Advertising, Marketing, Etc.

Time again for a discussion on marketing, advertising, marketing venues, etc., ya know, since I haven't done one in a while.  And since I haven't done one in a while, I'm going to start over rather than add to the previous one.  The slate is clean.

Okay, so looking back, I wasn't a good monkey in keeping track of what advertising dollars went to which book.  :eyeroll:  I should fire my marketing manager, but that's me, so...  I've given myself a good talking to and put a note in my file about dereliction of duty.

Here's a basic overview of what information I did put into the spreadsheet and the budget.

Reading Deals - $29.  I paid for an ad in February.  I assume for Dying Embers, since there's a sales uptick for that book in that month.  And I have one coming out this week, also for Dying Embers. 

Booktastik - $10.  I paid for an ad in February.  Ditto for the book, not ditto for an ad this week. I recall not seeing a lot from this ad, but it could be my memory.

Paranormal & Urban Fantasy Bargains - $3/$12.  I paid for an ad in June. I assume for Wish in One Hand, since it was on a free promo.  I saw some sales of the other two books in the series.  And I paid for 4 ads in September.  The 4 ads went much better than the single ad - probably because the single ad was for one book only and the 4 ads were for the whole series.  This really seemed to get me some nice sales for the series.

Author Billboard - $6.  I paid for an ad in September.  Also seemed to see an uptick in sales.  And I have two coming out this week - Dying Embers and Fertile Ground.  Fingers crossed.

ebookdealsdaily - $10.  I paid for an ad in September.  I'm not sure how well this one did, since I was already rolling along from the other advertising when this ad went live.

eReaderNewsToday (ENT) - I tried for an ad in September, but they turned me down.  They did say it was because their newsletter was full for the dates I needed, so that's on me.  I should've planned better.

Which brings me around to this week's ads.  Dying Embers and Fertile Ground will both be on sale starting tomorrow and running through Sunday night - here and in the UK.  Hence, advertising.  I did a sale for AD and NC over Halloween and didn't advertise anywhere but on FB and Twitter (posts only, no paid ads).  I sold a few copies.  I should've advertised, but I put the sale together at the last minute and didn't have time to advertise.  Derp. 

As for Facebook and Twitter.  I've paid for ads with Facebook and really didn't see a return on my investment.  I haven't paid for ads on Twitter.  In FB's case, I see more activity from posting to various groups than anything else.  And I occasionally see activity from posting about a sale to Twitter.  Not huge numbers, but still.

In any case, the more I put my books out there, the more I see page reads in Kindle Unlimited. I think more people are willing to take a chance on a book when they don't have to buy the whole book - like when it's included in their monthly subscription.  Then they start to read and more often than not, they read through the whole series.  I had one person start with Wish in One Hand, read through the series, and then read all my other books one after the other.  It was awesome to watch the page counts roll along in a wave.

A final note to this post.  Recently, Elizabeth Spann Craig did a post on advertising I think y'all should read.  And in it is a link to a list someone else put together of advertising venues.  It's not comprehensive - good lord, there are so many venues, I don't think it could be comprehensive - but it's damn good and it'll save time when you're looking to advertise your books.  Or, hey, if you're looking for books to read, those lists are a gold mine.  Seriously.

Anyway, if you're out there self-publishing your work and wondering how to get noticed and get sales, I highly recommend doing some advertising.  It doesn't have to be expensive.  Of course, the more you spend, the more you can potentially make.  Still, getting the word out there helps.  Maybe Wednesday I'll list the various FB groups I post to for advertising.  And perhaps, if I remember, next week I'll post something about how this week's advertising and sale went.

Hope that helps.  If you have any questions, let me know.