INscribe Digital Best Practices
Metadata
Take advantage of Pre Orders
In a recent business review with a major online retailer, it was strongly advised for INscribe authors and publishers to make their titles available for pre-order for up to 2 months ahead of the release date. Nearly 80% of first week sales can be attributed to pre-order sales and can really help titles get on the fast track for promotion!
Maximize your metadata
According to a Nielsen Study, the three most searchable fields within your metadata are your author bio, description and BISAC codes associated to your title. If the author is an expert in the field in which they are writing, list their qualifications in order of importance. Be sure to list any awards or nominations the author or books has received. To increase your odds at rising within the rankings on the retailers best sellers list, we recommend you assign your books 4 BISAC codes that have both narrow and broad focused descriptions. For more information, click the above Nielsen Study link and read the white paper on the relationship between metadata and sales.
Highlight your reviews and accolades
Although there currently isn't a designated field for reviews in the INscribe metadata, the character limit for your description is large enough to include up to 2,000 characters. We strongly recommend you reserve some of the space to be attributed to reviews and accolades.
Keep your metadata current
Be sure to update your author bio and/or description. Make sure there isn't any reference to outdated information, i.e. "The second book in the series comes out December 2011" (when the current date is 2013)
ePub Files
Make the investment in a quality epub conversion
You've already made a significant investment in your editorial and cover design, take it the next step and work with a quality conversion partner to create your epub and mobi files.
Take advantage of your readers attention
One of the best marketing tools you have at your fingertips is the ability to include teasers to relevant titles and supplemental content in the back of your book. The best opportunity to encourage your readers to take the next step and read the following book in a series or a similar book by the same author/publisher is when they complete the book. Use that space and call out any new releases, back list, or a link to your website.
Make your front matter count
Retailers create free downloadable sample files for browsing customers from the first 10% of your ePub files. So put your marketing in the front of your ePub files if you want them to show up in the samples.
Marketing and Pricing
Be active and engaged
No one knows your titles better than you, so let us know what promotions or genre slots are the best fit for your books. Be sure to reach out to your client services representative with any ideas or questions you may have!
Be on the look out for our marketing alerts
INscribe frequently sends out marketing alerts via email announcing opportunities for you to participate in genre, price and holiday promotions. Be on the lookout for your first email update and if you don't see one in your inbox, check your spam or email your client services representative to ensure you are on the emailing list.
Don't be scared of pricing
Be aggressive and flexible! Don't balk at a promotion that requires you to discount your book to $0.99 or even FREE. And for series, consider the possibility of a limited time discount of the first book(s) in the series timed with a new release as another way to entice new readers to the series.
Online Promotion and Engagement
NetGalley
Reach reviewers, bloggers, journalists, librarians, booksellers, educators, or persons in the media through NetGalley. Use NetGalley (link to www.netgalley.com) to help drive publicity to your titles. NetGalley is a service to promote and publicize forthcoming titles to readers of influence. INscribe recommends a 3 month engagement with NetGalley either leading up to your publication date or ongoing. Be sure to review your NetGalley one sheet that was included in your welcome kit.
Be engaged and active
Make sure you have a social presence (Facebook, Twitter, Website) and engage in conversation with your fans. Follow similar authors and see how the leverage various social platforms. Find your group.
Make sure you announce the availability of your titles. When your title is live across all retailers, be sure to include buy links (to all retailers) on your website. Give your fans multiple options for purchasing/consuming your content.
Be Shameless
Lean on those closest to you to write reviews on ALL retailers. Have author/publisher friends? Reach out to express interest in doing reciprocal reviews.