STILL GROWING
March 5, 2023 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as email lists, followers, Marketing, Newsletter swaps, Tracy Reed
Happy March. This month we’ll usher in the beginning of spring. You wouldn’t know we were close to spring by the way the weather has slammed us. Last week I kept looking outside for Noah and the ark, but he never appeared. Instead, my neighborhood was hit with hail about three times. Then we get hit with a wind storm. It was so severe I kept looking for Dorothy and her crew to drop by.
I’ll keep it brief. As I mentioned earlier, this year I’m trying new things to grow my mailing list, BookBub followers and Facebook presence. I tried TikTok, but it’s not for me. I ascribe to that statement of only using the social media you understand. Right now, I don’t have the time needed to learn or grow a following on TikTok. My priority is to grow my mailing list because these are my people and I want to reach out to them when I want to, not when the algorithm wants to.
How is my mailing list project going? As of this post I have added 1800+ new subscribers. Let’s just pause and scream as I do a happy dance. Unfortunately, I’ve lost 48+/-. I’m not upset about the ones that left because I’m still ahead. February only had twenty eight days, which means I lost two days at thirty new subs per day. I’ll make them up with the months that have thirty one days.
I have to admit it’s getting trickier each month working with the swaps. I have yet to make a sale via the sales swap. However, I’ve had a few clicks.
The other thing I messed up on was posting/sharing. I misread the details. I thought I was only to post via my newsletter, which I did. However, I was also supposed to post to my socials. The other day when the March swaps went live, I started posting to Insta and FB. Within a few minutes of posting, I started getting clicks and downloads. As of this post, I’m at 115 new subs for the month of March. Overall, I’m averaging between 28+ new subs per day. These are great numbers considering in order to reach my goal I only need to average 19 new subs per day. Where I made the mistake, was not calculating for loss. I need to stay at this pace of 28 per day in order to reach my goal and cover any losses.
The other mistake I need to correct is focusing on sales. I’ve put most of my energy into growing my list that I’ve neglected sales. So far, this year’s sales have been dismal. Bright side, my Kobo sales are picking up. Praise God. I have been hoping to crack the Kobo freeze. I do well with freebies, but not sales. I hope this is the beginning of a fabulous relationship with Kobo.
The other area I’ve wanted to grow is my FB group. Thanks to an anthology I’m in and a release event, my reader list has grown to 120. YEAH! I am so excited about this. I really want to get this in the high hundreds. I would love to have at least a thousand followers here by the end of next year.
Then there’s my BookBub followers. I’m not at 1000 US followers yet, but I’m getting close. I’m currently at 684. I really want to get to a thousand US before my the end of the second quarter.
I know it’s going to take a little while to get to the numbers I want on my mailing list, BookBub and reader group, but I’m patient.
See you next month.
Tracy’s Books
JANAURY RECAP
January 5, 2023 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed, Writing tagged as Marketing, publishing, Tracy Reed, writing, Year in review
Happy New Year…Bonne Année…
Let’s get right into it. It’s that time of year when people make a lot of empty promises to themselves in the form of resolutions. Then they berate themselves when they come up short around the three month mark. The other thing they do in January is recap.
I refuse to allow myself to feel guilty about not completing all of my goals. I take pleasure in the unexpected things that occurred.
So what did I set out to do last year?
Get my letters -Didn’t happen
Triple my income – Didn’t happen. In fact, I finished the year less than 2021
Triple my mailing list – Didn’t happen. I gained about a 600, taking my list to 4000. However, not all of them want to receive email.
Master Facebook Ads – This is one of those ongoing things because Facebook or Meta is always changing. I did learn that I need to upscale for better results.
Update covers – Still working on this one.
Learn how to write a sellable blurb – I’m going to take the easy way out and farm this out. I found a service I like. I’ll still work on getting better, but I’ve learned it’s okay to ask for help
Use Ingram Spark – I loaded one book.
Direct Distribution – Still loading books. Last month I set up my first ebook direct sale from website and Book Funnel.
Increase BookBub US followers to 1000 – I’m 400+ away from my magic number.
Increase my prices -Did this.
Release Three books – Did this. In fact, I also participated in two anthologies and started one of my books for 2023.
I came up short a few times, but I also did some things not on the list I’m proud of.
My first Google sale
My first Eden Books sale
Wrote my first rom con for an anthology for February
Increased the followers on my Facebook passion page.
(I’m shocked about this it’s at 2800+ followers in less than a year)
Wrote my biggest book, so far (107k words)
Started creating large print books
Hired a PA and she’s got me on a regular email schedule
Wrote 300k+ words
Completed NANO
I had one BookBub Featured Deal
(It landed me in the 100 free in the Amazon store. (This was huge.))
So what’s on tap for this year? Everything I didn’t do last year. SMILE. I’m serious. I put those things on my goal list because I had every intention of getting them done. I could easily blame my lack of goal completion on a lot of things, but I’m not. Although, having COVID and searching for a new editor are very legitimate reasons for a schedule interruption. Truth is, I could have put forth a little more effort, but I didn’t.
I’ve already started working on my list and it’s only the fifth day of the month. I really want to get my mailing list to 10k and my BookBub to 1000 US followers. To do so, I joined about five Book Funnel Newsletter promotions. So far, I’ve gained 110 followers. I’ve also joined a BookSweeps BookBub promotion for February. I tried one of these last year and gained a hundred plus new followers.
To sum up, 2022 may not have been the year I planned, but it was a very good year of firsts. There’s a scripture I like that says your latter days will be better. I’m counting on that to come true in 2023.
See you next month.
NANO RECAP
December 5, 2022 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as finishing the book, Nano, Tracy Reed
I’m going to make this very short, because I’m preparing for two releases at the end of the month.
Congratulations to everyone who participated in NANO. Whether you finished or not, isn’t the point. What matters is that you made the effort. I successfully finished NANO. I completed it with 50K+ words, however that wasn’t my number one goal.
My main goal was to complete my book, which I didn’t. The book I selected for NANO was the fifth book in my Alex series. The books in that series are 90k+ words. I’m preparing to release book four in the series on December 29th. It’s over 100k words. When I completed book four, I knew there was going to be a book five. I figured, while the characters were still fresh in my mind, it was the best time to write book five.
In order for me to complete book five, I would need to write approximately 3k+ words per day. I started the month well and then I hit a road block. Somewhere around the middle of the month, I realized I wasn’t going to finish the book. Instead of kicking myself, I focused on the NANO goal of 50k words. I finished NANO on the last day with my story at the mid point and 50k+ words.
This year for NANO, I did something I never do, make a writing plan. Unlike previous years, I periodically referred to my plan. Although I had notes, I still stuck to my pantser style. I knew I was going to introduce a new character. In my notes, she had at least three other names and a slightly different physical look. I sketched her out, but when it came time to introduce her, the only thing she had from my notes was her profession and her original fashion style.
I would love to finish this book by the end of December, but I’m not going to pressure myself. Instead, I’m giving myself until the middle of January to complete the book. This book caught me off guard. I’m still not sure if it’s going to be book five or if it will be a spin off stand alone. Right now, it could go either way. Only my writing muse knows what will happen.
How was your NANO season?
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Let’s Get Ready To NANO by Tracy Reed
November 5, 2022 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, Tracy Reed, writing
Welcome to November. Or more commonly known to writers as NANO month. I’m doing NANO for the fourth year in a row. Actually, I think it might be the fifth, because I didn’t keep track via the website one year. Doing NANO probably wasn’t a wise move for me this year, considering everything I have going on. In my defense, my schedule wasn’t supposed to be so packed at this time of the year, but a couple of family medical issues popped up and pushed me a little behind.
So what’s on my plate for this month? Two anthology contributions…my first holiday novella (18k+ words), a short story (10k+ words), my first attempt at a romantic comedy and a very large book (100k+ words). Out of all the projects, I think the book was the easiest project. The romantic comedy was the most difficult and also the first project due…November 6th.
I felt doing NANO this year was the best way to assure I’d write the next book in the Alex series. I had another project in mind, but this book kept calling out to me.
I am a proud panther, but for this book I made some notes, because there were a few points and new characters I wanted to include.
When I decided to use the fifth book in the Alex series for NANO I was banking on using some of the unused chapters from the other books in the series. As of this writing, it’s NANO Day three and so far, I’ve only used a couple hundred orphaned words.
Another first for me is a writing schedule. I sort of just wing it. However, I didn’t realize the books in this series were so big. Books two and three are 90k+ words each and book four is over 100k+ words. In order to keep in line with the series, part of my NANO plan is to write six days a week at 3500 words. I set such a high word count schedule because I really want to complete the book by the end of the month. The last time I set a similar plan, I ended up completing the book a month later.
I like writing during NANO and I’m sure I’ll do better this year. However, I won’t be surprised if I finish the month with an incomplete book. I won’t be discouraged, but getting half way on a 100k word book isn’t too bad.
Last month, an amazing thing happened. I got my fourth BookBub Featured Ad. It happened so quickly, my head started spinning. I applied for a featured deal at nine-thirty in the morning and three hours later, I got an approval email. I was so shocked. After I stopped doing a happy dance and praising God, I went to work on a plan.
The other times I had BookBubs, I ran additional newsletter ads. I didn’t have that opportunity this time. However, I did run a regular BookBub ad for book two in the Alex series. I figured it would be a good lead in for the upcoming Alex Four release. I’d had a featured deal for book two in the series with very good downloads. This time, I didn’t get the downloads I got the first time I had a featured deal. However, I hit the top 100 Free Books in the Amazon store and Apple. Plus, the book stayed in the number one spot in one of its categories while it was free. I was shouting louder this time than when I got the featured deal.
Besides the high ranking, I also earned some preorders on book four, additional BookBub followers and sell-through on my backlist. Overall, it was a surprise with significant benefits.
Happy NANO month.
Tracy’s Books
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Mid Year Goal Check
July 5, 2022 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as #NewRelease, goals, Marketing, Tracy Reed
Happy July and belated Fourth of July. I almost forgot I needed to write a post for today. It’s not an excuse, but a reason. My family was hit with an emergency medical issue with my dad. For the past couple of months our schedules were interrupted. During this period I had a release I couldn’t push back.
I had a plan for how I was going to promote this book, but that never really happened…not fully. With all that was going on in my personal life, I found myself second guessing a few things. How to promote a book in a series when it ends on a cliff? How much should you spend on advertising? What about the cover…is it too racy? And let’s not forget my editor hit me with a major curve.
What was my plan? Run Facebook, BookBub, AMS and newsletter ads. I never got new FB ads up. I turned the AMS off. I’m on the fence about AMS ads. Personally, I think they are more effective for Kindle exclusive authors. I’m wide and I don’t experience the returns Kindle exclusives receive. I did run a BookBub ad which produced wide sales. I never set up newsletter ads.
I hear you saying, “It only takes a few minutes to set up ads.” You’re right, but when you’re juggling unexpected doctors appointments, tests and eventually surgery, ads and writing are the last things on your mind. I was grateful to God, the book was finished and edited. I reached out to a couple of authors for advice on marketing which helped alleviate some anxiety.
So what did I do? I had this book up on preorder for a few months and for the record, these were the most preorders to date in my writing career. I reached out to my author and blogger community for swaps and posts. I ran book one in a free giveaway to draw attention to the series (this really works…this is going to be a part of my release plan). I posted to my socials as well. I ran BookBub ads for the free book one.
How did I do? This was my second release this year. I released part four earlier this year which doubled the sales of book three which was released last year. This release has been out three weeks and so far it has out performed book four in the series.
Did I hit my sales goal? No. But some amazing things did happen.
First sale on Google Play
First preorders on Kobo
Kobo Sales have already surpassed last year’s sales
Most preorders to date in writing career
Preorder for book six (which only has one chapter so far)
Gained new readers and increased read-thru in the series
Best release sales to date
What did I learn with this release? Trust God. I’m not preaching, but being honest. The only way this release did well was because I asked God to help me. I was close to stress mode. The other thing I learned was Pre-Release Prep. There are things I can do now even though the book isn’t complete. I have a cover, but I can create the graphics and blurbs now. I already have the book on preorder and as soon as it’s complete, I’ll set it up at Amazon.
The other Pre-Release Prep I’ve done is hired some help. I realized I needed some help. If I’d had help I would have been able to implement more promotion things and done even better. My PA is already setting up swaps for me.
I’m also going to use some advice I received for the last release which I wasn’t able to, because book one was too small. Apply for a BookBub Featured Deal. There’s a lead-in book which meets the BB requirements. Here’s a tip…if you’re doing a series, try to write book one to the BookBub Featured deal requirement. If not, create a box set which can be a series starter. I’ve already added create a box set for The Good Girl series so I can apply for a BB Featured Deal for Book Six.
Let’s do a quick check on my goals for the year.
Here’s my updated goals list:
Get my letters
Triple my income
Triple my mailing list – Working on this. Added approximately 400 new subscribers so far
Master Facebook ads – I made a change last month to how much I spend and it’s paying off. Last month, I scaled back to one ad and it’s paid off. This one ad for a first in series free has led to sales of the books in two of my other series. I’m going to ride this strategy for a little while before scaling up.
Update covers – 13 covers in total to update. 8 completed.
Learn how to write a sellable blurb
Use Ingram Spark – Launching first books this month
Direct distribution – I started with Nook. So far, it’s worked out. Considering selling ebooks direct from my website.
Increase BookBub US Followers to 1000 – Added two hundred new US followers.
Increase my prices
Release 3 Books – Two down, one to go. I also added three short stories for anthologies. One is. My first Christmas story.
How are you doing with your goals so far?
Tracy’s Books
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