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• Draft2Digital was founded in 2012
• We distribute over 118,000 books from 34,000 authors
• We make tools to save you time and help you sell more books
• Algorithms rule at Amazon
• Great synergy between KDP, CreateSpace and Audible
• Strategic growth in to international markets (14 marketplaces)
• Highly supportive of indie authors
• Apple is the second largest eBook retailer in the world and they are growing
• Apple now has over 1 billion mobile reading devices with iBooks installed and reach 51 territories
• Visibility is highly impacted by human-curated promotions that vary by territory
• Highly supportive of indie authors
• B&N continues to be a major player in the US market
• B&N’s merchandising is powerful but it has long lead times
• B&N merchandising tends to be based on pricing reductions
• Kobo gets your book in to 190 countries
• We’ve seen major growth at Kobo and innovative marketing strategies
• Kobo’s parent company Rakuten continues to make smart acquisitions
• Highly supportive of indie authors
• Largest distributor to libraries in the US
• One of Rakuten’s recent acquisitions
• Library book acquisition is heavily influenced by traditional publications such as Library Journal, Publisher’s Weekly and Romantic Times
• Inconsistent dedication to the book market
• The widespread use of Android devices and their resources mean they could be a significant player at any time
• Algorithms drive discovery along with some pricing promotions
• Their self-publishing portal has been closed to new accounts for some time
• There is reader demand for subscription services but finding a business model that works to meet that demand is difficult
• Subscription services will play a role in international markets
• Subscription can be a powerful discovery tool
• Other book markets are well behind the US in eBook adoption rate but growing
• We’ve seen steady sales with the Tolino alliance and they are adding partners constantly in central Europe
• Many smaller companies are well positioned to be competitive as international markets grow
• 53.72% United States
• 15.74% Australia
• 14.71% Canada
• 8.12% Great Britain
• 1.39% New Zealand
• Rest of World was under 1% individually but added up to 6.33% of sales
In 2016 D2D sold books in 195 countries.
• You need “traditional publishing” level of quality
• The cover makes the reader a promise of what to expect
• Be aware of genre appropriateness• Typography• Genre cover “tropes”• A professional cover artist should be
able to help with these decisions
• Think about personal and series branding
• You want to stand out a little from your competition, but not a lot
• ALWAYS make sure the cover works as a thumbnail
• You do *NOT* want your description to outline the plot of your book
• Your description is sales copy
• After your book cover it is the second most important tool in your sales pitch
• Try to find a memorable hook
• Include a call to action
• Know how the stores display the description and make the most of it
• They are absolutely critical and inclusion in promotions don’t happen without them
• Plan ahead how to get a large volume of reviews on the stores you want to promote you
• Ask for them, incentivize them, get them any ethical way you can
• Check how your book is categorized at each retailer
• Understand how the retailer categorizes things because it is different everywhere
• Try to get in to a specific niche that fits your book
• Have one free funnel available all the time but switch it up
• Have some higher price offerings in your catalog to be eligible for more promotions
• Set territorial pricing anywhere you can!
• Retailers prefer to promote series
• According to our data, series with a free first generated over 3 times the revenue of those without
• It is critical you get your series metadata right
• Again, knowing how the retailers display this is important
• Bundles are a powerful tool for your catalog to address many price points
• Many retailers have places to feature bundles in a special way
• Bundles with other authors in your genre can be a great way to gain new readers
• The retailers often use preorder numbers to help make merchandising decisions
• Generally they also have areas that automatically give popular preorders more visibility
• Draft2Digital can do no-manuscript pre-orders at Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and Tolino
• Once you get a reader to take a chance on your book make it easy to buy your other books and have links at the end of your book!
• Having direct links to the retailer your book was purchased at will keep your readers happy and the sales channels happy
• Draft2Digital has a tool to automatically handle this for you
• Don’t be modest
• List these things in your bio, on your book cover or anywhere it makes sense:
• Bestseller lists
• Awards
• Personal credentials
• Do the one(s) you enjoy doing. This will make it feel less like a chore and be an easier connection to your fanbase
• Or you could possibly choose to get better at the one(s) where a potential audience already exists
• Remember to use social media (especially Twitter or Pinterest) for research. This can have the side effect of building an audience
Social Media
• In your own stream, it’s the 90/10 rule. 90% sharing 10% promotion
• Think about word choices and communication rules that stem from your personal branding
• Have links in your profiles to your website and then links to all retailers on your website
Social Media
• Podcasts
• Blogs
• Publicists
Anti-Social Media
Email and Newsletters
• Remind your fans that you exist
• Create a feeling of exclusivity
• Make sure your dedicated fans never miss a new release
• One thing I have learned is that this is a relationship industry
• Try to make as many connections face to face at conferences
• Look for win-win opportunities with partners and don’t be afraid to ask
• While competition is very heavy for the slots in their daily deal emails, it is very worthwhile and recommended
• Many authors have had success with their dedicated area for paid Bookbub ads at the bottom of their daily email
• International slots can be easier to be selected for
• Check out their Bookbub Partner’s Blog for a lot of great information
• Targeted Facebook ads are still effective but can be costly
• Having an email list helps you target your ads more effectively by helping you build audiences that are like your current email subscribers
• There are many courses out there to help you learn how to be effective with these ads and Facebook groups where peers can share tactics
• One of the newest ways to promote books
• Can help maintain visibility at Amazon
• Working with other authors in your genre on multi-author box sets can boost your visibility by pooling marketing efforts
• Multi-author collaborative works can gain readership for all the authors involved
• Having more books is nearly always a good thing
• Podcasts are an incredible way to keep on top of industry news due to their frequency
• Format is great for multi-tasking
• We recommend The Creative Penn, The Self Publishing Podcast, Self Publishing Formula, The Wordslinger and The Sell More Books Show
• You are here so you recognize the value organizations bring to authors
• Take advantage of opportunities to ask experts questions
• Share best practices with each other
• The most up to date way to keep up
• Can be overwhelming
• Use groups to crowdsource questions
• Find your author tribe (be it your niche, your personality type, etc…)
• There are many experts online with blogs that are worth following
• We recommend The Passive Voice Blog as a good aggregated blog to find other people to follow
• Forums like Kboards Writer’s Café can be good sources of information but we’ve seen a lot of their value move to Facebook groups
