Friday, April 6, 2012

The Skinnyy on eBooks from National Award Winner Traci Hall



The elusive sales data… There are pros and cons to enrolling in Amazon’s Kindle Select program.  Five days in every ninety of being able to give away the title for ‘free’, is a great marketing perk. The bad part is having your novel only available on Amazon. I was interested in having Diary of a Bad Boy available for library lending, too, where an author could gain a percentage from Amazon’s royalty pool.  The book is near and dear to my heart so I really just wanted people to read it. That said, I decided to pull Diary from Smashwords and Barnes and Noble and see if I could pump some life into it. An experiment where I had nothing to lose - the book was selling less than five copies a month. You had to commit to ninety days, and they were upfront about the author needing to opt out of the program, because once enrolled they automatically renewed at the end of the commitment. I know other authors who utilized the program and did very well – reaching the top one hundred of the Amazon Free list.
Diary of a Bad Boy only got to 162, but I was pleased just the same.

I’ve been under killer deadlines for the past four months (yeah! Not complaining, lol) so I sort of forgot about the program until I heard a friend talk about how well she was doing. So just before Sleuthfest, I stuck Diary of a Bad Boy up for free – then went away and again, forgot about it. Poor Diary 
So I tried again. This time I promo’d on my loops, facebook and twitter. I told people about it and asked my friends to tell friends. I almost didn’t do this topic because the numbers are so small, lol, but then I decided to be honest and share.

In the past six weeks, from 2/18 to 3/31, I have sold – not given away – 31 copies of Diary of a Bad Boy. It sells for 2.99. The book has never once been taken from the cyber library.
For the 3/1 to 3/3 promotion, I gave away 1242 free copies in the US, and 142 in the UK
For the 3/28 to 3/30 promotion, I gave away 2043 US copies, and 15 UK copies.

I’m hoping that the promo got my name in front of readers.  I really can’t do much else with the royalties but get a manicure, lol.  The numbers for Diary in the past month are consistent with my two other self pubbed YAs – Wiccan Chalice sells for 1.99, and Wiccan Wishes, a short short <g> sells for .99 – they are steady performers around the twenty five sales, each title, per month.

As you can see, I won’t be buying that mansion across the ocean just yet – but I am banking on the long term. I will continue to write and add more to my self pubbed list. I am selling with a small publishing house, and a boutique publisher. My agent is shopping to New York publishing houses – eventually, things should come together and one project will help the other. Then – look out mansion!!

My new older teen novel, Zombyre, My Love, will be available on Amazon and e readers everywhere April 6th.  It is also available in print, if you prefer the old fashioned way of reading!  Thank you, Rhonda, for inviting me to your blog!

14 comments:

  1. Thank you, Rhonda - love your blog site, and can't wait for Finley!

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  2. Traci, I finished reading The Diary of A Bad Boy. I love it so much I am writing a review on Amazon today and I recommended to my cousin's daughter who I hope will recommend it to her class in school. That book is a keeper.

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  3. Traci,
    I can't wait for you to get your mansion. The parties will be wonderful and the wine will flow free! Get going girl. People of the universe - buy Traci Hall!!!

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  4. Mona!! Thank you - that is really awesome ((hugs))I really appreciate you taking the time to write a review, too xoxoxox

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  5. Patrice - you can buy the mansion next door. Our parties could be WORLD famous!!We can name our little neighborhood Barneywood, lol

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  6. Traci, you're the most cheerful and hardest working writer I know. And you're consistent. I see that mansion in your future, if that's what you really want ;0)

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    1. well, thank you very much!!! Im not sure what I would honestly do with a mansion but it sounds nice. So long as it came with a maid :)

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  7. I am surprised, I thought you'd sell tons!!! Wonder why some sell so fast and others are slow to sell. And it's such a fantastic touching story!
    What are readers looking for???

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    1. Mary, what readers are looking for...if we could all tap into that, we'd all be sitting at the top of the Times list! Interesting, but sad, numbers...

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  8. I downloaded it and am looking forward to reading it!

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    1. Hi Brooklyn Ann! You have so many names, lol - I hope you enjoy the book :)

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  9. I picked up a copy for my Kindle about a week ago. Haven't read it yet, but it's in my TBR folder!

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    1. Thank you Suzanne Lilly - I hope you enjoy!!
      as an addendum, I did sell twenty more copies in the first week of April, well beyond the free download...I hope this information is helpful!

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