Hey, you weirdo!

Full disclosure: I wrote and scheduled May's newsletters beforehand, so I don't know what's happening in my world right now, but I wanted more time to do the following:

• market The Price of a Beating Heart's preorder; it's due out on August 30, 2024!! 👽
• build out my van
• eat lots of popcorn
• plan out great newsletters for your awesome self!

Ha, that's creepily funny. I'm talking to you from the past.

Anyway, I want to give you ways to reach more of your target audience. Get more reviews. Sell more books.

But that'll be later...

1. Who is the main antagonist in the 'Jurassic Park' series?

2. Who is the primary villain in the 'Mad Max' film series?

3. Who played Snake Plissken in 'Escape from New York' and 'Escape from L.A.'?

Remember your answers. The truth'll be revealed at the end ;)

Some of these might make you go... wtf is she talkin' about?

But that's okay. Pick the one's you think will help and disregard the rest.

Tip #1: Make your books free

I know of two ways to make your book free—create a permafree book and run promotions.

A permafree book is permanently free. It's a great way to get lots of reviews and interest in your book. This can lead to making cash later on.

Some authors make their first-in-series free; others write a short prequel or related story and give that away for free. A third set give nothing away for free.

Up to you.

I plan to do permafree with my nine-book sci-fi series, The Price of a Heart. After writing, editing, and publishing the second and third books, I'm gonna leave the first book free. Why?

• Gets people into my book's world
• Makes it easy for them to try the book, and I, the author
• Boosts reviews and exposure
• They'd be likely to buy the other books if the first is free

I recommend you have at least two other books in your series out before making the first one free. If you don't, sell the first until you've finished the next two.

Promotions

If you're not game to give your book away forever, you can run time-limited promotions like giveaways and discounts or exchange your book for people's email addresses.

Those email addresses are EXTREMELY valuable.

Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) lets you run promotions on your books. You can find them in your dashboard.

Example of KDP promotions

As of May 2024, with both of these promotions, you gotta enroll in KDP Select. Your book has to be exclusive to Amazon for 90 days.

Kindle Countdown Deals - you can discount your book for a short while

Free Book Promotion - you can have your book free for a short while

Tip #2: Let the world know about your book

You don't wanna go on all your social media platforms and spam people constantly about your book, but don't be afraid to let 'em know it's coming or available.

In between helpful threads, funny memes, thought-provoking questions, and more, slip in that you've got a book, and it's for sale.

Some ways to do this on X/Twitter (Xitter for short) are:

• change your Xitter featured image
  • add a promotional image of your book
  • Canva's a good place to create graphics
• add your book's link to your Xitter bio
• share other people's thoughts about your book

Don't scream about it, but don't be too hush-hush, either.

No one buys a book they don't know exists.

Tip #3: Create different formats

People like variety. You don't have to do these all at once, but selling your book in different formats can boost your sales.

• Digital (Kindle, PDF)
• Paperback (people can't get enough of that real wood smell)
• Hardcover (who doesn't want a book they can beat someone with?)
• Audiobook (why open my eyes when I don't have to?)

The more formats and places your books are at, the likelier chance you'll sell more -> this is called "going wide."

Some people do it; others don't.

Again, up to you.

You can create an audiobook through Amazon ACX, find an audiobook creator on Fiverr, Upwork, or narrate your own book.

The possibilities are freakin' ridiculous! 👍🏾

1. InGen Corporation / Dr. Henry Wu

  2. Immortan Joe

  3. Kurt Russell

So, how'd you do?

Awesome :D

Meh :|

Thought I knew more. Welp, I learned something :)

Be well,

Deon Ashleigh 👽

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