Our guest blogger today is Denise Roessle, author of Second-Chance Mother.
As a first-time author in early 2012, my hopes were high and my expectations were reasonable. I had worked hard to build a following — via Facebook, my blog, and my website — so lots of friends, as well as strangers, were anticipating the release of Second-Chance Mother in both ebook and print versions.
During the first few months, I sold about 170 ebooks online and 100 print books (most of which were the result of my personal sales at book launch parties and speaking engagements). Sounded good to me!
In April, I heard about Amazon’s Kindle Select Program (KDP) and how other authors were significantly increasing their sales by giving away free ebooks. Say what?! I had gifted a couple dozen print copies to endorsers, potential reviewers, and friends. But why should I let strangers download the Kindle version for free? If they were interested in my book, why wouldn’t they be willing to pay the few bucks it cost?
I was also disturbed that if I committed to the program, the ebook could not be offered for sale by any other vendor (B&N.com, Smashwords, or even on my own website). When I asked my publisher (Chris O’Byrne, Red Willow Publishing) about this, he responded that thus far I had sold 100 ebooks on Amazon and 7 on B&N.com. Okay then. I also learned that Kindle Prime members could “borrow” the Kindle version for free, for which I would receive a small royalty. Since it’s only a 90-day commitment, I decided to give it a go. Chris signed me up, and I scheduled two free promotion weekends: Mother’s Day, and another to coincide with the Northern California book tour I had scheduled for June.
The results were astounding! Between both promotions, more than 20,000 people downloaded Second-Chance Mother, sales of the ebook shot up to nearly 800, and 160 loans were made. (Amazon sold some print copies too, but I did much better in-person during my tour.)
Even better — my rankings on Amazon shot up to #1 in both of my categories, and close to the top among all Kindle books, and stayed there for weeks after. People who likely never would have found me were reading and reviewing my book, and emailing me to share what it meant to them.
A note to those who are considering Kindle Select free promotions: Amazon doesn’t promote them. You’ll have to spend some time listing your promotion on author/reader and free book sites, as well as sending shout-outs on Facebook and Twitter. This took me about three hours the first time, less for the second. In the end, it is well worth the time invested.
For more information about Denise and Second-Chance Mother, visit her website.
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