[Dale Whisman]

My three mystery novels have done well in Trade Paperback, and now my publisher is offering a Kindle and Nook versions for e-book readers on Amazon.com. and BarnesAndNoble.com. This is all new to me. Especially the very low price he is asking, only $2.99. What can I expect in the way of e-book sales in the coming year, and how do I promote e-books

Thanks,
Dale Whisman

[kmtolan]

Dale,

When it comes to direct promotions - say, at a conference, I put together a "sampler" CD with the cover and first chapter of each novel inside on a single PDF. I've seen authors handing out USB sticks as well with their work on them (a bit more expensive if you ask me).

I will assume you got the social sites and author's site well covered by now.

E-book sales really depend on your publisher's following on their website and your own popularity driving sales on Fictionwise and other sites. With e-books theoretically out-selling hard backs, (there are lies, damn lies, and statistics) you should do fine in the e-book world.

Kerry

[Window Bar]

What can I expect in the way of e-book sales in the coming year, and how do I promote e-books?

Hi Dale -- A quick nod of agreement with everything Kerry just told you, plus a couple of tricks I've learned:

If you have some short stories or essays on anything relevant, get them out in Digital Land for free ... and include (in tasteful fashion, of course) an invitation to read your book, and also include a direct link to its download site. It's fairly easy to upload a short story or an essay to an eBook site, such as Smashwords, and the free copies tend to get a fair number of downloads and online reads. By the way, before doing any uploads, make certain you have a copy of your publisher's digital book cover file, your author's mug shot, the book's blurb and your author bio blurb. These should be included wherever your fine product is sold.

Swapping links and finding online places to post your website's URL can't hurt either. I've gotten around 5 or 6 thousand visitors to my site in the last ten months, just by inviting them. Obviously, very few stay very long or buy anything, but name recognition (just as with your print copies) is what drives sales.

Squidoo.com is another place you can post unlimited essays and short stories for free. Squidoo calls their venue a "lens," and they will share Google ad revenues from those pages, provided anyone ever follows one of their links. They need you, because you provide content; you need them, because they provide exposure.

Good luck -- WB