Five Rules of Ebook Marketing

Iain MillarCo-Founder

Managing Director

Background

• 47% of adult fiction is now bought in ebook, according to Nielsen

• In 2013 print sales fell by 10% in the UK

• The market for self-published books has grown by around 80% in a year

Rule 1:

Be on the internet

Being on the Internet

• There are 3 billion Google searches per day

• Roughly half of online retailer traffic now comes from mobile or tablet

• There are 59 listings in Wikipedia’s ‘2015 novels’

• There are 1,181 listings in Wikipedia’s ‘2015 films’

Rule 2:

Think internationally

Thinking Internationally

• 100% ebook availability (or near enough)

• Growth markets: India, China, Latin America

• Around 500m speak English as a first language, around 1.1b speak English as a secondary language

• Web marketing needn’t be aimed at UK only

Rule 3:

Act responsively

Acting Responsively

• You may receive promotion/publicity unexpectedly

• Sales spikes are (in a sense) less predictable

• Main variables are: price, campaign spend, pitch

• Have firm targets and act if under-performing

Rule 4:

But plan for the longer term

Planning for the Longer Term

• Acting responsively requires a contingency budget

• You don’t just have a 4-week window, particularly for midlist and developing authors

• Series planning and ebook reissues important

• Be persistent and look for marginal gains

Rule 5:

Take ebooks seriously

Taking Ebooks Seriously

• Do not allow production or design standards to slip

• Challenge snobbish views on ebooks

• Publicise ebook success stories, don’t be data-shy

• There is a need to prove our value as publishers, and taking ebooks seriously is essential in achieving that

Thanks very much

Get in touch

Iain Millariain@canelo.co@iainmillar18