Beginning of a Hero finally fell into the 100,000 ranking area, which I’m shrugging off. Can’t figure out how one 1 book sale can launch me into the 20,000 area while a 3 book sale day only puts me in the 40,000 area. Still, the sales have been 0 for the last few days, which is a first since I debuted. Lasted longer than expected, so now my job is to get the sequel out and recover.
That’s the sticky part. July seems to despise Indie Authors, so I’m not sure how safe it is to debut a book in this month. The final cover for Prodigy of Rainbow Tower should be in my hands over the weekend. This brings up various questions:
Do I debut it on Monday in the middle of a month that has been stagnant for many Indie Authors?
What about pricing?
Do I wait a week or push for an end of month release while building hype?
The pricing issue I have solved. I’m doing .99 cent debut for a month to help me get on the Top 100 Hot New Release List. Once I’m no longer eligible for that, I’m bouncing up to $2.99. Partially the list and partially I want to have a special opening to help bring in attention to the book. I’ve been told by my beta readers that Prodigy of Rainbow Tower is better than Beginning of a Hero. I need this book to fly and hook people.
The other two questions are less clear. I’ve been told the dangers of debuting in the middle of a month. I still plan on hitting my usual advertising sites like I did before, which won’t be as expensive. Probably be able to do it for $50 this time and that’s with a special Tweet package from AskDavid.com.
This also brings up the question of building hype. What do I do and how long do I push the hype? I used a few pieces of hype a month ago when I thought I was on the cusp of debuting. The Nyx interview, a few Sneak Peek scenes, and other special Prodigy of Rainbow Tower treats. I’m holding onto the Trinity interview and might do a ‘Tour of Windemere’ series of posts to show the cities the heroes will go to. So, I’m open to any suggestions and ideas for hype. Maybe a Goodreads giveaway that will start now and go to the end of August to celebrate the sequel’s debut? Part of me wonders if that will hurt sales since people might hold off on buying the sequel until they know they won the first book. Paranoia is my frenemy.
I’ll admit that I’m excited and scared about this step. It feels like a bigger test than before. With the first book, I expected to have very little success and it exploded. Now, I have to prove that I wasn’t a fluke. Not so much to other people, but to myself. If I can pull off a repeat performance with Prodigy of Rainbow Tower then that locks me in as a successful series author. That shows staying power.
Legends of Windemere 
too bad I couldn’t send you the $50 in free advertising Facebook gave me for my writing page… it’s non transferable…
LikeLike
How did you get that? I remember looking into the Facebook advertising and couldn’t tell if it worked or not. It only seemed to get a page more likes and not have much of an effect on the product.
LikeLike
they sent it too me a couple of weeks ago when I hit 50 likes it took me by surprise and I should use it I guess before it expires, maybe I will promote my Prose blog on Facebook this way and try to draw some attention to that story…I don’t want to bring false traffic to my primary blog…but I know by directing it to my other blog the odd person will like it and start to follow…and that blog is struggling a little in the way of followers…not that that bothers me as long as long as the people who do follow enjoy…but if I had more followers I might be more diligent working on it…
LikeLike
Good point. That’s really lucky to have gotten that. I never heard of it before, so it must be really rare.
LikeLike
I’m not sure if it’s random or it has to do with the type of page you set up…mine I set up as a blogging page (actually changed it to a blogging page, originally set it up as a community page but I figured that’s pretty stupid what am I a community of one…so I changed the page…I also have an old page on facebook that was designed as a petition against poverty but that never really took off so maybe its a combination of both pages…) or maybe the people at facebook see me as a mark…
LikeLike
Maybe. Could be a random drawing too. Who really knows how Facebook works?
LikeLike
I’m not a big fan of Facebook and would have deleted my account long ago were it not a way for people to follow my blog…and if I delete my personal account I lose my other pages…
LikeLike
I stick around because of a few family and friends that only communicate through there. I only post about my books, so most of my friends ignore me these days.
LikeLike
I hear you there I have very little interaction with my friends on facebook and most of them have ignored my writing page or anything to do with my writing…in fact it’s time to do another weeding of friends and get it back down… I periodically do this and I think it might be time to do it again…
LikeLike
I leave my list alone on the off chance someone is paying attention. I’ve come to terms with the fact that my friends will ignore me until I’m a NY Times bestseller. I barely pay attention to them now anyway.
LikeLike
Just a comment from a reader- the reviews for your new book being even better I would presume show that you’re no fluke. Try and put that out of your mind.
I work in a shoe store, and from there I have learned people by the most after their payday when they feel like the money can’t run out. Your sales may follow suit and the most will be bought at the beginning of next month. I think that means you should release the offer at .99 as and when you planned- it allows you to make the most of that rule of thumb. Good luck.
LikeLike
Thanks. I’ve heard the same thing. That means I would have about 16 days to build up hype for the sequel. Maybe find a few interview sites or something to help me.
As for the fluke, I’m 95% sure I’m not, but I’ve learned that I can never tell what an audience is going to do. I think the dead sales of my first book has me on edge. I should be better for the third book.
LikeLike
Granted I have a free promo going on right now which has been two weeks running, but I have not sold but 6 books in the month of July. I think people who have their summer reads have already bought them and others are just too busy doing other stuff while the weather is nice 🙂 You will probably revived the first books sells when the second comes out and the weather turns.
LikeLike
Definitely. The original plan was the first book would be struggling and the second would be the explosion. First one did amazing, so now I have to try to beat that with the second. Need to design hype events.
LikeLike
Now you have the expectation to keep up with yourself! How Grand that could be 🙂
LikeLike
A little scary at times. I don’t know what I did the first time, but I’m going to follow. Reminds me that I need to contact somebody about the release date before I get spotlighted.
LikeLike
A couple of comments … I read on another blog that summer is slow for book purchases. Now you suggest that July is a bad month for Indie Authors. In May I sold over 600 downloads. In June, I barely reached 100. This month, I hit 100 yesterday. I haven’t done any kind of promotion since ereadernewstoday on May 17. I wish I could solve the mystery of this.
You and I are approaching the same decision points. While my books aren’t a series like yours is, I’ll be publishing novel #2 in the next week or so. Like you, I finally got the cover this week and it is a huge improvement over the covers for my first published works. For awhile I’ve thought about starting it at .99 and then pushing the price up, but that just seems counter-intuitive, for reasons I can’t explain. I do like, though, the idea of trying to get on the Hot List so maybe that’s what I’ll do. Start at .99 and see what happens. I’ll also be offering my first novel free for a few days again, conducting a Goodreads giveaway, pushing my book through my blog and finding other promotional sites.
LikeLike
eReader News Today might be the key. I haven’t had my shot in their newsletter yet, so I don’t know how it will help. I’ve been dependent on Twitter and my blog for a few months. I’m only at 27 sales this month and I haven’t had much in the way of advertising. Been holding some stuff back for the sequel.
I’m thinking of doing a Goodreads Giveaway starting this week and going until the end of August. I’m going to try sticking to pre-release hype for the rest of the month to get people really chomping for the sequel.
LikeLike
I’ve noticed that the summer is in general bad for everything internet related — blog hits, book sales, etc. etc. I suspect it’s due to the fact that everyone’s outside enjoying the hot summer, and not inside curled up with a good book like they’d do when the weather gets colder. That being said, lots of people are on vacation in the summer and need new books to read, so … whatever you end up doing, best of luck 🙂
LikeLike
Decided on hyping for the rest of the month and debuting on the 31st. Just got the final cover art, but without the title and author name. Posting that baby tomorrow.
LikeLike
I have no experience on the book side of things but there are definitely less ‘bods’ around WP.
LikeLike
It has been pretty quiet. I’m hoping I can still wrangle up hype for my book release on the 31st. Kicking things off the with completed cover art tomorrow.
LikeLike
I hope you’re more than happy with it, albeit later than you had hoped.
LikeLike
It’s for the best. July is a rough month, so I might have dodged a bad debut. Using the rest of this month for hype.
LikeLike
I’m sending positive thoughts your way, Charles. You’ll do superbly! I have a sense of it.
Ellespeth
LikeLike
Thanks. Tomorrow will start the hype machine.
LikeLike
I’ll be here to follow it! I was a bit scarce today – we babysat toddlers in the morning and then took a toddler to the park this afternoon. Lordy! Dream sweetly!
Ellespeth
LikeLike
Great. The final version of the cover art goes up tomorrow along with a spotlight from another blog. After that, I’m not sure what to do for hype.
LikeLike
It seems like we are all struggling with the same thing. My book sales are nothing compared to yours but I have read many articles which suggest that the best way to sell books is to write more books. I guess the fact that you have many already almost good to go will mean that your success will continue to grow, regardless of what marketing strategy you decide to go for. I wish there was a magic formula, but I wish you the best of luck. 🙂
LikeLike
I like that advice. Writing more books is fun and productive. Good luck to you too.
LikeLike
Thank you 🙂
LikeLike