May 9, 2011
Related Links:
- Kindle Nation Sponsorship Info Page for Authors and Publishers
- 2010-2011 SPONSORSHIP RESULTS BY TITLE + SALES RANKING
Once or twice a month over the past several months I’ve sent out an email blast to this special list for authors and indie publishers who in one way or another have been associated with Kindle Nation. Usually there’s a balance of content between information about Kindle Nation sponsorship opportunities and commentary and discussion about interesting trends and developments in the world of ebook publishing and marketing.
Not this time.
I’m very excited about some of the things that we have in the works for Kindle Nation sponsors, and I can’t wait any longer to share it with you, because the reach and power of Kindle Nation sponsorships is growing at a phenomenal clip:
- On Facebook, we created an official Kindle Nation page just 29 days ago
and in less than a month our Facebook fan base has grown over 500% from 2,070 to 12,500 avid readers, or “LIKES,” who receive every single status update about our sponsors’ books!
- While that sounds like phenomenal growth, it’s just a start. We’ve committed ourselves to doing everything necessary to reach a Facebook fan base of at least 40,000 by the end of the year, including Kindle giveaway sweepstakes and Facebook advertising campaigns focused on actual Kindle readers. And, as has always been the case with Kindle Nation, our focus on growth has also been very discriminating: we only want active readers who are part of the Kindle community and appreciate the authentic “voice” that they find in our posts and newsletters, and we make sure that that’s what we get.
- At the same time that we’re investing precious time and actual folding money in building our base, we have also been adding exciting new dimensions to the website functionality that draws growing numbers of readers to Kindle Nation Daily and our associated sites, blogs and newsletter every day. After a total overhaul of our website in March that has created a clean, sleek new web presence, we’ve made dramatic changes in search-engine optimization (SEO) behind the scenes to enhance the discoverability and stickiness of Kindle Nation on the web. The result has been remarkable increases in overall traffic in recent weeks, and that has been paying off brilliantly for many of our sponsors.
- But that’s far from the end of it. Recently we hired a top-notch web developer who, over the next few months, will be adding a truly stunning array of features to the Kindle Nation website in the form of reader-friendly functionality that will bring thousands more visitors to our website each week to find the books they are looking for and to discover books by our sponsors. Along the way, we’ll even be adding some cool new features to benefit authors and publishers and extend the reach of our sponsorship offerings still further.
- Our effort to provide free access for authors to our special Quality 99-Centers bargain books page is off to a great start and we invite you to check it out and get in the queue so that we can feature those of your titles that meet the page’s requirements.
- Finally, we’ve recently streamlined the public spreadsheets that we keep on the sales ranking performance every sponsored title so that now you can click on one link to see how each sponsorship has done for any month from December 2010 to the present.
The last few days I’ve noticed a definite uptick in the number of authors and indie publishers who have been looking ahead to the last few months of 2011 and signing up for sponsorships to help them increase their exposure as we approach that very important time of year. Smart move, because we are currently scheduling sponsorships several months ahead. But if the bad news is that there is a declining number of available sponsorship dates remaining in 2011, the good news is that those who sign up now will get far more value than they might be expecting from those fall and winter 2011 sponsorships for all the reasons described above.
We’ve worked hard over the past three years to build what is, between our website traffic, newsletter subscriptions, paid Kindle subscriptions, and Facebook community, the most popular Kindle-related presence on the web other than Amazon itself. And during the past year we have found exciting new ways to make Kindle Nation’s popularity work in valuable ways for authors and publishers of distinction. The fact that we’ve played a major role in leveling the playing field for the community of independent authors is especially important to us.
We appreciate the opportunity we’ve had to work with you during these exciting times and we look forward to continuing to work to work very, very hard to continue to connect great writers with the greatest readers in the world.
- Kindle Nation Sponsorship Info Page for Authors and Publishers
- 2010-2011 SPONSORSHIP RESULTS BY TITLE + SALES RANKING
Cheers,
Steve Windwalker
