# Launch Promotion Experiment



## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Hi all,

Thanks to this forum (and in particular Darren Wearmouth--check out his books First Activation and Critical Dawn) I've accrued a whole bunch of knowledge to help me promote the launch of my new book. Well, in the spirit of giving back to the community, I'd like to document the process and the results for you all to see. Perhaps it will be of some help for people in the future.

Note Before We Begin
I've been posting the book as a serial on my blog. I've built up a following of around 100 people on there, with a handful actively commenting, so I'm hoping that community contributes to opening sales and reviews.

Pre-Publication Preparation
A month before the planned publication date (1st August), I set about booking advertising. This seems sensible enough, but actually many of the advertisers won't accept adverts from books with no reviews, and some from books that aren't published yet. This has made planning the launch a little trickier, but nevertheless here are the organisations I've used to form a pre-launch strategy:

3rd August--Kindle Nation Daily: I went for the Kindle Daily Deal, which is £99.99. I've heard this is a good one to go for, so I'm hoping for a good opening haul of sales.

4th August--Flurries of Words: $3 minimum spend. I don't expect much from this, but it's cheap so it's worth a shot.

5th August--Booksends: $50 for the Mysteries/Thrillers slot. This looks promising as well, so fingers crossed. 34,000 subscribers for that category.

7th August--Bargain Booksy: $50 for 50,000 subscribers. Again hoping for a good haul from this one.

Then there are the advertisers I'd like to have pre-booked but couldn't:

Books and Tips: I've sent a request for a new author slot now I've got the link to my book, and am awaiting feedback. Books and Tips is known for good promotion, so I'm quite eager to get this one in on the first few weeks after launch. I've applied for the new author slot because the normal slot requires a minimum number of reviews, which I don't have yet (chicken, meet egg).

ENT: Again good, again requires reviews. All I can do is wait. Of course I've asked everyone and their dog for a review, so we'll have to wait and see on that one.

Bookbub: Still trying to stomach the cost on that. I'll wait and see what kind of response I get in the first few weeks before I shell out. Has it always been so expensive?

The Publication Itself
So the book went live a day early (it got posted really quick rather than after the twelve hours Amazon suggested) and has so far had only a handful of reviews and downloads from blog followers. The first promotion is on Sunday, so I'll report back then to see what's happened.

Until then, please feel free to ask any questions you may have. I probably won't have the answers, but it's nice to chat 

Update: 2nd August
no promo as of yet, but a few sales from blog followers. So 17 sales across .com and .co.uk so far, ranks are 58,000 and 12,000 respectively. I've also added KBoards Spotlight promo for the 8th of August.

Update: 3rd August
Kindle Nation Daily option KDD ran. Sold 160 copies on amazon.com, pushing my ranking up to 1,300ish. No effect on amazon.co.uk, as expected.

Also got books and tips on the 9th, fussy librarian on the 12th and ENT on the 14th now. A nice promo chain that should hopefully keep pushing the book higher.

Update: 4th August
So yesterday Flurries of Words netted me a grand total of thirty downloads. I've dropped to 3,000. Let's see what Bookblast can do for me today.

Update: 5th August
Booksends (formally Bookblast) sold me 66 books, bumping me back up to 2,500. Here's hoping the mystical Amazon algorithms start to kick in and carry me along.

Update: 6th August
No promo. Sold 34 books, dropped to 3100.

Update: August 7th
Bargain booksy promo ran. Sold 107 books, got back up to a rank of 1500. I'm noticing now that between promos, my rank doesn't slip as much. Amazon algorithms perhaps? Who knows.

Update: August 8th
Kboard Spotlight promo went out yesterday, sold 79 books, ranking at 1,500 this morning. Fluctuations up and down are now noticeably smaller throughout the day. I've also booked a People Reads weekly promo from the 11th, so that should help fill the two-day gap I've got.

Update: August 9th
Had the books and tips promo, sold 172 books, reached 900 in the ranks. No promo on the 10th, so let's see if I stay, rise or fall.

Update: 10th August
No promo, sold 95 books. Peaked in the 700s, slipped back to about 1000 by the end of the day.

Update: 11th August
First day of my week-long People Reads promo. Sold 109, stayed around 1000.

Update: 12th August
People Reads still running. Had Fussy Librarian as well. Sold 99 books, maintained around 1000. Almost at the end of the promo now.

Update: 13th August
Ongoing promo from People Reads still running. No other promo. Sold 114 books, maintained around the 1,000 mark.

Update: 14th August
Last promo, ENT. People Reads still running. Sold 209 books, ranked at 650. Now we'll see if I stick or slide.

Update: 15th August
People Reads ongoing, no other promo. Slow start to the day, but built up in the end to 101 sales. Rank slipped to around the 750 mark.

Update: 16th August
Sold 144 books, very surprised by that. Rank is sitting around 700

Update: 17th August
Last day of People Reads promo. Sold 133 books stayed around 750 all day. Weekend seemed good, so let's see how the next week pans out.

Update: 18th August
Still around the 750 mark with 110 books sold. Reviews are now coming in, mostly positive. I'm up to 28 of those.

Update: 19th August
Tuesdays seem to be a bit quiet so far. 107 sold though, but my rank has slipped to 950 (which is more consummate with the number of books I've been selling). Not really sure what I can do next to boost the number without waiting a month to rebook advertising.

Update: 20th August
Unless there's a midweek slump I'm not familiar with, looks like I'm riding the downward spiral. Rank is around 970, sales 94. Fingers crossed sales pick up again at the weekend!

Update: 21st August
Sales went up to 109 for the day. Rank is about 900. 

Update: 22nd August
Right, so I thought I was in for a bad day, with sales only picking up well into the evening. So it was a surprise that I sold 111 copies in the end, managing a rank of 920.

Update: 23rd August
Identical results to last Saturday: 147 sold, rank up to 730.

Update: 24th August
A surprisingly successful day, my best since the promotion. 162 units sold, slipped back into the 600s for a bit, but settled at around 700. Fingers crossed for a continuous boost. Got the price change in a week; not sure how that's going to effect things. Don't want to shoot myself down with it!

Update: 25th August
Wow, 209 sales and a rank of 520! My best rank and matching my best promo sales yet. Not sure why that happened or if it's just a one-off, but I'm grateful nonetheless.

Update: 26th August
Last Tuesday dropped a bit from the weekend and so did this one, but not as low. Overall, 138 sold, rank holding at 590. Still have no idea what caused Monday's growth spurt.

Update: 27th August
159 units sold, holding at 650 rank. An extra 50% over the slump of last Wednesday! Seriously considering extending my $0.99 promo now--I feel like I'm building momentum, but I'm not sure now is the time to cash in yet. Last thing I want to do is be on the rise and then stop it dead for short-term gain.

Update: 28th August
147 sold, slipped a bit to 680 in rank. Hoping for another bumper weekend, mostly to see if I have another spike that nudges me up a bit. Fingers crossed. I think I'm pretty much decided now that I'm going to maintain my 99c price point for the immediate future, and will investigate into another round of advertising to coincide with the book's one month anniversary.

Update: 29th August
A good day. 182 sold, 530 rank. Lets hope the weekend continues to peak.

Update: 30th August
Big news . . . I upped the price to $2.99. Rumour has it that the first day of the price switch dips, so 97 sales and a rank of 640 seems pretty good. Now finger crossed in the hope that I haven't made a terrible decision...

Update: 31st August
Second day at $2.99. 85 books sold, rank fallen to 730. Let's see how long it can hover there. I'm hoping the gentle rise I was having at 99c continues...really, really hoping!

Update: 1st September
So, must be a Labour Day bonus or something, but I sold 111 books. Also (and as predicted by others), by book loans were much higher, at a total of 51 units. My rank, however, has slipped to 813, which is a shame. I'd really like to stay in the top 1000.

Update: 2nd September
Not so great today--74 sales and 21 borrows. Rank down to 950. Midweek slump? I hope so!

Update: 3rd September
Rank has unfortunately dropped to 1080. Sales ended up at 65, with 35 borrowed. I'm hoping, like two weeks ago, this is a midweek lull and not the beginning of the end. 

Update: 4th September
43 sales, 41 borrows. Rank slipping in and out of the top 1000.

Update: 5th September
44 sales, 26 borrows, rank slipped to 1,200. I'm now wondering if I should lower my price to $0.99 to recover the sales and rank growth I was experiencing, or leave it to see if I settle. Either way, I have a Kindle Countdown (which could become a straightforward promo if I lower the price beforehand) for the beginning of october, so hopefully I can kick start my growth again.

Update: 6th September
Slight bump for the weekend: 61 sales, 39 borrows, 1100 rank. Pleased with that. Nice to see an upwards angle on the graph again!

Update: 7th September
54 sales, 25 borrows, 1500 rank. If I can hover around here, I'll be a very happy bunny!

Update: 8th September
55 sold, 28 borrowed, rank 1,400.  Expecting a drop midweek, but hopefully it won't be too much and it will come up again for next weekend.

Update: 9th September
47 sold, 29 borrows and a rank of 1350.

Update: 10th September
Bumper day for reasons unknown! 74 sold, 28 borrowed, rank 1275.

Update: 11th September
Another good day. 69 sales, 41 borrows, rank of 1200. Thanks to ToniD for spotting my book on the Amazon Fire boot screen--that explains the boost I've been having. I hope it lasts!

Update: 12th September
56 sales, 20 borrows and a rank of 1300. A little down on the previous two days, but I'm still very pleased with it.

Update: 13th September
61 sales, 20 borrows, however my rank has slipped to 1500. Here's hoping it creeps up a bit!

Update: 14th September
57 sales, 27 borrows, rank around 1500 (although it did creep up between my two updates to 1300).

Update: 15th September
50 sales, 24 borrows and a rank of 1450. A little lower than this time last week--I'm hoping I can hold on until the kindle countdown promo.

Update: 16th September
47 units sold, 40 borrowed, rank slipped to 1600. Shows that borrows don't quite have the same authority as sales when it comes to ranking. I had a similar dip this time last week, then a spike--hopefully I'll have the same this week. It seems generally as if the book is slowly languishing, falling in the charts, but I have a Kindle Countdown booked with some promo for the beginning of October, so hopefully that will pep things up a bit.

Update: September 17th
57 sold, 19 borrows, rank 1580. Two things: first, I've been told that the ranking system is based not only on the day's sales, but also on the last month's sales, which is why my rank has been slowly dropping despite consistent sales. I've worked out that I should settle around 1,750 (if sales stay firm), and I think that the consistency is less to do with chart appearances and more to do with my position on the popular lists, which then affects where my book get places around amazon (recommendation lists, adverts etc). Here's hoping that my next promo can nudge me up those popular lists a little more and hopefully give me more visibility for when I drop back to $2.99 again. I get the feeling that if only I could get my book seen, it would be a big seller. Other than the infamous blip, it's reviewing consistently and selling consistently--it just needs the exposure (as the kindle fire promo from amazon proved last week). Secondly, I'm noticing borrows drop over the month. I don't know if people are allowed only a finite amount of borrows per month or what, but we'll see whether the sales go up to compensate or if I get another glut of borrows at the beginning of October.

Update: September 18th
Comparatively slow day. 44 sales, 19 borrows, rank of 1520. Historically, Thursday seems to be a slow day for me, so I'm hoping things pick up over the weekend. The stability of my rank at around 1500--1600 suggests that Thursday is a bit slow for everyone, and a peak in the 1300s during the early part of the day suggests the same. I guess we'll have to wait and see!

Update: September 19th
Almost exactly the same as the day before: 43 sales, 20 borrows, rank down to 1700. This is the rank I expect to hover at selling and lending around 75 books a day, but as that amount seems to have gone down, I expect I'll be sinking down towards the 2000--2500 range. Hopefully I can hold out until my promo in two weeks' time.

Update: September 20th
I've been experiencing the same sales drop off as others on here, with only 36 sales yesterday. Borrows were a little higher at 27, and weirdly my rank keeps flitting from 1800 to 1600 and back again. No idea what's going on!

Update: September 21st
Well, I don't know what that lull was about. Anyway, normal service seems to have been resumed; 55 sales, 24 borrows and a rank of 1450 was a pleasant surprise!

Update: September 22nd
Hopefully the consistency is back.50 sales, 29 borrows and a rank of 1550.

Update: 23rd September
Welp, I spoke to soon. 35 sales, 23 borrows and a rank of 1750 is a considerable slump from yesterday. Something I've noticed, however, is that (being the UK) most of the sales I have are before 10pm GMT. I then have half the sales again when I wake up the next morning at the close of the US day. Previously I would find that the sales I had while sleeping were a multiple of 1-1.5 of the sales I had during my waking day, so I don't know what's caused this switch about. So I'm seeing the same amount of sales as always during my day, but less at night, which is peak time in the US for buying (late afternoon, early evening). Oh well, hopefully I don't drop too far before my promo in October.

Update: 24th September
41 sales, 23 borrows, rank of 1700. Better than yesterday!


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## cblewgolf (Jan 3, 2011)

Nice strategy.  Thanks for the info and keep us posted.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

cblewgolf said:


> Nice strategy. Thanks for the info and keep us posted.


Will do. Hopefully I have good things to report!


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

Have you heard back from Kindle Books and Tips yet? They have done well for me with a new release, but I'm trying to get another book on there and have been waiting a week to hear from them despite having sent two reminders. Wondering if this just means they've decided not to run the book.

Best of luck with your launch! I'll be following your results with interest.


Philip


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Philip Gibson said:


> Have you heard back from Kindle Books and Tips yet? They have done well for me with a new release, but I'm trying to get another book on there and have been waiting a week to hear from them despite having sent two reminders. Wondering if this just means they've decided not to run the book.
> 
> Best of luck with your launch! I'll be following your results with interest.
> 
> Philip


Not yet. When I was asking about promo a month ago, they took a few days to reply. We'll see how long it takes this time around I suppose.

Thanks! I'm hoping for some good results. Obviously!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

update: 2nd August
no promo as of yet, but a few sales from blog followers. So 17 sales across .com and .co.uk so far, ranks are 58,000 and 12,000 respectively. I've also added KBoards Spotlight promo for the 8th of August.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Philip Gibson said:


> Have you heard back from Kindle Books and Tips yet? They have done well for me with a new release, but I'm trying to get another book on there and have been waiting a week to hear from them despite having sent two reminders. Wondering if this just means they've decided not to run the book.
> 
> Best of luck with your launch! I'll be following your results with interest.
> 
> Philip


Just to let you know that books and tips has come back with a date now.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 3rd August
Kindle Nation Daily option KDD ran. Sold 160 copies on amazon.com, pushing my ranking up to 1,300ish. No effect on amazon.co.uk, as expected.

Also got books and tips on the 9th, fussy librarian on the 12th and ENT on the 14th now. A nice promo chain that should hopefully keep pushing the book higher.


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## Maia Sepp Ross (May 10, 2013)

Thanks for posting this, Andyroo. I use a lot of these same promos. The only one I don't use is Kindle Nation Daily - they don't seem to return a lot for me. Good luck with the rest of your launch - looks like it's going great!
Maia


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

maiasepp said:


> Thanks for posting this, Andyroo. I use a lot of these same promos. The only one I don't use is Kindle Nation Daily - they don't seem to return a lot for me. Good luck with the rest of your launch - looks like it's going great!
> Maia


No problem. There are plenty of readers out there, so it's good to be honest and share what we know I think. Punchy covers seem to help with KND I've found--a previous release got a big push when I redid KND promo with a really eye-catching cover. Thank you!


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## SA_Archer (Dec 20, 2013)

The blog subscribers seem to have made a huge difference in early reviews! You are up to 10 five-stars right now. That is awesome.

How have you cultivated your blog community? How have you brought people to join in? I gather that you were posting chapters, was this a chapter a week? How many non-chapter posts were you posting in between these chapters? Any and all insights on this would be greatly appreciated!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

SA_Archer said:


> The blog subscribers seem to have made a huge difference in early reviews! You are up to 10 five-stars right now. That is awesome.
> 
> How have you cultivated your blog community? How have you brought people to join in? I gather that you were posting chapters, was this a chapter a week? How many non-chapter posts were you posting in between these chapters? Any and all insights on this would be greatly appreciated!


From my first book I had a small (read: tiny) following on Goodreads, and I wanted to do something that would allow me to communicate with them on a regular basis in order to build that following. I had a Goodreads blog on the go with little success, and then I discovered I could push wordpress blogs to goodreads. A wordpress blog gave me the ability to build subscribers that would get emailed my blog posts when i posted them. So I introduced my new book, and from there I posted a chapter a week and nothing else. Any other communication was through the chapter comments, and from there I started to build a following.

I posted links to my blog on facebook and twitter, as well as a car forum and a watch forum I'm a member of. As the chapters went on, people posted them about and more followers joined. By the time my new book was fully posted, I had around 70 followers. From there I posted blog posts about the process of getting my new book to publication and my thoughts on the whole thing looking back. These haven't been as conducive to introducing more followers, but they primed my existing following ready to buy and review my new book at launch. As a further incentive to buy, the final version of my new book was the polished and edited one with an updated ending, so reading it again would reward with a better experience.

As of next weekend I will start posting chapters of my next book. I have links on my author page and at the end of my new book, and I've seen people click through to my blog from Amazon, so hopefully they will then get hooked on the next book and subscribe. I also have my first book available as a free download on my blog as a further incentive to get involved.

That's it I think!


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

I think if I try this, then I will withhold the ending for them to buy the book. Also, I won't have the first book as a free download. It seems to me this would cannibalize sales of the first book.

Thanks for sharing!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Cherise Kelley said:


> I think if I try this, then I will withhold the ending for them to buy the book. Also, I won't have the first book as a free download. It seems to me this would cannibalize sales of the first book.
> 
> Thanks for sharing!


That is of course entirely up to you! I think I've built a better rapport with blog followers because I took them to the end of the book. Not forgetting that the blog version was a first draft (with a proofread) so only representative of the final thing.

My first book I don't think is strong enough to sell, so I'm keeping it as a freebie. If I find it's damaging my reputation for sales of my new book, I'll take it down, but so far it's been appreciated.


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## SA_Archer (Dec 20, 2013)

Andyroo said:


> A wordpress blog gave me the ability to build subscribers that would get emailed my blog posts when i posted them.


Do you think most of your people kept up with the story through the blog, or the mailing list?

Did you find a lot of people start and drop off during the time you were posting? That is the problem I see with a lot of people who are using Wattpad to post chapters. People don't stick with it. But maybe that is because wattpad offers so many distractions and other books to read that people are like bees... hoping from one to the next and not returning.

Also, with people who came into to story midway, did you find folks who would go back and read everything to catch up? How important was your structuring, to keep the cliffhangers and intensity engaging?


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

SA_Archer said:


> Do you think most of your people kept up with the story through the blog, or the mailing list?
> 
> Did you find a lot of people start and drop off during the time you were posting? That is the problem I see with a lot of people who are using Wattpad to post chapters. People don't stick with it. But maybe that is because wattpad offers so many distractions and other books to read that people are like bees... hoping from one to the next and not returning.
> 
> Also, with people who came into to story midway, did you find folks who would go back and read everything to catch up? How important was your structuring, to keep the cliffhangers and intensity engaging?


Based on view figures, yes most people did. Less so when I started posting thoughts about my new book before publishing though. No, drop off seemed minimal. As subscribers went up, so did views each time a posted a chapter.

Wattpad seems clogged full of people who aren't particularly passionate about reading (check out the most popular stuff and you'll see what I mean) whereas the people following my blog are dedicated to just that when they're on it. Added to that, subscribers get the chapter sent to their inbox to read and are encouraged to 'like' the posts.

Yes, people were joining in all the time. I'd see a visitor come in and buzz through all the posted chapters in a few hours and comment on the last or email me. In terms of structure, I didn't think so much of the blog, but more about how to make any reader continue on to the next chapter. If you can get a reader to read 'just one more chapter before bed', you've won.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 4th August
So yesterday Flurries of Words netted me a grand total of thirty downloads. I've dropped to 3,000. Let's see what Bookblast can do for me today.


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## junesitler (Aug 4, 2014)

Andyroo said:


> Second update: Kindle Nation Daily option KDD ran. Sold 160 copies on amazon.com, pushing my ranking up to 1,300ish. No effect on amazon.co.uk, as expected.


Can you tell me more about KDD?


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

junesitler said:


> Can you tell me more about KDD?


That's the Kindle Daily Deal option from Kindle Nation Daily. This will explain everything: http://indie.kindlenationdaily.com/?page_id=642


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## Perro Callejero (Dec 23, 2013)

I'm actually in the middle of a similar launch, also based on Darren Wearmouth's strategy.  My first promos are today, with Flurries of Words and bknights.  I'll have a Bargainbooksy tomorrow, and Kindle Nation Daily the day after.

It sounds like things are working out well for you so far.  I'd love to have results like yours! 160 downloads in a day is excellent.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

M.F. Soriano said:


> I'm actually in the middle of a similar launch, also based on Darren Wearmouth's strategy. My first promos are today, with Flurries of Words and bknights. I'll have a Bargainbooksy tomorrow, and Kindle Nation Daily the day after.
> 
> It sounds like things are working out well for you so far. I'd love to have results like yours! 160 downloads in a day is excellent.


Good luck with it! Have you tried ENT and books and tips?


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## Perro Callejero (Dec 23, 2013)

Andyroo said:


> Good luck with it! Have you tried ENT and books and tips?


I have, for other titles. The book I'm launching now doesn't have any reviews yet, though, so I can't go with ENT. When the book went live I contacted KBT about one of his New Release Saturday spots, but I don't think this Saturday is open, so it won't line up tightly with my launch week. (I contacted him before the book was published, but he told me he only reserves spots for books that are already live.)

I've had pretty good results with both of them before, though. Especially ENT.


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

M.F. Soriano said:


> I have, for other titles. The book I'm launching now doesn't have any reviews yet, though, so I can't go with ENT.


Today could be your lucky day!

ENT have introduced a new feature which looks like new releases will be accepted. There's a thread about it just posted.

Philip


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## Perro Callejero (Dec 23, 2013)

Philip Gibson said:


> Today could be your lucky day!
> 
> ENT have introduced a new feature which looks like new releases will be accepted. There's a thread about it just posted.
> 
> Philip


Awesome news, Philip! I just submitted my book. Thanks for the tip!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

M.F. Soriano said:


> I have, for other titles. The book I'm launching now doesn't have any reviews yet, though, so I can't go with ENT. When the book went live I contacted KBT about one of his New Release Saturday spots, but I don't think this Saturday is open, so it won't line up tightly with my launch week. (I contacted him before the book was published, but he told me he only reserves spots for books that are already live.)
> 
> I've had pretty good results with both of them before, though. Especially ENT.


I would chase books and tips for the Saturday post. I had the same issue, not being able to book before launch, so I booked a few days ago and got a slot this coming Saturday. Give it a try and see. Might be a bit late for this Saturday, but the next might be ok.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Philip Gibson said:


> Today could be your lucky day!
> 
> ENT have introduced a new feature which looks like new releases will be accepted. There's a thread about it just posted.
> 
> Philip


Oh really? Ha! They neglected to mention that not a few days ago when I was asking if nine reviews was enough for my new launch...


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

M.F. Soriano said:


> Awesome news, Philip! I just submitted my book. Thanks for the tip!


You're welcome. Seems like the gods smiled on you today.

Philip


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 5th August
Booksends (formally Bookblast) sold me 66 books, bumping me back up to 2,500. Here's hoping the mystical Amazon algorithms start to kick in and carry me along.


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## Perro Callejero (Dec 23, 2013)

Andyroo said:


> I would chase books and tips for the Saturday post. I had the same issue, not being able to book before launch, so I booked a few days ago and got a slot this coming Saturday. Give it a try and see. Might be a bit late for this Saturday, but the next might be ok.


I got through to KBT. They offered me the 20th, and I snatched it up, all excited!  And then I realized that it was the 20th of September... dang.  So now I've either got to raise my price to $2.99 and then drop it back to 99 cents just a few weeks later, or just keep it at 99 cents for 7 weeks.



Philip Gibson said:


> You're welcome. Seems like the gods smiled on you today.


I'm definitely hoping my book gets accepted at ENT. I had great results with them before. Thanks again for the tip.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

M.F. Soriano said:


> I got through to KBT. They offered me the 20th, and I snatched it up, all excited!  And then I realized that it was the 20th of September... dang.  So now I've either got to raise my price to $2.99 and then drop it back to 99 cents just a few weeks later, or just keep it at 99 cents for 7 weeks.


That's rather bittersweet news... Leaves you in a bit of a quandary. Well worth the exposure if you don't mind dropping the price again.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 6th August
No promo. Sold 34 books, dropped to 3100.


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## Perro Callejero (Dec 23, 2013)

It's been pretty interesting comparing your launch with mine.  We were both inspired by Darren Wearmouth's strategy, and we both used some of the same advertisers, and we've both been running ads in the same time period.

But there's an interesting difference in our strategies: you went with KND first, and I saved them for last.  I'm expecting KND to get me the biggest results, and I'm guessing you were expecting that too.  By running with them first, you got a big boost, and you've sustained a high ranking with the subsequent ads over the following days.  I took the opposite approach--I ordered my promotions from small to large, thinking I'd have a steady climb and hopefully that would affect Amazon algorithms in a positive way.

The way it's looking right now, yours was the better approach.  As of yesterday, your book had sold 307 copies and was ranked at 3100; mine had sold 47 and was ranked 10,500.

Today is my KND day, and hopefully that will change my numbers significantly.  But even if I sell the same number of copies as you (160), that still puts me at 207 sales next to your 307.  Meanwhile, your book has been ranked in the top 3500 for several days, and my book hasn't yet broke 10K.

There are other important differences to consider, too.  Probably the one that stands out as most important to me is the way you built up a fan base prior to your launch.  Being able to come out of the gate and have 10 five star reviews shortly thereafter is definitely a significant advantage.  And it allowed you to book an ad with Booksends, which is an effective promoter (in my experience).  Still, starting big and sustaining, rather than starting small and building, seems like it might be the better strategy.

Anyway, Andy, this has been a very interesting thread to follow.  Thanks for posting!  And good luck with your continued launch.  You've still got KBT and ENT to look forward to, and in my experience they've both been effective.


----------



## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

M.F. Soriano said:


> It's been pretty interesting comparing your launch with mine. We were both inspired by Darren Wearmouth's strategy, and we both used some of the same advertisers, and we've both been running ads in the same time period.
> 
> But there's an interesting difference in our strategies: you went with KND first, and I saved them for last. I'm expecting KND to get me the biggest results, and I'm guessing you were expecting that too. By running with them first, you got a big boost, and you've sustained a high ranking with the subsequent ads over the following days. I took the opposite approach--I ordered my promotions from small to large, thinking I'd have a steady climb and hopefully that would affect Amazon algorithms in a positive way.
> 
> ...


That's an interesting comparison. I had several big hitter advertisers in mind, and I wanted to start with one, end with one and have the others spread intermittently with the less effective ones (or nothing at all) in between. Having studied Darren's graph, it looks like a good start is needed with decent sustain afterwards. Obviously Amazon's algorithms are super mega top secret, but it would make sense to see them come into force after a sustained ranking at launch, hence my application of the adverts. The cherry on the cake would have been to secure a bookbub slot as well, but unfortunately that wasn't to be. But from studying Darren's graph, it looks like I'm on target. He seems to jump up the ranks, drop a bit, then saw-tooth slowly back up again right into the top thousand before the graph runs out.

Whatever the right method is, best of luck to you, and thanks for sharing your results so far.

Edit: Forgot to say, yes the blog was very helpful in getting reviews in early. Wasn't much sales wise, but for the reviews it helped a huge amount. People questioned my blogging the entirety of my book for free, but getting people involved not only generated a loyal following, it also helped me weed out the bad bits before launch. The published book is different to what they saw as well, so it still leaves something to incentivise the purchase and review.

To capitalise on the increased blog traffic from Amazon, I'll be posting my first chapter this weekend and starting the whole process again.


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## Perro Callejero (Dec 23, 2013)

Andyroo said:


> To capitalise on the increased blog traffic from Amazon, I'll be posting my first chapter this weekend and starting the whole process again.


Awesome! I agree with you that the benefit of blogging the book in process seems better than the detriment. And it's exciting, isn't it, to be jumping into the writing of a new book!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

M.F. Soriano said:


> Awesome! I agree with you that the benefit of blogging the book in process seems better than the detriment. And it's exciting, isn't it, to be jumping into the writing of a new book!


It's actually been a pleasant experience sharing the book with people on the blog. It can be bit lonely sometimes otherwise. Its also reassuring to get positive comments as you go along.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: August 7th
Bargain booksy promo ran. Sold 107 books, got back up to a rank of 1500. I'm noticing now that between promos, my rank doesn't slip as much. Amazon algorithms perhaps? Who knows.


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## Perro Callejero (Dec 23, 2013)

Andyroo said:


> Update: August 7th
> Bargain booksy promo ran. Sold 107 books, got back up to a rank of 1500. I'm noticing now that between promos, my rank doesn't slip as much. Amazon algorithms perhaps? Who knows.


Man, your book's been having a great run! It's been ranked 3100 or higher for nearly all of its first week! If Darren Wearmouth's strategy still works, then this first week should be enough to anchor your book at the top of the Amazon store, and you've made it! Congratulations, and very well done!


----------



## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

M.F. Soriano said:


> Man, your book's been having a great run! It's been ranked 3100 or higher for nearly all of its first week! If Darren Wearmouth's strategy still works, then this first week should be enough to anchor your book at the top of the Amazon store, and you've made it! Congratulations, and very well done!


Ach, it's too early to count my chickens yet! I would be very, very happy if that did happen though. Thank you for your encouragement, and I hope you do well too.


----------



## Perro Callejero (Dec 23, 2013)

Andyroo said:


> Ach, it's too early to count my chickens yet! I would be very, very happy if that did happen though. Thank you for your encouragement, and I hope you do well too.


Maybe it's still a little early, but I'm hoping it works for you. Your launch was really well put together, and if it succeeds in putting your book on the track to successful sales over a sustained period, I'll consider that good news for all of us aspiring self-publishers. It'd reinforce the idea that good strategies can help us succeed, that we've got some power to influence our success, that it isn't all out of our hands. I find that all very encouraging! 

My launch has definitely been a learning experience, and I've had a few thrills (including making it into the top 100 Horror Authors list on Amazon; a first for me!), but I don't think it was enough to set-up sustained results. The book's rank is starting to drop, and I don't have any more big ads scheduled, so I don't see anything stopping that drop.

But, as I said, I think I've learned a lot from watching my results and from following your thread. I'm starting to plan out a similar promo-run for my Fantasy novel--which I'm currently having a new cover made for--and I'm planning on applying what I've learned here. Right now my strategy for that will be to start big and try to sustain. I'm also thinking about interspersing smaller ads with the bigger ones, to try to stretch the run. Here's a tentative line-up:

Day 1 - KND
Day 2 - BargainBooksy
Day 3 - ENT
Day 4 - Booksends
Day 5 - Kindle Books and Tips

It'll be interesting to see if I can arrange a line-up like that. And it'll be interesting to see how an older title's long-term ranking is affected by a promo run. The plus side is the book meets the review requirements for most sites. The minus side is that the book already has over a year of history, with a ranking that's typically been between 250K and 500K.

Anyway, it's been interesting and fun to watch your results. Thanks again for posting!


----------



## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

M.F. Soriano said:


> Maybe it's still a little early, but I'm hoping it works for you. Your launch was really well put together, and if it succeeds in putting your book on the track to successful sales over a sustained period, I'll consider that good news for all of us aspiring self-publishers. It'd reinforce the idea that good strategies can help us succeed, that we've got some power to influence our success, that it isn't all out of our hands. I find that all very encouraging!
> 
> My launch has definitely been a learning experience, and I've had a few thrills (including making it into the top 100 Horror Authors list on Amazon; a first for me!), but I don't think it was enough to set-up sustained results. The book's rank is starting to drop, and I don't have any more big ads scheduled, so I don't see anything stopping that drop.
> 
> ...


It might be worth considering stretching the launch out over two weeks. Of course, I have no idea how the algorithms work, but I'm still falling between promos, albeit not as much as I was. If I had run out of promos after a week, I have no doubt that I'd be dropping off the chart as we speak. Hopefully the additional promos will be enough to carry me through to every self-published authors dream of chart-topping success, but I'm not holding my breath. To be honest, I think a lot of it is down to luck (on top of having an attractive and enjoyable book in the first place). Although if you had access to the marketing budget of the big houses, you'd have no trouble succeeding, after all it's all about getting your book in front of people and letting it do the rest.

I tried promoting an older book in a variety of different ways and it drops like a stone almost instantly afterwards. Even with a weeks worth of great sales, nada. I think the amazon algorithms are at work here, stopping people gaining success by buying reviews. The best thing you can probably do is keep promoting your current launch if you can get more adverts, and plan the launch of your next book.

Although all that may be baloney and you may have great success with it, such is the mystery's of amazon's secret algorithms!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: August 8th
Kboard Spotlight promo went out yesterday, sold 79 books, ranking at 1,500 this morning. Fluctuations up and down are now noticeably smaller throughout the day. I've also booked a People Reads weekly promo from the 11th, so that should help fill the two-day gap I've got.


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## SA_Soule (Sep 8, 2011)

How much do you end up spending on your per-launch campaign?


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Sherry_Soule said:


> How much do you end up spending on your per-launch campaign?


About $300. Not quite made it back yet, but here's hoping!


----------



## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: August 9th
Had the books and tips promo, sold 172 books, reached 900 in the ranks. No promo on the 10th, so let's see if I stay, rise or fall.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 10th August
No promo, sold 95 books. Peaked in the 700s, slipped back to about 1000 by the end of the day.


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## Perro Callejero (Dec 23, 2013)

Andy, your book is still kicking butt! Coming up on two weeks since release, and it's still hovering near the top 1000.  Plus it's gained 6 more reviews in the past few days.  Congratulations!

If you wouldn't mind, I've come up with another question:

What were the deals you used for KBT and Bargain Booksy?  Did you use the $25 and $50 options, respectively?


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## Amber Rose (Jul 25, 2014)

Andy, this is going to sound like a silly question, but what is your book priced at? 

(Amazon shows different prices depending on where in the world you are viewing the store, because it adds a premium for whispernet costs. So I see your book as $3.41, and am wondering whether you actually priced it at $0,99 or $2,99...)


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

M.F. Soriano said:


> Andy, your book is still kicking butt! Coming up on two weeks since release, and it's still hovering near the top 1000. Plus it's gained 6 more reviews in the past few days. Congratulations!
> 
> If you wouldn't mind, I've come up with another question:
> 
> What were the deals you used for KBT and Bargain Booksy? Did you use the $25 and $50 options, respectively?


Thanks! Slipping a little now, but hopefully a few more promos will see it through back into the top 1000 (if only for a bit).

KBT was the saturday new author promo. No reviews needed for that one. I think that one's $25. Bargain Booksy i used the $50 thriller option.

Hope that helps!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Amber Rose said:


> Andy, this is going to sound like a silly question, but what is your book priced at?
> 
> (Amazon shows different prices depending on where in the world you are viewing the store, because it adds a premium for whispernet costs. So I see your book as $3.41, and am wondering whether you actually priced it at $0,99 or $2,99...)


I know what you mean! An outsider to the US sees additional taxes too, so I've never actually seen it at its actual price. But it's $0.99 for now. After the first months' promo, it will go up to $2.99 (supposedly the best price to be at).


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## JavierCabrera (Jul 21, 2014)

Hello,

Thanks for sharing the info with the community! ;-D At $0,99 wouldn't take like, a LOT of effort to get to $1000? What would change in your strategy if you sold your book for $2.99? Or maybe $3.99 or even $9,99? You are writing for a well educated niche, they should be able to afford their reading for more than just a buck. $2,99 being the lowest from my point of view. You put such a great work in doing all this that I feel a bit of bad seeing how the book was priced.


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## Perro Callejero (Dec 23, 2013)

Andyroo said:


> KBT was the saturday new author promo. No reviews needed for that one. I think that one's $25. Bargain Booksy i used the $50 thriller option.
> 
> Hope that helps!


Thanks! I wonder how much of a difference the genre makes with Bargain Booksy. I identified my book as Horror when I submitted to them, but I think it would work as a Thriller option too. And their Thriller group is probably bigger than their Horror group.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

JavierCabrera said:


> Hello,
> 
> Thanks for sharing the info with the community! ;-D At $0,99 wouldn't take like, a LOT of effort to get to $1000? What would change in your strategy if you sold your book for $2.99? Or maybe $3.99 or even $9,99? You are writing for a well educated niche, they should be able to afford their reading for more than just a buck. $2,99 being the lowest from my point of view. You put such a great work in doing all this that I feel a bit of bad seeing how the book was priced.


Yes, it would! A lot of the adverts require the book to be discounted to $0.99, but it's only for the first month while I try to build a high ranking. After that it will be $2.99 and I'll do countdown promos with advertising to keep it ticking over. If I could do the promo and get the same results at $2.99 with 70% royalties, believe me, I would!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

M.F. Soriano said:


> Thanks! I wonder how much of a difference the genre makes with Bargain Booksy. I identified my book as Horror when I submitted to them, but I think it would work as a Thriller option too. And their Thriller group is probably bigger than their Horror group.


Bums on seats would certainly be higher with thriller, but you're entering a bigger marketplace as well, so it's swings and roundabouts. It may work out as more looks but less sales, or any other combination of things. It's a bit of a guessing game, but I'd go with the strongest genre for your book, ie don't sell it as a horror if it only contains mild peril


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 11th August
First day of my week-long People Reads promo. Sold 109, stayed around 1000.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 12th August
People Reads still running. Had Fussy Librarian as well. Sold 99 books, maintained around 1000. Almost at the end of the promo now.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 13th August
Ongoing promo from People Reads still running. No other promo. Sold 114 books, maintained around the 1,000 mark.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 14th August
Last promo, ENT. People Reads still running. Sold 209 books, ranked at 650. Now we'll see if I stick or slide.


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## Perro Callejero (Dec 23, 2013)

Andyroo said:


> Update: 14th August
> Last promo, ENT. People Reads still running. Sold 209 books, ranked at 650. Now we'll see if I stick or slide.


Well done! A great finish to a very well planned launch. Congratulations!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

M.F. Soriano said:


> Well done! A great finish to a very well planned launch. Congratulations!


Thanks! Hopefully it has some long-term benefits to it as well. If I plummet after this, it'll have all been for nought!


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## Guest (Aug 15, 2014)

This really was an impressive campaign. It surely helps that your cover and blurb are strong. I'm running a promo right now, featuring many of the same places- ENT tomorrow, KND the day after, fussy librarian a few days after. I started slow, like the other chap (sorry can't remember who it was) who started slow then went big with KND at the end- and have been seeing slow results accordingly. I wonder if the Wayne Stinnett front-loading thing works best in certain categories, or for certain books that are already highly-ranked, or perhaps just for books that really appeal (which his obviously do)...

Anyway, yes, congrats on an amazing promo. Did you say anywhere what your total sales to-date were? That would be handy. If you care to see reports of my promo (barely any movement yet though), it's here - http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,192290.0.html

Thanks for sharing!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Michael John Grist said:


> This really was an impressive campaign. It surely helps that your cover and blurb are strong. I'm running a promo right now, featuring many of the same places- ENT tomorrow, KND the day after, fussy librarian a few days after. I started slow, like the other chap (sorry can't remember who it was) who started slow then went big with KND at the end- and have been seeing slow results accordingly. I wonder if the Wayne Stinnett front-loading thing works best in certain categories, or for certain books that are already highly-ranked, or perhaps just for books that really appeal (which his obviously do)...
> 
> Anyway, yes, congrats on an amazing promo. Did you say anywhere what your total sales to-date were? That would be handy. If you care to see reports of my promo (barely any movement yet though), it's here - http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,192290.0.html
> 
> Thanks for sharing!


I do wonder what the promo would have been like with my three big hitters stacked over three days, but the booking didn't allow for that. I'm hoping that a good week in the top 1000 has earned me enough sway with amazon that I get a little back from them in terms of promo, but we'll see. I think there's a huge amount of luck involved as well.

Thanks! Sales are totalled at 1260 with 125 KU/KOLL units. I'll keep an eye on your progress. Good luck!


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## Dom (Mar 15, 2014)

Andy, congrats on your amazing success. I think this pretty much displays that the product is what makes the sale more than the ad.

I booked a few ads for Shade City. The KDD only netted me 26 sales!

You have a very professional lookin cover. I tend to think SciFi is 3rd behind Romance & Erotica as an indie category. Fantasy is okay but too much of the urban stuff overlaps with romance that it skews the results.

Anyway, very happy for you. Your book is essentially selling itself now. Who knows how long the tail will be but your launch was great!


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## coolpixel (Sep 17, 2012)

Andyroo said:


> I do wonder what the promo would have been like with my three big hitters stacked over three days, but the booking didn't allow for that. I'm hoping that a good week in the top 1000 has earned me enough sway with amazon that I get a little back from them in terms of promo, but we'll see. I think there's a huge amount of luck involved as well.
> 
> Thanks! Sales are totalled at 1260 with 125 KU/KOLL units. I'll keep an eye on your progress. Good luck!


Andy with those sales and borrows, have you covered your promo costs now?


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Domino Finn said:


> Andy, congrats on your amazing success. I think this pretty much displays that the product is what makes the sale more than the ad.
> 
> I booked a few ads for Shade City. The KDD only netted me 26 sales!
> 
> ...


Thank you. The cover and blurb took months of playing around with and multiple concepts, so I'm pleased the final result has the right effect. I mean, it's the first point of contact a reader has with a book, and the only thing that stands between them and a purchase (no one reads previews do they?). Only once a book starts getting a decent number of reviews and actual word-of-mouth praise across the inter web can newcomers overlook a poor cover.

If the book goes on to be self-sustaining, that would be amazing. I'm not holding my breath though.

Judging by the subscription rates on advertiser sites, I'd say sci-fi was lower down than that in terms of actual sales. It's why I've pitched my new book as a thriller (my editor told me he thought it was more thriller than sci-fi anyway) and putting it in that category has probably helped some.

Thanks again, and best of luck with your projects in the future


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

coolpixel said:


> Andy with those sales and borrows, have you covered your promo costs now?


Promo, yes. Promo cost me about $300, and I've netted $450 so far. Haven't covered editing costs yet though, not by a long shot! I work as well (on this wonderful watch magazine since you ask! http://www.thewatchmagazine.com), so I'm simply trying to build a following as a loss leader, if you like. Hopefully the book itself is good enough to make it all worthwhile! My mantra is 'it's all about the next book'.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 15th August
People Reads ongoing, no other promo. Slow start to the day, but built up in the end to 101 sales. Rank slipped to around the 750 mark.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 16th August
Sold 144 books, very surprised by that. Rank is sitting around 700


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 17th August
Last day of People Reads promo. Sold 133 books stayed around 750 all day. Weekend seemed good, so let's see how the next week pans out.


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## coolpixel (Sep 17, 2012)

This is the second week of promotions now? By my reckoning you've sold nearly 2000 books, haven't you? Congratulations.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

coolpixel said:


> This is the second week of promotions now? By my reckoning you've sold nearly 2000 books, haven't you? Congratulations.


This is into the third week, and all promos are done. I've had 1,700 sales so far. Thank you!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 18th August
Still around the 750 mark with 110 books sold. Reviews are now coming in, mostly positive. I'm up to 28 of those.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 19th August
Tuesdays seem to be a bit quiet so far. 107 sold though, but my rank has slipped to 950 (which is more consummate with the number of books I've been selling). Not really sure what I can do next to boost the number without waiting a month to rebook advertising.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 20th August
Unless there's a midweek slump I'm not familiar with, looks like I'm riding the downward spiral. Rank is around 970, sales 94. Fingers crossed sales pick up again at the weekend!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 21st August
Sales went up to 109 for the day. Rank is about 900.


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## susan_illene (Aug 10, 2014)

Good to hear they went back up.  Hope this means you'll have a good turn out for the weekend!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

susan_illene said:


> Good to hear they went back up. Hope this means you'll have a good turn out for the weekend!


Thank you, I sure hope so! Although today is looking a little slow so far...


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## srKl (Aug 22, 2014)

Hi,

I just read the whole tread and followed the full evolution of your launch.
Very exciting! And Congrats!

I'm totally new and I'm willing to discover the ins and outs.
The Darren Wearmouth technique is being mentioned several times.
I googled it a bit but cannot find it?

I'm planning to aim at short reads (+-20p) self help, educational books.
Any other techniques you can recommend?

Tx again for sharing!

BR


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## Justawriter (Jul 24, 2012)

Here's Darren's launch strategy. http://rockingselfpublishing.com/episode-07-the-7-day-launch-strategy-with-darren-wearmouth/

I did this as well on my first book, a romance, last November, and it works great!

I'm not familiar with PeopleReads though, will have to check that one out.


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## srKl (Aug 22, 2014)

Tx a lot Pamela!
Just today I found this forum and I'm so thankful for it.
Got a lot of reading to do!!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

srKl said:


> Hi,
> 
> I just read the whole tread and followed the full evolution of your launch.
> Very exciting! And Congrats!
> ...


Thanks! I see Pamela has kindly shared the link to Darren's strategy. Basically, well chosen and well spaced ads, combined with an intriguing blurb, eye-catching cover and good reviews (if you can get them) should equal a reasonable streak of success. How long that streak lasts . . . well, that's what I'm finding out!

Some other little nuggets of information that I've gleaned along the way:

- Have a website where readers can sign up for future books. Put a link to your site on your Amazon Author Central profile (which is your author bio and a separate link to KDP for some reason: https://authorcentral.amazon.co.uk), at the end of your book and anywhere else you can think of. In the future, all those signups will be great for a launch and reviews.

- Give reviewers a reason to sign up/leave reviews. At the end of my book and on my website I offer a free copy of my first novel in exchange for subscribing, and I also ask politely for a review of my new book if it's been read.

- Use your keywords wisely. You get seven keywords for each book, and what I didn't know at first was that they effect which categories you get ranked in. So as well as choosing your two book categories (pick wisely), you can get your book into others through the keywords. The link for keywords is here: https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A200PDGPEIQX41

Good luck!


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

Andy, in your shoes, I would raise the price to at least $2.99 while the book is still visible.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Cherise Kelley said:


> Andy, in your shoes, I would raise the price to at least $2.99 while the book is still visible.


I've planned (and promoted) the rise for the beginning of September. Do you think a price rise will help the book stick?


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

Andyroo said:


> Do you think a price rise will help the book stick?


No, I just think it will help you bring in more money.


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## Andrew Broderick (Aug 6, 2014)

I'm sorry, but I don't know what ENT is. Could someone please explain?

Thanks


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

andrewbee said:


> I'm sorry, but I don't know what ENT is. Could someone please explain?
> 
> Thanks


Ereader News Today


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Cherise Kelley said:


> No, I just think it will help you bring in more money.


Ah I see! I'm not too fussed about that right now-I'm trying to think of the long game and get as many downloads/reviews as possible. But I do plan to go up to $2.99 in September, which is only about a week away anyway. Then I'll do a countdown deal as soon as I can with all the promos all over again!

The drop-off when I up the price will be interesting to see, and whether or not I slip into oblivion . . . or whether I do that anyway at $0.99!

So many questions and only one answer: try it and see!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

andrewbee said:


> I'm sorry, but I don't know what ENT is. Could someone please explain?
> 
> Thanks


Ereader News Today, a source for finding (and advertising) ebooks. They have a pretty healthy audience and generate good returns for not much outlay: http://ereadernewstoday.com


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 22nd August
Right, so I thought I was in for a bad day, with sales only picking up well into the evening. So it was a surprise that I sold 111 copies in the end, managing a rank of 920.


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## evawallace (Aug 7, 2014)

Thanks for this thread Andy, I'm going to be following suite. I've just re-written my first book after I published it and wasn't happy with the way it read. I've also re-done the blurb. I'll possible start a new thread and link it to this one if that's ok.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

evawallace said:


> Thanks for this thread Andy, I'm going to be following suite. I've just re-written my first book after I published it and wasn't happy with the way it read. I've also re-done the blurb. I'll possible start a new thread and link it to this one if that's ok.


Be my guest, and good luck! With your blurb, make sure it is the best example of your writing possible. It's the readers first taste, and like chapter one has to draw them in, the blurb does too. Treat it like the rest of your book: write, leave it for a bit, edit, leave it for a bit, edit again, until it's perfect. You probably know all this already, but it's very important so I thought I'd reiterate.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 23rd August
Identical results to last Saturday: 147 sold, rank up to 730.


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## susan_illene (Aug 10, 2014)

Andyroo said:


> Update: 23rd August
> Identical results to last Saturday: 147 sold, rank up to 730.


It's great to see how you're hanging in there even after the promos have ended. Hope it keeps up and glad you're continuing with the updates!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

susan_illene said:


> It's great to see how you're hanging in there even after the promos have ended. Hope it keeps up and glad you're continuing with the updates!


Thank you  I'll be upping the price of my book for the 1st of September, so I'll keep posting so people can see what happens with that, too.


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## srKl (Aug 22, 2014)

Hi Andy,

thanks for sharing the extra details besides Derricks method.
I'm new to ebook promotions but do have a background of internet marketing.

Ever thought about working with an affiliate system?
(other people promote your book within their lists, sales are being tracked and they receive commission)

BR


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

srKl said:


> Hi Andy,
> 
> thanks for sharing the extra details besides Derricks method.
> I'm new to ebook promotions but do have a background of internet marketing.
> ...


No problem. I'm all ears for any marketing ideas, and I appreciate the power of a good campaign! ENT operate in the way you suggest. They promote to their readers and they receive commission on the sales.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 24th August
A surprisingly successful day, my best since the promotion. 162 units sold, slipped back into the 600s for a bit, but settled at around 700. Fingers crossed for a continuous boost. Got the price change in a week; not sure how that's going to effect things. Don't want to shoot myself down with it!


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## coolpixel (Sep 17, 2012)

I guess you are in profit now as far as marketing spend is concerned ? 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## coolpixel (Sep 17, 2012)

I guess you are in profit now as far as marketing spend is concerned ? 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

coolpixel said:


> I guess you are in profit now as far as marketing spend is concerned ?
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


Yes, I am. I still have editing costs to cover, mind.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 25th August
Wow, 209 sales and a rank of 520! My best rank and matching my best promo sales yet. Not sure why that happened or if it's just a one-off, but I'm grateful nonetheless.


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## srKl (Aug 22, 2014)

I'm excited for you  Keep us posted


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

srKl said:


> I'm excited for you  Keep us posted


Thank you  I will do.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 26th August
Last Tuesday dropped a bit from the weekend and so did this one, but not as low. Overall, 138 sold, rank holding at 590. Still have no idea what caused Monday's growth spurt.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 27th August
159 units sold, holding at 650 rank. An extra 50% over the slump of last Wednesday! Seriously considering extending my $0.99 promo now—I feel like I'm building momentum, but I'm not sure now is the time to cash in yet. Last thing I want to do is be on the rise and then stop it dead for short-term gain.


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## jdrew (Jul 27, 2012)

Hi Andy,
I was sent over by Marcos as I've been reading his thread on the launch he did based on yours.  Thanks for sharing.  Keep us up to date on how things go especially when you bump up the price.  I will be trying some version of this launch strategy soon, I hope. Just have to get the book done - almost there.
Any thoughts on the pre-order promo Amazon has started?


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

jdrew said:


> Hi Andy,
> I was sent over by Marcos as I've been reading his thread on the launch he did based on yours. Thanks for sharing. Keep us up to date on how things go especially when you bump up the price. I will be trying some version of this launch strategy soon, I hope. Just have to get the book done - almost there.
> Any thoughts on the pre-order promo Amazon has started?


No problem, happy to share! Paying it forward, as it were. We're stronger together as a community of authors than we are on our own is my way of looking at it. I'm still in limbo about putting the price up, at least in the short term. I'm probably going to add at least another week at $0.99 and see how I get on.

Pre-order? That's available for indie authors too now? I did not know that.


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## Eskimo (Dec 31, 2013)

Andyroo said:


> Update: 27th August
> 159 units sold, holding at 650 rank. An extra 50% over the slump of last Wednesday! Seriously considering extending my $0.99 promo now--I feel like I'm building momentum, but I'm not sure now is the time to cash in yet. Last thing I want to do is be on the rise and then stop it dead for short-term gain.


At this point, giving up the 99 cents deal may pose a problem, because you will likely see a big drop in sales. Best idea is to get that 2nd book written -- quickly!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

David Chill said:


> At this point, giving up the 99 cents deal may pose a problem, because you will likely see a big drop in sales. Best idea is to get that 2nd book written -- quickly!


My thinking is that if I can get high enough, a drop in sales will still leave me in a prominent position in the popular lists and charts to then continue the climb. If I jump the gun and up the price too early, the drop in sales could drop me too far off the lists so I slip into oblivion. As much as I'd like to make a whole load more money, my main priority is to get numbers and get noticed. On the other hand, a few fellow writers have suggested that upping the price won't lose me as many downloads as I think it will. Six of one, half a dozen of the other!


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## Marie Long (Jan 11, 2014)

This is a really interesting experiment. Thanks for sharing this info! So right now, the book is 99-cents? Has it always been 99 cents since it launched? Will you be raising the price at all?


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Marie Long said:


> This is a really interesting experiment. Thanks for sharing this info! So right now, the book is 99-cents? Has it always been 99 cents since it launched? Will you be raising the price at all?


I'm glad you're finding it interesting! Yes, the book is $0.99 and has been since launch. It's due to go up at the end of the month, but I'm thinking of extending the promo. Not sure yet!


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

I hope you have a mailing list set up and have a link to it in the back of the book, so that all these readers will be primed to buy book 2 when it comes out!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Cherise Kelley said:


> I hope you have a mailing list set up and have a link to it in the back of the book, so that all these readers will be primed to buy book 2 when it comes out!


I certainly do! In fact it was my mailing list that got my new book its reviews early on; it's been growing nicely since publication.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 28th August
147 sold, slipped a bit to 680 in rank. Hoping for another bumper weekend, mostly to see if I have another spike that nudges me up a bit. Fingers crossed. I think I'm pretty much decided now that I'm going to maintain my 99c price point for the immediate future, and will investigate into another round of advertising to coincide with the book's one month anniversary.


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## Justawriter (Jul 24, 2012)

Andyroo said:


> Update: 28th August
> 147 sold, slipped a bit to 680 in rank. Hoping for another bumper weekend, mostly to see if I have another spike that nudges me up a bit. Fingers crossed. I think I'm pretty much decided now that I'm going to maintain my 99c price point for the immediate future, and will investigate into another round of advertising to coincide with the book's one month anniversary.


I'd stay there, if you're still riding high&#8230;.I think Darren stayed at .99 for several months and it worked well for him.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

PamelaKelley said:


> I'd stay there, if you're still riding high....I think Darren stayed at .99 for several months and it worked well for him.


I think I'm certainly going to do that for at least the next few weeks. Money's nowhere near as good, but the numbers are great for getting people downloading, rating and subscribing. But for all I know, I could put the price up and carry on as is!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 29th August
A good day. 182 sold, 530 rank. Lets hope the weekend continues to peak.


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## Magda Alexander (Aug 13, 2011)

Andy, you've been so good about sharing your journey this month. Would you mind sharing your Kindle Unlimited numbers? I'm going to be teaching a self publishing class in October and want to give students real life examples of stellar sales coupled with KU numbers.


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## Cheryl Douglas (Dec 7, 2011)

Great strategy! Congratulations on your successful launch!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Magda Alexander said:


> Andy, you've been so good about sharing your journey this month. Would you mind sharing your Kindle Unlimited numbers? I'm going to be teaching a self publishing class in October and want to give students real life examples of stellar sales coupled with KU numbers.


Sure, no problem. They've been pretty stable, floating between 10 and 20 a day, with the last week being more between 20 and 30. I've uploaded my sales graph so far if you want to use that? You can download it here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/f0kw7ab8ti1j6u5/sales%20graph.png?dl=0


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Cheryl Douglas said:


> Great strategy! Congratulations on your successful launch!


Thank you


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## Magda Alexander (Aug 13, 2011)

Andyroo said:


> Sure, no problem. They've been pretty stable, floating between 10 and 20 a day, with the last week being more between 20 and 30. I've uploaded my sales graph so far if you want to use that? You can download it here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/f0kw7ab8ti1j6u5/sales%20graph.png?dl=0


Thanks, Andy!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Magda Alexander said:


> Thanks, Andy!


No problem!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 30th August
Big news . . . I upped the price to $2.99. Rumour has it that the first day of the price switch dips, so 97 sales and a rank of 640 seems pretty good. Now finger crossed in the hope that I haven't made a terrible decision...


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## Perro Callejero (Dec 23, 2013)

Andyroo said:


> Update: 30th August
> Big news . . . I upped the price to $2.99. Rumour has it that the first day of the price switch dips, so 97 sales and a rank of 640 seems pretty good. Now finger crossed in the hope that I haven't made a terrible decision...


My number of daily sales dropped when I raised the price to $2.99, but I don't regret it. $2.99 is still a great price for a book--I don't think that the extra two dollars is that big of an issue to most people, but it makes a big difference to the author when the numbers add up. Your book has maintained excellent visibility, and it's earned a lot of excellent reviews. I think raising the price to get the higher royalty is a good idea.

I do expect the day-of-raise dip in sales numbers to be temporary, and that your book's daily sales will climb a bit higher in the subsequent days. They may not reach your previous peak, but they probably won't be too far off. Crossing my fingers for you.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Marcos Fenton said:


> My number of daily sales dropped when I raised the price to $2.99, but I don't regret it. $2.99 is still a great price for a book--I don't think that the extra two dollars is that big of an issue to most people, but it makes a big difference to the author when the numbers add up. Your book has maintained excellent visibility, and it's earned a lot of excellent reviews. I think raising the price to get the higher royalty is a good idea.
> 
> I do expect the day-of-raise dip in sales numbers to be temporary, and that your book's daily sales will climb a bit higher in the subsequent days. They may not reach your previous peak, but they probably won't be too far off. Crossing my fingers for you.


Thanks for your reassurance in this uncertain time! Seeing the book rising consistently at 99c made it hard to put the price up, but word is that that's what agents want to see: a book in the top 1000 selling at the 70% rate. What I'm hoping is that 70% rate sales have more impact on ranking, so although I'm selling a bit less, I won't drop too far down and I can maintain a good position in the charts. Fingers crossed that rise continues, albeit starting from a bit further back. Thank you


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 31st August
Second day at $2.99. 85 books sold, rank fallen to 730. Let's see how long it can hover there. I'm hoping the gentle rise I was having at 99c continues...really, really hoping!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 1st September
So, must be a Labour Day bonus or something, but I sold 111 books. Also (and as predicted by others), by book loans were much higher, at a total of 51 units. My rank, however, has slipped to 813, which is a shame. I'd really like to stay in the top 1000.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 2nd September
Not so great today--74 sales and 21 borrows. Rank down to 950. Midweek slump? I hope so!


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## Midnight Whimsy (Jun 25, 2013)

Great info, thanks! A lot of people stop updating after the promos are over, but it's very informative to see how your tail plays out.

M.W


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Midnight Whimsy said:


> Great info, thanks! A lot of people stop updating after the promos are over, but it's very informative to see how your tail plays out.
> 
> M.W


I hope it's useful! I've been warned that publishing success stories can lead to a negative backlash, so fingers crossed that doesn't happen.


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## S. Elliot Brandis (Dec 9, 2013)

Your book was on my 'also bought' panel for a bit. Looks like you're doing great.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

S. Elliot Brandis said:


> Your book was on my 'also bought' panel for a bit. Looks like you're doing great.


It has done very well, and I'm so thrilled, while also being simultaneously terrified that it's all going to come to an unfortunate end somehow!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 3rd September
Rank has unfortunately dropped to 1080. Sales ended up at 65, with 35 borrowed. I'm hoping, like two weeks ago, this is a midweek lull and not the beginning of the end.


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## jdrew (Jul 27, 2012)

Andyroo said:


> Update: 3rd September
> Rank has unfortunately dropped to 1080. Sales ended up at 65, with 35 borrowed. I'm hoping, like two weeks ago, this is a midweek lull and not the beginning of the end.


Hi Andy, seems to be going pretty well. Keep us posted as we'd all like to see how long the tail runs. As for the "borrowed" category, where all is this book available? Are you on select? Other outlets? Or some other exclusive spot? Just curious as I'm wondering whether it works better to start exclusively through Amazon/Kindle or to skip that and go with multiple ebook outlets right off.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

jdrew said:


> Hi Andy, seems to be going pretty well. Keep us posted as we'd all like to see how long the tail runs. As for the "borrowed" category, where all is this book available? Are you on select? Other outlets? Or some other exclusive spot? Just curious as I'm wondering whether it works better to start exclusively through Amazon/Kindle or to skip that and go with multiple ebook outlets right off.


I seem to be getting some rather spiteful reviews at the moment, and it has been suggested to me that these are coming from other authors because I've been posting my results here, so I'm not sure how long I want to keep posting if that is the case. Borrows are from people signed up to Kindle Unlimited--they get to borrow the book as a subscription service instead. Yes, I am on select. I'll be making the most of the countdown deal next month, and the select royalty rates leave me in no doubt that I've made the right choice for me.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 4th September
43 sales, 41 borrows. Rank slipping in and out of the top 1000.

As I mentioned above, I've received some quite spiteful reviews, and it has been suggested that the publication of my success on here may have caused them. With that in mind (and with no way of knowing how true or not it is) I'm not sure I want to continue posting my results.


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## coolpixel (Sep 17, 2012)

Weird world where a fellow author would want to discredit another author via hate-reviews.  Thank you for posting Andrew and I hope your long tail continues. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## KrisRipper (Aug 5, 2014)

Well, I'm with the rest of the folks in hoping you continue updating, but even if you don't, which would be understandable, thanks so much for all you've written so far! Very exciting results. Good luck with book two!


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## Marie Long (Jan 11, 2014)

Andyroo said:


> As I mentioned above, I've received some quite spiteful reviews, and it has been suggested that the publication of my success on here may have caused them. With that in mind (and with no way of knowing how true or not it is) I'm not sure I want to continue posting my results.


Is this Amazon you're seeing these spiteful reviews? I had a look at the negative reviews on there, and none of them seem all that helpful at all. Almost all of them were one-liners, and in checking some of the previous books they reviewed, they either gave 1-stars to all of them, or yours was the only book they reviewed. Either way, sounds like trolls, and I wouldn't pay them any mind. I really hope you continue posting your results. This has been one of the most informative posts I've ever seen here. Please don't let a few trolls discourage you from helping others. Being successful and popular as you are through this thread alone will draw out the jealous naysayers and trolls from the woodworks like the cockroaches they are, trying to bring you down. But there are far more appreciative people out there who support you and are learning so much from what you have done, so thank you.


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## juliatheswede (Mar 26, 2014)

Marie Long said:


> Is this Amazon you're seeing these spiteful reviews? I had a look at the negative reviews on there, and none of them seem all that helpful at all. Almost all of them were one-liners, and in checking some of the previous books they reviewed, they either gave 1-stars to all of them, or yours was the only book they reviewed. Either way, sounds like trolls, and I wouldn't pay them any mind. I really hope you continue posting your results. This has been one of the most informative posts I've ever seen here. Please don't let a few trolls discourage you from helping others. Being successful and popular as you are through this thread alone will draw out the jealous naysayers and trolls from the woodworks like the cockroaches they are, trying to bring you down. But there are far more appreciative people out there who support you and are learning so much from what you have done, so thank you.


well said, Marie! Thanks for posting your journey, Andy! It is so incredibly helpful. I really hope your success continues. You deserve it.


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## Perro Callejero (Dec 23, 2013)

Andyroo said:


> Update: 4th September
> 43 sales, 41 borrows. Rank slipping in and out of the top 1000.
> 
> As I mentioned above, I've received some quite spiteful reviews, and it has been suggested that the publication of my success on here may have caused them. With that in mind (and with no way of knowing how true or not it is) I'm not sure I want to continue posting my results.


My recently launched book has gotten more than it's share of bad reviews, too. But in my case, I'm guessing it's because those people honestly didn't like my book. 

If you're concerned that your poor reviews are written out of spite because of the success mentioned in this thread, you might want to erase the link to the book that you included in your first post. I did notice, though, that many of the poor reviews show as verified purchases. If people are willing to buy a copy of your book just so they can leave a bad review, well shoot, at least you get a couple bucks out of it.

In the end, I don't think you need to worry too much about a few bad reviews. You're book has lots of great reviews, and most of the bad reviews are one-liner types that probably won't be taken seriously by most real customers (like Marie said).

Anyway, Andy, thanks again for offering so much information. I've learned a lot from this thread, and I'm grateful to you for posting it. It'd be nice to see more of how your numbers fare after the 30-day cliff, but I don't blame you if you want to bring it to an end.

And congratulations again on your book's great success!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

coolpixel said:


> Weird world where a fellow author would want to discredit another author via hate-reviews. Thank you for posting Andrew and I hope your long tail continues.
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


Indeed! It makes no sense because readers can enjoy and buy many books. I think we should, as a community, work together to make indie publishing better, not stand apart as separate entities fighting for our corners. It's silly. Thank you for your kind words, I appreciate it.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

KrisRipper said:


> Well, I'm with the rest of the folks in hoping you continue updating, but even if you don't, which would be understandable, thanks so much for all you've written so far! Very exciting results. Good luck with book two!


I've stripped all my book and author details from the thread (although I think it's too late for that), so I will keep posting. I want to help other indie authors, like we all should. I've been given excellent advice that's helped me, and I want to share it with the community without being penalised for it!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Marie Long said:


> Is this Amazon you're seeing these spiteful reviews? I had a look at the negative reviews on there, and none of them seem all that helpful at all. Almost all of them were one-liners, and in checking some of the previous books they reviewed, they either gave 1-stars to all of them, or yours was the only book they reviewed. Either way, sounds like trolls, and I wouldn't pay them any mind. I really hope you continue posting your results. This has been one of the most informative posts I've ever seen here. Please don't let a few trolls discourage you from helping others. Being successful and popular as you are through this thread alone will draw out the jealous naysayers and trolls from the woodworks like the cockroaches they are, trying to bring you down. But there are far more appreciative people out there who support you and are learning so much from what you have done, so thank you.


Yes, that's right. In fact, just after posting about this whole thing on here, I received another negative review that has convinced me of a definite malicious attack, because the review states that my book was not proofread when it was in fact proofread by the editor of the late Iain M Banks!

Unfortunately positive feedback here, as much as I enjoy receiving it, doesn't counter for the negative malicious reviews on amazon, and amazon themselves won't do anything about it.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

juliatheswede said:


> well said, Marie! Thanks for posting your journey, Andy! It is so incredibly helpful. I really hope your success continues. You deserve it.


Thank you, I hope it continues too! And I really want to continue posting here, it's just a shame that the success of my book is having to suffer as a consequence


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## Dom (Mar 15, 2014)

Sorry you're being attacked, Andy. Unfortunately, people do get jealous. You have had, I think, unbelievable success with your launch. It even seems like you've survived the initial price increase. Just focus on the positive, because it's pretty amazing.

And if anyone read this thread and left a spiteful review, please consider removing it. Think about how unfair it would be if someone did that against you.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Marcos Fenton said:


> My recently launched book has gotten more than it's share of bad reviews, too. But in my case, I'm guessing it's because those people honestly didn't like my book.
> 
> If you're concerned that your poor reviews are written out of spite because of the success mentioned in this thread, you might want to erase the link to the book that you included in your first post. I did notice, though, that many of the poor reviews show as verified purchases. If people are willing to buy a copy of your book just so they can leave a bad review, well shoot, at least you get a couple bucks out of it.
> 
> ...


I've taken all the references out, but I think it's probably too late for that. And I imagine for someone looking to troll an author, paying a few dollars to prevent them earning many more is worth the outlay! I wasn't sure if what I was being told was true or not, but I am more convinced since I received a negative review right after my post on here talking about it. The review specifically states that the book has not been proofread, when it was in fact proofread by the editor of the late Iain M Banks, so that shows that the reviews aren't justified in any way.

At this late stage I may as well keep posting. I learned a lot from other authors that's worked for me, and I want to pass it on. We as authors should work together, so it's a real shame that some aren't working together. Imagine if we as a collective shared our audience (who, lets remember, are capable of purchasing more than one book)-we'd all be doing very well indeed!

Anyway, thank you for your reassurances, and I'm glad you've found my posts helpful. It's a shame that the kind words on here don't cancel out the bad ones on amazon.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Domino Finn said:


> Sorry you're being attacked, Andy. Unfortunately, people do get jealous. You have had, I think, unbelievable success with your launch. It even seems like you've survived the initial price increase. Just focus on the positive, because it's pretty amazing.
> 
> And if anyone read this thread and left a spiteful review, please consider removing it. Think about how unfair it would be if someone did that against you.


You're right of course-I should look to the positivity of my success so far more than to the negative of what's been happening. I still want to help others here with what I've learned, because I really do believe that working together as a community and sharing our knowledge will leave us all in a better position.


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## Deke (May 18, 2013)

Thanks for the great info. It's a bit help for my own planning.  Question:

- Give reviewers a reason to sign up/leave reviews. At the end of my book and on my website I offer a free copy of my first novel in exchange for subscribing, and I also ask politely for a review of my new book if it's been read.

How do you give away a free copy of the novel?  Are you sending out a PDF file to each person?

Thanks.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Deke said:


> Thanks for the great info. It's a bit help for my own planning. Question:
> 
> - Give reviewers a reason to sign up/leave reviews. At the end of my book and on my website I offer a free copy of my first novel in exchange for subscribing, and I also ask politely for a review of my new book if it's been read.
> 
> ...


When I receive the subscription on my blog, I receive an email with the subscribers details. I then email the book as a mobi file with instructions for getting it onto their kindle. I experimented with automated replies, but couldn't get it to work with wordpress so i do it all manually.


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## Randirogue (Apr 25, 2011)

What is this Darren Wearmouth launch strategy/technique and where can I find it? Link please?  (I did not read all 6 pages of this so my apologies if this was answered/linked already)

Also, since you mention borrows/loans in the tracking data, so I'm assuming this book is in KDP Select. Did you completely remove it from your blog before releasing (since wouldn't leaving it up violate the exclusivity aspect of Select)?

And... what book is this? Link?


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## juliatheswede (Mar 26, 2014)

I feel your pain about getting a few bad reviews. When I get them, it depresses me for days! But if you read the thread called "An observation about one-star reviews," I think you will feel better. Also, I went to your book details page and clicked helpful on the top few five-star reviews. Keep up the good work!


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## coolpixel (Sep 17, 2012)

Andyroo said:


> When I receive the subscription on my blog, I receive an email with the subscribers details. I then email the book as a mobi file with instructions for getting it onto their kindle. I experimented with automated replies, but couldn't get it to work with wordpress so i do it all manually.


I have used automated replies with downloadable links to my first book.,I use MailChimp for all that.

I learnt this from Mark Dawson.

Automated replies is a paid feature in MC, but I figured it was worth the hassle.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Randirogue said:


> What is this Darren Wearmouth launch strategy/technique and where can I find it? Link please? (I did not read all 6 pages of this so my apologies if this was answered/linked already)
> 
> Also, since you mention borrows/loans in the tracking data, so I'm assuming this book is in KDP Select. Did you completely remove it from your blog before releasing (since wouldn't leaving it up violate the exclusivity aspect of Select)?
> 
> And... what book is this? Link?


You can find his launch strategy here: http://rockingselfpublishing.com/episode-07-the-7-day-launch-strategy-with-darren-wearmouth/

I did remove it, yes. I've since begun replacing it with my next book.

I had the book link posted, but following a batch of malicious reviews that I've been warned could be do to with the promotion of my success here, I've taken all references to it off the thread. I hope you understand!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

juliatheswede said:


> I feel your pain about getting a few bad reviews. When I get them, it depresses me for days! But if you read the thread called "An observation about one-star reviews," I think you will feel better. Also, I went to your book details page and clicked helpful on the top few five-star reviews. Keep up the good work!


Thank you! Although I don't like them, I can usually handle negative reviews, however I've been warned that some of the ones I've received may have been malicious as a result of my posting my success here. For example, the most recent review states that book is in need of a proofread, when it has in fact been proofread by the editor of the late Iain M Banks!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

coolpixel said:


> I have used automated replies with downloadable links to my first book.,I use MailChimp for all that.
> 
> I learnt this from Mark Dawson.
> 
> ...


I only get a few subscribers per day, but if it ever becomes unmanageable I will probably use a mailchimp paid service.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 5th September
44 sales, 26 borrows, rank slipped to 1,200. I'm now wondering if I should lower my price to $0.99 to recover the sales and rank growth I was experiencing, or leave it to see if I settle. Either way, I have a Kindle Countdown (which could become a straightforward promo if I lower the price beforehand) for the beginning of october, so hopefully I can kick start my growth again.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 6th September
Slight bump for the weekend: 61 sales, 39 borrows, rank 1100. Pleased with that. Nice to see an upwards angle on the graph again!


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## jdrew (Jul 27, 2012)

Andy,
Sorry to hear that you are another of the indie authors who has come under troll attack.  I haven't, so few sales no one is going to bother, but I have heard stories from others who have and it is nothing but cyber-bullying.  I think the best we can do is broadcast that these things do happen and hope that the serious readership learns to ignore 1-star ratings that are without substance.  I wish you continued success and while I hope you continue to post, I wouldn't blame you for discontinuing period.
Thanks for all you've shared and best of luck.


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## Randirogue (Apr 25, 2011)

Andyroo said:


> You can find his launch strategy here: http://rockingselfpublishing.com/episode-07-the-7-day-launch-strategy-with-darren-wearmouth/
> 
> I did remove it, yes. I've since begun replacing it with my next book.
> 
> I had the book link posted, but following a batch of malicious reviews that I've been warned could be do to with the promotion of my success here, I've taken all references to it off the thread. I hope you understand!


Thank you for the link. I actually recently discovered RockingSelfPublishing, but probably wouldn't not have discovered that post specifically. Greatly appreciated.

You have my sympathies for the troll activities. Dreadful. I'd be interested to check out your book if you wanted to PM the link/title/etc. to me, but I understand if you still have qualms.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

jdrew said:


> Andy,
> Sorry to hear that you are another of the indie authors who has come under troll attack. I haven't, so few sales no one is going to bother, but I have heard stories from others who have and it is nothing but cyber-bullying. I think the best we can do is broadcast that these things do happen and hope that the serious readership learns to ignore 1-star ratings that are without substance. I wish you continued success and while I hope you continue to post, I wouldn't blame you for discontinuing period.
> Thanks for all you've shared and best of luck.


It seems a silly thing to do, and I can't believe how common it seems to be. Why don't authors work together instead of shooting each other down? It's only a small handful doing it, but the damage they inflict is very lasting. Oh well, hopefully, as you say, readers learn to appreciate well-written reviews and ignore spammy ones.

Thanks for your encouragement


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Randirogue said:


> Thank you for the link. I actually recently discovered RockingSelfPublishing, but probably wouldn't not have discovered that post specifically. Greatly appreciated.
> 
> You have my sympathies for the troll activities. Dreadful. I'd be interested to check out your book if you wanted to PM the link/title/etc. to me, but I understand if you still have qualms.


No problem. Darren was very kind to publish his launch strategy, and unfortunately he received flak for it too. Real shame, as he's such a nice and genuine guy, very willing to help and asks nothing in return, and people abuse that.

I'm happy to share my book with genuine readers, and I appreciate any feedback, good or bad-as long as it's legitimate! I'll send you a PM.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 7th September
54 sales, 25 borrows, 1500 rank. If I can hover around here, I'll be a very happy bunny!


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## Marie Long (Jan 11, 2014)

Thanks for the continuous updates, Andy!  I'm curious. Were you planning on raising the price beyond $2.99? Or was $2.99 the target price you originally intended for this book?

by the way, I wouldn't pay those new negative reviews any mind. All of them have been 1 sentence with no substance or helpfulness to justify their bad review. You have far more constructive and meaningful positive reviews that outweigh those few naysayers.


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## Deke (May 18, 2013)

Thanks again for the great info.  My takeaway from reading this thread is 1)Price at 99 cents. 2) promote every day for at least three weeks to a month, lining up promotions almost every day.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Marie Long said:


> Thanks for the continuous updates, Andy!  I'm curious. Were you planning on raising the price beyond $2.99? Or was $2.99 the target price you originally intended for this book?
> 
> by the way, I wouldn't pay those new negative reviews any mind. All of them have been 1 sentence with no substance or helpfulness to justify their bad review. You have far more constructive and meaningful positive reviews that outweigh those few naysayers.


$2.99 has always been my target price, with $0.99 getting rank and reviews enough for the changeover.

Since I've taken the link down they seem to have stopped (so far, fingers crossed!) so hopefully I won't be bombarded with anymore for a while. I don't mind justified one star reviews, but it was getting silly! And yes, you're right, I still have a decent average and some positive, well-thought-out reviews with good 'helpful' ratings (although of the one star raters went through and marked every four and five star review as unhelpful! Shows the malice!).


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Deke said:


> Thanks again for the great info. My takeaway from reading this thread is 1)Price at 99 cents. 2) promote every day for at least three weeks to a month, lining up promotions almost every day.


You're very welcome. It's what I wanted this thread to do: help people. The promo was either going to work or it wasn't, and by publishing how and what I've down I hoped that others can learn from it. So I'm glad it's helping you!

I kinda wish I'd left the book at $0.99 for another week just to get a little higher in the ranks, but chances are I'd still be settling to where I am now. I think the key is, as you say, to get evenly spaced (but not too far apart) promos with good results to give the book a consistent rise over a good duration of time, and that puts it in the popular lists as well as on the charts.

Whether or not I maintain sales now the book is $2.99 remains to be seen, but I have a kindle countdown booked for october so hopefully that will provide a necessary lift if it needs it.


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## nigel p bird (Feb 4, 2011)

Great information.

Also congratulations on your success. 

Keep 'em coming...


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## Midnight Whimsy (Jun 25, 2013)

I'm so sorry to hear about the one star reviews. That's really unfortunate, and l understand if you decide to stop updating the thread. It's a real shame that people give into petty jealousy instead of being supportive.

M.W


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## coolpixel (Sep 17, 2012)

Deke said:


> Thanks again for the great info. My takeaway from reading this thread is 1)Price at 99 cents. 2) promote every day for at least three weeks to a month, lining up promotions almost every day.


I think Andrew ran promos for 7 days only, not three weeks.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

nigel p bird said:


> Great information.
> 
> Also congratulations on your success.
> 
> Keep 'em coming...


Thank you, I'm glad you're finding it useful.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Midnight Whimsy said:


> I'm so sorry to hear about the one star reviews. That's really unfortunate, and l understand if you decide to stop updating the thread. It's a real shame that people give into petty jealousy instead of being supportive.
> 
> M.W


I've taken the links out (and when I did, funnily enough, the flow of negative reviews stopped instantly!) so I'm happy to keep posting results for the time being. It's a shame for the actions of a few to damage the valuable sharing of information among everyone else, so hopefully this compromise will work.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 8th September
55 sold, 28 borrowed, rank 1,400.  Expecting a drop midweek, but hopefully it won't be too much and it will come up again for next weekend.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 9th September
47 sold, 29 borrows and a rank of 1350.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 10th September
Bumper day for reasons unknown! 74 sold, 28 borrowed, rank 1275. All the one/two star spammy reviews have now stopped since taking down the link here, however I got a review with a massive spoiler in it that I'm wondering if I can do anything about. A quick google suggest I can't.


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## coolpixel (Sep 17, 2012)

Andyroo said:


> Update: 10th September
> Bumper day for reasons unknown! 74 sold, 28 borrowed, rank 1275. All the one/two star spammy reviews have now stopped since taking down the link here, however I got a review with a massive spoiler in it that I'm wondering if I can do anything about. A quick google suggest I can't.


As far as I am aware you can request Amazon to take down a review p, citing the reasons

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

coolpixel said:


> As far as I am aware you can request Amazon to take down a review p, citing the reasons
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


Thank you, yes, I'll give it a go, but I can already guess what the answer will be! Anyway, I don't want the review removed, just de-spoilered


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## ToniD (May 3, 2011)

Andyroo said:


> Update: 10th September
> Bumper day for reasons unknown! 74 sold, 28 borrowed, rank 1275.


I can shed some light on your bumper day, I think. I have a Kindle Fire, the kind that shows Amazon ads when first opened, and your book showed up as the promoted ad on my Fire last night. So congrats on the Ammy love.

BTW, same thing happened with one of Wayne's books--three times.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

ToniD said:


> I can shed some light on your bumper day, I think. I have a Kindle Fire, the kind that shows Amazon ads when first opened, and your book showed up as the promoted ad on my Fire last night. So congrats on the Ammy love.
> 
> BTW, same thing happened with one of Wayne's books--three times.


Wow, excellent! Thank you for letting me know. Hopefully it has a nice long term effect.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 11th September
Another good day. 69 sales, 41 borrows, rank of 1200. Thanks to ToniD for spotting my book on the Amazon Fire boot screen--that explains the boost I've been having. I hope it lasts!


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## ToniD (May 3, 2011)

You're welcome. Got another ad today...I think your boost will last


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

ToniD said:


> You're welcome. Got another ad today...I think your boost will last


Wonderful! Thank you for keeping me posted


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 12th September
56 sales, 20 borrows and a rank of 1300. A little down on the previous two days, but I'm still very pleased with it.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 13th September
61 sales, 20 borrows, however my rank has slipped to 1500. Here's hoping it creeps up a bit!


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## C Ryan Bymaster (Oct 4, 2013)

I thinks it's entirely safe to say that though the promos got the ball rolling, it's your great cover and blurb and the positive reviews that's keeping it going. You've got a great book here and I'm excited to follow you along on this ride!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

C Ryan Bymaster said:


> I thinks it's entirely safe to say that though the promos got the ball rolling, it's your great cover and blurb and the positive reviews that's keeping it going. You've got a great book here and I'm excited to follow you along on this ride!


Thank you, it shows entirely how important each individual aspect is in enticing potential readers into buying your book. To say I'm thrilled with the results is an understatement!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 14th September
57 sales, 27 borrows, rank around 1500 (although it did creep up between my two updates to 1300).


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 15th September
50 sales, 24 borrows and a rank of 1450. A little lower than this time last week--I'm hoping I can hold on until the kindle countdown promo.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 16th September
47 units sold, 40 borrowed, rank slipped to 1600. Shows that borrows don't quite have the same authority as sales when it comes to ranking. I had a similar dip this time last week, then a spike—hopefully I'll have the same this week. It seems generally as if the book is slowly languishing, falling in the charts, but I have a Kindle Countdown booked with some promo for the beginning of October, so hopefully that will pep things up a bit.


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## C Ryan Bymaster (Oct 4, 2013)

Keep chuggin' along!!
I'm glad to see you have great numbers still


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

C Ryan Bymaster said:


> Keep chuggin' along!!
> I'm glad to see you have great numbers still


Are these posts still useful for people? I keep posting my daily results but I'm not sure when it stops being useful...


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## scifi365 (Sep 12, 2014)

Well, I'm finding them fascinating for one. It's actually more interesting to see the numbers post-promotion than to see numbers on the days when you've done some paid marketing.

Paid marketing = increased sales is not news. No new marketing = consistent sales _IS_ news.

So, as far as I'm concerned, keep posting away.


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

Andyroo said:


> Are these posts still useful for people? I keep posting my daily results but I'm not sure when it stops being useful...


I'm finding your updates very useful, especially since the promotion period has now long passed and you have increased the price. It's now at $2.99, right and you're still getting nearly 100 sales+borrows daily, right? Well done you!

So I do hope you keep posting.

(The occasional graph is nice to see too.)

Philip


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## Amy Corwin (Jan 3, 2011)

Andyroo said:


> $2.99 has always been my target price, with $0.99 getting rank and reviews enough for the changeover.
> 
> Since I've taken the link down they seem to have stopped (so far, fingers crossed!) so hopefully I won't be bombarded with anymore for a while. I don't mind justified one star reviews, but it was getting silly! And yes, you're right, I still have a decent average and some positive, well-thought-out reviews with good 'helpful' ratings (although of the one star raters went through and marked every four and five star review as unhelpful! Shows the malice!).


I was appalled when I read that about the one-star reviews. I hate to think someone on the Kindleboards is really that petty. You'd think if they hated successful folks that they simply wouldn't read threads like this.

But I hope it does not discourage you and that you continue to share your insights. While I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a wee bit jealous, I still find it very helpful when people are kind enough to share their experiences )both what works and what doesn't) because it helps me develop other strategies and sometimes revives my flagging hope just when I need it most.

So keep on doing what you are doing. Don't let the mean people get to you. I'm sorry you had to take the links down to stop the nonsense, but I'm glad you're still posting and still have enough real/decent reviews for it not to affect you too badly.


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## coolpixel (Sep 17, 2012)

Andrew, pls keep posting for as long as feasible for you. i think we all are interested in seeing how long the tail lasts or rather how long it holds in the absence of promotion.


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## jdrew (Jul 27, 2012)

Andyroo said:


> Are these posts still useful for people? I keep posting my daily results but I'm not sure when it stops being useful...


Certainly are useful. And encouraging to see sales for you continue even post promotion.
Thanks.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

scifi365 said:


> Well, I'm finding them fascinating for one. It's actually more interesting to see the numbers post-promotion than to see numbers on the days when you've done some paid marketing.
> 
> Paid marketing = increased sales is not news. No new marketing = consistent sales _IS_ news.
> 
> So, as far as I'm concerned, keep posting away.


That's good to hear, thank you. Obviously I find the numbers interesting, so I didn't know if that applied to everyone else too


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Philip Gibson said:


> I'm finding your updates very useful, especially since the promotion period has now long passed and you have increased the price. It's now at $2.99, right and you're still getting nearly 100 sales+borrows daily, right? Well done you!
> 
> So I do hope you keep posting.
> 
> ...


It's averaging around 75 sales and borrows a day, so yeah, pretty good going! I'm very pleased. I mainly post from my phone, so posting graphs is a bit tricky!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Amy Corwin said:


> I was appalled when I read that about the one-star reviews. I hate to think someone on the Kindleboards is really that petty. You'd think if they hated successful folks that they simply wouldn't read threads like this.
> 
> But I hope it does not discourage you and that you continue to share your insights. While I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a wee bit jealous, I still find it very helpful when people are kind enough to share their experiences )both what works and what doesn't) because it helps me develop other strategies and sometimes revives my flagging hope just when I need it most.
> 
> So keep on doing what you are doing. Don't let the mean people get to you. I'm sorry you had to take the links down to stop the nonsense, but I'm glad you're still posting and still have enough real/decent reviews for it not to affect you too badly.


It is a shame, and I'm worried about teetering around the 4* brink because of it, but it's a lesson learned! Funnily enough I've been warned about it but didn't believe it, so I felt a bit silly when it actually happened. But it stopped as soon as the link came down, so hopefully all's well that end's well. Sales seem to be holding on, so fingers crossed the slight dip on my rating hasn't affected it too much. I shall keep on posting, albeit anonymously!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

coolpixel said:


> Andrew, pls keep posting for as long as feasible for you. i think we all are interested in seeing how long the tail lasts or rather how long it holds in the absence of promotion.


I have another promo (kindle countdown) booked in for the beginning of October, so we'll see how that affects things too. I'll detail that a bit more when we get closer


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

jdrew said:


> Certainly are useful. And encouraging to see sales for you continue even post promotion.
> Thanks.


Great, thank you. I shall keep on posting!


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## coolpixel (Sep 17, 2012)

Andyroo said:


> It is a shame, and I'm worried about teetering around the 4* brink because of it, but it's a lesson learned! Funnily enough I've been warned about it but didn't believe it, so I felt a bit silly when it actually happened. But it stopped as soon as the link came down, so hopefully all's well that end's well. Sales seem to be holding on, so fingers crossed the slight dip on my rating hasn't affected it too much. I shall keep on posting, albeit anonymously!


I think anything from 4 onwards is good. The rating matters only to some sites, admittedly some big promo sites, but if you use the likes of Bargain Booksy and combine those with others, you'll still be able to get a stack of good promos.

Btw, doesn't KCD require you not to discount a full one month before?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

coolpixel said:


> I think anything from 4 onwards is good. The rating matters only to some sites, admittedly some big promo sites, but if you use the likes of Bargain Booksy and combine those with others, you'll still be able to get a stack of good promos.
> 
> Btw, doesn't KCD require you not to discount a full one month before?
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


I hope so. Fingers crossed I maintain the rank and I keep gaining reviews to continue tempting readers into buying.

Yeah, something like that. I don't remember the specifics


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## pwtucker (Feb 12, 2011)

Hey Andyroo, thanks so much for sharing these figures. I'm inspired by your approach, and when I release my next novel (first in a new series), I plan to follow your plan. So, quick question: what would you do differently if you were to do this again?


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

pwtucker said:


> Hey Andyroo, thanks so much for sharing these figures. I'm inspired by your approach, and when I release my next novel (first in a new series), I plan to follow your plan. So, quick question: what would you do differently if you were to do this again?


Ooh, hard one. I'm not sure. I don't know how much of this was luck and how much was planning, and I don't know that if I did anything different, it would upset the whole balance and ruin the whole thing. In fact, I worry more about being able to get the same selection and placing of ads for my next book, because i definitely think the consistent purchases over the first two weeks of promotion helped the book climb to wear it was. One thing I do wonder about is what would have happened if I'd left it at $0.99 for longer. Sales and rank were both climbing well, and putting it at $2.99 stopped that growth. I wonder if I'd left it a week or two longer to carry on climbing the ranks, if I'd have had more success when I changed it to $2.99. On the other hand, it may have plummeted the next week if I'd left it-I just don't know!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: September 17th
57 sold, 19 borrows, rank 1580. Two things: first, I've been told that the ranking system is based not only on the day's sales, but also on the last month's sales, which is why my rank has been slowly dropping despite consistent sales. I've worked out that I should settle around 1,750 (if sales stay firm), and I think that the consistency is less to do with chart appearances and more to do with my position on the popular lists, which then affects where my book get places around amazon (recommendation lists, adverts etc). Here's hoping that my next promo can nudge me up those popular lists a little more and hopefully give me more visibility for when I drop back to $2.99 again. I get the feeling that if only I could get my book seen, it would be a big seller. Other than the infamous blip, it's reviewing consistently and selling consistently—it just needs the exposure (as the kindle fire promo from amazon proved last week). Secondly, I'm noticing borrows drop over the month. I don't know if people are allowed only a finite amount of borrows per month or what, but we'll see whether the sales go up to compensate or if I get another glut of borrows at the beginning of October.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: September 18th
Comparatively slow day. 44 sales, 19 borrows, rank of 1520. Historically, Thursday seems to be a slow day for me, so I'm hoping things pick up over the weekend. The stability of my rank at around 1500–1600 suggests that Thursday is a bit slow for everyone, and a peak in the 1300s during the early part of the day suggests the same. I guess we'll have to wait and see!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: September 19th
Almost exactly the same as the day before: 43 sales, 20 borrows, rank down to 1700. This is the rank I expect to hover at selling and lending around 75 books a day, but as that amount seems to have gone down, I expect I'll be sinking down towards the 2000–2500 range. Hopefully I can hold out until my promo in two weeks' time.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: September 20th
I've been experiencing the same sales drop off as others on here, with only 36 sales yesterday. Borrows were a little higher at 27, and weirdly my rank keeps flitting from 1800 to 1600 and back again. No idea what's going on!


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## psolares (May 31, 2014)

Hi Andy,

Congratulations on your experience!

I have a couple of questions for you: First off, have you charted in Amazon Australia? I'm interested in foreign markets outside UK and US.  Second, as I'm releasing a new title with no reviews yet, will I able to get picked by those websites? I've already comissioned two ads here on Kboards and another on Kindle Daily Deal but I guess that in order to get a nice boost I should ask for more ads as you did.

Thanks for your time!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

psolares said:


> Hi Andy,
> 
> Congratulations on your experience!
> 
> ...


Hi, thank you! As far as I'm aware, Australia uses Amazon.com. I can't see a .au listed on the KDP report anyway! Two of the sites that required reviews (Books and Tips and ENT) no longer require them for a new release, however they do require a link to book the promo. I don't know if you can use the new pre-order system to your advantage here. The only other one that requires reviews that I can remember is Booksends, but they only need five.

Good luck!

Edit: I'm an idiot. I've found the Australian site and stats and, no, I haven't really charted. I'm selling one every few days or so there, same with all the other markets except .com. Don't know how I missed that!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: September 21st
Well, I don't know what that lull was about. Anyway, normal service seems to have been resumed; 55 sales, 24 borrows and a rank of 1450 was a pleasant surprise!


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: September 22nd
Hopefully the consistency is back.50 sales, 29 borrows and a rank of 1550.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 23rd September
Welp, I spoke to soon. 35 sales, 23 borrows and a rank of 1750 is a considerable slump from yesterday. Something I've noticed, however, is that (being the UK) most of the sales I have are before 10pm GMT. I then have half the sales again when I wake up the next morning at the close of the US day. Previously I would find that the sales I had while sleeping were a multiple of 1-1.5 of the sales I had during my waking day, so I don't know what's caused this switch about. So I'm seeing the same amount of sales as always during my day, but less at night, which is peak time in the US for buying (late afternoon, early evening). Oh well, hopefully I don't drop too far before my promo in October.


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## Andyroo (Aug 1, 2014)

Update: 24th September
41 sales, 23 borrows, rank of 1700. Better than yesterday!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Hey, Andy--

I've locked your topic for the moment.  Look for a PM from me--I've got some questions.

Betsy
KB Mod


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