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.