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How to drive sales for your ebook?



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How to drive sales for your ebook?

I have written and published two ebooks. However, my book sales are not very satisfactory. I did not even sell 100 copies of my book. How do I drive sales for my ebook? Don't give me prosaic answers such as promote on social media and all that, I have already done that.
I have a facebook page for my ebook
I have used my ebook links as email signature and forum signature
I have put ads of my ebook on my websites.
How do sell my ebooks

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anor0428
What is your book all about? I still believe that using social media is the key. Highlight some part of your book that will interest people to buy it. Ask some reviews from the people who already bought your book. Ask help for friends to share your facebook page and promote your book.



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Tronia
That's actually a great idea. The reviews would convince more people to perhaps buy your ebook? It would definitely make it far more attractive and it would give you a credibility as a writer. Did you try and e-mail any of the people that bought it so far and asked them to write some positive feedback for you?



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vinaya
I have a facebook page for my book. I have also published about my books on my personal blog. I have shared my book on my websites. I also regularly tweet about my book. I have done everything that I have been told. I have some five star reviews (not the paid reviews, but genuine reviews), however, these methods are not actually helping me. I have even done paid marketing, but my ad campaign went vain because, during the promotional time, I did not get any sales. I even gave the book for free as a promotional method for a limited time, but this also did not help me generate sales.



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JoeMilford
These are all wonderful suggestions and very practical and useful suggestions. I particularly like the idea of getting the book reviewed and using that in your promotional packet, so to speak. You could show a sample of the writing coupled with a review on each of your social media sites and then have a link to purchase the book back at your own website or blog. Great ideas here. Also, having friends, family, and supporters spread the word about your product is a priceless approach to marketing.



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SirenOnFire
You have great points here. I agree that social media is one important key for promotion of about any products of business nowadays. This could be used to build up reputation and trust from prospect buyers.



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JoeMilford
Also, depending upon the number of people you have already as "friends" on your social media, you already have a potential customer group or audience for your work right there! Why not extend a greeting and an explanation of what you are doing on social media and invite the set of people to come and check out what you are doing, right?



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SirenOnFire
Indeed! One has to be creative and resourceful in order to achieve success in this kind of work and business. Through social media, one has an automatic community of people who can be tapped and be prospect buyers and customers. It's all about the proper way of utilizing it.



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dzannerz
Well I agree with you because nowadays,social media is the commmon source of people's interest. Through social media,you can easily promote what you wanted to promote.



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Corzhens
In any kind of selling especially when you have no budget for advertising it is the social media for our refuge. Especially Facebook and Twitter they are venues that are free for your marketing activity and the only restriction is the spamming that's why you also have to be creative in making your marketing posts. For sure you have personal friends and you can ask them to share your marketing posts.



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pandooh
Have a good cover for your book. It's quite ironic when people say don't judge the book by its cover but that's the first thing we'll see when buying books.
Second, make sure that you have a good summary of your story that will catch the attention of the readers.
Third, Have a title that is interesting. That people will get intrigued to what is the story all about.
You've got to work hard for your book first. Then come, the promoting. Promote anywhere. Join groups that are booklovers.



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vinaya
A good title, a good summary, and a good cover are very important factors to sell your book. However, marketing the book is more important. You can reach your target readers only when you promote your book. But the question is how to market your book. I have promoted my book through facebook advertising. I spent $35 but was unable to sell a single copy. I targeted my marketing campaign towards people interested on the contents of book, I got likes on my posts but was unable to drive sales.



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anor0428
I like your idea, these are really important factors to consider. Good cover and good content to attract the readers/buyers. Reviews are important, too, because buyers (like me) will always look for reviews when looking for something to buy. So it is always good to think of creative idea to promote the product.



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JoeMilford
These are great ideas! It is so true--a good cover can sell your book sometimes all by itself. You also mention the title, which is the first impression people get of the writing in the book and the imagination of the author in terms of text. I think having reviews to post would help as well, and your idea about a good summary, which can really entice a reader, is a brilliant one too.



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SirenOnFire
Buyers would usually first judge if a book is worthy of checking out based on its cover. The number of reviews also matters heavily since this is how buyers would usually check if the seller is trustworthy of has quality products.



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JoeMilford
Another good point here regarding reviews. I think that reviews are SO useful and valuable in terms of promoting or selling your work. Also, if you can get reviews from people who are well-known and professional in terms of writing and editing, then you can definitely boost your sales and the interest in your work based upon the name-value and reputation of others who your audience may have heard of before.



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pandooh
Yeah reviews are great, too. People tend to read the reviews as well if it justified what they bought. And remember it is not always easy to increase sales. The great authors that we know today are just like you before.



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BelindaMT
Vinaya,
As far as I remember, you are good in graphic design you mentioned it in one of your comment correct me if I’m wrong. I don’t have much idea about ebooks but like books sold in bookstore, it should be attractive to customer. Use your talent in graphic design if I’m right. Book cover is really important. It must be attractive and interesting as well. Do not put too much information on the cover. Make the title very interesting and do not put so many color. Combine or choose color that you think will collaborate to the title of your ebook.



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vinaya
Thanks for remembering my comment. My first book was a print book. It was a collection of poetry. I designed the cover. I also designed cover for my first ebook, which was published on Amazon. Yes, a cover is very important for a boo. The book cover should tell what your book is about, however, it should not reveal too much. However, having a good cover is not enough. My second ebook has an amazing cover, however, the book did not sell well.



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BelindaMT
Well, I can easily remember comments if the member is using real picture than using an avatar. Anyway, don't worry maybe just for now yes you have losses but for sure you will learn from your downfall and for sure the next book will be successful.



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tenthztar
I guess social media is a good place to advertise your eBook. You can also try explaining what your eBooks content through your videos. If you have money Facebook ads is a good way to start driving traffic into your eBooks.



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vinaya
I am yet to use video advertising for my book. I hear that video advertising is very effective. However, in order to create a promotional video, I need skills, which I don't have. I can hire someone to make a video for me, which costs money. However, I am skeptical because I may never make up the cost. I spent $35 on a facebook ad, but did not make a single sale.



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tenthztar
You can hire some talents in Fiverr because it's pretty much cheaper than hiring from freelancing sites.



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wiseagent
tenthztar,

Facebook is always a great idea because the traffic is always very high (sometimes, much more than we can imagine). Of course this doesn't guarantee the success of sales, but the attempt is always valid... After all, you have to start somewhere, right?



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tenthztar
Yes i agree with you but a good content will always find it's way to your proper audience. Facebook is just your way of sending them a message that your content is beneficial to them.



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wiseagent
I also agree with you, the way can come naturally... But it can take longer than you can expect. So, it's always good to give a little help sometimes. Having to wait, sometimes can be very frustrating.



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tenthztar
Yes, I agree. All you need is a little help from your friends to spread the word. Soon everybody will hear it and be curious about it, which is great.



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wiseagent
Not only from friends, but also from family members, colleagues and strangers who will surely make all the difference, haha. Many times, the best marketing strategy is the comment made by people (it can be more effective than we imagine).



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JoeMilford
Another great idea! Making promotional videos to sell your ebooks is a wonderful idea, and I had not yet thought of that myself. I am guessing I did not think of it because, for one thing, I can't stand to see myself on camera; however, I think I would trudge through it if it would help my book sell.



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tenthztar
I find whiteboard animations good too, since all you have to do is just place the images and narrate them. It keeps the audience active since they are following the animation while listening to your explanation.



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overcast
I don't know the formula. But what worked for me is posting about the book in niche specific forum. For example my testing book is recommended in the testing forums. And it is gaining some good traffic for that book. And it has low cost. So people don't mind getting the recommendation on the ebook. And the cost being 99c. It helps them for testing it out and there is not much of loss for them. And so in such case I'd say you have to promote in the forum or the groups where the niche is being discussed.

So if you consider the ebook promotion, I suggest making it low price till you get atleast 10 reviews. And after that you have to move to the increase in price slowly. Don't start with the 2.99 price that may not help much.



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augusta
Nice strategies, I just published one on Amazon Kindle so far it doing well but I still editing one that I intend to publish it myself,I have been researching on means to really market it to enable huge sales.I will add your ways to my arsenal. I think armed with these various ways,I should make a huge headway.



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PedroP
Well, I would advise you to use social media to promote it but don't be limited to that. Try and get your own website up and running so you can discuss your book and topics related to it. THEN you add social media to that and see where it leads.



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DenisP
I have never written my own eBook so I can't give you any personal experience exactly, but I do know what has worked for other people. For starters, you're going to have to learn how to sell yourself, and not just your eBook. Think about it for a second. How likely are you to buy a book from an author if their book doesn't have any reviews and they don't have much of a reputation or are famous? I don't know about you, but not very likely is the answer for me. You're going to have to give the people something for free so that they think to themselves "Huh, this guy's stuff might be worth paying for." Start a blog on a topic related to your eBooks, make videos on YouTube. Get people to see you, respect you, and admire you first for free, and then try to sell them something.



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diels1001
Try doing some market research. Of course you know what is the content of your book and you will try to find the buyers that is willing to have your content. You can try to personally introduce your book to your target people and discuss to them further, Why they must buy your book? First, you can try to endorse your book to your friends, and friends of friends until your network becomes bigger. In that situation, you can have an instant sale of your book and a longer list of people you can interact with. If you have made a connection to many people, endorsing your book will be easy.



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Nikko25
I don't really know how you can increase your sales as I am not knowledgable in that area but as someone who loves reading books, both hard bound and digital, what gets me Interested in buying is a well written synopsis which teases and stimulates my curiosity. Before that, you should also have a title that grabs attention as well. You can also try posting teaser pages for free and if they want the rest of the story, they will have to buy it. I've come across some sites who do this and I think it's a good strategy for hooking in readers.



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jaymish
Congratulations on writing an e-book. I'm sure you can attest to the fact , that it is not easy task. Don't frown upon selling less than 100 copies. I'm sure they are people who would like to be in your postion that have been unable to sell even 1 copy of their e-book. You need a serious marketing plan. You should look into hiring someone to do the marketing for you. Someone who is experienced in marketing on the internet. Another path you could take is to hire affiliates to sell your book, and pay them a commission, for every sale. Thay would take some of the pressure off especially if internet marketing is not your thing.



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Tronia
Nobody can give you a more specific answer than the ones you listed because those are the best ones... and if all of those failed then you must have done something wrong at the basis which is your book. What is it about? How is the overall design? Is it attractive for readers?

If social media, advertising and more doesn't drive you any sales/traffic then you should look at the core. It's either that or your marketing isn't good. Have you ever spoken to somebody that does this professionally? Perhaps hire a person to help you initially raise the sales until you see what works the best for your own book. Different things work for different people.



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DarthHazard
You have said not to say social media advertising but that is exactly what you need to do. It's obvious that you haven't done any of it properly, therefore, you need to improve your advertising on social media. That way you can try to attract more potential customers and that may lead to some actual sales for you. Can I ask what your book is about? That might give us a better image of the situation. It could just be down to the fact that there isn't a large enough interest for that particular niche/industry.



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Pixie06
Yes I have to agree with you. I started my business on Facebook and at first it was very difficult for me to sell any of my products. But then I requested my friends to help me. They encouraged others to join my page and to buy my products. I also started using Facebook advertising. Today my business is flourishing and I am thankful to my friends. I don't advertise solely on Facebook but on other social medias as well.



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felabruno
I see you are using social media but it doesn't work. I think it is a good idea but you could change your approach - maybe organize some giveaway so people will reblog/repost you, talk with people on forums about books and comment on other blogs.



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wiseagent
I think the idea of advertising in forums with subjects that are the same or similar to yours is very good, but you have to know how to do it so that you don't get the wrong idea, such as being an impertinent person.



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wiseagent
The options are quite varied, but I think none of them can reach as many people as the social media platforms. The number of people who use them are very high and the resources to make the publicity process more appealing (which is always a good idea if you are a creative person).



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AmieBotella
I wonder how much are you selling your ebook? Sometimes too low a price or too high can be ignored in the market. I myself buy ebooks. But if an ebook with the same category and priced too low or high compared to the others, the tendency here is to skip your e-book and check out that does belong to the same quadrant of prices. Personally, I would think, why is this so cheap? pricey? So I will look on other books. Also, either your e-book isn't properly categorized that when people search for it, it falls on a different category and got ignored most of the time. One more thing, give it more time. Sometimes they just fall off and then hit back in sales.



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diels1001
The best way to drive sales to any products you have is an endorsement. If you can do it yourself, like using a social media platform or any tools you have to show your products to people. Another way is having some expense of hiring endorsers like a very popular person. Your ebook's popularity will be greatly influenced if you have a popular endorser. Many people will be informed faster and more and more will be notified. In this case, your not only attracting buyers but also saves time and effort.



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jemuelterrado
There are 10 tips to drive your ebook sales. These 10 tips to boost your ebook sales would come handy to both new as well as accomplished author’s.

Invest in getting a excellent eBook Cover Page.
Every book is judged by it’s cover. How many times have you heard this? We’re sure several times already. It remains to be the top reason why a lot of ebook(s) fail to generate the kind of sales they deserve. A good cover prooves to be the single most important factor in getting the initial interest and making reader’s want to look into your ebook. So do not ignore this fact and get a interesting and good looking cover page for your ebook.

Sell your ebook(s) through multiple ebook stores.
Although the top ebook stores like Amazon, B&N and Apple account for bulk of the ebook sales. There are several smaller but equally important ebook stores which would boost your over ebook sales substantially. A list of other major stores which you should sell your ebook through are : KOBO, Diesel book store…………………….

Provide a nice quick preview of your ebook content.
A preview of your ebook pages helps in engaging your prospective buyers / readers to your ebook and increasing your chances. There are several ways to create a quick preview.

Post screenshots (as images) of relevant pages alongside initial Index and content pages.
Post relevant pages of your book alongside initial Index and content pages as html. This would also be a very search engine optmized (SEO) way of promoting your ebook.

You can also use a site like Scribd to publish and post a preview.

You can create a Digital Flip Publication on CreateMagazines itself to publish and post a preview.

Get your ebook reviewed.
Ebooks with published reviews and real testimonials from various ebook stores or your readers tend to get more attention and interest and thus sale more.

Create a search engine optimized sales page to promote your ebook.
When you are selling an eBook you are offering it via the internet. So it makes a lot of sense to have a dedicated page for your ebook which tells everything your potential readers would want to know and thus leading to a sell. You can use this webpage to provide author information, book information, come up with special offers and have your own ecommerce system in place to sell your ebook right from your own webpage. This way you would not be sharing profits with anyone else. When you offer your ebooks from ebook stores you usually end up receiving inbetween 30-70% of your ebook sales. Remaining amount is kept by the ebook stores as their cut. Although offering ebook through ebook stores is an absolute necessity as these stores are able to provide substantial exposure to your ebook. But why not have your own sales page in palce too if your readers directly reach there. You can either create a simple webpage on your own, or hire a company create one for you. Click here to have a look at our sales page creation offer for more information.

Join affiliate programs.
Affiliate programs offered by sites like ClickBank can help you market your ebook better.

Make your ebook (s) available in multiple file formats.
Different users have different reading preferences. Some like to read their ebooks on a PC some on a ebook reader device like Kindle or Nook, some like to read them on new Tablet devices like iPad and some simply like to read them on their mobile devices. The problem is each one of these devices have their own set of compatible file formats. So it makes sense to have your ebook in multiple file formats so that you have a extended reach and are able to provide a format compatible with several of these popular devices. Click here for more information related to common ebook file formats.

Use the power of Social media to spread the word about your ebook.
Social media marketing also termed as SMO has become a very popular tool to promote about everything. Site like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and various blogs allow users to “repost” or share information shared on the product in question easily. Since the same information is shared by a user with their contacts and by contacts of their contact, it helps in spreading the word fast this reaching more and more people . Social networking sites act as word of mouth promotion adding more value.

Offer limited period discounts, create bundles.
Just like any ecommerce product an ebook can be offered on limited period discounts or bundled with relevant products to increase the overall value or worth of the deal to the user. This is proven method tested over time to fetch results.

Price your ebook intelligently.
Since production and distribution costs involved in case of an ebook are substantially less as compared to their printed version you should price your ebook cost considering all these factors. Lower cost in case of an ebook is the major driving force behind the increasing ebook sales trends that we all have been witnessing in the last few years. So do you research well before deciding upon the cost for your ebook.

Those are the 10 tips to drive sales and hope that helps friend.



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wiseagent
What a great grouping of tips. They are all extremely very useful and at least to me they are very clear (and I think this, for any reader is essential).

Thanks for sharing. They certainly were very helpful.



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jemuelterrado
You are very welcome my friend goodluck to your career. Work hard until you earn what you expected and even more. Creating ebook is bit too time consuming but worth it when many visitors will see your work. Keep it cool and entertaining page where visitors will be glad and proud to refer it to other. Godbless and goodluck everything is possible through effort and time.



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wiseagent
Thank you for the words of encouragement. How to drive sales for your ebook?

It's actually a rather difficult road to go, but it's always worth it for those who like to write. I won't stop until I get to where I want / need.



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vinaya
You have listed some really great ideas. My books are only available on Amazon. Thanks for suggesting me to list my book on other platforms as well.
I understand, getting reviews helps in driving sales. However, the main question is how to get reviews. I can, of course, pay to review a book, however, I want a genuine reviewer.
making book available in multiple formats is also a great idea. My books are only available on kindle. I will have to choose PDF or ePub as well.



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JoeMilford
Awesome post here! This is chock-full of great advice, and I plan on using a lot of it! The screenshots idea is really cool, and I like the idea of maximizing search terms for your ebooks. Using multiple ebook selling venues also sounds very smart and appealing. I really appreciate and like this post. I never thought of discounts and bundles either. Lots of food for thought here. Thanks again.



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iamawriter
You could join some writers groups and talk about your book and there you might get advice on how they have managed to sell their books. I know a friend who used to have real life conferences in schools and elsewhere just to talk about her book. When there is a digital library exhibition you could register there.



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wiseagent
This exchange of knowledge and tips through restricted groups is very interesting. But you have to be careful not to expose the project too much and someone spoils everything by stealing the main idea (this would certainly be very frustrating).



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iamawriter
You are right there. At the same time, you must be knowing about companies dealing with the same products joining associations. Though they are competitors they work for common benefits.
Writers groups do exist and I am sure they will be quite discreet when their books are discussed.



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wiseagent
I agree with you, it's like an association that you can trust because everyone pursues the same goals and is usually too mature for it. In addition, everyone is discussing the same kind of subject (which I think conveys an extra confidence).



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iamawriter
Writers can exchange knowledge about their approach to selling their content. Each writer could have a different kind of approach and all put together could go a long way in solving the problem of having buyers for their books.



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wiseagent
Yes, i agree with you. As I've said before, being among people with the same goal as you gives you more security to comment on your projects. But still, it takes a bit of caution to end up having no potential frustrations.



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iamawriter
One has to take risks. In any business there are risks. But going by how these groups thrive in any sphere it goes to show members benefit by them and finally as the saying goes it is the question of survival of the fittest.



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wiseagent
Once again I have to agree with you, in any kind of business you have to be brave and take risks.

This ends up being a big difference between success and failure. But, I think we often have to count on luck, haha.



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iamawriter
There is also the idea of having agents to do the promotion just as in any business. For the first book it should just be to promote the name of the author rather than aiming to earn money.



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wiseagent
The problem with this is that most writers seem to want to earn fame and money at the same time, but for that to happen... It takes more than having just a great job, an extra bit of luck down the road could make all the difference.



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iamawriter
One cannot become overnight rich. That has to be achieved in stages. I have not known even actors for example topping the list of being the richest overnight. If I ever write a book I would certainly would first want to be known before aspiring to become rich



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wiseagent
I agree with you and I think this is the natural order of things, it's no use rushing things because everything has a certain time to happen. Continuing to persist until the success comes in can be somerhing very frustrating (because it can take a long time) but it's always the best way to go.



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iamawriter
 
If you read biographies of some famous painters you will get to know how many years they waited for recognition to come their way. They made it public but ordinary folks like us will not share their frustration.



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wiseagent
I've had the opportunity to read some and some stories they are really impressive. Most of them are really encouraging stories and help us better understand this universe that can be so frustrating.



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jemuelterrado
This happened many times already copying someone's idea and sharing it to others without the authorization of the original writer. This is so frustrating though, The moment when you're about to publish your work and suddenly saw your own work in the internet that seems like a magic happened. We should limit sharing ideas over the internet as what wiseagent said.



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wiseagent
Unfortunately this happens a lot because some people don't care about the work of others. This is very sad and worrying besides being something very frustrating.

The discussion is healthy and very useful, but needs to be somewhat limited so as not to give margins for plagiarism.



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diels1001
Overall, I guess that online advertising is the fastest way of attracting buyers of your ebook. Since it is an electronic one, it's easy to sell it online. You can start advertising it using your social media platforms. Try selling it to your friends and people who are interested in it. By doing online advertisement, you can generate a passive driving network to your ebook and that's really awesome.



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Heatman6190
Advertising is basically the best way to achieve this feat. Take to the social media and carry out an extensive advert and publicity about your new e-book and if you certainly have lots of followers, there is always a good chance of getting a reasonable number of patronizers that would take interest in your work.



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Baburra
I haven't had to sell my own e-book, so I don't have personal experience, but I have seen many others do it, and from what I gather, a lot of them tend to make videos and blogs giving out information related to what they offer in their books and this seems to be the bulk of what they do to drive traffic to their sites. I think this is a good strategy as the audience gets something for the time they spend looking at your ads, and you also get something by acquiring potential customers. If your book is not information based, like if it's fictional or autobiographical, then maybe put out some supplemental content such as comic strips, illustrations, or graphic designs that people can enjoy or use.



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