The Effects of a FREE Ebook on Paid Sales

The Faerie Guardian was free for one month,

and in that time there were

65,928 downloads!

Amazon - 48,938

B&N and iBooks - 16,989

I was hoping to reach 50,000 downloads in a month, so a total of 

almost 66,000 is freaking AWESOME!

The highest it was ranked was #7 overall in the Free Kindle US Store.

Here are some more details from Amazon:

Free downloads of The Faerie Guardian. Click to enlarge.

Paid sales during the period The Faerie Guardian was free.

The Effect on Paid Sales

I had obviously hoped that sales of Creepy Hollow #2 and #3 would go up after making #1 free, and they most certainly did (more so than I expected). I don't sell many of my contemporary romance books, so most of the sales on that second graph are of Creepy Hollow books. It's still quite soon after the promo, so sales are still high. I'm expecting them to dip down a bit over the next few weeks and average out at a daily number that's slightly higher than before the free promo.

The Effect on Reviews

The main reason it took me so long to do a major free promo is because I've heard a lot about how free books receive more negative reviews. This is because a lot of readers will download a book simply because it's free, and not because it's something they really want to read. They then end up reading books that aren't really their thing, and then rate them negatively.

Fortunately, I haven't seen this happening yet! Before TFG went free, it had 121 reviews on Amazon (and it took about 21 months to get those reviews, so an average of 5 to 6 reviews per month). TFG is now sitting on 170 reviews, and those last 49 reviews all appeared in the space of one month. Here's the breakdown of those 49 new reviews:

5* ~ 35
4* ~ 10
3* ~ 3
2* ~ 1
1* ~ 0


MY CONCLUSION

• BookBub is worth every cent!
• Making the first book in a series free definitely leads to sales of the rest of the series.
• The royalties I lost on book #1 by making it free were MOOOOORE than made up in increased sales of books #2 and #3.
• Periodically making a book free may be better than making a book permanently free. (There is a big boost of downloads and sales after a book first goes free, and thereafter downloads decline.)

THE FAERIE GUARDIAN: Free for the Month of August!

The Faerie Guardian was published in October 2012, and, until now, it has never been free! So, since the trilogy has been complete for a while now, I decided to test the free effect by reducing the price to zero for a month. I know all about the benefits of free ebooks, but I also know that some think making a book free "devalues" it. I'm also very much aware that free ebooks invite the possibility of more negative reviews from the people who download freebies without paying attention to whether it's a book they actually want to read and then find themselves disappointed when they discover it isn't. (This book has faeries in it. I hate faeries. Two stars for you! ~ entirely fictional example ;-) )

I've had close to 12,000 free downloads so far, which is fantastic, but all my paid ads are coming up at the end of this week, so I expect to see a considerable jump in daily downloads (and, hopefully, a jump in the sales of book 2 and 3!).

When the promo's over, I'll report back on download numbers, sales numbers and the effects of different paid ads :-)

In the meantime, if you feel like sharing the news about this freebie, here's what you can do to help:

Share this Facebook post.

Retweet this tweet.

Share this Google+ post.

THANK YOU! 

AN A TO Z OF CREEPY HOLLOW FAE gets a makeover!

I'm not sure why it took me so long to get around to this, but I finally made my Creepy Hollow companion ebook FREE. And along with that, I thought it was time for a new cover (and some new formatting inside the ebook). When I did the first cover for An A to Z of Creepy Hollow Fae, it was something I threw together pretty quickly. But I've since decided that it might draw more attention with a person on the front.

So A to Z went backstage, had a makeover, and here she is! The new and improved Creepy Hollow companion ebook!

New Covers for the Creepy Hollow series

And this brings me to my next announcement. For a while now (since before I revealed The Faerie War's cover!), I've been planning to redo ALL the Creepy Hollow book covers. This was a difficult decision because there have been many people who've said how beautiful they find the series' covers, and other people who've said they've picked up the book purely because they were attracted by the cover.

BUT I also feel as though people searching through the Kindle lists for something to download may see the Creepy Hollow covers and think the pictures represent stories that are more juvenile than they actually are. I think perhaps this series would attract more readers of the YA fantasy/paranormal genre if they looked a little more like the new A to Z cover up there.

BUT I still love the original covers, and I think they look completely gorgeous in print.

SO, here's what I plan to do: I'm keeping the original covers for the print versions and doing new covers for the ebook versions.

Do you want to help reveal these covers?

I'll be revealing these new covers on Thurs Dec 5. I know there are so many cover reveals going on all the time, so if you're tired of them and don't want to take part, I totally get that. But if you do want to help out by sharing the new covers, please leave your email address in the comments below.

THANK YOU!

If you'd like to share this image anywhere online, please feel free!

~  ~  ~

On a much sadder and more serious note ...

A red balloon for Andrew McNaughton, the stepson of Nick Wilford. 

Sadly, Andrew passed away recently and his funeral is being held today.

Andrew is the boy who inspired writers across the globe to write 

an anthology of stories entitled Overcoming Adversity.

Free Audiobooks this Summer from SYNC > YA Literature into Your Earphones

I discovered yesterday from someone on Triberr that Sync gives away some free audiobooks over summer. How cool is that?! You can see the schedule here (they're given away at different times between May 30th and August 21st).

Here are a few I'll definitely be downloading:

Of Poseidon, by Anna Banks

The False Prince, by Jennifer A. Nielsen

The Raven Boys, by Maggie Stiefvater

Enchanted, by Alethea Kontis

Do you listen to audiobooks? Personally, I've never listened to one.

I'm looking forward to trying it out!

Three in a Row, and a FR33BIE for Creepy Hollow Fans!

Three book reviews in a row, today! We've got Cherie Reads , Read Review Smile (including an interview and another giveaway - whoopie!) and Camille Picott. Thank you, lovely ladies!

*FREEBIE TIME*

I know that a lot of you readers have already bought the four ebooks that make up the content of The Faerie Guardian. So if those of you who have (honour system now ;-) ) would like a copy of The Faerie Guardian so you can read the little extra bit at the end (or just because it looks good in your collection ;-) ), just leave your email address in the comments and I'll get back to you.

Happy Thursday :-)


*expires 12 Nov

Download GUARDIAN and LABYRINTH for free! #CreepyHollow

The first two stories in the Creepy Hollow series, GUARDIAN and LABYRINTH, are reaching the end of their 90 day KDP Select period (today is the very last day, actually), and since I have some unused free promotional days, I've made these two novelettes FREE FOR TODAY, 31 July!

GUARDIAN Amazon US | Amazon UK


LABYRINTH Amazon US | Amazon UK

If you feel like being awesome (and who doesn't want to be awesome?!) and tweeting or Facebooking, these are the links you can copy and paste:

GUARDIAN   https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007FRJGXI

LABYRINTH   https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007QLX9G8

(And MASQUERADE is almost ready to make its appearance!)

Carole Anne Carr's FIRST WOLF

Carole Anne Carr is promoting her book FIRST WOLF, a children’s quest adventure story set in 8th century Northumbria, by making the ebook edition *free* today and tomorrow (12th and 13th July). You can get it from:
Amazon US
Amazon UK

Toland, a twelve year old Anglo-Saxon boy must kill his first wolf to be accepted by his kinsmen but he is lame. Hill tribes attack his settlement and his father goes to find the King who is away fighting the border wars. Toland must protect his family and find his father. With his faithful hound Bodo by his side, he guides his family to safety, Rescued from drowning by a slave girl who met her death before he was born, he survives the first Viking attack of Lindisfarne and is given the task of carrying the Lindisfarne Gospels to safety at Durham. While full of adventure, action, and mystery, this is a young boy’s rite of passage that involves the killing of his first wolf and his survival in the destructive adult world in which he lives. In this early history are the boy’s otherworldly helpers who are everywhere around him, and central to this story is Toland’s dedication to fulfilling his promise to the monks of Lindisfarne, despite the threats to his life that this single-minded focus brings.

Carole is a member of The Society of Authors, Nat. Assoc. of Writers in Education, National Children’s University (Shropshire), Society of Storytelling, Women in Rural Business, Shropshire Chamber of Commerce, W.I. Speaker, and the author of First Wolf, Little Boy Good-for-Nothing and the Shongololo, Candle Dark, Thin Time, and River Dark.

In her own words ...
"I'm an author and independent publisher of four children's books: two historical fiction, one fantasy, and one picture book. My early years were spent as a bank teller in Africa, then as teacher, owner of an art and craft business, poet, creative writing tutor, actress and Third Order Franciscan. I held the Office of Reader in the Church of England before beginning my writing career. I'm working on sequels to my children's books. I have taught poetry and other aspects of creative writing, been Deputy head of a Shropshire primary school for nearly twenty years, and I’m a member of the Society of Authors, the National Association of Writers in Schools, and W.I. Speaker."

A big THANK YOU plus RAOK!

So ... Do ya wanna know how many downloads I got of Guardian during the free promo over the weekend? Well, do ya, do ya?! I'm gonna tell you anyway ;-) The grand total is ...

2377

Highlight the space above with your mouse. I hid the number in a white font, hehe ;-)

Wheeeeeeee! Maybe you've done massively well with your own promos, and you think that number's kinda piddly (it's a real word, promise), but I think it's FANTASTIC! And it's thanks to all you guys who downloaded and tweeted and Facebooked and all that jazz. So here is my big

THANK YOU!

THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU

For anyone who's interested in sales numbers and stats and things (like me!) I'm going to do a more detailed post at the end of this week.

~  ~  ~

RAOK

A few weeks back, Rach Harrie bestowed an awesome Random Act of Kindness (RAOK) upon me. I've been wanting to do my own RAOK (you know, spread the kindness and all that!) but I have been insanely busy recently. So NOW seems like an excellent time to be kind and give stuff away!

I'm going to give away 4 copies of the Creepy Hollow story that was released on Friday (which, according to Amazon - see the pic below - is a Hot New Release!). You don't have to follow me or "Like" a page or leave a comment or jump through a flaming hoop. You just have to ENTER! (And tweet if you want a few additional entries ;-))

a Rafflecopter giveaway

GUARDIAN Kindle ebook is FREE 05/26 and 05/27!

FREEBIE TIME!!

In celebration of the release of TRAITOR,

for today and tomorrow (05/26 and 05/27) you can download 

GUARDIAN for free from Amazon!

Amazon US

Amazon UK

I would really, REALLY appreciate it if you could tweet or spread the word in any way! You can copy and tweet the following message, or write your own:

GUARDIAN, the first novelette in the #CreepyHollow series is FREE till the end of this weekend! http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007FRJGXI #Kindle #ebook

And a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who's already spread the word for me. GUARDIAN has got onto some Amazon best seller lists and is slowly climbing up them :-) (It's also unhealthily addictive watching the download numbers of my KDP Reports page go up!)

Click to enlarge.