My Sharpest Weapon For Book Launches

I have long hesitated to write an article about my most effective marketing tool. No other author I know uses this possibility in the way I have developed for myself. What if everyone suddenly copies my tactics?

I've come to the conclusion that this fear is nonsense. We Self Publishers live from the fact that we support each other and share our knowledge with each other. I have received valuable tips from many great colleagues that have helped me on my way. What kind of person would I be if I wasn't willing to put my cards on the table myself?

I would like to stress that this is not a magic trick that leads immediately to success. It takes time to create the necessary basis for this method. But if you start today, it can work wonders for you in a year.

The method does not stand on its own

I'm writing here about my sharpest weapon, not my only one. This is important because my very personal marketing method is a complement to the usual tactics and concludes a marketing campaign.

Amazon rewards continuously rising sales over several days, no sales spike on the first day. This is because most organic sales on the platform do not come from the bestseller ranking, but from the popularity ranking.

The latter takes account of sales over the last thirty days and reacts with a two-day delay, while the bestseller ranking only takes account of the previous twenty-four hours and responds immediately.

For those who don't know: You can find the popularity ranking by selecting the categories in the Kindle Shop on the left.

The bestseller ranking is only visible if you click on the bestseller categories at the bottom of the product information page on the product page of a book.

However, the popularity ranking is not only crucial for direct sales. Also, the listing of the books in the Kindle Unlimited shelf is calculated from this, and the recommendation algorithm of Amazon is also fed from this ranking.

How my method works

Now that the basics are settled, I finally get to the point. Here's my secret weapon:

I send vouchers to the readers who are most enthusiastic about my books. When a voucher is redeemed, Amazon counts it as a regular purchase.

What? That's it? I know it sounds unspectacular at first, but it's not that simple after all.

When I say that I only send the vouchers to my most enthusiastic readers, the question immediately arises how I know who these readers are and how I get their e-mail addresses.

And what is the difference between this list and my newsletter (which I also run)?

Basically it is quite simple: At the end of my books I offer my readers a deal: If you want to receive all my future e-books for free (yes, all of them), you should send me an e-mail with the subject first readers club (just enter a subject of your choice. I took this subject because I want to suggest to my readers that they belong to an exclusive club).

In the US store, you would choose this product to send coupons:

https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-eGift-Card-Birthday-Greetings/dp/B00BWDH368/

The idea behind this tactic is actually simple: only those who have read the book to the end will see this offer. Anyone who reads to the end probably liked it. If people liked the book very much, they'd want to read more of me.

Now there are two types of readers: Some like to accept gifts, others feel uncomfortable with them. For the latter, I have my regular newsletter. For the others who like to be given presents, there is my First Readers Club.

As soon as I receive an e-mail with the correct subject, I copy it into a Word document. I separate the individual addresses by commas.

This is how I handle it because the addresses in the voucher have to be entered in the address field in precisely the same way. If I had to copy every single one from an Excel file, it would take me forever to send it.

An important note: In the launch phase I keep the price at 99 cents. That way, I don't have to spend a fortune on the vouchers.

Is this legal according to the Amazon guidelines?

Short answer: Yes, if the voucher is not subject to any conditions. For example, you may not demand a review from the voucher recipients.

To make this quite clear, I always write the following text in the message field of the voucher:

Hello, dear first readers club member! Here's your voucher for book XXX. It is best to redeem it right away; otherwise, it will sink into your mailbox later, and that would be a pity. As always, I don't expect anything in return, especially no review. Click here to go to the book: (Insert link)

What are the advantages compared to a regular newsletter?

As already written above, I also run a regular newsletter. Newsletters are still the number one marketing tool, no question about it. But my method takes the newsletter principle to a new level and considers the most prestigious ranking criteria of Amazon.

The advantages in detail:

1. reward the biggest fans

Those who take the effort to send me an e-mail after reading the book to get my next books for free belong to my core target group. They want to read more of me, and they let me know that too. Rewarding these people with a voucher simply gives me a good feeling, regardless of the tactical considerations.

2. the conversion rate is fantastic compared to a newsletter

My newsletter has an open rate between 50 and 56%. That's a good value, but it doesn't say anything about how many sales actually result from those clicks.

My vouchers, on the other hand, are redeemed over 70 percent, sometimes even 80 percent. At Amazon, you can follow precisely who has redeemed the voucher. You also always get an e-mail as soon as someone has redeemed the voucher.

Such a conversion rate is absolutely unrealistic for a regular newsletter, but the rule for my method.

A little tip: every few months you should take the time to delete recipients from the list who never redeem their vouchers. This saves money and increases the effectiveness of the list at the same time.

3. Also, baughts are kept clean

Also baughts are, as we all know, an absolutely critical factor for the success of a book. My method leads to the fact that under my books my other books always appear first in this list. As a result, a reader who finds one of my books on Amazon will always see a few others on the same page. It also helps Amazon with the recommendations.

And because my readers are usually frequent readers and genre-affine, I also quickly emerge in the also baughts of the best-placed colleagues.

4. massive sales spike at the end of the launch process

As I wrote above, Amazon rewards a steady increase in sales over several days. This also means that on the last day of the launch you have to drive up the heavy guns.

That's precisely what I do when I send out my vouchers on the last day. Every time I send my vouchers (almost 500), it catapults me directly into the Top 100 (on the German market, these numbers are enough. On the US market more might be necessary).

The method in the context of my overall strategy

At the end of this article, I would like to give you a short overview of my entire launch process so that you can see how my method described above fits into it.

At launch, I'll proceed as follows:

1. At least seven days of pre-order phase. During this time I switch Facebook Ads and Amazon Ads. I start on Facebook with a budget of 10 € a day and increase each additional day by 10 €. So I get the first also baughts, can finish my print version and already climb in the bestseller and popularity ranking.

2. Publication day: Facebook ads continue to run. Additional advertising in Facebook groups and on smaller advertising sites.

3. Day 2-5 after release: Further increase in budget for Facebook ads.

4. Day 6-7 after publication: Larger advertising sites with more reach. Also, my newsletter will be sent now.

5. Day 8 after publication: The vouchers will be sent.

I hope my article was helpful and you liked it. I would be pleased about comments very much.

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