Caleb J. Ross's Blog, page 55
August 27, 2012
I read my story Petty Injuries at The Next Best Book Blog.
Ever wanted to hear my very first published short story, Petty Injuries, read out loud by me? No? Well then don’t head over to TNBBC’s The Next Best Book Blog today.
I have to admit, without sounding full of myself I hope, that this story still works damn well, even though I wrote it in 2006. I’m still very, very proud of it. That’s something that I’ve always had as a goal for myself, that if I have my name attached to something, I would forever be proud of it.
Click to listen to me read Petty Injuries. Let it work on you. Use it as ambiance to your daily minutea.
August 26, 2012
Day 3 of Does a Free Kindle Promotion Work?
Some of you may have caught wind of the I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin free Kindle giveaway that is currently going on now through August 28th. What you may not know is that I am also planning to post details about the giveaway—details such as the giveaway totals and the tactics I used to make people aware of the giveaway—every evening here on my blog as part of my Book Marketing Tests and Studies category. This post serves as the third in the 5(ish) part series.
For full details about the test, see the first post here.
Day 3 tactics
11:08 am: Sent tweet using my personal account, my literary news aggregator account, and I hijacked The Velvet account for this one message.
11:31 am: Posted about the giveaway to The Cult and Lit Reactor forums.
11:46 am: Shared link to the Day 1 results on Stumbleupon, Digg, Delicious, and Reddit. I mostly mentioned the test itself in these links, not the giveaway specifically, so I don’t anticipate too much response from these.
Day 3 results
As of 8:59 pm, 8/26/12, the metrics are:
Total copies downloaded: 798
Daily highest rank (that I happen to screen-capture) in the free Kindle store: #860
Daily highest rank (that I happen to screen-capture) in the book’s category/genre (which is Fiction > Literary Fiction): #24
How am I feeling after this second day?
Good. I think the download goal of 1,000 copies is achievable. However, the free Kindle store rank continues to drop, and I’m back at #24 in the overall Literary Fiction category. Fingers crossed for a big Monday.
August 25, 2012
Day 2 of Does a Free Kindle Promotion Work?
Some of you may have caught wind of the I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin free Kindle giveaway that is currently going on now through August 28th. What you may not know is that I am also planning to post details about the giveaway—details such as the giveaway totals and the tactics I used to make people aware of the giveaway—every evening here on my blog as part of my Book Marketing Tests and Studies category. This post serves as the second in the 5(ish) part series.
For full details about the test, see the first post here.
Day 2 tactics
I was informed by a generous friend that $50 has been donated to promoting a Facebook message about the giveaway. Thanks to you, anonymous SuperPac donor.
12:00 am (CST): Goodreads CPC ad at a $0.50 CPC bid and a $5 daily cap.
5:28 pm: I sent an email blast to my 145 email newsletter subscribers. I assume many of these subscribers already caught wind of the giveaway via my 8/24 whorings, so I was sure to include a bit of an apology at the front of the email.
Goodreads Ad
Day 2 results
As of 9:15 pm, 8/25/12, the metrics are:
Total copies downloaded: 677
Daily highest rank (that I happen to screen-capture) in the free Kindle store: #607
Daily highest rank (that I happen to screen-capture) in the book’s category/genre (which is Fiction > Literary Fiction): #23
How am I feeling after this second day?
Still pretty great. I’ve over half way to my download goal of 1,000. Though I’ve dropped some places in the free Kindle store ranking, I’ve gained a position in to overall Literary Fiction category. I do think, however, that I’ve about exhausted any distribution lists, so now I’m having to rely on word of mouth.
Getting the Signed Book – How the Hula Girl Sings by Joe Meno (Video Blog ep 025)
Click the image above to watch the video.
Hear the amazing, mostly made up story of how I got my copy of Joe Meno’s How the Hula Girl Sings signed by the author during the 2004 Association of Writers and Writing Projects conference in Chicago, IL. You’ll hear the first-hand account of how I knew Meno as a musician first and an author second, why I should be more sensitive to Hula throat issues, and why Joe Meno owes me a royalty check.
August 24, 2012
Day 1 of Does a Free Kindle Promotion Work?
Some of you may have caught wind of the I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin free Kindle giveaway that is currently going on now through August 28th. What you may not know is that I am also planning to post details about the giveaway—details such as the giveaway totals and the tactics I used to make people aware of the giveaway—every evening here on my blog as part of my Book Marketing Tests and Studies category. This post serves as the first in the 5(ish) part series.
The plan
I am giving my newest novel, I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin, away for FREE through the Amazon Kindle store from 8/24 through 8/28. No catches. No gimmicks. Totally Free. My hope is a simple one: I want to see how many free copies get downloaded, which I hope translates into a few reader reviews, which I hope perpetuates future readers to buy the book (once the free giveaway is finished).
Metrics
I will be measuring 3 things:
Total copies downloaded
Daily highest rank (that I happen to screen capture) in the free Kindle store
Daily highest rank (that I happen to screen capture) in the book’s category/genre (which is Fiction > Literary Fiction)
What would I consider a successful campaign?
Honestly, I don’t have any context for success here. How about:
1,000 total downloads
2-3 Amazon reviews
a top rank in the free Kindle store of 300
a top rank in the Literary Fiction category of 5-10
The total download count is arbitrary; I just pulled a number out of my ass. The Amazon reviews might be asking too much considering someone would have to read the book within the short 5 day giveaway time. As for the rankings, I don’t know if those are realistic or maybe even if they are ridiculously easy to attain. We’ll find out.
Day 1 tactics
12:00 am (CST): The giveaway goes live. No way was I going to try to push any books any earlier than 9:00, so any downloads that came during this first 9 hours are just icing.
9:14 am: I sent an email to 70 friends alerting them to the giveaway. In this email I asked if they wouldn’t mind sharing news of the giveaway however they feel most comfortable doing so (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, blog, etc.).
9:58 am: I sent a tweet via my personal Twitter account. My personal twitter account has 7,438. My guess is that like 10 of those aren’t auto-follow bots, and of those 10, maybe 3 actually saw the tweet. Takeaway: I don’t put much stock in the reach of my Twitter account.
10:33 am: I posted a message to my Google+ page.
10:35 am: I posted a FB message on my “fan” page. My “fan” page has 871 likes. As of 8:54 pm, 135 people have seen the post.
9:59 am and 3:58 pm: I sent a tweet via my literary news aggregator Twitter account. This account has 3,528 followers. Perhaps there are a lot of bots here, as with my personal account, but I assume the “true” follower ratio is quite a bit better than my personal account.
8:48 pm: CPM Facebook ad goes live. This is a very simple ad targeted to people who are already somehow connected to my Facebook page. I know, it’s probably a bit redundant to speak to people who already know me, but my thinking is that perhaps the people who “like” me have read a book by me that isn’t I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin. I might change this targeting after a couple of days.
Day 1 results
As of 8:22 pm, 8/24/12, the metrics are:
Total copies downloaded: 390
Daily highest rank (that I happen to screen-capture) in the free Kindle store: #570
Daily highest rank (that I happen to screen-capture) in the book’s category/genre (which is Fiction > Literary Fiction): #24
How am I feeling after this first day?
Great, honestly. The numbers seem pretty good for the first day. I hope the momentum gets going.
August 23, 2012
August 22, 2012
Who Wrote FCJR? Video Evidence from Sean P. Ferguson
Sean P. Ferguson, possessor of a superfluous middle initial, discusses incest and librophilia. I really hope this guy isn’t responsible for FCJR.
Who Wrote FCJR? Video Evidence From Kevin Helmick
Kevin Helmick, author of the forthcoming Driving Alone reveals the secret of his dirty pants. Wait, I probably shouldn’t have said that…
August 19, 2012
Who Wrote FCJR? Video Evidence from Skip Papersly
Skip Papersly, the newsreel voice behind Booked Podcast, attributes my existence to some sort of humanity. The fool!
Who Wrote FCJR? Video Evidence from Robb Olson
Robb Olson, one-half of Booked Podcast (a podcast about getting arrested and fingerprinted, I think) claims that I have been inappropriate to him. I can’t remember which one is Robb Olson, though, so I can neither confirm nor deny that claim. I can give it a “probably” though.
