Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Strategy for Promoting Books in a Series #IndieAuthors #Marketing

As an Indie author, I appreciate free promotion. But, how well does it work? 
I summarize a strategy for a standalone novel in this previous post: http://auroraspringer.blogspot.com/2015/10/can-free-promotions-help-indie-authors.html

This month, I tested a strategy for promoting the three books in my Grand Master’s Trilogy. Using free sites only, I promoted Book 2 FREE from April 1-5th with Book 1 set at 99c.  

Grand Master’s Pawn: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TP1N5PM
Grand Master’s Game: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0104OFJJ8
Grand Master’s Mate: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B018EHAA7S

Listed on the Following Sites
http://bookangel.co.uk/submit-your-book
bookscream.com
bookhearts.com  for 4/1/16
bookpraiser.com
free99books.com
Ebooklister 
bookbrag
Bookhippo (unlikely since only 1 review in UK)
Bookzio (tried)
Readersgazette
Patty Jansen’s Promo (Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror) for April 2-3 (pattyjansen.com/promo)

Ranking:
Book 2, Grand Master’s Game, hit top ranks of #2 FREE in First Contact and Space Exploration subcategories on Amazon at different times on the second day of the promotion. 
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #502 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #452 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
It reached the Amazon Best Sellers Rank of #388 Free in Kindle Store.
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #388 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
  
Book 1 Grand Master’s Pawn (99c) showed the best rankings of:
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,630 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Here are the results:
Sales over April 1-5th
Book 2: A total of 1796 FREE copies given away.
Book 1: 47 sold at $0.99
Book 3: 8 sold at $2.99
Profit (All ROI) = $31 plus KU reads and continued sales over the next few days

Would I do it again? Yes! This free promotion worked better than the paid one I ran in earlier this year and the books achieved temporary prominence after weeks of little action

Thoughts: 
The boost is temporary.
Discounting to 99c helps to track the results and brings in more readers. 
What strategy works for you?  

Secret Weapons
I acknowledge help with tweets and retweets from the members of the eNovelAuthorsatWork group. 
and also cross-promotion by authors in Patty Jansen's Promo




8 comments:

  1. Aurora! Wow. You ran a fab multi-book campaign. Excellent finish. Your results put paid to a whole raft of indie authors who yelp about being unable to afford promotion. I've long said, small campaigns work. You nailed it.

    Jackie Weger
    No Perfect Secret

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! Although it is becoming more difficult with all the competition for ebooks.

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  2. How I long for the old days when you could do a free promotion and when it ended, the rank you had attained carried over to the paid rank. Alas!

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  3. Thanks Aurora for sharing your experience!
    How can one find the Twitter handler of eNovel Author at Work? Did you email them first?
    Thanks

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    Replies
    1. You have to apply to join the group. It is selective for Indie Authors.

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