Hello Writers!

When the Guru post went up it seemed like the biggest question on everyone’s mind was how do I promote my book on Booknet?

We all want to get more reads, followers and likes on our books but how when you are new can you make that happen? Well there are many ways to promote your stories.

PROMOTING ON BOOKNET

Booknet loves to promote their authors. They promote through banners, social media, and Facebook ads to bring in new readers. They also promote books through their widgets (lists) on their home page of this site.

When you go to the home page you will see several lists: TOP BOOK, TRENDING BOOKS, HOT NEW RELEASES, RECENTLY UPDATED.

TOP BOOKS

What books achieve this list is decided by Booknet’s algorithm, some deciding factors for this list are traffic that books receives as far as reads, shares, likes, and how many people save a book to their library. Usually these are the books that are ranked highest in the genre that they are written in.

TRENDING

Also decided by Booknet’s algorithm but these are the stories that are hot for the moment, so this list will change far more often than the TOP BOOKS category as it focus on the books that have gotten the readers' attention right now.

HOT NEW RELEASES

If you posted a new story on Booknet, it is very likely at one moment or another that it will be on this list a day or two after you’ve posted it. The thing about this list though is it may stay 1-2 days but then other books will soon replace it. This is just Booknet's way of letting readers know what new books have been written.

RECENTLY UPDATED

This is the list you have the greatest chance of getting your book on and on often if you keep up with regular updates there is a catch though. Your updates must total over 40,000 characters to be considered updated. So don’t expect it to up after every update. Depending on how long your chapters are it may take 2 or 3 updates to get on this list, as it is accumulative.

USING YOUR BLOG

Using your Blog feature is very important to keep your readers up to date on what projects you have going on, as well as updates as you’ve made or special announcements you’d like to make. It’s a great way to engage and connect with your readers.

It is perfectly okay to ask your readers to read, like, or save your books to their libraries in this format. You can ask remind your readers if they leave comments on your book “Hey if you’re loving the book don’t forget to vote.” Or “Be sure to save this book to your library so you don’t miss out on any updates.”

TIP:

Updating regularly is key to keeping your audiences attention; 2 to 3 times a week is optimal.

BECOME A COMMERCIAL WRITER

Commercial writers are those writers that get paid by selling their stories to the readers to complete their books through what Booknet calls a Bookscription.

This is an agreement between Booknet and the author that they will finish their book in a designated time and in return they will receive advertising for their stories and 70% royalties from purchases.

The Criteria you need to complete first has 3 steps before you will be set up for a commercial account with Booknet.

1. You need 100 Followers.
2.  80 Regular Readers
3. Write a book with 240,000 characters that is for FREE on Booknet

100 FOLLOWERS

For some of you, 100 followers may seem like a daunting task but there are 2 ways  to get followers.

FIRST - AUTHORS FOLLOWING AUTHORS

One is following the authors that read your books or that follow you.

Go to Followers in your profile list and look through those that are following you. If they have a number next to the book icon they are a fellow author who is following you so be a friend and follow them back. 

I have followed every author on my list that has followed me. I continually check my list as my followers grow to be certain I follow back any new authors who have decided to follow me too.

Check out your readers... when readers comment click on their profiles and if they are authors follow them and hopefully, since you know they already like your work, they will follow you back.

SECOND - READERS FOLLOWING YOU

If they don't have a number next to the book icon. Congratulations you've won yourself a reader. Authors are not allowed to follow readers so the only way to attain them is to write a good story that would attract them to your profile. 

Also, try posting a gentle reminder in the comments of your book. When you see many are commenting... thanking them for the votes and comments that you have received. Stating don't forget if you are enjoying the story to follow, is a perfectly acceptable thing to do, without being rude. 

80 REGULAR READERS

I'm not surprised some of you may be confused as to what this means exactly. I was too until I asked an editor here at Booknet for an explanation. Here is what I was told:

The Regular Readers indicator (RR) was created to understand how many readers actively read books of an author. We keep the exact algorithm in secret because we want to protect it from cheating. It is precise and effective. 

So basically what that means is you have to write books that will attract returning readers.

Ways to do this:

1. Great Cover- You want to create a cover that will grab a reader's attention. This is the calling card for your book, it's the reader's first impression they get as to what kind of writer you are and what kind of stories you write. This includes coming up with a catchy title. 

2. Interesting Annotation- The description of your book has to be exciting, enticing, and engaging. You have a limited amount of characters to tell what your story is about and why the reader should read it. So take extreme care when writing it. Be exact with your words to give your book the best description you can give. 

3. Create Amazing Stories- Writing stories can be hard but if you write what you love and love to read, you will find the task far less daunting and you will be able to create the stories that are worth readers reading. This is done through good character development, thought out plots, interesting settings, and conflict with a satisfying resolution. 

4. Edit Your Work - Another way and I know this isn't always easy as it is very time-consuming but try to post your best work, your most polished work. No work is going to be error-free. That's why editors exist, but you can at the very least proofreader your own work before posting it to be certain you are posting the best version of your work that you have. Showing love for your craft and your story immediately translates to your readers, and they will show their appreciation by reading, liking, rewarding, and following you as an author. 

5. Update Regularly- If you're trying to get the RR algorithm working for you, you need to keep up with regular updates. That doesn't necessarily mean you've got to post a chapter every day but trying to keep to a regular posting schedule not only does it ensure return readers, but also regular updates of a story can make it appear in the widgets on Booknet more often, giving your book more exposure so it can be found and read by new and active readers. 

6. Be A Participant - Be active on Booknet ...

- Use the blog feature to let your readers know what you are working on

- Reply to the comments received on your stories

- Reach out to readers to thank them on their profiles for reading. 

- Reward the authors that you really enjoy

- Be sure to Like stories and Follow authors

- Get involved in social media Booknet is on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Check them out like, comment, share, and follow. 

- Participate in contests

WRITE A BOOK WITH 240,000 CHARACTERS

Just to give you an idea 240,000 characters translates to about 70,000 words.

Now, this does have to be one book. This does not work in combination with other books you have written.

So if you write several short stories you may want to post them as one collection to reach this mark. If you write novellas you may have to branch out to create at least one complete novel to get to 240,000 characters. 

The best way to complete this goal is to keep on writing and finish that story. 

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So this is how you reach the 3 markers needed to get a commercial account. Once you've reached them you can contact Booknet through the Commercial Account Button and ask to be approved for an account. One thing though you may want to make sure before you do this that you have something ready to sell. 

There are two ways to sell your book:

COMPLETE where you sell a story that is already complete that perhaps you are bringing over from another platform or ONGOING this where you sell your book while you are writing it. To sell your book this way you will be required to keep up a regular posting schedule, so again be sure you have something you believe is sellable, and you can keep up with. 

Hopefully, this has answered some of your questions. In my next blog I will go over ways to promote your books through social media.

Thank you and best of luck in your career writing on Booknet, 

Ruechari