How my marketing book on KDP Select helped one author

Ever since I published my marketing book, HOW I MADE OVER $42,000 IN 1 MONTH SELLING MY KINDLE eBOOKS, which was designed specifically for Amazon's KDP Select program, I have received emails, tweets and FB messages from authors who have used my strategies. My marketing book has been reviewed 212 times as of today.

Some people have questioned my integrity and intention regarding this book, but the email I received yesterday is the best way for me to explain WHY I would reveal my "secrets" or strategies. The simple reason: because I like helping other authors; I always have, always will.

One author contacted me yesterday to let me know how excited she was at the success of her first free promotion. She gave me permission to use her email in this blog post. (Thank you, Renee-Ann.)

Dear Cheryl,

I'm sure you get this kind of messages all the time but I really wanted to share what your book, "How I Made Over $42,000 in 1 Month Selling My Kindle eBooks", has done for me. First let me say that your name and book has become a topic of conversation among the writers in our group.

I wrote Stella's Plea as part of the NaNoWriMo challenge in 2010. It’s my first novel, a Christian Suspense about the abduction of a deaf little girl, and her mother's struggle to find her. I published it in November 2012.

Last week, Sarah Butland, a writer-friend, highly recommended your book, and to make sure I take notes as I read. Thank God for technology, I read it on my Kindle and took notes in my Windows Phone.

It hasn’t been a week since I finished your book but I'm aiming for the moon and feel like one of the stars. My novel wasn't selling because I lacked the market savvy you're so good at. I had no idea how to promote my novel, let alone sell it. Even an interview with the local newspaper didn't move my rank. But then, Sarah recommended your book. It was awesome. I jotted the tips down -- and then some -- recommended the book to others on our writers groups, and put the strategies to the test. WoW! You weren't kidding.

I removed my novel from Smashwords, deleted the excerpts, and advertised a FREE promo from Thursday, Sept 5 to Saturday Sept 7. I was shocked when, Thursday evening, Sarah told me to check my ranking/stats. The book had gone from #800K+ on Wednesday to #569 in less than 24 hours. The book was now #6 on the Christian Suspense genre, and I had 492 downloads. Need I say I barely slept that night? Friday morning, I had 652 downloads and had moved to #5 in Christian Suspense, and #386 in Free Kindle.

Now, Saturday afternoon, I have well over 1265 downloads and my promo isn't over yet. I lost count of the invites to Share and Tweet, and Pin. As you suggest, I aimed at 500/day and reached that goal the first two. I'm still hoping to get 500 today, though I'm aiming at total of 2K. :)

It's not just the downloads though. I'm overwhelmed at people's response to help me get my book to number one. And just the fact that it reached #5 in the Christian Suspense, even though it's free, I'm ecstatic about that.

I haven’t had a chance to do everything yet, as it's been less than a week since I finished your book. Plus I work fulltime outside the home so my time is limited to when I'm off work. But Cheryl, I am truly having a blast with this promotion, and I thank you for sharing your story in this marketing book.

I apologize this is so long but I really wanted to share the whole story with you. I will continue to share the book, review it once my promo is finished, then I'll have another promo in 6-8 weeks, depending how fast the numbers plunge again. In an ideal world, they'd stay where they are! :)

Lastly, will you please download a copy of my book, and also tell your friends about it? http://amzn.to/18jprie

Blessings to you. Renee-Ann  (aka R.A. Giggie)

I believe that my methods still work, even though Amazon has messed up the algorithms so that we don't see the huge numbers we saw last year. There is still value in using the Select program, especially for niche authors and new authors, or those with only 1-2 titles.

I've also tested my strategies on 99 cent sales--and guess what? They work. I've done 99 cent sales without my methods and seen only a slight increase. But when I do everything in my book, my sales skyrocket.

If you're serious about promoting your book, and if you aren't one of those people who only "reads" a book on marketing and you're not afraid of working hard or experimenting, I encourage you to pick up a copy of HOW I MADE OVER $42,000 IN 1 MONTH SELLING MY KINDLE eBOOKS. It's only $2.99.

• Updated: Sept 4, 2013 - Contains OVER 130 LINKS TO WEBSITES THAT WILL PROMOTE YOUR FREE BOOK
• The #1 Marketing book specifically designed for Amazon's KDP Select program
• International Bestseller
• Contains detailed Select experiments & analysis

NEWS: I've now earned over $210,000 with KDP Select! I signed with an agent at Trident Media Group; I was contacted by the senior editor at a "big 6" publishing company because of my success on Amazon; Amazon hand-picked two of my titles for special promotions; and I have signed a 2-book audiobook deal with Audible--ALL because of my KDP Select success.

http://www.amazon.com/Month-Selling-Kindle-eBooks-ebook/dp/B0080USSYW

Love talking about books? Help me promote mine and you'll earn money

Ever read a book that was so good you just had to share it with your friends? I know I have. And have any of those friends then gone out and bought the book you'd been talking about? And did the publisher or author give you a little cut of the sale? Probably not. But you deserved one, and I'm willing to do that for you.

Over the years, many of my readers have told their friends about my novels, who in turn have gone out and purchased them based on this word-of-mouth-advertising or endorsement. I have truly appreciated readers who have helped me get my name out there, especially since it's a daunting task on my own. THANK YOU!

I am happy to announce that readers who enjoy my work will now be able to earn some income when they refer a friend who buys one of my novels via Smashwords.com. There is an affiliate program available that allows you to promote my Whale Song, The River and Divine Intervention ebooks.

The affiliate program is simple and free. Just sign up as an affiliate at Smashwords and complete the form.

You can advertise any books Smashwords offers through the affiliate program, and I hope you'll continue to promote mine. I can use all the help I can get in this competitive industry.

To create affiliate links, add your referrer code to the end of a URL of a participating book. I'll give you some examples of my books, but keep in mind the referrer code would be replaced by your own specific Screen Name. The basic referrer code to add to the end of a URL is /?ref=yourScreenName

WHALE SONG http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/15512/?ref=yourScreenName

THE RIVER http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/13708/?ref=yourScreenName

DIVINE INTERVENTION http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/13677/?ref=yourScreenName
 
You may also use my book covers and embed the link in them so that people only have to click on the covers. You can save my book covers from my website or blog by right clicking on them and clicking on "Save Picture As..."
 
Smashwords offers multiple file formats for nearly every kind of ereader out there. There are also files available for viewing ebooks on your PC or laptop.
 
Earn real money and watch your affiliate sales grow. The standard affiliate rate is 11% of the sale price of books purchased via your affiliate links. However, I felt that was too low for my readers. I wanted to reward them for helping promote my novels, so I raised the affiliate rates on all my novels.
 
Divine Intervention and The River are paying 15%, but that will change to 20% in July.
 
Whale Song is already at 20%.
 
Occasionally, I may raise the affiliate rate. My books may also go on sale.
 
This is a respectable way to earn a bit of money on the Internet and I am very happy to be able to offer it to you. Don't forget, it's free to sign up and you can start earning a commission from books sold through your links right away.
 
If you decide to become an affiliate and you choose to promote my books, please let me know by leaving me a comment below with the URL to your site/blog. Or send me an email. I'll be happy to tweet about you, maybe even blog about your participation. :-)
 
https://www.smashwords.com/account/smashwords_affiliate_signup/1
 
Thank you, dear readers.
 
~Cheryl