Status Update! Thank You for Your Support, Why I’m Posting My Statistics and a Couple of Resources for You to Check Out
Friends,
Thank you so much for your support yesterday. Your posts, purchases and praises mean the world to me! The kick-off to the Affected buy one, get one promotion was quite the success in my eyes, and I want to share some statistics with you—about the Amazon sales in particular.
Why am I posting my statistics, you ask? This isn’t a vanity thing. Far from it. It’s because self-promoting does make a difference, and I want all of you discouraged writers out there to see that! Don’t let the meanies on the internet dissuade you: you can effectively market and self-promote your book. It takes effort, sure. Then again, all worthwhile things do.
A quick look back: my book came out in April, published by a small publishing company that requires their authors to do their own marketing. Due to a myriad of health complications and life events, I was unable to successfully self-promote my book when it came out. I just didn’t have the time or energy. I knew that my book would never find the hands of readers unless I took the initiative to market it. However, it was just not going to happen at that time. Other things in life, such as my health, took precedence.
Life changes, as it does, and this summer I found myself in a place where I could put my book first again. Thus, I began the inklings of marketing for Affected on the 31st of August, 2015. A little over ten days ago, the book was ranked on Amazon at #744,508 in paid downloads and #4,187,643 in paperback copies respectively.
Before I went to sleep last night, I checked my rankings, and couldn’t believe my eyes: Affected was ranked at #46,093 in paid downloads and #67,796 in paperback purchased. It hit #126 in the Mysteries, Thrillers & Suspense category—just shy of the Top 100! In just ten day’s time, I’d gone from being ranked in the 4—millions to being ranked in the 60—thousands. Bestseller status? No. But you have to admit, that is one hell of an impressive jump!
(By the way, if you don't think 67k is that impressive of a ranking, here's some perspective for you: there are over eight MILLION books for sale on Amazon. That said, 67k is a pretty good ranking, in my humble opinion!)
Now then, Randina, if you’re so smart: how do I effectively self-promote? Next week, I’ll be starting a campaign across the internet where I’ll be sharing my story-to-date and what has and has not worked so far (bloggers, if you’re interested in a guest poster, I’m still looking to fill a couple of weeks; please contact me at randi.lee@mail.comto schedule a topic and date.)
Until then, might I suggest two most excellent resources to begin with?
L. Diane Wolfe over at Spunk on a Stick wrote a book that has been of profound assistance to me: at just $2.99 for a Kindle purchase, How to Publish and Promote Your Book Now! is a valued addition to any aspiring writer’s reference library and I highly recommend it.
The folks over at The Insecure Writer’s Support Group also have something that should be in your reference library, and these classy guys and gals have it up at Amazon for free! The Insecure Writer’s Support Group: Guide to Publishing and Beyond is full of healthy advice from writers such as yourself and is well worth the read.
I begin my internet travels next week over at Build Book Buzz. Sandra Beckwith was nice enough to invite me to write a guest post on the power of imagery in self-promotion. Look out for it!
As always, thanks for reading, thanks for commenting and thanks for giving me someone to write to. Stay Classy, Blog-o-Sphere!
Best,
—R
Thank you so much for your support yesterday. Your posts, purchases and praises mean the world to me! The kick-off to the Affected buy one, get one promotion was quite the success in my eyes, and I want to share some statistics with you—about the Amazon sales in particular.
Why am I posting my statistics, you ask? This isn’t a vanity thing. Far from it. It’s because self-promoting does make a difference, and I want all of you discouraged writers out there to see that! Don’t let the meanies on the internet dissuade you: you can effectively market and self-promote your book. It takes effort, sure. Then again, all worthwhile things do.
A quick look back: my book came out in April, published by a small publishing company that requires their authors to do their own marketing. Due to a myriad of health complications and life events, I was unable to successfully self-promote my book when it came out. I just didn’t have the time or energy. I knew that my book would never find the hands of readers unless I took the initiative to market it. However, it was just not going to happen at that time. Other things in life, such as my health, took precedence.
Life changes, as it does, and this summer I found myself in a place where I could put my book first again. Thus, I began the inklings of marketing for Affected on the 31st of August, 2015. A little over ten days ago, the book was ranked on Amazon at #744,508 in paid downloads and #4,187,643 in paperback copies respectively.
Before I went to sleep last night, I checked my rankings, and couldn’t believe my eyes: Affected was ranked at #46,093 in paid downloads and #67,796 in paperback purchased. It hit #126 in the Mysteries, Thrillers & Suspense category—just shy of the Top 100! In just ten day’s time, I’d gone from being ranked in the 4—millions to being ranked in the 60—thousands. Bestseller status? No. But you have to admit, that is one hell of an impressive jump!
(By the way, if you don't think 67k is that impressive of a ranking, here's some perspective for you: there are over eight MILLION books for sale on Amazon. That said, 67k is a pretty good ranking, in my humble opinion!)
Now then, Randina, if you’re so smart: how do I effectively self-promote? Next week, I’ll be starting a campaign across the internet where I’ll be sharing my story-to-date and what has and has not worked so far (bloggers, if you’re interested in a guest poster, I’m still looking to fill a couple of weeks; please contact me at randi.lee@mail.comto schedule a topic and date.)
Until then, might I suggest two most excellent resources to begin with?
L. Diane Wolfe over at Spunk on a Stick wrote a book that has been of profound assistance to me: at just $2.99 for a Kindle purchase, How to Publish and Promote Your Book Now! is a valued addition to any aspiring writer’s reference library and I highly recommend it.
The folks over at The Insecure Writer’s Support Group also have something that should be in your reference library, and these classy guys and gals have it up at Amazon for free! The Insecure Writer’s Support Group: Guide to Publishing and Beyond is full of healthy advice from writers such as yourself and is well worth the read.
I begin my internet travels next week over at Build Book Buzz. Sandra Beckwith was nice enough to invite me to write a guest post on the power of imagery in self-promotion. Look out for it!
As always, thanks for reading, thanks for commenting and thanks for giving me someone to write to. Stay Classy, Blog-o-Sphere!
Best,
—R
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