Congratulations! Your book has landed an ebook price drop promotion with a retailer. You want to make the most of this opportunity and reach as many readers as you can with this discount, so you head over to The Fussy Librarian or Bargain Booksy (through Written Word Media) and begin submitting your book for inclusion in their newsletter.
But as you begin filling out the form, you face some roadblocks. They’re asking for things you haven’t heard of. You know your book’s ISBN, but you’ve never heard of an ASIN. And every newsletter company is asking for it.
Don’t worry, in this post we’re going to go over those terms and how to find that information so you can market your book with confidence.
Defining Terms and Finding Information
ISBN: International Standard Book Number
You can find this number on the back of your printed book or on the copyright page. There is a separate ISBN for each format or edition of the book. A book produced in paperback, ebook, and hardcover will have three different ISBNs. ISBNs are now 13 digits long, noted as an ISBN-13. However, some systems still use the older 10-digit ISBN, which will be noted as an ISBN-10.
ASIN: Amazon Standard Identification Number
You can find this number in two different spaces on Amazon. Option 1, you can look for the Product Details section of the sales page. eBooks published on Amazon will have the ASIN clearly marked. However, printed books on Amazon often use the ISBN-10. If you ever have any doubt about which number to use for the ASIN, head up to the URL for the page.
This is the product link for 5 Simple Truths of Leadership on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Truths-Leadership-significant-organization/dp/161153691X/
The ASIN is the whole string of numbers (and letters) following /dp/. In this case, the ASIN is 161153691X.
Discounted ebook newsletters will request this number so they can import your book’s data from Amazon, hoping to save you time, verify publication and availability, and ensure you can be included in their mailing.
eBook Links
Newsletters such as Bargain Booksy, The Fussy Librarian, BookRaid, and others often require one link (Amazon) but create opportunities for you to also publicize other stores by providing additional links. Most require Amazon because of the number of ebooks available on Amazon only through limited distribution. If you are published with wide distribution and you are not included in Kindle Unlimited, your ebook is likely available for sale at other retailers as well, such as Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and Apple iBooks (app required).
To find these links, you must first go to these stores and then search for your book. If you are published through Torchflame Books, all of these links are available on your book page on our website. It can be beneficial to copy all of these links into a reference document for yourself that you can copy and paste from whenever you run ads in these newsletters in the future.
Some stores have unique branding and names for their ebooks and book readers. Amazon, for example, refers to ebooks and their proprietary ebook readers as Kindles. Barnes and Noble refers to their ebook division as Nook.
Book Descriptions
Most of these newsletters will require you to submit a book description that is different from your back cover description or the product description on Amazon. This description is usually limited to 360 characters or less (depending on the company you’re marketing through).
A character is any symbol used in the text. That includes each individual letter, punctuation, and space. (That sentence contains 105 characters.)
If you have good review quotes or a strong hook for your book, this is the place to use that.
Miscellaneous Information
Depending on the company, you may also need to provide the number of Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Goodreads ratings you have received and what the average rating is.
You may also be asked to provide the print page count or word count so these companies can help their readership manage expectations of how long of a reading commitment this book is.
Some may request the regular price and the promotional price. Is your book always $0.99, or is this a limited time offer?
Lastly, you’ll be asked to pick a date for your promotion to run (or to provide a time frame in which your promotion could run if your requested day is fully booked).
Our Favorite Companies to Work With
There are many discount ebook newsletter companies out there. We’ve named a few in this post, but there are many more than we could name. A handful of the companies we’ve found to be the best to work with (in no particular order) are:
- Bargain Booksy
- The Fussy Librarian
- BookRaid
- BookRunes
- eReader News Today
- eReader IQ
- Crave Books
- Book Gorilla
- BookSends
What other companies have you used for ebook promotion? We’d love to hear about your experience! Fill out our contact form to let us know.
