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News, Fiction Updates & General MusingsKDP Select Free Promotions: Not Dead Yet…
Two weeks ago, I rather prematurely talked about the diminishing returns of KDP Select free promotions. I talked about an eventual rolling out of the KDP Select program, and why it isn’t even quite as important to newer authors as it once was.
That said, I had a BookBub promotion scheduled for my debut novel, What We Saw. I’ve been hearing a lot about diminishing returns, both with KDP Select free promotions and with repeated BookBub ads lately. I was curious to see how much of this was widespread truth.
A little bit of context: Back in March, I ran a BookBub ad alongside a KDP Select free promotion of What We Saw. In the five days it was available for free, I gave away over 40,000 copies, and made around $1,000 when the book switched back to the paid store in the month that followed. What We Saw peaked at number #2 in the overall Kindle Store. A high bar, and one I didn’t expect to beat.
Two weeks ago, I ran a KDP Select promotion for What We Saw, once again supported by BookBub. I also had a Freebooksy ad running alongside it. The results?
In a two day period, I gave away over 56,000 free copies of What We Saw, and have again earned over $1,000 in the weeks that have followed. That’s fifty-six thousand in two days, compared to over forty thousand in five days.
Oh, and I hit number #1.
What does this data show? Well, that KDP Select free promotions can still work when ad-supported, or more specifically, BookBub supported. I stand by my claims two weeks ago — that maybe a 99c run with BookBub can bring in even stronger returns. Then again, I’m not complaining. I’m very happy with how this free run has performed.
A note on how free promotions impact other titles — of course, a good promotion can increase sales through a series, creating a ripple effect, but I’ve seen little impact on my other releases. This is mainly because What We Saw is a standalone novel. However, I’ve had a handful of subscribes to my New Release mailing list, a load of positive reviews, and continued exposure in the paid rankings. The book peaked just outside the top #500 paid, and seems to have settled around the #8,000-#10,000 mark since.
So yes, I just wanted to update you on the state of KDP Select free promotions and BookBub in August 2013. BookBub still works, and when supported by a worthwhile ad, so does KDP Select. This information will be out of date the moment it goes to press, though. That’s just the nature of a rapidly evolving industry.
But still, my experience with KDP Select free promotions have not changed in the year or so I’ve been publishing, so there’s no reason why yours should either.
One year of publishing!
Oh wow! I just realised I published my debut short story, Something in the Cellar, over a year ago. I missed the anniversary party! But seriously, cheers to everyone who has picked up one of my books over the last twelve months. As a treat, I’m offering Killing Freedom — my brand-new novel — for just 99c. Grab it while you can: http://smarturl.it/KillingFreedomKindle
As for new projects — I’m working very hard on getting a few things ready for release. The Disappearing, which is the sequel to The Painting, my suspense thriller/horror novella, should be out next week. You can see the awesome new cover, again designed by Adrijus Guscia, right here:
Gorgeous, right? More info on that as soon as it launches next week! To be notified as soon as it becomes available, click here.
Hope you’re all well.
Ryan.
KDP Select Free Part 4: Is Free Dead?
Part three, on KDP Select and BookBub, is available here.
Several months ago, I hypothesised that the changes in Amazon’s affiliate terms and conditions would lead to the self-destruction of the KDP Select programme. While my hypothesis may have appeared a little over-the-top, perhaps even laughed off as sensationalism, a trip over to kBoards (great place, btw) is enough to convince any author that KDP Select free is both 1.) dead, and 2.) pointless. I hate to say ‘I told you so’… No, that’s a lie. *smug grin*
I’ve been enrolled in KDP Select with What We Saw, my debut novel, for nine months now. Things have changed, mostly for the worst. However, contrary to popular opinion, I don’t think that free is dead, just yet. I want to share my experiences with you, and hopefully you’ll be able to make an educated decision as to whether KDP Select free promotions are worth the three-month exclusivity. I want to try to help you decide whether a KDP Select free marketing strategy is relevant to your needs. Hopefully then, you’ll be able to seriously consider whether it is for you, and if not, weigh up the potential alternatives.
My experiences with KDP Select free runs
I’ve talked a lot about KDP Select free runs in the fourteen months of this blog’s lifespan, and yet, my experiences with free runs themselves haven’t really changed. When I promote my books to free promotion websites heavily and in advance, sometimes setting aside a marketing budget for increased exposure, I tend to end my free runs with the downloads in the thousands, giving me a nice boost in the popularity lists and bringing in a few sales over the coming four weeks.
One thing I have learned about KDP Select free runs is that they are essentially dead to authors hoping to simply click the ‘go free’ button for a couple of days and expect a strong run of downloads/post-freebie boost. Personally, this doesn’t affect me — KDP Select has relied on an ad-supported approach since I started publishing, so I sadly never had the opportunity to try the programme when it was really at its zenith.
My strongest free-run came in March, when I paid a couple hundred dollars for a BookBub ad and gave away 40,000+ copies of What We Saw over a three-day period. In the month that followed, I broke the $1,000 earnings threshold (bear in mind I only had one novel available at the time), which, to-date, is my best month of sales.
My most recent KDP Select free run was for The Painting, which wasn’t enjoying the sort of sales I felt it deserved. I organised a low-key free run, with a few ads, the main one being with Freebooksy, and gave away 2,000 copies or so. It wasn’t a 40k run, but considering I just wanted to give this novella a visibility boost, I consider it a success. Since the free run, it’s selling one or two copies a day, which isn’t loads, but better than prior to the free-run. I imagine this will dampen when the free downloads filter out of its 30-day rolling sales average, but I’m prepared with a new release to counter that.
What makes for a successful KDP Select free run in August 2013?
What does all of my experience teach us about KDP Select free runs in August 2013 (and I say August because the rules are constantly changing)? Well, firstly, my earlier posts on KDP Select are still as relevant today as they were at the time of writing, in some aspects. KDP Select free runs increase visibility and boost sales, but only when supported by advertising. This has been the case with all of my free experiences in the past, and while the visibility and sales boost isn’t what it once was, it can still help lift a struggling title and bring in a few cash sales/also-boughts/etc.
That said, I’m growing sceptical of the long-term benefits of free. As I predicted earlier in the year (y’know, when everybody dismissed me), 99c has largely replaced free as the de-facto promotional method. We have the influence of BookBub and the change in Amazon Affiliate terms to thank for this shift. I think it’s a healthy change in the long run, as dedicated Kindle readers seek out bargain books after being scared away by a fair number of low-quality freebies.
If I were starting today, would I enrol in KDP Select? I know you’re going to hate this answer, but I’m really not sure. It depends what you want, I suppose. Do you want instant visibility? Do you want to build your mailing list and pick up a few reviews and also-boughts? Then maybe try KDP Select, but make sure it’s an ad-supported free run.
Do you want to bring in some extra cash? Then I’d put your book on sale everywhere and run a series of 99c promotions. Advertising is much more important with 99c promotions than free, mind. It’s easy for a reader to download a hundred free books, but a hundred 99c books is a hell of an investment. If you do run a 99c promotion, make sure you have plenty of nice reviews so you can contact the main bargain book ad sites: BookBub, EreaderNewsToday, Kindle Books and Tips, and BookBlast are all good options with an almost guaranteed return on investment.
When should I make my book free?
Although all of this seems rather doom and gloom for KDP Select free, I’d argue that free itself is far from dead. In fact, free is a potentially priceless (geddit?!) tool in your marketing and promotion strategy, and it comes in the form of perma-free.
What is perma-free? Perma-free is something many authors are having a lot of fun with. Lindsay Buroker argues that it’s the one marketing and promotion strategy that worked years ago for independent authors, and will continue to work for years to come. The premise is this: you give your readers something for free in order to lure them into the rest of your series. In business terms, this is known as a loss-leader.
This loss-leader could be anything from an introductory short story, to the entire first book in your series. The rules are simple: make sure it’s frigging brilliant. You want to use this perma-free release as a hook, then reel the reader into buying the rest of your series. Also, make sure the perma-free release is related to another of your books/series in some way. It’s all fair and well making a short story perma-free, but if it has nothing to do with any of your other releases, then your reader will likely move on in a confused shuffle.
All things considered…
I’m throwing the KDP Select freebie dice one final time.
What We Saw, my debut coming-of-age mystery novel, will be available for absolutely zero-cost tomorrow and Friday, supported by a BookBub advertisement. You can pick up your copy here. If you don’t want to wait, it’s only $3.99/£2.99 right now.
This is the final time the book will ever be free. I’m curious to see just how much free has changed since March, when my free run brought in thousands of downloads and a wealth of reviews. After this, I will be tweaking my promotional strategy and launching my books on all platforms.
For other platform readers, you can expect to see the following existing releases available in B&N, Apple, and Kobo stores in the following months:
What We Saw: August
The Painting (The Watching, #1): August
Killing Freedom: October
So long, KDP Select. I hope to leave you with an absolute bang… that will force me into changing my mind and re-enrolling everything once again…
Ryan.
How have KDP Select free runs fared for you in 2013? Have you noticed any changes, improvements or otherwise?
PS: on borrows — I hardly get any, unless I’ve just had a major free-run. If you get a lot of borrows, then maybe this is a case in KDP Select’s favour. That’s something you have to work out for yourselves based on your own experiences.
Book Launch: A Three-Step Plan to Increased Visibility
Two weeks ago, I launched my second novel, Killing Freedom. Now, book launches are something of an enigma to both writers and bloggers, which of course makes it a fantastic topic for discussion. In this post, I want to dispel some of the most common myths surrounding book launches, whilst offering a word of advice based on what I think I’ve done right and what I’ve done wrong.
Firstly, experimentation is key. I try something slightly different with each of my book launches. With What We Saw, I organised a load of guest posts, interviews, giveaways, and really built up the launch day. I grabbed a few early sales, but they soon died off. With The Painting, I probably didn’t promote it enough, but am starting to see steady sales now. With Killing Freedom, I kind of mixed the two together, and have learned some real lessons through experimentation.
I do have a three-step plan to a successful book launch. Please be advised that it is hit and miss. It may not work for you. Like I said, book launches are an enigma. I do want to get a few things out of your head before I go into the three-step plan, though.
Firstly, don’t bother building up to a major launch day. This is a tip I learned from David Gaugrhan’s blog. If you spend all your advertising cash on selling books on one particular day, your books will probably float a nice spot in the rankings, but due to the nature of the Amazon algorithms, will soon drop right back down again. For steady sales, target different platforms at different times.
I understand it’s all easy for writers to say, ‘well you should target your mailing list. Simple as that.’ But mailing lists are hard to build — I get that. That’s why it’s hard to ‘launch’ a book, per se, before you have a hundred or so dedicated mailing list subscribers. But this three step book launch plan will help not only launch your book, but build your mailing list for future launches.
Ready? Okay.
Stage One: Launch your book for 99c to your mailing list subscribers
Subscribers to your mailing list should be considered your VIP customers — they’ve made the commitment to subscribe to your updates, so give them something extra in return. Even if you don’t have many mailing list subscribers, I’d take this step.
Some writers worry that by doing this, they’ll lose out on full-price sales that they would previously have got from those mailing list subscribers. I say that the benefits of a reduced price sale to these people — building those also-bought connections on Amazon; getting a ranking assigned — far outweigh the alternative.
OPTIONAL BONUS: Launch your book for free
If you already have a mailing list with a few subscribers (let’s say, ten), launch for 99c. However, if you really don’t have a mailing list (which you should), then I’d recommend launching your book for free for a day in order to gain some early visibility in the popularity lists. I learned this tip from Edward W. Robertson, and while he doesn’t advocate free quite as much as he did eleven months ago, it’s still better than nothing.
Beware: Amazon don’t always create the also-boughts immediately despite a decent free-run. This option is hit and miss, which is why you should drive people towards your mailing list so that your next book launch isn’t such a gamble.
Stage Two: Launch your book for a discount price to your second-level subscribers
Second-level subscribers is a phrase I’ve just right now coined, and are a group you have to categorise for yourself. Where are your most committed fans, mailing list aside? Are they on Facebook, Twitter, or your blog? Then launch your book to them for a slightly raised, but discount price. So, if you offer it to your mailing list for 99c and your full price is $4.99, offer it to your second-level subscribers for $2.99. That way, these committed fans are still getting a bargain, but not quite as much a bargain as if they signed the ultimate allegiance of the mailing list.
Really drive home this point to these second-level subscribers. ‘You’re saving $2, which is awesome, BUT next time you could save $4…’
Stage Three: Launch your book to everyone else at a standard price
After you’ve treated your mailing list subscribers on the first day and your second-level subscribers on the next, hopefully you’ll have earned a few sales already. Not mega-bucks, but enough to create some also-boughts and assign you a ranking. Good — now’s the time to announce it to everybody else.
So, if you have an active blog and you treat those readers as your second-level subscribers, announce your book (just once or twice) to Facebook, Twitter, and whatever at full-price now. Make a point of the savings mailing list subscribers made. It might just tempt them to sign up, which is the ultimate goal in all of this.
Then, leave your book to do its thing until your first promotion, which is your decision, and the topic of another blog post.
You can try guest posting, interviews, social media spamming, tweeting, pinning, Facebooking, singing, dancing — whatever. Or, you can try this. It might work for your book launch, it might not. That’s the beauty of the game.
I’ll be back on Friday with a new post. Until then, you can check out my new release, Killing Freedom, right here. You can also sign up to my mailing list by clicking here.
Best of luck with your book launch!
Your book launch has arrived — what is your process? Do you have a method, or do you just put it out there and move on to the next one?
Killing Freedom: Now Available for Kindle and Paperback
Hi all!
In case you weren’t already aware, my new novel, Killing Freedom, is now available from Amazon on Kindle ($4.99/£2.99) and Paperback.
Buy on Kindle // Buy on Paperback
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Jared is good at making friends. He’s even better at killing them.
When career killer Jared Colwright is tasked with intercepting and killing a family, he doesn’t think much of it. To him, it’s just another job.
But Jared’s life is thrown into turmoil when he begins to form an emotional bond with the family. As he grows closer to them and starts to dream of freedom, which path will he choose?
KILLING FREEDOM is a violent, edge-of-your-seat thriller that also poses serious questions: can an unforgivable individual ever start again? Can a killer ever truly be free?
Imagine if James Sallis and Patricia Highsmith sat down to write a dark, fast-paced thriller set in a corrupt city, featuring contract killers, treacherous characters, and nail-biting twists.
That’s KILLING FREEDOM, the second novel from Ryan Casey, the author behind 2012′s hit coming-of-age mystery, WHAT WE SAW.
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Thanks for checking the post out, people! I hope you enjoy the book. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts.
The Pomodoro Technique: How To Write 5,000 Words Every Day
Note: every writer writes differently. What works for one writer may not work for another. Trust your gut.
One of the most common questions I’m asked is how I manage to write so much whilst seemingly also having, y’know, a life.
Usually, I find this question quite funny, because I never really considered myself a prolific writer, not until recently, anyway. I used to write one-thousand to two-thousand words every day, which usually took me two or three hours. To me, that wasn’t really a lot. If anything, I felt guilty for not spending more time writing than I did. ‘If I could spend five hours writing, I’d get five-thousand words written per day…’
But two things made me resist my target.
Firstly, it’s because I was doing what I was told by other writers too much.
Allow me to elaborate: every corner of the web you visit (bar a few. How many corners does the web have, actually?), you’ll find advice on what a ‘respectable’ amount of words per day is. I think the most common upper word limit, we can safely agree, is one-thousand words. For some reason, one-thousand words per day appears to be some sort of holy grail for writers. Anything higher, and the writer is either a.) rushing, or b.) writing crap.
By digesting all of this advice, we kind of start to believe it a little, which is what was highly frustrating to me. I was finishing my 1k per day in just over an hour and, because of the cauldron of rights and wrongs on the internet, actually felt a little guilty for writing any longer. I was, quite simply, a little bored.
The second reason I resisted my pursuit for 5k per day is because five solid hours at a desk sounds like a hell of a long time. There’s no way my creative juices could solidly run for that long, I believed.
I was wrong. Well, kind of.
I could give you a list of ‘this is what you should dos’, but I won’t because I think that when ingested, that kind of advice can be bad for your health. Instead, I just want to introduce you to a few productivity methods that can see you hitting the thousands by lunchtime.
That’s right. A whole afternoon off to catch up on whatever crap’s on Netflix these days.
Bear in mind I’m talking about first draft words here. Not rewriting. That’s a different matter for another post. However, these techniques can be used everywhere. But anyway…
1.) The Pomodoro Technique
You may or may not have heard of the Pomodoro Technique. I hadn’t up until a couple of weeks ago, but since I’ve started implementing it, my daily wordcount has doubled, and I feel refreshed and a sense of achievement because of it.
Basically, the Pomodoro Technique is this: you set a timer for twenty-five minutes and you do whatever task it is you want to do (in our case, writing). You work solidly on that task for twenty-five minutes, and then when the time is up, you take a five minute break, no matter what. Nip to the loo, refill your glass of water — Pomo’ don’t discriminate.
Then, you repeat the cycle again. After four full cycles, you take a longer break.
Can you see how beneficial this is to writing? I usually start writing somewhere around ten-thirty in the morning. I complete a few cycles and then take a lunch break. On a good day, I’ll have a couple thousand words written by the time I take lunch. On a great (read: early start) day, I’ll have hit 5k already.
The best thing about it is, because it breaks your work up into smaller chunks, you don’t feel as drained as you would do if you’d spent several solid hours. My productivity method used to be this: wait for the clock to hit the hour and then write until that hour is up. But it was a poor method, in hindsight — I regularly got distracted and my words per hour were nowhere near as high as I know they can be.
Another bonus? Maybe you do only have twenty-five minutes per day, but with the Pomodoro Technique, you can turn those twenty-five minutes into a goldmine of productivity. Do you have twenty-five minutes per day? Then you can finish a novel in eighty days. How’s that sound?
You can purchase various apps or visit websites for the Pomodoro Technique. I use an app called Focus Time. The official website is well worth visiting too. I mean, those little tomatoes look awesome, and I’d definitely have one if I wasn’t such a digital geek.
The Pomodoro Technique has helped me realise my potential. It really is as simple as that.
2.) White Noise
I used to write with no music, and then I went to university and realised I was kidding myself in thinking I’d get a moment of peace there. My experience of writing with music has always been hit and miss. Sometimes, it really suits the project (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ soundtrack work was perfect for my creepy novella, The Painting), but often, I just find myself distracted.
Enter: white noise. There isn’t really much exciting to say about white noise, to be honest, other than it’s great for blocking the outside world out. Now, I use it all the time, whether it’s quiet outside (it usually is — I live in the countryside nowadays) or not. It’s become a part of my productivity regime, and for that, I salute it.
I usually listen to this clip on my iPad. It’s free, and it’s pretty much endless, so it fits the bill.
3.) A Writing Tracker
I’m a sucker for keeping track of myself. I used to have so many of those days where I don’t feel like I’ve done as much as I actually have, so I realised I needed to create something to keep myself in check.
Now, I have a spreadsheet. I know, I know — I hate spreadsheets too, or at least I did. Now, I kind of love the things. All I have is columns for the date, hours written, word count for that session, and then two extra columns for the daily total hours and words.
It’s a great way of keeping track of things you might not initially be aware of. For example, I used to be convinced I was a late night writer, but my 10pm to 10.25pm total was short of my earlier average. I was wrong about my own habits.
I’d really recommend setting up a spreadsheet as basic as mine. It’s heartening to see a novel’s wordcount grow, and provides you with plenty of motivation to continue.
4.) Freedom App
I’ve discussed Freedom in the past. Sick of being distracted by social media? Is researching your novel getting in the way of the actual writing of your novel? Then Freedom App could be for you.
Again, nothing overly exciting here: you key in a time and it blocks your internet for that number of time. The only way you can access the net is if you restart your computer, which for a lazy slob like me, isn’t worth the effort.
Freedom is available for Mac, and I believe there is a Windows version these days, too.
5.) A Folded Up Bolton Wanderers Ticket
‘Cause Apple’s Pages in full screen mode still doesn’t give the option to hide wordcount whilst writing, I have to do it that manual way. Damn them!
Yeah, I don’t like seeing my wordcount. If I’m checking my wordcount, I’m not focused. Don’t fall victim to the wordcount. Buy a Bolton Wanderers ticket. We could do with the extra fans.
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I hope you’ve enjoyed this post! An update on the fiction front: mailing list and Twitter followers will already be receiving details on the launch of my new novel, Killing Freedom. I’ll be blogging about that tomorrow, but if you can’t wait…
http://www.twitter.com/RyanCaseyBooks — s’all on there. This rollout launch is part of a bigger strategy too. You’ll see! I hope.
Ryan.
Image courtesy of AndyRobertsPhotos via Flickr.
The Five Best Books on Writing You’ll Ever Read
There are a lot of good books on writing and improving craft.
There is also a lot of crap.
Fortunately, I’ve read quite a lot of books geared towards every aspect of writing, whether it be motivational literature such as defeating procrastination and the myth of writer’s block, or craft oriented works on improving your style and honing your voice.
And it’s not just books on writing, specifically. There are loads of books out there that aren’t specifically aimed at writers but which I have found great inspiration from. The best of those books sneak onto this list.
This list takes into account the opinion of fellow writers simply by their presence on this list. It is usually through the blogs of others that I stumble upon these books on writing, and I imagine it is the same for those bloggers, so they have the approval of a rather large group. Anyway, without further ado, and in no particular order…
On Writing by Stephen King
On Writing was probably the first book on craft that truly resonated, and forced me to make that move from hobby to career writer. It’s part autobiography, part writing guide, but all of it is useful stuff. You don’t have to be a fan of King to appreciate his no-bullshit breakdown of some of the core writing concepts. You don’t even have to agree with half of the things he’s saying. Still, I believe there is something for everyone in this book, whether it be the stellar advice on self-editing, or the ridiculously simplistic way of forming ideas. On Writing is always the first of my favourite books on writing that I recommend.
The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield
Stephen Pressfield’s book found its way onto my Kindle in some heavenly manner at a time when I was struggling with motivation. I read The War of Art in one sitting, and I have read it twice since, and the effect it has is still profound. Stephen Pressfield’s book revolves around the idea of ‘Resistance’ as an evil force within all of us, battling to keep us from doing what we truly believe is our destiny. There is a lot of lofty talk of muses and angels, but Pressfield is clear when he says that you can take those themes metaphorically. I’d recommend The War of Art to any creative who has a tendency to procrastinate. It might just change your life.
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Not strictly a book on writing, Napoleon Hill’s 1937 personal-success guide is still a useful tool in every startup’s library. Think and Grow Rich’s blurb promise of ‘money-making secrets that can change your life’ may seem a little off-putting, but there is some fantastic advice in there, particularly for writers looking to start a career. I actually read the book when I was already writing and publishing, but it just about gave me that final bit of motivation needed to switch to a professional mindset, which is ultimately what the book’s ‘secret’ revolves around. There are hobby writers and there are professional writers. If you want to be a professional writer (or professional ‘anything’), then Think and Grow Rich may be one of the most important indirect books on writing available to you.
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
Okay, I’m really breaking the rules now. The Power of Now is not a writing book at all — far from it. How can a self-help book on the spirituality of living in the present really help a career in writing? Quite a lot, actually. The thing is, we all find ourselves in situations where we may not be happy. Perhaps it’s in a full-time job, or working night shifts. But we stick with it, because the rewards at the end of the road are worth it, aren’t they? The Power of Now seeks to profoundly change the idea of future rewards by framing everything in the present moment. We spend so much time thinking about what we might do tomorrow or what we should’ve done yesterday, before we know it, a month has gone by, and then a year, and so on. Quite simply, The Power of Now is the best book you can read if you want to start living life in the present. Once you’ve read some of the ideas this book presents, you’ll find yourself applying its concepts to every aspect of your life, whether consciously or unconsciously. Essential.
The 90-Day Novel by Alan Watt
It wouldn’t be right to compile a list of the best books on writing without including a book that directly addresses craft. In my opinion, The 90-Day Novel is one of the very best books available for this, as well as a whole host of other things. The premise of the book is simple: it acts as a daily companion through the writing of a novel, giving you motivational and structural pointers through your writing journey. I started following the programme for my new book, Killing Freedom (out next week, folks!), but deviated from the path after around forty days. That doesn’t really matter, though: It gave me the helping hand I needed to start the book and allowed me to form my own route. I still read the rest of the book, and found its daily tips very helpful. Whether you choose to stick to the path or read the book linearly, there are some great and detailed exercises on nurturing ideas and creating a structure, as well as timeless advice on trusting the left-brain during the first draft process. Alan Watt taught me that it’s okay for my first drafts to suck. That can be sorted in the rewrites.
Which books would you add to the list?
Image courtesy of Shannon Drummond via Flickr