A presentation for writers and authors looking to build an online audience, increase readership, and sell more books with digital marketing tools and techniques.

1. Pillars of Online Marketing
A READER-FIRST !
APPROACH

2. THE RISE OF DIGITAL
Marketing has changed…for the
better.

3. THREI SREIS OEF O DFI GDIITGAITLA L
3 Mediums
1. Print
2. Radio
3. TV

4. THE RISE OF DIGITAL
The Problem
“Spray and pray.”

5. THE RISE OF DIGITAL
But what if we sent out the same message
across all mediums?

6. THE RISE OF DIGITAL
The 90’s
!
• Integrated Marketing
Communications
• Google is born
• Personal computers
enter the scene.

7. THE RISE OF DIGITAL
In 2012, after 244 years, the Encyclopaedia
Britannica went out of print for the first time.

8. Digital has arrived.
1. Search
2. Social
3. Entertainment
THREI SREIS OEF O DFI GDIITGAITLA L

9. THE RISE OF DIGITAL
The average American adult spends approx. 2 hours and 21
minutes per day online. - Emarketer
77% of viewers use another device while they are
watching TV. - Google’s ZMOT
72% of tablet owners make purchases from their tablets on a
weekly basis. - Google’s ZMOT

10. THREI SREIS OEF O DFI GDIITGAITLA L
But competition is fierce.

11. THE RISE OF DIGITAL
On Wordpress alone, there are 61.8 million new blog posts
published each month.
The average person is served over 1,700 banner ads per month.
Less than 0.1% of these are clicked.
- comScore and HubSpot
75% of ads clicked from November 1 to December 31
go to big online-only advertisers. - Google’s ZMOT

12. THE RISE OF DIGITAL
55% of users spend less than 15 seconds on a website.
- ChartBeat

13. SUMMARY
1. Disruptive change since the late
1990’s and early 200o’s.
2. Tremendous opportunity = fierce
competition.

14. PILLARS OF ONLINE MARKETING
What works and how can we apply
this to selling books online?

15. PILLAR 1
It all starts with the product.

16. IT ALL STARTS WITH THE PRODUCT
R.I.P Crystal Pepsi
Companies spend
millions on products and
they fail.

17. IT ALL STARRISTES OWFI TDHIG TIHTAEL P RODUCT
5 steps to a great product (aka. ebook)
1. Prototype (get beta readers)
2. Test, test, test
3. Hire an editor
4. Invest in cover art design
5. Format (multi-devices)

18. IT ALL STARTS RISE OF WITH DIGITAL
THE PRODUCT
The Hugh Howey effect
One short story becomes a
multi-million dollar empire.

19. IT ALL STARTS WITH THE PRODUCT
Word of mouth is the primary factor behind 20% to 50%
of all purchasing decisions and it’s 10x more effective
than traditional advertising. - Mckinsey Quarterly

20. PILLAR 2
Build an online audience. (It’s
hard work…but it pays off.)

21. BURILISDE A ONF A DUIGDIITEANLC E
3 steps to building an audience
1. Get a website and start blogging.
2. Build an email list.
3. Drive traffic (get your content in
front of the right people).

22. BURILISDE A ONF A DUIGDIITEANLC E
Driving traffic
Direct Organic Referral

23. RISE OF DIGITAL
Referral Traffic
Other bloggers and
authors need content
too…give them
something to write
about.
BUILD AN AUDIENCE

24. PILLAR 3
Get creative (just learn the landscape
first).

25. RISE OF DIGITAL
Amazon
Know the landscape:
- Categorization
-Pricing
-Reviews
-Recommendations
-Metadata
GET CREATIVE

26. RGISEET OCFR EDAIGTIITVAEL
Categorization
Self-selecting niche categories
within your genre can be a great
way to stand out.
Example: “dystopian fiction”, a
category within Sci-Fi, might be
less competitive than the more
broad “science fiction”.

27. RGISEET OCFR EDAIGTIITVAEL
Pricing
Try testing out different models:
split your books into parts and
offer the first one for $0.99 or try
giving away the first book in a
trilogy.

28. GET CREATIVE
The $4.99 price point sells more books and brings
in more gross dollars than any other price point.
- AuthorEarnings.com

29. RGISEET OCFR EDAIGTIITVAEL
Reviews
Identify common reviewers in
your genre and reach out to them
for an honest review. Leverage
reviews from other writers or
bloggers.

30. RGISEET OCFR EDAIGTIITVAEL
Recommendation Engine
Hitting the Top 100 is when the
magic starts to happen. Sell as
many pre-orders as possible with
a pre-book launch.
Hint: One Tweet from the right
person can make all the
difference.

31. RGISEET OCFR EDAIGTIITVAEL
1.Use Google’s Keyword Planner, Google Trends,
and Amazon’s “auto fill” function to get an idea
of what people are searching for.
2. Include relevant keywords in descriptions and
keyword boxes.
3.Test, test, test your product description!
4.Think like a user - what would real people
search for? Don’t confuse with keyword stuffing.
!
Metadata

32. SUMMARY
1. It all starts with the product.
(Test, test, test…)
2. Build an audience (and leverage
other traffic sources).
3. Learn the landscape and get
creative.

33. THANK YOU
Q & A

34. IMAGE CREDITS
Old books: David Flores
Butter magazine: thenourishedyou.files.wordpress.com
Apple Powerbook: Flickr - Dana Sibera
Hands with Kindle: Flickr - Jens Schott Knudsen
Guy with laptop: Flickr - Ben Crowder
ipad bookshelf: Flickr - Johan Larsson
iphone on table: Flickr - Jonas Tana
Crystal Pepsi: Flickr - Paxton Holley
Wool cover: Amazon.com (a Hugh Howey book)
Guys around iphone: Flickr - Dave Fayram
Hand and keyboard: Flickr - Kirsty Andrews
Old book spine: Flickr - Thalita Carvalho
Amazon packaging: Flickr - Nic Taylor
Question mark image: Flickr - ed_needs_a_bicycle
Books on shelf: Aerrin99