KDP COUNTDOWN
PROMOTIONS
Are KDP Countdown promotions doing
for authors what KDP free days used to do?
There
have been some super success stories, but these were in the early days of
Countdown and were aided by Amazon. How one gets AZ to give their book a push
when promoting is a mystery to me, and, I believe, to most of my fellow
authors.
My
recent Countdown promotion for my suspense novel, She’s Not There, was a
success in that it paid for the ads I used to promote it and resulted in a
modest profit for my efforts.
Another
author I know, had no success with her promotion at all, but she attributes it
to the fact that she did the Countdown with very little lead-time and did not
do a lot of promotion.
Suggestions for
using Countdown;
1.
When planning for a Countdown promo, schedule it
on a week you’ll have time to promote it.
2.
If you’re a Twitter user, schedule tweets every
day of the promotion, announcing the daily discount price.
3.
Be sure to promote your sale on every social
media site you use.
4.
It pays to plan a Countdown at least a month in
advance.
5.
Authors are beginning to price their eBooks
higher. As it becomes less advantageous to run a free promo, a bargain price is
much more attractive to readers if your book is priced higher to begin with. This
conflicts with recent trend that $2.99 is THE price for an eBook.
What it comes down
to is this: you get out of a Countdown promotion what you put into it. Don’t
expect to reap benefits without effort and planning.
Some sites I used to promote my Countdown:
Book Goodies
eReader News Today
eReader Café,
Bargain ebook Hunter
Kindle Book Review (this one now has a Countdown feature)
Since many paid ads only run one day, I promoted most
heavily on day one, when the book was at $0.99. My usual price for my books is $4.99.
Dear readers,
I’ve been in somewhat of a writing
slump. It’s really not a block, because days I do get into it, I’m able to
write! Maybe it’s the extremely cold weather we’ve been having here in
Wisconsin. Reading is much more enjoyable than writing, especially on a couch
with a fur throw and a warm cat!
Stay warm and safe,
Marla
Very useful info on the Countdown Deal, Marla - thank you! Hope you get back to the writing soon. Sometimes we need a break - just to 'fill the creative well' and fire up the creative juices again. Enjoy the reading - it's the next best thing to writing anyway because there is so much to learn.
ReplyDeleteHi AJ,
DeleteGlad you found the topic useful. I'm working on my writing again. Always find endings difficult and that's where I am. Way below Zero here today and the lure of a good book is calling me to the couch! LOL Reading Michael Connely's latest and enjoying it.
Stay warm,
Marla
Hello Marla,
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the most important sentences in your great post:
"You get out of a Countdown promotion what you put into it. Don’t expect to reap benefits without effort and planning."
So true! I was just writing yesterday a blog post, a checklist for authors to plan their sales campaigns / book launch. There is sooo much to prepare. One helpful tool would also be to write a blog or several about the campaign and publish it a day before or on the first day.
There are quite a few Google+ communities who encourage to post a sale campaign too.
Cheers, Doris
The winter weather and snow moved even to Atlanta, Georgia, this pm : ) Heavy snow here today after 65 F in the last days. Even the pyramids in Cairo are white. Enjoy reading.
Hi Doris,
DeleteI love your blog and am flattered you've read mine!
You're right, there are no work-free ways to promote, makes life difficult for someone like me who'd rather be writing. Or reading.
I like your suggestions, very helpful. Thanks for sharing them with us!
Snow in Atlanta! That is so o o weird. Yup, good reading weather. Enjoy.
Keep up the helpful blogs,
Marla
Hi Marla, Writer Dave Here,
ReplyDeleteMy book is on Amazon at $2.99 which has been good for me. I've never given a free book. I promote my book on my blog, my FB pages and my Twitter account. It all helps!
I think you bring up a great point about book promotion, Dave. Each of us Indie authors has to discover two things: Which promotions work for his book, and just how much time he/she is willing to devote to advertising his work.
DeleteKeep writing!
Have a happy Sunday,
Marla
Hi Marla
ReplyDeleteYou're right. A promotion is only as good as the effort you put into it. The trick is to organise yourself so that you have time for writing, reading and promoting. Not so easy to do all the time but I keep trying.
By the way, I've been sweltering for the past 5 days in 100 degree temperatures. Would you like to share some cold weather with me? Best Wishes, Jill
Hi Jill,
DeleteSend my your address and I'll have UPS bring you a snowbank!
I think we're all looking for easy ways to promote, and barring a real twist of luck, there aren't any! I've seen sites, that for a fee, will show you how to promote. But the key there is "show you." They give you methods, but you still do the work. Not to totally downplay them, there are shortcuts and there are better ways. And to make it more frustrating for us, the ways that work seem to vary from month to month!
Nice to hear from you, good luck with your promos,
Marla
Hi Marla
DeleteI thought I'd add another comment here on Countdown promotions. Last month I did one and sold 100s of book without any promotion. This month I'm doing one with another book, same dates in the month -with promotion and I've hardly sold anything. Seems a bit odd really but I wondered whether this has happened to any of your other readers.
Jill
Jill,
DeleteI'm glad you mentioned that. I certainly don't understand how that can happen, but it happened to me not long ago with an WZ free promo. The results (for the first time) were absolutely zip. Makes you wonder . . .
Hope you're having a nice weekend,
Marla
PS glad you had one excellent CD experience!
Hi, I nominated your blog for an award! Details in the link below. :)
ReplyDeletehttp://carolinakel.blogspot.com/2014/02/this-is-better-than-grammys.html
Thanks Stephanie, I'll check it out.
DeleteHave a super weekend and stay warm if you're anywhere near here1
Marla
"She's Not There" is highlighted today on eBookDaily.com:
ReplyDeletehttp://ebookdaily.com/free-kindle-ebooks/2014-02-12