In preparation for publishing my upcoming novel Divine Prey (see how I cleverly mentioned that so nobody would notice what I was doing? Subtle, huh?), I’ve put a few short stories up on Amazon to see how the process works. Putting stories on Amazon is pretty simple once you work it out.
Getting stories up there isn’t the issue though. Getting them in front of people takes a little more effort.
Putting anything on Amazon is a bit like winning the lottery; the chance of winning is only slightly more likely than not having a ticket.
So I’ve started experimenting with the marketing options on Amazon to increase my chances of having even a slight win. I’ve tried giveaways in the past. Now for Countdown Deals.
Apparently you can’t do a Countdown Deal if your story’s at the minimum purchase price of 99 cents.
That means raising the price to $2.99, but considering I wasn’t selling any at 99 cents it’s hardly a threat to my prosperity.
After one Countdown Deal for the short story Merrie Dawn, I didn’t get any interest at all. Not even a single page read on Kindle Unlimited.
Mind you, I didn’t advertise at all either.
I just wanted to see what might happen when the price dropped (back) to 99 cents for a week. Nothing, apparently.
The next short story, Wyvern’s Blood, is now on a Countdown Deal. Just to see if it was an aberration, I haven’t mentioned it on social media at all.
By the time I publish this post the deal will be just about over. So far, no interest. No downloads. No page reads.
I guess that answers some questions – putting stories on Countdown Deals alone won’t do anything, but at least I know that now. It’s not an assumption.
The next story off the shelf and into a Countdown Deal is Any Job in a Haze, which begins its deal on March 19 (that was a hint in case you missed it).
This time I’ll mention it on social media and see if there are any differences in results. A single download or page read would be a difference.
After that, I’ve got another short story to upload. I’ll put it up as a giveaway and mention it on social media.
All in all, it appears that offering something cheaply or free on Amazon won’t do your sales any good unless you also advertise it in some way.
What works best though? Let me know if you’ve had any success. Or failures.
Hi Chris, interesting to hear about your research. Amazon is an enormous place, like the jungle, and your conclusion agrees with what you told me a long time ago. As I vaguely contemplate publishing I’ve been looking at the collections where my stories and poetry have appeared. Amazon (and Goodreads) kind of help, because they tend to arrange the works by popularity. Same conclusion: the publishers of the most popular collection have done a lot of work, including get it known, various promotions, reviews here and there etc etc. I should add that they have some big-name authors, and, of course, for a collection there is a small ready-made market associated with the authors, and also some authors help with publicity. All in all, I have to say, it ain’t easy …
Yeah, it’s very difficult for a new author to be seen. It’s definitely got to be a ‘stick together and help each other out’ approach by new authors. We can’t compete otherwise, and even then, it’s still very difficult. The good thing about that approach is that readers are always looking for new stories, and if we can point them to our friends, all the better for everyone.