Over the years as an author, I’ve learned a lot and met almost every publishing goal I aspired to, including hitting the USA Today bestseller list and securing a multi-book traditional publishing deal. But one goal I was determined to reach demanded a different marketing approach due to a limited budget. Usually I overspend on my new releases, but this time I couldn’t afford to splurge on ads. With my newest standalone psychological thriller, Take Her Under, on preorder, it was the perfect opportunity to test a budget-friendly marketing approach.
Instead of running ads for Take Her Under, I landed an international-only Featured Deal for an older backlist title. This was part of a bigger strategy to increase exposure and build sales across my entire catalog during my preorder. The logic behind this was that a sales “butterfly effect” across my older books would help cross-sell my new preorder.
And it worked! With a little mix-and-match, low-cost marketing, when Take Her Under released, I ended up with three titles hitting number one in several Amazon thriller categories and finally reaching that elusive goal I mentioned: earning a KDP Select All Stars bonus. Here’s how I did it.
Using the Butterfly Effect Across Your Author Brand
Creating a butterfly effect means making one small change that generates a large impact across your catalog. In this case, I wanted to use my older titles to sell my preorder, since they “vet” my books to readers who have never heard of me. Some readers won’t take a chance on an author they don’t know, but if I can sell new readers my older titles and they enjoy them, they’ll be more likely to purchase my preorder next.
I started by fine-tuning my author brand, which helps grow sales momentum without breaking the bank. Author branding means that your books share common tropes or genre conventions so readers know what to expect from you. Sure, each story is unique, but readers see your personal fingerprints across each book.
For me as a thriller writer, I gotta have a murder, a mystery to solve, and a twist ending. When you have solid branding, it’s easier to cross-sell your titles with zero cost! An easy way to do this is by adding a link at the end of each book that leads readers to another title of yours they might enjoy:
With all of my back matter pointing to my preorder for Take Her Under, I had one more thing to do before I was ready to invest money in marketing my backlist. I updated my genres, categories, and keywords. This detail can make the difference between being at the bottom of a list or hitting number one in a similar but niche list.
For example, Kidnapping Fiction demands more sales to hit number one than Suburban Fiction, a genre that also fits my books. In this example, you can see how much easier it would be to hit number one in Suburban Fiction than in other categories, which is why I updated my categories to include it.
For this launch, my biggest feat would be breaking into the international arena, where I wasn’t getting much traction. I wanted to apply for at least two BookBub features by the time Take Her Under released, because for me, BookBub is more effective and more profitable than Amazon or Facebook ads. If I could get two popular titles in front of BookBub’s readership during the preorder (or right around release), I had a good chance of finding new readers via one of the featured titles who would go on to buy the preorder. However, I would need to space out the features so that both could be considered, but still run somewhat close to my release date.
Priced to Sell
I picked three backlist titles — the most popular and similar to my preorder — to push at specific price points. The goal was to give my author name as much visibility as possible leading up to my new release.
A Secondhand Life was a standalone psychological thriller with many positive reviews and a high star average, priced at $0.99. The Admirer’s Secret was another decent-selling standalone that needed a boost, also priced at $0.99. And If Only She Knew was the first in a mystery series with dismal sales but a high star average, which I made free since it had strong sell-through (when it actually sold copies!). I also priced my preorder for Take Her Under at $0.99, since sales numbers were more important to me than dollars. I could always make up the income later, but I wanted a higher rank out the gate.
First up, I applied for a BookBub Featured Deal for A Secondhand Life when my new preorder went live. This turned out to be an international-only feature, and it was low-cost but did exactly what I needed it to: expose me to new readers overseas. Even priced at $0.99, the book earned four times what I spent on it across my backlist sales without the help of any other features or ads. This was for a standalone title with my back matter pointing readers to my preorder, and for the first time I was seeing international preorders come in.
A couple weeks before my new release, The Admirer’s Secret was selected for an Amazon Kindle Deal, which spurred me to apply for another BookBub feature to coincide with it. I included in the comments of my submission that I had the Kindle Deal and a new release coming up. The book was selected, and this is when I hit the perfect storm: Amazon and BookBub were featuring the same backlist title; I was riding the sales wave of my previous international BookBub feature; I had a free book gaining traction; and my new release came out while discounted to $0.99. The result was hitting the goal I had hoped for.
Hitting New Goals
I got a KDP Select All Stars bonus, and for the first time, turned a profit during release week!
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Technically, this was my second All Stars bonus, an extra cash bonus that Amazon rewards to the month’s top-read books in Kindle Unlimited. But I hadn’t profited from the first one due to overspending on ads. I wanted to figure out how to reach profit milestones without breaking the bank. Sure enough, this was the first time I outearned my costs within a week while launching a low-budget new release by pushing my backlist titles only.
Keep in mind I had zero ad spend — only my BookBub and Amazon features. Within seven days of my BookBub feature, I had already earned back my spend, and the rest of my sales were gravy.
Over a month later, the momentum persisted. The Admirer’s Secret was still converting sales at zero cost. My freebie was cross-selling to my other books, and my new release, Take Her Under, was gaining new reviews and sales daily.
Go Big or Go Home
For me, a big backlist push gave my new release amazing results. I wanted to go big, but I also didn’t want to overspend as I’d done in the past. Updating my back matter links and categories, promoting my comparable titles, and running well-timed BookBub features made a huge difference in turning a profit during release week and finally cashing in on that elusive All Stars bonus.
What’s the takeaway? Don’t neglect your backlist or shy away from using older titles to promote newer ones. And to maximize sell-through, fine-tune your author branding as you continue writing books. When you sit down to write, consider how each addition to your catalog interconnects with your brand. Then use your back matter links to guide readers through your entire catalog. Lastly, don’t forget to update your categories regularly to maximize your rank.
If you’re on a tight budget, international-only BookBub deals are a great way to reach a new audience at a low price. Amazon and Facebook ad costs can add up, so if you can’t afford them, consider pricing a title at free to build reviews and cross-sell to your other books.
Most importantly, if you feel like you’re constantly struggling to sell books, you’re not alone. Get creative and be willing to try something unconventional, because you never know what will work!
The views and opinions expressed in this guest post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of BookBub.
