With author, Chicki Brown permission, I’m posting this fantastic post she did about her getting her book sales for her new release when she had absolutely NO Money. This post was originally done after her 4th book release in a series in October 2015, but the points she make is still significant for others to learn from.

I’m always for the FREE99 and in this post, this author proved you can do! 

No excuses!

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Subsequent to my last post, several of you have asked about what I did to promote my books with this release. I can’t say for sure that it was because of these things, but I’m happy to share.

Since my brother’s funeral cleaned out my bank account, I couldn’t do any paid advertising, but in a way I’m glad I was broke, because I learned a good lesson. Usually I’ll buy an ad with e-Reader News Today, Choosy Bookworm or one of the other book sites, and this time I couldn’t.

1. Since I’M LOSING YOU was #4 in the series, I put Book #1 on sale for 99 cents for a month, because a lot of readers won’t buy a series. This way it was an incentive to get new readers.

2. I decided to go hard on free promotion, but I didn’t just want to use the book cover in every promo. I created 13 promos in PowerPoint (some shown below) using excerpts from the book, and a picture with one of the character role models (model Victor Ross and singer Chante’ Moore). Before release I used them as “Coming Soon” promos then when the book released, I changed the wording and added the buy links.

3. I did a mass promotion using a PowerPoint promo I did with the series book covers (pic below) to every official book club that I’ve liked on Facebook over the past couple of years, and there were a lot!

It said:

“Hello, ladies. I would like to introduce your book club to my current romance/women’s fiction series. (IF IT WAS A GENERAL BOOK CLUB, I CHANGED “LADIES” TO “FOLKS”). The books have received fabulous reviews on Amazon and USAToday. In celebration of the release of Book Four, I am offering Book One, A WOMAN’S WORTH, for just 99 cents until October 10th. All books are available in electronic format on Kindle, Nook, and Kobo. They are also in paperback on CreateSpace.com.

If you have any questions, please inbox me, and I’ll be happy to answer them for you.
Book 1 – http://amzn.to/12PktK4 & http://bit.ly/1nHovQv
Book 2 – http://amzn.to/Snj9wb & http://bit.ly/1uolYhZ
Book 3 – http://amzn.to/1D2ILja & http://bit.ly/1xuM93b
Book 4 – http://amzn.to/1KMoCXi & http://bit.ly/1USTKcl
In paperback at www.createspace.com”

4. The PowerPoint promos were easy to post to my Google+ reader groups, on Twitter and Pinterest.

5. So I wouldn’t be posting the same thing everywhere, I alternated the PowerPoint promos and didn’t post to the same page/group more than twice a week.

6. I organized a blog tour with authors I know personally, so I had a stop every other day for a month following the release date and gave away a copy of the book at each stop.

7. When I posted to Twitter (scheduled 2-3 tweets a day), I always added a picture, because it gets more attention, and I used a few of the following hashtags:

@GirlHaveYouRead @MochaGirlsRead @WOCInRomance @afamebooks @blackwomenlove2 @BlackPeopleRead @romanticpicks @ROMANCEONLY @ReadingRomance @RomanceinColor @storiesoromance @allromance @JUSTConRom @RmTwts @eBook_Romance @KindleLuv @SensuousPromos @SteamyRomanceBk @Romance_Authors @RomanceJunkies @K_RomanceReview ‪#‎IndieBooksBeSeen‬ @indtwt @IHB6 @IndBk @VoiceOfIndie @IndieBookTweet @ReadIndies

8. On Facebook I posted promos to all my reader/book groups and also announced the two blog posts I wrote about the book.

9. What I noticed about my sales numbers (photo below) is that Book 4 is leading, Book 1 (on sale) is second and Books 2 and 3 are running about even. There are also sales on some of my other backlist titles.

10. Another tip: I create one Word document in which I type the text for all my FB, Twitter, etc. promos. That way, all I have to do is copy and paste. I keep the document updated until the first of the next year, then I start a new one.

When I say I went hard, I wasn’t kidding, but I guess it worked, and it didn’t cost me a cent!

If you have any particular questions, inbox me, and I’ll answer them tomorrow. I’m beat, and now that we ate Popeye’s, I got the ‘itis. grin emoticon Have a great night, ladies!

About this author:

Atlanta, Georgia Indie author of contemporary romance, women’s fiction & faith-based fiction. I love God, my family & friends. Living the 2nd act of life doing what I want.

Follow Chicki Brown :

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chicki.brown

Twitter: Chicki663

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1rtcbY4

Website: sisterscribbler.blogspot.com