I'm questioning this premise. While I believe it's possible that marketing is the problem for some, it isn't always the problem for all. Sometimes there aren't enough readers for the book in question. It's too niche. If that’s the case the answer isn't more marketing to find readers who don't exist. That's a waste of time and resources.
I've earned over $700,000.00 in 15 years as an indie author. I don't do ads anymore because it's not worth it to take my 3k to 4K months to 10K months if it means I spend another 5K on ads to feed the Meta and Amazon machine. To do so changes my role from authorpreneur to ads monkey. Hard pass.
Sometimes books flop and a resilient author will pick themselves up, do research and write a stronger one.
One of the biggest challenges - at least with FaceBook ads is that you're paying for them in real time and then having to wait 90 days for the royalties to eventuate. I've cancelled all my ads for the moment as they had stopped working. Now I just need to work out why, build an advertising slush fund and get them going again.
This isn't so much about efficacy, but rather cash flow. I keep a keen eye on sales and so I know when an ad is working. The problem is that I'm spending money while waiting on the income.
This is true if you are writing like everyone else. It becomes a commodity where visibility is king.
Even so, If I'm only shown books that tell the same things in different ways, I'm not buying them.
Call me a romantic but I'd like to think that if the work is extraordinary, once it gets past the threshold it will start to sell itself. That's how extraordinary authors get cult-like following. Not strategy. Not investment. Not even prose. Just a good story that lots of people immerse in or identify with. And the certainty that it'll catch on one day. And lots and lots of patience.
"The readers who spend the most money on books are looking for specific emotional experiences delivered reliably and repeatedly."
The above got my attention, and it rings absolutely true.
You’ve got to know your target audience, and you can’t be shy about saying, “I know what you want, and I’ve got what you want.”
Writers have to embrace the marketing end of the business.
I'm questioning this premise. While I believe it's possible that marketing is the problem for some, it isn't always the problem for all. Sometimes there aren't enough readers for the book in question. It's too niche. If that’s the case the answer isn't more marketing to find readers who don't exist. That's a waste of time and resources.
I've earned over $700,000.00 in 15 years as an indie author. I don't do ads anymore because it's not worth it to take my 3k to 4K months to 10K months if it means I spend another 5K on ads to feed the Meta and Amazon machine. To do so changes my role from authorpreneur to ads monkey. Hard pass.
Sometimes books flop and a resilient author will pick themselves up, do research and write a stronger one.
One of the biggest challenges - at least with FaceBook ads is that you're paying for them in real time and then having to wait 90 days for the royalties to eventuate. I've cancelled all my ads for the moment as they had stopped working. Now I just need to work out why, build an advertising slush fund and get them going again.
Here is how to know if it works or not: https://aifictionlab.substack.com/p/amazon-attribution-a-no-nonsense
This isn't so much about efficacy, but rather cash flow. I keep a keen eye on sales and so I know when an ad is working. The problem is that I'm spending money while waiting on the income.
Yes, that math always bothered me too.
What marketing?
Go to Amazon, type Fantasy into the search bar for Kindle.
The first ten books are paid promotions. That's marketing.
The problem I see is this.
I don't have a lot of money to spend, but if I made 3000 a month, I'd surely sink 500-800 to maybe a thousand on marketing.
I've done ads on Bookbub and run one through instagram. The one on BB got clickthroughs but no purchases.
I may try an amazon ad sometime in the future.
This is true if you are writing like everyone else. It becomes a commodity where visibility is king.
Even so, If I'm only shown books that tell the same things in different ways, I'm not buying them.
Call me a romantic but I'd like to think that if the work is extraordinary, once it gets past the threshold it will start to sell itself. That's how extraordinary authors get cult-like following. Not strategy. Not investment. Not even prose. Just a good story that lots of people immerse in or identify with. And the certainty that it'll catch on one day. And lots and lots of patience.
Neither Stephanie Meyer, nor E. L. James or Sarah J. Maas are extraordinary authors with extraordinary books. Somehow they sold millions of copies :)
They won the commodity race.