The Kindle Daily Deal, without fail, provides a boost to titles featured in its program. But the normal Kindle Daily Deal effect was amplified twenty-fold for RosettaBooks on Sunday, May 13 (continuing into the morning of May 14), when 20 of their titles were discounted to $0.99. Additionally, Arthur Klebanoff, head of RosettaBooks, told PW that the titles' inclusion as May 13's Gold Box deal made the increase in sales "stratospheric."
Klebanoff gave Amazon 35 titles from which to select for a Kindle Daily Deal, and they ended up picking 20, he told PW. "I don't think it's an accident that they scheduled it for Mother's Day," he said, stating that the discounted titles, many of which were well known backlist titles like Slaughterhouse-Five and I Am Legend, were given maximum exposure on the site to coincide with the holiday so, in theory, mothers who received the Kindle as gifts could begin filling their library quickly and inexpensively.
Klebanoff monitored the sales throughout the day, and stated, "The books were rising hour by hour the entire 24-hour cycle and hit their highest point between 11 pm and midnight." RosettaBooks, which has had two previous Daily Deals for its Crimescape series (which propelled both titles to #7 on their respective deal days), has also had one previous Daily Deal and Gold Box featured deal for The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. That deal happened in late January and had a similarly huge effect on sales.
"You actually make your money in the two to three weeks after the offer," Klebanoff said, noting that the price of the deal item(s) returns to normal, but the added exposure increases sales.
As of the morning of May 14, the top ranking books in the promotion were:
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson (#7)
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (#8)
To Dance with the White Dog by Terry Kay (#13)
Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind (#17)
Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland (#20)
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham (#23)
Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell (#24)
