By Kayla Matt
I’ve been scratching my head and wondering why I scheduled my post of today for noon instead of 9 AM. Either I’m aiming to change it to a midday or I had something else to say this morning. It was the latter.
First, Happy New Year to everyone! For anyone with a hangover, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Seriously, drink water before bed if you’re boozing it end.
So, Legends of Windemere: Allure of the Gypsies has completed its first month and the year is over. How did everything do? Well, I’m not sure I should go into exact numbers because it appears that’s considered crude and gloating. That and I’m too sleepy to bother with math. Here are the finer points I learned in 2013:
- Books are still selling.
- Beginning of a Hero and Prodigy of Rainbow Tower benefited from the 99 cents to entice people. They weren’t the royalty gatherers, but they built up the fan base.
- Allure of the Gypsies had lower sales, but nets higher royalties. The latter books are definitely going to be seeing this trend. That’s the system I wanted to create too.
- Marketing plan has worked and evolving. I have a list of 18-19 sites, databases, and groups to spread out over a 2-3 month period.
- Amazon Rankings are helpful, but you’ll drive yourself mad trying to figure them out. I think it’s better to aim for the rankings, check once or twice a day to gauge daily marketing, and accept if you falter. Especially with higher priced books because those bounce around like a speed-addicted jackrabbit.
Might not sound like much there, but I’d have to go into numbers to go into any more details. I’m going to avoid doing that. The first point covers it. I learned other things last year that involved the mentalities of readers when it comes to present tense and a series. I believe I’ve mentioned both, but I’m going to write up a lesson learned type of thing for each one at some point.
All very helpful. Thanks. Also Happy New Year
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Thanks. 🙂
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Happy New Year Charles!
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Thanks. Happy New Year.
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Happy New Years old chap! 🙂
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Happy New Year!
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Happy New Years Charles! Sounds like you have learned a lot and 2014 is going to be a great year! 😀
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It should be. I refuse to say ‘what could go wrong’ though. Best not to tempt fate.
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Thanks for sharing Charles. It is tremendous what you have accomplished and you are quite an example. The rankings are way weird. I can sell one or two books and come up on one list and sell many in a day or two and never show up in any lists. I can’t pretend to have a handle on it. I think it may have something to do with what other authors have published or are selling in the same genre market during a specific time frame as well. Happiest of new years and I wish you continued success throughout the coming years!
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Drives me nuts really. Seeing a 2,000 ranking drop or leap within an hour doesn’t tell me anything because it was happening without a reason. I’m blanking on who mentioned it (probably Chris McMullen), but the rate of sales might be a big factor. If a book sells a lot then it need to keep that pace or higher. If it barely sells then even a slight rise can be a major boost.
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I quit looking because it seems to be so random. Some of the books I have purchased recently have rankings in the 300,000 to 800,000 range, yet they have 3000 reviews posted and have only been out a year or two. Go figure.
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That always throws me off. The only reason I look is to use Top 100 list rankings in daily promos.
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I laugh about where I was last week and where I was two weeks ago…jackrabbit on speed is a good way to put it…lol…I have been feeling like I put too much into the facebook promos…sort of weird when I go into groups to post and I am looking at my own previous posts as I scroll through…so I have backed off on some of that, but do have some coming ads in different places this New Year…will see how those pan out. I went on Amazon last week and took a serious look at many reviews for similar books in my genre…very often people will state how they came across the book…so I have been taking notes on some of the better sellers to see what else I can do.
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I’ve been finding the Facebook promos being tough to do some days. I stick with the morning and night ones with an occasional afternoon. I don’t see any harm in it, but I’m seeing most people promote sales on those sites.
How do people tend to find books in your genre?
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Entertainment Weekly is a huge source. There were a few literary magazines mentioned also…but I have not yet checked them out. The Fussy Librarian was mentioned a couple of times…that’s an online source. I have an ad with them now.
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I looked at that site, but my first and third books are ineligible. I could do the second, which seems a little odd. Honestly, I’ve had no luck with listings and sites that put review amounts and overall rating requirements on them. I still have Fussy Librarian bookmarked in case the third book makes it to 10 reviews without dropping below 4.0.
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What made the ineligibility? My book is in review.
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They require that your book have either 10 reviews and a 4.0 overall ranking. Just looked again and it has a 20 reviews and a 3.5 overall ranking, so I could submit Beginning of a Hero. Allure of the Gypsies is the only odd one out for now. I’ll look at it tonight I guess.
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