Yesterday was my first ever free day at Amazon. And here's a summation of how it went:
Me: :crawls out of bed, powers up 'puter, gets coffee: "La la la, let's see how the freebie thing is going. Wow, eleven books. Cool. Hey, honey, eleven new people are going to read my book."
Him: "Wow. Cool."
Later...
Me: :blink blink: "I'm up to 54 books now."
Him: "Fifty-four books? Imagine if those people actually bought the book..."
Then the roads finally got good enough for me to venture out where I mailed books to some people, talked about Dying Embers to the postal gal and the ladies at the bank and the gal at the convenience store. Snagged some foodage. Came home around 1:30pm.
Me: "Holy shit. 124 books."
Him: :visibly cringes: "So, this is supposed to help with sales?"
Me: "From everything I've read, yeah."
This goes on several more times until bed - except by then we were both cringing as books walked out the door. Flash ahead to this morning...
Me: Final tally 356. And one new sale. :drinks coffee, smokes cigarettes, waits for Hubs to get up:
Him: :snags coffee, pets Max, lights a cigarette: "So what was the count? Hundreds?"
Me: :cringe: "Do you really want to know?"
Him: "Yeah."
Me: "You sure?"
Him: "Yeah."
Me: "356"
Him: :silence:
This had better work in the long run. Or I'm going to have serious egg on my face. Fried. With scalding hot butter dripping down my cheeks.
Looking on the bright side, there are 356 new people who could potentially read Dying Embers and then recommend it to their friends who might buy a copy. Or they could like it so much they buy a paperback to keep on their shelves (cuz it's pretty). Or they could like Dying Embers so much they purchase the next book and the next and the next.
This morning, though, I'm kinda freaking out a little.
Oh, and because who doesn't like free things, my Goodreads giveaway contest started yesterday. There's a widget on B.E.'s Writerly Space if you're interested in the chance to get a hardcopy of Dying Embers and some swag. (It's on the right side, underneath the 'Dying Embers is for sale' doohickey.)
Think of it as the equivalent of advertising. You have to get your name out there, and this is one way to do it. You never know if the money you spend on promo will earn itself back, just like this, but it probably will…in the long run.
ReplyDeleteOh, I know I'm being totally irrational. It is the equivalent of advertising. And I have to look at the long run. Just right this morning, I'm spazzing. LOL
ReplyDeleteA sale and 356 freebies is great exposure! I've been terrified to put Feda's Anchor up for free - what if no one would download it?
ReplyDeleteThink of all those potential reviews and stars and stuff. ;-)
You should try the Kboards promo thing, Deb. The one I did today only cost me $15. Of course, I don't know if I'll see any sales from that yet, but it's only been up since 6pm my time. And there are tons of review sites out there. Plus, if you visit the community boards at Amazon, there are always people asking for reviews and offering reviews. (You just have to use caution - like every forum, there are a few trolls.)
DeleteFree works best when you have a big back list, so get those other books out.
ReplyDelete