Word Witch Wednesday - the first ad's results

I ventured into the world of book ads recently. My first one came out last week for my Of Blood and Sorrow sale. The novel is usually $2.99, and I put it on sale for 99c. It's highly rated. It has a professionally done cover. And it has vampires.

The sale was five days (12th-16th). I bought an ad with Ereader News Today (ENT) which went out on the 13th. Here's the link to that day's books. It was in the Paranormal section on the site. It cost $35.

I shouted out about the sale on all my social media, and some wonderful friends shared it too. It was easy to keep track of the sales because I've had zero sales with the book in the past two months. I did not make enough to pay the cost of the ad. Perhaps if I get some reviews, it will make it worthwhile.

Here are the numbers:
Amazon - 57
B&N - 4
Smashwords - 2
Kobo - 1

The great majority of the sales came the night of the 13th after the ad went out. Very few came after that.

Would I use ENT again? Perhaps if I had a book that was part of a series and it was free.

And yes, I do think if Of Blood and Sorrow were part of a series, it would have gotten more sales.

Next year (or the year after!) when the next two books in the trilogy come out, I will put the novel on sale again. Oh, yes! There are two more books in the works. Don't worry, Abdiel fans. He will be back!

Next week, I have an ad on the 25th with The Fussy Librarian for Dark Dawning. And a second one with Bargain Booksy on the 31st. This book is part of a series. So we'll see if that makes a difference.

Have you ever used book ads? If yes, what has your experience been like?

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?

Word Witch Wednesday - tips for image shopping

What do you think of the new name for my Wednesday feature? I decided to change it, because there are a lot of "Wicked Wednesdays" out there. Originally I intended to talk about paranormal romance on Wednesdays, but it has grown past that. I talk about all aspects of being a writer, or rather, a word witch!

Last month I was gifted a subscription to BigStock. (Thanks, Mom!) I checked around, and they have one of the best deals for images.

Shopping for images is glorious and grueling. I spent hours upon hours looking at pictures. In the end, I was happy with what I found, and I learned a lot along the way.

Whether you're shopping images for book covers, ads, or blogs, here are five tips that can help make your job easier.

1) Know exactly what you want. Don't even go in with a vague idea, because it's easy to get click happy and buy several pretty pictures that you won't use. Use specific words and filter your image search.

2) For that image search, be aware that one word might not bring up what you want. Typing in "blonde" will get you many things along with a blonde woman. Be descriptive. "Serious blonde woman standing." You'll still get brunettes and smiling models, but the number of images will be much smaller.

Bonus tip: if you want a great moody image of a person that isn't smiling, try typing in "vogue shot" with your description.

3) Turn the safe search off. What? How naughty of me? So many images get pegged as unsafe for one reason or another, and it doesn't mean they're risque pictures. (Though, yes, some are!) You can double your search results by not having the safe search on.

4) If the site allows it, click on specific photographers and models. You might find the perfect model for your cover, but the poses that come up in the original search aren't what you want. Click on the photographer or model, and you'll usually discover many more images to choose from.

Bonus tip: I found that I was drawn to a few photographers. Take the time to check out the portfolios of ones you like. It's like finding buried treasure!

5) When you type in your search, the most popular images come up first. I have seen so many overused and familiar images. (At one point, I was certain almost every author and publisher got their images from BigStock!) Dig deep into the site. Click past those super popular images and find something you've never seen before.

Have you ever bought pictures from a stock image site? Do you have any tips to share?