Saturday, May 04, 2013

Paid Promotion Blitz Experiment

My experiences with paid advertising have been mediocre, but in those cases, it's usually been a single random add posted now and again. Now I've planned a promotion blitz with my novel, The Kult, starting next weekend. I'm using lots of sites to see whether combining them over a few days will work better (of course what works for one book won't work for another and there are lots of variables).

 So first, the stats. The Kult has been out for a few years now, but I've decided to give it a big push. The story has been filmed by an independent production company and is currently in post production. On Amazon.com it has 28 reviews and an average of 4.4 stars. On Amazon.co.uk it has 25 reviews and an average of 4.4 stars too. (On Goodreads it has 191 ratings with an average of 4.02).

Now I've already reduced the price from $2.99 to 99c to avoid any mishaps for the planned week, and I'm promoting utilising the following sites: 

May 11th
http://www.bookbub.com/home/
http://bargainebookhunter.com/ 
http://storyfinds.com/ 
http://www.booktweetingservice.com/
http://www.indie-book-bargains.co.uk/
http://booksliced.com/
http://mommasaysread.com/
http://addictedtoebooks.com/
http://www.freebookshub.co.uk/
http://www.eBookLister.net
http://www.fkbooksandtips.com/ 

May 12th
http://www.freebooksy.com/
http://kindlenationdaily.com/ 
http://bookiniste.com/
http://www.ehorrorbargains.com/

May 13th
http://www.thekindlebookreview.net/
http://www.kboards.com/
http://thecheapebook.com/live/
http://www.ereaderutopia.com/
http://ereadernewstoday.com/

May 14th
http://www.bookblast.co/
http://thefrugalereader.com/
http://digitalbooktoday.com/

May 15th
http://www.kuforum.co.uk/ 

(I've also contacted the following sites, but promotion is not guaranteed and I've not heard back from them at the moment: http://www.pixelofink.com) and http://blog.booksontheknob.org/)

Of course I'd love any help people can give me by reposting any ads or links they see during the promotion.

The total cost of this promotion blitz is $613 (£393) and to recoup my costs I've got to sell 1751 copies. I'll post the results after the event. And here's a couple of links to the books:

http://www.amazon.com/Kult-Prosper-Snow-novel-ebook/dp/B004TGT3S6/ 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kult-Prosper-Snow-novel-ebook/dp/B004TGT3S6/ 

Barnes & Noble

14 comments:

Vicki said...

Just checked the Amazon ranking. I don't think you need to worry about selling enough copies to cover your costs. :) Way to go, Shaun.

Shaun said...

Unless sales reports are lagging far behind, I'm nowhere near making back my outlay yet, Vicki. With 378 sales on .com and 3 on .co.uk. The current rank is #384 Paid in Kindle Store.

I don't know about Barnes & Noble sales as I go through Smashwords, but there it's ranked 115. Have to see what today brings!

Vicki said...

I'm surprised that at #384 your sales are only 378 copies. Fingers crossed there's a lot more to come.

Shaun said...

Quick update. Total sales stands at 746 on .com and 9 on .co.uk, and 24 sales of the second book in the series.

I initiated raising the price back up via KDP nearly 24 hours ago, but as of yet, it hasn't gone back up on Amazon and is still 'Publishing' on the bookshelf.

I queried the sites I used if they had records of how many their respective ads sold. From those that have replied, these are the recorded sales:

Bookbub 571
Book Blast 78
Kindle Books and Tips 56
ENT 31
KBoards 14

Vicki said...

Thanks for the update and especially the stats. I was sure you'd come out on top. But not all is lost -- it's all about branding, which is more a slow burn. All the best, Shaun. Keep writing...

Shaun said...

Forgot to update sales from Barnes & Noble, which was 331.

Vicki said...

The big question is how your sales faring since the blitz. That slow burn I mentioned.

Shaun said...

More like a slow fizzle. ;) I have another promotion next week for the second book in the series, Killers. Bookbub are running this one as a thriller, which is what I wanted for The Kult. They wanted to run Killers as horror too, but this time I stuck to my guns and they agreed to run it as a thriller. Although it works as a standalone novel, it will be interesting to see how it goes.

Vicki said...

It'll be interesting to see what the difference in genre makes with your Bookbub promo. (My Bookbub sub is for thrillers only.)

Vicki said...

Wahoo - #150 Paid in Kindle Store. :)

Shaun said...

It had reached 148, but even more surprising, at Barnes and Noble it's reached Sales rank: 30 :)

Vicki said...

Way to go, Shaun. So the genre obviously makes a difference.

Shaun said...

Yes. And as this is the second book, I didn't think it would do so well. Would have been interesting to have seen what The Kult would have done if they'd promoted it as a thriller. The Kult at full price ($3.99) has also sold 42 copies since yesterday, which is far more than usual. I'll post a new thread on sales info later.

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