My Promo Stats

Until I received emails from FreeBooksy and Hello Books yesterday, I'd forgotten that I bought promos for Book One of my anthology. To say that this type of thing no longer holds any interest for me is...absolutely correct.

My purpose in purchasing two promos (and I won't be buying any more) was twofold:

1. To test out the widespread advice that an author can drive sales of other books in a series by making the first book free. Virtually every marketing expert brings up book series ad nauseum, as if everyone writes them. More relevant, I believe, is that marketing experts don't know how to market a book successfully, so they fall back on the whole series spiel. But now that I have one, sort of, I thought it would be interesting to find out if the advice actually works.

2. I mentioned in a previous post that my novellas have barely sold at all. That reality is inherent in short reads. Even at $1.99, people just don't want 'em. But they're good little stories that I put a solid effort into. So, it's a shame that no one has read them. I'm not saying free downloads are ever read; generally, they're not. People just like "collecting". But a few people might read them. Authors really hate not being read; call me cuckoo. "You mean you want someone to read them?"

My stats look like this:

 

That's pretty typical. Not awesome, not ego-shattering. Just average.

This is also typical:

 

So, when FreeBooksy asks me in a follow-up email what rank I achieved, I can respond, "Number One, baby!" As if that means anything. (It also doesn't hurt to choose obscure categories.)

If the experts' advice actually works, it'll take a while to find out. I'm quite dubious. First, as I noted, people will readily grab free books, but hardly ever read them. So, it's not as if they'll find Book One delectable, and go on to purchase Book Two. This anthology is technically a series (I've learned), but not in the traditional sense. Each story is self-contained, so no one's clamoring to find out what happens next.

Strictly speaking, FreeBooksy is the only promo site that works. It doesn't work financially, obviously, but an author will at least achieve high download numbers. I have no idea about Hello Books, but comparing my past FreeBooksy results, I'll assume the vast majority of my downloads came from FreeBooksy. (So, I wasted my money on the Hello Books slot.) Sadly, I can't consistently fork over money simply for clicks. This was a one-time venture, not to be repeated.

And so, now I'm on to shaping up my two novels for paperback. The first step will be to rework the blurbs. That undertaking is much less scary now that I've digested the proper format (thanks to Jessie Cunniffe). The reason an author struggles with writing a blurb is that they're completely clueless. I sure was. I'm happy I now have a "pattern" to follow.

My two new covers are 1) mostly great; and 2) okay. I'm still displeased with Once in a Blue Moon's, and I had such high hopes with the image I'd chosen. Salient point: Not every cool image translates to a cool book cover. 

Once I rewrite the blurbs, I can update the ebooks on KDP. Then I'll begin tackling the paperback creation. (Good God!) No rush, because this'll probably be the last project of my writing "career"; then what'll I do? 

Dang, I'm going to need a new hobby--fast.