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More Twitter love, please
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Sent off into Twitterland. Hope it goes well!
Thank you!This one's lagging behind the other freebie I have going on right now. Maybe teenagers don't like murder.
Starting tomorrow, I have a ton of titles going free.
Really? All under 1 name? I didn't know you were uploading backlist - hope you sell thousands!
Only two so far were from a backlist. There'll be another joining them next month. The rest of the freebies are in "freebie-rerun" in the KDP program because they're in their second 90-day enrollment.Not all under one name. A couple of the newly-free are under the Sierra Philpin name. The rest are under my name.
I'm glad to see you are getting more books out. More than happy to tweet for you...under any name.
My Dickinson book is getting more downloads in one day than others have had in five days. Crazy.
I've stopped trying to figure out the logic behind downloads. In fact, I've stopped believing there is any.
Going off to Tweet, Patricia. Don't worry. June is quiet. Mothers Day, Fathers Day, graduations. People aren't reading right now I bet.
Thanks, Rebecca.I just added up how many books I've given away so far this month: 2,005. My Dickinson book accounts for about 800 of those. So somebody's reading, or maybe just stockpiling reading material.
Patricia, my experience is that 2/3 stockpile, one third act fairly quickly. I'm just now getting readers from Xmas. Good numbers!
Forgot to tell you At least one friend retweeted but it was to a lot of people so hopefully there will be more :)
Thanks again, Rebecca.I don't know how to figure how many simply stockpile. I get few reviews no matter how many downloads there are.
Most people don't review. That's just the way of the world. Look at your 'likes' also. There is no real way to figure unless you keep a daily log. I did that for about a month and then went to weekly and now I keep a monthly excel sheet. I know when I offer specials or do some advertising or, sometimes, a guest blog will bump sales. It really is a combination of things. Find the right combination to the right audience. So I shotgun and I do some rifle marketing, too. Here's how'd I'd figure it (guesstimate) 800 downloads would hopefully result in 10% purchases of your next book (80) of the 780 left maybe 1/3 will read quickly. Of the remaining 2/3 chalk off a third who will never read and it is the other third of that you hope to convert. Have you converted 80 readers to the next book do you think? Do you have a link and a sample chapter for the next book in the free one? That always helps. Believe me, this is not science. None of us have the time for real analysis (well, I don't) but my observations of my own sales activity seems to work out like above. I shoot for a 10% conversion within say 6-8 weeks. I was hitting that mark from November - May. June has been slow. The longer you do this you'll get a feel for your readers.
No one would go from one book of mine to another. There's no pattern to them -- different genres; no basis for repeat business (except for some short stories I wrote under another name).When I see sales, it's usually at the end of one month, or the beginning of the next, and/or in the days immediately following a giveaway. I get borrows throughout the month with no pattern to it.
I don't give teasers for my other books at the end of a book, nor do I provide a link (I don't even know how to include a live link in a book -- at least not the kind where you can change the wording so it reads like the title rather than a typical html link). Can't figure out how to do a working table of contents, either.
As for "likes", I think the most I've ever gotten is four. Pathetic, eh?
Patricia - WOW! Great Rank!Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,215 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#9 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Mysteries, Espionage, & Detectives
I'll be handing out autographs in the lobby at noon tomorrow...
Right now, this is the ranking for my Dickinson book (Emily Dickinson: Beyond the Myth):Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #867 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Poetry
#16 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Literary Fiction
WOW - I'm impressed.The book looks pretty cool too...snagged one.
I'm not sure a biker babe like you will find the story very exciting, but thanks for adding to the downloads.
Patricia, very cool on the list! Top 20 ((clap)) Top 5 (Clap)) ((Clap))
Just clicked on and noticed the book is still listed free, so retweeted. Still sitting in about the same position as posted above. Well done!Did a bit of tagging while I was there, too.
Patricia wrote: "I'm not sure a biker babe like you will find the story very exciting..."
Kench!
Thanks, Sharon. I'm not sure what tagging does. Does it influence searches on the site?Just between us, I see Kat as a high-stimulus person. She needs high-octane adventures to feel alive. Don't tell her I said that.
Rebecca, I'd say thanks for giving me the clap, but people might misunderstand.
Patricia, Very funny. You can just take a bow.
Patricia, you are in fine form today! Thanks for giving me my daily dose - of humour. The theory is that the more tags of relevant words, the more likely it is your book will come up first on a search. I think it takes a LOT of tags to get there, though, but every one should help.
Sharon, I agree. I have stopped doing a marathon tag though. When I'm at someone's listing I make sure to tag. We could all go nuts trying to so all the stuff we could do out there :). Then again, we are probably a little nuts doing what we do :)
So, I was bemoaning my lack of reviews the other day -- and today I noticed one of my books got one: a big, fat, one-star, thumbs down. Check out the first review:http://www.amazon.com/Sheet-Music-ebo...
Oddly, I'm grateful for it. At least someone read the book.
Ouch! But as you said, at least they read it. Some one stars are generic. I wouldn't worry about it though. Those questions they asked might just rouse someone else's interest in the book!
Hang in there Patricia. That is a lousy way to start the day. If you see the star, don't read it. Sending over my favorite morning drink, steamed milk with almond syrup. Or, a bottle of wine.
You got it :) Hang in there. Have you sent to review sites? PRG is excellent. You can submit for the dual review which gives you two reviewers.
No, I've done nothing with it other than offering it for free a couple of times. I've been surprised that the UK is a better market for it (versus the US) in terms of paid sales (which are paltry in both markets).What is PRG?
PRG is actually Paranormal Romance Guild. Do not be followed by the Paranormal tag. They review all kinds of books from literary to thrillers like mine - romance - everything. I think it's PRG.com I'll try to remember to look it up if you can't find it. Anyway, you can request a regular review or submit to Dual Review. Check the duals out. I love it because not only do they review, they then give their reasons for liking/not liking a book and they do an author question answer. It's very impressive.
Thanks, Rebecca.Here's the link for anyone else interested in going this route:
http://www.paranormalromanceguild.com...
It's a risk but it is worth it. Good luck :)
Hmmm - that's tempting! I've got a paranormal that needs more exposure.
K.A. This is not strictly a paranormal site. Go check out the reviews. They just did a legal fiction for me. They've done all my current legal fictions and one women's fiction (no paranormal) over the last year and a half. They are wonderfully thoughtful. I always still hold my breath, but even when they didn't care for something (they prefer my thrillers) the reasons were spot on. I have a great deal of respect for PRG.They are fair. I also have found a lot of interesting indie reads 'cause I follow their reviews.
For the PRG reviews - your book doesn't have to be paranormal. They review all kinds of books.
Oh, I thought you were searching for one of your books that might fit paranormal guidelines. Then they'll love it.
I thought we might have a miscommunication - glad to see we've cleared it up.Yes, 'Swallow the Moon' is my latest work. That's the one I'm looking to promote.
My contemporary romance 'Let's Do Lunch' has such mixed reviews I hate to send it out to review sites.
K.A. That's probably a smart call on Let's Do Lunch. It's just good to know that they will entertain all submissions.
FREE murder mystery for teens: A Boy I Never Knew by Patricia Sierra. #Kindle http://tinyurl.com/7y42mjn Please retweet!