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Getting the free promotion right....How to do it? Can we build a guide?

5K views 37 replies 15 participants last post by  AltMe 
#1 ·
After my second bad bout of ill health for this year, and now being a month behind on the next book, I'm going to need to do some promotion work soon to keep income up. Last time, Freebooksy worked as a stand alone, but this time I'd like to do it properly.

I know this has been said before in many threads, but I still dont get the mechanics of it. So I thought before I need it, and so others can reference it in the future, why dont we collaborate on making a list/guide of the best free book promotion sites, and how to assemble a proper promotion? Once there's enough detail, I'll assemble it in the first post here, and change the title so its a reference and not a question.

So, book 1 in my first series has 5 days it can be free for. Bookbub has already ignored it, so lets leave them out of it.

Which sites do I look at promoting with? In what order? Over which days?

I've seen lists of sites, but there has always been detail missing. Which site do you use as the anchor site, to determine which days the promotion runs over? (Especially when BB is not a factor, being as if you get one of them, they tell you.) What order do you put the sites, in order to get them all across the 5 days selected? Whats the criteria for figuring out which sites go in what order?

Any sites to ignore? Which sites are better for which genre? (Mine is Space Opera).

All information helpful, as I'd like to build a post/guide here where anyone coming along for the first time can see at a glance not only where to go for promotion, but how to go about building the whole thing.

So I know about Freebooksy, and I have an email from them there asking if I want to go again. So do I use them as the one to fit everything else into, or someone else and I fit them to someone harder to get a date for?

Mechanics as well as sites please. (I found freebooksy daunting enough to do alone last time, let alone the huge number of sites I've some people do all at once over a few days.) If someone can give good instructions, I'll quote you here in the first post.

Put this another way - Without BB, how do you go about getting the same sort of response for the same sort of money?

 
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#2 ·
Timothy, here's what I do:

1) Make a list of the 5 days you want to make free. 5 consecutive days works best for me, but you can break them up if you want.

2) Book FreeBooksy for the 5th day (because I think they're the best, although RobinReads has been outperforming them lately).

3) For days 3 and 4, pencil in a midrange site, just one per day. RobinReads, EbookBetty and BookBarbarian are all excellent, but you have to book them well in advance (2 months away for RobinReads). Booksends and ENT are both good, but for best results book exactly 30 days from the date you want. Other options: FKBT (FreeKindleBooks&Tips) and Choosy Bookworm.

4) For days 1 and 2, go for the cheap and cheerful smaller sites - I like Booktastik, SweetFreeBooks, EbookHounds, Fussy Librarian AwesomeGang and Ebooksoda. Again, just one per day.

5) Don't try to do all the bookings at once. Do one each day, fill in your list, keep notes on which ones are confirmed and paid for. Some you pay for upfront, some only when accepted.

If all this works, you'll get a gently rising number of downloads day by day, ending with a bang.

If 5 days is too much to contemplate, try just three this time. Good luck!
 
#3 ·
Also, keep track of how many downloads you get with each site. This will give you stats for the next time you do a free run. I track the date of the promo, cost I paid, and download #. Then I can figure out the cost per download ratio for future reference.

I know people think all exposure is the same but I measure all my marketing based on ROI. If I don't break even on sales with my regular priced books during the promote period, then I look at my cost per download ratio for the sites. Some of the mid-range sites that people regularly use have horrible ROI for my books.
 
#4 ·
Perfect timing on this post. I'm setting up a free run for a 1st book for the release of a 4th book next month. Always good to hear a new/better method.

All of these sound great. I'd like to add Manybooks as a small one. I haven't used Fussy Librarian in awhile because of diminishing returns. YMMV My last free run I used SweetFreeBooks, ManyBooks and ENT on the same day for a total of 1910 downloads. Got consistent sell thru for the following month which was great.

Just make sure that you haven't used any of them in awhile. Some have strict rules about repeats. I was not accepted at one I had banked on because I was a couple days short of their 90-day rule. I didn't actually count the days since my last promo with them and should have. I'm sure that is annoying on their part. I sent an apology back so it didn't look like I was an arrogant dodo, just math challenged.
 
#6 ·
AliceS said:
All of these sound great. I'd like to add Manybooks as a small one.
I just checked their site. Wow. $29 is pretty expensive. I know OP is asking about free but if I were doing a 99c promo, I'd have to sell 90+ copies to recoup my cost if it's not a countdown. With a countdown I'd have to sell 40 copies. Can they really deliver that?

Yes, I know the cost can be distribued out to sell-throughs, but what is the average number of sales they can deliver at 99c?

I'm sometimes tempted to try these smaller sites, but their rates make me hesitate. Yesterday I was looking at ebooksoda and their price of $15 was enough to make me hesitate when I think about how without a countdown, I'll need to sell 50 copies to make my $$ back.

There are a few sites that I know will deliver, the ENT & Booksends. MyBookCave has been pretty good. The rest -- these days I debate putting my money into AMS ads rather than these smaller sites. Note I'm NOT advising anyone to not use them. I'm useless in advising anyone what would be the best option. This post is more about my own feelings and generally wishing I have more options. I'm just lamenting that there are enough promo options where I can get the ROI back. Most of these sites can give you back 50% at best. I feel like the smaller sites are just places where I can throw away money. :/
 
#7 ·
AlexaKang said:
I feel like the smaller sites are just places where I can throw away money. :/
I agree AlexaKang. I've tried and dropped a number of sites. It's frustrating to spend money and not get a good outcome. But until you try a site, you don't know if it is a winner for you. My sales are probably small in comparison to some others, but any sale could result in a review, word of mouth recommendations or sales of the rest of the series. So I keep trying them. Diminishing returns is disappointing also. Another reason why I might stop using a site for a specific book. I've heard advice that suggests an audience might change up a little in 6 months, so that's how often you should go back to a site. Things keep changing and I keep trying to sort it out.
 
#8 ·
AliceS said:
I agree AlexaKang. I've tried and dropped a number of sites. It's frustrating to spend money and not get a good outcome. But until you try a site, you don't know if it is a winner for you. My sales are probably small in comparison to some others, but any sale could result in a review, word of mouth recommendations or sales of the rest of the series. So I keep trying them. Diminishing returns is disappointing also. Another reason why I might stop using a site for a specific book. I've heard advice that suggests an audience might change up a little in 6 months, so that's how often you should go back to a site. Things keep changing and I keep trying to sort it out.
AliceS, I've kind of smart up about it. This is what I do now before I submit to a site other than the big ones with reliable results:

1. I check the Amazon ranking on the books they listed. Often you can see the promo site's recent listings. If the Amazon ranking is in the tanks, it tells you something. I mean, the site can talk up everything about what they do for you, but if you go to their pomoted books and the book is ranking in the millions, what does that tell you? Right? My books are ranking better right now without them.

2. I check the promo site's FB page. They usually include book promos there. If the recent posts have no engagement, again, that tells you something. I don't care how many followers they say they have.

Anyway, OP, if this helps you out, I don't do free promos anymore, but Freebooksy always did well. And I do 99c promos and here are the sites that work for me:

Top sites (excluding Bookbub which I've never worked with)

ENT - God they're the best!

Booksend - Always delivered for me. I've heard they don't work for some people but I write historical fiction and I'm really pleased with their results everytime. So it's indication that their list of audience might be beyond the usual UF, PN, Contemp Romance, etc. (Can't be sure if it's helpful to OP's audience)

Next tier:

BargainBooksy - they're good but they're pricey so the ROI is always negative. But they've got a large audience base.

FussyLibrarian - recently people have said they are ineffective and I almost didn't use them but they surprisingly did very well for me. Again, an indication of their audience, and I'm thrilled to find an audience that suits me. (But most likely then not OP's audience)

I also use:

MyBookCave. For a newcomer (relatively speaking), they do quite well. I don't know that I get my ROI back but their audience is not stale like the other smaller site that have been around.

Riffle - I lucked out on a free slot and was pleasantly surprised by their results. Just booked them for another book.

EB Brown's NL Swap - If you have the right book that suits her audience, this is a good option.

Buck Books - My recent promo with them did not yield great results and a lost on ROI. But they are so nice and responsive, I have another promo submitted with them for another book. They've got a long sign up line and is already booked through August. My next promo won't be till Sept so will see if after summer makes any difference.

Others:

Robin Read -- I have never used them but others said they work. Probably will work for OP. RR themselves don't even list my category and their own chart shows that thriller is their biggest share of audience.

I'm trying out a few older, small promo sites next week for a 99c promo (because I just released a book and wasn't able book anything else. Everything is booked up to end of June or beyond! I actually don't expect a positive ROI because there's no way they will deliver enough sales for me to break even on their prices. But I want to boost my NR's ranking as it's on several HNR lists.

- SweetFreeBooks
- BookRaid (this one will be interesting, it's paid on # of clicks), although I haven't heard back from them on confirmation and it's been a week
- eBookstage
-MegaBookDeal
- Readper

We'll see.
-
 
#10 ·
jasonbladd said:
I've been developing some resources for this. Check the links in my signature.
.

The Indielister site is all messed up. First it asks me to input my email to access the site. Then it tells me to confirm my email, which I did. Then it takes me to the site again and tells me to log in with a password. Say what? What password? There's no place to register and I was never asked to create a password. I click the "forgot my password" to see what happens, and it asks me to type in my email. I typed in my email ahd it tells me there is no such user, even though I had confirmed my email. The whole exercise was a waste of my time. In fact, I'm wasting more time typing this post now because of it.

I give up. I'm not wasting more time for this site anymore.
 
#11 ·
AlexaKang said:
.

The Indielister site is all messed up. First it asks me to input my email to access the site. Then it tells me to confirm my email, which I did. Then it takes me to the site again and tells me to log in with a password. Say what? What password? There's no place to register and I was never asked to create a password. I click the "forgot my password" to see what happens, and it asks me to type in my email. I typed in my email ahd it tells me there is no such user, even though I had confirmed my email. The whole exercise was a waste of my time. In fact, I'm wasting more time typing this post now because of it.

I give up. I'm not wasting more time for this site anymore.

This happened to me as well.
 
#12 ·
BookRaid is good because you only pay for clicks. This can give you an idea on how well your book does in selling the customer to hit the buy bottom once it is in front of them on a vendor's site.
Other sites that are worth the money are:
ENT
RobinReads
FreeBooksy
Hidden Gems has also done well for me lately.
BargainBooksy is okay for .99 promos.
Genrepulse is okay.
Other sites? I have to stack them all on top of each other to get any kind of decent downloads and I don't think it is worth the effort, time, or the money to do all of that any longer.
 
#13 ·
Thanks everyone. 2 bad days on the trot, so no brain, but I'll come back and start to organize this all as soon as my brain gets a rhythm going again.

1st of the month sled ride as well, going down a whole couple of levels on one bad day, so I can see this being a needful thing. Probably inside the recommended booking times for a few of them, but I'll see what I can do.

Thanks, and keep the info coming.
 
#14 ·
How about we look at it this way: Here are the sites where I question whether it's worth the money:

BookGorilla - The cost for fiction is $50. When I run with ENT and Booksends for 99c sales, they always deliver into the mid to high double digits. ENT in fact charges less. Can BookGorilla do the same? If they could, I think more authors would be recommending them. For $50, I can be running Amazon ads for 2-3 weeks for my book, with tons more visibility.

Manybooks - Cost is $29. At 99c they'll have to deliver sales of about 40 books from the promo to break even. I'm just not seeing it. Again. $29 I can spend on AMS ads for about 2 weeks worth.


I basically think that if these promo sites charge above $10, they need to prove their results. Otherwise, sure, we get downloads and sales, but it's all an illusion because we're basically paying more than we earn just to get our books sold. At that point, it's muddying the line for me and I'd feel like I'm doing vanity publishing.


ETA: I've had mixed results with GenrePulse. On the one hand, for the price of $17, I came close to breaking even. But when I look at the click stats, I think for my genre, it doesn't do as well as the usual bigger genres like UF/PN/Sci-Fi. Those books got 2/3 more clicks than mine so I think their audience skew that way.
 
#15 ·
Sailor Stone said:
BookRaid is good because you only pay for clicks. This can give you an idea on how well your book does in selling the customer to hit the buy bottom once it is in front of them on a vendor's site.
Other sites that are worth the money are:
ENT
RobinReads
FreeBooksy
Hidden Gems has also done well for me lately.
BargainBooksy is okay for .99 promos.
Genrepulse is okay.
Other sites? I have to stack them all on top of each other to get any kind of decent downloads and I don't think it is worth the effort, time, or the money to do all of that any longer.
May I ask how many sales you got for Hidden Gems? They chargee $10 for bottom placement and $20 for higher. Also looks like the host is affiliated with Shifted Sheets, so maybe their audience skew steamy Romance?
 
#19 ·
I'm finally looking at how to do this.

But I keep coming back to 1 question.

How do you line them all up?

1 of the first I looked at takes 7 days to even get back to you. Others dont state how long they will get back to you.
Only Freebooksy has an availability chart and lets you select the day you want.

So how do you line them all up?
 
#20 ·
TimothyEllis said:
I'm finally looking at how to do this.

But I keep coming back to 1 question.

How do you line them all up?

1 of the first I looked at takes 7 days to even get back to you. Others dont state how long they will get back to you.
Only Freebooksy has an availability chart and lets you select the day you want.

So how do you line them all up?
Ah, the knottiest promo problem. Yes, it's almost impossible. Here's what I do:

For a big-bang promo, I start booking two months in advance of the dates I want. I book RobinReads, BookBarbarian, EbookBetty and Fussy Librarian, because they tend to get booked up way in advance. That locks in the actual date of the promo. Thirty days ahead, I book the ones that need exactly 30 days' notice (Booksends and ENT). At that point, I also book all the smaller sites I want. And yes, some don't reply, some give you a different date, some don't tell you a date is full until later... All part of the rich tapestry of (promo) life. ;D
 
#21 ·
Pretty much what Pauline said. I'd start with Bookbub then either promote around that or go for the next sites on my list. Go for the big hitters in your genre. Get them locked in then book the rest.

If you get promo dates that don't work, you can always contact the site about changing the date. It's not locked in. Even Bookbub will work with you on the dates :)
 
#23 ·
Except BookBub is a 30-days-out site and Robin Reads and many other solid performers require longer than that. So I think BookBub has to be its own deal. When I do a promo run I already have it planned before the BookBub time frame and sure, I always try BookBub but I think generally, either you plan a stack and don't bet on BookBub, or you get a BookBub and then plan what you can around it afterward.
 
#24 ·
Nicholas Erik said:
Yeah, it's fine. I just booked an ad five minutes ago to double-check. Went through the payment process and got all the confirmation emails. Using Firefox, BTW.

Nick
Nick, could you double check this? I'm asking this because I received an email a couple of months ago from Sweet Free Books stating that they were closing up shop on June 30 of this year. When I read that you just booked them, I got excited, because they always did very well for me. However, when I checked their site (http://sweetfreebooks.com/advertise/) I found a message that confirmed they had closed their doors on June 30.
 
#25 ·
V.P. said:
Sweet Free Books stating that they were closing up shop on June 30 of this year. ...... I found a message that confirmed they had closed their doors on June 30.
That's what I saw when I looked earlier. Scratch them off the list.

PaulineMRoss said:
Here's what I do:

For a big-bang promo, I start booking two months in advance of the dates I want. I book RobinReads, BookBarbarian, EbookBetty and Fussy Librarian, because they tend to get booked up way in advance. That locks in the actual date of the promo. Thirty days ahead, I book the ones that need exactly 30 days' notice (Booksends and ENT). At that point, I also book all the smaller sites I want. And yes, some don't reply, some give you a different date, some don't tell you a date is full until later... All part of the rich tapestry of (promo) life. ;D
Ok, that's what I needed.

Its the step up from hardly ever needing to promo, to doing them on a regular basis, planned well out in advance.

So for now, I'll do another Freebooksy, and then start planning a big one for 2-3 months out.

kathrynoh said:
I'd start with Bookbub...
We all wish. But locked into KU as I am, that's one site I can forget.
 
#26 ·
I did the FussyLibrarian and for 3 days straight with The Way of The Fairy Godmother this has happened:  #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Self-Help > Motivational
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Metaphysical

Meanwhile BookBub shot me down for.....7th time. Even while book was on the cover of Writer's Digest.
 
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