All posts by Brad Whittington

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eBook Promotion Experiment

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When I started doing promotions of ebooks, I searched for free/bargain ebook websites and then spent 3 or 4 hours filling out the forms on about 30 sites to get maximum exposure. On some sites I also paid the fee for a guaranteed ad. After a few promotions I got tired of all the work and wondered if some of the more obscure sites were worth the trouble.

Of course there is a handful of sites that are known for performing well at present, such as BookBub, Pixel of Ink, and others. But I wanted to test the effectiveness of some of the smaller sites.

So, I did a 6-week experiment, pricing a book at 99-cents and then promoting it on a different site every 3 to 5 days, all the while tracking the sales daily. Based on the price, my cut was 35-cents per book. I started by sending out a newsletter to the fans who have signed up for it, then posted on Facebook and Twitter, and then the various sites.

There are several limitations to the experiment. First, it doesn’t necessarily measure the strength of each site because a reader could subscribe to more than one site and sees it on one site first and buys, then doesn’t buy when they see it on other sites. Also, some sites might be stronger in some genres and weaker in others. However, despite these drawbacks, and others, I think I can draw a few conclusions. Here’s the chart, followed by a table of the data.

This tells me that my newsletter subscribers give me a better response than any of the sites I paid for advertising, including Book Gorilla/Kindle Nation Daily and Kindle Fire Department, which were the most expensive ads in this experiment. In fact, none of the ads broke even.

The thing that put the experiment into the black is that Ereader News Today picked up the promotion on their own, generating about a third of the total revenue. That was just a lucky break, but which tells me that ENT is reaching readers that the other sites are not if it can list the book after it’s been on sale for a month and still outsell all the other sites.

My takeaway. Focus on my newsletter subscribers and the few solid performing sites and don’t waste hours and dollars on the other sites. The other bonus is that I made $49 on the experiment and moved over 800 books to new readers who might go on to buy other books. But I’m glad it’s over. 😉

Promotion
 Date Revenue
Email 8/5/2013 10.15
8/6/2013 59.85
FB/twitter, Addicted to Ebooks 8/7/2013 13.65
8/8/2013 1.75
ebookLister $15 8/9/2013 1.40
8/10/2013 3.15
8/11/2013 1.75
8/12/2013 2.10
eBookBargainHunter $10 8/13/2013 3.50
8/14/2013 5.95
eReaderCafe $30 8/15/2013 1.40
8/16/2013 10.85
KND, BookGorilla, eReaderPerks $100 8/17/2013 3.85
8/18/2013 24.50
8/19/2013 4.55
eBookDealOfTheDay $5 8/20/2013 4.20
8/21/2013 5.25
8/22/2013 1.75
KFD $75 8/23/2013 2.10
8/24/2013 11.55
8/25/2013 1.75
8/26/2013 0.70
BookGoodies $20 8/27/2013 2.10
8/28/2013 1.75
8/29/2013 0.35
8/30/2013 2.10
8/31/2013 0.35
Email 9/1/2013 –
KindleBookReview $10 9/2/2013 0.70
9/3/2013 0.35
9/4/2013 –
9/5/2013 1.40
9/6/2013 0.35
9/7/2013 1.05
9/8/2013 1.40
ENT (picked up) 9/9/2013 84.35
9/10/2013 19.25
9/11/2013 3.85
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My 24 Hours with a Coral Snake

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Note: This particular anecdote is in response to a Facebook posting about the time Robin Hardy killed a cottonmouth. Robin is the person who deserves the credit, and the blame, for my writing being first published. Welcome to Fred is dedicated to her. I will be eternally in her debt, which is to say I will never repay the favor. 😉

Time: Sunday morning, 1975. Location: Fred, Texas.

I was a freshman in college, home for the weekend. In my first semester at college, unbeknownst to my parents, I had taken up smoking cigarettes. Now in my second semester, I had become adept at sneaking the occasional smoke when home on leave.

When the family loaded up in the car to drive to church, I was intentionally late so as to have the opportunity for a smoke on the quarter-mile walk through the woods from the parsonage to the church.

I finished my morning ablutions, left the house, and fired up a cigarette. About a hundred yards into the walk I encountered a snake on the path. Not a first for me. You can’t live in the Big Thicket for long without running into snakes. I’d caught a hognose a few years earlier at the same spot on the trail, and stepped on a rattlesnake one afternoon while storming through the woods in a pique at having been conscripted to paint the pump house.

I peered at the snake, conjuring up my mnemonic rhymes to determine that this particular specimen had the appropriate color combinations to kill a fellow. It was my first chance to dance with a coral snake in the wild. During the long dark watches of the night in my bedroom I had frequently wondered if I had the nerve to deal with a coral snake bite.

In case you’re unfamiliar with the ways of the coral snake, it’s one thing to pull out your Swiss army knife, cut two Xs in your leg, and suck out rattlesnake venom. It’s another thing to amputate your hand. Unlike the venom from vipers, which travels through the bloodstream, the venom from a coral snake is a neurotoxin. It travels through the nervous system, causing your respiratory system to fail within hours. You can’t suck venom out of your nerves. Outside of antivenin, the only remedy is to cut off the poisoned limb, hopefully before the venom has passed the particular joint you are chopping on.

Yes, quite gruesome, but such is nature, red in tooth and claw. I had a morbid imagination. I went through my requisite Poe, Lovecraft phase, as one does.As an adolescent I also wondered such things as whether I could withstand torture for my faith like Brother Andrew.

So here I was face-to-face with my long-imagined foe. I couldn’t sanction ignoring such a deadly presence on my home turf. I purposed in my heart to capture it, admittedly without a clear long-term strategy. I dashed back to the house, retrieved a five-pound Folgers coffee can, and returned to the path, where the snake patiently awaited my pleasure. I peeled the plastic lid from the can, requisitioned a nearby stick, and balanced the snake on the end of it. After a few attempts I had the coral snake in the can and the lid snapped down tight.

I did all this one-handed while still holding my precious cigarette in the left. I carried the can back to the house, secured it in the pump house, and proceeded to church, savoring the forbidden weed. After the service and after lunch, my chauffeur to college CRJJr, aka CJ Hecker from Welcome to Fred, arrived. [Note: CJ Hecker is one of only two characters in the Fred books based on a specific real person. The identity of the other is left as an exercise to the reader.]

I stowed my bags in back, set the Folgers can on the passenger floorboard between my feet, and buckled in.

CJ asked about the can. I showed him the coral snake. He was not amused.

Despite his displeasure, we arrived at my dorm three hours later without having to amputate any of our limbs to halt the dreaded neurotoxins.

I took the snake-in-a-coffee-can to my dorm room where Fred, my roommate (Yes, I grew up in Fred and had a roommate named Fred. What’s your point?) and suitemates Ken and Pat were similarly unamused. I slept soundly that night. I can’t speak for the other inmates.

The next day I took the can to the science building, showed the specimen to my biology professor, and got his verification that we were indeed looking at a bona fide coral snake. I then told the professor I that the snake occupied space I required for other purposes and that he could take possession for his natural history collection. Like all those before him, he was equally amazed but not amused. I walked out, satisfied in my vague quest to make Fred, Texas safer in my own small way.

I don’t know what the professor did with the coral snake. Perhaps it is on display in the lab even to this day with a small plaque commemorating my service to humanity. Or not.

Maybe in a future installment I’ll tell you the story of how I housed a baby possum in my dorm room for a week. Or not.

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Muffin Man for the Nook


It’s the moment all you Nookers have been waiting for: Muffin Man is now available on the Nook, in addition to Kindle and paperback.

John Lawson, sheriff of the quiet Hill Country town of Bolero, Texas, attempts to quell a feud between the local megachurch and a construction contractor, but it escalates from picketing to vandalism to arson.

The case is derailed by the unwelcome return of John’s free-wheeling bipolar father, who arrives in the same red Mustang he drove away twenty-four years ago when he abandoned the family.

But ultimately it is the muffin that his overzealous deputy bags as evidence that threatens John’s ordered life, possibly beyond repair.

Brad Whittington is not only back, he’s at his best. I haven’t been this excited about a new fictional detective since Martin Walker’s Bruno, Chief of Police. Have no doubt: Muffin Man delivers!
–J. Mark Bertrand, author of Back on Murder and Pattern of Wounds

Whittington has baked up a winner in Muffin Man. With dry wit, poignant humanity, and a setting as rich as Texas earth, Whittington proves his fl air for storytelling once again. A great book.
–Tosca Lee, NY Times bestselling author of Demon: A Memoir, Havah: The Story of Eve, and The Books of Mortals series

After six years of silence, Whittington’s highly anticipated entrance into the general fiction market combines his considerable storytelling talents with influences as diverse as Richard Russo and Michael Connelly. Muffin Man strikes a balance between comedy and drama and takes the trademark Whittington elements of rich setting, engaging characters, and turn of phrase to a new depth.

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Neil Gaiman on writing for money

An excerpt from a commencement address by Neil Gaiman:

I decided that I’d do my best in future not to write books
just for the money. If you didn’t get the money, then you didn’t have anything.
And if I did work I was proud of, and I didn’t get the money, at least I’d have
the work. –Neil Gaiman

 It’s 20 minutes of astoundingly good, and amusing, advice for those who create. Make good art.
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Living with Fred and Exploding Eggs

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Update Aug 1, 2012: The author of the email described below is also the author of the amazing book, Help Me Be a Good Girl Amen. I stayed up past 4am reading it. You can read a sample at the link.

One of the best things about being published is hearing from readers. The reviews for Muffin Man are all entertaining to read, even the the two-star reviewer who claimed it wasn’t as engaging as Russo’s Pulitzer-prize-winning Empire Falls (in my dreams!) and who ended the review with:

I going out to eat a donut now. bye

Which I took indicate that the muffin may have had  a greater impact on him/her than he/she thought.

And nothing tops the review from IZONPRIZE that opens with:

Brad Whittington had me dedicated to the final page, from Day 1 like a momma chimpanzee looking for fleas on her only child.

But a recent email has the most unusual story associated with reading my books that I’ve received to date.  

Here’s an excerpt.

My eyesight is pretty bad, since I am now 86, so my daughter bought me a Kindle and I get to read anything that she has loaded in. I am REALLY enjoying the Fred stories.

I appreciate your rich vocabulary, which you use so extravagantly. I suspect a lot of folks don’t know what treasures you draw from.

I was getting such a kick out of your story this afternoon that I forgot I had put five eggs on to boil, and didn’t remember them till they started exploding. After the third shot-egg blast I got up and found egg parts all over the kitchen, and a horrible stink besides.

But — so — on with the book. Thanks so much for writing the way you do.

If I wasn’t already driven to write incessantly, emails like this one would do the trick.

Keep those cards and letters coming.

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Excerpts from an interview

While cleaning the desk I discovered a copy of an interview from when Living with Fred was released. It was for a religious organization. I fear I failed to satisfy their requirements because I never saw it in print.

For your dining and dancing pleasure . . .

Q. How did you become interested in writing?
A. I was an early and voracious reader. I began writing seriously in 1981 when I got a computer. Since then, I’ve been unable to stop myself from writing. Perhaps I should change medication.

Q. What compelled you to write a book on this subject?
A. I couldn’t stop myself from doing it. Neither could anybody else.

Q. What is the main theme or point that you want readers to understand from reading your book?
A. The main thing I’d like readers to understand is that they will always have a great time when they pick up one of my books. If they don’t laugh out loud at least once, I’ll refund their money.

Q. Are there some specific lessons you hope readers will learn and apply to their lives after reading your book?
A. Never date a practical joker.

Q. How does the book intertwine with God’s call on your life and how you are currently serving Him?
A. I feel God has called me to stop being so annoying. When I’m writing, I’m not annoying anyone.

Q. Do you have a favorite Scripture verse? What is it and why is it important to you?
A. Please be quiet! That’s the smartest thing you could do. -Job 13:5 NLT. Those who know me realize how important this verse is.

Q. Thank you for taking the time to answer a few of our questions. As we close, is there anything else you would like to add?
A. Never use pliers on brass.

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Why I hire a graphic artist for my covers

Publishers send an ARC (advance reader copy) to reviewers and potential endorsers before the release of the book so the reviews and endorsements are ready for the release. The ARC is not the final novel. It’s not copy edited and doesn’t have the front and back matter or the final cover.
A few weeks ago I found two potential endorsers. They are great writers and voracious readers, so I figured on sending an ebook version. Nope, they’re both old-school. Paper copies. I can appreciate that, but that means printing out copies and mailing them. I thought about doing them at home on the office printer. Then I thought about going to Kinkos to have them printed and spiral bound.
Then it hit me. I’m going to have to do the interior design anyway, why not use Createspace to make an ARC? They could read a real paperback. But that meant I needed a cover. Me, the writer, not the graphic designer.
I could have gone with the draft version of the cover I got from my graphic artist, but I wanted to make it very clear that this is an ARC, not a released novel, so I chose to design my own cover. As you can see, there’s a good reason I don’t do my own covers for the final product.

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Muffin Man Cover Art Redux

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One detail I should have covered and, and one that is very important in marketing books, is viewing the covers in the sizes they will appear on online sales channels. The art may look good on the book, but if it doesn’t grab the shopper at pixel sizes 56 x 86, 85 x 115, and 190 x 260. The middle size is particularly important as it is displayed it the list of hits.
Does that change your vote?