US Only 99c BookBub Promo Analysis Thread

[OfficialEthanJ]

I'm making my own thread rather than borrowing Simon's.

DEAD SHOT is receiving the BookBub Featured Deal treatment (99c, US only, Amazon only) today. I estimate 812 sales are needed to break even. I've seen some pretty heady numbers tossed around about BB, which would be Totes Amaze™ if Dead Shot gets similar results. Right now it's all about hitting break-even.

Updates will follow periodically, then a final wrap-up with graphs 'n stuff.

+ Will this promo break even?
+ Will Dead Shot be optioned into a SyFy Original Series?
+ And what about... Naomi?

[Simon Haynes]

Don't forget Netflix - they're making a ton of shows too ;-)

Breakeven is just the first step. The tail can go on, and there's usually a nice boost for all your other books too (over time, I mean, not necessarily right away.)

The benefit of a 99c deal over a freebie is that people are much more likely to buy something they want to read ... and then read it.  With freebies, people often collect Stuff just because it's free... and then never look at it again.

[OfficialEthanJ]

Break even point has been reached. It took ~7 hours.

[notthatamanda]

Congratulations Ethan!  Just read the fine print if Amazon Prime video wants the rights.  They'll probably want to lock you up for 150 years and dibs on a kidney.

[cecilia_writer]

Well done!

[Maggie Ann]

Break even point has been reached. It took ~7 hours.

Do you have any fingernails left? I know I wouldn't. Congrats.

[OfficialEthanJ]

The Diane Pembrook series has broken the 1000 downloads barrier (and destroyed all prior single-day sales records held by me, which ain't difficult). DEAD SHOT is #78 (as of this writing) in the paid Kindle top 100 (USA).

Go Diane go!

[notthatamanda]

Wow that's fantastic.  Congratulations.

[Jeff Tanyard]

Congratulations!

[OfficialEthanJ]

Thanks everyone! #75 now.

I set up a FB CPC campaign for tomorrow to try and capitalize on the massive BB bump. Figured a little stacking > none.

[LilyBLily]

Congratulations!

[Simon Haynes]

It's a relief when you know all additional sales = MONEY IN THE BANK! ;-)

[VanessaC]

Congratulations!

 

[Gerri Attrick]

Nice going. Congrats.

[Maggie Ann]

 

[OfficialEthanJ]

DEAD SHOT peaked at #70 and at last look has slid down to #100. I was hoping for more buoyancy, but hey.

BookBub has really made a hash of my KDP Dashboard. It's saying I had 1188 downloads yesterday but it's spilling some of that into 8/1 activity, but not revenue. Ugh. Minor issue... it's just annoying when sight-reading my stats.

Newsletter blast went out this morning and FB CPC is starting to percolate. Here's to momentum! (He hoped.)

[Simon Haynes]

That's normal - they list the sale when it happens and the payment when it clears. Therefore there's always a disconnect (and it's far worse when you live in a time zone 12 hours ahead!)


Try my free SalesScanner software - it should help to make sense of the figures.

[OfficialEthanJ]

Not much to report at the moment, except to note my KENP is putting up massive numbers. Someone was wondering how people have more than 50% of their revenue come from KU. This. This is why.

Although KU is usually disproportionately high for me on the balance sheet overall, which is why I cling to KDP for dear life.

[OfficialEthanJ]

Late Sunday (eastern time) update:

Officially, for the record, my BB promo is... dare I say it? Under-performing.

BUT.

We should all hope to under-perform so successfully! 

I'm basing this on the "average" download expectation set at acceptance of ~1900. As of today, I'm at ~1500. The month is young yet, and maybe I'll pass the "average" threshold, but if not, BB is still the best promo I've ever run, ever, hands down. I regret nothing. Not even not submitting for a promo sooner, because I wasn't "there" yet. I'm glad I tweaked my questionable covers (and flat-out replaced one) and re-worked my author bio and photo. Now that I'm more polished I'm very keen to try another promo later this year and see how it goes.

At any rate, it's an honor just to be chosen. I can build on this.

[OfficialEthanJ]

Penultimate* update:

Well, the legends spoke of "sell-through" but I thought they were just myths! Personal bests are being achieved left and right. While I'm not pulling down 5 figures (even metric) post-BookBub, I'm very much on the radar for significantly more people, which is a good thing. Well, it's a thing, anyway. Good and bad are subjective.

As for when to try for another BB promo and with which title, I'm going to wait until after my upcoming vacation at the soonest to make another run at BB glory. I suspect putting some air between promos might be a good thing to avoid over-exposure. Am I wrong?

Anyway, I'm still floored at the awesome power of BookBub, And to think, I *still* haven't hit the "average" downloads figure, at least not if that was forecasted as raw eBook sales. Sales + KU might put me over; I haven't crunched the numbers to that extent yet.

* I'm holding open the door for a final rundown when the numbers firm up and go into the ledger.

[notthatamanda]

Congratulations! And have a great vacation.

[LilyBLily]

Great results. Enjoy your break.

[Simon Haynes]

As for when to try for another BB promo and with which title, I'm going to wait until after my upcoming vacation at the soonest to make another run at BB glory. I suspect putting some air between promos might be a good thing to avoid over-exposure. Am I wrong?

If you have something in a different genre, I'd go for it right away.

[Paul Gr]

+ Will this promo break even?
+ Will Dead Shot be optioned into a SyFy Original Series?
+ And what about... Naomi?

Love the build up of tension, lol.
As a self confessed marketing newbie, this kind of info. is useful for me.