How I increased my e-book sales at Amazon by 93.3% through a free promotion, even though I had a completely different goal.
Free promotions for e-books at Amazon are usually no longer very useful today — but sometimes they are.
The starting position
I had written six volumes of a thriller series so far, all of which sold pretty well. The first volume “Aktenzeichen Tod,” which is the subject of this article, had reached number 52 of the general bestseller charts at Amazon in May/June 2015 and has sold more than 17,000 copies since then.
In quick succession, I then published five more volumes in the next few months, all of which did not make it into the top 100, but were always close to it.
Each new publication boosted the sales of the predecessors again. Everything went perfectly, and the series finally gave me months of income between 2,000 and 2,900 € a month, even though it was never enough to get an Allstar bonus.
Of course, there was a crash at some point. Since August 2016, sales of all the books in the series have fallen massively. A new release at the end of September could hardly slow down this development, as the new book was the first volume in a different series.
“Aktenzeichen Tod” sold only 2–8 copies a day. So the book was basically run down. A short-lived attempt to bring it up again with a 99 cent campaign and paid advertising failed.
So what could I do with it?
Why I had initially opted against a free promotion
The prevailing opinion in self-publisher circles is. “Free promotions no longer work today. In former times it was still different.
I was also of this opinion. Why? Because Amazon has massively devalued free promotion as an advertising instrument in the past. In earlier times, for example, a free download was still valued 1:1 like a real sale.
This then led to the free books rising massively in the so-called popularity rankings in the course of the campaign and thus gaining excellent visibility.
Today the ratio is estimated at 30:1, so you have to generate thirty free downloads to get the same effect as a real sale.
Also, the free charts have become so well hidden that customers no longer come across them immediately.
Why I did it anyway
So I thought I was pretty smart when I set the e-book to 0 € because I didn’t expect the book to make a considerable ranking jump after the action. I had a completely different goal: to win additional subscribers for my email list.
My thought: If I generate a few thousand downloads, many of them will see my advertising in the back of the book and probably register by the dozen. I hoped this would give me a better starting position for my next book launch.
What actually happened was completely unexpected
„Aktenzeichen Tod“ on day one after the free promo Downloads: 5512
rank 1 of all free e-books for 2 days, then between rank 2 and 6
Bestseller ranking before the campaign: 4776
After the campaign: 1267
Bestseller rank development of the following volumes
Die Heuschrecke: From 4991 to 1645
Unsterblich — Das Experiment: From 4113 to 1900
Der Schlepper: From 6641 to 1872
Isolation — Im Visier des Killers: From 3195 to 1652
Im Bann der Sekte: From 2523 to 1506
Sales development of the successor volumes
Die Heuschrecke: Sales during promotion: 60 Sales in the 5 days before the promotion: 14
Unsterblich — Das Experiment: during promotion: 37 Sales in the 5 days before the promotion: 21
Der Schlepper: during promotion: 38 Sales in the 5 days before the promotion: 23
Isolation — Im Visier des Killers: during promotion: 44 Sales in the 5 days before the promotion: 28
Im Bann der Sekte: during promotion: 42 Sales in the 5 days before the promotion: 28
Total sales in promotion period: 221
Total sales 5 days before: 114
Increase: 93.3%
To cut a long story short: There were a few new registrations for my newsletter, but overall the result was sobering.
Instead, I was able to experience how suddenly the sales and rankings of the following volumes of “Aktenzeichen Tod” increased massively. I think the figures speak for themselves:
Prerequisites for this success of the free promotion
Why did this free promotion have this success? Other authors regularly report that they could not achieve any measurable effect, and I already had free promotions that I would have better denied myself.
So what was different here? Here are my assumptions:
1. The advertised book was already very successful in the past. It was in the Amazon Top-100 for 21 days and sold just over 17.00 copies with an average rating of 4.4 stars and 44 reviews.
2. At the time of the campaign, it had already sunk quite far in the charts but was still visible in its subcategories. So it didn’t have to start from the bottom.
3. there are five more volumes of the series, which was opened by “Aktenzeichen Tod.” Each of them stood at 99 cents during the campaign. Readers, who used the free offer and read the book with pleasure, had afterward immediately the possibility to get more material.
4. The campaign was massively promoted and was, therefore, able to generate many additional downloads.
Conclusion: Do free campaigns achieve something, or not?
As so often, the answer has to be the same: It depends.
If there is a good book, which has already proven that it is accepted on the market, the chances are good that you will generate many downloads.
However, only the first three positions of the free charts are worth mentioning.
Who can lead these Charts at least for one day, will have good chances to obtain a satisfying result.
If it is also volume 1 of a multi-volume series, you can look forward to increasing sales during the free promotion.
In general, I would recommend free campaigns today only for very well rated, former bestsellers in a popular genre to reactivate the backlist.
Of course, the free promotion must also be well prepared and accompanied. Just set it to 0 € and wait does not work.
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