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Paid Promotions - A Case Study of Experience
Spectacular Graeme! Good luck with the Bargain Booksy promo!!
Thanks Eldon,I bought it - then realised that I had positioned a priced promo just after a free promo - which is a bit "bad form." There should normally be a gap.
OTOH - if you missed it free....
I've outlined a marketing strategy that I plan to pursue at https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
So my standard prices will shortly increase to provide a "Discount" when I promo, which will be monthly.
Plus, having higher prices and good discounts will play well to buyer psychology (I hope).
Well the weekend is over.1449 free downloads.
TBR went up by 10.
currently-reading up by 4.
1 paid sale.
2x Kindle Unlimited Reads.
Devised a marketing strategy.
Completed 3 scenes of Chapter 8 (of 9) of A Traitor's War.
Had some fun.
Almost cracked a #1 on an Amazon category.
(Didn't get RSI in my F5 finger...)
I think a good result overall.
Good weekend - good result!What's equally interesting is the amount of 'spillover' sales in the aftermath of the promos. If you can advise these too in a couple of days, I'm sure many would appreciate having the full picture
Hi Nik,My price defaulted back to 0.99 and I got 1 immediate sale at that price.
I put the price up to 2.99 last night and picked up another
In the past, free sales have drained the demand.
The only difference I can see with this promo is the use of paid advertising.
Also picked up a 4 star rating on goodreads.
Ran a Bargain Booksy Fantasy promo on the 1st of April.Picked up 10x sales at $0.99, and a Kindle unlimited read.
Total cost is $40 for the advert minus $3.30 in royalty. Approx $3.70 per potential reader.
I guess with a few books in a series, these promos bring some readers, who got the 1st book for free/discounted, to buy next installments....
That's the strategy. The first book is the free drink at the door. All the other drinks are at bar prices.I'll be pitching A Traitor's War at $5.99 and $2.99 when on sale.
Is it usd or Australian dollars?People might think it's a little steep and that you double up on the 2-nd, but who says you can't try
USD.I'm convinced now that this has to be treated as a business with a substantial upfront capital investment to secure market visibility and readers.
At some point, if my actual product is any good, then it will gain a critical mass and become self sustaining through word of mouth.
Graeme Rodaughan wrote: "USD.I'm convinced now that this has to be treated as a business with a substantial upfront capital investment to secure market visibility and readers.
At some point, if my actual product is any ..."
Well said Graeme!! *Fistbump* #endoffree
With the above free promo. Ended up with 182 free downloads on day 3, (1449 free downloads total) and...6x paid spill-over sales and 2x full KU downloads.
Ran a Bargain Booksy $0.99 promo on the 1st of April and got 10x sales. I thought that was pretty good given that I had just done a big free promo less than a week before.Lining up another $0.99 promo for the 20th May with Book Gorilla and Bargain Booksy already set up. I'm looking to add eReaderNews and BookSends to the same day, but I am still to schedule them.
Hey, not bad at all, Graeme. Good luck with the upcoming!
Thanks Nik,I'm attempting to layer a number of channels onto the same day to create drive up the Amazon sales ranks to create organic visibility and on sales.
The thread is definitely helpful and useful for me. Also I'm thinking about using book promotion services, though first of all I have to think how to meet requirements that most of them requires: several reviews (more than 5, 10, or 20 etc.) with averaged about 4 stars.Thank you for sharing your experience, Graeme.
Your welcome Fanta.6 months ago, I was in your shoes and others helped me. I only hope that others can learn from my experiences.
Cheers Graeme
Lining up a paid promotion priced at $0.99 for ASA for the timeframe 20th May to the 24th May inclusive.EDIT (28/4): Ads with 4 separate promoters - BookGorilla, BargainBooksy(Fantasy), ReadingDeals & Booktastic.
We'll see how it goes.
Hi Mehreen, I'm conducting promos every month.
Just noting that since April 8th, I've only had two days without KU pages read for my books.A corner has been turned, KU is now becoming active.
Graeme Rodaughan wrote: "Just noting that since April 8th, I've only had two days without KU pages read for my books.A corner has been turned, KU is now becoming active."
That's a very good indicator. Small step that has a potential for a giant leap
Updating the May 20th Promo.The promo is as follows.
A Subtle Agency (ASA) at $0.99 (discounted from $2.99) and A Traitor's War (ATW) at $2.99 (discounted from $5.99, but still within the 70% royalty band at Amazon).
[1] (cost $50) BookGorilla ASA on May 20th
[2] (cost $40) BargainBooksy ASA on May20th
[3] (cost $40) BargainBooksy ATW on May21st
[4] (cost $10) Booktastic ASA on May21st
[5] (cost $29) Reading Deals ASA on May 23rd-24th.
What I'm trying to do is use layering through multiple promotional channels to capture as many immediate sales as possible and drive ASA ranking as high on Amazon as possible over the May 20th-24th timeframe to attract attention and sales outside the promo.
I'm also hoping to drive on sales of ATW from readers who pick up ASA.
Total investment is $169 USD.
During that timeframe, I will also use twitter and facebook to promote the "discounted" prices of my book. I will also use AskDavid for twitter promotion of both books during this period.
Hi Graeme,Your promo thread is great! Some really insightful stuff here, glad things are going well for you so far. I will certainly be learning from your experiences so thanks for sharing them mate.
Hi Matthew, learning is the point of this exercise.I knew nothing about marketing 6 months ago, now I know a little bit... :-).
I'm still at the know nothing stage at this point, but slowly i will get there.
Attempting to add a BookZio Standard feature with (add on promo stuff) ($29) for the 20th May.We'll see what date they confirm. They have a much smaller base than BargainBooksy and similar prices....so value is in question.
Sounds like you should have a massive ending of the month. Hope you'll really manage to send a powerful pulse across the internet and reap the benefits
I'm really into the concept of layering of channels. However budget and venue constraints dictate timing and activity.As this promo kicks off on the 20th, I will submit for a bookbub feature on the 24th. I should have an answer a week later that will allow me to then know whether to book the next set of $0.99 promos, etc based on the BookBub result.
Bookbub submissions are driving everything else to a 5 week cycle so that I don't tread on anyone's toes (i.e the venues) who all have specific requirements around frequency and allowed promos at given cost points.
I.e. Bookbub have a 1 week review process for a submission and then require another 4 weeks before resubmission - hence a 5 week cycle.
Graeme Rodaughan wrote: "I.e. Bookbub have a 1 week review process for a submission and then require another 4 weeks before resubmission - hence a 5 week cycle."Naturally reasonable cycle and pacing then
Because I'm 'hunting the big kahuna,' of BookBub, the other venues are there to drive my marketing while I catch the big one.
Also hitting up.Bookhounds, eBookSoda, PricedDroppedBooks & GenrePulse.
All $0.99 promos operating during the 20th to 24th May window.
hi, following with quite interest your promo! hope you have great results. I am also scheduling a KCD, and following some of your steps and advices. Thank you and wish you a lot of sales!
Hi Raul, I do book marketing instead of playing golf - the costs are similar. :-).
Updating the May 20th Promo (#2)The promo is as follows.
A Subtle Agency (ASA) at $0.99 (discounted from $2.99) and A Traitor's War (ATW) at $2.99 (discounted from $5.99, but still within the 70% royalty band at Amazon).
[1] (cost $50) BookGorilla ASA on May 20th
[2] (cost $40) BargainBooksy ASA on May20th
[3] (Cost $29) BookZio (Std + Feature) ASA on May 20th
[4] (Cost $40) BookHounds (Fantasy, SupernaturalSuspense multi-genre) ASA on May 20th.
[5] (Cost $17) GenrePulse Fantasy ASA on May 20th
[6] (cost $15) eBookSoda Fantasy ASA on May 21st
[7] (cost $40) BargainBooksy ATW on May21st
[8] (cost $10) Booktastic ASA on May21st
[9] (cost $21) DroppedPriceBooks Fantasy ASA on May 22nd
[10] (cost $29) Reading Deals ASA on May 23rd-24th.
$291 total investment - I would need to get 75+ downloads of A Subtle Agency to reach a similar cost profile as previous promotions (approx $3.7 per reader). Any sales of A Traitor's War I would consider as a bonus. It's ASA that is the entre point to the Metaframe War series.
Wow, an impressive campaign, Graeme. Remind us when it's on, as I'm sure some members would want to spread a word on social media to support your effort
Thanks Nik,I will be promoting a "discount" week on any available media.
Hi Graeme,Thanks for the update. One question: any scheduled promo in any free promo site (not required to pay for the ad)? if so, please advice which ones are better, if any. Thanks in advance
In my experience, free sites do not deliver the results that I'm looking for.Hence, I don't have any to recommend.
Raúl wrote: "Hi Graeme,Thanks for the update. One question: any scheduled promo in any free promo site (not required to pay for the ad)? if so, please advice which ones are better, if any. Thanks in advance"
Hi Raul,
You might want to check the marketing section of the author's resources: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Can't be sure it's 100% accurate and updated, but you might find some sites and marketing venues (free and paid) there
World, Writing, Wealth
Books mentioned in this topic
BookBub Ads Expert: A Marketing Guide to Author Discovery (other topics)A Subtle Agency (other topics)
A Subtle Agency (other topics)
A Subtle Agency Omnibus (other topics)
A Subtle Agency Omnibus (other topics)
More...
Day 2: 867 downloads
Day 3: 115 (at 1:00pm Sunday US Pacific Time)
Total downloads 1382
Best Amazon Ranks over the promotion
#146 - Free in Kindle Store
#2 - Mystery, Thrill..."
Thanks again, Graeme for sharing all of this information. It is truly eyeopening. And its great to know that this is the group where you learned about marketing. I'm still on the sidelines but this helps me understand the benefits and impacts of such promos. Best of luck to you! It sounds like you are doing quite well.