I didn’t really have a marketing plan when I published Vokhtah, and to be honest I still don’t. I know what I should be doing – blogging, tweeting etc – and I am doing my best, but I have a very low threshold for boredom so I only spend about 10 – 15 minutes on Twitter per day. Sadly it’s not enough. Or, depressing thought, it’s having no impact. One month after launch, Vokhtah has sold 16 copies and has had no borrows.
Time to bring out the big guns and yes, go FREE! -cough-
If I understand the whole KDP Select thing correctly, Amazon gets exclusive distribution rights to Vokhtah for three months, and I get five days in which I can let people have the book for free. This is a great promotional tool, but only if my marketing has generated some kind of ‘product awareness’. In other words, if the name Vokhtah has been seen by enough people to make getting a free copy tempting.
To be honest, I have grave doubts about the effectiveness of my marketing to-date, but I’m the eternal optimist so I’ve just scheduled Vokhtah to go free for the full FIVE days starting March the 1st.
Why use up the full five days in one hit?
Well, part of the answer is that I read recently that three days is no longer an effective period. The writer is a successful indie author and recommends four days. But what then do I do with that orphaned one day? If I were a whiz at marketing I might be able to blitz the air waves enough to make a one day promotion worthwhile…
Who am I kidding? The marketing blitz is just not going to happen. One has to be realistic about these things.
If I could carry that spare day over into a second 3 month period then it might make sense to hang on to it – like saving up unused annual leave. Unfortunately I’m pretty sure KDP Select doesn’t work that way so I decided to just blow it all on one promotion. You never know, it might work to my advantage. Maybe on that fifth day some bored, yet influential person might pick Vokhtah up, read it and-…
Ahem.
I know science fiction/fantasy is not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you are looking for a sci-fi book with a difference – or know someone else who is – please put March 1 – 5 on your calendar. I think Vokhtah will go free around lunch time on March the 1st.
If you forget to put the free days on your calendar, don’t worry… I’ll remind you. 😀
cheers
Meeks
Authors' favourite books
NANO 2012
February 21st, 2013 at 6:51 am
stay strong. this marketing sh*t feels awful for all of us. trust me. but, you get around and a lot of the wp bloggers LOVE you – me included – so you’ll get readers. xoxox, sm
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February 21st, 2013 at 9:41 am
Thanks Mum 🙂 Talking to you and all my other wonderful friends lets me come out of my shell, but marketing? That is hell on a stick. Still, we’re all suffering so we may as well have some fun while we’re at it. 🙂
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February 21st, 2013 at 9:44 am
true that, my friend. true that. lool. xoxo
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February 20th, 2013 at 5:15 am
I know some authors that this has worked quite well for. I wish you luck!
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February 20th, 2013 at 11:06 am
Thanks Carrie. I’m spreading my net far and wide in the hope I snag some science fiction buffs. I know they’re out there somewhere!
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February 20th, 2013 at 12:46 am
Five days in a row sounds like a good idea, you don’t want people finding out on the second day and not having time to get the book before the offer runs out.
Good luck! (and I don’t envy you the whole marketing thing 😉 )
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February 20th, 2013 at 11:17 am
Yes! That was my thought too. I’m forever missing deadlines myself so the longer the better.
I’m kicking myself at the moment because I’ve missed a two-for-one offer to the Australian Ballet’s Don Quixote. 😦 The flyer was sitting in my letter box, buried in all the junk, and I didn’t find it until I finally cleared everything out yesterday.
My fault I know but I’m still pissed off with myself.
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February 19th, 2013 at 6:30 pm
I went back to have a better look at your tweets and most specifically your tags. I noticed that there aren’t many tags. Basically i haven’t seen something like #book #novel #reading #literature and stuff like that. The broader the selection of tags the more chances of someone seeing it. Perhaps someone may be looking with a wider scope than just scifi, or knows someone that would be interested.
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February 19th, 2013 at 9:25 pm
Ungh. Never thought of that. I’m only just starting to get the hang of the hashtags. I’ll give some of those other ones a try. Thanks George. 🙂
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February 19th, 2013 at 5:50 pm
I’ll tweet for you as sooon as the period starts. I’ve not had a single loan on KDP either but my free periods did see my books go up the Amazon charts. The higher up the charts, the better to be seen. Hugs
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February 19th, 2013 at 9:27 pm
Thanks David. 🙂 I wonder if a lot of readers are as confused by the borrows as I am. Every time I see the option available the ‘to Prime members’ bit puts me off as I don’t know what’s involved in becoming a Prime member. If it’s more forms to fill in then I can see why people don’t bother.
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February 19th, 2013 at 3:32 pm
I think we’re all making up this promotion process as we go along. There is no, single recipe that works. I hope your 5 FREE days go well. I think five in a row is a good idea, as it’s a way to build awareness and that takes time. I’ll RT your Tweets about it and promote it on my Candy’s Monsters Facebook page.
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February 19th, 2013 at 4:01 pm
Thanks Candy! Definitely flying by the seat of my pants here. If it works then I’ll be ecstatic.
Btw how is Waltzing in the Snow going? A free serialization should have people breaking down your door. lol Only 3 more days until chapter 3. 😀
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February 19th, 2013 at 3:19 pm
Would you like to do a strategically timed guest post on my blog? 300-500 words? I’ll post it whenever you like …
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February 19th, 2013 at 4:05 pm
Wow – thank you Jennifer! I’d love to. 😀 Maybe on March 1st? I’d love to talk about the aussie influence behind Vokhtah if that’s ok?
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February 19th, 2013 at 3:05 pm
I look forward to seeing your results. As marketing is not my strength, I too have been challenged by that illusive word of mouth which is so important to generating interest. Good luck!
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February 19th, 2013 at 4:09 pm
I’ve learned a lot from Candy and David Prosser, but as Candy said, we’re all making it up as we go. And it doesn’t come ‘naturally’. 😦
I don’t want to bore people but I might post strategic milestones and things that work in case my experience comes in handy for someone else.
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