How does a Professional eBook Campaign Affect Sales for a New Release on Amazon?
Climbing the learning curve of self-published book launching, I spent many days in the trail-side camp of Derek Murphy, a mad (as in crazy) genius in the art of marketing books on the internet. Check him out at creativindie.com. In one rant about “gaming” Amazon.com (ranting is his usual method of teaching), Murphy recommended an email campaigner named Mike Balmaceda. I got in touch with Balmaceda and purchased his $400 mid-range product.
My first novel, Azriel Dancer, launched on Saturday, October 1, 2016 with thirty-five reviews (all Five Star but two—one of the Four Stars being my sister’s, thanks a lot, Linda). From Saturday through Tuesday, we had about thirty sales of eBooks.
On Tuesday evening, Balmaceda deployed his email campaign, and within twenty-four hours, we garnered an additional seventy-three sales. That’s the big spike you see in the graph.
By Thursday, sales had tapered off. One week later, we flat-lined.
Balmaceda guaranteed that, with his service, the book would reach the 2,000 to 3,000 Amazon ranking for eBooks. Actual ranking achieved: 1,313. We also ranked #4 in one category, #12 in another, and #18 in the third. Great. Mission accomplished. For one day. And that’s the moral of the story. For one day, Wednesday, October 5, 2016. What did I do for Amazon.com THURSDAY? It makes perfect sense, the beast must be fed every day. I have no complaints, with Amazon.com or with Balmaceda’s campaign.
Mike Balmaceda is straightforward with his promise . . . and with his warning: the secret is in maintaining the momentum. How do you do that? Pay Mike $400 and find out for yourself. I’m not trying to be funny.
Let me close with two points.
- Teaching people how to maintain sales momentum is Balmaceda’s business; it’s how he makes his living. I’m not going to give away the secrets he sells (and that I bought).
- From long experience in another sales industry, I can tell you that it is easy to learn the lesson.
Only a few actually do the work to put the lesson into action.
