THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR CHERYL KAYE TARDIF
Mystery, suspense, thrillers, paranormal, horror & YA by "Cheryl Kaye Tardif" & romance by "Cherish D'Angelo". Cheryl is represented by Trident Media Group in NY.
July 1-31, 2015: Share our events on Twitter and Facebook, and share pics of our books on ereaders or you holding one, and receive entries into our Summer Sizzles Giveaway!
Grand prize winner: 12 free ebooks (winner’s choice). Plus 10 winners of single ebooks. Open to anyone 18+. Void where prohibited. Draw will take place the first week of August. Be sure to share it with your friends.
A condensed version of the article below originally appeared as a guest post on BookBub's Unbound blog.
As a bestselling suspense author who has been indie published since 2003, I've learned that being flexible and open to learning and adapting to change is key to being successful in this industry, and success for a professional career author should be defined by sales and income, though there are other indicators of success.
Too many authors schedule discount sales, post a couple of Facebook posts and send out a few tweets and then complain about lack of sales. Some do many small promotions, paying for 1-2 inexpensive advertising spots each time, and again don’t see high sales. Promos like these might get your book on a Top 100 genre bestseller list on Amazon, but they’re not enough to produce high sales.
You need to understand that watering down the impact of a discount sale by doing them too often just isn’t the way to go. You’re better off saving your advertising budget for a MAJOR promotion, and by “MAJOR” I mean spending $600-1200, and running 1-2 major promos a year per title. This is an investment in your career, in your work and in you.
Today, I’ll share some stats on my last major BookBub promotion, detailing my recent experience with a BookBub promo, so that you can see what advertising on book sites can do for sales.
Organizing and setting up my promotion:
First, I selected a book that has sold well but had never been on BookBub before or priced at $0.99 for many months. I chose SUBMERGED, a standalone thriller with tie-ins to my #1 bestseller, CHILDREN OF THE FOG. When I run a promotion for one title, there is always a strong possibility that some of my other titles will see an increase in sales too.
I decided to run a Countdown/BookBub combination promo, since Countdown deals get extra exposure from Amazon, and they create a bit more excitement. I determined I would only run this promo if BookBub accepted SUBMERGED (they'd turned it down numerous times in the past), so the first thing I did was pitch my book to BookBub, letting them know that my dates were very flexible. I requested a date close to the end of the month—payday. I did not book any other ads until after I had a BookBub date.
Once my BookBub ad was secured, I used that date as Day 1 of my Countdown promo and set up both US and UK Amazons. (Since we only get one Countdown promo every 90 days, you may as well do both Amazons.) I used all 7 days because it can take a few days to get into the overall Top 100 on Amazon, and I wanted to stay there as long as possible, building momentum.
My promo for SUBMERGED was set for the last few days of October and first few days of November, from October 28 - November 3rd (evening). This worked out great because most people are paid at the end of the month. I’ve found better success when I run a promo during a payday—15th and 30th.
I priced SUBMERGED at $0.99. I selected this price as this title had only been on sale for $0.99 once before, and that was when the SUBMERGED was first published, 8 months earlier.
Then I purchased other advertising, including Kindle Nation Daily, Fussy Librarian, BookSends, Story Finds, Bargain Booksy, Digital Book Today, Ereader News Today, The Kindle Book Review and more.
5 ads ran on Day 1 (Tuesday)
4 ads ran on Day 2 (Wednesday)
2 ads ran on Day 3 (Thursday)
4 ads ran on Day 4 (Friday)
3 ads ran on Day 5 (Saturday)
2 ads ran on Day 6 (Sunday)
2 ads ran on Day 7 (Monday)
Four of the above ads were free for various reasons; 18 ads were paid. I paid a total of $1214 for 22 ads.
I also set up various tweets to go out every couple of hours at random times each day of the promotion. During the promotion, I posted various updates to my Facebook pages, creating excitement and getting my readers and fans involved in where I was in my promotion. I used screen captures to show them when I made the lists. I had screen captures that showed where my book stood in relation to other Big-Name authors.
It’s important to note that prior to this promo and during the first 27 days of October, I had only sold 26 copies of SUBMERGED across Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
Results of my BookBub/Countdown promotion:
On Day 1 (Tuesday) SUBMERGED made Amazon's Top 100 overall bestseller list, which provides extra exposure to potential new readers. (This is the first time I made the Top 100 overall on the 1st day of a promo.) SUBMERGED remained in the Top 100 overall for the first 3 days of my promo. It remained in the Top 1000 overall for a week and in the Top 5000 overall for almost 2 weeks.
SUBMERGED also made Amazon.com’s Top 100 Movers & Shakers list, which provides extra exposure to potential new readers.
In the first 4 days of my promo (October 28-31) I sold* 2421 copies of SUBMERGED. Approx. 500 copies of SUBMERGED sold* in the first week of November (Nov 1-3). In the first 17 days of November I sold* 1000 copies of SUBMERGED. I sold* a total of 3421 copies of SUBMERGED on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk during my promo and in the 14 days afterward.
Three of my other titles’ sales increased approx. 50% during and after the time SUBMERGED was on the Countdown deal.
SUBMERGED, sold from October 28 to November 3 inclusive, was on sale for $0.99, which earned me a 70% royalty (a perk of the Countdown deals) for most, or were KOLL/KU sales. I earned $1633 for SUBMERGED sales* in October; the majority of that income was created in the last 4 days of October.
When my Countdown deal was over, SUBMERGED sold for $4.99, which also earned me 70% royalties for most. I earned approx. $3000 for SUBMERGED sales* in the first 2 weeks of November. And even after those first 2 weeks, I still saw an increase in sales of SUBMERGED. Many of my other titles continued to sell at a higher rate than before this Countdown/BookBub promo.
I earned an approx. total of $4633 for SUBMERGED sales* during my BookBub/Countdown promo and in the 2 weeks following. I averaged a royalty of $1.36/sale.* From the $4633 I earned during this promo from one single title, I paid $1214 for 22 ads, which results in a $3419 profit. If I had to split my profit with a publisher at 50%, I still would have earned $1709.50 for this one single title and I still would’ve seen a profit.
My takeaway: RUNNING A BOOKBUB PROMO WITH A SELECT COUNTDOWN DEAL WORKS! I will do this again…and again.
PS: If BookBub turns one of your books down, try, try again!
*Sales data marked with an asterisk includes Countdown sales or after-Countdown sales plus KOLL and KU.
To summarize, I put SUBMERGED (a psychological thriller) on sale for $0.99 via a KDP Countdown deal on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk from October 28 to November 17, 2015, and I sold 3421 copies. I paid $1214 for 22 ads (including BookBub--$500 Thrillers category), leaving me with a profit of $3419.
Authors: Submit your book to BookBub, and follow a similar marketing plan if they accept your work. I am sure you'll see great results. PS: I recently did a similar BookBub promo for my DIVINE TRILOGY, and it too was a success and sold thousands of copies during my promo--and after.
Currently owned and designed by an international bestselling author and built in 2010, this four-year-old Executive 4-bedroom-plus-den bungalow has 3250 sq. ft. of living
space on one of the largest lots in Tamarack/Meadows, central A/C
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Gas BBQ line and shed
A wrap-around deck with zero-maintenance
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Deck to oversized backyard
The insulated triple car garage with
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All rooms (except bath & laundry)
include TV cable, phone and internet outlets.
Includes all window coverings except sheers
and toppers in master bedroom.
Access to Whitemud and Anthony Henday
highways, transit, shopping centers, and new Meadows rec centre.
*By appointment only. Serious, qualified
buyers only. No realtors looking for real estate to sell.
The main floor (1650 sq. ft.) features an open
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The kitchen is perfect for the home chef
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Open Kitchen/Dining & Living Room
LG appliance package includes: oversized steam
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Master bedroom w. walk-in closet and en suite
The spacious master bedroom with ceiling
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Main floor full bathroom for guests w. solar tube light
For your guests, the main floor bathroom
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Main floor laundry room with LG Steam Washer/Dryer
The large main floor laundry room has a
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cupboards and drawers. This room has been mistaken for a kitchen, it’s that
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Office (or another bedroom) on main floor
A bright den/office has plenty of storage
space in the workstation counter/drawers and in the two wide side-by-side
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This house features a built-in vacuum
system with 2 complete vacuum accessory packages, plus 3 vacuum pans in
kitchen, laundry room and master bathroom.
Lower
floor/basement:
The lower level/basement (1600 sq. ft.) is
completely finished and features a 9’ ceiling and an extra-large family room
with artistic shelves & niches along one wall and deluxe carpeting.
Three bedrooms (one with a walk-in closet
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shelves and drawers), mechanical room, storage under the stairs and a small
room that could be used for storage or as a sitting, reading or craft room. A
separate entrance leads outside.
The oversized full bathroom features a large L-shaped counter with makeup area, sink, walk-in shower and a large
closet for storage.
*The
lower level could be renovated as a 2-3 bedroom in-law or rental suite.
MORE PHOTOS:
Chef's dream kitchen
Kitchen w. LG appliance package
Main pantry in kitchen
Second pantry door
Dining room and kitchen
Kitchen/living/dining room
Kitchen/living/dining room
Space for a china cabinet or shelf!
Living room
Living room
Master bedroom
Master bedroom w. walk-in closet and en suite
Master walk-in closet & en suite bathroom
Make-up counter in master en suite
Master en suite
Massive master en suite shower for 2!
Tons of storage in the office!
Hall 1
Hall 2
Main floor laundry w. LG Steam Washer/Dryer
This laundry room has been mistaken for a kitchen!
Tons of storage space in laundry room plus extra fridge/freezer.
Main floor laundry room - extra fridge/freezer
Main floor full bathroom
Main floor full bath
Main floor full bath
Hot tub on deck (dog not included with sale)
.Backyard party, anyone?
Lower level: fully developed with 3 bedrooms and an oversized full bathroom.
*By appointment only. Serious, qualified buyers only. No realtors looking for real estate to sell.
