# My book selected for a post Black Friday Amazon sale



## Usedtopostheretoo! (Feb 27, 2011)

On the heels of recommending that another author keep his first book at his original price point, I have to come clean and admit that I agreed to let Amazon slash the price of my first novel by up to 70% for 5 days (Nov 27-Dec 3). Amazon contacted me a few days ago, to see if I was willing to participate in a Kindle book holiday promotion. All they would disclose, is that my book could be discounted up to 70% for up to 40 days. My first reactions was NO! I'm a little sensitive to losing any book profits, but I knew that I should sit back, and consult the real business person in my household (my wife). Since I just launched a second novel a few weeks ago, it seemed that this might be a nice way to boost the visibility of both books. Amazon uses advanced advertising placement for the promotion, so I'm pretty excited to see how this will affect the book. I can live with a five day experiment. The only thing I don't know, is how much of a discount they will offer. Since I can alter the price during the promotion (anywhere between $3.99 and $9.99), I get the impression that they may adjust the discount based on their algorithms. Who knows.

Does anyone else have any experience with this? I was sort of relieved that it was only 5 days, but that's because I'm a little cautious.


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## Richardcrasta (Jul 29, 2010)

Congratulations, Steven. I would gladly accept the offer, if they were to contact me. 5 days is not a long time for a experiment like this.


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## Usedtopostheretoo! (Feb 27, 2011)

Thanks, Richard. I was extremely suspicious because it showed up as a regular looking email...no fanfare or anything, and the terms were so nebulous. However, I asked a few questions, and the rep that contacted me responded immediately, which put me at ease. Should be interesting. I keep pretty close track of sales, so I should be able to give everyone here a solid idea of the immediate and longer term impact of their promotion.


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## ETS PRESS (Nov 4, 2011)

You are a lucky duck! Enjoy the surge.


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## Chris Northern (Jan 20, 2011)

I'd snatch their arm off and say a sincere thank you for the offer.


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## Jon Olson (Dec 10, 2010)

Yeah, I'd go for it. Your books are doing really well!


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## kellymcclymer (Apr 22, 2010)

It's worth the experiment, it's such a short term thing. Wish you lots of luck with it!


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## Usedtopostheretoo! (Feb 27, 2011)

Thanks for the encouraging words. I'm really intrigued and excited by this promotion. I'll be watching this from every angle possible, and obsessively searching for my book's "advanced" placement. Who knows what that means.


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## David &#039;Half-Orc&#039; Dalglish (Feb 1, 2010)

For just five days, it is easily worth a shot to see how much visibility you might gain. Good luck man. Jealous


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## 39179 (Mar 16, 2011)

What a great opportunity - congratulations! Whatever you lose from the discount will be more than made up for in increased sales volume with Amazon promoting you, not to mention the longer-term knock-on effect when it returns to its regular price.

Circle back and let us know how things worked out.


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## Usedtopostheretoo! (Feb 27, 2011)

I'll definitely circle back to report my findings. When it's over, I'm going to ask them how my book was selected. This is the most fascinating aspect to me. How does a book get selected, especially an "indie" book.


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## 39179 (Mar 16, 2011)

Well, your book is already popular and selling quite well, so I'm sure that has a lot to do with it. You also have a very attractive cover, and you have a second book that can benefit from sales of the first, which I'm sure hasn't gone unnoticed by the folks behind the curtain at Amazon. 

Just a thought (or two).


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Steven, I received the same Amazon invitation for _HUNTER_. I suspect it had to do with the high ratings of the book. I had similar misgivings, too; at my current price of $3.99, my debut thriller is paying my mortgage, and I have not wanted to devalue it by lowering the price and losing royalties.

But the book has been hovering (stuck?) for several months in the #1500 - #3500 ranking range, and I figured that a one-week sales experiment, run by Amazon and aimed at giving it higher visibility, may be all it needs to get into the top 1000. In any case, is unlikely to have lasting negative financial repercussions.

Like you, Steven, I'll let everyone here know about the results of the experiment. Wish us luck, folks!


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## Victorine (Apr 23, 2010)

Wow, that's totally awesome you guys! I suspect any loss in royalties will be replaced with the high volume of sales and you'll come out waaaaay ahead of the game in the end.

*Jealous too*

Congrats! Looking forward to hearing how it goes!

Vicki


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## arodera (Aug 4, 2011)

What a great opportunity, it's fantastic!! Congratulations and good luck for you.

Regards.


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## Tamara Rose Blodgett (Apr 1, 2011)

Congratulations! I think it's a great opportunity!


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## Debra Burroughs (Feb 17, 2011)

It sounds like a great opportunity to me. I hope you'll let us know what the results of the 5 days are for your books sales.


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## Zander Schloss (Sep 4, 2011)

Five days sounds like a great way to experiment. Sort of surreal when an entity like Amazon contacts you with mere mortal email, huh?


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## Usedtopostheretoo! (Feb 27, 2011)

Robert, I look forward to checking out your book when the promo hits. Is it the same time frame? Nov27-Dec3?

Thanks, everyone for the nice comments. As one person put it, I can't wait to see what is in store behind the magic curtain for a "mere mortal." The email truly came out of the blue, and was almost deleted. I just added a new email to my Twitter, Goodreads, KB accounts in order to de-clutter my primary mailbox...almost missed the opportunity.


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## ToniD (May 3, 2011)

I think it's an outstanding promo opportunity. Congrats to you both.

In essence, you've got Amazon collaring people and saying 'buy this now'! Hard to beat Uncle Jeff's endorsement.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

@ Toni:  "Uncle Jeff." Yeah. We're on really intimate terms with him now.  

@ Steven: Same time frame with me. Actually, if you check the calendar, it will be 6 or 7 days, not 5. I'll be curious to see how many titles this sale promo encompasses, and therefore how easy it will be to actually discover ours. Also, just how targeted the promotion is, or whether it will be more scattershot. However, I just can't imagine "Uncle Jeff" doing anything in a random fashion, so I'm hoping that the promos for our books will be narrowly targeted at our genre readers.


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## 25803 (Oct 24, 2010)

How exciting to have such a wonderful opportunity.  Congratulations!


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

Congrats Steven and Robert! Looks nice to me. You sell at a lower price and get a lower royalty for a week, but you may get excellent visibility which you couldn't buy and that could help you long after the promotion is over. Be interesting to hear of your results.


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## Terrence OBrien (Oct 21, 2010)

Can I ask how you guys were contacted? eMail? Phone? Pigeon?


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## melissafmiller (Feb 17, 2011)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> @ Steven: Same time frame with me. Actually, if you check the calendar, it will be 6 or 7 days, not 5. I'll be curious to see how many titles this sale promo encompasses, and therefore how easy it will be to actually discover ours. Also, just how targeted the promotion is, or whether it will be more scattershot. However, I just can't imagine "Uncle Jeff" doing anything in a random fashion, so I'm hoping that the promos for our books will be narrowly targeted at our genre readers.


I am participating in this, too. I wonder if it is a specific thriller promotion, given that's what all 3 of us have written? And I am very optimistic and curious about how this will play out!

@Terrence, I got an email inviting me to participate and warning me that not everyone who wanted to participate would get a slot. I emailed back something along the lines of "darned Skippy I want in!" And four or so days later I got a congrats, you're in email. I may or may not have whooped.


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## Fatima Fayez (Apr 8, 2011)

Congrats to the 3 of you! This is going to be one interesting thread!   Good luck to all!


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## melissafmiller (Feb 17, 2011)

modwitch said:


> I'm in as well (with the first book of my stand-alone trilogy, which is a very strange choice, but I'll take it!), so it's definitely not limited to thrillers.
> 
> Terrence, it was email contact, which some very broad terms. Then a more specific email a few days ago. It's a "Big Deal" promo running Sunday to Saturday.
> 
> ...


Well, even, though you killed my thriller theory, I actually *don't* kill your $3.99 theory. I raised my price to $3.99 (on all platforms) well over a month ago. Everyone updated list and retail prices, except for Amazon, which has the list as $3.99 but is price-matching no one to discount it to $2.99. I haven't had any luck getting it changed, though.

And I wholeheartedly agree with the rest of your post!


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## CJArcher (Jan 22, 2011)

How exciting for you guys! Kudos to Amazon for including indies and targeting specific books they think will benefit. I can't wait to see the results.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

I'd love to think they're targeting us for a "farm team." Like baseball, though, I want to play in "The Show."

We actually are part of another grand Amazonian experiment, whose contours we can only vaguely discern. Pricing definitely seems to be part of it: being priced north of $2.99. I think having a high average customer rating (4+ stars) is also involved, judging from the other titles mentioned here. Overall sales ranking may be part of it, too; our titles all seem to be in the top 5000. And we're all authors of genre fiction, too.

All of these factors could have been programmed into their computers, and a list of titles cranked out. But that would hardly make for a small list: Hundreds of books would qualify, especially if trad-published books are included. We don't yet know if this  "Big Deal Promotion" is limited to indie authors, or whether there are simultaneous promos going on for trad-published books, too. We don't know if it's limited to fiction.

Think of this from the standpoint of Amazon's market competitiveness. It may be experimenting with a bunch of indie authors to see if it can generate a bunch of new "self-publishing success stories," and thus tweak its Legacy Publisher competition. Or it may be a purely financial test of how indie book sales are related to price points. It may be a test of whether select indie titles are "underperforming"  and might be propelled to bestseller status with promos and lower prices. 

I'd love to believe any or all of this, and also the "farm team" fantasy. I guess we'll know in a few weeks, when the results are in, and IF any of us are then approached by Amazon for further attention. 

But for now, there are at least 4 "Amazon selected" indie ebooks that you folks should consider buying on Sunday, at bargain-basement prices!


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## Richardcrasta (Jul 29, 2010)

Congrats Robert, Melissa, Debora (I've congratulated Steven already). This is an awesome distinction, and I am sure you all deserve it.


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## NotActive (Jan 24, 2011)

content


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## Marilyn Peake (Aug 8, 2011)

Congratulations, Steven, Robert, Melissa and Debora! That is so wonderful! *Jealous, but also very happy for all of you!*


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## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

Well darn, Steven, SECTOR C has dropped off your Also Bought list. I was excited there for a minute, hoping to ride your coattails to fame and fortune .

Seriously, congrats to everyone chosen for this promo! Will be watching with keen interest (and credit card in hand).


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## melissafmiller (Feb 17, 2011)

Fatima, CJ, Richardcrasta, matthew, Marilyn, and Phoenix:  Thank you for the kind wishes!  Like Debora, I am hopeful this signals an opening up of opportunities for ALL of us who aren't traditionally published.  

For my part, I am thankful I have a busy work, kid, holiday stuff week ahead---it will distract me from obsessing over KDP 24/7.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Well, IT'S ON!

"HUNTER" has been listed on the "Mysteries & Thrillers" page of the "Big Deal" as the 3rd item on the page! You couldn't ask for better placement...unless the Amazon home page were to feature the book exclusively. (I must speak about that to "Uncle Jeff.")

Anyway, the price has been cut from $3.99 to just $1.99. If any of you hasn't yet taken a look at the book, now's the chance to take the plunge and save 50%, eh?

http://amzn.to/nocDiX 

I'll let you know how this works out.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Amazing.

November has been a slow month for me, and I've been selling about 30 Kindle ebooks on a good day.

Well, it's only 8 a.m. here in the East, and I've already sold 30. 

That's before the other Time Zones have even awakened. 

Yup, I think this is going to be a banner day. I'll keep you posted.


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## 41419 (Apr 4, 2011)

I hope the three of you sell a ton of books - and I think you will.

Hold on to your hats!


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## Fatima Fayez (Apr 8, 2011)

I've made my popcorn and ready to watch the show.   Can't wait to see results! 

Congrats Robert! Keep updating us!


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## melissafmiller (Feb 17, 2011)

Deborah,
Right now you are on the landing page (right under Robert, as it happens)!  Maybe Uncle Jeff will be rotating the books (she says hopefully).


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

When I just look at the BIG DEALS page, Robert's book is #13 and Debora's is #14. Way ahead of an L. Ron Hubbard book which is at #74..


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## StephenLivingston (May 10, 2011)

It promises to be an exciting week of sales ahead for you guys, I wish I was involved in this promotion too.  
Best wishes, Stephen Livingston.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Blown right past 150 sales for the morning so far, in just a couple of hours. The rate seems to be one sale per minute. Or better. And the West Coast hasn't even awakened yet. Yikes.

Amazon's placement of _HUNTER_ is terrific. #13 on the main "Big Deal" list, #3 on the "Mysteries & Thrillers" list. Other than becoming part of the Amazon logo, I couldn't ask for much more.

I'm going to be away from the house for most of today, starting in about an hour. I may update once before I leave the house, but I'll be back here with a status report this evening sometime.

It will also be interesting to see how the sales track over subsequent days, once the initial novelty of the sale wears off.


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

HUNTER has great page position. When I go to Big Deals page HUNTER is right at the top of the page and listed as "Editor's Pick." I don't know if everyone gets the same page view algo, so I don't know who sees what? I wasn't signed in but they still know how my tastes run. Get ready for some big sales numbers.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

I'm glad to hear about that "Big Deal Editor's Picks" sales page positioning...because I CAN'T SEE IT. Probably because it's my own book, the "Editor's Picks" block doesn't show _HUNTER_ at all for me.

Of course, I'm not the one who needs to see it! 

The ranking is soaring, too. At 8 a.m. Eastern, the book stood at #2988 overall. At 10:45 a.m., it had climbed to #1169. In the "Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue" list, it has jumped from #46 to #15, and from #80 to #34 on the "Romantic Suspense" list. At the current sales clip, it will no doubt go much higher.

Honestly, I didn't even remotely expect this -- not the prominent placements, and certainly not the sales.

I wonder if Amazon is going to cycle the promotional positions for various titles over subsequent hours/days?


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## N. Gemini Sasson (Jul 5, 2010)

Ohhh, this is exciting! Very happy for all of you. What a thrilling weekend it must be.


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## Guest (Nov 27, 2011)

Congrats, Robert! Looks like a great opportunity. And I did end up finishing Positioning. Great book.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

This is what I see on the main Kindle Books page:









Both Robert & Debora front and center.. All I did was go to amazon, ->Kindle->books


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## Fatima Fayez (Apr 8, 2011)

^^^ That's the same thing I see.


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## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

I clicked through earlier when I got my email about the promo this morning.

I've just now navigated through again and on the Kindle ebooks splash page, Hunter is the cover title for the Mystery/Thriller category and Witches is the cover title for SFF.

When I click on the link to browse The Big Deal, OH! It's CHANGED! Just a moment ago, Hunter was on the Editor's Picks for me. Now it's not. Before, there were only 6 books per category showing on the page. Now there are 12. Maybe they are cycling all the books through at different times. Right now, for me, Hunter, Jakarta and Irreparable Harm all show up in the top 6 for Mystery/Thriller. Yay!

Sadly, SFF doesn't appear on The Big Deal homepage. The only way from that page to find SFF is to click on a link at the end of the Big Deal Best Sellers list, and then use the category navigation on the left to get to it.

Ooh, this should be fun for all!


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

HOLY MOLY!


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

Robert, I've checked a few times and the page I land on does change, but you are always there at the top on Editors Picks. Now there are only 12 Editor Picks and previously there were 18--where'd the other 6 go?

Your sales must be screaming...now you are 573 Kindle Rank. Noon EST.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

I. Just. Can't. Believe. This.

Sales actually seem to be accelerating. Ranking #573 at noon, and in another half-hour, I'm sure it will be higher. Also now #4 on the Kindle "Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue" bestseller list, right behind 2 titles by Lee Child and one by Barry Eisler...in other words, ahead of everything else, titles by authors I have _worshiped_ for years.

Wish I were a tough guy like Dylan Hunter, because right now I'm on the verge of tears.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

As of 1:05 pm Eastern:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #303 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue
    #9 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Romantic Suspense
    #11 in Books > Romance > Romantic Suspense


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

Robert, 1:10 and you are 303 ranking.

#2 now ahead of Eisler. Child is still #1. One more notch to go Robert.

This is what I see--your view may vary and now Editor's Picks is back to 18.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000705681

I've checked maybe 15 times and they keep changing things around. Like a carousel. Now HUNTER is NOT listed as an ED Pick, but as a Thriller. I think they will keep moving and rotating the books around for placement.

I check back a few minutes later and it is not in Thrillers and back to ED Pick. Also the # of ED Picks fluctuates between 10-18.


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## ToniD (May 3, 2011)

GO Cafe peeps!!!!!

Looks as though Robert will be launching into the solar system in an hour or so.

Melissa, just gave you a nudge upward.


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

This link gives you the Big Deals sales rankings by title and rank. #1 is Art Of Dancing In The Rain which is at #78. I think a number of these Deal books are riding up. Robert you were around 13 in rank with Mod and Steven close.

http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=s9_hps_ft_brwse?_encoding=UTF8&node=3074452011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=right-3&pf_rd_r=0B8FSSTW7B05S8E41507&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_p=1336439882&pf_rd_i=1000705681


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## Bryan Dunn (Mar 20, 2011)

What an exciting opportunity.  Congrats to all!


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

Robert: it's 2:10 and you are 193. You just passed Lee Child and you are #1 in "Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue"

@Modwitch, Ah, so that is why it doesn't move, thanks.


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## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

Congratulations, Robert! I'm so excited for you.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

@ Modwitch:

"Parent"? What are you, some kinda literary SLACKER?



Anyhow, as you point out, Jackz, the book now ranks at #195 on Kindle -- up a mere 2,793 rankings since 8 a.m. -- and _HUNTER_ is now officially the #1 bestselling title in "Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue," having just slid by Barry Eisler (#3) and Lee Child (#2). Which is just...WOW.

In hard numbers, it's sold over 500 copies since 8 a.m., and the sales clip right now seems to be averaging about 2 per _minute_!

Love those algorithms.


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## Usedtopostheretoo! (Feb 27, 2011)

Holy Cow! Rob's book has generated enough momentum to leave earth's orbit. Many congrats! I just checked in for the first time today, and can't believe the impact this has had on my book as well...and I was concerned about losing money. Ridiculous. Now I'm glued to this damn computer, and I have way too much to do today. Looks like my to-do list will have to wait, this is too much fun. Thanks to everyone for all of the wonderful comments!


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

I hope you take a screenshot Robert at # 1

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Kindle-Store-Spy-Stories-Tales-Intrigue/zgbs/digital-text/157322011/ref=zg_bs_nav_kinc_6_157319011


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## Usedtopostheretoo! (Feb 27, 2011)

Everyone's books are skyrocketing. This is too much fun...every time I click to refresh reports, I see more sales. Insane. Congrats everyone.

Quick, everyone buy both Rob's book, and my second book, Black Flagged...which is also an espionage thriller. If I appear on Robert's "also bought list," I should be able retire tomorrow...Ha!


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Fan-tastic, Steven! I know your book has climbed thousands of rankings, too. The only thing that could beat this for visibility is to make our books required reading in schools.

And thanks to all of you who have been sending along your well-wishing.


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## bellaandre (Dec 10, 2010)

My book THE LOOK OF LOVE is on the BIG DEALS list too! I'm so thrilled about it. Can't wait to see what happens this week. Congrats to everyone on the fab rankings and sales!

 Bella


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## Kristine Cayne (Aug 16, 2011)

Congratulations to all of you! This goes to show how much difference Amazon's promotional arm can make in sales. Keep us posted so we know how this affects your sales over the week and in the long run. My theory is that any appearance in Amazon's "lists" has a lasting effect.

~Kristine


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## Usedtopostheretoo! (Feb 27, 2011)

Congrats, Bella! Wow, quite a showing from this group. Still going strong for Jakarta. My Kindle sales ranking is still improving, which is great. I'm very interested to see how the weeks goes. I feel so silly to have been apprehensive about this...I contemplated declining the offer. What a mistake that would have been.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Bella, welcome to the Kindle promo tsunami. Fingers crossed for you and everyone else.

Debora, HUNTER already is at #122, and it has sold 645 copies as of the most recent click, at the beginning of this sentence. I expect that in another half-hour, it'll be in the Top 100. 

Besides being #1 in "Spy Stories" and now #2 in "Romantic Suspense," it's now showing up on the more generic bestseller lists, too: #20 in Thrillers, #33 in Mysteries & Thrillers, #18 in Romance, even in the Top 50 of "Genre Fiction."

Still pinching myself.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

File under "news you can use":

I have seen zero impact of my Kindle ebook sales surge on my print-book sales. Or on my foreign sales. My conclusion, tentative, is that Kindle visibility does not necessarily translate outside of the Kindle realm.


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

Well Robert you are at 69 Ranking at 4:15. Unreal.

You are #2 Kindle Mover's & Shakers with a 4,572% increase. You are only surpassed by Kurt Vonnegut's newest at #1. You went from 3211 to 69 since this morning. WOW!

Forget catching Vonnegut, his increase was over 2 million %.

Been just a thriller.


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## Usedtopostheretoo! (Feb 27, 2011)

I am seeing the same thing, Robert. Zip impact on any source outside of the Amazon Kindle sales channel. I have seen some enhanced activity for my second novel, about double the sales rate...but it's on a different level entirely.


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## CJArcher (Jan 22, 2011)

Wow, just WOW! What a ride you guys are on. Good luck for the rest of the week.


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## Sharebear (Sep 25, 2011)

modwitch said:


> Or, you know, parent  ).


Don't bother, they turn out just fine, promise. I'm a teacher, I know.
And wheeeee congrats to all! How flipping excited are all of you?


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## Trish McCallan (Jul 16, 2011)

Robert,

I can say with certainty that as of right now, the promo is doing marvelous things for your ranking.   
I just watched you blow past me on your way to the number one spot in Romantic Suspense.  
I wondered what kind of promo you had going.
Congratulations! It's going to be a wild ride while it lasts!


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## Christine Kersey (Feb 13, 2011)

Thanks for sharing your sales info. It's fun to see it happen. Good luck to all of you!


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## joanhallhovey (Nov 7, 2010)

I don't think any of us would say no to Amazon, Steven. Congratulations. A nice bit of promotion for you.
Should definitely raise your status.

Joan


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## melissafmiller (Feb 17, 2011)

I just popped in post a screen shot but I can't figure out how to paste it, Oh well.  We are stacked four in a row in the list of $1.99 books right now (even though there are roughly 550 books between Robert and me.  Am I complaining? No, I am not!):

9. Robert
10. Debora
11. Stephen
12. me

Coincidence or Kindleboards karma?


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## melissafmiller (Feb 17, 2011)

ToniD said:


> GO Cafe peeps!!!!!
> 
> Looks as though Robert will be launching into the solar system in an hour or so.
> 
> Melissa, just gave you a nudge upward.


  Thanks, Toni! As much as I really want to hang out and read this thread properly, three children think I should be feeding them dinner. The nerve.


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## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

Woot, guys!

Way to rock it, Robert!

And Debora, #368 for your latest not even in the promo and at 3.99, plus the promo at #691. Christmas bonus for you this year, it looks like, eh?


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## 25803 (Oct 24, 2010)

Awesome, Robert.  Congratulations!

And congratulations to all of you who are taking part in this special promo!  Woohoo!


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## Christopher Bunn (Oct 26, 2010)

How amazingly cool. Congrats to all of you. Be sure to send a Christmas present to Uncle Jeff. The $3.99 angle is interesting...


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## Allie Beck (Jun 22, 2011)

Congratulations to all who are skyrocketing! It's fun to live vicariously through you.


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

6:40PM and you are still rising Robert currently #51 with 5552% jump.  It's been fun to watch your ride to the top. This is only day one.

Steven jumped to #461 and Mod is at #614, Bellaandre 1t#361 and Melissa at #561. Quite a jump in half a day.

Good idea to play with Amazon when they call.


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## I love books (Aug 12, 2011)

Wow!!! Amazing! (Just read this thread for the first time so chiming in late here).
Congratulations to all the wonderful KB authors participating in this great promo opportunity. It's exciting watching fellow KB authors gain huge exposure. This is fantastic...and so well deserved! 
Cheering you guys on!  
Shadonna


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## Marie Fostino (Nov 27, 2011)

This is all new to me, but I am so excited for  the authors who got the chance to be on the promo for the Black Friday Amazon Sale. YAHOO. Who knows maybe some of us will get the chance next year. CONGRATS! 
Sincerely,
Marie Fostino,
author


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## Usedtopostheretoo! (Feb 27, 2011)

I hope some more authors get a chance around Christmas! I wouldn't mind doing again


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Thank you, thank you, to all of you for the congratulations and well-wishing. If you only knew how much The Wife and I needed this....

Anyway. I went out for a celebratory dinner with friends, and I was at ranking #122. I came home, just two hours later, to over 400 more sales!!!!! And an increase of ranking to #51.

Status report as of 7:45 pm:

_HUNTER_ is now the #1 Kindle bestseller in "Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue"; #1 in "Romantic Suspense"; #7 among all "Romance" novels; #12 in "Thrillers"; #16 in the broader "Mysteries & Thrillers" category; #25 in ALL "Genre Fiction"; #36 among ALL "Fiction" titles; and #46 in ALL KINDLE EBOOKS, FICTION AND NONFICTION.

1238 ebooks have sold since midnight. _HUNTER _is the #2 "Mover & Shaker" title on Kindle.

I am grateful to ALL of you for your generous encouragement and enthusiasm. It's a mark of the sheer _class_ of the authors here that there is no hint of nasty envy. I got damned lucky that Amazon editors picked my novel out of the zillions of worthy titles, including yours. If you stick with it, your turn WILL come. Thanks for all your kindness, which means more than you know.


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## bellaandre (Dec 10, 2010)

More big wows on everyone's #s! Way to blow the freaking doors off at Amazon, Robert! 

I'm really just beyond thrilled to be included in this Big Deal promo. Indie books were something I so wanted to see included in these kind of promos during the summer. I'm really, really happy they ended up deciding to include us kdp'ers in these new under $3.99 promos.

Okay, off to focus and get some work done....then again, maybe a great day like this warrants a little goofing off on a Sunday night. LOL.

 Bella


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## edwardgtalbot (Apr 28, 2010)

I turn my back for a couple of days and look what happens.  Congrats to all of you, that just totally rocks. Definitely something to think about as regards pricing.


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## kellymcclymer (Apr 22, 2010)

Oh my gosh. I just checked in to see how the experiment went, and I'm delighted to see how well it went for you all. Enjoy the bump for many weeks to come, I hope.

Thank you so much for sharing. You give us all hope (and maybe Amazon will do this again, too).


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

Well, I already owned all of Debora's books (yes even the new one, DD is reading it right now), So I picked up Bella's, Robert's, and Steven's.


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## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

Congrats to all of you. Just wow. You're all climbing the charts like crazy.

@Modwitch, talk about a perfect storm with your new release on Friday. Congratulations. I imagine the kids will survive one day while you data geek out.


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## William G. Jones (Sep 6, 2011)

Congrats, guys!

Robert, I just picked up your book... looking forward to reading it immensely!


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## 16205 (Jun 8, 2010)

Congratulations to all of you!


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

To those who have gone out and bought a copy of my book or the stellar titles by the other anointed "Big Deal" participants, thank you. And thanks again, for all your congrats to those of us who were lucky to be selected for this "experiment."

Debora _always_ has fabulous perspectives on this sort of thing. Responding to her comments:

* Yes, it was a fabulous dinner, and I treated The Wife and two friends.

* I agree that there are lessons in this for all of us, but most of all for Amazon. Given focused attention, an indie title from virtually unknown authors that are getting good reviews can catch fire and compete head-to-head with the biggest names in the Big 6 stables.

* What it also should tell them is that KDP is sitting on a huge reservoir of unexploited (in the good sense) talent and merchandise, and that these kinds of promos can draw tremendous reader interest. After all, how many times can readers browse the same titles by the same Top 50 authors without getting bored? We offer something completely fresh and new.

* I don't doubt that they'll be watching the sales progress of the various titles to determine if any have sufficient "legs" to warrant publication under their own imprints. With the ability to push titles like they've done today, we should all listen if they come knocking.


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## Trish McCallan (Jul 16, 2011)

Woot!!! 

Congrats to all of you, here's hoping those sales keep exploding for you through the next six days! 
<Trish...who is eying her 2.99 price tag and thinking . . .hmmmmmm>


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## Victorine (Apr 23, 2010)

Wow, congratulations you guys!!! Those are fantastic numbers. You're all rockin' it!

Vicki


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Thanks, Debora.

Just to round it all out for Day #1 of the promotion: I totaled everything up from 12:01 am 11/27 to midnight. In those 24 hours, I sold 1,919 copies of _HUNTER _ -- 1,910 of them on Amazon. During the final two hours of the day, sales were coming in at a clip of about 2.7 sales per minute.

That one-day total is about equal to the combined MONTHS' sales of September and October!

As I write (1:10 am on 11/2, _HUNTER_ is now #25 overall on Kindle. It's #1 in "Spy Stories" and "Romantic Suspense." It's #4 in "Romance," the #7 bestselling "Thriller," #10 in "Mysteries & Thrillers." It is also ranked #22 in all "Fiction."

And the sales are continuing at the same frantic clip, even after midnight.

I am just staring in amazement at the numbers. It all seems utterly unreal.


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## Chris Northern (Jan 20, 2011)

Just checked back to see how that all went. It went well!  

Congrats to everyone involved.


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## Usedtopostheretoo! (Feb 27, 2011)

Robert, Deborah, Melissa and Bella...congratulations on an unbelievable day. Robert...I am still stunned by your numbers. Has this happened to the KB group before? A big Amazon push? 

This couldn't have been timed better, actually. My recently launched, second book took it 60 sales yesterday, which is fantastic, and The Jakarta Pandemic took in about 330. 1900? I'm still speechless. I can't imagine, still! All of us have to be pleased, and it's only day one...though I can't imagine repeating yesterday's success. Cyber Monday? I hope there are a lot of unproductive employees out there today.

Once again...many, many thanks to everyone who has passed on warm wishes, purchased copies of books, and passed on good vibrations yesterday. This could happen to any of us, and the support is encouraging.

Have a great Cyber Monday! Steve


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## Usedtopostheretoo! (Feb 27, 2011)

I have to laugh. I just checked Barnes and Noble...not one sale there yesterday. I usually do two or three a day in the Nook Store. Nada for the 27th! And, I just received their Cyber Monday email. 50% off select NYT bestsellers is the best book deal they have going. Talk about a few steps behind...Go Amazon!


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## 41419 (Apr 4, 2011)

Holy cr*p, Robert Bidinotto is #24 in the Kindle Store! Just behind those lightweights Stieg Larsson, Kathryn Stockett, Michael Connolly, and Stephen King.

Woop!


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

#23 Robert at 7am central time.


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

9:03AM: I just had to peek in and everybody is rising higher. Steven at #326. Robert at #24 with #1 across his sub-genres and #2, 12,000% increase in Movers and Shakers. Just phenomenal! I think you have made indie history?

HUNTER has perfect page placement and I wonder just how high HUNTER can go?


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## NS (Jul 8, 2011)

That is just fantastic guys! Congratulations! Wow!


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## StephenEngland (Nov 2, 2011)

Way to go, Robert! Hunter deserves everything it's getting. As for envy: well, if I remember my Ayn Rand--envy is a hallmark of inferiority. . .


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Steven, Debora, Melissa and Bella -- congratulations! I suspect that KDP will "cycle" these titles in the coming days to give yours and others more prominent positioning (although your position on the Kindle home page, Debora, is hard to beat!).

And a big, big thanks to all of you! I'm just reeling.

STILL reeling. Because the sales have barely slowed. As of 11:08 a.m. 11/28, I've sold another 746 books since midnight.

I've reflected on this a bit, wondering, "Why me" And what seems to be clear is that I'm getting special treatment, growing out of having become an "Editors' Pick." But how did that happen? I'm just guessing; but on November 2 I sent an email to Amazon's "Omnivoracious editors," calling their attention to _HUNTER's_ stellar customer reviews/ratings. The "Omnivoracious editors" highlight books on Amazon that they believe merit reader attention.

I never heard back from them. And perhaps the KDP "Editors' Picks" are decided by a completely different group of editors; I don't know. But one thing seems likely: Some Amazon editor or editors have taken a shine to the book. The inclusion on the "Editors' Picks" list is echoed by the unbelievable top-and-center placement on the Kindle home page. PLUS its inclusion in the "Big Deal" promotion, though I truly think that is a tertiary reason for the sales spike. Most of this sales tsunami must be generated by the first two placements, which are like getting a gig at Radio City Music Hall on New Year's eve: You just can't BUY this kind of online real estate.

But let me suggest another lesson to be drawn from this, for writers.

I've said for months that I am skeptical about pricing manipulations and "loads of titles" as the only viable sales strategies for indies. Look, this is my first novel; I have no backlist; I'm not famous; and I went against the prevailing indie trend this past year by pricing at $3.99 -- not $2.99, 99 cents, or (shudder) free.

Instead, I went in a different direction: I spent a year and a half on the plotting, character development, and polishing of the story, editing maniacally as I wrote. I wanted to write the best damned thriller I possibly could. I knocked myself out to do that. Then, once done and published, I crossed my fingers and counted on word of mouth from happy readers to give it attention. I encouraged those who liked the book to say so, in customer reviews on Amazon and elsewhere. And they did.

I'm convinced that those reviews and ratings are what got the attention of the Amazon editors, and that one or more of them actually read the book, then got behind it. Which explains the spotlight they're giving it.

What is my takeaway from this?

The quality of your story is about the only thing over which you have direct control. From that point, it's a matter of getting "lucky," as Joe Konrath says. But to me, "luck" is having the right reader/editor/movie producer/etc. discover and be captivated by your story. Then they propel it onward.

Readers constantly ask me when the sequel to _HUNTER_ will be done. They want me to rush out a sequel. Indie gurus will say that, from a marketing standpoint, I need to enlarge my "footprint" by rushing a bunch of other titles into print, in order to capitalize on this publicity.

Well, that might make sense...if I were inclined toward short-term thinking. But my debut novel has set certain expectations for readers. My greatest fear is not that they won't buy my next one; I'm sure they will. My greatest fear is that it won't live up to their expectations -- or to my own. And that my reputation will suffer as a result. We all know of famous writers who, after their early successes, start to "mail it in" to meet externally imposed deadlines and grab a fast advance. I don't care to follow their example.

So, my next novel will be published only if and when it is the best damned sequel I can produce -- and not a minute sooner. That might be 6 months. It might be two years. But my "strategy" -- if you can call it that -- is to do exactly what I did to get where I am this morning: to focus on the storytelling. And then, when the book finally is published, to hope that the right Somebody will once again take notice.


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## *DrDLN* (dr.s.dhillon) (Jan 19, 2011)

I will go for it. I wonder if they pick up randomly or follow the sale record!!!


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## StephenEngland (Nov 2, 2011)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> Steven, Debora, Melissa and Bella -- congratulations! I suspect that KDP will "cycle" these titles in the coming days to give yours and others more prominent positioning (although your position on the Kindle home page, Debora, is hard to beat!).
> 
> And a big, big thanks to all of you! I'm just reeling.
> 
> ...


You know, folks, we might have finally found an indie guru, we can respect. Thanks for sharing your insights, Robert.


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## MosesSiregarIII (Jul 15, 2010)

Holy cow. 90 reviews with a 5-star (4.8 ) average. And #24 in the Kindle store. Congrats, Robert.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

@ Stephen: Please...we don't need more gurus. We just need good _writers_ who make "honor your craft" their motto. But thanks for the kindness. And congrats on your own thriller, _Pandora's Grave_, about which I hear terrific things and am itching to read.

@ Moses: Thank you, sir. You are doing wonderful things on behalf of all indies, and I wish you every continued success with your own writing, too.


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## StephenEngland (Nov 2, 2011)

Amen, Robert. My point is simply that I'm tired of hearing from people with a marketing background and third-grade writing skills lecturing people on how to write.  Your success with Hunter is inspirational Kudos for a great book and well-deserved success.

To my fellow KB authors, I read Hunter several months ago. You can find my review of it here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R33ITH2QZ8TZ8X/ref=cm_cr_pr_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0057CTIJA&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=


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## Matthew.Iden (Nov 6, 2011)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> The quality of your story is about the only thing over which you have direct control. From that point, it's a matter of getting "lucky," as Joe Konrath says. But to me, "luck" is having the right reader/editor/movie producer/etc. discover and be captivated by your story. Then they propel it onward.


Hi Robert, I'm late to the party, having spent the holiday on a rural farm in South Carolina without Internet access, but a belated congratulations! I love your thoughtful observations along the way, especially your takeaway on "strategy", which hasn't--or shouldn't have--ever changed, really: just write the best book you can.


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## ToniD (May 3, 2011)

Checking in this morning to cyber-stalk see how the Indie Blowout is going....wow. Congrats to all of you featured on this sale.

I've one-clicked Melissa, Robert, and Steven (genres I read).

Debora, one of these days I am going to overcome my resistance to fantasy...and you're on my list.  You rock.


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## ToniD (May 3, 2011)

Okay Debora, you got me. Just one-clicked.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

@ Matthew (and others):

I re-read my comments and hope I didn't give cause to be misconstrued. I did NOT mean to imply that a writer shouldn't do any promotion, or that such things as market research (including research into Amazon's algorithmic magic), pricing, placing multiple titles, or social networking, etc., should be dismissed. I market and promote my book, and I appreciate its importance.

All I meant to say is that we must beware what can easily become an imbalance. Writing _good_ stories is what we are (or, in my opinion, should be) all about. Without a good story to promote, all the marketing in the world won't help much, or at least for very long. My marketing efforts may well have brought my book to the attention of Amazon editors. But if they didn't like it, they wouldn't be giving it this kind of focused attention.

Nor do I mean to imply that it's not worthwhile to write a simple, entertaining story, rather than some ponderously ambitious novel. All of us have different interests, goals, priorities, etc. I'm simply saying that whatever we write, it should be our best effort -- not something rushed into print to fill some dubious imperative to "get a lot of stuff up there, fast." From my observation, the authors who are successful for any long period are those who have met their readers' high expectations with consistent quality, book after book. Some can write these faster than others. But in my opinion, speed and quantity of output are far less important in the long run than establishing a reputation for quality.


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## ToniD (May 3, 2011)

modwitch said:


> LOL. It wasn't intended as a sales pitch. I should have added, it's about as unlike a thriller as possible while still being a novel .


I know. 

But mystery/thriller is not the only genre I read. You got me with "women's fiction."


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## Lisa J. Yarde (Jul 15, 2010)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> @ Matthew (and others):
> 
> I re-read my comments and hope I didn't give cause to be misconstrued. I did NOT mean to imply that a writer shouldn't do any promotion, or that such things as market research (including research into Amazon's algorithmic magic), pricing, placing multiple titles, or social networking, etc., should be dismissed. I market and promote my book, and I appreciate its importance.
> 
> ...


This is some of the best advice I've seen on KB in a while. Congrats on the blockbusters sales, may they continue long after the promo price ends.


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## edwardgtalbot (Apr 28, 2010)

Not sure if this is the highest it's been, but RObert is at #20 now!



> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #1 in Books > Romance > Romantic Suspense
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Romantic Suspense
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Genevieve, not so many on this board, but some fairly prominent indies. And I have followed threads here where some writers seem to feel compelled to rush into print fast, in order not to miss some (presumed) holiday wave of ebook purchases, or whatever. But it's not the "who" that's important. It's the "what."

If a writer's goal is generate a lot of stories fast, there's nothing inherently illegitimate in that goal, per se. But I think some of us succumb to the temptation of haste due to desperation. If the goal of rapid publication is based on such assumptions as "having lots of stuff will generate lots of royalties," or "if I don't get this out fast, I'll miss the next big wave" -- well, I'd simply question those assumptions. Writing stuff rapidly and in great quantity _will_ generate lots of sales...but only if it's _good_ stuff.

Lisa, thank you. And Edward -- yes, that's the highest ranking it's yet hit. Top 20...still picking my jaw off the floor.


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## Dinasideas (Sep 2, 2011)

I love that Amazon is reaching out to Indie authors in this way, very encouraging. Good luck!!


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## Christopher Bunn (Oct 26, 2010)

Robert, great comments about priorities. Thank you.


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

Well Robert you're #18 and climbing, gulp. Your right behind Connelly, Patterson, King and Grisham at #5 in Thrillers.


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## Mr. RAD (Jan 4, 2011)

Robert, the sound advice you've provided is timely. I'm sure we all need to hear that as most of us are rushing to get a new book out before Christmas. 

Thank you, and congrats on your stratospheric success.


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## B. Justin Shier (Apr 1, 2011)

Just checked in and wow! Congrats, Robert. I'm just wondering how long until the first major offer rolls in. Anyone want to take the over/under on two weeks?

B.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Dina, Christopher, Jack, Roshawn, Justin -- many thanks for your kind remarks.

NEW UPDATE, 10 pm:

In sales, the _HUNTER_ ebook has just blown by the new bio of Steve Jobs in the Kindle Store, as well as _The Help, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,_ and other huge bestsellers.

Currently, it is ranked #12 among all items (including games!) in the Kindle Store and #11 among all Kindle ebooks. It's also the #11 bestseller in Kindle fiction. In categories, it's the #8 bestseller across "Genre Fiction," #6 in "Mystery & Thrillers," #5 in "Thrillers," #2 in "Romance" (!!!), and #1 in both "Spy Stories/Intrigue" and "Romantic Suspense."

Yesterday, 1,919 copies sold. With two hours still to go till day's end, it has sold 2,620 more copies today. I think it may well be in the Top 10 bestsellers before midnight.

I'm not sharing this to boast. I'm sharing this because I'm damned lucky. And I share it to tell you all:

DO. NOT. GIVE. UP. YOUR. DREAMS.

If sharing this inspires just one of you to persist through the inevitable pains and tears that come with the writing life, then I'm happy to do it.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Thanks much for those insights, Debora.

I'm delighted by the sales that the rest of you "Big Deal" authors have received. You're right about other things kicking in. I've seen the various books listed in lots of nooks and crannies on the Kindle site, and that's going to keep sales moving right along.

I obviously benefited from unexpected spotlight treatment by the Kindle folk, so it's completely unfair to compare results among us. I'm hoping (and expecting) that they move that spotlight around, so that your books also get the attention they merit.

As for what that spotlight can do for a book, here's some data for you:

Total books sold Monday: 3,084.
Total books sold Sunday: 1,919.
Total books sold during the past 2 days: 5,003.
Total books sold so far this month: 5,687.

(The preceding figures include some print books and ebook sales from other sources, but they don't amount to much -- fewer than 100.)

Kindle Bestseller Rankings as of midnight 11/28:

#11 in "Ebooks" and in "Fiction"
#8 in "Genre Fiction"
#6 in "Mystery & Thrillers"
#5 in "Thrillers"
#2 in "Romance"
#1 in "Romantic Suspense" and in "Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue"

Barring something extraordinary, this is as high in those rankings as _HUNTER_ is likely to go. The competition ahead of me is formidable; the next fiction title above _HUNTER_ is the new Alex Cross novel by James Patterson, and above that, in ascending order, are the 9 latest releases by the late Kurt Vonnegut, Stephen King, John Grisham, Michael Connelly, Janet Evanovich...well, you get the idea. Almost impossible for an unknown to compete against new books by those icons. Besides, the Amazon spotlight won't stay on my book much longer, and when it shifts direction, _HUNTER _will sink back down to a lower sales level -- though likely far above where it stood two days ago, because then, the other kinds of Kindle promotions that you mention will kick in.

What a ride this has been. At least it looks as if the bills will get paid while I work on the sequel. And I think other doors will open, too. My fingers are crossed that the rest of you will get this kind of lucky break -- because that's what it was.


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## Ben Dobson (Mar 27, 2011)

That is too crazy.  Apparently when Amazon wants to, they can really help a guy out.  Congrats, man.


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## Mr. RAD (Jan 4, 2011)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> As for what that spotlight can do for a book, here's some data for you:
> 
> Total books sold Monday: 3,084.
> Total books sold Sunday: 1,919.
> ...


I, personally, have never witnessed anyone sell that many copies of a single book in such a short amount of time. I now know that it's possible.

We are all very happy to have taken this ride with you, Robert. Thank you for sharing!


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Ben, Rad -- thanks so much.

One last update before bed: As of 2:40 a.m. on 11/29, _HUNTER_ reached #10 on the Kindle ebook bestseller list. This was the link as of that time:

http://amzn.to/sJ5PEV

From #2,988 to #10 bestseller...in 2 days. I am going to expunge the word "impossible" from my vocabulary.


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## StephenEngland (Nov 2, 2011)

I think you've blown us all away, Robert. Just wait till the reviews come pouring in from 500 of the 5,000.


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## melissafmiller (Feb 17, 2011)

Thanks for continuing to update us, Robert! As I am now an also bought with you, I am hoping to ride your coattails! 

On the lesser mortal front, I broke 1000 sales in a month for the first time as of 8 am I have sold 1151 on Amazon US. 572 since the promo began.  I was already having my best month ever, thanks to an ereader news promo the first week of November.  For comparison purposes, I sold 330 on Amazon US last month and 300 or so the month before that.

What this says to me is (a) Konrath is right---there is a big luck component to success and (b) it would behoove Amazon and us if Debora's idea of having a contingent talk to them about working together on visibility!

Please excuse typos. In the pediatrician's waiting room, typing fast and one handed.


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## I love books (Aug 12, 2011)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> I obviously benefited from unexpected spotlight treatment by the Kindle folk, so it's completely unfair to compare results among us. I'm hoping (and expecting) that they move that spotlight around, so that your books also get the attention they merit.
> 
> As for what that spotlight can do for a book, here's some data for you:
> 
> ...


Wow, Robert, congratulations!!! #11 Kindle Store!!! You inspire us all. Thanks so much for your lovely words of wisdom about putting out our best work in your previous posts on this thread and for encouraging us all--yes, a good story is what it's all about! I'm so thrilled for you! I just downloaded a copy, too. I can't wait to read it.

Wishing you and everyone here, great success and exposure!


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

10:12AM and Robert is at #10 ranking. Tough group ahead of you. Really gives one an idea of how many ebooks they have to sell to be ahead of you and at much higher prices.  I think big pubs are doing just fine with ebooks.


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## Bryan Dunn (Mar 20, 2011)

Wow!  Just Wow!  Thanks for sharing your trip to the Moon with us, Robert.


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## Loren DeShon (Jun 15, 2011)

I just clicked and bought _Hunter_ because of this thread (rather than the Amazon promo). I look forward to reading it.

Congrats to Robert, and congrats also for staying level headed as he receives such a huge boost.

His words regarding putting out the best work possible are resonating with me. If he hadn't made _Hunter_ into what is obviously an outstanding thriller he never would have had 90 or so five star reviews, and without 90 five star reviews he never would have caught the eye of the Amazon editors and received the product placement he did. He is generously crediting luck and indeed he is fortunate, but he made his own luck by writing what must be a damn good book in the first place.

I've been learning tons by reading threads here and asking the occasional question, but I've also been feeling like I have my nose pressed up against the glass because I have nothing published. That leads to self-imposed pressure to get my novel out into the world, and at first blush I see success stories like this and feel more pressure, but reason then returns and I realize that I must make it as good as I possibly can.

Again, congrats to Robert and the others who were selected (obviously on merit) by Amazon for this promo-you deserve it.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Let me thank you all for the generous words, but let me also say how thrilled I am by the success that Steve, Melissa, Debora, and Bella have been receiving. I've downloaded their books, and I hope you all will, too: Amazon doesn't feature these writers without good reason.

Jack: You're right about the Big 6. The prices of the (mercifully few) titles ahead of mine are much higher, yet those books are selling at a clip faster than mine, which is only $1.99. That's sobering...until you realize that the only difference is _reputation._ These other authors have already proven their worth to readers, and I haven't. It should _encourage_ us to see that many thousands of readers are willing to pay high prices for what they are sure will be a good story. So, once you have proven to readers your own merits as a writer, you can be sure that they will buy your subsequent work, even at a hefty price tag. And that's good news.

So, what I take from this is that it's the quality of the story that counts. Which underscores my earlier sermon: _Honor your craft._ Strive to tell a great story. Because ultimately, in marketing books or anything else, reputation rules. I firmly believe that.

Loren, your words mean a lot to me. Seriously--no false humility here--I am lucky to have been getting special spotlight attention this week. Any of the other authors would have done as well or better if they had the good fortune of having their book covers displayed at the top of the Kindle page AND be on the "Editors' Pick" list AND be part of the overall promotion. I don't think any of us could afford to buy that kind of incredible online ad space.

As someone who struggled in early life with a great deal of self-conscious, self-imposed pressures, I can relate to what you are saying. You think there is some Standard "out there," and that you must "somehow measure up."

But that puts the focus on yourself, not your story. The way I get around that is to forget about myself in the writing process. Don't think about "rules" that must be followed, whether it's about structure, word count per day, or whatever. Don't think about "measuring up" to anybody or anything. Lee Child told me, "Ignore all advice." And that's probably the best "advice" you could possibly internalize. "Write what you like to read," he said. Write to please yourself. That's all that you can control. Think about your characters. Get under their skins and out of your own. If you do that, it'll take the pressure off, and it will make writing what it should be for any writer: a joy.


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## ToniD (May 3, 2011)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> Think about your characters. Get under their skins and out of your own. If you do that, it'll take the pressure off, and it will make writing what it should be for any writer: a joy.


This advice, I agree with.


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> Let me thank you all for the generous words, but let me also say how thrilled I am by the success that Steve, Melissa, Debora, and Bella have been receiving. I've downloaded their books, and I hope you all will, too: Amazon doesn't feature these writers without good reason.
> 
> Jack: You're right about the Big 6. The prices of the (mercifully few) titles ahead of mine are much higher, yet those books are selling at a clip faster than mine, which is only $1.99. That's sobering...until you realize that the only difference is _reputation._ These other authors have already proven their worth to readers, and I haven't. It should _encourage_ us to see that many thousands of readers are willing to pay high prices for what they are sure will be a good story. So, once you have proven to readers your own merits as a writer, you can be sure that they will buy your subsequent work, even at a hefty price tag. And that's good news.
> 
> .


Yes and that is factoring in all those saying they would never pay $12.99 for an ebook and one need only to roughly correlate what their numbers might be compared to yours and we easily can see that readers have little problem spending at that price for, Patterson, King, Connelly & Grisham. Each has been an author for over 25 years and each has a large fan base and instant name recognition coupled with big pub PR and marketing, along with their reputation.

It is all the more remarkable in that you have none of that going for you and yet your title is in their merry company. Thank you, Amazon. Basically the Amazon spotlight on your good thriller rocketed your book into the stratosphere putting you in the company of some very heavy hitters.

You haven't been writing novels for 25 years, you don't have a large fan base, it's your first novel, you have near zero name recognition, no big reputation and zero big PR and marketing. Amazon is the great equalizer and merely shining their spotlight on your book--propels it into the Top Ten. Anyway all good info, I'd never really had a handle on how many copies sold daily got one into the Top Ten. That does fluctuate depending on many other factors, but still I get a glimpse.


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## wrighton (Mar 28, 2011)

Congratulations,
I hope you see a huge spike in sales. I have heard from several authors that going free for a short time also works, but to have that front and center spot, with reduced price could do the trick as well.


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## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

_"Unheard of means only it's undreamed of yet;
Impossible means not yet done."_*

Wow. Everyone in the Top 300-ish. Amazing fun!

*_Ladyhawke!_ - Julia Ecklar


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## bellaandre (Dec 10, 2010)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> Let me thank you all for the generous words, but let me also say how thrilled I am by the success that Steve, Melissa, Debora, and Bella have been receiving. I've downloaded their books, and I hope you all will, too: Amazon doesn't feature these writers without good reason.
> 
> Think about your characters. Get under their skins and out of your own. If you do that, it'll take the pressure off, and it will make writing what it should be for any writer: a joy.


Thank you, Robert! And huge congrats to everyone! Our books have all been steadily moving up, up, up, which is very exciting. I'm currently at #191 and just thrilled by it all.

And I agree that getting to the heart of character is what can make magic happen. In fact, I have two characters calling to me right now. 

Bella


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## 41419 (Apr 4, 2011)

Robert,

#10 now.

That is all


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## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

Well, yes, Debora, but who else has a SECOND book at #322, too, hmmm?


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## CJArcher (Jan 22, 2011)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> So, what I take from this is that it's the quality of the story that counts.


A thousand times YES. Super huge congrats to you, Robert. You've done the hard yards, honored your craft, and it's good to see you getting recognition for it.


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## Mr. RAD (Jan 4, 2011)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> ...it's the quality of the story that counts. Which underscores my earlier sermon: _Honor your craft._ Strive to tell a great story. Because ultimately, in marketing books or anything else, reputation rules. I firmly believe that.
> 
> ...
> 
> ...


Keep giving it to us straight, Mr. Bidinotto. We're listening!


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## jnfr (Mar 26, 2011)

I was busy over Thanksgiving and missed this thread entirely, so let me add a belated

*WOO HOO!*

This is fantastic. Huge congrats to everyone participating. I'm so happy to see indies getting swept up in the Amazon big time.


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## Usedtopostheretoo! (Feb 27, 2011)

Debora, your second book's performance is truly impressive. On par with the Amazon backed slingshot. I would love to hear how you collected a list of 1500 emails...and I don't mean that to sound like...how can I do that tomorrow. I can only imagine this is a list that you have cultivated for years. 

For anyone that has looked at the "Big Deal" categories recently, have you clicked on Mystery and Thriller recently? Every time I click on it from the Kindle Store landing page, where Robert and Debora are prominently displayed, the M/T list contains only two titles. All of the other lists contain the same number of titles that I saw from the original email link, except for M/T. I've viewed it from a few computers and iPads, all the same, but each of these machines has been corrupted by either me or my wife checking on my book. Amazon marketing machine may have eliminated these choices from what I see. Let me know if anyone else sees the same thing. I know...poor me, right?


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## Linda S. Prather Author (Jun 25, 2010)

Noticed your book on the sale page.  Good luck.

Linda


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## ToniD (May 3, 2011)

modwitch said:


> /end soapbox


No--keep telling it. I need to hear it.


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## B. Justin Shier (Apr 1, 2011)

And now he has returned to mediocrity... 

I think the implications of Robert's success are profound and wide-reaching. We may be witnessing another Amanda Hocking moment. This time, the success wasn't due to a genre title with a bold pricing strategy. Robert's book is good. Really good. But it didn't get to the top 10 by word of mouth. It got there because Amazon "endorsed" it (because his book is darn good, of course).

The question remains: what should he do about it?

I would advocate building a future out of this push by capturing the new readership while they're still rabid. An Email list is one way to do this. Signing with an Amazon imprint is another. There is no one answer. It's the Wild West folks. Quite exciting, no?

B.


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## edwardgtalbot (Apr 28, 2010)

modwitch said:


> I published my first novella in mid-Feb this year, with an invitation in the back to come sign up for my new releases list in if you wanted to know when the next book was available. That same invitation sits at the end of all my books. So I've collected 1500 emails in... 9 months. It started slow, but in general, I get about 8-10% signup a month compared to total sales for the first book in my main series (which is my primary intake book for new readers). I think having a series helps. I think making it the thing in your book right after "The End" helps. I think calling it a "new releases list" instead of a "newsletter" or whatever, helps.
> 
> But mostly, having a freaking list in the first place and mentioning it to people who just finished reading your book helps . What I'm hoping to say is that anyone can do this. When I released book 2 in my series, I had 600 names. Those got me to the top 1000 on Amazon. Book 3, 1500 names. Hit the top 400. B. Justin Shier hit the freaking 300s a few days ago with 150 names on his email list. It doesn't take 10,000. And whatever you have now, or in a few months, think about what it could be down the road.


I was going to follow-up and ask if you had the email message right on the same page after "The End" or on another page and then it occurred to me. . .I could just buy A Modern Witch and find out! Quite a ways outside my genre comfort zone, but I fully expect to enjoy it given the reviews I have read.

About the email list itself, I recall you mentioning on another thread that you didn't like to send generic emails. Are you saying you individually sent 1500 emails, or did you at least partially automate things? Also, do you use any sort of package for the emails, or just store it in your own back-end? I glanced at the code, but of course I can't see what the jotform submit handler actually does 

Anyway, congrats. Two books in the top 500 priced at $3.99, one of them driven largely by your own list, is a huge success.


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## melissafmiller (Feb 17, 2011)

Steven Konkoly said:


> Debora, your second book's performance is truly impressive. On par with the Amazon backed slingshot. I would love to hear how you collected a list of 1500 emails...and I don't mean that to sound like...how can I do that tomorrow. I can only imagine this is a list that you have cultivated for years.
> 
> For anyone that has looked at the "Big Deal" categories recently, have you clicked on Mystery and Thriller recently? Every time I click on it from the Kindle Store landing page, where Robert and Debora are prominently displayed, the M/T list contains only two titles. All of the other lists contain the same number of titles that I saw from the original email link, except for M/T. I've viewed it from a few computers and iPads, all the same, but each of these machines has been corrupted by either me or my wife checking on my book. Amazon marketing machine may have eliminated these choices from what I see. Let me know if anyone else sees the same thing. I know...poor me, right?


Stephen, that's been the way the list has displayed from me since the very beginning of the promo, but if I click on the category on the side all the books display. I am trying to remain zen about it as people seem to be finding us, but, yeah, it's a screwed-up link. I thought about asking Author Central Support to look into, as I have always found them super-helpful and responsive but haven't had a quiet minute to do it.


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## Victorine (Apr 23, 2010)

Wow you guys! I'm so thrilled for all of you who got selected for this deal. What an amazing offer from Amazon!

And Robert!! You go!!! We'll all watch the NYT's best seller list as it comes out! 

Vicki


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## 41419 (Apr 4, 2011)

modwitch said:


> I am looking for a package now - I divide my list over four days of sending, and I'm still close to maxing what gmail will let me do, so I need to find something. But the mailchimp type programs are expensive, and there has to be a better way. I'll let you know if I find one.


Hey modwitch (and congrats and the _two_ books flying high).

I use the free version of Mailchimp and I love it. It's a bit fiddly to get the emails looking just right, but aside from that I have no complaints. It should be suitable for a list of your size (and even considerably bigger). I'm sure you know all the features (tracking: click stats, geo stats, opens; auto-sign up links for your blog/books; etc.) Is there any reason you avoid it?


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## 41419 (Apr 4, 2011)

@modwitch

Ah. I was looking at "email limits" rather than "subscriber limits". I didn't realize it was that low. I'll have to find a new provider by, oh, 2015 or so


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## JeanneM (Mar 21, 2011)

How did I miss this thread?  Congrats to all who were selected.  It is wonderful to see good things happen to kb friends, but even more thrilling when it happens to those who have always been kind and helpful.  You all deserve this.  

Rock on and take no prisoners!


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

What's happening is unreal right now. I can't believe it...but I just blew by STEPHEN KING.

And as of midnight, _HUNTER_ climbed to the *#9 bestseller* on Kindle.

The category rankings are now:

# 9 in Kindle Store (all products)
# 9 in Kindle ebooks
# 9 in Kindle Fiction
# 6 in Genre Fiction
# 5 in Mysteries & Thrillers
# 4 in Thrillers
# 1 in Romantic Suspense
# 1 in Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue

Tuesday's final numbers are in, and even better than yesterday's. As of midnight:

* 3,332 books sold on Tuesday 11/29 (3328 were Kindle ebooks)
* 138.6 ebooks per hour
* 2.3 sales per minute (avg. Some hours it was up to 5 sales/min.)
* 8,335 total books sold since 12:01 a.m. Sunday, 11/27
* 8,930 total books sold in November, with one day to go.

For the breakdown, Monday's total was 3,084 books sold; Sunday's was 1,919.

Which means the pace of the book's sales is actually _accelerating_.

This tells you that you need to sell about 3,000 books in a day to get into the Top Ten. About 130 per hour, 2 per minute.

This is Malcolm Gladwell's _Tipping Point_, manifested in an indie book title suddenly going supernova.

Want to know why this is happening to my book? THIS is why:

http://amzn.to/rAo0Qb

http://amzn.to/vGe1pE

http://amzn.to/smarW2

It's no longer speculation. The Kindle editors have clearly singled out _HUNTER_ and are actively pushing it. There's no other explanation for the multiple prominent placements it's getting. And no other reason for why my book is doing better than some of the other great books by our authors here.

Now, I'd love to know their motives in selecting my book. But I suspect that within a few days, I'm gonna find out.

However, for right now, the best thing about this for me is that these incredible sales are buying me months of writing time, during which I can lay off most promoting and marketing. They are also buying me a ready readership for the sequels. Thank you, Mr. Bezos.

I wish I had the time to thank each one of you who has been extending his or her congratulations, and to comment directly to all the significant issues you are raising. But you can only imagine the emails I'm getting. You'd recognize some of the names.

I'll try to get back here and report if substantive things happen or useful info ought to be shared. For now, I'm sleepless and giddy and wondering what's going to happen next.


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## Usedtopostheretoo! (Feb 27, 2011)

Thank you for the explanation of your email system, Deborah. I plan to make a few modifications to my books. Up until now, I have listed my email at the end, but mainly as a "get in touch with me, I'd love to hear your feedback." I have been managing this myself, up until this point. I'll investigate, and set up one of the email collection services you referenced...before I make the changes. Great idea and very valuable information.

Melissa, many thanks for taking a look at the promo page for me. I know that based on your preferences and viewing, the pages appear different every time they are opened. Sometimes, I can't find one of our books on the overall list, sometimes it seems mine disappears. I think Amazon somehow got Robert's cover into my refrigerator...I still can't believe his numbers. I had a noticeable slowdown yesterday...still not complaining, but my rank held pretty steady. I figured there were fewer people buying books yesterday...apparently not. I can't wait to here more about what Robert is alluding to. Sounds like he's getting some interesting emails.

Later, Steve


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## 41419 (Apr 4, 2011)

@Robert

Amazon certainly are backing your book. I got an email this morning flogging the _paperback_, which is very interesting. I don't own a Kindle (yet), but I would imagine there are similar emails flying around promoting that edition.

You are at* #8* now. That's James Patterson's new release (that he has spent millions of dollars of his own money advertising) that you just blew past.

Heh.


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## Nathan Lowell (Dec 11, 2010)

modwitch said:


> ...snipster...
> As for how I manage and send my email list - don't do what I do. My backend is a total mess (mostly because I figured I'd get 10 sign-ups a month, and what I started with doesn't scale very well). Jotform just collects the email addies (free for the first 100 a month). It gives me a spreadsheet of them I can download. Then I group that with my gmail contact lists (where I manage my readers), de-dupe in excel, and paste into gmail to send. I do mass sends - sending customized emails would be nuts, and all people really want are the links. I am looking for a package now - I divide my list over four days of sending, and I'm still close to maxing what gmail will let me do, so I need to find something. But the mailchimp type programs are expensive, and there has to be a better way. I'll let you know if I find one.


I rent my host space on Bluehost.com and they have two turnkey applications for managing mailing lists. I use "Pommo" which installs on my server with a couple of key clicks and is, as far as I can tell, free and unlimited. It handles the mail throttling for me so I don't exceed the bandwidth caps and can send about 1000 emails an hour.

I only have about 1000 people on my list but I don't make it a priority in any of my work to collect those names. It's more of a "oh yeah, and if you wanna be notified you can subscribe to the list via email."

I probably should re-evaluate that.


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## JennieCoughlin (Sep 9, 2011)

Wow! Been out of town and finally am catching up - congrats to Robert and the rest of you - sounds like an amazing weekend! It gives me hope as I polish my first novel that it could actually start to catch some eyes once it's out long enough to accumulate enough good reviews. 

I'm wondering how much the Big Six pushback against the Kindle Lending for Amazon Prime is factoring in. Maybe Amazon is looking to boost good indies into positions where they have enough buzz that Prime subscribers want those books included, buying them some time to deal with the Big Six on that front? 

Robert, I can't wait to see how your experience plays out once the promotion ends.


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

9:28AM: Just amazing Robert! I'm sure the others are also rising.

#8 All ebooks Ranking

#3 Thrillers passing both Patterson and King

#4 Mysteries and Thrillers


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## Courtney Milan (Feb 27, 2011)

modwitch said:


> Because I'm within two months of exceeding their 2000 subscribers for free limit. And I'm 4-6 months away from falling into the $50/month or higher fees plan. If my email list continues to grow at the current rate for the next two years, I'll have 6000+ subscribers. I'm hoping to find a solution now that will work for the long term, without costing me $50-100/month in fees for a lot of functionality I don't need. I send 6 emails a year, they're not fancy (and I can track 'em on my own), and I have another service for sign-ups.


I use vertical response. I only send newsletters when I have a new release, so I use their "Pay as you Go" feature. I wait until they have sales (log in occasionally, and they'll offer you "buy X get X credits free." Credits expire, but they take a year to do so. As an example, right now, they have a "Buy 2500 credits, get 2500 free" sale. So I paid $32.50 and got 5000 credits, which will last me until well into next year. So if you wait to buy e-mail credits until they have sales, and then buy more than you need, you could pay about $70 a year.

And they handle all the sign-ups and the unsubscribes and all that without my having to think about it.


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## Courtney Milan (Feb 27, 2011)

modwitch said:


> Oh, good to know. They have a good service, but it's expensive at the non-sale prices. I could definitely wait on sales - my sends are pretty predictable.


I did a ton of looking a few years ago, and they really do have the best pay as you go plan, which in my mind is the only thing that makes sense for release-day-only e-mails. The other thing to consider is that the...uh, the shadier the company is about CAN-SPAM, the federal spam law, the more likely that e-mail providers will have marked their servers as spam, and the less likely your subscribers are to receive the e-mail that you send. So on the other end, make sure you research how reputable your newsletter service is.

If someone doesn't have auto unsubscribe features, or doesn't require you to meet the requirements of CAN-SPAM, chances are that they've been marked as spam by many of the major e-mail providers, and your readers might never see your e-mail.


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## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

Deb, look at YMLP.com

The break down is this:
2500 emails a month=$7.50 a month 
7500 emails a month= $15 per month
12,500 emails a month=$22.50 per month
20,000 emails a month=$30 per month
and so on

All their plans are 10% off if you pay for a whole year too. No limit on emails collected and they can sign up or you can add them manually.


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## jnfr (Mar 26, 2011)

My biz site is with DreamHost and they have a simple form you can use to create an announcement list for your site. If you have your own site, it's probably worth the time to find out whether your host offers that kind of free service.


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## edwardgtalbot (Apr 28, 2010)

modwitch said:


> I'm looking to overengineer what I put in place next, so that I don't have to do it again .


You could always just configure your own SMTP server. Keep it off except when you need to send. Write a small script to parse your email list and send an email every 10 seconds. Kick it off before you go to bed, the emails will be out by the next day.

Or, yeah, you could just find a package and not reinvent the wheel. Not as much fun, but. . .


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## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

modwitch said:


> Thanks, Deanna. One of the challenges I'm dealing with is that I already have a sizeable list. Some services want you to "reverify" when you upload a list with them (basically, all your readers have to opt in again). No go.
> 
> BUT - the services that don't do that (YMLP, Constant Contact, iContact, and probably others) are the ones that get blacklisted by ISPs the most, because they get used by spammers the most. YMLP wasn't reliably delivering to gmail or comcast a while back, but I'll look at them again.


Really? Hmm, I've been using them for a year now and haven't had any issue. My latest newsletter that went out for our other business had an 85% click through rate (on Thanksgiving no less). I will seed it with my gmail and yahoo accounts though and start watching.


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## BlakeCrouch (Apr 18, 2010)

The truly great thing about Robert's success (congrats, Robert!) is this....right now, there are a lot of new Kindle Fire readers who just got their device for the first time. And for the most part, they're playing it safe, paying 11.99 and up for the big print names (Patterson, King, Evanovich, Grisham)...the top 100 list is very heavy lately with the staples...but if a cheap indie book like Robert hits the masses and goes over well with tens of thousands of new kindle readers, they may be more willing to step out of their comfort zone and start buying more indie books. Hopefully the books they find are the good ones....I've seen some disturbing Amazon threads lately by readers discussing how to spot self-pubbed books because they had been burned by awful indie books. Obviously, that doesn't help any of us. But that's why it's so awesome when an indie writer breaks out. Amanda Hocking's success last December  helped everyone.


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

Robert must be drinking champagne--He's # 7 total kindle ranking

#3 Mysteries & Thrillers--just blew by Evanovich

#3 Thrillers with Grisham and Connelly out front.

Everyone else is looking very good, all Top 200ish.

Amazing.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

No, Debora, I'm here...just overwhelmed with communications from well-wishers.

THANK YOU, people.

Oliver Stone (*political aside: Boo! Hiss!) just shot to the top of the list with a new book today, so that pushed us all down a rank. But I've just passed James Patterson and Janet Evanovich. So, back up to #8 in ebooks, which includes a game; but #7 now in "Fiction," #3 in both "Mysteries & Thrillers" and "Thrillers," #2 in "Romance," #1 in "Romantic Suspense" & "Spy Stories/Intrigue."

Anybody here know CPR?

Blake, THANKS. And congrats to you and Mr. Konrath (one of my gurus) on the stellar success of _Stirred_!

Jackz, I didn't see that total Kindle ranking of #7, but I'll believe you if you say so. I was on the phone for a while and not updating.

If I hit #7 overall again, or better, could somebody save a screenshot? I need to go out for much of the evening, and won't be back till late to check stuff or weigh in here.

I can't tell you how much your support and enthusiasm means. I hope this will mean great things for all indie authors, especially those of us who use KDP as our primary vehicle. I've seen James Patterson on TV ads promoting his book, obviously with a gadzillion dollars behind the p.r. campaign. That a KDP author can compete with the big names like him is just stunning. And it ought to encourage every single one of you.

I'll do my best to be another Pied Piper for this wonderful opportunity for authors.


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## Victorine (Apr 23, 2010)

It's so fun to watch your book, Robert.  Your success is inspiring. May the sales continue long after the promotion ends!

Vicki


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

7:12PM: Robert you are now #6 Fiction

#7 All ebooks

#2 Mystery & Thrillers....blew by Grisham

#2 Thrillers.........Connelly up ahead

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Kindle-Store-Fiction/zgbs/digital-text/157028011/ref=zg_bs_unv_kinc_3_157319011_3

My Prnt Scrn is not responding.

Ok, now I have it.

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z49/jk4000z/untitled.jpg


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## jnfr (Mar 26, 2011)

Here you go:
















[br]


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## ToniD (May 3, 2011)

They're going to have to create a new category for Robert:

Kindle Store > Kindle ebooks > Knock it Out of the Park


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## Ardyth (Oct 13, 2010)

Congrats to everyone in the promotion, especially Robert (looks like you're #6 at the moment)!

This is really inspiring and has me considering the 3.99 price point and hoping I'd get picked sometime.   Or perhaps having my own 70% off sale for a few days.

I hope everyone keeps raking in the sales!


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## B. Justin Shier (Apr 1, 2011)

I'm wondering about the psychological impact this is having on bestselling authors and large publishers. An indie author breaking into the top 10 of all fiction is sort of like some random dude in a bathrobe strolling into the Oval Office in the middle of a cabinet meeting. It's just not supposed to happen.

Or, if you'll allow me to get cheesy, Robert's success is another pebble along this path:

"This revolution, the information revolution, is a revolution of free energy as well, but of another kind: free intellectual energy. It's very crude today, yet our Macintosh computer takes less power than a 100-watt bulb to run it and it can save you hours a day. What will it be able to do ten or 20 years from now, or 50 years from now?" -Steve Jobs

Well, Mr. Jobs, an unknown author can pen a book in his living room, publish it for free on the internets, and outsell some of the most powerful media machines in the world. I'm just sad you didn't get to witness it.

Where this all goes from here is unclear to me-but that we are in motion is undeniable.






Again, pardon my cheese, but I'm mighty excited for all of us.

B.


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## SBJones (Jun 13, 2011)

It's pretty exciting to just read about it.  I can't imagine how it would be to live it.


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## J. Tanner (Aug 22, 2011)

@Robert: Here's a thumbnail link to a reformatted top 20 (your book at #7) suitable for framing. 

Such an amazing list to be part of...



(EDIT: Clicking the thumbnail goes to a medium size for some unknown reason. Then click that medium size version to see the full size.)


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## TJ Perkins (Jul 6, 2010)

Woo Hoo!  Good for you!


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## AmandaJane (Dec 1, 2011)

Wow! What a wonderful inspiration! I'm so glad I read through this =D

Being a new author I've been a bit skeptical about being able to market my books should I write any more. 

I have truly been inspired to write finally try a fiction.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Just got back. WOW.

Thanks to all of you. Especially to those who were so kind as to get the screen shots for me.

And Toni -- that is just hilarious! ROFLOL!

I just spent the evening at the book launch party for SFF author Michael J. Sullivan, husband of Robin Sullivan. His series is being reissued in print and he packed a bookstore over in Arlington, Virginia. A year ago or so, I was inspired by Michael's example and by Robin's sage advice on all matters about self-publishing to take the plunge myself. And I simply had to go there to wish him well and to thank them in person for what they've helped me to do.

If you don't read Robin's blog regularly, you should. It's invaluable: http://write2publish.blogspot.com/

I'm so thrilled at how the others here are doing. Steven, you are now listed #3 on the "Mysteries & Thrillers" page for the "Big Deal" promo, and Debora, your placement on the main Kindle ebook page is super. This brings the participants to a whole new level of visibility and sales, which I'm sure will level out eventually to new, higher plateaus for all involved.

Okay, the day and month are done. And in the interests of "transparency"....for the numbers geeks (and I'm one), sales of HUNTER for the month were 616 through November 26.

RESULTS FOR WEDNESDAY 11/30:

Total sales for 11/30: 3,398. (slightly better than yesterday)
Average sales per hour: 141.6
Average sales per minute: 2.36

_HUNTER _rankings as of midnight 11/30/11:

#7 in all Kindle items
#7 in Kindle ebooks
#6 in Kindle "Fiction"
#3 in Kindle "Genre Fiction"
#2 in Kindle "Romance" (only Catherine Bybee ahead)
#2 in Kindle "Mysteries & Thrillers" (only Michael Connelly ahead)
#2 in Kindle "Thrillers" (ditto)
#1 in Kindle "Romantic Suspense"
#1 in Kindle "Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue"

NOVEMBER SALES TOTALS [updated, due to a math error]:

12,429 12,862 sold (all book editions and venues).
12,328 12,761 were Kindle ebooks.
All but 616 12,246 of the total sales have been since midnight 11/26.

Now for some SLEEP.

If any of you night owls notice me passing Michael Connelly or moving to #1 or anything, please take a screen shot and save it for me, okay? I'll be back here tomorrow to check in on how everyone is doing.

UPDATE, 12/1

After a night's sleep, I found that the final sales tally for the month of November is not 12,429, but 12,761 12,862. I forgot that Amazon is on the Left Coast, and their "midnight' is 3 hours later. So, 332 more sales came in during those wee hours.


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## Mr. RAD (Jan 4, 2011)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> Just got back. WOW.
> 
> Thanks to all of you. Especially to those who were so kind as to get the screen shots for me.
> 
> ...


W.O.W.


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## Usedtopostheretoo! (Feb 27, 2011)

Amazing, Robert. To bring things back down to earth a little...but still no complaints, here are my rough December #'s.

The Jakarta Pandemic sold 478 copies up through December 26th. Once the Amazon lightning struck, I managed to squeak out a total of 1434 by COB 11/30. 

Black Flagged, my new novel, sold 234 prior to the magic (book release November 6), and ended the month at 427. It definitely took a ride with my featured novel, and the numbers are picking up. 

Overall, this is freaking fantastic! However, it demonstrates the difference between being ranked in the top ten and hovering around 300. I've learned so much about these numbers thanks to this "experiment." There is a steep exponential upside to breaking that top barrier. Simply unfathomable to me still. And based on Robert's posting times...he's either a night owl or he can't SLEEP! I think it's the latter.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Steven, that's a great boost for you. Congratulations for blowing past the 1,000 sales mark for the month. I would have viewed a similar boost for me as terrific, too. On the 26th, you were at 478 sales for _Jakarta __Pandemic_; I was at 616 for _HUNTER_, so that's comparable. And I was hoping that somehow I could top 1,000 for the month with this promotion.

The huge difference in the way things turned out has everything to do with the spotlight treatment of the "Editors' Pick," and the consequent placement of the book at the top of the Amazon pages. Period. I have no doubt that Debora, Melissa, and Bella also got healthy boosts for November. And the promo doesn't end till Saturday, so the ride will continue for a while.

P.S. I'm delighted to hear about the "halo effect" of boosted sales for your other book. Since I have only one book out, I wonder what the effect has been for the multiple titles of other authors in the promo, if they care to weigh in?


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## Guest (Dec 1, 2011)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> Steven, that's a great boost for you. Congratulations for blowing past the 1,000 sales mark for the month. I would have viewed a similar boost for me as terrific, too. On the 26th, you were at 478 sales for _Jakarta __Pandemic_; I was at 616 for _HUNTER_, so that's comparable. And I was hoping that somehow I could top 1,000 for the month with this promotion.
> 
> The huge difference in the way things turned out has everything to do with the spotlight treatment of the "Editors' Pick," and the consequent placement of the book at the top of the Amazon pages. Period. I have no doubt that Debora, Melissa, and Bella also got healthy boosts for November. And the promo doesn't end till Saturday, so the ride will continue for a while.


#8 is really astounding!


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## melissafmiller (Feb 17, 2011)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> Steven, that's a great boost for you. Congratulations for blowing past the 1,000 sales mark for the month. I would have viewed a similar boost for me as terrific, too. On the 26th, you were at 478 sales for _Jakarta __Pandemic_; I was at 616 for _HUNTER_, so that's comparable. And I was hoping that somehow I could top 1,000 for the month with this promotion.
> 
> The huge difference in the way things turned out has everything to do with the spotlight treatment of the "Editors' Pick," and the consequent placement of the book at the top of the Amazon pages. Period. I have no doubt that Debora, Melissa, and Bella also got healthy boosts for November. And the promo doesn't end till Saturday, so the ride will continue for a while.
> 
> P.S. I'm delighted to hear about the "halo effect" of boosted sales for your other book. Since I have only one book out, I wonder what the effect has been for the multiple titles of other authors in the promo, if they care to weigh in?


I got a similar boost to Steven's. I was at 579 sales for the month when the promo started and I ended the month at 1,627. November was the first month that I exceeded 1,000 sales and I am delighted. I literally cannot even imagine how over the moon you are right now, Robert.

I don't have another novel out, just a set of two crime fiction shorts that I have listed for 0.99. I sold 13 copies in November, which is consistent. I sold 13 in October and 13 in September.  I think of those readers as my baker's dozen of true fans who are looking for something to read until the next book is out, but the promo definitely had no spillover effect.

Speaking of, I haven't seen any new reviews yet, but I have gotten a few e-mails from people who picked up the book during the promo and wanted to get on my mailing list for new releases, which was neat. (See, Debora, we're all listening!)


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## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

Thanks for the transparent peek at your numbers, guys. The geek in me adores you!

Any spillover to the UK readers?


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

That's great, Melissa. Congratulations! I never remotely came close to 1,600+ sales in a month before this promo.

It's really useful to see how similar the boosts are for two authors with previously comparable monthly sales, who received similar promotional treatment. You started from positions 100 sales apart, and you ended only about 200 apart -- which is vaguely proportionate. Steven, from where you were on November 26, your sales total was almost triple that by the end of the month (2.8 times bigger), and Melissa's were exactly triple where she'd been.

Now, I'm really interested to see if Debora or Bella got a notable "halo effect" in sales of their other titles. (I can only imagine what would have happened to me if I'd had other titles available.)  Debora also had "prime real estate" placement on the Kindle home page as the featured SFF title, so I would guess she is seeing a boost disproportionate to Steven and Melissa's. Any difference between her numbers and mine are no doubt due to my good luck in appearing prominently on so many other pages, plus the difference in popularity between the thriller category and the SFF category.

I'll also be interested to see if sales tail off later in the week, when this promo is no longer as fresh. If it doesn't lose much steam, it will indicate just how huge and steady the Amazon customer base is. And perhaps how many new Kindle Fire owners are stocking up reading inventory.

A few other things I've noticed that may be useful for others, because the data are more extensive:

Absolutely zero "halo effect" on sales in Amazon UK, Germany, or France. None.

A small but noticeable boost in paperback sales. I'd been selling 1-3 copies per day through Nov. 25th. On the 26th -- the day before the Kindle promo -- I sold 9. I believe that was a quirk, that some fan was buying it in quantity, as gifts. However, the next four days sales were 7, 8, 3, and 10, respectively. So there was definitely a bit of halo effect.


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## 41419 (Apr 4, 2011)

@Robert

I know this Amazon promotion must have been responsible for _some_ of these fantastic sales, but I think you are leaving out something important: you switched your brooding profile pic for a kitten-cuddling shot right around the time your sales jumped. Couldn't be a coincidence...


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

@ David: Leave it to our resident KDP geek to point out the REAL reason for this surge. If I'd known that Luna was the draw, I'd have also featured babies and puppies in my author photo. No wait...come to think of it, I'd have gotten rid of ME. Just the cat with babies and puppies.


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## 41419 (Apr 4, 2011)

I just hope that poor moggy is getting at least 15%

Roll out the caviar...


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## J. Tanner (Aug 22, 2011)

Learn from Robert, David. Dump the legacy headware.


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## 41419 (Apr 4, 2011)

The kitten has been done though. I need to take it to the next level. I'm thinking: baby panda.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

"Legacy headware." I love it.  

Look, I'm just establishing my Vigilante Brand. First, the Indiana Jones hat. Next, the cat.

Now for the 700 Series BMW. I may have to wait a few months for some royalty checks, though....


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## edwardgtalbot (Apr 28, 2010)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> Now for the 700 Series BMW. I may have to wait a few months for some royalty checks, though....


Yes, January 30th should be a pretty happy date


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## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

Apparently a baby tiger doesn't have the same draw as Luna...


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## Mr. RAD (Jan 4, 2011)

What were Robert's results for 12/1/11 (Thursday)? Did his sales increase? Decrease?

We all want to know.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Mr. RAD, just for you:

Context: I track sales from midnight to midnight Eastern time, where I live. However, Amazon is on the West Coast, so they don't close out their official sales day until midnight Pacific time, which is 3 a.m. in the East. This causes me a bit of a statistical hiccup on the first and last days of each month, because by my method, I have 3 extra hours on the last day of a month, but 3 fewer on the first day.

For comparison, then:

I had a 27-hour "November 30," and sales were 3841. That # of sales divided by 27 = a rate of 142.2 sales per hour, 2.37 per minute.

I had a 21-hour "December 1," and sales were 3240. That # of sales divided by 21 = a rate of 154.3 sales per hour, 2.57 per minute.

So, despite nominally fewer sales recorded, my hourly rate of sales actually increased.

The hourly sales rate has increased each day of the promotion.

On Sunday 11/27, it was 1919 sales, 80 sales per hour, 1.33 per minute.

On Monday 11/28, it was 3084 sales, 128 sales per hour, 2.14 per minute.

On Tuesday 11/29, it was 3332 sales, 138.8 sales per hour, 2.31 per minute.

In short, the rate of sales is actually increasing. This is reflected in my book's Kindle Store rankings at midnight each day: #12 on 11/28, #9 on 11/29, #7 on 11/30, #6 at midnight on 12/1.

One sobering reflection is just how big sales have to be to reach the very top of the bestseller list. Even at the incredible hourly rate that _HUNTER_ is selling, there are 5 other titles ranked higher. I would love to have HUNTER become the #1 Kindle bestseller in "Mystery & Thrillers," but if 154 sales per hour can't dislodge the formidable Michael Connelly from that perch, I wonder what will? I can only hope that my hourly rate increases over the next two days.

Whether Amazon will continue to cast a spotlight on my book after the promo ends on Saturday, I don't have a clue. If they do, it may very well remain on the bestseller list despite the automatic price increase back to the normal $3.99. (After all, Connelly is besting me with a whopping price tag of $14.99.) But if they turn the spotlight somewhere else, my sales will fizzle fast, and the ride will have been great while it lasted.

I would hope they see value in (a) my book per se, and (b) having this old nobody, Bidinotto, serving as a poster boy for the glorious possibilities of KDP for indie authors, and for the power of Amazon promotion. But I can't read their minds. We shall see what happens.


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## Mr. RAD (Jan 4, 2011)

Thanks for the update, Robert.



Robert Bidinotto said:


> One sobering reflection is just how big sales have to be to reach the very top of the bestseller list. Even at the incredible hourly rate that _HUNTER_ is selling, there are 5 other titles ranked higher. I would love to have HUNTER become the #1 Kindle bestseller in "Mystery & Thrillers," but if 154 sales per hour can't dislodge the formidable Michael Connelly from that perch, I wonder what will? I can only hope that my hourly rate increases over the next two days.
> 
> Whether Amazon will continue to cast a spotlight on my book after the promo ends on Saturday, I don't have a clue. If they do, it may very well remain on the bestseller list despite the automatic price increase back to the normal $3.99. (After all, Connelly is besting me with a whopping price tag of $14.99.) But if they turn the spotlight somewhere else, my sales will fizzle fast, and the ride will have been great while it lasted.
> 
> I would hope they see value in (a) my book per se, and (b) having this old nobody, Bidinotto, serving as a poster boy for the glorious possibilities of KDP for indie authors, and for the power of Amazon promotion. But I can't read their minds. We shall see what happens.


We've all been wondering how many sales per day it takes to reach the #1 spot. I'm guessing 160 sales, but who knows? It could be 200 or more. And even that's being a little conservative.

Given that you're selling so well, I think ol' Mr. Connelly's going to have some competition when the Amazon spotlight ends.


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## StephenEngland (Nov 2, 2011)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> @ David: Leave it to our resident KDP geek to point out the REAL reason for this surge. If I'd known that Luna was the draw, I'd have also featured babies and puppies in my author photo. No wait...come to think of it, I'd have gotten rid of ME. Just the cat with babies and puppies.


This occurred to me a few weeks back, Robert. I think half of the people see the picture and say "awwwwww, what a cute wittle kitty. I ought to buy his book."
The other half of us look closer, see the REAL Luna, and run off scared, shouting, "ward off a cat attack, buy HUNTER!"


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

Interesting Robert that you book continues to hold on to the #6 position now going 6 days into the sale and the number of copies sold needed to maintain that rank. I guess when you go back to your regular price on Sunday you will probably see good sales and royalties, though lesser volume. Your 5 day sales numbers are staggering and continue to accelerate.

Noticed the JFK book rocketed up on it's debut at 99 cents for a day or two. The price was then raised to $9.32 and it is still selling very strongly and ranks at #15 at the much higher price. May your luck be similar.


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## edwardgtalbot (Apr 28, 2010)

Robert Bidinotto said:



> One sobering reflection is just how big sales have to be to reach the very top of the bestseller list. Even at the incredible hourly rate that _HUNTER_ is selling, there are 5 other titles ranked higher. I would love to have HUNTER become the #1 Kindle bestseller in "Mystery & Thrillers," but if 154 sales per hour can't dislodge the formidable Michael Connelly from that perch, I wonder what will? I can only hope that my hourly rate increases over the next two days.
> 
> Whether Amazon will continue to cast a spotlight on my book after the promo ends on Saturday, I don't have a clue. If they do, it may very well remain on the bestseller list despite the automatic price increase back to the normal $3.99. (After all, Connelly is besting me with a whopping price tag of $14.99.) But if they turn the spotlight somewhere else, my sales will fizzle fast, and the ride will have been great while it lasted.


Thanks for sharing the info, and congrats again. Unlike with say, the sales required to reach a rank of 5000, which has stayed fairly consistent the past 6-7 months until last week, I suspect that the number of sales required to be in any given spot in the top ten changes more. Regardless, it's a large number.

Regarding what will happen to your book, as you note, I don't think going from $1.99 to $3.99 will make a lick of difference. And while the numbers will certainly go down if you disappear from the spotlight, I bet it takes a while before you're back down to even a 300 ranking. Will be interesting to see.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

RAD, we just don't know what the sales numbers are for the folks above me on the list. They could be closely bunched, or the people in the top couple of positions could have sales an order of magnitude higher than mine, for all we know.

Now, consider the fact that some of the folks on this list have been there for _hundreds of days_, at a rate of sales at least as high as mine, PLUS at much higher prices! It's staggering to contemplate.

But that tells you that you won't "tap out" the market for a good book, because the market is ever-expanding. And it also tells you that gadzillions of people will pay a lot more than $2.99 for a good story. The demand for stories is universal and insatiable.

Which brings us to Jackz's point. An indie usually must price competitively at first, to get noticed by a core readership that will give him good reviews, and thus establish a good reputation. In my humble opinion, *the reputation for great storytelling is decisive*. But once that is acquired, the author can raise his prices and play in the same league with the big boys and girls. In fact, if you already have a following and a reputation for good writing, there's no need to price in the bargain basement. Robin Sullivan has discussed this at length, and I think she's absolutely right. She prices her authors' works between $4.95 and $6.95, and they are selling tens of thousands of copies while clearing great earnings per sale.

Establishing that storyteller reputation is, in my view, paramount. It's the one thing that all the bestselling authors have that aspiring indies don't. THE one thing. But once you have earned it, you have much greater latitude on pricing. In my case, this week has done a hell of a lot for my reputation. You can be sure I won't be pricing my next book at $3.99 or lower. In fact, I'm even considering jacking up the price of _HUNTER_ to $4.99 after this initial surge.

In any case, it appears that I've been placed in a Petri dish as an experiment for lots of people to watch and take notes. Everything I now do or don't do, for good or ill, will be mined for its lessons. If I make the wrong moves, I'm sure to be reminded by armchair quarterbacks what an idiot I am. Hell, I already _know_ that. And even if I make good moves, I'm sure people will say, "But if you had raised your price just 50 cents more/put Luna on the cover/co-authored with Konrath/etc., you would be making ten times more money!"

Sure glad that I no longer suffer from my childhood sense of morbid self-consciousness.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Things that keep you humble on a week like this:

* three 1-star reviews from customers who, obviously, only read the $1.99 price tag, without bothering to read the promo copy to learn what the book is actually about.

* zero sales outside U.S. Kindle for the past week. Zero. Nada. Zip. BBOS's all across Europe. It's as if there is a firewall between the U.S. and the rest of the world, as far as publicity for this book is concerned.

* no calls from Hollywood.

* I have to go clean Luna's litter box now.

Ah, the glamor of the bestseller list....


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> Which brings us to Jackz's point. An indie usually must price competitively at first, to get noticed by a core readership that will give him good reviews, and thus establish a good reputation. In my humble opinion, *the reputation for great storytelling is decisive*. But once that is acquired, the author can raise his prices and play in the same league with the big boys and girls. In fact, if you already have a following and a reputation for good writing, there's no need to price in the bargain basement. Robin Sullivan has discussed this at length, and I think she's absolutely right. She prices her authors' works between $4.95 and $6.95, and they are selling tens of thousands of copies while clearing great earnings per sale.
> 
> Establishing that storyteller reputation is, in my view, paramount. It's the one thing that all the bestselling authors have that aspiring indies don't. THE one thing. But once you have earned it, you have much greater latitude on pricing. In my case, this week has done a hell of a lot for my reputation. You can be sure I won't be pricing my next book at $3.99 or lower. In fact, I'm even considering jacking up the price of _HUNTER_ to $4.99 after this initial surge.


This is a big takeaway from this sale and a much healthier alternative, than the mad rush to price at the bottom of the barrel at 99 cents. Even with this sale pricing your book at 1.99 you would not be getting so many sales and passing Grisham, Patterson and King if you did not have a really good story.

In fact, compared to them, the ONLY thing you have going is your page placement for the Amazon Sale and your story--they have everything else, a proven brand name, over 25 years of bestselling novels novels, big publishing budget and PR, heavy muscle etc. Something like David and Goliath. The big bonus is that this sale may give you 20,000 plus fans who have read your book and like it--now you want them to remember your name.

Personally, I think there are two types of buyers. Those who primarily buy the 99 cent and free books with price being the determining factor, would be one group. They will not buy the 7.99 books.

The other group is not low price centric and is looking for a great read and has no problem spending 5.99 or 9.99 or more. Just look at the price points in the Top 20. Based on your numbers Robert, there is no shortage of readers buying pricey ebooks.

Steven, Melissa, Bella and Mod all also seem to be hanging strong in the Top 200 or 300, so they are also seeing very good daily sales from this promotion for over 5 consecutive days. They will probably keep riding the wave for a while too. I hope they can shed some light on their numbers?


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## bellaandre (Dec 10, 2010)

So glad everyone is popping in here with updates! Here's mine:

THE LOOK OF LOVE has held steadily between 190-240 for the five days, which is great. This puts it on the top 20 for contemporary romance and top 40-50 for all romance. Because it's the first book in a series, I've seen great strides with the 2nd book. FROM THIS MOMENT ON ($4.99) has come in from 2000 to 850 already, right around #75 on the contemp romance top 100 list. I'm very excited to see this, especially because I will be releasing the 3rd book in the series, CAN'T HELP FALLING IN LOVE, in two weeks. (And it means people must be enjoying THE LOOK OF LOVE. A big "yay" from me on that!)

But there's more good news! Amazon made my day yesterday by selecting a 2nd book - GAME FOR LOVE - for December's 100 Books under $3.99 promo! In 24 hours, I've already seen a huge jump for that book's sales. I can't wait to see what happens the rest of the month, especially the last week of December, especially, after everyone rips open their new kindles. 

Huge congrats to all of you! This has been a great week.

Now back to writing, writing, writing....

 Bella


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## melissafmiller (Feb 17, 2011)

Bella, that's AWESOME news!  

Jack, here's my update. As usual, typing on my phone, so excuse typos. I sold 408 books in the 3 am to 3 am Amazon day yesterday Jthanks to the baby for making sure I was up at 3 ) 

My rank was as high as 126 at one point yesterday.  Today has seen slower sales. I think my total for the month was 468 the last time I checked. Note that I'm not complaining, just reporting!

Off to do carpool. More or less glamorous than litter box scooping, Robert?


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Bella and Melissa -- FANTASTIC. 

Bella, that selection for December is just wonderful! It means you'll get continued attention through the holiday buying season...when everyone is loading up his or her new Kindle Fire. What a way to launch another book. I think you're really going to take off now; those rankings are wonderful.

And Melissa -- 408 sales in a 24-hour period is awesome, a rate that's causing everyone here to drool in envy. Incidentally, FWIW, my morning sales taper off significantly, for obvious reasons, then pick up from mid-day onward, and really start to roar from late afternoon till midnight (Eastern). (My rate of sales yesterday from 10 pm till midnight was jaw-dropping -- 4.58 buys per minute -- so that seems to be a time of day when lots of people are browsing the Kindle Store.) So don't assume that a drop-off during the day means much. I think you'll see them crank up during the evening.

I'm so glad you're all doing so well. Those higher rankings will mean some serious money for those of you with good, multiple titles out there.

You're also confirming my #1 point of emphasis: You're all marvelous storytellers who pay attention to crafting good novels. THAT is why you earned fans, great reviews, and featured attention from Amazon. For those who want to know how to sell lots of books, then, the most important bit of advice is: "First, write a highly salable story."


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## Kristine Cayne (Aug 16, 2011)

Congratulations on catching the eye of the Amazon powers that be. I'm so happy for you, Bella!

~Kristine



bellaandre said:


> But there's more good news! Amazon made my day yesterday by selecting a 2nd book - GAME FOR LOVE - for December's 100 Books under $3.99 promo! In 24 hours, I've already seen a huge jump for that book's sales. I can't wait to see what happens the rest of the month, especially the last week of December, especially, after everyone rips open their new kindles.
> 
> Bella


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## I love books (Aug 12, 2011)

bellaandre said:


> THE LOOK OF LOVE has held steadily between 190-240 for the five days, which is great. This puts it on the top 20 for contemporary romance and top 40-50 for all romance. Because it's the first book in a series, I've seen great strides with the 2nd book. FROM THIS MOMENT ON ($4.99) has come in from 2000 to 850 already, right around #75 on the contemp romance top 100 list. I'm very excited to see this, especially because I will be releasing the 3rd book in the series, CAN'T HELP FALLING IN LOVE, in two weeks. (And it means people must be enjoying THE LOOK OF LOVE. A big "yay" from me on that!)
> 
> But there's more good news! Amazon made my day yesterday by selecting a 2nd book - GAME FOR LOVE - for December's 100 Books under $3.99 promo! In 24 hours, I've already seen a huge jump for that book's sales. I can't wait to see what happens the rest of the month, especially the last week of December, especially, after everyone rips open their new kindles.
> 
> Bella


Wow, huge congrats, Bella!  I'm so excited for you (and all the authors participating!). Here's wishing you continued success. I can't wait to read The Look of Love. It's on my TBR list, too. Best of luck!


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## bellaandre (Dec 10, 2010)

melissafmiller said:


> My rank was as high as 126 at one point yesterday. Today has seen slower sales. I think my total for the month was 468 the last time I checked. Note that I'm not complaining, just reporting!


Wow, Melissa, 126 is amazing! CONGRATULATIONS!!!
 bella


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## bellaandre (Dec 10, 2010)

Kristine Cayne said:


> Congratulations on catching the eye of the Amazon powers that be. I'm so happy for you, Bella!
> 
> ~Kristine


Thank you, Kristine! I'm really thrilled that they chose two of my books for promos. It's been a stupendously fun year!



Shadonna said:


> Wow, huge congrats, Bella!  I'm so excited for you (and all the authors participating!). Here's wishing you continued success. I can't wait to read The Look of Love. It's on my TBR list, too. Best of luck!


Thank you, Shadonna! I really hope you love THE LOOK OF LOVE!  I'm thrilled for you, too. Your book has been doing so well! It's on my TBR, as well.

 Bella


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## melissafmiller (Feb 17, 2011)

bellaandre said:


> Wow, Melissa, 126 is amazing! CONGRATULATIONS!!!
> bella


Thanks, bella! I was definitely pinching myself. Now, back to writing for me.


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

#5 Robert, just passed Connelly

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z49/jk4000z/Hunterststs.jpg

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z49/jk4000z/Hunter5.jpg


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

Yeah, but 3 of the 4 ahead of him are the Hunger Games trilogy. That's REALLY popular atm.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Of all the week's milestones, having the #1 Kindle bestseller in "Mysteries & Thrillers" means the most to me. I think I know what George Bailey felt like at the end of "It's a Wonderful Life."


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## Mr. RAD (Jan 4, 2011)

jackz4000 said:


> #5 Robert, just passed Connelly
> 
> http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z49/jk4000z/Hunterststs.jpg
> 
> http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z49/jk4000z/Hunter5.jpg


Go Robert!


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Friday ended with another 3,459 sales.

Added to everything sold since last Sunday at 12:01 a.m., when the promo began, and _HUNTER_ has sold an astounding 18,943 books in 6 days. That's just over 2 books per minute, on average.

Now #5 in the Kindle Store, in Kindle ebooks, and in Kindle fiction. Only two authors -- Suzanne Collins and Catherine Bybee, and four of their works (3 by Collins), lie between _HUNTER _and the title "#1 bestselling Kindle ebook in America."

_HUNTER_ also ranks #2 in both "Genre Fiction" and "Romance" (behind Bybee's novel).

It ranks #1 in Romantic Suspense (a subcategory of Romance), and in the category of Mysteries and Thrillers, including two subcategories: Thrillers, and Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue.

I've been drinking above my daily quota of wine.


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## ToniD (May 3, 2011)

All I can say for you all who had this amazing week is this:


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## Loren DeShon (Jun 15, 2011)

Just think about what sales will be for those authors featured over Christmas/New Years when all the gifted new Kindles get unwrapped and the recipients start book shopping.  

Here's hoping that more here at KB will be selected.


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## Mr. RAD (Jan 4, 2011)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> Friday ended with another 3,459 sales.
> 
> Added to everything sold since last Sunday at 12:01 a.m., when the promo began, and _HUNTER_ has sold an astounding 18,943 books in 6 days. That's just over 2 books per minute, on average.
> 
> ...


I just can't get enough of hearing about Robert's success. May the gravy train continue!


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Michael Connelly temporarily reclaimed the # 5 spot for a while this a.m.; I got an Amazon promo email this morning featuring mystery authors, led by his new book. But as of 1 p.m., HUNTER was back at #5.

And that caused me to suddenly realize: As of this moment, I'm the # 1 bestselling male author on Kindle.

Wow. Talk about a testosterone rush!


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## Kristine Cayne (Aug 16, 2011)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> And that caused me to suddenly realize: As of this moment, I'm the # 1 bestselling male author on Kindle.


That is so awesome! Do you know when the promo ends?

~Kristine


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

Robert Hunter is#4 9:19PM


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Kristine, the "Big Deal" promotional sale ends at the end of the day today -- presumably midnight Pacific time.

However, I'm curious to see whether Amazon will stop giving attention to _HUNTER_.

It just hit # 4 on the Kindle Store Bestseller List. I've sold over 4,000 ebooks today...with three hours yet to go until midnight (East Coast time, where I am, 3 more on West Coast time), and no end in sight to the acceleration of sales.

So: If you were Amazon, and you had a KDP title suddenly going supernova, would _you_ stop promoting it?


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## Adam Pepper (May 28, 2011)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> As of this moment, I'm the # 1 bestselling male author on Kindle.
> 
> Wow. Talk about a testosterone rush!


Congratulations, Robert! You are killing it!


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## Victorine (Apr 23, 2010)

Robert - The price will revert back to your set KDP price, and Amazon will stop sending out emails about it, but you'll still be listing on a heck of a lot of 'also bought' lists, and so that will help carry your sales for a while.

Good luck!!

Vicki


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

The price will revert, Victorine. But I'm not so sure Amazon will stop pushing this particular book. They have been giving it amazing TLC for the past week, and if anything, the attention is increasing.


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## Mr. RAD (Jan 4, 2011)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> Michael Connelly temporarily reclaimed the # 5 spot for a while this a.m.; I got an Amazon promo email this morning featuring mystery authors, led by his new book. But as of 1 p.m., HUNTER was back at #5.
> 
> And that caused me to suddenly realize: As of this moment, I'm the # 1 bestselling male author on Kindle.
> 
> Wow. Talk about a testosterone rush!


Robert Bidinotto, #1 BestSelling Male Author. In-freaking-credible!!!!!



jackz4000 said:


> Robert Hunter is #4 9:19PM


Yay, Robert. Only three more spots to go. Sending you best wishes right now, hoping you capture that #1 spot really soon.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Thanks again, Roshawn.

During the prime sale hours of about 9-11:30 pm, the Amazon computers seemed to be jammed up or crashing. (They're still erratic, well after midnight in the East.) As a result, sales must have ground to a halt, and I missed an incredible milestone: 5,000 sales in a single day.

I "only" got 4,914.

That's an average of nearly 205 sales per hour, or 3.4 per minute.

By the time the sale is over in about 2.5 hours from now, it appears I will have sold just shy of 25,000 copies of _HUNTER _since the sales promotion began last Sunday morning. Tomorrow, I'll give exact numbers, if anyone wants them.

A life-changer for my wife and me. And I'm sure in ways that will only become apparent in the coming days and weeks.

I hope what happened here encourages you folks. Because I was EXACTLY where many of you are, just ONE WEEK AGO. Read Malcolm Gladwell's _The Tipping Point_ and you'll see exactly what happened here and how.


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## Usedtopostheretoo! (Feb 27, 2011)

Robert, I for one, would love to see your numbers, and honestly, I'm eager to hear what happens this week with all of our titles. Nearly 5K in one day! Congratulations to everyone! Back to reality...for me at least. It's going to take a lunar mission to bring Robert back.


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

Well Robert, 9:20AM EST and 6 hours after the sale ended you seem to be still sitting pretty at #5, which tells me your sales are still quite good at the 3.99 price and royalty. That coupled with the "also's" should keep Hunter pretty active for a while though your sales will go down your royalties will go up. It will be interesting to see how it goes and your final numbers.

It looks like the Big Deal Sale did help Steven, Melissa, Bella and Modwitch too and it would be nice to hear their thoughts on the Big Deal and what it did or didn't do for them.

You did get some undeserved one star reviews I noticed--it just goes with the turf. There are always people who just want to slam something that is doing well. 

It was great to watch everyone involved rise in ranking and sales and a great way to gain new readers and in 7 days.


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## JennieCoughlin (Sep 9, 2011)

Wow! Robert, that's amazing. Huge congrats for hitting that tipping point! I can't even fathom 25K sales in a week. 

Interesting how the RATE of sales continued to increase throughout the week. I'll be curious to see how that plays out once the official promotion ends - will it have enough momentum to continue to increase, etc. I'm also wondering if the word will spread beyond the US Kindle market as the people who bought it read it and if there's a longer-term halo effect on your paperback and foreign sales.


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## jnfr (Mar 26, 2011)

Robert, it was kind of funny for me because an earlier thread popped up that I had missed first time around, and there you were lamenting that your sales were slowing down and worrying about that. And I had already read your news in this thread, so that gave me a good chuckle.


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## Bryan Dunn (Mar 20, 2011)

Congratulation, Robert!  This has been a fantastic ride to watch.  Thank you for sharing.  

Here's to a long and circuitous ride back down from Mt. Olympus.


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

modwitch said:


> The deal had a very different impact on thrillers and romance than for most other books (yes, I geeked out and watched a lot of books). SFF got pretty short shrift in books included in the deal. Scott Sigler's book got a very nice boost, but it's a SF thriller (and was at $0.99). So: a) I think genre matters. It's not surprising that romance and thrillers had wider appeal. b) I think it matters if the genre is decently represented in the promo.
> would have thought actually navigate via that page.
> 
> Sales are returning very quickly to usual levels for me - starting from when I fell off the Kindle home page. I'd guess that at least the last few days of the promo, very few people were browsing through all 269 books, and that's the only way you could find my book in the sale. And because my genre was sparsely represented, I didn't pick up highly different also boughts (you don't see any of the other books in the promo until page 3 of my also boughts, which is very different from what happened for the thriller and romance books - they all got pretty tightly associated with other promo'ed books in their genre).
> ...


Interesting points Deb and yes SFF, doesn't have the volume of readers that Thrillers & Mysteries and Romance genres have and they had the largest gains. In fact the other Editor Picks books did not receive anywhere near the sales Robert's did, so that alone was not the propellant and not such a big push. I think his perfect page(s) placement coupled with genre and having many 5 star reviews and a 1.99 price tag got him off to a rapid rise.

I'd never before seen a group of Indie books rise so quickly in the rankings over such a short time period. I'm sure you have skads of data from this sale and thanks for your results. You have already begun to drop with the end of the sale and it will be interesting to see how long the others can maintain their ranking now the sale has ended and their prices go up. Or will their rank only garner more sales?


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Thanks, everyone, for all your enthusiasm and support.

Final adjusted numbers:

Total Kindle books sold during the sales period: 24,323
Total books sold, all platforms, during the period: 24,398
Average Kindle sales per day: 3,475 Per hour: 144.8 Per minute: 2.4

The last day, Sunday -- even with a host of Amazon computer problems that interrupted the sales momentum during the prime evening sales hours -- was incredible. _HUNTER_ sold a staggering 4,914 copies up till midnight, and an additional 619 by the 3 a.m. finish of the sale. There were hours when it was selling between 5-6 copies on average per minute.

Now, back from the Twilight Zone.....

We'll have to see how the rank holds and for how long. It hit #4, passing one of Suzanne Collins's megahits yesterday, but it's fallen back to #5 now. Sales since 3 a.m. have backed off to a bit over 1 per minute -- way down from the astronomical 4-6 per minute I was getting at certain hours late in the sale. But of course, this is still a Sunday morning, and very early in most of the country. I expect to fall, but I'll see if I'm still in the Top Ten by evening. And whether I can remain in the Top 20/50/100 for a sustained period.

The question for me is whether Amazon will take note and continue to spotlight the book in other ways, now. That could keep it on the bestseller list. But we'll just have to see what they'll do. Certainly, I think having a KDP author up there on Olympus playing with the Big 6 gods should be worth something to them in marketing value: a billboard for the potential of KDP for indie authors. And with my higher price, they'll make more cash per sale than before, too.

I'll keep you posted with all the info I can, except (of course) any privileged communications I may receive. (Or not.)


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## Javier Gimenez Sasieta (Feb 18, 2011)

wow, Robert, those area amazing numbers! How do you do?  ;-)


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## B. Justin Shier (Apr 1, 2011)

jackz4000 said:


> Interesting points Deb and yes SFF, doesn't have the volume of readers that Thrillers & Mysteries and Romance genres have and they had the largest gains.


Let's not forget 3 of the 4 books keeping Robert from the #1 slot. Let's also not forget the genre of books currently dominating the box office. And let's also also not forget that a certain British legend has not even entered the e-book market. SFF can generate huge volumes just fine. You could argue the SFF mid-list generates less sales than the Thriller & Mysteries & Romance genres, but I don't think that explains why a SFF title wasn't the one to receive a meteoric increase in sales due to this promotion.

I think what we saw in Robert's case was an example of a non-reproducible outlier. (The same phenomenon we observed with the incredible global success of TGWTDT and the Da Vinci Code.) Being an entirely unique event, the reason why Robert's book surged to the top of the pile cannot be fully understood or reapplied. Or as one of my old professors used to say: "You cannot prove much of anything from a single case study, but you can postulate about it till the end of time. It's what we in the professorial profession like to call job security."

I would argue that a better way to spend one's time is to ignore the outlier and examine the remainder of the data set. Can we observe any commonalities in the promotional titles that outperformed the mean? Can we identify if they shared front and center placement, or editorial nods, or was it genre specific?

That's what I'm going to spend my day doing, at least. And congrats again to Robert!

B.


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## melissafmiller (Feb 17, 2011)

modwitch said:


> Actually, I'm holding steady fairly steady now. On Wednesday, I dropped off the Kindle home page, and rapidly slid from the 300s to the 700-800s, and then that has held steady through the weekend. So far, the price increase hasn't had an obvious sales impact.
> 
> In general, what I see from books on these kind of promos is increased, but declining, sales for about 3 weeks after the promo ends, and then sales are back to baseline (although the baseline is sometimes higher than before the promo). Robert broke all the rules, so no idea what will happen to him - I speculate it's not the sale juicing him much at all any more, but the prime bestseller list placement, and likely the internal Amazon recommendation engines kicking in. Melissa's really well placed in his also boughts right now, so I hope she sees some awesome sales continue as well.


I hope so, too!  I'm glad to see Robert is still in the rarified air of the Top Ten. I actually went on a run last night. At 2:05 a.m. Eastern (again, thanks, baby girl for waking me up), my rank was #118. I sold a total of 1,051 books between Dec 1 and when the promo ended. Strangely enough, I do believe I sold exactly 1,051 copies over the first four days of the promo, too! If so, for the entire week, that puts me at at 2,102 if my math is right, which it probably isn't. My spreadsheet geek husband has been wrangling the kids this morning so I can write, so he hasn't told me the official numbers yet.

But, I will say that I'm currently at #148 paid and have sold 30 books at $3.99 since 3 a.m. Bearing in mind that my sales were averaging 8-12 a day, I am obviously still riding a wave. In addition, completely through lucky timing, I have some other promo activities that might keep my baseline higher over the next few weeks:

I had a LibraryThing giveaway that ended on 11/27. Just over one hundred people signed up. Some of those readers have started posting positive reviews. 
Bards and Sages (Julie) kindly arranged a virtual book tour through Positively Published, which starts tomorrow. So for the next six days, I will have an interview or guest post up on a different site, courtesy of some lovely KB folks.
I have a Pixel of Ink spot in December 17. Now, I will have to drop my price to $2.99 to meet POI's guidelines, but that's a pretty well-timed short sale (the weekend before Christmas).

And last but not least, if my final proofreader finishes on schedule AND I get my butt in gear on formatting, the second book in my series will be up before the sales bump evaporates. I was shooting for Thanksgiving, which obviously didn't happen, but mid-December still seems doable.

These activities might make it harder for me to tell how much of any increased sales trace back to the Big Deal, but I am delighted to capitalize on the Big Deal's momentum.

Now, back to book 3 for me. I have been woefully under my word count for the whole length of the promo. Too distracted. 

Best of luck to Steven, Bella, Debra, Robert, AND all of you that we all see pre-holiday sales bumps!


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## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> And with my higher price, they'll make more cash per sale than before, too.


Just one quibble with that, Robert. At 3.99, you'll be taking in 2.80 and Amazon will get 1.20. At 1.99, you get 70 cents and Amazon gets 1.30. They're actually losing (or rather not making as much) money at your higher price point. Unless you negotiated a 70% royalty at the 1.99 price? Why do you think they're so eager for these sales, eh?

Thanks to everyone for being so open in sharing your numbers. While not quite as awesome for the rest of us mere mortals, this promo has been a huge learning experience for us all. Now to figure out a way to turn data into knowledge into power...


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## melissafmiller (Feb 17, 2011)

Phoenix Sullivan said:


> Just one quibble with that, Robert. At 3.99, you'll be taking in 2.80 and Amazon will get 1.20. At 1.99, you get 70 cents and Amazon gets 1.30. They're actually losing (or rather not making as much) money at your higher price point. Unless you negotiated a 70% royalty at the 1.99 price? Why do you think they're so eager for these sales, eh?
> 
> Thanks to everyone for being so open in sharing your numbers. While not quite as awesome for the rest of us mere mortals, this promo has been a huge learning experience for us all. Now to figure out a way to turn data into knowledge into power...


Actually, no negotiation needed. The promo terms were, regardless of what sales price Amazon set, the author got the royalty rate attached to list price. So, at least for us KDP folks, it would be 70% because the books had to have a list price of $3.99 or higher. Not sure about trad pubbed authors.

I, for one, will happily keep forking over data, if you smart people will turn it into power and tell me what it means.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Yes, we're getting the 70% royalty on our discounted prices; that was the deal in the email they sent me. It means that Amazon will, in fact, do better at the now-increased list price...IF the sales continue to generate strongly. This suggests to me that they should perceive an incentive to continue to promote the sales of the newly visible indie books.

Another correction: At $3.99, I don't clear $2.80 per sale, but closer to $2.62, for arcane reasons not clear to me. Debora, can you enlighten me?

Regarding being an "outlier": guilty, as charged. But the main "outlier" factor was in becoming THE #1 "Editors' Pick" and having my cover plastered all over the Kindle real estate. You couldn't navigate the Kindle site without tripping over it. Sure, the fact that it's a thriller, with crossover romance appeal, means it has a broader potential readership than many other titles. And I think it's a good story; but that doesn't distinguish it from any of the other books by our wonderful authors here. Fact is, KDP put it under the spotlights and center stage. THEY made it an "outlier" in the competition for eyeballs. Had they done the same for others, they would have done extraordinarily well, too, limited only by the relative inherent appeal of their genres.

I'm just tickled that everyone in the sale did well and made a lot of unexpected pre-Christmas cash. Now's the time  to capitalize on the greater visibility before it fades.


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## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

I was speculating y'all got the 70% royalty rate. Now I'm jumping up and down thrilled for all of you. Robert, truly amazing the success you've had.


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## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

In that case, the next round of drinks in the Cafe are all on YOU, Robert!

I vaguely remember another promo where the authors were asked to discount their books and take the lower royalties. Super excited you guys got the royal royalty treatment!


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## B. Justin Shier (Apr 1, 2011)

Holy crud, Konrath and Crouch have landed. Looks like Amazon did have plans. Just _other_ plans.

Digital List Price: $9.99
Print List Price: $14.95
*Prime Members: $0.00 (read for free) Prime Eligible*
Kindle Purchase Price: $0.99
When Purchased, You Save:$13.96 (93%)

Commence freak out.

B.


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

Yeah, that's the Kindle 99 cent Deal of the Day book. It's been climbing all day long. Impressive movement. 

That JFK book had a similar rise last week (99 cents) and made it to the top 5. Then went up to 9.32 and now 5 days later still in the top 100.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

I was out much of the day. Today won't be like the preceding week, but it still ain't bad. I've slipped one position because Konrath/Crouch are doing 99 cents today and getting a spotlight similar to what I had last week. Suzanne Collins resumed her position ahead of me, and so did Michael Connelly and John Grisham. 

But that still leaves me at #8 on the list as of 8 p.m. Eastern, and I'm soon going past 2,000 sales for the day...with 3.5 hours left (till I stop counting at midnight). And at a higher price, meaning double the royalties per sale that I was getting over the past week.

One of the things you have to beware of in bargain-basement pricing that you attract lots of readers who aren't part of your target audience. They buy the book solely because it's dirt cheap, without even bothering to read the extensive promotional blurb on the product page. And when that happens, they claim afterwards that they were "misled" or "deceived" about the nature of the book. 

In my case, the product info could NOT be clearer (from the first sentence on) that a ROMANCE figures centrally into this crime thriller -- that it's a genre-bender with spy, crime, and romance elements. But a handful of yokels are suddenly posting 1-star reviews, complaining that there is a ROMANCE s central to the story, instead of it being just the blood-and-guts thriller they wanted, in which any "love" interest(s) are little more than interchangeable sex toys.

People take more time to decide whether to buy if they have to pay more. They actually READ the promotional material and customer reviews before they hit the 1-click buy button. And fewer of those people therefore buy the wrong book for them, feel angry about it, then take it out on you by trashing your book with a 1-star review simply for not meeting their genre expectations. I had collected only two one-star pans in five months at $3.99. However, I've suddenly gotten 5 more this past week at $1.99 (as well as a bunch more 5-star raves, fortunately). My overall rating is still very high, and it's what got me this "Editors' Pick" attention. But it's no longer 4.9. 

Moral: Bargain-basement pricing is likely to get you a much lower average rating and a lot more unhappy readers.


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## brianrowe (Mar 10, 2011)

This sounds like a cool opportunity. Congrats and I hope the best for you guys!!


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## edwardgtalbot (Apr 28, 2010)

modwitch said:


> SFF has a huge audience, but not a single book (of only 6) on the SFF list is what I would call a "core" read for that demographic. Mine certainly wasn't, Sigler's is as much thriller as SF, and then we had Ron Hubbard anthologies. Very odd mix, and nothing aimed at fantasy readers (the book of mine they chose is really light on magic, heavy on sisterhood). So I don't think they gave SFF the opportunity in this promo that they gave some other genres.


Yeah, Sigler's Ancestor is an awesome book, but it's less Science Fiction than even someone like Michael Crichton. I'd call it science horror, but definitely a "thriller" above all. And I also suspect that Sigler's junkies alone bough enough copies the first couple days to help increase the wave - hundreds of die-hard fans owned the hardcover and many of them probably added the ebook at 99 cents (I did).

As for genre, I agree they didn't give SFF the opportunity. I'll also agree that your covers don't say SFF to me - the first thing I think is (don't hate me) "chick-lit." Which is not to say they don't work for you, I think they're great. But in a SFF-specific list, I don't think they're as likely to garner clicks as in other situations. I sort of have the reverse problem with my books, where they most definitely will not appeal to SF people who don't like political thrillers, but all four covers my cover guy and I came up with for one of them wound up seeming at least a bit SF.

As a side note, I am convinced that as a reader, the single biggest value of Amazon's algorithms is the way everything except the category lists can handle the blurring of genres. Their neural net is well-trained enough to be able to see beyond that. It doesn't mean for sure that I will like the "Also boughts" of books that I enjoyed, but it does make it much more likely for me to find books that I'll enjoy that are not cookie-cutter examples of a genre.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Debora, I hadn't thought of that. You're probably right that that is a factor, as well.

Post-promotion status report: Inquiring minds want to know how Bidinotto's book is doing without the $1.99 sale price and the various spotlights cast on it by the kind Kindle folk.

Short answer: Very well. I ended my calculations for the day at midnight Eastern time (where I live), and while there was a little slippage in both rank and sales, there was a big jump in income, due to the return to the higher list price.

I sold 2365 copies of _HUNTER_ on Kindle from midnight Eastern on 12/3 through midnight 12/4. (Total including non-Kindle book sales was 2,377.) The last three hours of 12/3 were also the last three of the sale, and accounted for 619 sales. Subtracting those, I sold 1,746 books in the post-promo 21-hour period, an average of 83 books per hour, and 1.39 per minute.

Most encouraging to me, though, is that the sales at the end of the day have actually picked up. Over the past 4 hours, the averaged rate of sales has been 118 per hour, almost 2 per minute. As long as that pace continues, _HUNTER_ will stay in the Top Ten. The ranking at #8 has held steady for 6 hours or so. At least there is no sudden, precipitous plunge.

Finally, let me add that the return of the price to full retail at $3.99 has, at this sales level, been hugely profitable. Even with sales well under 3,000 books per day, I made far more selling 2365 copies at the list price than I did selling 3432 at the $1.99 price.


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## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

Robert, I think Deb is right about people just one-clicking off the best sellers list and not paying attention to the type of book. Have you checked out all the one stars Suzanne Collins has on The Hunger Games? So many of them refer to her simple/juvenile writing style. Um, yes, the books are young adult and written to that market. 

Anyway, congratulations on your continued success today.


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## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

Cross-genre is the toughest to please, and Amazon's categories don't help much there for discoverability. Poor Spoil hit #1 in the free store in Historical Fantasy and there's not a lick of fantasy in it, but that's where Amazon lumps Arthurian-related fiction. It's got romantic elements and will appeal to many romance readers but it's not a traditional romance, though it hit #5 on the free Historical Romance list. I fully expect half of each audience to hate it because it's outside the genre they read and the other to embrace it. Philosophically, I look at it as 1/2 of 1 genre plus 1/2 of the other genre equals 1 whole genre audience.  And being able to get the visibility on both those shelves scattershot is, of course, a huge advantage if I can't hit my target audience precisely.

@Robert: So in real dollars, that's about $35,000 in 8 days? In awe of the Amazon bump.


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## Mr. RAD (Jan 4, 2011)

It's encouraging to know that Robert's book is still in the Top 10 (#8 right now) at $3.99 and that he's managed to sell more than 2,000 copies since the deal ended. That gives me hope that my soon-to-be-released book will be able to do likewise. Maybe not in the same fashion, but you never know. Nothing wrong with hoping.

My only gripe is that Amazon takes so long to pay out. I think the amount Mr. Bidinotto made yesterday alone should be paid out within 15 days. He'd have some "good" Christmas money then. 

Just my opinion.


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## 41419 (Apr 4, 2011)

It's great to see all the big numbers posted by all the indies that were selected for this promotion. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone's numbers at the end of the month.

I'm also hoping that your collective stellar performance will convince Amazon to be a little more indie-inclusive in future such promotions (am I right in thinking that this was the first time a large group of indies were picked for a campaign like this?).

Anyway, nice work guys - you did the whole community a favor here, and I hope you take time to celebrate your fantastic sales.


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> Debora, I hadn't thought of that. You're probably right that that is a factor, as well.
> 
> Post-promotion status report: Inquiring minds want to know how Bidinotto's book is doing without the $1.99 sale price and the various spotlights cast on it by the kind Kindle folk.
> 
> ...


9:18AM EST and you are still hanging in there at #8 which is only a gradual decline, which hopefully continues. It will be interesting to see how it pans out. Must be nice to sell less, but earn more?

@David, I don't know if it's the first indie campaign, but it's the only one I have seen.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Deanna, thanks for cheering the book's success. And I think Debora and you are probably right. There's a "herd" mentality in play about bestseller lists, and many people click those top sellers automatically. Mine is priced to move, even at $3.99, and I suppose many folks don't pause to read the product description and main reviews before clicking.

Phoenix, you're exactly right about the need for Amazon to refine its genre and especially subgenre categories. A lot of the buckets they pour books into are murkily defined. And for a cross-genre book like mine, which blends elements from romance novels, crime thrillers, and spy intrigue, people expecting a novel that is strictly one or the other will have their expectations dashed. "Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue," for example, is a murky subcategory: Many tales of intrigue are not spy stories. I'm sure it gets even clunkier in some of the SFF subcategories.

RAD, thanks for your repeated words of encouragement and well-wishing. Personally, I'm okay with the 60-day delay in payouts. I realize that figuring out all those royalties for all those authors must be a daunting task for Amazon. And frankly, I'd prefer to confront my new-found income's scary tax implications NEXT year. 

David, on behalf of many others here, I want to thank you for being such an effective and outspoken cheerleader and Pied Piper for the indie cause. I can only hope that the results of this past week can inspire many other prospective authors to give it a shot, and for many of you who are getting discouraged NOT to lose hope! I disagree with the awesome Joe Konrath on this point: I don't think that "luck" is as decisive a factor as he claims. I think Good Fortune tends to smile on people who are doing all the right things, consistently, day after day. To a great extent, we make our own luck -- or, at least, put ourselves in the best position for luck to find us.

Jack, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your consistent cheering on the sidelines for _HUNTER's_ success, and for your sage insights. And yes, it is astounding to sell fewer books but make more money, because of pricing. Romance author Catherine Bybee is ahead of me on the bestseller list, but at 99 cents. I wouldn't be surprised if this past week I made a lot more money in Kindle royalties.

Still hanging steady on the list at #8 as of noon Eastern time on Monday. But this also means I'm on the bestseller lists in numerous subcategories, which multiplies _HUNTER's_ visibility: #1 in Romantic Suspense; #1 in Spy Stories/Intrigue; #2 in Romance; #4 in Mysteries & Thrillers; #4 in Thrillers; #5 in Genre Fiction; #8 in all three of the following pages: Kindle Store, Kindle Ebooks, and Fiction. Then there are a zillion "also boughts" that I can't possibly track. That kind of product placement on multiple pages all over the Amazon empire works synergistically. So, at this point I can't possibly attribute these amazing sales to any one page listing.


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

Well you are still hanging in there Robert.

You still have really good page position. This is what I get if I'm signed out and just go to Amazon.com. There you are right under the Kindles, top row and perfect position. I don't know if this layout changes for different people.

http://www.amazon.com/

Anyway you are hanging in there despite the two Amazon authors Deal of the Day promos too--their authors.


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## Robert Bidinotto (Mar 3, 2011)

Jack, we all get different ebook recommendations when we go to that landing page, based on our past buying and viewing preferences. But I'm sure that _HUNTER _is now getting recommended on plenty of people's pages.

I'm encouraged by the fact that, if it weren't for the past two days' Kindle Daily Deal promos of books by Amazon-imprint authors -- Konrath/Crouch at 99 cents and Fusilli's _Narrows Gate_ at $1.99 -- _HUNTER _would be holding the #7 spot instead of #9. That's okay and only fair, since I've had my shot at the top, and it's great for other authors to have theirs. There are no losers in this kind of a competition.


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## edwardgtalbot (Apr 28, 2010)

Robert Bidinotto said:


> I disagree with the awesome Joe Konrath on this point: I don't think that "luck" is as decisive a factor as he claims. I think Good Fortune tends to smile on people who are doing all the right things, consistently, day after day. To a great extent, we make our own luck -- or, at least, put ourselves in the best position for luck to find us.


I think Konrath would agree with you 100%. His point isn't that "you have to get lucky." His point is that doing the right things does not always result in success right away. But you need to do them to increase your chances.

Right now, there are likely some other authors who have done all the right things you have, but their sales are still low. I think both you and Konrath would agree that eventually, if they stick with those things, they will have success. Maybe not 25000 books in a week, but substantial success.


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## Mr. RAD (Jan 4, 2011)

It's 1:40 pm CST and _Hunter_ is #7 again (it was #9 for a while). Robert is still hanging in there.

Wonder what the sales look like.


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## KOwrites (May 23, 2011)

I'm so late to this party. It took two hours to read through the thread a few nights ago. Thank you and congratulations to all of you who have been so forthcoming about your results. Amazing!

Since I'm posting _after_ the Amazon Select announcement and subsequent actions of only yesterday, I thought I would add this to this particular thread discussion...

I worked in the corporate high tech world for years. Based upon the endeavors taken by Amazon with the Editor's Picks that benefited Robert Bidinotto and a few others for this particular sale campaign (heavy duty marketing, Editor's Picks spotlight, product placement on page, short-term discounting, rankings) and now what is taking place with Amazon Select Program (offering free for limited staggered times, exclusivity and contractual), it would seem these are polar opposite marketing strategies.

Which makes me wonder if there are multiple teams within Amazon with different objectives and strategies, perhaps, even competing against one another to discern what works and what fails. Hmmm....


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