Well sir, I have to say that all in all my promotion was a good short-term success. For starters it sold an awful lot of copies of both books and it has left me with a fine long “tail”.
So what is a tail, you might ask?
A tail is kind of like the splash that a rock makes after you throw into the nearest pond. Basically what a promotional tail is – is the effect on future sales that a short term promotion has.
I made over a hundred dollars in Kindle sales alone in October. No, that isn’t a lot for some of you more successful writer-types – but it is a pretty good month for me. Currently, two-thirds of the way through November I am already past the hundred dollar mark in Kindle sales alone. With a little bit of luck and a few extra sales I might even hit the two hundred dollar mark in Kindle sales as well.
And THAT is a big first for me. Two triple digit sales months in a row is definitely a bit of a personal record. The last two years I have mostly been in the double digits, barring a couple or three out-of-the-average months.
Now, as I reach the back end of November my sales have begun to slow down. I am coming to the end of my “tail”. So it is in my best interests to throw another rock into the pond and see what sort of splash I can make on my upcoming December sales figures.
Fortunately, some thoughtful marketer invented Black Friday some time ago.
And even Canada has jumped onto the whole Black Friday concept – and why not? We’ve already got over our October turkey comas and we are still riding high on a sugar-buzz of leftover Halloween candy.
Admit it – how many of you out there have JUST developed a sudden craving for candy corn?
So I have been taking a VERY close look at the Black Friday – Cyber Monday weekend of November 27-30th.
This is a group effort put together by about four dozen authors – who are each chucking their own particular sized promo-boulder into the great collective pond.
In addition I have set up several HeadTalkers and one Thunderclap each of them advertising several of my e-book bargains including several 99 cent e-books and a couple of freebies.
I have also signed up for promotions at ebookstage and My Book Cave – both of which cost me absolutely nothing – because both of these promo-sites are just getting started.
I have also spent two five dollar bills on a Fiverr promo with bknights and Bookkitty – both of whom have performed well for me over the last year or so.
So WHICH e-books am I promoting?
I am glad you asked.
My Halifax-based time travelling toilet extravaganza A BLURT IN TIME is available for only 99 cents all November long. I have set up a HeadTalker campaign as well as using the bknights and the bookkitty and the My Book Cave listing to help promote this one – as well as talking about it during the Master Koda weekend.
My hockey-vampire novella, SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME is likewise available all November long for ONLY 99 cents. I have set up a Thunderclap campaign to help promote this one.
My mermaid short story, HARRY’S MERMAID is going to be available for FREE from November 27th to November 30th. I have set up a HeadTalker campaign and an ebookstage listing to help promote this one.
And – as a reward for reading all the way down to the bottom of this blog entry, my story collection TALES FROM THE TANGLED WOODS is free today and tomorrow on Kindle.
Click the cover and it will take you directly to the Amazon.com listing. 🙂
Yes sir and yes ma’m – I am throwing one big old multi-faceted promo-rock into the pond of Black Friday. It isn’t too late to set up your own promotion as well. You’ll find some VALUABLE tips in Penny Sansevieri’s ULTIMATE HOLIDAY PROMOTION.
This is me – squinting blindly and blithely, straight into the rising sun.
Let me see if I can give you a final summing up here.
Over the month of October I have sold almost 300 books in total on Kindle alone – which is pretty huge for me. I haven’t EVER sold more than 200 e-books in one month before.
Specifically, that was 214 copies of TATTERDEMON and 36 copies of DEVIL TREE – as well as a smattering of other sales.
On Kobo I sold 49 copies of TATTERDEMON and 1 copy of DEVIL TREE. I am pretty certain that was primarily due to my taking part in the Kobo promotion. I’m not sure if ANY of my prom websites made ANY sort of difference to my Kobo sales.
I feel that the Kobo sales were worthwhile, over all.
On Nook and Apple I sold 4 copies of DEVIL TREE and 1 copy of TATTERDEMON.
I am really beginning to grow discouraged about my lack of action on Nook and Apple. I feel that part of that inaction might be because I reach both of those services through an aggregator, namely D2D but because I am Canadian and I do not own a Mac computer I am really hamstrung when it comes to publishing directly onto Apple or Nook.
There are ways to do it – but I am not particularly inclined to going about all that much trouble for what might be a limited reward. Nook has not been shining for a lot of e-book authors. I know some folks do really well there – but every day I hear nothing but bad news about Barnes & Noble and Nook in general.
I had been trying to decide whether or not to go all-in for KU or to continue playing it wide. Given that I am still happy with Kobo’s results I probably WON’T let go of Nook and Apple yet. Why should I? It doesn’t take any effort on my part. They are already formatted and entered. The only reason to leave Nook and Apple would be if I were ALSO leaving Kobo – so why bother?
All that remains for me to figure out is whether or not my promotion expenses were worth it or not. I am definitely going to have to take a long look at what worked and what didn’t.
I’m going to leave both books – TATTERDEMON and DEVIL TREE – on for 99 cents for the rest of the week and then bump them up to $3.99.
I sold 66 copies of TATTERDEMON yesterday, thanks to a ROBIN READS promo that is still in effect this morning. The promo spot on Robin Reads cost me $15.00 – which I made back and then some yesterday.
So – what’s going on for November?
Well – it is going to be an awfully busy month.
For starters – my e-book UNCLE BOB’S RED FLANNEL BIBLE CAMP – FROM EDEN TO THE ARK was free yesterday and is still free this morning.
Just click and grab it while you have got the chance!
I am in my last week of my Kindle Scout program and any nominations are gratefully appreciated.
The Tale of a Time Traveling Toilet.
And I am in my third day of NaNoWriMo – which I still have to talk about – but not today! I am 3600 words into my new novel – THE NOVA SCOTIA BROTHERHOOD OF UNITED GHOSTS – and I need to bang out 1700 more words this morning.
yours in storytelling,
Steve Vernon
Please click this link and nominate A BLURT IN TIME for the Kindle Scout program.
I’m busy this weekend selling books at Hal-Con – a huge local scifi/fantasy convention, which has really been taking most of my time and energy – but I wanted to let you folks know how the big October promotion was doing so far.
On October 29th I sold 129 copies of TATTERDEMON on Kindle – which is pretty huge.
I’ve sold 205 copies of TATTERDEMON through Kindle alone this month with almost half of those copies selling on October 29th.
I’ve sold a total of 269 Kindle e-books in the month of October so far – and I’ve got a couple of mini-promos lined up for the first week of November.
Following this promotion I intend to bump TATTERDEMON and DEVIL TREE up to $3.99 – probably by November 7 – which I think I will leave as my steady novel rate.
I’ve sold 48 copies of TATTERDEMON on Kobo this month – making the book #13 in their top-selling horror books this month.
I haven’t sold any copies of TATTERDEMON in Nook or Apple this month – in spite of the fact that several of my promo sites promoted wide.
Kindle is still king – which really isn’t much news to anyone here at all – but Kobo is really beginning to show me their worth this month. I had really begun to doubt the wisdom of not going strictly Kindle Select – but thanks to Kobo’s new Beta promotion tab – which I will tell you folks all about later this week – I have experienced new life over at Kobo.
I am REALLY tired this morning and I have to go and get some breakfast before heading to man the book table all day today – so I apologize for the rough and ragged nature of this morning’s blog entry.
Lastly – this November I am AGAIN tackling Nanowrimo – so the full-tilt-boogie is going on all month.
Wish me luck.
yours in storytelling
In between trying to run a book table and an October promotion AND trying to get ready for Nanowrimo AND trying to hold down a day job – I am ALSO trying to run a Kindle Scout Campaign. PLEASE click this picture and nominate A BLURT IN TIME today!
All right – so most of folks already know that I am right in the middle of trying to pitch a perfect Kindle Scout Campaign and I am banging on every door in the hope of talking folks into nominating my book.
Ha! You weren’t expecting this. I usually wait until the blog to sneak this in – but I figure if I slide it in right the middle of the blog that folks will accidentally trip into clicking this banner and then inadvertantly nominating my book A BLURT IN TIME for the Kindle Scout program – which is a little like one of those Wile E. Coyote roadrunner traps that never, ever worked – STILL, if the book makes it into the Kindle Scout Publishing Program you will automatically receive a free Kindle copy of the book.
Whew.
I think I blew out a knuckle joint typing that last paragraph.
Mind you, nominations and keeping yourself on the Hot & Trending list isn’t the ONLY way to get yourself selected for Kindle Scout. There is a lot of books that spend eighty to ninety percent of their campaign on the Hot & Trending list that STILL do not get picked!!!
(that last sentence deserved those three exclamation marks)
Let me explain.
I am not entirely certain WHY Amazon does NOT tell us how many nominations we earn but I have a pretty good guess. I believe they want to keep that to themselves so that if my book with 313 nominations gets passed over to publish somebody else’s book with 311 nominations (both numbers picked right out of thin hypothetical air 🙂 ) that I don’t go crying to them “BUT MY BOOK HAD MORE NOMINATIONS!”
At the end of the day it is going to come down to whether or not Amazon figures they can sell your book. The nominations are nice. The Hot & Trending is nice – but if they think your book – or my book – will not sell then we are out on our butts.
You have to think of your submission as being a kind of a birthday gift to Kindle Scout. You put it together and you wrap it up and you put it on the gift table. Maybe all of your friends come around and recognize that pretty green polka-dotted alligator-skin wrapping paper that you always love to use and they say to you – “Now that looks like a damn fine present.” But then Amazon unwraps your present/manuscript and takes a look at it and says “Man, that gift looks like it came out of a Crackerjack box.” then for you the party is over.
Myself, I always get my manuscripts out of Kinder-eggs – much classier than Crackerjacks these days. 🙂
Still – no matter what happens – you will still have reached a lot of people who DID nominate you. Even if the Kindle Scout gods do not see fit to select yours or my manuscript for publication you still can put it on your own and you are guaranteed to be able to announce to those folks who did see fit to nominate your e-book that it is now available in e-print.
At the end of the day Amazon prefers to keep its inner workings secret – and rightly so. If they are totally transparent about the way that their algorithms and gears mesh then somebody out there would figure out a way to game the system and futz the whole thing up.
Well – I know that Jill Nojack knows a whole lot more than I do about Kindle Scout – so why don’t I turn you back over to her – thanks to the folks at Youtube and The Science Fiction & Fantasy Marketing Podcast.
(Fair warning. I posted the Youtube before watching it. I’ve since watched it. The video doesn’t REALLY get into the Kindle Scout program until about the halfway point.)
All right – so remember how I told you that I actually had TWO e-books up for this big 99 cent October promotion?
Well, let me tell you about book number two!
(keep in mind that I put this blog info together last week).
For me – one of the interesting aspects of this promotion is that a lot of these websites I have chosen promote wide. And both of the books that I am pushing are published wide. Lately I have not had much in the way of luck selling anywhere else but Kindle and I am taking a long look at how my sales figures tally up in Kobo, Nook, Apple and the like over the next month or so. I’m looking, I am figuring, and I am thinking. Kobo has taken a couple of interesting steps – what with them upgrading their promotion series and adding that funky little Book Points feature – but for me the deciding is going to be based SOLELY upon the amount of books I can move in the next month or so.
Let me tell you all about the second part of my October Promotion.
I am promoting my historical-horror DEVIL TREE simultaneously to TATTERDEMON.
DEVIL TREE is a funny sort of a book. I wrote it about thirty years ago when I was just finishing my second run at a Bachelor of Arts – Majoring in English and Minoring in Philosophy. It is a deep and thoughtful book that reads somewhat like a cross between Dostoevsky and Dan Simmons. It actually won a local literary award. But it isn’t a typical horror novel and as a result my reviews so far have been SERIOUSLY mixed. I have got some folks who have raved about the depth and the thoughtfulness of the writing – however, I have got just as many WTF-one-star reviews – primarily from a book club who picked up DEVIL TREE as one of their books. So this haunting novel scares me – but for a different reason than you might think.
DEVIL TREE
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #665,239 Paid in Kindle Store
#3455 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Lit & Fiction > Myth & Folk Tales
#3474 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Fairy Tales
#6788 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Mythology & Folk Tales
PROMO DETAILS
October 26: BookSCREAM
October 27: Buck Books
October 27-31: Just Kindle Books
October 28 – Bknights promote-on-my-Twitter-site
October 29: Read Cheaply
October 30 – ebookstage
October 31- Bargain Booksy
October 31 – Betty Book Freak
This isn’t as thorough a promotion as that of TATTERDEMON – but like i said I am more than just a little bit scared about some of the reviews this might garner.
Let me put it this way.
If you dig the slow, steady, tunnel-digging pace of a rousing Dostoyevsky novel you might actually dig DEVIL TREE. I love it and my wife loves it – partly because she first fell in love with me at a public reading of this novel.
But it ain’t HARRY POTTER.
Lastly, let me tell you all about how the sales have been going.
Well, so far this morning things haven’t been too lively – but it is early days.
My Book Cave looks to have moved one kindle copy of Tatterdemon – or that copy might actually have been moved thanks to my heavy-duty blogging.
Who knows?
Either way I am not disheartened. My Book Cave is new on the block and I was glad to help them out and they may grow up into something bigger – and lets be honest – it was, at best, a promo of seized opportunity. They were looking for authors to promote and I jumped in. It didn’t cost me a nickle and they have promised me faithfully to keep nudging the book over the next week or so by tweeting and mentioning it in their blog.
The book signing went fairly well – as I mentioned in an earlier blog entry today.
This is early days. I’ve got a solid left and right coming up tomorrow with the KINDLE BOOK REVIEW HALLOWEEN PARTY for Tatterdemon and BookSCREAM for Tatterdemon AND Devil Tree.
I’ll keep you all posted.
yours in storytelling
Steve Vernon
If this blog entry was the least bit helpful and/or interesting – PLEASE CLICK this banner and nominate A BLURT IN TIME for the Kindle Scout program. If the book makes it into the Kindle Scout Publishing Program you will automatically receive a free Kindle copy of the book.
My wife Belinda and I had a great time signing and selling our books this Saturday morning at the Halifax Forum Farmer’s Market. We bought some fruit and vegetables and some awesome cake and a cro-nut (part croissant/part donut) and a sweet yummy gooey butter tart and we had breakfast at Johnny’s Snack Bar across the street from the Forum.
This is how a writer has to do it sometimes. He has to hunker down in the craft shows and book fairs and the farmer’s markets and smile and nod and talk to people – and hopefully sell a few books.
Let me give you folks a few nice moments.
Right off the bat Bill Mont – the fellow who runs the Halifax Forum Flea Market and the owner of Devil’s Island – one of the most haunted locations in Nova Scotia stopped by to test my knowledge of Nova Scotia in general and Devil’s Island in particular. I told him that I had actually flown out there once in a helicopter and that I had met and talked to the couple who lived on the island as caretakers.
He asked me if I had ever written about Devil’s Island – but unfortunately my book that has the most to say about the subject is currently out-of-print.
Nimbus WILL eventually get this one back in print – but all good things take time.
A little later a young fellow showed up and told me that he had read all of my ghost story collections and that his buddy Andrew was my very biggest fan. Sure enough, shortly afterward a friend of mine who was working her own table overheard this young man on his cell phone saying to his friend – “Hey, if you want to meet the famous ghost story author STEVE VERNON, you ought to get right down here to the Forum right away.”
(it’s true – he apparently said my name in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS)
Twenty minutes later ANDREW showed up and shook my hand and told me that he was my biggest fan and he bought a copy of HAMMURABI ROAD and I am pretty sure that he may have broken one or two of his teeth, he was grinning that hard.
Yup, moments like that make a writers day.
A little later an old gent by the name of Hugh McKerville stopped by to chat with me. He told me about a book that he had written entitled THE SINBUSTER OF SMOKY BURN.
“It is good to meet a fellow who is as active a writer as you are,” he told me.
We talked a bit about writing and storytelling and the day moved on slowly. It felt a little bit like sitting on the bank of a river just watching time roll by. I always enjoy these moments – even though I really love the time when my thoughts grow quiet and I just set back and indulge in a little people-watching.
I sold a few books – not a lot – but this whole event for me was a time to have a bit of fun and meet some interesting people and to work out a few of the bugs that might present themselves at next weekend’s big event – the Hal-Con Scifi and Fantasy Convention!
That is going to be a BIG event and I believe that I will sell a whole LOT of books.
Time will tell.
As I say, next weekend we will be selling and signing books at Hal-Con and then following Hal-Con our next big book event will be at the Literary Fair in Musquodoboit Harbour in the Old School Gathering Place on November 7 from 1-4pm and from 7-9pm. It is a book signing, selling and reading event with the Christmas market in mind. Belinda Ferguson and I will be there for the afternoon session.
In the meantime, here is a reprint of an earlier blog entry that will give writer-folks some real inspiration for your next book signing.
FLY FISHING IN THE RIVER OF POSSIBILITY – A DOZEN TIPS FOR MAKING YOUR NEXT BOOK-SIGNING A SUCCESS!
We’ve all seen those lonely writers sitting at those tables parked in front of bookstores. We’ve watched them slowly growing cobwebs behind stacks of sadly unsigned books.
Heck, I have even been one myself, over the years. Signings are never predictable.
Just last month I found myself outside of the Coles Bookstore in the Halifax Shopping Centre. This can be an awfully tough spot to sign in. People come to this mall with high-test boutique shopping in mind. I have seen them sprint past my book table – aimed towards dresses and jewelry and the cellular phone experience and, of course, the food court.
If I sign and sell a dozen books at this mall I figured I was doing great.
But I love that bookstore – partly because of the location – so handy to my home. Partly because the people who work there really love their job and they mostly know me by name and always go out of their way to make this writer feel right at home. Even on days that I’m just browsing the bookshelves they always smile and say “Mr. Vernon, how good to see you.”
So I go there and I do my best and this October I signed and sold twenty copies of my books. That is a fine fat day for a book signing author.
Which goes to show that you can never tell how a book signing will go. That is the number one tip for writers scheduled for a book signing. Anything is possible. Don’t go there figuring you know everything there is to know. You are a writer, after all – which means that you make stuff up. Which means that you need to believe in the power of possibility.
Anything can happen.
So abandon all preconceptions. The fact is we’re just fishing. And I can tell you a fishing story or two. Most of them all begin with “I went fishing and stood on the side of the river” and end with “the mosquitoes bit but the fish did not.”
Here are ten of the never-before-told secrets for signing success.
1. Make sure your bait is fresh. Remember – you are sitting in a building filled with books. Make sure that yours stands out. Set up a display. Bring a few photo stands to prop up copies. For the launch of my now-out –of-print weird western-horror I brought a small stuffed buffalo, tastefully zombified. For Lunenburg Werewolf I bring along a small stuffed wolf – all right, so he’s a husky, but don’t tell him that – you would only hurt his feelings.
Mind you, not everyone will have such an easily illustrated motif as reanimated bison, but anything that stands out stops people. A snazzy sign, a portrait of your main character, a funky colored lava lamp. You’re a writer, use your imagination.
2. Find the right fishing hole. Position your table close to an entrance. Heartily hail the folks who walk in. Wave to those who walk out. Keep smiling and have fun. Sooner or later people will come closer just to see what you’re so danged happy about.
3. Have a sharp hook. Get your patter ready. People are busy creatures. If they stop to listen to you they want it to be a succinct experience. On the off-chance if you happen to bore them to tears then at least they’ll be able to extract themselves quickly from what might otherwise be a sticky experience.
Hopefully, you won’t bore them.
“Hi there. I’m launching a new book today.” If they come closer to listen, reel them in. “This is my new book, YODELING WITH MALAMUTES, a heart breaking tale of a Swiss dog sled racer with deep-seated Iditarod dreams.” Talk to everyone who’ll listen. You are fly fishing in the river of possibility. Keep the fishing line dancing.
4. Keep casting and stay friendly. A lot of folks aren’t really interested in what you’re selling. Pity them quietly, but don’t browbeat them into conversion. It won’t happen. If folks bustle past, smile and say “Enjoy your browse.” Maybe they’ll stop on the way back.
5. Don’t forget to keep that fishing line dancing. Avoid long conversations. You’ll miss potential customers. Know when to shut up. If the person skims the first couple of pages, let your book do the talking for you. Odds are, you probably sound better in print, anyway.
6. Keep your feet in the water and stay hydrated. Have a drink, you’ll need it. Not a coffee, that’s bad for your breath. Have an herbal tea or a bottle of water – but make it a small one. Easy does it on the maximum-grandiose-large. The bookstore bathroom is a long walk away.
7. Bring a bright and shiny lure. Have a blurb clearly typed up for bookstores with PA systems. “Welcome to Check It Out Bookstores. Today we have novelist Steve Vernon signing copies of his new book PIZZA SCREAMS – A TALE OF DEEP ANCHOVY LOVE. He’s at the front entrance. Come and chat with a real bearded author.”
8. Don’t throw anything back. There is no telling who you will meet. In a two hour signing I met a school principal who hired me to teach a workshop on storytelling and writing; a radio host who lined me up for an interview, and the head editor of a local publisher who signed me on for my next book. Remember – the world is watching you, sitting there at your table full of hopeful books. Sometimes opportunity knocks, and sometimes you hold the door hard against the right set of knuckles.
9. Try and personalize your signature. I make it a point to chat with the person I am signing for and find out who they want it personalized to. Sometimes they are buying the book for someone else. Be prepared to just sign in generically – for the folks who are buying it as a gift idea but haven’t got an idea who to give it to.
10. CHECK YOUR SPELLING! This is very important. There are a lot of ways to spell a name. Ask them to spell the name – no matter how much you think you know how to spell the name “John” sooner or later you are going to run into a “Jon”.
11. Keep a tally on how many you sell. Sign a few before you go. I recommend signing them with a little space up top. That way, when you come back to this store for another signing you can always personalize it with “To John” in the blank space you’ve left up top.
12. Here’s my last bit of advice. No matter how hard the day goes, no matter how few copies you sign and sell – remember to have fun while you do it. You’re fishing, aren’t you?
I would like to dedicate this blog to my stepfather Irvin Chatelois and my grandad Hanlan Vernon – both of you took me fishing and neither of you laughed too hard when I caught nothing but a handful of stickleback perch.
I’m pretty good at book signing – but I SUCK at fishing.
Yours in storytelling,
Steve Vernon
If this blog entry was the least bit helpful and/or interesting – PLEASE CLICK this banner and nominate A BLURT IN TIME for the Kindle Scout program. If the book makes it into the Kindle Scout Publishing Program you will automatically receive a free Kindle copy of the book.
Okay – so today is the FIRST day of my big two book October 99 cent promotion and I am freaking crazy nervous.
Let me tell you, nervous is a lousy way to be.
I have been slowly crawling out of my skin over these last couple of days. It doesn’t help that we have got a front yard full of pavers tearing up our front lawn to build a brand new, much-needed driveway that is going to leave a great big driveway-sized hole in our bank account.
Tomorrow I will be heading out the door at the crack of crow. I need to load the car and head for a local farmer’s market where I have booked a table for half of Saturday. I have a small mountain of my local books and several of my horror novels – in hopes of making enough sales to cover the modest table fee.
So – sometime tomorrow the very first promo of TATTERDEMON goes live at My Book Cave.
The first thing that I really like about My Book Cave promotes wide – advertising for Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Apple, Smashwords and Googleplay. I sell at ALL of these e-book providers and it is GREAT to get to promote for all of those sites.
The second thing I really like about My Book Cave is promotion is FREE!
You see, My Book Cave is just starting out in the business so for now – if your e-book promotion meets their requirements your book will be advertised on their website for FREE!!!
And free is my favorite word.
In the next day or so I will tell you about the OTHER book that I am promoting this month.
Here’s hoping we move some books – both paperback AND digital.
yours in storytelling,
Steve Vernon
If this blog entry was the least bit helpful and/or interesting – PLEASE CLICK this banner and nominate A BLURT IN TIME for the Kindle Scout program. If the book makes it into the Kindle Scout Publishing Program you will automatically receive a free Kindle copy of the book.
I have been messing with indie publishing for over three years with mixed success. This year I have decided that I want to hit the puree button on that mix and see if I cannot speed things up a little bit.
I have planning out a very large promotion for some time now. The promotion will involve THE TATTERDEMON OMNIBUS — a book that has so far been one of my best indie sellers. Which means my sainted maiden aunt, three bums from the local park, and my pet cat all think that my book is cool.
Understand now – I do not wish to give ANYONE the sense that I ACTUALLY know what I am doing.
In fact, I DON’T know what I am doing.
I am totally lost, somewhere between west-what-the-f**k and north-by-don’t-you-dare-drag-that-Dane-into-the-mix.
In fact – you couldn’t be more lost if you burned the map and then stirred up the ashes into a funky sort of ink that you used to freehand your own map with your eyes tightly closed. Stomp on the GPS and cram your pocket compass somewhere that I would rather not talk about right now.
So let’s get right down to the promo.
The Tatterdemon Omnibus — usually about $2.99 depending on which way the wind happens to be blowing has been recently marked down to 99 cents. I marked it down about a week and a half before the promo was scheduled to take place and I have been Tweeting and Facebook quietly about this price change and have jogged a few loose sales from a few happy Tweeterers and Facebookogians.
Those are technical terms, by the way. You might want to go and Google them, the next time you are about six drinks into a bottle of strong Scotch.
I set it up this way under the theory that this “soft” opening would bump up the Kindle ranking just enough to give the illusion that this book was written by someone who could actually write and even maybe sell a few books.
This will take you to the Amazon.com sales page where TATTERDEMON is already listed at 99 cents. It might even be cheaper depending on where you are ordering from. Why don’t you order a copy today?
THE TATTERDEMON OMNIBUS
Current ranking — as of October 20th, 2015.
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #44,545 Paid in Kindle Store
#263 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Fairy Tales
#271 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mythology & Folk Tales
#377 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Mythology & Folk Tales
Twenty reviews — 4.3 out of 5 stars average.
PROMO DETAILS
October 24: My Book Cave
October 26: BookSCREAM
October 26-31: Kindle Book Review Halloween Party
October 27-31: Discount Bookman
October 27: Just Kindle Books
October 28: Fire and Ice Promo
October 28: Buck Books
October 28-30: Awesome Gang
October 28: Book Tweeter
October 28-30: Kobo 99 cent promo
October 29: bknight (a VERY reliable Fiverr book promo service)
October 29-31 Choosy Bookworm
October 29 — Book Sends/Pixel of Ink
November 2 — Robin Reads
Note: Some of you will point out that I missed a few obvious choices but I am simultaneously running a big promo on my historical horror novel, DEVIL TREE and I used some of the other sites that you might name for them. I am hoping that the boost between the two novels will help stir up some heat for the rest of my work.
I am also (naively) hoping that this big push will stir up a few more nominations for my Kindle Scout Campaign for A BLURT IN TIME — my novel of time travelling toilet terror.
Or at least that is the plan.
This is not the best way to create a 99 cent book promotion. There are better and much more expensive websites to work with – but I am on a deep budget. The main bit of advise that I would give you is if you want to make a big splash and create a big bump in your ranking and hopefully a tail of sales that you will follow you after the promotion is over you ought to concentrate on length.
That means that you shouldn’t be necessarily thinking about a one-day promotion or a three day promotion. I do use mini one-day promotions quite often – but for this sort of a big push you ought to give yourself a good running start.
Think of it this way.
If you sell fifty copies of your e-book tomorrow – your Amazon rank will bump up – but then it will fall down just as quickly. HOWEVER – if you sell twenty copies tomorrow, followed by twenty more on the day after and twenty more the day after that your bump will last a little bit longer. Amazon rewards consistency as well as numerical performance. The more steady your sales are, the more consistently your rating and your VISIBILITY will rise.
I should also mention that a lot of these promotional sites promote WIDE – which means that they also promote your book if it is available on Kobo, Nook, Apple and other sites. Both TATTERDEMON and DEVIL TREE are available at all of these other sites and are marked down to 99 cents already. I am going to be watching closely over the next month to see how my Kindle sales compare to my Kobo, Nook, Apple, Googleplay and other assorted e-book distributors.
yours in storytelling,
Steve Vernon
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YOURS IN STORYTELLING... 