Tag: international sales

SFFMP 100: Increasing International Sales and Doing Better on Non-Amazon Platforms with Dan Wood of Draft2Digital

Author Interview, Podcast

Today, we spoke with Dan Wood from the ebook distributor Draft 2 Digital. We asked him a bit about D2D itself and then jumped into marketing questions and best practices based on what he sees.

Here are some specifics of what we covered:

  • Which stores can Draft2Digital get you into and in which countries?
  • Which e-tailers account for the most sales for D2D authors
  • The state of international markets and whether any are coming on strong
  • Some of D2D’s new features, such as the ability to do pre-orders with several retailers and the ability to put your own affiliate links in the back of your books
  • How to get on the radar with the various retailers and get invited into special promotions
  • Who pre-orders are best for
  • How to gain traction on the non-Amazon platforms
  • Whether permafree is still effective with Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, etc.
  • Suggestions for reaching international audiences and whether permafree works there too
  • Best practices when it comes to pricing in the different countries
  • When going wide makes sense and when it might make more sense to be exclusive with Amazon
  • If there is anything to watch out for as far as using keywords in titles and book descriptions
  • Whether D2D is going to make a deal with Google Play and start distributing to them
  • Who to email to ask about possibly getting invited into a promotion for a specific retailer (authorrelations@draft2digital.com)

You can visit Draft2Digital if you’re interested in creating an account or check out their blog for marketing advice. You can also follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

 

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SFFMP 78: International Sales Trends/Tips and Selling More Ebooks at Kobo with Mark Lefebvre

Author Interview, Podcast

Today we chatted with Mark Leslie Lefebvre, a horror author who also happens to be the Director of Self-Publishing & Author Relations at Kobo.com. We talked about how to increase visibility and sell more books at Kobo, and also about trends for science fiction and fantasy, both in the main Canadian store and in the numerous international stores that Kobo works with.

Here’s some of what we covered:

  • Keeping things in perspective: Kobo is a much smaller store than Amazon (but they often go toe-to-toe when it comes to non-U.S. markets)
  • Reasons to go direct to Kobo through Kobo Writing Life (versus using Smashwords/Draft 2 Digital distribution)
  • The new “promotions” tab that’s available to authors (currently in beta) via the dashboard in Kobo Writing Life
  • Tips for getting on the radar of those who handle merchandising for Kobo
  • Best pricing tactics for science fiction and fantasy
  • Which countries are growing and friendly to speculative fiction?
  • Pricing considerations for international markets
  • How science fiction and fantasy are trending upward and more authors are appearing in the Top 10 of overall best selling indie authors at Kobo (it’s not all just romance anymore!)
  • A tip for visibility: make sure to fill out your series meta data, keywords, and put something in the imprint field (even if it’s your author name), in addition to having a good cover and blurb.
  • Increasing a book’s “temperature” at Kobo through sales (even looks and clicks can help)
  • Mark suggests SF/F authors hit up their local ComicCon and pay for a booth there (hint: he sells tons of books when he goes)

If you want to check out Mark’s fiction, his short story, “Snowman Shivers,” is free on all platforms: Kobo, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Apple.

You can find Mark on Twitter @markleslie and you can also follow @KoboWritingLife

 

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Subscribe to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Marketing Podcast on iTunes.

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