May 23, 2022
We’ve shared marketing tips that worked for us. What have you tried that didn’t work?
Here’s the hard, honest truth. When it comes to publicity, what works one time to sell books may not work the next. And what works for one author may not work for another. And I’m not great at publicity.
For example, Facebook ads. Some authors swear by them. I’ve only tried a couple, and got no results. I can sometimes trace sales to a FB post with the opportunity for free publicity, but FB ads are a wasteland for me.
Amazon ads were the hot sales avenue for a while. I even sat through a workshop that explained how to put one together and how they worked. While the one I ran brought in sales, it never paid for itself. Then, last fall, it stopped working. I didn’t change anything, so I assuming that Amazon revised its algorithm. That’s on my to-do list—update my ad and see if it kicks off new sales. (But I’ve heard from other authors that the same thing happened to them, so I don’t hold out much hope for success.)
I missed the glory days when blog tours were the way to get sales of new releases. I still set up one for my books, but they don’t pack the power to bring in sales like they used to. Either that, or I’m using the wrong tour companies.
I haven’t done an ad with one of the major newsletters like Robin Reads for a long time. I don’t know if they are still effective, but I need to find out. Maybe another author on this hop will share their recent experience with them.
A reminder to any author reading this blog—please don’t limit your publicity to only one form of social media. P.J. Fiala, one of the founders of this hop, recently had her FB account hacked and she can’t recover it. And she did everything possible to secure it! It also happened to Richard Dee, a regular here. Folks, consider changing your passwords. (If you followed P.J., and have lost track of her, you can find her at https://www.pjfiala.com/ )
That’s enough pessimism for one post. Y’all know the drill. Check out the other authors on this hop by following the links below, and see what publicity doesn’t work for them. And, until next time, remember to stay safe!
May 23, 2022
We’ve shared marketing tips that worked for us. What have you tried that didn’t work?
Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.
