Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Over Two-Thirds of Our Kindle Nation Sponsors Climb into the Top 3,000 Overall, and Sponsorships Are Available

By Steve Windwalker, editor of indieKindle and Kindle Nation

The peak annual period for shopping in the Kindle Store begins at around 5 pm Eastern on December 24 and continues for the next two weeks, and as it approaches we've been payng close attention to the results that Kindle Nation Daily sponsors have been getting in their efforts to connect with more Kindle readers. Our December 2010 Kindle Nation Sponsorship Results spreadsheet is available for all to see and has now been updated through December 20. Here are some of the benchmarks:
  • 14 out of 55 sponsoring titles overall have climbed into the top 1,000 in Kindle Store sales rankings
  • 29 out of 55 sponsoring titles overall have climbed into the top 2,000 in Kindle Store sales rankings
  • 37 out of 55 sponsoring titles overall have climbed into the top 3,000 in Kindle Store sales rankings, including
  • 8 out of 8 Free Kindle Nation Shorts sponsors/excerpts
  • 18 out of 21 daily Free Book Alert sponsoring titles
  • Among titles priced at $3.79 and up, 4 out of 9 have climbed into the top 5,000
  • Among titles priced at $0.99, 15 out of 17 have climbed into the top 2,100
  • Among titles priced at $1.99, 2 out of 2 have climbed into the top 1,500
  • Among titles priced at $2.99, 18 out of 29 have climbed into the top 3,000
Finally, 10 out of 18 of our newer and less expensive Ebook of the Day sponsoring titles have climbed into the top 10,000, but we're working to strengthen the presentation on this and we see progress: 3 of the last 4 have climbed into the top 5,000, 2 of them into the top 2,000.

I personally don't believe much in advertising, but I do believe in connecting, and I see these sponsorships as a way of connecting with readers who are engaged and responsive.

What might an author or publisher get from sponsoring Kindle Nation, other than a warm fuzzy feeling for helping a hard-working guy like me?

There's never a guarantee of success, and definitions of success can vary widely among authors and publishers. But if you have written or published a book of real distinction and you want to increase exposure and connect with more readers, we work hard to help you in that effort. We have over 10,000 regular readers between our several platforms, and we often refer to Kindle Nation readers as the greatest readers in the world. If I had to describe their reading habits, I couldn't do it, but I can tell you that as readers they are prolific, savvy, price-conscious, ecumenical with respect to genre, and they don't care for trashy books, trashy covers (even though I do), and trashy reviews (I know, because I've written a few!).

I hope that helps.

Currently there is availability in early March for daily Free Book Alert sponsorships and Free Kindle Nation Shorts excerpt sponsorships, and in January for eBook of the Day sponsorships. We continue to offer a Silver package that knocks $10 off the price of a combo of the daily Free Book Alert sponsorship and the Free Kindle Nation Shorts excerpt sponsorship. See our sponsorship info page for more information and sign-up.


4 comments:

M. Louisa Locke said...

Dear Steve,

I can testify to the impact that having a Kindle short on Kindle Nation Daily can have. When you posted my short story, Dandy Detects, on your site in July, the 2 day bump of sales of my full length mystery (187 sold in 2 days) put me at #1 in my category-historical mysteries, where the book as staid ever since.

Now I realize that if the book hadn't had good reviews, a good cover, and a satisfied readership it would have eventually sunk. But what you sponsorship did was get it the visibility it needed.

Since then, my sales have climbed steadily, with an amazing increase in sales since Thanksgiving holiday. I have been in the 600's in over all Kindle sales the past week, and in December I have been averaging 36 books sold a day (most Kindle). I can't wait to see what Christmas morning will bring!

So thanks again for giving my book it's start.

M. Louisa Locke

None of this w

Steve said...

Thanks to you, Louisa, for bringing to the table the kind of quality that is "the proof in the pudding" both for Kindle Nation's sponsorship program and for the indie author movement itself. If your excerpt hadn't been great, people wouldn't have bought your books, and if your book hadn't been great, the next author up would have suffered. Are we all in this together? Hell, yes!

Lindsay Buroker said...

Thank you for posting the spreadsheet. I've been wondering how fantasy and children's stories do. I'm looking forward to buying a sponsorship and giving things a try!

Anonymous said...

Thanks Steve,

I signed up two weeks ago and I'm looking forward to seeing how it'll all turn out.

I also wanted to thank you for emailing me back personally when I expressed interest but needed a little more direction.

Thanks again Steve and Merry Christmas.

Daryl