De-Mystifying the KDP Select Free Days!
Greetings and thanks to Niecey Roy for hosting me today! Whoo Hoo! I’m super excited to be here and share with everyone some valuable information I gathered during a recent promotional campaign I designed for my contemporary romantic comedy, She’s Got Dibs. Published by The Wild Rose Press (official release date: August 23, 2013), She’s Got Dibs became eligible for five free days during the end of June, 2013 through Amazon’s Kindle Select Program. I would like to take this opportunity to shed some light on the KDP Program and how it works in conjunction with sales and marketing, what I did to prepare for my free days and the end result.
Before I get to that, though, I should also state am absolutely positive I would not have achieved the rankings I did without the help and support of my fabulous writing peers. Besides hosting me on numerous blogs, they shared my FaceBook posts, retweeted my tweet campaign and shouted my links out to the webiverse. It was a humbling experience to witness such a generous outpouring of support.
I should also state the following information is based on my experience. No guarantee is implied every author will have the same results. Many factors influence the success of any book promotion.
Blog Tour:
I was on a total of eight blogs during the book’s five free days, however, I also blogged prior to the free dates at four additional sites in an effort to build momentum. A note about the bloggers I chose for my campaign. I searched out blogs I thought would be an ideal match for She’s Got Dibs. Since the story is a romantic comedy with a high level of steam, I tried to find blog sites that matched this theme. I also went outside the box and asked for spots at some places I’d not previously been hosted in an effort to widen my scope. Most bloggers were very accommodating and agreed to host me without hesitation. When available, I made sure to click the FaceBook and Twitter icons connected to the post so the appearance would be broadcasted on both Twitter and my FB timeline. (Note: I highly recommend doing this when visiting blogs because FB friends will repost on their own timelines.) I also made sure to be available as much as possible to field comments and interact with visitors in an effort to build an audience.
Twitter Campaign:
I used Hootsuite to upload a Twitter campaign on each of my five free days. While the initial set up with Hootsuite is quite labor intensive, once the program is downloaded and your campaign is designed, it’s quite easy to repeat the steps for additional promo. (Note: I have step-by-step instructions on how this is done. If anyone is interested in receiving a copy, please leave me a comment with your email and I’ll send them along.) Based on how well this promotional tool worked, I will definitely be using Hootsuite moving forward. I was able to track my tweets and learn which were most effective by how many “clicks” each tweet received (each of my tweets was linked to my Amazon buy page). For those of you still on the fence about the monetary investment, Hootsuite does allow a person to test their program free for seven days.
My Twitter campaign consisted of thirty-two tweets in total, scheduled to post at half-hour intervals, starting at 7:00AM PST and ending at 10:00PM PST. I used these same thirty-two tweets all five days. About one-third of the tweets were straight promo (i.e. #FreeEbook Amazon 5 Stars Award Winning #ConRom She’s Got Dibs #newrelease @TWRP @KindleFreeBook), one third were quoted lines from the book (i.e. The guy definitely had the smolder covered…and those incredible ice-blue eyes. Yikes! #FreeEbook She’s Got Dibs) and still the last third were writing quotes from famous authors (i.e. “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” — Jack London She’s Got Dibs #FreeEbook).
Two additional things bear mentioning regarding Twitter campaigns. First, hastags. If you’re thinking of doing a Twitter Campaign, I suggest searching out which hashtags best match your promotion. These are available through Twitter, but can be difficult to find. I used the Twitter search bar and typed in tags I thought would be a good match (i.e. #romcom) and to see if that tag existed. If the hastag hit and I liked the list that appeared, I used the tag in my campaign.
Second, @addresses are a valuable tool. Chances are good if you insert them into the tweet, the @address recipient will retweet your tweet. Some of these places have thousands of followers. Others even have tens of hundreds of thousands. If just one retweets, your campaign has the ability to reach a lot of tweeters.
Free Ebook Listings Sites:
These places are sites that will list your free or discounted ebook either for free or a nominal fee, depending on the amount of exposure you’re looking for and your advertising budget. Check these links for a comprehensive list of places to start, but be forewarned that one link sometimes leads to another, which leads to another and another so it’s easy to get a little lost in the research.
http://www.thekindlebookreview.net/author-resources/ http://authormarketingclub.com/members/submit-your-book/
A couple of things which garner consideration. First, while all of these places require the author/listee to fill out a form of some kind, this doesn’t necessarily guarantee the book will be listed…unless, of course, you pay for the listing. Because I’d not listed with any of these sites before, I opted for the free listing at each site. I wanted to gauge the results without spending any money. Second, make sure you give the site plenty of notice. I think I contacted most of them three weeks out, but most places require a minimum of at least a few days to post your freebie, some much longer. Third, check the prerequisites. Some sites won’t post a listing unless the book already has a minimum required number of reviews (like three or more), or if the story is adult or doesn’t fit the site’s genres. Much like subbing to a publisher, all the sites are different and they all have rules.
Of the eighteen sites I submitted to, only five listed She’s Got Dibs and, of those, only one really had the cover in a location that was visible. The other four sites I had to really search to find the listing…enough that if I was a reader looking for that day’s free reads, I would have never found the book. Each morning the free books for the day are updated so chances are good if your book is listed on its first free day, it will get pushed down the site and be virtually lost by day five.
If and when I have a free or discounted book in the future, I plan to pick and choose between these free sites with a little more discrimination. One thing I noticed is there was a direct correlation to books that stayed higher in their rankings on Amazon, to those that were predominately featured on these sites. (i.e. had a cover shown with the blurb and a higher spot on the blog). I would highly recommend if the money is available to invest in this advertising campaign. Most of the sites will reserve a spot for as little as $5.00. I believe the most expensive rate was $15.00, but I’m not 100% sure because I visited so many. Next time, I will do a little more research regarding the amount of followers at each site, list my book at fewer places and pay the fee. This will guarantee my book will be listed and, most importantly, be listed predominately.
FaceBook Promo Pages:
I joined a few of these groups leading up to and during my free week. I’m not sure how effective a tool these pages are, but I did post promo blips at six FaceBook pages geared specifically toward author promotion and release news. While I didn’t post at all six pages every day, I did post on three pages per day until the final day when I did a blast on all six. One thing I would like to mention in regards to FB promo pages—it’s important not to over post. Keep in mind the participants in these groups are generally authors themselves. If the exact same information is posted day after day, for several days in a row, the post tends to lose its effectiveness. In my experience, it’s better to scatter the posts around a bit so no one is repeatedly inundated with the same information.
Below is a breakdown of my rankings and how they moved over the course of the five free days.
June 24—Day before first free day, She’s Got Dibs had a ranking of #264,099.
June 25—Free Day #1
8:00 AM #8904 Overall #40 Women’s Fiction #53 Contemporary Fiction
Noon #712 Overall #32 Women’s Fiction #38 Contemporary Fiction
8:00 PM #254 Overall #17 Women’s Fiction #15 Contemporary Fiction
June 26—Free Day #2
8:00 AM #136 Overall #8 Women’s Fiction #7 Contemporary Fiction
Noon #91 Overall #7 Women’s Fiction #6 Contemporary Fiction
8:00 PM #53 Overall #4 Women’s Fiction #3 Contemporary Fiction
June 27—Free Day #3
8:00 AM #36 Overall #3 Women’s Fiction #2 Contemporary Fiction
Noon #31 Overall #3 Women’s Fiction #2 Contemporary Fiction
8:00 PM #36 Overall #3 Women’s Fiction #2 Contemporary Fiction
June 28—Free Day #4
8:00 AM #40 Overall #4 Women’s Fiction #3 Contemporary Fiction
Noon #37 Overall #3 Women’s Fiction #2 Contemporary Fiction
8:00 PM #39 Overall #3 Women’s Fiction #2 Contemporary Fiction
June 29—Free Day #5
8:00 AM #27 Overall #4 Women’s Fiction #3 Contemporary Fiction
Noon #22 Overall #3 Women’s Fiction #2 Contemporary Fiction
8:00 PM #28 Overall #3 Women’s Fiction #2 Contemporary Fiction
Follow Up Information:
Amazon rankings: Since the end of my KDP Select Free days, She’s Got Dibs has remained below the #20K mark in its rankings at Amazon, with dips as low as #6K depending on the quality of the reviews received and where these reviews have been featured (USA Today Happy Ever After, Goodreads, Amazon and several book bloggers). These results far exceed what I expected, especially since I’ve yet to celebrate my release date. It will be interesting to see what happens once She’s Got Dibs is actually released. My publisher automatically sends out all titles to a list of high profile reviewers and, in addition, She’s Got Dibs will be made available in print and listed at additional on-line vendors such as ARe Café and Barnes and Noble.
Reviews: Prior to my KDP free days, She’s Got Dibs had a total of four reviews. Afterward, it had received a total of fourteen. Also, the book’s stats at Goodreads skyrocketed. Prior to the free days, She’s Got Dibs was not listed on anyone’s “to be read” list. Afterward, 162 people had added it and the book had received a total of 29 ratings and 16 reviews. These numbers have continued to climb. As of today’s date, She’s Got Dibs has received 45 reviews on Amazon, 362 people have added it to their “to be read” list on Goodreads, it has received 110 ratings and 39 reviews. Once again, these results far exceed any I had achieved with my first release.
AJ Nuest
The KDP Select Free Days can be a very valuable tool to any author hoping to build a following. If you would like to discuss any of these issues, please don’t hesitate to email me at ajnuest@yahoo.com and I will be happy to share my experience with you in more detail. And, as always, if you have any information regarding a specific promotional tool you’ve utilized which has achieved great results, please don’t hesitate to share.
My thanks to Niecey once again for hosting me and I hope you find this information worthwhile when planning your next promotional campaign.
AJ Nuest
WEBSITE ~ FACEBOOK ~ TWITTER ~ GOODREADS ~ AMAZON ~ PINTEREST
THE GOLDEN KEY CHRONICLES COMING SOON!
Click here to purchase: She’s Got Dibs, Jezebel’s Wish
Thanks everyone, for joining today 
Don’t forget to check out AJ and her books at the above links. And thank you, AJ, for this information. I know that I, for one, really needed something like this!
Wishing you Sexy Smooches & Happily Ever Afters
xoxo, Niecey Roy
Fender Bender Blues , a romantic comedy
Print & e-Book available at Amazon
Print available at The Wild Rose Press
Available everywhere May 3, 2013
nieceyroy@gmail.com
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