Tips to boost your ebook sales

Posted on | by Jennifer Vance

So you want to increase your ebook sales?

Let’s assume you’ve already written a book that’s up to industry standards: It’s been edited and proofread, has an attractive cover, has been priced appropriately, etc. And of course you’ve identified the target audience for your book.

Let’s also assume you’ve been working on solidifying your author brand, have an engaging and updated website, and have looked into what social media platforms make the most sense for your brand.

Also, have you already been promoting your book through your social media channels, website, and earned and paid publicity efforts? Have you reached out to influencers? And we really hope you’ve been asking people to review your book on bookseller sites, and also have you —

Whew, yeah. There’s a whole foundation you have to lay down before you can even start focusing on book sales. But if you’ve done all that (great job!) and are now looking to jump-start your ebook sales, we’ve got some additional advice!

Optimize your Amazon listing

Ensuring your Amazon book listings are optimized is incredibly important when it comes to increasing your ebook sales. And there are a number of things to look for when making sure your Amazon listing is optimized:

  • Include a preview of your book.
  • Update back cover copy and include review blurbs.
  • Include any positive editorial reviews.
  • Update your About the Author section.
  • Consider utilizing A+ Content.
  • Check that your copy and keywords are SEO-optimized.

For more in-depth details on optimizing various aspects of your Amazon listings, check out this blog from our sister company Books Fluent on making your Amazon page pop!

Curate your email list

Building an email list is no joke, so take it step by step. Start by collecting email addresses at in-person events and through an incentive on your author website. This gives easy, direct access to those already familiar with your work as you release more books in the future. Your email list could help with hitting Amazon bestseller lists, building traction on your site and increasing your ebook sales.

You can also look to build your email list through paid promos from sites like BookSweeps or Crave Books. Or you can even run Facebook advertising to generate email leads. 

If possible try to find a reader magnet, or a little freebie you can offer people for subscribing to your email list. Some ideas include a short story, deleted scenes, an exclusive interview, swag, workbook pages — or even the first book of a series. The site BookFunnel is a great resource for setting up reader magnets and coordinating your sign-ups and downloads.

And don’t forget about the content for your newsletters: The goal of email marketing is to keep your readers engaged. You want to be in contact with them, but not excessively. Create an automation sequence to contact readers just the right amount. And keep brainstorming unique content that you can provide subscribers to keep them engaged and excited about future releases.

Run a price drop promotion

Price pulsing, or the temporary reduction of your ebook’s price, can be an effective way to generate buzz for your book, especially if partnered with advertising from various reader newsletter ads. These newsletters are free to readers, and publishers/authors pay to have their books included. Reader newsletter ads can be extremely beneficial in getting your book on people’s radar while boosting sales and your Amazon rankings.

Also make sure you have optimized your BookBub account and are looking into featured deals. Featured deals can be tough to get since they are editorially curated from BookBub. There are fixed aspects of a title the editors always consider during the selection process:

  • Number of reviews and Amazon ratings
  • The quality of the cover
  • Any accolades or awards the book has received
  • How many retailers the book is available on.

But their decisions are also influenced by factors that change over time. That means even though the book itself might be fantastic, trends in terms of what specific readers are interested in at any given time — and even the other submissions BookBub receives that week — have a heavy hand in what they’re able to select.

Because you have control over your ebook’s pricing, and because ebooks aren’t subject to the costs of printing and shipping, price pulsing can boost your readership and increase ebook sales across your backlist.

Consider a giveaway

Goodreads giveaways can be some of the most beneficial and cost-effective advertising tools at an author’s disposal. We recommend doing a digital book giveaway if you’re looking to specifically boost your ebook sales and overall readership. This saves you costs on printing and shipping books to winners. You can also have up to 100 winners for a digital book giveaway. This means there are potentially 100 readers who have received and read your book and could leave reviews.

The best part about giveaways — besides getting the book into people’s hands — is that everyone who enters a Goodreads giveaway adds the book to their “want to read” shelf. This shows up in their personal feeds, so all their Goodreads friends see it.

Look into online advertising

Click, click, buy. Because it’s so easy to buy things online — and because digital advertising is literally everywhere — it only makes sense that online advertising is a must in your plan to increase your ebook sales.

There’s a variety of online advertising to consider, but some of the most popular options include:

  • Facebook/Instagram: Combined, Facebook and Instagram have one of the largest built-in user bases that you’ll find. Tap into these users by utilizing Meta Ads. You won’t get back what you put in right away. But you can track how well your ads perform by utilizing the statistics provided.
  • Amazon Ads: These are a great complement to Facebook advertising and a good way to promote your book no matter the launch date or ebook pricing. Setting up sponsored products or sponsored brand campaigns is easy, and you are in direct control of things like pricing, keyword selection and more. Check out this article from Author Media on setting up your own Amazon ad campaign.
  • Niche platforms like Reddit, LinkedIn and Tiktok can also be great to consider if you find the right audience. But remember, don’t just throw money at sites because you can. Really identify your audience and why you are advertising to make the most of your ad dollars.

Go forth and sell!

We can safely assume that most, if not all, authors want to sell books. There’s a plethora of resources at your discretion to increase ebook sales — it’s just a matter of finding the right options for you and your book.