Chapter 15

Marketing Your E-Book via Amazon and Other Online Stores

In This Chapter

Writing an appealing blurb about your e-book

Inspiring your first reviews from readers

Emulating successful authors in your genre or niche

Boosting sales of your e-book with price pulsing

Many authors, after writing e-books and successfully publishing them online, believe that the hard work is done. They may even crack open the champagne, sit back, and wait for their e-books to rocket up the bestseller charts.

Sadly, these authors are doomed to disappointment. Millions of e-books are available from big-name stores, such as Amazon, and thousands more arrive every day. A brand-new e-book, with a basic description and no reviews, is unlikely to attract much attention.

This chapter sets you up for marketing success by showing you how to optimize your e-book’s page at Amazon.com. Readers use this page to find out about your e-book before buying it — you can see an excellent example at www.amazon.com/Pentecost-An-ARKANE-Thriller-ebook/dp/B004JHYA6A . (Though similar tips apply to other stores, I use Amazon as an example because it has, by far, the largest share of the market.) This chapter describes how to craft your e-book’s blurb, collect reviews, categorize your e-book correctly, model the success of other authors in your genre or niche, and use price pulsing to boost the sales of your e-book.

Even if your e-book is available only from your website (and not from established e-stores), glance through this chapter. You may find new tips to try, particularly for writing, or rewriting, the blurb.