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Paid Promotions - A Case Study of Experience
I've added a Bookbub advert (not a feature deal) to my February promo. $80 USD budget, 2 day run from the 2nd to the 4th of February during the FREE period.
[1] (Cost $65) RobinReads (Fantasy) for ASA at FREE on Saturday 2nd February 2019.[2] (Cost $60) Book Barbarian (Free Book of the Day) for ASA at FREE on Saturday 2nd February.
[3] (Cost $100) BargainBooksy (Fantasy) for ASA at FREE on Saturday 2nd February.
[4] (Cost $60) BookBub Advert Campaign running 02 to 04 Feb.
I plan to add eReaderNewsToday to create a stacked promo targeting the same day.
I'll attempt to add eReaderNewsToday early in January as they only book up to 30 days in advance. (Got knocked back as they thought it was too close to the last advert with them...)
I've modified the BookBub advert to $60, as it's my first one and I don't want to over invest in case it sucks.
The next three month KDP cycle begins on the 27th February 2018. I'll try (once again) to get a bookbub feature - if that fails I'll split the five days into 2 blocks of 3 and 2 days each and run two promos in the next cycle.
So you have all your books timed to exit/enter Select at the same time?
Pretty much, esp for the first three.But - I just focus on A Subtle Agency for promotions, and don't worry about the rest.
ROI on the November Promo.Spent: $195 USD.
November Sales: approx $118 USD
December Sales: Approx $71 USD
January in progress - real quiet...
Almost a +ROI on this promotion.
The key takeaway from the November 2018 promotion is that the cycle needs to be faster than once per three months.I.e. Next promo is booked for Feb 1st - 5th. My next Kindle Cycle will begin on the 26th Feb, and I'll run two smaller promos using a 2 day and a 3 day block separated by 6 weeks.
I agree that promotions should be done more often for better ROI. The sweet spot for my series seems to be one free promotion day (for book one only) every 2-3 weeks. The exception would be after a featured deal on Bookbub which seems to keep sales activity strong for 5 weeks before it tapers down significantly. I haven't personally seen value in running the 5 free promo days consecutively, but I have seen payoff when they are spread across the 90 day Select cycle.
Even better. Thanks Marie.So if you have a promo on ... for example ... 1st February. You'd use 1 day from your 5 free days allocation in KDP for the 1st Feb.
Is that correct?
The promotion sites work well with a single free day for the promo?
I was concerned with the book not being free on the day of the promo and causing serious problems with the promo sites.
Graeme wrote: "ROI on the November Promo.Spent: $195 USD.
November Sales: approx $118 USD
December Sales: Approx $71 USD
January in progress - real quiet...
Almost a +ROI on this promotion."
Are those sales, or royalties?
December was dead for me until Christmas. That last week turned the month into an average one, then January started off surprisingly strong...but it all came to a near-dead stop by the 12th...
Hi J.J. Royalties earned from sales.January has ground to a halt for me too.
Graeme wrote: "So if you have a promo on ... for example ... 1st February. You'd use 1 day from your 5 free days allocation in KDP for the 1st Feb.Is that correct?
The promotion sites work well with a single free day for the promo?
I was concerned with the book not being free on the day of the promo and causing serious problems with the promo sites. "
Here is a screenshot from my book's page on KDP showing the way the promos look scheduled one day at a time:
I would probably be concerned too if I lived in a different time zone, since it seems tricky keeping track of the promotion start and end.
When you set up a free promotion day, does it show as being in your time zone or in PST? I'm on PST where I live, and that's what my KDP free promotions run on (12am to 11:59pm PST the selected day). I'm not sure if it's different for you. The paid promotion sites like Bargain Booksy etc usually send their email newsletter between 6am and 9am PST, so, 6-9 hours after the book is set to free.
My free promotion days have always run as scheduled, except I've noticed it can take up to an hour after midnight for the book to display as $0.00 on Amazon. So there seems to be some lag that I've seen last a few minutes to an hour. I'm unsure whether a customer would have to pay if they clicked on my book during this lag, or if the book would download for free. It has always displayed at the $0.00 price well before the paid advertising newsletters start hitting inboxes, though.
The only trouble I've had with promotion dates/times was when I ran a countdown and got confused about the start and end haha. The default start time on a Kindle Countdown is 8am for some reason. That could be disastrous for someone using paid advertising on the start day, since many advertising sites won't feature your book unless discounted earlier, usually by 6am PST. It's important to be aware of this and adjust the times accordingly. For a free promotion day, the default time is essentially midnight to midnight. It has always worked well for me to run free promos one day at a time.
J.J. wrote: "December was dead for me until Christmas. That last week turned the month into an average one, then January started off surprisingly strong...but it all came to a near-dead stop by the 12th... "Amazon did a huge push for Kindle Unlimited before Christmas, offering subscriptions for low prices (I think I saw $3.99 for 3 months!). At first I was concerned how the low subscription costs would affect our KENP royalties, but the latest KDP Select email showed a similar fund to past months, so I think we'll be fine. I think the pre-Christmas push could account for the spike in KU activity many of us saw late December. Hopefully new subscribers will keep using their subscriptions :).
Marie Silk wrote: "I would probably be concerned too if I lived in a different time zone, since it seems tricky keeping track of the promotion start and end. ..."Actually it doesn't matter as all the promo sites I use are US based and operate the same way.
Marie Silk wrote: "For a free promotion day, the default time is essentially midnight to midnight. It has always worked well for me to run free promos one day at a time. ..."That's cool. I can see how to do that. I'll leave my current promos in place. My next cycle starts from Feb 26th, so I'll start from there and go forward with 5x single days.
Marie Silk wrote: "Hopefully new subscribers will keep using their subscriptions :). .."Indeed.
Hi Marie, I'm experimenting with BookBub adverts for the first time with this promo.How do you handle bookbub adverts for a single day?
For the Bookbub advertising, I was referring to the featured deal (the one that goes out in their daily email newsletter). I tried some Bookbub ads when my books were wide, but the response was minimal at the other retailers (Nook and iBooks). I never tried a Bookbub ad that linked straight to Amazon though. My ads tend to get 1 click per 400 impressions so it was clear I shouldn't go with the BB flat rate for impressions as it would be more costly per click. I've been running AMS ads pretty much for a year straight. Results are okay. The "sales" amount is about half the "spend" amount, but KENP aren't accounted for in the figures. I believe once KENP and sequel sales are factored in, I'm close to breaking even.
Marie Silk wrote: "J.J. wrote: "December was dead for me until Christmas. That last week turned the month into an average one, then January started off surprisingly strong...but it all came to a near-dead stop by the..."Actually, before Thanksgiving they offered 3 months for 99 cents! I signed up and it paid for itself after I read my own catalog :D
Just have to remember to cancel before it expires next month...
Only downside though, it seems I don't influence rankings when I borrow...been reading other's books, and their ranks don't change :(
Yes it does. The sites I use are proven performers.
My apologies for ignoring this thread....RESULTS: February Promo.
[1] (Cost $65) RobinReads (Fantasy) for ASA at FREE on Saturday 2nd February 2019.
[2] (Cost $60) Book Barbarian (Free Book of the Day) for ASA at FREE on Saturday 2nd February.
[3] (Cost $100) FreeBooksy (Fantasy) for ASA at FREE on Saturday 2nd February.
[4] (Cost $60) BookBub Advert Campaign running 02 to 04 Feb.
2139 Free downloads of ASA.
77 direct sales (last 30 days). 9x ASA, 24 ATW, 19x TDD, and 25 TDG.
KNEP Reads: 20,526
Royalties of approx $65 for direct sales, and approx $90 for the KU reads.
I'm still short on total ROI, but the KNEP value is double my best previous months.
Taking a leaf out of Marie's playbook, I'm aiming to run smaller, more frequent promos. I've been trying to get a promo with eReaderNewsToday and have been rejected the last two times, which does happen occasionally.
I'm running my first 'single,' promo on the 8th March
[1] (Cost $100) FreeBooksy (Fantasy) for ASA at FREE on Friday 8th March 2019.
We'll see how it goes.
Graeme wrote: "I'm running my first 'single,' promo on the 8th March[3] (Cost $100) FreeBooksy (Fantasy) for ASA at FREE on Friday 8th March 2019.
We'll see how it goes. ..."
Done exactly that, except for a 'thriller'.
Good luck with your promo!
[1] (Cost $100) FreeBooksy (Fantasy) for ASA at FREE on Friday 8th March 2019 has now completed.387 free downloads, and 5x paid ASA from readers who hit the promo late.
That's expensive for that many downloads.
I'll do another on 'Thriller,' genre next time to compare.
Chasing my next eReaderNewsToday promo (action & adventure) at the moment will know if I have been accepted in about 6 days.
Is ASA permanently .99, or is that just temporary for the promotion?
It's permanently 0.99 to create a good funnel price to my next books. The promo price is Free.
Graeme wrote: "It's permanently 0.99 to create a good funnel price to my next books. The promo price is Free."
^ (this)
As a non-US author, is the US still your biggest market, or do you find you do better in your home market?
Hi J.J.The US is by far my biggest market. Stats for the last 90 days as follows.
KNEP Reads. 29,361, US 27,506 = 93%+ US market
All books paid sales: 113, US 105 = 92%+ US market
ASA free downloads: 2526, US 2413 = 95%+ US market.
Currently attempting to set up the following promos.[1] (Cost $65) Book Barbarian (Free Book of the Day) for ASA at FREE on 7th May - Confirmed.
[2] (Cost $65) RobinReads (Fantasy) for ASA at FREE on 8th May
Good luck on your upcoming promos :) I've noticed KENP going up after Amazon sends out their new Kindle Unlimited newsletter, so hopefully your books are making it into some of those too. For some reason my last ENT promo went pretty slow...less than 300 downloads for the day. I usually get at least 1,000 with Freebooksy and Robin Reads.
Thanks Marie,10000? or 1000?
10K is a fantastic result for those platforms.
Upcoming promo.[1] (Cost $85) FreeBooksy (Thriller) for ASA at FREE on Wednesday the 10th April.
Shift to the 'Thriller,' genre - which is also a feasible genre to use.
Graeme wrote: "Thanks Marie,10000? or 1000?
10K is a fantastic result for those platforms."
Oh I'm sorry, that should say 1,000. 10K would be great haha but yeah, just a typo on my part.
I figured... Bookbub is out there by itself at the moment.
Consolidating...Confirmed.
[1] (Cost $85) FreeBooksy (Thriller) for ASA at FREE on Wednesday the 10th April.
[2] (Cost $65) Book Barbarian (Free Book of the Day) for ASA at FREE on 7th May.
Chasing
[3] (Cost $65) RobinReads (Fantasy) for ASA at FREE on 8th May
Not chasing - Dreaming....
[?] (Cost $484) Bookbub Feature (Fantasy) for ASA at FREE on (a very lucky day).
Graeme wrote: "Upcoming promo.[1] (Cost $85) FreeBooksy (Thriller) for ASA at FREE on Wednesday the 10th April.
Shift to the 'Thriller,' genre - which is also a feasible genre to use."
I'm exactly one month after the same promo, which resulted in roughly 1,600 free downloads, 18 books sold and roughly 1,600 pages read. 85 usd spent vs 35 earned - not exactly great result, but not the end of the world to at least try
[1] (Cost $85) FreeBooksy (Thriller) for ASA at FREE on Wednesday the 10th April.Followed by
[2] (Cost $65) Book Barbarian (Free Book of the Day) for ASA at FREE on 7th May.
[3] (Cost $65) RobinReads (Fantasy) for ASA at FREE on 8th May
All in place now.
Hi Nik, that's a lot of downloads, perhaps some follow-on reads will come.
Graeme wrote: "Hi Nik, that's a lot of downloads, perhaps some follow-on reads will come."Hopefully, although I've managed to bundle all the books into a series on Amazon only recently
My last promo with FreeBooksy has generated zero on sales of the subsequent books, but I'm still selling ASA ... maybe it's a quirk.For me, I'm reasonably convinced (but could be wrong) that 5 books in a series will allow me to break even with my current strategy.
However I need to expand my marketing beyond the sites I use now. (How, I'm not sure).
Wonder whether pricing ASA at 3 bucks as a regular, instead of 1, would improve your ROI
Yes on a per book basis, but sales #s drop. What I'm trying to do is build an audience, over short term ROI.I've got 4 more books to write and publish in this series, I'm hoping that they will be the primary source of ROI.
Plus, I've only scratched the surface of Amazon Marketing Services adverts.
Graeme wrote: "Yes on a per book basis, but sales #s drop. What I'm trying to do is build an audience, over short term ROI.I've got 4 more books to write and publish in this series, I'm hoping that they will be..."
So people aren't tricked into thinking they're getting a better deal when you put it free/on sale?
I only make book #1 FREE, the rest mostly remain at $3.99. Very occasionally, I'll discount the others (#2+) to 0.99 for a promotion.
World, Writing, Wealth
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I'm also surprised by the KNEP response. The rolling monthly window is still above 11000 and I'm having days of above 1000 pages read.