KDP Promo can work...

Selling books via Amazon has its highs and lows! The effectiveness of the KDP scheme has been questioned by many over the last year. To be honest, I have rarely had many sales as a result. I think the conversion of free downloads to sales is very low overall. This is the reason I have kept HYBRID free permanently - it is the only way to get noticed in this world of overflowing cheap eBook supply.

Saying this, after running a free promo of FIRST DATE for two days, I got over 700 downloads in the US and yesterday had 9 sales already! Trust me, this is short of amazing! Highest my little book has ever been in the US! 

Check it out here via Amazon... UK US 

Now compare to my promo with A TEST OF TIME. I have posted on the same sites, tweeted and mentioned it on Facebook and Goodreads, yet, I have barely had any downloads... I think for the first day I had 10!

I guess romance sells, maybe? 

It is a shame since it really is a fantastic collection. I think many readers (like me) don't tend to go for short stories... and yet FIRST DATE is a collection of only 3 shorts (one being over 9000 words)!

I have to admit that I have given up on publishing anthologies now. The time and work involved to produce them does not seem to be worth it. I think I would raise more money for the charities by running a cake sale! 

However, I did learn a lot by doing them so I have no regrets, and on this one I even published a piece written by my dad.. so win win!

Another theory is that children's ebooks are not as popular. From my existing promotion for READING IS MAGIC, it seems to be another flop! I think the KDP scheme has run its course for the anthologies.

Anyway, I'm extremely grateful to anyone who gives my writing a go. 

Thank you. You keep me smiling... I hope my stories give you some enjoyment too.

All the best,
Vanessa

p.s.
For those interested, the final downloads were as follows:
FIRST DATE = over 750 :-) US ... 720 downloads!
A TEST OF TIME = under 50 :-( US ... 35 downloads!
Current promo for READING IS MAGIC = 39 :-( UK ... 22 downloads! (Beating the US downloads for once)

For comparison, this month HYBRID has had 2550 downloads in the US (helped by FREEBOOKSY) versus 191 in the UK... I guess people in the UK don't like FREE eBooks?