BOOK PROMOTION SITES--THE ONES THAT ACTUALLY WORK! > Likes and Comments

Thanks, Groovy.

Groovy wrote: "Congratulations, Michele. And congratulations, D."

Thanks, Groovy!

ENT didn't accept book 1 for a promo, but BookGorilla did so I have a promo set up for it and Bargainbooksy Oct 10 and 12th respectively. I'll let everyone know what my results are after it ends.

Book 3 is on track to be released sometime in Oct as well.

Sounds great Theresa! Sometimes with ENT it's just a matter of space. You have to submit with them way in advance.

So I couldn't find my book in the Readers favorite contest and I thought that even though I paid there was a glitch. the glitch was in their system. It turns out I won honorable mention in women's fiction for
Chasing Petalouthes: Book Three in The Gift Saga

Effie wrote: "Sounds great Theresa! Sometimes with ENT it's just a matter of space. You have to submit with them way in advance."

It'll be my first time using BookGorilla so I'm hopeful it'll reach new readers. Thanks for the info on ENT, Effie! Maybe I need to try and schedule something with them 2 months in advance. I think the lack of reviews is somewhat detrimental as well. (If I knew then what I knew now...lol.) I'm trying to promote it ahead of book 3's release which will be in mid-October.

Effie wrote: "So I couldn't find my book in the Readers favorite contest and I thought that even though I paid there was a glitch. the glitch was in their system. It turns out I won honorable mention in women's ..."


Congrats, Effie!

Thanks! D

Wonderful, Effie! Congratulations. Glad to hear the good news.

Good luck, Theresa on the promotion, and congratulations on number three!

All the best on your promotions, Theresa. I hope it exceeds your expectations. And congratulations on book three!

That's good news, Effie. Did you sign up for a contest? Or did a grateful fan enter you?

I entered, Groovy.

ENT is strict about timing. I don't think they let you request a feature more than 30 days in advance.

I just got approved for an ENT ad. I've only been rejected one and it was because I submitted too late.

If you are submitting for a regular ad, I believe Marie Silk is correct. I would submit 30 days to the minute before you want not ad to run.

Their Book of the Day is something else. They just sent out emails today announcing that they are taking submissions for the 4th quarter BOTD. If your book was recently free, though, they will not accept it for BOTD.

Marie Silk wrote: "ENT is strict about timing. I don't think they let you request a feature more than 30 days in advance."

Thanks Marie and Effie. I was slightly over 30 days so maybe that was the problem. Trying to get the timing is troublesome. Ah well....
I'm limited on funds so I don't think I can afford the Book of the Day feature (and I don't think I had enough reviews to qualify.)

Congrats on the honorable mention, Effie!

Thank you very much Michele and Groovy! I'm glad I'm almost to the end - it's been a long time coming!

Thanks, Theresa.

Michele wrote: "I've been sharing my negative experiences and finally have something positive to report. This morning I discovered my novel won the Bronze Award from the Reader's Favorite Contest in the Fiction-Su..."

Wow congratulations!!

Effie wrote: "So I couldn't find my book in the Readers favorite contest and I thought that even though I paid there was a glitch. the glitch was in their system. It turns out I won honorable mention in women's ..."

Ah congratulations to you too Effie!

And D as well!

BBC have requested to interview me on Monday. It is all arranged and I am really looking forward to it!

I have a lot of PR actions happening and actually Forest of Riddles is currently number 9 in its category which is amazing..... but for the two books I have under 25 pre-orders so despite all the social media and PR it is not particularly resulting in orders.

Any ideas on what else I can do?

We're rooting for you, Stephen. Enjoy that exciting interview; hope you get lots of exposure and sales. And congratulations on your book being number 9!!

Thanks, Stephen! And Congratulations to you for achieving #9!

Groovy! what do you think about what happened to Serena? I think that ump was terribly unfair. she may have lost anyway, but what he did was uncalled for.

Stephen wrote: "I have a lot of PR actions happening and actually Forest of Riddles is currently number 9 in its category which is amazing..... but for the two books I have under 25 pre-orders so despite all the s..."

Congrats on being number 9, Stephen.

Uh-oh, Effie, sounds serious. I haven't seen it yet. I have to watch tennis on the replay schedules and I'm still a few days off. And even though you gave it away, which is not your fault, you didn't know, I'm still going to watch it. It's something to look forward to. I'll get back with you:)

I'm so sorry. I thought you watched as it happened. Well, my daughter thought she was out of line. I think her emotions got the best of her out of frustration.

That is quite okay. I've been dodging the news for the last two weeks. It only works about 99%, but I still look at the games. I'm almost to the finals, stay tuned:)

You watch like my husband! It drives me a little nuts. He only finished watching the Wimbilton matches the day before the US Open began!

Sorry to be slightly off topic but do any of you print with anyone not KDP or Createspace?

I ordered a proof copy of my newest poetry book and the quality was bad, with the cover bowing out weirdly. I was very disappointed.

I didn't have this problem with my other books so maybe it is a bit of a one off..I don't know!

Anyway I thought I would look into other avenues.

Complain and ask for another book. They need to know if customers aren't happy.

Just saw this coupon in my email for Book Gorilla, good for features booked by Sept 17: coupon code BG40 for 40% off. (Availability starts October 1st.)

Mark wrote: "Sorry to be slightly off topic but do any of you print with anyone not KDP or Createspace?

I ordered a proof copy of my newest poetry book and the quality was bad, with the cover bowing out weird..."

I use Ingram Spark's POD service for non-Amazon retailers. The books I've ordered through them look great. Createspace has printed some nice books for me but one copy I ordered through Amazon (not a proof) was really messed up. I ordered several of my own book (which had been professionally formatted for print) but one of the copies was improperly trimmed, leaving a white border on one side and making it a very oddly shaped book. I was upset at this and called Createspace to express my worry that a customer might receive such a poorly made book. I asked if any other copies went out like that. They say they will only replace books if the customer complained but I feel like if a customer received that book, it would make me, the author, look unprofessional.

Effie wrote: "You watch like my husband! It drives me a little nuts. He only finished watching the Wimbilton matches the day before the US Open began!"

LOL!!! My kind of tennis buddy. Look at it when you want to and enjoy:)

Sorry, Mark. We were just talking about tennis. Hope you get everything straightened out. I see you already got some good advice:)

Hope all of the promotions are going well for everyone...

Haha no problem Effie.

Yes I did make a complaint but I haven't heard back yet.

That's awful Marie-Silk, to think that people might be getting those when they pay! I agree the customers probably won't think badly of Amazon so much as us!

That's good to know about Ingram Spark, I had heard of them but wasn't sure. Can they not supply the print books to Amazon, or you just chose not to?

You can distribute to Amazon through Ingram, but I think the royalty is better when you do Amazon distribution through Createspace. My print books have Prime shipping and I'd like them to stay that way but I'm not sure they will still have it if I use Ingram for Amazon distribution. If anyone has insight on this, I'm all ears. Now that books are going to KDP I'm not really sure what will happen.

Ah that's interesting. Thanks for the data!

With the closure of Createspace happening, I am sure print companies will be a hot topic for a bit...maybe something interesting will come of it.

This, too, is off-topic, but due to the death of Burt Reynolds, I just have to share this story with y'all:

When my sister and I were very small, we went to the Smoky Mountains. They had a Western town there with cowboys and shoot-outs. We walked around and was taking pictures when we saw a cowboy walking our way. My sister ran up to him and asked if we could take a picture with him. He was so nice and said, "Sure." He bent down to her short level, put his arms around her and gave the biggest, friendliest smile. It was Burt Reynolds before he was famous. We couldn't believe it when we saw him on Gunsmoke some months later. He was a very nice person.

Sweet story, Groovy.

My formatter was the one who told me that create space was closing down and that KDP would be contacting me at some point to convert over. It should convert seamlessly but if I needed new files she would take care of it. I'm going to stay with the amazon company. I don't think much will change. I think it's their way of consolidating.

Ahh, Groovy, what a sweet story!

Hope everyone who lives along the East Coast stays safe during the hurricane.

Effie wrote: "Sweet story, Groovy.

My formatter was the one who told me that create space was closing down and that KDP would be contacting me at some point to convert over. It should convert seamlessly but if ..."

I haven't gotten an email from them yet, but heard from one author who did that the window to use their link to manually convert is very small, like just a few hours. The author was at work and didn't log in until later that night and by that point the option to convert/move the files was gone so he is left waiting for the auto transfer by kdp.

I haven't received an email yet. I heard they are sending them in batches. I've been too busy to deal with it but I'm going to call them and speak to them on what to do.

Effie wrote: "I haven't received an email yet. I heard they are sending them in batches. I've been too busy to deal with it but I'm going to call them and speak to them on what to do."

I've also heard that. If you talk to them, I hope all goes well.

Just found out about this thread so need to read posts so far.

Just had a different experience with a KDP free promotion. I submitted for a feature with ENT with a certain date in mind (but also said I was open to other dates). Then I went to my KDP bookshelf and scheduled the free promotion so I wouldn't forget. I figured I would stack other promo sites if ENT approved my book for my preferred date. A week later I got a reply that they didn't have room and to try again later. Ordinarily I would have cancelled the promo through KDP and waited for another day when I could get paid advertising, but I forgot that I had scheduled it and the free promo ran without advertising. My book had 34 downloads. So here is where it gets odd. My book's rank somehow worsened after the promo. It seemed to take a few days to recover and get back to where it usually ranked.

I don't tend to run free promotions without advertising because in the past it seemed like a waste, but in this case it seemed to be worse than doing nothing. I think maybe since this book sells well, taking it out of the Paid Store for a day (for the free promo) then putting it back with only a few free downloads confused the algorithms. I'm not sure. It's the first time my book has shown a worse rank after a promo. I just know I won't run another free day without advertising :).

For Christian Fiction Writers, I use Christian Book Heaven. There are about 2,000 subscribers, but ads are only $5.00 I put a book out for $0.99 and got 11 buys. Without I would have had none. More to come.

Welcome, J. We're so glad you joined us:)

And thanks for the information, Pamela.

Effie, Theresa, I don't know if this is the same, but this is the email I received:

Hello,
Kindle Create is a free tool that can be used to transform your completed manuscript into a beautifully designed Kindle eBook. Additionally, with Kindle Create you can:
Automatically find chapter titles and create a Kindle table of contents
Formatting support for books in 12 languages
Review and select visual themes designed to suit the genre of your eBook
Preview your eBook to see what readers will see-and make the changes you want
Quickly format using various book elements like First paragraph, block quote, separators and more
Kindle Create works with .doc and .docx files exported from any source, including Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, Google Docs, and other applications. It also supports creation of interactive textbooks from PDFs. Kindle Create is available for PC (Windows 7 and above) and MacOS (10.11 and above).
Visit here for more information about Kindle Create and next steps to get started.
Best Regards,
The Kindle Direct Publishing Team

And along with Michele, I hope everyone on the East coast is prepared and stays safe.

Marie Silk,

when I was researching the benefits and pitfalls of free promos, I read that generally your paid rank will go down and it will take a few days to recover and go back to where it normally was. I will find out. I finally took the plunge and set up a free promo for book one at the end of the month.

This is a big step for you. Let us know if you liked it...

Groovy wrote: "Welcome, J. We're so glad you joined us:)

And thanks for the information, Pamela.

Effie, Theresa, I don't know if this is the same, but this is the email I received:

Hello,
Kindle Create is a f..."

I think I got that one, but that's just advertising for the ebook version. I was waiting for one that said something like hey the link to transfer your paperbacks from CreateSpace to KDP is up/avaliable (whatever.)

If what you posted is the only notification I missed it for sure and will have to wait for the auto-move. Oh well. Time to head off to work.

Effie wrote: "Marie Silk,

when I was researching the benefits and pitfalls of free promos, I read that generally your paid rank will go down and it will take a few days to recover and go back to where it norma..."

Usually my book's rank in the Paid Store goes down (improves) after a free promo. This time it went from #50K the day before the promo to over #100K in the Paid Store the day after the promo.