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BIPOLAR Amazon TOP 100 Free books

25/5/2021

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I recently self-published my debut novel, Pet Purpose: Your Unspoken Voice, about a character with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) navigating love and loss. I am currently running a free promotion of the e-book on Amazon. Today, it is currently #2 in biographical fiction and #19-20 in romantic erotica categories, listed in both in Top 100 Free Best Sellers. If it ever made it to #1, I didn't check, as rankings are updated every hour.
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So why give away a book for free? Simple, a promotion helps people to know about it. People who love a giveaway might try it and might leave a review. People don't know to buy the book if they don't know it exists. A free giveaway can temporary lift the ranking of a book so it has a greater chance of being noticed. The ranking has temporarily lifted by at least a hundred-fold. 

​I self-published with Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and enrolled my book in the KDP direct program. While in the program, I must sell the e-book exclusively with Amazon for 90 days. For this exclusivity, I get a higher royalty. I also have Pet Purpose as a print-on-demand softcover, which was better quality than I expected. Some readers said they were delighted to essentially get a print of my artwork on the cover.

In each 90-day period, there is an option to either offer the book free for up to 5 days or as a discount.

I researched options and decided that the free option was likely best for a new book launch. Just listing it free is unlikely to do much. One needs to promote the heck out of it. I researched some options for e-book directly listings. Some are free, some are paid. Some are ridiculously expensive, and a no-go for me. Amazon is essentially a search engine, so incoming links help with rankings. So does fresh content, such as reviews.

I was only in time to list with eBookDaily (a small, reasonable fee) and Independent Author Network (I have a Bronze membership). I suspect the big spike in downloads was mainly from being featured on eBookDaily. 

I am on a low income, so tried Facebook ads which are lower cost than some other forms of advertising. Several books had already been downloaded before the ad was activated. When I tried the Facebook ads before the promotion, there were lots of clicks, but no conversions. I am skeptical if Facebook ads are any good for e-books. Other bloggers and vloggers also reported lots of clicks but no conversions. I tested some ads before the promotion.

I am pretty sure that most of my sales so far have been via connections on social media. It's a niche book about bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, disabilities, trauma, mental health and pets. I blog, vlog and connect with others as both myself and as Bipolar Courage, mainly on Twitter and Facebook.

A few admins in some online bipolar support groups I participate in allow me to promote my book and vlog. If try not to be a nuisance about it, then they are usually pretty good about it as it is something that can be helpful for the others in the group, especially if it's on a free promotion, as many are on a low income.

I have been informed by readers that Pet Purpose has gone to at least 9 countries. It has been one of my dreams to be an internationally best selling author. More than 5 times as many e-books have been downloaded with the free promotion in the last few days than purchased in the first 6 weeks. I suspect many of these were via Amazon's promotions, as I woke up to several already downloaded before I really announced it.

I make no money on the free downloads. The giveaway is a marketing strategy to help get the book noticed. If I were to be paid for the books downloaded, a few dollars per book, I would have made more in a few days that I make in a month with my part-time minimum wage job. Extraordinary potential. Next steps are to keep writing and to try earn reasonable income from my efforts. So far, I have invested anything I have earned back into experimenting with marketing.

When I set up the book, I chose categories with less competition. I would have liked to have listed the book under 'bipolar' and 'PTSD', but Amazon only has these categories in non-fiction and won't allow cross-category. I chose categories in fiction that I thought fit best and had a higher ranking (less competition).

I am currently working on three books. The sequel, Soar Purpose. An erotic memoir about a mania episode, called Bipolar Cringe (to be published in the non-fiction section). Plus a book on how to write and self-publish your story without costing the Earth. 

Pet Purpose: Your Unspoken Voice is available on Amazon as an e-book and print-on-demand. From what I understand, the print-on-demand is available from Amazon US, Canada and UK.
The e-book is FREE until 27 May 2021 (Pacific Time). Mature themes. Reviews are appreciated. It currently has 5-star reviews from readers who share my diagnoses.

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I've been featured on eBookDaily
Update: Just before I headed to bed last night, I checked and saw Pet Purpose was #1 Best Seller in category. Wrote another blog post saying how I think I did this as an indie author. 
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    Xanthe Wyse

    Xanthe finds creative expression including writing and painting to be therapeutic and helps her to manage her diagnoses of bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

    Creative projects give Xanthe a sense of meaning and purpose despite the challenges.

    Comments are welcome but no personal attacks nor attacks on others.

    Xanthe's opinions and personal experiences are no substitute for independent professional advice.

    Image is fan art.

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