100K Page Reads in 20 Days

It's been one month since I published A.I. Human, and I've been amazed by the momentum. The book hit 100,000 page reads in Kindle Unlimited within the first three weeks! Together, with Ahelno, the Lietvia Galaxy series has garnered more than 500k page reads. It’s hard to believe I published my first book less than five months ago. I am so grateful to everyone who has taken a chance on a new indie author and is reading my books. Thank you.

For many authors, 100k page reads is a drop in the bucket. For indie authors like me who are just starting out, this is HUGE. It represents about $450 in royalties, in case you’re wondering, so I’m not exactly ready to retire and start writing full-time. And when you count expenses like cover art, monthly software and web accounts, ARC services, etc, I’m barely breaking even. Still, it’s a promising start for a new author, and I’ve had a few others ask how I got here.

I don’t gatekeep, so let’s get into it.

1. Genre

Alien romance readers read a LOT. It’s a smaller market than romantasy or contemporary romance, but they are always looking for their next read. This makes organic discovery easier. I didn’t consider the importance of genre for sales when I started writing and publishing. I write alien & paranormal romance because that’s what I like to read. But I can’t deny the advantage it’s given me when it comes to book sales and KU page reads.

2. Keywords

If you look up “winged alien romance” on Amazon, my first book Ahelno appears near the top of search results. I have several keyword phrases working for my books for reader discovery on Amazon. I use Publisher Rocket for keyword search. No, I’m not getting paid for that endorsement.

3. Series

A.I. Human is the second in a series of interconnected standalones. You can expect anywhere from 50% to 70% of readers to read the next book in a series, so that’s a definite boost. At the time of A.I. Human’s release, about 800 people had read Ahelno, so I already had a small, built-in base of readers I could expect to pick up A.I. Human. 

4. Bookbub Deal

I had a BookBub Featured Deal on my first book the week of my second book’s launch. I reduced the price of Ahelno to 99c. The BookBub deal was expensive-- $320-- but it sold 400+ copies of Ahelno, which drove read-through to A.I. Human.

5. ARC Campaign & Street Team

A solid ARC campaign will result in ratings and reviews. Ratings are essential social proof to other readers about your book. I had 71 ARC readers, who posted 38 reviews within two weeks of launch. (4.6 on Amazon/4.4 on Goodreads). Not only that, but five of my ARC team members agreed to form my first Street Team and did a phenomenal job of posting on social media about the book. Thank you, ARC readers and Street Team members!

You can read the details of my ARC campaign & services I used, including which platforms performed best, in my prior post.

Feel free to comment below or contact me with any questions. Any comments attempting to sell a product or service will be deleted.