Weekly sales report: All abord the free train

October sales
Kindle: 69
Paperback: 16
Total: 85

The book went free Monday night on Amazon US. The idea here is to get your book onto a lot of Kindles in hopes readers will like it and buy future books and recommend you to their friends.

Amazon US
Tuesday: 4,264 downloads
Wednesday: 2,996 downloads
Thursday: 1,772 downloads
Friday: 1,461 downloads
Saturday: 1,303 downloads
Total for week: 11,796 downloads
Peak ranking: #27 free, #2 religious fiction (free)

Amazon UK
Wednesday: 55 downloads
Thursday: 53 downloads
Friday: 72 downloads
Saturday: 516 downloads
Total for week: 696
Peak ranking: #34 free, #1 religious fiction (free)

Someone in the UK must have blogged about the book on Saturday because I was totally not expecting that to happen. I had only sold 2 books in the UK to date, so to put the book in the hands of nearly 700 readers there is fantastic.

On Friday, I started the process to “reprice” the book. It now has a price at iTunes, B&N and Smashwords, so it’s only a matter of time before Amazon follows. Hopefully, some of the incoming traffic will be converted to sales.

 

Top of the Pops in the UK

Don’t ask me how, but Signs and Wonders is now #1 on the Religious Fiction chart for Amazon free books. There’s been a huge surge in UK downloads today — 300. The book also got its first UK review today and it’s pretty much an author’s dream.

End of the day update: 516 downloads in the UK!

Make it Free — Day 3

Another 669 downloads between Midnight and Noon today.

Make It Free — Day 2

Tuesday ended with 4,264 downloads and the book finishing #3 on the the Amazon religious fiction free chart and #27 on the Amazon free chart. Between midnight and 10:30 a.m. there were another 1,000 downloads.

Make it Free — Day 1

What happens when you make your book free on Amazon.com?

Help me give away Signs and Wonders

There’s a method to this madness, trust me. Authors have found big sales success after giving away their book on Amazon for 7 to 10 days, then restoring the price.

Signs and Wonders, now FREE for the Nook

If you know anyone who owns a Nook, could you help spread the word that the book is free for a limited time at Barnes and Noble.com? (Yes, there is a strategy at work here. I’ll write about that more soon.)

Amazon’s 4 for 3 promotion

The paperback edition of Signs and Wonders has been included in Amazon’s 4 for 3 promotion. Basically, if you buy four eligible items, the lowest-priced item (my book) is free.

The paperback is even currently ranked, for the moment. It is #63 in:

• #63 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Religion & Spirituality > Fiction > General

All because Aunt Barbara bought one copy today. Hilarious.

The $79 Kindle is here

E-books have exploded over the last two years, but you’ve seen nothing yet. This Christmas season will be crazy.

Amazon just announced a Kindle that will sell for $79. Wow.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says the company is releasing a $199 tablet computer called the Kindle Fire on Nov. 15, challenging Apple’s iPad by extending its Kindle brand into the world of full-color, multipurpose devices.

The Kindle Fire is about half the size of the iPad, making it a close match with Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color tablet, which came out last year. But while Barnes & Noble sees the Nook Color as jazzed-up e-reader, Amazon has broader goals for the Fire, as a platform for games, movies, music and other applications.

Bezos also showed off three new black-and-white Kindle models, including its cheapest one ever, at $79. A touch screen model will cost $99, and one with cellular network access will cost $149.

The streak is broken

Someone bought a copy of the ebook this afternoon, ending the sales-less streak at 7 days. And if you’re wondering, a single sale will boost you 116,000 places on the Kindle sales chart 🙂

P.S. Added a second sale Monday night. Seven days of zip, then two in one day. How weird is that?