I Sold More Books NOT Paying for Promo

A Literal Literary Loser Sees a New Way To Win

In January, I wrote about how I paid $35 for a $75 value one day promotion with LitNuts and sold… one copy of The Figure Skating Mystery Series, for a profit of $6.81.

At the end of April, I wrote about how I spent $200 for a month-long banner ad with Golden Skate Forum and sold… three copies of The Figure Skating Mystery Series, for a total of $19.97.

But something else happened in April. I joined my good friend, Kyra Davis, and three other authors for a 5x5x5 promotion, where each one of us gave away a book and promoted the others. This giveaway cost us nothing beyond the books we were donating to the group project.

For the month of April, I gave away 1,137 copies of Murder on Ice, the first book in the The Figure Skating Mystery Series. I also sold a single copy of On Thin Ice, Axel of Evil, Death Drop, and Skate Crime, the follow up novels.

The reasoning behind giving away the first book in a series is to, allegedly, spur sales of the rest. So how did I do?

For the month of May (yes, I know it’s not over yet, but if there’s suddenly a surge towards the end of week, I will dedicate a separate post to it), I sold:

• 2 copies of The Figure Skating Mystery Series

• 279 page reads for Murder on Ice

• 317 page reads for On Thin Ice

• 310 page reads for Axel of Evil

So for the month of May, without spending any money on promotion, I made: $17.34

But something else happened in May. The third season of Bridgerton came out.

Now what, you may ask, does the third season of Bridgerton have to do with figure skating mysteries?

Nothing.

What it does have to do with is Regency romance.

When the third season of Bridgerton came out, various media outlets had a reason to write about Regency romance - via their own particular twist.

On May 2, 2024, Sonia Gallance wrote Scandalous Dance Scenes, Romance Plots, and Jewish Literary Modernity for Jewish Women’s Archive and mentioned my 1995 novel, The Fictitious Marquis, as the first #OwnVoices Jewish Regency novel.

On May 17, 2024, Elizabeth Karpen did the same when writing 17 Jewish Regency Romance Novels to Read if You Love ‘Bridgerton’ for Kveller.

I’ve written about The Fictitous Marquis for Kveller before.

In 2021, my post, 25 Years Before ‘Bridgerton,’ I Wrote the First Jewish Regency Romance, led to me selling 105 copies that year.

In 2022, when Kveller gave The Fictitious Marquis a shout out in Love ‘Bridgerton’ But Craving Jewish Romance? Try These Books, I sold 111 copies.

So how did I do in May 2024?

• 25 copies sold (23 ebooks and 2 paperbacks)

• 1 copy sold of Annie’s Wild Ride, my contemporary romance which is often promoted to those who buy my regencies

So without doing anything, I made $58. Which is more than I made with paid promotions and more than I made with unpaid promotions that I instigated.

So what lesson can we draw from this?

Well, as usual, that nobody knows anything when it comes to publishing. That’s a given.

But also that, at least for me, it seems that paid promotion doesn’t work at all, unpaid giveaways work a little, but the real profit comes in being mentioned on popular websites in topics tied to what’s going on in the entertainment zeitgeist.

So, moving forward, I’m going to focus on that.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

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In the meantime, I’ll still keep doing personal appearances because A) I enjoy them, B) I enjoy promoting other writers, and C) I enjoy talking.

Please enjoy me speaking to “Parenting with an Accent” author Masha Rumer about the pros and cons of raising bilingual kids. It’s twice the fun and twice the trauma!