Why do some books just magically shoot up the Amazon charts? Why do others drop and drop each day until they’re eventually gone into the nether?
I don’t have the answers to these questions, but I do have some observations.
Really, what happened was The Jongurian Mission shot up the Amazon charts on Sunday. I noticed this when I saw my Amazon Sales Dashboard and the wild spike that occurred in the free downloads:
I don’t have the answers to these questions, but I do have some observations.
Really, what happened was The Jongurian Mission shot up the Amazon charts on Sunday. I noticed this when I saw my Amazon Sales Dashboard and the wild spike that occurred in the free downloads:
Pretty cool, huh? Usually I’d get about 10 downloads each day…at least that’s the average for November.
So what does a boost like that do to your Amazon rankings? Check it out:
So what does a boost like that do to your Amazon rankings? Check it out:
That got me all the way up to #973 in the Free store, and also up to #83 for Fantasy. What’s more, I got up to #12 in Epic Fantasy…which I really consider to be my genre for this book.
Reaching high on the Amazon Fantasy chart
So how did the book get such a boost? Easy – advertising.
Yep, I did some advertising, this time with Booksends. Last time I did a Booksends promo they were still called BookBlast, and that was in November of 2013.
I got up to #547 in the Free store and #4 in Epic Fantasy. How about the months following that promo for Book 2 and 3?
In November of 2013 I sold 31 copies of Book 2 and 23 copies of Book 3. In December I sold 36 of Book 2 and 31 of Book 3.
In January I sold 28 of Book 2 and 25 of Book 3.
After that my sales started to get into the teens and then into the single digits…where they’ve remained until this month, when they’re again in the double digits.
Why the hell did I wait so long to get back into advertising? Because I’m hard-headed and stupid – there ain’t no two bones about it.
I kept rationalizing to myself that the income from the eventual sales of those books didn’t justify spending $50 to advertise a free book. But really, all I can advertise is that free book.
See, every site requires numerous reviews…or at least 5 to 10, and with a good average.
I’ve only got The Jongurian Mission and Sell Your Book, those are the only two books with more than 5 reviews on Amazon, and thus the only two books I can effectively advertise. (For the past year I’ve been waiting patiently for review #5 to come in on The Warring States, but it has not…and it sucks balls).
Anyways, I didn’t get a whole lot of actual sales out of that huge boost. As you can see, I had just 3 sales for the day:
Yep, I did some advertising, this time with Booksends. Last time I did a Booksends promo they were still called BookBlast, and that was in November of 2013.
I got up to #547 in the Free store and #4 in Epic Fantasy. How about the months following that promo for Book 2 and 3?
In November of 2013 I sold 31 copies of Book 2 and 23 copies of Book 3. In December I sold 36 of Book 2 and 31 of Book 3.
In January I sold 28 of Book 2 and 25 of Book 3.
After that my sales started to get into the teens and then into the single digits…where they’ve remained until this month, when they’re again in the double digits.
Why the hell did I wait so long to get back into advertising? Because I’m hard-headed and stupid – there ain’t no two bones about it.
I kept rationalizing to myself that the income from the eventual sales of those books didn’t justify spending $50 to advertise a free book. But really, all I can advertise is that free book.
See, every site requires numerous reviews…or at least 5 to 10, and with a good average.
I’ve only got The Jongurian Mission and Sell Your Book, those are the only two books with more than 5 reviews on Amazon, and thus the only two books I can effectively advertise. (For the past year I’ve been waiting patiently for review #5 to come in on The Warring States, but it has not…and it sucks balls).
Anyways, I didn’t get a whole lot of actual sales out of that huge boost. As you can see, I had just 3 sales for the day:
Man, that’s kind of depressing. That’s why I toggle it:
Wow, that looks a lot better, and does a lot more for my confidence. I mean, look at those two days in a row of 6 sales. That’s big time, baby.
I know everyone can’t ride the wave of success like that, so I will be humble and say that I’m not planning on moving out of my current apartment, and I don’t have plans to buy a new car. Actually, I’m thinking of looking for another job because my sales are so bad.
But then I say that every month. I’ll tell you, fear is a powerful thing and will motivate the hell out of you. So go find some insecurity and use it to fuel your writing. Maybe you’ll even have a wild day on the charts like The Jongurian Mission did.
I know everyone can’t ride the wave of success like that, so I will be humble and say that I’m not planning on moving out of my current apartment, and I don’t have plans to buy a new car. Actually, I’m thinking of looking for another job because my sales are so bad.
But then I say that every month. I’ll tell you, fear is a powerful thing and will motivate the hell out of you. So go find some insecurity and use it to fuel your writing. Maybe you’ll even have a wild day on the charts like The Jongurian Mission did.
Rank the day after, on Cyber Monday
My Booksends ad on the site and in the email
RSS Feed