Group Promotions & Valentine's Day Specials

I have to say I am skeptical about putting all of your romantic gestures into one, arbitrarily designated day. At least you could pretend to make an effort for two days, put on a nice shirt, pick a flower or two from the neighbour's garden to give to your lady love. But this year I suddenly found myself considering Valentine's day as a day I should pay attention to, and that's because of how it plays into my marketing plan.

I like to delve into the how-to books of other indie authors looking for valuable new ideas or different angles of attack I can make in my own book selling efforts. My most recent read is Let's Get Visible by David Gaughran. In the book I came across a mention of group promotions, where in a group of authors get together, set their prices low for 24 hours and then tap their networks on the shoulders to let them know what's going on. I like to call the method Sharing The Love. Apt for a day like today. David recommended that the group promotion tie in with a significant day, one where people will be turning their attention to one theme or event in particular.

It made a lot of sense, and keen to try it out, I cast around for themes and special days that might fit my Facebook comedy novel, The Grand Adventures of Madeline Cain. Though Facebook had just turned ten, I didn't think that was cause for world wide celebration, (well maybe at Mark's house but I certainly wasn't invited) which left the next big event as Valentine's Day. Make that, today.

So today I am running my first ever group promotion, how will it turn out? I can't say yet, but I can promise you I will be analyzing the event, in detail, for my next blog post. The stats, the organisation, the ultimate result, all right here in view of everyone wearing nothing but my words :S

If you'd like to see the group promotion in action today check it out here: http://www.madelinecain.com/vdaypromo/

What I can tell you is that each book in the promotion is $0.99; the promotion only runs for 24 hours on Valentine's Day; each falls into the genres of chicklit, YA romance, paranormal, new adult or classic romance (perfect for Valentines); each has an average of 4 stars or higher on Amazon; and we've pulled together 11 books and 7 authors (Dylan White, Missy Marciassa, Annie Jacoby, Elyse Grant, Shawn Inmon and Susan Ann Wall) in little under a week.

Watch this space to see how the experiment unfolds...

...And if you like a little bit of romance in your reading pile, or your loved one does, please feel free to pop over to the group promotion site and grab yourself a stellar bargain. http://www.madelinecain.com/vdaypromo/