This practice admittedly works far better for authors who have produced
quite a bit of writing, maybe a few products and have a decent fan base already
built up. It won't work so well if you don't have much content. But if you have
a good amount of content--even if you do not have a major fan base already
built in, this can still earn you more than you would expect--and increase your
fan base by making your old readers and a few (maybe more) new ones happy.
Everyone loves a bargain--especially in these tough economic times. And you
can score some serious points with existing and new fans by giving them what
they want--a good deal. Say that you have a new book coming out for example (I
use book because it is the most common form of product with writing but it
could be a single story, a booklet, ebook, just about anything.) If you're been
doing the right thing with it, you would have a blog or a website up where your
fans would know well in advance of its near approach. Assuming you have any
sort of already existing merchandise (and if you don't you can plan on this for
the future) a good way to drive up some sales would be to throw a few books,
ebooks, booklets, stories, audio books, etc together into a limited time
bargain bundle. It works for Stephen King Novels online, it's worked in brick
and mortar book stores (buy 2 get the 3rd free!) it can work for you as well.
The advantage we all have today is that in the digital age--nothing spreads
faster than the news of a bargain.
There is also the possibility here of working with other authors in your
field. There is a common saying that when it comes to partnerships, 1 plus 1
equals 3. The idea simply meaning that together you can be worth more than
either of you can separately. If you have author friends in your field--(or even
across field, genre, medium lines) what is to stop you from combining your
books, audio books, comics, or whatever it is you have into bundles together?
Especially digitally--you can reach both your audiences and sell maybe double
what you would sell normally. But the greatest things about bundles is that
word of them spread like wildfire--word of mouth, link sharing etc. This
admittedly works better if both of you (or heck all of you--you could have a
bundle of 5-10 authors--the sky is the limit) have your own audiences and
therefore can spread it to more people inherently. But even if your audiences
are only a few each--it's still extra exposure. And the few in your existing
audiences are far more to spread word of mouth about a deal--especially a
limited time deal . (I have found that bundles that last 2-3 weeks tend to work
the best--remember, customers are lazy, there has to be a call to action
without looking like you are overly trying to sell something. The most
successful bundle producers I have seen are those who offer each specific
bundle option only once for a period of 2 weeks--sure they will have other
bundles in the future, but never exactly THIS bundle again--the urgency shakes
the apathy out of most potential buyers.)
Now before you start to worry that all this would be nearly impossible to
set up--it is actually quite easy. Assuming you or any one of your partners in
this bundle has a website that is up and running--you can easily put together a
digital release using a quick, cheap and easy resource like e-junkie.com along
with a shopping cart button from Paypal.com to receive payment. And the great
advantage of a digital bundle is the fact that you can give serious discounts
on your prices without feeling the burn yourself--other than paying transaction
and hosting fees, the only thing a digital bundle costs you is the labor you
put forth to create it.
The bundle idea, like so many other options we can consider in the age we
currently live is represents something more--both sides of the equation are
winning. Equilibrium: the customer gets something of extended value and the
author gets to sell more. And in the case of partnerships, more people benefit.
This is just one example of the way in which the creative world of writing has
changed quite a bit. One product one sale might not do nearly as well
anymore--especially with the overwhelming amount of competition out there. But
with the infinite amount of tools available to all of us today--there is no
shortage of creative solutions to reaching more people, and creativity is
something that authors, when they put their mind to it, do very, very well.
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