May 2005

How my book became an amazon.com bestseller overnight - Part 2

Suzanne Falter-Barnes

Nancy Cleary

by Susan Falter-Barnes

What I Learned

Day One (10-01-03)
We begin by choosing a completely unreasonable date for our 'Amazon Day', October 15, a mere two weeks away. Why? Because this is the month my new book, Living Your Joy, launches. 14,000 copies have just arrived in bookstores, and at amazon.com. No publicity is happening yet, even though I've hired a publicist. I have to do something fast.

So where's the instruction sheet for making this project work, anyway? Nancy directs me to a website, www.amazonbestseller.com, led by the equally energetic and gracious web marketer, Randy Gilbert. Randy's ezine on exactly how to do this is not available for sale yet. So I bounce back to Nancy. She gives me some rough guidelines:

1. Create a letter to anyone you consider to be an Internet partner, who has an ezine or a list you could offer your promotion to. (These are all the nice people I've swapped ads with in the past, or recommended in my ezine, or written articles for.) Ask if they'll run your ad or essay in their ezine, or send your promotion letter to their list as a special Joint Venture mailing. Ask if they'd like to be part of your 'bonus package', the copious, free goodies anyone who buys your book on that one, certain 'Amazon Day' received. Surely, they'll see the marketing value in this.

It seems like a lot of asking to me.

2. Pick the number of people you want to get news of your promotion. Sales pundits tell us that we usually sell to only about 1% of our intended audience. I figure I'll have to sell at least 500 books in one day to get bestseller status. I decide to go for half a million impressions - or people who will be offered my promotion

3. Be sure your letter includes a sample ad and a 'Dear Reader' letter they can send out if they choose to go the joint venture route.

4. Remind them to use an amazon affiliate link so they can make some money doing this. In fact, send them the URL for setting up an amazon account. I also decide I will send a free copy of the book, and my Discover Your Soul Purpose CD and mini e-workbook out to all partners as a thank you gift.

October 3 thru 14

10-3
After my usual pre-requisite day of stalling, I write the pitch letter to my myriad Internet partners. Some are people with tiny, interesting sites with niched ezines to 1500 readers. A few are monsters with more than 100,000 readers. I suspect the small sites will be eager for the exposure to their bonuses. Meanwhile, I can't imagine what the big sites will see in my offers but I'm still in forward motion.

I also have to write the ad and joint venture promo letters to readers, so my potential partners can see what they'd be signing their name to. I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing. The letter requires that I say just how big my fabulous bonus package will be. And given that none of them have yet offered me a single bonus, at the moment that figure is zero. Still, I have to come up with something. I pick '$300' out of thin air, and hope for the best.

Finally, I have to include in my joint venture letter, and the web page I've set up on my site to explain the promo, just how readers can claim their prizes. (My partners will naturally want to know.) I'm stumped until I remember the miracle of autoresponders. Yes, those little automatic emails that get spat at you when you send an email in their direction. In theory, Amazon shoppers can forward their email receipt from amazon to my autoresponder, then get back an email with a link to claim their bonuses.

My webmaster's busy, so in a burst of enthusiasm, I plunge in and set up an autoresponder on my website's shopping cart program. It's all set to spit back a "Thanks for buying my book, and here are your bonuses" email. I also check the calendar for the next broadcast of my Joy Letter. It's due out about five days before Amazon Day; plenty of time, I figure, for the word to get out to my readers. I decide not to pepper these folks with extra emails like a special broadcast from me. I'll promote to my own list with my ezine.

I go to dinner happy and confident and, as it turns out, stupid.

10-4
I set up an Excel spreadsheet to capture website contacts, email addresses, ezine titles, number of readers, whether they're providing a bonus, and bonus description and value. I decide to contact about 25 websites. Nancy gamely offers to partner with me on a Branding Makeover contest, entry open to all participants who buy my book, or send in their entry otherwise. We decide to have them submit small descriptions of the business they want branded, and we'll pick a winner based on originality and marketability.

This seems easy so far.

10-6
A few possible partner sites get right back to me and say no. Two of the ones I'd pretty much counted on let me know they need A LOT more lead time than this. I hang my head in shame; WHAT WAS I THINKING?
10-7
Four more sites reply, and they're game! And they want to pitch in bonuses Already I have enough exposure to reach about 50,000 readers, along with my own ezine, The Joy Letter, which reaches 25,000. I scoop up a few bonuses along the way. Nancy checks in with me, and I'm fairly delirious. She offers to fancy up my Amazon Day web page and create a beautiful banner for the offer, and I eagerly accept.
10-8
More sites including a huge writing ezine say yes, and my exposure increases to almost 200,000 readers. A third 'must have' partner says no - she, too, needs more time.
I write a fun, energetic issue of the Joy Letter, which is all about the amazon promo and how to be spontaneous when big dreams happen. This is going to be good!
10-9
Seven more sites sign on, and now I'm really raking in the bonuses. They cover everything from free ebooks to discounts on products, and free virtual assisting.
10-10
My webmaster calls me while I'm taking the kids to school, to say we have a problem. He's gotten around to checking out what I set up earlier, and is now telling me that because of the autoresponder, we can't monitor, or approve, the forwarded amazon receipts. He's dubious that the honor system will work. Still, he does his best to remedy the situation, and sets up a new forwarding address for the autoresponder that says amazonday@howmuchjoy.com, as opposed to suzflt-13918@autocontactor.com, which we can pretty much guarantee will be read by a computer, not a person. He then sets up a double forward on the autoresponder so a copy of the forwarded receipt goes to his office and he can check it. I think the forward address cover will work; he's doubtful.

I mention the Joy Letter broadcast to him, and he says he's planning to get to it today.

I spend the rest of the day following up with all potential and real partners to make sure they make this change. Some, however, have already sent out their promos. I sign a mess of books and send them out to partners with waves of gratitude washing over me.
10-11
I update my Excel spreadsheet of all the partners. My goal had been a $300 package of bonuses and 20 partners reaching at least 500,000 people. We have 19 partners and no idea how many we're reaching. Bonus total hovers around $200. I crank out a quick newsletter with all the key pieces to my 175 affiliates - they can spread the word, too, and get amazon associate dollars. I send to my VA to pretty up and broadcast.
10-13
I get all the bonuses we've got in together and send them to my webmaster, so he can mount the bonus download page. This is really an appealing package. BUT one small problem. We don't actually have $300 in bonuses. We have about $263. So I throw in a $40 discount coupon towards my Self Help Author's Crash Course and my How Much Joy Facilitator's Home Study Course. There! We're 'over' $300.

I suddenly lift my head from all these amazon details to realize the Joy Letter has not gone out. The VA says he'll get to it.
10-14
I look over my list of partners, and we've got everything from 700 ('highly focused!') readers on some lists to 77,000 on others. Some that I thought were huge are tiny, some I hadn't given much thought to are mega. Without all partners reporting in, we've going to reach more than 254,000 readers. We may not make it to 500,000 but I'm pumped. Nancy connects me with three big websites. They are participating by sending my site traffic. These add to the overall impact we're making, though in less quantifiable ways.

It makes me think that the ezine format really gives Net marketers a sense of control. I like the idea that there are small, highly targeted lists out there, which may, in fact, be much more responsive. There is also the factor that not all ezines have high 'open' rates (the number of people who actually click on the ezine and read it.) One big list-keeper tells me only 12% of his list actually open his ezine.

I check in with my VA about the Joy Letter, and he tells me he never sent out the newsletter to my 175 affiliates, informing them about the promotion. I send it myself with a caveat that it's 'late breaking news'. It may not yield anything, but you never know. Oh yeah, he'll get to The Joy Letter, too. Today.

At 6PM, the biggest ezine in the self help industry with about 250,000 subscribers calls. Can he run an excerpt of the book, and a plug for my amazon promo tomorrow? Yes! Yes! Yes! I'm agog. Turns out he's one of my affiliates, and just got my 'late breaking news'. Looks like I really AM going to meet my goal.

10:30 PM: I check amazon.com before I head to bed. My books is sales ranked at 78,692. There's only one way to go, and that's up.

October 15 - "Amazon Day"

7AM: While I'm brushing my teeth, my daughter goes on-line to check. We're at 5,190. It's working already.

8:30AM: I'm at my desk, and see the Joy Letter finally got sent in the middle of the night. Which is way late. It's great, graphics are fun but it's sooooo late. This is a momentary dip in my overall high spirits. I check in with my webmaster and he lets me know there's a problem on the bonus download page. An FTP code error with the web host. He suddenly has to transfer the bonus download page to his server wow. We're up to 2800.

9AM We're at 2433. My webmaster reveals that he checked the autoresponder files and about 3 people forwarded receipts; but 8 sent 'test' messages, meaning no purchase. This is from lists that put the autocontactor address out there, but not the amazonday@howmuchjoy.com address. Sigh.

9:50AM We're at 1061, and rising. I decide to bury myself in a cavalcade of busywork in my office. I take on tasks I've been avoiding for weeks in at attempt to stop compulsively checking my status.

10:31AM Still at 1061. A surge of fear: will I be stuck here, in relative obscurity the rest of the day? I check the autoresponder count. 39 books sold; 8 test messages.

11:15AM I break down and check. 350! Now THAT's a leap.

12:45PM I go to downstairs to lunch, and pick up the phone to my webmaster yelling 'F***ing Hell!' and then profusely apologizing. We're at 58.

1:45PM: My daughter calls from school. We're at 43!

2:00PM: 38. Now it's impossible to keep from compulsively checking. I check in on the bonus page, and see a few never made it. I make a mental note to send those in as a follow up email, which we can do because my webmaster set up an email sign-in page before visitors can download the bonuses.

2:15PM. I have to take my son to gymnastics class, and do the weekly grocery shop in the nearest small city. This is a good thing.

4:45PM: My webmaster calls my cell phone. "This is the call you've been waiting for sort of!" he begins. We're at #13. I set off to make dinner, assist with homework, and do general Mommy-ing with a light heart.

7:30PM: We reach #11, and I'm satisfied. Who needs to be in the top ten - this is awesome enough! Nancy Cleary calls to congratulate, and tells me to get a screen shot of the bestseller list on amazon. "Watch the Movers & Shakers" list, too, she advises. I check in and am not on it.

I send a humble, tired and happy email to friends in general celebration.

9:45PM. I'm exhausted, but can't resist one last check. We're at #10! I made it. My book is now an official Amazon bestseller.

October 16 - "The Day After Amazon Day"

7AM. I'm once again brushing my teeth, when my daughter charges in to inform me the book has gone up to #8! Life is good, I think, as I watch the sun rise over Lake Champlain.

Follow Up:
Living Your Joy continued to hover on the amazon bestseller list for two more days, and then began it's expected descent. What was interesting, however, was that it went way down fast, to about 20,000. Then it sprang back up again about two weeks later, and lingered in the top 500 for a good six weeks. I figured this was due to residual sales from additional word-of-mouth sales.

Benefits:
The promotion drove a huge amount of traffic to my site, well beyond the 372 people who bought my book that day. October was the single biggest grossing month I've ever had on my site, and I picked up several hundred readers for my ezine, all through people who found my work through the amazon promo. Also, two different freelance journalists contacted me for interviews in major magazines and they found me through my partner ezines and sites.

Finally, I continue to appreciate the impact of that one little day as I can now refer to my book as a 'bestseller" or 'amazon bestseller" in promotional media. That counts for a great, great deal.

Thank you, Nancy Cleary, for your very bright idea.

About the Author:

For more information on how you can turn your idea into a publisher-ready self help book proposal one that's truly tuned into what New York literary agents and publishers need visit Suzanne's Self Help Author's Crash Course at http://www.getknownnow.com/selfhelpbook.html

© 2004 Suzanne Falter-Barns. All Rights Reserved.