20 Minute Book Marketing–Does it Work?

All this week I’ve been conducting an experiment. What would happen if I spend twenty minutes a day marketing my book? For some background, my book, RAZE, SHINE #6 was released back in February 2014. It’s available as an e-book on Amazon. It’s my first work to publish, and I’m super excited about it.

Marketing is a challenge for me. But I decided that I need to stop worrying about what I can’t control, and instead focus on what I can control. I have four young children, a husband in surgical residency, several more books to write, and I’m preparing to make a big move from Tulsa to Galveston, TX, but surely I can spend 20 minutes a day on book marketing, right?
I did. I spent a chunk of my morning from about 9:00 am to 9:20, solely focused on marketing. I put up a blog post, linked it to Twitter and Facebook, and then spent more time on Facebook promoting on the book writing groups. I also spent a little time on making friend requests and socializing on the FB book lovers sights. I made sure to set the alarm on my phone, so I knew that I ONLY had twenty minutes. It helped me stay focused, especially when I got on Facebook and felt tempted to scan through the news feed, or got distracted by a picture of someone’s adorable baby. Setting the timer worked better than I thought, and it was such a simple thing to do. I plan to continue with 20 minute marketing, just so I can stay focused.

Here are my results in terms of Amazon ranking:
May 19- #469,644
May 20- #209,315
May 21- #291,057
May 22- #344,971
May 23- #389,137

Also, I gained one more five-star review, which I’m very proud of. Those reviews are better than chocolate to me! The numbers are marginally impressive, but you can see that I at least sold a couple books, which in my mind is worth the twenty minutes.

The main lesson I’ve learned is to be consistent. Maybe I won’t get a sale today, but at least I got my name out there, and I’ve become a more visible online presence, so that when my next book comes out in July, I’ll already have some followers.

Does anyone have better suggestions for how I can spend my twenty minutes? I’ve got the blog, Twitter, and Facebook as my main targets, but I’m sure there are other paths I could take that would garner more sales.

I’d also like to invite other authors to take the 20 minute challenge. (Now I sound like an aerobics instructor) and report on how they did!

7 Comments

  1. Love this idea! I'm terrible at sticking with it, but I always *intend* to use this marketing plan (based on 30 min of marketing/day): http://selfpublishingteam.com/why-authors-who-say-i-dont-have-time-are-doomed-to-fail/

    • Jordan, I'll look into the 30 minute plan. Marketing is a whole new ball game for me, so I need all the information I can find. Thanks for dropping by!

  2. Timer idea is great.

  3. Making a list to go with your 20 minutes limit will help your time be even more productive. I had to take a bit of a hietus the last 5 weeks during the end of school rush, but not I have time again and I plan to use it to full advantage. I like the 20 minute time limit. I accept your challenge. I'll let you know how it goes for me.

  4. I started doing the timer thing again this week and it works better than anything else I've tried. I have a daily to do list for my blog and all the various social media channels, my business to do's, and my household obligations. Every task gets a timer set to it and it's amazing how much I get accomplished when I stick to it.

    Congratulations on making a plan and getting results. That's awesome! The only things I can think of to help would be to have a Pinterest board so you can pin your posts, books, and other items. I get a lot of traffic from Pinterest. Set up your blog so that people can follow you with Bloglovin', a lot of book bloggers use it and it's a great way to follow blogs and if you can work in visiting some blogs and commenting most of us visit and comment back.

    Keep up the good work!

    • Very good advice! Yes, I was shocked at how well the timer works–and I think I will incorporate it into my daily routine. Thanks for the Pinterest and Bloglovin' advice. My goal this week is to try out a few new social media channels. I'm also going to try Instagram.

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