What Slurpees Teach Self-Publishers About Testing

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You test a self-published book the way 7-Eleven treats its Slurpee: when something works, keep doing it, and when it fails, go back through the process to find out why before you try again. Every year 7-Eleven has a day that gives away free Slurpees, and I made this short video one year on that day, because Slurpees have a lot in common with self-publishing.

What does a Slurpee have to do with self-publishing?

7-Eleven found out long ago that people like buying Slurpees. I remember them in the stores when I was a kid. 7-Eleven’s own site says the drink goes back to the late 1950s and that 2026 marks 60 years of Slurpee. Over the years I have also seen products appear in 7-Eleven that sold for a while and then disappeared. The Slurpee stayed.

The lesson I take from it is simple. When you find what works, double down on it and keep going.

What are the two ways authors get testing wrong?

They quit before the test has had time. A lot of people give up before something has had a chance to start working.

They also test something once, see that it failed and stop. One failed test tells you something. It does not tell you to give up. It tells you to go back into the process and work out what did not work.

How do you test a book, step by step?

Publishing a book, trying a new cover or changing a title is a test. Treat it that way:

1. Make one change at a time, so you know what caused the result.
2. Give it enough time to show a result.
3. If it does not work, go back through the steps. Was it the niche, the cover, the title, the description or the keywords? Change one and test again.
4. If it does work, keep doing it, and where you can, automate or repeat it.

What does this look like for my own books?

I have done a lot of testing to find the right keywords for my books. I use KDSpy to find the keywords that bring in sales. I still sell books I wrote five or six years ago. It is a bit like my own Slurpee. I found a pattern that works and I keep following it, year after year.

The same goes for ads and content marketing. I try a lot of things. When one works, I keep it going. When one does not, I shut it down.

For more on keywords, read why KDP keywords are so important and do this now with your KDP keywords.

How long did the Slurpee take to become a staple?

Years, not weeks. 7-Eleven’s Slurpee page tells it this way: in the late 1950s a soda fountain broke, the owner put soda in the freezer, and a frozen drink came out of that idea. The page’s tagline says “Unserious since 1966”, and it says 2026 marks 60 years. So the idea came first and the name settled years later. Nobody judged this drink after a month.

The flavor list shows the same pattern. Cherry and Blue Raspberry are listed as the classics, while Brrr-Nana is back at select stores and Fresca Zero Sugar is the current summer flavor. New ideas come and go. The proven ones stay on the menu.

How long should I wait before judging a test?

Kindlepreneur’s sales rank page says rank updates often hourly and that a big one-time spike may barely move it, while steady sales move it faster. My advice: judge a change over several days of steady results, not on one good or bad day.

How quickly do KDP changes show up?

Know this before you read a result. KDP’s timelines page says an ebook list price change appears within 24 hours, a paperback or hardcover price change takes 72 hours to 5 business days, and changes to an ebook’s title, description, keywords, categories, manuscript or cover take about 72 hours. Until a new price is live, royalties are still worked out at the old price. So start your count of days when the change is live, not when you clicked save.

What is your Slurpee?

What have you found that keeps working for your books? Tell me in the comments. If you want help working out which of your tests to keep and which to drop, book a free 25-minute discovery call.

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