Kindle Select Fail...

13 replies
I'm hoping that I can gain some insight as to why I didn't achieve my goal for my Kindle book and what I can do to improve for next time.

Here's my situation:

I ran a 2-day Kindle Select promotion of my Kindle book that's in the 'get nice abs' niche and I received 314 free downloads of my Kindle book without any additional promotion.

However, I wanted to get sign-ups for my live webinar event that I mentioned in the beginning and the back of the book; I didn't get even 1 sign-up and according to my tracking not 1 person visited the sign-up page.

I didn't expect this to necessarily be a home run but I at least expected that there would be a few people that at least would visit the sign-up page, and if they had visited the page then I could chalk it up to the fact that the sign-up page sucked...

There's the possibility that people may not have liked my book but if that were the case wouldn't they have left me some negative reviews? But as it stands I don't have 1 review...positive or negative...

Plus I had 2 people from the WF say that it was actually a pretty good and thorough book on the subject.

I'm thinking it could maybe be my call-to-action wasn't strong enough and/or prominent enough in my Kindle book?

I had my call-to-action at the very beginning of the book right after the copyright information and just before the disclaimer...and then I had the call-to-action again at the very end of the book.

This was the call to action at the beginning of the book:

If you follow this guide you WILL get 'crazy sexy abs' but it may
take awhile so why not jump start your way to getting 'crazy
sexy abs' by EASILY losing 5lbs in 7 days!

Sign up for a FREE live online event to learn how YOU can
EASILY lose 5lbs in 7 days by visiting:
Unfortunately after the formatting was completed by someone on Fiverr the link to my sign-up page was on the next page as opposed to being on the same page as the call-to-action.

My call-to-action at the very end was:

For those who are SERIOUS about getting off to a GOOD start to losing
weight, having more energy, kicking your food addictions, and looking
and feeling GREAT all at the same time sign up for the FREE online
event by visiting the website below:
I'm certain my call-to-action could've been A LOT better in both cases but I figured I'd at least get people to visit the sign-up page :confused:

So my questions are:

1. Is it possible that people were downloading my Kindle book for free and just not reading it, and if so, is there a way to get them to actually read it?

2. My Kindle book is 100 pages long so should I try to have the call-to-action throughout the book as a reminder to sign-up for my live event since the book isn't really all that short?

3. Do I need to seriously improve my call-to-action, and if so, how do I improve it?

My Kindle book is about getting nice, toned abs but in the book I explain how the person has to not only get there weight down but more importantly their body fat percentage down.

I give a very detailed meal plan in the book and a workout plan...could I be providing TOO much information?

Looking at this a bit more closely it could be that my call-to-action doesn't match up all that well with the content in my Kindle book and that what I'm offering doesn't match up well enough with the readers?

But in the book I explained how important diet was to getting great abs and that you had to reduce your body fat before you could even BEGIN to see your abs...and although I included a diet plan in the book I want to promote a detox plan in my webinar that will jump start their body fat loss...not certain if that's a match for this market however....

So any advice/input about what I could do for the next time I run a free promo on this Kindle book would be greatly appreciated...

I apologize for the length AND rambling quality of this post but I was typing my thoughts and questions as they came to me .
#fail #kindle #select
  • Profile picture of the author Vanilla Gorilla
    People read books to be

    A. Entertained
    B. Informed


    Not to be sold stuff. The best way to get people to follow you is to become an authority on the subject. Come out with more great material and add linkbacks to your site. at the end of the book and in your Author Bio on Amazon.
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  • Profile picture of the author semaximizer
    Wow, you seem to have put a lot of effort and I know how it can feel to see no results after so much thought and effort going into something that seemed so obviously value-driven.

    From an outsider's perspective, now I haven't read your book and don't even know what it looks like, but from what you've said I would question a few things:

    1. First thing you've got to realise, when people get something for free, they value it "slightly" lesser than when they pay for it and so not every one who necessarily downloads the book will get down to reading it immediately. A fact, at least for me and don't know how many more are there like me, but I've downloaded quite a few books but haven't got down to opening them. So one issue could be that the numbers you're basing your success on are too limited at this stage.

    2. If I did start reading, I would definitely not be interested in clicking a link upfront, first I've got to see some value. Secondly, I would only click on a link where I felt like "wow, now that's something I'd want" and I'm not sure if attending a live event is what I'd want. Yes, I might have been interested in the meal plan or workout plan and if you told me I could get access to that then maybe I could be interested [so perhaps you shouldn't necessarily give all your goodies away]. Also, I think having these calls to action spread through out the book in the most relevant places would be better than just at the beginning or the end. Talk about a diet and then give me a link to the whole chart, etc and once I come to the website, you have the opportunity to show me what else you want to show me. Talk about a workout, give me a link to a corresponding video on your site and I'll click. And so on...

    Now these are just my thoughts from a very general perspective.

    I would say, give it another try but modify your strategy a bit - it's good to fail, learn from what you could guess as mistakes, refine your process and try again.

    Also, you might need a larger base of downloads to happen before you judge your results and maybe a little time as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author GailTrahd
    I agree with semaximizer and . . .

    1. as much as I HATE hype - your definition of what you are giving them "nice, toned abs" and not "ripping abs that others (girlfriend, boyfriend, neighbor, on the beach, whatever) will drool over" might be just one issue.

    2. Kindle Select downloads should be read quickly and easily and not 100 pages or people will put it aside. 20 pages? and put the call to action in the beginning without the link - like a teaser and then in the center and the end.

    3. Format it well for Kindle. I know that Rachel Rofe and Dennis Becker have a product that does this for you with a few clicks of the button so to speak... kinstatformatter or something like that.

    4. People want the ripped abs but not necessarily the minute details immediate. You could break up that 100 pages and rewrite a bit so it's not duplicate content and re-release at least 3 products through Kindle Select that are smaller and more digestible - with the promise of more information that is free on your up coming webinar.
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    • Profile picture of the author DianaHeuser
      Originally Posted by GailTrahd View Post

      2. Kindle Select downloads should be read quickly and easily and not 100 pages or people will put it aside. 20 pages? and put the call to action in the beginning without the link - like a teaser and then in the center and the end.
      Gail I agree with all your points except the above. I think people are getting tired of the tiny books with very little meat to them. The reason why people get Kindles is because it cheaper to buy books and easier to carry them all around instead of carting a suitcase of books around.

      They still want a quality read, so my thinking it has nothing to do with the number of pages, but the quality of the material.

      Di
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  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    It's impossible to comment without seeing the book. One thing that gives me the creeps is that you mention having your book formatted on fiverr of all places. I take Kindle publishing seriously. I would never trust anyone on fiverr to do anything that had to do with putting out something of quality. I know there will be people rushing in to defend fiverr but you get what you pay for.

    And don't misunderstand. I doubt it had anything to do with the formatting. It's the fact that you'd use a $5 service for ANY part of such an important project.

    Another thing. 314 downloads might seem like a lot but it's not really. Many of the people who downloaded your book haven't even looked at it yet and may never look at it. I downloaded a dozen freebies this past week and only glanced at a couple of them. If I read more than one crappy paragraph I delete the book. Time is too valuable to spend it with marginal stuff. Of that dozen I'll probably keep two or three and actually read them.

    Someone already mentioned this but it's important. People don't want to be pitched on additional stuff until you earn the right to by offering something of massive value in the first place. That takes time. Consider this a learning experience. Evaluate, correct and then try again. Keep trying until you get what you're after. Good luck.
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    • Profile picture of the author brittlesnc
      Originally Posted by GailTrahd View Post

      I agree with semaximizer and . . .

      1. as much as I HATE hype - your definition of what you are giving them "nice, toned abs" and not "ripping abs that others (girlfriend, boyfriend, neighbor, on the beach, whatever) will drool over" might be just one issue.

      2. Kindle Select downloads should be read quickly and easily and not 100 pages or people will put it aside. 20 pages? and put the call to action in the beginning without the link - like a teaser and then in the center and the end.

      3. Format it well for Kindle. I know that Rachel Rofe and Dennis Becker have a product that does this for you with a few clicks of the button so to speak... kinstatformatter or something like that.

      4. People want the ripped abs but not necessarily the minute details immediate. You could break up that 100 pages and rewrite a bit so it's not duplicate content and re-release at least 3 products through Kindle Select that are smaller and more digestible - with the promise of more information that is free on your up coming webinar.
      I would agree with you if I hadn't read the reviews of products that are similar to mine on Kindle...

      People tend to give negative reviews for "incomplete" Kindle books...you have to remember that after the free promo is over I still have to sell this book and if people don't feel like they've gotten their money's worth they won't hesitate to leave a bad review....

      I would be very reluctant to sell a 20 page book even for $0.99 that didn't provide "complete" information because people who leave Amazon reviews can be pretty harsh to say the least...

      Originally Posted by travlinguy View Post

      It's impossible to comment without seeing the book. One thing that gives me the creeps is that you mention having your book formatted on fiverr of all places. I take Kindle publishing seriously. I would never trust anyone on fiverr to do anything that had to do with putting out something of quality. I know there will be people rushing in to defend fiverr but you get what you pay for.

      And don't misunderstand. I doubt it had anything to do with the formatting. It's the fact that you'd use a $5 service for ANY part of such an important project.

      Another thing. 314 downloads might seem like a lot but it's not really. Many of the people who downloaded your book haven't even looked at it yet and may never look at it. I downloaded a dozen freebies this past week and only glanced at a couple of them. If I read more than one crappy paragraph I delete the book. Time is too valuable to spend it with marginal stuff. Of that dozen I'll probably keep two or three and actually read them.

      Someone already mentioned this but it's important. People don't want to be pitched on additional stuff until you earn the right to by offering something of massive value in the first place. That takes time. Consider this a learning experience. Evaluate, correct and then try again. Keep trying until you get what you're after. Good luck.
      I'm certain it's not the formatting either...and the person did a good job so that isn't the issue...a task like that for $5 isn't the same thing as getting someone to write an article on Fiverr for $5...which obviously if you needed an article or any other content created Fiverr wouldn't even be a consideration AT ALL...

      And 300+ downloads is enough to get some type of information...I know a few who have gotten roughly around the same number of free downloads and gotten double digit opt-ins...

      I'm thinking this might have more to do with my call-to-action and maybe the fact that my call-to-action doesn't match up with my book...

      Thanks for your input thus far guys...
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  • Profile picture of the author svsets10
    I am also involved in the abs/fitness/weight loss niche. I could be wrong but maybe it is just the customers in the book aren't interested in a webinar. That really isn't the make money online crowd that is familiar with webinars and other live offers. Yes, maybe the offer could be improved but it also could be that people don't know what the webinar is and aren't interested regardless.

    The weight loss niche seems to be geared on one thing and one thing alone. Fast results. We both know that instant gratification is virtually impossible with fitness and getting actual results isn't hard at all.....it just takes patience and consistency over time. Your customers DON'T KNOW THIS and the DON'T WANT TO HEAR about it. They want advice quickly. Maybe an online webinar isn't the way to deliver this information (even though I think it is a great idea if you actually care about teaching people).
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  • Profile picture of the author dadhere
    Just as a thought, have the webinar promo'd on the front of the book with exciting giveaways for attendee's

    Just a thought...
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  • Profile picture of the author DerekMadden
    In my experience, you should put something along the lines of:

    "AS A THANK YOU FOR PURCHASING THIS BOOK,

    go to (site) for a FREE LIVE WEBINAR

    That would normally run (SET PRICE)"
    ------------------

    Then give them an option to receive a free item (plr book or something)
    for attending


    give them some value for attending
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  • Profile picture of the author jmerc
    1. Is it possible that people were downloading my Kindle book for free and just not reading it, and if so, is there a way to get them to actually read it?

    This is where the old saying about a book being judged by its cover... is critical.
    In the mass downloads that are taking place now, if you don't compel them to want to open your book... then they won't open your book...
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  • Profile picture of the author Paul Gram
    Not only is it possible that people were downloading your book because it was free and not reading it, but it's the likely scenario.

    I see way too many people thinking that the Kindle is the magic bullet. It CAN be, but only when done correctly, which about 0.00001% of the people do.

    There is a lot more to it than putting up a Kindle book with a webinar sign up. You really need to market yourself and build your author brand. The authors and business people that do that are making SERIOUS money but very few people can (or want to) do all the work to build their brand.

    The good news is, you can definitely make it happen if you are willing to work hard, hustle, and build your brand and if you do, there can be a huge payoff.
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  • Profile picture of the author miklanderson2
    Don't sell the webinar as free. Sell it as a bonus for buying the book and tell your readers you're offering them first dibs on a seat because they've bought the book. Remind them that space is limited and tell them they'd better sign up fast or risk missing out.
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    • Profile picture of the author Sandra Martinez
      Since I decided to give publishing a go, I started downloading the top 100 free books for the areas I am interested in on a regular bases.

      I have 3000 books in my kindle right now...

      I read a fraction of them, about 300.

      I took an interest in the author for about 10 of them.

      The free promotion will not give you automatic celebrity status, you need to work it. Like the six pack abs, it is not achieved over night.
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