Do targeted email blasts generate sustained book sales?
Do targeted email blasts generate sustained book sales?
In the ongoing quest to find effective marketing tools for my nine novels and two plays, I’ve compiled a list of over two hundred email addresses of those who have expressed some interest in my books. Sending them an email has become part of every book launch.
My email blasts consist of three themed emails space two weeks apart. Each one offers the coupon code for a free e-book edition of the novel.
The response of my last blast was: opened 20%; clicked 6%; reviews 2
Many sites provide a similar service for a fee. For $25.00, Free Kindle Books http://fkbt.com/for-authors/ will include your book in a daily post to 750,000 addresses of which they claim 100,000 take action or about 13%. Take action does not mean buy, read or review your book.
Is this a good way to market a new release? Will it enhance sales of my backlist? How to tell?
Why not take a look at the results of another author, Matt Manochio http://www.mattmanochio.com got from email blasts.
In his blog 2015 blog entitled Lessons in Advertising my Ebook, Manochio meticulously documented his experience http://www.mattmanochio.com
I have no idea how I came upon this information, but it is a caution that once you post on the internet, it never goes away.
To summarize, he used fourteen sites, spent $500 and sold approximately 1100 books @ 99¢. After the publisher’s cut (he wasn’t self-published), he concluded he broke even.
He also got some amazing short-term results with his book hitting #411 on the paid Kindle list and single-digit ranking in its respective genre. These numbers, however, were not sustained and currently, the book he was promoting is on the Amazon Best Sellers ranking at #2,012,826
So often authors spend money thinking the payoff will be in future and sustained sales. More likely it’s about numbers – you’ve deeply discounted your book and sent to hundreds of thousands of people. Some are going to open it, some even read it. It’s about percentages not whether you’ve written a good book or not.
Was there a net gain in this case?
Looking at the author’s website and considering what he’s written since, and where his books currently rank I’d say no, though it does sound like he had a hell of an exciting ride for a couple of weeks.
Will I consider email blasts in the future for my books keeping in mind that some of my books may not be eligible on some sites since they don’t have the required number of reviews or may not be considered to have a professional cover?
Maybe. In some cases it less expensive than sending a paperback edition of your book to a reviewer.
Some Email blast sites:
BookSends https://booksends.com/expanded_guidelines.php
EReader News Today https://ereadernewstoday.com/bargain-and-free-book-submissions/
Buck Books http://buckbooks.net/
Free Kindle Books and Tips http://fkbt.com/for-authors/
Digital Books Today https://digitalbooktoday.com/
BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/home/
Stay calm, be brave, watch for the signs.
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100013287676486
Original post:
rodraglin.booklikes.com/post/1764852/do-targeted-email-blasts-generate-sustained-book-sales
