And although I was happy about that, I never made it into the top 100 of all Kindle books like I had back in March. Actually, I was in the top ten then. Rising to the 500's from the 200,000's shouldn't be scoffed at, however by not arriving into the magical 100, and top ten spots, means you face the prospect of plunging right back where you started from once the promotion is over. I haven't yet, but it's only a matter of time. Your book is no longer on every one's screen and has little chance of shifting into the best selling paid column.
Frankly, I had my doubts that Saturday was a good day to hold my last freebie promotion. I figured with Passover and Easter there would probably be a lot less people on the computer. Heck, I didn't even want to be on the computer, but I really had no choice because promotion is one of those necessary evils when you're running a freebie. I was bummed as well since I knew I couldn't submit to ENT because I already had run there within 30 days. I gave POI my info, but they didn't choose my book to run. Clearly, getting on one of those two sites is the best/only? way to get your book downloaded thousands of times.
Even though my intuition told me not to, I decided I give it a go after one of the author Facebook groups I am part of suggested authors giving away freebies this past weekend pool together to promote each other. I'm not going to get into the details, or finger-pointing, but will say it was a dismal disappointment, epic fail! By the time I realized I had made a boo-boo by jumping aboard, it was way too late, at least for me, to change my free date. I had already notified certain sites, people, groups, of the date and even if there was no guarantee that they would "highlight" my book, the last thing I'd want to do is piss off people when they find out my book wasn't free when I said it would be. When I say I'm going to do something, I do it. It was a valuable lesson learned.
Luckily, there are many other authors, groups, friends, and even strangers out there who want to help others achieve success, and they stepped up to the plate for me. In the end, I had over 400 downloads (last time was in the thousands, due I'm sure to being on ENT) yet only 3 sales afterwards, a far, far cry from last time.
At least more folks have placed it on Shelfari and in their to-be-read shelf in Goodreads. Now, for the best part...someone actually bought Fractured Facade. My hope is that they read The Valentine's Day Curse and said, "This story rocked...I wonder if this author wrote anything else?" and then discovered that I had, and bought the novel. I don't know. Maybe I'll find out via a review some time. And although the hope is that other readers will feel the same way, I have to wait until they actually read the short story. As I've stated numerous times, the problem with downloading a free book is that it could quickly get buried by other free books. I think people read books they pay for first and eventually, maybe, get around to the free ones. Heck, I'm the same way. And although I loved a book I also have a hard time writing a review. So I'm just as guilty as many of the folks I hound to write one for my books!
So now that I'm approaching the end of the KDP Select in a couple of weeks I have to decide if I want to keep The Valentine's Day Curse exclusive in Amazon or not. So far, I am leaning to yes. Believe it or not I have gotten some borrows, which pay me 6 times the royalty I would receive on the 99 cent book. And people have been leaving really nice reviews too.
So now it's time for Fractured Facade to get some exposure. I haven't decided the freebie dates yet, but do know I will run at least two days in a row and make sure I give enough time for ENT and POI submissions. And, this time, I won't allow my decisions to be swayed, or put my trust in anyone else's hands, except my own.
A big thank you to all of you who continue to support this crazy journey of mine! Once I get this last promotion out of the way, I can finally get back to what I prefer doing...writing.
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