First off, the grand news – Wren book, Reparation, is finished in audiobook format. More on this when it releases. 3 months ago I had just 1 book in audio – The Last – pretty soon I’ll have 4, with 3 in a series. All the backlist is tight, produced, and polished. Unless… Can I get the zombie box set back into profit? This is the mystery. If I can, then it will seem worthwhile to buy back the Last Mayor rights and make the whole series in audio. That’ll be about $10k – real money. It’s also a whole …
Coronavirus ad fail? – 2020 Writing Week 11.3
I have a painful confession to make. So far this month I’ve made some nasty losses on my ad spend. Ack! Ouch! Thwack! For several weeks I’ve been aware I was deficit spending – putting more into ads than I was getting back on a daily basis. I was doing this because the last 3 months of data – which I wrote about here and here – showed the zombie box set was moving in a crazy way. Through Dec, Jan and Feb it was selling at the rate of 1 book for every 3 clicks. Every click I paid …
Coronavirus & ad spend – 2020 Writing Week 11
It has been a really weird week – I’m sure for everyone. Tuesday we started self-isolating, and that morning I had to prep a powerpoint lesson with audio over the top to be delivered by colleagues who were still on campus. Wednesday everyone was off, and I had another lesson to prep and record, same on Thursday, then Friday I had the first online drop-in 1-1 with a student. I thought working from home would mean more time for writing, but it hasn’t worked out that way yet. Most likely that’s about getting used to the new working environment, learning …
Saint Justice audio is out! & SPS Live – 2020 Writing Week 10
The most major event this week was the approval and release for sale of the Saint Justice audiobook via Audible and Amazon. It hardly feels real yet that this is out in the world – nevertheless – it is! Saint Justice audiobook release Here’s a sample: Get it here for $23.97 or £18.29 (weird prices, I know): Audible US Audible UK I’ve sent a few free codes out to trusted reviewers – if you think you’d be able to write a review on Audible – please do get in touch and I’ll send you a free code too 🙂 In …
Post Data Revelations Ads – 2020 Writing Week 9
So mid-week I had all those revelations fuelled by some new data analysis – full post here – but in essence these were the findings: The Last Mayor 1-9 box set has sold 1 copy for every 3 ad clicks consistently for the last 3 months, earning a tidy profit. The Wren thrillers sell 1 for every 10 ad clicks and have decent readthrough, but lose money because the funnel is not deep enough (not enough books at high enough price). My response was to increase the price of Saint Justice to $2.99 and cut loss-making Facebook ads, while substantially …
Data Analysis Mega Revelations – 2020 Writing Week 8.5
Recently I was looking at Brian Meeks’ book on Amazon Ads again – perusing his data analysis chapters, when I noticed a way of approaching the data I hadn’t tried before, or had at best only guesstimated. Actually tracking conversions. For weeks I’ve had the sense that the Wren thrillers weren’t converting. I was losing money, so they couldn’t be. Readthrough had to be bad. I was throwing clicks and ad money and nothing was going on. Data is your friend, Brian Meeks said, so I decided to dig in. First up, I needed a consistent idea of sales. Basic …
Finished Wren audio 2, Wren 3 edits – 2020 Writing Week 9
Nick finished narrating Wren 2 MONSTERS on Saturday, after a pell-mell race through the last week of Feb to get it done. His performance was stellar – incredible intensity from Wren, great accents – I just loved it. And so we turn immediately to Wren 3, REPARATION. I blitzed early edits on Sunday so he’d have something to record today, and ended up going to bed feeling a little down about the whole thing. Why? I found problems. It’s a weird thing to find problems in such recent writing. Actually I finished Reparation 6 months ago now (I haven’t had …
A famous peer, thriller genres and $2.99 – 2020 Writing Week 8
I just saw an old school peer on the TV, Ralf Little! We weren’t friends, but we hung out a few times, chatted occasionally, and I’ve kept a distant eye on his career. When we were at school he was in the cricket drama Sloggers, then around Uni he was in 2 Pints of Lager and Packet of Crisps, which I never felt drawn to, and then he was kind of quiet. Now he’s the lead detective on Death in Paradise! A show I used to watch religiously, then tapered off after they swapped the lead guy for a young …
Crazy work, Saint Justice tweaks and AMS tools – 2020 Writing Week 7
This week was crazy at work – I had my first session in the Main Lecture Theatre – 400 capacity, and it was pretty much full. 340, apparently. I think it was not the easiest group either – the lecturers who mostly run this cohort are struggling to control them, make them be quiet, make them stop cheating. I was running a session on plagiarism. It’s definitely the case with this new job that every new class I come into, I have to grab their attention and hold it. Normally as a teacher you do this once at the start …
Saint Justice sales page tweaks – 2020 Writing Week 6
This week I was kind of busy at work, so had less brain space for writing – but I have been on an emotional rollercoaster re- ads and the sales conversion of Saint Justice. Last Mayor rank/sales For some reason, my zombie boxset has tapered off from sales rank circa 3000 to more like 8000. I’m not sure why exactly, it seems to be selling a pretty consistent 15-20 /day just like the high times. A lot of fellow zombie box sets have dropped also, but a couple haven’t so… I up the AMS spend, try some new targeting techniques …