Adventures in Epublishing: Post-99 Cents and New Author Numbers
Post-99 Cents
I posted Into the Shadows as a promo at 99 cents/86 pence for 17 days (Jan 21- Feb 6-7) and like many authors, was a little concerned that perhaps putting the price back up to its original $2.99 would result in a sales crash. But as we were releasing a new book from DarkSide Publishing this week, and the promo was intended to add readers for our label and get the word out, so I changed it back. It had, however, the opposite effect. Numbers have stayed steady.
February 1-6/7: Sold 26 copies at 99 cents on Barnes & Noble. Amazon had 13 sales at 99 cents and Amazon UK, 2 sales at 86 pence.
February 7-13: Sold 17 copies at $2.99 at B&N. Amazon numbers aren't super reliable for this study because it took longer to raise to $2.99. It was at $2.99 roughly a day before Amazon dropped it back to .99 because one of the distributors on Smashwords (Diesel Books) didn't update their price until the end of the week. I have since dropped all distributors from Smashwords because I don't want that annoyance again, especially when I've not sold at any of the other vendors. That being said, I did still sell 9 copies at Amazon, which could have been at .99 or $2.99. Not sure which sales hit at which price just yet. Still, it's clear B&N is selling much better for me. I have not sold anything at Amazon UK after raising the price.
*UPDATE 2.14.11*
As of today, I've actually got 25 copies sold at $2.99 through today, and 13 at Amazon (still unsure at what price though).
So sticking with B&N as our example, even though I've sold a few less copies over the week, the profits have been far nicer and worth the move back up to $2.99. I earned $10.40 the first week with the 26 copies and $32.98 with the 17 copies the second week. And prior to the 99 cent promo, I was averaging 1 book a day at $2.99 and at 17 this week, I'm averaging 2.5 books a day. That's a great increase, as far as I'm concerned.
New Author Numbers
Megg Jensen released her book, Anathema, on Thursday, February 10th ($2.99 at Amazon/B&N, 2.17 GBP at Amazon UK). Our goal at DarkSide, being that we're working as a group, is to see numbers increase for each title released. In my first month of ebook sales, I sold a grand total of 35 ebooks. And I sold for a full month (November 1-30).
Megg has been selling for 3 full days and has already sold 18 ebooks. In 3 days. She's averaging 6 ebooks a day right out of the gate.
Here's the kicker. She had almost no promo. For my release month, I spent the 2 weeks before sending around review copies and lining up Facebook and blog friends to help me 'splash' my info out there. I had over 150 people helping me market the book through the various social media outlets. I had (at the time) just over 4,000 friends on Facebook. Megg has roughly 1,000. Megg posted it on her own Facebook/Blog/Twitter, and I did the same for her on my FB/Twitter/DarkSide page. So she had 2-3 people marketing for her, with no prior marketing and no exact release date. And numbers-wise, so far, she's kicking my ass! We'll have to follow her numbers through March 10th for exact comparison, but I think it's safe to say, Megg will for sure sell more than 35 books. Which is exactly what we want. (I didn't include paperback info because in reality, paperbacks will be such a small portion of sales, and we are studying the epublishing/ebook effects!)
Megg has also created one of the most awesome release party contests I've ever seen, and once she releases the contest info this week, I think she and I will both see a boost in sales, so we'll have to keep an eye on them. I promise you the contest is easy and the prizes are massive and I highly encourage you all to keep an eye out for it and enter. You'll be glad you did.
I'm happy to see results from both of my experiments (99 cent promo and the creation of an epub label). I'm excited to see where we go from here. DarkSide also has a new author, the fabulous G.P. Ching, with a book coming out in the next 2 months. I would love her starting numbers to surpass both of ours. I really think the sky is the limit on this one!
I posted Into the Shadows as a promo at 99 cents/86 pence for 17 days (Jan 21- Feb 6-7) and like many authors, was a little concerned that perhaps putting the price back up to its original $2.99 would result in a sales crash. But as we were releasing a new book from DarkSide Publishing this week, and the promo was intended to add readers for our label and get the word out, so I changed it back. It had, however, the opposite effect. Numbers have stayed steady.
February 1-6/7: Sold 26 copies at 99 cents on Barnes & Noble. Amazon had 13 sales at 99 cents and Amazon UK, 2 sales at 86 pence.
February 7-13: Sold 17 copies at $2.99 at B&N. Amazon numbers aren't super reliable for this study because it took longer to raise to $2.99. It was at $2.99 roughly a day before Amazon dropped it back to .99 because one of the distributors on Smashwords (Diesel Books) didn't update their price until the end of the week. I have since dropped all distributors from Smashwords because I don't want that annoyance again, especially when I've not sold at any of the other vendors. That being said, I did still sell 9 copies at Amazon, which could have been at .99 or $2.99. Not sure which sales hit at which price just yet. Still, it's clear B&N is selling much better for me. I have not sold anything at Amazon UK after raising the price.
*UPDATE 2.14.11*
As of today, I've actually got 25 copies sold at $2.99 through today, and 13 at Amazon (still unsure at what price though).
So sticking with B&N as our example, even though I've sold a few less copies over the week, the profits have been far nicer and worth the move back up to $2.99. I earned $10.40 the first week with the 26 copies and $32.98 with the 17 copies the second week. And prior to the 99 cent promo, I was averaging 1 book a day at $2.99 and at 17 this week, I'm averaging 2.5 books a day. That's a great increase, as far as I'm concerned.
New Author Numbers
Megg Jensen released her book, Anathema, on Thursday, February 10th ($2.99 at Amazon/B&N, 2.17 GBP at Amazon UK). Our goal at DarkSide, being that we're working as a group, is to see numbers increase for each title released. In my first month of ebook sales, I sold a grand total of 35 ebooks. And I sold for a full month (November 1-30).
Megg has been selling for 3 full days and has already sold 18 ebooks. In 3 days. She's averaging 6 ebooks a day right out of the gate.
Here's the kicker. She had almost no promo. For my release month, I spent the 2 weeks before sending around review copies and lining up Facebook and blog friends to help me 'splash' my info out there. I had over 150 people helping me market the book through the various social media outlets. I had (at the time) just over 4,000 friends on Facebook. Megg has roughly 1,000. Megg posted it on her own Facebook/Blog/Twitter, and I did the same for her on my FB/Twitter/DarkSide page. So she had 2-3 people marketing for her, with no prior marketing and no exact release date. And numbers-wise, so far, she's kicking my ass! We'll have to follow her numbers through March 10th for exact comparison, but I think it's safe to say, Megg will for sure sell more than 35 books. Which is exactly what we want. (I didn't include paperback info because in reality, paperbacks will be such a small portion of sales, and we are studying the epublishing/ebook effects!)
Megg has also created one of the most awesome release party contests I've ever seen, and once she releases the contest info this week, I think she and I will both see a boost in sales, so we'll have to keep an eye on them. I promise you the contest is easy and the prizes are massive and I highly encourage you all to keep an eye out for it and enter. You'll be glad you did.
I'm happy to see results from both of my experiments (99 cent promo and the creation of an epub label). I'm excited to see where we go from here. DarkSide also has a new author, the fabulous G.P. Ching, with a book coming out in the next 2 months. I would love her starting numbers to surpass both of ours. I really think the sky is the limit on this one!
Interesting results on your experiment. I would definitely be fascinated to see G.P. Ching's numbers once you release her book, and to see where Megg is in six week's time.
ReplyDeleteThat's great news! It's great that your combined efforts are working well for one another.
ReplyDelete*off to check out Megg's book*
This is great news! I have been following your journey through your posts, wondering if this is a better route to take these days. Thanks for keeping us up-to-date.
ReplyDeleteI'm just glad I sold to someone other than my mom. Now that's an accomplishment! :D
ReplyDelete(...and I sold two more copies today by noon...)
My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!
ReplyDeleteEPublishing