Marketing Tips - Product Critique

[simpsonkeith9]

Hey all I finished my book shortly ago and have it listed on amazon and have used amazon KDP and Booksy .99 promos but I am having a hard time getting the novel much traction. I was hoping for some tips on what has worked for you in the past and what from my product page might be holding it back? bad cover? summary etc... Thanks!

Amazon.com: Infiniverse: The Mixed Reality War eBook : Simpson, Keith: Kindle Store

Amazon.com: Infiniverse: The Mixed Reality War eBook : Simpson, Keith: Kindle Store

www.amazon.com

 

[pmmg]

Cover is nice, but I am not sure it matches the title. Infiniverse and multiverse sound like Marvel to me. A sword, is more medieval fantasy.

But...thats not why its not selling. Probably just not enough people coming to look. If there is some magic for that, I think we all want it.

I'd look for ThinkerX, and Dems's threads. They talk about marketing a lot.

 

[Prince of Spires]

A few things stand out. I think the cover and title are fine. Nothing exceptional, but they do the job. Though I agree with pmmg that the cover speaks more of traditional fantasy than superhero / ScienceFantasy (which is what I get from the blurb).

Then, your book is listed as Reading age: 1 - 18 years. That is both very broad (few people like both books for 1 year olds and 18 year olds, and they are a very different audience), but it's also probably not what you mean.

The blurb itself is bad. There isn't really a hook. The first sentence doesn't draw you in or make you read further, it's just world building presented in a dry and textbook manner. My eyes started to wander by the third paragraph. I personally think Robert Ryan's book Book Blurbs Unleashed is a good resource about writing blurbs. Both on why you do things a certain way, and also how to do it.

The beginning of the novel also turns me off. I clicked on the look inside and read the first paragraph. It's very vague and passive. A lot of this was, and that was:

There he was, the blond-haired boy looked around, he could see the ruins of ancient rock buildings that were unfamiliar to him. The Sky was dark. He was in a place that was definitely not earth. He had no idea how he had got there but could tell it was a dangerous place. He knew he had to fight, but he couldn't remember why or even if he knew how to. He closed his right hand and within seconds he was wielding a golden sword. His mind told him it was a weapon of the ancients, most likely made for or from the Druids.

And that's just the first paragraph. The boy doesn't even get a name. There is a lot which is stated, but because of that it's all vague. How could he tell the place is dangerous? How is a sword made from Druids? Is he not surprised at all he's suddenly in a weird world? What does he actually see? I could go on. I would not continue reading after that first paragraph. It's just not very good.

As for getting sales, there is a simple equation.
#of sales = #of people seeing your book X conversion rate

Conversion rate is % of people who see your book actually buying it. 30% is amazing. 10% is very good. 3% is acceptable. That sort of thing. The above are reasons why your conversion rate is probably not very good.

The other side of the equation is how many people actually see your book. For instance, for Amazon ads, getting 1 in 1000 people who see your ad to click on your book is pretty good. I've been seeing that Booksy like promos are becoming less effective and only result in a few sales. How many people are you driving to your book page?

If you want to sell more, you have to improve either one or the other side of the equation (or both). Personally I would advice against throwing a lot of money at advertising this book until you've improved the quality. But I can be wrong, and maybe if you find the right niche it can sell very well.

 

[Finchbearer]

You can write the worst book (not a comment on your book by the way) but have an amazing marketing strategy, chances are it’s going to sell. Seen many books get successful this way that are so badly written.

I’d say look at your competitors, what are they doing that works?

 

[Finchbearer]

It’s not a bad cover insofar as I think you’ve done it yourself. Great way to save money, but it can miss the mark if you’re not getting it right. To me, without even reading the blurb it looks like a swords and sorcery classic fantasy. Is that what it is? If not, it needs changing up.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

There are things that are gonna hit the potential buyer up front... Cover, Blurb, Reviews, and Sample Pages. Somewhere in that mix is the "About the Author" section. Reviews you can't control. You'll get lovers and haters no matter if you write the equivalent of A Tale of Two Cities or not. That said...

The cover is fine in that it's pretty, but it feels wholly disconnected from the blurb. The blurb itself has at least one error on a quick perusal and is not punchy, it should be a little bit of a sales pitch. About the author appears blank, a no-no.

First sentence... This first sentence would get me to stop reading. "There he was" feels disconnected from the rest of the sentence.
First paragraph... "His mind told him it was a weapon of the ancients, most likely made for or from the druids." I can't help it. I see some massive weaponsmith hammering some poor druidic bastards into a weapon. Squishy, and yet somehow they're forged into an awesome weapon, heh heh.

Second paragraph... he groped his chest? Yeah, I know this can work by definition, but the word tends to have sexual connotations and makes me snicker just a lil, a bit of a Beavis and Butthead hangover, maybe.

If I made it past the first sentence, I'd be done and chuckling by the end of the paragraph. Sorry, but a lot of the reason you're seeing no traction is probably the sample.

 

[Ned Marcus]

The 1-18 age range would put me off. Do one-year olds like the same sort of books as eighteen-year olds? Also, I think you need to work on the first part of the novel more. At least, the sample doesn't grip me at all. Sorry.

 

[Foxkeyes]

The cover does appear quite fantasy like. But how about redesigning the sword to make it appear more 'techy'. The contrast with the background could work.