I love these threads and it's where I learned most of everything I learned, so here goes. As you can see, I have two books in my signature line. Missing Parts was launched in October and I launched Phantom Limb exactly three weeks ago. Phantom Limb is currently ranked #959 Paid in Kindle Store (#34 and #57 in categories) and Missing Parts is currently ranked #14,133 Paid in Kindle Store (200+ in categories). Missing Parts has never dropped below 3k and Phantom Limb has taken off. So, what's the difference between the two?
1. Here's what I think is the most important thing- the difference between covers. Missing Parts launched with a TERRIBLE cover. I liked it at first, but in thumbnail size it was barely readable. It looked grainy. I contacted the designer for help and it took him 2 months to get back to me. I have since worked with a new designer and replaced the cover but should've done so immediately when I noticed there was a problem. Phantom Limb has a great cover. I've had people contact me saying that they bought the book for the cover alone.
2. I set up the paperback copy first via Createspace so that I could gather reviews on it prior to launch.
3. I contacted hundreds of leads for ARC reviewers and didn't stop until I had 100 interested (knowing less than half would probably review).
4. I put up Phantom Limb for pre-order. I didn't do this with Missing Parts.
5. I put Phantom Limb up for pre-order two weeks prior to launch and had 7 reviews by launch date and had steadily increased my sales up until launch day. (again, didn't do with Missing Parts).
6. I launched Phantom Limb at 2.99.
7. For the first two weeks, I staggered my promotion efforts focusing on building on steady climb rather than a dramatic spike. From everything I've read, I know it's fairly easy to create a quick spike and then fall just as suddenly (I spiked with Missing Parts and then fell). My goal is to be STICKY. So, I staggered things (i.e, emailing subscribers, facebook posts, even the emails I sent to friends/family/fans).
8. Since I'd done a pre-order, I was able to do a countdown deal within my first 30 days (another bonus of preorder). I dropped the price to 99 cents yesterday and that's when things really began to roll.
9. For the next 5 days, I have a series of promotion sites each day with every day having at least one heavy hitter (i.e., ENT, OHFB, Bargain Booksy, etc.) coupled with smaller promotion sites.
Today, I cracked 1k and am aiming for cracking 500. My ultimate goal= stickiness.
So, there's my thread. I hope it helps somebody else because I have devoured everyone else's promotion threads and it's worked!
1. Here's what I think is the most important thing- the difference between covers. Missing Parts launched with a TERRIBLE cover. I liked it at first, but in thumbnail size it was barely readable. It looked grainy. I contacted the designer for help and it took him 2 months to get back to me. I have since worked with a new designer and replaced the cover but should've done so immediately when I noticed there was a problem. Phantom Limb has a great cover. I've had people contact me saying that they bought the book for the cover alone.
2. I set up the paperback copy first via Createspace so that I could gather reviews on it prior to launch.
3. I contacted hundreds of leads for ARC reviewers and didn't stop until I had 100 interested (knowing less than half would probably review).
4. I put up Phantom Limb for pre-order. I didn't do this with Missing Parts.
5. I put Phantom Limb up for pre-order two weeks prior to launch and had 7 reviews by launch date and had steadily increased my sales up until launch day. (again, didn't do with Missing Parts).
6. I launched Phantom Limb at 2.99.
7. For the first two weeks, I staggered my promotion efforts focusing on building on steady climb rather than a dramatic spike. From everything I've read, I know it's fairly easy to create a quick spike and then fall just as suddenly (I spiked with Missing Parts and then fell). My goal is to be STICKY. So, I staggered things (i.e, emailing subscribers, facebook posts, even the emails I sent to friends/family/fans).
8. Since I'd done a pre-order, I was able to do a countdown deal within my first 30 days (another bonus of preorder). I dropped the price to 99 cents yesterday and that's when things really began to roll.
9. For the next 5 days, I have a series of promotion sites each day with every day having at least one heavy hitter (i.e., ENT, OHFB, Bargain Booksy, etc.) coupled with smaller promotion sites.
Today, I cracked 1k and am aiming for cracking 500. My ultimate goal= stickiness.
So, there's my thread. I hope it helps somebody else because I have devoured everyone else's promotion threads and it's worked!
