AFTER THE END RELEASE

With a week to go before the final planned full length novel in the IN THE END series is released, I made a few decisions about release week. Whilst running, which is where I have loads of time to think, I made a decision to build on my free giveaway of OPERATION DAWN WOLF earlier in the month with a hope to replicate its success with the zompoc series.

From release day on 27th November IN THE END will be available to download free of charge for one week. I will be running Facebook ads and I have paid for appearances in 7 free book mailers on 27th, 28th & 29th November. With 2 audiobooks available and two further novels in the series, and Kindle Unlimited, I’m hoping sales will cover the cost and potentially boost to a profit in the long term. I aim to get IN THE END high in the Amazon charts as I’ve seen this has a long residual effect based on the last promotion.

The promotion sites include the two services I used for the last promo and a few more from research with a total list length of more than 350,000 subscribers. Despite the wider spread of sites I’m using, as horror is a less popular genre than action & adventure, I would consider the short term success of the campaign to be positive if I match the 3,000 downloads I had from ODW.

Depending on the success of this campaign, I will make a decision as to whether ITE will move to permafree to drive sales to the other books. The effect of sales of audiobooks and the loss of KU income for ITE will be key factors in that decision.

My author copies arrived yesterday! I don’t think the sight of seeing my books in a box will every be any less exciting.

SALES AND MARKETING

November has seen quite a drop off in sales for me and I’m currently running at a small loss, but I’m staying positive as these things ebb and flow. I can only really judge my marketing strategy once ATE is released and I can see the effect of having the three books for sale.

With the paperback of AFTER THE END going on sale last week I have made consistent few sales of the book with no direct announcement. I have also made my first two sales through my website, totalling four books. These sales are very high profit, much like those I sell in person as Amazon only get the printing costs and not the royalty.

I’ve increased the cost of BEFORE THE END paperback to £9.99 which is where is should have been from release, based on aligning the profit per book when taking printing costs into account. This also provides me an option to discount on future in-person events and means I’m not earning a tiny amount from each Amazon sale.

AGENCY FOR LEGAL DEPOSIT LIBRARIES

I had an email this week from the Agency for Legal Deposit Libraries who act on behalf of five legal deposit libraries across the UK, excluding the British Library. I am required by law to provide 5 paperback of FATE’S AMBITION at no cost. I already send a copy of my books to the British Library on publication, but I hadn’t heard of this requirement. With postage this will cost me around £30, which isn’t a small cost for an indie. Then consider that I have another six books, if they ask for them too it could be very expensive!

WORK IN PROGRESS

Progress on FROM THE DEAD has been positive but slow from a chapter count. I’m taking my time to fix issues as I go along and to augment the plot so it can be the best it can. I had hoped to be finished by now and giving it a rest but it may be a few weeks more.

Across a few evenings this week I have been plotting for my new apocalypse series. It’s an exciting project, mainly because I’m working from scratch for the first time since 2016/17. Who knows where it will go and what I will have in a years time.

That’s it for me this week. Time for a deep breath and to crack on with it. Comments and suggestions welcomed as always.