Okay, so I’ve promised some hard numbers to let you all know if it is a good idea to make your first book of a series free and here it is. Due to so many different price points were experimented with, borrows, and different royalty rates, I’m only going to report the quantity sold to avoid confusion.
(Please bring your expectations down a bit before I divulge since I’m in no ways a bestseller at this point, but I’m so pleased with the progress this promotion has brought.)
Before this free promotion, I’ve sold a total of…
(wait for it)
9 ebooks of Infinite Devotion since publishing in mid-February to mid-March!
(I know pretty underwhelming.)
Since publishing Infinite Sacrifice since mid-November—not including free promotions—I’ve sold 50 ebooks.
So, up until my prolonged free promotion, that’s a total of—hold on I need to whip my calculator out to compile such a monstrous number—59 sales!
Since the free promotion began mid-March I’ve given away 7,070 copies of Infinite Sacrifice.
Yay!
I’ve sold 73 ebooks of Infinite Devotion since the promotion, with an additional 2 copies of Infinite Devotion and 6 copies of Infinite Sacrifice in the UK (still hasn’t price matched there yet).
Yippee!
So, I’ve sold more and made more money this month than I have since November.
Plus, I’ve received stellar reviews and ratings on Amazon, Goodreads, and Shelfari. (Priceless!)
Wahoo!
(It doesn’t take much to make me happy)
I saw increase in the second book immediately and the sales have been steadily increasing. If even 10% of the 6,700 people who have downloaded it this month alone, return to buy the second book that will be 670 sales!
Well, I probably shouldn’t count all my eggs yet, but I’m hopeful that this trend will only improve.
This only makes me wish I had Infinite Loss to release since my sales would probably double, but I can’t rush it out. It is motivation to finish it since the more books I have out, the better my sales. If sales continue at this rate (or increase *crosses fingers*) then it will chip away at the $3,000 expense of getting both books out. Once I pay that all back, the rest will be profit from then on. That is the beauty of ebooks, once you pay back your investment it can continue bringing in income without additional expense.
So will I be continuing this free promotion?
Yes, I’m going to keep this up. It’s getting my book out there.
Now if I could only make it free on Amazon UK!
Wow Lauren that’s awesome. What inspiration for fellow future self-publishers. Your blog will be my map for how to get mine out there. Thanks again for all your helpful advice. Can’t wait for your third book!
Thanks Erin! That’s why I wanted to post this for you all. I strongly advise having something to make free to get attention. If you have a great collection of short stories or novella—get it out there! Plus, if you have a 100,000+ first novel, take 20,000 words (at a good stopping spot) and make it a free novella to get people to buy your first book. You will still make as much money on the first book but with the free novella you have free advertising!
Imagine if the uk could have it free! Your stories would be a hit since they take place there!
Wow! I’m so happy for you! That’s great! I can’t wait til I’m at this stage of the process, but I know I’ve got a looong time before I do get there. And I love your sense of humor :b
Thanks Yesenia! I can’t wait to see what you’ve been working on!
Thanks so much for sharing. What a great strategy! I am glad it has worked well for you and I am sure sales will pick up in months to come. 🙂
Thanks Sara! I’ll make sure to post after a few months to report if this works long term.
Congratulations! I love reading about pricing experiments. 🙂 I am releasing my 2nd book in one of my series in May, and I’m hoping to see a similar uptick (although I’ll offer promo pricing on the first book- not free). Thanks for sharing your numbers!
Thanks, Cege! I love pricing experiment reports too, which is why I knew I had to give my numbers. It helps so much to see what’s working for people and what’s not. Each author has to play with things in order to find what’s the best marketing strategy for their books. It’s so great that we have all of these marketing tools available. Good luck with your second book and please report your experience!
This is super exciting, Lauren. I’m so happy for you! I am sure, with that many copies sold, you are well on your way to building quite a following. I bet you’ll have people lining up for the next book! 🙂
Hopefully, some readers will be anticipating book three! Now I’ve got pressure to get it finished! Thanks so much, Erin!