140,000 downloads- What is working?

Two weeks ago I looked up from furiously writing Book 2 in my Legacy series and I noticed that my ranking on the FREE Amazon Bestseller list was sinking.  Suddenly I wasn't in the top 20 in the main Romance category and I had slid from a pretty stable #5 to #15 in the Contemporary Romance category. 


I don't want people to forget about Book 1 before I put out Book 2....on the other hand I won't move up my release date because the revision part is as important as the creation.  Book 2 has to be as strong as Book 1 or forget about anyone wanting to read Book 3.


So, I put aside about 30 minutes a day to promote my book again.  Doesn't sound like much?  I have a wonderful husband and 3 kids who miss me when I'm writing.  30 minutes on top of writing time is big. ...so whatever I do has to count.

What I did:

• A wonderful woman, Calista Taylor, designed a new cover for my book.  She is just starting to make a name for herself in the cover creation business.  Check her out.  You won't regret it. http://www.calistataylor.com/    She is also designing a website for me. 
• I aggressively sought out people on twitter who love the romance genre and started to follow them.  Making connections.  (Hey, Twitter capped me off at following 2,000.  Who knew? They have a whole process that is worth reading about.  As I get more followers I can follow more people.  I have about 880.  I guess this is to stop spamming.)
• I sought out authors who needed a little boost and retweeted their reviews or sent them a few kind words.  Trust me, this is the easiest part because you start to recognize people at Twitter and start to care about how they are doing.  We're all in this together.  I can't help everyone in my 30 minutes...but I'll help whoever I can.  
• I reaped the benefit of a good review from a place I had submitted my book 2 over two months ago.  Five Stars!  I spread the word.  I might keep spreading the word for a little bit.  Yes, it's self-promotion, but it's also going to help the reviewer.  Plus, really, how many of the tweets do you miss everyday?  Unless you're only following me, it's often a hit or miss.  Maybe I'll discover this is a bad idea, but I'm going to share the review a couple more times.  Not overkill.  I shared it twice.  Maybe two more over the course of the week.
• I always repost my comments here onto my FB and tweet them.
• I found conversations on  twitter about how to blog better, but I don't know that I have the time.
• I also tried to go on a fantastic blog tour...which even had a great prize...and got lost on my second blog and quit the trip.  I was thinking that they should make it easier to navigate once you're on the tour.  Maybe most people do.  Just sharing a thought I had on why that particular tour sounded fantastic but might not show the results they want.  I WANTED to go to all the sites, but gave up when it got frustrating.  That was probably common.

So, which of the list above was most effective? There is really no way to know.   All you can do is keep plugging.  I have a mental list of promotion I'd like to do when I take a break from writing.  Keep trying.

This morning I'm back on the top 20 in the FREE Romance  main and I'm #8 in the FREE Contemporary Romance list.

A little bit of promotion, a little bit of help from some wonderful people and my book is back where I need it to be for the release of Book 2.

Self-pubbing is work and it's scary...but if it is the way you choose to go, it can also be an incredible adventure during which you will meet amazing people from around the world. 

Now, stop reading this and get back to your own writing!