In September I made Gale Harbour Book 1 free for the Stuff Your Kindle Event (Thrills, Suspense & Dark Tales Edition), trying to drum up some traffic and sales. I also paid BookBelow to help promote it.
The results? I had 461 free downloads, which lead to $12.20 (Canadian) in further sales and page reads. The promotion cost about $27.50 CAD.
Back in June I did the Young Adult and Coming of Age Stuff Your Kindle Event. That time I did 205 downloads and made $32.07 CAD in sales in the following 30 days (however that time I paid extra for the "Premium" BookBelow listing so it cost me closer to $37 CAD).
So what can I take away from this?
Neither promotion were great, though the June one certainly had a better cost of sale (117% vs 225% in September - both are terrible, one just less terrible than the other). Was this because Psycho Hose Beast fit better in the Coming of Age group? Maybe.
The extra cost of the premium ad did not increase the number of downloads. Would I have had fewer downloads if I hadn't paid extra thought? Maybe.
Was the promotion worth it, in the end? Hard to say. Could I have gotten more bang for my buck paying $30 for Amazon or Facebook ads? In my (admittedly limited) experience, those ads don't have a huge return either, unless you're really good at massaging the algorithm to find the right target market, something I've never been able to successfully do.
In conclusion? I don't fucking know. I'll keep playing with it and maybe I'll figure out what I'm doing one of these days (suggestions are appreciated).
In other writing news, I'm trying to sign up to do an author fair at an event in November (The Unbound Indie Lit Market here in Ottawa). I said "trying to" because I applied for a table awhile ago but still haven't heard back. They said please wait to hear from us, but I'm thinking I should try to reach out again.
I've never set up a table at one of these events, so.... any tips or pointers from the veterans out there? Like seriously, any suggestions at all?
- How many books should I bring?
- What kind of signs?
- What should I do for handouts? (Business cards, bookmarks, candy, etc?)
- What other things haven't I thought of?
I've been googling and searching for these things myself, but any feedback but real people would be appreciated!
That's my update for this month. In case you haven't noticed, I've been putting a renewed effort into some of the other functions around being in author (besides the writing part, can't forget the writing part!). I also finally got around to contacting my local independent bookstore (it's literally just down the street) and asking them if they wanted to carry my book. They said no. Between that and the store back home in Newfoundland who asked me to take my books back because they weren't selling, I haven't actually had much luck with in person books sales.
So how is your author adventure going?
Hugs & Kisses,
-CDGK
The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Writers post their thoughts on their blogs, talking about their doubts and the fears they have conquered. It's a chance for writers to commiserate and offer a word of encouragement to each other. Check out the group at http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com
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