Hi friends!
If we feel insecure about our writing and marketing, we need help and that's what this group is all about. Today I've invited someone to guest post who may be able to help you with your marketing. We all know marketing is easy, right? Wrong! And it's complicated. My guest Tania Joyce tells us just how complicated it is!
Click
HERE for the list of participants to read more...
You do it, don't you? Scan the Acknowledgements in traditionally-published books. Read all about those who've helped the author - agents, early readers, publishers, researchers, fact checkers, more readers, editors, book cover artists - I usually count at least 40 people involved in one book.
So why do many self-published authors think they can do it without a tribe of their own?
I've been gathering a tribe around me for years. But the most important members of my tribe are my critique partners - Tania Joyce and Sheila Korner Grice. We formed an alliance after meeting each other at a Margie Lawson Immersion Class 3 years ago and have critiqued each other's work ever since.
My fabulous critters, Tania (left), Sheila (right)
I forgot to give Tania a word limit when I asked her to guest blog, but with the number of times I read bloggers feeling insecure about marketing, rather than try to edit this article down, I'm going to leave it to you to take what you wish from it. Some parts are so technical I shudder and roll my eyes and pray for understanding, LOL.
If you, like me, have any questions, ask away in the comments.
Here we go...
Five Things I’ve Learned About
Marketing Other Than Putting Half-Naked Men on my Covers
1. You
have to treat being an author like a business. It takes time, effort, a lot of
trial, error, research and investment to know where you fit into the author
landscape and the marketing strategies you want to undertake. The best thing
though is, in this business, you can start with a small budget and work your
way up. But you do have to spend money to make money.
When I first
started creative writing at the tender age of 36, the first thing I learnt
about author marketing is there is so much to learn. With fifteen years’
experience in corporate marketing, I thought I knew how to market, but author
marketing was a whole different world. I had to start from scratch. Online
marketing, social media and promotions unveiled an entirely different approach
to product marketing. It’s exciting and forever changing. I knew nothing about
Facebook Advertising and Amazon Advertising. I dabbled at first and have slowly
built my brand awareness and product sales by reading, going to conferences and
doing online courses. Enrolling in Mark Dawson’s Self Publish Formula course
and studying Brian Meek’s Mastering Amazon Ads provided the foundation and
turning point in my author career. I have done courses, read books
and I’m involved with many online groups like
20Booksto50k. It takes time to
sift through the clutter of ads, offerings and advice to find what works for
you. I do well with AMS ads, but I’m still trying to master FB ads.
Grrr! What
works for one person, may not work for another. Being flexible, patient and
persistent is key.
2. Finding
your tribe and people who can help you is essential. There are numerous
best-selling authors and industry experts out there who can help you learn and
achieve success, but for me it has been fundamental in finding a group of local
authors who are on the same journey. I’m fortunate enough to have joined a romance
writing group when we were all newbie authors, unpublished and had no clue on
how to do this authoring thing. We met at the Romance Writers of Australia
annual conference. Over the years (since 2012), we’ve all been published (some
traditional, some self-published, some hybrid). We’ve all done various courses,
workshops, attended conferences and continued with online training. We share
our findings, what’s worked, what hasn’t, and we constantly help each other.
It’s incredible to have this trust and be always willing to help and share our
knowledge.
I was traditionally
published. I quickly learnt that traditional publishers do not have outlandish
budgets for new authors — there were no book tours, no advertisements, no book
launch party, didn’t even get my books into stores. I got a couple of online
blogs. That’s it. I learnt that most, if not all, marketing fell onto my
shoulders. At launch, I had no idea how the book was doing, because I had no
access to sales data. The royalty check at six months was my only indicator. It
was dismal.
When the division
of my publisher folded, I opted to get my rights back. … I’m now 100% indie. It
has been the best thing. I got control. I got access to data. I could
now change covers, blurbs, run ads, manage keywords, fix that one annoying typo
in my manuscript, see instant sales data and ad performance all within a quick
click. While the learning curve has been steep and challenging, it has been
totally awesome!
3. Love
your data. You may hate it, but you have to do some maths. The platforms you
sell on eg Amazon, provide you with a bucket load of information, but it’s a matter
of sifting through it, and analysing your results so you can work out what is
and isn’t working, only then can you work on improving and scaling marketing
strategies.
Learn what your
clickthrough ratio is (Impressions/clicks), your conversion rate (clicks/sales),
and if writing a series, your readthrough rates (sales_Book2/Sales_Book1 etc).
They are vital statistics for advertising purposes and to see if your books are
actually selling.
The unfortunate
thing here is places like Amazon do not give you all the information in one
nice report. Current AMS ads reports do not include Kindle Unlimited
information. You have to download data from different places to work out your
ratios and rates, but it’s worth it. I
have this down to a fine art. It takes me 15-20minutes a day to download my
data, enter it into my spreadsheet, add in my expenses and sales figures. I can
see what ads are performing, the ones that are not, and make any tweaks if
necessary.
Out
of my six books and 1 x duo bundle, I have 213 AMS ads running. My average ad clickthrough
ratio is 1:930 (1 x click per 930 impressions…which is good), my clicks to
sales is 1:6 (one sale every 6 clicks…freaking awesome!), my readthrough on KU is
75%. My ROI is 43% (and slowly getting better.) Learn to love your data.
While the
information in this book is dated in regards to cost-per-click data and some ad
types have changed, this resource has all the formulas in it and is a great
place to start for ads. Brian Meeks: Mastering AMS Ads:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072SNXYMY
4. Be
prepared to change. The market is a continual moving set of goal posts and you must
be prepared to move with it. Facebook and Amazon continually change and update
their algorithms. What works for you one month, may not work the next.
Know your genre,
sub-genre, analyse the top-selling authors in your genre, study their image,
their book covers, their blurbs. Use this research to market your books. (Sorry…half-naked
men on covers works for my genre!) When I first got published, I didn’t want
bare-chested men on my books. I wanted to be professional and classy. My books
didn’t sell. I changed the covers and instantly saw a change in sales. Follow market
trends in what is working in artwork and graphic design. Your cover needs to
sell your book, genre, capture the eye, and be in line with your branding and
image.
5. Be
relevant. This is critical for advertising. Learn to target correctly. Use refined
keywords, target like-authors, similar book titles and niche genres. Platforms
like Facebook and Amazon “learn” through its algorithms where to place your ads
and to which customers it should show your ads. Just because you like reading
Stephen King novels, don’t use “Stephen King” as a keyword if you write sweet
romance. It’s not relevant.
I write rock star
romance, which falls into the category of New Adult Romance. But this category includes
everything from vampires, shapeshifters and witches, through to bad boys,
bikers and billionaires. It is important to zone in on your niche. I make sure
I only target ‘rock star romance’ books, authors and keywords. It takes more
time but conversation rates will be better and making sales is what it’s all about.
As an indie author, marketing is a
constant and essential part of my business. New ads, new graphics, new content
for social media posts, promotions, learning and data analysis all have to fit
around writing the next book and my family. Time management is critical. A
great support network is imperative. I’m fortunate to have the best critique
partners in the world. Our tight timeframes keep me from spending too much time
on Facebook, obsessing over ads and drowning in information overload. Love your
data, embrace marketing, make it fun! And hopefully make money along the way!
About Tania Joyce
I'm an author of New Adult and
Contemporary Romance novels. My stories thread romance, drama and passion into beautiful locations ranging
from the dazzling lights and glitter of New York, to the rural countryside of
the Hunter Valley in Australia.
I like to write about strong-minded, career-oriented
heroes and heroines that go through drama-filled hell, have steamy encounters
and risk everything as they endeavour to find their happily-ever-after.
I call Brisbane, Australia, home.
LATEST RELEASE
RAPT – The Price of Love. Everhide
Rockstar Romance Series Book #3
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Today I was supposed to marry the
girl of my dreams. She didn’t turn up.
Life in world-famous rock band, Everhide, has pushed Kyle's and
Gemma's hearts, careers and friendship to the limits. But they are soulmates.
Their love is profound. Intense. Getting married is their dream come true.
But not everyone feels the same way.
Someone obsessed with Kyle wants Gemma dead.
DEAD!
Surely the danger isn't real? It's just some crazed fan pulling
a prank.
When the threats escalate, Kyle's over-protectiveness kicks in
and Gemma's grip on sanity wears thin. With concerts and festivals to play
before their big day, she won't let anyone derail their wedding plans.
But one
false move puts her in danger.
When life
teeters on its edge and she risks everything she loves, can Gemma find the
strength to let Kyle into her guarded heart before it's too late?
If you like sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat romantic suspense,
full of intrigue and heart wrenching romance, RAPT – The Price of Love will
captivate you. With strong heroines, and intense heroes, this rock star romance
will make your heart race right up to the epic emotional ending. Be prepared.
Grab your copy today.
- Did you enjoy Tania's article? Any questions? Ask in comments...
- Do you have a marketing tip or two? Do tell...
LOVE IT - TWEET IT! LOVE IT - TWEET IT!
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Learn some #marketingtips https://dencovey.blogspot.com/2020/03/iwsg-post-it-takes-tribe-to-publish-and.html @TaniaJoyceBooks @DeniseCCovey,#amwriting #ammarketing #amazonads
