Congratulations You Are Now A Published
Author…
Taking
a call from my e-book publisher back in December 2013 which informed me I was
‘published’ made me feel an enormous sense of achievement I had fulfilled a
lifelong ambition of writing a book and having it published. Just as important I would continue to raise
funds for my chosen charity through the sales of my book. Or so I thought.
I
had considered the self-publishing option but lacked the technical knowledge and
confidence to do so. Having found a
publisher who gave me feedback that there was a market for the subject matter
of the book helped my confidence enormously.
My
book is a travelogue of my experiences when trekking part of The Great Wall and
describes my observations of visiting China and thoughts on seeing The
Forbidden City, Summer Palace and Terracotta Warriors. The trip was life changing for me.
I
undertook the Trek to support the work of Dementia UK, Admiral Nurses. My fundraising had been successful and I hoped
the e-book would be a way of continuing to raise funds. Fifteen months later I have sold just 15
copies of my e-book titled ‘Scaling The Dragon’s Back’, that is 1 copy for each
month of its publication.
As
at October last year having sold only 13 copies I decided to have a marketing
push, promoting the book with a 50% price reduction in the run up to the
Christmas festive period. I hoped perhaps people would have more time to read over
the holiday period and be searching for an e-book to purchase for the i-pad or
tablet they had received as a Christmas present.
A
Consultant helped me to draw up a marketing plan. A big part of my marketing strategy was a
concentrated promotional campaign on Twitter.
In a three week period in the lead up to Christmas I posted 4 relevant tweets
a day. Mike Smith, Beezeebooks, and
ASMSG members were very helpful in retweeting many of my Tweets. Additionally, Dementia UK and other dementia
related organisations retweeted at least once.
The sale was also promoted on my Facebook page. I had hoped all of this activity would
generate a few sales, and sure enough it did generate a few sales; 2! Imagine my disappointment 2 e-book sales from
all of my and others efforts.
The
few reviews of the book posted on Amazon and other e-book sites had been good;
four or five stars. And feedback was that
my book was an enjoyable read, and informative. I
am left to wonder whether I chose the right format for the book as it includes
many illustrative photographs, perhaps it would have better sold as a coffee
table printed book for readers to browse at their leisure reading small chunks.
Most of all I am disappointed for my chosen Charity who supported my book all
the way.
So
what am I to take from this learning experience? Is my experience typical of unknown e-book
authors? Would it have been better to go
for the traditional printed format? Does
social media have any impact on sales? I
really would be genuinely interested to hear of the experiences of other
writers.
The e-book is available from Amazon for Kindle, Barnes
and Noble for Nook, on Kobo and for all other formats from www.theendlessbookcase.co.uk
