BOOK PROMOTION SITES--THE ONES THAT ACTUALLY WORK! > Likes and Comments
I don't know anyone who makes any money from advertising now. Sigh.
I used Draft2Digital to publish wide. I changed the price to 0 to do a promo and some of the sites like Google Play (which I don't even see as a publishing option) still show the original price. Amazon won't price match until they see it on Google. Ugh! What a headache. I sent an email to D2D. Any other advice?
I just reduced the price of my entire catalogue to 99 cents for Black Friday. I have a StoryOrigin promo scheduled to go out to my subscribers on that day, but I don't think I'm going to pay for any advertising. I'm hoping my freeders will step up and buy a few books.
If you have a sci-fi book (or poetry) that will be on sale, I can add it to my newsletter.
Leon wrote: "I just reduced the price of my entire catalogue to 99 cents for Black Friday. I have a StoryOrigin promo scheduled to go out to my subscribers on that day, but I don't think I'm going to pay for a..."
Hi Leon,
Shepherds is on sale for 99 cents. Shepherds Scifi but not FTL and is set on Earth. If you can add it to your newsletter, that would be great. I'll look up your books and add them to whatever blog posting I do next week. Are they only on sale for Black Friday?
Leon,Looks like you have a number of books, too many to add to a post. Could you shoot me a title or two that you'd rather have posted?
D. wrote: "I used Draft2Digital to publish wide. I changed the price to 0 to do a promo and some of the sites like Google Play (which I don't even see as a publishing option) still show the original price. Am..."Let us know what you get from D2D. I had good luck getting in touch with them in the past when I had issues. I hope they are still responsive.
Thanks, J! I sent D2D an email. It shouldn't be this difficult. I currently have a few promos going with Story Origins. Last year, I did a black Friday sale and had 0 sales. I'm not getting good results from my current promos either. Though I had very good results with a KU promo for a Christmas book last year, but that's the only one that's gotten results. I hope yours go better, Leon.
So far, I've gotten a few Goodreads reviews from the book tour that started on Monday and have sold a few books in the series.
J. wrote: "Leon,Looks like you have a number of books, too many to add to a post. Could you shoot me a title or two that you'd rather have posted?"
They are on sale the 29th/30th. You can do Euphrates Vanished since it is my latest one.
I'm emailing my subscribers on the Friday so I'll put yours in.
D. wrote: "Thanks, J! I sent D2D an email. It shouldn't be this difficult. I currently have a few promos going with Story Origins. Last year, I did a black Friday sale and had 0 sales. I'm not getting good ..."
Sorry, I don't know anything about getting a book price matched on Amazon.
I had a good sale in October, but it's dried up almost completely over the last week or two. I wonder if it is because people have to save up to pay for Christmas and aren't thinking of things for themselves. Fingers crossed Black Friday/Cyber Monday may give some more sales.
I don't know if any of these have been listedhttps://discountbookman.com/
https://awesomegang.com/
https://toplesscowboy.com/
Groovy wrote: "I've also heard from readers that they download hundreds and hundreds of free books. When the new lists comes out, they delete the old ones. So, the odds are high that your book wasn't read, or tha..."I agree - I have never charged 0.99 or at most 1.99 for any of my books
Next ad was with eReaderIQ. 6 sales which made it more expensive per sale than either of the other 2 ads so far but better than nothing. Sold one book from a different series that same day but can't say if it was as a result of the ad or random. Probably will keep this site as a possible. No ads until November 30, which could be a mistake as it will drop my book back down the chart at Amazon. Oh well, we'll see what happens.And FYI, Leon, I have my post ready to go on the 29th.
All the best to everyone and Happy Thanksgiving to US people. Well, wishing everyone a happy day.
Lee wrote: "I don't know if any of these have been listedhttps://discountbookman.com/
https://awesomegang.com/
https://toplesscowboy.com/"
Hi Lee,
I've tried Discountbookman and Awesomegang a few times with little to zero sales and have since dropped them. I know sites change so if anyone here has used them recently and found better results I'd like to know.
Never heard of toplesscowboy. Anyone else?
J. wrote: "Lee wrote: "I don't know if any of these have been listedhttps://discountbookman.com/
https://awesomegang.com/
https://toplesscowboy.com/"
Hi Lee,
I've tried Discountbookman and Awesomegang a few ..."
Topless cowboy is run by the same people who do the others. I can't say it's worth it but promoting on each can be done for free so I persevere.
My sales for this month have exceeded 100 so that's something.
Still trying to get Amazon to price match my free book The Santa Secret. I have it free on Google, Apple, B&N, and Kobo. I have promos set up starting next week. It's making me nervous. I stick with the promo sites vetted by David Gaughran which I've shared before. I tried Awesome Gang in the past and dropped it from my list. Don't think I'm getting much from my Story Origins promos. I have 5 going for reviews and KU pages.
D. wrote: "Still trying to get Amazon to price match my free book The Santa Secret. I have it free on Google, Apple, B&N, and Kobo. I have promos set up starting next week. It's making me nervous. I stick w..."
I haven't used D2D but it might be worth submitting a fresh request to Zon with the link to the free book on the main country sites for Google or Apple. They are usually really quick with me. I use the price matching page.
Hey Guys....I am new to this group and I must say, being a debut author who is finding things related to promoting my book rather overwhelming..... this group and this particular thread seems like a Godsend. I have been reading some of the first few pages and the support and useful advice shared by more experienced people have inspired me to keep trying to promote. I am also getting some idea about which promotion sites work and which don't. So happy to have found you guys here.
Thanks J. Wonderful community you have here....glad I found such a place.
Here's David Gaughran's recommended promo site list. https://davidgaughran.com/best-promo-...
He also has free courses and a weekly author newsletter. I've learned a lot from him.
E.K., I sent another price matching request to Amazon. Hopefully, they'll do it as I've paid for some promo sites starting next week.
Hi all,I want to ask a question not related to book promotion. I try to connect with other authors on other media and lately when I follow many of those claiming to be authors, what I get are DMs and the conversation usually goes:
What do you write? How many books do you have? Can I introduce you to a friend who is a great editor, publicist, etc. Anyone else having this same experience?
I guess, if nothing else it really makes me value this group all the more.
Welcome, Zeec. We're glad you found us, too. The experience and advice you get from the authors on this thread is awesomely helpful. We learn so much from one another. I know I have. And keep us up to date on how your promotions are going. We can learn from your experience, also.
J.! What a wonderful thing to say. Your helpfulness and experience have contributed so much to this thread.I would like to thank all of you for making this thread a peaceful, friendly place to learn. I know David thanks you, too.
**applauding** :)
D. wrote: "Here's David Gaughran's recommended promo site list. https://davidgaughran.com/best-promo-...
He also has free courses and a weekly author newsletter. I've learned a lot from him.
E.K.,..."Thank you D...will surely check this out...
Groovy wrote: "Welcome, Zeec. We're glad you found us, too. The experience and advice you get from the authors on this thread is awesomely helpful. We learn so much from one another. I know I have. And keep us up..."Thank you Groovy....yes there's a lot to learn from all the positive discussion going on in this group. I am learning a lot....as far as learning from me part....I am still so much of a 'straggler'.......that it will be some time before I can give any useful advice to anyone here. I can't believe that for the first few months after publishing my first book, I was dumb enough to wait without doing anything.....thinking people will automatically find my book on Amazon (in the huge ocean that is)....😅
But the only sites I have tried till now are awesomegang, pretty-hot, bestbookmonkey, armadillo and topless cowboy and unfortunately there's been no sales....so as I said very much a straggler....but hopefully now I have a genuine place from where to learn.....
This month I started a book review site with my friend and we are looking for submissions! If you’re a self-published author or have an ARC, feel free to submit your book for review—it’s completely free. Check it out here:http://bookshelfie.co.uk
Zeec, I did the same thing when I first published my book. I didn't realize I had to promote it. Maple, I'd love a review of my book The Santa Secret. I didn't submit it on the form because it's free on all platforms.
Amazon finally price-matched it! And lots of readers are already downloading it without any advertising! Though I'll advertise it next week with the rest of the series at .99 each. I'll let you know how it goes.
I'm said many times I don't do social media. BUT I just joined Bluesky. People are leaving Twitter/X for Bluesky. We'll see how that goes.
Leon wrote: "J. wrote: "Leon,Looks like you have a number of books, too many to add to a post. Could you shoot me a title or two that you'd rather have posted?"
They are on sale the 29th/30th. You can do Euph..."
Thanks!
D. wrote: "Zeec, I did the same thing when I first published my book. I didn't realize I had to promote it. Maple, I'd love a review of my book The Santa Secret. I didn't submit it on the form because it's ..."
Wow.....I feel relieved to know that at least there are some others like me, who had such tough beginnings...
Btw....I have heard that it's good if we keep a book perma free on Amazon, preferably the first in a series.....does that actually work? And, how to go about making your ebook perma free? I have no idea regarding this.....any suggestions....
Hi Zeec, I've heard making the first book perma-free gets readers to buy the rest of the series, too, which is why I'm trying it. I can't tell you if it works yet. The way you make it perma-free is to publish it on another platform like Google, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or Apple. Or you can hit them all at once on Smashwords or Draft2Digital (which is what I used). Set the price to free and then contact Amazon and ask them to price match it. It can take some time for them to do that, as I learned. Since The Santa Secret has been free, only a few days, I've gotten about 40 downloads.
I think most of us thought when we started out, that once we published our first book, all those millions of readers on Amazon and Goodreads would automatically buy it. Who knew...
Leon wrote: "Leon wrote: "J. wrote: "Leon,Looks like you have a number of books, too many to add to a post. Could you shoot me a title or two that you'd rather have posted?"
They are on sale the 29th/30th. Yo..."
Leon,
Posted a dual notice for your book and one of mine on my website (very little traffic there), FB, LinkedIn, Tumbler and a shorter post on X and Threads. Not sure if it'll help with sales but it's out there along with a million other Black Friday ads. Good luck.
And good selling to everyone else here.
I am glad to be here and read your experiences. I have my first book in a countdown now at 99c. I am looking for good websites to promote my book because I have been all these launching days invaded by scammers on social media. A fellow author told me about book goodies, she said that she had a good result there. However, I have read others here and I appreciate the help. Thanks guys!
Darn, I'm still not being notified when there are new posts here! I'm pretty sure if you check back through this (very long) discussion that awesomegang is dodgy - I haven't heard of the others mentioned recently except for bestbookmonkey which has never given me a good result. Freebooksy/Bargainbooksy (run by WrittenWordMedia), FussyLibrarian, and E-Reader News Today are the best I've come across that I can afford (i.e. apart from Bookbub). Bookraid and Bookangel are also good and cheap. RobinReads has a good reputation. But none of these sites seems to work as well as it used to, at least for now.
Hi Mia, welcome to the group. Lexie, I have much the same results for the sites you mentioned. I do think it is getting harder to get the results from any of these sites that we got a few years back. The market seems to be getting more crowded.
I'm not getting notifications of updates for this discussion group either. Yes, results aren't as good as they used to be. In my promo starting on Monday, I'm using Book Raid, eReader IQ & Book Basset, eReader News Today (ENT), Fussy Librarian, My Book Cave, Robin Reads, and FreeBooksy. It will run for a week, and I'll let you know how it goes.
The Santa Secret (prequel) is free (perma-free) and the other 4 books in the series will be .99.
D. wrote: "Still trying to get Amazon to price match my free book The Santa Secret. I have it free on Google, Apple, B&N, and Kobo. I have promos set up starting next week. It's making me nervous. I stick w..."
I have two books which are priced FREE - Amazon lists one as FREE but the others is priced at 0.99
Lee, you have to ask Amazon to price-match and give them a link to show it's free elsewhere. Sometimes, it takes a while though.
I think someone here said that Goodreads no longer sends out email notifications. You have to check into the site from now on.
D. wrote: "Hi Zeec, I've heard making the first book perma-free gets readers to buy the rest of the series, too, which is why I'm trying it. I can't tell you if it works yet. The way you make it perma-free is..."D. wrote: "Hi Zeec, I've heard making the first book perma-free gets readers to buy the rest of the series, too, which is why I'm trying it. I can't tell you if it works yet. The way you make it perma-free is..."
Hey D.....Thanks for telling me......I will try this and check to see if it works out. I guess whatever downloads we get this way might somehow help us in the long run. Also, please do share about your experience with the downloads of "The Santa Secret" after a month or so....
I'm still not getting notifications - 29 posts I hadn't seen.The Fussy Librarian, as you know is reckoned to be one of the more reliable sites and it has lots of vacancies for December - I was surprised. Are we all too busy at the moment to promote? Very fairly priced too.
This is Day 3 of my promo. So far, The Santa Secret (free prequel) has had over 2,000 downloads and the other 4 books (at .99) in the series have sold over 80 combined. The books have gotten some reviews as well. So far, so good. Still, BookBub turned it down. Again! Ugh! I'll let you know final results. My other books never get results like this, but these are Christmas books in December. Fussy Librarian will be tomorrow.
D. wrote: "This is Day 3 of my promo. So far, The Santa Secret (free prequel) has had over 2,000 downloads and the other 4 books (at .99) in the series have sold over 80 combined. The books have gotten some r..."Looks like pretty good results. Let us know what happens with Fussy L.
Latest promo was with Book Raid, a site I've had sorta good results in the past. They charge per click so rate of buy per click is important here. This time around was the most disappointing ever. I got only 5 sales out of 290 clicks, 1.7% sale rate. My other ads here ranged between 8% and nearly 17%, plus clicks were much lower meaning my cost was lower. This time around I got over 5 times the clicks which runs up my cost making this ad more expensive than many of the sites that produce much higher. I think they must have a lot of people doing random clicks but really aren't interested in buying. Not sure I will use them again.And, just fyi, refused again at BookBub. Though I will try it again.
Stick with it everyone.
J. wrote: "Hi all,I want to ask a question not related to book promotion. I try to connect with other authors on other media and lately when I follow many of those claiming to be authors, what I get are DMs ..."
J, I've gotten those from Instagram. I've decided like so many on IG, they're scammers. I delete most of the DM's from IG nowadays.
Welcome to the group Mia and Zeek. It is very annoying not getting notifications. Sigh. I missed a lot of posts.Mia, I've had pretty good luck with ereaderiq and Free/Bargainbooksy. Book Cave has had fairly good results as well. eReader News Today (ENT) has also been good when I've used them.
Fussy Librarian has not fared so well for me lately. I've only had a few sales across the last couple promotions with them. I didn't use Book Gorilla for a long time (like a year or two), and I used them a few months back and was pleasantly surprised. I would make a guess that some are good if they are rotated in and out.
Hi group,I had an ad with Book Basset yesterday. Zero sales. I've used them before with about the same results so I am moving them off my list of sites to use.
Tomorrow Robin Reads.
Only my Christmas series seems to sell well. My other books have very little activity, even when I advertise. My Christmas books sell year-round with advertising only during the holidays. After Christmas and January are also good times to advertise as people have received Kindles as gifts and want to load them with books.
Advice? Um...
Can anyone help?