Q . Z a y n e B o o k s

When I started this venture, I winged my books onto Amazon with no ads at all. I didn’t start booking promotions until the third month. It took more than a year and some excellent advice to develop a promo strategy that gets my books the visibility they need to reach strong ranks.

I’ve been publishing for about a year and a half. It’s a good thing I had no idea what I was doing. If it occurred to me how many skills I’d have to learn, the long hours I’d have to put in almost every day of every week, the mistakes I’d make–and how little I knew about everything, I might have been daunted. I might have turned back without ever giving it a shot.

Instead, I plummeted right into the publishing adventure, giving it my all.

In the process, I lost nearly everything.

It’s a tortuous story and one I’ll save for another time. We’ll fast forward to the happy middle, as I’ve reached the joyous state of being able to check my bank balance without panic.

My personal supporters have been steadfast and wise. I could not have published any of these books without all the great advice and kindness of D. and T.

Once I made it through the not-sure-this-is-any-longer-worth-doing depression in the wake of KU2, Amazon’s change in how it compensates authors and publishers for borrows in Kindle Unlimited, promotions saved me.

That’s another long story. To go from introvert to advertising my erotica, and to go from dire financial disaster to increasing my promotion budget by the week, has been an intense journey.

I’m grateful to the promoters who offer their services for free and for reasonable fees. For a long time I flinched every time I bought a five dollar ad, my funds were so tight. I had no budget for my business, so I had to drive less, eat less, pull the funds out of wherever I could. I’d take a deep breath, buy an ad and the money would come back. After parting with things I never wanted to lose, it’s taken months to trust that things might be okay again, that spending a few bucks won’t mean being broke tomorrow.

So, a big thank you to Read Free.ly, Awesome Gang, Ask David, Erotica for All, and The Naughty List, for starters!

These promoters offer excellent service, respond to questions, welcome sexual content and erotica (within reason), and make their services accessible to those of us who don’t yet have dozens of reviews per book. I had no idea that I would have to qualify to buy ads and how difficult that would be.

Without promoters who offer free and low-cost means to reach readers, I wouldn’t have been able to launch books into the top 100 lists in Erotica and Dark Fantasy on Amazon U.S. and I wouldn’t have reached the Kindle Top 100 Erotica Authors list.

Huge thanks for your work, from my heart.

Q

This is a work in progress. I don’t want to slight anyone. I suspect most promoters work as many hours as I do. I appreciate them all.

Please subscribe to promoters who support small publishers and independent authors. One small way I say thanks is to click through on my favorite newsletters for free and bargain ebooks. Along with boosting my books, these websites and newsletters bring other authors into my world, another reason to love them! Share them on your social networks. Many sites give you the option of selecting your favorite genres or niches and send you customized newsletters. They offer a great way to save time and money with the latest deals on books you want.

My readers who review erotica also deserve major thanks. Your words have made my day so many times. Those reviews, even the super short ones, mean a lot to me. One of my favorites is only two words. 🙂