I've finished my novel - Monkey Arkwright - Page 4

Rob · 12-01-2018, 22:16

I never realised that there was so much too it. As far as I'm aware, my Amazon account isn't linked to facebook. I've not bothered filling in my Amazon author's page.

One thing that I meant to ask, as I've got my promotion coming up this week - do Amazon do anything on my behalf like put it in a free list where people can see it? As I've said, I've paid BookRunes �20 to include it on their page/e-mails on 19th, but when you did your promotion, did you do anything else to promote it at the same time?

Taq · 13-01-2018, 11:01

I'd factor in Amazon not doing anything specific. They have thousands of free books per day so to get their attention is tricky.
If you get enough downloads you should hit the top 100 free charts in your genre, which will help in exposing your book and getting more downloads. Plus it makes for some great screenshots for blog posts

For my last promotion, I paid for the freebookoftheday feature on BookBarbarian, and coupled it with a promotion from EreaderNewsToday. And on the bargain forums page of course! It resulted in a couple of thousand downloads in total, but mainly because BB is sci-fi specific so it was extremely targeted.

BookBarbarian is the only company I've used that got me anything like a return for my investment, mainly from KDP page reads and sales for a few days when I put it back at $0.99. Any other company I've used for $0.99 promotions over the last couple of years tends to cost $35 or so, and results in about $5 worth of royalties. I've tried a few Fivver gigs for promotions and they've all been worthless.
As friendly and helpful as the guys at BooksGoSocial are, I've run a few different things costing several hundred pounds in total with them and never sold more than a handful of copies (if that). Some people seem to do well with them though, and at least for their basic Twitter service you can ask for your money back if you don't get any joy. For an $89 mailshot as they're advertising now, I'd have to sell 300 copies just to break even, and I know that's never going to happen with their customer base. Raunchy romance seems to be where it's at!
I haven't paid for any discount promotions for about a year I think, and as a result my sales are very low to non-existent. Then again, I got annoyed making other people richer at my expense for doing very little, so I'm not that bothered.

My current novella WIP will sell millions of course, when it's released!

rustybin · 13-01-2018, 12:07

Congratulations - Looks like a job well done. Just bought.

Rob · 13-01-2018, 18:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taq

I'd factor in Amazon not doing anything specific. ...

My current novella WIP will sell millions of course, when it's released!

RE: Amazon - that's what I suspected.

RE: Novella - that's the spirit - you have to stay positive with these things.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rustybin

Congratulations - Looks like a job well done. Just bought.

Thanks Rusty, hope you enjoy it.

Where the hell have you been by the way? I don't recall seeing any posts from you for quite some time. Everything OK?

rustybin · 13-01-2018, 20:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob

Thanks Rusty, hope you enjoy it.

Where the hell have you been by the way? I don't recall seeing any posts from you for quite some time. Everything OK?

Everything is great thanks mate. In the last 3 years I've had 2 children, one more on the way. New job. Lots going on. Thought I'd check in with the Forums.

Your book is next on my reading list

Rob · 14-01-2018, 15:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by rustybin

Everything is great thanks mate. In the last 3 years I've had 2 children, one more on the way. New job. Lots going on. Thought I'd check in with the Forums.

Your book is next on my reading list

All good then, welcome back.

Rob · 15-01-2018, 18:32

Blog post on the boy who loved to climb - plus a reminder that Monkey Arkwright is FREE on Amazon from18th-22nd January.

https://monkeyarkwright.wordpress.co...oves-to-climb/

Rob · 17-01-2018, 17:56

My book, Monkey Arkwright is FREE to download from Amazon tomorrow (18th January) until 22nd January. People in here have been really supportive, but if there's anybody wants to grab a free copy, fill yer boots.

If anybody wants to help out by cross-posting in any useful promotional places, tomorrow will be a good time!

Also, it has been "certified" by Underground Book Reviews. No review yet, but I'm hopeful - https://monkeyarkwright.wordpress.co...und-certified/

jockosjungle · 17-01-2018, 18:32

Voted, I'll stick it on HotUKDeals once it is actually free.

Rob · 17-01-2018, 20:07

Thanks again. Good or bad, I'll do a blog post with the results of the promotion next week.

jockosjungle · 17-01-2018, 20:36

I'm really enjoying the blogposts, nice to see someone telling you how many they've sold, etc. as my wife is wanting to publish some romance novel, and am getting tips. All i've been able to tell her is to put some filthy sex in it as it seems to sell

Rob · 17-01-2018, 21:21

No worries. Glad you're enjoying them. When I get far enough into the process, I might do 1 or more posts on the various steps involved.

So far, I'd like to backup what Taq said a while ago - I'm effectively paying people to read my book at the moment.

jockosjungle · 18-01-2018, 08:09

Fairly sure I can't link to my hotukdeals post, but try and vote it up if you can

basegreen · 18-01-2018, 08:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by rbullivant

Fairly sure I can't link to my hotukdeals post, but try and vote it up if you can

Done.

jockosjungle · 18-01-2018, 09:11

Thanks, up to 33%, we just need to get it into Hot and then it'll sort itself out. In all honesty it'd probably get there on it's own, but I think I was slow off the mark with Taq so he didn't get the full benefit.

What weird category is it in anyway? I can't readily tell, that way we can try and get it to Number 1 Amazon Bestseller in "kids finding coins and climbing stuff" category

kanedaa · 18-01-2018, 09:41

Heated and posted it here as well.

Rob · 18-01-2018, 10:02

Thanks everybody - quick initial feedback. Bearing in mind that my paid promotions won't start until later tomorrow, I've already had 94 downloads and it's only been live for 2 hours!

jockosjungle · 18-01-2018, 10:37

It's already gone hot, so now it'll remain on the front page for a while now as there aren't many freebies.

I really don't think you can do much better than a HUKD freebie thread to be honest, I've got loads of stuff off there and I imagine others do as well.

Hard to tell as people also do other promotions as well, so it'll be interesting to see how many you get before the other promos start.

Rob · 18-01-2018, 12:04

If nothing else, this is already giving me some ammunition for my blog.

1. Did Ian Botham ever make 200 before lunch? 232 downloads so far.
2. I've got a screen grab of my book sitting 3 places above Dean Koontz in the "Mystery" category!

I'm sure that this HotDealsUK thing is helping, so thanks once again to everybody doing their bit. Is 177 deg any good? It means nothing to me as I don't use the site.

Taq · 18-01-2018, 12:17

Do you have a tweet I can repost?

PS it's a great idea to have a pinned tweet with these kinds of things.