Question about marketing

[Marti Talbott]

Has anyone tried changing the price to 0.00 and promoting book 2 in a series on Bookbub or Freebooksey? If so, were the results good?

I keep getting these reports from Bookbub about people who marked other books in my series as (I assume) ones they want to be notified of if they are ever free. Frankly, I'm not excited about giving my whole series away free one book at a time, but I've kind of over promoted book 1 in each series, which is permafree and has been forever.

[PermaStudent]

Caveat: I've never had a Bookbub, but I've read others' results with great interest. 

If Book 2 can be read without Book 1, I think your results would be good. I've offered a Book 2 free through an author xpromo, and being the 2nd book didn't hurt, though reviews--which were still positive--seem to indicate some readers didn't realize they'd picked up the 2nd book in the series instead of the 1st.

I wouldn't go on to offer every book for free. If your series is long enough, it might be worth exploring a box set for the first 3 books, and your promo opportunities there.

[Denise]

I posted a thread about it.

I promoted book 2 in many sites, got about 6k downloads, some audiobook sales, and sales of books 1 and 3.

Page Reads through the month paid for the promo. I think it's doable. If I were to do it again, though, I'd book fewer promo sites.

[WasAnn]

I have done a bookbub for a book two in the series and did exceptionally well. The key is that the book 2 can be read independently of book 1. Loads of sales of Book 1 and book 3 later on.