[Susanne O]

This, I never expected.

I spent a considerable sum having my bestselling rom-com, Fresh Powder translated to German and it was uploaded in late November. Sales were sluggish so I thought I do a free promo, starting yesterday. After a slow start, the downloads increased in speed and now it has landed in the #1 spot overall in the free chart.

I didn't expect this and I am very happy that so many German readers will enjoy it. It will be very interesting to see what happens when it goes back to paid tomorrow...

 

[Becca Mills]

Wow, just fantastic! 

 

[Monique]

Wow. Congratulations!

 

[R.A. Hobbs]

Really cool!  Congrats! 

 

[K.R. Harris]

That's great! Hope you sell a bunch, when it goes back to paid!

 

[Susanne O]

That's great! Hope you sell a bunch, when it goes back to paid!

I hope so too. It will be very interesting, as the German market it s tough nut to crack.

 

[Susanne O]

This is very interesting Susanne. The other day, I was wondering why more writers didn't scale up their income from a particular book by having it translated into other languages. I imagined it was due to the uncertainty of whether the income from the book would ever cover the costs of having it translated...

Last year, in January 2012, Fresh Powder earned me $12000. So, I thought I'd put some of that money into the translation, just to see. And, as the German market (it covers Austria and Switzerland too) is the biggest European one after the UK, I thought this would be a good idea.

 

[Betsy the Quilter]

Congrats, Susanne!

Betsy

 

[H.M. Ward]

Awesome! Do a happy dance!!!

I would love to hear about the process of getting it translated. Did you know someone?

 

[Susanne O]

Awesome! Do a happy dance!!!

I would love to hear about the process of getting it translated. Did you know someone?

Thank you! The translator was recommended to me by an author friend. But it helped a lot that I know some German.

 

[Kay Bratt]

Very cool, Susanne! Congrats!

 

[Susanne O]

Very cool, Susanne! Congrats!

Thank you!

The thing about the German readers is that they are not easily impressed. The review I got was very honest, didn't gush but very complimentary all the same. It was 3* which to me was excellent and the comments very much to the point. I like that kind of acerbic approach.

 

[lorelei]

Wow! Congratulations. That's really impressive.
(I'm number 238,000 in the German kindle-shop, so I envy your success. Incidentally, I also got an acerbic review in German. Tough crowd over there!)

 

[Susanne O]

Wow! Congratulations. That's really impressive.
(I'm number 238,000 in the German kindle-shop, so I envy your success. Incidentally, I also got an acerbic review in German. Tough crowd over there!)

yes. tough but when you get even faint praise it feels like gold.

 

[39179]

Congratulations, Susanne! That's terrific! And judging from your signature, I predict similar success for you in Amazon's Swedish store as soon as it's set up 

 

[Susanne O]

Congratulations, Susanne! That's terrific! And judging from your signature, I predict similar success for you in Amazon's Swedish store as soon as it's set up

Thank you, Andrew, it would be nice to have success in my home country.

 

[CoraBuhlert]

Congrats, Susanne.

 

[Susanne O]

Congrats, Susanne.

Thank you, Cora. It has just come off free, so now we'll see what happens...

 

[Imogen Rose]

AWESOME! Congrats!!

 

[41419]

Hey Suzanne,

First off, congrats. Hitting #1 in Germany is a great achievement. What kind of download numbers were needed to pull that off? It will be interesting to see what kind of borrows you get in the next week or so (please come back and tell us!).

I think you should see a nice bump. Up until Christmas at least, the Popularity Lists in the UK & Europe were still calculated using the old indie-friendly algos which counted each download as a paid sale. I've heard murmurings that the UK may have switched things up, and I've no data on Germany, so make sure to come back and tell us how you get on over the next week. Presumably, there's also a 2-day-or-so delay (like the US), before that bump will materialize - longer if the system is laggy.

My gut says that Germany will still be on the old algos - given that Amazon seem to reduce the power of free as a market matures, and Germany is still more than a year behind the UK in terms of its development.

You get to be the KB guinea pig! (And hopefully crack a new market too.)

Dave

ETA: P.S. Did you notify any German freebie threads? I have a vague recollection of someone mentioning some German freebie sites recently...