Erin S. Evan liked an update for The Last Faoii

It’s up, Faoii! GO GO GO! I want that hill by dawn!

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Erin S. Evan liked the forum thread, What am I missing?

What @Tal M. Klein said here:

Good old fashioned hustling - At least 20 hours a week was dedicated to outreach. Emails, texts, snaps, DMs, there are always people somewhere in your network that have still not pre-ordered your book.

I cannot second this enough. One on one outreach is magic. And not just to family and friends you’re regularly in touch with, but anybody you’ve ever had a positive interaction with. If you message it right and make that message personal, they’ll appreciate your reaching out more than you realize. And you’ll be continually surprised who immediately buys after getting your message.

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Erin S. Evan liked the forum thread, What am I missing?

Hi guys,

Questions like that of Kim’s, is something I get on a weekly basis, and other authors too. I want to give the same advice I gave @A. White who reached out to me, and explain what took me a good month and a half of campaigning, and a lot of conversations with other authors, as well as Jeremy the former CEO, to learn.

I’ve honestly tried every strategy on the face of the planet trying to raise orders, many of my strategies failed, but eventually some succeeded. Here’s what I’ve learned, take some of it or not at all, at your own discretion. I’ll also repeat stuff that excellent campaigners and authors such as @Tal M. Klein and @Ricardo Henriquez said in older threads - I don’t have the links but it’s worth searching for their posts, they taught me a lot.

I won’t survey the tactics that failed for me such as book stores and book clubs, as they did work for others. So I’d encourage you to think outside the box no matter what.

First of all, Facebook and Twitter should be considered with a touch of scepticism, IMHO. While they are imperative to make sure people you know hear about your book, the chances of converting "likes" & "RT"s to actual orders are very slim.

These are the most useful tactics I did manage to work with.

(1) Actual Social Networks - not just your own! Ricardo said wisely that you are selling yourself and not your book. What’s 10$ for family and friends to support YOU ??
My wife & mine social network alone banked about 150 orders, and yes that meant nagging people on WhatsApp numerous times, and emailing the world (I found that a bulk email gets dumped by 8/10 people while personal email gets dumped by few). Don’t be shy of reaching out to old college buddies. Nobody is off the list - was what we said - unless they had a recent misfortune or death in the family.

Then move on to friends and family friends’ social networks. Write them a generic email that will support yourself and your cause. Pledge a sum of the orders to charity if you think that may tip the scale for people who don’t really know you.
My top referrer in this campaign is my 70 year old aunt - she sent an email I’ve written for her to all her friends, which incidentally are not poor and are readers, that alone banked about 55 orders! top referrer.

(2) Reach out for Inkshares authors - ask for their orders, whether with credits they have or actual money. If people are active and like your work - they’ll order. But the bulk of orders won’t be them, and you need to give people here time. I have a day-job and two kids ages 10 month and 2.5years - do u honestly think I can read every book I am being sent on the spot. I do listen and try my best to read books of anyone who reached out to me or DM’ed me, eventually.

(3) Support fellow authors - Find an author who’s in same stages of the campaign as you and preferably same genre. Compare notes. Maybe he’ll have a few friends that will look into your book - worth asking. I know some people here don’t like it when authors ask their base to order another author’s book and vice versa, but if the genres match and people aren’t held back to keep bugging their crowds with requests, this can be legitimate to a small scale.

In all honesty, I doubt more than a handful of people would allow you to bug them to order multiple books, so nurture these gems that do and make sure you choose wisely.

I have a friend that asked me to explain to him how to stop Inkshares emails, and another who told me, after ordering my book, that he was at a point where he’d do just about anything to stop getting my texts. message conveyed? Nag nag nag.

(4) Landing page - I found this landing page I did useful. This was advise by Jeremy, who’s been following Tim Farris, a Kickstarter guru. Look, it won’t bring orders but it’s a nice gimmick.

here’s my example: http://www.jondbooks.com/final-stretch.htm

This is a good time to say that a website is pretty imperative, IMO.

(5) Create a buzz - A movie, a givaway (cups for top referrers is a concept I copied from Tal Klein but made original ones for the campaign), charity pledge, anything that will zest your campaign a bit and can create a buzz amongst your friends. I got the marketing department in my firm to step in, especially when they heard about my charity pledge. They sent a pitch about my book in the company newsletter and portal. OK true, this banked ’only’ about 40-50 orders from a company of 4,700 people (percentage-wise it’s not impressive), and not everyone is working in a big firm, but I am sure colleagues would help. Buy them a beer as a reward, or go on a coffee run (I only bought 5 coffees so not everyone would jump on that)

(5) Goodreads - This was probably the most unrewarding channel. I reached out to 300 people, and asked them to read my preview , bundled in PDF for their convenience http://www.jondbooks.com/download-pdf/

remember work under the assumption that people who are not on inkshares will not click into Inkshares straight away - would you?

Make sure the PDF has a link to preordering. Admittedly the response rate was disappointing with 40 Yes, and only 12 orders... but I got in touch with some great people.. Oh and make sure you don’t spam too much there, I got an official warning from them at the time :-)

A couple of notes:

Thank you’s are very important. You are not J. K. Rowling. yet. if somebody ordered your book - please thank them. It will come across down to earth and very polite.

Targets - make sure you work with targets. if you need 5 orders a day until the end - you need to know that you can rest when you hit 5, or stay up when you didn’t. The dashboard is not accurate and doesn’t know what you know and expect. Count out national holidays and days off for you, you’ll need it to keep sane and save your relationship/marriage if you are in one. But it’s important to keep track of the figures and not be left in a situation where u suddenly need 17 orders a day - much less feasible.

These are my "words of wisdom". I hope it will help some of you. People here are great and can be very helpful, personally, while I didn’t order every book tossed my way, I made time for anyone who asked me for guidance.

This will be the last thread I participate in for the time being, lack of time and the urge to work on a sequel and copy edit my book are too time consuming. But feel free to email me at ydital gmail address or DM me here - I promise I’ll reply.

remember the most important thing is not to let anyone tell you that you cannot do it. And also, if you fail - don’t miss out on the lesson - and make sure to better prepare for the next campaign.

@Kim Whale GOOD LUCK !

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Erin S. Evan followed Fae Child

Fae Child

A child slips through a portal into the land of the Fae and traverses the Otherworld with the help of a young elf, while her parents are left to deal with the changeling that was left in her place.

Erin S. Evan liked an update for Tantalus Depths

With all the anarchy in the campaign over the last two weeks (and unfortunately, it’s probably still not quite over, but we’re going to get through it) I’ve been neglecting what I feel is a real obligation: showcasing the works other funding authors have been trying to get off the ground. I know all too well how hard it is to work a campaign like this, especially without help from the community. There are just too many books around here that deserve to see success, but have trouble finding their audience. Hopefully I can play a part in matchmaking some of these.

This week I want to recommend a very special book for everyone. Why is it special? Well, let me lay it out for you:

Out of the 113 books that entered Geek and Sundry’s Hard Science-Fiction competition, only three won: After Man, The Pirates of Montana, and The Punch Escrow (and all three earned it).

Out of the 110 books that entered Geek and Sundry’s Hard Science Fiction competition and did not win, only three are still actively campaigning to get published the hard way: Tantalus Depths, Seven Days Dead, and First on Mars.

I believe I’ve made it pretty clear by now that I’d like you to support Tantalus Depths (I have something of a vested interest in the project), but I have to say, both Seven Days Dead and First on Mars absolutely deserve to get funded as well.

Everyone but the three of us ultimately either gave up as soon as the contest ended, or failed to get anywhere near a funding goal, but both Landon Trine and Christopher M. Johnson have been working their butts to the bone trying to find audiences for their books, fighting the exhaustion and discouragement that inevitably comes from losing a contest and striving to reach the goals they need to see publication. None of us gave up, even when others did in droves. Their tenacity, their determination, and their dedication deserve to be rewarded.

Here are their books: please, please consider supporting one or even both of them: They’re both well over a hundred pre-orders deep, and I think they both have seriously well-crafted stories to share. Pay special attention to First on Mars: it only has 14 days left in its campaign, unless Landon seeks an extension.

Seven Days Dead centers around a zombie outbreak in the Middle East. More than merely a bog-standard zombie story, however, this book explores the depths of human nature, showing how one of the most conflicted regions in all the world reacts when ancestral enemies are faced with a common foe: their own dead. This book promises to take what might otherwise be a tired premise and breathe new life into it by virtue of the greater message at its core.

As the name implies, First on Mars is a story about the first manned expedition to Mars. However, when unexplained sabotage and a suspicious suicide derail the mission, the crew is thrown into a series of paranoia-driven dilemmas as they struggle to keep the mission together and themselves alive against all odds. This book shares many themes and concepts in common with Tantalus Depths, so if you like what you’ve seen so far of my book, this will almost certainly be right down your alley!

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Erin S. Evan liked an update for Storm Song

Good evening, sailors!

I actually wrote this update yesterday, but I didn’t see where they moved the "update readers" function, so I just posted it under the comments on the project page and hoped for the best. Turns out that was wrong, but! Another author on here was kind enough to help me sort it out. So here’s the news:

We reached TRIPLE DIGITS in pre order sales! As promised, I have uploaded chapters 4 and 5 to the project page. Feel free to take a look at the adventure that’s unfolding for our dear Thoster!

In other news, I’m still holding the #1 spot on the Geek & Sundry contest! It’s all about momentum, guys. I know a lot of you have been sharing and/or helping me explore new and exciting promotional avenues. Please continue to help spread the word. You guys are going to be the reason I may be able to make this dream a reality.

If you want to do me another favor while you’re at it, give the sample chapters a read and recommend/review/highlight your favorite lines. All of these things show up on the front page to show what users are doing on different projects. Lets generate some buzz on Inkshares about Storm Song!

I adore you all. You have no idea how much this whole thing has made me smile. Keep being awesome!

- Allison

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