Greetings all,
Since it’s been a few months since my last update, I thought today would be as good a day as any to provide you an update.
I’m still working the plan I have. I don’t actually know if it’s a good or a bad plan; it’s just my plan. I’d ask anyone with clear, actionable information to please comment below.
The plan is simple: Generate new campaigns based on previous keywords that result in sales, clicks, or a high number of impressions (more than 100 a month).
When I last updated you all, I was averaging four sales a month and spending around (I think) $60 a month. A loss, but my sales were still up. After letting my most recent string of campaigns work for a while, here’s what’s happened since.
I had four print/e sales in September. I also had 822 pages read. That was during what I call an implement month. I had campaigns running, and I used them to track data. Then, near the end of the month and during the beginning of October, I generated a new list of campaigns based on the data provided above.
October looked awesome! I had nine print/e sales and 1,719 pages read!
Even better, I’ve been seeing follow on sales. September and October were both months in which I actually earned a profit. I genuinely think they were my first two months ever.
Oddly, those sales still are strangely hard to identify. I spent $144 in September, selling $11.97 (total not profit) and $177.74 in October, selling $24.94 (total, not profit). So again, I had more sales, but not all of those sales tie directly to the new campaigns.
Regardless, the more I work on this, the more sales I get. I don’t know that there’s anything more to do than continue forward, hoping my conversion rate will eventually improve as my number of sales increases.
So with nine print and e sales in October, the question is, was that just a good month, or is my monthly average actually increasing? Let’s have a look at November.
I had another eight print and e sales and a whopping 4,686 pages read. Yet again, my Amazon Marketing only directly accounts for three of the orders and about half of the pages read. My theory is that I’m gaining follow on sales. It’s just a theory, but it’s the only hypothesis that fits. I did lose money in November. You see, other campaigns on Audible really helped pull the weight and earn the profit, and my Audible royalties weren’t enough to beat the $173 (ish) I spent on marketing this time around. But at my stage of development, I’m just happy to see sales going up. I’m especially encouraged by the pages read.
For those wondering, 2,357 pages read accounted for $10.70 in royalties, which is what AMS tells me tie directly to my campaigns. No, I’m not quitting my day job anytime soon, but I’m moving in an upward trajectory, and that’s something.
It’s my hope that Betrayed will be more successful (still trying to get that out in the spring of 21), but only time will tell.
Interestingly, November fell off a tad, but it was an implement month. I’ve just started creating campaigns based on the data from November. If my hypothesis is correct, I should expect to see another increase in December. I might have to temper that expectation with COVID and government shutdowns, but I’m still hoping.
Regardless, the facts are that I have quadrupled (from two per month to eight per month) my monthly sales average and completely hit a new level in pages read since initiating this plan, and that is positive from any point of view.
I’ll post updates like this every two or three months to track the data. Yes, there is a point where spending hundreds for clicks for only a few sales is going to be unfeasible. Some may feel I’m already there. I don’t. I think I can do other things to improve my conversion rate, and I still think reviews are a part of it. I think as I get more sales and reviews, my conversion rate will naturally increase. I won’t be able to really analyze that until I have a title with more than 25 reviews.
For now, I’ll take some satisfaction knowing I’m selling more books and having more pages read than I ever have, and that glory goes to God first above all, and then you, the readers kind enough to give my work a try.
Thanks for reading,
Matt
M.L.S. Weech 