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I've published my first self-published book, but ...

Herb Scribner

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Aug 23, 2016
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Hi all,

I just released a fantasy/sci-fi novel called "The Pen" today. I've worked as a journalist for Deseret News for three years now, but this is my first foray into published novel writing. Hope you find it interesting and worth reading! You can find an excerpt for the novel here if you want a preview before you think about reading the novel!

Here's the Amazon page for the novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1535340924

Or you can order it through CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/6429871

Enjoy, and thanks!


Just wondering what I should do when sharing it with my friends -- highlight the Amazon link or the CreateSpace one. Thoughts? One gets more royalties, but the other has more long-term benefits. Suggestions?
 
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Ankerstein17

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Mar 22, 2015
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Edmonton, Alberta
Hi all,

I just released a fantasy/sci-fi novel called "The Pen" today. I've worked as a journalist for Deseret News for three years now, but this is my first foray into published novel writing. Hope you find it interesting and worth reading! You can find an excerpt for the novel here if you want a preview before you think about reading the novel!

Here's the Amazon page for the novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1535340924

Or you can order it through CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/6429871

Enjoy, and thanks!


Just wondering what I should do when sharing it with my friends -- highlight the Amazon link or the CreateSpace one. Thoughts? One gets more royalties, but the other has more long-term benefits. Suggestions?

Hey Herb, congrats on writing your fist book.. It's going on my Amazon wishlist, I am writing my own book at the moment. I would love to sit down and skype with you and bounce some ideas across you etc. Direct message me when you get a chance.

I wouldn't focus solely on the royalties. Focus on providing as much value as possible too the reader. Get a FB page going, get people invited and liked too it (Friends and Family). While FF (Friends Family) start purchasing the book which they will it will help you rank in Amazons web pages. Better display space, has greater opportunity for you to capture sales.
IF I were in your shoes, I would focus on MARKETING, MARKETING, MARKETING. Get people in from of that book as much as possible, get reviews. Do what ever it takes. Sales will naturally come in if and when you close them. So I understand the need to focus on Roalties. But Focus on how you can get long term sustainable recurring royalties and what platform will help you the best too do such .
 

Justin Gesso

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Jun 4, 2014
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Hi all,

I just released a fantasy/sci-fi novel called "The Pen" today. I've worked as a journalist for Deseret News for three years now, but this is my first foray into published novel writing. Hope you find it interesting and worth reading! You can find an excerpt for the novel here if you want a preview before you think about reading the novel!

Here's the Amazon page for the novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1535340924

Or you can order it through CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/6429871

Enjoy, and thanks!


Just wondering what I should do when sharing it with my friends -- highlight the Amazon link or the CreateSpace one. Thoughts? One gets more royalties, but the other has more long-term benefits. Suggestions?

Congrats on releasing the book.

I'm assuming you came here with some genuine learning intent and not just to market your book on your first post.

I just launched my first book 8 days ago and am in a great mood, so I'll bite...

While I have a lot of web marketing experience, I hired a launch company to help me do this right. You can see my thread here with info on it: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/publishing-using-a-launch-company.69240/page-2

I'll be posting results either tomorrow or Friday, but I can tell you the launch has exceeded my expectations. It has hit best seller in many categories and several countries. As of today, it's still tagged as a best seller by Amazon.

What I didn't do: just submit my book to Creatspace and KDP.

What we did instead:
  • Build up to a launch day. Generate a lot of social buzz and capture email opt ins. Create excitement and anticipation. (Great side bonus is this helped build my list.)
  • Go bananas on launch day with social and email marketing. This was enough to move the book up into some top 100 lists.
  • Once it began ranking in lists, people began finding it through Amazon and the scale of Amazon kicked in. This pushed it into top 10 lists, then ultimately #1 in numerous places.
It was really a snowball effect, all originating by building excitement and then concentrating people to a specific launch day.

If you're not getting the traffic you want, certainly consider this approach. Build up to a launch day and re-launch the book. If you're able to get your book noticed, then parlay those results into more evergreen programs for the book (perhaps there are podcasts, blogs, or magazines related to your sci-fi book that you can participate in).

In terms of what link, use the Amazon one. The minor royalty difference won't matter long term.

Hope this helps.
 

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