Category: Business

Advertising Only Amplifies Visibility

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

When Walter Danley signed up for my newsletter, as is my custom I sent him a personal welcome. I asked Walter if he had any specific questions he’d like to see answered.

Hey Joel;

In response to your query, I have two issues I’d like answers to.

  1. If I found a short cut to the promotion of the book, I could finish one of the two WIP that need me.
  2. Does paid advertising work, and if so, how would you measure the ROI?

Now, Joel, I read your comments about advice being free if it’s in your head. Please don’t do a ton of research on these questions!

Walter

I’ll answer #2 right now: advertising amplifies visibility.

… more … “Advertising Only Amplifies Visibility”

Will This Book Be Right for You?

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

Most authors think marketing is a scary deep dark hole. I think it’s filled with rainbows and possibly unicorns, so I’m writing a book to see if you can learn to be as goofy about it as I am.

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/857803 by Jose Bernalte http://www.mrkstudios.com/” width=”440″ height=”197″ class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-2169]

You’ll be disappointed to find that Commonsense Zero-Cost DIY Marketing for Authors will not be a step by step marketing guide. Like all my books it’s a why to rather than a how to.

But it will include lots of information like

… more … “Will This Book Be Right for You?”

Self-Publishing Jump Start and Long Game

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

Writing to make a profit in 2013 requires either wild blind luck or choosing to write over-the-line sexual encounters. For this brief moment in history, books are a commodity: far more supply than demand.

Stick with it for 5 years, and the opportunists will have faded away or been pruned by market response.

For now, write because you have something to say. Word toward making a profit 5 years from now.

If you understand that self-publishing is a business which is connected to but not the same as the art of writing, you’re light-years ahead of many other authors.

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/873643 by K Rayker http://www.sxc.hu/profile/krayker” width=”440″ height=”204″ class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-2146]
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Who Does 99¢ Pricing Hurt?

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/570269 by Andy Reid http://www.sxc.hu/profile/RockinDad” width=”166″ height=”256″ class=”alignright size-full wp-image-2107]If first books were universally priced at 99¢, the only folks who’d lose are authors who won’t write or can’t sell a second book. I say, let’s set that expectation!

99¢ is a good price for a single “taster” book so folks can be sure if they like your books. If so, they’ll pay full boat for the others. If not, you don’t have a frustrated reader who feels ripped off, you just have someone who quietly goes away. Folks who pay $12 for a book they hated are far more vocal than folks who only paid 99¢.

Be clear with your readers that’s exactly what you’re doing. “This book is the taster sample. If you like it, here are 6 more!”

Everyone in traditional publishing mourns the loss of the gatekeepers. This is built-in thresholding. Don’t set the bar artificially from the outside, set the bar at “Do you want to write a book badly enough that you’re willing to sell it for 99¢ because you know you’ll be writing more?”

What if I Want to Raise the Price Later?

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/875056 by Andrew Steinle http://www.sxc.hu/profile/andrewcs” width=”222″ height=”222″ class=”alignright size-full wp-image-2108]The common perception is that a low price is hard to raise. It’s just not true.

It’s hard to resell the same thing to the same buyer at a higher price, sure. That’s why we whine about the price of gas, like that’s gonna do any good.

But if I sell my book to you for 99¢, and in a year when I’ve finished 5 of them and am famous for being Chandler reborn, do you really believe I can’t set the price of that selfsame book anywhere I like, and sell copies all day long to new readers?

In fact, would those early readers not tell everyone they know “I knew him when he was 99¢, and he’s worth every penny of ten bucks, go buy the book” ?

Should Price Equal Value?

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1334745 by Robert Linder http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=profile&l=linder6580″ width=”128″ height=”256″ class=”alignright size-full wp-image-2101]Price is a number. Value is the outcome of a relationship.

My first book, The Commonsense Entrepreneur, has made the difference between a lifetime of struggle and successful entrepreneurship for more than one person.

Lifetime earnings of, let’s estimate, a million dollars. Measure of happiness and contentment from working for yourself instead of a soul-sucking corporation: priceless (meaning, oddly enough, “of such high value as to be incalculable.”)
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99¢ Samples Aren’t New

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

You’ve seen 99¢ samples of toiletries in stores. For less than a buck you can know, unequivocally, whether it works for you. They make enough, and you’re out very little.

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/189883 by Lotus Head http://www.pixelpusher.co.za/]

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Who Says a $10 Book is Better Than a 99¢ Book?

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/641396 by jweston http://www.sxc.hu/profile/jweston” width=”200″ height=”200″ class=”alignright size-full wp-image-2080]Seems I started this last week, talking about digital book pricing. Since digital books have essentially no cost involved in delivery, the price is almost an abstract concept.

It’s often argued that a book priced at 99¢ looks like the author doesn’t value their own work (usually by authors who don’t want to sell their books for 99¢.)

In what context do “price” and “value” relate to each other? That’s the question I’ll be exploring in a bit of detail this week.
… more … “Who Says a $10 Book is Better Than a 99¢ Book?”

5 Things I Believe About Pricing Your Digital Book

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1243714 by floretan http://www.sxc.hu/profile/floretan” width=”200″ height=”282″ class=”alignright size-full wp-image-2005]Smashwords did extensive research and discovered that, all other things being equal, the price that sells is $3.99.

A few thoughts:

  1. I don’t buy digital books. I don’t even download them free, or, well, when I do, I don’t bother to read them. I’m a book in my hands guy. So as a buyer, digital price is irrelevant.
  2. The market expects that digital books will cost less than print. For good or ill, we have to be aware of the expectation, and if we defy it, we have to manage it, not just ignore it.

    3. … more … “5 Things I Believe About Pricing Your Digital Book”