The anatomy of a FREE book promotion #RPBP

Here at Rukia Publishing we support aspiring, debut and established authors in a variety of ways. Book marketing and promotion falls under that umbrella and we tend to take a broad view, incorporating individualised action plans, that aims to help authors not only to build, expand and grow their fan base, but to expose them and their books to niche and targeted audiences.
Book promotion and advertising: let’s compare costs:
In the free to advertise category you can submit to over 70 sites which offer a free listing, although some are not guaranteed unless you pay a small premium or make a donation via PayPal these can range for $5-$15
When you spend $10 - $40 on a slot on sites such as Booktastik, eBookSoda, The Fussy Librarian, Robins Reads, etc., you are given a slot in their daily email newsletter and in some cases a listing on their website for the duration of your promotion. That’s it!
At Rukia Publishing our paid promotional features and packages start at just $10 and they give a full month of active promotion. All pages, features, articles and links remain live after the promotion for use by the author at any time.
The decision to buy or pay for advertising or promotional support really depends on why you are doing a free or 99c promotion and what you expect to achieve.
You need to consider if paid advertising or support is necessary and/or will it help you achieve your objectives. 
For most authors running a free promotion primarily targets the gathering of reviews to help with acceptance for future advertising on more prominent sites. Free promotions can also be aimed at achieving after sales from exposure in the rankings when the number of downloads is high. Free and 99c promotions may also attract new readers and help you gain followers on social media and increase subscribers to your mailing list if you promote these in the books back matter.
Today, I would like to focus on a free ebook promotion to give an example of how taking a broader, more individual approach to the preparation and the execution of the promotion can lead to a successful promotion.
Here at Rukia Publishing we measure the success of a promotion, not purely on the number of downloads (although we await that information with bated breath) but the increase in followers, email interactions, social media statistics, rankings, etc.
With the kind permission of one of our featured authors, John Searancke I am going to share the background and the impact on the rankings of the Prunes for Breakfast free promotion which took place on 14th & 15th December 2015.
Prunes for Breakfast by John Searancke
Considerations during the preparation and exposure period using the What, Why, Where, When, Who & How methodology.
What is Prunes for Breakfast about and what type of readers will it appeal to?
Why will readers download it?
Where is it available?
When is it free?
Who is John Searancke?
How will we promote it?

​Taking this approach a coordinated plan of action was developed. If you want to find out more about the plan development and implementation it will be featured in Book 3, The Authorpreneur Book Promotion Toolkit which is part of the What, Why, Where, When, Who & How Book Promotion Series for authors.

We started with planned submissions to these cost free promotional sites.
Book Angel
I love ebooks
Book Hippo
It’s Write Now
AwesomeGang

One month before promotion:
A project to research, investigate and instigate keyword changes was implemented.
13th November Promotion of review by Julie Haigh on Amazon 
27th November Featured promotion of newspaper articles on Facebook and Twitter
8th December £2 off paperback promotion
9th December John was featured our Stocking Stuffers promotion at Rukia Publishing via the group blog post on the Rukia Publishing website which was promoted on social media.
10th December Promotion of a recent radio interview on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr
Free promotion begins 14th December 2015
14th December featured in RPBP News
14th December featured in Sarah Jane’s free book advent

Day One and Prunes for Breakfast reached #1 in US in Army category!!
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,476 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > Military & Wars > Branches > Army
#2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > Military & Wars > World War II

It was featured on Book Angel with the links shared on social media and on It’s Write Now, AwesomeGang and I love ebooks, all free to advertise.

Day Two 15th December 2015
Featured on Book Hippo and still live on the other free sites.
Tweetdeck promotion by Rukia Social Media Team, Facebook posts and Pinterest activity.
You can see that the combination of promotional activities maintained the #1 positions.
6am
UK Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #306 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Books > Biography & True Accounts > Professionals & Academics

US Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,280 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > Military & Wars > Branches > Army
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > Military & Wars > World War II
1pm
UK Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #340 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Books > Biography & True Accounts > Leaders & Notable People

US Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,137 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > Military & Wars > Branches > Army
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > Military & Wars > World War II
8pm
UK Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #272 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Books > Biography & True Accounts > Professionals & Academics

US Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #993 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > Military & Wars > World War II
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > History > Military > World War II

Final hour of free promotion: 16th December
8am UK
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #285 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Books > Biography & True Accounts > Historical > Military & Wars > Branches > Army
#1 in Kindle Store > Books > Biography & True Accounts > Leaders & Notable People
#1 in Kindle Store > Books > Biography & True Accounts > Historical > Military & Wars > World War II
US
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,322 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > History > Military > World War II
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > Military & Wars > World War II
​
Ending on 5 #1 slots in UK & US is a good result for a new release, WW2, niche memoir.
In addition to these rankings there was increased traffic to the websites featuring the promotion, new Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter followers. Therefore, the advice we give is to keep your expectations both achievable and realistic. Focus not purely on the short term effects of a free or discounted promotion, but the medium to long term potential gains from increasing exposure to you and your books. For the best results look for longevity in your promotional exposure and use social media to engage with your new readers after the promotion to increase the number of reviews, subscribers and interest moving forward.
Coming soon:
Look outside the box for ways to promote when you are not running free or 99c promotions.
Thank you for reading.
Sarah Jane

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