Book Marketing

It has now been just over a week since I released my satirical black comedy, Necropolis.  This week’s blog post is about some of my book marketing efforts so far. Hopefully fellow authors might find some of this information useful.

Reviews

In my opinion it is imperative to start approaching reviewers before the release of your book.  A few days before the official launch day Necropolis was reviewed on:

Crime Fiction Lover – (Britain’s biggest Crime Fiction website) awarded Necropolis 5 Stars.

The following is a quote I particularly liked from their review:

‘The book is full of razor-sharp satire. No politically correct madness escapes unscathed, and no sacred cow remains un-butchered and served up in freezer packs.’

A number of authors suggest that approaching Amazon Top 500 Customer Reviewers can be a beneficial strategy.  You can recognise Amazon’s top reviewers on Amazon, as they have written in a blue font next to their names things like; HALL OF FAME and TOP 10 REVIEWER. 

To receive a review from one of Amazon’s top reviewers gives added validity to your book/product, provided they like it of course, otherwise the opposite holds true.  I would not recommend trying to contact any until your book/product goes Live on Amazon.  This is a video link to assist you in finding them.  Click here to find out how to do this.

From my experience only a very few have contact details, desire to be contacted and/or fall within a given target market, but if your book manages to entice one of these respected reviewers it is well worth the effort. There will be a couple of Amazon Top 500 Customer Reviewers of Necropolis on Amazon.co.uk in the near future.

It goes without saying that more reviews do not equal more sales, only visibility can achieve that, but reviews are critical in persuading customers to purchase once they are on your page.

 Bloggers

Blog tours are a marketing strategy used by many authors to gain exposure when they launch a new book. Personally I never planned anything that formal. However, a number of kind bloggers have offered to interview me, provide a guest author profile and/or review my book. This offers a great opportunity for exposure, and in the case of interviews, allows readers to find out more about you as a person.  Readers like this, so I am told.  Here are some blogs/websites I have appeared on so far:

Fiction Favorites – Yesterday American author and prolific Haiku creator, John Howell, kindly interviewed me for his popular blog.

Bookingly Yours – My guest author profile.

Chunk Books – Author, Hollywood Actor and former skateboarder Eric Barry interviewed me for his new blog, dedicated to readers and authors of the Transgressive genre.

More to follow soon.

I had a pre launch giveaway on the popular reader site, as I did for my first book, Charles Middleworth. I offered 3 signed copies of Necropolis. 1,260 people entered, and nearly 500 added Necropolis to their to-read list. Goodreads giveaways provide a unique  opportunity for your book to be seen by some of goodreads’ 20 million users.

The potential downside is:

• There is a risk winners will fall outside your target audience.  If an avid fan of Christian Fiction, positive thinking books and/or books featuring cute kittens/puppies wins a copy of my satirical black comedy, Necropolis, they will probably not like it, and this will no doubt be reflected in their review – but that is the risk you take.

For those that are unfamiliar with LibraryThing, it is the competitor to goodreads, with a purported 1.65m users. The LibraryThing Members Giveaway feature provides the opportunity to give away your book. In contrast to goodreads one can offer an ebook as opposed to a hardcopy. The advantage of this is that it will not incur any cost for the author.  I held an ebook giveaway for Necropolis.

If you are not familiar with the site, be warned, it is easier to find your way through a maze than to navigate through LibraryThing.  A lot of work needs to be done to make the site more user friendly, if it is ever to truly compete with goodreads.

There are now 5 Star reviews of Necropolis on Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com and goodreads.

Dyson Devereux works in the Burials and Cemeteries department in his local council.  Dyson is intelligent, incisive and informed.  He is also a sociopath.  Dyson’s contempt for the bureaucracy and banality of his workplace provides ample refuge for his mordant wit.  But the prevalence of Essex Cherubs adorning the headstones of Newton New Cemetery is starting to get on his nerves.

When an opportunity presents itself will Dyson seize his chance and find freedom, or is his destiny to be a life of toil in Burials and Cemeteries?

Brutal, bleak and darkly comical, Necropolis is a savage indictment of the politically correct, health and safety obsessed world in which we live.

‘Not only a funny, twisted, erudite satire on the psychopath genre, this novel also boasts a compelling plot and finely sculpted characters’

‘A black comedy of true distinction’

‘I was at once fascinated and disturbed by the devious Dyson Devereux with his malicious pedantry, wicked schemes and grotesque good taste.  A barbed joy’

Amazon.co.uk – Paperback & Kindle: £2.22

Amazon.com – Paperback & Kindle: $3.73

Thank you to all those who have purchased a copy and/or assisted me in spreading the word about Necropolis.

Next week I will be blogging about marketing on social media: