I’m a math nerd. I love spreadsheets and use them in all aspects of my life. I have pie charts for seating arrangements and linked macros for house renovations. You name it, I have a spreadsheet. So I was wondering how I could incorporate math into book marketing. Check out this video to see my tongue in cheek attempt:
Nominate my fifth book to be published by Kindle Press on the crowdsourcing site, Kindle Scout: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/24VKXYPLERGLP
In an attempt to reach a broader audience, I am creating content unrelated to my Kindle Scout Campaign. Tonight, I created a cooking video sponsored by my book, The Curse of the Winklevoss Twins. I hope you enjoy it, share it, and vote for my book!
Kinde Scout Campaign: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/24VKXYPLERGLP
My husband and I spent our Monday working on our side projects. 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. 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. 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. Here’s the link to my book series facebook page: 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. In addition to which ad resonated best, I will also see the breakdown by demographics, age, and geography. Pretty neat!
What other facebook advertising tests are others running?
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:
That’s a ton of hashtags!
As a millennial, it isn’t surprising that I LOVE social media. I am the person walking down the street with her phone in her hand. I guess I don’t need to “disconnect.” It’s fun to catch up with friends, or read local news, or post my favorite cat meme.
However, as an author, the task of sharing on social media is daunting. I don’t mind if my Aunt Sally doesn’t comment on my picture of dinner last night, but there is a negative outcome if people don’t like my author posts…they won’t read my books! The trick is to ensure the information you share is interesting and useful for the reader. Keep ’em coming back for more!
Today’s post is an example. I prepared the picture below, which is a setting for my book called The Light of Supremazia, and I’m going to write this blog post on managing your social media and post it on all my sites. The picture might be intriguing for a potential reader, but if not, at least they got some value out of my post on social media presence.
Here are all the sites today’s theme will be posted on:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlanaSiegel
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AfterlifeLessons
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd7P2UhtpCMBLajIDOlYH6A
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/alanasiegel/afterlife-lessons/
Tumblr: http://makeeverymisadventureanadventure.tumblr.com/
Vote for The Light of Supremazia on Kindle Scout!
How do u manage ur social media? #twitter #facebook #youtube #pinterest #wordpress #tumblr share with @alanasiegel (click to tweet)
Book trailers can be great marketing tools, particularly because people are less likely to forward to the end.
Check out the book trailer for The Light of Supremazia, my next book!
Vote for my Kindle Scout campaign!
Do you have a #booktrailer for your book? Join author @alanasiegel ‘s discussion (Click to tweet)
How do you market your #book? Share with writer @alanasiegel #fantasy #novel (Click to tweet)
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