Gregg, it sounds like you already ran a 99c and free promo for the 1st book right? Which book are you thinking of running free?

Thanks A.L. Yes, two years ago I ran a 99 cent promo stack and a free promo (several free promos actually) on the 1st book.  Now, I'm in the middle of running a 99 cent promo stack for the sequel, and I'm asking when the promo stack is done whether I should run the sequel or the first book free.

Quote from: Bill Hiatt on March 18, 2025, 10:19:36 PM

Facebook used to be a very effective vehicle for finding new readers. For the most part, it no longer is.

It's good for finding poorly edited cat video compilations and also discovering that a good chunk of your old online friends have completely lost their marbles.

Other than that, I don't know what Facebook is good for.

Parties!

Facebook used to be a very effective vehicle for finding new readers. For the most part, it no longer is.

I was inspired by writeway's post (attached) in Jan's "5 magic words to sell more books" post. (Now there's a hook for writers!)

I'm in the middle of a 99 cents promo stack for the sequel to my first legal thriller. Soon it will be over, and I suppose (hope) there will be a little bit of a tail after it's done. For the first book, after its 99 cent promo stack, I ran a free promo for it and that led to really decent regular sales that the 99 cent promos were not producing. And yet, I've also heard that it's usually best to promote the following book(s) in a series by promoting the first book. So now at the end of my 99 cent promo stack for the sequel, I should run a free promo for Book 1, right? But I hesitate because of: 1. I feel there will be saturation from the first few free promos of Book 1 I ran. (in Freebooksy, ENT, Fussy). 2. I had the success with running the free promo I ran of Book 1 following Book 1's 99 cent promo stack.

In general, thinking about 99 cent vs free promos, I look at the data for book 1's 99 cent promo stack and there were some nice sales in the 20-60 range, but the Freebooksy free promo downloaded 3500. And while a bit more expensive because it was FreeBooksy, in general the price of free promos is the same as 99 cent promos. It seems to me, that while I think a 99 cent promo stack is a good idea to get initial ranking, a lot more will, eventually, come (in terms of sales, reviews, whatever) from 3500 free downloads than 20-60 sales at 99 cents.

Back to my current dilemma. When sales lag after the sequel's 99 cent promo stack, should I run a free promo for Book 1 or the sequel? And down the road a bit, more free promos for Book 1 or the sequel? Thanks.

I've never had a Facebook account.

Lucky you.