It’s been almost two months since I shared my detailed book launch plan on this blog. With that said, what’s the book launch experiment result then?

Does it become a huge success?

Or does it flop with style?

As much as I love to write this blog post with a beaming smile on my face, it’s sad to say that my book launch experiment failed.

How I define a successful book launch

Before I go any further, let me clarify how I define the book launch to be a huge success.

When it comes to the success of a book launch, it is as simple as how many pre-orders I get before the release date.

It’s not that hard for me to track the pre-orders. I only need to filter the sales report in my KDP dashboard and my Smashwords account to see how many pre-orders I manage to rake before the release date.

Since my book was released on August 1, it wasn’t that hard for me to filter the sales report just to get the data I want.

What causes my book launch experiment to flop

If you’re familiar with doing a book launch or at least read about someone else’s experience doing a book launch, you probably realize that my method isn’t aggressive enough.

What do I mean by being aggressive is I didn’t use paid ads to bring exposure to my new book. I only depend on my permafree book to get people interested.

The idea is people who will see my permafree book will also purchase the next book as well.

I won’t deny that most authors that I know tend to go hard when it comes to promoting their book.

What I mean by them going hard isn’t about them blasting their email, their website and even their social media accounts with buying their book.

While it’s true that some authors did just that, there are some authors out there who barely talk about their book on their social media account.

So, what most authors do when they’re doing a book launch?

They’re using paid ads.

Since I didn’t use any paid ads at all, does it mean that it’s the real reason why book launch fail?

Well, maybe. But the real reason isn’t because I’m not using paid ads. It’s more because I don’t have a sizeable audience. Any book launch will fail if you barely have any audience at all.

Can you still do a book launch without a sizeable audience?

To be honest, it’s true that you can still do a book launch even if you don’t have any audience at all.

But you need to rely on the paid ads to get the ball rolling. I didn’t include paid ads in my book launch experiment because I didn’t have the budget for that.

So, I was wondering if I could get the book launch off the ground without using paid ads.

Many authors will tell you that they’re using the paid ads to promote their new book. Of course, they also did things like optimizing their book page, making sure that their book cover reflects their genre and they already have a catchy book description in place.

In that sense, they’re right about that. If you don’t have any audience at all, you need to use paid ads to bring exposure to your new book.

You also need to do the same for your permafree book as well.

Am I using the permafree book the wrong way?

The answer is yes I am.

Don’t get me wrong. A permafree book is a great way for you to introduce your target audience to your writing. But it may not help much to promote a new release especially if you want to make full use of the Amazon algorithm to boost the sales.

In other words, a permafree book is great for generating sales of your paid books in the long term. But it may not be enough to boost your book sales for the short term.

The only time when the permafree book can help with generating pre-orders of your book is when you have an email list full of eager readers.

If you do it right, a permafree book can help with building your email list. When the time comes, they’re more likely to buy your next book since they’re already familiar with your writing.

If I want my book launch plan to work wonders for me, then there’s no doubt that having a sizeable mailing list is important. Without it, the book launch plan will fall flat on my face.

What should be my focus until my next book release

The answer to that question is simple. All I need to do is build a sizeable audience. And nothing works better than having an email list.

Why is that?

Like I said before, the people who are already in your mailing list are already familiar with your work. If you already did the groundwork shown in Nick Stephenson’s free training, they’re more likely to buy your book whenever you have a new release.

And the best way to do that is to have a permafree book. I already have that. So, I’m going to make full use of it to build my mailing list.

Besides the permafree book, I will also focus on attracting my target audience through blogging. I admit that people who read the blog may not necessary will buy my book.

But at the very least, they will know that I’m an author and will consider buying my book if they find my book to be interesting enough for them.

Focusing on the long-term

I admit that what I do seem like it will take forever.

But I find that this approach is a lot more sustainable than having a spike in the book launch only to see the sales die down after that.

Will I make a change on my previous book launch plan?

Well, maybe. But it’s possible that I won’t make any change on my book launch plan at all.

Let’s see what we have in store the next time I’m launching a new book.