UPDATE: As of this point I have 7130 ebooks sold between Amazon, Nook, iBooks, & Kobo. At this point if I don’t make the list, I think it will be due to something I can’t control. I’ll be creating a separate post with things that I could have done better, and some highlights of things I did right.
I got a BookBub for my I Bring the Fire box set and decided to try and shoot for the bestseller list. I based my strategy on threads like this one: https://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,214032.0.html
I don’t know what my chances are. There are some things that are going against me. First, some of the books in the set are about 4 years old now … that’s older than dirt in ebook years. Second, BookBub is on Thursday–would definitely worked better to have it at the beginning of the week and then used other advertisers to keep the BookBub bump going, rather than using other advertisers to get the rank up BEFORE the ‘Bub kicks in. Third, couldn’t get RobinReads–they rock–but were completely booked. Finally, there is a hole in my advertising schedule, and I was going to use Facebook to make up the difference … but Facebook is really slow to approve ads at the moment. I’ve been waiting for this post to be approved for a boost all morning. Blah.
So Here is the Line Up:
Monday 1/25/2016 ETA: Starting Rank 55,000ish
BookBarbarian $15
ReadCheaply $0
OHFB $75
ManyBooks $25
ReadingDeals $15
GenrePulse $40
BuckBooks $12
MyBookCave $0
BookloversHeaven (IBF 1) $0
PrettyHot $0
Awesomegang $0
BookBasset (IBF 1) $7.99
Facebook targeted ads
Facebook boosted
https://www.facebook.com/CGockelWrites/photos/a.157057451155709.1073741828.153359038192217/453377081523743/?type=3&theater (All are welcome to share it! Pretty please with sugar on it?)
Tumblr $0 http://ibringthefireodin.tumblr.com/post/138023437010/so-i-did-a-thing-when-amy-lewis-prays-for-help (Reblogs? Please … sorry, but I am shamelessly begging.)
Tuesday 1/26/2016 ETA: Starting Rank 524
ENT $25
FKTips $100
Booksends+Ereader IQ $35
Bargain Booksy $40
Ebookhounds $10
SweetFreeBooks $5
Tumblr: $0
Facebook targeted
Facebook boosted https://www.facebook.com/CGockelWrites/photos/a.157057451155709.1073741828.153359038192217/453680434826741/?type=3&theater
Wednesday 1/27/2016 Starting rank 356ish
Riffle $30
FussyLibrarian $13.30
BookButterfly $100
KND Highlighter $29
BookHearts $0
Tumblr: $0
Facebook targeted
Facebook boosted: https://www.facebook.com/CGockelWrites/photos/a.157057451155709.1073741828.153359038192217/453941314800653/?type=3&theater
Thursday 1/28/2016 Starting rank 339ish
Bookbub $520
BookButterfly: $0
Tumblr: $0
KND Highlighter of Free Book? TBD
Facebook targeted
Facebook boosted: https://www.facebook.com/CGockelWrites/photos/a.157057451155709.1073741828.153359038192217/454309671430484/?type=3&theater
Friday 1/29/2016 Starting rank #18ish on Amazon … #3 in Nook!
BookButterfly: $0
EbookArrow: $10
Bknights: $5
Bestebookreaderlovers: $8
Kboards Bargain Book $20
ILoveVampireNovels $79
eReaderObsession **cancelled-IBF not clean enough**
Tumblr: http://ibringthefireodin.tumblr.com/post/138292411190/letting-your-female-characters-grow-up-i-bring
Facebook targeted
Facebook boosted: https://www.facebook.com/CGockelWrites/photos/a.157057451155709.1073741828.153359038192217/454639521397499/?type=3&theater
Saturday 1/30 48ish on Amazon / 22 on Nook
Facebook targeted: TBD
Facebook boosted: https://www.facebook.com/CGockelWrites/photos/a.157057451155709.1073741828.153359038192217/454927024702082/?type=3&theater
Sunday 1/31
Facebook targeted
Facebook boosted (Previous Ads)
Total Facebook Spend: $907
Total (so far): $2,180
For the record: I didn’t mean to load up on advertising on Monday … it just happened! I submitted for any day between Monday and Friday and they put me in that slot.
The goal for Tumblr is to have an informational post every day this week … something like this:
http://ibringthefireodin.tumblr.com/post/120052468322/one-blue-eye-ibringthefireodin But I may run out of steam and that may not happen!
I wish I had a Twitter presence, but … there’s only so much you can do.
Also, I hit up every single free site option on this list I made awhile back: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RuBvSzJuy5jFg4-58EkkQ0G1OIuXzjN54CW-_CavdCA/edit#gid=0 (Yes, I made this list! I see it shared all over. It was my penny into the well of indie-author karma) For the ones that don’t accept paid books I used my permafree.
I have never spent money that wasn’t “extra.” I redesigned my covers based on extra earnings from BookBub. This is a shot in the dark (or the foot.) I have felt like throwing up all week … and I don’t think it’s noravirus.
ETA: eBookButterfly isn’t running me free, he just said that the posts will go out over 3 days. I only put the price down on the first day. Sorry for the confusion.