Going All Out

With Lies and Love I kind of half-assed the marketing plan (not that I had a plan). I advertised for ARC readers on Goodreads, which netted me maybe five, only a few of them leaving a review. Social media was completely worthless and the Facebook ARC groups I joined were a disaster. I tried a few promo sites, the cheap ones, but the most money I spent was perhaps $40.00. One site was a pay-per-click, which cost me $0.00 in the end (!!)

This time around I got serious. I used all the previous sites except for one, and that was the free UK listing that only managed to net me a two-star review, which still rankles me, especially since the reviewer didn't bother to write any text. 

I also added a few new sites and a couple of old standbys.

ARC Readers

By far my biggest success has been with Voracious Readers Only. I am still on my 30-day free trial, and as of this writing, I've netted 72 ARC readers, but still zero reviews.  

The Goodreads ARC groups I posted in were less forthcoming this time around. I might have gotten three readers (four at the most) and two Goodreads reviews (still no Amazon reviews!)

As I've detailed here, BookSprouts does work if you know the pitfalls of creating a campaign. I wasted two weeks of my membership simply because I created a "team" (which was one of the fields and was not clarifying). After I played around with my campaign and deleted my team, I began getting readers. As of right now, I have seven.

Promos

Here we go.

Starting with two of the (possibly) big four: 

BookBub ~ I dedicated $20.00 to an ad that will run June 29 and 30. Spending any more than that has not proven to produce any results; in fact, the only time one of my BookBub ads performed well was when I gave away a book for free. I used David Gaughram's instructions and chose three comp authors. Luckily I had looked up comps when I submitted to LibraryThing's giveaway, because this exercise is a real slog (which is why I only netted three). Searching "women's fiction" mostly yields romance books. I made that mistake before with BookBub, in which I cited some authors who turned out to write romance. I'd only looked at their books, not their primary genre, and the book descriptions I viewed clearly pointed to women's fiction. I guess they're hybrid writers. This time I did better. And I targeted the US, Canada, and the UK. I never once had any success with Australia.

The Fussy Librarian ~  This was an impulse buy. I received a 40%-off offer via email, so I grabbed it. My ad will run on June 29 and cost me $16.50. I've utilized their offshoot, BargainBooksy, in the past, but only moved one or two books. I also once participated in one of The Fussy Librarian's "Subscriber Surge" giveaways, in which entrants had a chance to win twenty books and a Kindle, and increased their chances by signing up for the authors' newsletters. This was how I initially gained subscribers (it cost me $70.00 to participate), but the only genre I could choose from was literary fiction, so needless to say, these people are not my desired fanbase. Like with my BookBub ad, I'm not expecting any positive results. Maybe both these sites are just too competitive.

Other Sites:

Awesome Gang ~ The site is free if you simply want social media promotion. I chose the $10.00 featured listing, which insures inclusion in its newsletter. My promo runs on June 30.

Best Book Monkey ~  I had to choose the "gold" package because I'm not offering my book for free. My promo runs on June 29. The regular price for my genre is $21.50, but I had a promo code, which reduced my cost to $10.75.

BookDoggy ~  BookDoggy offers various basic means of promotion (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, placement on its website) in addition to a newsletter, and it supposedly has "tens of thousands" of subscribers. My promo cost $24.00, which is a bit pricey. I'm scheduled for June 29.

BookGoodies ~ I paid $18.50 for my promo (with a promo code). This is for a seven-day promo, which will run from July 5 to July 11. There is also an author interview option, which I completed, because why not? The questions are somewhat annoying, but I'm easily annoyed.

Book Raid ~  The site operates on a pay-per-click model. At my book's price point, the cost is twenty cents per click (free books are cheaper). The max one will pay is $60.00, but the last time I used it, I paid nothing (!!), Nevertheless, hope springs eternal. Books are advertised via newsletter.  My promo will run on June 29.

Book Reader Magazine ~  Normally $20.00, I had a coupon that gave me $10.00 off. Homepage placement for seven days, social media, newsletter. You can also complete an author interview, but I did that with Lies and Love, so it's a moot point. I selected June 29, but I'm still waiting for a confirmation.

Discount Book Man ~  Most likely not related to Mister Bookman from Seinfeld. I paid $10.00 with my $5.00-off coupon for a seven-day homepage listing. It will also be promoted via newsletter and social media. I am scheduled for June 30.

eReaderIQ ~  It's free to list your book. All the site asks for is the ASIN number. I tried to add Inn Dreams, but it was already there. The site must be affiliated with Amazon or Goodreads somehow, since it pulls all an authors books in.

It's Write Now ~ I chose the standard package, which was $10.00. This gets my book listed on the homepage for three days and also included in the newsletter and "10 posts on social media". I'm signed up for June 29 - July 1. This is a bit pricey for what the site offers, but I was intent on covering all my bases.

My Book Place ~  I paid $18.75 with a coupon. This gives me seven days, from July 1 - July 7 for homepage placement and newsletter inclusion. Social media, too, which is neither here nor there. 

LibraryThing Giveaway ~  Although I never received an email from the site, Inn Dreams is apparently scheduled for July. Authors can offer up to 30 copies of their book; I chose 25, and I used a Google Docs link for downloading. I was disappointed with my Lies and Love giveaway ~ only 13 copies were awarded out of the 25 I offered, and I only heard back from about seven of the winners. I did receive two four-star reviews, however.

The IndieView ~ This is an aggregator of book blogs, but an author can do an interview, which I did. As for the blogs themselves, I may have submitted to one, but I never received a response.

In total, that's $112.00, not counting Book Raid, which could well cost me $0.00. This is far more than I've ever spent on promoting a book, and it'll be the first and last time. I suppose it's kind of an expensive (for me) experiment, but it would be so nice to see some movement just once.

Since most of these promos are scheduled for the same or next-door dates, it'll be difficult to determine which, if any, work out. 

I think my lack of reviews overall (not just for Inn Dreams) means that none of my books have made enough of an impression for anyone to bother leaving one, or everyone disliked them so much they didn't want to hurt my feelings. That's unsolvable unless I suddenly hit upon an extraordinary idea and manage to execute it beyond my current capabilities. 

Good thing I like to write, because that's all I derive from it ~ enjoyment.