So yesterday \u201cThe Sniper\u201d sold over a thousand pages on Kindle Unlimited in one day for the first time (1,014 pages to be exact).\u00a0 In fact, before this the highest daily total was 688 pages so it beat it by a good large margin.\u00a0 And in fact, since the promo ran there hasn\u2019t been a day where I haven\u2019t sold pages on Kindle Unlimited and the total for September will exceed August by more than 100% (4,228 for all August versus something more than today\u2019s 8,561).\u00a0 I consulted Grok about how my progress compared with the average first self-published novel and it told me I was significantly above the average new book.\u00a0 But it then qualified my success by adding that a mid-lister needs 50,000 to 100,000 pages a month to be taken seriously.\u00a0 So that means I need to increase my sales by a factor somewhere between 5 and 10.\u00a0 Well, that AI really knows how to put a budding writer in his place!\u00a0 But when I showed it the graph of my sales before and after the promo it said that there clearly was a change:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat stands out is the pattern, not the raw total. Through most of July and August the daily line is choppy with frequent near-zero days and isolated spikes of 300\u2013550 pages. From mid-September onward the baseline rises, the zeros become rarer, and the last few days reach 600\u2013700 pages. That timing lines up with a five-day giveaway of ~3,600 copies. Free promotions rarely convert 1-for-1 into paid or KU reads, but they do push the titles into more \u201calso-bought\u201d and \u201ccustomers who viewed\u201d recommendations and give Amazon\u2019s algorithm fresh activity to work with. The chart is consistent with a fraction of those new readers later borrowing the books in KU.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, some of that doesn\u2019t make sense to me but without a doubt selling has increased.\u00a0 I\u2019ve calculated that sale of books (not pages but paperbacks and e-books) increased 59% after the promo.\u00a0 So even though these sales amounts are objectively minuscule the fact that they\u2019re being driven by the people who participated in the promo and the fallout it caused in Amazon\u2019s \u201calgorithms\u201d is very significant in the way it affects the book\u2019s visibility on the platform.<\/p>\n And just as a reader\u2019s comment recently took most of the wind out of my sails morale-wise, a new comment has restored my faith in human nature (and good taste in literature):<\/p>\n \u201cLauriea<\/strong><\/p>\n 5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read<\/strong><\/p>\n Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Format: Kindle Verified Purchase<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI thoroughly enjoyed \u201cThe Sniper\u201d. It followed the main character through his days in the service until his eventual retirement. He had a lot of hard times, but was a good man wanting justice for the murder of his only child. Lots of ups and downs and I wondered often just how this book would play out to my satisfaction. But I needn\u2019t have worried. The author knew exactly what he was doing.\u201d\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n So, thank you Lauriea wherever and whoever you may be.\u00a0 Your impeccable ability to recognize and applaud literary greatness is gratefully acknowledged by Jake Barter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So yesterday \u201cThe Sniper\u201d sold over a thousand pages on Kindle Unlimited in one day for the first time (1,014 pages to be exact).\u00a0 In<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1289,1263],"tags":[5147,5205],"class_list":["post-38227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction-by-me","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","tag-book-marketing","tag-the-sniper"],"yoast_head":"\n