Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Listmania: All AUTHORS should do this NOW

LISTMANIA:

By now I hope the term “Listmania” rings a bell. These lists are one of the most important tools Amazon makes available for you to promote your work.

To clear things up let’s discuss what exactly Listmania is. Amazon allows it’s users to pick up to 25 items from Amazon and create a list of those products based upon a common theme. This common theme is up to you. You could choose a list that is dedicated to books that teach people how to fish or one that is full of your favorite suspense novels. You can create a list for whatever you like but we want you to focus on lists that can somehow tie back to your novel.

Using Listmania as a promotion tool is very simple. You want to create a list that appeals to your demographics while simultaneously attracting as many people as possible.  You want to stay within your genre typically, but of course there are exceptions.

Creating your Listmania:

1.) Name Your List- You want to create a catchy name that will attract Amazon users. You want this title to stand out from the crowd and make viewers curious to see more. My suggestions would be to use the word “YOU” and/or a number in your title. People like to see numbers, numbers catch attention, and using the word “You” is a subliminal tactic to grab attention as well. Let’s look at an example:

 “15 bedtime stories that are perfect for YOUR child” versus “ My favorite bedtime stories”.

See the difference?

2.) Your Qualifications- this is your section to shine. Amazon wants to know what qualifies you to make such a list. So why are you qualified to pick the best 15 bedtime stories? BECAUSE YOU ARE AN AUTHOR! This line should be an exact replica of the author signature you created on your Amazon Profile page.  For example it should read

“Carol Day, Author of Sahara to Shame”. By repeating this signature all over Amazon you are branding yourself. Our overall objective here is to help increase the amount of exposure your name AND your book’s title receives on other Amazon Book Detail pages.

3.) Introduction: Why are you creating this list? Obviously to sell more copies of your book. I know that is our goal but we have to mask this blatant objective. I would recommend in your introduction to start off with a question and your Listmania will solve the question for your viewers. An example “Do you want to know how to cook the perfect thanksgiving turkey?” And your list will clearly lay out 15 of the best cook books, which include cooking turkey.

4.) Add a product: This is pretty self explanatory. Please make sure you list your book first, at the TOP of the list.  I would like to mention though that you should try to pick books that fall within your competitive network. This increases exposure for you because Amazon user’s who know about one of your competitors may have never heard of your book. But when they check out that book’s Amazon page and see a Listmania of like books and yours is on it they might just click and buy your book.

You should create multiple Listmanias. Try for one a week if you can.

Listmanias are beneficial to you because they help increase your exposure throughout Amazon. You should have a Listmania on your book’s Amazon page that I have created for you. When you create a Listmania, Amazon displays your list on the book’s detail page which is viewed by your target audience. Amazon examines all of the subject matter inside your list and determines the appropriate categories to place them in. It then places your Listmania on other book’s detail pages. So when Amazon users view other book’s Amazon pages and see your list, they may click on it to learn more. Please note the more books on your list the more often it will appear throughout Amazon. You should also make sure to include at least one major novel that already has monumental recognition. 

I hope to see your Listmanias created soon and if you have any questions please feel free to ask!

Here is an example of a well constructed Listmania:

http://www.amazon.com/lm/R1MQOGRRK1KIK8/ref=cm_pdp_lm_title_1

Best regards,
 

Ms. Kait Neese
Marketing Coach
Strategic Book Group
Strategic & Eloquent Books
www.StrategicBookGroup.com

Posted via email from Strategic Book Marketing

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