What will you get for a paid listing?
The previous post mentioned some details about free listings on the new promotional bookstore I'm creating. This post expounds on those ideas but from the perspective of paid listings.
My intention is not to directly discourage free listings (though technically I am) but to encourage donations for promotion. It was mentioned recently in a comment from this series about all the work it takes to put a promotional package together on sites such as the one I am proposing.
It's a valid argument and the reason why I'm pushing so hard for donations. I don't exactly see them as payments for services rendered simply because I am in high experimentation mode. I don't know what works yet. Some things are quickly tossed overboard when I realize they don't have their intended effect.
The idea of this promotional bookstore is a direct offshoot of the advertising efforts on this site. My goal is to help Indie Authors. The money will come once I find that magic recipe.
However, I will give extra time and support to those that donate/pay for the services.
What you get with a Paid Listing
I'll probably offer paid listings in two different varieties: Basic and Premium. (If it works, I might even have a Premium Plus, like the pic at the top says).
Basic Paid Listing
Retweet Campaign: Because my price will be downright cheap, the promotional effect of a Retweet campaign (via Triberr) cannot be overemphasized. The difference in page views from a free listing to a paid version will likely be a 1,000% increase.
Where did I get that number?
I do not promote our 2 star reviews on this site (except for one tweet usually). All of the other reviews and posts in general go through a Triberr Retweet Campaign. Most 2 star review posts only get about 25 page views whereas all other posts get 300 on average, which is a 1,000% difference. (Stats from Blogger)
Higher Royalties: Because I'm charging a membership fee (of sorts), I'll pass on the entire list price to the author. The only part of the book price lost is what Paypal takes. Book price will be the same as Amazon.
In other words, my goal is to make money off promotional packages, not taking a cut of your sales. If you find the site good for sales, you'll put more money into promotions.
Because of this, free listings will be charged per sale as most other online stores do. Even in those cases, though, I won't take as much as Amazon. Will probably only take a 10% or 15% cut.
Best Seller Lists. Each major genre will have a list of best sellers. This will be based upon sales from my site, not Amazon. Free listings will not be eligible.
Premium Paid Listing
Premium listings will get everything the basic people get plus ...
Extended Twitter Promotion: I don't know what the details will be just yet, but I will tweet about your book a lot more than a basic listing. In fact, I'll probably use Gremln to schedule so many recurring tweets.
Promoted Premium Lists: Not sure if this will be for each genre or just a Promoted List in general, but in any case, I'll point my Twitter followers to this list or these lists on a regular basis. The only ones on here will be Premium Members, of course.
Bumped Up: The ability to be bumped up so that your book shows up near the top of a genre list will be available to premium members. This might come in the form of so many bumps and/or a time period in between bumps. I might also reward premium members with a bump after a blog post from them about us or a series of promotional tweets.
Price
Both paid listings will require a $15 base fee which will go to authors of the books you buy from the program. That's the exchange part. I blogged about this previously in this series. Check out all the posts for more details. (Links at the bottom of this post)
For the promotional fees my thinking is this: $5 for a basic listing and an additional $5 for a premium listing (unless I offer a bunch more not mentioned here). The overall goal is to be cheap, affordable ... so you'll come back for more.
Since I'm not going to accept donations under $20 (because of the loss from Paypal fees) in regard to this program, I suggest authors pay $25 which will pay for the exchange fee and both levels of promotion. They can always hold their premium status back so that their promotional efforts are spread over a longer period of time.
I will require a second $15 base fee if this loop hole is not used.
If you have other promotional ideas, I'll be happy to entertain them.
