Marketing Tools - which are best > Likes and Comments

Hi,

I recently released a book on Amazon/KDP.

Currently I am focussing on social media to raise it's profile but aware this will have a limited reach.

Has anyone invested in a marketing tool like Publisherrocket, to broaden the marketing of their book(s)? If so, were you able to sharpen your keywords/categories that resulted in a significant increase in sales?

Any thoughts/insights would be appreciated - I guess this is probably the $64,000 question that most self-publishing authors have to wrestle with!

Cheers

Ken

Hi, Ken.

I'm going to try to give you some input here from my limited knowledge, as I am an editor of sci-fi/fantasy, and have no actual experience in marketing books, but I have been privy to the trials of marketing through the shared frustrations of some of my clients.

I tried to find your book using your name as the author on Amazon/KDP, and was unsuccessful, even after enlisting Rufus's help. I wanted to see how many ARC reviews you had for your book. If you haven't gotten ARC reviews yet, that's something you should consider independent and alongside any marketing you do. Those reviews are essential to selling books.

As far as actually paying for marketing, generally, my clients have had limited success, and most who have gone that direction have ended up learning how to market and taking on the onerous load themselves, while some have just thrown in the towel.

If you are looking to write books and not take on marketing, consider looking for a smaller publisher. But make sure you read the contract, do some research on what you should be getting for that type of deal, and check out the history of the publisher, including other books they have published.

Hi Sue,

Thanks for taking the time to respond, it's brilliant to have someone of your experience providing such an insightful opinion.

Apologies, I probably should have highlighted that my book is under my pen name - Robert Mallaig. At last count I have had one review on KDP/Amazon with two ratings.

My current approach is to broaden my social media presence and try and generate some more clicks/reviews/sales, then consider paying for marketing via KDP/Amazon and/or Facebook.

My own research ties in with your view - in that it looks like unknown author's have an uphill struggle when they self publish.

Still, as one of the theme's in my book is about how unlikely everything is in the Universe is; I will keep plugging away.

Thanks again for your feedback

Cheers

Ken

Take David Gaughran's free course for self-published authors. Lots of good info, including about marketing. I've done a book tour (not many sales, but more reviews) and paid sites for sales or freebies that spark sales and reviews, but I usually don't break even. Favorite sites: eReader IQ, My Book Cave, eReader News Today, Fussy Librarian, Book Raid, FreeBooksy (or BargainBooksy), Robin Reads. (All vetted and recommended by David Gaughran.) The big enchilada is BookBub which turns down 80% of submissions because they're so effective. The high cost is worth it.

I've also used Publisher Rocket for keywords and categories. Amazon ads and BookBub ads are really tricky. I've only lost $. I don't use social media though some swear by it.

Has anyone tried Goodreads ads?
it seems a bit pricy and I'm not sure if it drives enough sales.

I appreciate you breaking this down, this helps a lot. I’m a self-published author right now so I’m still figuring out what actually works versus what just sounds good.

I haven’t really gone heavy into paid promo yet. I’ve been focusing more on building visibility through social media and trying to drive people toward reviews on Amazon and Goodreads first.

Hearing you say a lot of those paid sites don’t always break even is good to know. I’d rather build something steady before I start putting money into ads.

Definitely going to look into Publisher Rocket though. That part makes sense long-term.

Robert wrote: "Hi,

I recently released a book on Amazon/KDP.

Currently I am focussing on social media to raise it's profile but aware this will have a limited reach.

Has anyone invested in a marketing tool ..."

Yes, social media is a double edged sword. That will be where you tell people about your book, but unfortunately most social media platforms limit the amount of people you reach due to algorithms and wanting you to spend money to reach more(which is not worth it). One thing I have recently tried is scheduling posts at peak times on certain social platforms and then reposting it if it got low views. It's not much but I'm keeping an eye on it to see if it helps at all.

In regards to PublisherRocket, I have it. I wouldn't see its made me a best-seller because it hasn't. The only thing PublisherRocket is helpful on is helping you find your 7 keywords for your books on Amazon, finding keywords to use for Amazon Ads, and showing you which categories rank low so you can go in them to have a better chance at having your books seen. I do all of this with the app and I change my keywords 2-3 times a year. I would say PublisherRocket it worth it if you want to have a made for you system to help you with said above things such as keywords, categories and ranking.

I'm by now means an expert, in fact I've been at this since 2012 and have yet to crack the best-sellers list or see a steady two figure income from my now 14 books but I do know that PublisherRocket and the guy that created it Dave Chesson, are very credible and it's worth the use and also hit up Dave Chesson, he's a great guy and very informative.