Too many books! #Contest #Website #Marketing

Image by Nino Carè from Pixabay

A few months ago, I came to a troubling conclusion.

I’ve published too many books.

I’ve been writing and publishing for more than two decades and I have between fifty and a hundred titles available, with more being added all the time. Furthermore, I write in a wide range of genres, styles and lengths, from novels to short stories.

How in the world are my readers supposed to figure out what to read next?

I’ve had a website almost since I started, which is now in its third incarnation. Still, the basic design dates from ten years ago. I don’t have the time or money to redo the site entirely. However, I decided that one of my projects for this summer was to at least try and tame my book pages on the website, so that readers could easily search for what they feel like reading, and could get full information about a book including blurb, excerpt and buy links once they’d found a candidate.

I’ve finished the first round of this effort. And I’d like to know what you think. So I’m running a contest. First prize is a $10 bookstore gift certificate. There are five second prizes – your choice of any of my indie-published books. Plus, if you feel like spending more time and helping me debug the site, you could get more free books.

Here’s how it works:

Visit the new book page on the site: https://www.lisabetsarai.com/books.html and take a look around. You’ll see that I’ve added drop down lists of titles categorized by genres and lengths. When you click on a title, you’ll be taken to a book page exclusively for that title. (This is not completely implemented for some of the oldest books on my back list.)

There’s a also a button labeled “Surprise Me!” which will randomly pick a book for you.

Anyway, choose a book that you think you’d like. Then send me an email at contest [at] lisabetsarai [dot] com. Tell me what book you’d like, and in what format (pdf, epub or mobi). I’d be very grateful if you also gave me your opinions or suggestions about the site, if you have the time.

The contest will run for two weeks. On the 23^rd of July, I will randomly choose a grand prize winner from all the emails I’ve received. I’ll also choose five additional people who will get the book they chose.

What about the extra free books? If you find a bad link when you’re exploring the book pages – either a title that doesn’t go to the right place, or a buy link that’s wrong – send me the information and I’ll send you your choice of book. If you find more of my errors (and though I’ve tested the site, I’m sure I missed some), you’ll get more books. This offer also ends on the 23^rd.

Any questions? If so you can ask in the comments, or send me email.

Thanks for your help – and good luck!!!