What Happened When I Had a Free (Companion) eBook During My Blog Tour?

This is a follow-up post to my February post in which I talked about my new release marketing efforts, specifically blog tours. In this post, I am discussing what happened with my free (for a limited time) eBook.

FREE EBOOK DILEMMAS: Along with the release of A FIGHTING CHANCE, I also released THE DISASTER CURSE, a short story that follows A Fighting Chance.

Planning out how to release that eBook was tricky, because I wanted it go be free during the blog tour. Except, you can't mark a pre-order as free and I had set up my blog tour to start on the exact release day for AFC. I also didn't want to publish TDC on release day because it would take time for it to show up on all the retailers' sites. I needed to be sure that it would be available online AND that it'd be free in time, so I set it up as a pre-order and had it published 6 days before AFC.

New Release Marketing Conclusions

New Release Marketing Conclusions:

Last month, I had a new release: A FIGHTING CHANCE. I did a lot for this release. And I mean A LOT. Rather than hash out my marketing plan here, you can visit my guest post at Victoria Marie Lee's blog.

What I want to share here are the results of my marketing. This post is long. If you want, you can skip to the conclusion.

Paid Book Blitz Results

THANK YOU: First, I want to thank everyone who commented on my post last month for IWSG Day in which I discussed using Tarot cards to help me through my depression. I wasn't able to venture around first as I usually do, so I appreciate that you visited my blog. :) So many of you shared that you use (or have used) Tarot cards, have deck(s) of your own, know someone who does readings, or expressed your interest in having a reading done. That meant a lot to me. I was skeptical about posting that (because I know it's not for everyone), so thank you so much for sharing that with me!

Book Blitz Results

Last month, I had a Book Blitz run from October 4-10 for the release of Frozen Crimes. I paid for the service through Xpresso Book Tours, which was my first time ever paying for such a service. I usually orchestrate my own blog tours/blasts, etc., but I wanted to see what a paid service could do. I went with Xpresso Book Tours because the fees were in my budget, I liked the details about the service, and their credentials were great.

Organization Tip: Promo Goals #AuthorToolBoxBlogHop

#AuthorToolBoxBlogHop

Join HERE

Narrowing down goals from daunting to manageable isn’t just for writing or publishing. (See: Organization Tip: Writing Goals) Many of us have marketing goals that can benefit from this technique, too.

This year, I plan to promote one backlist title a month. 

1. I've drafted out which months will be devoted to which books.

2. I’ve mapped out exactly what I can do. 

For Each Book I Have:

- 3-4 YouTube videos a month (finished 1-2 months ahead of time)
- 1 image for Litsy a week (created ages ago)
- 1 tweet a week (pre-scheduled)
- 1 Facebook post a week (pre-scheduled)

FYI: Litsy is a fun app for book lovers that you can download for free. It's like a cross between Goodreads and Instagram. I love it, and the community there is the friendliest I've ever found.

3. When I can, I'll do a sale for my series and $10 - $20 ads to promote that sale.

I don’t have so much stuff on my list that I won’t have writing time. Most of the tasks could be done in a day or two. Some tasks need to be done beforehand, which only requires some planning.

And the thing about these goals is that I’m not trying to make a specific Amazon rank or sell a certain number of eBooks. Admittedly, those goals are tough. I don’t know what will result in sales or how many sales could come out of what I do. No one does. A goal to reach #1 or sell X amount of eBooks can devastate you if you don’t come close.

For me, depression is a real struggle, and that sort of disappointment could set me back big time, as it has in the past. I know better now not to set such a goal or even look at ranks when I do promo. Then how would I know if they work, you ask? I pay attention to other factors: comments, likes, shares, visibility, and the number of reviews, though I no longer read reviews. Rather, I glance. If I see a 4 or 5 star, I may skim the review, but I avoid anything that can set my depression roaring. Live and learn, right?

Anyway, as I was saying, these goals are about getting them done. That’s it. And those are the best goals because if you set out to do them, you’ll achieve them.

Each thing I do on my list for the month receives a nice, big, fat check. And that feels good.

Remember, don’t burden yourself with a big goal. Give yourself a break!

QUESTION: Do you make plans for promo?

Praise from My Editor

JULY QUESTION: What's the best thing someone has ever said about your writing? 

When I published Hurricane Crimes with The Wild Rose Press, I had never received praise for my writing. To promote Hurricane Crimes, I created my first character interview for a blog. After the post went live, I got an email from the host telling me it was the best character interview she ever had, and she was emailing my editor to tell her about it. 

I didn't think my editor would go to it because I know how busy she is, but she did. And she left this comment: "I know I may be her editor, but I loved Hurricane Crimes and really enjoyed the journey." 

My editor is very to-the-point and doesn't really give praise, so when I got that comment from her, it made my day. I haven't forgotten it. :)

AUGUST 3RD QUESTION: What was your very first piece of writing as an aspiring writer? Where is it now? Collecting dust or has it been published?

***

PROMO EFFORTS:

Facebook Ad: I paid for my first Facebook ad. My budget was $11 daily for two days. My target audience was readers in Florida.

RESULTS:

Ad Reach: 2,093

Likes: 47
Sales: 1

Paid Tweet: Right after my FB ad ended, I attempted a $10 paid tweet. Afterward I found out you pay per link clicks. So at $5 per click, my ad ended when two people clicked the link!

RESULTS: 

Impressions: 1,928

Retweets: 5

Sales: 1-2

Giveaway: My giveaway for a $25 gift card ended. 

NUMBERS GAINED: 
Twitter Followers - 94
Facebook Likes - 47

Newsletter Subscribers - 34

OVERALL: I will definitely do different giveaways in the future, and I'll also try different FB ads. But I won't be doing a paid tweet!

That's all for now! :)

What are Yahoo Groups (Loops)?

I'm over at Denise Covey's blog with Tips to Defeat the Insecurity Monster. 


Last month I mentioned that I used Yahoo Loops (more commonly known as Groups) for my release day promo efforts, and I was shocked to hear that nearly everyone had never heard of them before.

Yahoo Groups (or Loops) – Gathering places for people to connect. They are much like Google Hangouts, but the people are more supportive and willing to share your good news. 

In these groups you’ll find many conversations that you can reply to that members posted, which get sent to your inbox in a digest after you join. Or you can send out your own conversation. For writers, these conversations can be introductions, release announcements, giveaways, sales, writing/editing/marketing/publishing questions, etc. Many of these groups have rules though, so make sure you read them. Some only allow promos on certain days. I’ve gotten to know many writers this way.

NOTE: You do need a Yahoo account to access them.

Here are a few I use:

Coffee Time Romance & More Chatters

Romance Junkies

Exquisite Quills 

Marketing for Romance Writers

Novel Spotters 

Authors Helping Authors 

Promo Efforts:

I'm sharing this to show what worked for me, hoping it'll help others. :)

Goodreads Event: I like to do these when I have a new release as an announcement. This time I also mentioned the sale and giveaway. Not many people replied to it, but I don't need a reply. I just need them to see it.

Blog Tour: I see new people saying they got my book, which is awesome. I still think blog tours are great, but I do fear that people are growing tired of them. I may try something different for my next release...

Giveaway: This is my first giveaway during a blog tour and the results are nice. *I chose not to offer my book, though, because I want people to buy it.

Sale: Hurricane Crimes will be on sale during my blog tour. It's a marketing strategy...I want people to get it during the tour...and the sales are decent.

That's the rundown as of now.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Promo Efforts + A Love That Distrubs Cover Reveal

Let's celebrate Medeia Sharif's new cover for her upcoming release A LOVE THAT DISTURBS.  Isn't it eerie and just a bit seductive? I think so.

A LOVE THAT DISTURBS by Medeia Sharif
Evernight Teen, June 17, 2016

Maysa Mazari is alarmed by her mother’s talk about arranged marriage. Meanwhile, as a hijab-wearing Pakistani-American, she wants to find love on her own. Her judgmental Muslim clique has protected her from racist taunts, although the leader, Aamal, is turning on her as Maysa strays from the group because of her attraction to Haydee.

Haydee Gomez is a former gang member and juvenile detention student. Now living with a clean-cut aunt, she wants to turn her life around, even though one person will never let her forget her roots—Rafe, her abusive pimp. Haydee attempts to pull away from a life of prostitution when she develops feelings for Maysa, although Rafe isn’t willing to give her up too easily.

Finding themselves in danger from Maysa’s friends and Haydee’s pimp, it’s apparent their love disturbs everyone around them as they fight to stay together.

Find Medeia – YA and MG Author

Blog   |   Twitter   |   Goodreads   |   Instagram   |   Amazon

I am co-hosting the IWSG site! Check it out: Insecure and Proud!

The release for SEISMIC CRIMES came and went. It is now out there for everyone to purchase, read and review. 

Analysis of My Release Day Promo Efforts:

1. Bloggers participating in A to Z included a promo in their S post.

Results: 20 people had signed up. All but 5 posted the promo I sent. I received a good response from commenters, which is always nice to see.

2. Thunderclap Campaign.

I had 5 different messages going out at all different hours on April 22nd. 

Results: I had 120 supporters. 100 tweets. 31 Tumblr posts. 3 Facebook posts. Although those are great numbers, I saw nothing happen with it.

3. Announcements across all social media and Yahoo Loops (aka Yahoo Groups).

Results: In my announcements in the Yahoo Groups/Loops I included two pre-made tweets. Many authors I know tweeted for me and my publisher sent out many tweets. All of those got a bunch of re-tweets. This was definitely more effective than Thunderclap.

4. Pre-Orders. 

When Seismic Crimes was up for pre-order, I did a cover reveal. 

Results: The pre-release rank was pretty good. 

Overall Result: I had an over-whelming amount of support in the blogosphere and twitter-verse, which led the charge for my release day. Definitly take advantage of this and not just Thunderclap, which I don't think is as effective since you can't add a picture or a link preview.

QUESTION: What are your promo efforts for a new release?

Title: Seismic Crimes

Author: Chrys Fey

Series: Disaster Crimes Series (Book Two)

DIGITAL LINKS:

Amazon US 
Amazon UK
Amazon CA

NOOK / KOBO

PRINT LINKS:

Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon CA

HURRICANE CRIMES 99¢ SALE!

Amazon US / Amazon UK 

Amazon CA / NOOK / KOBO 

All Romance eBooks

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Online Marketing Symposium

Welcome to the first ever “Online Marketing Symposium”! Brainchild of Arlee Bird and hosted by Yolanda Renee, Alex J. Cavanaugh, and Jeremy Hawkins. Let’s give these four amazing bloggers a nice round of applause for bringing us such a remarkable opportunity to teach and learn.

The purpose of this blogfest is to share marketing ideas that worked for you or didn’t work at all. In doing so, you can help others successfully market their book or product.

For those of us who are just starting out, this is a wonderful way to gather bits of marketing gold that can help us to promote our books, or any other service we are offering. It can also warn us about those lumps of marketing coal that don’t seem to help at all. 

Since I am a first-time author I don’t have much marketing gold to offer. Actually, as a newbie, I have been struggling. I recently came out with my debut eBook, Hurricane Crimes, and I have been running around in circles trying to get my story out there. Meanwhile, my sales plummeted to the dungeons of Amazon’s ranking system.

Here is a summary of what I’ve tried:

I promoted on Goodreads by creating an event for the release, which did get me a wonderful response. Many of my Goodreads friends added my book to their TBR list and I am so grateful for that. I also made the announcement on my blog through an IWSG post, and thanks to all of you, I received many congratulations and a tiny spike in sales.

These are, so far, my most effective tools: Goodreads and my blog, where I can immediately connect with fellow authors and readers.

After that I made the announcement on my Facebook page. This gave me quite a few post likes, but it was my friends and family (just two, actually) who posted on Instagram and their FB profiles that garnered more of a response. Word of mouth is definitively an amazing tool.

While doing this, I orchestrated a blog tour. Some of my guest posts got a few comments and shares on FB and Twitter, but I am finding that many of them just remain at ZERO and don't increase my book sales. 

So far, the only blog that seemed to have an impact on sales was when I was a guest on Reading Between the Wines Book Club on January 5th and I offered a giveaway. The day my post went live I was at rank #693,685 on Amazon. Yes, really. I know, I know, that's sad. But the day after, I rocketed up to rank #178,960. Imagine my surprise, especially since my low ranking stopped me from checking it for a few days. My rank dropped after that, but it meant a lot of people bought my book January 6th and that is something! :D

Do you see that decline? Oh that was painful!

I have also heavily promoted through groups on Goodreads, Yahoo Loops, and discussions in other sites I am a part of such as She Writes. In the beginning, this seemed to work.

I have posted on Amazon forums too and received nada, which is probably because the majority of the people using these forums are other authors trying to promote their own books. So I would warn others that this could very well be a waste of time, as it was for me.

I also added my books to several book sites. Eight to be exact. After I created an account with ManicReaders.com I did notice a spike in Facebook visits. The other site that seemed to bring a smidge of hope to my promo efforts was Storyfinds.com. Hurricane Crimes was added to their Book Marquee feature and received some shares on FB.

Then finally came my five free days, which just ended on January 18^th. I heavily promoted this because I’m not so much concerned about making money than getting my story in the hands of readers (or rather in their Kindles). To promote my free days I created an event on Goodreads, announced it on my blog and She Writes, submitted info about my eBook to many websites (only eleven actually posted something though), and shared the news on Yahoo Loops.

This is the picture I used to announce my free days on FB.

The results: By the time I had my free days my rank had dropped almost exactly to where it had been before the spike. I didn't even check the rank the night before my first free day, but that morning, before I even announced that Hurricane Crimes was free, I was at rank #7,273. All day it rose, much to my amazement. The morning of day two, it was at it's highest (or lowest) rank . . . #267. Hurricane Crimes reached #10 in the Top 100 Free Suspense books, making it an Amazon Best Seller (or freebie), which thrilled me to no end. It also cracked the Top 100 Free list for romantic-suspense at #22. After that, Hurricane Crimes clung to the low 400's, staying around #20 in the top free suspense books. Although I didn't make it into the top 100 Kindle books or #1 in free suspense books, I think I did good for a newbie. :)

This is so much better!

In the months to come I will be trying a few creative efforts on my FB page and blog. Thinking outside the box when it comes to marketing is the key. Instead of doing what all the other billions of authors are doing try your hand at something different. These ideas are the ones that can catch people’s attentions.

For more help, visit the hosts' blogs (above) for the list of people participating in this fest. Some of them may even give you chunks of marketing gold. ;)


SHARE: Your marketing tips.