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Post by Becca Mills on Apr 13, 2014 1:31:01 GMT -5
All my books are currently in Select; I'm watching Google, though. So far, I get more in borrows than I got from Smashwords and D2D combined, so it's worth my while to stay in Select. Maybe when my Select term is up for Dragons and Dreams (my best seller)I'll try it at Google, see what happens. Trouble is, I understand it's difficult to take something out of Google once it's there. I don't know. Could be. I've definitely heard that about Kobo. One problem with GP is that they discount prices, so you have to set the price just right so that it'll end up the same as your Amazon price after discounting. Otherwise, the two platforms will get into a price-matching war, and Amazon will get ticked off at you, even though it's not your doing. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2014 1:32:05 GMT -5
All my books are currently in Select; I'm watching Google, though. So far, I get more in borrows than I got from Smashwords and D2D combined, so it's worth my while to stay in Select. Maybe when my Select term is up for Dragons and Dreams (my best seller)I'll try it at Google, see what happens. Trouble is, I understand it's difficult to take something out of Google once it's there. I don't know. Could be. I've definitely heard that about Kobo. One problem with GP is that they discount prices, so you have to set the price just right so that it'll end up the same as your Amazon price after discounting. Otherwise, the two platforms will get into a price-matching war, and Amazon will get ticked off at you, even though it's not your doing. Do you know how much higher to make them? For example, is there a percentage to follow?  |
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Post by Becca Mills on Apr 13, 2014 1:42:06 GMT -5
I don't know. Could be. I've definitely heard that about Kobo. One problem with GP is that they discount prices, so you have to set the price just right so that it'll end up the same as your Amazon price after discounting. Otherwise, the two platforms will get into a price-matching war, and Amazon will get ticked off at you, even though it's not your doing. Do you know how much higher to make them? For example, is there a percentage to follow? I think TK's thread on Google Play establishes where to set your GP price to achieve common Amazon points like $2.99 and $3.99, but I haven't really focused on it since my own book is free! |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2014 2:39:45 GMT -5
Do you know how much higher to make them? For example, is there a percentage to follow? I think TK's thread on Google Play establishes where to set your GP price to achieve common Amazon points like $2.99 and $3.99, but I haven't really focused on it since my own book is free! Thanks, I take it that's a thread on here. I'll look for it soon. |
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Post by Becca Mills on Apr 13, 2014 2:44:42 GMT -5
I think TK's thread on Google Play establishes where to set your GP price to achieve common Amazon points like $2.99 and $3.99, but I haven't really focused on it since my own book is free! Thanks, I take it that's a thread on here. I'll look for it soon. Oh no, sorry, it's on KB. Here it is: www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,167655.0.html TK's OP offers step-by-step directions on uploading to GP. It's invaluable. |
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Post by Becca Mills on Apr 30, 2014 22:30:28 GMT -5
Just updating with this month's numbers, for those interested in permafree performance:
all Amazons: 6183 (Nov13) + 780 (Dec13) + 663 (Jan14) + 347 (Feb14) + 383 (Mar14) + 262 (Apr14) = 8618
Google: 974 (Nov-Mar) + 537 (Apr) = 1511
Smashwords: 173 (Nov-Mar) + 119 (Apr) = 292
B&N: 150 (Nov-Mar) + 131 (Apr) = 281
Kobo: 85 + ? [Kobo's down at the mo]
Drivethru Fiction: 32 (Nov-Mar) + 1 (Apr) = 33
iTunes: 24 (Nov-Mar) + 9 (Apr) = 33
Total: 10835
I notice non-Amazon sites are finally starting to pick up a bit:
- way more moved at Google than on the Amazons this month; up to 12 reviews there, now
- the month at Smashwords = 70% of the previous 5-month total
- the month at B&N = 90% of the previous 5-month total
- the month at iTunes = 40% of the previous 5-month total (still pathetic)
There are about 45000 copies in circulation, only about 1260 of which were paid for.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2014 9:32:59 GMT -5
Just updating with this month's numbers, for those interested in permafree performance: all Amazons: 6183 (Nov13) + 780 (Dec13) + 663 (Jan14) + 347 (Feb14) + 383 (Mar14) + 262 (Apr14) = 8618 Google: 974 (Nov-Mar) + 537 (Apr) = 1511 Smashwords: 173 (Nov-Mar) + 119 (Apr) = 292 B&N: 150 (Nov-Mar) + 131 (Apr) = 281 Kobo: 85 + ? [Kobo's down at the mo] Drivethru Fiction: 32 (Nov-Mar) + 1 (Apr) = 33 iTunes: 24 (Nov-Mar) + 9 (Apr) = 33 Total: 10835 I notice non-Amazon sites are finally starting to pick up a bit: - way more moved at Google than on the Amazons this month; up to 12 reviews there, now - the month at Smashwords = 70% of the previous 5-month total - the month at B&N = 90% of the previous 5-month total - the month at iTunes = 40% of the previous 5-month total (still pathetic) There are about 45000 copies in circulation, only about 1260 of which were paid for. One of those 262 in April was me - think I shall soon be joining the chorus of people waiting for that sequel  |
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Post by Becca Mills on May 1, 2014 18:52:37 GMT -5
One of those 262 in April was me - think I shall soon be joining the chorus of people waiting for that sequel Aww ... thanks, Griff. So kind! |
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Post by Becca Mills on May 31, 2014 22:26:12 GMT -5
Updating, for those interested in permafree performance:
all Amazons: 6183 (Nov13) + 780 (Dec13) + 663 (Jan14) + 347 (Feb14) + 383 (Mar14) + 262 (Apr14) + 245 (May14) = 8863
Google: 974 (Nov-Mar) + 537 (Apr) + 619 (May14) = 2130
Smashwords: 173 (Nov-Mar) + 119 (Apr) + 32 (May14) = 324
B&N: 150 (Nov-Mar) + 131 (Apr) + 157 (May14) = 438
Kobo: 72
Drivethru Fiction: 32 (Nov-Mar) + 1 (Apr) + 4 (May14) = 33
iTunes: 24 (Nov-Mar) + 9 (Apr) + 2 (May14) = 35
Total given away since going permafree: 11895
Think I was wrong about iTunes "picking up"! Picking up dust, maybe, but that's it.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2014 6:22:43 GMT -5
Hopefully Becca won't mind me adding my permafree numbers here rather than start another thread, in the interests of giving another set of statistics for those interested.
I launched my first novella about 6 weeks ago, it went permafree on Amazon UK that week, and US a week later. Exactly one month later it got knocked off permafree, i left it on paid until I had book 3 almost ready to go so nabbed a week of paid sales, it's now back on permafree on amazon UK, but not US. I have it free on Google Play, Kobo, Nook (via D2D), and iTunes (Direct).
A side note, I used the same epub for all the platforms. I created my MS in scrivener, generated a Epub, then put it through Sigil to sort out the headers and do a pre-flight validation check on it and add the cover. I used the sigil epub for KDP which generated the mobi, and the epub for all the other platforms, it went through fine first time on all of them.
Second note, I've done zero publicity for this book beyond my blog, Facebook and twitter. No paid or free promotions, purely the sites drive by traffic for my genre.
Here's my numbers for my first full month.
Totals (free downloads) paid downloads for May
Sarajevo
Amazon UK (5712) 49
Amazon US (316) 8
Amazon DE (16) 0
Other Zon (2) 4
Google (7) 0
Apple (4) 0
Total: (6057) 61
Colombia (Released last week of May, so only 1 week of Sales) - Paid sales only.
Amazon US 4
Amazon UK 54
All others: 0
Reviews:
Sarajevo: 12 Reviews Amazon UK, 1 Review Amazon US
Colombia: 3 Reviews Amazon UK
Highest bestseller rank Number 82 in free UK store, Number 1 in genre.
Colombia charted into 5,000 in UK paid store, 10 and 18 in genre.
Highest free downloads per day: 264 downloads per day Amazon UK
Lowest free downloads per day: 50 per day Amazon UK
Average free downloads UK : 115
Some interesting notes:
During the week Sarajevo went back to paid at 99p, sales of Colombia went up. I was getting 8-16 paid Sarajevo sales, 8-16 Colombia sales. (sales numbers were 100 percent buy through from Sarajevo to Colombia that week. They have since dropped off to an average of 10 percent of free downloads per day), my theory is that the same people who were willing to pay for Sarajevo were willing to pay for Colombia, the people who got Sarajevo free may not be willing to pay for anything. Time will tell.
I debated hard wether to put Sarajevo back on Permafree, since when it went to paid I was getting double the paid sales, and a 100 percent ratio of Sarajevo to Colombia sales, It's really hard to judge at this point how many of the free readers are converting, but since i'm not doing promo's they are all readers looking in my genre (i've been on the front page of pop lists in War fiction and Action & adventure which drove the huge download rate with no marketing).
I decided on reflection to put the book back on permafree as I was starting to drop down the pop lists, on paid the book was holding a rank of around 8-10K paid, with 6-10 downloads a day, it was in the bestseller lists but as it started to drop the pop list I was concerned I was losing visibility, since my goal for this book is to keep me on top of the heap while i get the rest of the series out, its probably more beneficial to have the visibility to find those elusive first 1000 fans.
Overall I'm pretty pleased, passed 6K downloads on free in 1 month with no marketing spend, my target was 10K and I'm still getting around 65 downloads a day towards that number.
Nice aspect is I'm actually selling books every day, which is a big morale boost even if not financial, so I'm pretty sure the permafree is helping with that. Since in the US where it is not free my books are ranked at like 500K and I get maybe 1 sale a week buried in the heap, whereas in the UK i'm top of the pop lists and on all the bestseller lists of my genres so have much better visibility, permafree book has bounced between 110-450 free overall, with my paid book bouncing between 5K overall paid and 12K, so a huge increase compared with non-free US.
Sorry for nicking your thread Becca, just wanted to share my numbers for those interested in what a current month of first month on permafree on other platforms looks like for a new author, with no platform or marketing spend versus Amazon.
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Post by Daniel on Jun 2, 2014 12:16:04 GMT -5
Thanks for sharing the stats. I'm sure Becca will welcome them.
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Post by Becca Mills on Jun 2, 2014 12:28:50 GMT -5
Glad you added your info, Josef. Looks like you're doing great! Getting 100% conversion from Book 1 to 2 is fantastic. I'm sure that will go down a bit with Book 1 free, but I bet the rate will still be much better than average. I have found that review rates and, especially, mailing list sign-up are stronger with Nolander as an unpromoted free book than they were when I did big, heavily promoted free runs with Select. I think the people downloading it now are somewhat more likely to be interested and appropriate readers for the book, since they found through through browsing, which is a bit more work than clicking through an email link. The mailing list differential is especially big. I think I've gotten close to as many sign-ups from the 12K permafree downloads as I did from the 20K Select downloads.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2014 13:15:39 GMT -5
Thanks Becca.
Yes, now it is permafree I get 10 percent sales to free downloads ratio, which seems to be what many people report, i was just interested to run for it for a week on paid in the same pop positions to see how many paid sales i got on book 1 versus free downloads and how that compared to paid sales on book 2. It seems the number of paid sales on book 1 matched those on book 2, and the freeloads weren't really doing much to increase it.
I suspect what is at work is that caught up in the freeloads is the people who really want to read the book then, and would have paid, then go on and read the second, the rest of the freeloaders are probably not reading it since they are just grabbing it for free if it interests them or not.
That said my permafree is keeping me at the top of the visibility lists which is driving sales every day which I wouldn't have had. So as a visibility engine it seems to work out better than select free days which you have to keep topping up.
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Post by Becca Mills on Jun 6, 2014 12:29:24 GMT -5
Thanks Becca. Yes, now it is permafree I get 10 percent sales to free downloads ratio, which seems to be what many people report, i was just interested to run for it for a week on paid in the same pop positions to see how many paid sales i got on book 1 versus free downloads and how that compared to paid sales on book 2. It seems the number of paid sales on book 1 matched those on book 2, and the freeloads weren't really doing much to increase it. I suspect what is at work is that caught up in the freeloads is the people who really want to read the book then, and would have paid, then go on and read the second, the rest of the freeloaders are probably not reading it since they are just grabbing it for free if it interests them or not. That said my permafree is keeping me at the top of the visibility lists which is driving sales every day which I wouldn't have had. So as a visibility engine it seems to work out better than select free days which you have to keep topping up. I think 10% is a really good conversion rate, actually. I've heard people quoting figures between 1% and 5%. People are waaay more willing to "take a chance" on a free book, so they end up downloading stuff that's not really to their taste, just because there's no cost to doing so. I've done it many times myself. Great way to discover stuff that really is to your taste but might not be on your radar. |
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Post by Becca Mills on Jun 30, 2014 17:34:42 GMT -5
Updated for June:
all Amazons: 6183 (Nov13) + 780 (Dec13) + 663 (Jan14) + 347 (Feb14) + 383 (Mar14) + 262 (Apr14) + 245 (May14) + 200 (Jun14) = 9063
Google: 974 (Nov-Mar) + 537 (Apr) + 619 (May14) + 672 (Jun14) = 2802
Smashwords: 173 (Nov-Mar) + 119 (Apr) + 32 (May14) + 28 (Jun14) = 352
B&N: 150 (Nov-Mar) + 131 (Apr) + 157 (May14) + 85 (Jun14) = 523
Kobo: (can't load this month's figures) 72
Drivethru Fiction: 32 (Nov-Mar) + 1 (Apr) + 4 (May14) + 1 (Jun14) = 34
iTunes: 24 (Nov-Mar) + 9 (Apr) + 2 (May14) + 4 (Jun14) = 37
Total given away since going permafree: 12883
The steady erosion of downloads on Amazon is quite apparent, but there's no such effect on Google. Google downloads just in Australia amount to more than all the Amazons put together.
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Post by Rinelle Grey on Jun 30, 2014 22:59:06 GMT -5
Do you do any promos, or submit to the free sites periodically to keep eyes on your permafree, or is this all organic?
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Post by Becca Mills on Jun 30, 2014 23:29:18 GMT -5
Do you do any promos, or submit to the free sites periodically to keep eyes on your permafree, or is this all organic? So far, it's all organic. I'm going to try for a Bookbub once the next book is out. With only two books, I'm not expecting them to say yes, but I figured I'd give it the best shot I could by not doing any other promos ahead of time. Well, not since January 2013, anyway. If Bookbub says no, I'll start promoting Nolander regularly on other free-books sites while I write Book 3. That initial 6000-download bump on Amazon was a surprise. Not sure how that happened. I had some good free runs with it in Select, back in the day, but it was heavily promoted for those. |
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Post by Becca Mills on Jun 30, 2014 23:44:28 GMT -5
Oh, one other thing I wanted to mention was the very high rate of reviewing on Google. I've got 26 reviews there on 2800 downloads, which is 1/108. On the Amazons, I have 117 reviews on about 47000 downloads, which is 1/402. Big difference. The reviews on Google are more positive, too (.3 higher). I wonder if the fact that there are far, far fewer free books on Google makes readers who shop there more likely to be generous in reviewing.
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Post by Rinelle Grey on Jul 1, 2014 1:00:14 GMT -5
Oh, one other thing I wanted to mention was the very high rate of reviewing on Google. I've got 26 reviews there on 2800 downloads, which is 1/108. On the Amazons, I have 117 reviews on about 47000 downloads, which is 1/402. Big difference. The reviews on Google are more positive, too (.3 higher). I wonder if the fact that there are far, far fewer free books on Google makes readers who shop there more likely to be generous in reviewing. Interesting. Probably not surprising that your downloads are dropping on Amazon if you're not doing promos. I understand waiting for the next book to be out though. Good luck with it! |
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Post by Becca Mills on Jul 1, 2014 11:08:14 GMT -5
Probably not surprising that your downloads are dropping on Amazon if you're not doing promos. I understand waiting for the next book to be out though. Good luck with it! Thank you! I'll take all the luck I can get my hands on. |
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