(SIGN UPS CLOSED) Sci-fi and Horror authors 99 cent promo in Oct

[jdcore]

The tag is Monsters & Madmen, and the genres are anything Sci-fi and anything Horror. (Books do not have to feature both genre types, or they may. It's a spectrum thing.) The dates for the promo are October 19 - 20 of 2019.

To see the site, visit doublecrosslit.com.

We all know Stephen King is the master of modern horror, but isn't "Under the Dome" a science fiction novel? Isn't "11/22/63" about time travel? If "War of the Worlds" isn't a horror story, then neither is "A Quiet Place." Science and scientific exploration are all about the unknown, and what's scarier than not knowing what's going to happen next?

To join this promo, your book must be a novel, a novella, a collection of flash fiction or short stories at least three stories in length, or an anthology for which you are listed as curator or editor; and must be 99cents October 18 to 20 of 2019. It may also be a box set for which you are listed as author or author team, editor, or curator; and may cost up to $1.99 on the dates of the promo. By submitting a title, you agree to use your social media accounts and email list to promote the program. The book must be available on Amazon.com, but can also be available on other eBook platforms. This form closes at midnight Oct 7th, 2019 US Eastern time.

Your email address will be used ONLY for the purpose of this promo, and will not be shared. It will not be saved for future promos unless you specify that you wish to receive updates at the end of the form which can be found at this link - http://bit.ly/MandMOct2019

[TimothyEllis]

Does it matter if the book is mid way through a series?

I've a detective story set in space with a horror element. It's book 6, but is also a new character POV, so can be read stand alone.

Is there any cost involved? And is KU acceptable?

[jdcore]

There's no cost. KU is fine so long as the price for non-KU purchases is at the sale price of 99 cents. The book can be part of a series.

[jdcore]

Two weeks remaining to sign up.

[jdcore]

Final week to sign up for this promo.

[TimothyEllis]

Did we get an email after signing up with confirmation of being in the promo, and when to do the price change?

I don't recall if I did or not.

[jdcore]

I'm sending the confirmation letters this week, and the instruction letters and reminders closer to the date of the promo.

I was sending confirmation letters earlier, but I think it was too much time between and some people forgot to keep checking.

[jdcore]

4 Days remain to sign up.

[jdcore]

Last two days for sign-ups to this promo. Link in the OP.

[jdcore]

Final day for sign ups!

[jdcore]

Promo sign-ups closed

[TimothyEllis]

When will the graphics and stuff be sent out?

Just wondering when and how to set the book for 99c. It's in KU, so I assume I use a countdown deal, but haven't ever done one yet. Some instructions would help, to ensure the price is changed correctly everywhere.

[TimothyEllis]

From today's email:

Pro tip, when your Facebook post goes active, you can share the post to your personal page to advertise the sale to your friends and family.

This doesn't work anymore.

If you post it into a group or page, you cannot share it to your timeline. They changed it to limit how far group and page posts can go, which is only to something linked to it.

The only way to post and share it everywhere is to post to your timeline first.

[TimothyEllis]

Just looking at the promotion setup.

Seems like you have to do each store separately.

So which stores do we need to change? Is this aimed at just the US, or all stores. If all, what price do we put on non-us stores?

[jdcore]

Just looking at the promotion setup.

Seems like you have to do each store separately.

So which stores do we need to change? Is this aimed at just the US, or all stores. If all, what price do we put on non-us stores?

It's a 99c/99p sale. I set the price on amazon US, Canada, Australia and UK to 99c or 99p. If the book is in wide distribution I then go to my distributor / aggregator  (I use Smashwords) and set it there. Then if I have it posted to any other stores (Google, B&N, etc) I log on and make the change there. Your book is Amazon-only, so you don't have to do that.

[jdcore]

From today's email:

Pro tip, when your Facebook post goes active, you can share the post to your personal page to advertise the sale to your friends and family.

This doesn't work anymore.

If you post it into a group or page, you cannot share it to your timeline. They changed it to limit how far group and page posts can go, which is only to something linked to it.

The only way to post and share it everywhere is to post to your timeline first.

Thanks for the heads up.

[TimothyEllis]

The promotion tab only allowed me to do US and UK.

How does one do Aus and Can? Do we have to manually change the price for them?

[jdcore]

None of my books are in KU, so I am not familiar with all the technical ins-and-outs. If you can only change it in a few markets, that's fine.

[TimothyEllis]

None of my books are in KU, so I am not familiar with all the technical ins-and-outs. If you can only change it in a few markets, that's fine.

How do you change yours on Amazon? Resubmit the book with the price changed, before and after?

[dgcasey]

If "War of the Worlds" isn't a horror story, then neither is "A Quiet Place." Science and scientific exploration are all about the unknown, and what's scarier than not knowing what's going to happen next?

That's one that always had me thinking. Is Alien a horror movie or a sci-fi movie? To me it's more horror than anything.

[TimothyEllis]

That's one that always had me thinking. Is Alien a horror movie or a sci-fi movie? To me it's more horror than anything.

It's both.

Alien is Space Opera with a horror theme.

[jdcore]

None of my books are in KU, so I am not familiar with all the technical ins-and-outs. If you can only change it in a few markets, that's fine.

How do you change yours on Amazon? Resubmit the book with the price changed, before and after?

Yes, I edit the price from the kdp bookshelf then republish. Within a day or two the new price appears, then at the end of the promo I change it back.

[TimothyEllis]

Posted my FB posts just now. Used the default copy from the email, but had to clean it up a bit.

Ready for some thrills this Halloween?
Do you like your #scifi novels better when the story is also a little #scary?
Are you a fan of #horror stories that feature mad #science, or scientists, or #experiments gone bad?
Our Monsters & Madmen sale from Oct. 18 to 20 showcases a number of today's best Indie authors, and has stories chock full of it all, for 99c/99p each.
http://promo.doublecrosslit.com
#ebook #doublecrosslit #fiction

Interestingly, when I submitted the book with all but US and UK changed to 99c equivalent, Amazon priced matched the other 2 immediately anyway, making their promotion redundant.

I'll do an Instagram version tomorrow.

[TimothyEllis]

Any stats yet on how this is going?

[jdcore]

Not yet.

Here are some links to share, though.

Blog: https://lupamysteries.blogspot.com/2019/10/monsters-and-madmen.html
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cross_lit/status/1185430089644871680?s=20
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Lupaschwartzmysteries/posts/1416290868518767

[TimothyEllis]

As this comes to an end, how did everyone do?

Personally, I considered it disastrous. 13 sales. None of them today.

The really bad part though, the moment the price changed to 99c, my page reads stopped. This book has never had zero page reads on a day, and certainly not 4 days running. The book didn't make 1 cent today, and is not even listed on Book report.

I can only assume my book didn't fit with everyone else's. 

 

Oh well, worth trying, but not likely to convince me to do any others in the future.

[jdcore]

I don't see how a price drop could possibly affect KU page reads, but whatever.

Here's what I will say, two people never even bothered to open any of the emails I sent. That tells me they probably didn't do any promo. Nobody (except for one person) followed the tweeting and Facebook posting instructions. Nobody shared blog posts. I don't know who sent notices to their emails. I know I did.

I have committed to one more promo, then I'm done.

I put a lot of work into these promos, and I make them exceedingly simple for others to participate. FOR FREE. I even supply Twitter and Facebook copy, so participants don't have to take the time to compose even that much. I schedule three to four tweets a day for the three days of the promo. Then I spend the weekend of the promo searching twitter and Facebook for the hashtag so I can share others' posts to my wall and to my three twitter accounts. FOUR other people tweeted using the hashtag. Four out of 9, and only three people shared my tweets, and one of those was just a friend of mine who isn't in the promo.

Traffic to the site was indistinguishable from the previous random Tuesday.

[TimothyEllis]

I don't see how a price drop could possibly affect KU page reads, but whatever.

Here's what I will say, two people never even bothered to open any of the emails I sent. That tells me they probably didn't do any promo. Nobody (except for one person) followed the tweeting and Facebook posting instructions. Nobody shared blog posts. I don't know who sent notices to their emails. I know I did.

I dont understand the KU thing either.

I don't tweet, but I posted in 3 places on FB and on Instagram. I don't newsletter either, so that was all I could do.

You have to try these things.