The Magnificent Seven--Kindle E-books on Sale!

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While we all have a love-hate relationship with Amazon. But what they do they do very well, and they are not going anywhere. As publishers and authors, we need to learn how to work with them to stay viable, relevant, and profitable.

Once a publisher reaches a respectable size and has good distribution, it becomes easier to work with Amazon, and by that I mean work together to market and sell books. One of their key promotions is Kindle sales.

The steep price drop is for a limited time (in the current case, just for two weeks), but Amazon supports this with email blasts, links, etc., and we do the same. The result is very strong sales, and in some cases eye-popping sales numbers.

(I have reproduced a photo/screenshot of one of our recent emails with seven of our titles currently available in this promotion.)

You do not need a Kindle to read at this price. Just Google and download the Kindle Ap for your reader. Yes, it is that easy.

How beneficial are these promotional activities?

Here is a good example: Steel Boat Iron Hearts: My Life Aboard U-505, by Hans Goebeler with John Vanzo is now in paperback and just a few short months had about 19 Amazon reviews. This is pretty strong for a U-boat book . Average e-book downloads each month were about 35 or so. (This is off the top of my head but I am sure right in the ballpark.) We offered the book for a one-month sales promotion for $2.99 and Amazon accepted our marketing proposal.

We sold well north of 6,000 units in a single month, and 2,000 more the following month at full price. I am the product of a public school education, but I do have a calculator and understand basic math. Even though Amazon takes a big cut, the numbers work.

In addition, we went from 19 reviews to . . .  334 reviews (average 4.4 stars) in just three or so months. It is now the highest rated U-boat book in the world. This exposure increased print sales as well. It is a win-win-win across the board for everyone--Publisher, author, and Amazon.

Click HERE for a link to the Kindle  version to see the reviews.

So please support our authors and publishing program by downloading one or more of these titles, sharing this information on Facebook, and emailing it to your friends and others.

Thanks, as always, for your support.

--tps