How to Market an E-Book

How to Market a Romance E-Book

EXCUTIVE SUMMARY

Many individuals have dreamed of writing the great American novel and retiring to a secluded island living off the huge advance and continuing monthly royalties from their New York Times’ bestseller. The advent of the electronic reader and e-publishing has made that dream a reality for some individuals and in a genre many have considered publishing’s dirty little secret.

The writer of romantic fiction is usually not considered a ‘serious writer.’ That view is being quickly revised with the rise of the ‘amazon millionaires.’ The bestselling erotic romance, Fifty Shades of Grey, by E.L. James, was first ‘published’ on a Twilight website as fan fiction. As the Kindle gained in popularity over the last two years, Ms. James ultimately self-published her serial romance on Amazon.com. The book rose in popularity and rights were eventually sold for an undisclosed amount to Random House publishing.

While her success story is the best of the best there are other, lesser known (except to their fans) authors who are making hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. Tina Folsom, a writer of vampire themed romance, has had a self-reported income of $1.1 million since 2011 (Folsom, 2012). Theresa Ragen, a contemporary romance writer states she had sold over 300,000 copies of her books since February 2012 (Ragen, 2012).

This marketing plan will define the most appropriate ways to market an electronically published romance novel by an independent author.

Business Description

Blush of Romance Publishing was founded in 2012 by the writing team of Joann Baker and Patricia Mason. Years ago these two women had failed to gain the attention of the romance publishing giant, Harlequin Enterprise. While they received favorable rejection letters (and even had one book considered by a senior editor before ultimately being rejected), a sale was never made.

When the digital age first came about, the women did realize their dream of...