Monday, April 1, 2013

Book Marketing Strategy - Kurt Chambers

MG Fantasy writer Kurt Chambers has come up with an excellent idea to market his book. For a limited time, he's giving away 100% of his royalties in exchange for some help promoting his book!

Kurt's blog explains his reasoning behind this and gives a step-by-step guide on how to get started, which I've summarized below, adding my own thoughts.

I love his novel, Truth Teller, and I'm jumping in with a link on my blog. I'm happy to help him promote his wonderful book! So now, I'm officially a Truth Teller affiliate vendor. Wow! What an honor! And kudos to Kurt for coming up with such a creative promotion idea!

The Reasoning Behind This  

Many authors offer their first book for free in order to gain possible buyers for their next book, get reviews, and increase their sales ranking. That's one way to do it, but why offer a book for free, after spending so much time and energy working on it to bring it to a publishing standard? As a writer myself, I know how much is involved in getting a book either published the traditional way or self-published. So Kurt has thought of an alternative way of reaching his target audience that would benefit him as well as his readers.

How It Works

In brief, all you need is an affiliate vendor link (provided below) and a free account on two sites: Smashwords and PayPal.

Then you promote your link any way you want: on your website or blog, on any social networking site you use (for example, Facebook, Twitter, Google+), by e-mail, or by any other creative methods you can think of. Anyone who clicks on your link and buys the book will be paying you 100% of Kurt's royalties!

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Create a Smashwords account
Smashwords is the site where Kurt's book is being sold, in any e-book format the reader chooses. Signing up is free and very easy. You will have to type your e-mail, first name, last name, age (under 18 or 18 and over), and country, and you will need to choose a screen name and a password. That's it! It took me about two minutes to set up mine. Remember your screen name, because it will become part of your link to promote Kurt's book.

2. Create a PayPal account
Smashwords sends all the payments through PayPal. If you don't have a PayPal account, you will need to get one.  I signed up so long ago that I don't remember the exact process, but from what I remember, it was quick and easy. Another option if you're in the US is to get paid by check after reaching $75. PayPal has a threshold of $10.

3. Add your PayPal info on Smashwords
Then, add your PayPal account on Smashwords by clicking the Account tab, then Edit/update payee information. Or just click here. You'll have to scroll down to see the fields to fill in. Your PayPal account is the e-mail you used to create it.

4. Get your promotion link
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/119775?ref=yourScreenName

Replace the yourScreenName with your Smashwords screen name. To locate your screen name, click to your My Smashwords page, then on [Change your real name / pen name and/or location]. Your screen name is your username.

Mine is dutchhillgirl, so my link would be:

5. Use your link and the promotion material below to promote Truth Teller in any way you want. 
Kurt has set up Smashwords to pay 100% of the royalties to the affiliate (YOU). That is 81.5% of the book price. Each books sells for $2.99. When someone clicks your link and buys the book, you get paid the royalties. Please see Smashwords Affiliate Marketing Program Documentation for full details.

Promotion Material

Use as much or as little of the information as you wish. Remember to use YOUR LINK when you send a potential buyer to purchase the book. 

Book Cover

Truth Teller Award

Author Kurt Chambers

Author Kurt Chambers

Truth Teller Synopsis

How could a modern day girl like Charlotte ever envisage that magic really exists? Even with her own vivid imagination, the place for other realms belonged in a child’s fairy tale. Or so she thought, until she stumbled across a hidden curio shop and an even stranger shopkeeper. He gives her a gift that resembles an antique snow dome, but this is not an ordinary globe. The world Charlotte has always known disappears as she’s spirited away into a mystical land.

This is the beginning of a lifelong friendship that changes Charlotte’s life forever. Discovered by a young elf alone in the forest, she embarks on a journey in search of a group of travelling Entertainers. She encounters heart-stopping dangers and real life monsters, but a far greater threat shadows her every move. Even the strength and skill of her new found companions cannot protect her against a ruthless druid assassin. 

But in this realm, Charlotte is not the vulnerable little girl she thought she was.

Author Links


You can connect with the author at:

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much, Annie :) I hope you sell a million copies and become a millionaire :)

Natalie Aguirre said...

This is an interesting marketing tool. thanks for sharing it. And Kurt's book sounds good. And his little girl is so cute.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much, Natalie :) That's Charlie, my grandson hahaha!!

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