When sales lag after sequel 99c promo stack,run free promo for Book 1 or sequel?

[Gregg Bell]

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.

[alhawke]

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?

[Gregg Bell]

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.

[alhawke]

Sure. I even once ran a two free promos for a book in one month.

The rule of thumb is to wait a month if you repeat a listing and to drop down the price on the subsequent promotion (never up the price). But  You never really know how these things will fair. It's not easy to saturate the market.

If you land a BookBub, all rules are off. You could probably run a BookBub a week later if they accept you.

Don't forget to try multiple genres too, if your book fits. My books are romance/fantasy so, depending on the book, I can run a fantasy promo with a paranormal romance promo alternating audience exposure. I also can discount more than one book at one time, promoting a second book or series.

[Bill Hiatt]

If you're thinking about discounts, a BookFunnel promo may be a good avenue. BF readers seem to be more interested in discounted books than full prices ones, but if you're going to discount anyway, you may reach some people through BF that you wouldn't hit otherwise. In any case, conversion rates (from clicks on your book to sales) are higher than AMS ads, for example, and I often move more books in BF than I do with a newsletter promo. For the price, it probably comes closer to a positive ROI than most things I do. And BF is good for other things besides just promos, depending on what your needs are.

If you do go that way, it's important to find a promo with an appropriate theme. That increases the odds that you will get more sales, as BF readers do seem to pay attention to theme as well as genre. Of course, it's also good to have a large number of authors in the promo (more promotional reach). But the more specific the theme, the shorter the list of participants sometimes is, so it may pay to find a good balance between the two.

If you use BF a lot, it's also important to shift among different promo hosts. Sometimes, the same host will run a similar promo each month and attract more or less the same authors. This tends to mean advertising your book(s) to the same audience over and over. The more shifting you can do, the better.

[Gregg Bell]

Sure. I even once ran a two free promos for a book in one month.

The rule of thumb is to wait a month if you repeat a listing and to drop down the price on the subsequent promotion (never up the price). But  You never really know how these things will fair. It's not easy to saturate the market.

If you land a BookBub, all rules are off. You could probably run a BookBub a week later if they accept you.

Don't forget to try multiple genres too, if your book fits. My books are romance/fantasy so, depending on the book, I can run a fantasy promo with a paranormal romance promo alternating audience exposure. I also can discount more than one book at one time, promoting a second book or series.

Thanks A.L. Good to know about the difficulty of saturating the market. And also multiple genres. I'm writing legal thrillers now, and I just ran a Fussy Librarian ad and got in "thriller" and "suspense" categories. Now I'll check other promo places' categories more carefully.

I'm still kind of wondering if you think I, after the 99 cent promo stack for the sequel ends on Friday, if the first free promo I should run should be the 1st book or the sequel? Got an opinion?

[Gregg Bell]

If you're thinking about discounts, a BookFunnel promo may be a good avenue. BF readers seem to be more interested in discounted books than full prices ones, but if you're going to discount anyway, you may reach some people through BF that you wouldn't hit otherwise. In any case, conversion rates (from clicks on your book to sales) are higher than AMS ads, for example, and I often move more books in BF than I do with a newsletter promo. For the price, it probably comes closer to a positive ROI than most things I do. And BF is good for other things besides just promos, depending on what your needs are.

If you do go that way, it's important to find a promo with an appropriate theme. That increases the odds that you will get more sales, as BF readers do seem to pay attention to theme as well as genre. Of course, it's also good to have a large number of authors in the promo (more promotional reach). But the more specific the theme, the shorter the list of participants sometimes is, so it may pay to find a good balance between the two.

If you use BF a lot, it's also important to shift among different promo hosts. Sometimes, the same host will run a similar promo each month and attract more or less the same authors. This tends to mean advertising your book(s) to the same audience over and over. The more shifting you can do, the better.

Thanks a lot, Bill. I have the basic BF plan now, and I use it just for getting the ARCs to my ARC team, but I used to have the Mid-list plan, and I did join promos there and (now, this is maybe five years ago) and it seemed that eventually the promos that would be good for my book were pretty scarce, and I got pretty frustrated with it and didn't feel the results justified the time and effort.

But when I think about how frustrating AMS ads are now, my memories of what BF was like seem better. I really think I'm going to give BF another shot.

[alhawke]

I'm still kind of wondering if you think I, after the 99 cent promo stack for the sequel ends on Friday, if the first free promo I should run should be the 1st book or the sequel? Got an opinion?

1st book would be better. Many series promos--Freebooksy series for example--actually require the 1st book be free. You'll get some co-sales if you make later book free, but not as many.

[Bill Hiatt]

Not finding a promo that suits your book? You want to experiment with running your own. From personal experience, I can tell you that it does take a little time--people will sometimes submit crazily off-theme books, so you have to keep an eye open. But if there are other people on BF with similar books, it might give you a venue for them. If there aren't, it will likely flop, but there's no way to know without trying.

[Gregg Bell]

I'm still kind of wondering if you think I, after the 99 cent promo stack for the sequel ends on Friday, if the first free promo I should run should be the 1st book or the sequel? Got an opinion?

1st book would be better. Many series promos--Freebooksy series for example--actually require the 1st book be free. You'll get some co-sales if you make later book free, but not as many.

Thank A.L. Makes sense.

[Gregg Bell]

Not finding a promo that suits your book? You want to experiment with running your own. From personal experience, I can tell you that it does take a little time--people will sometimes submit crazily off-theme books, so you have to keep an eye open. But if there are other people on BF with similar books, it might give you a venue for them. If there aren't, it will likely flop, but there's no way to know without trying.

Thanks Bill. You're absolutely right. And it's only $10/month so no huge investment.