The Importance of Word Of Mouth

The Importance of Word Of Mouth

Do you have aspirations of being the next J.K Rowling or the next Tolkien? Admittedly I don't have such aspirations. I was simply happy writing my books, keeping myself entertained and entering into a beautiful mental landscape which was completely different to my usual world of Business Analysis. I was happy when I made one sale let alone a thousand. The challenge with having a mind that needs to figure things out and spends time working out common trends and patterns is that you apply that to all activities. Once an analyst, always an analyst. So this is why I share my findings with my lovely blog readers.

So when I first started releasing books I would put them on Kindle and assumed that magically readers would find them. I might sell ten books this way but nothing big ever happened. I realised that this attitude was not going to result in great sales. So my next books I did a desk launch. This was before publishing policies were implemented into the corporation I worked for. So I launched my book on Kindle and released the paperback from the desk and did desk signings. It actually was nuts because people lined up to buy books and I signed when I should have been working. I had no idea how I got away with it. I sold a stack of books this way but that did not spiral into world literary domination. It did result in me being accosted in the toilet and being asked if I was 'that author...' After that I came to the conclusion launching at work was not the best plan, so I adopted a pseudo-name and decided that the more book formats the better. I then branched in audio through having my books produced through ACX. This also increased sales but I was missing a key piece of the jigsaw puzzle - reviews.

Reviews are so powerful. I have written about this in some of my other blogs. Reviews from readers sell to other readers. The best thing to learn is not to take reviews personally - that is the challenge. However, a review has the ability to make or break a book sale. The more reviews the better because it makes the rubbish ones drop down the list. Remember you can't remove a review once it is posted. On one of my audio books some of the reviewers did not like the narrator and slated them. Those comments ground sales of that book to a halt. That was the learning. As I mentioned before, I don't rely on book sales for my income. Instead the additional income is used to over-pay my mortgage, saved or pays for a nice spa day. That is all part of my 'rewards' system as a motivator.

You may wonder how you get reviews. If you look at the Indie review book list, there are a list of reviewers you can approach. I also now advise people who have reviewed my other books when a book is due. Since most have enjoyed reviewing my other work, I now have a 'list' of reviewers who review most of my books once released.

So how does the word of mouth work? Well, every time I send a reviewer a free audio code I ask them to recommend the book, in whatever way they think will reach the most readers. That is - if they like the book. This word of mouth generates sales. Then that word of mouth generates more sales. Sometimes this momentum continues. At other times it just stops. Although this time I have noticed the shift in sales and momentum. Last month I released The Hairy-legged Mystery and Tingle Dingle and The Little Mischiefs. These were fun books for kids. My colleagues at work asked me to write them for their kids because the school holidays were nigh. So I put finger to keyboard and entertained myself. Within a few weeks these books were drafted, edited, proofread and published. They were short, fun and easy to write. I then posted on ACX. Two producers snapped them up and produced them within a week. I then asked reviewers to get involved and I had sixty reviewers offer review.  It is during this period that you get scared. What if none sell? Should you buy one just to start the sales? Honestly... I have considered doing that before. However, the reviews rolled in and the reviewers recommended the books as did my friends that I wrote the book for. That is how it spirals... One child tells another that they read The Hairy-legged Mystery and another becomes curious... What I realised is that by having these books on audio they work on car journeys as well as bed time stories. As we know children can listen to something over and over again. So much so that parents also hear the same recording over and over again. In no time The Hairy-Legged Mystery became 'normalised' and people talked about it. That then made more sales. So with all that in mind my top tips for word of mouth generation are as follows:

• Make a product you love and will happily stand by.
• Let people know you are creating it / have created it.
• Make as many formats possible - paperback,  digital and audio.
• Ask reviewers to review.
• Ask reviewers to recommend.
• Give as many free codes / samples to friends and ask them to tell their friends.
• Finally find as many ways to let people know your book exists.

The truth is word of mouth is the best seller and creates a bestseller. No matter how much hype you make, if the product is of bad quality then there is only a short duration of sales. Provide quality, be authentic, relax into it and enjoy the sales!

EXAMPLE:

"Intriguing with a WONDERFULLY twist at the end"

This is the 2nd story by this author I have read and I love it. Will eagerly seek more by her. The story was captivating, mystical magical and entertaining. The parental
Bed time stories and deceptions of the various monsters and creatures of fantasy keep you guessing as to what it
Is. The reveal is more magical for the build up and Even more amazing than described. Loved it and highly recommend it for kids and adults alike. Good luck figuring it out. I received this audiobook from the author narrator or publisher for free via audiobookboom in exchange for an unbiased review

THE HIARY-LEGGED MYSTERY ON AUDIBLE LINK: http://www.audible.com/pd/Kids/The-Hairy-Legged-Mystery-Audiobook/B01H2HF0XU/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_srTtl?qid=1468187800&sr=1-1#publisher-summary

Enjoy my books at the following link:

http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_hp_tseft?advsearchKeywords=Ruby+allure&filterby=field-keywords&x=0&y=0

What No-One tells you about Self-Publishing

What No-one Tells You About Self-publishing

When people hear that I am an author they asked me if I am 'properly published'. In this day and age that question actually makes me laugh. What is it that makes people believe that if you don’t have a huge publisher behind you then you are not a real author? Erm let’s look at the likes of Amanda Hocking and E.L. James. Did they have ‘proper’ publishers behind them when they started out? Erm no. It was word of mouth that sold their work and then the publishers heard of them. Their sales demonstrated they were 'worthy'. So with the question are you properly published in mind: I would like to tell you what no one tells you about self-publishing and actually why self-publishing is so beneficial.

Once upon a time... I started writing with conviction. Actually it was around fifteen years ago and at the time I was naïve in my aspirations. I thought you sent a nice friendly  letter to a publisher about an idea and they would reply really quickly with 'wow that is a good idea' and instantly offered a book deal. Yep I was wrong. Instead I learned the art of being rejected. It is quite a humbling experience to receive endless rejection letters. It is more fun to burn them. Rejection could stop many people  and cause them give up because they think – you know what people think my writing is shit! I thought if my writing was shit then it is actually quite amusing really to want to keep writing. The thing is I was compelled to write. I just couldn’t help it. It was something that kept coming and coming. I liken it to vomiting. You just can’t hold it in… It has to come out! I then came to conclusion that REJECTION IS NOT FAILURE IT IS RE-DIRECTION.

Over the next year I took a different tactic - I learned that you send to agents. So I sent to agents and a couple of times I was in the running for representation only to be dropped for someone who had been recommended by a friend. Nepotism and recommendations was the way forward. So I learned the best way to ‘befriend’ and attended literary events and fairs. While at one literary event, and after sculpting a double-helix structure from cocktail sausages, I was taken on instantly by an agent. However, they had spotted my artistic talent rather than my literary talents, he represented my photography. At the time I wish I had sculpted the equivalent in literature. I guess I could have chewed up my manuscript and made a paper-gobby-mush sculpture of a squirrel or the like to capture attention. Anyway after being rejected more than one hundred times I came to the conclusion that I must have been deluded. Something in my writing must have been causing rejection – so I had my work evaluated by a ‘professional’ service. At the same time I was offered a place on a Master’s degree in creative writing. The Masters people told me I had talent and that I was destined for great things. Great, until a series of events stopped me being able to take the course. After that I came to the conclusion that there had to be a better way. So I met an editor in real life and a series of circumstances resulted in meeting my proof-reader who works for ‘real’ publishers. I came to the conclusion that it was time to go it alone and do things my way… You know that blooming song…MYYYYYYY WAYYYYYYYYYYY! which is often accompanied by another ‘I get knocked down but I get up again…’ Rocky would have real competition if this was boxing and not writing.

After forming my own team, I began to self-publish. The first attempts were okay; however, there was a real learning in formatting and designing book covers. The biggest learning is providing absolute quality. My proof-reader is a professional who advised me there are always details missed in any book. When she works with the big publishers she finds mistakes in books that are already on the shelves… The thing is everyone is human and everyone has a certain attention span. With this in mind, it is really worth focusing on quality and making sure you have grammatical geniuses read your books. There is always that pedantic aunt who was a secretary... Or that uncle that spouts Latin. If you can get them involved great, although, if you are writing erotica... actually who cares. If they can spot a grammatical error amongst eroticism then they are on your journey for the long-term!

Now it is time to publish and discover Kindle or one of the other platforms. Make a great cover, filled with refined content and hit PUBLISH!!! YEY! Once you have self-published your book, I guess you might be sitting rubbing your hands together expecting the New York Times to call. The reality is that thousands of people are releasing self-published books each day. Unfortunately each self-published book sits amongst a crowd of other self-published books. In addition, you are competing against published authors who are listed before you. So how do you compete against million pound/dollar marketing campaigns and a crowd of other authors? This is where you need to find your own unique way and your own unique voice.

What no one tells you is that you are going to have to learn how to market yourself!

This is it – it is time to make yourself into a brand. That brand has to be such that people are impressed by it. The thing with brands is they have an identity and my advice, whether you choose to take it, is to be absolutely authentic. You will never be able to please everyone and you will definitely discover there are some right dickheads out there. Some of those dickheads purposely go and put one star reviews on new author books (that is something that no one ever tells you or prepares you for).

In addition, there are the vultures… These are the people who are sitting up in the tree watching you flail away to literary death. They then want to come and pick off the bones. This analogy comes from all those people who will offer you their services. There are promoters, marketing people and…. so many others who are all ready to take your money. My friend, who is an author, learned the hard way. She invested in paying people to market her and nothing came from it… In the end she used friends to recommend her to a literary agent and that was her way forwards…

That was not my way forwards because I am a little bit headstrong and can write and write… I also work with trending analysis, social media and business. While doing that I was also teaching creative writing classes. I like to be busy and teach creative writing was a joy. What'smore, I had written numerous books including LOVE HUNT 1 & 2 and my most powerful book MONEY FARM. They were selling at a steady pace, so I felt that I had the right to teach what I had already learned. That is quite lucky really. By teaching you certainly have the chance to evaluate and look at new angles.

So, with my business head on, I considered what was it that people needed or wanted? I then wrote books that filled those gaps – one of them was A Short Course in Creative Writing. That was written because my students asked me to write it. I then had that turned into audio so that people could be prompted and write. Guess what? That sold and sold well. Guess how I sold it? I advised students that I had put the whole ten week course onto audio so they could download it. Guess what happened? They told their friends and they told their writing friends. Word of mouth again!

So what else does no one tell you?

If you want to make money from writing then write what people need. That is entrepreneurialism.

The thing is sometimes there is no fun in that. Admittedly I loved writing the creative writing book because I could imagine students sitting and developing their writing with a teacher at their side whenever they needed it. I likened it to an 'on call' audio teacher. That made me feel nice. Although we write because we have other aspects to express too...

After understanding how to initiate word of mouth I thought: I know, I am going to get a little bit cocky… I want to see if I write the books that I want to write then can I create the market? I was applying the theory of post-modernism. What did I want to write? Some short fun kids’ books.  So I wrote The Hairy-Legged Mystery. That was quickly followed by Tingle Dingle and The Little Mischiefs. Now, there is nothing like a bedtime story being read to you. Yet sometimes parents don’t feel like reading. So I thought – actually why not have it made into audio too? That way the story can be read aloud and the parents can be present while it is being read. Also the story can be stored on the phone and played on car journeys. It just made sense to me. So I posted the books on ACX.COM (this is a place where authors can invite audio producers to produce their work) and both were picked up. The books were produced and went on sale on Audible and ITunes.

What no one tells you: how easy it is to get your book produced professionally on audio! Those books began to sell due to a few blogs, a number of tweets and a being lucky enough to have attracted a producer who works with children as a ‘reader’ of books.  I could go on and on but I won’t. So this is what I have learned about self-publishing that no-one tells you:

·        There are loads of people who want to make money from vulnerable authors. There are vanity companies, book promotional companies and agencies all looking for you to pay them to validate you. I say steer clear! None of my author friends have achieved anything that way.

·       Before you do anything test you work on people who are honest. None of the ‘nice’ friends. It is better to find out where you are going wrong or right. Also remember everyone has an opinion and you will have to learn discernment of opinion. That is a huge learning in itself.

·         Find yourself a good editor and proof-reader to make your books the highest quality.

·         The truth is you are going to have to spend some money if you want to create quality.

·        Decide on being in the spotlight or anonymity. I went for the latter because I would rather not be accosted in a supermarket or toilet (I had that happen when I won a big award for photography – it seriously put me off being recognised. Imagine a head poking under the toilet cubicle door to ask you a question... Oh yes!)

·         Build yourself a brand. Look at the people you like and look at what works. Decide what makes you special and build your brand accordingly.

·       Marketing – promote your books. There needs to be time and effort put into this. Ask friends to tell friends. Post that you have published on Facebook. Write a blog. Make a film. Do what your gut tells you to do but do intend to tell as many people as possible. Pod casting and YouTube enable people to engage with you. The strange thing is when people like you they buy your books. Weird eh?

·         Publishers are looking for easy sales. If a book establishes itself on a market then the publishers will come to you. At this point you then get to ask yourself the question – do you stay indie? After doing all that work and going on that journey – why do you actually need a publisher and an agent? My answer is negotiation. However, there is a benefit of doing it your way and that is no pressure. You can write. Release. Repeat. That is liberating and seems to be a remedy to writer’s block! To be in this position is a beautiful thing...

·       Finally write your next book and the next and love the writing. If it sells great. If it doesn’t it is not failure. The fact that you hatched an imagined idea into reality is success in itself. The truth is writing will take you on a blooming journey – much like a narrative. The monster in your narrative are the parts of your self – the self-doubt, the inner critic and the idealist. Everyone wants their book to touch another’s soul… Yet it might not. The biggest thing that no one ever told me is that the purest pleasure is in the creation… You may sell a lot of books; however, the joy really is in being in that creative space and imagining as the words flow onto the page.  I hope this inspires you… Go for it my literary friend because there are seven billion people in this world and a large enough market for everyone…

You can find my books at the following link: Ruby Allure books on Audible:

http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_hp_tseft?advsearchKeywords=Ruby+allure&filterby=field-keywords&x=0&y=0

AUDIBLE BOOK AVAILABLE HERE:

LINK TO BUY ON AUDIBLE:

http://www.audible.com/pd/Self-Development/A-Short-Course-In-Creative-Writing-Audiobook/B012OVUKE8/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_srTtl?qid=1443260320&sr=1-1

LINK TO PAPERBACK ON AMAZON.COM

A Short Course in Creative Writing
by Ms Ruby Allure
Link: http://amzn.com/1517234832

LINK TO THE HAIRY LEGGED MYSTERY ON AUDIO:http://www.audible.com/pd/Kids/The-Hairy-Legged-Mystery-Audiobook/B01H2HF0XU/ref=a_search_c4_1_9_srTtl?qid=1466104902&sr=1-9

Ruby Allure BOOKS ON AMAZON.COM - https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_1?ie=UTF8&text=Ruby+Allure&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Ruby+Allure&sort=relevancerank

Ruby Allure BOOKS ON AUDIBLE.COM
http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_mn_mt_ano_tseft__galileo?advsearchKeywords=Ruby+Allure&x=0&y=0 

NEW RELEASE: TINGLE DINGLE AND THE LITTLE MISCHIEFS

 https://www.amazon.com/Tingle-Dingle-Little-Mischiefs-Allure-ebook/dp/B01G9C0XC2?ie=UTF8&keywords=Ruby%20Allure&qid=1465049617&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

NEW RELEASE: THE HAIRY-LEGGED MYSTERY

https://www.amazon.com/Hairy-Legged-Mystery-Ruby-Allure-ebook/dp/B01G2C0Y9Q?ie=UTF8&qid=1465049724&ref_=sr_1_2&s=digital-text&sr=1-2

How to Promote your Book

How to promote your book

Something that I have noticed is how reluctant people are to market their work.  Why is it so difficult  to let your audience know you have created something for them? After spening years crafting and creating a work of art shouldn’t you let people know? Maybe even celebrate the fact you have created something worthy of their attention. What you do have to remember is that people have a choice whether they choose to part with money to purchase one of your creations or not. No one is forced to buy your work remember that!

So what is it that stops people sharing their books with the world? It seems there is a lack of confidence, self-worth or value for what has been created. Once you understand that then you will understand that your competitors feel the same. Or maybe they don’t maybe they have complete confidence in their creation and are willing to put themselves on the line to achieve their dreams. Why should the person next to you achieve their dream and you wait in the shadows for something to happen. The expression everything comes to those who wait is one of the most ridiculous attitudes to adopt. The truth is more waiting comes to those who wait – and waiting is NOT everything. So suck it up Princess and stand by your creation rather than hope someone will do it for you! I know this is brutal, but this is what I say to my students because your work and your sales are your responsibility – fact!

So ask yourself what is your resistance… You might fail? So what? What if you do? At least you gave it a go. What might you feel? Humiliated? Stupid? Like you are not worthy? Well my friend you will feel the same if you don’t give it some welly too and go for it! So now we have discovered what is holding you back then maybe it is time to shift perception and consider how enjoyable it is to contribute to other people’s lives with your creations. What if your creation actually enabled the world to see an entirely new way? What if you held the answer to world change and you were lurking in the shadows fearing the potential of your own light! Yes stop being a dick!

So what do you need to do? You need to find a way that you enjoy promoting: a way that is fun and one that you will repeat whether or not you have an instant return. At this point I now realise why working in a bookshop while I studied my Masters Degree served me so well. I worked for a well known book retailer when Dan Brown released his books and I watched how word of mouth generated so many sales. What I realised is that it is better to have a few books released or available simultaneously. Make sure you have them in a variety of formats too. When one book sells it is quite often the case that people go back and buy the series by the same author. Try not to be a one book pony and never take a pony into a bookstore!

So how do you promote?  Simple - you tell people in as many different ways as possible. How do you tell people? There is social media. The era of social media is amazing. People can find out about you in an instant. I am sure you have heard of: Pintrest, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, SoundCloud and Facebook to name but a few. There is an ‘in person approach’ with books signings. There are author websites. There are blogs. There are magazines. There are radio stations and there are reviewers. If you have your work on audio – you post samples on audio forums such as Soundcloud. You take every opportunity to share on Youtube. If you have the opportunity to do interviews take it. You put yourself out there in as many ways as possible. You go beyond your comfort zone and approach reviewers.  What you do is you allow yourself one year of consistent promotional repetition. Each week you dedicate an evening or a two evenings to blogging, tweeting and sharing.  You allocate a specific amount of time and go for it!

 

Personally I create a visual image to motivate me. For some it might be pictures of your children or you ideal home. I put that image in where I can see it from my computer. Also there will be days when you don’t want to promote. Well ‘give it a try.’ When I say give it a try it means sit at the computer and say I will give it a try for ten minutes… You are likely to find a couple of hours pass and promotion is out there.

Sometimes you will hit a wall with promoting and that is when you spend time brain-storming ways to find contacts and then contact them. Ask yourself how you found out about your favourite books. Was it word of mouth? If it was from whom? Find that person and give them your book to read. If they like it then they will share it. The thing is the world is full of information so you have to contribute worthwhile information. What is your book about? How can you be an expert on related subjects and then write articles on that? What you do have to remember is that there are people searching out what you have created. If you wanted to find what you had created where would you look? That is precisely where you place it. Look at Ad words, look at tags and look at the best blogs on your subject. What are they doing? How do you equal that or do better. The act of promoting yourself is easy. The only resistance is you. Imagine how your life will be different once you succeed. Allow yourself that year of consistent promotion and re-evaluate what works and what does not work along the way. If anything you will emotionally expand and grow because you are stepping beyond your comfort zone. Go for it and win! Oh and in the meantime write your next book.

In the meantime here are a couple of mine  that are selling rather well:)

AUDIBLE LINK FOR A SHORT COURSE IN CREATIVE WRITING: http://amzn.com/B01390THLK

21/08/15

 

"An Unexpected Gem"

***I was provided a copy of this audio book for the purpose of a review ***

With the required disclaimer out of the way, let me be brutally honest, I had not expected this little gem. In fact, I had expected my listening would be a bit rough and was fortified by it being less than 2 hours.

The synopsis says the author wrote the book as a takeaway from her evening classes on creative writing. My mental context was ... Community Ed evening classes ...and expected a well intended but kind of amateur product. However, I am interested in adult education, and batter my own nerd head against a giant personal creativity brick wall.

So you have an idea of my mind set... low expectations along with high interest.

Amateur hour it was NOT.

I don't know where the author teaches her class, but Sign Me Up! And bring the narrator. Wow. Two hours of unadulterated, straight up, right on, good learning material delivered by a close friend just sharing the material. The narrator's voice was warm, sincere without any artifact or pompous patronising, and well modulated throughout. The material was mind opening for me, with the right mix of the mechanics of writing exercises, sufficient context that using prompts now makes sense to me, and a sprinkling of the inner heart work of creativity through written material.

This was just what I didn't dare hope for in a how to creative writing listen.

Truly an unexpected gem and a learning and growing experience for me.

A keeper and one I will return to many times as I deconstruct my own wall, one block at a time.

Thank You, Ruby and Thank You, Erin.

 

TO BUY MONEY FARM ON AMAZON.com http://amzn.com/B010F04W9O

· Frode

06/08/15

5 STAR

"M.O.N.E.Y. is bad? This book is not!"

So Money Farm by Ruby Allure was a surprise! When I REALLY did not read things about this book I review for Audiobook Blast, I sometimes get books I don't know something about. BTW: I read 99% about the books I want to review, but this book I can't remember I did that for. Anyways: This was a nice surprise, and I think it is one of those books that is better the second time you read it. No joke! I listen to this twice before I made this! Money Farm makes you thin, and who does not like to hear a book that makes you think? It is an awesome book, that I will recommend to all that likes audiobooks, and really to people that does not!

Helen Lloyd English accent its the topic like a glow and a hand! Her "lady like" voice is so cold, and clear I feel that the author made this book thinking that Helen Lloyd would read it out loud! That is how I feel those two fits together! The 2 times 14 hrs and 6 mins I spend with her never feels boring or uninteresting! I would love to spend it again, and I will because this book I will hear again, and again, even when it is 14 hrs and 6 mins long! That is saying something!

I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review via AudiobookBlast dot com

MONEY FARM

· "Incredibly thought provoking..."

What did you like most about Money Farm?

It was an eye opener.

 

What did you like best about this story?

I like the way it made you think about the way normal everyday life is here and now, and the future...

 

Have you listened to any of Helen Lloyd’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Helen Lloyd narrated this fairly long audiobook brilliantly. Although the story content was very intense and thought provoking, her lovely smooth voice was very easy to listen to and I thought it was just perfect, a fascinating book wonderfully narrated.

 

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes it was, although it is too long to do so.