Brian's Sales and Marketing Thread

[BWFoster78]

Brian, I'm finding it fascinating to watch your progress. Once you start doing some promotion, revenues will rise, but those pesky expenses keep going up, too!

I'm still in negative profitability, although I've now had 5 straight months of $1,000+ royalties, which has helped. I'm hoping the fourth book will get me to the $2,000+ level, but we'll see.

PS You have no idea how pleased I am to see Rise of the Mages out there in the world, after brewing for so long.

It's so nice to see stuff actually happening. With the release last month, there was activity at first and then ... nothing. Days of no buys and no reads. Right now, I'm back in that new release sweet spot, only with higher numbers, and I've got all the free downloads happening (23 sales of the novel so far, downloads of Abuse climbing toward 400).

I'm very interested to see:

1. Will I see sales of Rise from the promo? My expectation, based on last month, is that sales of Rise will drop low over the next couple of days. If they rise instead, my assumption will be that there's sell through from the promo.

2. Will I see reads or sales of Abuse from the promo? Activity pretty much dropped to nothing. Combined with the 30-day cliff, I'll pretty much attribute any activity at all to a bump in awareness after the promo.

3. Will I see any subscriptions from the promo? The good news is that my list is growing (slowly). The bad news is that I haven't had a single random reader sign up. All new subscriptions have come from forums and from the people I emailed to do reviews.

4. Will I reach 1000 downloads? That's kind of my pie in the sky goal. I'm at around 350 at the end of my first full day, so it's a definite possibility.

I'll do a post on my results in a couple of weeks.

 

[Russ]

It's so nice to see stuff actually happening. With the release last month, there was activity at first and then ... nothing. Days of no buys and no reads. Right now, I'm back in that new release sweet spot, only with higher numbers, and I've got all the free downloads happening (23 sales of the novel so far, downloads of Abuse climbing toward 400).

I'm very interested to see:

1. Will I see sales of Rise from the promo? My expectation, based on last month, is that sales of Rise will drop low over the next couple of days. If they rise instead, my assumption will be that there's sell through from the promo.

2. Will I see reads or sales of Abuse from the promo? Activity pretty much dropped to nothing. Combined with the 30-day cliff, I'll pretty much attribute any activity at all to a bump in awareness after the promo.

3. Will I see any subscriptions from the promo? The good news is that my list is growing (slowly). The bad news is that I haven't had a single random reader sign up. All new subscriptions have come from forums and from the people I emailed to do reviews.

4. Will I reach 1000 downloads? That's kind of my pie in the sky goal. I'm at around 350 at the end of my first full day, so it's a definite possibility.

I'll do a post on my results in a couple of weeks.

Do you put a link at the end of your novel to let people sign up for your mailing list?

 

[BWFoster78]

Do you put a link at the end of your novel to let people sign up for your mailing list?

Yes.

I think that it's a very good sign that six of the reviewers who have read the novella and/or the novel have signed up for the list. I hope the reason I'm not seeing other sign ups yet is simply that my numbers to this point are so low. I only had about 25 people read my novella last month, and I imagine a relatively low number of people sign up for newletters.

 

[BWFoster78]

Hint: bet the over ...

Normally, I wouldn't spend time calculating the amount sold thus far, but I needed the pick me up.

 

[ThinkerX]

Normally, I wouldn't spend time calculating the amount sold thus far, but I needed the pick me up.

That bad?

I recollect a former poster here and best selling author make the comment that selling one book a day was doing dang good for the self-pub crowd. Thus far, you seem to have that beat.

But here is another for you. My works incorporate a fair number of Lovecraftian elements, which is mostly published in magazines and small press stuff. Last week, I was doing a bit of world building and outlining for a future novella in my series which incorporates a lot of these elements. Did some checking. A couple relevant tales (worth looking at for research - how did this guy deal with X?) were widely cited. A grand total of two press runs (this was when self-pub was still mostly a paper operation). 100 books the first run, 75 the second. Asking price on Amazon...$150.00. Eeep...

 

[BWFoster78]

Actually, sales and reads are exceeding expectations. Reviews not so much.

 

[ThinkerX]

Well, that's better. (Your earlier post could be read either way).

I shall assume you are not in a position to quit your day job yet, though.

 

[BWFoster78]

Well, that's better. (Your earlier post could be read either way).

I shall assume you are not in a position to quit your day job yet, though.

Not quite. I had pretty low expectations. Still, it's nice that they're being exceeded.

 

[ThinkerX]

Figure you'll hit triple digit sales by the end of the month?

 

[PaulineMRoss]

Figure you'll hit triple digit sales by the end of the month?

I'd be surprised if he doesn't make it by the end of this week. His ranking has been bouncing between 7K and 10K for days now, and that equates to (very roughly) 12-15 sales plus borrows a day.

He's made a terrific start.

 

[BWFoster78]

I'm at 45 sales now and over 25,000 pages read (at almost 600 pages/book, the equivalent of about 41 books). So combined, I'll probably go over 100 today.

 

[PaulineMRoss]

I'm at 45 sales now and over 25,000 pages read (at almost 600 pages/book, the equivalent of about 41 books). So combined, I'll probably go over 100 today.

And those sales are at full price, too. For comparison, it took me three months to get my first 100 sales.

 

[BWFoster78]

And those sales are at full price, too. For comparison, it took me three months to get my first 100 sales.

My reviews are dreadful, though.

In retrospect, asking men to review a book filled with angsty teenagers was probably a mistake. I have no idea, though, what the other readers are thinking. I know that a few people really enjoyed it, but the vast majority ... ????

Writing is a frustrating game.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

My reviews are dreadful, though.

I don't know about that, Brian. Out of 7 total reviews, you've received:

3 five-star
1 four-star
2 three-star
1 two-star

That combines for an average rating of 3.85

 

[BWFoster78]

I don't know about that, Brian. Out of 7 total reviews, you've received:

3 five-star
1 four-star
2 three-star
1 two-star

That combines for an average rating of 3.85

Only 6 showing up for me, missing one of those 5 stars. That would certainly help!

Still, it's obvious that my male customers at least had serious issues with the characters.

EDIT: 7th review showed up, but it's a 3 star, not a 5.

 

[Foah]

Just jumping in and saying how genuinly happy I am that you've gotten your book out there Brian. I really do hope it does well and garners good results, reviews and feedback, and I'll be following this thread among others related to the book with great interest

 

[BWFoster78]

I'm very interested to see:

1. Will I see sales of Rise from the promo? My expectation, based on last month, is that sales of Rise will drop low over the next couple of days. If they rise instead, my assumption will be that there's sell through from the promo.

2. Will I see reads or sales of Abuse from the promo? Activity pretty much dropped to nothing. Combined with the 30-day cliff, I'll pretty much attribute any activity at all to a bump in awareness after the promo.

3. Will I see any subscriptions from the promo? The good news is that my list is growing (slowly). The bad news is that I haven't had a single random reader sign up. All new subscriptions have come from forums and from the people I emailed to do reviews.

4. Will I reach 1000 downloads? That's kind of my pie in the sky goal. I'm at around 350 at the end of my first full day, so it's a definite possibility.

I'll do a post on my results in a couple of weeks.

I think the promotion has pretty much run its course, so here are my thoughts/results:

First of all, details on where I promoted –

Books Butterfly - $25
Lovely Books – Free
Booktastic - $10
Awesomegang –Free
The Book Circle – Free
Bknights – $5.50

Total - $40.50

1. I didn’t structure my promo as an experiment to determine effectiveness, so it’s hard to attribute sales. However, sales of Rise did spike after the promo, and since that spike kept the book high in the rankings, I attribute a lot of the “success” to marketing. Though I can’t put a number to it, I really think that I’ve more than made my 40 bucks back.

2. I’m at zero sales, but I didn’t really expect any. I did, however, see some new pages read – 357. Let’s be generous and say that I’d have expected 108 of those pages to have been read without the promotion (doubtful!); that gives me $1.27 from KU2 that is directly attributable to the promo. Yay!

3. My biggest disappointment is that I’ve only seen one new subscription from an email address I didn’t recognize (most of my list growth is coming from people I emailed requesting reviews). I would have been ecstatic in the five to ten range. Also, not a single new review of AoP. I would have hoped for a few at least.

4. Total downloads – 1090! I’m very happy with that number.

Bottom Line: I got over a thousand downloads, a little bit of cash from KU2, much higher than expected sales for Rise, and one new subscription. For a $40 investment, I’m pretty darn happy.

What’s Next:

Repulsive – I’ve been slacking lately, so there’s no way I’m getting this thing out by Nov 1. I could have it ready by mid to late Nov, though, but I’m reconsidering that strategy. Basically, nothing I’ve done has promoted this book at all. I think I’m going to finish this and stick in in a drawer for a while. My ultimate goal is to publish Gryphon in May 16, Repulsive in June 16, and Attractive in July 16. My plan is to run a Facebook ad in May offering a free short story related to Repulsive in exchange for signing up for my mailing list. If I can add a hundred subscribers who are likely to want to read Repulsive, that should give me a little bit of a boost when I release.

Abuse of Power – If I leave it in KU, I’d be surprised if this thing brings me in a buck a month. Basically, the novella is never going to make back the money that I put into it, but that’s okay. It’s value is as a loss leader to promote my other books. I think I’m going to re-up for KU through February and take it out after that, make it permafree, and use it to build up my subscriber list prior to next May.

Rise of the Mages – Though this book is selling well, it’s not getting me the kind of response that I want. I’ve decided to tweak it a bit to improve character likeability. My plan is not to greatly impact the story, but making the characters a little more palatable to the demographic who is panning them can only help me in the long run. Longterm, Rise is key to my overall strategy since the series is going to run 5-7 books total. I’ll drop it temporarily to 2.99 next May and do light promotion. When the third book is released, I’ll promo a drop to .99, and I’ll promo it for free when the fourth book is released.

 

[PaulineMRoss]

Rise of the Mages – Though this book is selling well, it’s not getting me the kind of response that I want. I’ve decided to tweak it a bit to improve character likeability. My plan is not to greatly impact the story, but making the characters a little more palatable to the demographic who is panning them can only help me in the long run.

Brian, don't panic over the reviews. If they're coming from reviewers you approached, you just have a mismatch issue. The book is selling really well, so you're definitely hitting the spot with readers. You'll get a trickle of organic reviews from now on, and you'll find that regular readers are much less critical than bloggers and semi-professional reviewers.

 

[BWFoster78]

Brian, don't panic over the reviews. If they're coming from reviewers you approached, you just have a mismatch issue. The book is selling really well, so you're definitely hitting the spot with readers. You'll get a trickle of organic reviews from now on, and you'll find that regular readers are much less critical than bloggers and semi-professional reviewers.

Pauline,

When five people say the same thing, I think I have to listen.

I've given a lot of thought to this issue. There's no way that this particular demographic is going to go from hating my angsty characters to loving them. Trying to convert them would entail massive surgery on my story, and I'm not willing to go that far.

On the other hand, it is obvious to me that certain aspects of my characters aren't coming through clearly, and that's my fault. I think a quick bit of tweaking can highlight some of the characters' positive traits, de-emphasize some negative traits, and eliminate some of the annoyance factor.

Financially, will these tweaks pay for themselves with increased sales? I really don't know. But I do know that I'll feel a lot better about making the improvements.

 

[Svrtnsse]

This strikes me as a really difficult decision to make.
"Do I change up the story I've already published, or do I leave it as it is, even if it may be flawed?"

On the one hand, I'd be very reluctant to change anything after it's "done" (meaning published). On the other hand, if I thought my MC might not be as likable as I'd hoped, and I plan on writing several more books about him, I really should fix him up to give new readers a better first impression.

If the story is recently released, it may not be such a big deal to change the story up, considering it'll be around "forever"

Ome concern would be handling reviews. Are there public reviews that say the MC is unlikable, and is there a way to respond to them and say you've fixed that, or wll you have to just leave them as they are. I can't imagine you'd have an easy time getting a reviewer to reread the story and rewrite their review.

Then there's the time it'd take, but maybe that's minor.

Would you mind sharing some of your reasoning behind the decision? It seems to be a bit of a dilemma.