Timing of a free e-book or countdown deal

[Paul]

Hi, I was wondering what the authors with experience think would be the ideal timing for a free e-book giveaway on Kindle Select, or a countdown deal. I see that there are a lot of places to promote a giveaway or discount deal. What I don't know is:

-How soon after a book's publication should one run a deal? Would you consider a discount deal within the first week of publication, or wait for some time?
-Do you need to promote the deal for a significant amount of time before the date of the deal?
-Do you prefer to run a deal for several days in a row, or just a 24-hour window to be repeated in another week or later?

Thanks for any advice on this.

[Kristina]

I'd say if you run it too soon after publication you may upset the people who've paid for the book, so it's worth waiting a month or two at least (if not longer).

Not sure on the promotion before the date. I would say that it would probably help, but sales might dip while you're promoting it and before the promo runs.

I like to run them several days in a row. My book got into the bestseller list because I ran it for the full length of time I was able to.

I would also say avoid running deals during busier periods - your book will get better exposure during quieter times as there's less competition.

[Paul]

Cool, thanks for the tips, and I'm open to hear more voices on this if others have opinions.

[Chrys]

Hi, I've just done my first ever 5 day deal. Here's a blog I've written about the experience:

http://chryscymri.com/blog/

Hope it helps.

[Ken]

Paul wrote: "Cool, thanks for the tips, and I'm open to hear more voices on this if others have opinions."

You can't run a Countdown deal until the book has been in Select for at least 30 days (other restrictions apply as well). You can do a free day or days any time, but they're really not that effective unless you have a large back catalog or the book is the first in a series.

[Toni]

Paul wrote: "Hi, I was wondering what the authors with experience think would be the ideal timing for a free e-book giveaway on Kindle Select, or a countdown deal. I see that there are a lot of places to promot..."
Amazon does something behind the scenes when your book is in the giveaway. I think it's the page count. Read all the fine print when putting it up for promo!
Toni Mariani, Author

[Sharon]

Hi Paul
I have tried all of those deals: count down, free and recently sweepstakes.
In the sweepstakes I offered ten prizes (which you pay for) one for non-fiction and one for fiction. The results were surprising - non-fiction had 287 entrants, fiction had 395. My approach is this: in both those deals, that is 682 readers who now know about my books that didn't before. A new marketing tool.
As for timing, follow your instincts.

[Toni]

I agree!


Author Toni Mariani

[Marie Silk]

Timing depends on a few things. Have you done anything to launch your book? Did you get pre-orders and orders just after publication? If not, then running a deal soon after publication is probably fine. You should be aware of two things...the 30 day drop off and the 90 day drop off. Basically your book gets "free" exposure on Amazon for the first 30 days because it's a new release. From Days 30-90, you still have a little free exposure as a new release but not as much as the first 30 days. To keep your book on the radar, I would suggest running a deal after the first 30 days. Just keep in mind that a countdown has to be consecutive days, so if you use it up right after publication, you won't have the means to do it again until your next Select enrollment period begins.

I personally use the free promotions. I've found that consecutive days are not as successful long-term as promos that run one day at a time. So I will usually spread the 5 free days out over the 90 day enrollment.

As far as promoting the deal beforehand (social media?), I have never seen much point. I wait til the day of the sale to share it on social media. If you mean, should you sign up with the promotion sites beforehand? The answer is yes. Many of them require advance notice (usually 3 days minimum) and some can be booked out for weeks or months. It's important to plan your promotion by giving the sites enough notice to be sure your book is featured on the day of the sale. Good luck :).

[Paul]

Thanks y'all.

Obviously there are things to think about. Also, it was not apparent from KDP's description that countdown deals are not an option for the first 30 days until I read Ken's comment above, and then dug into KDP's site a little deeper for more details. Since a book has to be enrolled in Kindle Select for 30 days before a countdown, and since it's not possible to enroll it in Kindle Select until publication day (even if it's available for preorder, it's not in Select yet), then that clearly makes up my mind on that. As for freebies, that's another story.

For context, I'm trying to research these topics now before the launch of a book so I can plan ahead if necessary. Also my book will not be a part of a series.