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

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message 101: by Effie (new)

Effie Kammenou Wow! Fantastic!


message 102: by Stephen (new)

Stephen Willis Thank you all very much for your comments, that is very helpful!

Marie-Silk those figures are great! What would you say you did to get that amazing pre-order figure? Also how did those promo sites promote you without reviews? Is that because you had many other reviews on other books?


message 103: by Marie Silk (new)

Marie Silk Stephen wrote: "What would you say you did to get that amazing pre-order figure? Also how did those promo sites promote you without reviews? Is that because you had many other reviews on other books?
"


Hi Stephen, I didn't actively promote the novella while it was on preorder because I think promotion dollars are better spent once a book is available for purchase. I did put the title and blurb in the back matter of another book in the series that was selling well. I think this is where the bulk of the preorders came from.

Since the book hadn't been released yet, it had zero reviews when I scheduled features with those promo sites. A few of them had no review requirement at all, others were okay with promoting a title with zero reviews as long as the author had other books with reviews with a decent star rating average.


message 104: by Effie (new)

Effie Kammenou Yesterday’s promotional day had few sales. Only 15 but again my KNEP doubled to 4000. I didn’t have much set up in the way of ads and definitely not one of the big performers. I’ve found in my past experience that the first and last day is always the best. My last day is the 26th. We shall see...


message 105: by Michele (new)

Michele Khoury Effie, 4,000 KNEP is impressive! Question: When BookBub accepted Evanthia's Gift, what did you include in the comment section? Did you write a short description, include snippets of reviews, include the number of Amazon reviews, professional reviews...? I'm wondering if the way we position our novels impacts their decision to accept or reject.

Also, wanted to share with everyone to be wary of OnLineBookClub.org. Seduced by their 600K membership, I spent $500 (OUCH!) on their advertising which boasted big sales, and didn't see an increase in sales until two months later when I did promotions with ERNT, BargainBooksy, BookGorilla, and The Fussy Librarian.


message 106: by Marie Silk (new)

Marie Silk Yikes, that's a lot of money. So sorry Michele :(.


message 107: by Marie Silk (new)

Marie Silk Effie wrote: "Yesterday’s promotional day had few sales. Only 15 but again my KNEP doubled to 4000. I didn’t have much set up in the way of ads and definitely not one of the big performers. I’ve found in my past..."

Part of me wonders how the new GDPR might have affected the advertising sites. My last promo (on June 3rd) had results on the low side for ads I used. I have a promo coming up on Wednesday so I'm wondering how it will perform compared to past promos before GDPR.


message 108: by Michele (new)

Michele Khoury Yes, Marie Silk, it is a lot of money. I’m embarrassed to admit that I bought into their hype that OnLineBookClub.org would deliver the same results as BookBub. Decided to share in hopes of saving someone else from wasting their hard-earned money.


message 109: by Marie Silk (new)

Marie Silk Been there, just with a different site that cost me nearly $500. It's not an online promo service but a service that puts your book on display at book fairs for schools and libraries. The company is called NABE. Unfortunately I didn't see any sales that I could attribute to the service.


message 110: by Effie (new)

Effie Kammenou Michele,
we've all done it once. I spent a fortune on book tour with Pump Up your Book because she boasted to be the best, have a pipeline to the more important magazines, & media, be the oldest and most experienced and have the best results. I spent around the same as you did on your ad with horrible results. I've spent a 5th of that money on book tours where the host worked hard for me, communicated constantly and the results were great. We live and learn through experience. I also hires a person to do some PR for me a little over a year ago and she took $250 from me and didn't do a thing. She closed up her business (all online) and couldn't be found again. Now, I don't use anyone unless I know another author who has used them and would recommend their services.

Marie Silk,

You make a great point. I think this might be part of the problem. I usually get a lot more activity with my UK kindle countdown. The sales are practically non existent this time around. All my sales on the promo are coming from the US.


message 111: by Eldon (new)

Eldon Farrell What is GDPR?


message 112: by Marie Silk (new)

Marie Silk Eldon wrote: "What is GDPR?"

It's a set of rules from Europe that went into effect at the end of May involving how customer data and email marketing should be handled. Many companies went so far as to email their subscriber lists with new privacy policies and a button to re-confirm the subscription. If any of the promotion sites we use are only sending email newsletters to people who have re-confirmed their subscriptions, that could be a small fraction of the subscription base that they had prior to this.


message 113: by Eldon (new)

Eldon Farrell Marie Silk wrote: "Eldon wrote: "What is GDPR?"

It's a set of rules from Europe that went into effect at the end of May involving how customer data and email marketing should be handled. Many companies went so far a..."


Cool. Thanks Marie!


message 114: by Effie (last edited Jun 24, 2018 07:41PM) (new)

Effie Kammenou I sent out a newsletter to new subscribers that I obtained through a group giveaway. I didn’t do a re-opt in. I just told them I want to be within compliance and although they had all agreed to be on the mailing list I told them they could always unsubscribe at the bottom. Many of these subscribers only wanted to enter the giveaway and so about 20% unsubscribed. Mailchimp flagged me and took my list away. They said I had to send out a re- opt in newsletter and only those subscribers who did would remain on my list.


message 115: by Groovy (new)

Groovy Lee Good news, Marie!

Sorry, Michele. And yes, your input will certainly help other authors to stay clear.

It occurs to me, $500 is a lot of money, so if they boast that kind of success but don't deliver, you should at least get some of that back.


message 116: by Michele (new)

Michele Khoury Thanks, Groovy. You’re right—I’ll contact them Monday morning. I don’t have much hope, but it’s worth a try.


message 117: by Theresa (new)

Theresa Effie wrote: "I sent out a newsletter to new subscribers that I obtained through a group giveaway. I didn’t do a re-opt in. I just told them I want to be within compliance and although they had all agreed to be ..."

Sounds like they are being very strict about it having to be a true re-opt-in for the mailing list. That's a good thing for other authors with that to know.


message 118: by Lexie (new)

Lexie Conyngham You need a paper trail to show that they opted in, not just that they have not opted out. It's a bit of a pest!


message 119: by Lexie (new)

Lexie Conyngham Effie, do you have a link for itsy bitsy book tours? I googled it but found lots of different sites and I don't want to end up in the wrong thing!

Thanks!


message 120: by Effie (new)

Effie Kammenou They prefer to speak to their customers through emails. When I found them they still had a website up. Now it's hard to find. itsybitsybookbitspromotions@gmail.com You will get back an automatic reply. Tell them I sent you (Effie Kammenou) and you want info. They will send you a doc with their services. I can send it to you too if you send me your email. It sometimes takes 24 hrs for them to get back.


message 121: by Effie (new)

Effie Kammenou Someone asked me about my bookbub ad and what I wrote in the comments when I submitted. Sorry, I didn't mean to overlook it. It's been a crazy weekend.

It was a while ago and I don't think I wrote too much. I probably only said that it won an award and which award it was. I didn't say anything about genre or the blurb.

Last time I submitted I mentioned my social media reach and how many reviews I had. It didn't help.

I'm hoping to get in with an aggressive price on the box set when it's ready. I hear they love to have box sets on their site. We shall see!


message 122: by Lexie (new)

Lexie Conyngham Effie wrote: "They prefer to speak to their customers through emails. When I found them they still had a website up. Now it's hard to find. itsybitsybookbitspromotions@gmail.com You will get back an automatic re..."

Thanks, Effie - I've contacted them. 24 hours isn't much!


message 123: by Michele (new)

Michele Khoury Hi Effie, I'd asked about BookBub. Thanks for the information. I need to figure out how to position my novel to get accepted. I wonder if they keep track of how many times they've rejected a specific book/author.


message 124: by Groovy (new)

Groovy Lee I have a question, Effie:

What is your take on Riffle? You weren't too happy with them before...


message 125: by Effie (new)

Effie Kammenou Michele,

Bookbub always says in their emails to try again in a month. I don't think they consider how many times you've been rejected. I thought that since I was accepted once they would give me greater consideration. I found that not to be true either. I think it depends on how many other books they have in your genre for that time period. I also think that the traditional authors are using them for their backlists and they give them priority. Nora Roberts and elfin Hilderbrand's older books will have more clout than unknown Effie Kammenou with her new title.

Groovy,

Riffle did not pay off at all. I will no longer pay that kind of money for an ad unless I know for sure they are proven to drive sales. $100 and only 53 sales total. I took several ads that day so not all of them came from riffle. In fairness, I'm not getting the results from any ad I've gotten in the past. Bargain booksy usually brings 100 sales. I only got 40. I think Marie Silk might be correct with her theory about the new European rules. All my sales are coming from the US even though I'm running a countdown in the UK also.


message 126: by Michele (new)

Michele Khoury Thanks, Effie. As always, I appreciate your insight and experience.


message 127: by Effie (new)

Effie Kammenou You're welcome!

So I'm experimenting. My countdown ends tomorrow at midnight. The only ad I have in for tomorrow is Bookraid for Waiting For Aegina. Today I only had an ad for the same book with Bookcave and Evanthia's Gift still out sold WFA. I wonder if when they click onto the page they see that WFA is the second book and decide to buy the first one.
So, I just set up a bookbub ad. One for each of the two books on countdown. $75 budget for each book and a bid of $1.25 cost per click. Let's see if I make my money back. I find that I still have decent sales with the bookbub ad, but it doesn't compare to the bookbub submitted deal.


message 128: by Effie (new)

Effie Kammenou Well, this is interesting. I've only been live on the Bookbub ads for half an hour and I've had 6 clicks. When I went to my KDP dashboard, I had 6 new sales!


message 129: by Shannon (new)

Shannon Heuston That’s great, Effie! I just got emailed info about placing a BookBub ad. I’ll have to take a look when I get a chance. I didn’t think you could have an ad with them unless they approved you for a promo, but I guess I was wrong about that!


message 130: by Groovy (new)

Groovy Lee That's good news, Effie:) And I'm staying away from Riffle.


message 131: by Effie (new)

Effie Kammenou Shannon, it was like that at the beginning. It was only open for authors they’ve featured. But I believe they’ve opened it up now to everyone.


message 132: by D. (new)

D. Thrush Effie wrote: "Shannon, it was like that at the beginning. It was only open for authors they’ve featured. But I believe they’ve opened it up now to everyone."


Effie, you must've used great keywords. What did you use? What genre are your books?


message 133: by Effie (new)

Effie Kammenou Women's fiction/contemporary romance. I've played around with my keywords. I think they are as good as I can get them. Some are very specific, some more general.


message 134: by Jaci (new)

Jaci Miller Well look who I found lol. Been away for a bit but figured out quickly what was going on.

I am running a Book Promotion right now with Itsy Bitsy, started on Sunday - two weeks for The Scrying and another two for The Hallowed. They are great to work with and I am getting a lot of exposure, we will see what comes of it with regards to sales etc.

I have a Kindle Countdown for The Scrying coming up in early August. Had to push it out so I could get in with the big guys, specidically Book Barbarian which promotes sci-fi/fantasy. I am not putting The Hallowed on sale as I want to see if the first book on sale will generate sales on the second in the trilogy. This is my first promo since The Hallowed came out so we will see :)


message 135: by D. (new)

D. Thrush Effie wrote: "Women's fiction/contemporary romance. I've played around with my keywords. I think they are as good as I can get them. Some are very specific, some more general."


I'm thinking of trying a BookBub ad. How much was your book? And how is it going?


message 136: by Effie (new)

Effie Kammenou Jaci! I’m sorry. I thought I told you.

D I’ll let you know at the end of today how the bookbub ad fared.


message 137: by Groovy (new)

Groovy Lee Jaci, I'm so sorry, too. I honestly thought I saw you on Shannon's FB Group. I'm so glad you found us. I hope we didn't forget some others.


message 138: by Effie (new)

Effie Kammenou Well, A.W. is at it again. In another thread that was just started about a mailing list builder someone is trying to do and get authors to sign onto, he signed on with the comment asking if the mailing list builder is GDPR compliant. I suspect he's going to start trouble and before you know it the others will show up.


message 139: by Jaci (new)

Jaci Miller No worries peeps, I can always find you 🤪


message 140: by Effie (new)

Effie Kammenou Jaci,

I miss talking to you, but I'm loving your little guy's instagram profile!


message 141: by Effie (new)

Effie Kammenou So my countdown is over. It's not the most successful one I've had but it wasn't bad either. I think next time I am going to cut way back on the ads and only go for a few sure performers.

In another issue, I contacted amazon late last night regarding my reviews. I want a reason why I lost 3 two weeks ago and 1 yesterday. I also want to know why readers have contacted me to tell me they are having difficulty posting a review for the new book. I want to know which reviews they removed and why. I'm exclusive with amazon and follow their rules. This morning I woke up to find another review gone for both EG & WFA.


message 142: by Effie (new)

Effie Kammenou Oh, by the way the bookbub ad gained me 76 sales. Not too bad. I was hoping for more.


message 143: by Marie Silk (last edited Jun 27, 2018 07:52AM) (new)

Marie Silk Would you mind breaking down the Bookbub ad into impressions and clicks and budget? Did you refine by author or book category? I haven't tried a Bookbub ad for Amazon yet, but for my BN ad, I didn't get many sales out of the 288 clicks with $100 budget and max bid 50 cents. I can't say for sure which sales came from that and which came from other promos, but I had less than 20 sales on BN, which is why I can say I didn't get many. I'd really like to get these ads figured out :).


message 144: by Jaci (new)

Jaci Miller Effie wrote: "Jaci,

I miss talking to you, but I'm loving your little guy's instagram profile!"


Haha thanks! Ike is more popular than I am. You and I will have to catch up soon!


message 145: by Jaci (last edited Jun 27, 2018 08:12AM) (new)

Jaci Miller Effie wrote: "So my countdown is over. It's not the most successful one I've had but it wasn't bad either. I think next time I am going to cut way back on the ads and only go for a few sure performers.

In anoth..."


I had a review removed when I first published The Scrying and although I could still see it on my Amazon Author profile it was not on the main site. I contacted Amazon central to ask why and the gentleman I spoke with told me that amazon has an entire dept. dedicated to checking reviews to validate them. He assumed it was removed because the review in question was either connected to me through a social media site or because we had the same zip code so it might be someone I know? After digging a little deeper I discovered that she was my friend’s husbands, best friends, girlfriends, friend.....did you get that lol. I don’t know her personally but there is a likelihood we might have crossed paths at some point.

Check your Amazon author page and see if the missing reviews are still there, it might give you some insight.


message 146: by Michele (new)

Michele Khoury Effie, Sorry to hear about Amazon removing reviews. This is enormously frustrating.

In terms of the BookBub ad, congratulations on selling 76. That's better than nothing! Question: What price did you charge for your book?


message 147: by D. (new)

D. Thrush Jaci wrote: "Effie wrote: "So my countdown is over. It's not the most successful one I've had but it wasn't bad either. I think next time I am going to cut way back on the ads and only go for a few sure perform..."


I've had 4 reviews disappear for one of my books one by one for no reason probably months after they were posted. Amazon told me they can't say why a reviewer would remove a review, which I don't think is the case. It's either some glitch or Amazon removes reviews for perceived violations and there's nothing you can do.


message 148: by Effie (new)

Effie Kammenou Michele, I can break it down when I get home from work tonight. I can tell you that most of the impressions and clicks came from the UK which surprised me.

Jaci, that’s really reaching on a personal connection and so unfair. I’ve done many local events where people bought my books. They are all exempt because they live near me or spike to me? That’s ridiculous.


message 149: by D. (new)

D. Thrush Effie, what was the price of your book for your BB ad?


message 150: by Effie (new)

Effie Kammenou It was a pay per click and I set the budget and price. I’ll give the details tonight.

Look at this article I’m included in. Hope this gives me more exposure. https://www.buzzfeed.com/authorkcasey...


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