avatarRené Junge

Summary

The author, René Junge, is shifting from a bi-monthly book release strategy to investing in advertising the first book of their thriller series, aiming to increase revenue and reach new readers.

Abstract

René Junge, a writer of two thriller series, has been publishing new books every two months to maintain sales. However, with a 66% read-through rate for the 17-volume series and the diminishing returns on new releases, Junge plans to forego publishing two new books and instead allocate the budget to advertising the first book in the series. This strategic shift is driven by the need to attract new readers who are less likely to start with a later volume in the series. Junge has recognized the importance of visibility on Amazon and is leveraging Amazon Ads to overcome the challenges of low prices and reliance on Amazon's recommendation algorithms. By considering the lifetime value of a new reader across the series and Kindle Unlimited earnings, Junge is optimistic about achieving a positive return on investment with this new approach.

Opinions

  • The author believes that the previous strategy of publishing a new book every two months is no longer sustainable for long-term revenue.
  • Junge acknowledges that new readers are hesitant to start with later volumes of a series, necessitating a focus on promoting the first book.
  • The author has identified that the key to success is not just the number of books sold but also the read-through rate and earnings from Kindle Unlimited.
  • Junge is confident that with targeted advertising and a strategic budget reallocation, they can increase income without frequent new releases.
  • The author suggests that by using Amazon Ads, they can maintain sales even when raising book prices, which was not possible with a reliance on Amazon's recommendation algorithms alone.
  • Junge is open to experimenting with higher prices in the future, backed by the safety net of advertising campaigns.
  • The author is seeking feedback and sharing their experience with the hope of engaging with other authors who have similar experiences with marketing long series using Amazon Ads.

I’m Gonna Break My Rule Of Publishing A New Book Every Two Months And I’ll Tell You Why

At the latest every two to three years, one should review and change one’s current strategies. Up to now, I have published a new book every two months, because otherwise, sales of my series would have fallen. Now I try something else.

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

I write thrillers in two series. One series is nine volumes long, the other seventeen. The nine-volume series is currently not exclusive to Amazon, but the more extended series is.

I sell each book for 99 cents. I’ve tried to get higher prices, but it’s never worked before. Since I now live exclusively from writing, 99 cents is no longer an option in the long run. The longer my series becomes, the fewer copies I sell with a new publication.

My read-through rate for the entire series is 66%. This means that it would be much more lucrative to invest the money I would spend on a new release in advertising the first book in the series.

If you don’t know how the read-through rate of a series is calculated, you can read it here:

https://readmedium.com/how-to-calculate-the-read-through-rate-of-your-book-series-b939ea154f82

And that’s exactly what I will do in the future. I would leave out at least two books and put my money in advertising for the first book instead.

Sustainability instead of speed

For a long time, it was right for me to publish in short intervals. This was the only way I could build up a readership and sell so many copies that I could live from my books even outside of a release month.

Writing series has always been the key to success for me because, with every new release, the old books sold well again.

This effect has, as I said, diminished. That’s probably because new readers don’t like to start with part seventeen of a series, even if it is a complete story. That means again that for some time now, I have been living mainly from my existing readers.

To get new readers interested in my series, I have to show them volume one. Since this book is now five years old, you will only find it on Amazon if you search for it purposefully, and that is rare.

So the apparent solution is advertising. So I started to deal intensively with Amazon Ads. After a good two weeks, I see the first successes of my efforts, which motivates me to continue.

But now it is the case that you have to spend money on advertising. Spending this money in addition to what I would typically invest in a new release is unfortunately not possible at the moment. So I have to rededicate my budget.

For the next three to four months, I will, therefore, invest my money exclusively in advertising campaigns. If I manage to become so good in the field that I get a reasonable return on investment, I’m on the right track.

The price problem

As I said, I sell my books for 99 cents because I have not been able to get higher prices on the market so far.

Anyone who has already dealt with Amazon Ads knows that it is almost impossible to profit with a book for 99 cents through ads.

That’s also the reason why I haven’t put much into this form of advertising so far. However, it turned out that I had made a mistake in my thinking until now.

Instead of considering my entire series and the read-through rates and the income from Kindle Unlimited, I had previously only looked at the individual book.

Of course, you can’t profitably place ads for a 99-cent book. But if every new customer is not worth 33 cents (the author gets that for a sale of 99 cents), but 3.70€, things look different.

How do I suddenly get 3,70€? I wrote above that the read-through rate of my seventeen-volume series is 66%.

So a new reader doesn’t read seventeen volumes of the series, but 66% of them, which is equivalent to 11.22 books.

11x0,33€ = 3,70€.

If you look at it that way, I make a plus with a new reader I win through an Amazon ad, as long as the price for a new reader is below 3,70€.

It is absolutely feasible to generate a sale for much less than 3,70€. My previous experiences have shown me that. So it should be possible to increase my income bit by bit without having to launch a new book every two months.

But let’s get back to the price: My problem so far has been that as soon as I raised my rates, my sales dropped sharply. The result was a drop in rank and, therefore, less visibility and even fewer sales.

The problem remained as long as I was solely dependent on Amazon’s recommendation algorithms. Now that I pay for visibility using Amazon Ads, this problem no longer arises.

I think I can raise my prices in the medium term without jeopardizing my sales. Of course, I will sell fewer books with advertising as soon as I raise the prices, but I can compensate for this with a higher advertising budget. The crash should not happen.

However, I’ll have to watch how the read-through rate of the series changes and, if necessary, reset all my calculations.

Conclusion

I am confident that I will make a positive return on investment with my series, even though I sell every single book for only 99 cents. The length of the series, the reasonable read-through rate, and the additional income from Kindle Unlimited should make this possible.

Nevertheless, I will experiment with higher prices again in the medium term. This time I can keep up a price cut longer than the last ones because sales will not drop as much as if I had no advertisements running.

What do you think about my new strategy? Do you have any experience with marketing long series with Amazon Ads? I am curious about your comments.

René Junge a published author writing on ILLUMINATION.

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