Jessica Russell's Blog - Posts Tagged "money"
Money, Money, Money...Always Funny
Marketing is very important for a book, especially if you are not yet known. However, many new writers make the mistake of jumping the gun with this issue and they lose all their marketing dollars in one fell swoop. They hurry up and launch a large-scale marketing campaign only to discover that they are getting a lot of clicks, but not a lot of sales. Otherwise known as the Kiss of Death.
This is usually an indicator that the book does not have enough reviews yet. I know many writers feel frustrated, because most people simply will not leave a review for a book, no matter how good they thought it was. That means it may take a while to get legitimate reviews. Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do about that. Just keep attending events, going to book signings whenever you’re invited, and pushing your book on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and anywhere else you have a social media account.
When you get approximately 20 reviews, and believe me they will come, that’s the time to start advertising in earnest.
This is because a minimum of 20 reviews takes away that feeling in the customers mind that he or she is a “guinea pig” for this new author. Once you hit the magic 50 reviews, you will start to rank higher on Amazon, but 20 at least gets you out of the gate, so to speak, and it is definitely the magic number for marketing. Therefore, once you have that many, you should immediately launch a marketing campaign and advertise as much as your budget will allow.
After that, the sales will come, and reviews will begin to take care of themselves (albeit slowly, so keep that in mind and have patience.) But never jump the gun and spend money on marketing before you have any reviews. It will just be money wasted, and nobody wants to do that! Write on!
This is usually an indicator that the book does not have enough reviews yet. I know many writers feel frustrated, because most people simply will not leave a review for a book, no matter how good they thought it was. That means it may take a while to get legitimate reviews. Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do about that. Just keep attending events, going to book signings whenever you’re invited, and pushing your book on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and anywhere else you have a social media account.
When you get approximately 20 reviews, and believe me they will come, that’s the time to start advertising in earnest.
This is because a minimum of 20 reviews takes away that feeling in the customers mind that he or she is a “guinea pig” for this new author. Once you hit the magic 50 reviews, you will start to rank higher on Amazon, but 20 at least gets you out of the gate, so to speak, and it is definitely the magic number for marketing. Therefore, once you have that many, you should immediately launch a marketing campaign and advertise as much as your budget will allow.
After that, the sales will come, and reviews will begin to take care of themselves (albeit slowly, so keep that in mind and have patience.) But never jump the gun and spend money on marketing before you have any reviews. It will just be money wasted, and nobody wants to do that! Write on!
Naivety is Dangerous
Don’t be naïve with advertising! If you’ve recently published a book and you’re anxious to get it in people’s hands, rest assured there’s hundreds of thousands of authors who feel the exact same way. Nevertheless, it is extremely important to avoid falling for solicitations that promise you the moon and stars. Let’s just clear one thing up from the beginning: no one can rank you in the top 1000 on Amazon. The only entity who can do that for you is Amazon. An unknown author is not going to suddenly catapult to top ranking on a monster merchant site. Slow and steady wins the race.
However, as soon as your book is out, you will get solicitation after solicitation telling you how people used this service or that service and were suddenly catapulted to stardom. They’re not telling you the truth. Advertising is important, but it’s up to you to make sure you’re using legitimate services. You can buy Amazon ads, twitter ads, Facebook ads, or pay to have your book added to the “shelves” of legitimate services such as BookBub. You can also go on podcasts, hold local events, or go through any other legitimate avenue to get your book in front of the best eyes, but one thing all those methods have in common is that you are paying for a specific service.
Solicitations that show up from merchants with whom you’re unfamiliar should be regarded as suspicious and ignored. This is because legitimate advertising sources don’t have to spam new authors with personal messages through Twitter. Writers go looking for THEM because they have a reputation.
Facebook doesn’t send you a message from a personal account saying “Hey, I’m passionate about helping other writers succeed, for only XXX dollars we can rank you in the top 100 on Amazon, give us the money and we'll show you the “secret.” Can you imagine Amazon doing that?
No, you have to go looking for THEM. Unsolicited messages telling you about “wonderful opportunities” should always be ignored. You’re just going to lose money if you trust them, and even if there is one legitimate one in every 50, it’s not worth playing the guessing game to figure out who’s who. Stick with trusted advertising sources you know, even if they're more expensive. It’s better to pay more money and get something for it than to pay less and end up with nothing. Write on!
However, as soon as your book is out, you will get solicitation after solicitation telling you how people used this service or that service and were suddenly catapulted to stardom. They’re not telling you the truth. Advertising is important, but it’s up to you to make sure you’re using legitimate services. You can buy Amazon ads, twitter ads, Facebook ads, or pay to have your book added to the “shelves” of legitimate services such as BookBub. You can also go on podcasts, hold local events, or go through any other legitimate avenue to get your book in front of the best eyes, but one thing all those methods have in common is that you are paying for a specific service.
Solicitations that show up from merchants with whom you’re unfamiliar should be regarded as suspicious and ignored. This is because legitimate advertising sources don’t have to spam new authors with personal messages through Twitter. Writers go looking for THEM because they have a reputation.
Facebook doesn’t send you a message from a personal account saying “Hey, I’m passionate about helping other writers succeed, for only XXX dollars we can rank you in the top 100 on Amazon, give us the money and we'll show you the “secret.” Can you imagine Amazon doing that?
No, you have to go looking for THEM. Unsolicited messages telling you about “wonderful opportunities” should always be ignored. You’re just going to lose money if you trust them, and even if there is one legitimate one in every 50, it’s not worth playing the guessing game to figure out who’s who. Stick with trusted advertising sources you know, even if they're more expensive. It’s better to pay more money and get something for it than to pay less and end up with nothing. Write on!
Secrets or Scams?
Here is something I have touched on before, but I want to reiterate. It pains me when I see so many newly published authors falling for scams and gimmicks, so I will make this very short and not so sweet. I’ve been making a living as a writer for about 16 years, so I was ready for the influx of spam once my book was published. Unfortunately, not everyone has that kind of experience, and some people are just a bit too trusting. Here it is straight: there are no “secrets” to making your book a bestseller that you can “learn” from someone online because they are “passionate about helping other authors.”
Don’t be naïve in this life. If there was some “best kept secret” about “how to make your book a bestseller on Amazon in 30 days,” NOBODY would be selling it on Facebook for $99. PERIOD. Therefore, NEVER give money to ANYONE unless it is for a legitimate add targeted to your demographic. And yes, advertising is expensive, but legitimate advertising is also effective and the other stuff, well, all I can say is use the money to go to a concert or dine out! At least that way you’ll get something out of it. Write on!
Don’t be naïve in this life. If there was some “best kept secret” about “how to make your book a bestseller on Amazon in 30 days,” NOBODY would be selling it on Facebook for $99. PERIOD. Therefore, NEVER give money to ANYONE unless it is for a legitimate add targeted to your demographic. And yes, advertising is expensive, but legitimate advertising is also effective and the other stuff, well, all I can say is use the money to go to a concert or dine out! At least that way you’ll get something out of it. Write on!
