How stressful are things here in the United States? I write novels (nine of which you can guy right now!), and it would take me at least a novel’s worth of words to describe it. But regardless of anything else, what’s happening is hurting my family. It caused two Real Life Family Events (RLFEs) last week — and it looks like this week will be worse. Also, I’m still serious about marketing, and I have some more adventures to share. But before we get into any of that, let’s look at the key performance indicators.
Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers
I still topped 10,000 words, so I’ll call it a win. But it was very, very close.
This week reminded me that a RLFE that happens outside of writing time can affect writing time. It’s like a grenade causing collateral damage — and I chose that imagery intentionally. But. I’m still alive, and so’s everyone in my family. I’m calling that a victory.
I managed to write four chapters this week, and one of them is going to need an extra draft or two because of one of the RLFEs. Still, I am going to look on the bright side. I have four more chapters than I did last week. The story continues to come together. We’ll see if I can still say that after this week, because we’re to the part in the story where I usually have to make a few mid-course adjustments. I’m curious to see if the extra time I invested in plot fine-tuning ahead helps this go more smoothly.
Focusing on Facebook Ads
David Gaughran published “15 Rules For Advertising Books.” It’s one of those posts that is so dense with good information that every time I read it, I pick up some new useful tidbit. This week, I finally understood these sentences in rule #6: “Besides, mastering one platform is often more than sufficient. Getting a handle on two is just gravy.”
I’m finally getting traction with Facebook ads. I was also trying to get Amazon ads running, but I decided to shutdown my Amazon ads for The Sword of Sirius because, while they generated sales, they did so at an unacceptable loss. I’m almost to the point where Facebooks ads are breaking even, and the focus and experimentation needed to get there — along with the dollars spent — have convinced me that Mr. Gaughran’s spot on. So, I’ve focused on Facebook ads for now.
No, I don’t want to be single-threaded. I’m not giving up on Amazon ads, and I’m not giving up on my newsletter. But I am trying to optimize one at a time.
Assembling a Puzzle Blindfolded
I mentioned that I’m not giving up on Amazon ads. I’m not buying ads, but I’m researching. I’m trying to identify books with similar profiles to The Sword of Sirius, then reverse engineer the author’s marketing plan. The program Publisher Rocket recently added a feature that returns the keywords Amazon tracks for a given Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN). It’s been eye-opening.
In almost all cases where an author is established, prominent keywords include the author’s name and the specific title of the book. Sounds obvious, right? Well, it wasn’t to me, because I was thinking in terms of discovery — I was thinking about how readers find a book on the Amazon platform. For the best-selling authors, discovery happened somewhere else. The reader knew exactly what they were looking for when they got to Amazon.
Turns out I can search for the keywords folks use to find my books. And, talk about humbling: “Amazon has not collected a strong amount of keywords for this ASIN. Try searching for a similar bestselling book for inspiration…” I’m trying, Publisher’s Rocket! I’m trying!
In the test case I picked this week, I tried to track down the author’s Facebook page. Nothing. I tried to find them on the prominent social media platforms. Still nothing. I tried to find their website so I could sign up for their newsletter. Still nothing. I even checked the book’s back matter. It contained only a Quick Response (QR) code that took me to their Amazon author page.
This author wasn’t using the tools I’ve been trying to optimize. Somehow, this writer had built an enthusiastic audience without those tools. They’ve built a following that searches for them by name in Amazon search. I still don’t know how they did it!
So, maybe my goal should be to find up-and-coming independent writers and see what they’re doing. Though, there is one thing I should note: my target writer this week had already published twenty-six books. Their later books have performed much better than their earlier works. Seems like more proof that 20 Books to 50K is on the right track.
Progress against Last Week’s Goals
Here’s how I did against last week’s goals:
- Write Jadwiga Janczak’s Midpoint (it’ll likely expand to two chapters): Done! Turned out it fit into one chatper.
- Write Trent Raven’s Midpoint: Done! It stretched into two chapters.
- Write Atticus Porter’s Pinch 2 (it’ll likely expand to two chapters): Half Done! I finished Part I; Part II’s next on the agenda.
- Setup November’s Facebook ads and promotions: Done!
Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2024 Week 45
Here’s what I hope to finish this week:
- Finish Atticus Porter’s Pinch 2
- Finish Jadwiga Janczak’s Pinch 2 (it’ll probably stretch to two chapters)
- Finish Trent Raven’s Pinch 2 (it’ll likely also extend into two chapters)
- Continue to monitor and fine-tune the running Facebook ads
What Do You Think?
Do you analyze your fellow author’s marketing campaigns? What do you look for if you do? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!
It’s crazy watching the US election. The rhetoric has gone to a new level which seems to making people say the stupidest things. Some of it is almost unbelievable and if you didn’t see it happen, you’d never believe it. I hope that some time soon we can return to a degree of normalcy where people aren’t so viciously attached to politicians.
Anyhow, I’ve always been watching other authors and have read several books from non-authors on marketing – one of the best ones I read was focused on how marketeers use habits to build continuous customers. It really went into the psychology of habits. Not sure how I’ll use that for book marketing, but the more you know…
I’ve been on hundreds of mailing lists to see what others are doing and while I always hear good things about mailing lists, I’ve yet to find one that really inspired me.
I think I always end up coming back to Dean Wesley Smith’s bakery analogy. The more products you have the easier it is to sell enough to make a living. Got to produce more!
I watched the election unfold, and while the dominate reaction is concern at so many marginalized populations who are not at unacceptable levels of risk, I’m also curious.
Yes, I know that our adversaries used state-of-the-art propaganda. I got to the point I could almost pick out which posts came from one particular enemy and which might have come from another.
Yes, I know voters were fed up.
But there something basic here that I’m missing. It might be as basic an a tendency towards aristocracy that we never quite outgrew; it might be our poor judgments catching up with us. It’s likely that plus a combination of things that I haven’t even thought of.
But this country is now what I thought it was; the idea that even a majority was ever dedicated to the idea “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…”
I’ve always believed Americans believed in those words.
Was I wrong?
Am I misinterpreting these events? Clearly, there’s a burning desire in many to reduce the life, liberty, _and_ happiness of others. That’s unambiguously un-American, from where I sit.
I’m going to ponder that. Maybe I’ll explore the idea in a future book.
But on to marketing.
I hear what you’re saying about e-mail lists. Mine’s growing, but it doesn’t seem to generate either sales or engagement.
I honestly think my biggest bump was, as you suggested, was increasing my inventory. My new trilogy is selling copies of my first series. My Facebook ad game is improved, but I can’t credit it with the sales numbers I’ve seen. I think readers take me more seriously the more inventory I have.
Just as DWS said.
So, tonight I’m going to try to keep writing after last night’s rather less than stellar word count.