Advertising--yuk!
This is a rambling post--that's a warning; not a song.
I sell books. When I started this endeavor I thought I was going to be a writer. An author of fiction books. Books that would be swept up by hungry readers who found out about my great skills through some form of word of mouth; including wonderful reviews. Well some years later I now realize I'm not an author, I'm a hustler. And of course what I'm pitching to the unsuspecting is books. So rather than the calm life of writing I have become a marketer--oh my god; how did this happen.
The fantasy of most authors is to have a major publisher who handles everything; all you do is write books and receive checks. Ha. I'm a one-man band (actually there are a lot of people who help me; but when it comes to marketing I'm mostly on my own). And unfortunately the common result of a one-man band it that the task that suddenly occupies your attention the most is the one for which you're the least skilled. In my case; advertising.
I do promotions on Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Goodreads and Bookbub. All requiring different types of ads and copy. I also run free book deals on various web sites but I'm cutting that back. In some ways that was the easiest--don't have to be real smart to convince someone to take a free book. So if free is out, how do I attract new readers? Advertising. There's that ugly word again.
This is an ad I recently ran. I liked this a lot. Dogs make me (and most normal people) smile. So even if it didn't sell any books it made me smile and hopefully others too; which is a good thing. But actually it worked pretty well. I will use this again. Kudos to me.
This is a Bookbub ad. Sort of okay but not great. Suppose to have a call to action on each Bookbub ad but I forgot. Something like READ NOW. Some of that stuff seems silly to me; and yet everybody who gives advice on book advertising says the same thing; have a call to action in your ad--I didn't.
Getting ready to start promoting the preorder for Fiction No More. Publication is set for May 15th.
I like this, nice and simple. However it could be too simple. This is a Facebook ad so don't need a call to action because that is in the copy portion of the post.
This is another Bookbub ad (yes, I know no call to action). This ad got almost zero response.
I really believe at this point I'm spending more time managing marketing/promotion than I am writing. Some days I think I'm getting better and then I will have a week where nothing works; and I can't tell you why all ads worked great one week and were a bust the next.
Haven't run this ad yet but will in a couple of weeks. Who knows if it will work.
My guess would be that you were not interested in my book advertising, and definitely not interested in my whining; so, sorry. Maybe for my next post I will have something more interesting on my mind that I can share; at least we can hope.
Thanks for being a reader.
I sell books. When I started this endeavor I thought I was going to be a writer. An author of fiction books. Books that would be swept up by hungry readers who found out about my great skills through some form of word of mouth; including wonderful reviews. Well some years later I now realize I'm not an author, I'm a hustler. And of course what I'm pitching to the unsuspecting is books. So rather than the calm life of writing I have become a marketer--oh my god; how did this happen.
The fantasy of most authors is to have a major publisher who handles everything; all you do is write books and receive checks. Ha. I'm a one-man band (actually there are a lot of people who help me; but when it comes to marketing I'm mostly on my own). And unfortunately the common result of a one-man band it that the task that suddenly occupies your attention the most is the one for which you're the least skilled. In my case; advertising.
I do promotions on Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Goodreads and Bookbub. All requiring different types of ads and copy. I also run free book deals on various web sites but I'm cutting that back. In some ways that was the easiest--don't have to be real smart to convince someone to take a free book. So if free is out, how do I attract new readers? Advertising. There's that ugly word again.
This is an ad I recently ran. I liked this a lot. Dogs make me (and most normal people) smile. So even if it didn't sell any books it made me smile and hopefully others too; which is a good thing. But actually it worked pretty well. I will use this again. Kudos to me.
This is a Bookbub ad. Sort of okay but not great. Suppose to have a call to action on each Bookbub ad but I forgot. Something like READ NOW. Some of that stuff seems silly to me; and yet everybody who gives advice on book advertising says the same thing; have a call to action in your ad--I didn't.
Getting ready to start promoting the preorder for Fiction No More. Publication is set for May 15th.
This is another Bookbub ad (yes, I know no call to action). This ad got almost zero response.
I really believe at this point I'm spending more time managing marketing/promotion than I am writing. Some days I think I'm getting better and then I will have a week where nothing works; and I can't tell you why all ads worked great one week and were a bust the next.
Haven't run this ad yet but will in a couple of weeks. Who knows if it will work.
My guess would be that you were not interested in my book advertising, and definitely not interested in my whining; so, sorry. Maybe for my next post I will have something more interesting on my mind that I can share; at least we can hope.
Thanks for being a reader.
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