So, you’ve been alerted that your ebook is on sale at a certain vendor. Ebook sales can be great opportunities to hype your book and encourage potential readers to check it out. Before you take to your socials, here are a few tips to make sure the promotion is a success!
While there are countless ways an author can persuade their audience to take a chance on a great story, accessibility will always be a major aspect of how readers choose the titles they want to read. Ebooks are a great format in this context, and when they’re on sale, they’re even more persuasive. When done right, your promotion of an ebook sale can lead to a significant boost in new readers and sales of your book. But there are a few details you may want to consider before promoting an ebook discount, to set yourself and your readers up for the best experience.
Accommodating Your Audience
One of the first things to keep in mind is exactly who an ebook promotion is best targeted to—and how best to reach them. Social media is one of the best places to promote a sale, but your followers probably already know about the book and many may own a copy. So you want to think about how to target followers who haven’t picked up your book yet. Accessibility is super-important. Before you start promoting, think proactively about how to make the purchasing experience as seamless as possible. Consider the following.
1.Promote the sale only when it’s happening, not before.
It may seem like a good idea to let your audience know about the discount ahead of time to build up hype—but this is likely to work against you. Not only might this dissuade someone who might have been about to purchase your book at full price, prompting them to wait until the promotion, they may then forget to go back and purchase it when the sale is happening.
2.Be cautious of potential delays on the retailer side.
Technological issues are not unheard of with sales and promotions. Before you promote the sale on your socials, you may want to make sure the price has actually dropped. A quick verification can save you and your readers a lot of grief. In the event that the sale is not available when it’s supposed to be, your publishing team can investigate with the vendor.
Note also that ebook discounts can result in a pretty significant boost in sales. It may be tempting to check the sales charts right away to see where your book ranks, but the data often lags the real-time sales, as retailers can take a while to refresh listings. If you are curious, it’s better to check back in about twelve hours.
3.Be conscientious of where the sale is happening.
Some deals may be available only in the United States or Canada, which can be disappointing for members of your audience who live elsewhere. You’ll want to indicate where the sale is happening in any content you post about it. Some platforms may even allow you to edit your audience by region so only those in applicable areas can see your posts about the promotion.
4.Make sure the link to the sales page is easily accessible.
This is a simple task that can go a long way. One of the most important rules of reaching people through social media is that attention spans are short. For that reason, it’s important to ensure that the link to purchase is very easily accessible. I recommend putting the link in your bio (or clearly labeling it at the top of a Linktree) and noting where the link can be found in any posts about the sale.
Reaching the Right Readers
As previously mentioned, ebook promotions are best targeted at readers who don’t have your book already. This can be tricky, since it’s likely that a large portion of your social media followers already has a copy. Don’t let this dissuade you from promoting a sale! Your audience may include people who have your book on their TBR or wish list, and additionally there are those who loved your book and might know other readers who would love it too.
If you have your own newsletter, that can be a great place to prompt your most dedicated fans to share the sale with friends and family who might be interested in picking up your book, especially with a discount as an added perk. With the holidays around the corner, you can also prompt your readers to treat themselves or a loved one for the holiday season.
Other Tips for Success
Canva can come in handy for social media posts. With its many eye-popping templates, you can have posts ready to go for all of your socials that are easy to quickly edit with details of the sale.
With certain retailers, an ebook promotion can be leveraged for a boost in followers. Amazon’s Author Central Pages allow fans to follow you and be notified whenever you release a new book. Ebook vendor BookBub allows authors to claim their author profile. This permits you to control your bio and picture, and plug your socials for new fans to see and follow.
Ebook sales are tricky, but when promoted successfully, they can reap huge benefits for you and your readers. If you are new to promoting ebook discounts on your socials, you’re looking for more ideas, or you have any questions about how best to reach your readers, reach out to portaladmin@prh.com.
Jacky Bethea is the Associate Manager of Author Development at Penguin Random House.