WOW!! My Indie author adventure took a dramatic upward turn on Leap Day!
I am thrilled with the results for the cross-promotion day with the launch of Crushing Hearts and Black Butterflies debut anthology, Dark Light. The anthology shot up the ranks and is selling REALLY well... and I was staggered by the number of downloads I had for Base Spirits.
If you are an Indie author questioning the idea of using KDP Select as a marketing tool for your book, I am sharing my method this time around. Maybe it will help you decide if it's worth a shot in your own unique case. Obviously, you will have to tailor the promo for yourself in ways that make the most sense, but this is what I did:
When I initially joined KDP, I'd made Base Spirits free for 2 days in January-- the first day I had 38 downloads, but on the second I had over 1000. As a result, I had a wee bump in sales, and have since been getting more great 5 star reviews and word of mouth... and sales (though frankly still miserly) were at least slowly-but-steadily happening.
This time around, I thought I'd try a one-day cross-promo of Base Spirits with the anthology launch of Dark Light. CHBB publishing are fairly aggressive about getting the word out, so I figured if some of the antho authors could hitch a ride and do a giveaway at the same time, it might yield more results. I also nicely & discreetly requested RT-ing and sharing from high-profile key people (all of whom did me the favour). If you want to ask people to share your posts, ALWAYS ask directly in a message and DO NOT just post it on their walls unasked. 9 times out of 10, they are only too glad to help. And? Pay back the favour by Tweeting and sharing their news and promos. I notified 'E-reader News Today' and got featured in their ENT wall of free books. I'm also new to Triberr-- a 'tribe' of others will share your blog posts so that you reach a bigger audience. My reach there is over 55 thousand or something. I did a special blog post about the giveaway, and noticed it was going out steadily all day without any extra effort from me. I also posted in maybe 4 or 5 targeted FB groups, and did a fair amount of tweeting to bump things along.
Final tally of free downloads: Amazon.com= a truly stunning 3794, Amazon UK= 82... and I broke into the European market with 10 in Germany and one in France! I was in the top 100 free books at times, and was at #3 and #5 for the categories of ghost and historical fiction. (At one point, I even beat out Dracula and The Scarlet Letter by those *other* 'hacks'!)
SALES first thing in the morning... 63 on .com and 6 in the UK!!!! Now I can finally get a cheque from Amazon! WOOT!!! Those numbers may pale in comparison with other folks, but comparisons will only drive you crazy. This is a huge leap forward for me-- so hooray, Leap Day!
So I'd say that worked!!! It was a lot of fuss to do, but not as much as you'd think-- and it didn't cost me anything but time and some effort. I have 2 more free days left, and plans for an upcoming cross promo with a bunch of other horror folks.
Good luck with your own books. Marketing is a tricky thing-- what works brilliantly for some writers totally tanks for others. Sometimes results accumulate rather than skyrocket. Remember- it's not a race. Also remember- you're not in this alone. "Writers are a tribe". A great Canadian author Margaret Laurence said that-- and it's true. We are all in this together. When you need help, just ask.
