I have only one book enrolled in KDP Select. It's been in the program on and off for the past couple of years. I had one really good month in the beginning when I did a promo with the book as Free of three days. It helped me get a bunch of reviews, but after that it dwindled very quickly. I keep trying with it, but really it just restricts where I can sell the book. I'll be taking it out once my three month commitment ends.
77 2014-12-26 06:01:58
Re: Marketing YA books (41 replies, posted in Young Adult Writers)
Susan, I just sent you the list. When I post it is typically something like this:
**From USA Today Bestselling Author Angela Fristoe**
The people of Everod have been waiting for Janie. If she hopes to survive, she'll need to confront who and what she really is. #YA #Paranormal
http://www.amazon.com/Waken-Woods-Evero … 00MQAU9T4/
78 2014-12-25 06:12:28
Re: Marketing YA books (41 replies, posted in Young Adult Writers)
Well, Waken was featured with The Fussy Librarian on Sunday. Sales that day were pretty blah (lowest day since the 11th). It was only $14 so it's not like I lost a bunch of money. I wonder if a different day of the week would make a difference.
79 2014-12-22 07:45:13
Re: Marketing YA books (41 replies, posted in Young Adult Writers)
I'll have to email you the list I have. I do think they work. Today I had the Fussy Librarian promo, but only 1 sale up until about 1pm. Then I went and did a bunch of posts for Waken. A few hours later I was up to 7 sales for Waken. Had a total of 9 sales today, so it was a bit of a drop, but I'm hoping that's because it's so close to Christmas and people are gift shopping for others and not themselves.
80 2014-12-21 08:46:17
Topic: Happy Holidays! (2 replies, posted in Young Adult Writers)
Hopefully everyone is having a happy holiday! If I am slow to respond to reviews or to reviewing, it is most likely due to the vast amounts of work I seem to have brought home with me to do over the next two weeks!
81 2014-12-18 04:16:58
Re: Recognition for a job well done (10 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Well said!
82 2014-12-16 07:42:16
Re: Marketing YA books (41 replies, posted in Young Adult Writers)
Susan Stec wrote:
Hey Ang, you see Becca is thinking about doing another box set in the spring or summer? I hope I make the cut with They're so Vein. I'd love to do it again.
I saw. I wish I had a completed NA/Adult piece. But the only non-YA books I have on the go are barely started. Good Luck with it!
83 2014-12-16 07:41:18
Re: Marketing YA books (41 replies, posted in Young Adult Writers)
Susan Stec wrote:
penang wrote:Well, I've used Facebook paid ads a few times, though it's always been while I have other promotions going on so it's been hard to know whether they had any impact on sales. This month I've slowed my promotions and tried Facebook ads alone for a week. (No promos 2 weeks leading up to this). I had no increase in sales, in fact one of those days was my lowest sales in three months. I didn't have a large budget, $3 a day for Waken, $5 a day for Heal Me for clicks through to my Amazon sales page. But when it was done I was glad because I don't think it was worth it. I had tons of impressions and even a bunch of likes for the ad. Lots of click throughs, but I don't think they translated to sales.
Lesson learned: Facebook paid ads are not worth it, unless you book already has a lot of momentum behind it.
Just got another tip from Rainy on Facebook boosting. She says:
Day 7: 7 Days of Paid Book Marketing #bookmarketing
Posted by rainy on December 7, 2014 in Book Promotion | 0 comments
Many authors I’ve spoken to who have tried Facebook boost reported they made no sales from it. After some experimenting and poking around, I found that most people are not using Facebook boosts to its fullest potential.
See, Facebook defaults to “People who like your Page and their friends.” Seems like a decent selection, right?
Not so much.
There is another choice: “People you choose through targeting.” With that option, you can choose details about your intended audience.
Here is a screen shot of one I have used:
boost post
With a little planning, you can also cater your post to your target audience.
Once I started using the service this way, I made some sales. As with all things, though, your mileage may vary.
***Ang, I tried it last week, put in my age market range and changed my choice of from all to just women, and my sales spiked the day after.
I have to admit I have not tried the boost or promoted posts. I've been a bit hesitant with those as I wasn't sure how they worked. Maybe that will be my next attempt with Facebook. I am still finding nice success with free posts on various Facebook groups. I was being very consistent with them, hitting about 5 a day, with around 35 pages on my rotation. I slowed with them when I was do the ads. On Sunday however, I was having horrible sales (only 1 by 1pm) and Sunday is typically my highest day of the week. I did about 7 posts on various pages and within two hours I was up to 6 sales and then 11 by the end of the day and today I've had 23.
I have 2 promotions set for next week. Sunday with The Fussy Librarian, and then the 27th with eReader Cafe. I'm excited to see what happens with them.
84 2014-12-15 02:06:28
Re: Marketing YA books (41 replies, posted in Young Adult Writers)
Well, I've used Facebook paid ads a few times, though it's always been while I have other promotions going on so it's been hard to know whether they had any impact on sales. This month I've slowed my promotions and tried Facebook ads alone for a week. (No promos 2 weeks leading up to this). I had no increase in sales, in fact one of those days was my lowest sales in three months. I didn't have a large budget, $3 a day for Waken, $5 a day for Heal Me for clicks through to my Amazon sales page. But when it was done I was glad because I don't think it was worth it. I had tons of impressions and even a bunch of likes for the ad. Lots of click throughs, but I don't think they translated to sales.
Lesson learned: Facebook paid ads are not worth it, unless you book already has a lot of momentum behind it.
85 2014-12-12 05:04:36
Re: Point system dying? (61 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
charles_bell wrote:
Sure, the point system encourages the same sincerity of paid reviews of books sold on Amazon or of merchandise sold anywhere over the internet. If the point system exists to encourage reviews, and I am sure it does, why is there otherwise not a genuine review process, on style and substance, and not so much on grammar and punctuation, only for the sake of reviewing, among disinterested strangers who have nothing to get or give, on TNBW? It ought to be simple: find a book that has something which interests you and comment on it to the extent it satisfies or disappoints, and why. But no, everyone either wants to suck up and "make friends" or get reciprocal reviews of the junk they write for the junk they read.
Your words "Like I said about female writers with their stories: Whine, whine, whine." are all I need to read to know about you (I did read your other reviews just to be sure I didn't misjudge you and I am sure I didn't). You are a troll. I have zero respect for someone like you for the simple fact that you seek to tear down others just because you can. You are here with an agenda - to make you feel better about yourself by judging others.
You have zero reviews on your posted work on the site. You have zero reviews on your self-published book (a lack of ranking also implies a lack of sales). Perhaps you should examine the quality of your own words, whether in writing or reviewing, and the attitude that permeates them.
86 2014-12-11 05:39:51
Re: Any ideas (13 replies, posted in Romance Inc.)
I read the first book, and then spoilers for the others because I hate not knowing endings but didn't want to invest time in reading the others. They were just way too long, and frankly after one disgusting sex scene I wasn't interested. I'm not a prude, but just because the word men can be found in menstruation, it doesn't mean I want the two to go together.
87 2014-12-11 04:51:05
Re: Marketing YA books (41 replies, posted in Young Adult Writers)
Susan Stec wrote:
penang wrote:Susan Stec wrote:I have dropped about 20% in sales since November. I had an amazing October. This month seems to be picking up. I think it's just the holidays. I checked my sales this time last year and I dropped during the same time. Let me know if your sales pick up with boosting FB. I'll ask around to see if it helps others.
Sales slowed for me after October and September. Not sure what my average was in September but I was averaging almost 20 sales a day in October and it dropped to about 14 a day in November. So far in December I've been averaging 12 a day. I've slacked off on my marketing. I have a few small ones planned for this month, but need to get back to some of the free stuff I can do daily. Part of it is because I'm trying to get Watch Me done.
Actually, all of those are good averages. Are you figuring in your audible and free ebooks as well? If not, then those sales are amazing. 20 sales a day would be a bit over 600 books in October aprox $1300 in revenue, right? Jesus, you go girl.
That doesn't include audible and I didn't do any free books. Yeah, September was $1257 (Waken was on for 99cents the first 2 weeks), October was $1176 (None of this includes Pandora sales). I find that I get weird 35% on some Amazon markets so it's not always $2.04 royalty per book and there were a few lends for Songbird that were just over a dollar. Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Draft2Digital are only a fraction of those sales. I think B&N is about 7-9 sales a month, and Kobo and D2D are 2-3 a month.
88 2014-12-09 03:36:56
Topic: YA group Looking for more members! (0 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
If you are looking for a YA group to join, stop on by our group! We're hoping to build up a group of YA authors willing to share their thoughts and knowledge about the YA genre!
89 2014-12-08 05:05:03
Re: inline reviews are showing up too soon (11 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
I noticed this as well. I had to stop in the middle of a review and when I came back the author had already responded.
90 2014-12-08 05:02:02
Topic: Marketing opportunity (0 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Rainy Kaye is co-hosting an awesome FREE marketing opportunity for April. If you haven't checked out her blog, she does a bunch of marketing tips that she's had success with. All you have to do is sign up and then in April lower the price of your book to 99cents and share the page like crazy. There are already almost 20 authors signed up (including me and Susan Stec). http://www.rainyofthedark.com/2014/12/0 … portunity/
91 2014-12-08 04:11:51
Re: Marketing YA books (41 replies, posted in Young Adult Writers)
Susan Stec wrote:
I have dropped about 20% in sales since November. I had an amazing October. This month seems to be picking up. I think it's just the holidays. I checked my sales this time last year and I dropped during the same time. Let me know if your sales pick up with boosting FB. I'll ask around to see if it helps others.
Sales slowed for me after October and September. Not sure what my average was in September but I was averaging almost 20 sales a day in October and it dropped to about 14 a day in November. So far in December I've been averaging 12 a day. I've slacked off on my marketing. I have a few small ones planned for this month, but need to get back to some of the free stuff I can do daily. Part of it is because I'm trying to get Watch Me done.
92 2014-12-07 22:52:33
Re: Marketing YA books (41 replies, posted in Young Adult Writers)
Susan Stec wrote:
Are you exchanging reviews well here on the site. It's been dead for the last week or so for me. I need Coffin fit readers right now. Trying to finish it before finishing Dead Girls 2, but it seems like everyone is Site Shy. LOL Haven't seen Apryl, Sheree, or any of the usuals. I see Ann posted here. I need to see what she's posting.
I can look at Coffin Fit this week. I've been completely swamped with work and school and writing.
93 2014-12-07 02:08:49
Re: Marketing YA books (41 replies, posted in Young Adult Writers)
I've never done the boosted or promoted posts. I did do Facebook Ads with a limit of $5 a day for a few weeks. I'm not sure I saw a difference in sales. I've dropped a bit (down by 2-3 sales a day) since October, so I may try them again.
94 2014-12-06 23:07:56
Re: Marketing YA books (41 replies, posted in Young Adult Writers)
Susan Stec wrote:
Did you guys see the site I posted in the NA forum for the 31 days of marketing tips on Rainy Kaye's blog for October. It is freaking amazing. I strongly suggest you check it out.
I did see it 
I read them last month. She had some really great ideas.
95 2014-12-06 01:31:43
Re: Marketing YA books (41 replies, posted in Young Adult Writers)
I've added a few more marketing services. I'll be adding more to the top post. Feel free to post here and I can add it to the list. Make sure to add tell whether it was worth the money or not.
96 2014-11-28 23:49:31
Re: Who is your favourite romance writer? (3 replies, posted in Romance Inc.)
Depends on my mood I guess.
Diana Palmer (although her more recent books have become very repetitive), Lori Foster, Debbie Macomber, Leigh Greenwood, Lora Leigh, Linda Howard, I could go on and on
97 2014-11-26 08:53:57
Re: Marketing YA books (41 replies, posted in Young Adult Writers)
Ann Walters wrote:
What's Riffle? I am woefully horrible lately on marketing.
I did a month long blogfest promo that I set up myself and attracted some new followers to Twitter and blog, and a couple new readers. I hosted a stop on a blog that did the same. If I could just find that alpha teen who will tell a thousand people to read my book...
Riffle is a newsletter marketer. They have different newsletters targeting readers of different genres. They typically work best if you have a deal doing on for your book (Free or 99cents).
98 2014-11-22 01:32:01
Re: ya ages (7 replies, posted in Young Adult Writers)
I think 12 is more middle grade. Most readers will read about older characters rather than younger ones, so your marketing will probably be targeting preteens. That said, there aren't many MG writers on the site right now, so feel free to post in the YA group!
99 2014-11-19 06:32:13
Re: Marketing YA books (41 replies, posted in Young Adult Writers)
I have used Riffle for a promo on Waken. I paid $22.50. I had a lot of other promos going on at that time, but I did mark it as a green promotion to do again, so it must have been worth it
100 2014-11-19 01:03:16
Re: Welcome! (12 replies, posted in Romance Inc.)
So glad this group has been started! My YA books have a touch of romance, but I am thinking of beginning an adult romance series. I love reading romance - I've been known to speed read 4-5 romance novels in a week
