The MEGA-THREAD for "I went free with Select and here's my data/experiences"

[HeidiHall]

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #89 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Lifestyle & Home > Home & Garden
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Religion & Spirituality > Occult

I'll enjoy it while it is there.  LOL  I know it won't last but a few minutes...like Cinderella at the dance, the clock is striking.

I did get an odd review out of it.  It was a 3 thank Goodness as I wanted a 3...but, in honesty, I don't understand it.  LOL  It gave me a chuckle though...I still don't get what she was trying to get across, but it makes me smile when I think of it.  It was kind of cute.

Congrats on your great promo, Jeanne! My take on the 3-star review is the reader enjoyed your book, but doesn't buy into the psychic thing (it made me giggle though because your title is The Pet Psychic Diaries). I hope your Cinderella moment goes on and on - you deserve it

[JeanneM]

Aw...thanks so much.  I have met so many kind people here and you and KP are two of the kindest.  Bless your hearts. 

[P.A. Woodburn]

Congratulations, Jeanne. I hope you get lots of sales. I gave you two 5 star reviews one in Us and one in UK.
Ann

[Katy MN]

Just went free this morning!  So far I've had over 200 downloads in a few hours and have gone up to the rankings to:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,410 Free in Kindle Store
#3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Children's Fiction > Arts & Music
#16 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Children's Fiction > Literature > Love & Romance

Can't wait to see what it climbs to over two days! 

[edwardgtalbot]

Figured I'd share my latest free results now that a week has gone by.  I finally broke down and enrolled my thriller novel New World Orders in KDP Select.  It was selling 3-5 copies a day at $2.99 for the prior six weeks or so. In 2011, it sold better for much of the year ranging from 5-20 copies a day for various periods.

On 1/31 and 2/1, it went free.  I was fortunate enough to get mentioned by both eReader News today and Pixels of Ink, along with many others.  Day 1 I had over 9000 downloads.  Day 2 was February 1st, that wonderful day when KDP Select sales weren't reported for most of us. So I still don't know how many downloads I had that day.  What I will say is that my book appeared in the Free Top 20 for 15 hours that day, so I assume it got thousands more downloads.

So. . .it went paid again last thursday, 2/2. I raised the list price from $2.99 to $3.99 when it went free, so it went back to paid at $3.99.  Again with the possibility of some mildly messed up numbers, I can say for sure that I've had a little over 200 paid sales in 6 days since then.  Only a handful the first day, peaking on the third day it went paid. I have also had 83 borrows. I have had 10 returns since it went paid also. This is far above my normal rate.  I'm not particularly concerned, as I have heard others describe a similar experience - perhaps partially due to people thinking it was free and finding out it wasn't. But I figured I'd mention it.

For some perspective, the book did not sell 100 copies on all outlets other than Amazon in 2011, even though it was 99 cents until November. So when sales gradually slipped in Dec and Jan, I decided that I wouldn't be risking a lot to enroll in KDP Select.

I can characterize the experience so far as completely positive. Even if sales return to what they were or drop lower than that, I am satisfied.  I should also note that sales of my other novel picked up a bit at the same time - I have also raised the price of that one to $3.99.

[JeanneM]

Congratulations, Jeanne. I hope you get lots of sales. I gave you two 5 star reviews one in Us and one in UK.
Ann

  Thank you so much, Ann.  I'm so happy you enjoyed the book.  I know animals are very precious to you.  You have such a kind heart. 

[George Berger]

Two days after returning to paid, (and after being the book-of-the-day at Flurries of Words, and after picking up a review from a guy with 1K followers on Twitter, which compared it favorably to early Neal Stephenson) I've gone from a pre-free sales rank of about 155,000 to 206,000, and sold... exactly nothing.

Yay me.

[SentientSurfer]

Two days after returning to paid, (and after being the book-of-the-day at Flurries of Words, and after picking up a review from a guy with 1K followers on Twitter, which compared it favorably to early Neal Stephenson) I've gone from a pre-free sales rank of about 155,000 to 206,000, and sold... exactly nothing.

Yay me.

How many downloads did you amass?

[George Berger]

How many downloads did you amass?

175 on .com. In one day.

[ETS PRESS]

DIY came off free on Monday. I've made 48 sales since then, but most of them have come in today (three days later). I just checked and I've climbed to number 17 in Graphic Design. I have no idea why I'm in that category, but I'm not complaining. Of course it's  99 cent book, so I'm not making my fortune.

[Doomed Muse]

Well, the sales/download catch-up has skewed things and I have no way to tell if I made any post-free sales today now (I was free on the 6th, but judging by my ranking, the 22-25 extra "sales" that showed up a little while ago are downloads catching up).

Also, how long does it take alsobots to show up/change after you go free?

[George Berger]

Alsobots seem to update only once or twice a week, so it could be a few days.

[Wren Emerson]

Has anyone figured out what the lag is between sales and sales rank adjustments? I just had a huge surge in my sales and my sales rank actually dropped. It's been almost 3 hours and my rank hasn't gotten any higher. I'm precariously close to slipping off the first page of my subcategories and I'm afraid if that happens it'll really hurt sales.

I don't expect this ride to last forever, but I really would have thought this surge would have bought me a reprieve for awhile.

*****

Well, I figured out the problem. Seems that everyone had the same surge I did. I've been tracking my numbers faithfully, but this has pretty much destroyed them. I have no idea how many of these new downloads are free vs. paid. I'm going to give up on it now. I'll check my 6 week total and try to figure out what's going on there, but I'm tapping out of the number checking before I tear my hair out. Not sure if anyone was following my blog posts about my time going free, but there aren't going to be any follow up numbers. I can't even begin to guess what they really were.

I'm so frustrated by this whole thing right now. /sigh

[Andrew Dzeguze]

Went free today, and the promotion lasts through tomorrow.  Only a couple hundred downloads so far, but that was enough to get me these stats:

#1,045 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

    #20 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror > Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic
    #63 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Fantasy

Which, if nothing else, suggests my genre doesn't set the world on fire in Kindle form (I was hoping tech happy teens would download books on the free readers, but Kindle may be too staid for them).  Hopefully I'll see some residual sales. 

[Katy MN]

So, it's getting close to the end of my first day free, and so far I'm here:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #308 Free in Kindle Store

    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Children's Fiction > Arts & Music
    #3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Children's Fiction > Literature > Love & Romance
    #34 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks

About 800 downloads today total (more if you count UK, etc.)  I'd like to make it to the Top 100 Free and Top 20 in Children's eBooks by tomorrow, but I guess we'll see! 

[cidneyswanson]

So. . .it went paid again last thursday, 2/2. I raised the list price from $2.99 to $3.99 when it went free, so it went back to paid at $3.99.  . . .

I can characterize the experience so far as completely positive. Even if sales return to what they were or drop lower than that, I am satisfied.  I should also note that sales of my other novel picked up a bit at the same time - I have also raised the price of that one to $3.99.

Edward, I think I remember your debate on whether to price increase or not? Good for you! Makes those post-free sales that much sweeter!
Cidney

[Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake']

Listen to Your Heart is free today and tomorrow. I went from no ranking at all 15 minutes ago to:

#3,953 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

    #45 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical

It's interesting that my DE downloads are once again at three. This is my fifth free run and only once have more than three people downloaded the freebie in DE.

The really interesting thing is that when I put up a freebie, sales of my other books slow to a crawl.

I think I'll go look at my #45 listing and enjoy it for a while.

[David Kazzie]

Overall, yes, I suspect the wave has passed; much like the 99c one... and all the other marketing-by-cheaper techniques.  Next step, we pay readers $1 for each one they read.

  And then after that, the readers start writing the books for us. The circle will then be complete.

[Birdie]

I want to add my wee story here:

My memoir, Don't Shoot! I'm Just the Avon Lady! has been in the Amazon kindle store for over 3 years. I think I sold maybe six kindles in all of this time, until two weeks ago. I had never even logged into my KDP account since uploading the dang thing! Then, I wrote another book (100 Ways to Sell Avon), struggled like heck to turn it into a kindle as it is a graphics-based book, logged into KDP and found out about the Select program. I signed all of my books (four of them) up for Select, and made Don't Shoot! free for a weekend for the heck of it.

I didn't expect anything to happen. I figured maybe a couple hundred folks would download the thing, but it went to #5 on the free overall list with over 20,000 downloads, was #1 in memoir, humour, and women during that time. And then, after it turned back into a pay-for book, it shot up to around #550 paid, where it stayed for a week, and now it is down to somewhere in the 900's - 1010, where it is staying for the past week. I think it will probably stay at this level for a while, as there is some great word of mouth happening in Avon Rep circles, LOL. I am redoing the kindle for the book as I didn't know what I was doing 3 years ago, and will upload the new version and run one more free weekend at that time.

I received a bunch of five star reviews, a four star review, one two star, and a grumpy 1 star from a reviewer who said that I obviously had ADD - probably true, ha ha.

It's been a wild ride. I never, ever thought I would earn ANYTHING on my memoir, it was simply a labor of love to write, as it tells the story of the summer when Catholic Charities called me to say that my now-adult bio daughter wanted to meet her birth mom, and the month long wait to say Yes (required) coincided with my selling Avon door-to-door. So, it's not your typical memoir, just a simple story with some funny customers and sad memories of the time surrounding her birth and of course our joyous reunion. I wrote it for my daughter, not for anyone else but thought it might help others who either sold Avon or had given a child up for adoption.

The nice thing is that my other small books - a collection of essays about Star Trek, a collection of short real-life stories about New Mexico, and of course 100 Ways to Sell Avon - have been selling, thanks to folks who loved Don't Shoot and want to read more of my stuff... or learn how to sell that dang Avon!

I love Select and am so glad Amazon has it as an option for us Indie writers.

[Millard]

I'm coming to the end of my first day going free with Dirt Baby... as of now, I stand like this:

- 87 downloads
- Peaking right now at this rank:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,790 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#7 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Anthologies
#73 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Short Stories

To update this, I added another free day on, and things picked up quite a bit. Still not the kind of insane numbers touted in most of this thread, but way more than I expected. I closed with this:

- 721 downloads over two days

And peaked with this:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #357 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Anthologies
#5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Short Stories

The surprising thing was that only 28 of those 'buys' came from the UK, which is by far my strongest market usually, but I guess the whole point is to be breaking in with a new audience, so that's cool. From this thread, it seems like it takes two or three days to see any kind of post-free sales effect, so hopefully that kicks in for me too. If Dirt Baby gets a little more bedded in over the next 6-8 weeks, with reviews and also-boughts, I've got 3 free days left, and now I've got a better handle on it, I'll get to the pre-free promotion a little better than I did this time. A few little sites picked it up, but I figure I can do better if I've got more than a single four star review for prospective downloaders to be going on next time.

[Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake']

Listen to Your Heart just reach 5K downloads in the US at the end of it's first free day. Ranking is:

#57 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

    #4 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Historical Romance

Time to get some sleep.

ETA:

Woke up this morning to a rank of:

#37 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

    #2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Historical Romance

[HMcEwen]

Earlier this week I went select and posted my novel Wrath free for one day. I got a huge amount of downloads and am unsure of how many actual purchases afterward. I guess I'll find out Sunday with the royalties report.

But I'm now going to try it with my short story/novelette Love on the Rocks. It's the second in a series and has romantic elements in it. Funny romance. Let's see how it does and if there is any sales tail...

[kalencap]

Figured I'd share my latest free results now that a week has gone by.  I finally broke down and enrolled my thriller novel New World Orders in KDP Select.  It was selling 3-5 copies a day at $2.99 for the prior six weeks or so. In 2011, it sold better for much of the year ranging from 5-20 copies a day for various periods.

On 1/31 and 2/1, it went free.  I was fortunate enough to get mentioned by both eReader News today and Pixels of Ink, along with many others.  Day 1 I had over 9000 downloads.  Day 2 was February 1st, that wonderful day when KDP Select sales weren't reported for most of us. So I still don't know how many downloads I had that day.  What I will say is that my book appeared in the Free Top 20 for 15 hours that day, so I assume it got thousands more downloads.

So. . .it went paid again last thursday, 2/2. I raised the list price from $2.99 to $3.99 when it went free, so it went back to paid at $3.99.  Again with the possibility of some mildly messed up numbers, I can say for sure that I've had a little over 200 paid sales in 6 days since then.  Only a handful the first day, peaking on the third day it went paid. I have also had 83 borrows. I have had 10 returns since it went paid also. This is far above my normal rate.  I'm not particularly concerned, as I have heard others describe a similar experience - perhaps partially due to people thinking it was free and finding out it wasn't. But I figured I'd mention it.

For some perspective, the book did not sell 100 copies on all outlets other than Amazon in 2011, even though it was 99 cents until November. So when sales gradually slipped in Dec and Jan, I decided that I wouldn't be risking a lot to enroll in KDP Select.

I can characterize the experience so far as completely positive. Even if sales return to what they were or drop lower than that, I am satisfied.  I should also note that sales of my other novel picked up a bit at the same time - I have also raised the price of that one to $3.99.

Thanks for providing this detail about pricing considerations. I wasn't going to try Select at first, but I'm on a heavy learning curve and thinking about launching first with this in early summer and then having a second launch with the other venues in early autumn. Don't know how useful it will be with only one novel out, but the exclusivity wouldn't cannibalize anything for me.

[Millard]

I'm two days out from free now, smack-bang in that period where it seems like most people who do see a sales spike get that happening. There were six sales in the first post-free day, and today, zero.

[CJ West]

Thanks for all the great info!

I just took the leap and make my book free today.

So far I've given away 2,000 copies. I haven't seen if the big sites have picked it up yet or not. That could be a huge boost later. I guess I'll have to cross my fingers and hope.

Right now I'm #4 in free suspense.
#177 in the free Kindle store.

Hoping for a bump later today.

If you are interested... please do download... Addicted To Love is perfect for Valentine's Day!