Interview with Kindle Author Tony Eldridge

Today I'm delighted to interview Tony Eldridge, one of my favorite book marketing experts, about the success that he has enjoyed with his novels.

I read your first novel, The Samson Effect, in paperback a couple of years ago, and I really enjoyed the historical tie-ins and fast-paced action. Why did you decide to publish in Kindle format and when did you release the Kindle edition?

Thanks for the invitation to speak with you about my books, Dana. Sometimes I focus on the book marketing side of my life so much that even I forget I'm a novelist. That's where my heart is. It's one of the things that prompted me to refocus on my writing career. Even though The Samson Effect came out in print back in October of 2007, I made the decision to release it on Kindle January of 2011. I saw that ebooks were really a place that authors needed to have their books. And since I'm a do-it-yourself kind of guy, Amazon's KDP was something that I loved.

What other ebook formats do you offer?

At the same time I released The Samson Effect on Kindle, I released it on Barnes & Noble's Nook as well. Now it's available on iBooks and other formats via Smashwords as well.

I noticed that The Samson Effect is ranked highly in several categories on Amazon, as shown in the screenshot below. What effect do these rankings have on your book sales?

I believe that these rankings were the catalysts for the sales I've seen. The higher you rank, the better your visibility is on Amazon. The best rank I saw the Kindle version hit was #423 and #2 in the category lists. It fluctuates a lot. Ten to twenty book sales in a short period of time can cause my overall rank to jump hundreds of slots. I definitely see a stronger consistent string of sales when the rankings are better. The question is, "Are the rankings good because of sales?" or "Are sales strengthened because of better rankings?" I suspect that both play a part in it and authors who are fortunate enough to see higher rankings benefit from the circular relationship between sales and ranking.

Tony, The Samson Effect has 33 reviews on Amazon, almost all 5-star. Did you do anything to solicit reviews, and how do you think they affect your sales?

One thing I'm proud of is that most of the reviews on The Samson Effect came from people I didn't know. I tended not to ask my relatives to review the book because I didn't want one to say, "My son's book is the greatest ever written!"- Signed, Tony's Mother. That said, any time someone took the time to email me or tell me in person how much they liked the book, I always, always, always asked them if they would mind writing a review on Amazon. The reviews came slowly, over four years, but they came.

Conversely, if people gave me suggestions on how to make the book better, I thanked them, but I never asked them to do a review.

To this day, I think that reviews do play a big role in sales. I believe they can be a tipping point when people are trying to decide what books to read next. I know they are with me.

What percent of your sales are in ebook format vs. paperback, and what do you think are the reasons for that? 

Right now, over 95 percent of my sales are in ebook format. I see the occasional paperback/hardcover sale, but the majority of sales are ebooks. I think this is for two reasons.

1. The ebook is so much cheaper and the people with reading devices are growing exponentially.

2. The book has been out in physical form for four years, but it's only been out in ebook format for a few months. I'm not sure what the ratio would look like if I released them both at the same time. I suspect that ebooks would still take the lion's share, but nothing like they do now.

Tell us about your newest book, The Lottery Ticket. Is it available only as an ebook?

The Lottery Ticket is my mystery/thriller that I launched in ebook format in June. I actually wrote it before I wrote The Samson Effect, but I had enough people asking me to make it available, that I rewrote/re-edited it and did a soft launch as an ebook only format. Surprisingly, its first month's sales outpaced The Samson Effect's first month's sales and its second month is trending that way as well. However, it didn't have the history or reviews that The Samson Effect had, so it's going to be interesting to see how the next few months go. It took five months for The Samson Effect to break out on Amazon, and we are only two months into The Lottery Ticket.

What have you done to promote the launch of The Lottery Ticket?

As I said, I did a soft launch with The Lottery Ticket, as I did with The Kindle version of The Samson Effect. I mentioned it on my blog, I tweeted about it a few times a week and I mentioned it on Facebook. This time, I did solicit reviews to escalate having them on Amazon. I offered free ebook copies to a people who were willing to review it. I also have done more interviews that have given me a chance to spread the word about The Lottery Ticket. Other than that, the launch has been very soft.

What advice do you have for novelists to promote their books?

The biggest advice is something that I have to keep reminding myself. A big part of book marketing is about relationships. People seem to be more interested in books if they know the author. With that in mind, take any opportunity to do guest blogs, interviews, comments, and get active with your social media networks. There's a fine line between becoming active and banging your sales message over people's head, so don't go overboard on your sales messaging. Otherwise, you'll run the risk of alienating people in what could become your strongest marketing tool.

What's new on the horizon?

I am currently working on the sequel to The Samson Effect, due out this fall. When I sold the film rights to The Samson Effect, the producer asked me to sketch out three more storylines for the main characters. This one will have a strong female main character, along with Thomas Hamilton, the series' central character, and his partner in adventure, Michael Sieff.

About the Author

Tony Eldridge is the author of two novels, The Samson Effect and The Lottery Ticket, as well as the Twitter marketing book, Conducting Effective Twitter Contests. He is also the creator of the Marketing Tips For Authors blog where authors can discover a number of book marketing ideas and strategies from some of the top experts in the business. Tony lives in Forney, Texas, with his wife, Emily and their five year old twin boys.

Comments

[MaAnna]

Great interview. You are both two of my fave folks. Tony, so delighted that your ebooks are doing so well. Very encouraging for the rest of us.

[Dana Lynn Smith]

Thanks MaAnna! I am also thrilled that Tony's books are selling so well.