Launching The Girl on the Kerb (Part 2)
In part one of Launching The Girl on the Kerb, I talked aboutmy decision to launch this title as athriller-espionage/thriller-adventure novel and why it was releasedin a somewhat staggered schedule So how did it fare?
The Amazon paperbackversion was released on 11 March and sold as expected – none,except for the author copies I ordered for myself and my other betareaders. On that same day I also set up the ebook release date for 6April on Amazon.
On 30 March theebook version was released on both Smashwords and Google, and theaudiobook version on Google. Between its release and 5 April it sold57 copies on Smashwords plus 2 ebooks and 7 audiobooks on Google.Though a pale shadow of what sales used to be like upon release onSmashwords, it was neither unexpected or discouraging. Selling books for meis a marathon, not a sprint.
Things shook outdifferently on Amazon, as you can see from a glance at the chartbelow. Amazon decided to match the free price on other stores after only five days,on 11 April. I had no input into that decision, though, of course, Iwelcomed it, readership being my reward for writing. Indeed, untilthree or four years ago I used to email Amazon and point out to themthat my books were free on the other sites and ask that they reducetheir price to match those prices. I stopped doing this since most ofmy books were free, and I didn’t want to rock the boat. Now I letAmazon do as it pleases.
So how exactly did it all shake out? A glance at the chart at the bottom will tell the tale. So what are my takeaways from the experience?
1. First is a given.It is much easier to sell a book for free than at any price, which iswhy I sell my books for free when and where I can. I value readershipover revenue.
2. Concerning thefirst bump in sales after Amazon dropped the price; I think those 274copies through 17 April were more or less organic. Organic in thesense that Amazon wasn’t pushing them, though my wife said that shereceived an email announcing my book. I didn’t. I have somethinglike 215 followers on Amazon, who get notices of a new release.Perhaps many of them picked it up when it was free. That said, Istill have no explanation for why my sales took off as fast as theydid – no other book I have ever released ever sold that many in so short of time, atlease in the last several years. The only difference I can point tois the speed at which Amazon dropped the price and the fact that Ireleased the book in a category other than SF. I have to believe thecategory is significant.
3. The first 274sales were strong enough by 14 April to land my book in the top slot5 on the 100 Best Sellers (Free) list for Thriller-espionage, andnumber 7 in the Thriller-adventure list. Genres seems to matter. I’vehad SF books on the free 100 bestseller list and never seen saleslike this.
4. On April 15 itseems clear that these sales were strong enough to kick in thelegendary Amazon algorithms, the only explanation for the explosionof sales on 15, 16, and 17 April. We’ve often read that you shouldkick start your sales upon release to catch the attention of Amazon’salgorithms which then will pile on and promote sales all on their own– for free. This appears to be the case with The Girl on theKerb.
5. I don’t know ifmy cover helped or hindered sales. It was certainly different fromall the rest of the books on the list – see the screen shot above.However, since all a potential reader sees is the cover before theydecide to click and read the blurb, it certainly played a role, oneway or another.
6. I think this isan exceptional event, and I doubt that it will significantly alter mysales on Amazon going forward, though ideally it will give me some newreaders who will go on and read some of my other books. However, since none of my other books arethrillers, I don’t expect that number to be very large. Time willtell.
7. Even as a onetime event, it’s still three years worth of sales within a month.It’s a gift horse whose teeth I'm not inspecting.
8. My bottom line:it pays, as both a writer and a publisher, to experiment, as I did inthis case with genre category.
As I posted yesterday, Thursday,27 April, marked the eighth anniversary of the release of A Summerin Amber, my first published novel. Next week I will break out mysales numbers for my eight year in publishing, as I have done every year. It was a good year. In fact, the surprising success ofThe Girl on the Kerb was just the icing on the cake. Staytuned.
