Amazon Optimization Newsletter-
Hello everyone! I hope you are enjoying the fall weather and getting ready for the holiday season. We all know how hectic that can be! It has been a while since our last Amazon Open House and I apologize for not getting material out to you sooner. Below are some helpful pointers on how to promote your book on Amazon, testimonials from other authors, and just a few tips to enlighten your reach via social media promotion.
Table of Contents:
- International Book Fairs
- Good Reads
- Pointer of the week: Tagging
- Author Testimonials
1. International Book Fairs:
As many of you may know Strategic Book Group has recently expanded its global reach and is working to market our authors internationally. This is extremely exciting for our company as we hope that the year 2011 brings success to us all. International Book Fairs are a great way to showcase your book and help you get connected with the industry. Whether you decide to participate or not, you have to check out these pictures and videos! It is such a pleasure to get to meet our authors at these events and put a “face to an email” as we like to call it!
Copy and Paste these links to your internet browser:
Picasa: (Google)
Frankfurt International Book Fair: http://picasaweb.google.com/111185340406138700649/FrankfurtInternationalBookF...
Beijing International Book Fair: http://picasaweb.google.com/111185340406138700649/BeijingInternationalBookFai...
Videos: You Tube
Interview 1: Listen to Author Jenny Ramirez Hart as she talks about "why she felt it was important to attend the Frankfurt Book Fair".
Interview 2: Listen to Claudette Cleveland talk about her book and her take on the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Interview 3: Listen to Patrick Cox talk about his impression of the Frankfurt Book Fair
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amazon-Optimization-Strategic-Book-Group/106661...
Congratulations to all of our authors who have attended these shows!
2. Good Reads
Participating in Discussion boards is essential to your success on any social media site and for our case, Amazon. Discussion boards, or group forums, are a place for you to meet other authors, potential readers, and other influential people in your industry. The power of these message boards is at times unreal. I have found through all of this that www.goodreads.com is by far the best social media site for authors. Amazon can be very limiting on what they allow discussed, they censor, and Good Reads on the other hand is much more open and will allow you to reap the full benefits of participating.
What is Good Reads: Good Reads is a social media site dedicated purely to BOOKS!! How perfect for you!
What you need to do: Create an account on Good Reads and participate
Which discussion boards you should focus on: In the past few months I have created a group discussion board that is centered on Amazon. There is already quite a following and other authors willing to help you out, with such things like tagging (see item number 3). I can not emphasize the importance of participating on this site. Real connections can be made here and the beauty is all you have to do is talk about what you love most, books.
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/33825.How_to_Promote_YOUR_book_on_Amazon
Other author discussion boards can be found here:
http://www.goodreads.com/group/topic/9.Goodreads_Authors
Explore away!!
3. Pointer of the Week: Tagging
Amazon will let ANY Amazon user pick key words they feel should be associated with a product and then post those to that product’s Amazon page. What does this mean? Say you are just read a Children’s Book which you loved. You could tag that book with keywords like “Bedtime Story, great read, book recommendation, fairy tales, kids age 5-10” any sort of keywords you feel describe the book.
Here is what TAGS look like:
As you enter these “tags” or agree with “existing tags” you will notice Amazon provides a drop down box that displays a number. This number indicates how many times Amazon users have used this keyword to describe a product, not just the one you are voting on.
Why does this matter? Because each keyword/tag (if you click on it) will take you directly to a community. In this community the products with the most tags will be displayed front and center for that community. Would it not be great if your book was displayed here? YESS IT WOULD!! P.S. You can tag your Listmanias and thus they will appear in these communities too
What is a tag?
Think of a tag as a keyword or category label. Tags can both help you find items on the Amazon site as well as provide an easy way for you to "remember" and classify items for later recall.
What you need to do:
Under the Product Details section of a book's Amazon page you will see "Tags customers associated with this product"
Simply agree with (click on) the tags already there. That is it, pretty simple. The more “tags” you submit the more credibility Amazon will assign you. It accrues over time. The more tags you perform the more your “voice” matters on Amazon.
5. Author Testimonials:
Amazon can be a truly great marketing tool for your book. Check out what these authors had to say on their experiences thus far on working with Amazon.
Sara Howard: Something Funny Happened on the Way to the Moon
Hello Everyone! I have learned a few things while working on Amazon. These things have worked for me and I hope you might benefit from them. Why is your book listed on Amazon? I hope that your purpose is to sell as many of your books as you can. That’s why I am.
Kait sent all of us instructions to get “optimized”. One is to fill out your profile page as thoroughly as you can. Many of you seem somewhat afraid of this. You are afraid that someone might find you, come to your house and/or SPAM you, steal your money or whatever. Please believe me, I have worked on computers since the 1970s and went to PCs in the 1990s. I have NEVER had anything bad to happen to me. And like me, no harm will come to you.
The First Law of Amazon: Fill Out Your Profile Page. I love my Profile Page.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A3VKMUJG8DBODG?ie=UTF8&ref_=sv_ys_4
Why is that? It brings me sales and attention. And most importantly, MY EMAIL ADDRESS is there. I have given out my email address for years. Guess what? I have been contacted by great folks from England, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Russia and Argentina and recently France. Maybe they bought some books?
Do I get SPAM? Very little. Every email program has a blocking tool.
Here is another reason for filling out your profile and your email address: There are many, many people on Amazon and in our program who would like to exchange reviews with you. Then there is voting and tagging. EVERYTHING you do on Amazon BENEFITS you!!! No emails=no business and there sits a very lonely book with no sales.
There are two more VERY IMPORTANT things you need to do (or not).
1. Review, review, review. This benefits you immensely. I have completed over 106. This is easy. There is one rule that should never be broken: DO NOT BE NASTY, RUDE, OFFENSIVE or INSULTING. Amazon is watching don’t think they are not. Reviews can be written for any product. I recently bought my favorite brand of Coffee. Guess what? I gave it a review. There are reviews for any product imaginable and not just books. Let your imagination soar!
2. The last little thing that is so much fun: Pick out a community and join the discussion or create a new discussion. My communities are: Women, Apollo, Space, Astronomy, Children’s books, etc. Then Vote, vote, vote!! Now in every post there is a “Product Link”. USE IT EVERY TIME!
I wish you all the best and DON’T QUIT!
Below is an example of just one of many engineers that found me thru Amazon:
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Hi Sara,
I came across your book "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon" on Amazon.com, and some of your reviews on Apollo-era books. I was another of the 400,000 closest friends who comprised the Apollo program. I graduated from Florida State in physics in 1966, and joined NASA at Kennedy Space Center just in time to see the arrival of the first flight rated S-IC. You folks at Michoud sure built us a heck of a rocket. I remember when we launched it the following November. Unbelievable! I ended up as the lead NASA engineer for the Hazardous Gas Detection System, with a seat at the HGDS console in the Firing Room for all the Apollo launches. We never detected any propellant leaks from your S-IC's. After Apollo, I was invited to move over to Design Engineering, and design the HGDS for the Space Shuttle, as well as hydrogen leak and fire detection, as well as hypergolic vapor detection, for the launch complex. Most rewarding five years of my career! I moved out to Shuttle Launch Ops under George Page to put my systems to work. Eventually, I moved back to the design and development side and established and grew the Instrumentation Development Labs for the last part of my career.
Bill Helms
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Mike Saxton: 7 Scorpions: Rebellion
Amazon is frequented by visitors who are looking to read reviews, as it caries more product reviews than pretty much anywhere. It isn't only frequented by individuals, but businesses who are looking to promote products. When you post reviews on Amazon, often times you'll find that numerous other sites will quote your review. When you have your status as an author as part of the review, that makes it all the more attractive to them and that status goes to their site too so you get additional exposure from going to their site.
From personal experience, I not only review books but television shows, documentaries, electronics, computer components, etc. Often, my reviews end up appearing on numerous other sites, complete with my name and my book's title. One review can end up landing on multiple sites and will only get you noticed more.
Robin Landry: When I dream
Amazon has helped me so much as far as ideas for marketing my book, and also for putting me in touch with other reviewers and authors. I would never have even thought about reviewing books if it hadn't been for Kait at Amazon. Once she told me that it was important, I set to work reviewing every book I read. While rising up the ranks, I became involved in the message boards of the top reviewers and have gotten to know the other reviewers. I have since received some of my best and most helpful reviews. Reviewing books has also taught me to be a better writer. Summing up a book, looking for its flaws as well as its strengths, has shown me how to keep my own work tight and fast moving. Reviewing is like going to an advanced writing course. Talking to the top reviewers through Amazon, has given me insight into writing through some of the sharpest minds I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. Signing up for Amazon's Optimizer and meeting Kait, and listening to her valuable advice, has helped me take the next step in my writing; getting it seen and getting it sold. http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A392P34QSBUICZ?ie=UTF8&ref_=sv_ys_4&...
Robin Landry, author of When I Dream
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