It's Insecure Writer's Support Group day! The first Wednesday of every month is when members of the Group post about our writerly insecurities. If you want to sign up, go HERE. Thank you to Alex Cavanaugh and his co-hosts for making this event happen every month.
Last month I posted about Marketing and what a nightmare it is and how fearful I am of doing it. Well--that hasn't changed. But I did a lot of marketing in October, making one book free and the next two discounted.
I also bought Twitter and Facebook Ads and a lot of you expressed an interest in how it went, so I'll share it here.
Facebook Ad for 2 weeks $5/day budget up to $70.00: 365 new followers. I was able to target a certain age group so now I have some age appropriate followers whereas I had mostly writer friend followers before.
Twitter Ad for 1 month of book (my freebie) promo: Spent $12.00
Twitter Ad for 1 month of follower promo: Spent $22.00 ($2/day budget): 593 new followers
Total Free Books given away: 270
Total Books Sold: 18
RESULT:
Spent $104
New Twitter Followers: 593
New Facebook Followers: 270
I made less than $10 on royalties.
So you can do the math. It didn't do much for me sales-wise but I did pretty well on new followers.
So will the exposure have done anything for me? Being realistic, I doubt it. I'm writing in an in-between age category (tween/teen) that's tough to sell.
Also being realistic, I pulled out of the IWSG Anthology short story contest that I was going to enter. I could have written a story and entered it, but it wouldn't have been my best. Just not enough time for a slow poke like me.
But I'm moving on. I'm working on two outlines (one that I was going to enter in the contest but decided to take more time on it) that are nearly done. One for a novella and one for a novel, both adult. I have high hopes.
I'm just going to keep on writing until I get it right.
You're going to see new books from me next year!
Have you ever paid for promo? How'd it go?
Entering the IWSG Anthology Contest?
What's your current insecurity?
Thanks for sharing your stats. Money spent doesn't always turn into sales, but you've increased your market of potential buyers. I'm a slow writer too. You're working as well as writing, so don't be hard on yourself about the short story.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Natalie. The day job really throws a wrench in things as you know!
DeleteYeah, I have tried the Facebook ads with little success. Never tried the Twitter ads, but I have paid for a recent one with a different company who tweeted about my book discount for a week. Haven't seen any rise in followers or sales. Sigh! I hate marketing. Hate it! Ho, hum
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to enter the contest, but like you, there wasn't enough time for me to do it justice. I also couldn't feel inspire by the prompt on this occassion. Will defo have a go in future though. :)
Shah X
shahwharton.com
I think part of the FB and Twitter ads are that we're preaching to the choir--they're mostly other authors and not my readers. Gotta have a following first, I guess.
DeleteThanks for sharing the results. I've heard mixed results on FB ads and haven't tried one for my books. Like any business, you have to spend money to make money. It takes time.
ReplyDeleteI did manage to target the age group I was looking for so I was happy about that.
DeleteThanks for recapping your results. They seem to jive with paid adverts I've done on social media. I still don't know if gaining the new followers is worth it. So hard to quantify, isn't it? Best of luck with your books over the holiday season.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kai. You never know what's going to work. I'll probably try ads again with my next books.
DeleteThis is such a helpful post - my IWSG focus this month has been all about marketing, so your stats are really useful to see! I spend quite a bit of money on blog tours but I didn't see any increase in sales, although again, I did have an increase in followers. It turns out we've both got a goal to release new books next year, so I'm wishing you the best of luck with your writing!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rachel. Maybe somewhere down the line the followers will equal sales *shrugs* you never know.
DeleteI'm sorry your results weren't better, but at least you tried. :) Sometimes it's better to focus on doing something well than to worry about a contest. Hopefully, in the end, by holding back your work turns out much better for the extra effort and time it was given. Best of luck on getting your new book outlines fleshed out and written down. I've never written a book, but I can imagine how difficult and time consuming (and fun!) that must be. :)
ReplyDeleteMandy, I'm just going to keep moving forward and maybe I'll stumble onto the key to selling books.
DeleteSometimes you can't see results in the present, but that didn't seem like a good return on investment. I've never paid for ads and now I know why.
ReplyDeleteYeah, they didn't do me any good as far as sales goes.
DeleteYour observations are very interesting and extremely useful. I never paid for advertising myself, and judging from what you (and others) are saying, I won't. Thanks for the informative and honest post.
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure, Olga :-)
DeleteI spent too much time on my anthology submission also. Did not finish it, but I'm happy to have a story to work on. Perhaps those new followers will equate to paying readers later on. Never know.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes on completing your goals.
I definitely came up with a shiny new idea because of the contest so no regrets there.
DeleteReally appreciate seeing your stats. I'm a believer in the long game and I think the money you invested will pay off.
ReplyDeleteThanks, TBM, let's cross our fingers.
DeleteAnd our toes!
DeleteThanks, Karen. I'm glad it helped.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's a lot of new followers! Sorry the sales didn't end up being just as impressive. Anyway, best of luck with your outlines! Hope all the writing for those projects goes well!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing with us the results of your promos. I always like to read about authors doing those. Congrats on all the new followers! Have a lovely weekend. :)
ReplyDeleteCongrats for pushing through your distaste of marketing and letting us know how it all went.
ReplyDeleteI've bought ads. I think the key is building momentum. My problem is I drop off the grid too often and all that momentum is lost.
ReplyDeleteI've used a few fiverr services, and I did a "boost" for a couple of facebook posts about a book. I received 1 or 2 sales, but nothing ecstatic. I just keep trying too.
ReplyDeleteI've used a few fiverr services, and I did a "boost" for a couple of facebook posts about a book. I received 1 or 2 sales, but nothing ecstatic. I just keep trying too.
ReplyDelete