Talking Advertising Again

Hey all!  I said on yesterday's post at The Writing Spectacle (I post there Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday for those who aren't following in both place) that I would talk about my recent advertising efforts here today. So here goes me talking advertising again.

Yeah, I'm the kind of person who likes to be informed and likes to pass information along.  Forewarned is forearmed, and all that. Probably why I have an elaborate spreadsheet documenting book sales and the different things I do to pimp my books. (With pretty colors for the marketing efforts in each day's sales.)

Anyway, here's how the advertising has panned out so far:

3/3 - Paid ad for Dying Embers - Kboards - no noticeable sales - $15
5/8 - Cover reveal ad for Accidental Death - Omnimystery News - hard to tell since the book wasn't available yet - Free
5/20 - Book Excerpt for Accidental Death - Omnimystery News - 28 sales with a jump two days after the excerpt - Free
5/25 - Paid ad for Dying Embers - Ereader News Today - 298 sales over 10 days - $30
6/15 - Paid ad for Dying Embers - Indie Author News - no noticeable sales - $30
6/16 - Paid ad for Accidental Death - Every Writer Resource - no noticeable sales - $10

As always, your mileage may vary and performance of an ad for my books might not match the performance of an ad for any other book. For instance, I advertised with Kboards because I'd heard from other writers and in books on the subject that they'd had great success with that.  :shrug:  Also, please note that I am getting the cheapest ads offered on those paid sites.  Maybe if I shelled out more money, I'd see better results.  Only time will tell.

What I mean by 'no noticeable sales' is that if I did get any sales, they were so miniscule I couldn't tell for certain that someone bought that one book because of the ad or because of something I tweeted. 

Speaking of which, I have seen some interesting effects from the Twittersphere.  Sometimes I tweet and then shortly thereafter a book sells.  But since correlation is not causation, I have no way of tying those together definitively.

You may notice a distinct gap in advertising from March 3rd to May 8th.  I blame that on discouragement and cheapness.  If a paid-for ad doesn't work, I find I'm less inclined to want to pay for another ad. 

Of course, I'm doing other things - like postcard mailings - but I haven't kept track of that yet.  I'm pretty sure I got at least three sales off the last mailing.  Not huge numbers, but I only sent out like 20 postcards and some of that was family.

So that's where I'm at.  I'll keep trying different advertising avenues and try to keep you updated so you can see how this self-publishing thing is working for me. 

Anyway, this all comes down to the experimental first year. Seeing what works and what doesn't.  Keeping track so the next book might have a better chance.  (And the next book, and the next, etc.)  And I'm sharing all this not only because it might help others, but because when I type it all out, I get a clearer picture in my head. 

Any questions?  Anything to add?