Where Are You Advertising That's Working?

GoblinWriter · 02-04-2011, 12:44 AM

For those of you with ebooks out, have you tried paying for advertising to sell more copies?

I've tried a few things and so far Goodreads and Kindle Nation Daily worked best for me (meaning I actually broke even or better, hah). I write high fantasy, so not the most popular genre.

Here are the write-ups I did on my blog, in case anyone is interested:

Kindle Nation Advertising Results
Goodreads Advertising Results

What have you tried?

M T McGuire · 02-04-2011, 05:35 PM

I haven't tried ads yet, I'm having a go at the Joe Konrath approach. The free pdf of my book has been downloaded about ten times as many times this week as usual. What I'll have to wait and see is whether any of these guys buy the kindle or the signed dead tree book.

I've heard google ads are good but haven't tried it.

Cheers

MTM

Cliff Ball · 02-04-2011, 07:52 PM

I've done Kindle Nation Daily, Frugal eReader, Goodreads, Facebook advertising, and even Project Wonderful. KND and Frugal eReader have worked really well for me, I just wish I could afford to do those constantly.

GoblinWriter · 02-05-2011, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cliff Ball

KND and Frugal eReader have worked really well for me, I just wish I could afford to do those constantly.

Oh, I've got a couple coming up at Frugal eReader later this month. I hope they work well for me too.

MTM, I'm having good luck giving away a free ebook too. It's just a short story with the characters from one of my novels, but I put an excerpt from the novel in the back and links for buying it. I went from having almost not sales to Smashwords and B&N to having days where those places rival my Amazon sales.

Mel Comley · 02-05-2011, 02:09 PM

You have to do a mixture of things, don't forget twitter too.

Mel Comley · 02-06-2011, 02:59 AM

You could get involved in #samplesunday on twitter.

Put a sample on your blogpage add #samplesunday to your tweets and other authors will tweet you. It's thought polite to retweet them back! lol

jrlewis · 02-06-2011, 11:04 AM

Is there anyway to get information from Amazon about pageviews or sample downloads? That information would be extremely helpful to evaluate the effectiveness of advertising, marketing copy, cover art, etc.

Theta Head · 02-06-2011, 11:43 PM

I put a 7 chapter mini-ebook sample up on scribd. Managed to get it featured which meant it came up on the homepage. got about 2,000 'reads' from that and a few downloads of it. Impossible to say if it will lead to cold hard sales though.

Greg Dawe
Author of Theta Head - a neuroscience novel
http://fictiononedge.wordpress.com/

M T McGuire · 02-07-2011, 06:51 AM

Hello again,

Sadly I'm not sure the freebies have worked for me. Then again the idiot gene was clearly dominant the day I put the links in as I usually use bit.ly so I can track clicks and I haven't. will have to put that right now.

I also think I put way, way too much info about the novel in when I should have just added a link!

I might try goodreads though. While I'm writing, where do you put most of the information about other novels etc, at the beginning or at the end of an e-book? I'm sure lay out probably contributes to selling success but I don't want to put too much in at the front or people may give up but at the same time, if they download a sample, it's nice to think they'd see where to get other books or the free stuff.

Cheers

MTM

kcmay · 02-07-2011, 08:29 AM

Thanks for the blog articles. I hadn't tried Goodreads ads yet, so I decided to give one a spin. I've done Facebook ads, but only when Facebook gave me a $50 credit to use for advertising!

Posting a weekly "ad" on the Amazon Kindle and nook Facebook walls helps, but what helps more is chatting it up with people on a regular basis. The Kindle fan page has over a half-million fans -- that's a lot of potential readers! Of course, only a few hundred or thousand will see your post before it scrolls off the screen -- and often the same people that saw it last time!

I've tried KND, too. The first time, I made a few bucks over the cost of the ad. The second time, I didn't even break even. If the readership were growing, I'd consider it again, but in the last six months, Steve hasn't reported a large increase in the number of readers, especially considering the Kindle fan page on Facebook grew 5-fold in that time. That and the fact that his price has gone up for the sponsorships makes it not viable for the genres I write. If my books had a wider appeal, maybe.

I've also tried the Kindleboards book-of-the-day and the banner ads and got poor results. I won't try forum ads again, unless they were targeted at my reader (such as sffworld.com, except those readers don't tend to like indies).

JRainey · 02-07-2011, 03:10 PM

Thanks for posting about Goodreads; I've been considering it.

I've used Facebook and had very good results. The traffic for my site has increased a ton, and I have had a spike in sales. Unfortunately, I can't say whether or not that's due to the Facebook ad or not, but it's a possibility.

GoblinWriter · 02-09-2011, 02:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Theta Head

I put a 7 chapter mini-ebook sample up on scribd. Managed to get it featured which meant it came up on the homepage. got about 2,000 'reads' from that and a few downloads of it. Impossible to say if it will lead to cold hard sales though.

That's pretty good for Scribd! I put my free ebook up there and Bookrix and didn't see many downloads, but Feedbooks was a good one for me. Smashwords, too, the first week or so but it died down eventually. Getting the free ebook on B&N has led to a real growth in my sales there.

Quote:

I've tried KND, too. The first time, I made a few bucks over the cost of the ad. The second time, I didn't even break even. If the readership were growing, I'd consider it again, but in the last six months, Steve hasn't reported a large increase in the number of readers, especially considering the Kindle fan page on Facebook grew 5-fold in that time. That and the fact that his price has gone up for the sponsorships makes it not viable for the genres I write. If my books had a wider appeal, maybe.

Hard SF/F are definitely tough anywhere that services a mainstream audience. They're just not books most people are willing try unless they already enjoy the genre. I have my science fantasy romance coming up at KND in April, and I'll be surprised if it breaks even. We'll see! I definitely did notice that the ebook of the day prices went up. At $100, it's too much to try "just for kicks."

Quote:

While I'm writing, where do you put most of the information about other novels etc, at the beginning or at the end of an e-book? I'm sure lay out probably contributes to selling success but I don't want to put too much in at the front or people may give up but at the same time, if they download a sample, it's nice to think they'd see where to get other books or the free stuff.

I don't put anything up front except for the required "Smashwords Edition" line and the byline/copyright line. I give them the links after they've read the story. I'm guessing that if they liked it, that's when they're going to consider looking for more by the author.

Thanks for responding, folks!

CJ Archer · 02-09-2011, 05:33 AM

This is all helpful information, thanks everyone. I might look into KND but at the moment I'm thinking of buying some banner ad space at popular romance review websites like Coffee Time Romance, Night Owl Reviews and others.

I've been toying with the idea of a freebie too. If my 99 cent novella doesn't gather any momentum in the next week or two then I might drop it to free.

M T McGuire · 02-10-2011, 05:24 PM

Thanks for the info and answers. I would target my market if I knew what it was, I write fantasy but it's funny and actually a lot of people who love fantasy probably wouldn't like it... but a lot of mainstream comedy readers who don't usually like fantasy would... it IS aimed at teenagers though so I'm targetting them, to start with.

It's always tricky though.

Cheers

MTM

jrlewis · 02-12-2011, 12:59 AM

My best advice is to try to target your ideal reader as narrowly as possible.

You want:
- people who read
- people who read ebooks
- people who have specific ereaders? (kindles, nooks, etc)
- people who read specific genres? (romance, western, fantasy, etc)

The more accurately you target your readers, the better return on investment you'll see. Try to find sites that cater to exactly the right readers for your book.

02-04-2011, 12:44 AM	#1
GoblinWriter vizsla wrangler Posts: 73 Karma: 120000 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Seattle Device: Kindle 3G	Where Are You Advertising That's Working? For those of you with ebooks out, have you tried paying for advertising to sell more copies? I've tried a few things and so far Goodreads and Kindle Nation Daily worked best for me (meaning I actually broke even or better, hah). I write high fantasy, so not the most popular genre. Here are the write-ups I did on my blog, in case anyone is interested: Kindle Nation Advertising Results Goodreads Advertising Results What have you tried?

02-06-2011, 11:43 PM	#8
Theta Head Theta Head Posts: 26 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: London Device: kindle	scribd I put a 7 chapter mini-ebook sample up on scribd. Managed to get it featured which meant it came up on the homepage. got about 2,000 'reads' from that and a few downloads of it. Impossible to say if it will lead to cold hard sales though. Greg Dawe Author of Theta Head - a neuroscience novel http://fictiononedge.wordpress.com/

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Signatures used for advertising	Ea	Feedback	131	12-28-2010 11:02 AM
Advertising in eBooks	jhempel24	General Discussions	52	08-30-2010 05:27 AM
Advertising in Books	Robin O'Neill	Writers' Corner	15	08-22-2010 02:15 PM
eBook Advertising	paulckennedy	News	114	02-22-2010 03:37 PM
Alexander: want info on advertising	Robertb	Astak EZReader	3	10-07-2009 07:16 PM

02-04-2011, 05:35 PM	#2
M T McGuire Addict Posts: 231 Karma: 1006970 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England Device: kindle	I haven't tried ads yet, I'm having a go at the Joe Konrath approach. The free pdf of my book has been downloaded about ten times as many times this week as usual. What I'll have to wait and see is whether any of these guys buy the kindle or the signed dead tree book. I've heard google ads are good but haven't tried it. Cheers MTM

02-04-2011, 07:52 PM	#3
Cliff Ball Zealot Posts: 135 Karma: 525420 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Texas Device: none	I've done Kindle Nation Daily, Frugal eReader, Goodreads, Facebook advertising, and even Project Wonderful. KND and Frugal eReader have worked really well for me, I just wish I could afford to do those constantly.

02-05-2011, 02:09 PM	#5
Mel Comley Addict Posts: 318 Karma: 602031 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: France Device: none	You have to do a mixture of things, don't forget twitter too.

02-06-2011, 02:59 AM	#6
Mel Comley Addict Posts: 318 Karma: 602031 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: France Device: none	You could get involved in #samplesunday on twitter. Put a sample on your blogpage add #samplesunday to your tweets and other authors will tweet you. It's thought polite to retweet them back! lol

02-06-2011, 11:04 AM	#7
jrlewis SF/F Author Posts: 160 Karma: 349656 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: USA Device: Adobe Digital Editions	Is there anyway to get information from Amazon about pageviews or sample downloads? That information would be extremely helpful to evaluate the effectiveness of advertising, marketing copy, cover art, etc.

02-07-2011, 06:51 AM	#9
M T McGuire Addict Posts: 231 Karma: 1006970 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England Device: kindle	Hello again, Sadly I'm not sure the freebies have worked for me. Then again the idiot gene was clearly dominant the day I put the links in as I usually use bit.ly so I can track clicks and I haven't. will have to put that right now. I also think I put way, way too much info about the novel in when I should have just added a link! I might try goodreads though. While I'm writing, where do you put most of the information about other novels etc, at the beginning or at the end of an e-book? I'm sure lay out probably contributes to selling success but I don't want to put too much in at the front or people may give up but at the same time, if they download a sample, it's nice to think they'd see where to get other books or the free stuff. Cheers MTM

02-07-2011, 08:29 AM	#10
kcmay Addict Posts: 363 Karma: 500001 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Georgia, USA Device: Kindle2	Thanks for the blog articles. I hadn't tried Goodreads ads yet, so I decided to give one a spin. I've done Facebook ads, but only when Facebook gave me a $50 credit to use for advertising! Posting a weekly "ad" on the Amazon Kindle and nook Facebook walls helps, but what helps more is chatting it up with people on a regular basis. The Kindle fan page has over a half-million fans -- that's a lot of potential readers! Of course, only a few hundred or thousand will see your post before it scrolls off the screen -- and often the same people that saw it last time! I've tried KND, too. The first time, I made a few bucks over the cost of the ad. The second time, I didn't even break even. If the readership were growing, I'd consider it again, but in the last six months, Steve hasn't reported a large increase in the number of readers, especially considering the Kindle fan page on Facebook grew 5-fold in that time. That and the fact that his price has gone up for the sponsorships makes it not viable for the genres I write. If my books had a wider appeal, maybe. I've also tried the Kindleboards book-of-the-day and the banner ads and got poor results. I won't try forum ads again, unless they were targeted at my reader (such as sffworld.com, except those readers don't tend to like indies).

02-07-2011, 03:10 PM	#11
JRainey Member Posts: 10 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: USA Device: Kindle	Thanks for posting about Goodreads; I've been considering it. I've used Facebook and had very good results. The traffic for my site has increased a ton, and I have had a spike in sales. Unfortunately, I can't say whether or not that's due to the Facebook ad or not, but it's a possibility.

02-09-2011, 05:33 AM	#13
CJ Archer Chocaholic Posts: 26 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Australia Device: Sony	This is all helpful information, thanks everyone. I might look into KND but at the moment I'm thinking of buying some banner ad space at popular romance review websites like Coffee Time Romance, Night Owl Reviews and others. I've been toying with the idea of a freebie too. If my 99 cent novella doesn't gather any momentum in the next week or two then I might drop it to free.

02-10-2011, 05:24 PM	#14
M T McGuire Addict Posts: 231 Karma: 1006970 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England Device: kindle	Thanks for the info and answers. I would target my market if I knew what it was, I write fantasy but it's funny and actually a lot of people who love fantasy probably wouldn't like it... but a lot of mainstream comedy readers who don't usually like fantasy would... it IS aimed at teenagers though so I'm targetting them, to start with. It's always tricky though. Cheers MTM

Advert

Advert

02-12-2011, 12:59 AM	#15
jrlewis SF/F Author Posts: 160 Karma: 349656 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: USA Device: Adobe Digital Editions	My best advice is to try to target your ideal reader as narrowly as possible. You want: - people who read - people who read ebooks - people who have specific ereaders? (kindles, nooks, etc) - people who read specific genres? (romance, western, fantasy, etc) The more accurately you target your readers, the better return on investment you'll see. Try to find sites that cater to exactly the right readers for your book.