I published Confessions of a Hallway Hustler: Another Shameless Wimpy Kid Parody on December 24, 2023.
To launch, I ran a KDP Select Free Book promotion for 5 days, from 12/27 to 12/31. During that time, I ran ads on four platforms: BookBub, Facebook, Google Ads, and Amazon Ads. My plan was to send readers to the Amazon listings for the book in the US, UK, CA, and AU.
These first readers would train the Amazon algorithm on the kinds of readers who might be interested in the book once the free promotion ended.
The book is now available on Kindle Unlimited, as well as for US$4.99 to those who don’t subscribe to KU.
Here’s a breakdown of ad performance:
| Impressions | Clicks | CTR | Cost | |
| 17084 | 579 | 3.39% | $149.97 | |
| BookBub | 41,369 | 46 | 0.11% | $35.50 |
| Google Ads | 592 | 2 | 0.34% | $0.08 |
| Amazon Ads | 675 | 3 | 0.44% | $2.36 |
And here’s the total number of Amazon orders for the promotion:
Conclusion — Facebook performed the best (but at a high price), delivering 579 clicks to the book’s Amazon listing at US$.26 per click. That didn’t translate to downloads, though. From 12/27 to 12/31, Amazon reported 112 orders for Confessions. If we assume that the other 3 ads delivered orders, totaling 51, then Facebook delivered the other 61, at a cost of US$2.46 per order.
On January 1, 2024, Confessions was the #1 New Release in Parodies in the US:
Confessions was the #3 Hot New Release in Parodies on Amazon UK:
And, lastly, Confessions was the #4 Hot New Release in Parodies on Amazon AU:
Since the end of the free promotion, the book has sunk in the rankings, which is to be expected.
Time will tell if Amazon starts to promote the book in other ways.
Time will also tell if any word-of-mouth momentum kicks in.
The question now is whether to run ads in the near future, then, in 90 days, whether to run another free promotion.
I’m mulling it over…
