Friday, July 27, 2012

Ebook Sales Update

Several blog readers have been asking about ebook sales. Today I received a huge 100 in an email from my son, who just lost his bet that we would not reach that number. Hurray! Apparently, 100 is to be considered "good" since most "indie" ebooks do not sell all that well. (Wellfleet, An Insider's Guide to Cape Cod's Trendiest Town has been available for one month and can be purchased at my writer's site.)

Another blog reader asked about promotion. A week ago I posted reviews. Yesterday Mac Hay mentioned my ebook in the Mac's Newsletter. Early on I urged followers to get 10 friends to buy the ebook. If anyone has done so, please leave a note in the comments and claim your prize. (This contest remains open until someone wins.)

Also, I have been putting up posters around town. Strangely enough, someone has been taking them down. So, I wrote a letter to the Provincetown Banner, which was printed yesterday: "Several weeks ago Banner reporter Marilyn Miller wrote an excellent article about my new ebook on Wellfleet. I have been promoting Wellfleet, An Insider’s Guide to Cape Cod’s Trendiest Town, as best I can. I put up posters in the window of several local businesses, with the permission of the owners, of course. Some one has been going around and removing these posters. The dastardly malefactors leave other promotional material in place. Strange as it may seem, my ebook is being targeted. That’s a shame, because it’s great publicity for Wellfleet, a town that will celebrate its 250th anniversary in 2013. Whoever the culprit is, please stop. 75% of the proceeds from the $2.99 sale will go to the Wellfleet Food Pantry."

I sent press releases to the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce and to the Wellfleet Chamber of Commerce, but so far neither Chamber has lifted a promotional finger. I hope they do not see the ebook as competition. It is not.

If you are on Facebook, please LIKE the Wellfleet Guide page. Thanks!

Have you read my ebook yet? Can you recommend it to others?
Posted by Alexandra Grabbe at 7:52 AM

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Living Large's avatar

Living Large · 660 weeks ago

Congratulations on reaching 100! Strange someone is targeing your posters. Looks like everyone would be pleased to have your town promoted in such a way. I read the book and it makes me want to visit!
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Irene M. Paine's avatar

Irene M. Paine · 657 weeks ago

Yes, congratulations on that sweet number, 100. Now, on to 1000! I feel your pain on the poster problem. It's been a few years since husband storyteller Jim Wolf told stories regularly in Wellfleet through the summer. We went out weekly to be sure his posters were still visible on the bulletin boards, and here's what ten summers of doing that taught us: Events that are one-time things have the urgency of being posted on top of everything else (a lot). We figured that volunteers figured that whatever they were covering, their event would be over soon, and of course their posters would be tossed by other vigilant posters on the very next day. And then it all shakes down from there. Jim had a seaso- long poster, and it was frequently tacked over. We really got into bulletin board maintenance, and brought tacks with us and rearrarged things so the most pressing events were there front and center, and if possible, Jim's seasonal poster would hang off the bottom of the bulletin board. Product posters were honored by us, but usually we found them under layers of other event notices.

A virtual bulletin board is something we've always thought would be super convenient, and wouldn't it be great if there was a master Cape Cod bulletin board so that if a radio station was planning a huge fund-raiser, they would know that there was also a festival going on that day, and vice versa. I'm thinking of the Wellfleet Harbor Fest this year, and the WOMR race that set out from Preservation Hall on the same day. Was it good they were both happening on the same day, or was it bad?

I digress. I just wanted to let you know that a product (book, I've got one, too, and my posters stayed up for ten minutes) is very low on the feeding chain that happens at the limited bulletin board space in town, and most of those boards are there at the largesse of someone or a commercial sponsor. So, there have to be other ways. . . It's all a learning process! Good luck, though. If you are a member of the Wellfleet Chamber of Commerce, I believe you can link to your page, for what it's worth. Gotta post that e-book in the sweet spot, wherever it is. You'll find it.

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