Tips for Self Promotion, Sales, and Advertising discussion

I suppose everyone knows that creating a Listmania can get quite a bit of exposure, especially if it is a reasonably helpful List?

My "Space Pirates" radio show yesterday turned out so well that I made a note of all the fiction and non-fiction books that my guests recommended.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/list...

If you enjoy my list, please mark it helpful. If you make your own list by genre, topic, etc, please let me know so I can reciprocate.

Find the space pirates radio show with David Lee Summers, Jacquie Rogers, Mark Terence Chapman and myself on Crazy Tuesday

Hi Rowena,

I gave you a helpful vote.

Here's a link to my list:

http://www.amazon.com/Great-Books-for...

Thanks! -Vince
Constellation Chronicles The Lost Civilization of Aries

What a great list yours is, Vince! I ought to be your 13th helpful vote (out of 15)

Would it be in our best interest to form groups and list each others books in Listmania? Does it help in search rankings? I wonder what the goal of lists are from Amazon's angle?

I have 2 lists on Listmania. I'll have to find the link and post it.

I'm putting together two Listmania lists for indie authors, one for Kindle and one for print. If you'd like your title included, add it to our list on the Listmania thread over on www.BestsellerBound.com

Gotcha. I think. thanks

Shen was cutting my hair yesterday, when I remembered, she's reading, Cutting Edge. A little nervous

I hope you behaved yourself, J. Remember, those scissors have a surgically sharpened edge! :)

Jj wrote: "Would it be in our best interest to form groups and list each others books in Listmania? Does it help in search rankings? I wonder what the goal of lists are from Amazon's angle?"

Organizing groups, connections, friends, readers and other similarly interested parties can be helpful. The only ranking that I like is sales and that is open to speculation with all of that goes on there. I as do many authors have done, have more than one outlet for sales that don't show up on Amazon's system or anyplace else for that matter. After a long time in this business you begin to find ways to get your personal sales printed by various sources that don't register what you do. Even the books you buy from your publisher, such as Amazon don't get into the rankings no matter how many books you sell.

But organizing is like attending a classroom filled with students all with the same goal, you learn a lot.

Darcia wrote: "I'm putting together two Listmania lists for indie authors, one for Kindle and one for print. If you'd like your title included, add it to our list on the Listmania thread over on www.BestsellerBou..."

Thanks for doing that, Darcia! I posted my first novel in your group.

Nanette, on the message board, there is a category called Listmania. Click on that. That will open up two threads. One is for print books, the other for Kindle.

I don't have fan pages for my books on Facebook. I just use my regular account for occasional promotion. Maybe the phone number requirement is to make sure you're who you say you are. Since the fan pages are to promote specific products put out by specific people, they might want to verify the information. You could try putting in a fake phone number. :)

If you have a regular Facebook account, ask the question in your feed. Lots of people have fan pages and you'll probably get a quick reply there.

Nanette, that's weird that they would just delete your page without warning. They must check phone numbers with fan pages in order to keep spammers off. I don't think it should matter if you use two different emails but you will probably have to use your real phone number.

If they banned you, it might be best to try again with a new email. They might have flagged that last email address as spam or something. I really don't know. Since I only have the one page, I've never experienced these problems. I do know some authors (and musicians) have various fan pages, so it's probably a matter of the phone number needing to be real.

Rowena wrote: "I suppose everyone knows that creating a Listmania can get quite a bit of exposure, especially if it is a reasonably helpful List?

My "Space Pirates" radio show yesterday turned out so well that..."

Rowena, this post is months old, but I went in and marked your list helpful, anyway.

I have never heard of a Listmania what is it?

Listmania is a selling tool on Amazon. Shoppers use them to find recommendations, whether it be for books, music, etc. The Amazon communities are pretty active and a lot of readers use the Listmania lists to find new books.

Here's an example of one I recently made:
http://tiny.cc/ndn4k

So basically a way to network on Amazon?

Not really networking, no. They are used by shoppers as a sort of reference guide or recommendation list. Authors use them to get their books noticed by the shoppers.

Oh okay, thank you

Darcia wrote: "I'm putting together two Listmania lists for indie authors, one for Kindle and one for print. If you'd like your title included, add it to our list on the Listmania thread over on www.BestsellerBou..."

Looks like a great site! Do you take gay fiction indie authors?

Absolutely! All are welcome.

I'd like to add my books then...I have 5 of them at the moment. All are m/m romantic fiction and are indie. Do you need the amazon links or...?

You can add one title per list. The same title can be on one Kindle and one print list. The info I need is at the beginning of each post on the Listmania threads on the message board. I just started a third list for print books and I will be starting a new one for Kindle books.

www.BestsellerBound.com

Darcia wrote: "You can add one title per list. The same title can be on one Kindle and one print list. The info I need is at the beginning of each post on the Listmania threads on the message board. I just starte..."

I'd like to add Bernard; Diary of a 46-yr-old Bellhop to the list, it's in Kindle format and also paperback.

S.L., you need to go to that message board link and add your info. If I don't have it all in one place, I won't remember.

Nanette, I have no access to members' passwords or secret questions. I'm sorry but I really don't know how you'd go about retrieving that. The only thing I'm aware of that I can do is to delete your account so that you can re-register. If you want me to do that, send me the user name and/or email address that you registered with.

Darcia wrote: "You can add one title per list. The same title can be on one Kindle and one print list. The info I need is at the beginning of each post on the Listmania threads on the message board. I just starte..."

Just added two of mine, one print, one Kindle. The print is on Lulu.com

I don't see my tags taking, which might be because I've already tagged once and forgot.

Is anyone else having problems?

Hey everyone! My name is Kait and I am a author/marketer, deadly combination (smile). One of my personal goals is to educate authors on how to use Amazon to promote their books. As we all know Amazon is a force you can not ignore. Ironically though I believe goodreads (more so than Amazon) to be one of the best places for sharing information on the subject . I have often found that the Amazon Discussion Boards can be a not so friendly place and unfortunately many authors fall victim to "cyber-bulling". None of that here!

For the last few weeks I was attending the Taipei International Book Fair in Taiwan and let me tell you the desire to distribute foreign books into the U.S (as well as bring American "English" books into their region) is HUGE! It is all very exciting. One thing I noted which I felt everyone should know is that Amazon is the go to site for Foreign Rights buyers! Yup you heard me. Basically foreign publishing companies are realizing the value of Amazon and how it can essentially be used as a search engine when looking for new titles for rights purchasing. Having an amazon presence is more crucial now than ever as the site will only grow in the proceeding month/years in popularity.

That being said I wanted to let you all know I have created a blog to which I will be making 2 new posts a week all relating to Amazon. This blog will cover marketing tips, facts, and general information about Amazon. My aim is to help educate authors on using Amazon as this site should be treated by an author just as you would Facebook or Twitter. Social Media baby! ITS HERE TO STAY! Below is the link to my new blog! Hope you enjoy it and please feel free to leave comments!

How to Use Amazon to Promote Your Published Book
http://amazonauthors.blogspot.com/


Kait

Kait, wonderful website and great tips. I will be following to learn more. Perhaps in one of your articles you could discuss the individual's Profile page, how it works and what purpose it serves. Thanks for the tips... Ray, New Book Journal, http://newbookjournal.com

I thought my Listmania on Amazon.com might be of interest to people on here. It's a fantastic list of the latest Kindle books from some very talented authors. The link is;
http://amzn.to/ghdvDz
I hope you check it out and get some idea of what to read next maybe?
Good reading!
FaithxThe Crossing

Ray- already did on 2.13 (smile) here is the link.

For everyone else- this blog goes over your Amazon Profile which is COMPLETELY separate from your Author's Page via Author Central.

http://amazonauthors.blogspot.com/201...

I'd appreciate a few thousand votes on my new list: http://www.amazon.com/lm/R2K60FTEELE3...

Thanks! I have voted for each of your lists!

Mike

I've just put up a new list called "8 Self esteem Books that will change your life". I may add some more...

Please mark my list helpful (thanks!):
http://www.amazon.com/Self-esteem-Boo...

I'm going to vote for the lists here now.

Hi all! I am new here. So can someone help me understand what you mean by "voting" for respective listmania.

is it to write reviews in your respective list mania?

http://www.amazon.com/lm/RT46BNEHGA9K...

I'm learning how to promote and help everyone else!

Here's my listmania list, thanks, and I'll see you at the top (of the bestseller lists!)

Mark wrote: "Hi all! I am new here. So can someone help me understand what you mean by "voting" for respective listmania.

is it to write reviews in your respective list mania?"

In the sidebar, Mark, I think on the right, is a place to vote on whether or not you think the list is helpful (or not).

Here is my list please help!

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Paranormal...

I clicked on your list, Isabella.

My Kindle version could use a little help if you wouldn't mind helping keep up my momentum! Thanks!

http://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Start-Sum...

Done ")

P.S I love Christian books so if your a christian author consider yourself tagged

Isabella wrote: "P.S I love Christian books so if your a christian author consider yourself tagged"

Yes, they're Christian. Thanks, Isabella!

Hi Rowena:

I looked at your listmania (space pirates--cool!) but never found the "helpful" button. Odd, because I've seen it before on other lists. Is it in a new spot or something?

This is a thread I'll have to read through Sunday, if I get time. Sounds like lots of opportunities here. My sole listmania so far is: http://www.amazon.com/Books-For-Red-B...

I'll try again this weekend, Rowena, and everyone else, too.

Henry, I was just bouncing around and trying to understand if Listmania is still a good way to promote. I came across your list as my first example - what a great list. It is bookmarked and I plan to work my way through a number of these books.

Cool, R.K.

I don't know how important/effective Listmania still is, but I really should update mine...

I would also like to enlist book "How To start An HR Consultancy Company?" here:
My list-mania: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FWTKCMA/r...

Thank you.
Happy reading. :)

Hi All! Just joined your group. Am a newbie to goodreads. I have no idea whether this listmania stuff works or whether it's just another ruse to get more people to spend MORE time on Amazon! But here goes:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/...

I found out about Listmania toward the end of January. I sent a message to Amazon asking them if they could tell me a bit more about it since I didn't want to just dive right in without an idea but they never got back to me. I've gathered its similar to Goodreads Listopia? Only thing I think would be best is to plan a list before hand or work with other authors in creating a list as sometimes if you plug in your own book some people tend to think of the true intent behind the list.

Does this still exist? I spent a while poking around in Amazon looking for communities and for Listmania. When you follow the directions in help to get to communities, there aren't any. Searching for "listmania" in help turns up nothing.

They still exist but they are hard to search for and are quite hidden to my knowledge.