Measuring Results

I published Running From Herself on March 1, which in some ways feels like ancient history. My initial marketing strategy was to run some inexpensive promos. I pretty much knew which promo sites were useful and which were duds (for me), but did that stop me? Of course not. The more I got into marketing, the more ads I bought. You know what they say about doing the same thing over and over again? Apparently I figured that my prior bad experiences with some of these sites was an anomaly; this time things would work out great! Well, you can judge by this post. Really, the only site that sort of worked was eReader Cafe, which easily claimed the title. I can't remember if I ever used them for past promotions (probably), but they weren't on my list of go-to sites. 

This promo site thing baffles me. If I was a reader looking for bargain books, first of all, I would have no clue about newsletters (seriously). I don't know how so many people are aware of them. My only site for bargain books (free, actually) was my local library's app. But apparently dedicated readers suss out these places, of which BookBub is the best known, but even little tiny, never-heard-of newsletters have tons of subscribers. Until I began looking for ways to market my books, I did not know that these existed. But I digress...

I exhausted the list of sites I could afford, and I got turned down by a few (again, mind-boggling, since we're the ones giving them money, but you know, whatever their business model dictates.) Speaking of being turned down, snooty places like BookCave and BookSirens will never hear from me again. I've been rejected by BookSirens three times, and they're far too important to supply a reason, so fuck 'em. BookCave loves to present itself as some sort of literary royalty, with its very exclusive lists and impossible requirements, but I say, knock yourself out. If you want to think you're any better than a place like BookChimpanzee (I made that one up), enjoy your low ranking.

I've tried so many things, I've run out of things. Speaking of things, I need to also mention and recommend AuthorsXP. This site tries new approaches and I like that. I've now participated in two of its "KU Reads" events, and I figure as long as I bothered to enroll my books in Kindle Unlimited, why not urge people to take advantage of it?

So, now I'm down to trying to give my novel away. My FreeBooksy ad runs today, and I've also been bombarding social media all week with my FREE offering notices. Additionally, I have a KU promotion happening soon (?), and of course, my first ever Facebook ad starts on Sunday. Thus, I have a few things I'll be measuring ~ free downloads today, KU reads, and actual sales after today. For the month, I am sitting at 15 books sold and 639 Kindle Unlimited pages read. Let's see if those numbers go up. 

I teeter between utter depression and hopefulness regarding my book's chances. I need to level out. I was thinking last night that it'll be time to put an end to all of this soon, but if I stop, then what? I've got nothing else going, and the thought of writing again gives me hives. 

Even though it seems like ages since I published, it's really only been less than two months. They keep saying it's a marathon, but man, I don't know if I can keep this up much longer.