Wednesday, December 08, 2010

The Web Splash: One Week On

Hard to believe it's been a week already! Now that I've calmed down a bit, I thought that I'd give you a little rundown on why I decided to do the Web Splash (Part I) and how I organised it (Part II).

I've been asked a few times why my ebook is launching ahead of my paperback. Quite often traditional author launches have a hard-cover launch to generate buzz for the coming paperback. Launching my ebook first is really the same concept. Also, the more sales and publicity the ebook generates, the easier it becomes to convince booksellers to take it in-store.

As I mentioned before, the great thing about ebooks is that there are no distribution issues. Anyone, anywhere can buy them! With that in mind, the internet seemed a perfect tool to help spread the word. Yes, I could have waited until the paperback to make a big deal, but with limited distribution I'd be hard-pressed to encourage readers in the US, Canada and other countries to give my book a shot.

With my publisher, we discussed a critical issue when it comes to ebooks: price. Larger publishers appear to be doing themselves and their authors no favours by pricing ebooks higher than hard copies. Yes, it may drive paperback sales in the short term, but in the long term, the author may lose out. However, we didn't want to price the content too low. There are varying opinions on how low is too low, with some publishers giving away books for free. I'm definitely not against this and I think it can certainly help drive publicity. But for the time being, we decided pricing the book at £1.90/ $2.99 seemed just about right. And with Christmas coming and Kindles set to tip the market in favour of ebooks, December 1 made sense as a launch date.

Watching marketing strategies employed by other authors, I'd learned that driving sales on one day can make a massive difference to rankings. Still, I wasn't about to ask everyone to buy my book on a particular day -- it just seemed a step too far. But I could ask people to help spread the word about my book and hopefully get some sales in the process. All I need was a catchy name and something everyone can relate to: the little guy (me) versus the big guy (Amazon).

And so the Take On Amazon quest was born!

Tomorrow I'll talk about the logistical issues of organising the splash on blogs, Facebook and Twitter -- and what the results are like one week on. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments section! Happy Wednesday.

50 comments:

  1. Talli - that's great. I wanted to connect you to a UK site I found via Twitter (of all things)- http://www.bestsellerbound.com. A group of UK authors are trying to do exactly what you did. In her words: "Talli did a great job." (Must be b/c your middle name is Leigh too...LOL) Anyway, check it out. I've yet to sign up, and dig in, but I found it interesting.

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  2. I will certainly ask questions after part two. In 'preparation' ;o)

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  3. What a great series of posts. I'm so curious--curious, curious, curious--about your great marketing success!

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  4. This is fantastic!!! You read my mind!!! I've been interested to know how you started everything, I believe it's best to be prepared before hand so you know what to expect!!!

    It was great Talli, I'm glad it was a success and the ebooks are something to consider for sure! The more and more I think about it I'm on my way towards a Nook (or Kindle)

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  5. So often now it seems publicity is left to the author, and you did a great job of handling yours! I'm curious to know what you've learned from the whole process that might help you in future promotions?

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  6. You're so great, Talli! Thanks for taking time to share what you learned and your process. I promise - many of us are taking notes. <3

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  7. I love reading about this part of the publishing biz. Thanks.

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  8. Well I thought you were just amazing organising this Talli Take on Amazon riot of a day!!!!! It was such fun seeing the Hating Game just EVERYWHERE in blogland!! I thought what you did was just brilliant!!!

    Take care
    x

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  9. That was truly a brilliant idea Talli and I’m glad to see all your hard work paid off. You are an instant bestseller.

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  10. You did a great job of promoting your book! I'm glad to see that your publisher came to such a reasonable price for the eBook. I'm much more likely to buy at that price for my Kindle, as opposed to the 9.99 ones. You're right - the author loses out when the publisher insists on a price most people won't spend for an electronic copy.

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  11. Thank, everyone!

    Samantha - I haven't sen that! I must check it out; I've not heard of this group. Go, Leighs of the world! :)

    Joanne - I've learned loads! Mainly, not to be afraid to ask people to help, because most people genuinely do want to help. On the flip side, not everyone who says they'll help will - for a variety of reasons (life, blog vacations etc). Also, to give people choice. Some have blogs, some are on Facebook, some tweet.

    I'll talk about this in my post tomorrow or on Friday (if tomorrow's gets too long!) but those are a few that come to mind right away.

    A big thanks again to everyone who participated! If you have any more questions, ask away - I'll be answering them in Friday's post!

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  12. Very interesting to read about the process and decisions that needed to be made. Delighted you were pleased with the results too. Congratulations.

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  13. These posts are very enlightening as you take us through the dynamics of marketing your latest book. Interesting that you are beginning with an ebook first. A sign of the times and clever marketing.

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  14. Because my book will be coming out probably some time in the next year, these types of posts really interest me. Thanks for all the wonderful info. Will look for future posts.

    CD

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  15. This was interesting. I always like to get ideas from others, and esp you cuz you're a brilliant marketer. I'd like to do something like this when my novel has a release date, but don't want to copy you of course he he.

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  16. Hi Talli .. good for you to be setting the path that others will follow .. the way to go!

    I'm so pleased it all worked - I haven't quite fathomed it .. but these things, when you're not actually involved, take time to sink in .. but I can dig around over our cup of coffee next year sometime!

    It's great that you're setting a trend .. look after yourself in this freezing weather .. and I look forward to the next update .. cheers Hilary

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  17. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing your path to publication. I'll be back for part III. I like to hear what writers went through from start to finish.

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  18. Hi Talli,
    I just blogged about several marketers with some savvy including you.

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  19. I think you have a brilliant blogsplash as you were able to get readers from all around the world! What could be better than that? Every part of it seemed organized from the gentle email reminders to signing up for it a few months back. There seemed to be just the right amount of publicity which is vital if you want your book to be noticed.

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  20. Talli, congratulations! Fantastic work.

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  21. All I can say is that you are clearly a marketing genius. Prepares to sponge off your wisdom as much as possible. :)

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  22. You carried it out brilliantly and with grace. Very interesting to hear the why's and how's! BTW, I'm reading your book, and loving it!

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  23. Can't wait to read tomorrow's post.

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  24. Thank you for sharing everything with us! I'm learning sooo much from you:)

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  25. I was happy to be a part of the splash. It's just the beginning of great things for you, Talli. Enjoyed this post, as well. Very informative.

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  26. Thank you for sharing the details with us of how you planned and pulled of this great feat!

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  27. Hi,

    I'm pleased it's all gone so well for you, because it was a daunting thing to get out there and appeal for help to create a hoo ha on Amazon.

    But hey, it worked and blogging bddies rallied to the call. It wouldn't be a bad idea to see who else needs similar support: I'd be willing to help anyone realise a dream!

    best
    F

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  28. Quite ingenious, Talli! Im glad to learn from you!

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  29. cant wait, we all need to learn from you.

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  30. Great post. I was curious how you got the idea/set the web splash up. :)

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  31. Marketing boggles my mind. But I'm glad you're doing well:)

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  32. This is good information to know and it's great that you are sharing this. To me, an e-book must be priced very reasonably and lower than the actual book. Why would I want to pay about the same or even just a few dollars lower for an e-book when I could get the physical book which is a tangible asset and something I can keep and treasure. Especially if the shipping is free. I would rather have an actual book anyway.

    Lee
    Tossing It Out

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  33. Interesting post! I think I totally missed all this. Will have to backread... :p

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  34. What you've demonstrated with your "splash" and the follow-up with this post is fantastic food for thought for new writers like myself!

    Thank so much for breaking down your experience in these posts.

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  35. I loved reading about how you came up with this strategy, Talli, and I'm looking forward to finding out more about the process.

    Jai

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  36. Your strategy sounds like a good one! Looking forward to reading more.

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  37. Thanks for sharin, Talli. Really looking forward to reading more. Am I reading this right, you went through a publisher to self-publish?? Can you share a bit more on this process??? Thanks!

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  38. Talli, Your book is great. But to have the "real" paperback book in the future would be wonderful.

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  39. I still think this was a great idea Talli - kudos to you for organizing and running it so well!

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  40. I thought it was an excellent marketing strategy that was brilliantly executed!! Congrats! :)

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  41. Interesting information. Thanks for sharing! I don't get why anyone would price an ebook higher than the paper version.

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  42. It was certainly fun seeing you and your book everywhere! In my opinion the splash seemed like a huge success. Can't wait to hear tomorrow's post :)

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  43. Interesting, I wondered how you came up with the idea and organized it all. Good on ya!

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  44. You did a fabulous job. Thanks for letting us know how you did it. Cheers~

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  45. Thanks for sharing what you've learned with us, Talli. I've wondered before about how ebooks are priced - very interesting!

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  46. Totally had not considered the eSales as encouraging bookstores angle. It seems like this makes this a SUPER smart strategy not only for someone in another country, but also for people who have small publishers. I still this this was brilliant on your part, Talli, but mostly WORKED because of the relationships you took the time to build beforehand.

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  47. I'm so glad you're posting about this, because I thought your marketing for The Hating Game was brilliant. Though, you know, it helped you've made the entire writing blogosphere LOVE you and we were all so eager to help with The Hating Game!

    Now I'm off to read the next installment in your story! :)

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  48. Since I've yet to take the plunge and get a kindle or a nook yet I'm still a bit unfamiliar. When you publish an ebook on amazon do they put it in a format that can only be read with a kindle or could you use an ipad or nook as well?

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  49. @Talli - Congrats on the blogsplash and I *loved* the book! Fantastic! And thanks for the idea! Even though I'm a complete unknown with a lot less followers, your blogsplash (and I expanded to Facebooksplash) idea pushed my ranking up on the US ebook Amazon chart into the #2400s. Which is awesome considering there are (I think) over 400,000 ebooks on Amazon.com.

    @Christopher - regarding your ebook question...if you publish through Amazon, that book is only available to those who read Kindles *or* have downloaded the free Kindle app to their computers/smart devices/iPads/etc. You can also publish to Barnes & Noble (in the US) and there is a site called Smashwords.com where the book is made available in ALL formats. Hope that answers your question! I've got more epublishing info on my blog as well...www.karlykirkpatrick.com

    Karly

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Coffee and wine for all!