On 7th of December, we had an interesting and informative webinar about ‘How to Launch an eBook’. Our panel consisted of D’vorah Lansky (M.Ed. and Author of Book Marketing Made Easy: Simple Strategies for Selling Your Nonfiction Book Online), Phyllis Zimbler Miller (co-founder of Miller Mosaic Power Marketing) and Penny C. Sansevieri (CEO of Author Marketing Experts, Inc.).
We answered a lot of questions but still had a few unanswered. This post answers those questions. If you have any further questions, please leave them in the comments for our panel.
1. Besides utilizing social media and virtual book tours, what would be your next top marketing tool or idea? [Mary DeMaio]
Phyllis Zimbler Miller:
Utilizing Amazon’s features for author promotion.
Penny C. Sansevieri:
I would recommend eBook groups and video. YouTube is getting even bigger — over the next 8 months many changes will continue to take place there, premium channels, etc. Fabulous way to promote your eBook!
2. How long would you recommend a blog/book tour be? [Mary DeMaio]
D’vorah Lansky:
As far as “ideal length” for a virtual book tour, that depends on the author’s goal. My recommendation would be to start with a 6-8 day tour. You can conduct this over a 2 or 3 week period, focusing on specific days of the week.
Penny C. Sansevieri:
I don’t recommend that an author ever stop marketing actually. We do our tours for 90 days, but generally that’s because an author doesn’t want to hire a PR firm forever (though I would love that :) – but if you’re doing this on your own, keep going!
3. I’ve heard that an e book shouldn’t be very long – that people don’t want to read a 100-150 page book on Kindle. What do you think? If my book is “longer” then should it be broken up into 30-50 page books? [Christina McCale]
Phyllis Zimbler Miller:
An eBook should be the length needed to complete the topic so it should not be artificially broken up.
Penny C. Sansevieri:
Generally eBooks have been shorter – they used to be 20-70 pages or so, but now with so many different eBooks populating the market, genres, etc. It’s no longer a mainstream concept that the eBook needs to be short. Though I will say this, I think that books will be getting shorter and shorter – just in general. I don’t think we will continue to have the bandwidth for reading long books. That’s just my take.
4. What are the most effective means for distributing eBooks? [scott tornek]
Penny C. Sansevieri:
I would recommend printing in all formats, so Kindle, Mobi, etc. Make sure it’s on all platforms.
5. How do I create Word of Mouth options to spread my message with further reach? Starting from zero. [Chelsia Brewer]
Phyllis Zimbler Miller:
Wordpress website with blog, social media, Amazon, comments on other people’s blogs, comments on LinkedIn groups.
Penny C. Sansevieri:
Hard to tell, authors always want to know how to go “viral” but that’s not always just a tip or trick you can do. There are certain concepts though to going viral and the first is, you must make it easy – so easy to RT your info, easy to share your stuff, etc. Easy, easy, easy. Shorten the staircase as it were. Don’t make people jump through hoops to get your stuff and then, write amazing content. Really. There’s a piece I just wrote on this topic, creating great content, candidly it’s more important than ever. Hope this helps: http://www.amarketingexpert.com/the-new-pr-secrets-to-turning-fans-into-evangelists/
What are your thoughts? Would you like to add to the answers? Have questions about launching an ebook? Leave your questions and suggestions in the comments for our panel.
