# Plankton's Prawnie Promo, Month 2, Debut Book Launch Results and Lessons Learned



## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Greetings,

I am using my month 1 post to give a run down of my month 2 promo that just started. Lord have mercy! Here we go...

Accepted:

April 17, Friday-KBoards Discovery *Sales 1, Borrows 2*
April 18, Saturday-BooksButterfly *Free 475*
April 19, Sunday-None *Free 259*
April 20, Monday-BettyBookFreak *Sales 6*
April 21, Tuesday-Booktastik & eBookLister *Sales 2*
April 22, Wednesday-eBookLister & Bknights *Sales 10, Borrows 2*
April 23, Thursday-Genre Pulse *Sales 4, Borrows 1* Note: App only promo and bitly link indicated 9 clicks, 1 on the 23rd, 5 on the 24th and 3 on the 25th.
April 24, Friday-ENT *Sales 49*
April 25, Saturday-None *Sales 10, Borrows 2*

Rejected:

ebookbird

Pending/No News:

BookScream
OHFB

Book is at 99 cents except the weekend I ran a Select Free Promo with Booksbutterfly. I was severely hampered by no reviews but now have 4 of them. I tried to use the Stinnet Slope where possible but it is what it is. I'll try to update each day this week.

Thanks,
SM 

*******************************************************************************

(Old Post)

Hi Everyone,

This post should either inform you, if a very new author, or entertain you if you're an established author. I hope to track the performance (or lack thereof) of my debut launch as well as make some comments on lessons learned over the last few months and specifically over the month of March, my first full month for my first published book. I'm hoping this is appropriate, I just thought I'd share with those newer authors who are getting ready to go. Let's jump right in:

Performance:
March, 2015
Paid: 19
Borrows: 10
Free: 120 (2 day promotion)
Reviews: 0
Avg Rating: N/A
Ranking (est.): 65k to 330k (paid)

Platform:
Mailing List: Start 0, Finish 0 (Mailchimp)
Website: (done but no traffic/unique data)
Facebook: Start 0, Finish 22 (Likes, mainly family and friends. No, all are family and/or friends, see mailchimp results for confirmation)
Twitter: Start 0, Finish 9 (Followers, mainly other authors and/or book promoters)
Goodreads: Start 0, Finish 0

Promos: None. Well, almost none. I promoted to my friends and family on Facebook and perhaps some free books were either downloaded or borrowed here on Kboards. All in all, I think they may account for a dozen or two at the most.

Strategy: Publish book one. Ready book two for publishing. Write book three, then market.

Objectives: Increase visibility as an author/brand. Learn the craft of not only writing, but also of self-publishing.

Category Ranking: #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Epic Failure > Needle in Amazon's Haystack

Summary: Actually the book is doing better than I thought it would especially when I dropped the price from $2.99 to $0.99 after about 10 days and after the 2 day free promo of which I have 3 days left for the first 3 months that I am in KDP Select. (Commas are needed in this long sentence but I'm brain dead right now). I think the wonderful cover by our own Cagnes as well as help on my blurb, especially from Cbaku, has made it inviting enough to find a few readers.

The negatives of my first month are that I wasn't really ready to have it go live, although I sure in hell thought I was. The book needed some loving on the inside and it's finally done with some help from a few professionals and a good friend. Hopefully, I don't pay the price in the form of a poor review for a lack of editing/proofing. Also I had no promotions set for the book's first month and no program to obtain reviews/reviewers. I am currently fixing that situation but I think those are the main weaknesses that I have for my first month.

Lessons Learned: Write and farm out whatever you can (afford). Unfortunately for me, I am on a serious budget. It's too embarrassing to say how seriously low the budget is and it's the first time in decades that I've found myself in this situation but I decided no more waiting. I've waited for over 30 years so I just took the plunge.

My entire goal is to be able to have my books finance themselves so that I can outsource or pay to do the following: Book Cover, Editing/Proofing, Marketing, Request for Reviews and Formatting.

If I could do it all over again I'd work on having Beta Readers, ARC Reader's and maybe have developed a relationship with some Fantasy genre bloggers but I understand that to do all that requires time and energy and I think it's alright to do what I did and really start at zero.

Finally, and I say this sincerely, the best and luckiest part of my experience has been finding Kboards. What a freaking gold mine! Words are insufficient to express my feelings so I will say no more.

Moving Forward:

AKA month 2. Well I have already started to submit to various marketing sites and book bub even approached me with a multi-year, multi-book deal, oh wait, that was one of my dreams. Never mind, I did however land two small promotions with no reviews. That is very difficult since most sites require something. I'll list them as I get them in case any other debut authors read this. If you see your site here and get embarrassed let me know and I'll delete it.

Kboards Discovery Promo, $15, set for April 17th
Bettybookfreak Promo, Free, set for April 20th

If you can do any business with these sites please do as they are very friendly to new/debut authors. I'll actually update if anyone asks me to.

I want to mention the free days using KDP Select. I will post what happens to my ranking when they hit the 30 day mark and 'drop off' the ranking system, assuming Amazon uses a 30 day algorithm. My two days earlier were March 7th and 8th, a Saturday/Sunday. For the record I received 76 free downloads on Saturday, 39 on Sunday and go figure, 5 on Monday. I think I may plan a free day every 3 weeks if it helps in the rankings.

Best part of my Amazon page: Seeing all those 'also-boughts'. There are several Fantasy boxed sets that are #1 ranked for their sub category and recently a few other 99 cent books are now there too. It appears that some 99 cent bargain hunters are finding my book somehow.

Worst part of my Amazon page: Seeing the 'bought after viewing this item'. Really? Darn, lost that sale! Come back please, LOL. Ah well, live and learn. Also my book is formatting at a 6x9 at 326 pages on CreateSpace and the book is 77k words but in my book description it says its like 222 pages. That seems low to me and not sure how a reader would interpret that. I'm just commenting that it isn't accurate in my opinion.

I'll close my rather long post by saying this is intended to be like a snap shot of what happens when a debut author just throws that book up there. To really see how to properly self-publish see any one of several other authors here who have launched book 1 to incredible results. Sever and Emily come to mind to name just two. If you're a noob and want me to update let me know otherwise I'll leave it be. I have no idea if any of this would be useful to anyone since I really didn't launch, promote and succeed with my book the way most authors do. I just thought someone should post about their experience of throwing their book up there with little to no resources.

Stay thirsty my friends! 

Regards,
Salvador Mercer


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## Northern pen (Mar 3, 2015)

Don't worry man, I am going to publish my first book this month and I am going to make you look damn good in comparison


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## Jenny Schwartz (Mar 4, 2011)

Is it a win that you made me laugh early Thursday morning? This!



> Category Ranking: #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Epic Failure > Needle in Amazon's Haystack


It will get better


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## Holly A Hook (Sep 19, 2010)

I got only 3 sales in my first month publishing, so you're already doing better than I was when I started.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Robyn W said:


> Don't worry man, I am going to publish my first book this month and I am going to make you look damn good in comparison


Hehe! I hope not, you can do much better but as everyone else is saying just keep at it! I appreciate your posts Robyn.



Jenny Schwartz said:


> Is it a win that you made me laugh early Thursday morning? This!
> 
> It will get better


Actually I believe you're right. I'm pretty happy with my results for not having promoted  Also yeah, if I made you laugh that is a win. I think I overuse humor on these boards but again I'm not a social bunny so that is my crutch 



Holly A Hook said:


> I got only 3 sales in my first month publishing, so you're already doing better than I was when I started.


Stay the course! You look like you got plenty of titles now so keep at it. I'm just hoping my info helps those who can't promote right away.


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## Lisa Blackwood (Feb 1, 2015)

You just got a borrow (on the .ca store. Which, I admit, is like the back end of amazon's haystack--it won't help much for visibility. The .ca store is like a dead zone for me and I'm Canadian for up sakes. You'd think I could move some books in my own country, right? Nope.)


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## Northern pen (Mar 3, 2015)

Salvador Mercer said:


> Hehe! I hope not, you can do much better but as everyone else is saying just keep at it! I appreciate your posts Robyn.
> 
> Actually I believe you're right. I'm pretty happy with my results for not having promoted  Also yeah, if I made you laugh that is a win. I think I overuse humor on these boards but again I'm not a social bunny so that is my crutch
> 
> Stay the course! You look like you got plenty of titles now so keep at it. I'm just hoping my info helps those who can't promote right away.


Of course I would like it if I was one of those lucky ones that comes hard out of the gate selling like hot cakes but I really trying to avoid setting myself up for disappointment. Making the decision to fulfill a bucket list item and COMPLETE a novel has been a long time coming. I am expecting to take my lumps with book one and hopefully learn a thing or two along the way so that book two has a greater opportunity to be a success. Like you I am finding kboards to be an amazing resource filled with great people and information.

I plugging away at making a better book two while I wait for book one to get attention. Should be a fun process to see how things come along  fun when I not huddled in a corner crying as I refresh my sales listening to the soft soothing sounds of crickets mocking me

p.s way to go Lisa. Now you messed all his numbers up


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Lisa_Blackwood said:


> You just got a borrow (on the .ca store. Which, I admit, is like the back end of amazon's haystack--it won't help much for visibility. The .ca store is like a dead zone for me and I'm Canadian for up sakes. You'd think I could move some books in my own country, right? Nope.)


Lisa, you are too kind woman! I like Canada. My favorite Sci-Fi author is a Canuck (Evan Curie) and you should see his first book compared to now. 47North picked him up and he is doing very well so Go Canucks! I'll have a look see at some of yours too this weekend. I just finished Arcane by Sever here and currently will finish Champion by CCruz so I'm finding that most Kboarder's books are very good reads!



Robyn W said:


> Of course I would like it if I was one of those lucky ones that comes hard out of the gate selling like hot cakes but I really trying to avoid setting myself up for disappointment. Making the decision to fulfill a bucket list item and COMPLETE a novel has been a long time coming. I am expecting to take my lumps with book one and hopefully learn a thing or two along the way so that book two has a greater opportunity to be a success. Like you I am finding kboards to be an amazing resource filled with great people and information.
> 
> I plugging away at making a better book two while I wait for book one to get attention. Should be a fun process to see how things come along  fun when I not huddled in a corner crying as I refresh my sales listening to the soft soothing sounds of crickets mocking me
> 
> p.s way to go Lisa. Now you messed all his numbers up


Ah! New numbers for April LOL! Also let's do this together. We will both make the crickets go away by next year, just keep plugging away at book 2. My second book is done but I won't release it till it's had plenty of loving between the covers! 



Nicknacks said:


> Oh, dude.
> I love how you always bring this humorous/upbeat attitude in your posts. Keep on truckin'
> 
> I've also been meaning to say that I LOVE your cover. That dragon is fierce!


Well thank you but my original cover... well... RIP for that project. I really lucked out and another Kboarder, Cagnes, came to my aid and did that cover including finding the dragon. I just sent her the CreateSpace proof and she loves it too so I can't take credit for that, the credit is all hers!

I am always worried that I'll come across as too clowny  in my posts but I try hard to be and stay upbeat, because this damn business is so hard to learn. As I've posted before, the actual writing is EASY by comparison.

As always, thanks for the kind words and encouragement. I'll keep truckin as long as it's helping. 

G'night for now, East Coast time here and this Plankton has a day job!

Regards,
SM


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## Northern pen (Mar 3, 2015)

You better like Canada mister or us Canucks will invade, for you to eat poutine and real bacon.


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## SunshineOnMe (Jan 11, 2014)

Your post was very funny. Congratulations on publishing. It will get better!!


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## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

Salvador Mercer said:


> Category Ranking: #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Epic Failure > Needle in Amazon's Haystack


LOL! This should really be a thing. I'd have been way up there in my first few months (not so much the first month, since I had some kind friends, but the second and third were spectacular in needle/haystack terms).

But... you know what? It gets better. You learn. You put out more books. You try things and astonishingly some of them even work! I regard the whole of the first year as learning curve, so still a way to go.

Salvador, if you can afford a few dollars for promotion, try Bknights (pay for a $5 gig and give him your Kboards handle, and he'll give you the $20 package) or ENT ($15, and no review requirement, but book a month or so in advance).

Good luck, and thanks for sharing with us.


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## Tim_A (May 25, 2013)

PaulineMRoss said:


> try Bknights (pay for a $5 gig and give him your Kboards handle, and he'll give you the $20 package)


You know, I've used BKnights several times and I never knew about that!


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## ufwriter (Jan 12, 2015)

Loved this post, and please keep us updated. Keep on at it. Once you have book 2 out (and book 3) and can do some minor promotion, things will pick up. Plus, every single one of those sales is pretty awesome in my mind. People are discovering your book and buying/borrowing it. That's a major accomplishment on its own.


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## A.A (Mar 30, 2012)

PaulineMRoss said:


> Salvador, if you can afford a few dollars for promotion, try Bknights (pay for a $5 gig and give him your Kboards handle, and he'll give you the $20 package) or ENT ($15, and no review requirement, but book a month or so in advance).


Is that the secret with bknights? I just ran a couple of promos with him this week and the one that was featured on his facebook page did well, but the one that was put together with a huge list of books on the website sank without a trace. The thing is, they were both exactly the same promo (a $5 facebook gig) Am at a loss to understand how the gig works. The second promo was for a newly released book and I didn't expect it not to be posted on the facebook page and should have booked something else instead.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

SunshineOnMe said:


> Your post was very funny. Congratulations on publishing. It will get better!!


Thanks for the support. I am hoping my post doesn't come across as a whining, why am I not selling books, kind of post, cause I am quite happy. I am on a 12 day paid/borrowed streak! At least one purchase or borrow each day for the last 12 days and even a few 2 days (yesterday was 2 paid, today is one borrow). So I'm really just having fun with this and letting anyone interested in this topic to follow along with my No-Promo book launch.



PaulineMRoss said:


> LOL! This should really be a thing. I'd have been way up there in my first few months (not so much the first month, since I had some kind friends, but the second and third were spectacular in needle/haystack terms).
> 
> But... you know what? It gets better. You learn. You put out more books. You try things and astonishingly some of them even work! I regard the whole of the first year as learning curve, so still a way to go.
> 
> ...


I actually applied for OHFB, ENT, Bettybookfreak, Kboards Discovery, and bookscream so far. Kboards and BBF, as I posted earlier, have accepted me. I'll see what the others do and who exactly at ENT supports us here at Kboards and how do you get a hold of them/him/her?

Also to be clear, despite my budget, I actually wanted data for one month (March) on how my book would do on its own without promotion so that I have a baseline to work with. Month two will focus on whatever promos I can run and I'm not worried about ROI, I am doing this now to just get accepted, become somewhat visible, and perhaps garner a few reviews, so yes, I will promote with whomever will accept me at least once (as long as they aren't uber expensive.). I have a few more sites on my list to apply for and I'll update once I do. Being a plankton I have a day job and so with my boys (10 months, 5 years old and 14 teenager) I find I'm lucky to get some free time on the weekends to submit so I'll get to it.

Thanks for the support as well!



CadyVance said:


> Loved this post, and please keep us updated. Keep on at it. Once you have book 2 out (and book 3) and can do some minor promotion, things will pick up. Plus, every single one of those sales is pretty awesome in my mind. People are discovering your book and buying/borrowing it. That's a major accomplishment on its own.


Cady, Yes I agree. Me and my wife do the high-five thing whenever my dashboard updates to show another download LOL. It's very cool to be in this prawny position. There is a benefit to being so low that you can only go up (or stay low) but not get lower LOL. The first book I wrote should be ready to go this month. I'm editing it now because I wrote it from July-October of last year and I wasn't happy with it so I wrote a different book but this one will be my Permafree when it's ready to go.

So question. I know how to use this post on Kboards to get Amazon to price match but how do I get it free on the other sites? I assume they will let me set the price at $0.00 unlike Amazon? Looking forward to working on my titles that are rolling around in my head right now.

Thanks again everyone, I'll update this monthly for those few who are interested.  I actually got an email from someone in the UK asking about my book and experience and he saw my book and info here on Kboards so that was cool today.

Success and Happy Easter to everyone!
SM


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## Roberto El Duque (Mar 4, 2015)

I'm in the same boat. Probably hit publish too early, embarrassing budget...

I'm learning a lot of lessons from the process though, and will definitely do better next time. Keep at it Salvador, I think your first month will be better than mine!


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## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

Salvador Mercer said:


> who exactly at ENT supports us here at Kboards and how do you get a hold of them/him/her?


ENT doesn't have any special deals for Kboards, it's only Bknights that does that. There are one or two others who hang around here and are very supportive of Kboards. The GenrePulse guy has been handing out discount codes recently. The Awesomegang guy is here, too.

I only mentioned ENT because they are the very best bang-for-buck people at the moment, after BookBub. Almost everyone gets a great ROI from them. They're here: http://ereadernewstoday.com/


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## Steve Vernon (Feb 18, 2011)

Pauline is absolutely right about ENT, Salvador.

And I get great results with Bknights as well - although I try and save Bknights for my freebie promotion.

Incidentally, you've got a GREAT cover for THE BLACK DRAGON.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Steve Vernon said:


> Pauline is absolutely right about ENT, Salvador.
> 
> And I get great results with Bknights as well - although I try and save Bknights for my freebie promotion.
> 
> Incidentally, you've got a GREAT cover for THE BLACK DRAGON.


Good to know from both of you and I have emails sent. I am waiting to hear back from them. As for the cover that is all Cagnes. I'll just be the lucky guy for now. I think some butterfly or freebooksy or something people post a lot here as well. I'll need to run across one of their posts to find them but again the reviews, or lack thereof, will always be a barrier I think to a debut author who has no email list or other resources to solicit reviews.

Thanks!
SM


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## KReadnour (Jul 8, 2014)

Salvador Mercer said:


> .
> 
> Category Ranking: #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Epic Failure > Needle in Amazon's


This is awesome! Thanks for making me laugh. (I was secretly on my phone trying to feed my KBoard addiction, but my laugh gave me away. Lol!)

Happy writing!


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

KReadnour said:


> This is awesome! Thanks for making me laugh. (I was secretly on my phone trying to feed my KBoard addiction, but my laugh gave me away. Lol!)
> 
> Happy writing!


 

Sometimes I got it, and sometimes I don't hehe.

Thanks for the post!

Regards,
SM


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## Northern pen (Mar 3, 2015)

Salvador Mercer said:


> Good to know from both of you and I have emails sent. I am waiting to hear back from them. As for the cover that is all Cagnes. I'll just be the lucky guy for now. I think some butterfly or freebooksy or something people post a lot here as well. I'll need to run across one of their posts to find them but again the reviews, or lack thereof, will always be a barrier I think to a debut author who has no email list or other resources to solicit reviews.
> 
> Thanks!
> SM


When it comes to access to advertising not having many reviews isn't the end of the world. There are plenty of options for us newbies that need to build up a reader base to get reviews and open up even more options. This list makes it pretty easy to see how many reviews you need for each site...

http://www.readersintheknow.com/list-of-book-promotion-sites


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Robyn Wideman said:


> When it comes to access to advertising not having many reviews isn't the end of the world. There are plenty of options for us newbies that need to build up a reader base to get reviews and open up even more options. This list makes it pretty easy to see how many reviews you need for each site...
> 
> http://www.readersintheknow.com/list-of-book-promotion-sites


Ah yes, I've bookmarked that site but hadn't looked at it recently as it's buried in about a hundred of other bookmarks LOL. Now there is a difference between a few reviews  and NO reviews 

Luckily we have Kboards to get us started. Thanks for posting, I appreciate the reminder about RITK and will use it (again) to update my small promo campaign 

Regards,
SM


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## Guest (Apr 6, 2015)

1) This: here are plenty of options for us newbies that need to build up a reader base to get reviews and open up even more options. This list makes it pretty easy to see how many reviews you need for each site...

http://www.readersintheknow.com/list-of-book-promotion-sites

2) When you next do a free book promotion - There are loads of sitse that'll mention your book for free if you give them advance notice. The readers in the know list is a good starting point.

Add up enough and it'll generate a lot of downloads for you. Just make sure you schedule them ALL for the first day of your free run.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

ireaderreview said:


> 1) This: here are plenty of options for us newbies that need to build up a reader base to get reviews and open up even more options. This list makes it pretty easy to see how many reviews you need for each site...
> 
> http://www.readersintheknow.com/list-of-book-promotion-sites
> 
> ...


Will do, working on it this week! Thanks!!


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## Northern pen (Mar 3, 2015)

You must be doing something right Salvatore, I just got one of those emails from amazon where they list books I should consider buying based on my recent search history... guess who's book was at the top of the list.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Robyn Wideman said:


> You must be doing something right Salvatore, I just got one of those emails from amazon where they list books I should consider buying based on my recent search history... guess who's book was at the top of the list.


NO WAY!  What were you searching for anyway? Obscure, self-published books or what? LOL!

Seriously though I seem to be selling a book a day or so despite NO marketing. Had my 12 day streak broken for 2 days then went back on it yesterday. My book seems to be popular in the UK. I've already had several sales from the UK store. No idea what's happening there.

Also this weekend I'll be updating this thread with my first real promo starting on April 17th. I actually got lucky and landed a pretty nice promo site (no not BB hehe). I just need to tweak it a bit and I've got the Stinnett Slope all set up. I went from my high and mighty moral chair and begged the last two people who emailed me asking about my second book if they would leave a review. I'm crossing my fingers but nothing yet, though they both said sure. Hope I mentioned that it was for Amazon LOL. Lord Almighty, it's been 6 weeks and not a single review in sight. I had no idea that when I forbade my friends and family from posting anything near my page that they would comply so willingly hehe.

Ah well, I have hope that it will work out in the end. Thanks for sharing! It made my day!

Regards,
SM


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Hi,

I won't start a new thread but for month number 2, I am in the middle of my second free promo using days 3 and 4 of my 5 KDP Select Free days.  So far I've had 475 downloads for yesterday (Saturday, April 18th) and this morning (USA EST) I'm at 85.  Ranks (all in the super prawnie free store) are as follows as of this morning:

Teen/YA > Fantasy > Sword and Sorcery > #1
Teen/YA > Fantasy > Coming of Age > #4

Fantasy > Metaphysical & Visionary > #4
Fantasy > Epic > #6
Fantasy > Coming of Age > #7
Fantasy > Sword and Sorcery > #9

Overall #340 in Free Store.

Only promoter for this has been BooksButterfly to my knowledge.  OHFB didn't pick me up and I don't think I tried any others.  BooksButterfly has been a pleasure to work with.  We'll see where we end up after today.

Regards and hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!
SM


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

Thanks for the posts, Salvador. It really is good to know that others have the same experiences I do. I'm doing my first one-day promotion for _Contact Us_, and checking the results every hour or so.

I'm in the same boat as you.

One thing to note: when you have very low sales (as I do) it's tricky to make conclusions when you do experiments. For example, a few weeks ago I modified the blurb for my sight-reading book. The next day my sales tripled, and I thought I was a marketing genius. Turns out it was just a random spike.

Are you posting in Facebook groups today? My trick for doing that is to put the bookmarks for all the groups in one Firefox tab. I can then choose to open all in tabs, the go to each, and make the post.










Here's where I got those groups:

http://www.tckpublishing.com/list-of-sites-to-promote-your-free-amazon-kindle-books/


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Hehe, you need to write and market a book on marketing LOL.

Nah, I posted in like only 1 facebook forum though I really like how you are organized.  My only promo right now is Booksbutterfly.  I'm just having some fun for right now and this has been exciting even if it is the free store.

Probably I'd do better if I were as organized as you.  I didn't know you could do that (open all in separate tabs, that is cool!).

Thanks for sharing!

Regards,
SM


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

I just did my posting to all groups. It took about three minutes. I copied and pasted this:

4.6 Stars on Amazon. Free today ONLY. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V73HKOI

onto each group, and Facebook grabbed the cover image, blurb, etc.

I also am boosting a post about the free promo on facebook ($20 budget). Simple to set up.

96 downloads so far (as of 2015/04/19 8:37) so my spreadsheet projects 1337 total for the day (not that I'm obsessing over it  )


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Wow!  Sweet, now that's organization.  Puts me to shame  

Let me know if that holds up.  I'm at 117 for today so far.

Regards,
SM


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## cbaku (Jan 2, 2015)

Hey Sal, I love that you posted all this, and love your great attitude. And sheesh, here's the deal: YOU WROTE A NOVEL. You set your cap, put your ass in the chair, and wrote a book. That puts you light years past the bazillions of people who think about it forever and never write.

We prawn-tastic writers have experiences that are valuable for anyone a bit more new to the process. So thank you! The writing biz is tough, no matter who we are, no matter how we publish. The _*very effort*_ is a spit in the eye of chance, and big eff-you to how-dare-you-have-a-dream naysayers. Let's keep on!


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

I think that the Facebook post promo has increased the downloads per hour. Here are the stats: 704 people reached for about $3.










>here's the deal: YOU WROTE A NOVEL.

That is so important. It all starts when you want to write a novel. You just want to do this creative thing. Then you release it, and all of a sudden you focus on how many books are bought or downloaded. You lose sight of the original aim. I often have to remind myself of that.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

cbaku said:


> Hey Sal, I love that you posted all this, and love your great attitude. And sheesh, here's the deal: YOU WROTE A NOVEL. You set your cap, put your ass in the chair, and wrote a book. That puts you light years past the bazillions of people who think about it forever and never write.
> 
> We prawn-tastic writers have experiences that are valuable for anyone a bit more new to the process. So thank you! The writing biz is tough, no matter who we are, no matter how we publish. The _*very effort*_ is a spit in the eye of chance, and big eff-you to how-dare-you-have-a-dream naysayers. Let's keep on!


So true and thanks for saying/sharing Carla  I'm glad you're with us hehe.

Al, that is amazing! Looks like FB may be a nice place to post but the few groups I became a member of always has so many posts with so many authors all screaming to get noticed. Kind of just turned me off.


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

Ignore those projections. I had copied that from a previous free promotion, and those are projections for a five-day run. I'm currently expecting 500-600 total for the 24-hour period.

They're very clever at Facebook: you can click a few buttons and decide to spend $5 or less on a promotion. It makes it an impulse purchase. Then you see some numbers as the promotion is happening, and adding a few dollars to the promotion is easy (another impulse buy).

Add that to the growing feeling of "I just want people to read my book, and I'm willing to spend some money to make that happen" and you push those buttons.


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

Salvador Mercer said:


> Let me know if that holds up. I'm at 117 for today so far.


Final total for the one-day free promotion: 954 downloads.

So, the projections, once I corrected the five-day/one-day goof, actually underestimated the total.










Did the Facebook ad contribute?? I thought so, but look at the stats:










Only four people clicked on the link. That can't have made any difference. That means that at most, the ad only led to four downloads (I can't imagine someone being influenced by the ad but downloading the book through some other avenue). So, no more Facebook ads.

And here's the surprise: I have sold fourteen units today (at 99 cents), and it's only 6:20 AM. Because the FB ad was still running when I woke up (I immediately shut it down), I thought that might have contributed, but there were only four clicks for the whole time the ad was up.

I'm ranking 49,000 paid.

My conclusion: One does get a bounce from a one-day free promo followed by a price reduction.


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## Mala (Apr 5, 2015)

Thanks for posting this thread Salvador! This kind of information is very useful for n00bs like myself who have not yet even gotten past the publishing stage and find the thought of actually putting work out there quite daunting.

Still, threads like this and others give me the inspiration to crack on. Congratulations on your results so far.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Mala said:


> Thanks for posting this thread Salvador! This kind of information is very useful for n00bs like myself who have not yet even gotten past the publishing stage and find the thought of actually putting work out there quite daunting.
> 
> Still, threads like this and others give me the inspiration to crack on. Congratulations on your results so far.


Mala, Will do and I'm still a Noob myself.

Al, I got 4 buys today as well at 99 cents after my 2 day free promo. Agreed with your assessment.


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## Julz (Oct 30, 2014)

Thanks so much for sharing!! I love reading the updates  And congrats on your downloads and the sales that came today!!


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Thanks Julz.

I just updated the first post with my promo in case anyone is interested.  Been pretty slow on Kboards but since I got folks like Mark to share theirs I'm sure they will be upset if I don't share mine.  Let me know if anyone has any questions.

Regards,
SM


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Updated Tuesday's numbers.  Today's numbers the best so far but still not double digits...yet...


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## ufwriter (Jan 12, 2015)

Really looking forward to seeing how ENT does for you!


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## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

Looks like you've got all the big hitters at the end, so here's hoping for a great finish! Hold on to your hat when ENT gets going.


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

I've been encouraged by my results, and today I will set up my next one-day free promo.

I'm really liking the one-day-at-a-time idea. I've always seen the highest number of downloads on the first day of a multi-day promotion. Five one-day promos means five bumps to improve Amazon rankings.

If it's not too late, I'm going to put this one on the last day of the month so that Kindle Prime customers will be primed to borrow my book on the first of May.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Updated Thursday's results.  ENT up right now.


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## Northern pen (Mar 3, 2015)

Damn it Salvator.

You keep improving this thread all the time. Now I gotta work my ass off to get a well organized and documented thread.  

Okay first I gotta publish something and then make the damn thread but you get the picture. 

lol, good luck with ENT! 

may the booksales be ever in your favor.


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## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

Yay! Look at all those sub-cats!

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,321 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #20 in Books > Teens > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Coming of Age
    #20 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Metaphysical & Visionary
    #22 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Sword & Sorcery

Great to see!


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

PaulineMRoss said:


> Yay! Look at all those sub-cats!
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,321 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> ...


Hehe, thanks for noticing Pauline. I done thought my little Plankton status didn't mean much around here. I'll update page 1 but ENT netted me 49 sales on Friday and spillover today so far this morning is at 4 sales and 1 borrow.

It was pretty cool to take a screenshot of my book next to Sever's Arcane. I'm hoping the slide back down the obscurity hole will be a slow one LOL! 

Overall I don't think my promo was as successful as many others that were done, but I was pretty limited by my lack of reviews as many sites would not accept me (well, I didn't try, but the Reader's in the Know guide listed minimum review numbers and I had 0 when I planned it).

Month 2 will soon be over and I have learned even more. As I said in the past, the writing is the easiest part.

Regards,
SM


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## a_urias (Mar 11, 2015)

Thanks for sharing and congrats! These threads are always brilliant. Hopefully reviews will begat more reviews..


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## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

Hey, that's a great result from ENT! And I've always found I get a good bump the day after, as well. Thanks for sharing, and here's hoping for a nice, long tail.


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

Here are the final results from my one-day promo:










I'm going to do this again on May 30, posting on even more promo sites.

Then, I'm going to try to take this further in May. On May 9 I'll run another one-day free day. On May 10 I'll have it at 99 cents and market that on a lot of bargain sites. Then on May 11 it will appear on BooksEnds (still at 99 cents).

Some books I've read say that several spikes in sales are more effective at boosting rank than one spike.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

All this is for Contact Us right?  That is a lot of downloads.  Keep me posted!


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## ufwriter (Jan 12, 2015)

Those a good results with ENT.  Glad your promo went well and fingers crossed for some reviews!


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## KReadnour (Jul 8, 2014)

Yay for picking up four reviews!  You're no longer that needle!! . Glad ENT came through for you. Good luck with future sales!


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Thanks.

My day after the little book that could received 10 sales and 2 borrows.  Normal is 1 sale or borrow a day on average.  Today, day 2 post ENT, we are at 1 sale and 2 borrows.  The entire promo idea was worth it even if nothing more than to be able to see a modicum of success and lift my morale for what comes next.

I'd also like to say that I see the need for any book to receive some kind of attention/marketing in a planned manner in order to be visible.  I've said this plenty of times before, writing is just one part of the whole process and the publishing/marketing part has a very steep learning curve.  I can only say that I'm glad I found this community of authors in order to see what works and what doesn't and if nothing else to both share in our successes and commiserate in our failures.

Now to get my other book ready for prime time.  I need to get back to the writing mode and let this book lie for now.

I'm too tired to bother editing this post so excuse the grammar 

Thanks for the support and if anyone else is thinking of doing a promo I'd highly suggest sharing.  It's been one of the best ways for a new author to understand how to 'stack' a promo, space them out and in one case I mentioned just getting your submissions for a promotion in early enough so you're not turned down.

The weekend goes by too quickly 
Regards,
SM


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

Salvador Mercer said:


> The entire promo idea was worth it even if nothing more than to be able to see a modicum of success and lift my morale for what comes next.


I know _exactly _how you feel. Thanks for the info.


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## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

Salvador Mercer said:


> The entire promo idea was worth it even if nothing more than to be able to see a modicum of success and lift my morale for what comes next.


Exactly! With the first book or three, promotion is as much for the benefit of the author as for sales or visibility or whatever. It's so much fun to watch your book fly for a little while.  And it's fun for everyone else to watch, too.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Agreed.

I'll keep my progress posted for the after promo effect as long as anyone is interested and not bored from plankton level performance on Amazon hehe  

I like the bookbub rejection tracker you added to your sig line Pauline, too funny.  I hope it doesn't go too high !


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## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

Salvador Mercer said:


> I like the bookbub rejection tracker you added to your sig line Pauline, too funny. I hope it doesn't go too high !


Thanks for noticing! I'm aiming for 3 figures, at least.


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## ufwriter (Jan 12, 2015)

Glad to hear you had some follow-on sales. Please keep us updated on how things progress over the next couple weeks.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

CadyVance said:


> Glad to hear you had some follow-on sales. Please keep us updated on how things progress over the next couple weeks.


Screw that! I may die in the next couple of weeks!

Ok, for those few SM comrades of mine here is what is freaking me out (in a good way) tonight. WARNING: It is extremely PLANKTON like on the Plankton to Whale scale so adjust your expectations:

I posted somewhere else where someone mentioned his/her rankings doing better but nothing showing up in their graph. Well after my Plankton Promo I watched my book peak at just under 5k by late Friday night or early Saturday morning. Here it is late Tuesday and this morning my book was at 24k and heading for the Amazon Abyss of Dead Plankton Books to sit for awhile when I noticed my book suddenly stopped and hung around the 24k ranking for a bit then all evening it keeps updating lower and lower (better I guess). I just hit refresh and my book climbed back into the teens ranking at 18,535 just after midnight EST USA.

OK, yes my plankton moment. I'm sure there are several Kboarders that would gasp if their book was rated that low, but for me it was a very pleasant surprise. My dashboard did show a KU trend of 2-3 books a day showing up in the KU/KOLL blue line of my graph. Still I couldn't figure out how my book was gaining in rank with no sales today and only 1 borrow.

Well, I finally saw a post by Elizabeth West where she mentioned several areas that readers can find books so I went to Amazon and clicked under the KU link then I went to the Fantasy genre. Low and behold I was #14 on page 1 of the Fantasy > Metaphysical & Visionary KU category and I was like on page 3 for both Sword & Sorcery and Coming of Age and finally I was at the very bottom of page 4 for EPIC Fantasy which has like 7k books and 400 pages. Pages were list type and under the "New and Popular" default category.

So what do you guys think? Is it possible that a bunch of readers are finding my book via KU now and downloading it (even if they aren't reading it right away)? Another post/thread mentioned "Ghost Borrows" where the author gets a ranking credit for a KU download even though it doesn't show up on the dashboard. Finally since it's the end of the month do you guys think that the KOLL borrowers who may only have 1 borrow a month are using them now?

I did ask the question which was how many borrows/buys does a book need each day to hold steady at around 20k? Any ideas?

Ok, sorry, just wanted to memorialize my Power Plankton moment in time. Are there any other prawns out there that could get excited at this news? I'm pretty sure our Sea Adventures leader would cry if one of his books dropped to 20k but for this Plankton I am uber excited. Seen my book hanging around the 100k-300k range for months then get as low as 400k when my promo started so 20k for me is pretty big.

Thanks for reading. I got the damn day job tomorrow and I feel like I'm jacked up on mojo or something and can't sleep. This is so positive and negative at the same time. Lord let me sleep tonight.

Plankton indeed! 
SM


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

Those are excellent results. I'm getting similar results and am happy with them.

>Is it possible that a bunch of readers are finding my book via KU now and downloading it (even if they aren't reading it right away)?

It's my understanding that you don't get a credit for a KU download until the reader has read 10% of the book. You know from your graph exactly how many of those there are. Are you wondering if you get some kind of ranking credit even before they read the 10% (and before you see it on your graph)?

>Low and behold I was #14 on page 1 of the Fantasy > Metaphysical & Visionary KU category and I was like on page 3 for both Sword & Sorcery and Coming of Age

That's great. Here's something I'm going to do soon:

1. Make a list of all categories that my book could possible fit into
2. For each category, look at the #100 book, and note its rankings
3. Put my book in the category which is easiest to get into (that is, the one for which the #100 ranking is the highest).
4. Switch categories now and then.

>I did ask the question which was how many borrows/buys does a book need each day to hold steady at around 20k? Any ideas?

Three, according to one book I was just reading. Here is a chart in _Let's Get Visible_:

#1 to #5 = 3,500+ books a day (sometimes a lot more) 
#5 to #10 = 2,000-3,500 books a day 
#10 to #20 = 1,100-2,000+ 
#20 to #65 = 850-1,100 
#80 = 850 #90 = 750 
#275 = 325 #500 = 200 
#1000 = 100 #2000 = 50-55 
#3000 = 40-45 #4000 = 30 
#5000 = 20-25 #7500 = 16 
#12000 = 10 #25000 = 5 
#32000 = 3 #42500 = 2 
#70000 to #100000 = 1 
#100,000+ = less than 1 a day

>can't sleep

Sucks, doesn't it? I woke at 4 AM today.


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## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

Salvador Mercer said:


> Screw that! I may die in the next couple of weeks!


LOL!



> So what do you guys think? Is it possible that a bunch of readers are finding my book via KU now and downloading it (even if they aren't reading it right away)? Another post/thread mentioned "Ghost Borrows" where the author gets a ranking credit for a KU download even though it doesn't show up on the dashboard. Finally since it's the end of the month do you guys think that the KOLL borrowers who may only have 1 borrow a month are using them now?


It's my opinion that for books in the midlist rankings (20K-100K, roughly), KU is a big influence. Books doing better than that are showing in the bestseller lists, so they get sales AND borrows. Books doing worse than that are probably out of all but the most obscure niche lists. But in that middle-range, a book may be outside the usual bestseller lists, but still be doing well enough to show up in the KU-only lists (which are only about a quarter of the number of books on Amazon).

Ghost borrows are a real thing. Every time someone downloads a KU book, there's a ranking uplift. Us prawns can see them quite clearly - any ranking uplift with no associated sale or borrow on the sales graph is a ghost borrow.



> I did ask the question which was how many borrows/buys does a book need each day to hold steady at around 20k? Any ideas?


I don't have the exact numbers on this computer, but I think it's about 5. A very rough guide is: divide the ranking into 100,000. 50K -> 2/day; 30K -> 3/day; 25K -> 4/day; 20K -> 5/day. You need more than that to achieve that rank, but the longer you maintain that rank, the fewer sales/borrows needed to sustain it.

Congrats on your ongoing super-plankton moment - long may it last!


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Al and Pauline,

Thanks, great info especially with the ranking stuff.  I woke this morning to see my book at 27k then 29k when I left for my day job.  Later in the day when I had time to check, it was back to 22k and now as of me writing this it is at 26k.  3 new KU/KOLL reads showed up today in my report graph but as you guys said we don't get credit for that blue line, only when they actually download it.  I guess for all we know those borrows could have been from two months ago.

Still, I dread the Amazon escalator of death.  Either your book is moving up or its moving down, there is no in between.  I'm trying to will my book (the little book that could) to stay in the 20k's in order to keep its 3 sub rankings.  Hate to jinx myself, but we shall see how long the little Plankton ride lasts LOL  

Thanks for sharing your data!
Regards,
SM


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## ufwriter (Jan 12, 2015)

This is the kind of thing I love reading about on here. All you needed was some visibility!


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## Ian Jaymes (Jan 22, 2015)

Salvador,

Thank you for these threads, they are really great.  You should see a blue mark from me tonight, though I can't help with the rankings as I picked your book up a month ago- finally got to it! As a RL scientist, I enjoyed the planting of your world in a scientific framework.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

sakurajima said:


> Salvador,
> 
> Thank you for these threads, they are really great. You should see a blue mark from me tonight, though I can't help with the rankings as I picked your book up a month ago- finally got to it! As a RL scientist, I enjoyed the planting of your world in a scientific framework.


Hey, thanks for sharing! Glad a few other prawns are enjoying my prawny info. Just an FYI, I ended up moving my prologue to the back of the book as an appendix based off of a lot of feedback from several readers and a book promo site spokeswoman. Personally I was very pleased with my scientific approach to my fantasy world. It gives it a structure that I enjoy but, of course, wasn't sure if others did as well. Being a RL scientist I'm glad you can appreciate it as well.

Just a side note (Not sure how much a pain this would be for you) I had a full edit/proof done on the book before my promo and updated the book on April 16th. IF you borrowed it and have the "Science of Claire Agon" at the front then you can return it and check it out again (I won't get credit for the do over so all is ethical) and it should push you the current version which will be much cleaner and neater (I changed some formatting as well). Up to you however.

Thanks for getting round to it so let me know either in this post, an email, or PM me here on any feedback, both good and bad, you may have. My biggest complaint is not knowing what others think of my book. A few reviews help but they are not definitive. I won't rest till I get 100 reviews then I can do the % easier and feel I have a better sample rate hehe.

Enjoy the read!

Regards,
SM


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## Ian Jaymes (Jan 22, 2015)

Salvador Mercer said:


> Hey, thanks for sharing! Glad a few other prawns are enjoying my prawny info. Just an FYI, I ended up moving my prologue to the back of the book as an appendix based off of a lot of feedback from several readers and a book promo site spokeswoman. Personally I was very pleased with my scientific approach to my fantasy world. It gives it a structure that I enjoy but, of course, wasn't sure if others did as well. Being a RL scientist I'm glad you can appreciate it as well.
> 
> Just a side note (Not sure how much a pain this would be for you) I had a full edit/proof done on the book before my promo and updated the book on April 16th. IF you borrowed it and have the "Science of Claire Agon" at the front then you can return it and check it out again (I won't get credit for the do over so all is ethical) and it should push you the current version which will be much cleaner and neater (I changed some formatting as well). Up to you however.
> 
> ...


Hmm... yeah I picked it up on the first, it says Feb 2015 edition. Unfortunately when I try and return and re-borrow, I'm getting that same version (with 'the Science of Claire Agon' in the front). I synced all my devices but and tried again, but same thing. Guess it's like a sale? Suppose I could do that, get the new version, but I'll read it first 

Anyway yes- I'm mainly a scifi reader (I mean it's hard for me to believe in dragons and magic swords, but then of course FTL and aliens are OK, so... yeah), but your intro made me think of the Pern books, which I loved. I will definitely be in touch if you want- I already have a few comments, not that they really matter, as I'm applying my scifi rules, which really don't apply. It's a good read so far.

OH, and I'm honored to be considered a prawn. I don't even think I rank a plankton.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

sakurajima said:


> Hmm... yeah I picked it up on the first, it says Feb 2015 edition. Unfortunately when I try and return and re-borrow, I'm getting that same version (with 'the Science of Claire Agon' in the front). I synced all my devices but and tried again, but same thing. Guess it's like a sale? Suppose I could do that, get the new version, but I'll read it first
> 
> Anyway yes- I'm mainly a scifi reader (I mean it's hard for me to believe in dragons and magic swords, but then of course FTL and aliens are OK, so... yeah), but your intro made me think of the Pern books, which I loved. I will definitely be in touch if you want- I already have a few comments, not that they really matter, as I'm applying my scifi rules, which really don't apply. It's a good read so far.
> 
> OH, and I'm honored to be considered a prawn. I don't even think I rank a plankton.


Thanks for pointing this out to me. I returned the book then downloaded it again (borrowed) and it synched right to chapter 11 where it was before with the older version. That really sucks. I wonder if anyone else knows how to get the older version off of a kindle or ereader so that it accepts the newer version. The look inside shows the updated version.

Also yes do share and NO do not buy the damn thing or any such idea. I'll run one last free promo on it for a day and let you know so you can pick it up and hopefully it will replace the KU version you have. I just wanted you to have the best read possible. Anyway glad you pointed this out, I was working under a false pretense so those 1 star reviews may be inbound at any time LOL.

Oh and you rank as a prawn for sure if you like the title, I reserve the right to the lower Plankton level LOL  No matter what happens this whole experience has been a very enjoyable one. It's like a new addiction for me. I just wish I could write at Yoda speed hehe and really get things done!


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## AnonWriter (Dec 12, 2013)

I've been so busy trying to finish my second book that I completely missed this amazing (and hilarious) thread. Thanks so much for posting, Salvador.

And thanks also to TromboneAl. I had no idea how to use those free Facebook pages.

I love all the detailed analysis both of your guys are doing. Thanks for all the data!


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Emily Wibberley said:


> I've been so busy trying to finish my second book that I completely missed this amazing (and hilarious) thread. Thanks so much for posting, Salvador.
> 
> And thanks also to TromboneAl. I had no idea how to use those free Facebook pages.
> 
> I love all the detailed analysis both of your guys are doing. Thanks for all the data!


Hehe Emily! You're one of the good guys then  At least you're working on your book and making progress. I'm editing my next book which I actually wrote first and it's depressing. It needs lots of help and I'm only on chapter 5 of 20 so far, but soon I'll do the cover reveal and blurb this weekend so we'll see if it will be ready for prime time.

Do you have a date set for your next release? That will be very cool and I like your newsletter ideal that I saw on twitter. I keep meaning to sign up but hate clicking things on my phone, hard enough to read on my computer with my eyeglasses LOL.

Regards for now and best of luck on book 2!!
SM


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

I'm running another free promo today. I submitted to more free free promo sites this time, and so far I'm getting more downloads (orange=today).










The difference could also be due to the day of the week (Thurs vs Sunday) or the fact that I now have more reviews.

I will wait until the optimum time to post to all of those facebook groups (3 PM Eastern Time).

I'm doing a few tweets and a facebook post with images like these:


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Al,

Do update that graph.  That is very cool and I enjoyed seeing your FB ad.  I am feeling way behind the power curve when I see what you're doing and then look at what I've done.  I am working at molasses speed LOL.

Well, I finally hit 50k and dropped out of all 3 of my sub category top 100's before getting a ghost borrow and roaring back to 34k, about 1k out of the top 100 cats LOL.  Right now it is at 46k but I'm hoping it will improve as a paid sale just showed up in my graph and those lag a bit.

So for the Plankton record and my fellow bottom feeders, the normal 'best' ranking for my book with no promos was about 100k give or take 10k.  I think that I'll post and update when my book reaches 100k again and then my 'tail' from my promo will officially be over.

On the positive side I broke a new record with 4 KU borrows showing up in my graph today.  My record was 3 borrows (in the last 5 days) so I am definitely seeing some KU love on this little book.  I'd be way over 100k I think if not for the borrows.

Regards,
SM


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Nicknacks said:


> Picked yours up from FussyLib, Al
> 
> It's so weird to download all these books & then realize the authors are in KB. I feel I'm starting to "know" some of you (not in a creepy way I swear! - I hope!  ) Makes for a very different reading experience!


What's been really cool is seeing other Kboarder's books in your book's "also-boughts". Currently on page 1 there is Mark Tyson and Michael Wallace and on page 6 Pauline Ross, on page 10 Sever Bronny and the wild one on page 7 is Jane Austen  I'm thinking a romance kboarder took pity on me and downloaded my book LOL. There are a few self-publishing books including Libby Hawker who posts here (I think she does or someone else mentioned her here). Anyway that is pretty cool for me at least. I may be missing a few but I think we kboarders use the same promo sites and maybe the same readers?

So NOT creepy but cool


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

>Do update that graph. That is very cool and I enjoyed seeing your FB ad.

Here's the final graph, although that final point may go up a bit, since some downloads don't show up until the day after. Orange is the new promo.

The result is interesting, early results suggested a much bigger final result, but that was not the case:










>I feel I'm starting to "know" some of you (not in a creepy way I swear! - I hope!  ) Makes for a very different reading experience!

Yes, and that is the kind of thing that authors with active Twitter, Facebook, blog, and newsletter followings are going for. That is, the same kind of intercourse we engage in here (and not in a creepy way!).


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Someone is going to tell me to stop posting daily and only go weekly but it's addicting!

Also I got to share with those who can appreciate these special plankton moments.  It seems, and I'm not the only one, that many of our family and friends don't understand an indie author's first few firsts the way another indie author who is just starting can.

So... 3 hours before the day is over and I broke another plankton record; 6 borrows and 3 sales for a non-promo day.  I've had more sales before, 4 in fact but never with 6 borrows so 9 total in one day on my little graph.

My poor little dragon is battling a ferocious battle with the Amazon demons of book invisibility as the demons try relentlessly to drag the little Black Dragon back down into the Amazon Abyss of Forgotten Books.  But no!  The little worm is struggling to stay in the top 100 sub categories and has fought bravely to be seen by the big Zon readers.  Somehow, the promo must have given the little dragon some KU love and it's starting to show.  No knows how long it will last but it's been an epic week watching the yo-yo battle between dragon and demons.

I'm planning on doing my month 2 update (for both of you following me hehe) as well as my blurb and cover reveal later this weekend so it's a big weekend for me.

Thanks to all my fellow prawns, fishies and whales for sharing in my little plankton experience.  The whole Writer's Café is as much fun as anything else I've done in my life.  Great to know all of you.

Regards for a Friday night,
SM


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## Northern pen (Mar 3, 2015)

Nicknacks said:


> It's like six degrees of KBacon


How about five degrees of HHowey?


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## KReadnour (Jul 8, 2014)

Salvador Mercer said:


> So... 3 hours before the day is over and I broke another plankton record; 6 borrows and 3 sales for a non-promo day. I've had more sales before, 4 in fact but never with 6 borrows so 9 total in one day on my little graph.
> 
> I'm planning on doing my month 2 update (for both of you following me hehe) as well as my blurb and cover reveal later this weekend so it's a big weekend for me.
> 
> SM


Congrats on breaking that plankton record! I sneak on here and lurk around from time to time, so you probably have more than two following you. (That does sound creepy) Ok. following in the not so creepy way. The point, please give the update.


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## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

I'm very happy to see more updates, and even happier that the dragon is fighting off those demons so well.  Please keep posting - the tail of a promo is at least as interesting as the promo itself, whether for plankton, prawn or whale.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Hi everyone again,

This post should either inform you, if a very new author, or entertain you if you're an established author. Now that I got that out of the way let's just say this is my only book published and this update is for April of 2015, month two for my book. It was published in February but saw only three days of life that month and one paid sale so I count March as month one and April month two.

Warning! My comments will contain opinions and, as everyone knows, they can differ widely. Now for the Plankton data:

Performance:
April, 2015
Paid: 96 (was 19, increase of 505%)
Borrows: 23 (was 10, increase of 230%)
Free: 734 (was 120 (2 day promotion), increase of 611%)
Reviews: 4 (was 0, increase +4)
Avg Rating: 4.5 (was N/A)
Ranking (est.): 5k to 400k (was 65k to 330k)
EOM Ranking: 33k (was about 220k) (EOM stands for End-of-Month)
New-Revenue: $2.04 (Paid in April for the lone purchase at $2.99 minus the 6 cent delivery fee LOL)

Platform:
Mailing List: Start 0, Finish 3 (Mailchimp)
Website: (done but no traffic/unique data, Creating a new one)
Facebook: Start 22, Finish 22 (Likes, no increase)
Twitter: Start 9, Finish 12 (increase of +3)
Goodreads: Reviews-Start 0, Finish 2 Avg 5.0, Followers-Start 0, Finish 11, TBR-8

Promos: One, covering 8 days from April 17-24th. Promo details on page 1 of this thread.

Strategy: Publish book one. Ready book two for publishing. Write book three, then market. (No change)

Objectives: Increase visibility as an author/brand. Learn the craft of not only writing, but also of self-publishing. (No change)

Category Ranking: My top 3 sub categories that I rank in the easiest are as follows:

#80+ in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Metaphysical and Visionary
#90+ in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Sword and Sorcery
#95+ in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Coming of Age

However, I used key words to get into a total of six sub categories. Two of the Teen and Young Adult and four of them regular Fantasy. They are as follows:

Teen and Young Adult: Sword and Sorcery (KU subcat page 2)
Teen and Young Adult: Coming of Age (KU subcat page 2)
Fantasy: Sword and Sorcery (KU subcat page 4)
Fantasy: Coming of Age (KU subcat page 3)
Fantasy: Metaphysical and Visionary (KU subcat page 1)
Fantasy: Epic (KU subcat page 4)

I'm mentioning these stats because after my mini Plankton promo I noticed my ranking improving with no paid sales. I learned that whenever someone downloads my book on their Kindle Unlimited subscription I get rank credit for it. It only shows up in my graph when they read past the 10% mark. Sure enough, I went to the KU sub categories and found my book in each one under the default "New and Popular". My book was ranking on the first four pages. I think this was significant because under the Epic category I was at the bottom of page 4 out of 400 pages or the top 1%. Within a couple of days my KU/KOLL blue dashboard graph line jumped up as readers read past the 10% mark. I attribute my promo tail to this fact. (Opinion based on the data above)

Summary: I'm going to use one word here, VISIBILITY. The mini promo really helped my Plankton status. Perhaps I can graduate to true prawn status now. Just looking at the stats above should show that my experiment was most revealing even though common sense would indicate this to any casual observer. I published my book on Amazon with no promotion or marketing plan and due to the 99 cent price I managed a handful of sales and borrows based on subject matter alone.

When I added the promotion and tweaked my subcategories this gave my book visibility. I noticed, and the data above supports this, that my book ranking and downloads improved considerably from month 1 to month 2. Is it a bestseller or breakout success? Of course not, but from the relative prawn perspective it has improved its performance considerably.

Lessons Learned: I'll try to list them for my fellow prawns, feel free to comment on them and share your experiences:

1)	Visibility. As I mentioned in my summary the book has to be seen in order to be downloaded. Every book and every author should have a marketing plan. This should be short term and another one longer term to obtain the author's objectives.

2)	Keywords and Sub categories. I found that this goes hand in hand with visibility. By at least getting into six sub categories, my books are visible now on more lists. Readers may browse one list or many lists. If your book is in many lists compared to just one or two then the chances of a reader seeing your book and downloading it goes up, obviously. However, I wasn't sure how to increase this factor. If you want to discuss getting your book into sub cats post or PM me.

3)	Reviews. I was lucky to have ENT accept my book with zero reviews for my promo. They were a great anchor. I understand that this is a 'chicken and the egg' question. You need reviews to promote but you need promotion to get reviews. I was, and still am, doing a poor job on this front compared to a few other debut authors, but that is simply my position right now. To get reviews people have to read your book and be motivated. It's a numbers game so if you don't have an ARC list, a beta readers list, etc. then don't worry. Just get your book out there as much as you can. Run a free promo, price it aggressively and get as many copies downloaded as possible. I went close to two months with no reviews and I understand it's discouraging. Just hang in there and get those copies out.

4)	Edit/Proofing. Invest. Just do it. My budget is very low. So low in fact that I couldn't afford a cover or proofing services. When I got turned down by Booktastik for not meeting their 'editing criteria' I asked for specific examples. The lady there was very kind and gave me five examples starting with the second paragraph and ending with the sixth paragraph. After that email I wanted to grab my smaller samurai sword (I served in the Army and was stationed in Japan for 3 years so I own a set of samurai swords) and commit 'Sepuku'. At my day job everyone comes to me to proof their powerpoints, documents, memos etc. I speak three languages fluently and know the different parts of speech, nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, etc. In Russian I understand the lack of articles as well as word declensions and the six basic cases for them. I understand the gender role in Spanish as well as subjunctive clauses. I wrote a book however and apparently I have no idea how to use a comma properly. Very discouraging but... It feels very good to know I have a book that has been professionally edited and I consider it an investment for the rest of my life because, once the book is done and out there and as close to perfect as you can make it, then it will/can be there for decades. Of course I hope to 'earn out' enough to cover the costs of getting this book published. That is my primary financial goal. And FWIW I had to take a can of soup with me to work for two months to save money for this book of mine instead of buying lunch at $5-$10 a pop (soup for me is $1-$1.50). Over eight weeks the savings really added up, however I am getting sick of Campbell's and Progressive soup right now hehe!

5)	Cover. I did a cover reveal and it sucked. I had protected material I was using and no artistic ability at all. I got real lucky and had a Kboarder who does covers for fun offer me her mock up and I used it for free. I've since saved enough to send her a very small Amazon gift card but it would never cover her actual work. Later I found another author here who had some premades on sale and I managed to buy two great covers for $10 and $15 for half price. I'll use these for future projects. In the meantime your cover MUST reflect the genre at the minimum. I read three books by Derek Murphy and the one on covers said it best and I'll paraphrase here. The cover is like a 'pass/fail'. It only needs to convey the genre and be interesting enough to entice the reader to click on it. Once that is done the cover has done its job and the blurb now steps on stage to take over. Obviously a super cover could garner more 'clicks' to the blurb, but unless it's by a factor of considerable difference it only needs to do its job.

Moving Forward: Copied from last month as they haven't changed really with a few slight edits.

My main goal is to be able to have my books finance themselves, so that I can outsource or pay to do the following: Book Cover, Editing/Proofing, Marketing, Request for Reviews and Formatting.

If I could do it all over again I'd work on having Beta Readers, ARC Reader's and maybe have developed a relationship with some Fantasy genre bloggers but I understand that to do all that requires time and energy and I think it's alright to do what I did and really start at zero.

The next key step is getting more books out there, but get them out there ready to be read (cover, blurb and edited properly including a marketing plan for the books launch).

That's my second month update. Hope you still have some coffee left in your cup LOL. I'm also hoping that if you're a newer author or soon to be debut author that you will feel free to post here and share your experiences as well otherwise start your own post. I know I love reading other promo threads and also any posts that discuss experiences in publishing and writing.

Regards for now,
SM 

Updated to add Goodreads information which I forgot to do.


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## Northern pen (Mar 3, 2015)

Awesome Write-up Salvador

Your month to month improvement is excellent. You are doing a great job!

I think pretty soon we are just going to have to officially move you into the Prawn category. I can fight it out with the other newbies for king of the plankton title. You are fast moving into old vet range 

Just imagine how much better your next launch is going to go with all the knowledge gained through this one.


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## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

Fascinating, Salvador. Thanks for all the details. It's fantastic to see the improvements month on month!

Don't beat yourself up over what you 'should' have done. A few people get it right from the start, but most of us don't. I regard the whole of the first year as a learning curve. As far as getting beta readers, ARCs and reviews - I found it easier with the second book, and easier again with the third. I'm sure you'll find the same thing when you have more books out.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Robyn Wideman said:


> Awesome Write-up Salvador
> 
> Your month to month improvement is excellent. You are doing a great job!
> 
> ...


I hope so Robyn. I fully expected my book to be dragged back to the sub 100k rankings almost immediately after the promo, but this tail that everyone talks about is new to me and kind of nice. When my book fell to 50k I thought it was game over, but it's fighting to stay relevant at least for now.

Some folks refer to a 30 day and 90 day cliff. I noticed that the sub cats for Kindle ebooks include a 30 day and 90 day filter. Who knows, at the end of May my book will roll off the 90 day release window and may disappear again. I get this feeling from reading what other veteran writers have done that a book and/or series will need regular attention, much like a car needs quarterly maintenance for example, unless you're a big hit or well known author and I don't think many of us indies fall into those descriptions.

That is why I'm taking the time to post these results. Month three may be a bust once my tail is gone, who knows? I think taking the time to post about my book's performance helps me personally as I use the data to manage my book's performance so it helps me to post it and I'm hoping it helps someone to read it.

At the end of the day I'm still a very small plankton (or prawn) in a very big sea, BUT... I am very happy with the experience. It is most rewarding to simply have accomplished the feat of writing and publishing your own work.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

PaulineMRoss said:


> Fascinating, Salvador. Thanks for all the details. It's fantastic to see the improvements month on month!
> 
> Don't beat yourself up over what you 'should' have done. A few people get it right from the start, but most of us don't. I regard the whole of the first year as a learning curve. As far as getting beta readers, ARCs and reviews - I found it easier with the second book, and easier again with the third. I'm sure you'll find the same thing when you have more books out.


Ah yes, the voice of reason appears. Great points Pauline. Read what I wrote at the very end of my last post. Just the experience of writing and publishing has been a wonderful and exciting journey to have personally experienced. Also I am one of those few people (or maybe not) who has never done drugs before. I haven't even tried MJ so I can't tell you what a drug would be like until I got my Amazon Dashboard. Now THAT is ADDICTING! I'd say refreshing my dashboard and book page to see my hourly ranking is my one and only drug LOL. I didn't really do it my first month because they didn't move but after the promo, well now that is fun. My kids think I'm playing a super slow hour-per-turn game or something and they just don't get it.

In fact, when I posted about my book increasing in rank for like 4 straight hours I literally yelled when it went back into the high teens on its own. My wife wanted to know what the hell all the fuss was about, she said I nearly scared her I was so excited LOL. It's these little moments that are so much fun. I just wanted to share so you know that I'm LOVING my prawnie experience.

Thanks for posting!

Regards,
SM


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

Salvador Mercer said:


> >My main goal is to be able to have my books finance themselves, so that I can outsource or pay to do the following: Book Cover, Editing/Proofing, Marketing, Request for Reviews and Formatting.


It's like the joke about the gambler. "I hope I break even because I could really use the money."

That's what we are like. Addicted to writing, and hoping that our sales can support our habit.


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## Northern pen (Mar 3, 2015)

I think you amazon.ca sales just went up a notch


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

Here's a comparison of my two free days:










Both promos had three 99 cent days following the free day.

Things that were different in the second free day:

1. I had had a free day just eleven days earlier
2. I submitted to more promo sites
3. It was on a Thursday rather than a Sunday
4. On the first one, I tweeted "Free today Only" on the second, I tweeted "Free today only (4/30)" because I didn't want people to buy it by mistake (thinking it was still free).

No real conclusions, but I'm still convinced that when it comes to KDP free promos, "one day at a time" is a good strategy.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Al,

I can't see the top of the graph.  Is that for only the Contact book or all books?

Thanks,
SM


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Robyn Wideman said:


> I think you amazon.ca sales just went up a notch


Hehe, they did indeed. Have to look down at the bottom royalty page so see it and for the last week it's the only Canuck buy LOL. Thanks!


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

That's just for _Contact Us_.


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## J.A. Cipriano (May 27, 2014)

Your wrap up was really interesting. You're doing really well, I know its sort of tongue and cheek with the plankton thing, but I wish you'd stop using the term. It makes me feel sad for you because you're definitely doing awesome.

I'd also like to point out that it took me almost 3 months to sell that many copies of my first book =D


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

JACipriano said:


> Your wrap up was really interesting. You're doing really well, I know its sort of tongue and cheek with the plankton thing, but I wish you'd stop using the term. It makes me feel sad for you because you're definitely doing awesome.
> 
> I'd also like to point out that it took me almost 3 months to sell that many copies of my first book =D


No need to feel sad. I'm just having fun with it. It's my way of keeping myself humble and realizing that everything is relative. Also I was surprised to read what you posted about 3 months. I'm watching Emily Wibberly, Sever Bronny and Sean Golden and definitely thinking I'm plankton level compared to them, but maybe your point is not to compare?

Also perhaps my own level of self-esteem is lower than I would let on, and while I'd like to share my experience as a debut author, I don't know if it's helping anyone or not. It almost seems a tad arrogant to think my experience would be beneficial when so many others are doing much better. Al, who posts here often, is doing many things I haven't even thought to do and seems to have some work around for each task to make it easier and more efficient. Throw in a few other non Kboard debut authors, one who was rated around 400 for almost 2 months, and I definitely feel like small potatoes. I just used plankton for some fun since others referred to themselves as prawns, and I didn't want to include myself quite yet in that group.

For the record, If not for kboards and all those promo threads I read, I don't think my book would be ranking any higher than say about 500k. Finally, I am racing to get my next book out and still do it right before I hit the dreaded 90 day cliff. I have this feeling that all that KU Amazon love I'm feeling right now will go away when June arrives 

Thanks for posting and sharing. That is the only thing I hope my thread does, which is to inspire other debut authors. The vets don't really need my info and most of them are doing just fine on their own. I shudder to think where I would be without the Writer's Café. No one else in my circle outside of this group even comes close to getting it. I'm not a social bunny so this experience has been an eye opener for me.

Regards,
SM


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Nicknacks said:


> Wait... are you a plankton? Or a potato? Or a bunny? I thought only Sever was the bunny? Gosh I'm confused.
> 
> Seriously though, well said, Salvador
> 
> ...


Hehe, yeah, what am I? I wasn't paying attention to views and I just thought a lot of views was just the same people jumping in and out. Also the plankton thing was more fun than anything. My 5 year old loves to watch Sponge Bob and there is an evil little plankton on the show trying to steal the secret sauce. I like that guy, I'm trying to steal the indie secret sauce and use it on Amazon LOL 

Will be fun a year from now to see how we're doing. Thanks for sharing!

Regards to everyone (lurkers included!)
SM 

PS: Sever is the Bunny and the only one at that


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Going to try to ask a sincere and serious question, since I have only one promo's worth of experience.  Perhaps Pauline and a few other multi promo vets can help?

Just to be sure I'm understanding this correctly, but the tail is suppose to go down slowly right?  Once the book finishes the promo and peaks then the tail slowly dwindles until the book is back where it started?  That is what I thought and wanted to ask if this is the correct understanding of the term "Tail" after a promo.

Thanks!
SM

edited for a major possessive mistake


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## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

Salvador Mercer said:


> Just to be sure I'm understanding this correctly, but the tail is suppose to go down slowly right? Once the book finishes the promo and peaks then the tail slowly dwindles until the book is back where it started?


Generally speaking, that's what usually happens, although I find the 'slowly dwindles' part consists of lurches downwards and then unexpected lurches back up, but overall, downwards.

But...

There's really no 'supposed to'. Some books have a good promo and no tail at all - straight back to where they were. Some have a long, long tail that goes on for months. And sometimes a bit of promo will enable a book to catch the Amazon uplift and start soaring. And if any of us could predict it and work out why it happens, we'd bottle it and sell that instead of writing books.


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## Julz (Oct 30, 2014)

Wow! What a month!! It makes me want to go and look at my numbers, then again, maybe not  But it puts it into much better perspective when you lay it all out like that. Here's to an even greater month three


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## Kayd (Apr 1, 2015)

Thanks for this thread. My debut should be launching in a few days and it's great to see all this helpful advice for marketing. My book is in contemporary romance so you know I'm going to have claw and scratch for even the lowest level of visibility.


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

Here's a question: Let's say your promo tails off, and you are no longer in the top 100 for any categories. Are you then as invisible as before your promo?

Here's another way of asking this:

If your overall Amazon rank has improved from 300,000 to 30,000, yet you are not in the top 100 for any categories, is there any benefit to your improved rank?

Or

If your rank falls in the forest, and no one hears it ...


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Kayd said:


> Thanks for this thread. My debut should be launching in a few days and it's great to see all this helpful advice for marketing. My book is in contemporary romance so you know I'm going to have claw and scratch for even the lowest level of visibility.


Sounds great. Keep us updated on your debut launch. I can't say I know anything at all about romance, except it's a hot genre. If only dragons were so sexy 



TromboneAl said:


> Here's a question: Let's say your promo tails off, and you are no longer in the top 100 for any categories. Are you then as invisible as before your promo?
> 
> Here's another way of asking this:
> 
> ...


Actually I was asking because my promo my book went from a peak of just under 5k all the way back to 40k dropping out of those 3 top 100 subs after passing about the 33k mark. Then I lowered the price again and it started to creep into the 30k's bouncing around as Pauline described, then the next week it crept up into the 20k's, again with the bounce. Finally, about 2 days ago it started to flirt with the high teens and this morning, after a very good day yesterday, it peaked at around 12.8k.

So, I was wondering if the tail was a one direction slide or not, since my little dragon book went down like a rock over a few short days then bounced back. Hate to jinx anything, but I'm trying to make sense of all this. Just makes me realize how little I still know about self-publishing 

I'll dream for one more day then


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## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

Salvador Mercer said:


> Actually I was asking because my promo my book went from a peak of just under 5k all the way back to 40k dropping out of those 3 top 100 subs after passing about the 33k mark. Then I lowered the price again and it started to creep into the 30k's bouncing around as Pauline described, then the next week it crept up into the 20k's, again with the bounce. Finally, about 2 days ago it started to flirt with the high teens and this morning, after a very good day yesterday, it peaked at around 12.8k.
> 
> So, I was wondering if the tail was a one direction slide or not, since my little dragon book went down like a rock over a few short days then bounced back. Hate to jinx anything, but I'm trying to make sense of all this. Just makes me realize how little I still know about self-publishing
> 
> I'll dream for one more day then


What you have to remember, Salvador, is that the sales ranking and its best-seller lists isn't the be-all and end-all of Amazon's algorithms. There's also the Hot New Releases list (very important for the first 30 days, and to some extent for the first 90 days), the overall popularity list and the Kindle Unlimited lists.

The best-seller lists are based purely on sales/borrows, nothing else, and the ranking is the one you can see on your book page and track with EbookTracker and the like, so naturally authors focus on that. However, the popularity list, which takes into account price (amongst other things) is what readers normally get funneled to when they choose a book. Then the HNR and KU lists are subsets for new books, and books that are in KU. Both of them enable a book to be a bigger fish in a smaller pool, rather than fighting the tides in the vast Amazon ocean.

So even if your book drifts out of the *bestseller* lists for its subgenres, it may still be well-placed in the popularity lists, HNR list (if new) and KU lists (if the book is in Select). I suspect that a book may have a sudden mini-spike in sales/borrows if the churn of other books drifting around suddenly throws a book onto a better 'page' of a particular list. Equally, it may suddenly see a drop if it shifts to a lower page. It becomes a little less visible. I suggest you read David Gaughran's 'Let's Get Visible' for a more detailed look at all this.

I don't advise trying to make sense of it, though. There are so many variables involved, and a strong element of randomness, so if you try to see patterns you'll drive yourself mad.  Just be happy with the good days, and philosophical about the bad days, and keep right on dreaming. And writing the next book. And the one after that.


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

I'm rethinking about another monthly report ::yawn:: so I'll just make a nice little comment here on month three.

Revenue has really gone up, nothing earth shattering, more than coffee money, but the trajectory is important.

Secondly I am very surprised that my second book, Ranger Rising, has overtaken The Black Dragon in the rankings. I have a very nice screenshot to illustrate this:










This is from the Fantasy > Metaphysical & Visionary sub category. I have an email into KDP Support asking why none of my Teen & YA Fantasy sub categories are working for the HNR lists. I am actually in the HNR for Fantasy > Epic, Sword and Sorcery and Coming of Age but not the Teen & YA ones for Sword & Sorcery or Coming of Age. Hopefully we'll get this fixed.

I got an email from Amazon informing me that Pauline's book, Bennamore was out, probably because I bought and read the Plains one. This makes me wonder if they did the same for Ranger Rising to readers who had bought The Black Dragon because, on the day that it went live at 5:00 am, I checked my dashboard at 8:30 am and had 3 sales already in 3.5 hours and I didn't really notify anyone. I only have 8 subscribers so far on my mailing list and had not sent out the notice. Also all of this is with no promotion.

I plan on running a countdown deal just after the July 4th US holiday and seeing how it goes. So far things are doing really well and for June my prawny revenue has doubled with the addition of the second book. I would say that everyone who mentioned a bump from publishing a second book was spot on, at least for me at any rate. It can fall at any time and I think perhaps my first book hit that 90 day cliff as it has dropped a bit in the rankings and we'll have to see if it falls further.

Just thought I'd give a smaller update on the release of my second book and my first being out for three months.

Regards everyone,
SM


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## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

Congrats on having both books doing well, Salvador! You're getting less prawny by the day.   Now get that third book written and out there...


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## Elidibus (May 13, 2015)

I just published my first book a week ago, so please keep this up, as I've been wondering what to do with those KU promo days and whatnot. This also motivates me to have my second book ready in July instead of August like I had planned


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Elidibus said:


> I just published my first book a week ago, so please keep this up, as I've been wondering what to do with those KU promo days and whatnot. This also motivates me to have my second book ready in July instead of August like I had planned


Michael,

Sounds good. I will let you know (recap so bear with me) that my first book was in 6 digit ratings for a month and a half until I did a week long mini promo. Also it went 6 entire weeks without a single review so don't despair.

Do get another book out by day 90 of this book IF possible. I think having something in the 90 day window may be important, but I'm not a scientist so I'm not sure yet.

Don't be afraid to solicit a review from a professional. I cold called (emailed) a couple of folks and one got back to me. His review had some good things to say, some not so good as well and his overall impression appeared to me, at least, to sound like he didn't like the book. I thought my sales would tank a bit. On the day I got his review I had 1 sale. The next day 6 and the day after that 13. I think the review helped to show a truly unbiased opinion of my work and potential readers didn't seem to care if it had some issues. I think the positives outweighed the negatives with the main positive being that the reviewer is ranked just outside of the top 1000 so he has street cred (using my teen's slang term now).

You're in the right place so half the battle is done for you now. Best of luck!
SM


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