Tomorrow, definitely tomorrow

I didn't get any new words down today. I did work on a couple of promotional projects for my existing books. The whole world seems to have slowed down in the last few weeks, and I need to jar the mechanism somewhere.

“Psst, hey buddy, want to buy a book?”

I have something else in mind too, but I want to spend some quality time writing it out before approaching The Storyreading Ape. It's an open invitation I've been meaning to get to.

I don't know whether it's graduation plans, wedding, or vacation plans, but the world seems to have slowed down. My blog stats are down, my sales are down. It might be because I had so much going on at the paycheck job, or because I went to Jackson for a few days. Let's just say I'm trying some things to remedy all that.

I spent some time reading a book I've neglected for a long time. It's a fun story, I just had too much going on in the real world. I still have stuff going on, but I'm stopping by the writing cabin tomorrow come Hell or high water. (Either of which could occur at the writing cabin.)

I also managed to get through my critique feedback. I'm about as ready as I ever get to sling electronic ink. The bills are paid, I have no excuses.

Tonight it's all about Game of Thrones and a decent night's sleep. There might be pizza and beer involved, all of which is good.

Hoping you all had a productive Sunday, or got to celebrate Mother's Day in the USA. How goes the struggle? Tell me in the comments.

Book Promotion: The Early Assessment

Most of my regular readers know that I recently ran a free promotion of my novel, Wild Concept, on Amazon. The free promotion is one of two tools an author can use to promote his/her work. There are many other ways to promote, but I’m talking about things Amazon created for authors. The other tool is a countdown deal, and I haven’t tried this yet.

Amazon let’s me give a book away for five days every quarter. I’m not required to use them all at once, but I did.

What I assumed:

As a brand new author, I need readers. If I give my book away for a period of time I will get some readers.

Some people will grab a book, just because it’s free. This does not mean they’ll read that book. Therefore, the number given away will be larger than the number of readers.

Interest in the free book will create sales of Panama, my new story.

What I read from others:

Sales will keep going after the promotion ends.

A promotion will lead to sales of your other books.

Never do a promotion longer than three days. (I read what others say. I don’t always believe it.)

What I wanted:

A couple of positive reviews for Wild Concept.

Interest in Panama to increase.

What happened:

I gave away a crap ton of books. More than I could even imagine. At one point, I was number 36 on Amazon’s free science fiction book list.

The majority of downloads occurred on the first day. The numbers dropped dramatically on day two and stayed there. I remained on the top 100 until I reverted to paid status once again.

One person, from the UK, bought Wild Concept prior to the promotion and returned it. I hope this was to take advantage of the free version and not because it sucked. I’ll never know. (My first return.)

I didn’t make a single sale of Panama during this promotion.

There hasn’t been a single purchase of Wild Concept since it went back to paid status.

Very few of the downloads came through my blog. I checked to see how many clicked on the link, and it was less than one percent vs. downloads.

Assessment:

Free promotions are a good thing. I won’t do another one that lasts longer than one day. There might be an advantage to doing a different title each day after I have all my old stuff available.

Amazon must have some good promotional stuff going on. My blog only has about 350 followers, and that includes the get rich quick folks and the same Colombian Cutes that followed everyone else a few months ago. My downloads were way beyond what the blog could drive.

It’s too early to tell if reviews are coming. People haven’t had time to read the book yet, and some might not get to it for months.

It’s also too early to tell if Panama will benefit. I would read the free book before deciding if I read the author again.

What’s next:

I have to be patient, something I’m not good at. Time will tell as far as whether I got what I wanted out of this promotion. I’ll keep working on getting the next story ready to post.

I don’t want to do another promotion right away. This is to keep the data clear as far as what this one accomplished.

I mentioned in a recent blog post that I like to play with all the toys. I’d like to try a Kindle Countdown Deal. I’ll give it a few weeks and decide what to do then. I might use Panama as the guinea pig.

Once I get all my old stuff uploaded, there might be an advantage in giving each one away for one day in succession.

Debate. Share your experiences or thoughts in the comments section. I’d like to know what you guys think.

The River Pixies

The Snake River God is plaguing me. I had big plans to go sturgeon fishing today, but they died last night.

Old What’s Her Face* called me on my way from work. The sprinkler system needs to be turned on, and right now!

I told her I would turn everything on when I got home and asked her to record the season finale of Shield for me. I changed into something suitable for spider webs, mud, and slugs and dove right in.

Our community system must have been turned off. There was no water at all. I suppose the River God sent his pixies to interfere with my fishing trip. I promised to work on it today, and my fishing adventure crumbled to dust. I swear I heard giggling over the sound of frogs when I went to bed last night.

Good news, the system is watering our yard right now. I’m sure there will be the inevitable dead sprinkler head, but I’m making progress. (And plotting my revenge on the River God.)

Aanndd – here I am online like I planned to escape from. Might as well update my blog.

In other good news, I got as high as number 36 on the Amazon list last night. Woo Hoo! This is the top 100 free science fiction books.

Wild Concept is free for a few more days. I always thought this story would resonate with the comic book crowd. Marvel has conquered television and the movies, and the timing feels right. I even got a comic book artist to make my cover. I’d like to break through to the comic crowd. If you know any fans or casual readers of comics, please tell them about my free promotion. Maybe together we can crack the top ten.

I hate self promotion, but here it is: I’m asking you to tell people about my give away.

Some very generous people have promised reviews. I hope they like it, and I earned good reviews. One reader already let me know she’s finished about a third of the book and is enjoying it.

Panama is also available on Amazon. My give away might have stomped its release, but I’m looking at things from a long term perspective. Those who like Wild Concept might give Panama a chance too. No robots, no frogs (inside joke for those who read Wild Concept), just a fun romp through the paranormal side of life. Deadly snakes, bugs, torrential downpour, witchcraft, revolution, explosions, demons: what’s not to like? Fun for the whole family, right?

Since last night imploded, I got to watch Shield. Director Colson has a nice ring to it. I hope this will influence the movies as well. He and May had some awesome scenes last night. May is always amazing, but Colson has fewer and bigger moments. Can’t wait for what they have planned in the Fall.

* Not my wife’s actual name.

You Guys Rock!

It’s way too early for any assessment on my giveaway. I’m one of those people who just can’t help himself. There are a thousand questions going through my mind right now.

Will anyone read Wild Concept? Will they like it?

Will it drive sales for Panama?

Did I just poison the well and give my book to everyone who might like it?

Could this be a breakthrough moment?

My mind is all over the place. I’ve made plans to go fishing tomorrow. I’m going to get away from stats and worries for a few hours.

Here’s what I know so far though. I’ve never looked too much at the Amazon stats. I watched the sales of Wild Concept when I first uploaded it, but that’s about it. I checked everything out today. Wild Concept has hit #65 on the Amazon science fiction freebie list. That has to mean something?

It would be better on the paid list, but as a new guy, I see this as a good sign. Thank you everyone.

If you want in on the fun, here’s the link: Wild Concept

I’m still going to display any artwork anyone wants to send over. I think it’s fun, and will include a link for anyone who wants to send me an image of Lisa on her vacation.

A few Updates

I’ve never looked around the Amazon author pages before. I made a site and surfed away a few months ago. Today I learned that I cracked the top 2000 science fiction authors on the KDP site. About a month ago I was somewhere near 1500.

Don’t confuse me with the facts. I understand selling three books in the same hour will probably spike the meter. I don’t care. I’m basking over here. I’m also celebrating with a Black Butte Porter.

You all need to check out Raevenly Writes. Apparently a couple of Raevenly’s original characters ran into Lisa at a comics convention. Lisa saved her Elvira dress from when we were writing Will ‘O the Wisp. Seriously, go check out Raevenly Writes.

This is Chris and Zig dressed as the goblin king and Jackal from Gargoyles.

This is fun. It can be more fun if you play along. Photograph your Barbies, make some paper dolls and play along. What did Lisa do on her vacation?

I’m going to make so much fun of her for this.

Panama is for sale on Amazon right now. If I didn’t screw things up further, Wild Concept will be free tomorrow.