Pleased with the Results of My FREE Days for Outlaw Heroes

Hi all,

Outlaw Heroes #6 in Free Children's Fiction.

If you read this blog, you know that I had three FREE days on Amazon for my children's ebook, Outlaw Heroes, on March 14-16^th. I must say, I am pleasantly surprised, and very pleased, with the results of those days. I went into it, already a veteran of Amazon Free days with my book,Memories, not expecting huge numbers of downloads. And while I didn't experiences one of those 10,000 plus download days, I do think that Outlaw Heroes did very well.

The Stats and Numbers

I'm not going to go into major detail about my free days' numbers (don't want to bore you) but I'll just give you a few numbers to get an idea on how the days went. Before the free days started, this is how Outlaw Heroes ranked on Amazon:

     Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #168,478 Paid in Kindle Store 

#18 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Children's Fiction > Historical Fiction > United  
States > Westerns

Near the end of the free days – I did have to finally go to sleep – here is how Outlaw Heroes ranked on Amazon:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #135 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > History & Historical Fiction

#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Children's Fiction > Historical Fiction > United States > Westerns

#6 Children's Fiction
#16 Children's E-Books
#1 in Middle-Grade Fiction
#1 in Action Fiction

As you can see, I got very close to hitting the top 100 in the Free Kindle Store – I just didn't do quite well enough to make it. But that is okay, because I feel like I did very well with my children's novel.

The total number of downloads for Outlaw Heroes for the three days went as follows:

·         3,342 for the U.S.

·         17 for the U.K.

·         5 for D.E.

·         1 for France

My best numbers were in the last day on Friday – between 4:30 PM and 11:00 PM, over 1,000 copies of Outlaws was downloaded. It as really fun to see that number shoot up!

Did the FREE Days Help My eBook?

I do believe that the free days did indeed help my book go from almost obscurity up within the ranks of other children's books so that now it is being seen regularly on Amazon. That is really what the free days are all about – improving your rank on Amazon so you will hopefully stay high and sell more books. Today is the first day back to paid sales and although I am not making a killing, I have sold a few books so far and my ranking is improving with each sale. Outlaw Heroes would not have been seen by this many people if it hadn't been for the free days, so I think they do make a big difference.

What These Numbers Also Tell Me

The fact that this fun little adventure novel for kids did so well with free downloads tells me that parents are still looking for a good book for their children to read that doesn't have sex, innuendo, violence or even witches, wizards, vampires or zombies. A few years ago, when I was shopping this book around to agents and publishers, no one was interested because it was not on trend with what was being marketed to kids at the time. In other words, it was not the next Harry Potter or Twilight series, so therefore it was irrelevant. Nothing against Harry or Bella – I loved the Harry Potter series as much as the next mom – but I really believed there was room in the publishing world for a one-time, fun adventure book as well as those powerful series'. So it makes me feel good that so many people wanted to download this children's books, and hopefully they will enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.

I want to send out a big Thank You to everyone who helped me promote my FREE days for Outlaw Heroes and to all my Twitter Followers who so kindly re-tweeted my many, many tweets about the promotion. I couldn't have had a successful promotion without everyone's help.

Cheers,

Deanna

After My Free Days on Amazon



Memories #55 in Contemporary Fiction

Hi all,

As you know from my last post – My KDP Select Experiment Day3 – I placed my romance novel, MEMORIES on Amazon for three FREE days to try to move it up in the ranks and increase sales once the free days were done. I succeeded fairly well with moving up in the ranks – but I'm sorry to say that the sales did not come fast and furious over the weekend.  Here is how things went.

How Memories Ranked After the Free Days

The morning after the free days ended – Saturday – my Amazon Sellers Rank went from #266 in the Free Kindle Store up to #259,655 in Paid Kindle Store – basically it went back to where I started before my free days.  Throughout the day, however, as sales trickled in, the ranking did get better.  Here's how it did:

Day 1

3:30 PM – After 1 book sale and 1 borrow - #76,171 Paid Kindle Store

5:30 PM – After 2 book sales - #47,651 Paid Kindle Store

9:15 PM – After 6 book sales and 2 borrows - #41,377 Paid Kindle Store

Day 2

1:00 AM – 10 Sales & 2 borrows - #26,564 Paid Kindle Store

12:30 PM – 13 Sales & 3 borrows - #11,972 Paid Kindle Store - #55 in Contemporary Fiction

8:30 PM – 21 Sales & 3 borrows - #10,168 Paid Kindle Store

11:00 PM – 27 Sales & 5 borrows - #10,168 Paid Kindle Store

Day 3

No new sales – ranking went from #12,044 up to #14,061 during day.

Sadly, I had a total of 27 U.S. sales, 2 U.K. sales and 5 borrows for the entire weekend.

So, Was My KDP Select Experiment a Success?

That depends upon what you consider a success – money or ranking. The good news – I did manage to get Memories up in the rankings at Amazon so now it is being recommended along with other books. Bad news – I didn't have the multitude of sales that other people experienced after their free days. However, since I started at zero because Memories is a brand new book on Amazon, the sales I did have over the weekend are a good start. So, was it a success? I think it was. I am now ranked pretty high on Amazon and hopefully I will continue to sell a few books at a time to stay there.

Another positive to consider is that my book is now in the hands of over 1,700 people due to the free days. That means that if even one-quarter of them read it, they may actually like it and want to read my other book, so that will mean more sales. I am already hard at work on my next book which I hope to complete by this fall, so I will have even more to offer readers and that will, hopefully, continue the cycle.

No One Said it Would be Easy

For some people, the free days boost them to the top and help them make a quick buck off of their book. I think it's great for them and I wish them well. For the rest of us, it is a slow climb from unknown author to bestselling author. That's okay. As long as I keep selling a few books here and there, I can wait a little longer until I have a library of books that bring in a steady stream of income. No one ever said this book selling thing would be easy – but at least I'm doing what I love and making a little money – what more can you ask for?

Cheers,

Deanna