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A) It's a longer "marketing campaign," where you put all the books in your series on Countdown promo, one after the other.
B) Because KDP suggested it, and, gulp, I figure (I hope!) they know what they're doing.
If you have a series in Select, you might be interested in this idea. I've just started it, and so far, it seems to be doing well, but because it's such a long-term thing, the real proof will be what happens over the next month, and then thereafter.
Here's what I did (for a series that currently contains 5 books):
Days 1-5: Put Book 1 (normally 99 cents) up for Free, via Select. Used a BookBub ad for this one (Day 1), other ads for the following 4 days. Got to #1 on my BB day, stayed pretty high (10 or below) for the remaining days.
Days 2-8 (we'll call this "Week 1", starting on Saturday): Put Book 2 on Countdown promo: 2+ days @ 99 cents, 2+ @ $1.99, 2+ @ $2.99.
Weeks 2-4: Doing the same thing, one week at a time, for Books 3-5
Where I am right now: at the end of "Week 1." I haven't done any advertising for the other books, decided my best bet due to the larger numbers of people that will download for "free" was to front-load all my advertising, use it on the free book at the beginning.
Despite no ads, Book 2 got to #105 in the store during the 99-cent period--but Amazon featured it in an email, so that definitely helped! Before that, it was about #600.
Right now, Book 1 (back at 99 cents) and Book 2 (about to revert to $3.99 again) are both in the 600's or 700's, and the other books have taken a definite turn upward as well. Tomorrow, Book 3 goes to 99 cents--we'll see what happens then.
The idea is that you build momentum, that you get a big spike in visibility on an ongoing basis, ratchet yourself up to the next level, rather than the "BookBub effect" where you spike high and then fall off. We will see. If you're interested, I guess you can follow along with me and see if it works, and if it seems worth a try for your own books.
Here are the things I planned my promo around:
1) First and second audiobooks released (which are Books 1 & 2 in this series). First one came out beginning of this month, second one comes out mid-April, right about at the end of this promo period, and pre-order should be happening in a couple days here, while I've got some visibility.
2) That "My Voice" thing in the KDP Newsletter--this was serendipity, didn't know it'd happen and would fit in so well.
3) Novella coming out (as part of multi-author boxed set) in the series: April 2, during Week 2 of the promo.
4) Ads on the free book, as above.
5) (I hope) pre-order for the next book in the series, around the end of the campaign. (Assuming that writing it is going along to plan at that point.)
6) First book coming out in German, about them time the promo ends. (via Amazon Crossing.)
The idea is that it's not one promotion, it's a whole campaign, built around several "events" that are happening around the same time--the audiobooks, the novella, the German book, and, as it happens, the newsletter thing (but I would have done this without that--it just worked out that way).
I am doing this with Select and Countdown, but you could of course do the same thing without being in Select.
Of course, you lose the revenue you would have earned at the higher price point. But as a visibility technique, it made sense to me, and I thought it was worth a try. My goal this year, and I'm gulping even to say it, is to break through to that next level. Nora Roberts, look out! (No, not really. But some less-than-Nora bestselling-romance-author level, that's what I'm daring to say that I'm aiming for.)
B) Because KDP suggested it, and, gulp, I figure (I hope!) they know what they're doing.
If you have a series in Select, you might be interested in this idea. I've just started it, and so far, it seems to be doing well, but because it's such a long-term thing, the real proof will be what happens over the next month, and then thereafter.
Here's what I did (for a series that currently contains 5 books):
Days 1-5: Put Book 1 (normally 99 cents) up for Free, via Select. Used a BookBub ad for this one (Day 1), other ads for the following 4 days. Got to #1 on my BB day, stayed pretty high (10 or below) for the remaining days.
Days 2-8 (we'll call this "Week 1", starting on Saturday): Put Book 2 on Countdown promo: 2+ days @ 99 cents, 2+ @ $1.99, 2+ @ $2.99.
Weeks 2-4: Doing the same thing, one week at a time, for Books 3-5
Where I am right now: at the end of "Week 1." I haven't done any advertising for the other books, decided my best bet due to the larger numbers of people that will download for "free" was to front-load all my advertising, use it on the free book at the beginning.
Despite no ads, Book 2 got to #105 in the store during the 99-cent period--but Amazon featured it in an email, so that definitely helped! Before that, it was about #600.
Right now, Book 1 (back at 99 cents) and Book 2 (about to revert to $3.99 again) are both in the 600's or 700's, and the other books have taken a definite turn upward as well. Tomorrow, Book 3 goes to 99 cents--we'll see what happens then.
The idea is that you build momentum, that you get a big spike in visibility on an ongoing basis, ratchet yourself up to the next level, rather than the "BookBub effect" where you spike high and then fall off. We will see. If you're interested, I guess you can follow along with me and see if it works, and if it seems worth a try for your own books.
Here are the things I planned my promo around:
1) First and second audiobooks released (which are Books 1 & 2 in this series). First one came out beginning of this month, second one comes out mid-April, right about at the end of this promo period, and pre-order should be happening in a couple days here, while I've got some visibility.
2) That "My Voice" thing in the KDP Newsletter--this was serendipity, didn't know it'd happen and would fit in so well.
3) Novella coming out (as part of multi-author boxed set) in the series: April 2, during Week 2 of the promo.
4) Ads on the free book, as above.
5) (I hope) pre-order for the next book in the series, around the end of the campaign. (Assuming that writing it is going along to plan at that point.)
6) First book coming out in German, about them time the promo ends. (via Amazon Crossing.)
The idea is that it's not one promotion, it's a whole campaign, built around several "events" that are happening around the same time--the audiobooks, the novella, the German book, and, as it happens, the newsletter thing (but I would have done this without that--it just worked out that way).
I am doing this with Select and Countdown, but you could of course do the same thing without being in Select.
Of course, you lose the revenue you would have earned at the higher price point. But as a visibility technique, it made sense to me, and I thought it was worth a try. My goal this year, and I'm gulping even to say it, is to break through to that next level. Nora Roberts, look out! (No, not really. But some less-than-Nora bestselling-romance-author level, that's what I'm daring to say that I'm aiming for.)
