What should I include in my e-books to drive subscription, sales, and affiliate income?

In the last two weeks, I’ve been sharing tips from my recent Bookbub experience. You can catch those installments HERE and HERE. Today I’m picking up where I left off, and I’m talking about ways to turn free (or deeply discounted) e-books into paid sales.

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• Want people to read your next, PAID book? Put in an excerpt and a link to buy it. Actually, I put in excerpts from most of my other books at the end of my e-books. Why not? I’m not killing trees to do it. People don’t have to read them if they don’t want to.

1. What link should you use when sending readers out for a “buy”? While I am eager to send people back to the sales site they came from for their review, and also willing to update that one link to the review page in the different versions of the e-book I create for each sales site, I have a different strategy for “buys.” See affiliate/associate income opportunities, below.
2. Be sure you link your book(s) everywhere you refer to it in your e-book. Maybe that includes a “Books by the Author” page or references in your bio. What link(s) to use? See affiliate/associate income opportunities, below.

• Take advantage of affiliate/associate income opportunities. Amazon, iBooks, Nook, Kobo, and Smashwords allow you to make money off sales you refer to them. I’m going to illustrate only Amazon, but the process is somewhat similar for each. You sign up for the program, and you generate links to use on your website and social media that identify you as the referrer, and if someone makes a purchase, you get a cut. How big a cut? Depends on how many “referrals” click through from your links in a month. At least for Amazon, if they click through from your link, you get a cut of ANYTHING they buy in the next 48 hours, whether they buy your merchandise or not. Yes, you read that right. And it’s not just books. You can link to any product they carry. Alas, though, you cannot link from e-books. This is muy importante. So your e-book needs to refer readers back to a page on your website with your affiliate links. Also, Google will deactivate your links if you have “too many” affiliate links on one page. For this reason, I focus on Amazon and Apple, because together they account for 87% of my sales. Here’s what my strategy looks like to the reader:

 

Here’s what the page looks like that I send readers back to from the “continue reading” link (note I don’t say “buy”!):

The readers can’t see my affiliate links. But under Amazon’s rules I do need to disclose them, and I do this at the top of the page and in the sidebar. Personally, I use this verbiage:

Now, how did directing readers to the page on my website with my affiliate links (and links to all the other sales sites, too—I don’t play favorites) impact the monetary value of my promotions? Here’s my Amazon affiliate page:

The big bars on the far right represent that additional $$ I’ve made so far in affiliate fees this month since my Bookbub on the 14th, post-promotions. I’m not getting rich, but it’s another $100+ and counting. All told, I made $200 from January 14-31 in affiliate income from Amazon.

And, finally, what do my website hits look like as a result of funneling people back to it from my bio and book excerpts? Note: the first three bars are the three days before my Bookbub. The last five bars represent the Bookbub day and the days following it. It’s a big increase.

 

Where were the readers landing/visiting? Exactly where I hoped they would. My affiliate link pages are Fiction and Nonfiction. My bio takes them to the home page. And the next book in the series, the one I hope they pay for as a result of reading Saving Grace, is Leaving Annalise, and the the one after that is Finding Harmony.

 

 

Finally, where did visitors click TO from my website?

 

Well, it’s clear why my affiliate income on Amazon went up, isn’t it? Thirty-six people clicked affiliate links taking them there, and seven clicked Apple affiliate links. You can also see a few Kobo and Google Play readers clicking through. Sorry, Barnes and Noble. No Nook. In fact, this was a noticeable change from past Bookbub promotions: less downloads/sales on Nook.

I’ve had eight Bookbub promotions in the last 2 1/2 years, and I wish with all my heart I’d figured these things out for 1-7, because I hadn’t. But every new day is a chance to get a little smarter, right?

Any tips on strategies that have worked for you are welcomed in the comments below.

Good luck!

Pamela

Pamela Fagan Hutchins writes overly long e-mails, hilarious nonfiction, and  series mysteries, like Katie & Annalise which includes the bestselling Saving Grace, and Emily which she kicks off with the 2015 WINNER of the USA Best Book Award for Cross Genre Fiction, Heaven to Betsy. She resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and in the frozen north of Snowheresville, Wyoming. Pamela has a passion for great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes with her hunky husband and pack of rescue dogs, traveling in the Bookmobile, and experimenting with her Keurig. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound (if she gets a good running start).