OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn
OK, the dust has settled and it's time to report back on how the launch of Pentecost went. Many of you have been asking so here it is.
I'm baring my soul here, so please do leave a comment with your thoughts on how you think it went! The more we help each other, the more we can rise together.
The Results
# Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #370 Paid in Kindle Store
* #4 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Fiction
* #5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Religious Fiction
#62 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction
#1 in Movers & Shakers on 12 Feb
#93 on Amazon.co.uk in Kindle > Kindle ebooks > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Thrillers.
Total sales were 683 books between 7 -28 February. 133 print and the rest ebooks. It's not blockbuster sales but it's my first novel in the religious thriller/action-adventure genre and as my back-list grows, so will the numbers. Most authors start off by selling low numbers and then they grow over time, so I am content with this as the starting position.
The following are the aspects that went into the launch. I hope it helps you with planning your own.
Base Author Platform: The Creative Penn Blog.
Without this baseline, I wouldn't have been able to do most of the following so I consider my blog to be the most important asset I have to market myself and my books. I've been blogging here for over two years now, posting an article, video or podcast every two days consistently.
I've blogged the whole journey of Pentecost – click here for all the posts. You guys have helped me choose the book cover as well as refine the back blurb and have witnessed my growth as a fiction writer. I've shared it all and I think that helped sales because some of you like the religious thriller genre and were ready to buy the book when it launched, even just to support me. Thanks so much for your support!
I also sent out review copies to people who were willing to write reviews (no, I didn't influence what they wrote!). Check them out on Amazon.com. These really help sales so I appreciate every one. Authors really value reviews so that is always a great thing to do if you love a book.
Cost: Blogging takes a whole lot of time but very little setup cost. I also love it and blog as a hobby anyway 🙂 Totally worth every moment I spend on growing this site!
Social Networking: Twitter and Facebook
The Creative Penn Facebook page is a growing place where I can interact more freely with people and there are around 1200 fans so far. We have some more in-depth conversations and I post almost every day there. (Come and join us!) Again I shared the journey and links to videos, posts and other things but I think this audience overlaps with Twitter and the blog, so it is more of a gathering place than somewhere specific for the launch.
I did setup a Pentecost novel Facebook page which I used more heavily for the launch and also post specifically to re guest posts, interviews and things. It has free chapters and buy now links and currently has 165 fans. I'll keep this going because I intend to continue marketing the book and search on Facebook is increasing.
Cost: $0 but a lot of time! Again, I find so many benefits from twitter especially, I think it is absolutely worth the time investment.
Book Trailer
I personally think book trailers are awesome. They give an overview of the book in one minute and you know whether you're interested. I have bought books based on trailers and I think they will only get more popular in 2011 and onwards as video search grows. Also, if you get into video now, you're still ahead of the pack. Google “thriller novel” and check the videos. Pentecost and other videos by me on thrillers rank on the first page. Awesome. You can't do that with text posts anymore!
Cost: This was one of the most expensive items at around AU$200 which was for the high quality video and images. Worth it? Some may not think so but I am a believer in the power of video and this is an evergreen business card for the book so yes, I think the cost was worth it.
Blog Tour/ Guest Posting/ Interviews
Guest posting is worth it for the incoming links to your blog which boosts Google page rank PLUS/ the personal branding boost that goes with having your name on the bigger blogs.
I was able to appear on most of them because of relationships I've built up over the last two years and also because I know how to write a decent blog article (after much studying!) . None of these sites would have accepted a bad post even with an online friendship. If you're considering guest posting for blogs, you need to know how blog articles work. Definitely subscribe to Copyblogger for tips on this.
Cost: Again, $0 but a lot of time and my brain is dead from so many guest posts as well as my own launch material.
It was worth it for the exposure and general personal branding benefits but I don't think it impacted the launch sales figures significantly. It was more about growing awareness of The Creative Penn and something I will continue to do more of but not for the launch date specifically, more for building profile and presence before a launch. Perhaps the longer blog tour works better. I shall do this differently next time.
Launch Day competition
The point of a competition is to incentivize people to buy the book on a particular day in order to impact the Amazon rankings. I offered a Kindle or access to my Author 2.0 program and personal coaching as well as Amazon vouchers. Clearly my own courses don't cost me out of pocket but they offer a lot of value.
Cost: $50 as the other prizes were intangible. Worth it because of the number of sales in one day which pushed me up the charts although not everyone who bought was in the competition.
Kindle Nation Sponsorship
This is something anyone can do and should absolutely go on your list. Kindle Nation Daily goes out to thousands of mad keen Kindle book buyers and they definitely buy based on recommendations. There are various levels of sponsorship and I went for the Silver package. This mail-out shot me back up the charts to a higher position than the first launch day.
I sold 300 ebooks on that one day so this is definitely the most worthwhile cash investment I could have made. I will be interviewing Steve Windwalker from Kindle Nation in a few months time for the podcast so you will hear more about this. I have also re-booked for Pentecost Sunday when I will do another mini-relaunch. Recommended tactics are to make sure the price is low and you have reviews on Amazon already so people feel confident in purchasing.
Cost: $169.99 DEFINITELY worth it!
What I did well
The launch was successful because I've spent the last two years learning all about writing, publishing and book marketing and growing an author platform. It's not Amanda Hocking style numbers but she started off selling hundreds of books per month which soon went up as she added more books to her backlist and got book bloggers involved. So I feel like this is a good start to my fiction career.
I'm also reminded of Seth Godin's recent brilliant post about the “siren song” of launch day and how it's more important to have longevity in book sales than a high peak at launch.
In terms of things done well, I'm really glad I used a professional cover and book designer (Joel from TheBookDesigner.com) and also pro editors and pro ebook file converters. I'm proud of the book so that is definitely worth paying for.
Compare this to three years ago when I put “How To Enjoy Your Job” up for sale and sold 10 books to my family in 6 months because no one knew who I was. That disappointment led directly to the creation of this blog and onwards to my first novel. I'm still selling that book and the sales of “From Idea to Book” have also gone up this month with the Pentecost launch.
Maybe you think I should have reached #1 in the Kindle store – it would have been nice, but let's face it, I haven't paid my dues to fiction writing yet. Most authors make it somewhere after they have written 3, 4, 5 or more books. So watch this space 🙂
What I could have done better
Clearly I could have written a vampire romance and that would have sold better than a religious thriller! But that just isn't me 🙂
You can watch this video to find out why I wrote Pentecost.
I absolutely should have launched on the same day as the Kindle Nation sponsorship because the two rankings separately shot me up the charts, but together perhaps I would have made #1 on religious thriller. Having the launch over a week spread the sales out more and meant the rankings didn't go so high, but Zoe Winters did point out that Amazon thinks you're gaming them if you peak too high all on one day. Hmm, Amazon algorithms are top secret so we will never know!
As also pointed out above, I would have spread my guest posts over a month or so prior and not saved them all for launch day. This would have meant more readers on the blog in general which may have led to more sales. Hard to tell though!
I am also becoming more active on Goodreads and Shelfari if you want to friend me there. I realize the importance of interacting with readers which I didn't focus on prior to launch. I have learned that lesson!
If you're a book blogger and would like a review copy of Pentecost, please let me know. I didn't reach out enough to that market before the launch but will be correcting that mistake over the next year.
Next Steps
Clearly marketing a book is an ongoing thing! But it goes on the backburner now as I relaunch some of my Author 2.0 products and start the next novel in the Morgan Sierra/ARKANE series, Prophecy. I have started a signup page for Prophecy here which is already getting sign-ups which means the next launch should be easier!
What do you think about the launch process? Let me know what you agree with and what could have been done better or how you have fared with your book launches.
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1 2 3 4 Next »Really great tips! I'll use them to promote my own book. Wish you continued success.
Great - I hope you do find the tips useful!
What you've accomplished in two short years is remarkable. In legacy publishing, it is almost unheard of for a newbie author to sell that much on their debut novel with so little spent on promotion. Congratulations again.
It goes to show that writers everywhere have no excuses anymore. If you can't get your foot in the door with agents, all it takes is some elbow grease and hard work to follow your dreams.
I remember a couple weeks ago, I searched for "Pentecost" on Google and found your name a couple pages in. After the book launched it was right there on the front page. So your hectic blogging the days of the launch definitely paid off.
The reason paranormal ebooks are so hot right now, is that they're popular with younger, more tech savvy people. I think religious thrillers trend toward an older crowd, which may be less computer literate. Have you thought about contacting publishers with Pentecost's success as proof of your legitimacy in the market? It may not be as profitable in the short term, but you could reach a whole swathe of new readers.
Thanks for your support Doug. I am pretty happy with the way things are going and am keen to get into the next book. I did originally think I would approach publishers with my sales results in maybe a years time after Prophecy comes out too. We'll see how things go. I am an avid reader of Joe Konrath's blog and every day he has stories of people with ebook success without trad publishing. I do like the freedom of indie but am undecided.
You may be right re the religious fiction crowd plus/ it all takes time to grow. I need to focus on writing the next novel :)
Fantastic piece, Joanna; thanks for laying it all out so clearly! I was going to ask you whether the Kindle Nation sponsorship was worth buying (especially cos Zoe said it didn't have much impact on her sales) ... clearly it was! :-)
Something I'm really interested in is whether you had a budget for the whole process (e.g. editing and book cover design costs) and roughly what it worked out to? (If you're comfortable sharing that!)
Hi Ali, I am always happy to share but some of my pricing deals were done because of my relationships with others, so I can't share exact figures - but here's a ballpark.
Remember, these are spread out over time so is not all at the same point. Plus, I sell other ebooks and products through this site so I use that money to re-invest in my books and business. I also get speaking fees which paid for most of these costs i.e. The Creative Penn is self-sustaining.
Book cover design and book interior design: $500 - $1200 depending on what needs to be done.
High level story editing - $500
Copy editing & proof reading - $500 - $1200 depending on book length
Ebook formatting - $60 - $200 depending on who does it
I hope that helps a bit. I have personally spent around $1500 all up but as I said, that has come in from other sources first. Hope that helps! I am committed to keeping it real with you guys :)
Thanks! :-) That all sounds pretty much what I'd have expected (though I hadn't really thought about interior book design).
Wow. Great article!
Although I have no intention of writing a fiction novel anytime soon, your tips will be handy for future creative endevours. Thanks for giving us all such detailed and honest info about your journey. :)
And congrats on all your success so far, and beyond!
Thanks Adam. I think the various strategies for launch apply regardless of the product or type of book. I'm always interested to hear how other people have done it as well.
It seems you've got a great system going. I would definitely, definitely appeal more to readers. Find a way to get a book group on Goodreads to read your book for that month and have a discussion with them. I noticed that got some good promotion for the authors chosen. It's a bit of a gamble though and I'm not sure how it works, but if you could figure it out that'd be something worthwhile (at least for one month).
Hope that helps and good luck. I'm definitely interested in your book cover designer and think that hiring professionals to edit, do your cover, and convert your novel into an ebook was the best thing you could've done.
Did you do your book trailer on your own or did you hire someone to do it for you?
Hi Elisa,
I definitely want to try the Goodreads thing next time. I did look at it but it also costs money. I did the book trailer myself - here's how I did it
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2011/01/07/how-to-create-a-book-trailer/
I agree on the professional outsourcing. I am never doing those things myself again :)
Joanna, this is an extremely useful post. It really shows the kind of commitment you need to make a self-published book successful. And, by any measure I can think of, Pentecost is clearly doing very well. According to figures from the big self-publishing services, the average self-published book sells 150 copies in its lifetime! Figures from the mid-range publishing houses suggest that the average author advance for a first-time novelist is between $3,000 and $5,000 these days (and only 5% earn out that advance!) You are well on track to blow those numbers out of the water.
Congratulations!
Thanks Graham. It's really hard to see how successful these things are when you're "in the trenches". It would be great to say I've sold thousands of books in the first month, but that would just be crazy! I hope that by writing more books and just plugging away, that I can make this a fulltime living. I look at the pros and big names like King, Patterson, etc and they have been doing this for years. That's how you make a decent income. Write more books, keep marketing, keep selling.
I'm in this for the long haul!
Congratulations on your successful book launch! You have me now planning my own hypothetical launch (I haven't decided whether to indie publisher are not yet). I think I would do everything on your list except for the guest posting, because as you mentioned, it takes so much time and energy. Instead of that, I would probably submit the book to book bloggers instead.
Thanks Livia. Yes, I will definitely be focusing more on book bloggers - although most don't accept indie published books from what I have seen. That may change in the next year or so and of course, Amanda Hocking made it through that hurdle!
The guest posting is more of a blogger's strategy for building a brand - not for a launch. But the experience was a good one!
This is awesome! Congrats on a wonderful launch and thanks for sharing what you learned! My first book (contemporary romance) is coming out in 2012 with Waterbrook Multnomah (a division of Random House) and I want to learn as much as possible about marketing.
All the best for your launch Katie. I know that the traditional publishers want authors to do a lot of this themselves too, so hopefully it will be helpful!
Joanna, thanks for laying out in detail what you did - and what you'd do differently. You did an awesome job of creating a buzz and the sales speak for themselves. I did my own Kindle launch a week after yours for Nail Your Novel, and although I didn't plan it nearly so far in advance or as extensively, it went well because of what I'd learned from you.
Thanks Roz. It's great that we can learn from each other, and I will have some new tactics for the next book, for sure!
Great write-up on your launch, Joanna! You did a marvelous job, one that all of us can learn from. You have given me a few ideas to use myself. Thanks for giving us a "behind the scenes" look at how the launch went.
Thanks Tony. I really appreciate all your support for the launch and the book!