Debbie and I had an exciting week last week with our e-book promotion of a book that we released in the fall. Bookbub selected Wheels of Wisdom for a “Featured Deal.” With great anticipation on our part, its email to subscribers landed last Tuesday.
Results
• 590 e-books sold versus Bookbub’s average of 1,600 in Christian nonfiction
• 80% sold directly through Bookbub ad
• $560 cost to push email to 1.2 million Christian nonfiction subscribers
• Book rank topped out at #551 overall in Kindle store, up 1.6 million positions
• Book rank rose to #2 and #6 in its Amazon categories (see screenshots at bottom)
• Author rank topped out at #2,320, up several hundred thousand
• Spillover effect to authors’ other titles were negligible
Other notes
As unknown authors, what goes up must come down. Yet we continue to see “page reads” daily in Amazon’s Lending Library and Kindle Unlimited programs. We like that our book is now in the hands of many people, some of whom will read the book, benefit from its contents, and post a review. Positive reviews can help other readers discover not only Wheels of Wisdom, but our other books as well.
We were captive to Amazon on this promotion, because the Wheels of Wisdom e-book is enrolled in the Kindle Select marketing program in the US and UK, which requires exclusivity. Just before the promotion, an Amazon customer service representative told me that I could not reduce the price of the e-book only in countries not covered by the Kindle Select program. To honor our Bookbub deal and broaden the promotion to more countries, we pulled the scheduled Kindle Select “Countdown Deal” and accepted a lower royalty rate.
Takeaways
• To maximize the promotion’s effect, we should have had this e-book for sale on other reseller sites—particularly because we ran the promotion overseas—and delisted the e-book from Amazon’s Kindle Select program.
• While promotions cost money, they can have a strong impact on the exposure of an author and his or her content. Last week’s promotion was a healthy shot in the arm for Wheels of Wisdom. It now has a better chance of success in an overcrowded marketplace.
• A Bookbub deal dwarfs any other e-book marketing initiative on the self-publishing horizon, even if your title’s sales underperform Bookbub’s average. If you are fortunate enough to qualify, it will be money well spent.
Barnes & Noble “Shoot-around”
Debbie and I will be sharing elbow space with some other authors at Barnes & Noble in Cool Springs Friday evening. The local store periodically hosts local authors, whom it invites to peddle their books to customers mingling at the social event. We’re looking forward to meeting some Middle Tennessee neighbors.
If you live in the area, please come join us at Barnes & Noble on Mallory Lane from 6-8pm on January 27, 2017. We’d love to chat. And if our books interest you, we’ll have some copies of Wheels of Wisdom and Two Are Better and pens in hand to personally inscribe them. Hope to see you there.
