I've been writing and publishing on Amazon for a little over 100 days now as an open learning experiment. By design, I've released a wide range of my writing, works of differing lengths (ranging from a 4,200-word short story to a 16,000-word novelette), differing target audiences (male vs. female) and content ranging from softer, happily-ever-after (HEA) to the more down and dirty. I've done timeless stories as well as topical ones.
I wanted to throw a lot of different formats and works out there to find an audience, to see what generated interest.
The market, however quietly, has spoken.
Over the last few weeks, I've found that The Hen Party and Seek: The Erotic Lives of Christian Wives have found an audience. A small one, but a consistent audience nonetheless relative to my other works. Due to the dearth of feedback, I don't have a handle yet on who is reading this, but I suspect that the target market for those two stories—stories of wives exploring their wild sides—is very close to the so-called "mommy porn" demographic that has rocketed the "Fifty Shades" trilogy to the top of the charts.
Consequently, I will likely be adjusting my release plans to focus more on this audience, and move on to the second book of "The Erotic Lives of Christian Wives" as we follow the wives on their weekend adventure to a certain steamy hotel and conference. The characters—Jen, Sarah, Liz and Chelsea—are starting to grow on me, and inhabit much of my creative thinking. The rest of their story demands to be told.
Check out all my work on my Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/Heather-Vivant/e/B006VMGGZE
Showing posts with label henparty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label henparty. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Final Results of the Trial
Kindleboards is down due to service provider issues, so I'll post the almost-final verdict on the free trial of The Hen Party here before sharing it there.
The Hen Party is my first published work, a 5,500 word story about Jen, a Christian wife who attends a bachelorette party with the girls from her Bible study group, and gets a little wild. The story debuted in the Kindle Store on December 27th, but netted only a single sale prior to the free trial.
I ran a two-day free trial last Friday and Satuday. The final figures are now in: 606 free downloads, 481 in the US, 102 in the UK, 10 in Germany and 3 in France. I reached as high as #82 in the free Fiction>Erotica category, and around #784 in the overall Kindle Free store, getting into the top 30 in the free UK Fiction>Erotica category, and top 25 in both Germany and France for the free store.
Later on Sunday, "The Hen Party" had earned some linkages in the "Also Bought..." recommendations for other stories that had been offered for free, which produced some benefit in sales as the story returned to its $0.99 price.
My expectations from having read about the effect of other free trials is that my total sales would equate to around 2% of the free copies given away. Based on the free numbers, I estimated I would have around 12 sales. As it turned out, "The Hen Party" sold 17 copies this week, and had two borrows. Of these sales, two-thirds of the sales came on the first two days after the trial. By the end of the 5th day, additional sales had returned to the earlier rate. But the two day boost put the story at around #22,000 in the paid store for a couple of days.
There was a small halo effect for the other works. During the trial, I sold another copy of Remote Control: What You Want When You Say What You Want and one copy of March Madness: The Secret Sex Life of a Sideline Reporter. That's close to what the baseline rate is for those stories, so I would say there's little effect, particularly since those stories have little in common with "The Hen Party".
The free downloads progressed at a rate of about 16 an hour on the first day, dropping to around 10 an hour by the end of the second day. Most of the sales activity appeared to be between 6PM PST and 6AM PST. Historically, I tend to see more sales on Sunday through Tuesday.
The free trial period produced no additional sales of anything in Europe, which is easy to explain. First, the volume of free European downloads was very small (<20% of the total free sales), and while it produced reciprocal also bought recommendations, I'd maybe expect 20% of 2%, or perhaps one sale every two weeks. Second, the subject matter (Christian wives gone wild) may be more popular in the US based on differences in religion in the culture. Finally, I'm unclear as to who the 13 readers were in the foreign language stores who bought the book. Bots? Expats? Students seeking to learn English?
No one has reviewed any of my stories yet. Reviews offer social proof and create a visual enticement to purchase, and I suspect that a story or book that has favorable reviews that then goes on trial will see both more downloads as well as more sales following the end of the promotion. Some authors appear to have learned this and are creating bogus reviews of their works (note when an author has single reviews on all of their works, each with five stars and the same reader reporting). I refuse to do that, and would prefer to exist without reviews or accept my lumps rather than create a misrepresentation.
Overall, my expectations for the promotion weren't high, yet the KDP Select free promotion still performed better than I expected as an unknown author writing short stories. Over 600 people have a copy of my story! Maybe some will read it! Maybe one will review!
The Hen Party is my first published work, a 5,500 word story about Jen, a Christian wife who attends a bachelorette party with the girls from her Bible study group, and gets a little wild. The story debuted in the Kindle Store on December 27th, but netted only a single sale prior to the free trial.
I ran a two-day free trial last Friday and Satuday. The final figures are now in: 606 free downloads, 481 in the US, 102 in the UK, 10 in Germany and 3 in France. I reached as high as #82 in the free Fiction>Erotica category, and around #784 in the overall Kindle Free store, getting into the top 30 in the free UK Fiction>Erotica category, and top 25 in both Germany and France for the free store.
Later on Sunday, "The Hen Party" had earned some linkages in the "Also Bought..." recommendations for other stories that had been offered for free, which produced some benefit in sales as the story returned to its $0.99 price.
My expectations from having read about the effect of other free trials is that my total sales would equate to around 2% of the free copies given away. Based on the free numbers, I estimated I would have around 12 sales. As it turned out, "The Hen Party" sold 17 copies this week, and had two borrows. Of these sales, two-thirds of the sales came on the first two days after the trial. By the end of the 5th day, additional sales had returned to the earlier rate. But the two day boost put the story at around #22,000 in the paid store for a couple of days.
There was a small halo effect for the other works. During the trial, I sold another copy of Remote Control: What You Want When You Say What You Want and one copy of March Madness: The Secret Sex Life of a Sideline Reporter. That's close to what the baseline rate is for those stories, so I would say there's little effect, particularly since those stories have little in common with "The Hen Party".
The free downloads progressed at a rate of about 16 an hour on the first day, dropping to around 10 an hour by the end of the second day. Most of the sales activity appeared to be between 6PM PST and 6AM PST. Historically, I tend to see more sales on Sunday through Tuesday.
The free trial period produced no additional sales of anything in Europe, which is easy to explain. First, the volume of free European downloads was very small (<20% of the total free sales), and while it produced reciprocal also bought recommendations, I'd maybe expect 20% of 2%, or perhaps one sale every two weeks. Second, the subject matter (Christian wives gone wild) may be more popular in the US based on differences in religion in the culture. Finally, I'm unclear as to who the 13 readers were in the foreign language stores who bought the book. Bots? Expats? Students seeking to learn English?
No one has reviewed any of my stories yet. Reviews offer social proof and create a visual enticement to purchase, and I suspect that a story or book that has favorable reviews that then goes on trial will see both more downloads as well as more sales following the end of the promotion. Some authors appear to have learned this and are creating bogus reviews of their works (note when an author has single reviews on all of their works, each with five stars and the same reader reporting). I refuse to do that, and would prefer to exist without reviews or accept my lumps rather than create a misrepresentation.
Overall, my expectations for the promotion weren't high, yet the KDP Select free promotion still performed better than I expected as an unknown author writing short stories. Over 600 people have a copy of my story! Maybe some will read it! Maybe one will review!
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Early Report
Early report on the two-day free trial of The Hen Party.
Had a little over 600 free "sales". Sold a couple of copies of my other stories, although based on their normal rate of sales, I think this was in line with what would normally be expected.
I sold copies in the US, UK, DE and FR stores. The numbers from Germany were surprising to me. I actually reached a pretty high category-specific ranking in both the French and German stores.
I was briefly in the top 100 for Fiction-->Erotica, topping out at around #82.
After the sale ended, I had several more sales, enough to take an unranked story and move it to around #30,000 in the paid store.
What I've learned about the distribution of sales and titles:
Had a little over 600 free "sales". Sold a couple of copies of my other stories, although based on their normal rate of sales, I think this was in line with what would normally be expected.
I sold copies in the US, UK, DE and FR stores. The numbers from Germany were surprising to me. I actually reached a pretty high category-specific ranking in both the French and German stores.
I was briefly in the top 100 for Fiction-->Erotica, topping out at around #82.
After the sale ended, I had several more sales, enough to take an unranked story and move it to around #30,000 in the paid store.
What I've learned about the distribution of sales and titles:
- A single short story sale is usually enough to get you into the high five-figures in rank. If there are no new sales, this ranking drops about 40K spots per day.
- A sustained rate of around 15 to 16 sales per hour is enough to get you into the top 1,000 in Kindle-->Free, and into the 80s in Fiction-->Erotica.
- For the erotic story, the US is anywhere from 80% to 85% of total sales. I was surprised, thinking that the rate would be higher for an English language title.
- The first day of the free trial produced the highest rate of sales. Performance tapers off after day 1.
- There may be a residual effect for purchases of other works in your catalogue, but I didn't see a strong correlation.
- Most of the benefit appears to accrue to the story given away, after it comes off free.
- All of this is subject to change--I have to wait a week to get the actual post-free sales figures.
Overall, I'm happy. Coming from nowhere, this managed to take a title that hadn't sold anything and turned it into a profitable title.
Stay tuned for more details as the aftermath becomes clearer.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Stats, After 22 Hours
Yesterday The Hen Party went freebie for two days. One more day to go. In case you're wondering, after 22 hours of the KDP Select Promo, here's where I stand in the rankings:
In the US:
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #957 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#100 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Erotica
In the UK:
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #481 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#29 in Kindle Store > Books > Fiction > Erotica
In Germany:
Amazon Bestseller-Rang:
Nr. 67 in Kindle-Shop > eBooks > Fremdsprachige eBooks > Englisch > Belletristik > Erotik
Incredible to me for my first story, and I hope it attracts readers beyond the free samples. You can't imagine how wet I get thinking about all those people around the world reading about the nice Christian wife Jen and her experiences and exploration at the bachelorette party for a fellow Bible study member. Hot times.
I'm considering posting more details about the trial over on the Kindleboards. If you're a reader and happen to stumble along here and don't want to comment, feel free to drop me a line on Twitter (@heathervivant) or via email (heather dot vivant dot gmail yet-another-dot com).
Peace.
In the US:
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #957 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#100 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Erotica
In the UK:
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #481 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#29 in Kindle Store > Books > Fiction > Erotica
In Germany:
Amazon Bestseller-Rang:
Nr. 67 in Kindle-Shop > eBooks > Fremdsprachige eBooks > Englisch > Belletristik > Erotik
Incredible to me for my first story, and I hope it attracts readers beyond the free samples. You can't imagine how wet I get thinking about all those people around the world reading about the nice Christian wife Jen and her experiences and exploration at the bachelorette party for a fellow Bible study member. Hot times.
I'm considering posting more details about the trial over on the Kindleboards. If you're a reader and happen to stumble along here and don't want to comment, feel free to drop me a line on Twitter (@heathervivant) or via email (heather dot vivant dot gmail yet-another-dot com).
Peace.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The Hen Party: Free For Two Days beginning Friday
Tonight I just submitted my third story for publishing, "March Madness: The Secret Sex Life of a Sideline Reporter". This is an early release of the first chapter of a novella I'm currently writing. It hasn't yet worked its way through the system, but should be available by the weekend. Check back for availability.
The big news, though, is that The Hen Party will be free on Friday and Saturday as I test out the KDP Select waters. I can't wait to see how that test goes. From what I've seen, this works very well for established writers, and writers with a huge inventory of books. I'm curious about whether this effect carries over to short stories (and erotica) and small but growing catalogues such as mine.
The big news, though, is that The Hen Party will be free on Friday and Saturday as I test out the KDP Select waters. I can't wait to see how that test goes. From what I've seen, this works very well for established writers, and writers with a huge inventory of books. I'm curious about whether this effect carries over to short stories (and erotica) and small but growing catalogues such as mine.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)