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Writer's Haven => Marketing Loft [Public] => Topic started by: angela on April 09, 2021, 03:12:10 AM

Title: Bargainbooksy series feature - great for selling to... serial returners
Post by: angela on April 09, 2021, 03:12:10 AM
I ran a couple series features with Bargainbooksy recently. One didn't go very well, but my longer series had a fantastic one-day boost. Several people bought the entire 12-book series. (One permafree, 11 paid.)

However... the days following the feature have included some days where I had a NET NEGATIVE on the series, due to all the returns.

None of this is Written Word Media's fault, of course. It's not their fault that some (bad words) use their newsletter to scout for new reads that they buy and return.

I guess we should take it as a compliment that these folks would rather steal our work than read the gajillion books available in KU. It wasn't just my ebooks, either. A few of them are also serial returners with Audible accounts.
Title: Re: Bargainbooksy series feature - great for selling to... serial returners
Post by: idontknowyet on April 09, 2021, 03:52:51 AM
thats crazy!

I've had three returns so far. Nothing past book one. That leaves me in fear.
Title: Re: Bargainbooksy series feature - great for selling to... serial returners
Post by: Maggie Ann on April 09, 2021, 04:04:47 AM
I've had a couple of returns after running a series feature on freebooksy last month.
Title: Re: Bargainbooksy series feature - great for selling to... serial returners
Post by: angela on April 09, 2021, 04:21:15 AM
Well, returns happen. I normally just carry on and don't worry about it.

This, however, is a whole 'nother level.

I just checked Amazon's return policy on ebooks, and it seems to be 7 days. (I thought it was 30 days, so I was in a dark and broody place expecting this to carry on all month.)

My series revenue today is still a negative number, but in theory this should be the last of it, since the promo ran April 1st.

It's possible it was still a profitable promo, but just not as good as it had initially seemed.

Perhaps today was just my day to get all outraged and salty about SOMETHING.
Title: Re: Bargainbooksy series feature - great for selling to... serial returners
Post by: notthatamanda on April 09, 2021, 05:01:39 AM
thats crazy!

I've had three returns so far. Nothing past book one. That leaves me in fear.
I wouldn't stress about it, it's going to happen eventually. Nothing you can do about it.

Condolences Angela on having it dampen your promo, but hey you got the rank boost from every sale.
Title: Re: Bargainbooksy series feature - great for selling to... serial returners
Post by: angela on April 09, 2021, 05:55:07 AM
thats crazy!

I've had three returns so far. Nothing past book one. That leaves me in fear.
I wouldn't stress about it, it's going to happen eventually. Nothing you can do about it.

Condolences Angela on having it dampen your promo, but hey you got the rank boost from every sale.

I did the math, and it wasn't that bad. I did get a lot of sales on the feature day.

It's just something y'all should keep in mind if you order one. For the record, it didn't pay off for a sci-fi trilogy (only earned back half the cost), but it was great for my longer series, even with 20% of the sales getting returned within a week.

Honestly, I just flipped out a bit this morning when I was at a negative number again LOL. Seeing that can really mess with your head.

But I also still remember the BBOS. (Brown bar of shame we got at the start of the month in the old day.)
Title: Re: Bargainbooksy series feature - great for selling to... serial returners
Post by: Maggie Ann on April 10, 2021, 04:12:52 AM
I forgot about the BBOS!  :hehe