A few months ago, I wrote a blog 5 Things an Indie Author Needs. Last but not least on the list was startup funds. Now I've had comments from writers who didn't agree with my list, especially this last part about startup funds since ... really ... I'm an indie author. It doesn't cost money to publish. I just upload it to Amazon, right? And sell like a gazillion books, right?
Uh, no.
Apparently, I should've titled it 5 "Suggested" Things an Indie Author Needs. But, whatever.
Everyone has their opinion and this is mine. If you want to sell books as an independent author, then you need to act like the big publishing dogs and invest in your product—your book. This investment includes good content editors, line editors, cover art, and marketing (website, ads, social media, giveaways, conferences, etc.). Even traditionally published writers still have to doll out money for promotions above what their publishing house will support, so it's not just us indie folk.
When I released, A Surefire Way, in January, I was so anxious to finally have my product out there that I didn't have a marketing plan in place—big mistake! However, I'm fortunate to belong to an amazing and supportive writing group (Washington Romance Writers) and many of the members not only bought my book but publicized its release on their Twitter and Facebook feeds. Several of my author friends interviewed me for their blogs and heavily promoted my book on their site. (One of the many reasons why I listed "writer friends" on what an indie author needs.) My book sold copies in the first two months thanks to friends and family purchasing it and recommending it to other readers. Then I started seeing sales drop off as the social media frenzy simmered down.
I was a new author. An unknown in the midst of thousands of books released every month. How could I stand out? How could I reach readers? What advertising methods were most effective?
There are many choices for advertising your book: BookBub, BookBlast, Kindle Boards, Facebook, blog tours, and magazine ads to name a few. Considering the amount of money it costs to advertise, I wanted to make sure my marketing dollars targeted the right readers and wasn't wasted. I queried members of WRW to learn what services they used. Some book promo companies require a certain amount of reviews listed on Amazon (or on other large bookselling sites) before they even consider your posting and may accept nothing less than books with a 4-star average. These companies receive a lot of queries about ad spots, because their readership lists (between Twitter, ezine, and Facebook followers) are so large that your marketing dollars can go far with them, making it a great value. But you're competing for ad spots alongside large publishers and hundreds of indie authors.
First, I needed to get my book in the hands of reviewers for my genre—for better or worse. I scampered to get a Goodreads page together, having put that off while I worked on edits and not realizing what a great tool Goodreads is to reach new readers. I researched blog tour sites and found one that was both reasonably priced, hosted writers I knew, targeted my audience, and was willing to take on a debut author.
Once my reviews built up, I narrowed down where I could advertise and planned my budget. I also kept track of advertising and promotions and correlated it to how many books sold within that time frame to gauge the campaign's success. In the beginning, I didn't expect to come out ahead with books sales versus advertising dollars spent. Right now, I'm building up a brand and an author name and investing in my future sales by creating a foundation. Unless someone is looking for me, odds are they won't find me. So I need to find them. And I'm still trying to find more readers with every blog, every social media post, and every promotion that I run to ask a reader to take a chance on my story. It will take time. With each book, my name will become more recognized and readers will start to seek out my stories as long as I continue promoting and writing stories readers enjoy.
Below is an assessment of my promotions and number of books sold. As you can see, I'm not raking in the sales just yet, but I do believe that there is an audience for superhero romances based on reviews and amount of my promotional books downloaded. Even though the sales weren't high for a few promotions, it did reach my target audience and provide a "touch" to these readers. According to marketing pros, a potential customer will need to see or hear about your product five times before buying it. So even though I might not have gotten a sale from certain promotions (i.e., blog tour, Goodreads giveaway), it has gotten me closer to making the sale.
I hope this list will help an indie author make the right decision when designing their marketing plan (which I recommend doing BEFORE your book is released). Of course, it is also dependent on whether you have a fan base and your genre's popularity. As this blog title states, results may vary. Certain genres are hotter sellers. Authors with established names in the business have sold lot more with these same advertisers than I have. Also, advertising takes time to sink in and reach the right audience. If I ran promos constantly, I will see an increase in sales. Ultimately, having more titles available is the best way to promote my book and expand my audience.
So, what have you found? Any suggested advertisers and promotions that offered you great reach, bang for your buck, and sales?
Uh, no.
Apparently, I should've titled it 5 "Suggested" Things an Indie Author Needs. But, whatever.
Everyone has their opinion and this is mine. If you want to sell books as an independent author, then you need to act like the big publishing dogs and invest in your product—your book. This investment includes good content editors, line editors, cover art, and marketing (website, ads, social media, giveaways, conferences, etc.). Even traditionally published writers still have to doll out money for promotions above what their publishing house will support, so it's not just us indie folk.
When I released, A Surefire Way, in January, I was so anxious to finally have my product out there that I didn't have a marketing plan in place—big mistake! However, I'm fortunate to belong to an amazing and supportive writing group (Washington Romance Writers) and many of the members not only bought my book but publicized its release on their Twitter and Facebook feeds. Several of my author friends interviewed me for their blogs and heavily promoted my book on their site. (One of the many reasons why I listed "writer friends" on what an indie author needs.) My book sold copies in the first two months thanks to friends and family purchasing it and recommending it to other readers. Then I started seeing sales drop off as the social media frenzy simmered down.
I was a new author. An unknown in the midst of thousands of books released every month. How could I stand out? How could I reach readers? What advertising methods were most effective?
There are many choices for advertising your book: BookBub, BookBlast, Kindle Boards, Facebook, blog tours, and magazine ads to name a few. Considering the amount of money it costs to advertise, I wanted to make sure my marketing dollars targeted the right readers and wasn't wasted. I queried members of WRW to learn what services they used. Some book promo companies require a certain amount of reviews listed on Amazon (or on other large bookselling sites) before they even consider your posting and may accept nothing less than books with a 4-star average. These companies receive a lot of queries about ad spots, because their readership lists (between Twitter, ezine, and Facebook followers) are so large that your marketing dollars can go far with them, making it a great value. But you're competing for ad spots alongside large publishers and hundreds of indie authors.
First, I needed to get my book in the hands of reviewers for my genre—for better or worse. I scampered to get a Goodreads page together, having put that off while I worked on edits and not realizing what a great tool Goodreads is to reach new readers. I researched blog tour sites and found one that was both reasonably priced, hosted writers I knew, targeted my audience, and was willing to take on a debut author.
Once my reviews built up, I narrowed down where I could advertise and planned my budget. I also kept track of advertising and promotions and correlated it to how many books sold within that time frame to gauge the campaign's success. In the beginning, I didn't expect to come out ahead with books sales versus advertising dollars spent. Right now, I'm building up a brand and an author name and investing in my future sales by creating a foundation. Unless someone is looking for me, odds are they won't find me. So I need to find them. And I'm still trying to find more readers with every blog, every social media post, and every promotion that I run to ask a reader to take a chance on my story. It will take time. With each book, my name will become more recognized and readers will start to seek out my stories as long as I continue promoting and writing stories readers enjoy.
Below is an assessment of my promotions and number of books sold. As you can see, I'm not raking in the sales just yet, but I do believe that there is an audience for superhero romances based on reviews and amount of my promotional books downloaded. Even though the sales weren't high for a few promotions, it did reach my target audience and provide a "touch" to these readers. According to marketing pros, a potential customer will need to see or hear about your product five times before buying it. So even though I might not have gotten a sale from certain promotions (i.e., blog tour, Goodreads giveaway), it has gotten me closer to making the sale.
- Friends, family, critique partners, and WRW buddies
Jan–Feb, two free e-copies of my book and two $10 Amazon gift cards
Announced book release on writing loop, tweeted, and posted on Facebook. Did two blog interviews and two authors wrote reviews on their blog.
Sold: 40 books - Paranormal Cravings Big Blog Tour, April 15-May 17
$120 (+$25 gift card giveaway)
Iris Hunter, who runs Paranormal Cravings, really came through for me with a quick turnaround schedule. I received 19 blog stops that included 5 reviews of A Surefire Way. I even received a request from a popular paranormal blog site outside of this tour by a reviewer who had read about my book and wanted to review it. Considering the amount of time it would've taken me to track down all these bloggers, it was a great deal. I offered a $25 gift card and a free copy of my book as prizes in a raffle for those who had commented on the blogs.
Sold: 3 books - BookBlast, May 27th
$10
Ran a book promotion through BookBlast for a $0.99 sale. They blasted Twitter, Facebook, and their e-zine subscribers. If you can't book with BookBub, this is a good alternative.
Sold: 26 books - Facebook, May 31–June 6
$50 in free advertising given to me to try out their product
Facebook has the potential to reach a large, targeted audience. Possibly with more time and money, I could see better results. Received 4 page likes from ad.
Sold: 3 books - Kindle Boards, June 1st
$20
Ran an ad for a Bargain Book at $0.99, which they placed on their website and social media outlets.
Sold: 6 books - Addicted to eBooks, June 16–30
$10
Ran an ad for a $0.99 ebook deal, which they placed on their website and social media outlets.
Sold: 6 books - Bargain Book Hunter, July 7th
$10 bargain book, $5 pixelscroll add on
Ran an ad on their site along with social media mentions.
Sold: 0 books - Goodreads, June 6–July 31
5 paperback books + shipping, ($75 cost of books and shipping)
On Goodreads, you can run a giveaway of a physical book copy within the first 6 months of its release or before it is released. It is free to run this giveaway. Goodreads recommend giving away at least five books to have the most people sign up for the giveaway. My book stats of readers adding my book to their virtual shelves went from 20 people to well over 200. About 850 readers entered my giveaway and most of those readers were targeted for my genre. I was excited to see that my giveaway had received nearly as many entrants as several traditionally published books. I thought this was a great sign that readers were interested in my superhero romance. It was incredibly encouraging and reached readers who would have never found me.
Sold: 3 books - BookBub, September 19–20
$90 to advertise a freebie paranormal romance
I was lucky. It is extremely hard to get an advertising spot on BookBub. Because their readership genre lists are so large, publishers love BookBub for the cost versus reach ratio, not to mention that authors have climbed to the top of bestseller lists with a BookBub promotion. Plus, they are respected by readers since BookBub only accept books that have been vetted for editing and professionalism. They didn't accept my first few submissions of a $0.99 book deal, so I tried again with a free promotion giving them flexible run dates—and my ad was accepted. The day before the promotion, I made my ebook free on Amazon. Blogs and other book promo sites picked up on my freebie listing and automatically promoted me and I didn't have to lift a finger. I had about 500+ downloads in that first day just from these other sites finding me via their search bots that picked up my discounted ebook. Within three days of the ad running on BookBub, I clocked 14,693 downloads of my book from all around the world. Although I didn't make money from these downloads, the exposure was priceless. A Surefire Way reached #1 in Free Kindle Paranormal Romance, #1 in Free Kindle Romantic Suspense, and #8 in Free Kindle Fiction. Over 200 more readers added A Surefire Way to their virtual shelves on Goodreads, which also showed up on their Goodreads and Facebook pages to help promote my book to their friends. I began getting more ratings and reviews, and I did have a few sales from the aftermath as well.
Sold: 15 books Free downloads: 14,693 books - Netgalley
$300 in a co-op
I joined a Netgalley co-op where a group of authors buys a year's subscription where we can post downloads of our releases to expose them to reviewers, booksellers, and librarians. For my money, this hasn't panned out in the number of reviews or interest in my book. So far, I've only received two reviews—one not so good, and another that was amazing. I had hoped to reach more reviewers and small booksellers with this service. My book has been downloaded several times by reviewers, but it doesn't seem to be in a genre popular with the reviewers on this site. If I paid less, this service would be worth it. If I had more titles to place on the site, then it probably would be worth the money. I still have several more months in this co-op, so I'll see what happens.
Sold: 0 books
I hope this list will help an indie author make the right decision when designing their marketing plan (which I recommend doing BEFORE your book is released). Of course, it is also dependent on whether you have a fan base and your genre's popularity. As this blog title states, results may vary. Certain genres are hotter sellers. Authors with established names in the business have sold lot more with these same advertisers than I have. Also, advertising takes time to sink in and reach the right audience. If I ran promos constantly, I will see an increase in sales. Ultimately, having more titles available is the best way to promote my book and expand my audience.
So, what have you found? Any suggested advertisers and promotions that offered you great reach, bang for your buck, and sales?