Last week I told you how to run a Kindle Countdown, and mentioned my own deal was running from July 8 to 15. Now I have the results. I feel that at this point I should write a “results may vary” disclaimer, just like the investments advisors. “I’m quite pleased with my results, but your results may be different depending on many things, including your goals in running your Countdown Deal.”
The results
I ran the Countdown Deal on my book, Hibiscus Strong for five days, beginning on a Thursday. My rank slowly rose over the next few days from about 700 in my category of “Southern Biography” to Number 2. Yes, I’d hoped to make Number 1, but 2 is exceptional and I’ll take it.
Books sold: 37 e-books and 3 paperbacks. 1,110 pages credited on KENP (Kindle Normalized Pages: pages read by people with Kindle Unlimited).
Royalties: $36.00
Money spent on Ads: $30 for a one-day Fussy Librarian, $60 on Facebook boosted posts.
The Goals
Obviously, I lost money on this Countdown Deal, so why am I so happy? It all has to do with my goals. Southern Biography is a small category and not the most popular. It is difficult to sell a lot of books in this category. If I had been writing Vampire Romance, I’d have been very disappointed, but in Southern Biography these are great results.
My goal was to get more readers—readers outside my friends and family group. While I know a few books sold to people already on my mailing list or family members, most went to people I’ve never heard of. And that’s the way to start to develop buzz about a book.
Next Steps
Yes, I’ll do another Countdown Deal next quarter. I will change things up a little bit. I’ll try some additional book deal websites, such as Ereader News Today, and possibly try a BookBub ad. I may decide to do a five-day free giveaway to really boost the number of readers.