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Congratulations! You’ve just finished writing your first book, an achievement worth celebrating. Now comes the next crucial step: getting your book in front of readers. For new authors, promoting a book can feel daunting, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the world of marketing. However, with the right approach and a well-thought-out plan, you can successfully promote your book and build a readership. Here’s a comprehensive guide to help you get started.
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No one is buying any books. They don’t have the money. In the last 12 to 15 months, most of the people that I know have lost 50 to 100 percent of their income. Most of the people I know are writers, and they’ve gotten and they’re getting hammered by AI. And you’re thinking – But didn’t you just say AI for ME and not for THEE! I did. You’re the THEE. I’m the THEE. All the other writers are THEE’s. The businesses and corporations are the ME’s. And let’s think about that. What are they acting like? ME ME ME ME ME. Remind you of any particular age of person? If you guessed, screaming toddler in the checkout line at the grocery, you’re a winner! Unfortunately, there’s nothing to win here. Everyone’s losing. This is one big fat race to the bottom.
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In the vast realm of fiction literature, selling more books requires a combination of creativity, strategy, and effective marketing techniques. As an author or publisher, your ultimate goal is to connect with readers and entice them to pick up your masterpiece. In this article, we unveil the top five dynamic strategies tol help you skyrocket your fiction book sales to new heights.
1. Compelling Book Covers and Visual Appeal
First impressions matter, and your book cover is the gateway to your story. Design a captivating cover that visually represents your narrative's essence. Employ vibrant colors, intriguing artwork, and typography that align with your genre. An eye-catching cover will draw potential readers in, making them eager to explore what lies within the pages.
Read more: Unlocking Success: The Top 5 Strategies to Boost Fiction Book Sales
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Every author knows the importance of being on bestsellers lists. The exposure is almost unmatched because you’ll appear on the NY Times bestselling list, Publishers Weekly, USA Today and/or the Washington Post’s bestseller list, and many readers pay attention to these lists and buy books from these lists.
Bestsellers Sell a Lot of Books in a Short Period of Time
The basic understanding of bestselling lists is that they are the books that have sold the most copies within a certain timeframe (usually a week). This is both true and untrue. Books that make it onto bestselling lists have typically sold a ton of copies. However, that’s not the only determining criteria for most lists. When it comes to the accuracy of lists, I believe the NY Times is the least accurate, simply because I came across information that stated you were more likely to be on that list if you worked there than if you did not. The most accurate list, if I remember correctly, was Publishers Weekly.
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If you are looking for more book sales, hiring a company to get you more social media followers or manage your social media accounts are a couple of ways to do it. Social media is very effective and spreading the word. However, you need to research any company you plan to hire thoroughly BEFORE you hire them. Social Cruise (if they're still in existence) is not a company you want to do business with.
I am sad to say that I have, but it wasn’t because of any Internet search related to what they do or crossing their path on social media. Instead, their emails started showing up in my inbox and not my business email inbox. They started showing up in the email address I use for social media. In fact, until I started getting their emails, I had no idea they existed, and today, I still wish I didn’t know they existed.
Unscrupulously Collecting Emails
I’m not a huge fan of email lists as you all probably know. However, I know that some people wish to receive email updates about websites and other things they are interested in, like their favorite authors. For that reason, I have an email signup on this website. What I don’t do is go out and collect email addresses, and signing up for an account on staceycarroll.org doesn’t automatically result in getting email updates. Though, I could input that feature in the future. I don’t do it right now. What I refuse to do is gather email addresses randomly. I believe this is what Social Cruise did. Scoured social media for email addresses then added them to an email list. This tactic is highly frowned upon. As is buying email lists. In fact, if you can buy an email list, you are guaranteed that list is trash.
There’s no Unsubscribe in their emails, and if there were, I doubt I’d click on it. What I did do was tell them directly to remove me from the list. They did not. They also use many different email addresses and several different versions of their website address to get around spam filters and site blocks. It took me many weeks to get all of their emails to appear in my spam folder, and they appear there. They still, many weeks later, haven’t removed me. I got an email 5 hours ago and 9 hours ago. I was found them cause I was looking for something else that may have gone to spam. This type of business practice doesn’t fill me with confidence, and keep in mind. I never signed up with them. I have never visited their website prior to getting those emails, and when I did, it was simply to see if they had an unsubscribe somewhere on the site. They do not.
What do they supposedly do? Get more Instagram followers. I don’t know if they’ve heard but Instagram is a PITA. It’s the only social media website I know of that hates its users, and it pretty much hates any 3rd party software that connects to it, including autoschedulers. I should know. They block me about every 3rd day, and I know authors that have been blocked for liking and commenting too much. So much for engagement.
So What Else Did I Find Out About Social Cruise After Getting Pissed Tonight?
They are bad bad news. Far worse than I really imagined. As many reviewers have stated, they’re real close to being fraud, and I would suspect if these stories are true, they are fraud.
This is from CyberCashWorldWide. The first post is from a guy who calls himself Steven:
“They continued to charge me and never responded to requests for cancellation. They are a horrible company with a terrible lack of customer service. The chat they offer on their website never acknowledges anything other than to say they will refer the matter to accounting. Stay away from this company. They do nothing but steal from their customers refusing to stop billing the client’s card long after the cancellation request. A CLASS ACTION Lawsuit should be initiated.
I am also going to setup a complains site about them and post the reviews to everywhere on line. Social Cruise is a horrible thieving company that never delivers on what it promises. Read their terms and conditions, the last 4 paragraphs are basically; we screw the client and we decide if and when we ever give a refund even when they double charge!”
There are 10 or 15 of these posts that say that the trial period is not honored. They don’t refund any money, and they keep charging you after you request to cancel the account. If you sign up with Social Cruise, you’ll be fighting the charges via your CC or your bank card.
On Quora:
You have to scroll a little bit, but eventually, you’ll see:
“IT’S A SCAM! After seeing zero new followers or even interactions in 14 days I asked the supportperson to cancel my subscription. After a very long chat where she tried her best at getting me to upgrade instead of cancelling, I was told that they’d cancel as agreed.
6 days later they still hadn’t cancelled and instead I was charged for the subscription.
I wrote them right away and after some initial confussion on whether I had a subscription, I was told that NOW it was cancelled and that she’d make sure I was given a refund.
Can you guys guess what happened 7 days later?? That’s right, I was charged once again and to no big surprise, the support are no longer answering”
There are several more on Quora that sound a lot like the above post.
Signal Arnaques also lists SocialCruise as a potential scam, and there are several negative reviews regarding individuals credit cards being charged long after they requested their accounts canceled and closed.
I would not touch SocialCruise with a 10 foot pole, and if you’ve been contacted by them, please send their emails to spam and forget they exist. If you've had dealings with this company, please comment. Some of the stuff I read indicated that Social Cruise also harasses review websites that don't post glowing reviews of their services.
