https://www.amazon.com/Betrayal-Bloodlines-after-life-lessons-ebook/dp/B07NCF6V1H
series
Help Name the Characters in my Book
Marketing for self-published books in a saturated market is difficult. In my latest attempt, I have decided to use video content to engage readers. I’m hoping that by including them in the book writing process, I am reminding them that I write books!
I will also be more active searching for interesting social media personalities. Engaging potential readers requires effort. It includes creating content and conversing with others who post content.
My recent video asks readers to help name two characters in the book I am currently writing (book three in a young adult fantasy series). One character is a jovial man from the 1700s and the other is a plump angry man with a monocle. Here’s the video. Let me know if you have any suggestions!
Bringing Your Characters to Life…Literally
I thought it would be fun for readers to get a visual of the characters in my book series, (after)life lessons.
Jake T. Austin responded! Loved him with Jenna on Dancing with the Stars.
His character, Chase Hastings, is the classic good looking, sarcastic, high school boy in the popular crowd.
Check out the book series here: (after)life lessons book series on Amazon
What do Jason Segel, Chris Colfer, Lauren Conrad and I have in common?
You guessed it. We all wrote a book.
I wonder if it was difficult for them to get it publiahed. Probably not. Wish I was a famous actor!
Help me out and vote for my fifth book to be published by Kindle Press by nominating it on Kindle Scout: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/24VKXYPLERGLP
Holding a Physical Book in Your Hand
There’s something about holding a physical book in your hands. People love it. The pages smell like paper and ink. It makes the writing more real. Therefore, I decided to hand out physical copies of my first book in the (after)life lessons series. Rather than a link or a post that you can swipe past, handing out the book started a real conversation and ignited interest.
I brought my books to my jazz dance class. We took a picture with the books. I posted it and tagged them on Facebook, hoping their friends might see it and vote for the book, too!
I would recommend this book marketing plan!
Nominate my book to be published by Kindle Scout: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/24VKXYPLERGLP
Here’s some pictures documenting the experiment:
Results of the #Facebook Ad for My #Book on #Amazon
As I mentioned in my last post, I setup a $100 Facebook ad for my book available on Amazon, The Light of Supremazia, to run for a week. Facebook requires a Facebook page to be linked to the ad, so I set that up as well: https://www.facebook.com/AfterlifeLessons.
I created 2 different ads for the campaign. They both had the same parameters for who should see the ad: English speaking citizens, 18+, who have a credit card. This is because the book is only written in English, and it can only be purchased if you have an Amazon account, for which you need a credit card. The only difference between the ads was the picture displayed, as shown in my last post.
The results were interesting and surprising. Here are a few overview stats:
- Click-through Rate (CTR): 1.01% – I read anything above 2% is great.
- People reached: 26,796
- Website Clicks: 336
- Cost per website click: $0.30
The Facebook ad brought people to my Amazon site, but when I checked how many books I had actually sold during the ad campaign, it was only 2. Therefore, my cost per customer is $50. Pretty sad.
For the varying pictures, there wasn’t an obvious difference between the results.
Perhaps sending the ad to the Facebook page instead of the Amazon site would have different results.
What are other authors doing to market their books?
Amazon Web Services and Facebook Ads for Books
My husband and I spent our Monday working on our side projects. Â As a modern day author, marketing and publicity is just as crucial as writing, so I make an effort to understand the current technology trends.
Amazon Web Services
Amazon Web Services is the latest rage, and I wanted to get myself acquainted with it.  My husband explained Amazon Web Services is like buying a computer at a hosted location. It has less restrictions than locations hosted by others, and best of all, its free for a year!
My husband and I setup my account, following step by step instructions from a youtube video, and patted ourselves on the back when we were done. Then what?
I had hoped Amazon Web Services would allow me to use Google Analytics for my blog. Google Analytics supplies statistics on who clicks on your site. Â Eventually, I would like to use that information to tailor my blog and website to the interests of my readers.
My Fallout with Amazon Web Services
Unfortunately, I came to the conclusion that most sites on Amazon Web Services use WordPress because they are easy and free to build. This was disappointing since free WordPress sites don’t allow free use of Google Analytics.
Another reason to use Amazon Web Services is to manage the computing power your site needs. While I have dreams and hopes of having a highly read website, at this point, WordPress can handle my number of readers.
I learned a lot, but ultimately, I decided not to use Amazon Web Services. I’d be interested in the benefits others are finding for their blog / author website hosted on Amazon Web Services.
Facebook Advertising
I wasn’t going to let my disappointment with Amazon Web Services ruin my day off. I turned to advertising, and where best to advertise but Facebook!
My goal was to determine what type of ads potential readers respond to the best. I created two ads. Â One with a cover of the book and one with a witty picture. Both are included below:
Facebook is picky about the amount of characters in the message and the amount of text in your picture. They also require you to create a facebook page for your service or product. Â Here’s the link to my book series facebook page:Â https://www.facebook.com/AfterlifeLessons
I setup a campaign for these ads with a budget of $100, and after a week I will go through the data and report back. Â In addition to which ad resonated best, I will also see the breakdown by demographics, age, and geography. Â Pretty neat!
What other facebook advertising tests are others running?
Recap of The Light of Supremazia Kindle Scout Campaign
I may not have won Kindle Scout, but I learned a heck of a lot about blogging and marketing. This blog post is recapping my 30 day campaign:
Launch on #KindleScout and a #CoverReveal
Using Real People as #Fictional #Characters – #ArtisticLicense and #TBT
The Proper #Setting for a #MagicalRealism #Book
Made Up Words, the #Language of a #Fiction #Novel
Who would you want as your #art #teacher?
#MondayBlog – Mapping Out Your Novel’s #Fantasy #World
#BookTrailer #BookMarketing and #KindleScout
My #cat Baby Thor is #marketing my #book
What Influences Your #Setting Descriptions?
Write in Your Own Voice
Technology in Literature
#BookMarketing for my #KindleScout Campaign
3 Qualities of a Great #English #Teacher
Ensuring the Proper Sequence of Events for Your #Book
Managing Your Social Media Presence – #twitter #facebook #youtube #pinterest #wordpress #tumblr
A Cast of #Actors for Your #Book
#BookMarketing and #TagsForLikes.com and #Einstein
New York, the City IÂ Love
That Time I Elbowed Jimmy Fallon
GhostFeed and Wikispirit
My Kindle Scout Experience
Introducing The Light of Supremazia on Amazon
My Kindle Scout Experience
My Kindle Scout campaign for my book, The Light of Supremazia ended this week. Unfortunately, my book was not selected to be published by Kindle’s publishing house.
Stay tuned for another blog post with the link to buy the book on Amazon through their Kindle Direct Publishing website (aka self publishing).
I am sad, but as I mentioned in my first post at the beginning of the campaign, it was a great marketing effort and a way to get supporters involved.
As the days ticked by and I reviewed my stats, I had a feeling I wouldn’t win. The are bloggers out there with tens of thousands of followers. When they post their book on Kindle Scout, they automatically have tons of votes. I’m not saying this is unfair, just a reality. Blogging and writing books isn’t my day job, so I was starting from a few yards behind already.
I also wonder if the cover sells the book on these crowd-sourcing campaigns. Â How many people actually read the free excerpt from my book?
Or perhaps September is a bad month to market a young adult book since most kids are back in school?
Kindle Scout is vague when it comes to the actual parameters to “win.” For others who are looking to try Kindle Scout, here are the stats from my campaign:
GhostFeed and Wikispirit
Its fun inventing things for my novel. I love putting a fantasy twist on existing items. Here are two of my favorite from my book, The Light of Supremazia. It’s trending as HOT on Kindle Scout! Three days left to vote for it on Kindle Scout!  CLICK HERE!!!
GhostFeed is a social, content-driven news and media site reporting all things relating to the spirit-seeing world. It has updates on the latest spirit gossip and nostalgic lists of spirit-seeing pasts.
Wikispirits is a collaborative encyclopedia about all things spirit related. Want to know who was the first principal of Vita Post Mortem Academy? Â Look it up on Wikispirits.
Vote for The Light of Supremazia on Kindle Scout here!
What do you invent for your fantasy novels?
Optimist Superheroes 