On 7/14, at 9 PM Eastern time, Fallen Honor went live on Amazon for $.99. As I always do with my launches, I informed only my newsletter subscribers and Facebook followers. These folks were pumped and chomping at the bit. They know the low price is only good for 24 hours and it's just my small way of saying thanks.
The next afternoon, Fallen Honor debuted in the Amazon ranks at #229, with over 600 sales in 20 hours. The price then went up to $4.99 at 9 PM.
So, just how do you get 600 people to buy your book in one day? Simple. Engage them. Send out updates on a regular basis and let them know when it's coming out and that it will be discounted just for them. Until Fallen Honor appeared in the Amazon ranks, very few outside of my subscribers and followers knew about it.
I answer every email and question readers ask. I send a newsletter every two weeks, letting them know how the writing, editing, formatting, and publishing is going. I ask them for input on story lines, characters and cover photos. I let them know what I'm reading myself and many times they jump right on it and buy the book, too.
I know, I know, "Wayne, all those emails are spam!"
No, they're not. On the subscription form, I tell prospective subscribers that they'll get two emails a month, at least. In the 16 months since I started my mailing list, I've sent 34 emails to them. If I started sending two emails a week, they'd be getting more than they signed up for., so yeah, that'd be spam. I have almost 1300 subscribers and in that 16 months, only 6 have unsubscribed.
In that same 16 months, I've received over 1000 replies to those 34 emails. This is engaging with your readers. They look forward to getting the "inside scoop" and when release time comes, they're ready to jump all over my new book, as evidenced in this last release. Two hours after sending the email at 10 PM, Fallen Honor had 240 sales. That's 240 sales between the hours of 10 PM and midnight on a Tuesday night.
So, get to work on your mailing list, you writers. Engage them at least once a month. Get to know the names of those who habitually write back. Learn their background. Talk to them. Make new friends.
For anyone interested, below is a link to Fallen Honor on Amazon.
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