Pay to Promote Your Free Books on Kindle? | Using CraveBooks

About this video

Dale runs a case study of four authors from three genres who each ran a 5-day free book promotion through KDP Select while paying for promotion through CraveBooks, tracking downloads the week before, during, and after. He explains free promotions trade price for exposure, new readers, reviews, and post-promotion ranking, but warns the benefits are limited for new authors with no backlog to sell through to. CraveBooks credited each author $99; each chose the daily deals promotion for $24 plus a Facebook Boost for $75, reaching over 20,000 readers, and Dale advised stacking services and an email list even though the study used one service for simplicity. Results varied sharply by author, presented as the participants’ reported data: sci-fi author Linda got 3,032 downloads during the promo against an expectation of about 300, then a modest download increase but fewer page reads the week after, plus new reviews and star ratings; romance author Jasmine got only 357 downloads, front-loaded on day one, and no post-promo boost, which she attributed to a mistargeted Facebook post using erotica hashtags that did not fit her book; cozy mystery author Katherine got 1,090 downloads and, the week after, fewer downloads but substantially more page reads and new reviews. Romance author Rose saw downloads fall the week after while page reads nearly doubled. Dale’s conclusion is to track every metric before judging a paid promotion.

Key takeaways

• Four authors ran 5-day free KDP Select promotions promoted only through CraveBooks, with downloads tracked before, during, and after
• Each author spent a $99 credit on a $24 daily deal plus a $75 Facebook Boost reaching over 20,000 readers
• Reported results diverged: 3,032 downloads for the sci-fi author, 1,090 for the cozy mystery author, and only 357 for one romance author
• Free promos help authors with a backlog far more than new authors with nothing to sell through to
• A mistargeted social ad can waste a promotion; Dale advises contacting support and tracking downloads, page reads, and reviews together

Episode details: published January 29, 2024 · 11:53 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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