Peter's Perspective
Let’s face it, we all love a bargain and, like many self-published authors, I have been thinking about running a Kindle Countdown deal for a while. Having tried several free promotions in the past I was dubious about how effective a price reduction campaign might be, but then my friend and fellow author, Janet O’kane, made me aware of a new saying... 99cents is the ‘new free’ (or 99p as it is here in the UK). We each decided to try a Kindle Countdown promotion and then Janet made the outrageous suggestion that we should run our promotions at the same time and turn it into a friendly competition.
Friendly?
Hah!
I’d sell my pet hamster into slavery if it helped me sell more books!
Friendly?
Hah!
I’d sell my pet hamster into slavery if it helped me sell more books!
The Competitors
| In the blue corner... Janet O’kane with the awesome crime thriller... No Stranger to Death http://janetokane.blogspot.co.uk/ |  |  |
| And in the red corner... Peter Flannery with the one, the only... First and Only |  |  |
The Books
Our books are both thrillers; both self published and both first books but there are also a number of differences: My book is somewhat unconventional, with a supernatural twist, while Janet’s book is unmistakeably crime fiction. Mine has been out for several years and has sold more than 40,000 copies (with another 20,000 ebook downloads during free promotions), while Janet’s book has only been out for a short while. So the question for our Kindle Countdown competition is this...
Will a relatively new book, with fewer downloads but great potential, do better than a book that has sold pretty well but has also been out for several years? Can the new kid on the block outsell the tried and tested stalwart?
Which will sell more copies?
Will a relatively new book, with fewer downloads but great potential, do better than a book that has sold pretty well but has also been out for several years? Can the new kid on the block outsell the tried and tested stalwart?
Which will sell more copies?
Strategies
As of this month Janet and I are selling a similar number of books and I have always kept a careful record of my sales so it will be very easy to see what effect the promotion has.
Janet and I are both using similar strategies to market our promotions. Janet has a background in sales and marketing and also has a really good network of friends and followers on Twitter. She writes a popular blog and has signed up to a number of discount book promotion websites.
I will also be mentioning it on Twitter but I have not established the same network of support as Janet. I also have a website and a blog but mine is very new and, like Janet, I have also spent many hours filling out the forms of book promotion websites. We have both invested some money in paid sites. Janet has spent perhaps $100 while my promotional outlay is about $300, which includes a posting with the now famous BookBub. It will be interesting to see what effect this additional investment has on the results!
Janet and I are both using similar strategies to market our promotions. Janet has a background in sales and marketing and also has a really good network of friends and followers on Twitter. She writes a popular blog and has signed up to a number of discount book promotion websites.
I will also be mentioning it on Twitter but I have not established the same network of support as Janet. I also have a website and a blog but mine is very new and, like Janet, I have also spent many hours filling out the forms of book promotion websites. We have both invested some money in paid sites. Janet has spent perhaps $100 while my promotional outlay is about $300, which includes a posting with the now famous BookBub. It will be interesting to see what effect this additional investment has on the results!
The Deal Our Kindle Countdown Deals will run for from the 21st to 27th of July and whoever sells the most books in this time will be judged the winner. The loser will buy the winner a bottle of champagne. Once the campaign is over we will no doubt post with our thoughts and reflections on the results and the whole process of doing a Countdown Deal. We should be able to announce the results towards the end of this weekend so look out to see which one of us is victorious! This is the Champagne Challenge of the thriller writers. May the best warped and depraved psychopath win! :) |  |
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