Daniel Ganninger's Blog

So after much debate I've decided to experiment.  I came to the conclusion that another promotion was in order and that means pulling from my meager budget to make it happen.  It's just money, right? 

Even though sales for my second and third books have been good, the first of the lot, Flapjack, was a bit of a laggard.  "Pull your weight around here or it's curtains for you," I yelled at the inanimate digital file.  I was kidding of course, but I did plan to put it on a strict regimen of diet pills and exercise. 

Starting today I've placed my first title up for the bargain price of 99 cents, down from its regular $3.99.  This isn't the first time I've given my sale price liposuction.  I've moved it down for a number of "promotional opportunities" and been lucky enough to move enough copies to cover the cost of offering it at that price using various funnels of advertising.  This time is different, however, because instead of the one week promotions I had been doing in the warm bosom of a Kindle Countdown, this one is for a month in the dreaded world of the 35% royalty.  But I like to experiment, so I thought, "what the hell." Doing a promotion this long for many of you is probably nothing new, and your thoughts are always welcome on your experiences.  I'm approaching this as more of a really terrible scientific experiment.  One that doesn't use the scientific method and has extremely shoddy statistics.  I've learned that attempting to track which sales came from any particular source is difficult, if not impossible.  I always try to stagger my promotion sites for the maximum bang, but in a week it's always difficult to determine what sites worked and which didn't.  Case in point: I previously used eReader News Today (ENT) on a past promotion for the same book.  It tied for one of my best day of sales (to keep things in perspective it was 86 sales, which for me is very good) and the next day it was in the 60 range of sales.  ENT had been the only site I had used on that particular day, and I had no one scheduled the day after.  I used other sites in the previous days (40-50 sales) but saw a noticeable jump on the ENT day.  I thought I had a good statistical record of how I performed on ENT.  It wasn't until I got my invoice from them that they had a lower number than I expected.  I can't remember exactly off the top of my head, but it was in the 60-70 books sold range. 

While to me this still was a success, it made me question how the other sites I used truly performed based on the day I had a promotion.  It brings up many questions; the role of the secretive Amazon algorithm, an email that is opened a few days later and a reader makes a purchase, the Kindle Countdown deal, someone viewing it on a website past the day when it posted?  Who knows, and why should you care?  Well, of course you should care if a site performs, but without hard numbers from the site themselves, it is literally impossible to get a clear picture if that site worked for you.  I understand why some of the sites don't like to give hard numbers like ENT does.  In the past I've seen a promotion in an email and didn't use the link but purchased the book through Amazon later because I'm a slow consumer.  I inadvertently skewed their results, and I'm sorry.    Another variable as I've come to discover is certain sites work one time and not the other.  I had this experience with Kindle Nation Daily.  Two out of three promotions went superb, while the other sort of fizzled.  This one was easy to track because I used them all on the first day of each promotion period.  They were the same promotion type and the one that wasn't the best was the second one--go figure.  Was it the month, the day of the month, the weather?  That is the nature of advertising.  Sometimes you smack a base hit or a home run, other times you get beaned by the ball.

This takes me to my current situation and one of the many, varied reasons why I'm running a month long promotion.  First and foremost I'm trying to sell books, get the first in my series some legs again, and get my name out there more, but in addition to that I'm trying to discover what promotion sites work best for me.  Some sites just don't work as well.  Do I know why? Nope.  If I did I would be selling a book about the topic.  I don't fault the sites themselves, it just takes trial and error to discover what works on your own.  That's why I'm spending a month on a group of sites staggered apart to see what happens.  Will I see peaks and valleys between when a promotion runs, a nice solid line throughout at a high number (ha! I wish) or will I see (god forbid) a flat line?  I sure hope that's not the case.  I plan to update throughout the month.  Which sites will perform the best?  This is all very subjective, but maybe someone will find it helpful, or at least interesting.

Sites I've used before and are using for this promotion

Awesome Gang - Free promotion or you can do the low $10 guaranteed promotion that gets your title listed on the homepage for 2 days, email list, and social media.  Vinny, who runs the site, clearly shows how many subscribers he has to the email list, Twitter, and Facebook.  It's a nice, clean site.

The Fussy Librarian - Newer email listing site that is really trying to grow and hence has a lower price of $6 and $3, depending on the genre.  Jeffrey runs it and has a very informative newsletter that I've enjoyed reading.  He's straight with how many subscribers he has in total and how many in each genre.  He lists them in his newsletter.  I like supporting new sites that are really trying to make a good product and a name for themselves.  Nice email format.

Kindle Books and Tips - Second time I've used KBT.  First time was excellent.  Considered one of the bigger sites for book promotion.  The newsletter is very informative.  I have only done a regular posting ($25), but I've heard the featured postings ($100) are well worth the money if you can get one.  They appear to fill up fast since it's only one spot per day.  Large subscriber numbers and everything is clearly spelled out on the advertising page.  Very nice email setup.

Ebook Soda - Nice site and easy to work with.  This will be the second time I've used them.  Another newer company since October 2013.  They are one of the only sites that have pounds and dollars pricing and may be a way into the tough to crack UK market.  I'm pretty sure they are located in the UK but don't quote me on that.  The price is only $5, and the website is well done as are the emails (in my opinion).

BargainBooksy - Another site that is nicely set up and easy to work with.  This is the second time I've used them.  Nice email format (are you noticing a theme).  One of the more expensive sites at $50.  I'm curious to see how it performs for me because I wasn't able to determine what sales came from them before.  I had two others inadvertently on the same day.

PeopleReads - This is another one I'm curious about.  This is the second time I've used them.  Van runs the site and is very responsive to any questions as well as any problems.  The prices run from $8.99 for a daily listing to Ebook of the month for $29.99, and everything in between.  The website has a lot going on with numerous books listed, and the emails have a good number of books from different genres (approximately six total).  I did a daily listing to give them a try before and was surprised at the numbers.  I didn't think it would do as well as it did.  I'm interested to see if it does the same.  This is why experimenting is fun.

Bargain Ebook Hunter (and Pixelscroll) - I've used Bargain Ebook Hunter three times, and I must admit, despite my lowered expectations, it has performed well each and every time.  I don't know why because there are a lot of books listed throughout the day, but each time it performs and all for only $15.  You can even cross promote for $7 extra to their Pixelscroll sister site.  I have had success there too.  I would say that setting up your promotion with them is like going through the drive-thru line--it's quick and done in minutes.  You can even add days without a problem.  I can't wait to see how it does for me this time (fingers crossed).

World Literary Cafe - This is the 99 cent Friday's for $20.  I've done this one other time only.  The website is "yikes", various covers and text, expansive menu bar and options.  But I don't care.  The promotion went well last time so I'm going to give it a whirl again.

New Sites for this promotion and those I "Don't know yet"

Pixel of Ink - Free submission but you never know if you're listed.  I don't think I ever have been, but I could have missed it.  Authors report good results for the most part.  Authors swear by this site.

Read Cheaply - Free submission with the payment of a Facebook like, tweet, etc.  I signed up for the emails, and I really dig their look, very eye catching.  I've noticed the books being listed are usually higher ranked for the most part.  *Always a good idea to check rankings of the books on a site.  It can give you a quick guesstimate on how the book has performed after being promoted there.

Choosy Book Worm -  A newer site run by Jay, and he offers free submission or a $2 guaranteed spot.  He also clearly lists his number of subscribers in the email list and social media.  This is another new spot that I'm glad to support.

eReader News Today -  ENT doesn't schedule anymore and will let you know five days before the promotion.  They are always a consistent site with good numbers.  This would be the third go with them if I can fit in (fingers crossed for a second time).

eReader Cafe - I haven't used them for a paid promotion yet, but did use them for a free promotion in December.  Many promotion options.  I'll be interested to see how it goes.

I will update here on my experiment week by week.  It will either go two ways: I'll see a pattern of performance for these sites that is positive or negative for my book in my particular genre, or the results will be a tangled mess of incoherent stats that will cause me to run from the room with my hair ablaze as I toss my computer and any other writing implements into the nearest river.  Let's hope for the former.  Until then feel free to comment below in my less than adequate comment section and give Flapjack some love over at Amazon.

The next book From the Case Files of Icarus Investigations has begun, albeit slowly.  It will be called Coconut Water, and yes, it will have something to do with the healthy drink of the same name.  The Icarus crew will be on the road again and fighting the devious Red Hand, the syndicate introduced in Snow Cone.  Of course they will be enough globe trotting to make your head spin--the Caribbean, South America, east coast, Nashville--and plenty of sticky situations.  I don't have a firm release date yet, but I will let you know as soon as I figure it out.  There will be a character from Peeking Duck returning to help out Murphy and Galveston in their quest to dismantle the Red Hand.  Stay tuned for more tidbits of information.

I think I’ve read everything imaginable about the KDP Select program, and it seems many authors grapple with the question, "should I stay, or should I go?”.  I thought I would offer my two cents and my experiences with the program.  Maybe it will help you in your decision.
I have all three of my books enrolled in the KDP Select program.  Here’s a quick breakdown just in case you didn’t see the same thing on about a million other sites.  Your book must be exclusive to Amazon during the enrollment period.  You can have it in print at other sites but not as an ebook.  The enrollment is 90 days and two exclusive things are offered; either a one-time free promotion, or a countdown deal in the U.S. market and/or U.K. market.  I won’t bore you further because so many others have discussed the requirements in greater detail.  I’ve used the free promotions two different times, one with ho-hum results, and the other with excellent results.  The last free promotion I did was back in December for my first book, Flapjack. I don’t plan to do another in the foreseeable future as it doesn’t currently mesh with my business plan.  I’ve instead focused on the Kindle Countdown Deals.  I’ve done three since it started.

Let me say that it is strictly a personal choice whether to sell only at Amazon or not.  I stay enrolled for a few simple reasons.  I don’t have the time to try to manage other platforms, formats, and pricing, and I feel that as an author without an extensive catalog it just doesn’t make sense for me at this time.  It is totally a personal choice.  That’s the beauty of being an independent author.  You are in control of your choices, but these choices make decisions about the course of your marketing a hair pulling ordeal. 

The single biggest reason for me to continue to be enrolled in KDP Select is the ability to regain a 70% royalty on prices below $2.99 during a Countdown Deal.  This one is the clincher for me.  If I offer a book for $0.99 then I retain the 70% promotion.  This comes out to be $0.62 after taking the delivery cost, instead of $0.25 I would get if I offered the book at that price without being in the program.  What I have discovered is that I can do a higher budget marketing push with a decrease in risk.   I have run three separate promotions and managed to make a little profit in the process during each of them.  If I had done the exact same promotion at the lower royalty I would have lost money.  I like low risk, but I still want the ability to take a chance.  This portion of the program has allowed me to do that.

Let me give a quick example.  Let’s compare BookBub with a group of other custom sites.  BookBub’s current price in the mystery category for books below one dollar is $620.  At the 70% royalty you would need to sell 1,000 books, after that it’s pure profit.  At the 35% royalty rate you would need to sell 2,480 books to break even.  Ouch.  BookBub has the average sold number at 2,290 with a range of 280 to 6,580.  Assuming you sold the average, which is a hefty amount of books, you would come in at a loss of $47.50.  Not so bad.  But at the 70% royalty you would have a profit of $799.80.  Which would you choose?  I only use BookBub as an example.  I think they produce great results, and I have been fortunate to use them in the past, but this quick calculation can be used for any amount you plan to spend on any site.  I usually try to go a bit bigger when doing my Countdown Deals (in terms of budget).  I’m not concerned with a profit at this point.  I just want to get my book in front of as many eyes as possible without losing my shirt in the process.  If I don’t lose money, then I don’t feel bad about taking on more risk and trying something new the next time.  The 70% royalty allows me to do that.  I’m able to roll a portion of the profit (which is usually small) into marketing efforts for the next month. 

This probably isn’t new to you, but it always helps to keep things in perspective.  What are you trying to do right now?  Gain more readers, reviews, or are you fortunate enough to be doing this for a profit?  Those authors can afford the 35% royalty by selling on multiple platforms.  For me at this time, I can’t.  That’s why I continue to work at my day job.  So for my own personal situation, the Select program is the way to go.  And that’s what it comes down to.  There’s no right or wrong answer because everyone has a different goal and situation.  I don’t fret about profits right now, only exposure.  Remember, most of you are a small business.  What other small business can have this small amount of risk, little overhead, and actually get a return on their marketing efforts?  There aren’t many.  But right now I want to maximize my efforts and having the 70% royalty is the single greatest reason why I stay.

What are your thoughts?  Do you have another reason why you stay in Select, or why did you leave?  Feel free to comment below.

I recently ranted about Twitter, and now I have seen the light.  I have seen the error of my ways and have engaged in my own personal Twitter 101.

I think the problem was I was trying to go at Twitter from a marketing perspective.  I have changed that approach and strictly looking at it from a networking perspective, and I must say, it has yielded some good results.  I have learned about new promotional opportunities I didn't realize existed and now have twenty-three followers instead of three.  Granted they are other authors and businesses related to books in general, but nevertheless, I've learned something.  I will continue with my transformation, and I've already begun to follow all sorts of people and businesses that interest me in the crazy author arena.

Photo "Twitter For Dummies" by Scott Beale
                                                                               I would like to thank Steve and Mandie for setting me on the right                                                      course.  By the way, you can follow me on Twitter @danielganninger


I recently did a blog post at my other blog, Knowledge Stew, titled 5 Social Networking Sites You Thought Were Dead - But Are They?  It was a light little piece about social networks that came and went.  I had been wondering what happened to some of them and did a little research.  I rambled and ranted a little about my complete confusion over Twitter.  Now I wanted to ramble some more.

I told myself in the early days of Twitter (pre-authoring) that I would never get an account there.  I finally relented and got a Facebook account first, but still I told myself--noTwitter.

I was barely active on Facebook, maybe a post once every couple of months, so I thought there was no way I would ever have the inclination to be on that "other thing".  Then I released my book.  Everything I kept reading was social media this, social media that; so I obliged and made an author Facebook page.  I was okay with that.  But then I kept reading about authors' insistence about having a Twitter account.  One was "tweeting" like crazy every day (still dislike that term), while others splashed every piece of information they could about what they were up to.  "Okay," I decided, "it's time to swallow up the Twitter thing." 

I opened my account and set up my snazzy homepage, landing page--whatever you call it--and sent out a "tweet" to a friend that agreed to follow me (pour soul).  I then waited for the flood of followers to join my newly formed social network.  I waited, and waited--and waited some more.  No one was flocking (pardon the pun) to follow.  I had two followers, which I know, jump on the bandwagon.  Now, don't feel sorry for me.  I've tweeted something five times--yes, five times--in eight months.  I learned that you have to actually try to get followers, and that you have to tweet something.  But the problem was, I didn't have anything to say.  Is that okay?  Do we always have to be saying something?  In the Twitter universe it is a resounding, yes.

So there's my first problem with Twitter.  My second problem is that I don't understand the hashtag thing.  For example, I think I'll say something about cats and put a bunch of hashtags after it;#cutecats, #catsanddogs, #livingtogethermasshysteria.  What the...?  Do these phrases go into some paradoxical universe of the internet and somehow bind us together.  Is someone looking for these phrases?  My friend who uses Twitter somewhat regularly couldn't even explain it.

A third problem I have is all the shortcuts trying to convey your message in the required amount of characters.  I would have to write this last sentence: 3rd prob convey ur mess req amt of charactrs #shortcut #funnycats.  That was clear, right?  I love it when reporters do news articles on what someone tweeted, and the writer has to use their Twitter decoder ring to figure out what the person was saying.  Those are the best.

My last problem (and there could be many more) are those tiny little website links.  They usually look like http://goo.gl/hs6nYq.  They're called tiny url's.  It reminds me of a link in a bad email, the one that sends you to a site offering the world's greatest health cure, or a Bahamas vacation for under $10 bucks.

Now, don't get me wrong, I know many people love Twitter, and I don't fault anyone for using it to its fullest potential.  But I've discovered it might not be the best tool for me.  I've come to terms that it's okay to feel that way after consulting with a Tweeter psychologist.  I can move on.  So, to my throngs of Twitter followers--yes, you three--I won't be deleting my author Twitter account just yet.  You never know, I may just turn it around have something interesting to say about dogs. #gooddog #Marmaduke #rollover

What's your experience with Twitter; good, bad, ugly?  Do you like it, or God forbid, love it?  Please, help me understand.  #takecare 

 

I just finishing completely redesigning the website.  Even though I liked the previous layout, it was just getting too cluttered.  I decided to make it more simple and cleaner.  If you saw the previous version you'll see some big changes, if you hadn't, this won't matter.  I'm trying to "modernize" my mailing list too.  I have started to move everything over to MailChimp so it can be more easily managed.  The only disadvantage is it removes some of the personal side of subscribing.  I like to respond to everyone that leaves comments or joins the mailing list.  I haven't figured out how to do this with MailChimp.  So I think I'm going to stick with what I have in place now and send out the newsletter using MailChimp.  Those of you on the mailing list will see a different form of the newsletter (if I can get it to work right) than in the past.  I made a new welcome screen and author bio too.  Hope you like it and makes you laugh.

Snow Cone, the 3rd book in the Case Files of Icarus Investigation is set to release on April 27th.  The new cover is out, and as you can see, it has something to do with snow and a bomb.  But that is only half of the story.  I think the flavor of the snow cone is cherry, maybe tutti-fruitti, possibly watermelon.  I'll let you decide.  This one was fun to write, and like the other books, the team at Icarus jets off to many new locales.  I hope you enjoy it.  Thanks to everyone who helped me with the book; the cashier at the Shell Station, the strange woman behind me in line at the grocery store, and the exterminator who only wanted to talk about bugs.  Oh, yeah, and everyone else who read, critiqued, and used the pages I gave them to level out their wobbly tables.  Your coupon for a free ice cream cone (sorry, they don't have snow cones) from Peter Piper Pizza is in the mail, as promised.

I'm going to tweak the website a little in the coming weeks, and I hope you'll return to see the changes.  I have no idea what I'm going to do yet.  You'll be as surprised as me.

If you're looking for some more light reading material, head on over to my other blog, Knowledge Stew. You can delve into as much useless knowledge that you could shake a stick at.  I haven't had the time to post in the last few weeks because of the new book coming out, but I hope to dive in right after the release and fill the pages with more useless facts (some of them might actually be useful).  You can still find enough to wile away the time.  Hope to see you there!

Just wanted to give an update on the third book, which I must say has been awfully fun to come up.  Sometimes a little too fun, as I find myself getting off track at times on where I want the fellas to go.  I've found an interesting phenomenon developing...I get my team in a pickle and then when they get out of it (which of course they have to do), I find them going in a different direction than I intended.  It has caused me a few restless nights.  Their desire to push me in this new direction has caused me to rethink parts of the story, but in a better way.  I usually pick a beginning, where I would like them to be in the middle, and a very rough way I would like it to end up.  But now, I'm not sure of where these characters are going to push me to an end.  It makes for interesting writing (at least for me), as a reader I hope it proves to be as fun as I have had in writing it so far.

Note to authors, do not watch Stranger than Fiction, and then sit down to write.  It will mess you up in the head.  I really like the movie and managed to catch it on one of the movie channels (which I don't get to do often, you know, kid shows dominate this house).  It stars Will Farrell and Emma Thompson.  She is a gifted and famous author, he is a by-the-book IRS agent.  Her latest masterpiece (she hasn't written in 10 years) dictates his life.  Every word she puts down effects him in some way.  It was funny, I tried to sit down to write a few pages and nothing came out.  A liken it to watching one of those action packed movies before bed, and then having crazy dreams the entire night about catching bad guys and jumping off buildings.  By the way, Dustin Hoffman is great as a literary professor in this one.  Final conclusion-that's it, no more thinking movies for me for a while.  I'll stick with the goofy comedies. 

I've started to write a new blog called Knowledge Stew in order to help dust the cobwebs off my feeble writing muscles.  It is a collection of random facts, fun facts, and fascinating tidbits of useless information-my favorite.  You can check out the new blog here and feel free to share.  There is also a pintrest board and a facebook page for the new blog.  It has been a lot of fun to write and requires a different skill set than writing fiction and the ability to make up my own facts.  It is meant for a fun read, just as the books.  I have also made some changes to the Flapjack book cover and you can see those on the book page or home page.  I felt it needed a little more pop. 

Snow Cone (Case #3) coming along nicely, and I'm continuing to work out the kinks in the storyline.  Sometimes I get myself in a quandary and can't get my characters out of it, so its back to a rewrite.  I'll continue to let you know of my progress here on the blog and how many hairs I begin to pull from my head.  Until then, have a good week!

I have been actively searching for a good explanation of where a book ranks after a sale and where you can expect your book to fall (or rise) in the rankings according to the amount of sales.  I stumbled upon the best site, and conveniently a chart, that outlines one author's experience (and I'm sure tireless work) in determining where you can expect your book rankings to be.  I'm not sure how she did it, but it is amazingly accurate.  Her name is Theresa Ragan and the her sales ranking chart is here.  She has a large catalog of books so she bases her estimates on these numbers.  She also has an update for December 2013.  It has been extremely helpful in determining what my books ranking means and why it moves the way that it does.  Now just to clarify, this is for the books bestseller that you see below the product description.  Don't forget there is another list; the popularity ranking.  I think it can be accessed at the very bottom of the page. There are no numbers for this list and is different than the bestseller list, and updates much less frequently.  It is a little confusing, but doing a search on the difference between the two will get you some good explanations (better than what I could do at the present time).  So for other authors out there that had the same questions as I did, check out Theresa's list and her explanation.