I screwed up the promotions, and people could not buy my book in several countries. The first 28 days are crucially important for a book. If there is no traction in that time the Amazon algorithms send the book into the depths and it is tough as nails to resurrect it.
How did I screw up? Several ways…
- I set up a pre order date, and my galleys did not arrive so I had to approve publishing without actually seeing a printed version of my book. And it turns out there were formatting issues for the paperback
- The blurb was not catchy. It was too long.
- So when I went to update these things it caused the book to be taken off the market in several areas.
- I had over 200 people tell me they had problems trying to buy the book.
So how do I fix it…
- I am turning off all ads until April 7th
- I am reformatting to lower print costs and make it prettier and more readable.
- I have put together a promo for April 7th to April 11th the ebook will be free for that time.
Promising signs
- The honest feedback has been incredibly positive. These won’t show up as reviews for a month, but by end of April I should have an avalanche of reviews coming in from market makers
- Several influential blogs and publications have told me they will be doing write ups.
April will be a big month. Lots of reviews will come in. The promo will happen and maybe, just maybe I’ll crack the fantasy best sellers list again.