Kenshin Himura (How I feel)
So, Legends of Windemere: Beginning of a Hero was on the eReader News Today newsletter yesterday. They posted it as a .99 cent book after I submitted and sent a follow-up email a month later. I assume they’re busy, so a follow-up email helps remind them and bring attention to your submission. Anyway, the results are . . .
110 sales over two days.
Here is where things are going to get confusing for people. This is a great number, but it isn’t much bigger than what I was doing before. So, I have no idea what effect eReader News Today had. They only take a percentage of what is bought through them and I have no idea what that could be. I was still tweeting and Facebook posting, which nets a few sales. I won’t know for a few days what the actual effect is, so there will be a follow-up at some point with exact details. Keep in mind that they take 25% of the royalties earned through them.
I have to admit that I was not thoroughly impressed, but this site was pumped up a lot to me. I probably had extreme hopes for this because I know other authors that used it to great success. Kingmidget used it and got 400 on day 1 and 100 on day 2. I do have some thoughts on what happened:
- Genre could be a factor. The comments on associated posts mentioned the seafood book and no others.
- I was showcased on Labor Day, so people might not have been near their computer or paying attention.
- I was the second book on the list, so the book above me got to be the post image. Exposure is always important and this is just a roll of the dice.
- I noted a few people mentioned they had seen one or two of the books listed before. I could see other people seeing those comments and assume there is nothing interesting in there. Again, roll of the dice.
- I was a .99 cent book and people appeared to be more interested in the free eBooks. This is accepted and I’m not going free for this because free sales have not gone in my favor.
Would I recommend this site? If you want to get a boost for a free sale that you’re planning in a month or willing to go for a .99 cent pricing then go for it. Your luck and timing could be better than mine. The challenge with eReader News Today is that they require the following:
- 4.0 overall star rating on Amazon.
- .99 cent or free pricing.
- Have at least 10 reviews on Amazon.
- Be available on Amazon
That first requirement is the tough one to get because you can’t control the reviews. Well, you can, but that’s cheating. So, if you find yourself meeting those requirements and want to give it a shot then enjoy.
Legends of Windemere 
nice, the great thing about e-books is that they can survive a slow build up and just keep climbing, keep gaining momentum. especially books like yours because they are not a flash in the pan, They have the potential to be classic.
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I hope you’re right. Though getting a few sales a day is still going in the right direction. I’m glad I proved that releasing books in a series causes both books to go up in sales. Third book will be interesting.
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it will be like a great snowball barrelling downhill which keeps gathering more followers as it expands, its path widens. By the third book, the 1st and 2nd keep reading and new readers start noticing
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Sounds about right. 🙂
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🙂
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You just have to keep on plugging away. In the future while sitting on the beach counting your millions, you will remember these times and give a hearty chuckle.
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Not much of a beach guy. Prefer to be resting in a forest. This definitely was an interesting experiment, so I’m curious about the final numbers.
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Are you a forest tracker? Then how about as you sit lounging among the trees and fluffy animals counting your millions, you will think upon these times and chuckle heartily! 😀
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I could have been if I went through the training. You can tell where Luke came from, huh?
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Here I thought you were more Fritz like than Luke. The secrets are slowly being revealed Charles! 😉
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Thank you for sharing. 🙂 (Many months down the road, I might want you ask you about some of the advertising you’ve tried.)
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I’ll be here to share my knowledge. Keeping my Advertising Links page up to date too.
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Very impressive numbers though!!! (Wow. They take 25%?? Eee.)
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Yeah. I’m waiting to see how much of that was through them and how much was the normal traffic.
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Thanks for sharing! Looks like you’re on the right track with your promotion.
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Thanks. Doesn’t hurt to try new things.
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Thanks for sharing your results and your thoughts! It helps us all figure out how we can best implement such features in our own marketing plans 🙂
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You’re welcome. I really do think I had bad timing here because another indie author had amazing success.
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hey even if not everyone went over and bought you got exposure. they saw your name and the name of your book from a new medium/promoter. That DOES help (so they say)
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Certainly. You know what this means? I need to find another promotion site. 😉
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There’s another element here … when I was featured, I had only about 400 purchases under my belt. So the untapped audience was larger. Maybe anyway. But, I do think there’s something to be said for the day it was featured and probably the genre as well. As I’ve written, it seems legal thrillers are always at the top of the lists — a lot more readers of those. While your genre, while popular, may be a little narrower. Sorry it didn’t work out as hoped.
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Yeah. I think genre was a big factor. I was listed with a book on seafood and a historical romance. Forgot the others, but I was definitely the odd man out.
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I don’t know … I think everybody would be the odd man out when it comes to books about seafood.
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Good point.
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Sorry it wasn’t as successful as you hoped Charles, although on the plus side, I have persuaded my hubby to read a sample of your book so you may get a UK download in the future… not that that’s much help…:-)
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Thanks. I’m starting to wonder if I’m ever going to get a check from all the UK sales.
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Well, with the state of our economy, I wouldn’t bet on it!
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It is still selling good Charles. I think you can be happy with that. I would be, and another book being on the horizon is only going to keep the momentum going. I think the worst of the bad reviews will fall off as your true fans stick with you through this. The numbers will probably stabilize until you can present a boxed series. Can you do any sort of two for one pricing through Amazon? To get more interested in the series?
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As far as I can tell, I can’t really do a boxed series because I’m indie and eBook. Unless I put all of them into one file and uploaded them, but that would be a monster of a file. The low price of the books makes the box set a little obsolete too. My concern with the momentum is that it dropped terrifyingly quickly once I went off the Hot New Release list. The first book is selling better than the second, which means the second might get a boost down the road.
The overall trick I guess is to get multiple books out with a few of them at $2.99 instead of .99 cents. Tiered pricing can help a series.
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Sounds like a good well thought through plan! I was thinking two files for one price…don’t know how they would do that.
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Amazon would need to allow indie authors to bundle stuff. I looked into it a month ago to see if I could do a special Christmas bundle. No dice. So, it’s impossible for now. 😦
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