LINK TO LOVE HUNT - DATING GAME - A KISS & EMAIL ROMANTIC COMEDY!
http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Love-Hunt-Dating-Game-Audiobook/B015G4ICYA/ref=a_search_c4_1_6_srTtl?qid=1471533226&sr=1-6
Ruby Allure's Books
Ruby Allure's Books
Showing posts with label audio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label audio. Show all posts
Thursday, 18 August 2016
Quick Update - New Cover on Audible for Love Hunt - Dating Game - A Kiss and Email Romantic Comedy!
LINK TO LOVE HUNT - DATING GAME - A KISS & EMAIL ROMANTIC COMEDY!
http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Love-Hunt-Dating-Game-Audiobook/B015G4ICYA/ref=a_search_c4_1_6_srTtl?qid=1471533226&sr=1-6
Thursday, 4 August 2016
Change your Book Cover and Increase Your Sales?
Change Your Book Cover and Increase Your Sales?
So how we went about it was go to Amazon Ad Sense. We created an advertising campaign using my top selling book. We started the campaign and registered the number of impressions according to key words. We then counted how many clicks are made on a key word and which key words generated the most clicks. Take for example my LOVE HUNT - The Love Game. This was listed under romance, contemporary romance, love, dating etc. All these key words are linked to your book and when a book in your genre is being looked at, yours joins a queue to be listed as relevant. When your book is noticed and the customer clicks on your book, that is when you are charged a small fee. The fee is based on a bidding process. In actual fact it is all quite simple: basically every time your advert is clicked upon you are charged. You can set an advertising budget each day which once it is reached your advert will no longer appear. That means you can invest as little as a few dollars each day to advertise your books to a specific target audience, according to your key words. In the case of LOVE HUNT - THE LOVE GAME - the most impressions and clicks were made by those who were looking up romance or contemporary romance. The romance market is huge and one of the most popular so it was not a surprise that this was the 'big clicker!'
So how does this relate to a change of cover?
Well there has to be a reason that a customer potentially clicks on your book. What makes your book stand out against the others that are lined up to advertise at that very same customer? Well it is the cover and the 'strap line.' So I have to be honest my click rate was failing dismally. After 32,000 impressions, where customers had my book appear on the page, I had a whole - are you ready for this - 9 clicks! They did not result in sales. So I was affectively advertising and getting no response. Boooo!
Admittedly it takes time for a sales campaign to kick in; however, something has to make the 'customer' want it now. People don't have time to return to a book they might have seen briefly and they certainly don't retain the title unless it is astounding! So what do you do? You make a cover which screams click on me. So here is my 'before' cover - I quite liked this one...
So this is the new cover:
Yes it is very pink!!!! Very, very pink! The thing is I then had to change the second in the series too from:
So this then was changed to:
Again - it is VERY PINK!
So guess what happened? The number of impressions continued at the same rate and the click rate increased. What do you think happened with the sales? There was a gradual increase. So what did that mean? Well, it meant that my blurb had to change. I know... Something was stopping people going 'yeh! now! Now and NOW!' Also my friend said that the reader wanted to discover something: an insight.
So take a look - this is how it was:
We have tick lists, ideals, and we hunt in high-heeled packs. Of course, we're all hunting for that elusive right man who ticks every box and even has tidy nostril hair. Okay maybe not you, but you know other ladies who love the hunt.
Well, it's time for Eva and Gracie to love hunt, and their 'targets' are rich men - the golden sperm. Such exciting escapades would provide the pair with entertaining discussions during their dull office hours - or so they thought. What they did not anticipate was the discovery of the "booby man"; humorous but very hard truths about wealth, themselves, power; and the RichIdiot.com phenomenon.
The question remains: can love really be hunted?
THIS IS THE NEW VERSION
LOVE
HUNT - Dating Game: A Kiss and Email Romantic Comedy
Did you know there are numerous secret female dating
discussions taking place in your office? Discover the hidden world of women
hunting rich men in hope of escaping office drudgery. All around you your
colleagues are gossiping about their dating adventures whilst pretending to
work. This laugh out loud romantic comedy reveals numerous dating disasters,
female analysis and an insight into the world of ridiculous dating rituals -
all of that in hope of finding that Mr Right. Does he really exist?
This and more from Eva, the Russian gold digger, who reveals a world of high-class meals and luxurious lingerie. While Gracie, the straight-laced female analyst demonstrates how the mind can run riot with random thoughts: what about the grey-knicker women who have settled for the men with sheds? Are they happy? Why are their knickers grey? Why choose a man with a shed?
A laugh out loud conversation in the form of emails about life, hide the sausage and dating blooming disasters! Be astounded by what is discussed during nine to five!
This and more from Eva, the Russian gold digger, who reveals a world of high-class meals and luxurious lingerie. While Gracie, the straight-laced female analyst demonstrates how the mind can run riot with random thoughts: what about the grey-knicker women who have settled for the men with sheds? Are they happy? Why are their knickers grey? Why choose a man with a shed?
A laugh out loud conversation in the form of emails about life, hide the sausage and dating blooming disasters! Be astounded by what is discussed during nine to five!
___________________
So what do you think happened? Honestly I have no clue how life works....
Well the audio sales went up! Admittedly Helen is a fantastic narrator and her Russian accent is brilliant, I just have not quite figured out how that has worked. Also what is also interesting is there is a higher level of sales in the U.K. than the U.S.
My friend Matt says that is because the U.K. has 11 5 star reviews whereas the U.S. have not been placing so many reviews. Again I wonder why that is. So in answer to the question - Can changing your cover increase your sales? Most definitely; however, there are other factors such as 'strap line and your blurb.' If you manage to combine the perfect formula then you have a potentially winning advertising campaign! YEY!!!!
My friend Matt says that is because the U.K. has 11 5 star reviews whereas the U.S. have not been placing so many reviews. Again I wonder why that is. So in answer to the question - Can changing your cover increase your sales? Most definitely; however, there are other factors such as 'strap line and your blurb.' If you manage to combine the perfect formula then you have a potentially winning advertising campaign! YEY!!!!
Good luck. I hope this helps all the other lovely authors out there who are also attempting to figure the marketing puzzle out. If I find out anything else I will definitely share. If you have any comments or findings please could you add them to the comments. I would love other authors to have an easier journey to making a living from the book market!
LINK TO KINDLE:
LOVE HUNT - Dating Game: A Kiss and Email Romantic Comedy
by Ruby Allure LINK: https://amzn.com/B00ATF8QF2
by Ruby Allure LINK: https://amzn.com/B00ATF8QF2
LINK TO AUDIO :https://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-Hunt-Dating-Game-Idiot/dp/B015G4GAIU/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1470326107&sr=8-2
Oh and I just worked out why the audio sales went up - the audio is on at £3.99 rather than £15.69
If I had not written this blog I would never have figured it out. So that is why the audio sales increased because the advert worked - the customer just happened to explore further. The only problem now is how do I change the audio cover? Any ideas?
Tuesday, 28 June 2016
Tingle Dingle Audio Sample
Tingle Dingle and The Little Mischiefs is for those lovely people who like fun little fairy tales about mischief, magic and 'the moral of the story.' Please share with parents and children alike who enjoy such stories... Thank you so much. The link for the audio is at the bottom of the page...
http://www.audible.com/pd/Kids/Tingle-Dingle-and-the-Little-Mischiefs-Audiobook/B01GW55E48/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_srTtl?qid=1467135555&sr=1-1
"Nice book for my grandchildren"
http://www.audible.com/pd/Kids/Tingle-Dingle-and-the-Little-Mischiefs-Audiobook/B01GW55E48/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_srTtl?qid=1467135555&sr=1-1
Where does Tingle Dingle and the Little Mischiefs rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
I haven't listened to very many but I loved the way the narrator added sound effects. Even though this is a childrens' book I thorough enjoyed listening to it.
What did you like best about this story?
The sound effects
What about Triera Holley’s performance did you like?
Her voice is soothing and clear.
Sunday, 26 June 2016
When the Reviews roll in...
When The Reviews Roll In...
Imagine working for years on a book and then finally it is ready to be released to the world. All that love and attention, all those hours of work have finally culminated in your creation and now... and yes now.... oh God you have to release it to the world. That moment for many authors is what makes them stick. All their fears and sense of it not being good enough rise to the surface. The tormenting feelings of doubt gnaw away at their stomachs. They justify not releasing it to the world and then imagine the worst: a top critic destroys their creation in a public humiliation. That feeling can be likened to being found sitting naked on a toilet in a public place...
NEW RELEASE: TINGLE DINGLE AND THE LITTLE MISCHIEFS
NEW RELEASE: THE HAIRY-LEGGED MYSTERY
When the Reviews roll in...
When The Reviews Roll In...
Imagine working for years on a book and then finally it is ready to be released to the world. All that love and attention, all those hours of work have finally culminated in your creation and now... and yes now.... oh God you have to release it to the world. That moment for many authors is what makes them stick. All their fears and sense of it not being good enough rise to the surface. The tormenting feelings of doubt gnaw away at their stomachs. They justify not releasing it to the world and then imagine the worst: a top critic destroys their creation in a public humiliation. That feeling can be likened to being found sitting naked on a toilet in a public place...
NEW RELEASE: TINGLE DINGLE AND THE LITTLE MISCHIEFS
NEW RELEASE: THE HAIRY-LEGGED MYSTERY
Tuesday, 21 June 2016
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.
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:
AUDIBLE BOOK AVAILABLE HERE:
LINK TO BUY ON AUDIBLE:
LINK TO PAPERBACK ON AMAZON.COM
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
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
NEW RELEASE: THE HAIRY-LEGGED MYSTERY
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)