My First Kindle Book Giveaway Experience...

by madasamonkey

Posted: 11 years ago 44 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

I'm pretty quiet on these forums, I like to lurk in the shadows and suck up good advice (I'm not really sure I have much to add, however, I thought I would just share this).

I bought Geoff Shaw's Kindling WSO back at the tail end of last year and started my first novel in October. I was done by the start of April, 90,000 words (yes, I know, keep it short!

). I hit save and publish and put it up. I've had maybe 20 purchases from friends.

I'm not going to post a link to my eBook, give the title or pen name. I value my anonymity (and hey, you either believe me or you don't). But today I put it up as a free book. It's been live for 16 hours, and I've had 4,400 downloads.

I don't look at this in terms of money lost. I look at it in terms of bums on seats. The more exposure I get, surely the better I'll do? Well, I most certainly hope so!

I really wish Amazon gave you a way of tracking where your downloads came from. I have been marketing pretty aggressively on Twitter and Facebook.

I haven't bothered joining forums - it seemed like too much hassle. I've just joined every FB group that seemed relevant (and my pen name has been friended by 700 odd other authors, there's a huge community out there. I think if you skip that, you're missing a trick). I have a blog and I've taken the time to make it look pretty (I really should post more than I do though). When my promotional period started, I posted to Goodreads, went down the Ebook Blaster route and basically tracked down every lead I could to get my free eBook out there.

The point is, I don't know where this will take me. When the promo period ends on Sunday, maybe it'll be back to tumbleweed. But I do know that tonight, 4,400 more people have my book stashed on their Kindle than did this morning. I think that can only be a good thing.

The point of this post is to thank Geoff, who apparently is a great teacher. Frankly I'm astounded that my book is now in front of so many people. I'll let you know how it goes, but to anyone who enjoys writing and is up for the hard slog... well, it really feels like it was worth it today.

#book #experience #giveaway #kindle

kiwikelno1 11 years ago

Well done!
Always a good start more exposure the merrier only real way to build a relationship with your readers Paying or not. Are you collecting email details and so on for future sales potential?
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- madasamonkey 11 years ago
  
  I know, I know, I should be. Up until now, I've been getting maybe 3 or 4 visitors to the site a day (though they do seem to stick around, which is nice). I need to get cracking with that - a very good point!
  
  Thanks
  
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madasamonkey 11 years ago

Well, it's been up for what? 36 hours now. I've had over 11,000 downloads.

I have had one bad review, by a critic who openly admitted that they hadn't actually read it (I would have been surprised - 90,000 words in that time). Oh well, I guess you're going to get those (looking at those they left for other people, it could have been a lot worse: "How do I rate this less than one star?"). If I get inundated by them, then I'll reconsider my stance.

I've ranked at #1 for Women's fiction, #2 for Contemporary Fiction, #4 for Romance, and #6 for Contemporary Romance, and #12 in Kindle free books overall, so in all, I don't think it was a bad day.

The proof of the pudding will be how it translates into sales. I'll keep you posted.

If you are part of Kindling, I recommend getting onto FB and joining the forums. There's some excellent advice on there.
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- BackLinkiT 11 years ago
  
  11,000
  
  Sadly, it doesn't translate into sales, at least not straightaway...take it from me
  
  I was #1 in the Crime category yesterday too...
  
  Thanks
  
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  madasamonkey 11 years ago
  
  No, not yet, Colin. I'm quite highly priced ($4.99) which I think accounts for the high number of downloads (everyone likes a bargain). I was playing with the idea of dropping the price as soon as it comes back to paid status, but I think what I'll do is leave it this time, use it as a control, then run a 3 free day campaign next time, drop the price afterwards, and co-incide it with the release of my next book (and vice versa).
  
  Backlinkit, if I started getting results within 24 hours, I would be one happy lady I'm running it as an experiment. See how it goes. All I'm concerned with is bums on seats at this stage.
  
  Congrats on your #1!
  
  Unfortunately, I missed the new releases phase with the free days on this one. That's not a mistake I plan on making again.
  
  Thanks
  
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  BackLinkiT 11 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by madasamonkey
  
  ...the new releases phase with the free days on this one...
  
  Remind me what that's about?
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  madasamonkey 11 years ago
  
  Well, I have it on good authority that if you run your free days within 30 days of...
  
  Hang on. You're pulling my leg :p
  
  Thanks
  
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  cashcow 11 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by BackLinkiT
  
  Sadly, it doesn't translate into sales, at least not straightaway...take it from me
  
  I was #1 in the Crime category yesterday too...
  
  I've noticed it can take 48 hours for the sales to kick in. I *think* this is because it takes Amazon that long to show your book in all the "also boughts" of the other books (and possibly some other lists too).
  
  But, I've also noticed that unless you get 2500+ downloads for each day you had your book listed, you won't see much of a sales bump.
  
  Amazon is continually tweaking this algorithms and things are constantly changing, so what worked last month might not work today
  
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- marketingva 11 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by madasamonkey
  
  I have had one bad review, by a critic who openly admitted that they hadn't actually read it (I would have been surprised - 90,000 words in that time).
  
  madasamonkey,
  
  Please report that review to Amazon. They will remove it if the writer openly admits they didn't read your book. I've had that happen to a couple of clients and the reviews were removed.
  
  Bonnie
  
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  madasamonkey 11 years ago
  
  Thank you. You know, actually, I think I will. I wouldn't take issue, but the blurb stated in the first line what it was about, and she complained, saying she'd hoped it was about something else! Personally, I've never written a bad review for anyone. I guess when it's free, you're leaving yourself wide open to this kind of thing. But even so, if you can't be bothered to read the description or look inside feature... Meh!
  
  Thanks. I'll give it a go.
  
  Thanks
  
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colinph970 11 years ago

That's a good number of downloads, and is a reasonable measure that the book could be popular. As you say, the real test is the number of sales. Have you tested price points?
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intelboxer

11 years ago

good luck bro!
can you send me your book link by pm?

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madasamonkey

11 years ago

pm sent.

Backlinkit informs me that he wasn't having me on. Anyway, apparently if you do your free days within 30 days of releasing your book, you appear in 'Hot New Releases'. I missed out there (by only a couple of days). Big time.

Thanks
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madasamonkey

11 years ago

Thanks CC!

But would the sales have to come through my site? I didn't even post a link to the promotion on my blog. I really would love to know what happened. I left work at 5pm UK time, and I'd had around 250. It went haywire, and the next time I looked (around 7pm), I was up in the thousands. By midnight, it was around 7K (slowed down today considerably). I'd really love to know where they all came from. It was nearly all Amazon.com, so with the timing, I suspect it was the US. I'm thinking maybe something on Amazon.com. I really have no idea.

Just seems a shame we have no way of knowing. It's in everyone's best interests that we know how to effectively market our books.

Thanks
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madasamonkey 11 years ago

It's the 'also boughts' I'm really interested in...
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cashcow

11 years ago

Originally Posted by madasamonkey

Thanks CC!

I'm guessing your sales all came just from Amazon. People scour those free lists and your book must have attracted them.

Did you promote the free day at any of the sites that announce freebies?

If you used the tracking id, you could track how many you got from your site, how many you got from tweets and how many from Facebook (you would use a separate tracking id for each). But the ones from Amazon wouldn't be tracked.

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madasamonkey

11 years ago

A lot of my promotion was via FB and Twitter. I think I'll go via that route next time (that is, if I can do it again), so tracking would be good. Thanks CC.

Other than that, I used eBook Blaster, Author Marketing Club, a couple of indie book blogs, but that was basically it. I was pretty aggressive on FB and Twitter though and have spent a good deal of time building up a network with other authors. I'm in quite a few groups on FB, and I did manage to get one magazine to retweet from the city where the story is set (I've seen a huge increase in UK downloads today).

I've been writing for a long time. I never imagined you could make any money out of it, unless you were amongst the chosen few. I'm still not holding out a lot of hope (I've been into internet marketing for about 5 years just to top up the day job - I've been obliterated by google several times). I don't know though... KDP has turned the world of publishing on its head and blown the doors wide open...

I'm still treating it as an experiment, but an interesting one!

Thanks
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cashcow

11 years ago

Originally Posted by madasamonkey

I've been writing for a long time. I never imagined you could make any money out of it, unless you were amongst the chosen few. I'm still not holding out a lot of hope (I've been into internet marketing for about 5 years just to top up the day job - I've been obliterated by google several times). I don't know though... KDP has turned the world of publishing on its head and blown the doors wide open...

You can make money. Lots of money. Even if you aren't one of the chosen few. I think you are going to be very surprised

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madasamonkey 11 years ago

Ah, I always start out with low expectations. Always better to be surprised, than disappointed

I will keep you updated. Thank you all for your advice.
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cashcow 11 years ago

Originally Posted by madasamonkey

I really wish Amazon gave you a way of tracking where your downloads came from. I have been marketing pretty aggressively on Twitter and Facebook.

You could sign up to be an affiliate and use your tracking id to track sales. The only problem with that is that Amazon has a rule where you won't get paid commissions for actual sales if your percentage of free downloads (through your affiliate account) is high (not sure of actually number).

But, if you don't care about commission, then this could be a good way to track.

You couldn't use it in an email, but you could use the tracking id on twitter, Facebook and your blog.

That's a huge amount of downloads btw - I'd be surprised if you don't get a nice sales bump.
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JoeMack

11 years ago

Hi....

I also think part of the problem is that Amazon USED to give see those free downloads as sales. Now, you wouldn't earn any commissions for the downloads, but because they would be seen as sales by Amazon, the free downloads would increase your sales ranking (and THAT would cause a temporary spike in sales).

So many IMers offering Kindle publishing packages would really push using this "trick".

However, Amazon has changed this recently. Free downloads are no longer equal to sales anymore. Instead, they are valued at 1/10 of a sale (although that percentage may be lower now).

So far from my Kindle publishing experience for 2013, I don't see a significant increase in sales after a free download event.

Just might experience. Others might have experienced something different.

Much Success,

JoeMack

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cashcow

11 years ago

Originally Posted by JoeMack

However, Amazon has changed this recently. Free downloads are no longer equal to sales anymore. Instead, they are valued at 1/10 of a sale (although that percentage may be lower now).

Yeah, exactly. That actually changed sometime last summer I believe. And I hear rumblings that they have decreased that value even more since last month.

BUT, the OP has a crapload of downloads .....so I hope they translate to loads of sales for them.

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madasamonkey 11 years ago

I was figuring that they didn't count for anything in terms of sales statistics. I guess anything's better than nothing! My real sales have been negligible (around 20 to friends - I did zero promotion until the free days), and even since the spike, I haven't seen myself featuring in the paid lists at all.
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Paul Gram

11 years ago

Good start but now the work begins. In the past, many people would get excited about giving away lots of free books but many people download stuff just because it's on the free list, and they have hundreds of books that they never actually read.

The free program works best when you've built an author brand, you incorporate your blog/social media, and you have at least a few other paid books selling right now...

Right now, the best thing you can do is build your author brand (maybe you already are?) because in many cases, it's the difference between making a few hundred dollars with your Kindle books and potentially making MUCH more.

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J Bold

11 years ago

Originally Posted by madasamonkey

Thank you. You know, actually, I think I will. I wouldn't take issue, but the blurb stated in the first line what it was about, and she complained, saying she'd hoped it was about something else! Personally, I've never written a bad review for anyone. I guess when it's free, you're leaving yourself wide open to this kind of thing. But even so, if you can't be bothered to read the description or look inside feature... Meh!

Thanks. I'll give it a go.

I'm fairly certain I've figured out exactly what your book is. If I'm right, I've seen that review and I believe she said she'd started reading it but didn't finish.

I've gone on to that reviewers other reviews and she appears an extremely avid reader of romance, reading several books a day. She seems to write reviews for every book she reads. Must be a hobby and a way of expressing herself, ha ha. She either writes that she loves the book or hated it. Sounds like a pretty tough one to please!

Originally Posted by Paul Gram

The free program works best when you've built an author brand, you incorporate your blog/social media, and you have at least a few other paid books selling right now...

As Paul said here, if you had gone all out on a free giveaway like this with one book and already had a few books up for sale, especially if they are part of a series, you would be seeing some sales from this already.

As it is, what you are trying to do now is get fans, get them following you on twitter, or on your facebook page, or following your blog, or on your newsletter, etc. so that next time you release a book, you can sales from repeat customers. And you are doing some of that, I'm sure, so it's not all bad.

It's not just making money off of one book, but off of the author brand you create.

Originally Posted by madasamonkey

I was figuring that they didn't count for anything in terms of sales statistics. I guess anything's better than nothing! My real sales have been negligible (around 20 to friends - I did zero promotion until the free days), and even since the spike, I haven't seen myself featuring in the paid lists at all.

Why would you feature in the paid lists now because of your free promotion? You wouldn't! Your book is free right now so of course you're not selling any copies for money, it's free. After your free promotion ends is hopefully when you'd see more sales and possibly see yourself getting in the paid lists.

I know she said 1/10 of a sale, but my understanding is even that factoring would come into after your free promotion ends. Perhaps I'm wrong. But usually when you're free Amazon only shows your free ranking.

but yeah, wait until after and see if you have any sales spike coming from the download spike. Hopefully you do as you have put a lot of work into this!

Originally Posted by madasamonkey

I really wish Amazon gave you a way of tracking where your downloads came from. I have been marketing pretty aggressively on Twitter and Facebook.

There is actually a way to do this. It involves putting a tracking code into your amazon book description using an image.

I haven't done it, myself, but I think if you have already used Author Central to edit your book description than you won't be able to do it, unfortunately. It's weird, I know, but that's Amazon for ya.

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madasamonkey

11 years ago

I've since had two more bad reviews (and no good ones!) so I'd say it's time to get down off my high horse and admit there's an issue. I'm just starting the next one so at least I know where I went wrong. It could be that I'm just getting reviews from people who've picked it up and put it down and better will follow from people who've read the whole thing later, but I definitely see some red flags. I need to be a lot more mindful of the US audience seeing as that's where the majority of the downloads came from. I wrote it as if I was talking to another Brit.

Yes, J Bold - I think you found me

Well, aren't you supposed to read all of it to do a review? She read a couple of pages by the sounds of things! How dare she! Doesn't she know who I am?!! Nah, I've calmed down and tried to go back to looking at things objectively. I definitely do see my pen name as a brand and a seperate entity from me, most of the time.

So far today, I've sold 635.... Nah, just kidding. None, but then I wouldn't expect to.

Total downloads were 12,750 which I'm pleased with. It's a nice round number and doesn't offend my OCD. I'd be a lot more pleased if they were paid copies though

I think I'm in danger of losing too much time refreshing the screen for new downloads, fretting about rankings and getting in a tizz about reviews. I lost yesterday. I was reading about one author (it may have been on here) who just puts the book out and gets on with the next one. I think that's what I need to do, although the feedback was pretty useful.

EDIT: I did read it here...

http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...ml#post8018315

I think I'll go down that route, but if you've got several reviewers all saying the same thing, there's a problem, I think, and I want to know about it so I don't make the same mistake again.

Right, I'm done obsessing. Next!

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madasamonkey 11 years ago

OK. I spotted a typo on the first free day (so annoying!) and I was just about to republish. Thought I'd better check the sales stats first...

I've made three sales Better leave it alone (dammit!).

Right. I've got to stop this... Must get on!
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cashcow

11 years ago

Originally Posted by madasamonkey

I think I'll go down that route, but if you've got several reviewers all saying the same thing, there's a problem, I think, and I want to know about it so I don't make the same mistake again.

Yes, I agree. Only look at reviews as to how you can improve. Not everyone will like your books, some will love it, some will hate it. You're writing for the ones that love it... the others are not your target audience. BUT, if you have several of them complaining about the same thing, than it's only smart to correct that.

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JoeMack 11 years ago

Hi...

My best advice to use is to take the time and energy that you are using checking the sales stats and getting so frustrated, and use it to create and publish new books.

The more books that you have published, the more you'll make. If you aren't happy with your level of sales, write.

Much Success,

JoeMack
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- madasamonkey 11 years ago
  
  I'm doing a short story now, the start of a series and then I'll do a compendium.
  
  I plan on pricing at 99cents for 8,000-10,000 words. I'm just worried folks might feel short-changed when you compare it to 90,000 words at $4.99.
  
  Thanks
  
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01123581321345589144 11 years ago

Sounds like you've got a hit product. It's a good idea to offer for free. Get some good reviews that way and then sell for money. Congrats on your ebook. I've been trying to maybe write something for kindle.
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seobro 11 years ago

Hi madasamonkey:

I like Kindle, but typically after the freebie period my sales do not get a big pop. They do increase some. However, my experience is poor. I push my book at freebie sites and I did get some likes and some reviews. However, not very many.

Have you heard the latest news. SPAMAZON is decking down hard on the freebie sites now. They do not like the five day free period and have made life harder for us. Not sure what the benefit is anymore. Right now, I see a lot of sites that promote cheap 99 cent e-books from amazon.

Biggest problem that I face is other authors who will trash your book with poor reviews. Like you can read the reviews and they are very generic. "Worst book ever written - save your money." "I would give it a zero star, but there is none." "Please get a real job and stop writing books like this one." "This book was written by a moron."
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madasamonkey 11 years ago

Well, I had those bad reviews, but I've since had 14 sales today (2 returns, but they were very early on - I'm hoping they just thought it was still free).

We'll see, but other than those I think my only sales were to friends. It's definitely done something.
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Joan Altz

11 years ago

14 sales in a day after only 20 from friends in a month? Awesome!

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stafford

11 years ago

I think bad reviews are just a given in anything. Some people do it because they've deemed themselves some kind of glorified critic.

I've gotten bad reviews on grammar and punctuation and their grammar and punctuation was horrendous. So don't take those to heart.

You've had some really great results so far. Congratulations on your first book.

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J Bold

11 years ago

Originally Posted by stafford

You've had some really great results so far. Congratulations on your first book.

Yeah, I agree. Don't sweat it.

Nobody is perfect and can always improve but some people are just cranky.

And your reviews are coming from freebie seekers as they are getting it via a free downlooad, and they are the hardest customers to please.

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webboost 11 years ago

Its a great way to build authority
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madasamonkey 11 years ago

Yeah, I think I tried something a bit bold playing around with PoV, I knew I was taking a risk, and I'm not sure I pulled it off. I've just had another review which seemed more balanced.

I hear what you're saying about free book reviewers. I guess if it's free then they don't use Look Inside, they'll just take it then trash it if it isn't their cup of tea. I am friends on Facebook with a heck of a lot of other authors, and I'd plugged the free book on there. I even ran my mouth off about how well it was doing... Yeah, that wasn't too smart. Could have been. Lesson learnt.

17 sales and 2 returns yesterday. I'm pretty happy with that.
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madasamonkey

11 years ago

Should you follow back your fans on Twitter? I've just had two very nice tweets from new reviewers. I've gone with follow.

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cashcow

11 years ago

Originally Posted by madasamonkey

Should you follow back your fans on Twitter? I've just had two very nice tweets from new reviewers. I've gone with follow.

Yes I would. And send them a message thanking them for the follow. One of the coolest things about being an author today is the ability to connect directly with your fans.

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GobBluthJD

11 years ago

Originally Posted by cashcow

Yes I would. And send them a message thanking them for the follow. One of the coolest things about being an author today is the ability to connect directly with your fans.

Exactly. This is how you build that connection, which leads to instant readers for every subsequent release. Treat those fans like gold, and you will reap the rewards.

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johnnyfd 11 years ago

I'm really enjoying this thread as I recently just published my first book on Kindle as well. Keep updating and let us know how your sales go!
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madasamonkey 11 years ago

I fully intend to. They are gold, to me. I like the interaction, and it's a real spur getting some positivity back. I've been asked whether there'll be a sequel, so I can see this route works.

Just need to get another one out there, rinse and repeat.

No sales today.
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madasamonkey 11 years ago

So, a couple of days on, I've had (a whole!) two more sales, no returns, and some (somewhat more) balanced reviews. I think we've levelled off but I'll let you know if that changes. It's a sale a day more than I was getting before.

I had no idea how big a proportion of my sales would come from amazon.com rather than .co.uk. UK sales and downloads have come in at maybe 5%, so I did kind of shoot myself in the foot by using a lot of colloquialisms, potentially alienating the lion's share of my audience. It's a pity, because the (all of two!) UK fans who contacted me via Twitter really got it and were full of praise, asking about a sequel. I'm not going to abandon my writing style completely, I just need to tweak it a bit.

All of my sales still came in after the harshest reviews at the outset. I've bobbed back up to around 3 1/2 stars (no 1 stars, thankfully). It's not great, but they sure as heck seem to have an opinion, and I've had some really good feedback (the later criticism tended to be much more constructive).

I did take a quick look at the best sellers list tonight, and this one kind of stood out.

Dead Ever After: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel...
Most of the reviews are appalling. There are nearly 400 of them. And yet it's still #2 of paid downloads. Over $12 for 300 odd pages - is it clever marketing, or do reviews really mean so little? I really don't get it.

I'm back on the 'programme' now, halfway through the first of a trilogy of short stories that will later become part of a compendium. The next free day I run in a couple of weeks, I'll make sure I back up with another title.
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