I did a promotion for three days this week for Blood and Groom. The ebook version of Blood and Groom was free on Kindle from March 20th to 22nd. (It's now only $2.99.)
I've never done anything like this before, so I have nothing to compare the results to, but...
- More free Blood and Groom ebooks were downloaded in those three days than in the prior six months, so that's good! I reached a bunch of new readers!
- For all three of the promo days, Blood and Groom was in the Top 10 Hard-Boiled Mysteries list for the Kindle store, so that's also really good!
- I promoted the freebie extensively on Twitter. I had a lot of help and support from many friends, fellow authors and Tweeps. The promotion netted me a bunch of new followers on Twitter (I'm @JillEdmondson) which is also good, since that broadens my circle. *** A big THANK YOU to all the folks on Twitter who helped to spread the word ***
- The promotion did net me a few actual sales, but not yet as many as I had hoped. However, it may be premature to comment on that. My gut tells me I should wait a couple weeks and give the folks who downloaded Blood and Groom a chance to read it, and then see if they come back to buy Dead Light District and/or The Lies Have It.
- Facebook didn't seem to be terribly effective with this promotion. I linked the freebie info to my own profile and also to the Sasha Jackson Mysteries FB Page. I got a few "likes" and a couple of "shares" but not much else. Interestingly, though, when someone else posted the promo info on HIS FB profile, it actually generated lots of activity and many comments!
Some people may question the idea of giving it away for free when I could be selling it and making some $ on it. I guess, at first blush, it seems like cutting in on your own sales. However, Blood and Groom was first released in November 2009, so it has really run its course. I still do sell paperback copies of it when I do store events and such, but the bulk of the sales came (of course) during the first 6 or 8 months of its life. So, NO, I don't really think I'm cutting into my own sales. I see it more as revitalizing them.
Would I try another freebie event? Yes, definitely!I'd like to do something similar - perhaps with Dead Light District or The Lies Have It, or maybe with a different platform. I don't know yet, but I am definitely looking into it!
Yah.. my freebie book has seen 400 downloads in 2 and a half weeks, and I've sold a total of three copies for the two which follow those in the series. Unfortunately these are realities one must face.
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