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Paid Promotions - A Case Study of Experience
Targeting the next ASA-O free promo for Wednesday the 13th of January 2021.[1] (Cost $85 ($122 AUD)) Robin Reads (Feature) for ASA-O on the 13th January 2021 (Booked 14/Nov/20)
[2] (Cost $90 ($129 AUD)) FreeBooksy (Thriller) for ASA-O on the 13th January 2021 (Booked 18/Nov/20)
[3] (Cost $55 ($79 AUD)) BookBarbarian (Free Book of the Day) for ASA-O on the 13th January 2021 (Booked 19/Nov/20)
[4] (Cost $40 ($56 AUD)) eReaderNewsToday (Fantasy) for ASA-O on the 13th January 2021 (Booked 23/Dec/20)
I will allocate 2 free days to this promotion. (EDIT 20th/Dec/20) Now locked in at KDP for the 13th and 14th January 2021.
[5] Adding in BookBub adverts with a total $100 budget to run over the two FREE days. (Possibly - still testing)
Are you making enough to self sustain the books?
Regarding BookBub Feature deals.There is hope for me ...
From Friday 18th December Bookbub subscriber email is this book.
29 reviews on Amazon at an average of 4.0. Minimal footprint on Goodreads and Bookbub. Only sold on Amazon.
REF: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081953YVT?...
Got a feature deal.
Graeme wrote: "Regarding BookBub Feature deals.There is hope for me ...
From Friday 18th December Bookbub subscriber email is this book.
29 reviews on Amazon at an average of 4.0. Minimal footprint on Goodrea..."
They take this one, but not yours, kinda appalling, if you ask me. Not saying, of course, that book is bad or anything.
I wonder whether anyone really spends time to decide what goes or what not before clicking with the finger.
ENT wouldn't want my first book, but would readily accept #3. I suspect, it's just because the cover looks more conventional...
Nik wrote: "They take this one, but not yours, kinda appalling, if you ask me. Not saying, of course, that book is bad or anything...."I bought a copy, and I'll check it out to see what I'm up against.
I'm also reading
by David Gaughran.16% in and seems ok, if perhaps a little dated as the platform moves quickly.
Next two promos locked in.#1: 13-14 January.
Targeting the next ASA-O KDP FREE scheduled from the 13th to the 14th of January 2021.
[1] (Cost $85 ($122 AUD)) Robin Reads (Feature) for ASA-O on the 13th January 2021 (Booked 14/Nov/20)
[2] (Cost $90 ($129 AUD)) FreeBooksy (Thriller) for ASA-O on the 13th January 2021 (Booked 18/Nov/20)
[3] (Cost $55 ($79 AUD)) BookBarbarian (Free Book of the Day) for ASA-O on the 13th January 2021 (Booked 19/Nov/20)
[4] (Cost $40 ($56 AUD)) eReaderNewsToday (Fantasy) for ASA-O on the 13th January 2021 (Booked 23/Dec/20)
#2: 11-15 February.
3nd Run of the FreeBooksy Series Promo scheduled for the 11th February 221. ASA KDP FREE scheduled for the 11th to the 15th of February 2020.
[1] (Cost $150 ($211 AUD)) FreeBooksy (
All subsequent books at their normal prices. I.e.
ASA FREE (for 5 days)
ATW, TDD at $2.99
TDG at $3.99
TCW at $4.99
Note that I'm swapping from Fantasy to Thriller. I tend to do better in the Thriller genre at FreeBooksy.
Graeme wrote: "Next two promos locked in.#1: 13-14 January.
Targeting the next ASA-O KDP FREE scheduled from the 13th to the 14th of January 2021.
[1] (Cost $85 ($122 AUD)) Robin Reads (Feature) for ASA-O on ..."
Good luck, Graeme. I wish you all the success in the world.
BookBub AdvertsI'm processing a test process with a specific advert, purely in the US Amazon market with a single author on each iteration matched with the Action & Adventure, Thriller, Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction genres.
Yesterday and today I've run six adverts, each targeting an author, being Anne Bishop, Michael McBride, William Massa, Shayne Silvers, Michael Anderle, and Shayne Silvers.
While the Click Through Rates (CTR) on the adverts are currently very poor, apart from William Massa which is running at 1.50% (i.e. for every 100 impressions presented, there are 1.50 clicks through to the ASA-O product page on Amazon), I have noticed something quite interesting.
Across my test adverts there are 45 clicks. I have currently sold 16 copies of ASA-O, hence once a potential reader hits my product page, I'm converting 16/45 = approx. 35% of them into sales.
So, my product page is doing it's job converting 1 in 3 potential readers into sales. I just need to improve my CTR.
Graeme wrote: "#1: 13-14 January.Targeting the next ASA-O KDP FREE scheduled from the 13th to the 14th of January 2021.
[1] (Cost $85 ($122 AUD)) Robin Reads (Feature) for ASA-O on the 13th January 2021 (Booked 14/Nov/20)
[2] (Cost $90 ($129 AUD)) FreeBooksy (Thriller) for ASA-O on the 13th January 2021 (Booked 18/Nov/20)
[3] (Cost $55 ($79 AUD)) BookBarbarian (Free Book of the Day) for ASA-O on the 13th January 2021 (Booked 19/Nov/20)
[4] (Cost $40 ($56 AUD)) eReaderNewsToday (Fantasy) for ASA-O on the 13th January 2021 (Booked 23/Dec/20) ..."
Completed this promo with 1782 free downloads of ASA-O.
This has become a diminishing returns situation.
Also, I ran an 'optimised,' FREE advert on Bookbub and did less well than my trial $0.99 adverts - go figure?
I've been thinking about pulling my books out of Kindle Unlimited and going wide again with Draft2Digital, and this result has confirmed the decision.
So going forward, I will situate my books as follows.
Amazon.
Draft2Digital to cover off Barnes&Noble, Kobo, Apple, and others.
Google.
Three separate pathways and author platforms.
I hope to have the shift completed by the end of March.
Last promo within the KU framework.11-15 February.
3nd Run of the FreeBooksy Series Promo scheduled for the 11th February 221. ASA KDP FREE scheduled for the 11th to the 15th of February 2020.
[1] (Cost $150 ($211 AUD)) FreeBooksy (
All subsequent books at their normal prices. I.e.
ASA FREE (for 5 days)
ATW, TDD at $2.99
TDG at $3.99
TCW at $4.99
Note that I'm swapping from Fantasy to Thriller. I tend to do better in the Thriller genre at FreeBooksy.
Graeme wrote: "This has become a diminishing returns situation...."Regret to hear and although my promos are much more modest and infrequent - the feeling is the same.
Good luck with the last KU promo and with the new strategy!
Thanks, Nik.Its all part of the journey.
New ISBN editions (ePUB) defined forTDG: 978-0-6487843-1-9
TCW: 978-0-6487843-3-3
ASA-O: 978-0-6487843-2-6
Next step - refresh and/or build all interior files on Draft2Digital
ASA, and ATW, have been uploaded to Draft2Digital (D2D) for EPUB publishing - but not yet published.*TDD, TDG, TCW, and ASA-O remain to be formatted and uploaded.
*The timeframe for the shift is late March, to coincide with the end of the 3 month KDP cycles.
Got a lot of KDP reads and some TDG/TCW sales, even sold an ASA-O at $5.99... will tip over the $100USD royalty mark for January.
Graeme wrote: "Got a lot of KDP reads and some TDG/TCW sales, even sold an ASA-O at $5.99... will tip over the $100USD royalty mark for January."Not bad in its own stand! Hope income will surpass the disbursements one day soon
Working through the process of going wide again.ASA,ATW,TDD, & TDG are now all out of KU.
ASA-O will come out on the 15th of March, and TCW will come out on the 23rd March.
So, I'll switch ASA, ATW, TDD & TDG on with D2D on the 16th of March, and TCW on the 24th of March.
Still need to work through Google for all books, as D2D no longer work with Google.
Progress on going wide.All the books have been established on Draft 2 Digital, and Google. Just waiting on Amazon to clear the KU periods and I'll switch this on.
Can I ask how many readers do you think you have? Do you get constant readers? This goes for any writer on this thread, but only if you are comfortable answering. I am not trying to embarrass anyone, only curious.
Realistically, probably measured in 100s rather than 1000sI have some fans - measured in 10s.
I'm writing for an audience that is probably between 50 and 500 people.
The process of going wide is nearly complete. My full list is available on Amazon, Kobo, Apple, Barnes&Noble, Google, and others.Running some experiments with BookBub adverts for ASA, and I have a BargainBooksy fantasy promo for ASA coming up on the 17th of April.
[1] (Cost $45 ($62 AUD)) BargainBooksy (Fantasy/Paranormal Promotion) for ASA at $0.99 on the 17th April 2021 - covering off all links.
Graeme wrote: "The process of going wide is nearly complete. My full list is available on Amazon, Kobo, Apple, Barnes&Noble, Google, and others.Running some experiments with BookBub adverts for ASA, and I have ..."
Best of luck!
With the above advert, I targeted William Massa and my standard genres, and got an average click through rate of 2.36% across the US, UK, and Canadian markets.The UK was highest with a CTR of
I sold 7 books (6x ASA, and 1x ASA-O).
I'm repeating the advert today to see if the results repeat.
EDIT: Once the advert fully completed the numbers updated. I'm intrigued. This specific advert may be very effective with a UK audience.
With Bookbub adverts you can really target the audience.
Papaphilly wrote: "Breaking even yet?"If I can replicate the UK results. It would be yes with that advert in that market...
Graeme wrote: "Papaphilly wrote: "Breaking even yet?"If I can replicate the UK results. It would be yes with that advert in that market..."
Wow
Nice and good luck
At some point you will actually make money and then be a rarity, an author that makes money.
Papaphilly wrote: "At some point you will actually make money and then be a rarity, an author that makes money."That's a personal goal for me. Not so much for the money, although that would be nice, but as a demonstration of consistently reaching an audience.
Applied for a Bookbub Feature Deal (US Only) for ASA-O.First application with the book wide.
We'll see how we go.
Graeme wrote: "Applied for a Bookbub Feature Deal (US Only) for ASA-O.First application with the book wide.
We'll see how we go."
Good luck!
If you land a deal like that, what does it actually mean for you?
Lots of sales.In a good year, I'll sell (as opposed to give away) 500-700 books. A Bookbub feature deal can move 1500 of the advertised title in a week. Then there is onsales - perhaps another 1000.
Graeme wrote: "Lots of sales.In a good year, I'll sell (as opposed to give away) 500-700 books. A Bookbub feature deal can move 1500 of the advertised title in a week. Then there is onsales - perhaps another 1000."
Dang, that is royally royally impressive! Congrats!
Just got knocked back (again).I'll try again in a month's time.
Graeme wrote: "Just got knocked back (again).I'll try again in a month's time."
Do they tell you why you are getting rejected?
No. But it's a crap shoot every time.
Currently experimenting a lot with Bookbub advertising for ASA at $0.99. Spending a fair bit of money $100-$250 per month, but it's translating into book sales... especially in the UK/Canadian markets.I have a submission in with eReaderNewsToday (submitted 16th May) for a June promo at $0.99 for ASA, and of course I've submitted ASA-O again at BookBub for a Feature Deal. We'll see how we go for both deals.
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Knocked back on the 17th. Try again next month.