Word Witch Wednesday - the second ad's results

As you know, I've been trying a few new things with marketing my books. Two weeks ago, I ran an ad for a sale on my urban fantasy novel, Of Blood and Sorrow. It didn't go as well as I'd hoped, but I did learn from it. (Still no new reviews for the book.)

Yesterday, an ad for my newest release, Dark Dawning (Totem #1) ran in The Fussy Librarian. This was a nicely economical choice. I put the book in both the urban fantasy and paranormal romance genres for $22. The Fussy Librarian was quick in responding, efficient in setting it up, and sent an email making sure the info was correct two days beforehand.

But I didn't make my money back. In fact, this ad fell far short of expectations. The book is only available on Amazon. I had 2 sales yesterday.

This book is part of a series, so that wasn't the problem. I'm starting to come to the conclusion that ads probably only work if you're putting your book free for a limited time or you're already famous.

My final ad will be in Bargain Booksy on Monday. This is the most expensive one, and it is also the release date of the second book in the Totem series. Fingers crossed!

Another new marketing venture I've been trying is newsletter swaps. What this means is that I promote an author's book in my newsletter and they promote mine in theirs. I haven't noticed any effect on sales or newsletter subscribers from previous swaps until the one I did on Monday for the MegaSale. I got a couple of sales from it, but I got over 100 new subscribers to my newsletter.

Did it help that the sale was accompanied by a giveaway with a prize of a $100 Amazon gift card? I can guarantee you it did.

When someone subscribes to my newsletter, I offer up a free ebook (The 13th Floor Complete Collection) as a thank you. I would say only 10% actually responded and took the book. They were excited to get a new read, and every one of them were polite about it. I'm hoping that if readers like The 13th Floor series, they're going to love Totem.

Do you sign up for newsletters just to get an entry in giveaways? Do you take free ebooks when they're offered to you?

Word Witch Wednesday - marketing firsts

Twenty-six days until the release of the first book in my Totem series. Writing the books have been amazingly fun, but marketing them, well, I have some new white hairs.

I've been doing a lot of research on book promotion. My first reaction was: AAAH! I've been doing it wrong all along. *falls down and cries* Okay. Maybe that's a little overdramatic, but that's how I felt. In the past, I did cover reveals, blog tours, blitzes, and giveaways, but it was not helping me reach a larger audience.

I had not been taking advantage of two key marketing tools: ads and newsletters. All my research states these two things should be what authors are focusing on.

ADS:

- You need money to buy ads. So what if you're not selling enough? Look for venues that will shout-out about your book for cheap or free. Or ask for ad money for your birthday like I did.

- Research the ad sites. Some have strict submission requirements. Make sure they will accept your book.

- Plan way ahead. Some venues are booked two months in advance.

I decided to go with The Fussy Librarian. The prices are very affordable, and the site is easy to navigate. Nothing to be intimidated about there. I have an ad scheduled for October 25th for Dark Dawning (Totem #1). And yes, I'll let you know how it goes.

I also have a sale next month for Of Blood and Sorrow. It will be the first time I've put it on sale, and I hope to lure readers to the Totem series with the novel. I submitted it to Ereader News Today. It's more expensive than The Fussy Librarian, but it has a bigger audience. Plus, they only take novels. I could not advertise my Totem books on there. The ad will coincide with the first day of the sale on October 12th.

NEWSLETTERS:

- According to several authors, this is the key tool for connecting with readers, and you can create one for free. Well, it's free up to a certain point, and then you'll have to pay. But if you make it to that point, you'll be making enough sales to afford the small cost.

- Newsletters are easy to create once you're familiar with the template.

- Building your newsletter list is difficult. Offering freebies and holding giveaways helps, but in the long run, you're building your list one subscriber at a time. (I offer a digital copy of The 13th Floor Complete Collection to new subscribers.)

- You can grow your list with newsletter swaps. What's this, you ask? I only recently started to take advantage of this myself. You trade book info with another author and each of you feature the other in their newsletter. This works very well for those of us who have a small following when paired with authors who have huge lists.

Last Friday, I asked for authors who have books with shifters in them to do swaps. I'd love to feature them alongside my Totem books over the next few months. Please leave a comment below or email me if you're interested.

Have you tried ads to sell your books? Do you have a newsletter, and if so, how do you go about building your list?