My Marketing Journey - update May 4 2026 [ 3 ]

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Hello everyone,


For you, and for me, I am going 'open kimono' here. What that means is, I'm pulling back the curtain and being completely open and honest with you.


On November 29th, filled with anxiety, I pushed the button to publish my 49K word novel/novella onto Amazon.

As I explained in my first writing on this topic (here), I had done some research and figured that for me, having a soft entrance into the self-publishing world made the most sense for where I was at and what I wanted to accomplish. I know the market is crowded, the attention span is short, and I'm a nobody from nowhere. The only thing that would make me willing to try someone out was if it was free. Kindle Select is free to those who pay a monthly fee to Amazon. That makes the 'buy now' for $0 an easy and appealing purchase for those in the Amazon ecosystem. That was good enough for me.

I launched the book on Amazon Kindle Select program at .99c for the ebook (the lowest Amazon will let you price a book). During the remainder of that month, I had 2 downloads (which were both me on different devices.)

Over the course of December and January, I worked to format and publish the paperback and hardback. I sent out for author copies so I could verify the cover was good and then hit the publish button for them in February.

So, here's one main takeaway as you pour over the numbers I'm revealing below - the response I've received is entirely due to the genre and perhaps the uniqueness of the premise of the book. It may also have something to do with my trying to convey to readers a sense that this book is the beginning of something different. I've done my best to craft a hook on the Amazon blurb that piques the interest and exposes the true heart of the book. When I wrote my story, I didn't think about genre or the market at all. I had a story to tell that had been burning in me for decades. Now, I say that I didn't think about the market, but I'd probably be lying if I said I didn't think about the book's marketability. It goes without saying that your work needs to be interesting. Engaging. Hopefully exciting. I wasn't crafting the book with a manipulative eye at 'finding a new angle' and then write that story. I came at this tale from being bored by so many repetitious, similarly constructed stories out there.  It's always a cop, a detective, a hardened soldier, etc, etc.  I believe that so many first-time authors haven't spent the time to look at their market and really try to do something different. In a sea of similar, it is impossible to do the same thing as so many others and expect different results. You have to find a way to create a new niche. That way you aren't competing with anyone else.

Without further ado, the following is the raw data (more or less) on the general response to my book, the marketing that I spent and a little additional insight here and there. 


My numbers, month by month:

November (29th - 31st)

Orders - ebook only:    2

Pages Read:    0

Obviously there were no royalties for this month. If any existed, it would still take 60 days for them to be processed. As a debut author, my intent is to keep this first book as low cost as possible. For this month, it was 0.99c

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December:

Orders - ebook only:     310

Pages Read:    4,074   (approx: 18 books read)

    The ebook sold at 0.99c. 

    Adjusted blurb several dozen times....

    Found errors in book, several rounds of editing and republishing ebook

    amazon CPC ad - $10 daily budget.... spent $3.42, no purchases

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January:

Orders - ebook only:    82

Pages Read:    14,192   (approx:  64 books read)

    Found errors in book, several rounds of editing and republishing ebook. 

    Adjusted blurb several times...

    No ads were run.

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February:

Orders - 

    ebook:    24

    paperback:    0

    hardcover:    3

Pages Read:    9,477   (approx: 43 books read)

    amazon cpc ad - Feb 10 - paused after about a week, $20 daily budget...spent $103, 7 purchases

    received first amazon royalty check < $100

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March:

Orders - 

    ebook:    4,779

    paperback:    0

    hardcover:    2

Pages Read:    11,355   (approx: 51 books read)

    1 week Free promo (nearly all ebook downloads were during this free period)

    amazon cpc ad - $30 day... total spent: $80, 4 purchases

    adjusted book formatting that changed # of pages from 239 to ~220

    spent $817 on ads through several email list sites (explained in first post)

    second amazon royalty check - between $100 and $200 (closer to 100)

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April: 

Orders - 

    ebook:    407

    paperback:    2

    hardcover:    0

Pages Read:    20,846   (approx: 95 books read)

    Had to increase my book to 2.99 for 2 weeks in order to qualify for the bookbub ad, by reducing it back to 0.99c during the ad period. Although some wonderful people purchased the book at that price, I'm really uncomfortable with returning it to that price primarily because for a novel, this book barely qualifies by some people's measure. (depending on who you ask, a novel begins at 45K words and higher, some say 50K, others say 70K.)

    bookbub featured deal - spent $630, around 350 purchases

    royalty estimate so far - between $200 and $300 (closer to $200)

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So at this point, you can clearly see that I've spent over $1,600 to spread awareness of my book to the masses. (not including countless hours hitting up the social media outlets). Returns? Well... if I was really doing this for the money, I'd be disappointed. But, as you can tell, that's not my motivation. What I consider a good return on investment is anything that will place my hard work in the hands of someone who's willing to take a chance on a new author. If that's under the condition that the book is free, or as close to it as possible, then so be it. That said, approximately 255 people have completely read my book so far (not including those who've purchased the physical copy).  That's absolutely AMAZING!  As of today, 60 of those folks have left reviews on Amazon, which really helps out with ensuring visibility for more potential readers. And with an average of 4 stars, I'm hoping that there are a few more people out there willing to take a chance on my story.


My plan for the month of May - 

    Finish the audio book and release it

    'Go wide' by purchasing my own ISBNs and releasing the book on as many ebook sites as possible, hitting up physical stores and libraries. I may try to do local press and book signings.

    I'm considering trying to query the book to agents. I've heard that once you self-publish, it's not really attractive for anyone to pick up your book unless you have amazing numbers, which, if that's the case, then why would you need an agent?  Maybe I'll look into it for my second book and see how that part of this crazy world works.


If you made it this far, thank you for reading this boring business stuff. I think chronicling exactly what decisions I've made along the way and how I approached this could be informative for someone else who is just starting out. For those who've already published, this may give you something to compare your own experience to and you'll be pointing and laughing at all my crazy blunders. For now, the best I can do is my own research and my own gut instinct on what will make the biggest impact.  

As you can see, the month of March was HUGE. I don't know if I can have another push like that, given that some of the advertising spots I worked through have certain rules that make it less likely to make another good run at it.  I may try for May or June once the audio book is released and see what kind of traction I can get with debuting that format as a 'new release'.  I'm thinking that might be the magic sauce here - release a new format a month and run a wide ad blitz each time by stacking ads over a tight week. If you have an interesting cover and hook, it's possible you could get a lot of downloads, even if you won't make any money at it in the short term. But, on the plus side, if you have a good book that people enjoy, maybe they will add you to their 'authors I like' list and will pick up your next book.






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