I signed my novel, TimeSplash, into the KDP Select programme the other day because I was hoping it might give it a bit of a boost. It has been two years since the book was first published and sales have started flagging. Select gives you the option to promote your books by offering them for free for five days during the 90 exclusivity period. So, to dip my toe in the water, I set up two days – yesterday and today – to give TimeSplash away for free.
The result has been breathtaking.
As I write, TimeSplash is number 1 in the Kindle Store for Science Fiction, number 1 for Technothrillers, and number 28 overall. There have been thousands and thousands of downloads in the past 24 hours and the book is still climbing! What a day I’m having.
Of course, it will all be over tomorrow. The free offer will end, the book will go back into the “paid” rankings and I’ll lose the rankings I now have in the “free” section. It’s a shame (but fair). On the other hand, I got to experience, just for a little while, what it must feel like to have an actual best-seller climbing the charts. And I’ll tell you what, it feels fantastic.
And to all those thousands of people who downloaded the book (my site stats tell me that many of you are stopping by here), thank you for this great day. I hope you enjoy the book. And if you do, pop back to Amazon and leave a review for the book, why not? It will help me sell a few copies in between giveaways 
“TimeSplash is number 1 in the Kindle Store for Science Fiction, number 1 for Technothrillers, and number 28 overall.”
Hardly an unsurprising result Graham when you think about it, especially when something becomes ‘free’. The whole concept reinforces my believe that the Amazon rating system is a total nonsense, based purely on the number of copies shifted rather than whether or not a work is worthwhile – not saying that Timesplash isn’t by the way, but I think you know what I mean.
Since I wrote that post, it has climbed to #21 overall.
What I don’t understand, Jack, is why TimeSplash is doing so well. There are many thousands of books on Kindle that are free. Why has everybody jumped on mine? I did the same deal for “Placid Point” a few days ago and I was very pleased with the result, but TimeSplash has had more than 60 times more downloads. It can’t be that people are recommending it – there hasn’t been time. I can only think it’s because there’s a pent-up demand for (free) time travel thrillers.
Well done! Not all people will make a “purchase”, regardless of whether it’s free or not.
My two books (Eden and A Proper Charlie) did really well (top 10) when they went free just before Christmas, and although they aren’t downloaded nowhere near as much now sales are still brilliant!
So, you should be in for a nice surprise once the freebie is over.
Good luck!
That must have been a great Christmas present, Louise. Honestly, I’m not expecting much after today’s feeding frenzy, but I would not be unhappy if I did manage to sell one or two extra…
I hope your sales keep being brilliant!
Even though it’s free, people wouldn’t be getting it if they didn’t think it was worth their time, Graham. Congratulations!
Thanks, J-A. I have a vision of a great cloud of people hovering over the Web, just waiting for a free ebook to appear, then swooping down on it when one pokes its head up. My only hope is that the books that are grabbed up this way don’t just sit there on people’s hard drives but are actually read at some time.