How did my plans go?

[idontknowyet]

I said in another thread i would post how effective my marketing plan was.
Here is what i did to start.
Stocked 8 books so I could rapid release.
Rapid Release Schedule

Jan 30
Book1-3

Feb 15 -Pre order going live on Jan 30th
Book 4

March 1 Pre order going live soon.

April 1 Pre order going live soon.
Book 6

May 1
Book 7

June 1
Book 8

Ads
So far I booked the Gold Package with Book Rank  which got me 22 newsletter signups and facebook ads. They are set to start Jan 30th
I hired a 'pimp" a bit over a month ago.  She has mainly been helping to build my newsletter which is now almost 500. (i need to figure it out and start sending out emails).
Several weeks ago i set up several AMS ads with the express purpose not to sell anything but just to get free touches. That is exactly what has happened. I've had a couple handfuls of people see my ads but zero money out. The reason for this is new author pre orders rarely sell.  I will be starting ads in earnest tonight when my books go live, and will update as i get information (mainly to ask what i'm doing wrong.)

Results so far
I've sold
Book 1 - 9 preorders
Book 2 - 3 preorders
Book 3 - 3 preorders

None of these were to people i have ever met. I have not told anyone outside my household that i know about my books. (Short of my accountant)

These orders have come only from my pimp or word of mouth from friends sharing my books on social media.

Plans for the future.
Finish my next trilogy this month get it to my editor. (i've been procrastinating the whole month)
Start in earnest ams ads
Create a reader group
Figure out my newsletter so i can send my first email out on the 7th when my current ads end for staggered sales.
Figure out Bookbub ads
Build my newsletter to 2k. (this will take several months.)
Create a website.
Get my rank under 50k. I'm currently toggling between 150-250k.


Thoughts? suggestions? Things to add to my todo list.

I will update this daily for the first week or two. Then monthly after that. Unless my musings get boring.

[LilyBLily]

You've done lots of work! I hope the world rewards you.

I'm not sure if you have covered this. Do you have a new subscriber automation set up for your reader magnet? If you don't have a story to give away, you could give away a deleted scene or do a genealogy or a map. Just something. And flog it like crazy in your books' frontmatter and backmatter.

[idontknowyet]

You've done lots of work! I hope the world rewards you.

I'm not sure if you have covered this. Do you have a new subscriber automation set up for your reader magnet? If you don't have a story to give away, you could give away a deleted scene or do a genealogy or a map. Just something. And flog it like crazy in your books' frontmatter and backmatter.

I do have a reader magnet set up, but i havent figure out the new subscriber automation yet.
As in totally confused

[LilyBLily]

Depending on the mail company you use, there should be tutorials and live chat help. I find them terribly confusing and wish I could get the details to stick in my brain, but they absolutely don't.

[alhawke]

I said in another thread i would post how effective my marketing plan was.
Here is what i did to start.

I think you've done what I did in 2 years for your first book launch.

Best of luck! You deserve it. 

[notthatamanda]

Wow, great results so far. Best of luck going forward.

Since you have 3 books on preorder you can also try a brand ad if you want.

[idontknowyet]

Results for day 1. They weren't what I was hoping for, but are they ever?

Amount sold
Book 1 - 7
Book 2 - 0
Book 3 - 0

Page Reads
Book 1 - 433
Book 2 - 421
Book 3 - 325

When i went to sleep my rank was ~76k

How do you find the assigned KENP for each book. I think i followed one reader through my entire trilogy yesterday.
 

[idontknowyet]

Wow, great results so far. Best of luck going forward.

Since you have 3 books on preorder you can also try a brand ad if you want.

Definitely going to try those. I created a lock screen ad last night. So exciting. And scary!

[notthatamanda]

Your eBook's KENPC
You can see your eBook's KENPC v3.0 listed on the "Promote and Advertise" page in your Bookshelf, and you can also see total pages read on your Sales Dashboard report. Because it's based on default settings, KENPC v3.0 may vary from page counts listed on your Amazon detail page, which are derived from other sources.

Keep a close eye on the lockscreen ad. I don't remember hearing about anyone who had great luck with those. Also Brand ads, you may want to start with a lower bid, I just restarted my best one and spend $7 in a couple of days with only 2 free downloads. I lowered the bids to 15 cents. YYMV.

[TimothyEllis]

How do you find the assigned KENP for each book. I think i followed one reader through my entire trilogy yesterday.

Go into your KDP dashboard. Click the 3 dots, select marketing. Scroll down.

You can also get it through the Select info as well, although you have to cancel the screen first about renewal to get there.

[idontknowyet]

Your eBook's KENPC
You can see your eBook's KENPC v3.0 listed on the "Promote and Advertise" page in your Bookshelf, and you can also see total pages read on your Sales Dashboard report. Because it's based on default settings, KENPC v3.0 may vary from page counts listed on your Amazon detail page, which are derived from other sources.

Keep a close eye on the lockscreen ad. I don't remember hearing about anyone who had great luck with those. Also Brand ads, you may want to start with a lower bid, I just restarted my best one and spend $7 in a couple of days with only 2 free downloads. I lowered the bids to 15 cents. YYMV.

For some reason it wont let me include my book 1 in my brand add. I keep trying to add it but it says the book doesn't exist.

[TimothyEllis]

For some reason it wont let me include my book 1 in my brand add. I keep trying to add it but it says the book doesn't exist.

Have you added it to Author Central yet?

[notthatamanda]

You can choose it from the list of books in AMS but it won't take it?

[idontknowyet]

I have added to author central. All the books are listed and show on my author page.



It doesn't show on the list. I tried added the asin and it owuldn't take it.

[idontknowyet]

My rank just hit 50k for book 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

[alhawke]

Love your covers. Keep it up!

[notthatamanda]

Huh. Is it the one that's on preorder? I am running AMS on my preorder book but I haven't tried to put it in a brand ad. That's the only thing I can think of. How many books can you put in a brand ad? I've only done three. You may have to email AMS support and ask.

Edit - I just tried to ad my preorder to a brand ad and it took it. Weird.

[idontknowyet]

Huh. Is it the one that's on preorder? I am running AMS on my preorder book but I haven't tried to put it in a brand ad. That's the only thing I can think of. How many books can you put in a brand ad? I've only done three. You may have to email AMS support and ask.

No i cant put the book 1 in my series up in the brand ad. I can actually ad my preorder just fine. Ugh support doesnt sound like a fun afternoon.

[idontknowyet]

Love your covers. Keep it up!

Thank you!!! 

[notthatamanda]

Huh. Is it the one that's on preorder? I am running AMS on my preorder book but I haven't tried to put it in a brand ad. That's the only thing I can think of. How many books can you put in a brand ad? I've only done three. You may have to email AMS support and ask.

No i cant put the book 1 in my series up in the brand ad. I can actually ad my preorder just fine. Ugh support doesnt sound like a fun afternoon.

Just send a message with as much detail as you can (ASIN number) and then wait to hear back from them. It could take a couple of days but there's no point fretting over it.

[idontknowyet]

okay is this weird. I finally got an ad to get impressions and clicks. 2 impressions and 3 clicks. no buys :( am i doing something wrong?

[alhawke]

okay is this weird. I finally got an ad to get impressions and clicks. 2 impressions and 3 clicks. no buys :( am i doing something wrong?

Well, that seems impossible. How can you have more clicks than impressions? Just shows how unreliable the stats are on AMS. The other thing AMS will do sometimes is show a sale 1-2 weeks later. I'd let the data gather a bit. Maybe look over after a few days.

[idontknowyet]

okay is this weird. I finally got an ad to get impressions and clicks. 2 impressions and 3 clicks. no buys :( am i doing something wrong?

Well, that seems impossible. How can you have more clicks than impressions? Just shows how unreliable the stats are on AMS. The other thing AMS will do sometimes is show a sale 1-2 weeks later. I'd let the data gather a bit. Maybe look over after a few days.

Thanks!

[idontknowyet]

Results for Jan 31st
Sales
Book 1 - 12 some how this just updated!
Book 2 - 1
Book 3 - 1
Book 4 - 2 -  Preorders

Pg Reads
Book 1 - 369
Book 2 - 421
Book 3 - 325

In case you are wondering that is two full read throughs for each book on ku with 7or 8 extra pages. Don't know if that is several people that didn't like it or one. Or it could be someone that started the book and didn't have time to finish. It's odd i expected to get way my pg reads than sales, but it seems to be going the other way.
My rank is now in the 36k range for book 1.           
A few k more and i will be on the top 100 hot new releases in my genre. which doesn't seem possible but eeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!
Who knows what tomorrow will hold.

[TimothyEllis]

with 7or 8 extra pages.

Most likely downloads.

When someone downloads in KU, usually the book opens. That registers a single page read while the sync is still happening. They close it again, and read later. So normally, those page reads will show up the next day.

You never can tell though. But rank can be indicative of downloads without reads.

[idontknowyet]

Results for Feb 1
I dont think i could have expected more from a day. Who am i kidding you can always expect more

Sales
Book 1 - 26
Book 2 - 2
Book 3 - 2
Book 4 - 0

Pg Reads
Book 1 - 227
Book 2 -  0
Book 3 -  0

My rank spent most of the day in the 30-33k range. For the last couple of hours i've been sitting at 20k. Yet i can't find myself on any of the hot new release lists. There are several dozen in a couple of my genres lower than me. Does something else play a part in hitting the hot new release charts?

It also feels weird that i'm not getting any page reads and only sales.

[TimothyEllis]

It also feels weird that i'm not getting any page reads and only sales.

Slow readers can take weeks for the reads to be synced, especially if they turn wifi off while they read.

KU is not a boost feature. It relies on visibility to jump start it. 30k is probably not high enough for a decent jump start. But if it went to 20k, there was probably some downloads in that.

This is why some of us say rapid release. Book 1 doesn't do much, but it builds some momentum to book 2, and so on.

My first book did 2 sales in 3 days for the first month. Then with book 2 I was getting 3 sales in 2 days. Book 3 did 16 on day 1, and book 4 ignited the booster rockets. 5 did stage 2 boosters. But that was back in 2015, and the algorithms were different then.

Book 1s are a lesson in reality.

[notthatamanda]

I did a google search for your books and it took me to the India page. Did you get a lot of your sales in India? The reason I searched was that I wanted to see if you got Also Boughts yet. Once I got to the right page I saw you weren't getting also boughts.  I'm not sure how many sales you need to trigger also boughts. Since books 2 and 3 are now available you may want to do a Fiverr bknights promo $6-12 bucks on book one and see if you can give it a kick in the pants.

[idontknowyet]

My ads end feb 6 so i was planning to do a bknights somewhere around the 7th or the 8th. (because of your suggestion

Am also sending out my newsletter after the 6th to continue the steady sales which can help you stay sticky.

I have not had any sales in India. One in Germany, France, Canada, and Australia

[notthatamanda]

Wow I wonder why Googling Amazon and your author name took me to the India page. I really don't understand the internet search thingamajiggy.

[alhawke]

Wow I wonder why Googling Amazon and your author name took me to the India page. I really don't understand the internet search thingamajiggy.

My theory has always been that the internet responds to other people's searches. So if her book was searched in India, or the Amazon India market, through Google, it shows up. I'm not a programmer, but I think that's why.

My ads end feb 6 so i was planning to do a bknights somewhere around the 7th or the 8th. (because of your suggestion

If you're gonna do bknights, make sure you add the newsletter $5. For my promos, BKnights alone doesn't garner as many sales as adding their newsletter option.

[idontknowyet]

I did add the newsletter option.

No matter how hard i try and how many pages i scroll through i can't find my book any way but actually searching by title.

[notthatamanda]

Did you go through author central and them the ten specific categories you want to be in? Get those categories in order before your bknights promoand if you can push it up into the top 100 of the subcategories that will help.

Unfortunately, being able to find it as a newbie is going to be an uphill climb. Once you sell enough the also boughts will get you some free visibility.

[idontknowyet]

Did you go through author central and them the ten specific categories you want to be in? Get those categories in order before your bknights promoand if you can push it up into the top 100 of the subcategories that will help.

Unfortunately, being able to find it as a newbie is going to be an uphill climb. Once you sell enough the also boughts will get you some free visibility.

I did i put myself into 7 categories, but i cant find myself other than searching by my name or title

[notthatamanda]

Wait and pray. Fingers crossed for you.

[idontknowyet]

Results for Feb 2

Sales
Book 1 - 7
Book 2 - 0
Book 3 - 1
Book 4 - 0

Pg Reads
Book 1 - 176
Book 2 -  71
Book 3 -  0

Today as you can guess was a bit disappointing. My best rank was 17k and i stayed there for most of the morning. I ended the day at  29k. It's still great rank, but not after 17k.

I called about the Brand ad issue. They are escalating it. Yippee.

My lock screen ad is going fairly well 20 views 2 clicks (no idea if they resulted in a borrow). My other ad that is producing is a sponsored product ad. It has 1108 impressions 8 clicks no attributed sales (this ad ran out of money) During the time this ad was active my rank wasn't dropping. I wonder if it produced ku   downloads.

[idontknowyet]

Results for Feb 3

Today's sales were less than stellar same for pg reads. My rank is another thing its been sitting between 20-32k. Last i checked its at 25k.

Sales
Book 1 - 9 updated
Book 2 - 0
Book 3 - 0
Book 4 - 0

Pg Reads
Book 1 - 46
Book 2 -  144
Book 3 -  0

The positive part is someone is steadily making their way through my trilogy.

The scary part is most of my rank is being driven by borrows. I know i saw a chart somewhere with rank to approximate sales. I would like to have an idea of how many people are downloading my books to get an idea of read through rates. Does anyone know where I can find this chart?

[TimothyEllis]

I would like to have an idea of how many people are downloading my books to get an idea of read through rates. Does anyone know where I can find this chart?

Amazon doesn't release that information.

We all want to know how many actual borrows we get.

That information would make some sense out of the read totals, especially if it indicates people don't full read like we thought they did.

A KENPC of 300 might be a single full read, or it might be 2 half reads, or 100 partial few pages only reads. The latter would be seriously worrying, but at least we could then try to find why and where people stop reading, and fix it.

[idontknowyet]

I would like to have an idea of how many people are downloading my books to get an idea of read through rates. Does anyone know where I can find this chart?

Amazon doesn't release that information.

We all want to know how many actual borrows we get.

That information would make some sense out of the read totals, especially if it indicates people don't full read like we thought they did.

A KENPC of 300 might be a single full read, or it might be 2 half reads, or 100 partial few pages only reads. The latter would be seriously worrying, but at least we could then try to find why and where people stop reading, and fix it.

I thought they were able to figure rank/sales/borrows out based on people that arent in KU. Wide people get flat sales. So 1 borrow = 1 sale type thing.

[TimothyEllis]

I thought they were able to figure rank/sales/borrows out based on people that arent in KU. Wide people get flat sales. So 1 borrow = 1 sale type thing.

In theory.

But no-one knows for sure.

And the rank sites which convert to sales, are all badly wrong.

[idontknowyet]

I thought they were able to figure rank/sales/borrows out based on people that arent in KU. Wide people get flat sales. So 1 borrow = 1 sale type thing.

In theory.

But no-one knows for sure.

And the rank sites which convert to sales, are all badly wrong.

Something i'd love to know too is what the hot new release charts are based on since it isnt rank

[TimothyEllis]

Something i'd love to know too is what the hot new release charts are based on since it isnt rank

It's still rank, but only against those books in the 30 day window.

It is possible for a book to be #1 New Release, and not be in the top 10 in the category.

[idontknowyet]

Something i'd love to know too is what the hot new release charts are based on since it isnt rank

It's still rank, but only against those books in the 30 day window.

It is possible for a book to be #1 New Release, and not be in the top 10 in the category.

So ive been released what 4 days now... In one of my cats friendship 50 on the new release category is at a 30k rank. My book has been less than 30k most of the day and the last 2 days didnt even hit 30k. but im not on the list at all zero. not even 100 which the book is currently ranked at 100k.

So it cant be based on rank.

[TimothyEllis]

Ignore Amazon rank.

What's the book's rank in the category?

PM me the url.

[idontknowyet]

sent!

[TimothyEllis]

New Releases list just now.

Both your first 2 showing categories the book is sitting #52 on the New Releases List. When I quickly checked earlier on the first one, it was #49.

The 3rd category the book is at #94.

That's a huge win for a first book. 

Especially given your competition.

A debut rank getting up to 20k in the first couple of days, with top 100 New Release in the best 3 categories, is doing really well for a first book.

 

[notthatamanda]

I agree with Tim. You're doing really well for a first release.

[idontknowyet]

Weird why doesnt it show up for me?

[TimothyEllis]

Weird why doesnt it show up for me?

Are you looking at page 2 of the New Releases display?

[idontknowyet]

Weird why doesnt it show up for me?

Are you looking at page 2 of the New Releases display?

yeah.
i cant find my book anywhere i search for it.  not even by title and author. wonder if im glitching. the only way i can see it is by clicking the link i posted for others to find it. soo weird