life is about to spiral out of control. After her six-year-old son Sam is kidnapped by a serial abductor, she nearly goes insane. But it isn't just the fear and grief that is ripping her apart. It's the guilt. Sadie is the only person who knows what the kidnapper looks like. And she can't tell a soul.

An international bestseller & Top 100 Amazon bestseller (was #4 under The Hunger Games trilogy).

Recipe for a Bestselling Novel

Wouldn't it be great if there was a recipe for making a bestselling novel and if all a writer had to do was gather the ingredients and mix them in, and voila!―a bestselling novel is created? The reality is there are combinations of ingredients that can either get your name on a bestseller's list or fall flatter than an airless cheese soufflé. However, there are some common ingredients that have helped authors achieve bestseller status.

Common Ingredients for a Bestseller:

·       1 cup of well written novel

·       1 cup of professional editing

·       1 cup of professional layout and interior design

·       2 cups of professional book cover, including gripping back cover text

·       1 cup of decent distribution via major online retailers

·       2 cups of book launch, tours and other events, plus advertising

·       3 cups of contests and giveaways by author, publisher or both

·       Countless hours of organization and time

·       Dash of excitement

Method:

Take the well written novel and beat in professional editing until light and readable. Add professional layout and interior design, then stir in professional cover art and back cover text until well combined. Sprinkle in decent distribution until coated and roll mixture out with book launch, tours and events. Top with contests and giveaways, and fold in countless hours of organization and time before adding the finishing touch―a huge dash of excitement. Share with everyone and enjoy!

Reality Check:

While the recipe above may seem kind of silly, these ingredients can lead to a bestselling novel. I know because I've used them all successfully. My novels have made bestsellers lists multiple times on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca. Some made multiple lists on each in a single day. 

I've also sold over 5000 copies of Whale Song, which in Canada makes it a national bestseller.

So how did I do it? I created an exciting day-long event―a "Bestseller Day"―that had enough goodies to draw people in. It was held on my 44th birthday and I gave away 44 prizes.

There are three main ways to get prizes to offer:

1.) Pay for them (I don't recommend this.)

 2.) Get others to donate them.

3.) Find someone to sponsor the event or the prizes. They pay for something you want to give away and get something in return, whether it's free advertising, a mention in your next book, or some other benefit.

The Benefits:

The first benefit of reaching this "status" is obvious. You can use "bestselling author" when describing yourself. 

The next obvious benefit is that you're selling more books, which means you're earning more. 

Another benefit you may not have thought about is exposure. When people look for a book on Amazon, they'll often search using keywords. If your thriller is in the top 10-20 of books listed under "techno-thriller", for instance, you have a much better chance of being noticed. While on those bestsellers lists, more people will come across your name and your book. The more times people see you and your book online, the better the chance is that they'll buy your book.

Becoming a bestselling author takes persistence, creativity and good organization. Follow this recipe for success and you'll rise like a soufflé. Just don't forget that last ingredient―excitement!

Cheryl Kaye Tardif is a bestselling Canadian author whose critically acclaimed, award-winning novels have inspired much film interest. She's appeared on television and radio, and in newspapers and magazines. Cheryl has also presented at writers' conferences in Canada and the US, mainly on topics of marketing and promotion. She's helped many authors achieve success and does so as a book marketing coach, with Bestseller Days, Virtual Book/Blog Tours and Sponsorships her top 3 most requested topics.

http://www.shamelessbookpromoter.com 

http://www.cherylktardif.com  

Does the Old Way of Creating a Bestseller Need to Change?

While doing research for a workshop I and a colleague gave on e-books, e-readers, and e-publishing, I came across some interesting stats, information, and opinions about the revolutionary world of e-books and e-publishing.

One of the things that struck me was J.A. Konrath’s fascinating blog about the world of e-books. Konrath believes that the old way of creating bestsellers through the large publishing houses’ distribution channels and coop arrangements with bookstore chains and big box stores, will change, thanks largely to e-books. E-book selling has taken out the entire distribution and coop process as writers find easy, simple ways to publish their books and place them straight into e-book stores. Konrath maintains that the current prices large publishers charge for e-books (anywhere from $9.99 to $16.99) will have to be reduced if they want to compete. There are too many good and/or popular books that are selling for much lower prices. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo sells for $5.00 on Sony’s ebook store, for example. Stephen King, and Dean Koontz also have e-books on the market for under $10.00, or even under $5.00 with some of their titles. I think Konrath is right, and here’s a great example of why:

Twenty-six year old Amanda Hocking has quickly become an e-book bestseller with her nine self-published paranormal novels about trolls, vampires, and zombies. What’s so astounding about Hocking is that she only began publishing ebooks in March 2010. By the end of that year she’d sold 164,000 copies of her e-books priced from $.99 to $2.99. This January she sold over 450,000 copies, (99% of them e-books). She attributes her success to aggressive marketing on twitter, Facebook, and her blogs; but here’s the thing: she’s outselling big name authors. How is a large publisher going to compete with the wave of independently published books that lots of people are buying?

Konrath says that in the future, distribution and coop won’t be the main reason a book sells. It will be price and content. Hocking isn’t the only unknown author who’s selling well. If you follow the amazon and kindle forums, you’ll quickly realize that a growing percentage of unknown writers are selling thousands of copies of their books, and when a print book, on average, sells only 250 copies these days, that’s something.

To read all of Konrath’s Feb. 8th blog on this topic, go to http://jakonrath.blogspot.com and to read a bit more about Amanda Hocking’s amazing story go to http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2011-02-09-ebooks09_ST_N.htm

Coming in March 2011, THE OPPOSITE OF DARK, http://tinyurl.com/2frw58u
My Alex Bellamy mysteries can be purchased at
FATAL ENCRYPTION, http://tinyurl.com/ddzsxl
TAXED TO DEATH, http://tinyurl.com/czsy5n

Top 10 Tips to Help Authors Successfully Promote Their Books

Most authors should know that it's really up to them to promote their books, not the publisher. The publisher will do what they can do, of course, but the author is the one who can really get the word out there to the masses. So here is my Top 10 list of things authors can do to successfully promote their own books.

1. Promote your book BEFORE it's even published. Think of this like movie trailers. Film companies are super intelligent; they give people a sneak peek to get them interested, then hook them with anticipation by announcing a release date. Authors can do the same. Give your readers a sneak peek--a free sample, a book trailer. Then as soon as you know the release date (and about 1-3 months in advance) start promoting this new release.


2. Have your book PROFESSIONALLY edited. If you want longevity as a writer, you must treat this like a career. This means that even self-published, author-originated works must be edited professionally by someone who knows HOW to edit. NEVER be the only editor for your book. If you put out an inferior product you will lose fans and sales, and bookstores will not promote you. If you're going to do this, do it right! You're competing with every other book out there, and there are millions, so find a good editor.


3. Once your book is published, promote the heck out of it! Too many authors leave marketing up to their publisher. This is your baby, no one else's. As soon as your book is released, you have a window of about 3 months to get it off the ground, and another 3 months to keep things rolling. Not even a publisher can market your book as well as you can, and if you don't know how, LEARN. If you don't know where to start, I'm a book marketing coach; I can teach you.


4. Create a solid internet identity. What will we find if we Google your name right now? Will we find someone else with the same name who sells lawn ornaments? Are there 10 hits? 1000? 100,000? Are the first 3 pages of any search engine all about you or at least 90% you? If not, you've got work to do. Make sure you have a professional looking website and blog. Don't use a free host with ads for your site. Invest in a domain name (your name preferably) and pay for hosting.


5. Blog at least 2-3 times a week. On numerous blogs. Blogging about anything sells books. Readers like to see the human side of their favorite authors, so blogging should not be a hardcore sales pitch every post. Find a controversial or thematic angle within your book and blog about that. My novel Whale Song dealt with assisted suicide. I not only researched the topic, but I blogged about it and was then contacted by a radio station because of my blog post and then was interviewed. Blog about the journey you took to get where you are in your writing career. Blog about editing, rejections, writer's block, courses, anything that might be helpful to other writers.


6. Hold a virtual book tour. VBTs are an excellent and inexpensive way to get the word out about your book. Other bloggers are now promoting YOU. There is, however, an effective way to do this and an ineffective way. Successful blog tours have the following main elements: thoughtful planning, research, themed articles/posts, calls to action, proper scheduling, advertising and high sales. Your book should reach the bestsellers lists on Amazon, at the very least.


7. Sell your book on a specific day by holding a contest. If you ask people to order from one major retailer, like Amazon for instance, on a specific day and offer them some kind of incentive, you will have the opportunity to make Amazon's bestsellers list. Pick a day, offer a prize they can't turn down (remember: never make your book your prize-at least, not the book you are trying to promote) and have a proof of purchase to ensure sales are submitted on one day. Once you make Amazon's list (and don't forget, books are broken into categories), you're a "bestselling author" with a "bestselling novel". That statement alone attracts more success.


8. Find out where your readers are. The goal is not to have your book in every bookstore. First, very few books achieve that. Second, having them in a store is no good if no one is buying them. So find out where your readers are. If you write mysteries, find out where mystery readers meet in your town. Become a guest author at a book club. Look for online reading groups or sites like GoodReads and start schmoozing with readers.


9. Cultivate personal relationships with bookstore staff. Most authors underestimate the power of signing books in a store. Too many authors focus entirely on sales, or lack of sales. Forget sales! Think about relationships instead--with store staff, customers and potential fans. That is what is important. When you build these relationships you will have store staff who will hand sell your book and go out of their way to promote you, invite you to special events and feature you on special front-end shelves that publishers have to pay for. Customers can turn into media contacts and interviews. Potential fans can turn into lifelong fans who will buy everything you write and recommend you to their family and friends.


10. Contact media for every event or set of events. If holding a bunch of signings during October, call it your "fall tour" and promote it. Send out press releases to local TV, radio, newspapers and magazines. Send out online releases to services like 24-7pressrelease and free online services. Just Google 'press distribution services'. Many authors consider interviews a form of success, and the more you create a need for your area of expertise (whether writing, getting published, or a particular theme from your book), the more media will want to interview you.

It takes a combined effort and partnership between author, publisher and retailers to make a book successful. A partnership. That's how you must think of it. So don't just throw your "baby" out in the world and expect someone else to baby sit it or expect it to fend for itself.

Take control and responsibility seriously. Being a writer is the emotional, creative side; being a successful author of a published book means you have to recognize the business side. It comes with the territory. Accept it. Embrace it. And be the most successful author you can be.

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
bestselling author and book marketing coach
http://www.cherylktardif.com/