# My debut novel is knocking on the door of 1k! 3 week update: Sticky!



## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

***EDITED TO INCLUDE SALES AND KENP!***

Well, knocking as in it's ranked in the one thousands  Maybe I'll get there eventually!

So I love reading the launch threads, they're some of my favorite threads here on the kboards. Maybe mine is redundant, maybe no one cares, but I do so I thought I'd share.

Some background:

I wrote Grave Mistake large in part without doing a lot of market research. Woops! I didn't know what a 'no no' that was at the time, but I also was an avid urban fantasy reader and swear on The Dresden Files like they're holy books. So I did know a thing or two about tropes in the urban fantasy genre, and I'd like to say that served me well. I banged out my book with the original intention to traditional publish, or at the very least to shop it around until someone said 'yes' and then turn and run the other way because a gatekeeper approved me so now I could pursue the option that made money.

I never said I was bright.

Enter a series of vlogs by a self-professed self-publishing guru. I didn't know much at all at that point, but they said they had published one book and now they're a full time author, and isn't that the dream? So I gobbled up their videos, all the while thinking I could publish a book a year and be fine and dandy--hey, this person is still editing book two a full year and a half after their first book came out, why shouldn't I be able to do that? Hm. Because I'm not that person.

Enter kboards! Oh my goodness did I devour launch threads like they were going out of style when I first got here, Domino Finn and JA Cipriano's were two of my favorites that I kept returning to. At the time I was still struggling with the idea that fast publishing had to equal bad writing, but I could see that fast publishing meant a living...and then I read the books and promptly told myself to go sit in a corner and think about how mean I'd been, even if I'd kept the comments to myself. So I'm sorry for all the bad thoughts I put out into the world! I swear I know better now.

I can't really pinpoint the moment I switched from "I'm just reading these self-publishing posts for fun" to "I'm going to do this and I'm going to give it my all." It happened somewhere in those launch threads, though, I'm certain of it.

So after much editing on my part, I sent Grave Mistake to the editor, and hired Bookfly Designs to do my cover--which I'm still absolutely in love with!










And then I lined up my launch plan. For the sake of not repeating myself overly much, I'll go ahead and say that FB and AMS ads were a large part of the launch plan.

I participated in an IF cross promo and used FB ads to drive traffic to my IF giveaway to build up my mailing list. I knew these weren't going to be the best subscribers, but I wanted to start somewhere.

I also put the book up for preorder one week before release, and scrounged on Goodreads for ARC reviewers. I had the paperback up for two weeks prior where my ARC reviewers could leave their reviews, and had the paperback and ebook preorder linked before launch. And just to test out the FB ad with the audience I had crafted for the IF giveaway, I ran a fb ad pointed at my preorder as well as an AMS ad to learn how to use it.

I managed to garner 42 preorders, which I thought was pretty darn snazzy considering no one knows who the heck I am or why they should care about me.

Day 1
Enticing Journey Book Promotions
GenrePulse
Day 2
Enticing Journey Book Promotions
Books Butterfly
Day 3
Enticing Journey Book Promotions
Books Butterfly
Price Dropped Books 
Day 4
GenreCrave Newsletter
Day 5
Bargain Booksy
Day 6
GenreCrave Book Blast
Day 7
Choosy Bookworm
Day 8 
I Love Vampires
Day 9
Romancing the Dragon

Geez, that's a spaced out promotion schedule! I know, but I read a lot of Chris Fox and watched his videos, and I learned that Amazon likes to see steady sales, not spikes. So, since I didn't have an amazing mailing list to space out the announcement to, I did it with promotions. I used the resources I had available.

Did it work? You tell me.

No, I'm serious, I have no idea what constitutes a good launch for a new author and I'm kind of hoping I'm not making a joke of myself by sharing this with you all. I was going to make this thread at the beginning of my launch, but nerves got the better of me. The official excuse was that I wanted my also-boughts to populate first. Which they have!

As of right this second, I am sitting at 1,467 in the store. #2 in Werewolves & Shifters, #4 in Psychics, and #4 in Vampires.

My best ranks so far(today is Day 4):

Day 1
Sales: 44
KENP: 2,406
Highest Rank: 3,305
Niche 1: 6, Book Psychics
Niche 2: 7, Kindle Psychics
Niche 3: 7, Vampires

Day 2
Sales: 40
KENP: 6,789
Highest Rank: 3,272
Niche 1: 6, Kindle Psychics
Niche 2: 7, Vampires
Niche 3: 7, Book Psychics

Day 3
Sales: 42
KENP: 5,728
Highest Rank: 2,534
Niche 1: 4, Vampires
Niche 2: 5, Werewolves & Shifters
Niche 3: 5, Book Psychics

Day 4
Sales: 105
KENP: 7,393
Highest Rank: 1,245
Niche 1: 1, Werewolves & Shifters
Niche 2: 3, Vampires
Niche 3: 3, Psychics

Day 5
Sales: 127
KENP: 11,678
Highest Rank: 928
Niche 1: 1, Werewolves & Shifters
Niche 2: 2, Witches & Wizards
Niche 3: 2, Vampires

Day 6
Sales: 168
KENP: 12,502
Highest Rank: 656
Niche 1: 1, Werewolves & Shifters
Niche 2: 1, Vampires
Niche 3: 1, Witches & Wizards

Day 7
Sales: 127
KENP: 15,192
Highest Rank: 671
Niche 1: 1, Vampires
Niche 2: 1, Werewolves & Shifters, Books
Niche 3: 1, Werewolves & Shifters, Kindle

Day 8
Sales: 128
KENP: 20,269
Highest Rank: 558
Niche 1: 1, Witches & Wizards
Niche 2: 1, Psychics
Niche 3: 1, Werewolves & Shifters

Day 9
Sales: 121
KENP: 22,978
Highest Rank: 559
Niche 1: 1, Book Werewolves & Shifters
Niche 2: 1, Psychics
Niche 3: 1, Kindle Werewolves & Shifters

Day 10
Sales: 180
KENP: 26,247
Highest Rank: 390
Niche 1: 1, Ghosts
Niche 2: 1, Psychics
Niche 3: 1, Werewolves & Shifters

Day 11
Sales: 177
KENP: 37,944
Highest Rank: 353
Niche 1: 1, Vampires
Niche 2: 1, Werewolves & Shifters
Niche 3: 1, Ghosts

Day 12
Sales: 191
KENP: 39,112
Highest Rank: 283
Niche 1: 1, Ghosts
Niche 2: 1, Witches & Wizards
Niche 3: 1, Psychics

Day 13
Sales: 253
KENP: 60,872
Highest Rank: 241
Niche 1: 1, Werewolves & Shifters
Niche 2: 1, Vampires
Niche 3: 1, Psychics

So, am I crazy, or have I done pretty well for myself?

EDIT 1/28:

I AM NOT CRAZY. I BROKE THE TOP ONE THOUSAND. WOOOOOOOO.









EDIT 2/6

So I think it's safe to say the LAUNCH was a success. We are now entering the sticky period, where the book has been raised to $2.99, and we will see where it lands in the rankings.

EDIT 2/13

All right, Grave Mistake has been at full price for one week now, and it looks like I have achieved this mythical stickiness. I have stayed in the top 500, currently in the low 400s so that might be on its way out. I also just threw book 2 up for pre-order, so we're going to see how that does and if it affects book 1 at all. Fingers crossed I didn't ruin everything with a semi-long pre-order. (Book 2 won't be out until 3/28.)


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## Not any more (Mar 19, 2012)

You've done very well. Congratulations!


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

brkingsolver said:


> You've done very well. Congratulations!


  Thank you! I'm alternating between amazed and numb!


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## Not any more (Mar 19, 2012)

When I launched my new series in Dec., I left it at 99c for 10 days, then boosted it up to $2.99. The number of sales during that 10 days helped it to stick at the high rank. I got up to around 1125 or so. The real revenue started about 2 weeks after release. So, tighten your seat belt, cause you're probably in for a wild ride.

How close are you with the next book?


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

I'm planning on leaving it at 99c for 14 days to take advantage of Patty's promo, and then I'll be going up to $2.99. I hope my rank steadies at a decent number once I pull up. 

I finished book two yesterday! But it won't be coming out until March, because of cover scheduling unfortunately.


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## AYClaudy (Oct 2, 2014)

Awesome job!

And you scored well with the ARC reviewers too. Sitting at 4.8 stars is great!



wingsandwords said:


> I finished book two yesterday! But it won't be coming out until March, because of cover scheduling unfortunately.


I don't think that's unfortunate! A month to two months between releases is a good timing!


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## Nicholas Erik (Sep 22, 2015)

That's impressive for a new author. You've done well and brought together a lot of moving parts that more established authors even struggle with. A great launch for even a full-time mid-list author; given the lineup and the quality of the cover, you have a good chance of sticking. I'd certainly have been pleased with your early results with my latest UF book, which isn't doing nearly as well (novel #20, for what it's worth). 

So definitely give yourself a pat on the back - especially since Book 2 is already done. You're off to a tremendous start. 

BookFly Designs makes some of the best covers in the business. Great work all around. 

Nick


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

AYClaudy said:


> Awesome job!
> 
> And you scored well with the ARC reviewers too. Sitting at 4.8 stars is great!
> 
> I don't think that's unfortunate! A month to two months between releases is a good timing!


Thank you! I danced around the house each and every time I got an ARC review--I made someone cry! That's the dream!
And that makes me feel better to hear that a month to two months is good; I've heard such differing things about release timing that I was starting to stress about not being able to get a book a month out. 



> That's impressive for a new author. You've done well and brought together a lot of moving parts that more established authors even struggle with. A great launch for even a full-time mid-list author; given the lineup and the quality of the cover, you have a good chance of sticking. I'd certainly have been pleased with your early results with my latest UF book, which isn't doing nearly as well (novel #20, for what it's worth).
> 
> So definitely give yourself a pat on the back - especially since Book 2 is already done. You're off to a tremendous start.
> 
> ...


Thanks, Nick! I did a lot of studying for the launch, and I'm definitely in the hole after cover, editing, and promotion costs, but I am lucky enough to have a partner who agreed that we can give this a shot without being in it for a profit for a few books. I'm hoping the visibility on book one will pay off by book four, and then I can start to see a profit!

And yes, BookFly Designs has stolen my heart and all of my business, lol!


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Definitely in the not-crazy category, wingsandwords! Congrats!


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## Anarchist (Apr 22, 2015)

First book... launched with 15 solid reviews... broke 1,500...


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## SC (Jan 6, 2017)

You've got a great cover, which really helps. Hey, it got me to buy it. I just sort of scanned the blurb quickly--"Yep, looks interesting"--and scanned the first couple paragraphs--"Good opening line. She can competently string words together."--all of which helps, but for me, and I'm guessing a lot of other readers, we are easily reeled in by a really pretty and professional-looking cover.

Congrats on a great launch!


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

Becca Mills said:


> Definitely in the not-crazy category, wingsandwords! Congrats!


Thank you, it's good to have my sanity validated! 


Anarchist said:


> First book... launched with 15 solid reviews... broke 1,500...


*squeal!* Thank you!



Shawna Canon said:


> You've got a great cover, which really helps. Hey, it got me to buy it. I just sort of scanned the blurb quickly--"Yep, looks interesting"--and scanned the first couple paragraphs--"Good opening line. She can competently string words together."--all of which helps, but for me, and I'm guessing a lot of other readers, we are easily reeled in by a really pretty and professional-looking cover.
> 
> Congrats on a great launch!


Oh my gosh, thank you for buying a copy! And I'm sure the cover makes the sale a large percentage of the time. If there's one place not to cut corners, it's the cover! (And I'm glad I can string a sentence together! )


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## SC (Jan 6, 2017)

wingsandwords said:


> Oh my gosh, thank you for buying a copy! And I'm sure the cover makes the sale a large percentage of the time. If there's one place not to cut corners, it's the cover!


Well, it's a good price and in one of my favorite sub-genres, so it's an easy sell. ;-) I totally agree about covers. I actually would love to hire a notable professional cover artist for the first cover in a novel series I'm working on. But it's a lot of money for quality original art like that, so it may take me a while. In the mean time, I figure I can try to write the rest of the series (and some other books that I have less sky-high aspirations for, cover-wise).


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

Shawna Canon said:


> Well, it's a good price and in one of my favorite sub-genres, so it's an easy sell. ;-) I totally agree about covers. I actually would love to hire a notable professional cover artist for the first cover in a novel series I'm working on. But it's a lot of money for quality original art like that, so it may take me a while. In the mean time, I figure I can try to write the rest of the series (and some other books that I have less sky-high aspirations for, cover-wise).


It's definitely a lot of money, nothing to just jump up and do on a whim. You have to balance what's best for you and what's best for your business. But in defense of great cover art, there's nothing quite like having someone bring your book to life like that. I had NO idea what I wanted on the cover, and when I got the first draft my heart almost stopped.

And unrelated, but an update to the original post: I just made it to #1 in Werewolves & Shifters!! That's another goal to cross off my list. I'm not screaming, your screaming.


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## lincolnjcole (Mar 15, 2016)

Congratulations!


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## Ron Tucker (Jul 16, 2012)

Wow, way to go. 

I plan on publishing my first book in a few months, so this is very encouraging and enlightening.

Awesome job!


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## SC (Jan 6, 2017)

wingsandwords said:


> It's definitely a lot of money, nothing to just jump up and do on a whim. You have to balance what's best for you and what's best for your business. But in defense of great cover art, there's nothing quite like having someone bring your book to life like that. I had NO idea what I wanted on the cover, and when I got the first draft my heart almost stopped.


That does sound pretty cool. Who's your cover designer, if I may ask?


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## JaclynDolamore (Nov 5, 2015)

You should definitely be excited! My debut indie novel only cracked the top #2500 when I released it but then really got cranking around when book 2 came out. I usually sat in the top 2000 for a couple of months. You're in an even more popular genre so buckle up. Good work! I can only hope my urban fantasy series does this well. Would you consider actually updating with the # of books sold each day of your promo? That's really helpful for those of us who plan launches in the same genre later in deciding which sites to book. (Rank is good too but it fluctuates more.)


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

lincolnjcole said:


> Congratulations!


Thank you! 



Ron Tucker said:


> Wow, way to go.
> 
> I plan on publishing my first book in a few months, so this is very encouraging and enlightening.
> 
> Awesome job!


Thank you! I'm happy to help in any way possible. I'm planning on updating this thread with numbers as they come and will also come back to confirm whether or not I managed to get 'sticky.' I hope that will be helpful to my fellow newbie authors. We have to stick together to figure out what's working!



Shawna Canon said:


> That does sound pretty cool. Who's your cover designer, if I may ask?


No problem at all, my cover designer is BookFly Designs. Here's a link to their portfolio: https://www.bookflydesign.com/portfolio/



JaclynDolamore said:


> You should definitely be excited! My debut indie novel only cracked the top #2500 when I released it but then really got cranking around when book 2 came out. I usually sat in the top 2000 for a couple of months. You're in an even more popular genre so buckle up. Good work! I can only hope my urban fantasy series does this well. Would you consider actually updating with the # of books sold each day of your promo? That's really helpful for those of us who plan launches in the same genre later in deciding which sites to book. (Rank is good too but it fluctuates more.)


Thanks! I'm super excited right now, waltzing on cloud nine. I really hope I manage to get sticky. And I absolutely don't mind sharing books sold numbers, I hope it helps.

So update for today!

First, books sold for each day, and I'll go back and update the original post to include that.

For preorders running FB and AMS ads: 
Sales: 42
Highest Rank: 21,594

Day 1: 
Enticing Journey, Genre Pulse, FB Ads
Sales: 44
KENP: 2,406

Day 2: 
Enticing Journey, Books Butterfly, FB Ads
Sales: 40
KENP: 6,789

Day 3: 
Enticing Journey, Books Butterfly, Price Dropped Books, FB Ads
Sales: 42
KENP: 5,728

Day 4: Sales and final rankings!
GenreCrave, FB Ads
Sales: 105
KENP: 7,393
Highest Rank: 1,245
Niche 1: 1, Werewolves & Shifters
Niche 2: 3, Vampires
Niche 3: 3, Psychics

Unfortunately GenreCrave's genre targeted newsletters are no longer offered, but they were hands down the best newsletter promo I've had as you can see.

ETA: I'm a doofus, the Spotlight blast includes the targeted newsletters!


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## Harriet Schultz (Jan 3, 2012)

Well done! And it's great that your second book will be coming out in March which is soon enough for readers of book #1 to remember you and pick it up.


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## Eugene Kirk (Oct 21, 2016)

Wow great job! You inspire me as I think about my own series launch approaching. Could you expand a bit on what you mentioned below?



wingsandwords said:


> I participated in an IF cross promo and used FB ads to drive traffic to my IF giveaway to build up my mailing list. I knew these weren't going to be the best subscribers, but I wanted to start somewhere.
> 
> I also put the book up for preorder one week before release, and scrounged on Goodreads for ARC reviewers. I had the paperback up for two weeks prior where my ARC reviewers could leave their reviews, and had the paperback and ebook preorder linked before launch. And just to test out the FB ad with the audience I had crafted for the IF giveaway, I ran a fb ad pointed at my preorder as well as an AMS ad to learn how to use it.


What did you use as you IF giveaway? And did you do the paid IF? How did the IF work with the prelaunch? Did you decide not to enroll it in KU for that reason?

Thanks in advance for the more detail info ^^


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## amdonehere (May 1, 2015)

Congrats! That's excellent results!

May I ask what is your experience with Enticing Journey? I've never heard of them before. Were they effective? Did you like working with them? Do they send news out to bloggers with a lot of followers?


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## Melody Simmons (Jul 8, 2012)

That's fantastic!  I hope you can get the next one out fast as I am sure readers will look for more...


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## Evenstar (Jan 26, 2013)

Love the cover. I just picked up a copy too


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

Harriet Schultz said:


> Well done! And it's great that your second book will be coming out in March which is soon enough for readers of book #1 to remember you and pick it up.


Thank you, and I hope so. I've been debating about putting it up on pre-order once I have the cover art, but I don't want to miss out on mailing list sign ups from people who would just pre-order instead. But maybe having book two on pre-order will keep me in the mind of some people and legitimize the series a bit...ah, decisions.



Team Contract said:


> Wow great job! You inspire me as I think about my own series launch approaching. Could you expand a bit on what you mentioned below?
> 
> What did you use as you IF giveaway? And did you do the paid IF? How did the IF work with the prelaunch? Did you decide not to enroll it in KU for that reason?
> 
> Thanks in advance for the more detail info ^^


Absolutely! I wrote a novella that takes place between book 1 and 2, but it's not necessary to read book 1 to understand. It's a story within a story, where one of the side characters is telling the main character about an adventure they went on. I did the trial version of the paid IF so that I could require mailing list sign ups. I didn't really use the IF giveaway to feed pre-orders, since I did the brunt of that before it went up for pre-order. That's definitely worth looking into. HOWEVER, the mailing list I got from IF did end up buying what looks like 57 copies across some of those first few days, based on the clicks I got. I plan on sending out a 'last chance' reminder before I put the book up to $2.99 as well.

I did enroll in KU, since I did not use my book as the IF giveaway option. The novella served a dual purpose of being mailing list bait for the back of the book as well. I considered it worthwhile to take a week out and write that.



AlexaKang said:


> Congrats! That's excellent results!
> 
> May I ask what is your experience with Enticing Journey? I've never heard of them before. Were they effective? Did you like working with them? Do they send news out to bloggers with a lot of followers?


Thank you! I was very happy with Enticing Journey. Unfortunately I'm not entirely certain how effective they were, since I did use them in conjunction with other promos. They did send my book out to a multitude of bloggers with varying platforms, all generally rather large. I also got several ARC reviews from them--what was best IMO was that they fit me in on a very tight schedule, and the customer service was stellar.



Melody Simmons said:


> That's fantastic! I hope you can get the next one out fast as I am sure readers will look for more...


Thank you! Book two is slated for launching in March, and I'm debating doing a pre-order as soon as I have the cover. I'm very torn on what to do there, so if anyone has advice on that I'd be happy to hear it!



Evenstar said:


> Love the cover. I just picked up a copy too


Thank you! I appreciate the support, every bit helps


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## Simply_Me (Mar 31, 2016)

Izzy, congratulations! You're a rising star! 
And thank you for sharing, step by step, your method and experiences.


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## ScottFish (May 3, 2016)

Amazing.  Thank you for sharing!


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## A Fading Street (Sep 25, 2016)

No more than you deserved Wingsandwords. I was honored to be involved on the editing side and it is a really great story with a kickass heroine, lots of bad guys and some interesting characters with plenty of scope for future tales. Good luck for book two which I'm sure will be just as good.


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

Simply_J said:


> Izzy, congratulations! You're a rising star!
> And thank you for sharing, step by step, your method and experiences.


I hope so, hehe. And no problem at all! I'm happy to share anything that might help someone, I benefited a lot from various different launch threads so it's only fair that I give back.



ScottFish said:


> Amazing. Thank you for sharing!


Thanks!  Happy to help!


A Fading Street said:


> No more than you deserved Wingsandwords. I was honored to be involved on the editing side and it is a really great story with a kickass heroine, lots of bad guys and some interesting characters with plenty of scope for future tales. Good luck for book two which I'm sure will be just as good.


You are KEY to my success, and I'm not going to forget it. You better get used to hearing from me, book two is headed your way soon!  And I won't ever stop bragging about how awesome my editor is. All my friends have heard about you.


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## Steven Slavick (May 15, 2011)

Congratulations on your success! Especially for a 1st book. That's really exciting! I saw your book featured in Genre Crave and loved the cover, so I bought a copy. Didn't even read the blurb. 

Regarding whether or not to put it up for pre-order really comes down to your goals. The really heavy hitters who already have a backlist in the same genre or at least 2 books out in the series tend to put their books on pre-order months in advance do so because they know they've got tons of readers who will eventually find the book (through a newsletter blast, the bestseller charts, and/or word of mouth) and that will keep their rank afloat, so their book will be on the bestseller charts during the pre-order as well as when it finally goes live. 

That said, if your debut is just crushing it with sales and great reviews, you might do well to put it on pre-order to build even more momentum. Keep in mind that to get sticky, readers need to buy your book as soon as you put it on pre-order or publish. That boosts your ranking and increases visibility, simply because Amazon's algorithms favor new books that sell right out of the gate, and the only way to keep that momentum is if your books continue to sell consistently. 

I'd never heard of Enticing Journeys. I'll be publishing my next UF novel in a few weeks, so I'll have to give them a try. Thanks for the tip!

You mentioned an IF giveaway, but I'm totally ignorant  about what "IF" stands for. (Initial free?) And I'm curious, how did you go about getting reviews from those on Goodreads?


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

Steven Slavick said:


> Congratulations on your success! Especially for a 1st book. That's really exciting! I saw your book featured in Genre Crave and loved the cover, so I bought a copy. Didn't even read the blurb.
> 
> Regarding whether or not to put it up for pre-order really comes down to your goals. The really heavy hitters who already have a backlist in the same genre or at least 2 books out in the series tend to put their books on pre-order months in advance do so because they know they've got tons of readers who will eventually find the book (through a newsletter blast, the bestseller charts, and/or word of mouth) and that will keep their rank afloat, so their book will be on the bestseller charts during the pre-order as well as when it finally goes live.
> 
> ...


Thanks  That's why I'm so split on doing a pre-order. I'm new! I don't have the backlist or the fanbase to support a pre-order. If I'm still ranking high and selling well when I look at doing a pre-order, I could conceivably do well with it, but that's a huge risk. It could be amazing or it could be horrible.  But I guess that's publishing in a nutshell.

IF is short for InstaFreebie. I added my book to Goodreads when I put it up for IF. It was actually really easy to do, considering the book isn't a published work. Part of my autoresponder is a call to join my ARC team and/or review The Fallen's Crime on Goodreads. Or did you mean how did I find ARC reviewers on Goodreads? I located a few UF Goodreads groups(Lovers of the Paranormal is a GREAT one), they had a specific area to ask for reviews. I participated in some conversations because I'm also an UF fan, so that was natural to me. I then posted a call for reviews(I also offered a signed copy giveaway to participants), and people signed up! They're a great bunch of people, I've really enjoyed talking to them.


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

Are there rules about posting back to back? I swear to behave after this...

I broke the top one thousand! I am so happy, oh my gosh. And this is before Rebecca's book blast!  I can't believe this!


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## Not any more (Mar 19, 2012)

wingsandwords said:


> Are there rules about posting back to back? I swear to behave after this...


Nah, just post anything that pops into your head. Everybody else does.


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## Eugene Kirk (Oct 21, 2016)

wingsandwords said:


> I did enroll in KU, since I did not use my book as the IF giveaway option. The novella served a dual purpose of being mailing list bait for the back of the book as well. I considered it worthwhile to take a week out and write that.


Are you sure you did? I don't see the buy for $0 option. Also if you did, you'd need to take the free sample chapters off your website fast ^^


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## D A Bale (Oct 20, 2016)

Big congratulations and two thumbs WAY up on your cover.  Absolutely stunning!


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

Team Contract said:


> Are you sure you did? I don't see the buy for $0 option. Also if you did, you'd need to take the free sample chapters off your website fast ^^


I am definitely enrolled in KU, I'm getting page reads and when I look at my product page it says "kindle unlimited" right beneath the 99c price.

I was also under the impression you're allowed to give away a sample for free? It says that on the Amazon webpage.



D A Bale said:


> Big congratulations and two thumbs WAY up on your cover. Absolutely stunning!


Thank you!  I am so happy with my cover, hehe.


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## Not any more (Mar 19, 2012)

wingsandwords said:


> I am definitely enrolled in KU, I'm getting page reads and when I look at my product page it says "kindle unlimited" right beneath the 99c price.
> 
> I was also under the impression you're allowed to give away a sample for free? It says that on the Amazon webpage.


You can't have content elsewhere that in part of a KU book. A free sample on your website can't exceed the "look inside" length on your Amazon product page.


----------



## JaclynDolamore (Nov 5, 2015)

I am a fan of preorders myself. When The Sorcerer's Concubine came out, I put book 2 on preorder for almost 3 months. I got 229 preorders. With book 3, I only did a month long preorder and I got 131 preorders. So, per daily average I got more preorders on book 3, but in general I had more sales of book 2 thanks to the long preorder time. Upon actual release, both books have sold pretty much the same. So I can't help but think I'd have more sales faster if I'd done a preorder. Of course, there are others who swear on not doing a preorder, but...that's my reasoning.

Thanks for the update with numbers! Congratulations!


----------



## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

brkingsolver said:


> You can't have content elsewhere that in part of a KU book. A free sample on your website can't exceed the "look inside" length on your Amazon product page.


I've changed my website so now it's just the sample offered^^



JaclynDolamore said:


> I am a fan of preorders myself. When The Sorcerer's Concubine came out, I put book 2 on preorder for almost 3 months. I got 229 preorders. With book 3, I only did a month long preorder and I got 131 preorders. So, per daily average I got more preorders on book 3, but in general I had more sales of book 2 thanks to the long preorder time. Upon actual release, both books have sold pretty much the same. So I can't help but think I'd have more sales faster if I'd done a preorder. Of course, there are others who swear on not doing a preorder, but...that's my reasoning.
> 
> Thanks for the update with numbers! Congratulations!


Arghhh, I'm so split. Seeing as those weren't your first books, do you feel like your fan base had a lot to do with the preorder's success, or do you feel the majority of it followed from the success of book one in that series?


----------



## A. S. Warwick (Jan 14, 2011)

Huzzah!  Well done.


----------



## Tess McCallum (Jan 3, 2017)

Congratulations. I'm full of admiration and have taken a lesson from the example you've set. My next book will be launched properly instead of just thrown up and hoping for the best


----------



## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

wingsandwords said:


> I broke the top one thousand! I am so happy, oh my gosh. And this is before Rebecca's book blast!  I can't believe this!


WOOO-HOOO!!!


----------



## kusanagi (Jan 27, 2017)

Hell I'm not even into vampires much and I'd still read the book because of the cover  

Well done! Inspiring stuff *goes back to finishing first book*


----------



## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

A. S. Warwick said:


> Huzzah! Well done.


Thank you!



Tess McCallum said:


> Congratulations. I'm full of admiration and have taken a lesson from the example you've set. My next book will be launched properly instead of just thrown up and hoping for the best


Thanks! I did a lot of research before I put together my marketing plan. I'm glad I was able to pull it together in a way that may have helped someone!



Becca Mills said:


> WOOO-HOOO!!!


Party time, right?  I'm so happy!



aerynleigh said:


> Hell I'm not even into vampires much and I'd still read the book because of the cover
> 
> Well done! Inspiring stuff *goes back to finishing first book*


Thank you! And I'm really not sure how I'm doing so well in that category, other than the fact that it appears most UF gets filtered into Psychics, Vampires, Witches & Wizards, and Werewolves & Shifters.


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## JaclynDolamore (Nov 5, 2015)

wingsandwords said:


> Arghhh, I'm so split. Seeing as those weren't your first books, do you feel like your fan base had a lot to do with the preorder's success, or do you feel the majority of it followed from the success of book one in that series?


It absolutely followed on from the success of The Sorcerer's Concubine. My prior books were all YA and I had never really built up a fan base for various reasons.


----------



## Not any more (Mar 19, 2012)

wingsandwords said:


> Thank you! And I'm really not sure how I'm doing so well in that category, other than the fact that it appears most UF gets filtered into Psychics, Vampires, Witches & Wizards, and Werewolves & Shifters.


Amazon puts UF all over the place. My book is on 5 different sub-genre best seller lists, in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. I sympathize with anyone who reads horror, because when you search on it, lots of UF comes up instead.


----------



## amdonehere (May 1, 2015)

wingsandwords said:


> Are there rules about posting back to back? I swear to behave after this...
> 
> I broke the top one thousand! I am so happy, oh my gosh. And this is before Rebecca's book blast!  I can't believe this!


What an amazing feat! Particularly impressive since it's before the GenreCrave blast too. A huge big congrat!!!


----------



## Douglas Milewski (Jul 4, 2014)

Congratulations. As a point of reference, you've already sold more books than I've sold in six years.


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## D/W (Dec 29, 2010)

Congratulations, Izzy!!!


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## Craig Andrews (Apr 14, 2013)

That's great, and really well done! You're obviously selling well, but how are you doing with KU page reads?


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

JaclynDolamore said:


> It absolutely followed on from the success of The Sorcerer's Concubine. My prior books were all YA and I had never really built up a fan base for various reasons.


You've got me seriously considering a preorder...I don't want to lose anyone who isn't up for signing up to a mailing list.



brkingsolver said:


> Amazon puts UF all over the place. My book is on 5 different sub-genre best seller lists, in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. I sympathize with anyone who reads horror, because when you search on it, lots of UF comes up instead.


Oh my gosh, my author rank is ridiculously high in horror for some reason? I feel so bad for them! D:



AlexaKang said:


> What an amazing feat! Particularly impressive since it's before the GenreCrave blast too. A huge big congrat!!!


Thank you! GenreCrave blast is today, so finger's crossed for good results.



Douglas Milewski said:


> Congratulations. As a point of reference, you've already sold more books than I've sold in six years.


Thanks  I feel a certain amount of this has to be attributed to luck, though.



DreamWeaver said:


> Congratulations, Izzy!!!


Thank you!!



Craig Andrews said:


> That's great, and really well done! You're obviously selling well, but how are you doing with KU page reads?


Thanks  KU page reads seem to be good, in my opinion? I've heard there have been problems, but I don't have a point of reference, and it looks like everything's working out for me. I have my KENP numbers in my OP, but here's the graph if that helps.


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## Zaitsev (Feb 21, 2016)

Congrats -- the book looks great and that cover is perfect.   How is your work on the rest of the series going?


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## Craig Andrews (Apr 14, 2013)

I must have missed the KENP numbers in the original post, so my apologies. I average about 2k in page reads a day spread over three books, so I'd say you're doing very well! Thanks for sharing!


----------



## Mari Oliver (Feb 12, 2016)

That's amazing! Way to go girl!


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

Zaitsev said:


> Congrats -- the book looks great and that cover is perfect.  How is your work on the rest of the series going?


Thanks! Book two is finished and going to the editor on Tuesday. I allow myself mini-breaks(3 days tops) when I have new book/series ideas to pour out everything in my head, so I'm doing a broad series outline right now for a new project. I have Codex Blair mapped out, so book three is ready for me to jump on as soon as I have this out of my head.



Craig Andrews said:


> I must have missed the KENP numbers in the original post, so my apologies. I average about 2k in page reads a day spread over three books, so I'd say you're doing very well! Thanks for sharing!


No worries! I don't mind repeating stuff, I know first posts can be a drag to read when they get on the longer end of things. Thanks for the data! I love gathering data, hehe.



Vintage Mari said:


> That's amazing! Way to go girl!


Thank you!


----------



## dgrant (Feb 5, 2014)

Congratulations! That's so awesome!


----------



## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

dgrant said:


> Congratulations! That's so awesome!


Thank you!

And, mini update! I just hit #1 in 3 different categories!(Well, technically five different categories, since there are book vampires and kindle vampires, and same for werewolves & shifters, and I made both sets of those lists.) CHECK THIS OUT.










And this is the full category breakdown where you can see the different lists rankings! (I feel the need to point out that the word count estimate for this is ridiculously off lol)


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## SC (Jan 6, 2017)

That's a lot of categories. Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I haven't published my books yet so I haven't experiencing the Amazon publishing experience myself. Do you choose your book categories, or are they somehow chosen for you? If you choose them yourself, what's the limit on the number of categories?


----------



## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

Shawna Canon said:


> That's a lot of categories. Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I haven't published my books yet so I haven't experiencing the Amazon publishing experience myself. Do you choose your book categories, or are they somehow chosen for you? If you choose them yourself, what's the limit on the number of categories?


Not a dumb question at all! You are allowed to select two categories for your book, and then you're asked to put in keywords. You can use keywords to get into relevant categories(using the keyword vampire is obviously going to put you into the vampire category). Here is the official word from Amazon on categories and here is an incredibly helpful guide on categories! You can also email kdp support and ask to be put in categories, but it's recommended to only ask for two at a time, and you probably shouldn't ask more than two to three times.


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## Allyson J. (Nov 26, 2014)

Wow! Great numbers! Congratulations!!


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## Renard (Jun 21, 2016)

I already commented saying I bought your book and subbed to your list on r/UrbanFantasy, but it's fun seeing your progress here.


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

Allyson J. said:


> Wow! Great numbers! Congratulations!!


Thank you!



MarkFeenstra said:


> I already commented saying I bought your book and subbed to your list on r/UrbanFantasy, but it's fun seeing your progress here.


Hey, I remember you  I actually grabbed your book as one to read in between working on the thought dump for my new project; I have to keep busy to stay sane during the launch!


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## SC (Jan 6, 2017)

wingsandwords said:


> Not a dumb question at all! You are allowed to select two categories for your book, and then you're asked to put in keywords. You can use keywords to get into relevant categories(using the keyword vampire is obviously going to put you into the vampire category). Here is the official word from Amazon on categories and here is an incredibly helpful guide on categories! You can also email kdp support and ask to be put in categories, but it's recommended to only ask for two at a time, and you probably shouldn't ask more than two to three times.


Oh cool, thanks!


----------



## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

Update with yesterday's numbers! I got soooooo close to breaking 500, which is just absolutely insane for me to think about. I never _really_ thought I could reach 1,000, so this entire ride is amazing for me.

Without further ado:

Day 6
Sales: 168
KENP: 12,502
Highest Rank: 656
Niche 1: 1, Werewolves & Shifters
Niche 2: 1, Vampires
Niche 3: 1, Witches & Wizards


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## Steven Slavick (May 15, 2011)

I hear you about keeping your head straight when your book is wrecking the charts. At one point last year, my novel Nightwish hit just under 900, and I couldn't concentrate enough to write much. Fingers crossed for hitting the top 500!


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## ASDeMatteis (Jan 29, 2017)

I hope I can do as well as you do with my first book! I really have no idea what I'm doing lol.

What are the launch threads you were talking about?


----------



## Nicholas Erik (Sep 22, 2015)

ASDeMatteis said:


> I hope I can do as well as you do with my first book! I really have no idea what I'm doing lol.
> 
> What are the launch threads you were talking about?


The launch threads mentioned by wingsandwords, along with others:

Engineering a Bestseller (Domino Finn's UF post that kicked off the UF trend)

How I Got My Best Release Ever (J.A. Cipriano explains how he got his new UF series in the top 500)

Overnight Success: It Only Took Me 17 Years (Sonya Bateman's UF post about how she launched into the top 1000)

Funnel experiment: new release (Lady Gargoyle details how she hit the Top 100 in the Kindle Store with a standalone fantasy book, and via some clever cross-selling, revived a book in a completely different series and got it into the Top 1000.)

How I Sold a Load of Books (Finally) (Al K. Line details how he stuck in the top 600 with his new UF book Black Spark, after 19 releases that didn't do much)

Epic fantasy book launch pwtucker unveils how he got an epic fantasy book sticky around 1,000, and then doubled his sales/income with the launch of Book 2 in the follow-up thread

Slow-burn launch for stickiness (Aimee did a great job spacing out the launch for stickiness; great details + chart)

Can I break 1,000 launching Book 2? (Aimee returns for the sequel to HALF-WOLF with another great launch post...and spoiler, she broke 1,000)

Can you write a good book in 21 days? I'm about to find out. Destroyer is live. (Chris Fox's now-classic post on how he wrote the space opera novel DESTROYER in 21 days, then proceeded to launch it into the top 250...and get sticky in the top 1k for a month)

Coming Back to Life - The Launch Thread You Weren't Really Asking For (Rob Cornell explains how he launched a book, on a limited budget, into the top 3k and got it sticky around 5k at $2.99; I interrupt at random points with details on my own idiotic experiment that somehow got sticky)

YA Fantasy Launch - Can I Move Up From Prawny To... (Megan Crewe details how she launched a standalone YA novel into the top 1,000, launched with 50+ reviews and ran a killer pre-order bonus campaign that generated 500+ pre-orders)

Nick


----------



## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

Steven Slavick said:


> I hear you about keeping your head straight when your book is wrecking the charts. At one point last year, my novel Nightwish hit just under 900, and I couldn't concentrate enough to write much. Fingers crossed for hitting the top 500!


It feels like lately all I do is check my rank  I even have the desktop version of the Amazon website bookmarked on my phone--my friends were NOT happy about that when we went to a bar with the sole purpose of distracting me! I'm having to set time outs for myself, to go do something else, work on book three, work on the new WIP, read a bit of my TBR pile, take a walk, etc.



ASDeMatteis said:


> I hope I can do as well as you do with my first book! I really have no idea what I'm doing lol.
> 
> What are the launch threads you were talking about?


Nick beat me to it! That's the bible right there. Actually, just go and look at all of Nick's guides, they were essential parts of my research process. Oh, and watch Chris Fox's videos!


----------



## Mara B. (Jul 6, 2015)

Tess McCallum said:


> My next book will be launched properly instead of just thrown up and hoping for the best


I could say the same thing myself! Thanks, Wings, for showing us what you did. I'm in a different genre but the same principles would apply for my next book.

Congratulations on your ranking! And, bonus, the OCD side of me also likes the fact that your #1 rankings are in alphabetical order and have a nice, tapered appearance along the right margin. I know that's silly but I am weird that way, lol. ETA: Oh, I see you have gotten popular in even more categories and now the tapered margins have changed. Well, somehow I think you are just fine with this change of events.


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

Mara B. said:


> I could say the same thing myself! Thanks, Wings, for showing us what you did. I'm in a different genre but the same principles would apply for my next book.
> 
> Congratulations on your ranking! And, bonus, the OCD side of me also likes the fact that your #1 rankings are in alphabetical order and have a nice, tapered appearance along the right margin. I know that's silly but I am weird that way, lol. ETA: Oh, I see you have gotten popular in even more categories and now the tapered margins have changed. Well, somehow I think you are just fine with this change of events.


Absolutely! I'm happy to give back any of the help I can. And I'd agree, while I obviously don't know anything about launching in another genre, I don't see why any of this wouldn't apply similarly.

Haha, can't be too upset about gaining rankings  I do also like when everything lines up, though lol


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## Patrick Urban (Oct 22, 2016)

Congratulations! Impressive start

You covered the bases: great cover, good blurb, nice start in the sample, marketing strategy that clearly paid off.
I picked up the book on KU; it's good. Your success is well-deserved.


----------



## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

Markus Croft said:


> Congratulations! Love hearing success stories and your blurb and cover are amazing. Not surprised people are picking it up.
> 
> Nicholas Erik: Thanks for the links!


Thank you! 



Patrick Urban said:


> Congratulations! Impressive start
> 
> You covered the bases: great cover, good blurb, nice start in the sample, marketing strategy that clearly paid off.
> I picked up the book on KU; it's good. Your success is well-deserved.


Ah, thank you, that's so kind of you to say! I really appreciate that.


----------



## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

Update with yesterday's numbers!

Sales: 127
KENP: 15,192
Highest Rank: 671
Niche 1: 1, Vampires
Niche 2: 1, Werewolves & Shifters, Books
Niche 3: 1, Werewolves & Shifters, Kindle

AAAAAAAND!










558!


----------



## KL_Phelps (Nov 7, 2013)

that's awesome, congrats!!


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## Nancy_G (Jun 22, 2015)

Very impressed! Congratulations!


----------



## Yayoi (Apr 26, 2016)

Hey wingsandwords Congratulations! So here are a couple of my questions:
1. How many months did you write that first book? What about the revision process, how long did you get it done?
2. I know you said you participated in a giveaway, so what freebie did you give away? Was it a new book or a short story while working on your novel?
3. How did you find those ARC reviewers on Goodreads?
4. And lastly, how much did you spend so far on advertising?

Thanks for answering my questions!


----------



## Starstruck (Nov 1, 2013)

Congrats, this is seriously impressive!!  

Do you mind if I ask how you went about finding the IF cross promo?  I just recently hopped on the IF train and I'm looking for more ways to promote giveaways.  I've done one paid promo for IF and had great results (1500+ subscribers over a few days), but I'm looking to branch out.


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

KL_Phelps said:


> that's awesome, congrats!!





Nancy_G said:


> Very impressed! Congratulations!


Thanks! 



Yayoi said:


> Hey wingsandwords Congratulations! So here are a couple of my questions:
> 1. How many months did you write that first book? What about the revision process, how long did you get it done?
> 2. I know you said you participated in a giveaway, so what freebie did you give away? Was it a new book or a short story while working on your novel?
> 3. How did you find those ARC reviewers on Goodreads?
> ...


Thank you  And no problemo, I'll answer any questions I can.

1. That's a difficult question. I started the book at the very end(two days left) of July, but halfway through August I had to move back in with my dad for a month to take care of him after major surgery. I also started taking two classes at the local community college, so it was hugely difficult to focus on writing. The book was almost finished when I went to take care of my dad, but with the college classes it took me until December to finish both the first draft and the self editing process. I sent the book to the editor halfway through December and got it back at the end of the month. To compare that to me having actual time, I wrote book two in January and finished it two days after book one came out. 
2. I wrote, and had edited, a novella that depicted one of the side characters telling the main character about a time they broke into a dragon's vault, and used it as both my mailing list bait and for the IF giveaway. I wrote it in December while waiting on book one to come back from the editor. 
3. I posted in R2R(read to review) threads on Goodreads groups dedicated to ubran fantasy/paranormal lovers.
4. Oof. It was a hefty amount. About $614.61 based on my spreadsheet. While my book has not made back all of its costs(editing and cover are left), it HAS made by the promotion costs.



Emilia Winters said:


> Congrats, this is seriously impressive!!
> 
> Do you mind if I ask how you went about finding the IF cross promo? I just recently hopped on the IF train and I'm looking for more ways to promote giveaways. I've done one paid promo for IF and had great results (1500+ subscribers over a few days), but I'm looking to branch out.


Thanks! And always ask questions, there can never be enough questions 

I found the cross promo here on kboards, I got about 300+ subscribers from Dean Wilson's SFF promo, it was a free to participate promo and my cover for the novella was hastily made in Photoshop, so I was pleased with that result.

And I totally forgot to update with my results from the 31st and the 1st, so here they are!

January 31st
Sales: 128
KENP: 20,269
Highest Rank: 558
Niche 1: 1, Witches & Wizards
Niche 2: 1, Psychics
Niche 3: 1, Werewolves & Shifters

February 1st
Sales: 121
KENP: 22,978
Highest Rank: 559
Niche 1: 1, Book Werewolves & Shifters
Niche 2: 1, Psychics
Niche 3: 1, Kindle Werewolves & Shifters

And the big news! I made it into the top 500 by the skin of my teeth today. #495!


----------



## writerc (Apr 15, 2016)

Go You!
This is seriously impressive  
Sounds like you've been working hard and it's paid off!
Congratulations x


----------



## Rick Gualtieri (Oct 31, 2011)

Congratulations!


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## kusanagi (Jan 27, 2017)

Nicholas Erik said:


> The launch threads mentioned by wingsandwords, along with others:
> 
> Engineering a Bestseller (Domino Finn's UF post that kicked off the UF trend)
> 
> ...


All the thankyou's in the world! But JFC there is a lot to learn! I suppose the benefit of not knowing a bloody thing about publishing/self-publishing (apart from the cultural myths) is that the only way from here is up - like what's there to lose?


----------



## pwtucker (Feb 12, 2011)

Huge congrats, and enjoy the wild ride


----------



## Yayoi (Apr 26, 2016)

Wingsandwords, Thanks for your reply. Anyway, so you said you're still in college. Yet you finished a damn book! How many words did you write every day? And how'd you manage your time with all the college and homework and other stuff?


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

catlife said:


> Go You!
> This is seriously impressive
> Sounds like you've been working hard and it's paid off!
> Congratulations x





Rick Gualtieri said:


> Congratulations!





pwtucker said:


> Huge congrats, and enjoy the wild ride


Thank you!  I'm hoping it sticks, the real test of that will be when the price goes up on Monday.



Aeryn Leigh said:


> All the thankyou's in the world! But JFC there is a lot to learn! I suppose the benefit of not knowing a bloody thing about publishing/self-publishing (apart from the cultural myths) is that the only way from here is up - like what's there to lose?


All the information in those links is GOLD. I highly recommend studying your heart out on them. I wouldn't have had a tenth of my success without them.



Yayoi said:


> Wingsandwords, Thanks for your reply. Anyway, so you said you're still in college. Yet you finished a damn book! How many words did you write every day? And how'd you manage your time with all the college and homework and other stuff?


Being "in college" is a point that could be argued. I was taking two classes at the time, and doing it mostly to prove a point; that being that I _could_ get straight A's if I cared to. And I did! I don't back down from challenges. But getting straight A's meant dedicating a whole heck of a lot of my time to school, which ate into my writing time quite a bit. But the trick to it all was carefully scheduling my time. To illustrate that, here is an example of my weekly schedule while in school.

I averaged probably 1k on work days, and 3-5k on my off days. Keep in mind, that was working a full time job and taking classes part time. It was worse than a fiery pit of endless torture.

I'm not taking classes this semester, and I'm not sure I'll continue in the fall either. Like I said, it was to prove a point, and I can write *a lot* more now that I'm not in school. I average 4k on work days and 6-8k on off days now. 3k is my minimum acceptable output now.


----------



## Anarchist (Apr 22, 2015)

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #367 Paid in Kindle Store


----------



## Mari Oliver (Feb 12, 2016)

Wingsandwords, your thread has been not only inspirational but educational as well. Thank you for continuing to share with us. I've learned a few things from this. Also, I agree about college being debateable. Not sure about anyone else, but I wish I would've just written fiction instead of gone through college. My degrees have been useless because all I've done is write anyway so...yeah. Congratulations again on everything. I hope this is the start of long-lasting career for you.


----------



## Steven Slavick (May 15, 2011)

And it keeps tearing up the bestseller list! Awesome! Unless you want to see how much better your rank gets, I'd start thinking about raising your price to $2.99. It has enough momentum to stick on the charts for a while now.


----------



## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

Anarchist said:


> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #367 Paid in Kindle Store


Eeeee, it's so exciting!



Vintage Mari said:


> Wingsandwords, your thread has been not only inspirational but educational as well. Thank you for continuing to share with us. I've learned a few things from this. Also, I agree about college being debateable. Not sure about anyone else, but I wish I would've just written fiction instead of gone through college. My degrees have been useless because all I've done is write anyway so...yeah. Congratulations again on everything. I hope this is the start of long-lasting career for you.


I'm glad my thread's been able to help! That was the whole point, beyond validating that I wasn't crazy in the early days.  Yeah, that's basically my thinking. I didn't do so well in college the first go round, actually dropped out to work full time until I could get my head on straight. Hence the going back to prove I could do it if I wanted to. But for the past year or so my brain's been on the "what the heck is the point of going into debt for a degree I don't want when I'm already working on writing?" And look, I may have been right! We'll see in a year if I was crazy about THAT.



Steven Slavick said:


> And it keeps tearing up the bestseller list! Awesome! Unless you want to see how much better your rank gets, I'd start thinking about raising your price to $2.99. It has enough momentum to stick on the charts for a while now.


I know, it's been really nerve wracking the past two days because the heavy promotions are over, and now it's ads and newsletter swaps. I have to leave it at $0.99 for today and tomorrow, I'm in Patty's promo, but on Monday it's going up to $2.99. That's when the REAL nerve wracking begins, seeing where it sticks.


----------



## SC (Jan 6, 2017)

Oh hey, I just noticed you have the paperback available for $8.99. That's a great price. I'm surprised you were able to get it that low. Do you have that marked for Expanded Distribution, and are you still making any money at that price? (If I may ask.) 

I'm still a paper-preferer when it comes to books, but I've become much more picky about which ones I have shelf space for. But when I find a book I love, I always try to get a paper copy of it in addition to whatever electronic copy I may get first. So I think having quality paper copies available is great for both authors and readers. The trick seems to be making the book in such a way that it can be priced to make the author some money while staying in the range that readers are willing to spend.


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## VanessaC (Jan 14, 2017)

Huge congratulations - this place is amazing, and its fascinating and inspiring to see the great information on this board being put to such great use. 

Best of luck with the next phase.


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## Not any more (Mar 19, 2012)

Anarchist said:


> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #367 Paid in Kindle Store


Okay, I'm officially jealous now. You can cut it out!!!

Congratulations.You done good. Halfway through the book. Not too shabby.


----------



## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

Shawna Canon said:


> Oh hey, I just noticed you have the paperback available for $8.99. That's a great price. I'm surprised you were able to get it that low. Do you have that marked for Expanded Distribution, and are you still making any money at that price? (If I may ask.)
> 
> I'm still a paper-preferer when it comes to books, but I've become much more picky about which ones I have shelf space for. But when I find a book I love, I always try to get a paper copy of it in addition to whatever electronic copy I may get first. So I think having quality paper copies available is great for both authors and readers. The trick seems to be making the book in such a way that it can be priced to make the author some money while staying in the range that readers are willing to spend.


Oh, geez, paperbacks...To be honest, I set it to $8.99 because that was the absolute lowest I could set it(I do not have expanded distribution), and I wanted my friends and family to be able to buy a copy without paying through the nose. Right now I am (barely) making more on paperback sales than my 99c ebook sales. Interestingly enough, I'm actually selling paperbacks. Nowhere near as many as ebooks, but they're actually moving. I might raise the price on my paperbacks at the same time as I raise my ebook, because $2.99 and $8.99 are very close prices...But I don't really care about paperback sales at the moment. They're just there for people who prefer holding a book in hand.



VanessaC said:


> Huge congratulations - this place is amazing, and its fascinating and inspiring to see the great information on this board being put to such great use.
> 
> Best of luck with the next phase.





brkingsolver said:


> Okay, I'm officially jealous now. You can cut it out!!!
> 
> Congratulations.You done good. Halfway through the book. Not too shabby.


Thank you! I swear, I'm almost done xD just one more day of this and then it's full price and who knows what will happen.


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## Steven Slavick (May 15, 2011)

wingsandwords said:


> I swear, I'm almost done xD just one more day of this and then it's full price and who knows what will happen.


"Who knows what will happen," huh? Your ranking darted into the top 300. That's what happened! How awesome! It's always inspiring to see a brand new author strike it big. Congratulations!


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

Steven Slavick said:


> "Who knows what will happen," huh? Your ranking darted into the top 300. That's what happened! How awesome! It's always inspiring to see a brand new author strike it big. Congratulations!


To be fair to those after empirical data and the validity of this launch plan, I got into the top 300 on the 4th, while I was still at 99c. Today is my first day at $2.99 and I am still above 300 so far(285), but we'll see what my end of day rank is!

I will continue to answer any questions as they come up, but I don't think I'll have a real update for a few days. Need to let it sit at $2.99 to see where it levels out.


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## Fel Beasley (Apr 1, 2014)

I love this thread. Thank you so much for sharing.

I've been watching (okay, stalking) your book and am so excited for you. You've got the whole package. A killer cover. An enticing blurb. And a great story. 

I think you'll do just fine at 2.99. Can't wait to see what happens with book 2


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## Fel Beasley (Apr 1, 2014)

Kind of a weird question. For your price dropped books promo, did you go with the fantasy category or supernatural suspense?


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

Felicia Beasley said:


> Kind of a weird question. For your price dropped books promo, did you go with the fantasy category or supernatural suspense?


Thanks for stalking!  (And I am super excited for your new opportunity! <3 I can't wait to see how that plays out for you.)

I went with the fantasy category. I'm thinking about trying the supernatural suspense in March. It should theoretically be a mostly fresh audience to pimp book one to when book two comes out.


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## Not any more (Mar 19, 2012)

Izzy, do you have any idea what kind of bump you got from each of your promos?


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

brkingsolver said:


> Izzy, do you have any idea what kind of bump you got from each of your promos?


That's a hard one to judge, because I feel that each of GenreCrave's services gave me a noticeable tail. I just don't feel comfortable attributing 127 sales to Bargain Booksy, not with all the data I've seen from other clients of Rebecca's, even though that's the only ad I ran on the 28th. Similarly, the ads that came after the Book Blast--did they do that well, or were they getting a bump from the blast? I can't really tell, and I wouldn't be able to unless I ran them in a vacuum(them being the only ad I run during a week). Choosy Bookworm will be running again on the 18th(they do three days at different points throughout a month? I didn't know that when I booked them), so I'll be able to see how they do that day.

I'd say GenrePulse, Books Butterfly, and Price Dropped Books all did a very good job setting me up for success. GenreCrave was hands down the best. I don't feel comfortable giving a rating to the others for the reasons mentioned above.


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## Jo Black (Jan 12, 2017)

Number 1 in your genres across the board and 384 in the store when I checked, seriously impressive numbers for a debut, well done you!


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## Eugene Kirk (Oct 21, 2016)

Hey Izzy,

Who did your author site? I'm looking for something simple yet eye catching like that.


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

Jo Black said:


> Number 1 in your genres across the board and 384 in the store when I checked, seriously impressive numbers for a debut, well done you!


Thank you! I'm really excited to see it holding so far at full price, but we'll see where I am in a week 



Eugene Kirk said:


> Hey Izzy,
> 
> Who did your author site? I'm looking for something simple yet eye catching like that.


I actually made it myself, in Wix. I know a lot of people disparage Wix, but I got a years subscription for half off because I bought it on Black Friday, and I like being able to play with things. I don't anticipate leaving Wix for a while, unless I run into a problem.


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## Eugene Kirk (Oct 21, 2016)

wingsandwords said:


> Thank you! I'm really excited to see it holding so far at full price, but we'll see where I am in a week
> 
> I actually made it myself, in Wix. I know a lot of people disparage Wix, but I got a years subscription for half off because I bought it on Black Friday, and I like being able to play with things. I don't anticipate leaving Wix for a while, unless I run into a problem.


Thanks! I'll check it out


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

All right, one week update!

So things have been pretty cool, I have stayed in the top 500 this week, daily sales have started to steady out the past three or four days, so it looks like things are holding strong. My page reads have been GREAT, I'm really glad I went into KU, it's the entire reason I've made back all of my promotion and creation costs.  I've also head onto my bestseller tags(there was a minor blip for two days when I was competing with a 99c sale, but they came back!) I'm also getting mailing list sign ups, which is really exciting! 

Book Two, Blood Hunt, is now up for pre-order. This is obviously my first sequel pre-order, first real pre-order too as Grave Mistake's was for just a week while I got the ASIN out to my promo's. I'm hard at work on book three(more than a quarter of a way through! ), which is slated for May, so I am pretty ahead of things. 

So...here we are. Things are looking a lot better than I dreamed.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Hooray! Knock 'em dead!


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## Steven Slavick (May 15, 2011)

I'm only a quarter of the way through book 1, but I just downloaded a copy of book 2. Another cool cover! Hope the new book gets sticky on pre-order!


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## T E Scott Writer (Jul 27, 2016)

Yay, its lovely to see a kboarder do well, congrats and best of luck with book 2


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## S.L. (Jun 6, 2016)

How much did you spend in total on promos during launch week?


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

Becca Mills said:


> Hooray! Knock 'em dead!





T E Scott Writer said:


> Yay, its lovely to see a kboarder do well, congrats and best of luck with book 2


Thanks! 



Steven Slavick said:


> I'm only a quarter of the way through book 1, but I just downloaded a copy of book 2. Another cool cover! Hope the new book gets sticky on pre-order!


Aw, thank you! I hope you enjoy book 1!



Lee Sutherland said:


> How much did you spend in total on promos during launch week?


Ah, that question. Luckily, I believe in complete transparency. This is where some of my ignorance is going to show. Let's break it down.

Promos:

GenreCrave Book Blast: $200
GenreCrave Genre Newsletter: $24
Bargain Booksy: $40
Genre Pulse: $17
Choosy Bookworm: $68
Books Butterfly: $70
Price Dropped Books: $21
Enticing Journey Release Day Blitz: $65
I Love Vampires: $77
Romancing The Dragon: $40
GenreCrave January Bookfair: $10
Booksends: $25

Total: $657

And here's where the "was it worth it? was it just educational?" expenses came in:

ADS.
Facebook: $925.45
AMS: $588.29

Total: $1,513.74

EXTREME Total: $2,170.74

Now, keep in mind that FB Ad number is also taking into account ads run before launch when I was building up my newsletter by pointing a FB ad at my InstaFreebie giveaway. If I take that out of the occasion, so that we're ONLY looking at launch week, then the Facebook spend is actually $737.25, and the grand total is actually $1,982.54

I have no idea how effective my FB ads were, because I did not run them in a vacuum. I will be trying them again at a later date, when nothing else is going on, on a much tighter budget now that I know how to create ads that get a low CPC and high CTR so that I can see whether or not they actually do anything. I like data.

So yes, this was expensive, if that's what we're trying to figure out. Was it worth it? To me, heck yeah. I wasn't planning on making money back until book three. I've already done that. I'm teetering on the edge of being completely in the black, for things that didn't go towards promotion or creation, like my website, and things that I've already bought for book two.

My plan from the get go was to do everything I possibly could to set my book up for success. I made sure I had a financial plan that allowed me to do that, and I lucked out with the supportive partner that didn't mind me not contributing to our savings fund for a little while so that I could save it for this instead.


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## anotherpage (Apr 4, 2012)

wingsandwords said:


> ***EDITED TO INCLUDE SALES AND KENP!***
> 
> Well, knocking as in it's ranked in the one thousands  Maybe I'll get there eventually!
> 
> ...


Congrats. Who made your cover its lovely?


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## S.B. (Feb 10, 2017)

wingsandwords said:


> All right, one week update!
> 
> So things have been pretty cool, I have stayed in the top 500 this week, daily sales have started to steady out the past three or four days, so it looks like things are holding strong. My page reads have been GREAT, I'm really glad I went into KU, it's the entire reason I've made back all of my promotion and creation costs. I've also head onto my bestseller tags(there was a minor blip for two days when I was competing with a 99c sale, but they came back!) I'm also getting mailing list sign ups, which is really exciting!
> 
> ...


Congratulations on your success! The book cover for Blood Hunt is beautiful! 
About how long does it take you to write the 1st draft, then get done with edits, then to hit publish?


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

lostones said:


> Congrats. Who made your cover its lovely?


Thank you! Bookfly Design did the cover!



S.B. said:


> Congratulations on your success! The book cover for Blood Hunt is beautiful!
> About how long does it take you to write the 1st draft, then get done with edits, then to hit publish?


Thank you! I'm actually still trying to figure that out. I wrote Blood Hunt in about 3 1/2 weeks, which was 2 1/2 weeks ahead of schedule, so I had to wait a while for my slot to come up with my editor. We just started that process yesterday. It took about 2 weeks to get Grave Mistake fully edited, we'll see what the full turnaround ends up being for Blood Hunt. I do a fairly extensive outlining process, and self edit as I write, so the first draft is pretty clean. Once everything's done, it's mostly been a matter of waiting for the scheduled dates of my promotions to hit the publish button.


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## amiblackwelder (Mar 19, 2010)

wingsandwords said:


> ***EDITED TO INCLUDE SALES AND KENP!***
> 
> Well, knocking as in it's ranked in the one thousands  Maybe I'll get there eventually!
> 
> ...


Congrats you're my new hero!
And I'll snag a copy of your book. It looks great! Well done!


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

amiblackwelder said:


> Congrats you're my new hero!
> And I'll snag a copy of your book. It looks great! Well done!


  A hero?! Me? /faint

(Thank you! <3)


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## Created4Life (Jan 11, 2017)

I just received an email from Amazon with Grave Mistake in the Subject Heading. They really think I might be interested in your book!


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## Patrick Urban (Oct 22, 2016)

Some additional congratulations and a bit of curiosity for the OP.
Looks to be a few days past the 30 day mark on your debut novel and it's currently sitting at #474 in kindle paid. Nicely sticky so far   Congratulations!

The curiosity bit is: Have you done any additional promotion beyond that 9 day initial schedule? Or did the early, sustained upward trend from that schedule manage to hook the algos effectively enough that it's running hands-free?


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

Patrick Urban said:


> Some additional congratulations and a bit of curiosity for the OP.
> Looks to be a few days past the 30 day mark on your debut novel and it's currently sitting at #474 in kindle paid. Nicely sticky so far  Congratulations!
> 
> The curiosity bit is: Have you done any additional promotion beyond that 9 day initial schedule? Or did the early, sustained upward trend from that schedule manage to hook the algos effectively enough that it's running hands-free?


Thanks!  The 23rd was my official last day on the HNR lists, and things have certainly been interesting.

Well, I did panic a _little_ at the idea of ending promos. So, on the 10th and 11th days I did a large AMS ad, Patty's promo and Booksends on days 13 and 14. And then I had a good sit down with myself and decided it was past time I let the world decide. I raised my prices on day 15, stopped all FB and AMS ads, and braced myself.

Everything since then has been all its own.


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## Not any more (Mar 19, 2012)

Very sticky, and not just in the .com store. Well done!

I'm getting ready to launch the 2nd book in my series, one week shy of 90 days. We'll see how the next round goes.


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## daniella.brodsky (Dec 30, 2015)

I cannot believe what you managed to do. I feel like I try to do all these things and never get that sticky--or have that many sales, outside of a bookbub period. Are you still having that kind of double digit daily sales? Do you think the preorder period helped? Why did you run an FB ad for the Iinstafreebie giveaway? What did it say? I ran an instafreebie, got 54 takers and no reviews, they told me at IF they're working on their service for this purpose. Did you do the paid one to get the email addresses so you could replicate for FB ads? Is your niche small?I'd like to replicate what you did! Any tips would be amazing.


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

brkingsolver said:


> Very sticky, and not just in the .com store. Well done!
> 
> I'm getting ready to launch the 2nd book in my series, one week shy of 90 days. We'll see how the next round goes.


Thanks  I can't wait to see how you're book 2 does! I'm a little scared of falling flat on my face with book 2.



daniella.brodsky said:


> I cannot believe what you managed to do. I feel like I try to do all these things and never get that sticky--or have that many sales, outside of a bookbub period. Are you still having that kind of double digit daily sales? Do you think the preorder period helped? Why did you run an FB ad for the Iinstafreebie giveaway? What did it say? I ran an instafreebie, got 54 takers and no reviews, they told me at IF they're working on their service for this purpose. Did you do the paid one to get the email addresses so you could replicate for FB ads? Is your niche small?I'd like to replicate what you did! Any tips would be amazing.


Anything I can do to help!

Yes, my sales and page reads have been going strong. Constant double digits. I think the preorder helped in the sense that it got me the ASIN in time for my promos, and let me get my author page hooked up appropriately so that everything looked nice and orderly. I don't think a week long preorder on an unknown book did a whole lot else. The preorder for book 2 is doing rather nicely, considering I'm not doing anything at all for it. I ran a FB ad for the IF giveaway because I wanted to build a mailing list prior to launch, and I think that really helped a lot. I used these two ads: x and x. I don't think IF is a good way of getting reviews. I did the free trial of the paid membership so I could collect their emails, because that was my goal. I didn't use the emails to create a like for like audience, I didn't know about that at the time. I just targeted my FB ads as best I could, and I must have done it right because people responded very well to my ads.


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## amiblackwelder (Mar 19, 2010)

wingsandwords said:


> Thanks  I can't wait to see how you're book 2 does! I'm a little scared of falling flat on my face with book 2.
> 
> Anything I can do to help!
> 
> Yes, my sales and page reads have been going strong. Constant double digits. I think the preorder helped in the sense that it got me the ASIN in time for my promos, and let me get my author page hooked up appropriately so that everything looked nice and orderly. I don't think a week long preorder on an unknown book did a whole lot else. The preorder for book 2 is doing rather nicely, considering I'm not doing anything at all for it. I ran a FB ad for the IF giveaway because I wanted to build a mailing list prior to launch, and I think that really helped a lot. I used these two ads: x and x. I don't think IF is a good way of getting reviews. I did the free trial of the paid membership so I could collect their emails, because that was my goal. I didn't use the emails to create a like for like audience, I didn't know about that at the time. I just targeted my FB ads as best I could, and I must have done it right because people responded very well to my ads.


But when did you go from .99 to $2.99?


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## wingsandwords (Nov 1, 2016)

amiblackwelder said:


> But when did you go from .99 to $2.99?


Exactly 14 days after launch. February 6th.


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## Not any more (Mar 19, 2012)

amiblackwelder said:


> But when did you go from .99 to $2.99?


On my new release, a month before Izzy's, I boosted the price after 10 days. I wanted it at full price for Christmas day. Revenues took off like a rocket. The thing is, those days at 99 cents are money losers but rank builders. The visibility is critical. For my release next week, book 1 and book 2 will be 99 cents all week.


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## Copperfield City (Apr 4, 2016)

Steven Slavick said:


> I'm only a quarter of the way through book 1, but I just downloaded a copy of book 2. Another cool cover! Hope the new book gets sticky on pre-order!


Sorry if this is a well known term as I've seen it mentioned a lot, but how does a book get considered "sticky" and what happens when it does?


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## Fel Beasley (Apr 1, 2014)

metal5050 said:


> Sorry if this is a well-known term as I've seen it mentioned a lot, but how does a book get considered "sticky" and what happens when it does?


Sticky means that a book stays high in the rankings without needing constant promotion. Usually, it means that Amazon's algorithms have kicked in and are promoting your book themselves, at least to who they think would enjoy the book. Wingsandwords book Grave Mistake is currently ranked #672 paid in the store 2 months after release without her heavily promoting it (after a certain point) and at 2.99 rather than $0.99. Her book is very sticky.

Right now, the book is $0.99 to promote her newly released book 2, but I've been following along and her rank isn't a result of this sale.

If anyone hasn't picked up Grave Mistake, yet, and enjoys well-written urban fantasy, the book is $0.99 right now. Grab it


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