With my newest book I’ve expanded  distribution beyond Amazon and invested in a few paid promotions. I’d like to share my experiences, so far, to assist other indie authors.

My book published on all platforms on February 10. It was available for pre-order for  approx. three weeks before that with about a dozen pre-orders.

I had a guest blog on Gemma Halliday Publishing’s blog, Laffinated Ink, on the release date, and had 5 sales that day.

My promo with AskDavid (supporter pack cost $15) began on February 14.

I listed my book with the RaveReviewsBookClub on February 15 ($25 annual membership)

On February 17 my promo with Digital Book Today began. (DBT cost me $30.)

I had 5 sales on the 10th, 1 on the 12th,  47 sales on the 17th, 31 on the 18th, 10 on the 19th, 7 on the 20th and  3 on the 21st.

These are strictly sales of The First Ladies Club. I’m not counting any sales or borrows of the other four books on KDP Select.

As you can see, the 17th, with the three overlapping promos had the greatest sales to date.

I spent $70 on promotions and had 98 sales since the promos began, more than paying for the cost of the promos.

This is the first time I’ve ever paid to promote my books, previously relying on Amazon giveaways and Kindle Countdown promotions. These are the best first month sales I’ve ever had.

My experiences with all the above promotion sites were pleasant. The contact people were courteous and helpful.

I have a week-long promo with BuckBooks of my first book, Hollow, running concurrently with a 99 cent Kindle Countdown from March 2-9.  BuckBooks is free for books 99 cents and under, but like the RaveReviewsBookClub, requires some cross-promotion on the author’s part.  I’ll let you know how that one goes.