The KDP Countdown deal Results are in! #indie #indieauthor

Posted on July 27, 2017 by suzannerogersonfantasyauthor

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!

Visions of Zarua Amazon link

The Lost Sentinel Amazon link

#KDP Countdown deal Visions of Zarua is 99p http://mybook.to/VOZ #fantasy #epicfantasy

Posted on July 20, 2017 by suzannerogersonfantasyauthor

Good morning everyone!

Today I wanted to let you know that Visions of Zarua is just 99p during its Kindle Countdown Deal 20th – 27th July. Here’s the link if you’re interested in learning more – Amazon UK / US.

Visions of Zarua is a dual timeline fantasy following the story of two wizards who live 350 years apart.

Paddren is the reluctant hero of present day Paltria, while Jago is a junior wizard who lived 350 years ago when the problems first beset the magical city of Zarua.

Steeped in mystery, with plenty of magic and murder along the way, this is a fast-paced action adventure on an epic scale.

Visions of Zarua is a standalone fantasy with 18 reviews and an average rating of 4.5 on Amazon UK. On Goodreads it has 26 ratings with an average of 4.27.

I’m excited about the countdown deal this time around as this will be the first time I’ve used any paid Ad services apart from AMS to promote it.

For those Indie authors out there interested in using Ad sites, I’ll blog about the results in the near future. I don’t have high expectations of making my money back, I’m just hoping for a few downloads and some more exposure of both Visions and The Lost Sentinel.

LEARNT SO FAR: You can’t just set up this kind of advertising on a whim, which of course is exactly what I tried to do. Some sites need you to book a date weeks or even months in advance, and many require a certain number of reviews as well. That’s a great form of quality control, but doesn’t help when you want to promote a newly published book. My advice – get organised in advance!

I have my fingers crossed this next week of promos sees a few sales. I’ll leave you with a couple of quotes about Visions of Zarua from Amazon.

Thrilling and dark fantasy novel that really keeps you gripped from beginning to end!, 27 Jan. 2016 MPB

Highly recommend for fantasy, magic and mystery fans!, 27 May 2016 Sarah

Wonderful 3-dimensional characters in an epic fantasy, 12 July 2016 Barb Taub

A Thoroughly Enjoyable Sword and Sorcery Based Epic Fantasy, 28 Dec. 2016 BrizzleLass

Thanks for reading.

#WWWBlogs Question for #indieauthors & #readers about #KDP & advertising

Posted on July 12, 2017 by suzannerogersonfantasyauthor

I’m about to set up another Kindle Countdown deal for my book Visions of Zarua. In the past I’ve run a few ads on AMS, Facebook and Goodreads but I wouldn’t say they had resulted in many sales.

I want to ask;

Readers how / where do you discover books and are you more inclined to buy a book during a deal period?

Indie Authors where have you advertised your countdown deals and have they resulted in a good sales? In fact, while we’re on the subject where do you advertise your books whether it’s a promo or not.

I have a limited budget and there are so many sites to choose from, so I’m looking for some guidance. My genre is fantasy, so I’m looking to target readers of fantasy fiction.

Please get in touch and start a discussion on the difficult subject of advertising.

Thanks for your help!

P.S. I have blogged before about my experiences with KDP and if this time turns up any good results I’ll be sure to share them with you.

Visions of Zarua #Kindle #Countdowndeal – 99p/99c Today Only! http://mybook.to/VOZ

Posted on March 23, 2017 by suzannerogersonfantasyauthor

Fancy trying out a new author of epic, dark fantasy? Today’s the perfect day to start with this standalone fantasy novel, Visions of Zarua for only 99p / 99c.

Two wizards, 350 years apart. Can they save the realm of Paltria from Zarua’s dark past?

Recent reviews

A Thoroughly Enjoyable Sword and Sorcery Based Epic Fantasy 28 December 2016

A dark story with many twists and great characters 17 December 2016

This is a dark fantasy novel that I loved 26 November 2016

brilliantly written fantasy, finished it and wanted more! 7 July 2016

A gripping fantasy with a strong premise and endearing characters 16 July 2016 Told through four unique perspectives, Visions of Zarua is an epic fantasy that follows three friends as they struggle to fight demons of the past threatening their homeland of Paltria. Moving between the past and present, the narrative unfolds at a brisk speed, never losing momentum, introducing an intricate world full of magic, intrigue and danger. In Suzanne’s deft hands, the premise transcends the normal stereotypes…

Amazon links

UK and US

You might also want to check out the reviews on Goodreads book page.

Two wizards, 350 years apart. Can they save the realm of Paltria from Zarua’s dark past?

An ancient darkness haunts the realm of Paltria.
Apprentice wizard Paddren is plagued by visions of a city on the brink of annihilation. When his master Kalesh dies in mysterious circumstances, the Royal Order of Wizards refuses to investigate.
Helped by his childhood friend, the skilled tracker Varnia, and her lover Leyoch, Paddren vows to find the killer.
The investigation leads Paddren down a sinister path of assassins, secret sects and creatures conjured by blood magic. But he is guided by a connection with a wizard from centuries ago – a wizard whose history holds the key to the horror at the heart of the abandoned city of Zarua. Can Paddren decipher his visions in time to save the Paltrian people from the dark menace of Zarua’s past?

***

Visions is also enrolled in KDP Select, so is free to read for any one with a kindle unlimited subscription.

If you get the chance to read it, I’d love your feedback. A short review on Amazon will help the book be discovered by other readers.

Thanks for reading and please share away. I’d love to reach out to new readers today.

#Mondayblogs #fantasybook update and new #kindle #countdowndeal for Visions of Zarua

Posted on March 20, 2017 by suzannerogersonfantasyauthor

I’ve taken a long break from blogging to concentrate on my next book, The Lost Sentinel – Book 1 in the Silent Sea Chronicles.

I’m pleased to say it’s now with my editor for an edit and proofread, so fingers crossed I’ll soon be able to set a publication date. I can’t wait to do the cover reveal and to start contacting book reviewers to offer ARC of the finished book. And I can’t wait to finish book 2, which I’ve also been neglecting for too long.

In other news, Visions of Zarua has finally been seeing some action on Kindle Unlimited which I’m really pleased about. There’s nothing quite like checking the pages read to see it spiking over 1k pages in a day. That’s the equivalent of 2.3 books read and although that may seem small to many authors, I’m chuffed.

Now I need to convert some of those reads into reviews! The reviews have slowed down, nothing since late December, so if anyone is interested in reviewing Visions of Zarua please get in touch for a review copy.

Or you could pick it up for 99p on Thursday 23rd March when the Kindle countdown deal starts in the UK & USA. It’ll then be 1.99 on 24th March and revert to its usual price on 25th March.

Here’s the book link Amazon UK & Amazon USA

Visions of Zarua Book Cover.jpg

cathy - pyre picture quote

I’ll be blogging about it throughout the deal, and I’d love your support in sharing the posts. Thanks very much.

#Mondayblogs KDP select, updates, reviews & competition news

Posted on December 19, 2016 by suzannerogersonfantasyauthor

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, so I thought it was the perfect time for a little update.

Review News

Firstly, Visions of Zarua had two reviews within hours of each other over the weekend! I’m suffering with a cold at the moment and these reviews were the perfect pick me up. See them on the Goodreads book page and Amazon UK.

One reviewer even said Paddren was one of her top five favourite characters of the year. That is amazing to hear and really makes me smile, thank you Karen.O.

Visions of Zarua has received some wonderful feedback over the last year with 17 reviews on amazon UK and 15 on goodreads. These reviews have been my inspiration to keep writing and I never tire of re-reading them.

New Competition

A UK only Goodreads competition will be running over the Christmas period. 22nd Dec to 1st Jan 2017.

I’m also about to set up a Rafflecopter giveaway, something I’ve not done before but we’ll see how that works out.

Next Book News

My first two beta readers reviews are in. The consensus is that The Lost Sentinel is almost ready to publish! There’s still a few tweaks and mistakes to rectify, but it’s pretty much complete. Then it’ll just need a professional edit and book cover.

Book 2 is written but awaiting the insertion of many, many scenes. I hope to start planning book 3 soon with a view to writing the draft during Nano next November. Scary to think of Nov 2017, but it’s good to have a plan.

One of my beta readers is really pushing me to approach agents before I self publish The Lost Sentinel. She thinks it’s a much stronger book than Visions of Zarua and the fact its book 1 of a trilogy might make it a better prospect for agents and publishers to consider. What do you think of switching directions?

I’ll be researching my options over the next few months. It’s exciting, but I’ve enjoyed self-publishing and I’m not sure I want to hand over control to others. There’s also the rejections to face again. Am I ready for that?

Reading challenge

I beat my 25 book target on Goodreads, which I’m really pleased about. There’s still time to get another book or two in and I’m hoping to post a review tomorrow of A Wedding in Cornwall by Laura Briggs.

There are plenty of book tags around that I’d like to have a go at, and maybe I’ll try to select my favourite book of 2016. It’s harder this year as I’ve read more books than I’m used too. 2015 my fav book was Ink and Bone’ by Rachel Caine.

KDP Select / Countdown deals & Amazon Ads

Well the exclusive publishing is not going well and Kindle Unlimited KENP has gone down to zero pages for the last two months. At the back end of October this was looking like an exciting new way of reaching readers, now I don’t know. I’m stuck with it until Feb 2017, after that it will be decision time.

The second Countdown deal didn’t go to plan. It worked in the UK and US, but seemed to start at different times. The Amazon Ads I’d scheduled didn’t work properly and the book price didn’t increase on the second day for some reason. This isn’t really an issue, but it just made my blog/tweets about it harder – I didn’t want to mention price in case it suddenly hopped up to 1.99. I made a few sales, but nothing to worry the bestseller lists!

I spent more on Ads with Facebook, Amazon and Goodreads than I made in sales. Still, it’s all exposure for the book.

Call for help

If you have Kindle Unlimited, don’t forget Visions of Zarua is free to read in the UK here and the US here.

I would really appreciate it of someone who has the facility would read a couple of pages and let me know when, just so I can check the pages read are being registered.

Also, I had this crazy idea that I’d like to hit 20 reviews on Amazon before the end of the year. If you have read Visions, would you consider posting a short review? It really does make my day to read them.

I’m sure I’ll post again soon, but if not before the big day…

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

#Mondayblogs Call for help & advice with KDP Countdown Deals #indieauthors

Posted on December 5, 2016 by suzannerogersonfantasyauthor

I would like to ask for help and advice for my upcoming KDP countdown deal.

My second attempt at the countdown deals starts in the UK and US on 9th December – if I have set it up correctly this time!

Visions of Zarua will be 99p on 9th & £1.99 on 10th December.

It was a bit of a non event last time as I didn’t know what I was doing. Now I’m hoping to generate some interest via Amazon’s sponsored products & product display Ads. I will also have a Goodreads Ad and Facebook Ad running for those few deal days.

Are there any other free or cheap promo sites that will help me? I really want to draw some attention to the sale and make it worthwhile this time around.

Help from the blogging community would be greatly appreciated. If you could reblog and retweet my posts on those days I would be very grateful.

I also want to set up a Rafflecopter paperback giveaway in the UK before Christmas. I haven’t run one before, are there any tips anyone can offer?

Thanks in advance.

#WWWblogs 1 week to go with #KDPSelect – My thoughts & why I’m renewing #indieauthor #indie

Posted on November 1, 2016 by suzannerogersonfantasyauthor

The first 3 months

It’s been an interesting 3 months using KDP Select for the first time. So far the biggest impact has been having my book enrolled in Kindle Unlimited. The page numbers read has increased each month from 0 in Aug, 768 in September and 786 in October. The figures are modest, but they are still readers, that’s what matters most to me!

I’m always so happy when I check the daily report to see the line on the graph has moved up. Thank you unknown readers, whoever you are.

I’ve yet to see an increase in reviews or sales through KDP Select, but I’ll take this success and continue to be positive about it – after all I sold nothing through Smashwords and the various retailers after the pre-order buzz for Visions of Zarua.

So based on the small success of Kindle Unlimited, I’m going to renew for another 3 months. At least I no longer feel as if my book is completely lost amongst the thousands.

5 day free promo or Kindle Countdown deals?

The next question is shall I run a 5 day free promo or go with kindle countdown deals again? People seem to have mixed opinions on what works best. I suppose it depends on the outcome you require. I want to encourage readers to read and review my book, I’m not so interested in hitting Amazon’s best seller lists for free book downloads. That would be great of course, but my genre is too big to get near those rankings.

With the Countdown Deals at least I understand how things work this time around. I’ll make sure I run the UK & US deals starting on the same day! Thanks Terry Tyler for pointing that one out!

Amazon Ads

I’m also going to promote the Kindle Countdown deal this time, which I plan to do via Amazon Ads: Sponsored Product and Product Display Ad for the sale period and maybe a few days after as well.

My current Amazon Ads have cost me quite a bit with only one sale coming out of 64 clicks! I don’t understand why so many people have clicked on the Ad (which shows the book cover, tag line, cost and star rating) and not followed through. Maybe some of them have gone on to read it via Kindle Unlimited. I have asked Amazon if there is more data available regarding these clicks, and will let you know if I hear back from them.

Hopefully combining the Ad’s with the Countdown Deals will see a better return.

Other book sales sites

I want to try other sites that promote book sales, can anyone recommend any that aren’t too expensive?

***

I hope you’ve found my 3 month experiment with KDP Select helpful.

My other posts were 1 month in with KDP Select and 2nd KDP update

What are your thoughts and experiences on the scheme? If you have any tips to share, I’d love to hear them!

And of course, if you have read Visions of Zarua, would you consider leaving a review? Just a short one, letting other readers know what you think and what you liked / didn’t like.

1 month into KDP Select – my thoughts so far… #indiepub #selfpub #writetip

Posted on September 10, 2016 by suzannerogersonfantasyauthor

I signed up to KDP Select in August 2016. It was a horrible experience to unpublish with Smashwords after all the work that goes into preparing the manuscript for them. It feels like a step backwards to remove the book from so many book buying platforms, but I decided it was worth it to go exclusive with Amazon Kindle.

I came into KDP Select with high hopes. There seemed so many benefits of offering them exclusive ebook rights, and being enrolled in Kindle Unlimited seemed like a win win for everyone.

Well, I’m disappointed to report the results so far are no better than when I was going it alone. I don’t see any benefit to being exclusive, rather I feel tied to Amazon with no help in return. Even running the Kindle Countdown deals has been a disappointment. They haven’t help with the promotion. All it has done is made me clutter my twitter feed, facebook etc with buy my book posts, which I hate. But if I don’t try to spread the word, whose going to know there is a sale on and what’s the point of doing it in the first place?

I did rush into KDP Select without reading the small print, but they draw you in by saying you can reach more readers, earn more money and maximise your sales potential. However, you can only run one promo in one enrolment period. I opted for UK countdown deals, not realising I couldn’t run the US one at the same time. I also wanted to use their ‘5 day free’ book promotion, but do I want to tie myself to them for 6 months?

I had big plans to approach lots of reviewers in September, but I cannot give away copies of my own book. How ridiculous is that? I believe I may be able to gift copies, but I’m waiting for Amazon to get back to me on how this is done without going against their terms and conditions.

Anyone out there have any advice on how to make the most of KDP Select?

This is a very dispiriting time for me. I don’t like to be negative in my posts, and I’m sure when the next marketing opportunity comes up that I’ll feel more positive again. I suppose I just need to let off steam and then I can focus on finishing my next book. That is why I’m doing this. I love writing and I’ve loved sharing Visions of Zarua with the world and reading the wonderful reviews people have written.

I would just like to thank all those who have supported me. Without you guys, I’m sure I would have given up on self publishing by now.

***

I’m feeling a bit blogged out at the moment, but I hope to start sharing book reviews, writing advice and my photographs again soon. Thanks for bearing with me.

#Kindle countdown deal continues – Visions of Zarua £1.99 #epicfantasy

Posted on September 10, 2016 by suzannerogersonfantasyauthor

This is the last day of my UK Kindle Countdown deal, so if you missed Visions of Zarua for 99p, you can still pick it up for £1.99 today.

Why not read a sample here

Or you can go direct to the Amazon page and see what others having been saying about my debut fantasy Amazon UK. There are more reviews on Amazon US and the book’s goodreads page.

I’ll keep this post short and sweet, but later I’ll be posting about my experience so far with KDP Select.

As ever please help me spread the word. And if you have read Visions of Zarua would you consider leaving a short review? These reviews are the best selling tool any author can have, so I appreciate your time helping me reach more readers.

Thank you and have a great weekend.