# How to Get Five Free Promos on GenrePulse.com



## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

*EDIT I have now (as of 18/11/15) opened the service up to allow genre specific targeting.
CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE SERVICE: http://www.GenrePulse.com
*

Hi KBers,

It's me again with another Kindle marketing project 

I have just launched my new book promotion platform, Genre Pulse. At the moment it's geared up to promote either KDP Select free promos or 'PermaFrees'. I will be rolling out to paid books once my distribution network reaches a specific size (probably in the next two months). As it stands I have 26,000+ email subscribers and 270,000+ users on my Android and Kindle Fire apps. Campaigns are syndicated out to both the list and all the apps.

I will accept all genres and I have no qualms over existing ratings / levels of reviews etc.

It currently costs $30 (was $25 when network was smaller) for a promotion. There is one campaign slot available per day and campaigns go live after 6pm GMT.

Anyway, more info is available on the site. You can check it out here: http://www.GenrePulse.com

More promotional opportunities (like for paid books) will become available as my distribution network grows.

I hope you find this to be a useful addition to your marketing efforts.

Many thanks,
James


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## Jnassise (Mar 22, 2010)

I'll give it a shot, James.  Liked on facebook and submitted my listing.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Jnassise said:


> I'll give it a shot, James. Liked on facebook and submitted my listing.


Awesome! Thanks Jnassise!


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Thanks to the nine of you who have decided to give the service a try.  Great to get off to a flying start in the first 24 hours.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

How might a reader get on your mailing list?


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Ann in Arlington said:


> How might a reader get on your mailing list?


Hi Ann, signups to the mailing list are driven from with the apps themselves. The majority of users get fed the books directly via my Android apps. Here is one of mine:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.only.free.kindle.books


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## Heather Hamilton-Senter (May 25, 2013)

Bookmarking for future use!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

James Fraser [BookGrow] said:


> Hi Ann, signups to the mailing list are driven from with the apps themselves. The majority of users get fed the books directly via my Android apps. Here is one of mine:
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.only.free.kindle.books


Is it available via Amazon? 'Cause one has to jump through hoops to put apps from Google Play on a Kindle Fire?


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Is it available via Amazon? 'Cause one has to jump through hoops to put apps from Google Play on a Kindle Fire?


Sure. Here's an earlier version with free and price-dropped books. The signup form links to the same mailing list though. http://www.amazon.com/Books-Kindle-recent-price-drops/dp/B00HTKHDPE/


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Thank you.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Thank you.


You're welcome, Ann


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

James,

Welcome back to the Writers' Cafe! [br][br]You're welcome to promote your business and website here in the Writers' Cafe, but we ask that the same basic rules be followed as we have for authors in the Book Bazaar: you may have one thread about your service and must post to it rather than start a new thread each time. New threads about the service will be removed. Please bookmark this thread so that you can find it again to post to. And, you may not make back-to-back posts to the thread within seven days. If someone responds (such as this post), you may reply but otherwise must wait seven days, thanks![br][br]Also, active members (10 or more posts on our forum, active in the last 60 days) may have a listing in the Yellow Pages for Authors. [br][br]Betsy [br]KBoards Moderator


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> James,
> 
> Welcome back to the Writers' Cafe! [br][br]You're welcome to promote your business and website here in the Writers' Cafe, but we ask that the same basic rules be followed as we have for authors in the Book Bazaar: you may have one thread about your service and must post to it rather than start a new thread each time. New threads about the service will be removed. Please bookmark this thread so that you can find it again to post to. And, you may not make back-to-back posts to the thread within seven days. If someone responds (such as this post), you may reply but otherwise must wait seven days, thanks![br][br]Also, active members (10 or more posts on our forum, active in the last 60 days) may have a listing in the Yellow Pages for Authors. [br][br]Betsy [br]KBoards Moderator


Understood. Thanks, Betsy.


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## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

ah, what the hey. I could spend my $18.75 on booze and a hooker, but I'm thinking I'll have a better time with this than an $18.75 prostitute (actually, $12 since I like medium-cheap booze and would have spent $6.75 on a 2-liter of PaintStripper brand vodka heh).


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

THose of you that try this... please post your results.  Thanks!


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## Joe_Nobody (Oct 23, 2012)

AngryGames said:


> ah, what the hey. I could spend my $18.75 on booze and a hooker, but I'm thinking I'll have a better time with this than an $18.75 prostitute (actually, $12 since I like medium-cheap booze and would have spent $6.75 on a 2-liter of PaintStripper brand vodka heh).


You have $12 hookers up there in Boise? Why did Mr. Blake move to Mexico then?


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## ElHawk (Aug 13, 2012)

Question for the OP. If I understand correctly, a user gets your app, and the app delivers them up to five free books per day.

Is there a way for users to specify which genres they like, so they're only receiving books they're likely to read, or do they get any book that's enrolled for the day regardless of genre?


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## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

Joe_Nobody said:


> You have $12 hookers up there in Boise? Why did Mr. Blake move to Mexico then?


Mr. Blake knows the secret to being rich is being as tight and stingy as possible with your money. Me, I'm a splurger. Not many people are willing to shell out $12 for some fleshy sin, but me... what's the point of having a 2-liter $7 bottle of cheap vodka if you can't make the girl look like Scarlett Johansen?

Also, have mine set up for Thursday (I'm odd, I pick weird, random days). Will let you know. I'm already just under 3k in the free store already, will see if this boosts it a little.


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## 41419 (Apr 4, 2011)

AngryGames said:


> Also, have mine set up for Thursday (I'm odd, I pick weird, random days). Will let you know. I'm already just under 3k in the free store already, will see if this boosts it a little.


Any results to report, good, bad or indifferent?


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## chrisanthropic (May 28, 2011)

We used it yesterday on our permafree (book 1 of a series).  I didn't track it too closely, but we've been averaging a rank of roughly 5,000 for the past week and ended yesterday about 2,100.  No sales on the rest of the series but that's typical for freebie promos in my experience.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

ElHawk said:


> Question for the OP. If I understand correctly, a user gets your app, and the app delivers them up to five free books per day.
> 
> Is there a way for users to specify which genres they like, so they're only receiving books they're likely to read, or do they get any book that's enrolled for the day regardless of genre?


Hi ElHawk, to answer your question... The users receive an automated list of freebies every day regardless of whether I'm running any Genre Pulse campaigns that day. If I have campaigns to run, these go out as a separate mail shot after the standard list. The users don't at this moment in time receive freebies broken down by genre preference, although this is something I am thinking of adding.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Woooo!  Thanks to those of you who have participated so far with this project.  Have tested 26 paid campaigns to date.  Have managed to boost 80%+ of campaigns into top 100 free chart on Amazon.  Hopefully, those of you have had hit it have had good residual sales when your promo has ended / your permafree has driven sales for book 2

Update on distribution network - Email list is over 12k now, and Android apps user base in now nearing 100k. The more time goes by the more effective the network is 

Thanks again,
J


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

James Fraser [BookGrow] said:


> Woooo! Thanks to those of you who have participated so far with this project. Have tested 26 paid campaigns to date. Have managed to boost 80%+ of campaigns into top 100 free chart on Amazon. Hopefully, those of you have had hit it have had good residual sales when your promo has ended / your permafree has driven sales for book 2
> 
> Update on distribution network - Email list is over 12k now, and Android apps user base in now nearing 100k. The more time goes by the more effective the network is
> 
> ...


Thanks for the bump! Forgot about this. I plan to try it before the deadline.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

VydorScope said:


> Thanks for the bump! Forgot about this. I plan to try it before the deadline.


Sheesh, just realized its less then $20. Worth a shot - submitted my permafree for next monday (4/28 @ 6pm GMT). I will report back how it goes, but if anyone wants to watch for yourself, you can monitor "The Enemy of an Enemy" in my sig.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

That's great.  Thanks Vydor.  Like I mentioned earlier in the thread, the real runaway successes are girly books (romance / paranormal / erotica etc.) - my distribution network consists largely of women.  Have done a couple of sci-fis already, though.  I've also done a number of fantasy books, so it should do well regardless.  The sci-fi got slightly below 500 downloads in day one, but that was quite a while ago.  My network has already grown much bigger since then.  Just keep an eye on the downloads and rank stats from 6pm on the day you've chosen to go live.  If you want access to the click stats just give me a shout after launch.

Thanks again and best of luck.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

James Fraser [BookGrow] said:


> That's great. Thanks Vydor. Like I mentioned earlier in the thread, the real runaway successes are girly books (romance / paranormal / erotica etc.) - my distribution network consists largely of women. Have done a couple of sci-fis already, though. I've also done a number of fantasy books, so it should do well regardless. The sci-fi got slightly below 500 downloads in day one, but that was quite a while ago. My network has already grown much bigger since then. Just keep an eye on the downloads and rank stats from 6pm on the day you've chosen to go live. If you want access to the click stats just give me a shout after launch.
> 
> Thanks again and best of luck.


I will definitely give you a shout.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

VydorScope said:


> Sheesh, just realized its less then $20. Worth a shot - submitted my permafree for next monday (4/28 @ 6pm GMT). I will report back how it goes, but if anyone wants to watch for yourself, you can monitor "The Enemy of an Enemy" in my sig.


Reporting as promised. I peaked yesterday at (or at least this was the highest I saw before I went to bed):

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,823 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Military > Space Fleet
#6 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Space Opera
#66 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction
#7 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Military

If I get my normal conversion then it will easily pay for itself.

I plan to ask for click tracking in a few days.


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## Alexis-Shore (Feb 20, 2011)

Giving this a go. Thanks x


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Alexis-Shore said:


> Giving this a go. Thanks x


Thanks Alexis! 

Just emailed you to let you know that your campaign is scheduled for this afternoon...

To the rest of you, sorry but I had a 48 hour delay on my ability to serve campaigns due to server issues. Everything is now running swimmingly.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

VydorScope said:


> Reporting as promised. I peaked yesterday at (or at least this was the highest I saw before I went to bed):
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,823 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
> #2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Military > Space Fleet
> ...


Just a little more data..










As you can see it cause a bump in my downloads there a bit.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

VydorScope said:


> Just a little more data..
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wooooo nice n'spikey  Thanks for sharing your findings Vydor!


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## Donna White Glaser (Jan 12, 2011)

I'm giving it a try, too. James, how does mystery/suspense do?


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## valeriec80 (Feb 24, 2011)

Decided to give this a shot.

Very confused about the "time" feature. It says that everything goes out at 6pm GMT, but you can't seem to adjust the time from 18:00 hours... And probably I'm just a stupid American, because that IS 6pm. (12+6=18, yeah?  )

So, anyway, I assume I did it right.


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## Hudson Owen (May 18, 2012)

James Fraser [BookGrow] said:


> That's great. Thanks Vydor. Like I mentioned earlier in the thread, the real runaway successes are girly books (romance / paranormal / erotica etc.) - my distribution network consists largely of women. Have done a couple of sci-fis already, though. I've also done a number of fantasy books, so it should do well regardless. The sci-fi got slightly below 500 downloads in day one, but that was quite a while ago. My network has already grown much bigger since then. Just keep an eye on the downloads and rank stats from 6pm on the day you've chosen to go live. If you want access to the click stats just give me a shout after launch.
> 
> Thanks again and best of luck.


How would you compare Genre Pulse with Freebooksy? On Freebooksy I discovered I could get hundreds of downloads and nothing came of it--not a single review or sale. Of course, every book is different.


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

Just signed up!


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## Incognita (Apr 3, 2011)

Yep, I'm giving it a try with one of my perma-free titles.


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

Have you had any experience with action titles on your list, James?


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Sorry for the delayed response, everyone.  To answer your questions...

@Donna - I have launched a handful of Thriller / Suspense & a Paranormal Mystery.  They have performed well.  I made your campaign live an hour ago, so we'll see how it goes.  Keep an eye on your rank / downloads over the next 24-48 hours.  Thanks for your booking!

@Valerie - Yeah you did right over the booking form.  Sorry if there was any confusion.  Campaigns go out after 6pm GMT (UK time) as that's where I'm from (although living in France now).  This time is about right for hitting up my mainly US audience during the day and on into the evening.  Your campaign is now live, so keep an eye on your stats too please...  Thanks 

@Hudson Owen - Results are all pretty subjective as I take any type of book with no qualms over genre, cover design or level of existing reviews.  Therefore it is hard for me to give firm estimates.  Generally speaking, female interest genres perform the best as I have a large female audience.  I've priced it as fairly as I can to try and make the service as accessible as possible.  Typically, campaigns will get no less than a bump of 500 downloads in 24-48 hours or so, but often performance is much higher.  My distribution network is growing rapidly (13k+ on email list and 126k+ app users at the moment), so performance is getting better and better over time.  Thanks for your interest.

@Mark & Christine - Thanks for giving it a shot!  Your campaigns are scheduled for the 7th and 15th respectively. 

@Perry - No Action specific titles run yet.  You're the first, so I'm keen to see how it performs.  Thanks for your booking.  Your campaign will be going live tomorrow after 6pm GMT.

OK, I think that's all questions caught up with...  Let me know if you have any more.

Thanks to you all!


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## valeriec80 (Feb 24, 2011)

Mine ran today.

Downloads started coming in at around 1 PM EST. It's now 10 PM. I've had about 80-ish downloads, and I'm ranked 1,777 in the store. This is for a YA fantasy book, and it was mentioned above that YA didn't get as many downloads. I'd hoped maybe--since it's a girly-ish book--that it might do well in spite of its teenage protagonist. Will hold off judgment until tomorrow. Sometimes Amazon does catch up overnight, so we'll see where things are in the morning. I'll report back then.


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## KL_Phelps (Nov 7, 2013)

tagging for future use


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

James Fraser [BookGrow] said:


> Sorry for the delayed response, everyone. To answer your questions...
> 
> @Donna - I have launched a handful of Thriller / Suspense & a Paranormal Mystery. They have performed well. I made your campaign live an hour ago, so we'll see how it goes. Keep an eye on your rank / downloads over the next 24-48 hours. Thanks for your booking!
> 
> ...


Thanks James, hoping for a nice little boost.


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## Donna White Glaser (Jan 12, 2011)

My ad for the first in a series went live yesterday, so this is the day after report:  the downloads went from ~100/day to 200. So, they essentially doubled but given the numbers not really a big spike. Rank went from ~#1200s to #800. So, a teensy bump.  No observable change in sales for following books--but that's usually a day or so away. 
My series is mystery/suspense. I didn't run this with any other promo because I wanted a baseline. 
Given that this was a paid ad (altho on the cheaper end) I would have expected a bit more. I'll watch the thread over the next few months and see if results improve for others. As of this point, I probably wouldn't use this service again without seeing an uptick.


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## EllisaBarr (Apr 22, 2014)

Hi OP - we were talking in another thread yesterday about how many of these type of campaigns target the Kindle crowd but there isn't much love for Kobo.  Many of us are struggling to get more visibility there.  Have you thought about using your skills to market to Kobo users?  You could be first.


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## valeriec80 (Feb 24, 2011)

Welp, I've had about 120 downloads of the first book in my YA fantasy series since the ad went live yesterday.

That's a lot less than the 500 which was supposed to be the minimum/low end. It was stated that a few genres were falling a little bit lower than 500... which I took to be like, I don't know, 400. 

For $25, I wasn't expecting much, but I was expecting more, I must admit. Still, it's gotten the book a bit of visibility and into the hands of a few more readers, so all is not lost.

Seeing as the three reported results in the thread are all about in line with my results, I have to admit I'm skeptical about this claim that most of the campaigns generate 500 downloads or more. None of the people who've reported have gotten 500 downloads. Maybe we were all just atypical, or maybe the OP should be a little more careful with numerical predictions.


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## CristinaRayne (Apr 17, 2014)

I've got an ad scheduled for tomorrow. My book is fantasy romance, so I'll report back on Tues and let everyone know the results.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

CristinaRayne said:


> I've got an ad scheduled for tomorrow. My book is fantasy romance, so I'll report back on Tues and let everyone know the results.


Cool. He specifically called our Romance as one of his better genres so it should be interesting to see your results.


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

valeriec80 said:


> Seeing as the three reported results in the thread are all about in line with my results, I have to admit I'm skeptical about this claim that most of the campaigns generate 500 downloads or more. None of the people who've reported have gotten 500 downloads. Maybe we were all just atypical, or maybe the OP should be a little more careful with numerical predictions.


Agreed. My action book fell well short of the "worst case scenario" of 500 downloads. Only about 200 downloads, less than half of the "worst case scenario." Wording should definitely be changed or at least clarified as to what these "tests" consist of. I definitely won't be using this service again.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Apologies to those of you recent participants who have fallen short of the estimate.  I think I know why this has happened, though.  It is because I have allowed multiple campaigns to run on the same day.  The way I have the system set up is to allow up to five campaigns each day.  My estimates were based on multiple tests which went out one per day, so this was shortsighted of me.  And I apologise for this.  I will be happy to re-run campaigns for those of you who fell short of the estimate.  Please PM me if this applies to you.

I will go ahead now and amend the booking system to only allow one campaign per day and I will edit the opening post of this thread for clarification.

Apologies again.
J


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## CristinaRayne (Apr 17, 2014)

After my ad went live yesterday (Mon), it's been a little hard to pinpoint exactly how much of a bump I received from it as the increase of my usual pre-ad download numbers was very small. I received maybe 200-250 extra downloads which is disappointing as my genre of romance was said to be one of the better performers. I had been hovering in the 300s in ranking in the overall free category prior to the ad, and I had hoped this ad would boost me into the top 100 or at least significantly closer. So far I've only moved a couple dozen places in ranking, and one of my sub-categories even lost a rank last night. Sales on the second book in the serial remained about the same, so I can't really tell if any of them were due to the promotion.



James Fraser [BookGrow] said:


> Apologies to those of you recent participants who have fallen short of the estimate. I think I know why this has happened, though. It is because I have allowed multiple campaigns to run on the same day. The way I have the system set up is to allow up to five campaigns each day. My estimates were based on multiple tests which went out one per day, so this was shortsighted of me. And I apologise for this. I will be happy to re-run campaigns for those of you who fell short of the estimate. Please PM me if this applies to you.


I'm not sure if this reasoning applies to my ad. I've sent him a pm and will keep everyone posted.

edit: I just wanted to add that I received an additional 100 downloads on Tues and 50 on Wed that I can attribute to the ad. Sales of the 2nd book still averaging the same. It may be that my book will reach at least the minimum 500 estimated downloads, I just wish it would have happened all on the same day.  I've been offered a free campaign so it'll be interesting to see how that one goes.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

OK, everything seems to be in order now.  Sorry to you all again for the problems.  I've now spoken via PM to all those who were caught up with this issue and your campaigns are  scheduled for re-runs.  I will contact you again via email to let you know when the new campaigns go live.  Thanks for your understanding.

To those of you who haven't tried it yet, the service is now running unimpeded.


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

James Fraser [BookGrow] said:


> OK, everything seems to be in order now. Sorry to you all again for the problems. I've now spoken via PM to all those who were caught up with this issue and your campaigns are scheduled for re-runs. I will contact you again via email to let you know when the new campaigns go live. Thanks for your understanding.
> 
> To those of you who haven't tried it yet, the service is now running unimpeded.


Just in time for mine then. Thanks for the update, James.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Mark E. Cooper said:


> Just in time for mine then. Thanks for the update, James.


You're welcome, Mark. We're three hours into your campaign, and for a sic-fi, your stats seem to be looking pretty strong.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

James Fraser [BookGrow] said:


> You're welcome, Mark. We're three hours into your campaign, and for a sci-fi, your stats seem to be looking pretty strong.


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## Guest (May 7, 2014)

this looks cool! The coupon code is broken, but I've bookmarked it to try another day


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> this looks cool! The coupon code is broken, but I've bookmarked it to try another day


Thanks for checking the site out. The coupon code was an introductory offer just for KBers and was only valid until end April. Thanks for reminding me.... I'll go ahead and edit that out of the original post on this thread.


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

So my permafree results are in for this promo now. Because we all love graphs, have one!


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## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

I was supposed to have one today, but as far as I can tell it didn't happen. Hmm.


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

Has anyone who was promised a re-run of their book heard when it was? James said he'd let me know when my book goes up again, but that was a few weeks ago. I sent a follow-up message but received no response.


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## Donna White Glaser (Jan 12, 2011)

I contacted James and he did respond to tell me my rerun would run today. However I haven't heard anything from him today and there is no sign of any promote that I've seen. I'll report back tomorrow but it doesn't bode well.

ETA: after checking the email I see that James told me it wouldn't run until AFTER the 16th. So I guess it's still inconclusive.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

Donna White Glaser said:


> I contacted James and he did respond to tell me my rerun would run today. However I haven't heard anything from him today and there is no sign of any promote that I've seen. I'll report back tomorrow but it doesn't bode well.
> 
> ETA: after checking the email I see that James told me it wouldn't run until AFTER the 16th. So I guess it's still inconclusive.


This one ran today:

Title: Casanova Killer, An SSCD Crime Thriller
Author: Tallulah Grace
Genre: Thriller
Synopsis: Catching the eye of a delusional serial killer can be deadly for beautiful young women of San Francisco. True to his name, Casanova offers the women a taste of romance, and unparalleled adoration, before taking their lives.


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## Donna White Glaser (Jan 12, 2011)

The re-run for The Enemy We Know, my permafree/first in series, ran on Tues. The download total for that day was 220, which is about 145 over my average 75 of late. (That's down considerably this month.) Yesterday saw another 162 downloads, or 90 over the average. 

I'd have to say that while there was a teensy bump and James seems like a very nice guy, this service is over-priced for what it delivers. It may grow in time, but for now, I'd have to say it's not cost-effective. YMMV.


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

My book ran last week. I got about 150 more downloads than my running average. I did the Bknights promo before the Kindle discount, chose the $10 option, and had about 200 downloads more than expected. 

That said--genre pulse performed better than Booksends did for me this Saturday and at half the cost (although it's possible Booksends will get me more sales on non-'Zon vendors).

I'm not going to put genre pulse on my "never again" list.


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## Donna White Glaser (Jan 12, 2011)

I wouldn't say never again, either. For one thing, James was very professional in all his dealings, and was generous to rerun the campaign a second time. That tells me authors are important to him, too. I would probably put this one on my "watch" list, more than anything. It has potential, anyway.
Maybe it would be more helpful in maintaining numbers rather than boosting them. (If that makes sense.)


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

> Maybe it would be more helpful in maintaining numbers rather than boosting them. (If that makes sense.)


Definitely. Considering your results are so similar to mine, I'd say Genre Pulse is very dependable. Combining a genre pulse day with ebooksoda, Fussy, etc. would probably provide a very nice boost indeed.


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## Caddy (Sep 13, 2011)

Giving it a whirl on the 28th for Gastien: The Cost of the Dream. Let's see how it does for historical fiction/family saga/drama.


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

Donna White Glaser said:


> The re-run for The Enemy We Know, my permafree/first in series, ran on Tues. The download total for that day was 220, which is about 145 over my average 75 of late. (That's down considerably this month.) Yesterday saw another 162 downloads, or 90 over the average.
> 
> I'd have to say that while there was a teensy bump and James seems like a very nice guy, this service is over-priced for what it delivers. It may grow in time, but for now, I'd have to say it's not cost-effective. YMMV.


I'd have to agree. Before I tried Genre Pulse, I went with some free ebook submissions through Author Marketing Club's submission tool and got around 1800 downloads in a single day. Genre Pulse only netted me around 200-300 downloads.


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## Caddy (Sep 13, 2011)

Mine was yesterday and it didn't do well. I had less than 150 downloads of my free book and 3 sales. James is very nice, for sure. To be fair, I think he mentioned the vast majority of his readers are females age 20 to 40, so a lot of those are NOT my target audience. My audience tends to be at least 35 and up...people who have learned life is seldom black and white. But for $25 I thought I'd give it a try. If I ever write books for this target audience I'd maybe do it again, but not for Gastien and not for There Was a House.

So, for historical fiction, family saga, psychological thriller, literary fiction I wouldn't.


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

Keep an eye on your tails, folks (tee hee, I love how that sounds).

I'm comparing my promo day on Amazon's fancy new graph.

The full-package promo I ran recently with Fiverr earned me a tall and very sharp spike, which lasted one day with only a small continuing boost of freebie downloads afterwards.

A recent listing with GenrePulse, after the promo-day spike, has kept good download rates going for three days and today looks good, too. 
I will be willing to try this again.
(James, I'll send you a pic of my graph in a day or so when things settle down)

Point is, I'm willing to give new services a chance to smooth the edges before dismissing them. I'm sure BookBub wasn't built in a day


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Caddy said:


> Mine was yesterday and it didn't do well. I had less than 150 downloads of my free book and 3 sales. James is very nice, for sure. To be fair, I think he mentioned the vast majority of his readers are females age 20 to 40, so a lot of those are NOT my target audience. My audience tends to be at least 35 and up...people who have learned life is seldom black and white. But for $25 I thought I'd give it a try. If I ever write books for this target audience I'd maybe do it again, but not for Gastien and not for There Was a House.
> 
> So, for historical fiction, family saga, psychological thriller, literary fiction I wouldn't.


Hi Caddy, sorry it didn't do so well for you in your genre. However, please note (as Quiss mentions) that there is a residual effect. The traffic doesn't all come through at once. It typically tapers off after 72 hours. We're just over two days into your promo and I'm tracking 453 clickthroughs. Thanks for trying the service, nonetheless! I appreciate it.

Anyway, we're still in the early days with Genre Pulse. I'm steadily growing my email list by around 150 readers per day and the apps are getting around 1,500 downloads per day. I'm soon going to start testing with paid listings, so we'll see how it goes. It's by no means a BookBub yet, but I hope to grow into a serious alternative over the coming months.

Thanks, 
James


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Oh, and thanks to all of you who have posted graphs and shared your results.  I LOVE to see graphs as it helps me to get a better feel for which genres perform the best.


----------



## Donna White Glaser (Jan 12, 2011)

Every little bit helps, and it looks like you have some steady growth coming. Keep it up!


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Finally worked my way through the six reruns that I promised some of you.  Took some time with having to fit them in around other normal bookings, but it's done now.  Thanks to all of you for being patient.  

I'm looking forward to starting some paid book trials soon.  I'm still considering doing a pay after for what you get rather than pay up front model like BookBub.  I might track sales over a set time period and then invoice based on what sales were actually generated in that period.  Seems like a fair model and one that eliminates risk for authors.  We'll see though, might be too complicated to manage all the invoicing.

Will keep you all posted with test results and any new developments.

Thanks!


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## David Thayer (Sep 7, 2012)

I'll be interested to know hen the paid service begins.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Woo!  Just hit 16k on the mailing list.  Growing nice and steady.


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## jenminkman (Mar 2, 2013)

A paid service with a 'we'll-bill-you-afterwards' is music to my ears! When will that start?


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

jenminkman said:


> A paid service with a 'we'll-bill-you-afterwards' is music to my ears! When will that start?


It would be a fair model, I think. And would definitely take the fear factor out of paying up front for an uncertain ROI. After my list has reached 20k and the apps have over 200,000 downloads (in a month or two) I'll then start doing some testing. If the level of sales from these tests seem worth it, and, if the process doesn't seem too complicated to manage, I will seriously consider the 'pay after' structure.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Email list just hit 17k today   Still growing nicely.  Going to do a test for a paid promo on the 20th, so I'll give an update after that.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

So.  I've now run three or four test with the Genre Pulse distribution network for paid books.  I have to say, it's not quite where I need it to be in terms of ROI to justify charging a fee.  The email list is now over 22k and the apps are sitting at around 240k downloads, but I reckon I'll need to wait until the email list is at about 30k before I think about rolling out paid promos.  Perhaps I'll only allow price dropped books / countdown deals etc. as a way of maximising return on investment for clients?

Anyway, that's just an update for those of you who were interested in the status of paid promos.

Thanks,
J


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## jamielakenovels (Jan 14, 2014)

May I ask how you built your list from zero to over 22,000 James?


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

jamielakenovels said:


> May I ask how you built your list from zero to over 22,000 James?


I use my Android apps to drive signups to the associated mailing lists.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Hit the 23k mark on the mailing list today.  Still growing nice and strong


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## Writerly Writer (Jul 19, 2012)

Watch this space


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## ElHawk (Aug 13, 2012)

Things are looking good! I just spent my marketing budget through the end of October, but I'm looking forward to trying Genre Pulse out in November. I'll have a new release that month and everything.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

ElHawk said:


> Things are looking good! I just spent my marketing budget through the end of October, but I'm looking forward to trying Genre Pulse out in November. I'll have a new release that month and everything.


Great. Give me a shout when you're ready. By November the distribution network will be considerably bigger if this rate of growth continues


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Cooool.  Just checked the mailing list stats and we're at 25,010.  Nice benchmark to reach.  Hopefully 50k will come around soon (by which point app downloads should have hit around half a million) and it will provide a solid base from which to do proper paid promos.


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## Kirkee (Apr 2, 2014)

Welcome back, Mr. Fraser. We were asking about you. We always thought the name Genre Pulse held promise as did the serivce & are glad to see you haven't given up.

Keep us posted. Indies are gearing up to do some heavy PR during the coming months.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Kirkee said:


> Welcome back, Mr. Fraser. We were asking about you. We always thought the name Genre Pulse held promise as did the serivce & are glad to see you haven't given up.
> 
> Keep us posted. Indies are gearing up to do some heavy PR during the coming months.


Thanks Kirkee. And thanks to all of you who have made recent bookings. I've seen a nice steady couple of weeks of daily orders


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## Frank Tayell (Nov 15, 2013)

.


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## My_Txxxx_a$$_Left_Too (Feb 13, 2014)

Content removed due to TOS Changes in 2018. I do not agree to the terms.


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## Mark Dawson (Mar 24, 2012)

I ran a Genre Pulse promo on my permafree, 1000 Yards, yesterday. I'm reasonably impressed. James is very professional, as others have noted. Performance is pretty good. The book averages around 30 DLs a day (more since I tweaked the keywords), but it had 255 DLs yesterday plus 126 today. There was an effect on the UK, too, fro, an average of 20ish to 70.

$25 is, shall we say, a little _challenging _for the return. I think it is just about worth it, but others may disagree. If it were me (which it isn't), I'd price at $10/$15. But it looks like James is selling slots at $25, and I've just bought another, so good luck to him.


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

I did a GenrePulse add on the 28th. I received about 234 downloads on that day, and at least 40 I can attribute to GenrePulse the next day before Midlist's email went out. In general I *LIKE* to see 100 downloads per $5 spent. At $10 per 100 downloads I will earn my money back, but any less than that and I have a tendency to complain.

I will use them again, because it was fast and easy and I really liked the Bitly link that James provided. It allowed me to see my conversion rate on Amazon's page. Also, GenrePulse has definitely improved based on my results from last time. With the growing popularity of the Kindle Fire, I suspect GenrePulse's ROI will continue to improve.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

AnnChristy said:


> Do you have an updated stats for us by chance?
> 
> Your site doesn't really give any numbers, particularly by genre, so that authors can decide if this is a good use of limited promo funds.
> 
> ...


Hi Ann, at the moment I am a day or two away from 26k on the mailing list and over 260k on the app downloads. I need to update the stats on the site. And now that I have run a decent amount of campaigns I should probably do an analysis on which genres perform better than others.


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## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

I booked mine for today: (_They Dreamed of Poppies_, in my siggy), which is SciFi. So far very happy with the results. The book went free yesterday and I had both a bknights multi-gig and a Digital Book Today feature (both at $15) and saw close to 600 downloads over all Amazon sites reaching high 400s in rank.

GenrePulse was today and I've already matched those numbers and hit ~260 in free in the Amazon.com store. I've asked James for the link so I can track clicks. The nice surprise is how many downloads I'm seeing on non-Amazon.com sites. Germany and UK are doing very well, but I'm seeing downloads in India, Italy, and Japan, as well.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

That's great news Saul!  As I said in my second email (hope you got that one?), I am particularly pleased that we are seeing some impact with such a non 'girly' genre


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## wtvr (Jun 18, 2014)

Scheduled Book 1 Vampire Billionaire romance serial for September 14. Will report back. After reading the results in this thread, I'm a little nervous.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

LisaGloria said:


> Scheduled Book 1 Vampire Billionaire romance serial for September 14. Will report back. After reading the results in this thread, I'm a little nervous.


Thanks for your booking. No need to be nervous. Your target genre tends to do very well.


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## deedawning (Aug 31, 2013)

James Fraser said:


> Sorry, one more thing I'd like to mention... As I have run quite a few campaigns since launch it seems that the better performing genres are definitely skewed in the 'romancey / erotica' areas. I have had a couple of campaigns (Sci-Fi and YA Dystopian) that have fallen slightly short of my 500 minimum downloads estimate.
> 
> Just want to be clear on this and help manage expectations.
> 
> ...


Now your talking. 95% of my books are romancy erotica. Only trouble is I don't have any free books. If I can work something out I'll be back...or I guess I should just go by the website.


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## Donna White Glaser (Jan 12, 2011)

How is the Mystery/Suspense building? 
Ha. Get it? Suspense building. *snort*


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Donna White Glaser said:


> How is the Mystery/Suspense building?
> Ha. Get it? Suspense building. *snort*


Hahaha. Hi Donna, these are the results (in clicks) for the mystery campaigns I have run so far. 
570
1,044
1,167
1,643


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## Leif Sterling (Jul 19, 2014)

@ James Fraser,



James Fraser said:


> Hahaha. Hi Donna, these are the results (in clicks) for the mystery campaigns I have run so far.
> 570
> 1,044
> 1,167
> 1,643


So, is this the range of downloads we can expect from Genre Pulse? My book is a Sci-Fi Technothriller. What's your estimate on downloads (just a ballpark)? Would they about the same as above?

Thanks!

_*~Leif Sterling~*_


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

Hi Leif,

The numbers James is giving are CLICKS in emails and his apps. It does not equal the number of downloads. 

Recently when I ran a promo with James I got about 50% conversion, i.e. 100 clicks == 50 downloads. I would REALLY like to know how this compares to the industry average. I worked in finance, and a landing page that produced 50% conversion would be considered gold even if it was for a free offer. But maybe for free books it isn't? I'd love to know so I can spruce up my blurb! (I've actually heard my blurb is great ... but maybe authors and readers have different definitions of greatness).


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

C. Gockel said:


> Hi Leif,
> 
> The numbers James is giving are CLICKS in emails and his apps. It does not equal the number of downloads.
> 
> Recently when I ran a promo with James I got about 50% conversion, i.e. 100 clicks == 50 downloads. I would REALLY like to know how this compares to the industry average. I worked in finance, and a landing page that produced 50% conversion would be considered gold even if it was for a free offer. But maybe for free books it isn't? I'd love to know so I can spruce up my blurb! (I've actually heard my blurb is great ... but maybe authors and readers have different definitions of greatness).


Thanks for clarifying. You got in there before me!


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## Donna White Glaser (Jan 12, 2011)

Not bad. I'm still keeping an eye on your service. Thanks!


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Leif Sterling said:


> @ James Fraser,
> 
> So, is this the range of downloads we can expect from Genre Pulse? My book is a Sci-Fi Technothriller. What's your estimate on downloads (just a ballpark)? Would they about the same as above?
> 
> ...


Hi Leif, I am actually running a sci-fi right now. It's three days in, and at time of writing has generated 810 clicks (ballpark around 405 downloads) so far and will probably clear 1,000 within the next couple of days.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Donna White Glaser said:


> Not bad. I'm still keeping an eye on your service. Thanks!


Thanks, Donna.


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## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

James Fraser said:


> Hi Leif, I am actually running a sci-fi right now. It's three days in, and at time of writing has generated 810 clicks (ballpark around 405 downloads) so far and will probably clear 1,000 within the next couple of days.


This would be my campaign, and I just want to say that it's been great. A 50% CTR is impressive, but the surprising thing is that I've had downloads in all but two of the twelve Amazon global sites (MX, BR), including 7 in India. While I can't say they're all because of James's app, the majority of them showed up on the day of and after my book went live on GenrePulse.

Here are some additional details to factor in:
My Select book went free 9/2 (it was ranked in 150K+ range at the time, not exactly sure)
9/2: $15 bknights Fiverr promo + $15 Digital Book Today promo (591 downloads, overall rank hit~ 460s/#2-3 in my subcats)
9/3: $25 GenrePulse promo (600 downloads, overall rank hit ~210s/#1 in my subcats)
9/4: $5 Sweet Free Books promo (802 downloads, overall rank hit ~170s/#1 in subcats)
9/5: no promo, currently at 93 downloads, rank 212/#1 in subcats)
9/6: no promo

Clearly there's an added benefit of running several promos over several days, as it keeps your ranking higher and thus your visibility. If any of these was a one-off, the numbers would likely be less. And if I'd planned better, I'd have added promos for the last two days, but I didn't. My campaign ends tomorrow at midnight, so I'm hoping the slide doesn't occur too fast now that I'm coasting. Ideally, the visibility will remain high for a while to garner KOLL/KU borrows.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Saul Tanpepper said:


> This would be my campaign, and I just want to say that it's been great. A 50% CTR is impressive, but the surprising thing is that I've had downloads in all but two of the twelve Amazon global sites (MX, BR), including 7 in India. While I can't say they're all because of James's app, the majority of them showed up on the day of and after my book went live on GenrePulse.
> 
> Here are some additional details to factor in:
> My Select book went free 9/2 (it was ranked in 150K+ range at the time, not exactly sure)
> ...


Thanks for giving such a candid breakdown of your results, Saul.


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## Dean F. Wilson (Aug 15, 2014)

I have a Genre Pulse promo for The Call of Agon (epic fantasy) today. I'll share the results I get


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

Dean F. Wilson said:


> I have a Genre Pulse promo for The Call of Agon (epic fantasy) today. I'll share the results I get


I just got the email about this from him. So you are live right now.


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## Frank Tayell (Nov 15, 2013)

.


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## Dean F. Wilson (Aug 15, 2014)

It's 6pm now, so my promo has run for 24 hours. The results for The Call of Agon (epic fantasy):

Clicks: 529
Downloads (07/09/10): 222
Downloads (08/09/10): 50
Downloads total: 272

I'd attribute at least 50 of those downloads to my normal permafree download rate, leaving around 222 from Genre Pulse. It's a bit less than I was expecting for $25, but hopefully the "long burn" effect increases my downloads over the long term.

One thing I did appreciate was the bit.ly link for tracking clicks. More advertisers should do that.


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## wtvr (Jun 18, 2014)

James, do you have any information about your demographics? It looks like you're strong for sci-fi/spec fic/fantasy?


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## K.A. Madison (Feb 28, 2014)

Hi James, any update to your paid service? I think I read earlier in the thread that your tests showed that the results aren't up to par but you're still tweaking and waiting for your list to grow. Have you seen any progress?


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## katrina46 (May 23, 2014)

I promised James I would get back on here and tell everyone how great he is. I ordered two promos from him and two for Bknights. Bknights got their scheduling confused and didn't do my promo today as planned. I only ordered the 5 dollar Facebook posting, but to make it up to me they said they'd upgrade me to the full package free of charge. That's one thing I love about those guys. They do make mistakes, but they always make them right. Since I was getting the full treatment, I emailed James and asked if he could squeeze my promo in for tomorrow so I'd have a double promo in the same day and get better results. He delivered the order in like fifteen minutes, so I'm definitely impressed with his customer service skills and all for five bucks.


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

Hi James. Congrats on launching this (unique?) service. I have a question about seeing clicks. I've clicked on your bit.ly links to some of the authors in this thread but I just see a regular book page. Where can we view number of clicks?

You have sent me a confirmation, including this:



> I have scheduled your campaign for the date of your choice. Here is your realtime click tracking link:
> http://bit.ly/1rTtqkb+ (make sure to include that + at the end of the URL)


My book is on pre-release and my ad with you will not run until next month, but that URL just takes me to the book page. Where will the number of clicks appear?

Thanks.

Philip


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

Philip Gibson said:


> Hi James. Congrats on launching this (unique?) service. I have a question about seeing clicks. I've clicked on your bit.ly links to some of the authors in this thread but I just see a regular book page. Where can we view number of clicks?
> 
> You have sent me a confirmation, including this:
> 
> ...


YOu have to include the *plus*

https://bitly.com/1rTtqkb+

And might need to turn of adblockers to see it.


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

VydorScope said:


> YOu have to include the *plus*
> 
> https://bitly.com/1rTtqkb+


Got it from that. Thanks.

The bitly link works. But the bit.ly link just goes to the book page.

Odd stuff this.

Philip


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

*I have now opened this service up to PAID BOOKS as well as freebies  Currently just for paid books priced at $0.99. I have also opened the service up to allow THREE available booking slots per day. 
CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE SERVICE: http://www.GenrePulse.com
*


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

I signed up for 14 October. Initially selected 16 October, changed my mind but now both dates remain selected. Please run it on 14 October.

Philip


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## hardnutt (Nov 19, 2010)

Just booked my first promo with James for 18 October. I've also applied for consideration by their off-shoot book review broker in an attempt to increase the positive reviews for my cozy procedural Dead Before Morning.

Will let you know how both of these go.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

OK thanks Philip.  I've put a note in my diary to make sure it goes out on the 14th instead of 16th.


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

James are you still offering a $10 discount for kboarders?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

C. Gockel said:


> James are you still offering a $10 discount for kboarders?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


No, not currently. But why not, eh? Good idea. I'll activate one now...

OK, all you KBers can now get $10 off (aka 1/3 off) making the service $20 instead of $30 - valid until the end of the month (31/10/14). You can use this coupon within the booking form an unlimited amount of times until that date.

'kboctober' (without quotes)

Please don't share off of KBoards, otherwise it kind of defeats the point of it being a perk for you guys.

Thanks,
James


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

You're the best James.  

Everyone, James service provides you with a Bitly link so you can see just how many people clicked on your book. This gives you a very good idea of the conversion rate for your book, and would be a great tool for testing the effectiveness of your blurb. Also, the booking system is incredibly easy to use.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

C. Gockel said:


> You're the best James.
> 
> Everyone, James service provides you with a Bitly link so you can see just how many people clicked on your book. This gives you a very good idea of the conversion rate for your book, and would be a great tool for testing the effectiveness of your blurb. Also, the booking system is incredibly easy to use.


Thanks for the kind review


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## S Jaffe (Jul 3, 2011)

Just signed up for a paid promo. Thanks for the kboard discount!

Also, the form asks how many days the promo will run but it says FREE days. I assumed this was a leftover from when free was the only option.  I filled it in and also clicked the box for $0.99 promo, but just wanted you to know that was in the form. Also, wanted to be clear that I'm not running a free promo.

I'll let you know how it all goes! (Promo starts 10/23)


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

S Jaffe said:


> Just signed up for a paid promo. Thanks for the kboard discount!
> 
> Also, the form asks how many days the promo will run but it says FREE days. I assumed this was a leftover from when free was the only option. I filled it in and also clicked the box for $0.99 promo, but just wanted you to know that was in the form. Also, wanted to be clear that I'm not running a free promo.
> 
> I'll let you know how it all goes! (Promo starts 10/23)


Thanks for your booking, and good point! I'll get that amended now.


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

James Fraser said:


> OK, I've sorted the wording on that field of the form to make it more clear for future bookers. Thanks, J


That was quick!

When will I get my bitly link for my promo on the 14th?

Philip


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Philip Gibson said:


> That was quick!
> 
> When will I get my bitly link for my promo on the 14th?
> 
> Philip


The tracking link is issued as soon as the campaign goes live


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## nico (Jan 17, 2013)

Thanks James. Just booked for Tuesday. Excited to see how this does at 99c.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

nico said:


> Thanks James. Just booked for Tuesday. Excited to see how this does at 99c.


Thanks Nico!


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## S Jaffe (Jul 3, 2011)

Thanks James. Rock on!


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## MTM (Aug 9, 2011)

James, I just booked THE THREE KITTIES THAT SAVED MY LIFE for 11/05/2014 - on sale for $0.99 during my Kindle Countdown promo. Unfortunatley, I was not aware of the Kboards discount when I booked this. Ah well...as long as I make some sales.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

MTM said:


> James, I just booked THE THREE KITTIES THAT SAVED MY LIFE for 11/05/2014 - on sale for $0.99 during my Kindle Countdown promo. Unfortunatley, I was not aware of the Kboards discount when I booked this. Ah well...as long as I make some sales.


Brill. Much appreciated. Look forward to running it. Coupon is valid till end of the month, so you can always do another discounted run before then if you are happy with the results. Thanks again! J


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

Hey James!

I'm doing my second run with your service in less than a month. Not sure if it's a good idea or not to put the same book in front of your viewership in such a short period. But I'd like to hear your views on this:

It is often repeated that "People need to see an item seven times before they will commit to buying it."

While I don't believe we can put an exact number on such a supposed phenomenon, I imagine the general idea is correct. Otherwise, why would major companies spend mega bucks having their name blasted around soccer stadiums and the like?

Just wondered if you have any thoughts on this.

But I guess if my next promo with you has more/less results than the previous one, I may have some insight myself.

Any thoughts?


Philip


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Philip Gibson said:


> Hey James!
> 
> I'm doing my second run with your service in less than a month. Not sure if it's a good idea or not to put the same book in front of your viewership in such a short period. But I'd like to hear your views on this:
> 
> ...


I'm pretty easy going about letting people do repeat orders. All I'd say is not too many in too short a time frame. I think a week apart is fair enough. I don't want my audience to feel like I'm spamming them. However, it has to be remembered, that I am receiving about 1,500 to 2,000 new downloads a day on the apps and about 150 to 200 new sign ups to the email list per day - these are all fresh eyeballs.

Thanks,
J


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## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

Thanks, James. I placed an order for a 99-cent promo today. It was quick and easy, but I do have one comment. You have two options for pricing, one for a free book, the other for a 99-center. The wording of the latter held me up a bit as it asked (and I'm writing from memory), "Is your book 99 cents?" I answered yes, even though it's actually not at 99 cents right now (it will be for the promo). Perhaps a slight change in wording: "Is this for a 99 cent book?" or "Will your book price be 99 cents?"

Thanks. Looking forward to the promotion.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Saul Tanpepper said:


> Thanks, James. I placed an order for a 99-cent promo today. It was quick and easy, but I do have one comment. You have two options for pricing, one for a free book, the other for a 99-center. The wording of the latter held me up a bit as it asked (and I'm writing from memory), "Is your book 99 cents?" I answered yes, even though it's actually not at 99 cents right now (it will be for the promo). Perhaps a slight change in wording: "Is this for a 99 cent book?" or "Will your book price be 99 cents?"
> 
> Thanks. Looking forward to the promotion.


Thanks for this.


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

James Fraser said:


> Great! Just hit 32,000 on mailing list a moment ago


Congratulations on that. Can you provide a link here so we can sign up for the mailing list?

Very excited right now to see the link to my book has been clicked on by people in 22 countries so far. This is a unique feature you have there - makes for a lot of fun in tracking progress. The last few hours have produced 60 clicks on my $0.99 book and I've sold 20 copies. Is that a normal click through rate (correct term?). That's a 33% conversion rate. Seems great.

This promo has only just started. Looking forward to continuing to track it.

(EDIT: 4 hours later and now people from 33 countries have clicked (132 clicks in 6 hours) on the link and many of those have bought the book. Conversions from clicks to paid $0.99 sales have been ranging from 25% to 33%)

Thanks a lot, James!

Philip


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Hello all you fellow KBers.

I just wanted to announce that as of today there is a new targeting package for the Genre Pulse service.

It is now possible to do an 'apps only' campaign for $10. This package doesn't include the email distribution to the 32,000+ recipients.

There have now been over 300,000 app installs, so it seemed like a good time to make this into a proper option.

The added benefit of this 'apps only' package is that there is now unlimited availability of bookings per day vs. the three only per day which are available with the $30 full package.

Just so you know - to those of you who have booked the Fiverr apps only service before&#8230; that has been replaced with this $10 package and the Fiverr gig has been suspended for now.

You can check out the changes over at the site: http://www.GenrePulse.com

Thanks!


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

300,000 app installs? That's good, I guess.

But what exactly are these apps? I know our book info is sent to them, but what are they? How do they work? Why are there so many more of them installed than there are email subscribers?

My last run with your service ran on both emails and apps, but I'm not sure which gives better results. FYI, that nearly-completed Genre Pulse promo for my $0.99 book has the following results so far:

Total clicks: 293
Total sales:  55 (from 5 Amazon country sites)
Countries clicked: 48
Clicks to sales conversion rate: 19% 

I consider that a very good result. Especially since it enabled me to sell books in countries I have never reached before.

Watching the progress hour by hour was most interesting. During the first 6 hours, I was selling 1 book for every 3 clicks. Wow! Clicks continued coming in but the sales to click ratio dropped, so after 10 hours I was only selling 1 book per each 8 to 10 clicks. Still pretty good I would think... but markedly lower.

I'm guessing that the higher conversion rate in the first few hours was due to the emails, and the lower conversion rate later in the promo was due to clicks on the app.

Right... or not?

So thanks again James, and what is this 'app' of which you speak so fondly?


Philip

(EDIT: 49 countries have now clicked on the link. I'm so impressed by that.)


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Thanks for sharing that Philip. If you want to check out the apps you can see them here on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=BookGrow

Or here is the one for Kindle Fire: http://www.amazon.com/Books-Kindle-recent-price-drops/dp/B00HTKHDPE/

Thanks,
J


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

James Fraser said:


> Thanks for sharing that Philip. If you want to check out the apps you can see them here on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=BookGrow
> 
> Or here is the one for Kindle Fire: http://www.amazon.com/Books-Kindle-recent-price-drops/dp/B00HTKHDPE/
> 
> ...


Thanks James. I think you have a good thing growing here. As far as I can see, only Bookbub is able to post reliable estimates of average views to downloads conversions. If, as is looking likely, you are going to be able to state something like:

Clicks to download ratio for FREE books: 50%
Clicks to purchases ratio for $0.99 books: 20%

that would be awesome for your service.

By the way, you have 10 times as many app downloads as you have sign ups for your emails - how does that happen?

The ad you ran for me this week was the second time you have featured this book. The first time was one week prior. I was expecting the second running to get fewer clicks, but the reverse happened. The first running had only 48 clicks. The second ad for the same book produced 307 clicks - a huge difference. Here's the link:

http://bit.ly/1rTtqkb+

Maybe I chose a better genre the second time around or wrote a better short blurb. It would be informative to know the reason for the huge improvement the second time around.

Anyway, best of luck as you continue to develop this service. I will certainly be using it again as long as you keep the price reasonable.

Philip


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## eden baylee (Aug 3, 2014)

Hi James, 
Newbie to kboards but not to publishing, and happy to find your service. I've booked 2 dates with you. Nov 5 for my literary erotica collection, and Nov 12 for my mystery. Since you say you do better with the 'romance/erotic' genres, I will be curious to compare the two campaigns. 

Question: I received your confirmation of my submissions, however, the synopsis for both books shows the symbol \  where ever quotation marks were used. Can you clean this up prior to sending?

Thanks, 
eden


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

eden baylee said:


> Hi James,
> Newbie to kboards but not to publishing, and happy to find your service. I've booked 2 dates with you. Nov 5 for my literary erotica collection, and Nov 12 for my mystery. Since you say you do better with the 'romance/erotic' genres, I will be curious to compare the two campaigns.
> 
> Question: I received your confirmation of my submissions, however, the synopsis for both books shows the symbol \ where ever quotation marks were used. Can you clean this up prior to sending?
> ...


Thanks for your bookings! Yes, unfortunately, that's just the way the automated booking system formats the text. It obviously won't go out like that at launch.


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## eden baylee (Aug 3, 2014)

James Fraser said:


> Thanks for your bookings! Yes, unfortunately, that's just the way the automated booking system formats the text. It obviously won't go out like that at launch.


Ok James, thanks for your response. Appreciate it. 
eden


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## loriann (Jun 20, 2014)

I did a promo with James for today for my book of essays (humor mostly) called Slouching Towards My Weltanschauung.

At 4:15 Chicago time, I am at:

#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Essays 
#4 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy 

and I am thrilled. Thank you James!!

Right now I am at 132 downloads. I did BKnight's Fiverr on this book a couple weeks ago and had 191 total in downloads for the day. At this rate, Genre Pulse will beat that score. I have another promo next week for something else and am psyched. Yay Genre Pulse!


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

loriann said:


> I did a promo with James for today for my book of essays (humor mostly) called Slouching Towards My Weltanschauung.
> 
> At 4:15 Chicago time, I am at:
> 
> ...


Woooo! I'm thrilled it's working for you. Makes me happy to read posts like that


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## AA.A (Sep 6, 2012)

*The Clout of Gen* got me only 48 clicks. Couldn't tell how many downloads came from that. Despite that I was very happy, as I got 580 downloads for the two days it was free. I guess I have to thank Read Cheaply and Awesome Gang for the numbers.


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## J.B. (Aug 15, 2014)

VydorScope said:


> Sheesh, just realized its less then $20. Worth a shot - submitted my permafree for next monday (4/28 @ 6pm GMT). I will report back how it goes, but if anyone wants to watch for yourself, you can monitor "The Enemy of an Enemy" in my sig.


Read it! I loved the Enemy of an enemy!


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## loriann (Jun 20, 2014)

I wanted to confirm that Genre Pulse got me about 5% more downloads for the same book than BKnights Fiverr two weeks ago. I am delighted with both Genre Pulse and BKnights. Given that the title of my book could be off-putting to some (Slouching Towards My Weltanschauung) and that its category is Humor, it suggests to me a diversity of interest in James' audience. I did 0.99 promos on Genre Pulse's app offshoot a couple weeks ago, and got equal downloads for 3 different books in memoir, fantasy and fantasy/humor.

Next week, Genre Pulse will promo my 5,000 word memoir of a summer in 1969 so it will be interesting. 477 clicks as of now. Last night, over 200 downloads on about 400 clicks. Still #1 and #4 in the categories I mentioned yesterday: Humor - Essays and Philosophy - Essays.

Yay! I hope my new link shows up.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

JullesBurn said:


> Read it! I loved the Enemy of an enemy!


Wow thanks!


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

loriann said:


> I wanted to confirm that Genre Pulse got me about 5% more downloads for the same book than BKnights Fiverr two weeks ago. I am delighted with both Genre Pulse and BKnights. Given that the title of my book could be off-putting to some (Slouching Towards My Weltanschauung) and that its category is Humor, it suggests to me a diversity of interest in James' audience. I did 0.99 promos on Genre Pulse's app offshoot a couple weeks ago, and got equal downloads for 3 different books in memoir, fantasy and fantasy/humor.
> 
> Next week, Genre Pulse will promo my 5,000 word memoir of a summer in 1969 so it will be interesting. 477 clicks as of now. Last night, over 200 downloads on about 400 clicks. Still #1 and #4 in the categories I mentioned yesterday: Humor - Essays and Philosophy - Essays.
> 
> Yay! I hope my new link shows up.


That's great. Thanks, loriann!


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## loriann (Jun 20, 2014)

Hi James,

I know you said the error you are getting won't affect existing campaigns. So does mine start tonight at 6 PM? As in 18:00 hours? 

Thank you. (And I hope your error gets fixed.)


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## loriann (Jun 20, 2014)

I see it's live now. Thanks.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

No probs.  Been steadily working may way through the campaigns since 18:00.  Have had to launch 16 today, so quite a lot to get through!


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## loriann (Jun 20, 2014)

Here I am a few hours into the campaign for Summer in the City (short read memoir):

#6 in Kindle Store > Kindle Short Reads > 30 minutes (12-21 pages) > Biographies & Memoirs 
#10 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Specific Groups > Women 
#17 in Kindle Store > Kindle Short Reads > 30 minutes (12-21 pages) > Parenting & Relationships 

Tomorrow I do a promo for a (true!) ghost story. I didn't want to overdo it with the Genre Pulse audience and do two in a row on a weekend, but I will set that up next with you James.

Also, last promo with Genre Pulse has brought me one or two sales a day ever since (Slouching Towards My Weltanschauung - essay/humor). For me and my strange stand-alones, that is incredible. 

Thank you so much!


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

loriann said:


> Here I am a few hours into the campaign for Summer in the City (short read memoir):
> 
> #6 in Kindle Store > Kindle Short Reads > 30 minutes (12-21 pages) > Biographies & Memoirs
> #10 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Specific Groups > Women
> ...


I see you're now #1 in two of those categories. I'm pleased with this, as my previous Memoir campaigns were the poorest performing.


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## reneepawlish (Nov 14, 2011)

James, how do we know what results we got? I thought you were going to email me a link but I never received anything. And I can't seem to find your email


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

reneepawlish said:


> James, how do we know what results we got? I thought you were going to email me a link but I never received anything. And I can't seem to find your email


For which book, Renee?


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## loriann (Jun 20, 2014)

Signed up for November promo with the coupon. Thanks for the reminder James!

I just thought I'd share an experiment I tried with my memoir short - Summer in the City (a bit over 5,000 words). 

When James had the separate Genre Pulse offshoot app, I promoted this in September for its regular price of 0.99. I sold a few and that was it. 

Last week, I raised the price on the same book and promoted it Free on the regular Genre Pulse (which now includes the offshoot app I take it). It went to number one in two categories, and after the promo was over - made me 8 times as much as the 0.99 September promo in subsequent sales. I had raised the price on the book before the promo, but still...I was delighted.

Yay!


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

loriann said:


> Signed up for November promo with the coupon. Thanks for the reminder James!
> 
> I just thought I'd share an experiment I tried with my memoir short - Summer in the City (a bit over 5,000 words).
> 
> ...


Cool. That's interesting to know. Thanks for sharing!


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## reneepawlish (Nov 14, 2011)

Thanks James. Forgive me, I'm in the middle of moving and it's hectic - I thought it was running a bit earlier  but alas, I was wrong.
Can't wait to see the results!


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## 13893 (Apr 29, 2010)

James, when do you send the links out? I'm supposed to have a promo running today. Thanks.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Thankfully the new Play app is starting to get a bit of traction.  Hopefully growth will be back on track fairly soon!


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## NotActive (Jan 24, 2011)

content


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## Redacted1111 (Oct 26, 2013)

Are you no longer offering your services on Fiverr? I had two gigs booked and they disappeared.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Kalypsō said:


> Are you no longer offering your services on Fiverr? I had two gigs booked and they disappeared.


Yeah, unfortunately, I had to suspend the Fiverr service as it was becoming too difficult to manage so many bookings from multiple sources. It's all contained within www.GenrePulse.com now.


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## T.K. (Mar 8, 2011)

Forgive me if this sounds too blunt, but I think you might want to rethink the wording on your website.

You promise "Genre Pulse simply offers a surefire way of generating downloads / sales."

Also "When we launch an 'apps only' campaign, your book will be syndicated out to all of our app users with a customised, stand-alone listing including your cover graphic.  Clicks will start building up within an hour of launch."

Are you sure both of these statements are true? Every time? With every book/author?


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

T.K. Richardson said:


> Forgive me if this sounds too blunt, but I think you might want to rethink the wording on your website.
> 
> You promise "Genre Pulse simply offers a surefire way of generating downloads / sales."
> 
> ...


Quite sure, yes. Based on averages. 781 campaigns now, so fairly accurate.


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## chrisanthropic (May 28, 2011)

James Fraser said:


> Last day to use the coupon


Wow. November is pretty much booked - scheduled 2 for early Dec.

Trying something new - advertising permafree book 1 and also advertising book 2 on the same day at .99 (it's usally 3.99)


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## NotActive (Jan 24, 2011)

content


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## T.K. (Mar 8, 2011)

> Quite sure, yes. Based on averages. 781 campaigns now, so fairly accurate.


 This was not my experience at all. I saw zero results.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

T.K. Richardson said:


> This was not my experience at all. I saw zero results.


Which book are we talking about? If you saw nothing then there must be some other error with the campaign.


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## Leif Sterling (Jul 19, 2014)

@James Fraser,

Have you posted a coupon for November yet? 

Thanks,

_*~Leif Sterling~*_


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## T.K. (Mar 8, 2011)

> If you saw nothing then there must be some other error with the campaign.


Really? This is why I asked very pointedly if the aforementioned statements on your website were true* every time, with every book, with every author.*

I'm not trying to be mean. I'm trying to make a point. You are promising something that can't possibly be true EVERY time. And when we're dealing with money and people's careers, every dollar matters. So $10 leaving my pocket and landing in yours with NO results (as promised) leaves a bad taste. Remember that your reputation in this business is Golden.

Simple fix: Change the wording on your website to more accurately describe the results people can expect.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

T.K. Richardson said:


> Really? This is why I asked very pointedly if the aforementioned statements on your website were true* every time, with every book, with every author.*
> 
> I'm not trying to be mean. I'm trying to make a point. You are promising something that can't possibly be true EVERY time. And when we're dealing with money and people's careers, every dollar matters. So $10 leaving my pocket and landing in yours with NO results (as promised) leaves a bad taste. Remember that your reputation in this business is Golden.
> 
> Simple fix: Change the wording on your website to more accurately describe the results people can expect.


I appreciate your frustration, but the campaign delivered clicks as you will see from the launch confirmation email and tracking link I sent you at 17:25 GMT on 28th October. If they didn't convert, I'm sorry about that. I specifically state on the site that I do not guarantee deliverables on conversions. I am not going to change the wording of my site because I do in fact deliver what I say I will every time, with every book/author.

Perhaps the confirmation email landed in your spam or something? That might explain why you think you got no results?


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## NotActive (Jan 24, 2011)

content


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

James, a couple things:

First, as stated in the "welcome" message I posted near the beginning of this thread, you may not make back-to-back posts within seven days. I've deleted a bunch of posts that were back-to-back--and most were not even responding to posts here. If you do need to respond to multiple posts, the best way is to quote the oldest post you want to respond to, and then, before posting, using the "Insert Quote" on the posts listed below your text entry box to add the posts you want to respond to. You may not make back-to-back posts even if there are multiple posts you want to respond to--you must use one post to respond to all posts since your last post, and may not then make another post within seven days unless someone else has posted to the thread.

As to TK's question that you responded to here:



James Fraser said:


> I appreciate your frustration, but the campaign delivered clicks as you will see from the launch confirmation email and tracking link I sent you at 17:25 GMT on 28th October. If they didn't convert, I'm sorry about that. I specifically state on the site that I do not guarantee deliverables on conversions. I am not going to change the wording of my site because I do in fact deliver what I say I will every time, with every book/author.
> 
> Perhaps the confirmation email landed in your spam or something? That might explain why you think you got no results?


On the home page of your website, you say this (bolding mine):

On your behalf we can blast out customised promotions to our network, giving your book *a significant and quick boost in downloads* which achieves the twofold effect of higher Amazon rankings and an ongoing, increased rate of residual sales.

And on this page:
http://www.genrepulse.com/how-it-works/
is the part TK quotes below in her original question (bolding mine)



T.K. Richardson said:


> Forgive me if this sounds too blunt, but I think you might want to rethink the wording on your website.
> 
> You promise *"Genre Pulse simply offers a surefire way of generating downloads / sales."*
> 
> ...


I think TK has a point--that, in particular, "Genre Pulse simply offers a surefire way of generating downloads / sales" is a guarantee of sales, and that you might want to rethink the wordage on the site--which was her suggestion.

Betsy


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

OK whatevs.  If it works for you, it works.  I value your custom and I sincerely enjoy creating book marketing tools.  If it doesn't work for you, then fine, too.  
x


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## MTM (Aug 9, 2011)

THE THREE KITTIES THAT SAVED MY LIFE is on a GenrePulse campaign today, and it already has 44 clicks. Will downloads be shown too, or only the clicks? Just wondering--and thank you for the experience, James.


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## jegarlick (Jun 23, 2013)

Is this deal still valid?


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## RBC (Feb 24, 2013)

James Fraser said:


> OK whatevs. If it works for you, it works. I value your custom and I sincerely enjoy creating book marketing tools. If it doesn't work for you, then fine, too.
> x


Dude, can't you just change the freakin' sentence on the website? What's up with the attitude of 'whatever'.. underpromise/overdeliver. If you got a great tool, than this will just help you..


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

MTM said:


> THE THREE KITTIES THAT SAVED MY LIFE is on a GenrePulse campaign today, and it already has 44 clicks. Will downloads be shown too, or only the clicks? Just wondering--and thank you for the experience, James.


Only clicks. You need to see the downloads on KDP. The click data is just useful for calculating conversion rate.


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## Jan Strnad (May 27, 2010)

Well, I'm giving Genre Pulse a try. Having been rejected by BookBub for the third time, but determined to run a Countdown Deal next month, I have some bucks in my promo budget for experimentation. I kind of have trouble expecting that it'll give me a $30 ROI with a $0.99 book, but I'm willing to roll the dice.

I'm wishing James and everyone else with a unique promotional idea the very best of luck, and I'm willing to throw a few bucks into the ring if it helps give them a leg up.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Jan Strnad said:


> Well, I'm giving Genre Pulse a try. Having been rejected by BookBub for the third time, but determined to run a Countdown Deal next month, I have some bucks in my promo budget for experimentation. I kind of have trouble expecting that it'll give me a $30 ROI with a $0.99 book, but I'm willing to roll the dice.
> 
> I'm wishing James and everyone else with a unique promotional idea the very best of luck, and I'm willing to throw a few bucks into the ring if it helps give them a leg up.


Thanks, Jan. Appreciate it.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

I know quite a few of you have not been receiving launch notification emails from my GenrePulse.com mail server.  I think Gmail users were particularly affected due to the fact Google thought I was spamming because all the notification emails look so similar. I have therefore switched my notification system onto Gmail.  I think all notifications are getting through now, so all good.


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

James Fraser said:


> I know quite a few of you have not been receiving launch notification emails from my GenrePulse.com mail server. I think Gmail users were particularly affected due to the fact Google thought I was spamming because all the notification emails look so similar. I have therefore switched my notification system onto Gmail. I think all notifications are getting through now, so all good.


Hey, James.

Thanks for that.

If you have the time and inclination, could you tell us how you set up these smart URLs you provide? I mean the ones that go to whichever Amazon country store is appropriate for the reader depending on where he/she is clicking from.

For example, do we have to manually enter the URLs for each Amazon store, etc.?

By the way, Amazon have added a Netherlands store. Will that be in your future smart links?

Thanks,

Philip


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

Philip Gibson said:


> Hey, James.
> 
> Thanks for that.
> 
> ...


smarturl.it does it automatically for Apple and Amazon store links. It is a really nice feature and a big reason why I use it - especially since Apple has 51 stores! That would be a bear for every link I use!


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Thanks Vydor, you got in there quicker than me 

You're more or less right. Exactly same principle, except I am using a different Amazon geo-targeting shortening service. http://affiliate-geo-target.com/amazon.html


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## Kevin Chapman (Jul 5, 2014)

Just thought I'd throw my experiences into this thread. I ran 4 consecutive promo's between Thursday and Sunday last week, with the results as follows:

Thursday - Fussy Librarian - $7 - 7 sales
Friday - ENT - $20 - 60 sales
Saturday -bknights - $5 - 15 sales
Sunday - Genre Pulse - $10 - 2 sales (and only 39 clicks)

I have to say after reading some of the results in this thread, I'm pretty disappointed with that return.

My book was reduced from $2.99 to 99c on Wednesday and went back up to $2.99 today. It had been languishing around 250,000 in the rankings, but made it as high as 3000 at it's peak on Saturday morning, before slowly drifting back down to around 20,000 by the time Sunday finished. The main takeaway I guess is that that book isn't a good fit for Fussy Librarian or Genre Pulse for future promos.


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## 60169 (May 18, 2012)

I ran a short story yesterday. I only promoted through GenrePulse.

I chose to promote a short story because it so tough to find good places to promo free short fiction. It is short (9,000 words) which works against it, but it is also a Holiday story (Christmas) which is in it's favor. Also, it's got 71 reviews with a 4.7 ranking, so that probably helps somewhat.

It picked up 1,200 reviews yesterday. 632 of those came through GenrePulse, according to the link. For ten bucks, I am completely happy with those numbers.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Shawn Inmon said:


> I ran a short story yesterday. I only promoted through GenrePulse.
> 
> I chose to promote a short story because it so tough to find good places to promo free short fiction. It is short (9,000 words) which works against it, but it is also a Holiday story (Christmas) which is in it's favor. Also, it's got 71 reviews with a 4.7 ranking, so that probably helps somewhat.
> 
> It picked up 1,200 reviews yesterday. 632 of those came through GenrePulse, according to the link. For ten bucks, I am completely happy with those numbers.


Shawn, glad it worked for you. And Kevin, sorry it didn't do better for you.


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

James, do your Bitly links go to the different, country-specific Amazon stores (as with smartURLs), or do they just go to the U.S. store?


Philip


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Philip Gibson said:


> James, do your Bitly links go to the different, country-specific Amazon stores (as with smartURLs), or do they just go to the U.S. store?
> 
> Philip


Yes. They redirect to your local version of the book depending on what country you're visiting from.


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## loriann (Jun 20, 2014)

I had two great Genre Pulse promos for my stand-alones this weekend.

One was a fantasy novel which is also a metaphorical exploration of PTSD. Not everyone's cup of tea, but anyhoo...265 clicks. 124 downloads and counting.

One was my non-fiction paranormal story with a Christmas theme. 420 clicks. 250 downloads and counting.

Last time I had a ten-day tail of sales every day, which for me is fantastic. Yay!! I hope I get something like that again.

Thanks again James!


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## Caoimhe McCabe (May 5, 2014)

I had a Genre Pulse promo for the 99c novella in my sig running on Nov 28th, got 128 clicks which translated to 12 sales so far...


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## bberntson (Oct 24, 2013)

I have a free promo for genrepulse ad running today for Blue Sky Winter.  We'll see how it goes.


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## donna callea (Dec 25, 2009)

I just booked for Dec. 26.  Hoping for the best.


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## donna callea (Dec 25, 2009)

James,
Could you please explain how the timing works?  My time is 16:00.  Does this mean 4 a.m.?  If so, not so good.  I couldn't change it when I submitted.


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## LyraParish (Aug 27, 2013)

Just booked for Jan 7th. Looking forward to this


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

donna callea said:


> James,
> Could you please explain how the timing works? My time is 16:00. Does this mean 4 a.m.? If so, not so good. I couldn't change it when I submitted.


16:00 is 4 PM - but if I recall right it is local time to him - just not sure of his time zone. Close to GMT I think.


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## Eskimo (Dec 31, 2013)

My Genre Pulse promo on a 99 cent deal got me a whopping 16 clicks.

It may have worked for others but it did not work for me.


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## Nomadwoman (Aug 25, 2011)

Scheduling my promo for launch of Delusion and thinking this is maybe not a good offer unless it's a topical short story. Anyone else had good response or is ENT the one?


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## bberntson (Oct 24, 2013)

I did a free promo for my Christmas tale and got over 500 downloads for the one day.  I would say for ten bucks, that was pretty darn reasonable.


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## loriann (Jun 20, 2014)

I tried a .99 GP promo and got 3 downloads. I promoted the same book 3 months later with GP with free promo on the book and got enough downloads to put me at #1 in my categories. The tail of full priced buys lasted two weeks so from my experience - free has been the way to go. My stuff is all stand alone. Humor, memoir, fantasy, ghost haunting paranormal, health. Full length books and short reads.


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## ICRobledo (Dec 4, 2014)

Anyone know how big the nonfiction reader base is on Genre Pulse?


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Hey KB Gang.  I apologise for not having been very responsive on this thread over the last month.  I have been travelling around Europe and UK throughout this period and have just been clocking in online to make sure that the existing booked campaigns were running as planned.

I have taken stock of the situation and realise that for the moment the full campaign package is definitely more impactful (especially for the $0.99 books).  So with that in mind, I have decided to increase the booking capacity from three a day to five a day.  The booking calendar was pretty full before, so if you want to run a promo soon, this is your chance to book a slot.

Thanks,
J


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Sorry.  Forgot to say that the $10 option has remained the same with unlimited potential daily booking slots.


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## alsentan (Jul 26, 2014)

Genre Pulse got me to number 9 in Occult free two days ago! Totally awesome.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

alsentan said:


> Genre Pulse got me to number 9 in Occult free two days ago! Totally awesome.


Very happy for you. That's great!


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## Lucian (Jun 8, 2014)

Just chiming in to say I used the $10 promo, (JFK's Second Shooter) was happy with it, and plan to use it again near the end of this month.

A word to the wise, the $10 promo is not so much a burst the first day with nothing after the third, it's more like a slow roll. So, if you use it, get it the first or second day, you'll be getting sales throughout your week-long promo.

I got sales I can attribute to Genre Pulse AFTER my Kindle Countdown went off sale at full price. Also, the 'Zon screwed up my pricing in the UK. I got two sales out of 20 Clicks in the UK at full price.

The $10 promo more than paid for itself on a book with no reviews.

Lucian


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Lucian said:


> Just chiming in to say I used the $10 promo, (JFK's Second Shooter) was happy with it, and plan to use it again near the end of this month.
> 
> A word to the wise, the $10 promo is not so much a burst the first day with nothing after the third, it's more like a slow roll. So, if you use it, get it the first or second day, you'll be getting sales throughout your week-long promo.
> 
> ...


Thanks Lucian


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Just so ya'll know.  Going to soon be launching a similar model to Genre Pulse but targeting only Romance (and romance sub-genre) fans.  Email list is a lot smaller at the moment than the main Genre Pulse one but it should be a lot more responsive in terms of open rates and clickthroughs.  Running some preliminary tests today, so will get back to you with results for both free and $0.99 titles.


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

James Fraser said:


> Just so ya'll know. Going to soon be launching a similar model to Genre Pulse but targeting only Romance (and romance sub-genre) fans. Email list is a lot smaller at the moment than the main Genre Pulse one but it should be a lot more responsive in terms of open rates and clickthroughs. Running some preliminary tests today, so will get back to you with results for both free and $0.99 titles.


Good idea, James. Nice to see your site is still growing. Looking forward to getting my tracking link for my next promo on the 25th - I love those things, especially the feature that shows which countries have clicked on the book link. Last time, my link was clicked on by people in over 50 countries and my sales covered the cost of the ad.

Philip


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## loriann (Jun 20, 2014)

Genre Pulse got me to #1 in two categories for my free true paranormal story this weekend, and top ten in a 3rd category. Thank you again James!


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

loriann said:


> Genre Pulse got me to #1 in two categories for my free true paranormal story this weekend, and top ten in a 3rd category. Thank you again James!


No worries!


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

James Fraser said:


> Just so ya'll know. Going to soon be launching a similar model to Genre Pulse but targeting only Romance (and romance sub-genre) fans. Email list is a lot smaller at the moment than the main Genre Pulse one but it should be a lot more responsive in terms of open rates and clickthroughs. Running some preliminary tests today, so will get back to you with results for both free and $0.99 titles.


Excellent plan. I hope you add other genres with time too.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

VydorScope said:


> Excellent plan. I hope you add other genres with time too.


Thanks. Yeah, I plan to roll out more genre specific options. It's just a lot harder and slower to build them.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Have had another idea for possible segmentation.  Would people be interested in running promotions with country specific targeting?
I guess only US or UK only would have any sense, given that they make up the lions share of my audience.
I could possibly look at doing state or city specific for US only campaigns, too.
Just a thought.


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## donna callea (Dec 25, 2009)

I just booked New Coastal Times for a $30 Genre Pulse promo for 2/5.  I'm having a 99 cent countdown 2/5-2/12.  Wondering if I should also schedule a UK countdown for that period. 
Hoping for the best.


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## Dmotley (Sep 26, 2014)

Hi James. I used your service a few times and basically like it. But there is one small think I'd like to ask you about. I noticed that all bit.ly links to the books lead to amazon UK but most clicks are from the US. Wouldn't it be beneficial to change links so they lead to the US store (amazon.com) instead of the UK?


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

Dmotley said:


> Hi James. I used your service a few times and basically like it. But there is one small think I'd like to ask you about. I noticed that all bit.ly links to the books lead to amazon UK but most clicks are from the US. Wouldn't it be beneficial to change links so they lead to the US store (amazon.com) instead of the UK?


Bit.ly targets based on YOUR location. You are seeing UK because where you are. If I clicked I would get Amazon.com becuase I am in USA.


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## charlottehughes (Dec 18, 2014)

Philip Gibson said:


> Good idea, James. Nice to see your site is still growing. Looking forward to getting my tracking link for my next promo on the 25th - I love those things, especially the feature that shows which countries have clicked on the book link. Last time, my link was clicked on by people in over 50 countries and my sales covered the cost of the ad.
> 
> Philip


I'm ready for it, let me know if you need a beta test


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

charlottehughes said:


> I'm ready for it, let me know if you need a beta test


Thanks Charlotte.

My upcoming Genre Pulse promo is for an already published book (#Tokyo45) which hasn't been getting much love lately.

Are you offering to be a beta reader for my next book? If so, that's great! I would love to have beta readers but have never been able to figure out how to ask. I'll have the first draft of '#Houston68: Apollo 8 - The Longest Journey' completed in a couple of weeks. If you (or any others) would be willing to act as beta readers, please send me a PM with your email address and I'll send you the first draft in an email attachment.

Is that how it works?

Philip


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Just a quick update about stuff that's going on with Genre Pulse.

At the moment I am working on fragmenting my 37,000 strong email list into genre specific targeting options. It's really dumb that I didn't gear the service up for this in the beginning, but it's high time that I got it right now. I've retrospectively tried to get my audience to align themselves with my new interest groups, but obviously not all of them are going for it as it's dependent on email open rates.

Right now I have anywhere between 400 and 1,000 people in each targeting genre - of which there are 18 fiction and one general non-fiction categories. These genre specific targeting options are growing quickly now, though, as I have made it possible for new subscribers people to choose their preferred genres when they first sign up.

I expect this targeting option will be included into the service portfolio within two months. I've already tested the Romance specific one on a permafree with very positive results. MUCH higher open rates, and MUCH higher conversion rates - which is what we want to see!

Anyway, thanks for continuing to use the service, I know a lot of you are regular repeat bookers. I appreciate it. The service will continue to improve as the distribution network expands.

The main booking calendar is now completely full up to Sat 24th Jan. From then onwards it's pretty free with five booking slots available per day.

Check here for availability: http://www.genrepulse.com/booking-form/


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Woo. Just hit 1,000 subscribers on the Romance specific targeting list.  All of the 19 new genre targeting options are growing nicely.  I guess I will open them up as campaign options with the service when they reach a couple of thousand.  Shouldn't be more than two months.


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

James Fraser said:


> Woo. Just hit 1,000 subscribers on the Romance specific targeting list. All of the 19 new genre targeting options are growing nicely. I guess I will open them up as campaign options with the service when they reach a couple of thousand. Shouldn't be more than two months.


Congratulations, James!

It might be useful to list all the targeting options here for us all to see.

(Don't forget to send me the cool tracking link for my promo which starts on the 25th.)

Philip


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Thanks Philip!  You'll get the tracking link when the campaign goes live on the 25th.  Thanks again for another booking 

The targeting options will be as follows:

Action & Adventure
Children's Books
Crime
Erotica
Fantasy
Graphic Novels & Manga
Historical Fiction
Horror
Humor
Military & Espionage
LGBT
Mystery, Detective & Sleuth
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Paranormal Romance
Science Fiction
Thrillers & Suspense
Young Adult
Non-Fiction (this is a broad non-fiction category as I don't get that many bookings for this)


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

In an effort to try and spread the word a bit about Genre Pulse I have decided to run a RaffleCopter giveaway. The prizes are 10 app targeting slots. Once the 10 winners are chosen the campaigns can be chosen for any date.

There are three ways to enter the prize draw. Firstly (mandatory) is to tweet about Genre Pulse (worth 1 point). Second (optional) is to write a blog post linking back to Genre Pulse (worth 3 points). Third (optional) is to write a Facebook post about Genre Pulse, linking back to the site (worth 2 points).

There are additional bonus points available if you share the giveaway after completing all the tasks.

Obviously, the more of these tasks you complete, the higher the chance of winning will be as you'll have more points.

Time is of the essence as this giveaway finishes this Wednesday at midnight. So, if you want to give it a try, please go ahead now. The link to the giveaway is below:

http://bit.ly/GP10AppPromo

Appreciate your support. Good luck if you enter the prizedraw!


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## Guest (Mar 8, 2015)

Quickly solved, thanks, James!


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## C. Rysalis (Feb 26, 2015)

Hello James,

What category (targeting option) would superhero fiction fall into? Just curious. Thanks!


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

C. Rysalis said:


> Hello James,
> 
> What category (targeting option) would superhero fiction fall into? Just curious. Thanks!


I've put the genre specific targeting on hold for now until the specific lists grow a bit. I guess of the genres I will be dealing with, Action & Adventure might be the most apt? Genre specific targeting is still a couple of months away, though.


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## mritchi07 (May 2, 2015)

Hello James,

I just book a slot. I don't know if this is effective since my niche is onto Health and Fitness.

Regards,
Richie


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## Marseille France or Bust (Sep 25, 2012)

I just bought an ad from genrepulse.com for Thursday. But how will I see it? Why isn't there a link on the website to where to download the app?


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## Guest (Aug 12, 2015)

PatriceWilliamsMarks said:


> I just bought an ad from genrepulse.com for Thursday. But how will I see it? Why isn't there a link on the website to where to download the app?


He sends you an email with a link when he puts it up. Honestly, it didn't do much for me. But hopefully you will have better luck!


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## Marseille France or Bust (Sep 25, 2012)

Thanks for responding, BelleAC.

I will be advertising a romance title. So hopefully I will get some love. The new title launches this Thursday. Also using Kdnights and Goodreads and Naughty List Books.



BelleAC said:


> He sends you an email with a link when he puts it up. Honestly, it didn't do much for me. But hopefully you will have better luck!


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## C.A. Huggins (Jul 8, 2014)

Is there a Kboards discount for Genre Pulse?


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## loriann (Jun 20, 2014)

In response to the question, "Is there a Kboards discount for Genre Pulse?"

I get a 20% discount coupon for Genre Pulse every month in an email. I think it's because I've ordered promos from him so many times. I'm guessing once you order one, you get that monthly email.

As for my latest promo: James, wherever you are, I sure wish you would have read the two emails I sent you a few weeks ago when I requested today's promo be changed to another title. As I wrote you a month ago, I could not offer the original promo title for free today. I'd used up all five KDP days for that book in July so I requested you replace it with another.

I realized this afternoon you did not make that change, so today you promoted a book as free that was selling for $2.99. I quickly changed the price to .99 around 2 p.m., but Amazon didn't make the switch until after eight p.m. I emailed you. No response.

The good news is I had 14 full price (2.99) sales on the book. The bad news is I am sure a lot of them will be returned since it wasn't free, and the book I did have for free today saw few downloads.

I've always done so well with Genre Pulse campaigns. I just wish you'd have read my emails. Although I do believe everything happens for a reason and all that, still...it's unsettling not to get any response at all.


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

Hello all,

Just a quick announcement to say that we have finally gotten around to introducing genre specific targeting on the Genre Pulse platform.

This should give you more flexibility around planning your promotions. While the full campaign option will still have the maximum impact, genre specific targeting obviously offers higher email open to click rate conversions. The target email lists are smaller but they are more affordable ($16-$19 depending on list size). Genre specific campaigns will consist of a custom, stand-alone mailshot to the narrowly focused email list as well as inclusion on the apps - as with the other campaign types.

There are 19 available target genres and each has maximum availability of three slots per day. The calendar booking system is the same as before.

Please be sure not to book the same campaign across multiple genres at the same time as there will be considerable overlap with my audience between genres. Please also be sure not to double book a genre specific campaign with a full campaign or apps only one. This will lead to the same problems of overlap. I don't want to annoy my audience! Just be sensible about the time between which you run repeat bookings and try and leave at least a week between them.

You can check out what target genres are available by clicking here: http://bit.ly/GPGenreSpecific

Thanks for continuing to use the GP service!

Best wishes,
James


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## JTriptych (Aug 23, 2015)

Awesome news, I will be using Genre pulse again when my next book is coming out in a few month's time. Thanks for the update, James!


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## James Fraser (Mar 15, 2013)

JTriptych said:


> Awesome news, I will be using Genre pulse again when my next book is coming out in a few month's time. Thanks for the update, James!


Thanks, hope this feature makes the service more useful for people.


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## celadon (Sep 12, 2015)

I just used this service, and while I wouldn't say that it gave me an outstanding spike, it has been the only service that actually produced _anything_.

I have been quite low-key in promoting my books. I blame that mostly for my modest sales. They are consistent, but not groundbreaking. With Genre Pulse I did get "a" spike in my stats-it's all relative, I suppose. I don't know if I made my investment back-I guess I did, because I got two paperback book sales out of it too (that I think are attributed to Genre Pulse).

I've got another book (all my books are non-fiction) doing a Kindle Countdown in a few days, and I've booked the $40 with Genre Pulse this time. I'm going all in to see what happens.  Granted, I do have a few other avenues of promotion (I have a fairly decent Facebook fanbase). So we shall see what we shall see!


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## Ronnie55 (Dec 13, 2015)

Hey James-

First time KDP author here, thinking of using your service.  First of all, awesome website and awesome name, it screams "big brand" and will serve you well if/when the service continues to grow and rise in popularity. 

My book is nonfiction- self improvement, motivation, etc.

I've used up my advertising budget for my free KDP select days but after my free promo ends on Thursday I plan on having a few days at $0.99.  Is your readership more geared toward free promos? If so I'll wait until the next time I have a completely free promo running to use your service. If you think I'd get similar results with a book at $0.99, I might try to order this week.

Appreicate anything you can share. Thanks!


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## ScottC (Mar 23, 2012)

Hello James,

To understand the reader experience, I would like to download and install your apps. But I haven't been able to find them in the GooglePlay store. 

Are they in iTunes? 

Would it also be possible to sign up for your daily email blast.

Thanks


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## farrago (Oct 29, 2013)

James Fraser said:


> [size=12pt]*EDIT I have now (as of 18/11/15) opened the service up to allow genre specific targeting.
> James: How many subscribers do you have and what is the click through rate? I used Genre Pulse in a FREE unit promo in September 2015 and downloads
> were disappointing. I would have been happy with the downloads at a fee of $15, but not $25 or $30. As a footnote, I'll share this: A Bookbub/UK only slot for a FREE unit is $25
> to an active 100,000 subscribers in my genre. $50 for a Bookbub/UK slot on a .99 to 100,000 subscribers. No promoter guarantees sales, but I saw 761 units sold + above 100,000 KENP pages read in borrows within 14 days. That is return on investment. I love supporting new promoters in our industry. We need you. But we must promote smart, too--and get value for our promo $. Just sharing. Good luck.
> ...


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## AliceS (Dec 28, 2014)

Okay...bit of a dinosaur here. I'm not sure what this does. I signed up and got 11 clicks...which is good, I guess. And since I only paid $5.50 thru the Fiverr special, not too much lost. But I can't figure out how to view the ad...and why is it called an app? And should I have been doing something when it went "live"? Sheesh. I am a social media grunt.

Thanks for any help here.

Just wanted to add that although I am up to only 16 clicks, my KENPS have increased dramatically. Not sure if I can say it's because of this, because a slow increase started before the app, but if so...Thanks!


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

[I am not affiliated with GenrePulse.com in any way.]

I got the email below from James at GenrePulse, threw together a forty-second testimonial video, and got a coupon for five free promos. I asked him if he wanted me to announce this here on KBoards, and he said yes.

Have fun,

Al
Hi there,​If you continue to be happy with Genre Pulse's Kindle marketing services, I was wondering if you might be able to create a short (roughly 30s to 1min) video explaining the service, what it means to you, how you use it as part of your book marketing mix, what kind of results you get, how it has click tracking, etc. Whatever you want really...
 
I know it's a big ask, and most people on my client list won't be happy to do this, but if I you do, I'm willing to give you five free full Genre Pulse promotions worth $200 for doing it (with your own 5 time use coupon code).
 
I just wanted to be able to add some videos to Facebook to give more clarity on the service. Nothing works better than author-to-author endorsement after all!​If you are up for it, and you have the means to do this, please respond ([[email protected]]with a link to the video on dropbox, or wherever? I imagine the video files would be too big to attach to an email?


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