J.’s Comments (group member since Sep 09, 2014)

J.’s comments from the THE Group for Authors! group.

Jill,
I'm pretty sure you haven't exhausted all potential readers, just maybe some of them a looking for you somewhere other than where you're promoting. They'll find you sooner or later.

Jill,
Overall my sales and page reads have been lower in May but actually I don't have any ads running of any kind and only one of my books is in select so this is no surprise. I'm furiously working to release a new book in June and then I will get the promotional side of things going again. So, for me I don't think lower sales has anything to do with what month it is. Though it might.

Hey all,
I've been out of touch for a few days and just see that Michelle and I are having the same experience with Amazon ads. Thanks all for the great advice. I'm going to make some changes and see if I can get better click through rates.

Suzette,
Thanks. The book I am going to give a try with is on select also. Here I go.

Suzette wrote: " J. wrote “Suzette, thanks for that info. I haven't tried Amazon Ads but from what you say I am going to look more closely at it. When you say that you make double your money back at 25 cents per c..."
Hi again, I just went into the Amazon ads section to see about setting up something and I see that they do not allow you to use other author's names as key words so I am wondering where you are putting these other authors. Any hint?

Suzette,
Thanks for that clarification. I will definitely have to follow up on this if there's a way to sell more books without putting them on sale.

Suzette wrote: "So happy for you, Anne, on your Bookbub promotion! While I am waiting to get on with Bookbub ☺, I want to report that the Amazon Ads are doing really well for myself (mystery/romance) and for my hu..."
Suzette, thanks for that info. I haven't tried Amazon Ads but from what you say I am going to look more closely at it. When you say that you make double your money back at 25 cents per click, what price are the books you are selling? Are they on sale or just regular price?

Hi John and Jack,
John, you make a good point and personally I don't intend to publish again without editorial help. On the other hand, it is only one piece of the puzzle and I take Jack's comments to heart as well. In the end, if the editor is good, you may get what you pay for, or you may pay and get nothing, which is why it is important to find a good editor within your budget. And my budget is not unlimited so probably some of the best editors are outside my reach. It sounds like BZHercules is a place I should check out.
Thanks.
Jim

John wrote: "Hi J.
If you're looking for a great editor--knowledgeable, capable and easy-to-work-with--contact Dr. Beth Lynne @ http://www.bzhercules.com/index.html.
I went through four editors before I found..."
Thanks for the link.

Hi all,
Things seem to have slowed down on this thread so maybe you won't be offended if I ask for some advice on a different subject. Or if you do, my apologies up front.
For a long time I've used a friend as my main editor and she's been very good and even better for me, she's never charged me. Now she's moving on to other things and when I get far enough along on my next book I'm going to need to find a new editor. My question is what is the going (reasonable) rate for an editor and where can I get some recommendations regarding who is actually good at it? Any help is appreciated. Perhaps there is another discussion going on somewhere within GR that someone could suggest.
Thanks.

Just my 2 cents. I tried a pre-order once and didn't see much good from it. I think it works better if you have a large mailing list or followers who are eager for your next book. I don't have either. I found the 99 cent price will gain you readers and unless you already have plenty of them, getting new readers is more important in the long run that making money in the short term. I kept my last book at 99 cents for several months and it kept selling even though I was not running any ads. I agree with Marie that while you have the book at 99 cents run as many ads as you can.

Just my opinion on this but I think reviews are over rated. When I released my last novel it had no reviews and still managed to do quite well. Even a few months later it was still doing okay by my standards and only had a few reviews. Now at 21 reviews on Amazon (57 ratings on GR) and the blush is gone and sales have done down as would be expected. So, going forward I am not going to focus on reviews and certainly wouldn't pay Kirkus for one. Again just my 2 cents.

Hi all,
I've been lurking mostly while I try to finish my next novel.
Thanks for the streetlib tip. I'm going to check them out.
Also a short note without a lot of details I just finished a promo for one of my older books trying to see if it'd sell as well priced at $1.99 as it did in the past at 99 cents (normal price $3.99) and my conclusion is that not really. Although the logic and data isn't really there to make that determination and is only a gut feeling for me. Just FYI.

Marie wrote: "Genre Pulse

I'm going to report a little of what I could find on Genre Pulse. I am running a feature with them today with a coupon which means my total cost to promote my freebie with them was $12..."
Marie, thanks for the post. I've never heard of either of these sites though that doesn't mean much. At this point I doubt I'll add them to any promos.

Has anyone tried or heard of Celtic Tree Promotions? I got an email from them but I've never heard of them before. Any info?
Thanks.

Thanks for the info on Kobo. They seem to be moving in a good direction for indie authors though for me I'm just sitting tight for a while. For the next couple of months I'm focused on getting another book published and have one short promotion to set up. That's about all I can handle at one time.
Best of luck to those getting in on Kobo Plus. Keep us up to date.

Mimi wrote: "There are some great FB groups, if anyone is interested....

https://www.facebook.com/groups/97608...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/bookb...


Aloha Friday from Maui!"
Thanks for the links. I requested to join.

A.W. - the B&N Free Friday - is that for free books only? Just curious.
Laurel - thanks for the thought on discounts to 1.99 instead of 99 cents. I'll have to try that.
Martha - thanks for the FB only ad idea. I've used FB promotions a little and they seem to get noticed but I never looked close enough to see that there were other places it might get placed.

Follow up report:
A while back I mentioned that a new release I had didn't seem to have any affect on sales of my other books. Now, I think I might need to amend that since my other books are now seeing a bump in sales 3 - 4 months after the new release. Maybe it takes that long before readers finish the new book and then decide to look at other works by the same author. Has anyone else seen this sort of thing?

D. wrote: "Still having nightmares with my pre-order book. I will never release a pre-order again! I was finally able to upload the complete book on the release date of 12/30. I emailed Amazon, as they advise..."
I am sorry to hear about this. I doubt I'll ever try the pre-order thing again.