First off – both Watcher and Runner are on sale this weekend thru tomorrow, June 10! Don’t miss this chance to pick up both at a nice discount on Amazon.
The last month has been an exciting one for me in the world of books. Some of my marketing efforts are FINALLY starting to pay off.
Can I tell you how hard it is to learn book marketing? How many ways there are to do this?
OMG – it’s a tangled web of sticky threads, each one enticing, each one a temptation that THIS ONE might be THE ONE. The one that’s going to get your book noticed, that’s going to translate into sales, the one that may mean you MIGHT be able to break even or even make a little money.
Prior to last October’s release of Watcher (2nd ed.) and Runner, I had done little to no marketing. Just didn’t have enough product.
But with two novels and two novellas now in The Chosen series, it was time to start learning this stuff.
I tried a few things, most of them unsuccessful — although I did learn how to do them better and will try them again in the future, such as Amazon and Facebook advertising.
But in May I found something that started turning the tide for me.
Newsletters. Not just my own, but promo newsletters run by other folks.
The one that has made the most difference is ReadFree.ly.
Participating was simple. All I did was submit Watcher to be considered for Book of the Month. To my great surprise, it won and was featured as the April Book of the Month.
This earned Watcher a promo spot in the newsletter, a permanent spot on their website, and more importantly, a review by the ReadFree.ly staff.
And the review was killer – one of the best Watcher has received. The book and the review were featured again in their newsletter.
But better yet, the win qualified Watcher for an entry into ReadFree.ly’s Best Book We’ve Read All Year, a new contest for the promo company. The winner is selected based on a combo of the ReadFree.ly reviewer opinion, Amazon reviews, and reader votes (and yes, voting is still open here).
In an effort to raise my reader votes, I participated in several giveaways and other newsletter promo spots. And continued to promote through ReadFree.ly.
Between the promo newsletters and sending out my own newsletter, I sold more books this past month than I have in the last several years combined.
Yes, having professionally designed covers are a big part of that, and I’m so grateful to Deranged Doctor Design for their wonderful covers.
But the rest is the exposure gained by appearing in newsletters in conjunction with running discounts on the books.
One strategy resulted in over 100 downloads (in 2 days) of The Games Monsters Play, which I had discounted to free for a 5-day run.
Games hit #2 in the Kindle store category of vampire thriller, and #6 and #8 in the Kindle short story categories of sci-fi/fantasy and mystery/thriller/suspense.
Granted, it was free, so I don’t receive any royalties. But my work was noticed, and so was Watcher (Games includes a short excerpt), which may have added to its sales.
What I’ve learned is that it takes multiple marketing strategies to become a successful author, and that means taking the time to research and test to determine what works and what doesn’t.
So I’ll keep doing that a little at a time. Because the rest of my “book time” is allocated to working on Seeker: Book III of The Chosen. 
Speaking of Seeker, it’s coming along well. As those who’ve read Runner know (spoiler alert!), Sunny is embarking on a journey into dangerous territory, where she will face her deadliest enemies. As she ventures deeper into the unknown, I’ll start sharing tidbits from a research journey I recently took into the real world locations that provide many of the settings in this newest book of The Chosen.
A fun, new project I’m starting is the promotion of supernatural pop culture. I have a rather extensive collection of vampire collectibles and vampire books (surprise!), and I’m using them to re-vamp my Pinterest page and dive into Instagram.
Because he loves me 
, my hubby built me a DIY lightbox to help with my photography, and I’m excited to test it out. I’m extra jazzed, too – I discovered how to post from my desktop on Instagram, which will allow me to edit my photos before uploading them.
So keep an eye out on my social media pages – my vampire obsession is about to get a bit more public. 
And if you want the details on the newsletter services that I used this past month, feel free to contact me.
~RM~
