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I've been waiting 'patiently' for the sales numbers from my freebie days at Amazon for The Vampire and the Vixen to be posted at TWRP. Earlier this week, the reports arrived.
The numbers on the free days totaled 7607...so not too shabby. The title made it to the top sixteen freebie 'sellers' in contemporary romance, and it made it to 54 in the entire Kindle store. Again, not too shabby.
However, after that the numbers tank and don't look quite so good. Make that they don't look good at all. The theory behind the freebie days is to garner interest in you as an author and your work. This definitely didn't work for me. I only sold nine copies of The Vampire and the Vixen and one copy of A Christmas to Remember after the freebie days. That's it. None of my other titles had any sales in August. So that's quite disappointing, and I'd say it showed that even though my numbers were good for the free copies, it really did nothing to boost sales on anything else.
I did get quite a few reviews, I think the title is up to 11 or 12, which is far more than I've gotten for any of my other titles, so that goes on the 'good news' side of things, which is at least something.
Later this month, This Feels Like Home will make its Amazon debut. Amazon requires a three month exclusive on all titles to be offered for free. As of now, all TWRP titles participate in this program. It will be free for a period of five days in November.
I'm not sure how I feel about that. Home is different from Vampire in that it is a full-length and is also the third in a series. I've heard that having a free book in a series entices readers to purchase the other titles. I can only hope so.
I put a lot of time and effort into promoting Vampire's free days, and while it did get some great numbers during the promotion, in the end, I saw very little return for all of that time and effort.
To say I'm frustrated and disappointed is an understatement.
What a crazy business we've gotten ourselves into...
Until next time,
Happy Reading!
Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com
Wow, Debra. Big hugs and gentle pats on the back. I would hope that sales will pick up when you get on Amazon. Such a bigger pool of buyers, and the stars will be realigned.
ReplyDeleteSales numbers are always hard to swallow, Debra. My personal opinion is that freebies don't do much, although I do buy the idea that they help generate sales in the other books of a series. I think we're all so trained to look for sales before buying something, that when we see a book is offered for free, we don't buy it when it goes back to regular price. But it does get your name out there at least. Don't be discouraged. Keep up the great writing!
ReplyDeleteHey Ana and Jenn,
ReplyDeleteThis was my first experience with the freebies...and I did feel good about the promotion itself.
I really am hoping that with the next one being part of a series it helps to sell the rest of the series. We'll see come November, right?!
Thanks for the encouragement! :)
I've wondered about the effect of freebies too. I think maybe the 'effect' can come later because most people won't read the story immediately. I have novels on my Kindle that I downloaded a year ago, and still have not got around to reading! So don't assume that you are getting no return from your freebie offer. The long-term effects may prove to be better than the short-term ones.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great way to look at it, Paula! I have over a hundred downloads on my Kindle that I haven't gotten to yet. Perhaps I'll find an author I want to read more of when I finally make my way through.
ReplyDeleteThanks for helping me see the 'glass half full' side of things! :)