I owe you guys an update. About a month ago, I had an interview on Voice of Indie podcast. Here’s a link if you’d like to check it out after the fact. https://www.blogtalkradio.com/voiceofindie1/2021/07/22/voice-of-indie-episode-051
I scheduled some free days to announce during the show, and watched to see what happened. I gave away personal records of books, and both Serang and Grinders spiked in the best-givers lists. Rumor is they will continue to do well. Let’s take a look at that.
I moved a few actual copies in the subsequent weeks, but that doesn’t seem to be where the business is these days. Almost all of my action has been in “pages read,” by Kindle Unlimited members. I did pretty well over there. That seemed to last for two weeks, then trailed off.
Serang got reviews, but most of them were star-ratings only. Grinders didn’t get anything. I was cheering for Grinders since it’s one of my personal favorites. I moved a lot of copies of it, and got plenty of page reads, just no reviews.
Somewhere along the line, a guy has to stop. I know if I’d kept up on promo, I could have probably kept the train moving. There are just other things that need tending to.
Today, I traded Old What’s Her Face cars, then took her vehicle for service. She took my truck to work. The Toyota place has a great workstation, and I brought my iPad so I could work through critiques I received on Good Liniment. I brought plenty more to do, but a lube and oil only takes so long.
This is my short weekend, and I don’t know what I’ll do next. I’ll call my parents tomorrow, then might add words to my secret project. I’m also thinking toward some October promo and need to figure out what that might look like.
I’ve seen nothing since mid-July. Definitely a severe summer slump since even freebies won’t move. Good to hear you had some success. Wonder why pages read are doing more. Also, didn’t Amazon release a new program?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Amazon Vella isn’t being well received by those who’ve tried it. I was excited and thought I might write something for it, but after some of the early comments I’ll probably pass. Pages read are how it seems to work these days.
LikeLike
What are they saying? I had a hinky feeling at the start, so I wasn’t paying attention.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It just doesn’t seem to be producing anything for the authors. Some of that token disbursal makes things more difficult. Kindle Unlimited is pretty straightforward.
LikeLike
Are people not using it? Wonder where the tokens are going. Are only a few authors getting the bulk of them?
LikeLiked by 2 people
I don’t have that much info. Sorry.
LikeLike
Nice to see pages read and books moved. Maybe after whoever bought is finishing reading they will do reviews. I find whenever a book goes on sale there are sales but reviews lag quite a bit. I think people jump on a price and then have a stack of other stuff to read first. I like the title Good Liniment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks. It’s possible those free copies are on TBR piles and could get some action come winter.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yup.
LikeLike
It’s nice of you to call your parents. Good luck with your secret WIP!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I call them every Sunday, no matter what.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s hard to balance writing new words vs. promotion for the existing books. The new words are what make it fun, though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
True. Another weekend of “other” projects for me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What an interesting recap of the giveaway period, Craig. I hope your followers will click on the link to the podcast and listen in. It was great! I love it that most public service places these days have a place to plug in and work. Grinders is one of the few books of yours I haven’t read yet. Maybe I’ll save it for October. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hope it’s to your liking. Their work station is wonderful at the dealership. As long as I take something that allows for mild distractions I can get things accomplished while I wait.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad to hear you had a lot of takers with your promoted books snd pages read. Sometimes reviews take a while. It is hard to do both writing and promoting and give each one the attention needed. I hope the rest of your weekend is productive.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It wound up being a weekend of “other” projects. Nothing to brag about, but I forged ahead in a couple of areas.
LikeLike
Summer slows things down, especially with nice weather. We haven’t had many sunny days here in NH. It’s either raining or a heatwave. No in between. Ugh.
I have mixed feelings about KU. Lots of page reads is good news. Congrats!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s a strange system. At least people are reading them. We could sure use some of that rain out west.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can teach you a rain dance if you think it’ll help. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
It might.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s all such a gamble. Readers don’t seem to understand how important reviews are, not just for ratings, but for writers, too. We need to know you care about our stories.
Hopefully, those reviews start pouring in, Craig.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I feel the same way, but can’t influence them. All I can do if forge ahead.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s hard to keep up with everything. Too bad we can’t afford to have a marketing staff! I’ve been hunkered down the past few weeks getting the A36 sequel (still no title) ready to send to my editor and haven’t done much at all with social media.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I tend to put more of my effort into new products than promo. It’s probably a mistake, but it makes me happy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
At least several people grabbed copies and potentially read both titles,even if it didn’t translate to much more than that. It gets you noticed by them, and maybe they’ll come back for more of your books later.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s the right way to look at it. Even if they hold them for winter and read them later, it’s progress.
LikeLiked by 1 person