Share Your Successes!

[Ms. Jem]

Blog is good...I'm going to have to work on that and become a good saleswoman. I can see how important that is by reading through this thread.

[MysteryRiter]

Originally Posted by Dani

Wow good news here for everyone =D It's such a wonderful thing. I get so excited for readers and writers when I see this kind of thing. I literally just make happy noises! Haha.

So awesome. Congratz to you all.

And congrats to you, too! I checked your GR page and there seem to be SOO many excited readers. You seem to be doing very well, so congrats!!!

[Dani]

Originally Posted by MysteryRiter

And congrats to you, too! I checked your GR page and there seem to be SOO many excited readers. You seem to be doing very well, so congrats!!!

Thanks MR. I think the word for what I'm feeling is "stunned". The idea was to write full time. That's the dream. I keep going back to the conversation with my husband the the day I uploaded it at ARe and Amazon and Smashwords. My exact words were "Just give me a year, babe, to get my name out there. It'll probably be only 5-10 books bought at first, but give me a year."

Oddly enough, I haven't heard from my own family about their thoughts. As of two weeks ago, they hadn't even bought the book. I'm not surprised as much a disappointed. They've never been supportive of me in that way. So along with the good, has been the bad. It's hard not to let it overshadow all the good. They are, after all, family.

But, and here's the awesome part, I made number one in all categories of gay & lesbian. My husband's family has been majorly supportive. They sometimes call me to tell me where my book is in terms of reviews, ratings and listings lol.

The whole experience is wonderful. Surreal. Beautiful. And fun! It's been majorly fun!

TLDR: Readers are awesome. Goodreads is awesome. My family sucks just a little bit. My husband's family makes up for it =D. This is the best experience for which a writer could wish/hope/dream.

[EngineerTiger]

The first five books of my series, BLACK KNIGHTS OF THE HUDSON, have been out at all locations for just about a month. I don't have figures from Smashwords so don't know how things are going at most sites. Since I uploaded the books separately to Amazon, I've been able to track things there. I don't count the first book since Amazon price-matched the other sites and it's been free. Obviously, it's numbers are inflated. The benefit there is that it keeps the first book in the top Free 100 genre lists for WAR and HISTORICAL FICTION.

However, readers are now purchasing the rest of the series in modest numbers. Several units a day so, while far from a roaring success, I'm very pleased; especially since I've barely started the marketing effort. I've received two excellent reviews on the first book, BLACK KNIGHTS OF THE HUDSON BOOK I: SHADOW OF THE FLAGS. These both speak to the entire series and are from readers I don't know so, based on their comments, it appears that the books are appealing to those readers for whom they were intended. Since I entered the venture as an experiment, I didn't have any expectations so am delighted at how things are shaping.

[Elena Andrews]

Sounds like people are having a nice weekend so far. That's great. We had a record day for Run Like Hell sales. Climbed under the 18k mark on the sales rank for the first time and I've sold more books in March and all of February. Hope the momentum continues!!

[in_one]

Congratulations to all of you! It is great to see so many authors doing so well. It gives newbies like me hope!

[Elena Andrews]

Since my Amazon sales were outperforming B&N nearly 10 to 1 I took the plunge and went with the KDP exclusive. Those who have Kindle and are members of Amazon Prime are also able to get the book for Free which is cool. We'll see how it goes. So far sales are steady. Nothing crazy but it's selling. Crossing my fingers once again.

http://amzn.to/wq4YNG

[triceretops]

Got my first 5-star review for the prequel short story to Planet Janitor, and the sales have been pretty awesome as a result of the previous free trial.

The PJ book went up for its last free download today, until we're eligible for the next trial period. What's amazing is that it ranked # 7 for free downloads about two hours ago, which has got to be a record for me, even if it is free! So pick one up in the shuffle. And comments are always welcome.

tri

http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Janitor...0380990&sr=1-2

[PortableHal]

Congratulations, Tri.

[Dani]

Originally Posted by Elena Andrews

Since my Amazon sales were outperforming B&N nearly 10 to 1 I took the plunge and went with the KDP exclusive. Those who have Kindle and are members of Amazon Prime are also able to get the book for Free which is cool. We'll see how it goes. So far sales are steady. Nothing crazy but it's selling. Crossing my fingers once again.

http://amzn.to/wq4YNG

Congratz on the sale, Elena! Awesome. I hope it picks up even more for you.

Originally Posted by triceretops

Got my first 5-star review for the prequel short story to Planet Janitor, and the sales have been pretty awesome as a result of the previous free trial.

The PJ book went up for its last free download today, until we're eligible for the next trial period. What's amazing is that it ranked # 7 for free downloads about two hours ago, which has got to be a record for me, even if it is free! So pick one up in the shuffle. And comments are always welcome.

tri

http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Janitor...0380990&sr=1-2

Wow Tri that's awesome. The first 5 star is mind-blowing isn't it? Congrats!

[Elena Andrews]

Originally Posted by triceretops

Got my first 5-star review for the prequel short story to Planet Janitor, and the sales have been pretty awesome as a result of the previous free trial.

The PJ book went up for its last free download today, until we're eligible for the next trial period. What's amazing is that it ranked # 7 for free downloads about two hours ago, which has got to be a record for me, even if it is free! So pick one up in the shuffle. And comments are always welcome.

tri

http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Janitor...0380990&sr=1-2

That's really awesome. Congrats!

[ANicolai]

I published my first novel, Alex, at the end of November, and this past weekend I finally started breaking some top 100s.

I'm on KDP Select and listed Alex as free for a day on Saturday. I didn't tell anyone about it or do any additional promotion. I moved 1900 copies and peaked at #12 in Kindle Horror, #169 in overall Free. That was really exciting.

Then there was significant cross-over into my normal sales. I averaged 3-7 books a day before the promotion. Right now I'm averaging 20-30. Yesterday I sold 35 books. I woke up this morning to find Alex at #3400 overall - but even better, it was #88 on the Kindle Horror bestseller list, flanked by Dean Koontz and Stephen King.

I'm still grinning.



There's a fair chance I print that image and snuggle with it in bed tonight. Hope my wife's not too jealous.

Hugh, I think you're responsible for a good chunk of this - I noticed Alex started showing up in some of Wool's "also-bought" lists after the free promotion. It is really cool to see how this market self-perpetuates. Your success is fueling my success.

So, thanks for writing stuff so good you've got fans to share! And congratulations on quitting the day job! Talk about the holy grail!

[Elena Andrews]

Originally Posted by ANicolai

I published my first novel, Alex, at the end of November, and this past weekend I finally started breaking some top 100s.

I'm on KDP Select and listed Alex as free for a day on Saturday. I didn't tell anyone about it or do any additional promotion. I moved 1900 copies and peaked at #12 in Kindle Horror, #169 in overall Free. That was really exciting.

Then there was significant cross-over into my normal sales. I averaged 3-7 books a day before the promotion. Right now I'm averaging 20-30. Yesterday I sold 35 books. I woke up this morning to find Alex at #3400 overall - but even better, it was #88 on the Kindle Horror bestseller list, flanked by Dean Koontz and Stephen King.

I'm still grinning.



There's a fair chance I print that image and snuggle with it in bed tonight. Hope my wife's not too jealous.

Hugh, I think you're responsible for a good chunk of this - I noticed Alex started showing up in some of Wool's "also-bought" lists after the free promotion. It is really cool to see how this market self-perpetuates. Your success is fueling my success.

So, thanks for writing stuff so good you've got fans to share! And congratulations on quitting the day job! Talk about the holy grail!

That's really great. I just moved to KDP earlier in the week. Any advice on when and how long I should put it up for free? Did you wait a bit or just post it immediately?

[ANicolai]

Originally Posted by Elena Andrews

That's really great. I just moved to KDP earlier in the week. Any advice on when and how long I should put it up for free? Did you wait a bit or just post it immediately?

I had originally listed mine with Smashwords and on Nook, so I gave those a few months.... but I sold a grand total of 7 books on BN.com and zero through any other avenues (Kobo, Diesel, etc.), so I enrolled in KDP in mid-February. That would've been about 2 1/2 months after I first published.

What I decided to do with the free listing was just put it up for one weekend day (this past Saturday) and see what happened... so that would've been a couple weeks after I enrolled in KDP. I wanted to finish out the month of March to see what my monthly sales worked out to without the free promotion. I also wanted to see how many borrows I was getting under KDPS. When I did list it for free it was actually up as free for about a day and three-quarters, since the price didn't re-establish until the afternoon on Sunday.

I think one thing that may have fueled the number of free downloads was the normal price of my book ($2.99, as opposed to $.99, so it may have seemed like a better deal) and the reviews I've been getting (50 total, 49 of them 5 stars and one 4 star). That's all wild speculation though. I'm really just guessing. And 1900 downloads is good, but it's not the best I've heard of for a one-day showing on a free book either.

I'd say it's definitely worth doing. Today felt like a slow day to me and I just realized that it was actually 17 sales and 8 borrows for a total of 23 paid book transactions, which three weeks ago would've totally blown my mind. No matter how many free downloads happen, I think the exposure is really helpful. Deciding how long to offer it has gotta be a personal decision though, I suspect.

Good luck! If you try it let us know how it goes. : )

[Nick Russell]

Engineer Tiger, I just downloaded the first book in your series and look forward to reading it. I am a history buff and was a firearms instructor at West Point from 1972-1974.

[EngineerTiger]

Hi Nick,
Thanks so much. I appreciate you taking a look.

'72 - '74? I'll wager you were an instructor to some of the cadets I knew back then.

[Elena Andrews]

Originally Posted by ANicolai

I had originally listed mine with Smashwords and on Nook, so I gave those a few months.... but I sold a grand total of 7 books on BN.com and zero through any other avenues (Kobo, Diesel, etc.), so I enrolled in KDP in mid-February. That would've been about 2 1/2 months after I first published.

What I decided to do with the free listing was just put it up for one weekend day (this past Saturday) and see what happened... so that would've been a couple weeks after I enrolled in KDP. I wanted to finish out the month of March to see what my monthly sales worked out to without the free promotion. I also wanted to see how many borrows I was getting under KDPS. When I did list it for free it was actually up as free for about a day and three-quarters, since the price didn't re-establish until the afternoon on Sunday.

I think one thing that may have fueled the number of free downloads was the normal price of my book ($2.99, as opposed to $.99, so it may have seemed like a better deal) and the reviews I've been getting (50 total, 49 of them 5 stars and one 4 star). That's all wild speculation though. I'm really just guessing. And 1900 downloads is good, but it's not the best I've heard of for a one-day showing on a free book either.

I'd say it's definitely worth doing. Today felt like a slow day to me and I just realized that it was actually 17 sales and 8 borrows for a total of 23 paid book transactions, which three weeks ago would've totally blown my mind. No matter how many free downloads happen, I think the exposure is really helpful. Deciding how long to offer it has gotta be a personal decision though, I suspect.

Good luck! If you try it let us know how it goes. : )

Very informative stuff. Thank you! I wanted to hold off on the Free version a bit longer but my husband wanted to see what effect it would have and since it's my birthday we decided to do a 48 hour Free trial today and tomorrow for the book. So we'll see how that goes. Here's the link if anyone's interested. http://amzn.to/zbg2Aa

[Elena Andrews]

Actually I have another question that you all probably have a better understanding of than I do. Do ratings/likes have any effect on sales? The reviews of my book, while good so far, are pretty low compared to sales. I don't want to be a pest with the whole 'please review my book if you read it or hit 'like' but does having a new review or 'like' cause it to have a bigger profile for people casually surfing. Does the book get noticed more or is it more just a matter of 'hey 10 people rated this 5 stars' and a talking point?

[MartinD]

I don't pay much attention to 5-star reviews (too often, they seem to come from friends/family/the author). If you have any reviews, you're doing better than many of the authors I've met.

[triceretops]

Totally true about how hard it is getting reviews, especially from total strangers. It just doesn't happen that often, not for me anyway. But they have been great and complimentary, with the half dozen I've received.

PJ just went on Kobo a few days ago and placed 7th. I don't know what that means, but it must be in the SF category.

Planet Janitor sold 3 copies yesterday and the short pulled in 3 copies in the past two days, so I'm not complaining at all. PJ currently ranks 154th, and The Moon is Not Enough ranks 134th on Amazon. Not stupendous, but gosh almighty, I've never had good numbers with my previous books/publishers. Not like this, for so long.

And my niche is SO confined, being space opera, golden age stuff, that I'm very surprised at the reception.

It seems the prequel short really pumps up interest in the novel, and when we alternate free trials for each, we get really good reactions.

Tri--red-shifting, and staying very positive about this!

[EngineerTiger]

I know how you feel Tricerotops. I have two five star reviews (and no, I don't know the people). They both placed the review on the first book but indicated that they had read and enjoyed others in the series. I don't know if the reviews influence other readers or not but I look on them more as a way to gather information.

For example, the second reviewer also posted on my writing blog. Her evaluation of the series meant a lot to me because her comments in the review and the blog post indicate that she represents one of the target audiences for whom the books were written. This tells me that I did something right to first attract her attention and then hold her interest through five books.

Part of this entire process for me is to experiment a little and to determine if my work has any appeal for readers. It's far too soon to tell but I'm not in any rush so I'm quite content to gather data for now.

[triceretops]

Yes, and that's about all we can do is experiment. When you have multiple products listed, it affords you the opportunity to stagger your free trials and price points among several books or shorts--changing things up, somewhat. I can really see how a series could take off and build momentum, now that I think about it. Wish I had one up. The only thing I and my publisher agreed upon was that the short prequel gives the book a huge kick and helps out. So, I'm contemplating adding another short story.

Heck, I might start a trend. A prequel short story series! Then, there's the big real sequel staring me in the face. And dear God, does that mean work and an extended publishing date!

Oh, well...we forge on...

Tri

[EngineerTiger]

Hey Tri, I like your short prequel idea as another way to introduce readers to your books. I'm giving it some thought myself although I'm not sure how it would tie in just yet.

Always enjoy your posts.

[Dani]

Originally Posted by MartinD

I don't pay much attention to 5-star reviews (too often, they seem to come from friends/family/the author). If you have any reviews, you're doing better than many of the authors I've met.

LOL LOL I just have to laugh at this because I can't even get my family to READ my story, let alone review it. My two best friends have also not read it. They're in the middle of it and one of them said he had trouble with the big words because he's an accountant.

Sorry, didn't mean to derail LOL. I just had to laugh about this. And, sadly, you'd overlook my book in this case. I literally, a month later, have only one friend who reviewed and I asked her to note in her GR review that she was my beta/friend.

Originally Posted by triceretops

It seems the prequel short really pumps up interest in the novel, and when we alternate free trials for each, we get really good reactions.

Tri--red-shifting, and staying very positive about this!

Tri, I'm loving reading your story =) I get so shaky when all this exciting stuff happens to everyone. It's just wonderful to read about success.

Originally Posted by EngineerTiger

I don't know if the reviews influence other readers or not but I look on them more as a way to gather information.

Yes! This! I look at reviews and I think of them like mini "here's how it could be better" notes and "here's what worked". Especially when there's a consensus.

I learned, for instance, my novel was a bit too much in places. That was from more than one review. It's such good feedback for my future writing.

Originally Posted by ANicolai

I published my first novel, Alex, at the end of November, and this past weekend I finally started breaking some top 100s.

I'm on KDP Select and listed Alex as free for a day on Saturday. I didn't tell anyone about it or do any additional promotion. I moved 1900 copies and peaked at #12 in Kindle Horror, #169 in overall Free. That was really exciting.

Then there was significant cross-over into my normal sales. I averaged 3-7 books a day before the promotion. Right now I'm averaging 20-30. Yesterday I sold 35 books. I woke up this morning to find Alex at #3400 overall - but even better, it was #88 on the Kindle Horror bestseller list, flanked by Dean Koontz and Stephen King.

That is so incredible! And inspirational. Dean Koontz is just about my all time favorite author. I might swoon if I was next to his name on a list HAHA.

[triceretops]

Thanks, Engineer. Likewise. My publisher actually came up with the idea of a prequel short to the book. Since we had no sequel, and it was a standalone, we really had no other option. I'm sure he got the idea from studying Amazon and the way people were arranging their books, stories and series. It's all about tying in to what's already there.

And don't feel bad. I had one heck of a time trying to come up with a small, independent plot, or in my case, a mission that would be exciting and appeal to just short story readers. Because I believe that shorts have their own listing on Amazon--can't be sure of this, though. I hadn't written a short story in seven years. Apparently it came out okay, probably due to a whole new or different reading demographic. I'm terrified about adding another one. Don't want to dilute the pool by putting a bum story in there.