Unique Ideas for Marketing Your Latest Novel

Are You Searching for a New Method to Make More Sales for Your Latest Book Release?

I was looking through a BookFunnel promotion this morning and I saw the most amazing exciting marketing concept. It was brilliant, but not unheard of.

When I first saw the ad, I thought it was a bundle of books that were all marked down to free. I've seen that in the past. In fact, Paul J Bennett just did that with several books in his Servant of the Crown series. An indie publisher might want to do that to get a lot of read through on a series in hopes that the readers will yearn to pay for and read the next book in the series.

I don't know if it worked for Bennett, but this next idea is a similar idea with a twist that guarantees the reader buys the next book in the series. Imagine if Bennett had marketed his books as a bundle. This means you receive all available books, but the publisher bundles them separately at the time of purchase.

BookFunnel offers the bundle packaging that makes it easier for readers. A writer can put a series in an omnibus which is just one gigantic book with all the novels in a single book. This makes it difficult to read because it never feels like you're making any progress. A six-book series in a single omnibus might have 600,000 to over a million words in it.

When you put the books into a bundle, the bookfunnel system delivers a bundled download of each book to the reader's device at once. So when they look at their Kindle or Nook, etc, they see six separate books. This allows them to choose a specific book and maybe take a break before opening the next book in the series.

Truthfully, omnibuses are difficult for me to read, and as a writer, they take time to put the books together in a single file. Bennett actually offered his books as a bundle since the reader would go to her favorite retailer and download each book separately. But his strategy didn't guarantee the reader would choose and pay for the next book. Plus, I normally get a new ISBN for my omnibuses. That's an expense that isn't needed if you just bundle your books.

Well, the promotion I saw on the BookFunnel promotion guaranteed the reader buys the next book in the series, and the reader also gets all the other books in the series for free.

Here's the execution of the idea from author Lisa Blackwood. https://lisablackwoodbookshop.com

1. She created an ad image with six books from a specific series of hers.

2. The image was titled, Buy 1 eBook and get 5 Free Megabundle.

3. Five of the books had a flag (banner?) over the top that showed they were Free.

4. The sixth book (the one she hoped to sell) was marked as Buy Now.

5. Once the reader clicked the image, they were taken to Lisa's own store.

6. If the reader wanted to accept the offer, they had to purchase the one book from Lisa's store to receive the rest of the books for free.

7. The bundled books were delivered through BookFunnel which allows the reader to put the books on the reading platform they use.

8. If they didn't take the offer, then they were directed to individual retailer websites where the reader would have to purchase each one separately. There were no Freebies at the retailers.

Why would she do this?

1. Unlike Bennett, Lisa guarantees the reader buys a book.

2. Lisa will get the reader's name and email address, allowing her to add them to her email list.

3. The reader will become comfortable buying directly from the author's book shop.

See the promotion image. And here is the link to the offer Buy one eBook and Get Five Free Megabundle. Check it out. I think you'll find it as fascinating as I did. In fact, I guarantee my next blog article will be my interpretation of this advertising strategy for my own books. (This offer might expire before you read this article, but it is active as of the date this was published.)

The key is to make the offer attractive (six books work better than two) and make sure the reader understands the terms

Let me know if you try this method and tell me if it worked for you or not.