Share Your Successes!

I backed off the marketing and promo campaign for four days to see if the book had built up any momentum on its own. It has, but nothing huge in the way of sales. It seems to maintain a certain average rank, without climbing into the stratosphere like it did before--a copy a day response. That's at least much better than before I started it. I'll be adding another prequel short in the next week or so, then we can start the process over again. Free-charge-free-charge-free-charge, and so on. That seems to work the best.

Good luck to all!

Tri

JoyceH said:

Interesting! I found the "Promote Your Book" page - are there others?

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I don't post on any of them, but try searching for "indy books" or "kindle books" or "book promotion."

I really dislike posting my link on pages like that. I've found that by being active on those book FB pages, the admins will give a shoutout for you. I guess it's just me, but I hate the idea of spamming someone else's wall even if they say it's fine.

Anyway, nice to see this thread active again.

Nick!

Tri and Elena: Good that you're getting steady sales now. That's always a good sign!

MysteryRiter said:

I really dislike posting my link on pages like that. I've found that by being active on those book FB pages, the admins will give a shoutout for you. I guess it's just me, but I hate the idea of spamming someone else's wall even if they say it's fine.

Anyway, nice to see this thread active again.

Nick!

Tri and Elena: Good that you're getting steady sales now. That's always a good sign!

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Gosh me too, MysteryRiter. I must be the worst marketer in the history of marketing. I didn't post my book anywhere but the self-promotion thread of a forum I've belonged to for months. Even then I didn't bump it like they recommended (once every month). I posted once and then again exactly 60 days later (because they warn on the forum that if you don't post after 60 days, they move you to inactive).

Someone else even pulled my books onto Goodreads. I had to claim them after the fact. LOL

And then it's in my signature here. That's the sum of my marketing skills LOL. =( I fail at spam.

Tri, a book a day is how it starts =) Give it time for word of mouth too! It's way more powerful than you think (which is why the freebies work so well). Good luck to you.

Elena, great news!

Ripple, watching this thread to see how you do on the 11th! Good luck to you.

Just started at the beginning of this thread and wow, it's inspiring! I'm so excited to be releasing my first novel shortly and can't wait to share its progress in here with everyone!

Life is amazing!

David, Good luck on your book. Be sure to let us know the title.

Here is a link to an interview I just did with Indie BookSpot
http://indiebookspot.com/2012/04/03/interview-with-big-lake-author-nick-russell/

Hi Nick. Great interview - your success is really inspiring!

My novel is called The Hunter Inside. There's a short blurb on my 'About' page on my blog here - http://davidmcgowan.wordpress.com/about/

This thread is probably not the right place for it, but hopefully in the future I'll be looking back on this post and updating it with good news!

David,
I can't get your link to open

Try this one. http://davidmcgowan.wordpress.com/

Thanks merrihiatt!

Sorry Nick, not a great start from me! I've fixed the link above now and tested it!

Congratulations, David.

Great interview, Nick.

*deep breath* My two free days start tomorrow. Hoping it will do something!

MysteryRiter said:

*deep breath* My two free days start tomorrow. Hoping it will do something!

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You can exhale. Rest assured, it will do something for future sales. How many, depends on the interest. But I seem to make the best ranks and sales directly after a free trial period. Can't explain it, it just happens that way. That's why I'm going prequel short crazy.

Tri

MysteryRiter said:

*deep breath* My two free days start tomorrow. Hoping it will do something!

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Good luck! Hope it's a hit!

Let us know how it goes!

Best of luck, MysteryRiter.

Thanks, guys! The free days end tonight and given that it's just a short story by a virtually unknown author (me), I'm pretty pleased. It looks like I'll end with about 6,000 downloads in two days. I peaked at #46 overall on Amazon, which was pretty cool! Hopefully, that will translate to some sales. Will let you know!

Mystery Writer - nice going. 6K downloads!

I am getting ready for "free" on April 11/12

Received a decent first review from a YA book blogger in the UK

Congrats, Ripple! And good luck!

FWIW, I ended the night with 6.5k free downloads. So far today, I've had 8 sales and 2 borrows, which is a huge jump for me. Before the free days, the short story hadn't sold anything for 6 straight days. We'll see if this lasts, but you guys were right; these free days do help!

Good for you, MysteryRiter. Over 6,000 free downloads is totally phenom in my book. That's the most I've ever heard. Of course, you went two days...but still! My God. I'm glad it's tabulated into some sales for you. It sure beats sitting stagnant, doesn't it?

Now, me, I'm losing some rank and that always disheartens me. I'm out of free trials (have been), and I'm trying to maintain sales by hitting my favorite haunts, posting new blogs and interacting on other sites. The short story picked up a sale or two, which always surprises me. I don't know about the rest of you, but when my rank starts climbing, I get that sick feeling, when in reality, it's not really that bad and I shouldn't fuss over it.

I have a new prequel short being edited and we'll include it with the others as soon as it's ironed out. Yay! More free trials!

Hey tri, I know just how you feel. After a pretty successful March, the first book in my series slipped off the first page of its genre ranking last week. Yesterday, it climbed back to around #8. It seems to fluctuate on average between #11 and #31. Just have to hope the law of averages will help.

MysteryRiter, that's terrific!

Where are you guys putting your books for free? On Amazon it says it must be at least .99. Do you only get the free days in you're in their lend program?

StoneWheller, in most cases members are going with the Kindle Select program. By listing exclusively with Amazon, sellers are able to opt for the occasional free promotion.

In other cases, Amazon has price-matched competitor sites (such as Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, etc.) in accordance with Amazon contract terms. So, even if a book is listed as 0.99 cents on Amazon, if it's free on another site, Amazon may drop the price to match it.

ripple said:

Mystery Writer - nice going. 6K downloads!

I am getting ready for "free" on April 11/12

Received a decent first review from a YA book blogger in the UK

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That was a great review! Congratz. =) Hope to see more.

MysteryRiter said:

Congrats, Ripple! And good luck!

FWIW, I ended the night with 6.5k free downloads. So far today, I've had 8 sales and 2 borrows, which is a huge jump for me. Before the free days, the short story hadn't sold anything for 6 straight days. We'll see if this lasts, but you guys were right; these free days do help!

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6.5k is awesome. Lots of people download and then don't read right away. Because they know the free offer is limited. Give them time to read it and for word to spread =) Congratz though. That's really cool.

triceretops said:

Good for you, MysteryRiter. Over 6,000 free downloads is totally phenom in my book. That's the most I've ever heard. Of course, you went two days...but still! My God. I'm glad it's tabulated into some sales for you. It sure beats sitting stagnant, doesn't it?

Now, me, I'm losing some rank and that always disheartens me. I'm out of free trials (have been), and I'm trying to maintain sales by hitting my favorite haunts, posting new blogs and interacting on other sites. The short story picked up a sale or two, which always surprises me. I don't know about the rest of you, but when my rank starts climbing, I get that sick feeling, when in reality, it's not really that bad and I shouldn't fuss over it.

I have a new prequel short being edited and we'll include it with the others as soon as it's ironed out. Yay! More free trials!

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Rank in a big genre can be frustrating. There's always new books coming out etc. Have you sent the book into any review sites? That could pick up sales =).

triceretops said:

Now, me, I'm losing some rank and that always disheartens me. I'm out of free trials (have been), and I'm trying to maintain sales by hitting my favorite haunts, posting new blogs and interacting on other sites. The short story picked up a sale or two, which always surprises me. I don't know about the rest of you, but when my rank starts climbing, I get that sick feeling, when in reality, it's not really that bad and I shouldn't fuss over it.

I have a new prequel short being edited and we'll include it with the others as soon as it's ironed out. Yay! More free trials!

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As Dani said, rankings suck. Just try not to check too often (I know, it's difficult). Maybe set times during the day to check your rankings, so you can spend the rest of the time being productive and not worrying so much? It's what I do.

EngineerTiger said:

After a pretty successful March, the first book in my series slipped off the first page of its genre ranking last week. Yesterday, it climbed back to around #8. It seems to fluctuate on average between #11 and #31. Just have to hope the law of averages will help.

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Those are pretty high rankings! 'Grats!