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 1-5^th 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

http://askdavid.com/free-ebook-promotion

bookscream.com

bookhearts.com  for 4/1/16

bookpraiser.com

http://theereadercafe.com/promote-your-books/

http://www.freebooksy.com/editorial-submissions/ 

free99books.com

Ebooklister 

bookbrag

http://www.frugal-freebies.com/p/submit-freebie.html

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)

• #2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Space Exploration
• #3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > First Contact
• #3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Superhero 

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #452 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

• #2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > First Contact

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)

• #4 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > First Contact

  

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)

• #101 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Superheroes
• #103 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Superhero
• #149 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > First Contact

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.