Well, I’m astounded by what a little advertising can do. These aren’t the massive results others have achieved, but it is the BEST I have ever done, and the best Visions of Zarua has ever done. I’m ecstatic, and my self publishing verve has been restored!
So how did Visions of Zarua do during the 99p / 99c countdown deal?
The deal ran 20th to 27th July 2017
Day 1 – My efforts consisted of Tweeting, blogging, Facebook, Instagram – the usual suspects.
COST = MY TIME. SALES = 0
Day 2 – BKnights
COST = $11. SALES = 3
Day 3 – My Facebook Ad: Aimed at 15-30 age group male/female in UK and US with interests in reading, fantasy etc. Total of 9 interests.
COST = £6. SALES = 0
Note – I picked this age group as they had shown the most interest in previous ads. There were 1,169 people reached – 16 likes and 1 link click (to Amazon book page). 12 photo quote clicks were recorded – obviously having the photo quote took away from the amazon link click. (A few days later I invited these people to Like my facebook page.)
Day 4 – Bargain Booksy Ad
COST $40. SALES = 24!
Finally making progress, although I haven’t covered my costs. There were 21 sales in the US and 3 in the UK.
Day 5 – Facebook Ads attempt 2
This time I ran two ads, 1 US and 1 UK. I upped the age range 16-65+ male/female. I reduced interests to 4.
I also used the Amazon book page as the direct link for the Ad, rather than have the universal link in the wording of the ad as before.
US 14 likes, only 2 link clicks (234 people reached)
UK 2 likes, 21 link clicks. (470 people reached) No idea if these resulted in sales.
COST = £8. SALES = 10 (5 UK / 5 US) – Maybe a result of Bargain Booksy and / or facebook ad?
Day 6 – Booksends
COST $35. SALES = 28
Very happy with these figures!
DAY 7 – Bookrunes.
COST = $25. SALES 9.
I was interested to give Bookrunes a shot as they advertise to UK, US, Australia and India. Even though the deal doesn’t run in all those countries, it’s still very much needed exposure.
And guess what,
Day 8 = 3 sales in Australia!
Extra: Amazon Marketing Services
I also ran an AMS ad throughout the whole KDP countdown deal. The results take a few days to finalise, but so far it looks as though it received 1847 impressions, 1 click and 1 sale. That sale cost so far $0.07. I have a profit WOOHOO! However, that’s the worst an AMS ad has ever performed for me. It was a sponsored product ad with 48 keywords, but they would not let me mention anything to do with the sale or price in the ad so that doesn’t help matters. I also still have an ad running for Visions of Zarua all the time, so the two ads will have been very similar.
The deal has ended, but I have my fingers crossed that more sales will trickle in over the next few days / weeks.
Final Thoughts
Over 8 days Visions of Zarua sold 77 copies. 17 UK 57 US and 3 AU.
I may be out of pocket but it doesn’t matter because 77 new people own my book and countless others have seen it! Even though I haven’t hit any bestseller lists, I’m still happy with the results.
In the past I’ve sold in Canada, Germany and been read in India – so I really can say that Visions of Zarua has been read Worldwide. If I hadn’t had the guts to self publish back in 2015, no one would have seen my work, and no doubt I’d be out in the real world right now trying to find a job that fits in with school hours and term times – boring!
Instead, I’m fully pumped and ready to get on with book 2 in the Silent Sea Chronicles so I can start this crazy business all over again.
P.S – Thanks to my blogging friends who gave me words of advice and encouragement when I had a wobble a few weeks back.
P.P.S – I’m still desperate to get some reviews for The Lost Sentinel (and Visions of Zarua). I want to try a repeat experiment with countdown deals for The Lost Sentinel soon, but it only has 4/5 reviews on Amazon and some ad sites require 10+ reviews. Can you help?
If you’ve read either books, please consider reviewing them on Amazon. If you would like a reviewers copy, please get in touch.
Now I’m planning a whole week without the internet – well almost. I’ll still be checking my emails, wordpress comments etc, so please add your thoughts and comments. I love to interact, that’s what makes this whole thing worth the effort.
Thanks for reading!
Suzanne Rogerson Fantasy Author 
It’s so hard to find what works for you, but it was good to see you tried loads of different sites and got results. Congrats!
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Thanks, i thought it was about time I tried some ads. It’s proved to me that you can’t expect to make sales if no one knows about your book. I’m happy with the results of my experiment.
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You should be, they’re impressive. I hadn’t heard of the other sites you tried but I think I’ll keep them in mind the next time I run a promotion
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Thanks for all your facts and figures; it’s always interesting to see how other writers fare.
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Thank you, Jessica. Other writers have been so kind with their advice, that I wanted to share my experience. I thought it might help people who were unsure about paying for ads, just as I was a few weeks ago.
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Such awesome results! 77 people is a good number regardless of your outlay. It’s a start and the key is always visibility because books don’t sell unless people see them. Have you thought of swapping newsletters – you’re not swapping your mailing list. Instead, if I wrote fantasy, I’d feature your book in my newsletter and you’d do the same for me, not necessarily right now but in the future. That expands your reach which is basically what all those Booksends, Bargainbooksy, etc. do. They send your book along with other people’s books out to their subscribers. With newsletter swapping, you’re doing it with fellow authors.
I’m so happy to hear about your results and here’s to more sales and reviews!
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Thanks very much, Liz. You’ve really been a big help to me and I will look into emails lists and newsletters asap. I’ve promised myself a month of writing and then when the kids go back to school I will get on with my to do list. Top of which I think will be starting a mailing list.
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Well done, those results are great! Your books are being seen by more and more people which is wonderful. Good work!
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Thank you. I am very pleased I did this. Now I know what’s possible and I’m not so nervous about spending a little on advertising!
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Well done, Suzanne. I’m glad you’re feeling more positive, too.
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I am, thanks.
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