Deep Diving Release Day

I think it's release day for Deep Diving! I'm not one hundred per cent sure because I'm a guinea pig trialling a new release process. So let's say it's today! Woohoo!


Things have changed between the release of The Virginity Mission and Deep Diving - and it's only 1 year! Some of these have been:
I've had net galley reviews ahead of releaseI've had a 99c pre-order thing going for a few weeksI've had lots of people retweeting and favouriting my meme things.I'm part of a bigger group of writers (the Naughty Ninjas)Escape have done some great promo things with e-book platforms and bloggersMy cover is not so naked, and therefore better received in the USI've got more of an author platform and feel a bit more confident than last time.
So, I'm interested to see how these changes affect sales. I'm not sure if I'll know which had a lasting effect, or the biggest effect, but I'll know if overall there's an impact.

I think the 99c pre-order is huge. I buy lots of 99c pre-orders because it's a bargain, especially if I'm going to buy the book anyway, or if I'm tempted to give a new author a try. The Virginity Mission never dropped in price from $2.99. That's kind of my cut-off point for buying a book, and TVM was only 41K so just bigger than a novella. I think the 99c pre-order is a great strategy. But I wonder if it works. If it does, I should see DD's ranking launch at quite a high point tomorrow because all pre-order sales are counted on release day. So that's what I'll be checking - what's my Day 1 ranking look like. But I won't know if it's directly attributed to the price, the early reviews, the tweeting or the memes.

That's one of the difficult things about the industry. I don't know what helps sales - no one seems to. And we all stand and shove our books at each other and hope a few buy. I don't like that type of marketing.

So, before my next book release, I'm challenging myself to think of 2 new ways to market that doesn't involve shoving my book at other authors. Now that will be a challenge!

If you've bought DD at the bargain pre-order price, I thank you very much and I hope you enjoy Sam and Cooper's holiday as much as I did (and they did)!!

Cate xox