Well, we have had another busy week. The rain finally stopped falling, and we have a good old Texas High sitting over the state. That means high humidity and temperatures in the 100’s for a heat index. Near the Gulf, the temperature is about ten degrees cooler, yet the index is still uncomfortable due to the humidity which is usually not as high.
I spent the week pretty much promoting the sale of His Revenge. I spent a little money on advertising the promotion and can honestly say it did not pay off. I learned a lesson so I won’t be repeating it again with the organization I picked. Of course, the problem with the KDP promotions you only get one shot every quarter and if you blow the awareness program, it is a definite miss not recoverable soon. Also, I was all over Twitter and can honestly say that effort doesn’t track to sales. At least I can’t quantify sales as a result of Twitter activities.
Today’s JohnKu talks about trial and error as the most naive learning model
Learning by John W. Howell © 2106
Try this and then that,
There must be a solution. . .
If you keep trying.
Fiction Favorites 
Have you found any advertising vehicles that have been effective for you?
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Yes. The only one that really worked for me was E Reader News. BookBub is supposed to work but I have been reluctant to cough up the $300 plus dollars for one placement.
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Thanks John! I’ll look into EReader. I hate putting out money for advertising because they all promise so much and deliver so little
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So true. Good luck.
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Oh I’m sorry, John. I know you put your heart into it.
It’s good feedback for me though, since I hope to be able to eventually do some marketing of my stories. I know I don’t have time to “do it right” so I hardly do it at all. Just my blog. Any social media work I do is really in support of others.
I love and relate to the Johnku. That’s how I feel about getting back to the southwest. I never got any replies about either of the Texas interviews. It took a couple of years between interviews… I don’t like that pattern. It’s been that way for the past 4 years that I’ve been putting a huge effort into the relocation drive… But as you say, there must be a solution, so I keep looking for it.
TGIF. I hope they have the air conditioner fixed at work today. Keep cool, and mega hugs! 😎
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Thanks, Teagan. I’m sorry to hear about the lack of feed back. That used to drive me crazy when I was in the workforce. You do need to keep trying though. Have a Fabulous Friday. (even if you have to spend it at the salt mine) Looking forward to GM tomorrow. Hugs 🙂
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The vintage Caddy is gassed up and ready to roll! 🙂
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Yippee.
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I’ve been scratching my head with the use of Twitter for a while now. It was oddly busy and seemed to lead to a few sales up until May. Everything seemed to fall apart in May. Sales dropped, tweet notifications dropped, blog activity dropped, etc. No idea what happened and I’ve seen my new book have issues because of this. Starting to worry that the whole indie publishing platform is sinking.
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I have to agree. There is something going on and I don’t think anyone has a handle on it yet.
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If it’s even possible. Amazon did a lot of changes in a short period of time, so I keep waiting for more. Makes me wonder if it’s harder to find the indie books now. At least in the non-romance/erotic genres because those are always strong.
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Wish I knew.
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I’m sorry to hear this, John. I loved your Johnku this week…gotta keep trying, right? Our humidity has been oppressive this week. Hopefully we’ll have a little break over the weekend. Happy Friday!
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Thanks, Jill. Yes, gotta keep trying.
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Sounds similar to the things I’m seeing. I’ve really backed off and am blaming it on Summer.
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I guess I need to start believing. Thanks.
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Reblogged this on Kim's Author Support Blog.
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Yep! Just checked and my sales are pretty bad right now. I think last year, June was a not a good month for sales. Maybe it’s the early heat, feeling like August in May and June. Maybe a sales line, “Since it’s too hot to sleep, READ a book” will work. 🙂
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Ha ha ha. That is a good line. 🙂
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I feel your promotional pain, John. 😱
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I know you do. Thanks, Kevin
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Selling books isn’t easy that’s for sure John. But maybe sales success is just around the corner for the both of us. Good to see Chuck Norris. Enjoy the weekend.
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Let’s hurry to the corner.
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Sorry response seems slow or none-existent. Maybe the magic truly is in not giving up. Wish you much success, John. Happy weekend. 😀
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Giving up is not an option. Thanks Tess.
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Today’s JohnKu can be applied to a lot of situations – persistence. Happy Friday, John!
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So true, Teri. Happy weekend
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We’ve had zero rain in Niagara for far too long, John.
I’m envious – as is my garden…
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This has been unusual weather for us.
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John, I’m so sorry you didn’t realize the results you were hoping for with the promotional efforts. But I appreciate having someone go before me and show me the way! In a perfect world, all the writer would have to do is WRITE!! Happy weekend to you!
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Thank you, Debbie. It would be a perfect world.
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Sales are down everywhere and it leaves all of us scratching our heads. Have our readers abandoned us? Nah, I don’t think so. They’ll be back. Hang in there and keep promoting. That’s all we can do.
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Thank you, Jan. I thin I’m going to delay my launch of the next one until Sept. I was going to go in July but this void id killing me.
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Thanks for this KohnKu, John – I certainly can relate. However, I blame myself and the poor job of marketing that I do. An Indie friend of mine always maintains that book sales go down the toilet in the summer months. You are right – step up to the plate and keep swinging!
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I am beginning to believe your friend. Man what a slug fest. Thanks, John.
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