Join a Twitter Chat for Writers This Summer

Engage with your readers on Twitter in a new an fun way this summer - join a chat for authors on Twitter!

If you're unfamiliar with the concept of a Twitter chat, here's how it works:

1. The host(s) decide on a hashtag, topic, date, and time.
2. On the decided date (ex: Wednesday at 5PM EST), the host(s) will start asking questions of the participants in the chat and use the decided hashtag (ex: #YAlitchat).
3. You join in, answer the questions, and talk to other participants!

Here's an example topic:

Tonight's chat topic 9pm ET: novel beginnings & hooking ur reader from the start. Join me! #yalitchat @georgia_mcbride

— #yalitchat (@YALitChat) June 5, 2013

Ready to get started with Twitter Chats?

Here's a handy list of book-related Twitter chats for authors. Let us know if you join in - maybe we'll see you there ;)

#YALitChat: 9-10 PM EST on Thursdays. There's also a membership option with some cool bonuses on their website.

#KidLitChat: Tuesday 8-9 PM CT. For authors of children's fiction and nonfiction.

#MGLitChat: Thursday 9-10 PM EST. For Middle Grade readers and authors.

#IBCChat: A chat for Indie authors!

#SciFiChat: Fridays, 2-4 PM EST. Hosted by David Rozansky.

#FantasyChat: Tuesday 8-9 PM EST.

#LitChat: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 4-5 PM EST.

#FaithLitChat: Tuesday, 6-7 PM EST. For authors of Christian fiction and nonfiction.

#BlackLitChat: 3rd Sunday of every month, 9-10 PM EST. For authors who write about and readers who love reading about black culture.

#k8chat: Thursday, 9-10 PM EST. "A publishing related chat where we discuss topics relevant to readers and authors."

Special thanks to Kate Tilton for helping us build this list!

Know of other Twitter chats for writers that we haven't included? Tell us in the comments and we'll add them to this post!

Twitter Hashtags to Help you Sell More Books

Hashtags allow new readers to find you on Twitter. A great way to promote your book is to include hashtags that already have a following on Twitter, in your tweets. 

How exactly does that work? 

You simply append the hashtag to the end of your tweet when it's relevant. 

Here is a list of hashtags that are already popular among the reading community on Twitter, with examples on how you can use each one. 

#FridayReads

Readers tweet what they'll be reading in the upcoming weekend. 

How you can use it: 

Looking for a good book to read this weekend? Try [insert title]. #FridayReads

#FreeBook

#FreeDownload

#Kindlefreebies

#Freebies

All 3 are good for days when you are running a free promotion.

My book, [insert title] is free today and tomorrow. Grab a copy while you can. #freebook #Kindlefreebies #Freedownload #Freebies

#Giveaway

#BookGiveaway

A great hashtag if you are running a giveaway.

I am giving away 10 copies of my highly accliamed novel. Enter to win. #bookgiveaway

#Beachread

#Mustread

These 2 are especially useful as we head into Summer. 

Looking for a great #beachread? [Insert title] is the perfect escape for your weekend of sun. 

Are you already using hashtags as part of your marketing strategy? Tell us which have worked for you in the comments. 

April Special Offer: Sell More Books with Bargain Booksy

During the month of April we have partnered with KindleBoards and World Literary Cafe to give your book even more exposure! Authors who purchase a Bargain Booksy Feature for an April feature will ALSO be included in the KindleBoards daily blog post (with links to the post from KindleBoards' Facebook, Twitter, and e-mail newsletter) and on the WLC website. 

We have a limited number of slots available each day. We will send you a confirmation email within 3 business days of receiving your order to let you know if you have qualified for a slot. Your book must be featured in April to qualify. 

To learn more about a Bargain Booksy Feature click here. 

Buy a Bargain Booksy Feature Now →

March Special Offer: More Book Exposure with the Feature Plus!

UPDATE: All the KindleBoards slots for March have been filled. 

During the month of March we have partnered with KindleBoards to give your book even more exposure! Authors who purchase a Feature PLUS for a March feature will ALSO be included in the KindleBoards daily blog post (with links to the post from KindleBoards' Facebook, Twitter, and e-mail newsletter). 

The first 31 authors to buy a Feature Plus will get this additional value at no extra charge.

We have a limited number of slots available each day. We will send you a confirmation email within 3 business days of receiving your order to let you know if you qualified for the KindleBoards slot. Your book must be free in March to qualify. 

Need more help understanding the benefits fo a Feature Plus? Check out our handy grid to help you: 

Buy a Feature PLUS Now →

Selfpublishing Options: Where Should You Self Publish Your eBook?

You've written a great book. You want to get it in the hands of readers. You don't want to deal with a traditional publisher - or maybe you tried, but they passed on your book.

So you've decided to self publish. Unfortunately, the world of self-publishing is confusing. Everyone has different regulations on royalites, and distribution, and promotional opportunities, and you're going cross-eyed. We're here to help.

Direct Publishing to Kindle, Nook, and Apple

Make sure your book is on the main three ebook markets: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Apple. Each company has a direct publishing option (KDP / KDP Select is Amazon, PubIt! is Barnes and Noble). See the below chart for info on each of those:

The above chart is a nice at-a-glance comparison of the four, but here is some more in-depth info for you on KDP, KDP Select, and Apple:

KDP: Here are a bunch of FAQ's about KDP, but we've pulled out some key things for you: 

• If your eBook is priced between $2.99 and $9.99, you'll get a 70% royalty rate (see our post on eBook pricing).
• Publishing your ebook on KDP does NOT require you to make the content exclusive to Kindle. However, using KDP Select does (see below).
• Amazon has more than 60% of the market share for eBooks, so it's foolish not to publish on Amazon. 

KDP Select: An add-on for KDP. KDP Select is a 90-day program (with automatic re-enrollment unless you withdraw) that is great for new authors (or authors who have released a new book).

• You have to make your title exclusive to Amazon and Kindle during your enrollment in KDP Select. That means you cannot sell (or give away if it's free) copies on Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Wattpad, Kobo, Sony, or even your own website. Amazon has absolute exclusive distribution rights. Amazon does have the market share, so this shouldn't be a deal-breaker (especially for 90 days).
• During your 90-day enrollment, you have 5 days available to make your book free (as a promotional tool). If you use KDP, try it. Our data shows that it boosts your sales.
• You get paid a royalty for sales, but also based on percent of borrows (from the Kindle Lending Library) of all KDP titles. Each borrow is worth something different each month and comes from a set fund ($600K in September 2012).

Apple: Apple's direct publishing isn't easy to use. If you decide to publish directly with apple, here are the steps you need to take:

1. Sign up for iTunes Connect Account.
2. Download iTunes Producer to your Mac (this won't work on a PC- you have to have a Mac).
3. Upload your book to iTunes Producer and deliver to Apple (you have to have some basic technical expertise to figure out how to do this).
4. Wait for approval. This can take up to 90 days.

Helpful Links:

KDP: https://kdp.amazon.com

KDP Select: https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/KDPSelect

Pubit!: http://pubit.barnesandnoble.com

Apple: https://itunesconnect.apple.com/WebObjects/iTunesConnect.woa/wa/bookSignup

Third Party eBook Self Publishing

If you don't want to bother with using Apple, Amazon and Barnes and Noble's direct publishing tools, there are a number of third party sites that will help you self publish your book and get it on the right channels. For eBooks, we're going to talk about Lulu and Bookbaby.

There are two major differences between Lulu and Book Baby:

1. Lulu only distributes your eBook to Barnes and Noble and Apple, which means you'd have to use KDP to get your book on Amazon. Book Baby gets your book on all three channels.
2. Book Baby requires an initial fee to publish, but gives you 100% of royalties. Lulu is free to publish, but takes a cut of your royalties.

Helpful Links:

Lulu: http://www.lulu.com/publish

Book Baby: http://www.bookbaby.com

How to Schedule a Free Promotion in KDP Select

KDP Select is a wonderful thing, but can be pretty confusing at times. We've had a couple of authors new to KDP Select tell us they've had trouble using the promotions manager in author central. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to make sure your book goes free when it's supposed to.

1. Log into KDP.

2. You'll be taken to your dashboard. Don't click on your title!

3. Click the check box next to your title.

4. Click on Actions, then 'Manage Promotions.'

5. Click 'new.'

6. Name your promotion, set your dates, and click Save!

Freebooksy Report: The State of KDP Select Free Promotions

In May of this year, Freebooksy commissioned a survey of authors who had used KDP Select’s free promotion days between January and April 2012.

72 authors completed the survey. Some of these authors had been featured on Freebooksy, some had not. We posted the link to the survey in Kindle forums and groups to get a cross-section of respondents.

The findings of our survey are below. We have opened up our survey for authors who conducted a KDP Select Free Promotion between May and August. Please help us to provide this data by completing the survey now. 

Book Profile

Of the 72 books that ran a free promo:

Average number of reviews = 17

Average review Score = 4.2

Average Price = $3.09

Median Price = $2.99

Genre Breakdown:

Free Downloads

The average number of days a book was free was 2.36 with 2 free days being the median.

Average number of free downloads = 6,972

Median number of free downloads = 4,004

Least amount of free downloads = 74

Most amount of free downloads = 35,400

The number of free downloads was most positively correlated with the # of reviews a book had. So, the more review a book has, the more likely someone is to download that book free.

This makes sense as readers like to know that content has been vetted before spending time downloading and reading it, even if the content is free. The number of reviews acts as a validator, telling the author that many people have read and reviewed this book so it is worth downloading.

Notably, the review score does not hold the same predictive power, perhaps because readers know that not everyone will like the same material (the bestselling book on Amazon today, Gone Girl, has just as many 1- and 2-star reviews as it does 4- and 5-star reviews) but just knowing that many people have read the book, gives them comfort.

Authors also see more free downloads if they offered their book free for more days, but the average number of free downloads per day is greatest over a 2-day free promotion.

Sales Spikes

To control for price distribution, we looked at sales spike by units of books bought before and after the free promotion days.

Average number of books sold before promotion (per week): 19

Average number of books sold after promotion (per week): 141

On average, authors saw a 6-fold increase in book units sold after their promotion ended.

Median number of books sold before promotion (per week): 5

Median number of books sold after promotion (per week): 49

Most authors saw an almost 10-fold increase in book units sold after their free promotion.

The sales unit spike was most highly correlated with the number of reviews a book had, the # of free downloads a book had and being featured on a 3^rd party site.

This makes sense as the more downloads a book gets, the higher it ranks on Amazon’s Top 100 Free charts. When the book goes back to full-price, Amazon tends to keep the book listed on the charts for at least a few hours, giving the book exposure at it’s full price.

Similarly, if the book is featured on a 3^rd party site, the book feature stays up on that site giving it visibility for a few days at full-price.

Marketing & Promotion

On average, authors spent $20 promoting their free promotion days, with the maximum amount spent being $500.

Half of the authors promoted their free days on their website, 78% of authors promoted their free book on Facebook & Twitter and 67% were featured on a 3^rd party site. 29% of author sent an email to family & friends and 15% sent an email to their fan list.

Being featured on a 3^rd party site and promoting the free days on Facebook & Twitter resulted in more free downloads and a higher unit sales spike.

87% of the authors plan to run another KDP Select free promotion in the future. 

Takeaways for Authors 

• Run your promotion for 2 days
• Make sure your book has at least 10 - 15 reviews
• Promote your free days on Facebook & Twitter (if you don’t have pages yet, set them up)
• Tell 3^rd party sites about your promotion in advance (At Freebooksy we need at least 5 days notice for editorial features, and 48-hours notice for paid features.

Don't foget to take the current survey so we can provide this data to you again in a few months!

Go On, Brag a Little...

Have you and your book been featured by Freebooksy? That's no small feat as we hand-pick all the books featured on our site. We figured you may want to brag about this, so we created this cool badge for you to share on your blog or website. Just grab the code underneath the badge and past it on the page where you want the badge to appear:

<a href="http://www.freebooksy.com/?utm_source=website&amp;utm_medium=badge&amp;utm_campaign=featured-author" title="I&#39;m a featured author at Freebooksy" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.eho.st/pg49wbvp.gif" alt="I&#39;m a featured author at Freebooksy" style="width:180px;height:150px;border:none;margin:8px"></a>