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Yep, you guessed it, another promo thread.
I've learned a lot from other threads of this type, so I thought I'd pay it forward. So first, a little info. I write Fantasy Romance (I have two series out and am working on the third book for both at the same time. I have the attention span of a squirrel--I think I'm doing good to have narrowed it down to just the two series instead of the four my brain wants me to write.)
Up until this year, I've done exactly zero promotions, as I didn't see any point in tossing money into promotions when I only had one book out. My goals with this promo run is to increase rank/exposure and maybe get a couple reviews (which is the hardest part), and hopefully get readers buying my other books. I don't expect to make money on the promo itself (I'll be happy to break even.)
To get the wheels rolling, I just made the prequel story, Beginnings, free (5 day Select) and did a BKnight promo on it. So far, it has netted about 500 downloads, which is peanuts, but it's a short story prequel so it did better than I thought. Lol.
As for the promo line up, I had wanted to run them one a day so I could judge which ones worked best, however, that was almost impossible because of scheduling conflicts. So a number of them landed on the same day. Oh well.
Another thing I would change in the future is to not run a promo in or around a holiday. I didn't realize it was March Break at the time of booking. I'm not sure if it will matter or not. I'll find out I guess.
Before the promos started I was only selling an average of 2 sales/borrows a day (February was about 6 sales/borrows a day, not sure what happened to kill it off at the beginning of March. Shrugs) I don't expect to become a best seller, but I'd like to see 8-10 sales/borrows a day after the promo.
For the record--these were a mix of free and paid ads, and some of the little sites felt as useful as tossing money into a black hole. (I'm game to try anything once, but the non-performers won't be getting my money in the future.)
The lineup for Stone's Kiss:
March 12 (Discount Books Daily) (1 sale) (nice newsletter but not worth the $10)
March 13 (BKnight promo on short story Beginnings 500 free downloads) resulted on Stone's Kiss (4 sales/ 1borrow)
March 14 no ads (2 sales/ 3 borrows)
March 15 no ads
March 16 no ads
March 17 (Best Ebooks Free, Choosybookworm, Ebooksaurce) (5 Sales)
March 18 (Awesomegang, Booklovers Heaven) (1 sale) (will use again for free ebook promos--good results in past)
March 19 (Read Cheaply, Fussy Librarian, Pretty Hot) (16 Sales/ 1 borrow)
March 20 (Genre Pulse) (17 sales/ 2 borrows) bitly link still showing hits on march 21 (so actual sales may be higher)
March 21 (Bargain Booksy, Ebook Hounds, Booksbutterfly) (34 Sales/ 2 borrows)
March 22 (Ebooksoda, Booksbutterfly Day 2) (24 Sales/ 1borrow)
March 23 (ENT) (49 Sales, 5 borrows) Great results for the price.
March 24 (Sci-fi Book Freak, Many Books) (17 Sales, 3 borrows) three new reviews all rolled in at once, too.
March 25 (Riffle) (18 Sales) Does move a few, but not worth the price. ($30,)
March 26 (pixel scroll, bargain ebook hunter) (7 sales) (Ouch! promo cost $30)
March 27 (The Naughty List, Ebooklister) (7 sales)
March 28 (Sweet Free Reads) (13 sales) Great results for the $5
March 29 no ads
March 30 no ads
March 31 no ads
No response:
The Midlist
Ereader Cafe
Books on the Knob
People Reads
Reading deals
Rejections:
Bookbub (got rejected)
My Romance Reads (Not enough romance? Guess my cover looked too fantasy and not enough romance)
Saving for later:
Booksends (saving for a Free promo run)
One Hundred Free Books (saving for a Free promo run)
Book Basset (book like two months in advance)
New free kindle books
Buck Books
Ebookstage
Ebookarrow
It's Write Now
Just Kindle Books (jump through hoops)
Book Goodies (jump through yet more hoops)
Free Kindle Books and Tips (anyone know if this is American only--the online form required a 'state' and rejected my info)
I've learned a lot from other threads of this type, so I thought I'd pay it forward. So first, a little info. I write Fantasy Romance (I have two series out and am working on the third book for both at the same time. I have the attention span of a squirrel--I think I'm doing good to have narrowed it down to just the two series instead of the four my brain wants me to write.)
Up until this year, I've done exactly zero promotions, as I didn't see any point in tossing money into promotions when I only had one book out. My goals with this promo run is to increase rank/exposure and maybe get a couple reviews (which is the hardest part), and hopefully get readers buying my other books. I don't expect to make money on the promo itself (I'll be happy to break even.)
To get the wheels rolling, I just made the prequel story, Beginnings, free (5 day Select) and did a BKnight promo on it. So far, it has netted about 500 downloads, which is peanuts, but it's a short story prequel so it did better than I thought. Lol.
As for the promo line up, I had wanted to run them one a day so I could judge which ones worked best, however, that was almost impossible because of scheduling conflicts. So a number of them landed on the same day. Oh well.
Another thing I would change in the future is to not run a promo in or around a holiday. I didn't realize it was March Break at the time of booking. I'm not sure if it will matter or not. I'll find out I guess.
Before the promos started I was only selling an average of 2 sales/borrows a day (February was about 6 sales/borrows a day, not sure what happened to kill it off at the beginning of March. Shrugs) I don't expect to become a best seller, but I'd like to see 8-10 sales/borrows a day after the promo.
For the record--these were a mix of free and paid ads, and some of the little sites felt as useful as tossing money into a black hole. (I'm game to try anything once, but the non-performers won't be getting my money in the future.)
The lineup for Stone's Kiss:
March 12 (Discount Books Daily) (1 sale) (nice newsletter but not worth the $10)
March 13 (BKnight promo on short story Beginnings 500 free downloads) resulted on Stone's Kiss (4 sales/ 1borrow)
March 14 no ads (2 sales/ 3 borrows)
March 15 no ads
March 16 no ads
March 17 (Best Ebooks Free, Choosybookworm, Ebooksaurce) (5 Sales)
March 18 (Awesomegang, Booklovers Heaven) (1 sale) (will use again for free ebook promos--good results in past)
March 19 (Read Cheaply, Fussy Librarian, Pretty Hot) (16 Sales/ 1 borrow)
March 20 (Genre Pulse) (17 sales/ 2 borrows) bitly link still showing hits on march 21 (so actual sales may be higher)
March 21 (Bargain Booksy, Ebook Hounds, Booksbutterfly) (34 Sales/ 2 borrows)
March 22 (Ebooksoda, Booksbutterfly Day 2) (24 Sales/ 1borrow)
March 23 (ENT) (49 Sales, 5 borrows) Great results for the price.
March 24 (Sci-fi Book Freak, Many Books) (17 Sales, 3 borrows) three new reviews all rolled in at once, too.
March 25 (Riffle) (18 Sales) Does move a few, but not worth the price. ($30,)
March 26 (pixel scroll, bargain ebook hunter) (7 sales) (Ouch! promo cost $30)
March 27 (The Naughty List, Ebooklister) (7 sales)
March 28 (Sweet Free Reads) (13 sales) Great results for the $5
March 29 no ads
March 30 no ads
March 31 no ads
No response:
The Midlist
Ereader Cafe
Books on the Knob
People Reads
Reading deals
Rejections:
Bookbub (got rejected)
My Romance Reads (Not enough romance? Guess my cover looked too fantasy and not enough romance)
Saving for later:
Booksends (saving for a Free promo run)
One Hundred Free Books (saving for a Free promo run)
Book Basset (book like two months in advance)
New free kindle books
Buck Books
Ebookstage
Ebookarrow
It's Write Now
Just Kindle Books (jump through hoops)
Book Goodies (jump through yet more hoops)
Free Kindle Books and Tips (anyone know if this is American only--the online form required a 'state' and rejected my info)