![]() I've had some success with Facebook and Instagram ads as well as post boosting, enough to know I need to keep at it. Need to in spite of how difficult Meta/FB makes doing so. The following is a summary of the latest challenges, and now that you know what this post is about, skip it if you haven't and/or are not writing a book; it won't be on the test. Required reading for those of you planning to or who are currently writing a book. I've been working my way through the Click Testing for Authors (CTA) course, and was ready over a week ago to launch the first of six separate tests to guide ad creation and audience selection for FB and IG ads. Very helpful stuff, I'm learning a lot. Each test requires ten variants of what is being tested. For example, in test one, ten ad taglines. CTA walks you through the steps to do this using FB's ad creation process. I completed and was ready to publish the first test when I noticed a vague error message. Something to do with incorrect settings. (For those of you planning to do FB/IG ads, most all messages you get in the ad set-up user interface will be vague.) CTA did their best to help me through the problem before saying I should check to see if my domain was Meta "verified". It wasn't, I had no idea it needed to be since I had run a few test ads without issue. I located a list of steps to get it verified, some I would do others my partner in this project, Paula Johnson, would need to do (she handles the under the hood technical website stuff along with so much more.) We did as requested, hit the "Verify" button, nothing. I finally tracked down some additional things we could try. I also granted Paula full access to everything having to do with my FB/IG/Meta accounts. Make that, I tried to give Paula full access. The Meta response when Paula, who received my permission to access everything directly from Meta, tried to access my account, was: "Something went wrong. We're working on getting this fixed as soon as we can. You may be able to try again." I may be able to try again? Things still not working this morning, I contacted Meta support in a chat. You can do that, but good luck finding how you do it. Contact me if you want to know, it's too complicated to go into here. Over an hour in the chat with the support person taking time to research the issue, it came down to this. Try it again. Not after she/he had done something that may work, just try it again. Conclusion: If you are writing or have written a book, FG and IG ads are an important marketing tool. However, regardless of whether or not you are an experienced FB/IG user, do not assume that navigating their ad user interface, and the Meta Business Portfolio, will go smoothly. It is a completely different world and there is no one at Meta to call for help. You can do as I initially did and run a few ads using Meta's "let us do it for you" suggestions, but don't do that. You need to tailor your spending to your book, which isn't necessarily what is required for my book or anyone else's. When it comes to book marketing online, one size definitely does not fit all.
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I'm close to the topic of lives I might have/could have/ should have lived. Maybe you are too more than you know.
One of the frequent comments I hear from some who have read Raymond's story, is that it makes them think, even occasionally dream, how different their own unlived lives might have been. This isn't as ominous as it may seem. The dream isn't necessarily an indication that the person is unhappy with the life they do live. Case in point, me. I've been out of the army for 54 years, out of Vietnam as a soldier for 56 years. I've since visited the country twice for extended periods of time, both enjoyable trips. That's a lot of time to put that first year behind me. I have largely, but not completely done so, nor do I want to. I occasionally dream I am living my post-army civilian life, working, raising a family, enjoying life. I receive word I have to go back to the war for another year. I don't question the absurdity of that happening, it just must be. The specifics vary, but always involve me arriving back in Vietnam, being issued the gear I was the first time, and settling in as best I can for another 12 months. I don't speculate why this dream happens. It does, even more so now having written Raymond's story. It is part of the life I do live that might never have happened had I not been there so long ago. A year resulting in so many events, decisions, and non decisions creating so many lives I might have lived, both good and bad. Nothing wrong with that for me, nor for you. Your dreams are part of the life you do lead as well as your unlived lives. Follow your dreams, they have much to teach you. Raymond's story is everyone's story.
Where would you be today had you made different choices yesterday? And by yesterday, I literally mean yesterday. You could even make "yesterday" the time it's taken you to read this far. Had you not done so, had you thought about most anything else, your life going forward would be different than it is now. Literally! Remember the scene in "Jurassic Park" where Jeff Goldblum talks about the Chaos theory? What happens halfway around the world when a butterfly flaps it wings in China. Probably a little overstated, but it made for good movie dialog, and should make you thinking about your own unlived lives a little easier. Those lives we would have lived had we made different choices in the past, are as interesting as they are infinite in number. Thinking about their possible existence, I could literally write a book about them. I'm hearing from people who have read Raymond's story, including how it has made some think about their own lives.
Tricky business, that! While probably human nature, it's little too easy to look back only regretting past choices we wish we could now unmake. I occasionally have to remind myself to acknowledge what I've done right rather than just that I now wish I hadn't done, said, or thought. You should too. Thank you to those who purchased and read Raymond's story, particularly if you enjoyed it. And if you are now focused on the list of your own life's choices, cut yourself some slack. While Socrates said, "The unexamined life isn't worth living", I believe he would tell us all to examine our own lives fairly, spending as much time recognizing those choices we wouldn't change as we do those we would. The publication part of my book ended October 15 when The Unlived Lives of Raymond Quinn became available for purchase. This is an update of where I am in the marketing process.
The first two weeks have focused on getting reviews. What a slog! You pester friends and family to not only read the book, but to review it as well. That only goes so far. In addition, I've used companies such as NetGalley and Get Books Reviewed who connect authors with individuals interested in reading, and hopefully, reviewing books. These two, and a few others are legit while many more offering to get positive reviews, for a cost, are not. If you have a book you'd like reviewed, don't even think about using them. Besides being unethical, it is now illegal. I've run out of friends and family, and have pretty much gotten all I'll get from NetGalley and Get Books Reviewed. So it's on to Marketing Phase 2; advertising on social and book oriented sites. But here's the problem. While you could just start throwing ads on line, unless you know how to maximize your ad spend effectiveness, which you probably don't, the likelihood of reaching the right people is almost zero. I know; I ran a few test ads, not spending a lot, and got little in return for it, other than confirmation that I didn't know what I was doing. So what now? I'm about a third of the way through Steve Pieper's Click Testing for Authors program (CTA). I'd be further along were it not for Facebook, which Pieper uses as an instructional base for his lessons, locking me out of my business account. I'm waiting for FB to unlock it so I can continue. So far, I'm impressed. His instruction is making sense of FB's overly complicated, incomplete ad instructions. I also like the fact that before you pay for his course, he makes it clear that no one, him included, can make a bad book a sales success. He's not paying me to tell you about CTA, I paid him for the course. Sales of my book may not increase because of what I learn, but the chance it will is far greater than if I had not taken it. You really do have to spend money to make money, and don't listen to anyone who says you don't. Just make sure you're spending it the right way. The previous post was about fake reviews I received for my book, The Unlived Lives of Raymond Quinn, on Goodreads.
Not good for consumers or companies selling to consumers. (To their credit, Goodreads investigated, removed the reviews, and closed the account(s) posting them.) The FTC intends to make it costly for an individual or company posting fake reviews. This includes selling reviews, good or bad, fake or otherwise. I support the effort, but it remains to be seen how well enforcement will be. And there will be challenges getting legitimate reviews in front of potential customers. I've had a half dozen people contact me saying they purchased my book online, read it, and posted a review on the site where they made the purchase. In all those cases, the reviews remain "under review" a week or more after being posted. Nonetheless, it's past time to address this issue. The latter half of the title of this post refers to the dark side of the world we live in today. So many of our politicians spewing such vile garbage (you know who I'm referring to), tells many who hear it, they can do and say the same.
I was aware that there were a large number of fake accounts and reviews for books on GoodReads. I hadn't experienced it personally, but knew many others have. I hadn't experienced it until a few days ago. I received a message from Gina, a GR author, who noticed I had a half dozen or so 1 star ratings and horrible comments for my just released book. So "just released", I knew they were not people who had read it. Gina did too, and took the time to report it to GR (which is owned by Google.) She's been battling this for over 3 years. I reported it as well the next day, and less than 24 hours later received the following response from GR: "Hi William, Thank you for bringing this to our attention, though we're sorry to hear about your experience. We've looked into the accounts you reported, and as they raised a number of our standard red flags for illegitimacy, they have been removed from the site. We take the responsibility of supporting our members seriously and are constantly investing in making improvements to better safeguard our community. We're happy to continue to investigate any content/accounts you think breaks our guidelines. We appreciate that you brought this to our attention. Please let us know if there's anything else we can help you with. Sincerely, The Goodreads Team" Being honest, based on the lack of response others having the same problem have reported, I did not expect resolution or a reply as quickly as happened. My hope is GR recognizes this is a major problem, one that could cause them to lose both authors and members. That would be a tragedy from the perspective of someone who enjoys interacting with others about books. The former part of this post title is about the good in today's world. Gina, who took the time to help someone she didn't know, and GR who cleaned up the problem so quickly. That may seem insignificant with all at stake as we approach our national election, but I'll take it, appreciating anything, small or large, that is about the good. Everything up to yesterday was about creating The Unlived Lives of Raymond Quinn, and more recently, getting it ready for sale.
Last night at 12:01 AM, we moved from preparing to sell to selling, and because we did, now the real work begins. Starting today, I am running one week ad tests on BookBub and Facebook. Both are live now, we'll see what comes of it. BB is book reader centric. The people who go there do so to find books they want to read. There is a social media aspect to it, but that too focuses on book reading and books. Facebook has book readers as well, but the overall focus is more generally friends staying in touch with friends. I set up the FB test to reach FB book groups, but my guess is BB will do a better job of that than will FB. We'll see. Eight days to The Unlived Lives of Raymond Quinn is released. Time for an update of my ad plans.
The issue was, and still is, how best to spend my ad money? No surprise; the core issue in all advertising is deciding how much money to spend, where? I've researched social media sites including LinkedIn and Facebook, thinking I would try something on both of them. More recently, I came across book specific sites such as BookBub and LibraryThing, along with GoodReads, all focused on books and people who like to read books. Book readers don't just want to read any book, they want to read the kinds of books that appeal to them. Sites specific to books and book readers provide the level of detail required to define a target audience, which is not as true for LI, FB, and other mass social media sites. As much as I've learned about where to advertise, there is still so much I don't know. So, come October 15, I will start a week trial of ads on Facebook and BookBub, spending more on each than I ever thought I would a few months ago. I've come this far, there's no turning back. But you could. To learn more, spend some time on the Career Authors site. ![]() Earlier posts here have documented my navigating the world of book marketing. On the one hand, not that different from marketing any product. You have to increase awareness of what you are selling among potential buyers, hoping a large enough number of them will buy it to cover costs. When it comes to book marketing, what is different is how you accomplish that. You could pay for TV and/or radio ads. You could do mass mailings of printed material. You could attempt to get book stores to host you signing books in their store. You could, but you won't do any of that. Radio/TV ads and mass mailings would be incredibly inefficient. The cost per sale exorbitant! Instead, you have a plethora of online marketing tools specifically relating to book marketing, available to you. You will be able to afford many, but not all of them. The challenge is determining which will work best for you. I'm at that stage now two weeks ahead of my book launch. I'm narrowing down the list of possible ways to place my marketing "bets" (an analogy to gambling is very appropriate.) The best I can say is, it will be a case of trial and error. I will update you on what does and does not work for me as it happens. For now, consider the math of me spending my money to market my book sold on Amazon, both digital and print versions. The starting price for a digital Kindle copy of The Unlived Lives of Raymond Quinn will be $6.99 in the US, somewhat more or less in countries outside the US. For each book sold at that price, I will receive $4.84, also more or less as the price varies. The starting price of a paperback print copy will be $14.95 in the US, again, more or less elsewhere. I will receive $4.80 that sale. (Why less than the digital copy? A large part of it is $4.17 cost to print. When it comes to marketing, creating, and producing your book, nothing is free.) I can run ads in a number of places including Amazon, GoodReads, LinkedIn, Facebook, Apple, and many, many more sites too numerous to name here. Lets just pick an anonymous advertising platform as being indicative of what they'll all be like. I decide how much I'm willing to spend; $400 over 10 days, $40 a day on average. My ad will be competing with those of others selling their books. Some will spend more than me, others less. The ad platforms tell you how many impressions you can expect for the amount you are willing to spend. In old school advertising lingo that's "reach". They will also tell you approximately how many times your ad will potentially be seen, which is old school "frequency". What they can't tell you is how many books you can reasonably expect to sell. No one can; that depends on a number of unknowns not the least of which is how good your book is. But we can make some assumptions. There are four "moving parts".
Assume the ad generates 3,000 impressions (people who see the ad). Of this, assume 300 people will "engage" (they click on it to learn more). And finally, assume 10% of the 300, 30 people, will buy the book, 75% a digital copy, 25% print. I'll spare you doing the math. My example $400 advertising investment would produce $144.90 revenue. That's sales, not profit, which in this example, is a $255.10 deficit. Do you think the number of impressions is too low, maybe the engagement and purchase figures as well? Spend a little time with Chris McMullen. There are other mitigating factors to consider. If you run a campaign over time, things might improve. So too might they if you are actively recruiting people to marketing material you've created, such as that on the book's website, your mailing lists, and contacts on the sites where you advertise. So what does this mean to you? If you are overly optimistic, if you do not have reasonable assumptions regarding costs and sales before you start spending money, if you do not have a plan, your chances of success will be significantly less than if you do. Write the best book possible, have it professionally edited, read by beta readers whose recommendations and suggestions you seriously consider. Make a plan to support it investing in marketing including such things as a video blurb, professionally designed cover, advertising, advanced reader copy distribution, and public relations. Do honest math regarding what all this will cost relative to reasonable expectations for sales. If you can accept what that tells you, you've done all you can. I wish you and your book, me and mine, the best of luck! |
AuthorIn addition to writing, William Matthies' accomplishments include earning a lifetime ban from Catalina Island at 13, viewing Earth from 80,000 feet during a Mach 2.5 flight in a supersonic Russian aircraft, and remaining an absolute beginner after “playing” guitar for more than three decades. Archives
February 2025
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