Hi there -- I recently promoted my book The Sisters, for two days as part of the KDP promotion option. I pre-notified two dozen free sites prior to the start date in hopes of boosting my downloads. The good news is, that really worked well -- I got 756 downloads in two days and moved to number 1 in Scary Stories (free Top 100). Bad news is, the next day my ranking went up to around 850,000 (paid), and I've received no sales as a result and not even a review. So my question is, what's the point of KDP Free days if they don't improve your paid ranking when you come off it, or help drive sales? Sorry to be so verbose, but I'm a little frustrated. Any comments? What should I do differently next time? Thanks! Don
Question about KDP Free Days
- Thread starter donsloan
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I had a free promo last week for the first book in a series, and my experience was pretty much the same (at least, so far). There are so many free books in just about every genre, that I suspect most free downloads go unread.
As for free downloads affecting paid sales ranking: they used to, once upon a time. When Amazon changed that system, the biggest benefit of free days vanished.
As for free downloads affecting paid sales ranking: they used to, once upon a time. When Amazon changed that system, the biggest benefit of free days vanished.
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Also, I think it takes a while to get any reviews. Think about it: How many free books do you download that you don't get around to reading for quite some time?
I think the biggest benefit to free days is that readers will read your book then look to see what else you've written, then hopefully download another one of your books. If you don't have other books yet . . .
I think the biggest benefit to free days is that readers will read your book then look to see what else you've written, then hopefully download another one of your books. If you don't have other books yet . . .
Thanks for your comments. I appreciate them. Now, I believe I'll do something more constructive than complain. I'll get busy writing something else.
In my experience between 5-10% of free downloads lead to further reads in a series, and they can take weeks to start rolling in so be patient. Also in my experience only maybe 1% of readers bother to leave reviews.
Leave reviews on Amazon, everybody! We need them!
Leave reviews on Amazon, everybody! We need them!
Here's an update: two days after my promo ended, I sold three books and my ranking went from 853,364 (paid) to 113,064. Go figure. By the way, Katherine, you asked for a list of those free promo sites. I have tried to respond to you privately, but can't seem to figure out how. Here's a link to a page that has them:
https://justfreeandbargainbooks.wordpress.com/free-promo-sites-for-authors/
https://justfreeandbargainbooks.wordpress.com/free-promo-sites-for-authors/
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Thanks so much, Don. Right after I messaged you I did some poking around and managed to find a big list. Submitted to a few. Fingers crossed it helps on my next giveaway day.
Another update that might be helpful: one of the sites on that list, Ask David, also provides five free tweets you can use AFTER your promotion ends to reach his 42,000 followers. I have sold a book each day I have utilized that option. Here's the wording I used (hafta keep it short for Twitter) "#1 in Amazon Scary Stories: The Sisters: A Mystery of Good and Evil, Horror and Suspense http://t.co/EIkizOHpxY" (got the shortened URL from bitly.com) Sending this tweet automatically generated retweets from seven other sites.
Not earth-shaking, I know, but still . . . Just an FYI.
Not earth-shaking, I know, but still . . . Just an FYI.
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