My KDP Select Experiment Day 1

MEMORIES rated #35 in Contemporary Fiction.

Hi all,

I've decided to tell you how my FREE days on Amazon did in separate posts so I don't get confused and mix up each day. So, here is day one.

Started Out at Zero

I placed my brand new book, MEMORIES in Amazon's KDP Select program when I published it the end of February. Since the book had only been on Amazon a few days prior to my FREE days, I had absolutely no sales before my free days started. This is mainly due to the fact that I let everyone know right away that I would be having free days for this new book because I hated the thought of someone paying for it one day and it being free the next. So – MEMORIES started out with zero sales and a zero ranking. It could only go up from there.

What Happened in the Rankings?

The FREE day starts on or around midnight (PST), which is about 2:00 AM here, so I didn't check on my book until the next morning. Here is a run down on how things went:

--At 10:00 AM - 206 copies had been downloaded. 

--At 12:45 PM – 313 copies had been downloaded. The book was ranked at #825 in Free Kindle Store and was ranked #62 in Contemporary Fiction and #75 in Contemporary Romance.

--At 1:45 PM – 464 copies had been downloaded and the book was ranked at #464 in Free Kindle Store. #38 in Contemp. Fiction and #59 in Contemp. Romance.

(You can see what a difference an hour can make in the rankings!)

--At 5:30 PM – 477 copies downloaded and ranked at #410 in Free Kindle Store.

--At 9:15 – 652 copies downloaded and ranked #358 in Free Kindle Store

While I didn't have thousands of downloads that first day, the downloads I had brought my book up pretty high in the rankings. By midnight the first day, I had a total of 683 downloads in the U.S. – 94 downloads in the U.K. and 14 downloads at Amazon.de. Overall, I didn't think this was bad for a first day for a brand new book by an unknown author with only one review. And best of all, I sold a few of my other two books during the first day, probably as a result of the FREE book.

How I Prepared for My First FREE Day

Before my free days started, I made sure to tell as many people as I could. I Tweeted my 1,000+ followers on Twitter for two days prior to the event. (I tried not to overdo it and lose their interest that very first day.) My tweets automatically go to my Facebook page as well. I sent out an update to my blog followers who have signed up for my newsletter. I placed an ad on Goodreads announcing the dates of the FREE days and I also notified my few friends there, some of whom had already read my first book, "Widow,Virgin, Whore" and liked it. 

A week before, I searched for sites that promote Free Amazon books but didn't find many that do it without a fee. I didn't want to pay a site $10 - $35 for a mention about my free book. I did pay for the Goodreads ad, but that one I knew would reach many readers because I advertise there regularly. I also found a couple of freebie sites that were happy to promote my free book – for free!

On the first day of my freebie – I do admit I tweeted to my followers several times throughout the day. I figured if I hit Twitter at different times throughout the day, I'd connect with different people and try to catch them all at least once. My Twitter followers are wonderful! So many of them retweeted my Tweets and also let me know if they downloaded my book. Each time I tweeted, I noticed a rise in downloads, so I really do think Twitter is a great place to promote your book if you don't overdo it. (I also try to retweet as many other free books or book promotions for other authors to pay it forward!)

My Thoughts on KDP Select After the First Day

I am not at all disappointed with KDP Select and my Free days so far. Yes, I would love to have those mega downloads like some people get – 20,000+ - but if that doesn't happen, I'll be happy with what I get. To see a book go from last place to #358 in the Free store rankings in one day is pretty amazing. And it gets even better the second day! The biggest test will be if I sell any books after the free days are over. But we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

Cheers,

Deanna