Clicks

Both the UK and US ads did well over the weekend. In fact, the UK ad used up all the budget on both Saturday and Sunday, the first time I remember that happening. Obviously, clicks don’t necessarily translate into sales. The Amazon rankings reflected good results, though, and it’ll be interesting to see how many copies sold last week. First got into the top 4,000 books overall on Kindle in the UK, and Top 25 in Space Exploration Science Fiction. I’m pleased to get such good results because, as we’ve established, I’m no marketing genius.

Must-Read

This has been a good week on a couple of fronts. Next Time was included by Independent Book Review on their list of must-reads for the first half of 2024. That is incredibly cool and the book is still 11 days from release. I added links to it on the main page of this site and will definitely be using it in promo ads. The article uses the write-up from the review itself, which hasn’t gone live yet. It’s a really nice honor and adds to the positive response so far.

The other thing is that my new ads for First blew up and got lots of clicks, both in the UK and in the US. In fact, the response was the best I’ve ever had for any of the ads I’ve run on BookBub. The clicks apparently translated to sales as First made it to the top 5,000 Kindle books in the UK. Not just SF or Space Exploration, but overall Kindle books. That’s amazing. I didn’t see a corresponding rise on the US charts and it made me think something had to be wrong, like people were clicking on the ad but not buying a copy. It took me awhile but I figured it out. In the UK, every single one of the clicks took the reader to Amazon UK, and absolutely none to Apple. In the US, Canada, and Australia version of the ads, the clicks were distributed differently, with more going to Apple and very few to Amazon. Overall, I think it’s been a good week for sales, especially in the UK. Let’s get with it, Yanks!

Missed

Yesterday I totally spaced on posting here due to the US holiday. It wasn’t that I was traveling or anything, just that I spent time writing in the morning and for some reason never thought of a blog post. So, I’m combining yesterday’s and tomorrow’s post into one. Twice the value in one post. Anyway, First made it to the 50-review mark on the US Amazon site over the weekend. The UK total is 46 - not sure why there’s a difference but okay. That prompted me to create new ads for both markets, using the number of stars and overall rating in the ad. Plus, I pulled a quote from one of the reviews and used it, all of which combined into a lot of clicks. Like dozens. I haven’t seen an upsurge in the US on Amazon, but that’s because a lot of the ad clicks are going to Apple or to Amazon CA and AUS. Where I did see a big change was in the UK. My ad specific to the UK was apparently quite popular and the ranking rose very high. In fact, I took a screen shot of my book next to The Martian from the rankings page so I could post that my book was outselling it. For a day, or part of a day, at least. Lest anyone think I don’t have a sense of reality, I totally understand that The Martian has been out for years, sold millions of copies, has an exponential number of ratings compared to mine, and even has a celebrity on the front cover. It was just kind of fun to see them side-by-side with my little book one spot ahead for a moment. You have to enjoy the little things.

Pushing 50

The number of Amazon ratings of First stands at 49, with a 4.6 average. I’ve watched the number ratchet up slowly and 50 is within reach. Like I’ve said before, only a small percentage of readers actually rate a book, and I’m grateful for everyone who has. There’s not something mystical about reaching the count of 50, but maybe I can use that in some of my ad promotions. Maybe it’s not mystical, but there is something about that number in the minds of people who see it and think hey, 50 ratings is decent enough for me to give the book a try. I’ll have to think about that one. In the meantime, I’m working on promos for Next Time. This time around I’m trying to have a big release day to get it up the charts. A little different from First, so we’ll see how it goes.

Another

Received another review of Next Time late last week from Independent Book Review and it was fantastic. Probably one of the best reviews I’ve ever received. It’s supposed to go live on their website at some point and I’ll post the link on the main page. They sent me an email with a pdf preview of the write-up, and phrases like “A time-travel novel exceptionally worthy of a binge-read” and “Of the many time-travel novels I’ve read, this is undeniably among my favorites.” It ends with “If you love time-travel stories complete with action and romance, Next Time would be the best choice you’ve made in a while.” Wow, not sure it can get much better than that. I will say it’s incredibly uplifting to get such great reviews. I think it’s the best book I’ve ever written and it’s nice to see other people respond to it so positively. Less than three weeks ‘til the release date and I hope plenty of people discover the book and enjoy it.

Stars

I need to take a moment to apologize to my fellow authors. I’m guilty of this and now I know better: browsing for books but discounting a book because it only has a few reader ratings. The book might have five stars out of those ratings, but if only 15 readers rated it, then I’ve tended toward finding something else to read. And that’s wrong. I now know how tough it is to get readers to rate your book, even just by clicking on the number of stars, much less a written review. Based on my experience, you’re lucky to get 5% of readers who follow up with a rating. And probably less than that. It takes time to build up the number of ratings, especially if you’re self-published. So, no more ignoring a book just because it’s earning its stars. If the book looks interesting and I want to read it, I’m going to be part of those people who leave a rating and not let the lack of reviewers deter me.

More Promos

I’m running a promo today and another next Friday. This is the (not) fun part of self-publishing. I have the ongoing ads through BookBub, but I’ve found that without an occasional promo the sales tend to stay flat and slowly decrease over time. I don’t say that like I’m surprised, just that it takes maintenance and some occasional extra work to keep sales floating. I’ve also found that changing an ad for the better on a Friday makes a difference for the weekend, when it seems more people are browsing for something to read. Hopefully, these promos go well and I’ll have something good to report.

UK Ad

I wrote here last week about the ad that didn’t go over very well in the UK, figuring that using the book title of The Right Stuff didn’t translate well. Seems that my theory was correct. When I switched to a different ad that showed the cut in price, the clicks and sales went back up. In fact, I’m pretty sure First did better in the UK over the weekend than it did in the US. That just goes to show that I need to be aware of my audience and what cultural touchpoints we have in common. Maybe I need to spend an extended stay there so I can research what translates and what doesn’t. Wouldn’t that be fun? Wonder if I could write that off on my taxes…

10 Stars

In short order at the end of last week I received two reviews for Next Time. They both came in quickly, as I’d sent the review request about two weeks ago. It was exciting to get two - count them, TWO - 5-star reviews in the space of 24 hours. For anyone counting along at home, that’s 10 stars in two days. I’m extremely proud of this book and it’s incredibly satisfying to see that other people think it’s good, too. One of the reviewers provided a scoresheet, which is very helpful, as well as brief comments that aren’t in the text of the public review. But I really appreciate them, so here they are: “This novel is exceptionally well written. I appreciated the complexity that went into creating a time travel novel that didn't leave big gaps. It helped it seem more realistic.” How about that? I joke about how much editing goes into a book, particularly this one, but it’s true. And it’s awesome to see recognition for all that effort.

Wrong Stuff

The nice thing about running ads on BookBub is you can find what works and what doesn’t. Usually in pretty short order. I’ve been running ads for the past few months targeted directly at readers in the UK. In most cases, it’s the same ad I’ve run in the US, Canada, and Australia, but the price in the ad shows pounds instead of dollars. The ads have been very successful, at least until this week. The ad shows the front cover of First, with the ad text reading, “The Right Stuff meets The Martian.” Seems decent enough, right? Until I got zero clicks over the past three days on that ad in the UK. Which made me realize, duh, that The Right Stuff probably doesn’t resonate there the way it does in the US. It’s a story of the first astronauts, the pioneering spirit, the in-your-face cockiness of those early test pilots. I’m sure there are people in the UK who appreciate that book by Tom Wolfe, but apparently not a lot of them. I get it. So, today I changed the ad to one that’s worked previously. We’ll see how it goes.

More Vid

I dropped another video yesterday across social media and the response has been positive. They’re on my LinkedIn profile as well as my Facebook Author’s Page in case anyone’s looking for them. The topic of this one was about the fact that Next Time is classified in the romance category. Yeah, I never would’ve guessed I’d write a romance, either. But as I said in the video, I own it. The idea camped out in my brain and I couldn’t let it go to waste and nobody else was going to tell that story. And I’m glad I did it. I think it’s a great story and the best book I’ve written so far. I’m interested to see what the world thinks of it.

List

Next Time is now on my lists. By that I mean it’s showing up in my dashboards in various places, like Amazon Author and Goodreads. Apparently, it even sold a paperback copy since on Saturday Amazon had it ranked, which surprised me a little bit. But certainly a big thank you to whoever pre-ordered it! I started working on pre-order ads last week and will likely start pumping those out in a couple of weeks. It’s kind of exciting to see the book in my lists and enjoying the little jolt of seeing it and still being surprised that it’s showing up. Oh, there’s still a lot of work to do, but at least there are moments of happiness along the way.

Worldwide

The nice thing about going through a publisher who distributes your books is the global reach. The additional bonus is using BookBub for ads, since they can advertise in multiple markets and get sales in those other regions. I checked my publishing account this morning and sales from March had come into the accounting dashboard. It was kind of nice to see sales from the UK, Australia, and Canada, and know that I have readers there. I mean, I’ve known it at some level, but it’s nice to see in black and white. The other interesting tidbit is that those sales were through the Apple Bookstore. Everyone concentrates on Amazon, which is fair since that’s where most sales take place, but the opportunity to advertise and get people using other eReaders, like iPads or Nook or Kobo, shouldn’t be ignored.

Videos

Last September-October, when I was preparing to publish First, I did a series called 20 Questions in 20 Days. Looking back, it was a handful. Probably too much, but hey, I was excited to get my book out and wanted to be visible. I shared the questions on social media, and I think I’ve commented before that the best exposure I got was on LinkedIn. This time around I decided to be a little less obnoxious about it, and use a video format instead of text. Let’s be clear: that’s not my first choice. I’m not keen on being on camera or in pictures, but I decided to do something different and out of my comfort zone. I posted the first one yesterday to Insta, FB, and LinkedIn, and so far the reaction has been positive. I noticed last evening that the last five seconds of the video were cut off, which means either I inadvertently edited the video, or the upload had a hiccup. Next week I’ll try to keep it shorter and then do some quality control.

Still Writing?

One of the questions I tend to get from people who know my hobby is writing is this: are you still writing? Or a variant like, are you working on something new? The answer is that yes, I’m still writing, but not as much as I’d like. It’s honestly been hit or miss since First came out. I’ve spent a lot of time on researching and doing ads and promotions, as well as getting Next Time ready for publication. I certainly don’t feel any continuity in the stories I’ve worked on, which is probably one reason why I put aside the series I’d hoped to start in favor of working on the sequel to First. I wish I could say I had more to show for the last 6-7 months in the form of writing. Maybe I need to come up with another way of working, much like I did in getting a better cadence with writing in the first place. Maybe a M-W-F schedule for writing and T-Th for other stuff, or vice versa. Now that I’ve identified the problem, it’s time to come up with a solution.

Box o’ Books

My author’s copies of Next Time arrived early! They weren’t supposed to be here until today, but apparently someone at UPS is an overachiever. They actually got here a couple of days ago while I was out of town. The Wife showed great restraint in not opening them herself. This time around I had her take a video so I could post it on social media, and that seems to have worked well. I think I’m going to try the same thing with my Seven Questions in Seven Weeks series, which I’m starting next Tuesday as the countdown to the release date. Less questions, more video. Maybe that’ll be my tagline for the videos.

Contests

I’ve already entered Next Time in several contests. One I mentioned previously, and now I’ve entered the book in a couple more since it’s now live on Amazon and I can link to it in the entry forms. It’s a little odd this time around since the category is usually something like “Romance-Sci-Fi/Fantasy.” Maybe it’s a good thing, since hopefully the pool of contestants is lower than some of the bigger SF categories I’ve entered before. The good news is I’m starting to get the book out there, but the downside is that the contest winners are announced later in the year. In the meantime, I need to start getting it in the hands of reviewers.

New Tool

Last week, after doing some research on how to better utilize keywords to optimize search results, I ended up with a new tool. Publisher Rocket helps narrow down relevant search terms for your book, even to the point of telling you how many people use a search term on Amazon in a given month. It also shows things like how many competitors are in the running for each term or phrase, average price of books, and even average monthly earnings for those books. It’s an interesting tool and I have a lot to learn about how it dissects the data and how I should interpret all the components. It was a little pricey, $97 for a perpetual program to install on your computer instead of a subscription to a web-based interface, but let’s see if it pays off. I’ll let you know how it goes.

All the Things

Now that we’re in the run-up to Next Time’s release date, I’m recalling all the things I had to do with First. Fortunately, I have a list, but it seems I didn’t put every single thing on that list. For instance, the book page is already live on Amazon, at least for the Kindle version. I need to link it to my author profile on Goodreads and Reedsy, among others. And update my author bio everywhere to reflect the release of the new book. I also need to spend some time changing metadata and probably the book description. Lots of details to take care of, but that’s part of the fun, I suppose. In other news, I’m up to 38 reviews on Amazon. Almost to 40! And maintaining a 4.5 out of 5 stars. That means a lot to me. 60% of the ratings are 5-star, and 88% are 4-star and above. I’m so glad people are getting some enjoyment out of it.

Bump and Pub

Yesterday’s promotion campaign seems to have worked. I got a nice bump in the Amazon rankings, shoving First up to the highest point in the Space Exploration category that I think I’ve captured so far. This morning it was at #66, although I think it must have been a little higher since the overall Kindle rankings are down about 3,000 spots since yesterday. I also had good response to my BookBub ad, but based on the stats I can attribute the overall bump to the promotion.

The other thing that happened yesterday was in setting a publication date for Next Time: June 11th. Last evening I sent it off to a reviewer that did me right with First, and I’m now scoping out dates for contests and other marketing plans. It’ll be interesting to try and keep two books going, but I’m excited to get this book out for people to read. Over the next few weeks I’ll be doing the cover reveal and promotions on social media and such. Which, of course, includes this website and blog.