Writer Sanctum
Writer's Haven => Marketing Loft [Public] => Topic started by: JRTomlin on May 13, 2021, 07:02:16 AM
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I have come to feel that I don't get enough out of a free promo these days.
With a free promo on BB these days I will usually see between 10k - 15k downloads. (I can remember the olden days when it would have been 40K) But as far as I can tell that will mean about one thousand sales on the next novel which is probably most of the people actually read the novel. So I would have done as well to have a 99¢ promo even if it only sells 1000 (and it would probably sell more).
So I am becoming extremely reluctant to do free promos. 🤷♀️
Just me?
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No.
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Is it the same book that you've run before? Or is it a first run BB? I do see diminishing returns with recurrent promos for the same title.
Personally, I can't say for BB as I've never ran a free there (or been graced with an approval for one).
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To clarify I was talking free promos in general, I've never had a free bookbub either.
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Is it the same book that you've run before? Or is it a first run BB? I do see diminishing returns with recurrent promos for the same title.
Personally, I can't say for BB as I've never ran a free there (or been graced with an approval for one).
My reference to 40k was what I normally expected from a BB freebie ten years ago. That is a different topic. The entire industry has changed since 2010. *sad sigh*
I am talking about across the board and not one particular title. And I am not talking about diminishing returns. I get about the same number of downloads for recurrent promos.
What I am talking about is what we all know; that most free downloads are never read. By my observation, about 10% are, which means that when I have a free promo with say 12K downloads (about typical for a BB promo for me) I actually have about 1200 novels that are read. I can expect to have a sell-through of around 1000 novels in whichever series it is. (All of my novels are series titles)
So I have come to the conclusion, or just about done so, that I may as well do 99¢ promos. In fact, I am growing reluctant to even do a free promo. Of course, 99¢ BB promos are harder to score, but I might settle for stacked promos with smaller advertisers and BB ads if I don't score a BB promo.
(I have had maybe 20 BB promos over the years which doesn't mean I can count on them. I sometimes get a bunch in a row or other times go 6 or 9 months not able to run one. 🤷♀️)
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10% read through on a free promo is huge. I've always heard 1% or less.
The real money they say is on longer series. By book 3-4 thats where the real money is made.
I'm planning to do a stacked promo not bb with the first book free and the second book .99cents. By then i will have 9 books in the series. Also adding into that stack newsletter swaps with people in my genre.
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I am talking about 3 and 4 book series. Anything less than 3 isn't a series, really. 😜
I'm sure that experience varies. I don't know whether my experience is unusual or not. One can only judge by sales after a promo, but that is about what I usually see. Whether that has to do with them being BB or not, I also couldn't say. With a 1% or less sell-through even on 12K downloads would be difficult to see a positive ROI. (And I've never seen that many downloads except with a BB promo - again only my own experience)
Good luck with your promo.
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I've only run Fussy Librarian promos, but I've done well with free. I've read (never tried) that 99c promos on FL are not as good.
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I've only run Fussy Librarian promos, but I've done well with free. I've read (never tried) that 99c promos on FL are not as good.
That's true. I've done a couple and they were flops. Also on BargainBooksy the same. They reward free, not 99 cents.
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One thing I didn't mention in my reasons for preferring 99¢ promos is that I feel that I don't get that much of a boost from ranking high on the free bestseller page. Obviously, a successful 99¢ promo can put you high on the paid bestseller page which is more likely to help your sales in my experience.
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One thing I didn't mention in my reasons for preferring 99¢ promos is that I feel that I don't get that much of a boost from ranking high on the free bestseller page. Obviously, a successful 99¢ promo can put you high on the paid bestseller page which is more likely to help your sales in my experience.
That's an interesting comment. I've never particularly seen this myself. For instance, when I have a book in Prime Reading, the rank goes way up but I don't see any particular bump in sales or borrows as a result. So I prefer to aim for putting the maximum number of copies in readers' hands, and that means free. But there might be genre differences that come into play.
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As you say, there is a difference in genres and HF can be a bit of an outlier. If, and it is a tough slog, I can get in the top 50 of the HF bestseller list (as opposed to a sublist) it does seem to make a difference. That takes one heck of a lot of sales because I am competing with some big sellers.
The best we can do is judge by our own experience. What works for one author in one genre may or may not be applicable for another.
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I know it's all genre dependent...but I've had much more success with free than 99c. I don't advertise outside of Fussy Librarian and free social media, which I'm sure also makes a difference.
For me, 99c doesn't move and it makes me feel like my books look "too cheap" compared to my full price stories. Ironically, I don't mind free. Free first in series or free short stories seem to do well. And being wide, it's an easier way to get readers to try a new author.
A free story (whether read right away or not) is like my business card tucked into their e-reader. Or so I tell myself. :dog1: