r/NewAuthor

TL;DR: Free promo + paid newsletter promotion = 400 downloads in 24 hours.

A while back I finished my novel, got some constructive feedback, revised, edited, and proofread the script; commissioned a cover design, then got feedback on the cover and reworked it; looked back on all the effort that I spent to bring this book to the world, re-checked and re-evaluated the quality of the product, priced it at $2.99, then hit publish.

You know what happened next, but I'll tell you anyway: Nothing. Absolute radio silence. I bought a review campaign on BookSprout just to get people to read and perhaps review the book. It made around 160 "impressions," but no one downloaded it (even though it was given away for free in exchange for reviews.)

So I thought to myself, "Hey, maybe I should just get my book in front of people's eyes and those who truly enjoy it might then post a review. There must be readers who really like my novel, it's interesting and well-written and worth their time."

I came up with a "marketing strategy" and posted it on Reddit to discuss its viability. Some kind Redditor gave me good advice, and I altered my approach (you can actually find all of the above in my post history.)

Here's what I did: I created a five-day FREE promotion on Amazon, and spread the word via The Fussy Librarian free e-books newsletter (I bought a one-day promotion for $55, but they ended up promoting it more than one day, because they're cool like that.)

As someone who is struggling to get people to actually download and read my book, and not much concerned with royalties, I found this to be a great solution.

Update: Second day of the promo ongoing, and the number has increased to 458.

📙 Website - https://ccbookcovers.com/#portfolio

📧 Email - contact@ccbookcovers.com

If you've got something cooked up and want a cover that matches that, then I might be the right choice for you. 🌈

feel free to contact me here or via email for any thoughts or question you may have!

(edit: wow this blew up, thank you guys for liking my work and continuing to support me throughout! Appreciate it! ❤️)

(2nd edit: someone asked about what I do when it comes to avoiding a cover that they won't like, I already answered and it's using a drafting stage as a buffer until it get's approved for finalization. Here's the link on what it would look like https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19PgymIzt_lPgusFkUFPfKVIr8wvqALpX?usp=sharing )

I wanted this version of my book on my shelve as a reminder on how far I've come.

Guess I put the settings on the printer wrong. Whoops.

Have posted various places (including here) over the past couple of years about a book I was writing, the Magical Code of Regulations. 500 pages of fictional law governing the use of magic. When it finally released two months ago, I posted it here and on r/TTRPG, and this community really helped kick things into gear with shares to other communities, pre-orders, and tons of kind messages.

Well, after my last post here (and a bit of luck with Questing Beast doing a review on it!), I just passed 1,000 sales, and was able to sign my first book for someone! It feels amazing, and I just wanted to thank everybody here for making it possible. I expected maybe 100 sales or so in my lifetime, so getting to 1,000 after just two months is way more than I ever expected!

Would love to hold some kind of giveaway or AMA, but right now, just basking in this high!

That was really all. Thank you all again, you've passed the kindness check!

I uploaded 7 chapters to a web novel site last night and woke up to three pence. LOL. Hopefully that will grow as I continue adding chapters. I am excited that someone thought it was worth paying for though.

Things actually do happen! I was contacted 1 year and a half after sending my manuscript to 50+ publishers. Now my book is out for roughly 2 months and it's such a rush. I honestly had lost all hope.

It's called Möwen ohne Pommes, a maritime coming-of-age story. A little romantic (sad), whimsically comical. The protagonist visits the camping ground he knows from his childhood days to escape his own life's struggles only to find out that more drama awaits him.

It think the cover nails the act of trying to hide within one's shell built from nostalgia and other scraps of the past while one is actually too big to be contained - a fact that can only be discovered once one dares to be vulnerable.

I'm so happy to be able to share this with you!

Cover by alexanderkruschinski.de

Can't believe it. How cool is this. 🩵🩵🩵 Look at all the kindle unlimited reads 🩵🩵🩵

Enjoy the Nation's independence today. While your grills heat up and you await the fireworks...read about the war to end all wars...The Halloween War (Graphic Novel).

Uncle Ham approves this message.

Two days ago was the official release of my book, which sold to an astounding one person after months of marketing. After getting some feedback, there was one thing that was consistently mentioned to me:

My cover sucked.

To be honest, I wasn't that surprised to hear that, since the cover that my book had at launch was a cover that I designed myself. But since so many people said the same thing; that they would have just skipped right past my book if they saw it in their feed, I decided it was high time to do the responsible thing and bully my artist friend to design me a cover.

And ever since I switched to the new cover in my marketing, the response has been EXPLOSIVE! I've quadrupled the amount of people signing up to my emailing list, and for the first time, I got a comment over on my Patreon on the free post I made showcasing the concept art and cover itself (I've NEVER gotten a comment there before!). There have even been a few people asking me when the new cover will update on Kindle, so that they can order their copies when it comes out!

The first image in this post is the new cover, the second is my old one. You can really see what a difference having a professional design it can make!

It just goes to show: if you want something done right, bring in someone who can do it better than you! Covers matter a LOT; you could have the greatest work this world has ever seen and it could sit at 0 sales for the rest of its lifetime with the wrong cover.

Anyways, lesson learned. The next book in the series, I'm going to lightly bully him (with actual cash, this time) into doing the cover FIRST before I start marketing!

Looking for your next adventure this Independence Day?

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Join a band of unlikely heroes as they face dragons, mad wizards, ancient evils, and the growing threat of a prophecy that could consume their world.

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