# My Experience with the Multi-Book Release Strategy



## thomaskcarpenter (May 17, 2011)

Ever since I read Hugh Howey's post about the multi-book release strategy (the Liliana Nirvana Strategy), I knew that's how I wanted to release my new series - *The Dashkova Memoirs*. Well, the day has finally come and the first book is live on Amazon. I plan on posting results for the strategy including what steps I've taken along the way. I've written the first four books and they're ready for publication (book 4 is close) and I'm halfway through writing book 5.

The first book is _Revolutionary Magic_. It's on sale for $0.99 and I've enrolled it into KDP Select.










The second book, _A Cauldron of Secrets_, will go live on May 12th (seven days later). This gives me time to do some promotions and announcements before the second book is live. I haven't decided if this will be in KDP Select or not (50/50 at this point). It'll be at $2.99 or $3.99.

The third book, _Birds of Prophecy_, will hit Amazon a few weeks after the second book. I'm going to gauge it depending on the sales of books 1 and 2. It will NOT be in KDP Select and will be priced at $4.99.

Book four, _The Franklin Deception_, will go live a month after that at $4.99, and then book five, a month after that, also at $4.99. I will push them up if sales are lagging.

Here's a look at the covers:

http://thomaskcarpenter.com/2015/04/19/cover-reveal-the-dashkova-memoirs-books-1-5/

I've notified my mailing list about the release (it's very small) and I plan on signing up for any promotions that will take me. I'm also going to do a series of blog posts about the series.

And here was Hugh's original post about the strategy:

http://www.hughhowey.com/the-liliana-nirvana-technique/

It's been a long time coming and a lot of work to get here, but I'm hoping it exceeds expectations. I'll keep you all up to date. 

_Edited to remove link. PM me if you have any questions. --Betsy/KB Mod_


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## SunshineOnMe (Jan 11, 2014)

Thanks for sharing. That's a stunning cover!


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## Lucas (Jul 15, 2014)

Those are awesome covers. Here's to a zillion sales.


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## jlmarten (May 9, 2012)

I love the covers (reminiscent of Shelly Adina) only better, but to me it doesn't really say steampunk. Maybe that's just me...

I'll watch for updates with great interest as I'm considering doing the same thing for a PNR series I'm writing that will be released under a pen name. I wanted to have at least three of the five completed this year, but starting over on the first book three times and to the tune of 40k words wasted, I may be considerably older by the time it's finished.

Hope you knock it out of the park.


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## Reaper (Nov 5, 2013)

Best of luck, and the artwork is superb!


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## Julz (Oct 30, 2014)

Looks like you'll be plenty busy, but having a blast  Your cover is beautiful. Good luck!!


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## Bob Stewart (Mar 19, 2014)

Best of luck, Thomas! 

I like the covers, too.


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## Writer&#039;s Block (Oct 29, 2014)

Beautiful artwork on the cover. 
Hope it goes well, looks like you have done the hard work to make it successful.


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## Howietzer (Apr 18, 2012)

Awesome! Can't wait to see what happens. Good luck and great covers!


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

Fantastic cover! I could tell it was Ravven the moment I saw it - love her.


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## Gator (Sep 28, 2012)

Beautiful covers!  Good luck!


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## KBDeni (Feb 18, 2015)

Bookmarking this. Thanks for sharing! And the cover looks stunning!


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## CarolynVMurray (Mar 13, 2015)

The multi-book strategy seems to be a very powerful way to go. But as a few people noted in that earlier discussion, it can require some serious patience. May I ask how long it took you to write these first four books?


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## thomaskcarpenter (May 17, 2011)

CarolynVMurray said:


> The multi-book strategy seems to be a very powerful way to go. But as a few people noted in that earlier discussion, it can require some serious patience. May I ask how long it took you to write these first four books?


It took me 7 months to write them. They're a total of ~250k words. I really cut out anything that wasn't writing time to get it done. It's been a lot of long weekends and late nights.


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## thomaskcarpenter (May 17, 2011)

Heather Hamilton-Senter said:


> Fantastic cover! I could tell it was Ravven the moment I saw it - love her.


Yes! She's very distinctive and amazing to work with. I couldn't have asked for better covers. Each one of the five are my favorites for different reasons.


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## Mystery Maven (Sep 17, 2014)

Do you have a link to your incredible cover artist?


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## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

Ravven isn't taking new clients last I heard, fyi.

Congrats, Tom. Good luck! I think these will sell like crazy


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## fantasy-writer (Dec 12, 2014)

I'll be implementing a similar release strategy soon, so I'm following this with interest. Good luck! 

Do you have your promotions already set up?


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## jd_ruthers_85 (Mar 25, 2015)

I thought the Liliana Nirvana Strategy was to release all, except the final book, at once, no?


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Hello and Congrats!

Now, I'm confused.  I'm not understanding why you would release book 1 in KDP Select and not the others unless they are stand alone books and not read in order, but I thought the whole idea is that you have an ordered series.

How does someone read book 1 unless you force them to buy via Amazon?  If you don't put book 3 into Select like you are saying, then it can go wide, but again how does someone who sees your book 3 (or book 2 or 4) on say Google Play, iBooks or B&N get to book 1?  Will you force readers on those venues to get your book 1 via Amazon?

Hope I'm making sense.  I just want to understand the release strategy so I can follow your experience.

Side note:  Btw, if you need any Russian linguistical aid just pm me, I'm fluent and my wife is Russian, but no, this doesn't mean we're experts in Russian history from 200-300 years ago 

Regards,
SM


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

Beautiful covers! I'm thinking of releasing my next trilogy in a similar fashion, so I'll be watching this thread with interest.


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## Nic (Nov 17, 2013)

Stunning covers, great artwork! Good luck with your series.


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## thomaskcarpenter (May 17, 2011)

Salvador Mercer said:


> Now, I'm confused. I'm not understanding why you would release book 1 in KDP Select and not the others unless they are stand alone books and not read in order, but I thought the whole idea is that you have an ordered series.


The idea is that I'm trying to drive the ranking as high as possible early on. KDP Select will do that with KU/KOLL borrows. However, they don't pay as well. So I'm going to keep the books 1 and 2 in KDP Select until I've reached my sales goals for the early books, then pull out and go wide. The only reasons that the later books will stay out is so I don't lose money on the borrows since they'll be $4.99.


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## thomaskcarpenter (May 17, 2011)

jd_ruthers_85 said:


> I thought the Liliana Nirvana Strategy was to release all, except the final book, at once, no?


Yes, but I'm doing slightly differently, but keeping to the spirit of the "binge release". Mostly for my sanity and to organize things.


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## thomaskcarpenter (May 17, 2011)

And so far, I'm at a ~9k ranking.  Good results for a first day.  Right now I'm probably receiving ghost KU/KOLL sales so not sure where my final sales will be for the first day.    So I'm hitting a lot of the Hot New Release lists, which is the goal.  

I also signed up on every possible promo site that will take a new release (KB&T, BKnight, Book Sends, eBookBooser, Free Booksy, ENT, Fussy Lib, etc.)  Not sure which ones will accept (four of them did right off the bat), but I'll follow up with details.  Current goal is immediate sales.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

thomaskcarpenter said:


> The idea is that I'm trying to drive the ranking as high as possible early on. KDP Select will do that with KU/KOLL borrows. However, they don't pay as well. So I'm going to keep the books 1 and 2 in KDP Select until I've reached my sales goals for the early books, then pull out and go wide. The only reasons that the later books will stay out is so I don't lose money on the borrows since they'll be $4.99.


Ok, thanks for taking the time to explain this. As I understand it the decision for book 1 (and maybe book 2) will be for only one time inclusion totally 90 days then out they go. That makes more sense now.

Good luck!
SM


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## A Woman&#039;s Place Is In The Rebellion (Apr 28, 2011)

Watching with interest.  I've been toying with a similar approach for my next series.  Good luck!


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

Fantastic covers. PLEASE do audio versions. I don't have time to read anything except audio at the moment.


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## Jordan Rivet (Jan 13, 2015)

Ooh, this is exciting. Like a few others here, I'm also thinking about doing this for my next series. Can't wait to hear how the releases go. Good luck!


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## Marina Finlayson (May 2, 2014)

Those covers are simply stunning! I wish you every success with the releases. I'd love to try this strategy one day but I don't think I'm patient enough to sit on finished books!


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## HMLynn (May 1, 2015)

Huge congratulations. As others have said your cover is absolutely gorgeous. Best of luck.


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## Indecisive (Jun 17, 2013)

Great cover(s)! And it looks like you're continuing to do well this morning. I'll be watching with interest, but if I go with this approach I probably won't be launching again until next spring, so we'll see what's working then.


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## Kenosha Kid (Jun 23, 2011)

You should do very well, Thomas. I'll be following your books with interest. Considering something similar for my next series.

Good luck!


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## thomaskcarpenter (May 17, 2011)

Thanks everyone for the comments on the covers.  I have the wonderful Ravven to thank for them.  I squee every time I look at them.  EVERY time.  

Still holding steady at ~8-9k ranking.


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## BenedictPatrick (Apr 28, 2015)

Really interested in how this works.  Like many above, I'm tempted to try the same myself (was very close to hitting the 'publish' button on my first book, but I do have 3 other novellas in the sequence already through their first draft...)


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## thomaskcarpenter (May 17, 2011)

Updated:

Day 1 - 10k ranking
Day 2 - 8k ranking
Day 3 - 14k ranking

Sales slipping today, but some friends tell me this is to be expected.  I have a string of promotions going for the next couple of weeks, so that should goose things along in addition to the also-boughts and other Amazon related juice.  

And not a lot of KU sales yet, but they might be lagging behind due to the 10% rule.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

thomaskcarpenter said:


> Updated:
> 
> Day 1 - 10k ranking
> Day 2 - 8k ranking
> ...


I learned recently that any KU borrow will improve your ranking immediately, but will only show up on your dashboard after the 10% rule. This means IF you're receiving borrows it should reflect in your ranking. I had no sales and no borrows and my ranking improved anyway then over the next couple of days the borrows showed up as some of them read past the 10% mark.

Good update, glad to see you're off to a good start!


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## thomaskcarpenter (May 17, 2011)

So part two of the multi-book release strategy is in effect. I put out the second book today on Amazon for $2.99. It's enrolled in KU like the first book. Yet undecided if book three will be in KU (though definitely book four will NOT). I'm leaning towards not in KU for book three, but haven't made up my mind.










_Ignorance is bliss, unless the world is out to kill you...

An investigation into a strange cauldron and a dead thief in Ben Franklin's parlor leaves Katerina Dashkova, Russian princess in exile, as the main suspect. With her memory damaged and Ben Franklin missing, Kat must navigate the treacherous waters of American politics to solve the mystery while ominous rumblings threaten to drag the country into a new war. _

http://www.amazon.com/Cauldron-Secrets-Dashkova-Memoirs-Book-ebook/dp/B00XIS561O/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

http://thomaskcarpenter.com/2015/05/12/a-cauldron-of-secrets-the-dashkova-memoirs-2/

Sales on book one are slightly below expectations. For the first week, I've sold around 115 copies normally and another 10 in KU. I've done a few promotions, which has contributed about 30% of my sales (eBookHunter & PixelScroll suck, btw). Still in the 8-10k range usually, though sometimes I've slipped back to 15-20k in ranking. I have yet to see any real Amazon boost for my books, though I think it's too early to tell.

I have book three and four ready to release. I'll release book three, either next week or the week after, depending on sales. And book four in June (probably early in the month).

I'll keep you posted as it goes.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Good deal.  Love your covers too.  They look awesome, should get you lots of interest!


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## A Woman&#039;s Place Is In The Rebellion (Apr 28, 2011)

Thanks for the update.  Hope Book 2 gives you a boost.


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## Steve Vernon (Feb 18, 2011)

Awesome covers and awesome promotional strategy.

Good luck and sell a bunch!


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## Rebecca Frank Art (Jun 9, 2014)

Those are absolutely stunning covers! Good luck!


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## KitSarge (Apr 1, 2015)

I picked up a copy of Book 1. I'm sort of a Russia history buff and, although I'd never heard of steampunk before (but I'm a newbie), it sounds really intriguing. And of course, that cover!! Good luck!


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## David VanDyke (Jan 3, 2014)

Just happened upon this interesting thread. If I were releasing such a series, I'd put the later books into pre-order, so that potential book 1 buyers would see the series coming and be more likely to try it out. Not sure if it would make a difference, but pre-orders don't use up HNR days, so it would seem a win-win strategy, as those who really like the first book would automatically pre-order at least the 2nd book, knowing it would come out in a week. Otherwise, there will be a certain percentage of readers who will forget to order the second book, at least for a while, because it's not there.


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## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

Pre-orders are the devil and kill momentum. Don't succumb   Stay the course with quick releases! Go go go


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## dmdaye (Jun 6, 2014)

Wishing you the very best of luck, I'm currently working on the next book (second volume of poetry) and then have a new novel planned directly after this.


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## sddonovan (Apr 18, 2015)

This is interesting! Let us know about your progress.

Like everyone said - awesome covers.

EDIT: I picked up a copy of book 1 .


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## David VanDyke (Jan 3, 2014)

Annie Bellet said:


> Pre-orders are the devil and kill momentum. Don't succumb  Stay the course with quick releases! Go go go


Not in my experience. Short pre-orders of 4-14 days build momentum so you hit the ground running on release day and don't waste HNR days doing it.


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## smikeo (Dec 1, 2014)

Thanks for sharing, Thomas, gunning for your success 
Part 1 seems to be holding steady. Nice!


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## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

David VanDyke said:


> Not in my experience. Short pre-orders of 4-14 days build momentum so you hit the ground running on release day and don't waste HNR days doing it.


I've had opposite experience, despite thousands of pre-orders. Totally killed stickiness for me. Will never do again. Organic release is best, from what I've found. YMMV.


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## David VanDyke (Jan 3, 2014)

I'm assuming "thousands of pre-orders" refers to the copies, not the books...


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## dmburnett (Feb 4, 2011)

I was wondering about the pre-orders as well and how they could be added to this method.


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## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

David VanDyke said:


> I'm assuming "thousands of pre-orders" refers to the copies, not the books...


Yes. Copies. I've done two books on pre-order and it was not good for stickiness or lift. I much prefer an organic release with sales (and ranking and alsobots) coming AFTER release. The post-release bump is much stronger and lifts the whole series, at least for me. Doing pre-orders killed all post-release lift and killed any stickiness in the ranking of that book too. No more pre-orders for me.


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## dmburnett (Feb 4, 2011)

Just curious how this is working out for the OP. It's hard to get an idea just looking at sales ranks. Do you feel like buyers of book one are following through to book 2? How about email sign ups?


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## BenedictPatrick (Apr 28, 2015)

Also interested in hearing how this is going at the moment.  Was very close to publishing my first novella before you first started this thread - am now holding off on publishing until all 4 in the series are complete (should be by the end of the year).  The wait is killing me though - would really help to know if it was having an effect...


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Well I just looked the books up on Amazon...

First book is at 32k overall and ranking in 3 sub categories, so I'd say it's doing well (by my standards).  Book 2 seems to be struggling a bit with follow through, currently ranked at 234k.  This seems perhaps normal as book 1 is only 99 cents and book 2 is $2.99.  Things can change awfully quickly with a well planned promotion and any tail from that could last weeks, if not months.  The author page is stating that the third book should be out at the end of May so it seems the OP's plan is still ongoing.

Hope he returns with an update.  This is a very interesting idea, especially if someone can write shorter works in a series.  I know it takes me awhile to get the larger, epic fantasy books written.  Yoda/Amanda would/does this very well, but then she can crank out like 16k a day at times LOL


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## Marilyn Peake (Aug 8, 2011)

I'm thoroughly interested in seeing how your strategy works and am looking forward to all your updates, as I'm in the process of creating series for two of my books. Also, your new series looks great, so I purchased the two books in the series you've published so far.


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## dmburnett (Feb 4, 2011)

When I looked the books up the ranking was about that. I sort of wondered if people were in the process of reading book one and if there will be a sudden surge on book two as people finish the first book. I know when I do a promo on the first book in any of my series, right around two to three weeks later there is a sudden boost in sales for the second book. I wonder if that has been the OP's experience in the past or if it's only a thing for paranormal romance.


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## thomaskcarpenter (May 17, 2011)

Update on progress so far and next steps.

Sales (~3 weeks)

Book 1 - 212 regular / 50 KU sales  (ranking: ~25k)
Book 2 - 9 regular / 5 KU sales  (ranking: ~250k)

Half the sales from book 1 came from promotions (KB&T, Book Sends, Fussy Librarian, etc.) I did for the first two weeks.  I have 7 reviews so far with a 4.3 average.  I don't have a big newsletter list, so I probably had few sales from it.

The sell through from book 1 to book 2 is disappointing, but I think the problem was that I released book 2 too quickly after book 1.  Or at least that's what I hope it is.  Really, it's probably too early to tell.  

Right now, I'm deciding whether or not to release book 3 this week or 1-2 weeks from now.  My argument in the PRO column is that another book would help people decide if they wanted to purchase the first book and start the series.  Plus the third cover is my favorite of the bunch.  The third book also wraps up the initial introduction to the series.  The argument in the CON column is that sales will be low since only 14 people have finished the second book.  But is that because they don't want to get into a series that's not complete?  Dunno.  

Probably in the end, it's not going to matter that much and I should put it out this week.  I'd be interested in everyone's thoughts.


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## smikeo (Dec 1, 2014)

I don't have a lot of expertise, but this is a subject I'm very interested in. My hunch would be - release it. Let some readers stumble into it by accident, see the third cover.
Consider having a sale on all three at once, some writers reported great results with this method lately.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

I would release it as long as you feel it's ready.

However, you had a pretty good objective and a plan.  I stuck to mine when I released my first book.  I wanted to experiment and see what happened if I put it out there without promotions and what it would do and then (this is the small light of reason in my mad mind) perform a promotion and assess the results.  The first month was to have a baseline of how/what my book would do on its own and the second would be with the added boosts (promos).

So going back over your first post, do whatever achieves your original plan and objective and make sure to measure the data (as you're doing).

Nice thing about Indie publishing is that you can change gears and trash prior plans and go with something new.  I doubt I clarified anything for you, but you have a very interesting idea here and it's worthwhile to see how it pans out imho.

Glad you updated!
SM


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## Elizabeth Barone (May 6, 2013)

Wishing you lots of luck with this! I'm trying a similar strategy for my new series. I'm staggering a little longer, though, and releasing a new book every two months or so.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

How can you wait?  Hehe, I'd end up releasing like every other day


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## Someone (Dec 30, 2011)

Just to comment on the L. Nirvana technique, I recently published a series of more-than-5-but-less-than-10 books under a new pen and literally published all at the same time ( uploading one after another into KDP during the same session ) 

DIFFERENCE >>> I believe the true L. Nirvana technique uses stand-alones. My example is a complete series of much shorter works targeted at a specific niche and, right from the beginning, were tailored for KU. I also did keyword variations on each one  

To isolate the test of putting them all out at once, I didn't do any promotion at all and there is no price break on the first book. Thus far the results of having them all available have far surpassed the results of any other release method I have done. The more-than-5-but-less-than-10-book books in the series being published and appearing at once produced a right now, interlaced factor in the algo. This allows them to all promote themselves, especially with the keyword variation technique which has also packed a wallop of a punch. When comparing this to other series I have done with new pen names, this series is doing much, much better than it would have done had I staggered release and bought promos like I usually do. Series released with the later technique tend to sell with a rising in rank fashion while this one has very good and consistent rank across the board. ( every book is in the top 10 within the targeted audience and they replace each other in positions ) I think the bang for the buck is due to all of them being out ( and my indicating such in the description ) and the keyword variations.  

Beyond the L. Nirvana technique, I think a lot of this series' very impressive, out of the gate run is also due to: 
1) putting a finite number on a series ( I've went both ways on this and, after a while, the "when will this end" angst/dissatisfaction reviews on the later volumes will eventually cast a shadow on both the first books in the series and the pen name in general. Before setting off on the "we'll see how it goes when it comes to how long this series will be" path, take a look around and you can see the eventual issues the never ending series will cause both the series and the pen name, with the later having a large effect on a big investment. YMMV
2) indicating all books are available for purchase in the description of book one

Bottom Line - No doubt about it, the L. Nirvana technique was what put this pen on the map. 
Hat tip to Liliana


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## thomaskcarpenter (May 17, 2011)

One weird thing about this is I'm not sure how to feel about the release.  It's miles better than any previous release I've had, but yet, it's not a home run either.  So I have mixed feelings.  

The reality is that it's another step up in the publishing world.  Year by year, I keep getting better and increasing my sales, but in short time frames, it's often hard to see the improvement.


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## Someone (Dec 30, 2011)

I, too, haven't fared well with the pre-order. Yeah, you get that initial order rush, but my experiences echo what Annie's seems to describing. I too lost all the staying power. Like she says, there just wasn't any of the "stickiness" I usually enjoy. 
It'd be interesting to know how the algos work with the pre-order numbers after release and some time has passed.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

thomaskcarpenter said:


> One weird thing about this is I'm not sure how to feel about the release. It's miles better than any previous release I've had, but yet, it's not a home run either. So I have mixed feelings.
> 
> The reality is that it's another step up in the publishing world. Year by year, I keep getting better and increasing my sales, but in short time frames, it's often hard to see the improvement.


This is the long term goal however, right? It's promising to read this, gives me hope and I can honestly say I feel my third book is much better than my second, which was much better than my first. I take this to mean I'm learning, but then again the assessment is a self given one so there is a huge bias built in and I try to overcome that with objectivity.

So, I'll take your "step up" comment and run with it. That's the takeaway here as well. Learn one step at a time.


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## Indecisive (Jun 17, 2013)

Wow, "Someone," that is really something to think about. 

I see that you're trying to be anonymous, here, but would you be able to share the length and pricing of these books without giving yourself away. Genre would be nice, too, but then you'd pretty much be outing yourself, I guess.

Now I'm thinking maybe I should release my next 3 books all at once, even if it means going over a year without a new release!


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## CarolynVMurray (Mar 13, 2015)

Suggestion: get those beautiful covers in your signature here! Keep the Alexandria series -- but displace the other five with your new series.


Also, as Someone has suggested, the pure Liliana Nirvana method doesn't involve staggered releases, but releasing a large number of books on the same day (and hopefully one in the hole.) Among other computer/mathematical considerations, maybe it does help convince the readers that there will be a lot more to consume if they like the first book.


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## thomaskcarpenter (May 17, 2011)

CarolynVMurray said:


> Suggestion: get those beautiful covers in your signature here! Keep the Alexandria series -- but displace the other five with your new series.


Good point. Will do!


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## thomaskcarpenter (May 17, 2011)

I seem to have screwed up the books in my signature.  Any ideas what I did wrong?  The code doesn't look wrong, so I'm not sure what's going on.  Betsy to the rescue?


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## sinapse (Apr 28, 2015)

Great thread, TKC! Very helpful in our case.  And. like ameliasmith, this thread has influenced our plan significantly. Here's how, in case our thinking can help others decide their series release strategy:

FWIW, all our stuff will be literate, romantic ultra steamy-erotic polyamorish/menage with a lot of comic relief, some controversial/provocative content, some drama. We're about the growth of smart, independent young women, who want to be with strong males, often realistically successful but not faux-billionaires or loser Bad Boys. Non-traditional romance, for sure! One Beta reader says we're going for the millions of post-50 Shade readers who seek a juicier, more tangible, richer story. We'll see! 

Our goal is to build a readership of smart 18-60 fems, and the (sorry, guys) all too few men who want to be with us. We seek a list that will welcome same-genre offerings, and let us build a sustainable audience for future erom editions.

After finishing the first two full (35-40K) novellas in our maiden series, we decided for various reasons to focus on building a reader base with serialized, KU-compatible novellas. We defined our "standard" series as four to five 8-12K shorts, where each short has a satisfying story or complete incident tale, but also advances the story arc and character dev of the full novella. Then we laid out 4-5 story arc concepts that would support from 3 to 5 or more complete novellas over the next two to three years. Some of the series concepts use the same characters evolving one or more story lines. Other concepts see a single 4-5 part novella as a complete story.  Then we settled on two of the concepts to try in (rough) parallel. I know this may sound complicated, but on a simple spreadsheet it's clear.

We were halfway through completion of the initial two four part series when, thanks to KBoards, I stumbled on the Liliana release model. Whoa, horsey! I dug up everything I could find on series packaging and launch. Then we see this timely thread by TKC. And now the helpful example of "Someone."

Amelia, here's the details of our overall release plan including the projected installment lengths. We're not in your genre, but I think the mechanics of all this are applicable across genre lines:

At this point, my gut reaction to Someone's experience is to put a hold on the planned release of the first two in each series, followed about three weeks later by number 3, then 3 weeks later by number 4. Instead, we'll do all four of the first series, ie, a complete novella in four installments. Then do the same with the other new series, launch all four of those installments maybe three weeks after the first series. (We already are well into the drafting of the follow-up four-parter novella to the first one, so could possibly have that out NLT a month after we launch the second series.)

FWIW, we'll be setting all the titles at the same 2.99 price. All will be initially in KSelect/KU, so we'll have a total of 60 free days to play around with between the 12 individual titles over June/July/Aug/Sep. Since all the titles will be cross-linked in the back matter and on our new website for these titles, and share one mailing list, we think the best time for more intensive promotion will be after release of the third set. Before that, we'll mainly focus on:

- Free and inexpensive promo sites that do not require reviews and that accept steamier material
- Building our email list using the Mark Dawson et al gambit
- Building our own Twitter feed (focusing on sexy comic material that has a chance of going viral)
- Establishing the author blog/site

Meanwhile, best of luck to Thomas and the rest of you trying this "all in" approach!


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## Someone (Dec 30, 2011)

ameliasmith said:


> Wow, "Someone," that is really something to think about.
> 
> I see that you're trying to be anonymous, here, but would you be able to share the length and pricing of these books without giving yourself away. Genre would be nice, too, but then you'd pretty much be outing yourself, I guess.
> 
> Now I'm thinking maybe I should release my next 3 books all at once, even if it means going over a year without a new release!


I'm more than willing to share what I can in hopes it may be useful for some, but I'm on and off Kboards right now because I'm finishing up some cooking. I'll post more in just a little bit.


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## jamespalmer (Jan 10, 2011)

That cover is awesome.


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## WickedRed (May 25, 2015)

This really is a very interesting and informative board. I've been trying to keep up with it, as I'm actually getting ready to attempt something similar in the next few weeks. The topic of using pre-orders is particularly of concern to me (I've only used the pre-order system once on another pen name and didn't see much of a benefit) but I'm considering it now with my current project. I'll be releasing 8 episodes of a erotic fantasy adventure serial and planned to put them out every two weeks, putting out boxed sets of episodes 1-4 and 5-8 after the 90 days of KU. I have been batting around the idea of setting up pre-orders for each one - when episode one is released putting episode two up for pre-order, when episode two comes out setting up pre-order of episode three - so that when a reader finishes the first episode they can immediately pre-order the next one while the story is still in their faces. Now I'm not sure if I should bother.
Much to chew on. Thanks for sharing your plan and how it's going. It really does help to see how these things work for others


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

thomaskcarpenter said:


> I seem to have screwed up the books in my signature. Any ideas what I did wrong? The code doesn't look wrong, so I'm not sure what's going on. Betsy to the rescue?


Thomas, read this: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,46766.msg819691.html#msg819691

It says if they are stacked you definitely have a carriage return between them. Once you delete the carriage return, or paragraph symbol they should line up in a row. The above link explains all that. Good luck!


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## thomaskcarpenter (May 17, 2011)

Salvador Mercer said:


> Thomas, read this: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,46766.msg819691.html#msg819691
> 
> It says if they are stacked you definitely have a carriage return between them. Once you delete the carriage return, or paragraph symbol they should line up in a row. The above link explains all that. Good luck!


Thanks! That fixed it.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

thomaskcarpenter said:


> Thanks! That fixed it.


Bingo! Good deal, your sig line looks great, especially since those covers are some of the best I've seen.


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## dmburnett (Feb 4, 2011)

This is all really making me stop and think...just glad my publication schedule is written in pencil because this makes me change everything.


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## thomaskcarpenter (May 17, 2011)

I decided to pull the trigger and release book three today. The major reason was something that was mentioned earlier in the thread, that the Lilliana strategy was to maximize exposure of the series right away. One reason to release at a slightly slower pace is to maximize the 30-day new release list. I've been releasing at the current pace to straddle the two ideas, but I'm not 100% sure that splitting the difference is the right way.

So book three is out.

http://thomaskcarpenter.com/2015/05/26/birds-of-prophecy-the-dashkova-memoirs-3/










This book is NOT in Kindle Unlimited to maximize the profit from the book. Books one and two are in KU, and will remain that way as long as I'm making significant sales through the service. Too early to tell if it's worth not going wide.

Also, I made the price $3.99 to slowly work the reader into the series. Books four and beyond will be priced at $4.99 each for the ebooks.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Thanks for the update and good luck with the book 3 launch!


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## writer-artist-mom (Feb 21, 2015)

I hope this works out really well for you! I'll be following your thread to see how things turn out. I'm going to be relaunching my series later this year with a similar method, after I write books 2 and 3 as fast as I can


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## dmburnett (Feb 4, 2011)

Congrats on the release! I hope it goes well for you!


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

Pre-orders are not necessarily about ranking and stickiness but a way to maximise/capture buyers/readers who'd otherwise wander off and forget about your series. You want them to buy NOW (as soon as they've finished the first book) and preorders allows them to do that, so if they do forget, they'll have your next book delivered to their kindle on release day. So, you get a trickle effect, rather than a release day BOOM.


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## DashaGLogan (Jan 30, 2014)

Well, looks as if you write pretty good prose, I believe you'll sell big :-D


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## meh (Apr 18, 2013)

TOS.


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## R.V. Doon (Apr 1, 2013)

Interesting thread. Never considered the stickiness of preorders, I was happy to see them. The LN technique requires much patience, but looks like it may be worth it. I wonder if the high effect of LN technique is because of her genre?


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## eleanorberesford (Dec 22, 2014)

Stunning cover, Thomas! Good luck!

Someone, I hope you come back to this thread too. I'm planning to do the same with a new pen name for more mainstream stuff, although at the speed I write, that is likely to be a looooong time away. You give me hope that the patience will be worth it.


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## thomaskcarpenter (May 17, 2011)

5/29 Update
* The last promotion I did was 5/17.  Since then it's been a steady 5-10 a day for book one with KU being ~30-40%.  Book two has finally started to pick up during the last week at 3-5 a day with 30-40% from KU.  Book three just came out this week, so it's barely had time to register (and it's not in KU).  Don't expect much sales for another week or so.  I mainly put it out to help visibility for book one and two, which it seemed to do a little.


Sales:
Book One - Revolutionary Magic (Released 5/4)  - 234 units / 59 KU (293 total)
Book Two - A Cauldron of Secrets (Released 5/12) - 16 units / 10 KU (26 total)
Book Three - Birds of Prophecy (Released 5/26) - 4 unit

I expect to have book four out in mid-June.  I'll keep everyone updated as things continue.  I have no additional promotional plans at this moment.  Just watching to see how things progress from the releases.


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## Gone Girl (Mar 7, 2015)

We miss you, Harvey Chute.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Thanks for the update, very interesting with such quick releases.


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## dmburnett (Feb 4, 2011)

Just curious how this ended up working out for the OP. Would he do it again the same way?


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## Guest (Sep 12, 2015)

Someone said:


> Just to comment on the L. Nirvana technique, I recently published a series of more-than-5-but-less-than-10 books under a new pen and literally published all at the same time ( uploading one after another into KDP during the same session )
> 
> DIFFERENCE >>> I believe the true L. Nirvana technique uses stand-alones. My example is a complete series of much shorter works targeted at a specific niche and, right from the beginning, were tailored for KU. I also did keyword variations on each one
> 
> ...


Okay, thank you for this. I've been doing more research on Nirvana's method, and I came upon this thread on the Internet, actually. (Kboard's threads have good Google juice.)

Your information is good to know, because I plan to release five novellas (including a 6th novella containing previously released serial episodes) all at the same time with two more the next month and two more the month after that.

So, again, thanks for this information. 

Added: I see that you released ALL of your books at once. It is unrealistic for me to write and publish more than five at once (not including the 6th.) But the Nirvana method is "5 down and 1 in the hole," so I'm not off there.


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