How to Promote YOUR book on Amazon discussion

I’m nearing the end of my sponsorship blitz, but I’m at the point where I can start posting my views on the whole ebook selling phenomenon. First of all, unless you’re already famous, have a strong following, or the most amazing title and cover art ever, don’t bother with expensive sponsorships. My results have been pretty much the same in extra sales whether the sponsorship I ran was $10 or $300. If you’re going to place a sponsorship, I recommend the Kindle Fire Department.com, though they’ve grown quite a lot in popularity lately and may not have the same niche effect. I’ve had my best results with them than any other site, and I’ve promoted nine separate books on about two dozen sites. KND and Kindle Boards have become very popular and you get lost in a sea of ads. Same with Pixel of Ink. Blogads.com, my latest venture, did see a small jump in sales but not enough to recoup the cost of advertising on eleven different blogs. I am running another weeklong blitz at the end of this month so we’ll see if there are any significant changes. I do have fresh advice that does seem to be working quite well for me. Here’s the secret; put samples of your books on every writer’s site that accepts them. Even if the site doesn’t allow links you can still say at the end of the sample to google your name on Amazon to download the rest of the book. I recently put up samples on Wattpad.com, who give links to buy automatically. I noticed a jump in sales about two hours after I did this. The key is to update the samples regularly so they rise higher on the new stories list. It’s the same with Authors Den.com and a lot of other sites. My advice to book and ebook writers is to spend a small amount on niche sponsorships just to give you some internet exposure but post free sample chapters everywhere possible. And there are literally thousands of sites. A great cover and jazzy tagline will grab people’s attention, but nothing beats hooking them with four or five free chapters.
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com

This is really helpful, Neil! Thanks so much for the time you have put into sharing this useful information.

Cheers, Neil. Useful info :)

Thanks, Neil. Very helpful.

Thanks all, just trying to tell it like it is.

The Wattpad suggestion us a good one. Sadly, since the demographic is mostly teens, my novel far exceeds their 'R' rating for sex and violence, even though these aspects are necessary for the story. For anyone without such elements these kids are the next generation of readers and well worth giving attention!

Just joined Author's Den, thanks Neil!

I've never heard of Wattpad (I'm so out of the loop on these things). So how does one post a sample on their site? I took a quick look and it wasn't too obvious as to what to do.

It's simple. Just sign up, enter a profile and upload works.

Ok. I thought so. But I was assuming there's be an area for uploaded samples, starting from newest uploads to oldest - and I didn't see such an area. How would anyone come across your work if there isn't such a listing?