What to do right after a successful KDP Select freebie?

924 Views 10 Replies 8 Participants Last post by benji smith, Mar 13, 2013

benji smith

Discussion Starter · Mar 13, 2013

The first day of my two-day KDP select promo is drawing to a close, and it's been a huge success so far. Right this very moment, I've given away 16,805 books (with the downloads still coming hot and fast) and my book is sitting at #5 on the Kindle freebie list.

My goal for this promo was to give away 20,000 books, so I'm almost certainly going to blow waaaay past that goal. And my objective for this promo was primarily to build an audience, not necessarily to get an immediate sales boost.

So...

Now what?

When the promo ends tomorrow night, what should I do next? First and foremost, what about pricing? My book was originally priced at $7.99 but I dropped it over the past few months to $5.99 and then $2.99. My instinct is that $2.99 or $3.99 is the right post-promo price, but I'm tempted to go from free to 99 cents and then raise the price to $2.99 after a few days. I should reiterate at this point that I'm more interested in audience-building than profit-making. But this is my only book, so I can't really employ a funnel strategy at this point.

What do you think? What would you do?

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JHall

· #2 · Mar 13, 2013

I would put it at 2.99, personally.

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Victorine

· #3 · Mar 13, 2013

I sell way more at 99 cents than I do going back to $2.99. I actually earn pretty much the same, but sell a lot more at the 99 cent level.

If you're more interested in readers, go for the 99 cent price.

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TexasGirl

· #4 · Mar 13, 2013

$2.99 is a very popular post-free price point.

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Jan Strnad

· #5 · Mar 13, 2013

Remember that it's easier to lower a price than to raise it. For instance, if you price your book at $0.99 for a time and then raise it, and then try to do a $0.99 BookBub ad, they'll look at $0.99 as the "regular" price and there goes your sale. Now the only way to put your book "on sale" is to go free.

You'll have exposure on the pop charts post-sale. I'd take advantage of that exposure to sell books at a decent price, like $2.99 or $3.99. Then I'd hold at the price for six months or a year no matter what, then run a sale when sales dip. A $0.99 sale on a $2.99 or $3.99 book seems like more of a deal than, say, free on a $0.99 book.

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Al Dente

· #6 · Mar 13, 2013

There is no reason to go to 99 cents after such a successful promotion. I would either raise the price to $3.99 or stick with $2.99. If your first day post-free run went like my wife's did last month (She gave away over 16,500 over two days), you will start seeing sales coming in right away. My wife stayed between 1,800 and 2,000 in the paid store for almost a month after her run, and I imagine you will do similarly if not better. My advice? Sit back and enjoy the ride, and start planning your next promotional idea with that book or another book.

And congrats!

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Alan Petersen

· #7 · Mar 13, 2013

Congrats! I would love to hear any tips on your pre-select free promo preparations for such a successful promo!

I haven't run my first select free promo yet, like you, I only have one book out, so I've been hesitant. But I think the opportunity to build an audience and a mailing list of readers would be worth it.

$2.99 is a good price and it gives you leg room for offering discount to $0.99 down the road.

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benji smith

Discussion Starter · #8 · Mar 13, 2013

Thanks guys! Based on your feedback, I think I'll stick with $2.99.

But what do you think about extending a promo? How do you decide whether to keep the promo going for another day or to let it end and switch back to paid?

Presumably, I want to get as much benefit from the promo as possible without cutting it short. But ultimately, I want to transition from free downloads back into paid downloads, and I don't want to exhaust my current supply of potentially interested readers. Yesterday, at the height of the campaign, there were about 2000 downloads per hour. By late last night, the rate had slowed to 1000 downloads per hour and then of course trickled to nothing for the overnight. This morning, there were about 275 downloads between 8am and 9am (eastern) and then about the same between 9 and 10.

I'm going to keep looking at the hourly totals, which I assume will increase a bit over the course of the day and then start to decrease in the afternoon as the promo effect wears off, but I'm not sure how to decide whether a slowing promo should go on for another day to squeeze the last bits of juice from the freebie or whether any slowing at all is a signal to end the promo. Thoughts?

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JHall

· #9 · Mar 13, 2013

I think it would be best to run the free promo for as long as you originally planned, and then end it. That way you will still have more free days to run promos later on.

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cblewgolf

· #10 · Mar 13, 2013

benji smith said:
How do you decide whether to keep the promo going for another day or to let it end and switch back to paid?

Did you notify sites how long you were going to be free? I wouldn't short change them by cutting it off for free a day early. I'd watch your rankings and cut it when you notice a nice slip. At # 5, you're sitting pretty now and should hang in the top 5 for a day or so. If it drops to 15-20, maybe cut it then.

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benji smith

Discussion Starter · #11 · Mar 13, 2013

I will *definitely* run the promo through the end of the day today. And I think you made a really good point about ranking #5...

I'll keep the promo going as long as I'm in the Kindle Top 100 free. When I drop below 100, I'll end it.

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