The Anatomy of a Book Launch 3
TRANSPARENCYBOOK LAUNCH
So starting with book 3, I have done one of these posts for each book I have had come out. But with this one I am going deep, and now including stats from all the books launches, even ones I didn't do posts for!
Now let's dive in!
The Process
There is no real way around this: I largely dropped the ball on the fixes I wanted to implement from the last launch. In my defense, this is the month before my wedding, which is on the 1st. So I have had more pressing matters on my mind.
What I did by way of prep work was:
Setting my books to go on sale on launch day. I set them to Free/.99/.99/1.99 for 1-4.
I ordered my proof copy well in advance. Say it had a major issue. Fixed it. Reordered a proof copy. Approved the proof copy.
Messaged the Fantasy subreddit for permission to post on launch day with the content of my post. It was approved.
Made an event page on Facebook that I was too busy to make use of, then when I made time, didn't realize I had post approvals turned on, so my posts never actually showed.
This launch day was on a Wednesday, so not long after I got up I posted to r/fantasy, r/urbanfantasy, a few facebook groups, and my social media. Over the ensuing days I posted to my social media each day, and then hit a few outlier reddits and facebook groups each day.
I was also once again blessed to be shared around by bigger name authors, or to be allowed to post in their reader groups. John Hartness and C.N. Rowan for example let me post in their much larger groups, and I know that helped.
What I did wrong: I forgot to publish the print copy until the day of the launch, instead of 24 hours early like I planned. I also never sent it to my email list, because I am an idiot I guess. I also did not include my email list signup in any of my launch promo posts like I had said I would do last time. Because: frazzled.
And how did those sales go?
Fantastic.
It went so well! I came so, so, so close to have my first 1k book launch, only missing it by about 40 dollars! To say that I am pleased is a gross understatement.
I certainly benefited from having grown my network since the last launch. I've got a great group of authors in my corner, who are very supportive and are quick to share my stuff. So that was a big help. Outside of that, I didn't really do anything that different, so I am not 100% sure why this sale was so much more effective. In the coming months though I will be doing a ton of deep thought an analysis on just why it went so well. Was is my sale pricing strategy this go round? Was it because it was a Wednesday launch day? I'm not sure, but I will be doing a lot of digging. So lets dive into the stats!
First, a quick clarification: I am going to start recording a toooooon more stats, for example I'm not doing just the four days of my launch sale, but the entire launch week. I am not going back to edit the older posts, but I will include that new data into this post. The data from the launches will be formatted like this:
Book 5 Data (Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, Book 4)
Launch week order numbers:
Day 1: Paid: 500 (43, 14, 181, 142) Free: 832 (0, 0, 623, 720)
Day 2: Paid: 147 (3, 8, 34, 59) Free: 258 (0, 0, 96, 158)
Day 3: Paid: 25 (6, 3, 22, 17) Free: 76 (0, 0, 74, 62)
Day 4: Paid: 27 (2, 2, 7, 8) Free: 51 (0, 0, 35, 26)
Day 5: Paid: 21 (1, 2, 3, 10) Free: 3 (0, 0, 4, 6)
Day 6: Paid: 6 (1, 1, 6, 6) Free: 0 (420, 0, 0)
Day 7: Paid: 4 (0, 0, 2, 9) Free: 0 (141, 0, 0)
Total Paid: 730 (56, 30, 255, 251)
Total Free: 1,220 (561, 0, 832, 972)
KENP:
Day 1: 1,622 (175, 28, 334, 544)
Day 2: 1,479 (10, 116, 592, 559)
Day 3: 1,733 (307, 516, 1,341, 1,284)
Day 4: 2,137 (0, 383, 1,264, 1,176)
Day 5: 3,065 (0, 116, 818, 570)
Day 6: 2,807 (53, 141, 2,015, 258)
Day 7: 2,216 (265, 79, 1,428, 1,287)
Totals: 15,059 (810, 1,379, 7,792, 5,678)
Launch Totals:
Book 1: 131.72
Book 2: 87.09
Book 3: 451.29
Book 4: 364.42
Book 5: 960.31
Launch Month Sales Totals
Book 1: 141.72
Book 2: 150.14
Book 3: 461.29
Book 4: 456.16
Book 5: 1,016.27 (as of 3/22/23)
Launch day plus 30 days Totals:
Book 1: 170.91
Book 2: 158.72
Book 3: 536.94
Book 4: 521.64
Book 5: TBD
Day of Week for Day one of the Launch:
Book 1: Sunday
Book 2: Saturday
Book 3: Wednesday
Book 4: Tuesday
Book 5: Wednesday
Sale Price Strategy
Book 1: Set to Free 5 days after launch.
Book 2: Nothing.
Book 3: Free/.99
Book 4: Free/.99/.99
Book 5: Free/.99/.99/1.99/3.99
