Good morning friends. And a lovely morning it is, all dark and blustery out there.
Inside, in my cozy home office, I’m looking at the results of the first four days of my five-day promotion of my LGBT SUPERHEROES! series of novels, and I am utterly delighted with the results so far.
As I described Monday, for this promotion period I have significantly dropped the price of each eBook from its regular 4.99 price. Book I is FREE through today, Book II is 99₵, and Book III is 2.99. Prices will change tomorrow. You can find my books on my Amazon author page.
Book I is free in order to expand awareness of the series and my indie author brand. This is a broadly used marketing strategy, and here is how it’s worked for me. In Amazon’s Best Sellers Rank, as I write this Friday morning, Book I is #169 in the Free Kindle Store. And within that it is ranked #1 in LGBT Action & Adventure, #1 in Contemporary Urban Fiction, #1 in LGBT Drama & Plays, and #2 in LGBT Mystery.
Part of this strategy lies in seeing how many of the 2,000+ (so far) free downloads will result in further sales of Books II and III (and in new reviews and ratings for all three books) and in email list signups. For long-term impact, it’s the latter areas that I’m most interested in. Reviews mean the person read the book, ratings mean the reader has an opinion of its relative value, and signing up for my email newsletter means that person is a fan of my work and wants to stay in contact (and the person can also get three series prequel short stories for free, just for signing up).
And what about Books II and III? They have been selling nicely at these attractive prices. In the paid Kindle store, Book II has been ranked either #2 or #3 in LGBT Drama & Plays this week, and Book III has been between #3 and #5 in the same category. Both books have bounced around in the Top 100 lists for LGBT Mystery and LGBT Action & Adventure. Yesterday they were both well within the top half of both lists, both in the Top 20s for Mystery. I am hugely pleased with the results.
OK, so I’ve been asked more than once, what’s a straight guy doing writing about queer superheroes? It’s quite simple. I thought it was a cool idea for a fun, entertaining, commercially viable series. The novels are written to entertain and celebrate diversity by an LGBTQ ally. And I’m told each successive book is better than the one before, which is how I hoped things would go. I wanted the series to remain fresh and original as it progressed.
So, I’ll see how this series goes while working away on my new mystery series, which is based on the earlier life of one of the significant supporting characters from these books. It’s told in the first person, and it’s a bit dark, with a decidedly noirish tilt. Beta readers of the first book have told me it’s the best novel I’ve written so far. I’m early in the second one and liking where it’s going.
My intent is to build up a library of original works of entertaining fiction that will provide income. I am eternally blessed for my darling wife Leigh’s fabulous support of this project. And if you have read this far, please know that you have the sincere thanks of a grateful indie author.