marketing

Free Marketing Resources

Lee Hall Leave a comment

They say that everyone has a price and mine is free this month over on Patreon because everything I have released in March is available for all!

From my newly updated list of Book Promotion Websites to a free Twitter Audio Coaching Session all about my ten years spent on the platform – there are some cool and hopefully useful marketing resources for anyone looking to grow online as a creative. For the authors in the room I have also just released a new basic guide about selling books online.

These free marketing resources are just a taste of what is available to Rock Star and Royal Rock Star Patrons if you sign up and I have a stack of content coming. From more Twitter Coaching Sessions to my experience with getting book reviews and much more. Sign up now to get all my best stuff first.

You shall find those free resources below…

A List of Book Promotion Sites – my newest list of places I have successfully advertised with in the past year. Click on the graphic above or alternatively click here.

This beginner’s guide to selling books online goes back to basics and lays out how I sell books regularly so you can too! Click here or on the graphic above.

For the 23rd Twitter Coaching Session I talk about my 10 years spent on the platform. This series consists of literally hours of me laying out how to find success on the platform. If you sign up, you can access the whole series and find something that will help you grow also! Here’s the link.

For my 24th Coaching Session I have opened the floor for any questions anyone might have about Twitter or the wider subject of social media marketing. Drop me a line and I’ll happily answer your question in-depth for the next coaching session!

Of course for anyone who does sign up to my Patreon will receive rewards such as regular Twitter shout-outs and even a free digital copy of my guide book Consistent Creative Content. Thanks for dropping by!

Crossing $1000 in Book Royalties 2022

Lee Hall Leave a comment

Money.

A subject that can be kind of divisive for anyone who has published or released something creative in this world and for pretty much everyone else. With that discussion firmly to one side, this is my account of how I crossed $1000 in book royalties for the year 2022. Making any type of income from my books and creativity online crept up on me over the years and while I did spend my time churning out content and publishing with my head down doing the work, eventually my income began to grow.

Before I do dive in, I’ve always believed that creatives deserve to be paid for their work. And its perfectly valid for an artist or any creator to value their work. It is also normal and okay for a creator to aspire towards making a career out of their endeavours – something I one day aspire to do. But that word value is where we shall begin…

Value

Over the years of being published I’ve discovered that having a perceived value for your works is the first step to making money from them. From taking pride in a job done well to the hours you’ve put in to create something from scratch to even your public perception of that work. All of this stuff and the general success of it along with you, revolves around that value. There is a lot more I could say about value, but as long as you are aware of how you conduct yourself online and have pride towards your work, you’ll be fine.

Now, linked rather closely to value is pricing…

Pricing

That perception and belief of value should drive what you think is a fair price for your work. Pricing for books can be a sometimes tricky thing to master. I’ve tried numerous pricing strategies over the years but my major selling price was in fact my perceived regular price.

Having tried the lowest possible price for my e books via kindle ($0.99) for an extended time didn’t result in many consistent sales but after raising that price (around $2.99) things started moving more frequently. This is part value and psychological towards the potential reader. Low prices can be good for a temporary book promotional boost, but a decent competitive price over an extended time will do good for your sales eventually. Paperbacks are another factor here also and seeing as I used to sell predominantly digital, paperback sales began to rise for me in recent times. This is probably due to fair pricing and value while also because of my rising profile on social media. Having 40,000 Twitter followers does help sometimes but it took a while for me to get there.

With regular sales at regular price, royalties will trickle in consistently and we’re not talking several sales a day here. Just a consistent one or two sales every three or four days will work wonders for that royalty balance trust me. And trust, is a huge factor in this…

Trust

Just how does a creative earn trust online? Well it isn’t easy and it takes time, a lot of time. But if you take responsibility in everything you do in the public facing domain of social media, eventually you’ll earn that trust of others. I sell most of my work through social media because I am present and generally pleasant. Decent behaviour sticks out big-time in this day and age. Running parallel to that time I have spent earning trust is consistent creative content…

The Three C’s

Those who know me will also know my guide book is titled Consistent Creative Content and I wholeheartedly believe they are three things any creator needs to succeed. It took me six or so years to release eight books and using my time rather well it has propelled me towards higher royalties. This writer journey is a marathon not a sprint and you may be one or two books in or more, but over time it gets better if you keep going. Readers like choice and if they make a good enough connection with one of your books, they will return for another, so having that option will increase your chances of sales. Backlist really is King and alongside that is another huge factor, promotion…

Promotion

Book Promotion is a huge umbrella of variety and to the first-time author a rather daunting concept. You can only do what you know how to do at the time of a book release and that’s okay. I’ll admit my book promo methods were limited during the release of my first book and over some years I learned a lot. All of the things I did learn I then applied back to that first release and it is now one of my most successful.

With book promotion and discovering the many methods it involves, this will take time. Generally, I pay for advertising via book promotion websites while also plugging my work online occasionally. My method for regular sales is to focus more on convincing potential readers to be interested in me and then hope they move on to my books – this concept works for me mostly…

I am regularly present on social media. For those who aren’t, advertising takes many forms and if you want serious results then sometimes you have to pay serious money.

BookBub is a promo site that brings fantastic returns and during 2022 a perfect BookBub storm unexpectedly erupted for me. It was during the run-up to the final release in my Order of the Following Series that I managed to grab a coveted featured deal -BookBub’s ‘Holy Grail’ of advertising packages, for the first book in the series. Of course I pounced and put into action everything I’ve learned to ensure maximum sales and KU page reads.

That featured deal happened back in September of 2022 and now in February of 2023 I am still getting page reads, reviews and sales from it.

An effective book promotion, will serve a book for plenty of time after.

Most of my fictional works are enrolled in Kindle Unlimited and that gives maximum opportunity for extended royalties from digital downloads. Quantity is key here and if you can sell books in quantity, the money will eventually roll in.

Quick Fire Factors

And so I’ve hopefully laid out the details to reaching a huge royalty milestone. Here are some quick fire factors that helped shape that journey.

Writing in Series – long term but this helps, when my series was complete it became way more lucrative, keep going series writers!

Writing Stand Alone – peppered between those releases in series are stand alone books in a variety of genre and length. This helped me big-time. Remember backlist is King.

Supporting the industry – I regularly review books by fellow authors from my social media connections. This has helped me regularly release reviews that serve as blogging content and is an opportunity to gain trust and friendships from fellow authors.

Social Media Presence – there are a lot of potential readers out there online, spending time with them will drive sales, eventually.

Time is your friend – it takes time to get to anywhere good on a creative journey.

Paid Advertising – to make money you sometimes have to spend money.

Kindle Unlimited – most of my fictional works including my series is enrolled in KU. Those page reads add up if you can reach readers.

Taking this journey seriously – serious results comes from a serious attitude. I am always doing something to help market myself or my stuff online. From blog posts, to reviews, to social media presence to the odd book price promo or advertising.

Concluding Thoughts

I’ve tried to be as neutral as possible when highlighting my experiences of making over $1000 is book royalties because like I said at the start, money can be divisive subject. For this account I have homed in on certain subjects that all work in unison to create the perfect recipe for book royalties. You shall find more specific guidance below.

Thank you for reading!

This account was inspired by a recent Patreon Audio Presentation where I talk in detail about my journey. You can find that here.

Further Reading:

Building Trust on Twitter

My Most Recent Guide on Securing a BookBub Featured Deal

A guide to Selling Books on Social Media

Twitter Coaching Sessions

A concise list of Book Promotion Websites

10 Years on Twitter: A Reflection

Lee Hall 3 Comments

10 years ago I started my Twitter journey. Back then, I’d only really dreamed of having the numbers I have now as well as so many other cool things.

‘Join Twitter, build a following and share your writing with them…’

That statement is the narrow version of advice I found at the time and well, nothing worthwhile in this life is really simple or easy.

The truth is, I spent many years on Twitter not really knowing what I was doing or what I needed to do in order to reach people and grow. Everyone’s Twitter experience is unique to them and perhaps that’s what makes it special. You get back what you put in and social media is still quite a new concept viewed by many in a negative light but as someone who has spent an extended time on Twitter, good things can be found. That void you find yourself shouting into does eventually answer back because I am proof of that concept. In 2020 my following had crept to a moderate 3,000 or so followers. A year later it was 20,000 and during that time something happened, not just in the world but in my world because all I did was spend more time on the platform and with every tweet or interaction I learned. In my mind I marked what worked and what didn’t time and time again. Eventually and after that time, the needle began to turn and then eventually bend in my favor. People, good people began to notice me simply because I worked on my presence and what those people responded to.

Conversational tact and manners are all anyone needs to succeed on Twitter. You don’t need a gimmick or an act, you just need to be genuine and I say that from experience because for all the things social media is viewed as, most people look to it for an escape or to find others who are like them and if you do conduct yourself in a pleasant way, good things will eventually happen.

I couldn’t possibly sum up all of my experience on Twitter in just a blog post and those who do know me will also be aware of my many resources that delve deep into the intricacies of how to find success on the platform. While that success may be in the eye of the beholder, through my time on Twitter I have learned to reach people, keep people interested and even persuade them to buy my books and invest in me.

Of course I have returned that with my own support and as long as you can appear genuine in a sometimes volatile world online, you cannot be beaten. Supporting others is important to me and always will be.

You can find my best Twitter resources here.

Twitter Coaching Sessions 1 to 20 – Out Now!

Lee Hall Leave a comment

Are you looking to get more out of Twitter?

During my decade spent on the platform I’ve learned a huge amount of highly valuable skills to turn my Twitter into a hive of followers, book sales and overall success as a creative online. Whether you are looking to grow or even make money from your content or perhaps you are just unsure where to start, my 20 Twitter coaching sessions will teach you how as I lay everything out to find success on the platform. These exclusive audio sessions cover a wide range of subjects such as:

Creating the best possible profile;

What to tweet about for sucess;

Selling and promoting books on Twitter;

Earning the trust of your followers;

Reaching a Million impressions and so much more.

These unique audio sessions will light the path for anyone at any level of experience on Twitter to better results through methods that work. Sign up here today and carve your own path to Twitter success!

Top Guides of 2022

Lee Hall Leave a comment

2022 has been a year of learning for me. From selling books way more regularly to hitting big-time milestones on Twitter. I’m a big believer in passing on the stuff I have learned and so here are my Top guides of 2022…

From the book basics, the everyday stuff to even selling related solutions, this guide lays out how to sell books on social media.

Twitter is the engine room of my online presence and book selling. The concept of treating it like a bar has helped me find thousands of followers. This bar analogy guide lays it all out…

Continuing with the Twitter theme and introducing my best guide based content about the platform is my Twitter Coaching Sessions. These Patreon exclusive audio sessions which are now nearly 20 episodes strong lay out in detail my Twitter experiences.

BookBub has been a hot button topic for me in recent years. Especially after my second featured deal resulted in 10,000+ book downloads in a single day. Somehow this year I managed to secure a deal for my debut novel Open Evening which paved the way for my wider Order of the Following Series to find more success than it has ever had!

As an indie author, I am always conscious of trying my best to get more reviews for my works. Most of us who are published will know the struggle we face with finding them so here are 5 ways to get more…

Thanks for reading! You can find a lot more guides via the resources section.

Check out my Patreon for the exclusive stuff!

The Reluctant Book Marketer Podcast – Branding on Twitter

Lee Hall Leave a comment

Shout-out to The Reluctant Book Marketer Podcast hosted by fellow author Jody Sperling for recently having me as a guest.

In this episode we talk about Twitter branding and the wider journey of being an author in the social media age.

You can listen here via Spotify

Or here via Substack

Jody has recently launched a Kickstarter for his soon to be published guide book ‘The Seven-Figure Marketing Mindset For Novelists’. You can check that out here.

Social Media & Book Marketing (Emag 17th Ed)

Lee Hall

Hello kind blog followers. I’d like to share with you a very recent appearance I made in an interview via the awesome Scribble’s Worth Book Reviews blog…

For those interested in creative ways to market yourself on social media this is the one for you!

Scribble's Worth Book Reviews

Get your Free E-mag copy now

Book marketing is one of the, if not THE biggest challenge authors of indie books face in their daily lives, and social media is still a great tool to make cheap book marketing, yet many don’t know how to use it. SO! We invited some of the authors we noticed that are using social media to their advantage in creative ways, such as Lee Hall, Tyler Wittkofsky from Tea with Coffee Media, Ashleigh Bonner and the incredible Ryan Cipriani !

Do get your Free E-mag copy now

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How I Landed my 3rd BookBub Featured Deal

Lee Hall

Even though I have always believed in myself, I’m always in a slight state of disbelief when good things actually happen or when something goes as planned. The imposter syndrome will always find a way to creep in but then sometimes good things just align at the exact time. You see, good things arrive exactly when they are supposed to, they are neither late nor early. They arrive always when they are supposed to.

Being a proprietor of never giving up has brought me the best of rewards as a writer and creative online. All of which I firmly believe have pulled together to help me secure the subject of this post; my third BookBub Featured Deal. Hailed as the Holy Grail of Book Promotions in some crowds and I would agree to an extent, the illusive selectors that reside within the inner workings of the original Book Promo site have always been kind to me, no matter how many times they have rejected my efforts, its the times when they say yes that remain memorable and this post is designed to lay out how I secured that third featured deal. It is broken down into headings that I feel relay the most important factors any author needs when trying to secure their own BookBub Featured Deal.

Consistency

At the heart of all of my efforts as a social media creator and author is consistency. You’ll find it everywhere I go from being ever present on Twitter and growing from 3,000 followers in 2020 to 35,000 very recently to the books I have steadily released over the years. 7 in roughly 6 years with numero 8 dropping in a matter of weeks, its even in the same series as Open Evening – perhaps destiny or just chance or simply because I have positioned myself with consistency this has happened. Even the practicality of bothering BookBub with my submissions for their featured deal is part of why I’ve been selected three times. Every month, pretty much like clockwork I apply for a featured deal with one or several of my books with the ever present hope they would say yes. No matter how many times they don’t, the rewards of what a deal involves are too high for me to forget that monthly ritual of throwing the dice or even the coin into the well.

Conduct

You can be a success on Twitter; a conversational platform without sharing hard pressed opinion or something that will insight passionate debate because they are the two things that I have avoided for nearly a decade. And that conduct of mine has propelled my efforts in all departments of my online creativity. From book sales and reviews where hardly any point towards my personal conduct – yes there are reviewers out there who will hold authors accountable for their opinions online, I navigate myself through the sometimes troll heavy, always-an-argument-about-to-explode waters of social media with ease, the same can be said for this blog. BookBub may or may not be watching but if your social media content and posting is one hot mess of opinion, clumsy arguing and full of stuff that not even the hardiest of publicist will touch with a several foot long barge pole, then you’ll probably fall at the first hurdle. First and foremost you are your brand, so if you chose to throw it around like the many anonymous troll types who treat their presence as an anonymous avatar or you simply don’t have a care for what you say online, anything you publish or create will suffer for it.

Duration

Open Evening is my eldest title. It has seen several changes since the initial release such as the odd edit of typo and all the things that come with being able to amend a book that is live and published – not much has changed within as I personally feel going back to edit a book that has been released for a while kind of cheats the reader out of capturing my writing and imagination at a certain time in my life. This book has been a journeyman work horse for me. It has headed up the most free promos and has simply been there for all the years I have been published. This stuff isn’t an instant success (being an indie author) and finding that success takes time. In that time Open Evening has found reviews that have pushed it towards that apparent golden number of 50 – again is this something BookBub take into account? For the most part I’d like to think so but my super hero comedy The Teleporter was accepted by them twice with less than 20 ratings. Be in this for the duration, release books over time, enjoy the process, learn from it, let it make you a better author and then even when you are several books beyond that release you can still enjoy its success no matter when it arrives.

Timing

Just days before this featured deal my 8th book will drop, a book that shares the same series as Open Evening and now a sure fire launch campaign. The truth is, I have been waiting, waiting for the right time to promote this series as the last in the series was going to launch softly with me then figuring out the marketing after. Timing has changed that and it couldn’t more on point.

Seriousness

Even back when this was just sort of a hobby, I always took it seriously. Like when I used to perform in amdram, yes its amateur drama but the audience are still real and the money they paid me was very real and earned by them so therefore my effort was real. Treating this like a business for most parts has pushed me further and further to make business decisions and treat this whole thing like that. Even with the freedom and creativity that is writing a book as an indie, I take that seriously also and give it the highest level of respect. Stephen King and James Patterson are often featured by BookBub and without boasting or at least trying to, so is Lee Hall because he considers himself a writer too.

Learn

I am always taking on new information to shape what’s next. Just how does one secure a BookBub featured deal? You can apply all of the above and still possibly be nowhere near or they might say yes tomorrow because this journey is one of self learning and discovery. I can guarantee you will find some level of success if you remain open to learning from what have and have not achieved. This post isn’t the usual guide many will be used to, but I’m having a philosophical moment and those guides are great and all but writer Lee Hall is in the building right now and it is my wiring that has got me to this point.

Your writing can take you far also. Don’t give up.

Open Evening will be Free to download a little later this month through BookBub’s featured deal. Watch this space for more!

You shall find some practical advice on how to secure your own BookBub Featured Deal below. Sign up to my Patreon to listen and access all of my best guides.

Free Twitter Coaching Session – Out Now

Lee Hall

Are you looking to get better results on Twitter as a creative? Maybe you’re even thinking about starting up on the platform but have no idea where to begin. Twitter is a great place to find an audience of potentially millions so follow my words as my latest Twitter Coaching Session lays out the basics of what everyone needs to succeed on the platform.

Back in 2020 my Twitter following was 3,000 and today it is nearly 35,000. I regularly sell books from Twitter and last year over 5,000 people came from the platform to read this blog, so how?

Well good friends, I’ve spent a lot of time figuring out Twitter and have put all of that know-how into several audio coaching sessions. So now you can figure out the platform like me but in just way less time.

My latest coaching session talks all about what to tweet for success by way of five elements that are a must for all. You can listen to this session for FREE and to exclusively access the rest of the growing series it will cost less than a takeout coffee a month! And the just launched Royal Rock Star Tier offers free e books to anyone who does sign up. Everyone also gets regualr shout-outs on Twitter in front my 30,000+ following!

Start your Twitter success story today by clicking on the banner below.

Introducing a new Tier with more rewards!

Lee Hall

Are you looking to grow as a creative on social media? Perhaps you want to reach more people or even find yourself a following that grows and invests in you. Maybe you want to sell more books through social media.

Having been around the social media creative scene for nearly 10 years I have the knowhow and experience to show you exactly that. Quite recently I have laid down that experience in the form of audio and text based guides over on my Patreon which now has a brand new tier!

Introducing the Royal Rock Star Patron Tier which offers much more to those who sign up in the form of digital content. Upon signing up for less than $5 a month you’ll receive a free copy of my guide book Consistent Creative Content and then every few months I’ll send you another one of my ebooks!

Either tier are great value and especially so right now because I have a stack of content coming including more episodes of my audio Twitter Coaching Sessions. Sign up today and start your own journey to success!