Month: April 2017

The Lost Centurion: Bookbub–Day Three

Monica La Porta, , , , , , , Leave a comment

This is the last Bookbub-related post for this week. I might come back next week with more data if the numbers change, but so far, the post promo isn’t looking  anything to write back home.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #75 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

  • #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Paranormal > Ghosts
  • #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Paranormal > Demons & Devils

This is it, in a few hours, The Lost Centurion will be out of the Top 100, and it will become invisible again.

Amazon Downloads: 671

Amazon Sales: $48.43

Smashwords Downloads: 91 Nook, 3 Smashwords, but the data is incomplete.

D2D  Sales: $116.43 – $105.74= $10.69

Reviews: 0

Conclusions: After three days, I’m still losing money on this promo. The Lost Centurion will be out of permafree as soon as the downloads dwindle, and it will get back to $3.99 like the rest of the novels in the series. It’s time to find another strategy to promote my books. Permafree gets stale after a while and it isn’t sustainable in the long run. Back to the drawing board.

The Lost Centurion: Bookbub–Day Three

The Lost Centurion: The Day After the Bookbub

Monica La Porta, , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Let’s start today’s post by saying that I am not impressed by the data I collected at the end of the first day post-Bookbub. The day’s earnings were lukewarm at best, something I’ve achieved by myself on a good day without any promo.

At the moment, ranking for The Lost Centurion have disappeared from its Amazon page, but the last time I checked, it was lingering at #40. I will add the latest ranking as soon as I have it.

Amazon Downloads: 1,865

Amazon sales: $38,11

I’ve realized only now that The Lost Centurion is still available through Smashwords and not D2D, while the rest of the Immortals series is sold wide through D2D.

Smashwords Downloads, data from the last three days: iTunes 1,575, Nook 1,032, Kobo 35. Frankly, those numbers have pleasantly surprised me. I didn’t expect the promo to be so successful wide. This is definitely uplifting and mitigate what I said a few sentences ago, at the beginning of this post.

D2D Sales: 105.74 – 95.39= $10.4

Reviews received on the day after the Bookbub: 3 – ranging from 5* to 1*, bringing the total number of reviews to 213, with an average of 4.2 out of 5.

I’ll post again tomorrow with a final report about this promo.

PS

Amazon ranks reappeared:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

  • #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Paranormal > Vampires
  • #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Paranormal > Angels
  • #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Paranormal > Ghosts
The Lost Centurion: The Day After the Bookbub

The Lost Centurion: Bookbub–First Day Results

Monica La Porta, , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Here is the data at the end of the first day of The Lost Centurion’s Bookbub promo:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

  • #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Paranormal > Psychics
  • #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > New Adult & College

So it went from #130 up to #14, not the podium, but at least in the first 20 free bestsellers page.

Amazon downloads: 8,417

Amazon sales: 33 books (mainly in the Immortals series) = $79.17 earned on April 25th.

Wide downloads: I’m waiting for D2D’s results.

Wide sales: I’m waiting for D2D’s results, but as of yesterday, the whole month’s earnings totaled $95.39.

Reviews: 1 review off the bat: 4*, lucky number 210 (It’s probably from the Freebooksy promo)

Conclusions so far: In the past, I made the Bookbub money back on the first day, but as I said in yesterday’s post, The Lost Centurion has been free for a while, and I’ve promoted it at least once every other month. Plus, it’s 2:01 am in the US as I write, and there are already 419 downloads on Amazon. I’ll report later in the day with more stats.

The Lost Centurion: Bookbub–First Day Results

The Lost Centurion’s Stats, Pre-Bookbub

Monica La Porta, , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Before the Bookbub starts, and with the Freebooksy just ended, I’ll write down a few numbers to keep the data straight.

First of all, a few details about this promo. The Lost Centurion has been permafree for a while, and I’ve promoted this title several times. Recently, free downloads have dwindled to a handful a day, and a change of promotional strategy was called for. In the indie-publishing world, there’s no time to linger, we must study the market and make changes rapidly.

Monday, April 24th: my paid promo with Freebooksy totaled 923 downloads. Overall, a good result for a book that has been promoted several times already and it has been free for probably 2 years (I’ll have to find out when exactly I put The Lost Centurion for free the first time.)

Monday, April 25th: at 12:01 am, The Lost Centurion is #146 in the Free Amazon Best Seller List, #1 in demons & devils, psychic, and angels.

I paid $100 for the Freebooksy promo, and $226 for the Bookbub.

Money earned this month, before the Bookbub starts: $565.78 on Amazon, and $95.39 wide. So far,  this has been a poor month for sales, and it’s the end of it.

Now, I wait for the Bookbub to start…

PS

Monday, April 25th, at 2:05 am:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #130 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

  • #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Paranormal > Angels
  • #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Paranormal > Psychics
  • #2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Paranormal > Ghosts
The Lost Centurion’s Stats, Pre-Bookbub

The Lost Centurion’s Last Hurrah

Monica La Porta, , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

61Gc7i5E7ZLIn the indie authors’ world, smart minds have been wondering  for a while if the era of the permafree has passed its prime. At the moment, I can’t remember when I first put The Lost Centurion for free, but it’s definitely longer than a year, probably two. The number of free downloads per day has dramatically decreased, which translates in fewer sales for the rest of the series. When I was accepted for a Bookbub for today, I decided it was time to put The Lost Centurion back to paid as soon as the promotion ends. Because Bookbub accepted me just before I was about to leave for two weeks, I only had two days to look for additional advertising venues, and only Freebooksy was available. Bookgorilla was all taken for the month, and Robin Reads rejected me. So, I stacked a Freebooksy yesterday, April the 24th,  Bookbub today, April the 25th, and I’ll send my newsletter on the following day. I am in Europe as I write, and Bookbub will start in six hours. I’ll write back in a few days to report final numbers. Meanwhile, thanks to the 936 downloads brought by Freebooksy, The Lost Centurion starts at #146 in the Amazon Free chart, and it’s #1 in a few categories: angels, psychics, demons and devils. I don’t expect spectacular results with Bookbub because this is the third time this title is promoted by them (the first time it was by itself, and the second as part of a boxed set), but it’s a good way to end a permafree nonetheless. Talk to you soon.

The Lost Centurion’s Last Hurrah