Direct apple store book promotion results, 99c

[alhawke]

My books are sold through D2D so I had never done a direct store promo before. You have to ask or be invited to these. Well, I was finally invited by Apple (after prodding D2D about any avail promos a few months ago).

I was disappointed for the first two days. By the second day, I sold only two books. But I'm at thirty sold now. The push was around fifteen sold today (I'm guessing from Apple's own advertising and it's the last day). That's impressive for a 99c promo--like ENT results for me.

A few caveats. I dropped my book price to 99c. Many other books are actually trying to make money   
I added an ad push of $10 to move the book higher up on the carousel (as I've done before with Kobo). I made the cost back in 2 sales for the second book. I think the promo actually pushed sales from zero initially as the book was first selling at the bottom of the pack.
Biggest negative: Amazon price matched the book, of course. This is always a risk and now I'll have to contact them.

The best thing to do would be to pair these with a standard promo but timing these things can be very tricky.

[RPatton]

So how did you eventually get in, was it from an invite to Apple or did you push D2D to get Apple to invite you? I am trying to figure out how to navigate the apple promos. Barnes & Noble and Kobo are so much easier. It's like Apple wants to punish us for using D2D

[alhawke]

So how did you eventually get in, was it from an invite to Apple or did you push D2D to get Apple to invite you? I am trying to figure out how to navigate the apple promos. Barnes & Noble and Kobo are so much easier. It's like Apple wants to punish us for using D2D

I pushed D2D and asked them. Here's the thing--the first time I asked, I met silence. A year later, they responded and offered me an application for promoting books.

Now your turn. How did you get Barnes & Noble promos? I've done many through Kobo, but I was met with complete silence by B&N when I asked them a year ago too. And the funny thing is, I sell better with B&N than Apple. And I sell direct with B&N. 

{edit: I do remember now that D2D approached me by email for this particular promo. But I'm pretty sure they contacted me as a result of bugging them in the past.

[RPatton]

If I remember correctly I sent an email requesting access to the the promotions tab when it first came available. I just went through searching for a promotions email and all i found was an email for print book pre-orders on BN.

If you look at the manage projects page, do you see a promotions square just under the add a book square? If yes, then you should see create coupons (they say it's available to everyone) then monthly promotions (of which I am not seeing any available atm) and then standard promotions.

If you can't see the monthly or standard promotions, I recommend sending another email and requesting access to the promotions tabs so you can apply for some of the standard promotions. (There is no charge for the promotions so they are highly curated from what I've heard.)

[alhawke]

Thanks! I see a promotions tab. I'll keep an eye on this for upcoming promotions to apply to. You apply just like you would for Kobo when it appears on B&N, right?

D2D is different. When I asked enough, they provided me a promo application webpage to fill out to inform retailers when I have a sale. You might want to email them about it.

I think once you start showing interest by filling this page, retailers start contacting you. In my case Apple and Overdrive contacted me by D2D 1-2 months after filling out the page (it seems too coincidental that they contacted me independently, but I'm not sure).

[RPatton]

Thanks!

And yeah, it's similar to Kobo, but some of them say that you can't submit a book again if rejected or accepted. Here's the guidelines for Top Indie Favorites:
Previously branded as B&N Press Presents.

• Titles must be published within the featured month or in the 2 weeks before or after the featured month. For example, February's list will accept titles published from Jan 15 through Mar 14.
• All prices accepted.
• This promotion is for eBooks only. Titles can be on pre-order. Inclusion subject to discretion of the B&N Press team. List will be posted to social channels.
• Nominations are reviewed on a regular basis and we will be in touch about scheduling. Please do not submit titles more than once. If you do not hear back, the submission has not been selected.

And there's no cost to the publisher. These are probably more curated that Kobo.