Monday, June 22, 2015

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?

9 comments:

  1. I bow to your marketing savvy. I know I such at it and I just sort of limp along clueless. I am taking notes. My problem is I really don't like social media. And sometimes resent the time I have to spend because...writing. I want to be one of those magic writers who sits in the cave, produce books, and they go viral with a wave of my fairy godmother's wand. Yeah, yeah. I know, Not gonna happen but... LOLOL Okay. First words and then an hour of social stuffs. Later gator!

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    1. Eh, it's just a throwback from my road warrior days combined with my data days as a secretary. Social media isn't so bad. A tweet here, a FB post there. Follow, like, favorite, retweet. Then again, you're way busier than I am. LOL, yeah, we all want that magic. I keep having the daydream that the next time I check my numbers, I'll see a huge and unexpected spike.

      I hope you got your words done!

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  2. I'm watching your results with extreme interest. I may even break down and buy an ad or three when I release my next book.

    I'd rather be writing, too, Silver. I used to believe a trad publisher would do all that for me, but they don't bother anymore, if they ever did.

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    1. I hope some of my experiences help you, Deb. Yeah, it's kinda up to us even with a traditional publisher these days. From what I understand. They didn't quite see my potential, doncha know. LOL

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  3. There are services you can use to help track the amount of clicks you get on each advertisement link. That might help you track what is working for you better than just trying to eyeball it. Of course, not every click is going to result in a sale. Message me on twitter if you want more info. @ninjadueces22

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    1. Thanks, Brian. I'm not quite at the point of tracking clicks, and my eyeballing the sales data seems to be working for me. If I change my mind, I'll shoot you a tweet or something.

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  4. Can you add a link to the other posts about advertising? I'd like to see your entire journey to date. Thank you!

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    1. Here's a link to the marketing posts in date order: http://besanderson.blogspot.com/search?q=marketing&max-results=20&by-date=true Hope that helps.

      And thanks for stopping by!

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