Marketing Venues

Okay, I know I've done this before, but here's an updated list with recent info.

These are the venues I've tried this year and the results (as near as I can figure them):
(Disclaimer:  I don't know how much of the sales actually came from paid ads and how many came from freebie residuals or how many were from my own efforts on Facebook and Twitter.)


Author's Billboard: In April, I did a free book thing with Dying Embers, had Fertile Ground at 99c, and kept Early Grave at $2.99.  During that sale, I placed ads for all three books with AB at $6 ea.  I recouped that $18 and the residuals have been awesome.   In June, I did ads with them for Accidental Death and Natural Causes.  Those ads cost me $5 (they were having a sale), but I did not recoup my investment that time.

Ereader News Today:  In May, I put Wish in One Hand at 99c and left the other three books in the series at $2.99.  I placed an ad for WIOH with ENT for $40. I recouped my money, but as to how much above that is attributable to this ad?  :shrug:  Enough to make me want to use ENT again. 

Paranormal and Urban Fantasy Books:  I also had a two day ad for WIOH here during the above sale.  With the ENT ad already going, I have no way to assign particular sales to any one venue.  The cost of this was $8.

FB Boost Ad:  I also ran a Facebook Boost ad during the sale.  Again, I have no way of saying definitely that sales came from this boost.  It cost $20 with a $10 coupon, so I was only $10 out of pocket.

eBooks Habit: For my June Dennis Haggarty Mystery sale, I also used this venue.  And again, I did not recoup my investment.  I should have been paying better attention here, though.  Their FB page hadn't been updated in a while, but I'd already placed the ad when I discovered this.  Do your homework.

Bargain Booksy:  I used them for a trial ad for Project Hermes at full $2.99 price.  I paid $55 and did not make even half of that back on sales.  I've had better luck with them in the past, so I'm guessing it was the book and the price that screwed me this time.  Live and learn.

I discovered a couple new venues specifically targeting the mystery/suspense/thriller genre and the SF/F genre.  They're a little more strict with their requirements, so I'm not sure what I'll do for ads with them, but I'll let you know when I do and how it went. 

I have a request in for another ad with ENT, this time for DE for the end of this month sometime.  We'll see if they accept or reject my request. 

To wrap up, so far this year I've spent $153 dollars on advertising and I figure I've made about $230 off those ads.  So even with the ads that didn't do well, I'm ahead for the year there.  Now if I can just sell enough to recoup my editing and cover art costs.  Heh.  We won't talk about that hole today.  It's big and it's deep.