After My Free Days on Amazon



Memories #55 in Contemporary Fiction

Hi all,

As you know from my last post – My KDP Select Experiment Day3 – I placed my romance novel, MEMORIES on Amazon for three FREE days to try to move it up in the ranks and increase sales once the free days were done. I succeeded fairly well with moving up in the ranks – but I'm sorry to say that the sales did not come fast and furious over the weekend.  Here is how things went.

How Memories Ranked After the Free Days

The morning after the free days ended – Saturday – my Amazon Sellers Rank went from #266 in the Free Kindle Store up to #259,655 in Paid Kindle Store – basically it went back to where I started before my free days.  Throughout the day, however, as sales trickled in, the ranking did get better.  Here's how it did:

Day 1

3:30 PM – After 1 book sale and 1 borrow - #76,171 Paid Kindle Store

5:30 PM – After 2 book sales - #47,651 Paid Kindle Store

9:15 PM – After 6 book sales and 2 borrows - #41,377 Paid Kindle Store

Day 2

1:00 AM – 10 Sales & 2 borrows - #26,564 Paid Kindle Store

12:30 PM – 13 Sales & 3 borrows - #11,972 Paid Kindle Store - #55 in Contemporary Fiction

8:30 PM – 21 Sales & 3 borrows - #10,168 Paid Kindle Store

11:00 PM – 27 Sales & 5 borrows - #10,168 Paid Kindle Store

Day 3

No new sales – ranking went from #12,044 up to #14,061 during day.

Sadly, I had a total of 27 U.S. sales, 2 U.K. sales and 5 borrows for the entire weekend.

So, Was My KDP Select Experiment a Success?

That depends upon what you consider a success – money or ranking. The good news – I did manage to get Memories up in the rankings at Amazon so now it is being recommended along with other books. Bad news – I didn't have the multitude of sales that other people experienced after their free days. However, since I started at zero because Memories is a brand new book on Amazon, the sales I did have over the weekend are a good start. So, was it a success? I think it was. I am now ranked pretty high on Amazon and hopefully I will continue to sell a few books at a time to stay there.

Another positive to consider is that my book is now in the hands of over 1,700 people due to the free days. That means that if even one-quarter of them read it, they may actually like it and want to read my other book, so that will mean more sales. I am already hard at work on my next book which I hope to complete by this fall, so I will have even more to offer readers and that will, hopefully, continue the cycle.

No One Said it Would be Easy

For some people, the free days boost them to the top and help them make a quick buck off of their book. I think it's great for them and I wish them well. For the rest of us, it is a slow climb from unknown author to bestselling author. That's okay. As long as I keep selling a few books here and there, I can wait a little longer until I have a library of books that bring in a steady stream of income. No one ever said this book selling thing would be easy – but at least I'm doing what I love and making a little money – what more can you ask for?

Cheers,

Deanna