Use the Calendar to Sell Your Books!

All of us who are involved in the world of writing and publishing have explored ways to expand our marketing efforts. Many times, as a little guy, it has seemed like getting the word out about my books to the large audience that I desire is an insurmountable task. However, with my fourth release, Opur’s Blade, we tried something different and I wanted to share the exciting results.

Do you know how those bestseller lists that you see with online distributors such as Amazon are determined?  If you want to succeed at the game, you need to know the process.  We set out to do just that.

With several sites, one of the requirements is a large number of sales in a very short, concentrated time frame. We found that is the case with Amazon. With this knowledge, the gears were set in motion.

Opur’s Blade was categorized as a sports/fiction book on that global online bookseller. We told the world, through social media and traditional outlets, that we hoped people would purchase this new release on 10/10/10 and asked those who were considering buying the book to hold off until this date.

Bingo! Our efforts succeeded. With those sales, Opur’s Blade rose to at least #17 on the best-seller list at Amazon in the sports/fiction grouping and stood next to authors with names like Patterson, Grisham, and other notable literary figures. For a short while it was gratifying but alas, it didn’t last forever. At the end of the day, though, I can say that Opur’s Blade rose to lofty heights on the bestseller list at Amazon.  And, I know that this campaign exposed my work to many people who may not have discovered it otherwise.

We’ll certainly use this strategy with Pabby’s Score when it is released. You should try it, too!