For Readers (and Authors, too)
This blog is for anyone that reads my books, as well as for anyone else who is self-publishing, thinking about self-publishing, or just curious about what it’s like to be an author during rapidly changing times. Whenever you visit here, I hope you’ll share your own comments and thoughts. If you’d like to know whenever I post a new entry, please type your email address into the box in the right-hand column and check the appropriate box (and the newsletter one, too, while you’re at it).
Do Free Book Promotions Work (Part II)
Two and a half weeks ago, I posted a report on the initial results of a free copy promotion I ran, using four of the more effective book newsletter services. That campaign was successful in the near term, resulting in 4,360 downloads of my second book. In the conclusions, I noted:
I’ll need to collect further data before I can report back on whether a trial of this scale, duration and impact had the desired effect. The real test will be whether a week from now my base line of sales and page reads steps up from the base line before the sale.
And the answer is?… [drum roll]…No on sales, yes on reads. For the details, read on. As before, I’ll include specific figures and detailed sales charts. read more…
Do Free Book Promotions Work? (Part I)
For years now, the prevailing wisdom in self-publishing has been that periodically pricing a book at free for a few days is a great way to build an audience. More recently, many authors are reporting that giving away thousands of free copies of a book has almost no ongoing positive impact on sales. Which view reflects reality? read more…
It’s Free Promotion Week for The Lafayette Campaign
Over the last several months I’ve been trying, and reporting on, my success with various paid promotions. This week I’m running a blitz of promotions with the book available for free. Why not download a copy right now here? If you’re so inclined, I’d be most grateful if you would also Tweet the news or otherwise spread the word to your book reading friends. Here’s more on how the promotions will run, and on what I hope to achieve. read more…
Book Review: Primed by the Past (Fiction; Barbara Speake)
I’m a bit behind in my reviews of other Indie authors, but am happy to get back in the saddle with this recommendation of the first book in Barbara Speake’s three book (to date) series describing the adventures of Annie Macpherson, a young Scots detective just beginning to make her way in the world of crime.
Which Book Promotion Services Work?
About a month ago I posted a piece on trying out the various book sale promotion sites that are available, and promised to report back on progress. Here are some preliminary findings, as well as an example of one I have running today at Free Kindle Books and Tips so that you can get an idea of what one looks like (perhaps you might want to invest $0.99 while you’re at it). read more…
The Doodlebug War: Frank Rides Again!
I took a little time off the other day from promoting my second Frank Adversego thriller to write the first chapter of the third. Needless to say, it was a lot more fun than lining up promotional discount sales and sending out more mindless Tweets.
Are Press Releases Worth it? Results and Conclusions
Yesterday I set up a little experiment to see whether paying for press releases can prove to be worthwhile for authors seeking to promote their books. The experiment was based on a press release I wrote, and issued through PRLog.org, one of the established press release services. Today I’ve got the data, so let’s take a look and see what we found out.
Are Press Releases Worth it?
Self-publishing is full of mug’s games (that’s Brit-speak for ways to take suckers in). Sometimes it even seems that there are more people trying to exploit self-published writers than there are Indie-authors. Is selling press releases another one of them? Absolutely. Are there any exceptions to that blunt statement? Let’s see if we can find out.
The Lafayette Campaign On Sale: Trying out the Discount Game
First off, if you’ve been thinking about reading The Lafayette Campaign, now would be an excellent time to do so, as I’ve dropped the price to $.99 for the next few days. Why? Because I’m going to systematically try out (and report on) the book discount promotional services over the next several weeks. read more…
The Lafayette Campaign: First Reviews!
I’m happy to report that the launch of my second cybersecurity thriller, titled The Lafayette Campaign, a Tale of Deception and Elections, is off to a great start in a couple of ways. read more…
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