A Little Marketing Research

I've been doing an interesting experiment lately.  I've actually been scrolling through all the marketing newsletters and FB groups I'm subscribed to, looking for books I want to read.

Now, understand something, I only subscribed to these newsletters so I could see the ads I was placing with them.  I get at least a half dozen every day in email form.  There are at least another half dozen groups I follow in FB that bombard me with book ads throughout the day.

I didn't start this out as market research.  I just had some time and some inclination to look for new books to read.  But the more I flip through the emails and the FB postings, the more I'm learning about the venues I've been paying to market my books.

This is, of course, totally unscientific and all anecdotal.  Your mileage may vary.

The best newsletters for finding books, for me, have been Ereader News Today and the newly-found duo of Book Barbarian (SF/F) and Book Adrenaline (mystery, thriller, suspense).  Clear and concise ads with a big enough font that I don't have to enlarge anything to read them.  And large images. Plus, a wide selection every day.  I'm also finding some good stuff at Reading Deals, Freebooksy and Bargain Booksy, and Book Gorilla.  (Although Book Gorilla is sometimes information overload.)

Another thing about Book Gorilla that I've noticed is that they have a bunch of books listed and then a big thing about their ongoing contest to win a Kindle Fire, and after that, a bunch more books.  Sort of a 'below the fold' kind of thing, which makes me wonder where my book would end up if I got an ad there.  I'm guessing below the fold since the 'above the fold' books all seemed to be trad-pub.  I received their newsletter for a while before I noticed there were other books down there.

If you're not familiar with Book Gorilla, I believe you have to pay for an ad with Kindle Nation Daily to get a free spot at BG.  And KND ads are expensive.  And I've been unimpressed with KND's offerings, for whatever that's worth.


ebooksdealsdaily only has like two books per email and they haven't been really interesting to me.  Booktastik is about the same.  The Fussy Librarian has a lot of books, but so far, only one that grabbed my interest enough to download it.  Omnimystery News also has a few books, but their last offering was mostly trad-pub and nothing I found really new or exciting.  (The first book was a "The Cat Who..." novel.  :shrug:)

ReadCheaply has a quality newsletter with some good books to offer, but again, nothing so far that's excited me enough to buy.  I'm a hard sell, though, and I've been looking for some very specific types of books*.

Goodkindles seems to be the worst for me, so far.  Their last offering was mostly self help and the fiction wasn't blowing my skirt up.  At all.

Paranormal and Urban Fantasy Bargains has an okay newsletter, but their main worth is in the FB page, I think.  I know I've gotten some nice sales numbers advertising there and I've picked up a couple books to read.

I follow Pixels of Ink on FB.  Not sure why.  In order to get an ad there, you have to sacrifice a virgin to the gods of internet advertising or something.  And I never seem to see any books in their ads that make me run off to spend money.  

Naturally, the best sales I've gotten from marketing with any of these places were through ENT.  They seem to be doing it right - both from a writer and a reader standpoint.

As always, this is just my opinion and personal observations.  Your experience with any of these places may be totally different.

So, tell me, do you subscribe to any book marketing newsletters?  I'm always on the lookout for new places to find books and new places to market.  Share away.


*New to me and underappreciated - which means less than like 30 reviews or whatever.  And 99c or free.  I'll pick up books that don't meet these requirements, but the cover copy really has to excite me.