By now, I'm probably boring the shit out of you, but since I have marketing on the brain - and very little will to do any of it - I thought I'd ramble here a little more about it.
A few days ago, I read a blog post asking what kinds of services indie authors might be interested in paying to receive. Just a sort of informal survey, I guess. This morning, I read the comments. Pretty much most of the commenters seemed to be in the same boat I am. I'd pay for services like tweaking my marketing plan, getting better keywords, targeting where to advertise and how to do it effectively, etc. - over and above paying for cover art and editing - but I don't have the funding to do it. AND I can't afford to pay for something that I'm not reasonably certain will work.
I know I have to spend money to make money. That's sort of a 'Duh'. I also know that advertising works. It just brings me back around to how much money I have in the budget, and I'm much really wowser advertising costs. Suggesting a marketing consultancy service - where you pay them and you pay for the ads, too - at around $500-$1000 makes my miserly heart weep. I just can't see it happening in the near future.
But I know I'm not cutting the mustard as it is now. I'm terminally lazy. I'm also dancing along the fine line of 'effective marketing' and 'annoying the shit out of customers' - totally in fear I've fallen on the bad side of the tightrope with every tweet I post. My sales are suffering because of it. I know.
You have to spend money to make money. But you have to have money to spend money to make money. Which means you have to make money to have money to spend money to make money.
Dizzy yet? I know I am.
But here's another wrinkle. You have no way of knowing if the money you're spending is actually making you money in the long term. Sure, if you shell out money for an ad, you might see a spike in sales. That's pretty obvious. If you shell out money for a better marketing plan... Will there be a spike? Will it dribble in over time (which wouldn't bother me either, frankly) and how will you know it has to do with the marketing plan? It could be coincidental because one reader told all her friends about your book over coffee on the same morning a piece of the plan went into effect.
It's the not knowing that kind of makes me crazypants, ya know?
Anyway, I'll keep chugging along - marketing where and when I can. I will force myself to get back into the swing of cheerleading. I mean, I kinda have to since I have another book coming out in less than a month.
Speaking of which, the newsletter is about 75% ready and there'll be some exclusive things, free stuff you can win, and something to read (a little WIOH appetizer, if you will). If you aren't signed up yet, the linky-loo is up there under the header pic.
Yeah, that's about the speed of my marketing today. Didn't cost me a dime.
I'm in the same boat. No money for marketing, and almost no will to do it myself. My current 'plan' is to get several books out there, and then try to push them, so if someone buys one and likes it, there are others available.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading an ad manager saying "I know perfectly well that half my advertising budget is completely wasted, and if I knew which half I'd stop spending it today." That's ok if you're spending someone else's money, and you get a cut of it. But at, say, $5 a book, $1000 is (gets out calculator) 200 books before you break even. And you still don't know! Maybe you'd have sold the books anyway. I agree with Deb. My thinking is that I wouldn't mind spending $ where I get a tangible thing, such as a cover, or a marked up manuscript back. Marketing? Not so much.I despise reading advertising, and the thought of producing it makes my liver shift in my chest.
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