B.E. Sanderson's Blog, page 27
June 9, 2019
Watch Everything
Over the weekend, I sold a book. Yes, I sell few enough right now that it's an event, but that's not why I bring it up. I sold a copy of a book at $3.99. And I got $1.40 in royalties when I should have gotten $2.74. (When you're small beans, every penny counts.)
Basically, they gave me the 35% royalty rate instead of the 70% rate.
Once I realized this, I checked first to make sure I hadn't accidentally clicked the 35% rate at some point. Nope. I've got it clicked right. Then I contacted Amazon to get it fixed. (I'm still waiting on a reply at the time of this post's creation.)
Then I got to thinking. I don't usually check this stuff. Usually, I assume everything is hunky-dory until I match up the deposits with the amounts I assume I'm going to get. Which is two months down the road from the actual sale. So far, everything has matched up.
But what if it didn't?
And what if I was selling way more books, so one messed up royalty percentage wasn't as obvious?
What a clusterfuck that would be.
Now, I don't believe this was intentional. I think it's more an issue of the massive amount of calculations and code it takes to run a website like Amazon. There are bound to be errors now and again.
Sometimes, it's a customer issue. In February, Amazon showed that I sold a copy of Project Hermes, but the money never showed in my Royalties Earned section. I chalked that up to the actual payment never going through - which sometimes happened. Sucks, but it does. Oddly enough, I got paid for a copy of PH in April that I never showed selling. So it all worked out somehow or other.
My point is authors really have to watch what's going on. All of it. All the time. $1.34 doesn't sound like a lot, but it adds up over time. Or think of it this way, that's a cup of coffee. Over 100 sales, it's $134 which I'm sure none of us can afford to lose. Over 1000 sales... 10000 sales...
:shudder:
Or think about the agent that screwed all those authors out of royalties last year because he was funneling the money into his private charity. And somehow the authors just assumed their books weren't selling? I'd be watching even closer when someone was handling those amounts of my money. Embezzling... it's a real thing, folks.
I know it's a pain in the ass to have to watch every little thing. We've all got better things to do with our time than babysit this stuff. But not watching could really hurt the bottom line. And I, personally, like to get paid what I'm owed.
Anyway, I'll try to remember to let you know how this all works out. I have every faith that Amazon will fix my little burp. Well, not every faith. I did screen capture how my pricing page looked for WIOH before I emailed them. You know, just in case. ;o)
Basically, they gave me the 35% royalty rate instead of the 70% rate.
Once I realized this, I checked first to make sure I hadn't accidentally clicked the 35% rate at some point. Nope. I've got it clicked right. Then I contacted Amazon to get it fixed. (I'm still waiting on a reply at the time of this post's creation.)
Then I got to thinking. I don't usually check this stuff. Usually, I assume everything is hunky-dory until I match up the deposits with the amounts I assume I'm going to get. Which is two months down the road from the actual sale. So far, everything has matched up.
But what if it didn't?
And what if I was selling way more books, so one messed up royalty percentage wasn't as obvious?
What a clusterfuck that would be.
Now, I don't believe this was intentional. I think it's more an issue of the massive amount of calculations and code it takes to run a website like Amazon. There are bound to be errors now and again.
Sometimes, it's a customer issue. In February, Amazon showed that I sold a copy of Project Hermes, but the money never showed in my Royalties Earned section. I chalked that up to the actual payment never going through - which sometimes happened. Sucks, but it does. Oddly enough, I got paid for a copy of PH in April that I never showed selling. So it all worked out somehow or other.
My point is authors really have to watch what's going on. All of it. All the time. $1.34 doesn't sound like a lot, but it adds up over time. Or think of it this way, that's a cup of coffee. Over 100 sales, it's $134 which I'm sure none of us can afford to lose. Over 1000 sales... 10000 sales...
:shudder:
Or think about the agent that screwed all those authors out of royalties last year because he was funneling the money into his private charity. And somehow the authors just assumed their books weren't selling? I'd be watching even closer when someone was handling those amounts of my money. Embezzling... it's a real thing, folks.
I know it's a pain in the ass to have to watch every little thing. We've all got better things to do with our time than babysit this stuff. But not watching could really hurt the bottom line. And I, personally, like to get paid what I'm owed.
Anyway, I'll try to remember to let you know how this all works out. I have every faith that Amazon will fix my little burp. Well, not every faith. I did screen capture how my pricing page looked for WIOH before I emailed them. You know, just in case. ;o)
June 6, 2019
A Business Like No Other
I've seen a lot online* recently about treating this writing/publishing thing as a business. And I don't disagree. It is a business.
Unfortunately, for most of us, it's a business that's not making enough money to keep a bird alive and would close it's doors in a day if it were any other type of business. So, treating it as a business... in say the same way one would look at a store or a restaurant or an accounting firm... isn't exactly feasible.
If the business my father started back in 1983 behaved the way this writing business does, it wouldn't have made it 36 years. Sure, the first few years sucked. That's to be expected in any new business. But by five years in, if you're not making money, you should probably send all the employees home and close the doors.
Oh, I get how the whole 'it's a business' thing helps keep the mindset of 'show up every day, work your hours, etc.' So you're treating this as a job and not a hobby.
But let's not fool ourselves overly much. This is a business like no other business. We work in our pajamas for petesakes.
We don't have employees, per se. (Editors and cover artists are contractors, not employees.) We are every employee wrapped up into one person. And most of us should probably be fired from at least one of those positions. Except we can't fire ourselves from anything because if we stop doing it, we're screwed.
We keep strange hours and they differ from writer to writer and sometimes from day to day - or to paraphrase Steven Wright "Open 24 hours... but not in a row."
We almost never know or see our customers. "Hey, look at that, someone in the UK is reading Natural Causes. Don't know who or why or how they found it, but cool."
90% of our work is in our heads, for petesakes.
So, treat it like a business if it gets you motivated and your butt in the chair doing your job. Personally, for me, it would be easier to treat it like a business if it was actually making money. Or maybe it would make more money if I treated it more like a business. I'm not sure about that, though. In the past, I've shown up and put in the hours and still no monies, which makes me less likely to want to show up and put in the hours now. Especially when I can spend time doing spreadsheets and actually getting checks for my time.
Treat it like a business, but always remember that non-writing businesses don't work this way.
* Complete disclosure - I didn't read the online articles, so they could've said exactly what I'm saying. These are just the thoughts I had after seeing people talking about the subject.
Unfortunately, for most of us, it's a business that's not making enough money to keep a bird alive and would close it's doors in a day if it were any other type of business. So, treating it as a business... in say the same way one would look at a store or a restaurant or an accounting firm... isn't exactly feasible.
If the business my father started back in 1983 behaved the way this writing business does, it wouldn't have made it 36 years. Sure, the first few years sucked. That's to be expected in any new business. But by five years in, if you're not making money, you should probably send all the employees home and close the doors.
Oh, I get how the whole 'it's a business' thing helps keep the mindset of 'show up every day, work your hours, etc.' So you're treating this as a job and not a hobby.
But let's not fool ourselves overly much. This is a business like no other business. We work in our pajamas for petesakes.
We don't have employees, per se. (Editors and cover artists are contractors, not employees.) We are every employee wrapped up into one person. And most of us should probably be fired from at least one of those positions. Except we can't fire ourselves from anything because if we stop doing it, we're screwed.
We keep strange hours and they differ from writer to writer and sometimes from day to day - or to paraphrase Steven Wright "Open 24 hours... but not in a row."
We almost never know or see our customers. "Hey, look at that, someone in the UK is reading Natural Causes. Don't know who or why or how they found it, but cool."
90% of our work is in our heads, for petesakes.
So, treat it like a business if it gets you motivated and your butt in the chair doing your job. Personally, for me, it would be easier to treat it like a business if it was actually making money. Or maybe it would make more money if I treated it more like a business. I'm not sure about that, though. In the past, I've shown up and put in the hours and still no monies, which makes me less likely to want to show up and put in the hours now. Especially when I can spend time doing spreadsheets and actually getting checks for my time.
Treat it like a business, but always remember that non-writing businesses don't work this way.
* Complete disclosure - I didn't read the online articles, so they could've said exactly what I'm saying. These are just the thoughts I had after seeing people talking about the subject.
June 5, 2019
Pondering
I saw something yesterday that asked what current books we thought would be considered classics in 100 years. I didn't bother seeing what other people were saying might be classic because that would just be depressing, but it did get me to thinking.
I don't write classics for the most part. I expect that as long as I keep advertising the books, people will keep buying them for 5-10 years. But classic? Not really. The SCIU series and the OUAD series are entertainment. So's the Sleeping Ugly series if I ever get it past the first book.
I'd like for Project Hermes to achieve the sort of status of Patriot Games, but I'm not fooling myself. It'll never be a movie.
If 100 years from now people pick up Blink of an I or Unequal and think 'wow', I'd be happy. Then again, I'll be dead, so it probably won't matter much. Still, I'd like for those to be classics someday. Again, not fooling myself here.
I wonder what the authors of 100 years ago thought about their books. Were they thinking 'this is going to be a classic' or were they just hoping to make enough money to pay the rent?
A lot has changed since then. I mean, all of the books of 100 years ago were paper. And they all had to wait for some publishing company to recognize their brilliance so the masses could even have a chance of reading their books. Now? No waiting, but also way harder to get noticed and get read by even a portion of the masses.
I'm sure there are a wealth of awesome books out there withering on the wine. Mine could be several of them. And the world will never know they existed.
Don't mind me, I'm just pondering this morning. Since I don't really read books anyone might consider potential future classics*, let me know if you've read anything new you think might fit the bill.
*In case you don't follow The Writing Spectacle, where I talk about my reading habits, I primarily read either old books or new ones that are underappreciated. When I do pick up a newer traditionally published book, it's from a thrift store.
I don't write classics for the most part. I expect that as long as I keep advertising the books, people will keep buying them for 5-10 years. But classic? Not really. The SCIU series and the OUAD series are entertainment. So's the Sleeping Ugly series if I ever get it past the first book.
I'd like for Project Hermes to achieve the sort of status of Patriot Games, but I'm not fooling myself. It'll never be a movie.
If 100 years from now people pick up Blink of an I or Unequal and think 'wow', I'd be happy. Then again, I'll be dead, so it probably won't matter much. Still, I'd like for those to be classics someday. Again, not fooling myself here.
I wonder what the authors of 100 years ago thought about their books. Were they thinking 'this is going to be a classic' or were they just hoping to make enough money to pay the rent?
A lot has changed since then. I mean, all of the books of 100 years ago were paper. And they all had to wait for some publishing company to recognize their brilliance so the masses could even have a chance of reading their books. Now? No waiting, but also way harder to get noticed and get read by even a portion of the masses.
I'm sure there are a wealth of awesome books out there withering on the wine. Mine could be several of them. And the world will never know they existed.
Don't mind me, I'm just pondering this morning. Since I don't really read books anyone might consider potential future classics*, let me know if you've read anything new you think might fit the bill.
*In case you don't follow The Writing Spectacle, where I talk about my reading habits, I primarily read either old books or new ones that are underappreciated. When I do pick up a newer traditionally published book, it's from a thrift store.
June 3, 2019
KU, Page Read Vacuum, and the Timesuck That is Writing Forums
As you know, I had the Once Upon a Djinn books on sale. And this is the point at which I should be seeing residual Page Reads mounting. Except I'm not.
So, I says to myself this morning... 'Self?' I says. "I wonder what the hell is up with Kindle Unlimited? And finding no answer in my head, I went in search of people who were perhaps in the know about such things. And the only place I know of to go is the KDP community forum.
Yeah, yeah, if you know me, you know I don't do forums. At least not in any participatory way and rarely in a read-and-learn way. (Long story... old story... blah and yawn.)
Anyway, I was scrolling though the forum, trying to discern the answer to my question. I clicked on a post that I thought might help. Nope. Someone asking a question that might've been answered by doing what I was doing, and then getting a 'well, duh' answer and then getting her undies in a wad because she felt like she was being bullied. Clicked on another... Same same. Then I clicked on a thread because I wanted to laugh at the responses to the question of 'why is everyone so vicious here?' (and they spelled vicious wrong... on a writing forum... derp.) Then I got sucked into a post that's subject was so horribly written it made me want to gouge out my eyes. You know, just for kicks.
And then I remembered I was supposed to be trying to answer a question and I left because being in there is suck a huge waste of time. Which is pretty much what happens when I go into any forum lately.
Yes, I could've tried searching the topic. I've done that in the past and get more useless hits than useful ones. Sometimes it's better to just scroll down the list and hope for the best.
Anyway... again... I did find that other writers seem to be in the same position (i.e. Kindle page reads are down), but no real clue as to why. It could be that so much drek is floating around in the program and readers are being so consistently burned by crap that they're not using KU as much as they used to. That's my guess anyway. Not sure what the answer is. I know I don't want to go wide, but it may be the only answer.
The problem with even exploring that is my Kindle Select dates aren't up for an entire series any time soon. And it's such a pain in the ass to go through all my books and change all the links so they don't point to Amazon. Ugh.
I also noted, in the forums, that the general consensus is ads are paying for themselves, but no one is seeing sales like they used to. So, I guess we're all in this together. I'm guessing again but I think it's the glut of potential reading material.
Imagine you're in a stadium full of people and you're trying to find one person you might want to be friends with but you've never met them and you aren't sure what any of them are like. That one is wearing a brightly colored shirt, but when you step up to him, you discover he's boring. You overhear a woman talking and she sounds interesting, so you step up and find out she's kind of repeating the same things you've heard over and over. There might be a good one in there somewhere, but finding them is hard and the harder things are the less likely we are to do them. And so you get a headache and you go home.
I imagine that's kind of like what being a reader these days is like.
Wish I had better information for you this morning. Like I said, I tried. I may try to research this more after I've had some more coffee and the memory of the forum timesuck has faded a bit.
What say you?
So, I says to myself this morning... 'Self?' I says. "I wonder what the hell is up with Kindle Unlimited? And finding no answer in my head, I went in search of people who were perhaps in the know about such things. And the only place I know of to go is the KDP community forum.
Yeah, yeah, if you know me, you know I don't do forums. At least not in any participatory way and rarely in a read-and-learn way. (Long story... old story... blah and yawn.)
Anyway, I was scrolling though the forum, trying to discern the answer to my question. I clicked on a post that I thought might help. Nope. Someone asking a question that might've been answered by doing what I was doing, and then getting a 'well, duh' answer and then getting her undies in a wad because she felt like she was being bullied. Clicked on another... Same same. Then I clicked on a thread because I wanted to laugh at the responses to the question of 'why is everyone so vicious here?' (and they spelled vicious wrong... on a writing forum... derp.) Then I got sucked into a post that's subject was so horribly written it made me want to gouge out my eyes. You know, just for kicks.
And then I remembered I was supposed to be trying to answer a question and I left because being in there is suck a huge waste of time. Which is pretty much what happens when I go into any forum lately.
Yes, I could've tried searching the topic. I've done that in the past and get more useless hits than useful ones. Sometimes it's better to just scroll down the list and hope for the best.
Anyway... again... I did find that other writers seem to be in the same position (i.e. Kindle page reads are down), but no real clue as to why. It could be that so much drek is floating around in the program and readers are being so consistently burned by crap that they're not using KU as much as they used to. That's my guess anyway. Not sure what the answer is. I know I don't want to go wide, but it may be the only answer.
The problem with even exploring that is my Kindle Select dates aren't up for an entire series any time soon. And it's such a pain in the ass to go through all my books and change all the links so they don't point to Amazon. Ugh.
I also noted, in the forums, that the general consensus is ads are paying for themselves, but no one is seeing sales like they used to. So, I guess we're all in this together. I'm guessing again but I think it's the glut of potential reading material.
Imagine you're in a stadium full of people and you're trying to find one person you might want to be friends with but you've never met them and you aren't sure what any of them are like. That one is wearing a brightly colored shirt, but when you step up to him, you discover he's boring. You overhear a woman talking and she sounds interesting, so you step up and find out she's kind of repeating the same things you've heard over and over. There might be a good one in there somewhere, but finding them is hard and the harder things are the less likely we are to do them. And so you get a headache and you go home.
I imagine that's kind of like what being a reader these days is like.
Wish I had better information for you this morning. Like I said, I tried. I may try to research this more after I've had some more coffee and the memory of the forum timesuck has faded a bit.
What say you?
May 30, 2019
Another Marketing Post
Marketing... For indie authors, it's sort of a throw it at the wall and hope it sticks kind of thing for the most part. I mean, if we had publishers worth their salt, we'd know what marketing worked and aim at the wall better with stickier stuff. But we don't. It's all on us to figure this stuff out.
So, this year, I've been trying some things to see what works for me and what doesn't. And I'm trying to share that with all of you because we're in the same boat and what the hell, right?
One of the things I've done is tracking. Everything. Sales - in quantity and dollars, ROI (Return On Investment), page reads in relation to marketing... I have spreadsheets and graphs. It's all very pretty.
See?
We already know one of the things I've discovered and talked about ad nauseum. Ads increase sales... err, during promos. (Ads without promotional pricing are pretty much duds.) I paid for ads in February, April, and May. No paid ads in January or March. The graph shows how all that worked out, eh?
Another thing we all pretty much know is promos increase sales quantities. But we also need to remember that they decrease the dollar per book averages. I know, it's sort of a 'well, duh' moment. It's all well and good to move a lot of books at 99c (which during a promo nets an average of 65c per), but if you're not selling books at regular prices, the average tanks. I'm sitting at an avg of $1.02 per book this year and $1.21 per over the past four+ years.
This year, I've also been tracking my book downloads and purchases. I was doing this mainly so I'd know what books I have, what I've read, and what I didn't finish. Also, it helps me keep track of my book buying budget. $31.83 spent this year so far.
But yesterday, I thought it might help with something else.
I was thinking about where to market books next month. Should I go with Robin Reads? Ereader News Today? Book Adrenaline? Where would my money best be placed?
Historical data on ROI points to ENT. Of course. But when I checked, I discovered my own reading habits also point to ENT. Of all the places I've discovered books this year, ENT wins hands down. Then Freebooksy/Bargainbooksy. Then Reading Deals. Book Gorilla and Robin Reads are down near the bottom.
Now, this is just anecdotal evidence. And you have to remember, I'm downloading mostly free books right now. And with a lot of marketing venues, ads for free books cost more than ads for 99c books. I don't know about other authors, but I have a tough time paying for an ad for a book that's not going to make me any money. So I assume there's fewer people who put free books in places like Book Gorilla and Robin Reads, which would lead to a lower download rate from me. Still, it's something to think about.
Then there's the fact that some venues are harder to get advertising with that others. I've been using BargainBooksy a lot lately because they have an easy policy and it's clear what dates are available right when you sign up - and you get to choose your date. No waiting for someone to get back to me with a date or a rejection. Bing bang boom. The problem is I think BargainBooksy is almost tapped out for me this year. I mean, both ads this year paid for themselves, but this recent one paid a lot less than the last. Of course, that was for OUAD. Might still be some readers who haven't seen SCIU yet.
It's all a balancing act. :cue circus music:
Anyway, I hope some of this helps. As always, if you have any questions, let me know. If you have anything to add, feel free. Good luck in your marketing efforts and I hope you sell tons of books!
So, this year, I've been trying some things to see what works for me and what doesn't. And I'm trying to share that with all of you because we're in the same boat and what the hell, right?
One of the things I've done is tracking. Everything. Sales - in quantity and dollars, ROI (Return On Investment), page reads in relation to marketing... I have spreadsheets and graphs. It's all very pretty.
See? We already know one of the things I've discovered and talked about ad nauseum. Ads increase sales... err, during promos. (Ads without promotional pricing are pretty much duds.) I paid for ads in February, April, and May. No paid ads in January or March. The graph shows how all that worked out, eh?
Another thing we all pretty much know is promos increase sales quantities. But we also need to remember that they decrease the dollar per book averages. I know, it's sort of a 'well, duh' moment. It's all well and good to move a lot of books at 99c (which during a promo nets an average of 65c per), but if you're not selling books at regular prices, the average tanks. I'm sitting at an avg of $1.02 per book this year and $1.21 per over the past four+ years.
This year, I've also been tracking my book downloads and purchases. I was doing this mainly so I'd know what books I have, what I've read, and what I didn't finish. Also, it helps me keep track of my book buying budget. $31.83 spent this year so far.
But yesterday, I thought it might help with something else.
I was thinking about where to market books next month. Should I go with Robin Reads? Ereader News Today? Book Adrenaline? Where would my money best be placed?
Historical data on ROI points to ENT. Of course. But when I checked, I discovered my own reading habits also point to ENT. Of all the places I've discovered books this year, ENT wins hands down. Then Freebooksy/Bargainbooksy. Then Reading Deals. Book Gorilla and Robin Reads are down near the bottom.
Now, this is just anecdotal evidence. And you have to remember, I'm downloading mostly free books right now. And with a lot of marketing venues, ads for free books cost more than ads for 99c books. I don't know about other authors, but I have a tough time paying for an ad for a book that's not going to make me any money. So I assume there's fewer people who put free books in places like Book Gorilla and Robin Reads, which would lead to a lower download rate from me. Still, it's something to think about.
Then there's the fact that some venues are harder to get advertising with that others. I've been using BargainBooksy a lot lately because they have an easy policy and it's clear what dates are available right when you sign up - and you get to choose your date. No waiting for someone to get back to me with a date or a rejection. Bing bang boom. The problem is I think BargainBooksy is almost tapped out for me this year. I mean, both ads this year paid for themselves, but this recent one paid a lot less than the last. Of course, that was for OUAD. Might still be some readers who haven't seen SCIU yet.
It's all a balancing act. :cue circus music:
Anyway, I hope some of this helps. As always, if you have any questions, let me know. If you have anything to add, feel free. Good luck in your marketing efforts and I hope you sell tons of books!
May 28, 2019
Sale Wrap-up Post
Okay, so there was a sale. All four of the Once Upon a Djinn books were 99c/99p each for a bit there. And the sales were fine. Not OMG! HOW AWESOME IS THAT!, but fine.
As I said before, I managed to glean some sales on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week through simple FB Group posts. The ad with Bargain Booksy got me a total of 46 sales on Thursday. Friday saw 6 additional sales. Saturday, I only sold 2. Sunday was crickets, but I saw 5 sales first thing Monday morning before the big 'end of sale' FB push. Unfortunately, my marketing efforts on the final day of the sale didn't sell any other books.
I had a slight burp on Monday when I discovered that Amazon had raised the price of Up Wish Creek a day early. (Still said the sale was In Progress, but it wasn't. I think it had to do with its KDP 90 days ending on the 27th, but... meh.) I had to change my marketing plan, of course. Can't market the series as being 99c each when the third book is $3.99. So, I shifted gears and only marketed Wish in One Hand at 99c/99p. Apparently, that didn't do a darn thing. :shrug:
Ah, the vagaries of marketing and book selling.
Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. Sure, I'd like to have seen sales really take off, but that would be like winning the lottery, and we all know how that works. I'm just glad I covered the cost of the ad and that more people are reading the Once Upon a Djinn books.
During the sale, I sold 75 books. Now we wait and see if any residual sales or page reads come in.
As for Rankings, WIOH started out in the US at 797201 and hit 15588 overall and 1077 in urban fantasy at the top. It ended the sale at 124365 / 5787. Those aren't numbers that will attract anyone on their own, but maybe someone stopping by will see them and feel a little better about trying the books.
Next month, time and fundage willing, I will have a sale with advertising for the SCIU series. I really need to start thinking about this stuff more than a month in advance. The closer it is, the harder it is to get marketing at a variety of venues.
Any questions? Did I forget anything pertinent?
As I said before, I managed to glean some sales on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week through simple FB Group posts. The ad with Bargain Booksy got me a total of 46 sales on Thursday. Friday saw 6 additional sales. Saturday, I only sold 2. Sunday was crickets, but I saw 5 sales first thing Monday morning before the big 'end of sale' FB push. Unfortunately, my marketing efforts on the final day of the sale didn't sell any other books.
I had a slight burp on Monday when I discovered that Amazon had raised the price of Up Wish Creek a day early. (Still said the sale was In Progress, but it wasn't. I think it had to do with its KDP 90 days ending on the 27th, but... meh.) I had to change my marketing plan, of course. Can't market the series as being 99c each when the third book is $3.99. So, I shifted gears and only marketed Wish in One Hand at 99c/99p. Apparently, that didn't do a darn thing. :shrug:
Ah, the vagaries of marketing and book selling.
Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. Sure, I'd like to have seen sales really take off, but that would be like winning the lottery, and we all know how that works. I'm just glad I covered the cost of the ad and that more people are reading the Once Upon a Djinn books.
During the sale, I sold 75 books. Now we wait and see if any residual sales or page reads come in.
As for Rankings, WIOH started out in the US at 797201 and hit 15588 overall and 1077 in urban fantasy at the top. It ended the sale at 124365 / 5787. Those aren't numbers that will attract anyone on their own, but maybe someone stopping by will see them and feel a little better about trying the books.
Next month, time and fundage willing, I will have a sale with advertising for the SCIU series. I really need to start thinking about this stuff more than a month in advance. The closer it is, the harder it is to get marketing at a variety of venues.
Any questions? Did I forget anything pertinent?
May 26, 2019
FB Group Marketing Update
I know all of us are trying our damnedest to find the magic formula that will sell books. I don't have one. What I do have is a list of Facebook Groups that I market to**, in the hopes that someone getting the feed from those groups will be interested in the books I'm advertising. This sale I'm having (today's the last day) has born out the necessity for using this tactic.
The sale started last Tuesday. The paid ad didn't go live until Thursday, but I wanted to get a jump on knocking those Amazon rankings down to a more acceptable level, so I started first thing Tuesday morning with FB Group posts. By the time the ad went live, I'd sold 16 books (4 complete sets) using only those posts. And my rankings for all four books had dropped from the stratosphere down to the 110Ks.
Then the ad went live. Right now, I don't FB market on the days my ads go live - because I want to see which sales are almost certainly directly relatable to those ads. But Friday, I started up again with the ads. I should've hit the ground running and started with the ads first thing, when the rankings were at their lowest point, but I lazed and only ran half the posts at 6:15a. The other half got posts around 3p. Got some residual sales then. I took Saturday off for the most part and only posted to one new group. Saw a couple sales that day. Bright and early Sunday morning, I posted to all the groups. No sales on Sunday, but I woke up to five sales this morning. By the time you read this today, I will have done a final push. Fingers crossed it brings in additional sales.
I'll post more about the actual sales numbers on Wednesday.
As for the groups I post to, the list has grown and here it is:
Amazon Kindle Goodreads
Indie Authors International
Self-Published Crime Fiction Writers*
Crime, Thriller, Mystery Readers' Cafe*
Kindle Unlimited
Thriller Mystery and Suspense Book Club*
Thrillers, Killers, & Suspense*
Kindle/Book Club
Mystery and Thriller Publicity Book Club*
Indie Sci-Fi and Fantasy Book Promotion
Free Kindle Books*
Kindle Krazy! Authors Actively Seeking Readers
Ebook, Book Ads and Self Promotion
Book Reviews and Promotion
Shamelessly Promote Your Books
Free Kindle Books UK*
Kindle Readers and Authors (new)
Promote Your Books Here (new)
* Not used during this sale because the genre or the price didn't fit.
If you remember the list from before, there are a few missing. For one reason or another, I left those groups and made a note to not rejoin them. Also, I have two groups I've requested membership to but they're still pending. If they accept me, I'll put them on the next list.
As always, if you use the above groups, please pay attention to their rules. For instance, the owner of the Indie Sci-Fi and Fantasy Book Promotions Group has a strict rule about 'no romance / no sex'. Not that books can't have those things, but they'd better not be the primary storyline in the books you promote there. Unfortunately, people keep trying to break his rule and it seems to irritate the crap out of him. Do not irritate the people you're trying to market through. Seriously, don't.
And the Free Kindle Books UK isn't a group. It's a page and if you want to have your books marketed there, you have to send a message to the page's owner. She's been prompt and pretty cool, but don't push it.
Of course, posting to these groups can be a drudge. Picking the image, creating the verbiage, and then posting posting posting... Blerg. But for the time I put in on Tuesday/Wednesday, I made about $10 and that ain't bad. Plus, it was worth it to help boost ad sales.
I feel like I'm forgetting something, so if you have any questions, ask away. And whatever your marketing efforts, good luck!
** For free. Posting to FB Groups doesn't cost a dime. Shhh, don't tell FB or they'll find a way to charge us for it or something.
The sale started last Tuesday. The paid ad didn't go live until Thursday, but I wanted to get a jump on knocking those Amazon rankings down to a more acceptable level, so I started first thing Tuesday morning with FB Group posts. By the time the ad went live, I'd sold 16 books (4 complete sets) using only those posts. And my rankings for all four books had dropped from the stratosphere down to the 110Ks.
Then the ad went live. Right now, I don't FB market on the days my ads go live - because I want to see which sales are almost certainly directly relatable to those ads. But Friday, I started up again with the ads. I should've hit the ground running and started with the ads first thing, when the rankings were at their lowest point, but I lazed and only ran half the posts at 6:15a. The other half got posts around 3p. Got some residual sales then. I took Saturday off for the most part and only posted to one new group. Saw a couple sales that day. Bright and early Sunday morning, I posted to all the groups. No sales on Sunday, but I woke up to five sales this morning. By the time you read this today, I will have done a final push. Fingers crossed it brings in additional sales.
I'll post more about the actual sales numbers on Wednesday.
As for the groups I post to, the list has grown and here it is:
Amazon Kindle Goodreads
Indie Authors International
Self-Published Crime Fiction Writers*
Crime, Thriller, Mystery Readers' Cafe*
Kindle Unlimited
Thriller Mystery and Suspense Book Club*
Thrillers, Killers, & Suspense*
Kindle/Book Club
Mystery and Thriller Publicity Book Club*
Indie Sci-Fi and Fantasy Book Promotion
Free Kindle Books*
Kindle Krazy! Authors Actively Seeking Readers
Ebook, Book Ads and Self Promotion
Book Reviews and Promotion
Shamelessly Promote Your Books
Free Kindle Books UK*
Kindle Readers and Authors (new)
Promote Your Books Here (new)
* Not used during this sale because the genre or the price didn't fit.
If you remember the list from before, there are a few missing. For one reason or another, I left those groups and made a note to not rejoin them. Also, I have two groups I've requested membership to but they're still pending. If they accept me, I'll put them on the next list.
As always, if you use the above groups, please pay attention to their rules. For instance, the owner of the Indie Sci-Fi and Fantasy Book Promotions Group has a strict rule about 'no romance / no sex'. Not that books can't have those things, but they'd better not be the primary storyline in the books you promote there. Unfortunately, people keep trying to break his rule and it seems to irritate the crap out of him. Do not irritate the people you're trying to market through. Seriously, don't.
And the Free Kindle Books UK isn't a group. It's a page and if you want to have your books marketed there, you have to send a message to the page's owner. She's been prompt and pretty cool, but don't push it.
Of course, posting to these groups can be a drudge. Picking the image, creating the verbiage, and then posting posting posting... Blerg. But for the time I put in on Tuesday/Wednesday, I made about $10 and that ain't bad. Plus, it was worth it to help boost ad sales.
I feel like I'm forgetting something, so if you have any questions, ask away. And whatever your marketing efforts, good luck!
** For free. Posting to FB Groups doesn't cost a dime. Shhh, don't tell FB or they'll find a way to charge us for it or something.
May 24, 2019
People Want a Deal
Okay, I think I figured something out. People don't want to buy 99c books, but they want to pay 99c for books.
Lemme explain...
I regularly use Kindle Countdown Deals and typically price my books at 99c for the duration of the KCD. Unless it's a series. Then I put the first book at 99c and the others at like $1.99. This time I made all the books in the OUAD series 99c just to see what would happen. My last KCD for OUAD, I sold a bunch of Wish In One Hand, but not that many of the other books. This time, people are buying all 4 books. Oh, they're still buying more copies of WIOH than the others, but WIOH is the one in the ad, so that's expected.
Additionally, a while back I had the bright idea that if people were buying my books when they were 99c for a KCD, then it stood to reason that they wanted 99c books. Nope. Wrong. I think I actually sold fewer books when they were all regularly 99c then when they were at their usual prices (which, at that time, was $2.99 across the board). And I definitely sold less than when they were 'on sale' for 99c.
Turns out, people want to feel like they're getting a deal. And regularly priced at 99c is apparently not a deal.
Also, I know there's a mindset out there that 99c books are low-quality books. I read a blog post once, by a bestselling author no less, that books priced at $2.99 and under aren't worth reading cuz they obviously all suck or they'd be priced higher. (No their exact words, but that was the gist. And thanks for gisting that publicly, asshole.) But books on sale for 99c don't suffer under the same misconception, I guess.
So, I raised all my prices back to $2.99 and then raised most of them to either $3.99 or $4.99. (Accidental Death, Natural Causes, and Sleeping Ugly are all at $2.99 for the time being. May change that soon.) I still see most of my sales when they're 'on sale', but I think simply having my books priced higher makes those times I discount my books more attractive to buyers.
:shrug: The psychological aspects of book sales. Weeee.
Hope that helps. I'll probably do a numbers post on this sale sometime next week, so y'all can see what's going on. Meanwhile, I have a round of FB posts to do. Catch ya later.
Lemme explain...
I regularly use Kindle Countdown Deals and typically price my books at 99c for the duration of the KCD. Unless it's a series. Then I put the first book at 99c and the others at like $1.99. This time I made all the books in the OUAD series 99c just to see what would happen. My last KCD for OUAD, I sold a bunch of Wish In One Hand, but not that many of the other books. This time, people are buying all 4 books. Oh, they're still buying more copies of WIOH than the others, but WIOH is the one in the ad, so that's expected.
Additionally, a while back I had the bright idea that if people were buying my books when they were 99c for a KCD, then it stood to reason that they wanted 99c books. Nope. Wrong. I think I actually sold fewer books when they were all regularly 99c then when they were at their usual prices (which, at that time, was $2.99 across the board). And I definitely sold less than when they were 'on sale' for 99c.
Turns out, people want to feel like they're getting a deal. And regularly priced at 99c is apparently not a deal.
Also, I know there's a mindset out there that 99c books are low-quality books. I read a blog post once, by a bestselling author no less, that books priced at $2.99 and under aren't worth reading cuz they obviously all suck or they'd be priced higher. (No their exact words, but that was the gist. And thanks for gisting that publicly, asshole.) But books on sale for 99c don't suffer under the same misconception, I guess.
So, I raised all my prices back to $2.99 and then raised most of them to either $3.99 or $4.99. (Accidental Death, Natural Causes, and Sleeping Ugly are all at $2.99 for the time being. May change that soon.) I still see most of my sales when they're 'on sale', but I think simply having my books priced higher makes those times I discount my books more attractive to buyers.
:shrug: The psychological aspects of book sales. Weeee.
Hope that helps. I'll probably do a numbers post on this sale sometime next week, so y'all can see what's going on. Meanwhile, I have a round of FB posts to do. Catch ya later.
May 21, 2019
The Big Djinn Sale
Today's the start of the big sale for the Once Upon a Djinn books. Buy 'em all, buy any you might've missed, give 'em as gifts, sprinkle that stuff everywhere... At 99c each, you get hours of fun for under $4. They're also all in the KU program if that's the way you get your reading material. Over 1500 pages if you read them all straight through. Which is the best way to get the whole story. Jus' sayin'.You know, I'm really proud of this series. I had no idea where it was going to go when I started it. In fact, I wasn't even planning it as a series. I wrote Wish In One Hand thinking it was going to be a one-shot. But you guys were clamoring for more when you finished reading it, so I developed it into a series.
And it took me on a wild ride, lemme tell ya.
Then I had figured it was going to be a trilogy. Hah, fooled me. There was still too much left unanswered by the end of the third book. Bingo-bango, presto-chango... the fourth and definitely final book. A quadrilogy, if you will. Complete story arc from start to finish.
Yeah, I know, some things didn't turn out the way a few of you hoped, but it's a happy ending for Jo, which was the goal. I mean, each book has a happy-ish ending, but the end of the series as a whole is happy for Jo. (Can't say 'happily ever after' because that implies a romantic happy ending and I don't do romance.)
Anyway, thanks to all of you who've read and reviewed these books. You guys rock. And I hope those of you who haven't read them take this opportunity to give them a whirl.
May 19, 2019
Sales and Marketing Update Thingie
Time again for another sales/marketing update thingie.
I've been doing even more to keep track of things this year, so it's easier to see what I did and what worked. As always, advertising is what works. For the most part anyway.
In January, I held a sale for Sleeping Ugly and placed an ad*. 2 sales. But I had residual sales from ads placed for the SCIU series in December, so another 16 books there.
In February, I held a sale for the OUAD books with an ad. 52 sales. I also had one freebie day for Unequal and gave away 22 copies, but I got one person to read the whole book in KU, so 1 sale.
In March, I held sales for Natural Causes and Project Hermes with no ads. 3 sales and 1 sale respectively.
In April, I held a sale for the SCIU books with no ad. 5 sales. I also held a sale on Accidental Death with an ad. 27 sales.
So far this month, I held a sale for Blink with no ad. 0 sales. I have another sale for the OUAD books starting Tuesday with an ad going out on Thursday. We'll see what happens when I have a sale twice in the first half of the year and advertise at the same place. The venue keeps sending me emails that the majority of their advertisers place ads every 90 days for optimum success. We'll see if they're right or blowing smoke up my skirt.
Next month, I'll be having more sales with, hopefully, more advertising. We'll see what the budget allows.
To date, I've spent $71 on ads and made $96 I can directly relate to those ads, so I'm ahead of the game there. Not by much, but I'm calling it a win. Here's hoping the $40 I spent on advertising WIOH this week will net me a bigger return.
Nevertheless, I've said it before and I'll say it again, ads work. Maybe not as well as I would like, but they usually pay for themselves and get my books in front of people. They'd probably work better if I had something new to put out there, but I haven't worked that out yet this year. They'd also work better if I had more reviews, but there's little I can do about that.
Any questions?
* Ad or no ad, I'm always posting to various FB groups throughout these sales. Some more than others. I lost my will to post during the Blink sale and you can see what that netted me. Zilch.
I've been doing even more to keep track of things this year, so it's easier to see what I did and what worked. As always, advertising is what works. For the most part anyway.
In January, I held a sale for Sleeping Ugly and placed an ad*. 2 sales. But I had residual sales from ads placed for the SCIU series in December, so another 16 books there.
In February, I held a sale for the OUAD books with an ad. 52 sales. I also had one freebie day for Unequal and gave away 22 copies, but I got one person to read the whole book in KU, so 1 sale.
In March, I held sales for Natural Causes and Project Hermes with no ads. 3 sales and 1 sale respectively.
In April, I held a sale for the SCIU books with no ad. 5 sales. I also held a sale on Accidental Death with an ad. 27 sales.
So far this month, I held a sale for Blink with no ad. 0 sales. I have another sale for the OUAD books starting Tuesday with an ad going out on Thursday. We'll see what happens when I have a sale twice in the first half of the year and advertise at the same place. The venue keeps sending me emails that the majority of their advertisers place ads every 90 days for optimum success. We'll see if they're right or blowing smoke up my skirt.
Next month, I'll be having more sales with, hopefully, more advertising. We'll see what the budget allows.
To date, I've spent $71 on ads and made $96 I can directly relate to those ads, so I'm ahead of the game there. Not by much, but I'm calling it a win. Here's hoping the $40 I spent on advertising WIOH this week will net me a bigger return.
Nevertheless, I've said it before and I'll say it again, ads work. Maybe not as well as I would like, but they usually pay for themselves and get my books in front of people. They'd probably work better if I had something new to put out there, but I haven't worked that out yet this year. They'd also work better if I had more reviews, but there's little I can do about that.
Any questions?
* Ad or no ad, I'm always posting to various FB groups throughout these sales. Some more than others. I lost my will to post during the Blink sale and you can see what that netted me. Zilch.
