When I first realized I wanted to be an author, I found that I was easily overwhelmed by the extreme learning curve I had before me. And it wasn’t just stuff you had to learn, but also execute every day after that. To keep from getting ulcers (jury is still out on that) I told myself that if I could just learn one new thing a day, I would be okay and I wouldn’t get so stressed out that I wanted to quit.
Well, that kind of worked. Ha! But I thought I would share some of the things I learned along the way on this blog.
So…
Sh!t I Learned Today: Advertising Sites that Work
I think finding advertising sites that work is one of the hardest things to do, but it’s also one of the most important. That seems to be the theme with self publishing, doesn’t it? Huh. Go figure.
So here’s some sites that have worked the best for me. These are mainly bargain sites to advertise a book on sale. I only advertise the first book in my series, which is priced at $0.99.
Ereader News Today: I LOVE LOVE LOVE this site. The first time I used it, I sold approximately 70 books in one day using the site. And it always pays for itself, because they only charge a percentage of how many books you sell. So the day my advertisement ran and I sold 70-ish books, it only cost me $5.50. You can’t beat that, bro.
BookBub: Everyone always talks about how great BookBub is. And I’m sure it is, but it’s expensive. Will your advertisement pay for itself if you’re advertising a $0.99 book? That’s a lot of books to sell. ALSO! They are super picky. I’ve submitted to them five times, and I still haven’t gotten in. May the odds be ever in your favor, because they certainly ain’t in mine.
Book Gorilla: Some people say that Book Gorilla is comparable to Bookbub. I did get accepted into Book Gorilla, but I only sold around 31 books, which didn’t pay for itself. I keep going back though.
Book Sends: I had a good turnaround with this advertising site. It almost paid for itself (again, I really believe that a book priced at $0.99 would have a hard time paying for itself no matter what). I sold approximately 35 books.
PixelScroll and Bargain Ebook Hunter: I sold like 11 books between these two sites (you can purchase an ad for both sites when you fill out the form on Bargain Ebook Hunter). I also had a hard time finding my book ad on PixelScroll. I had to email and have the link sent to me.
Fussy Librarian: This site is pretty cheap (Like $3 bucks I think) and I normally see an okay return. For that cheap, I think it’s worth it.
Momma Says Read: This site is pretty cool and cheap ($5)! They have a lot of services and I normally see a rise in sales (like 20 books). I haven’t tried out all their services yet, but I will definitely be going back to this site in the future for a new release as well as a bargain book sale promotion.
Digital Book Today: I did a two day ad with this site recently, and I did NOT see any rise in sales. Booo. And it was pretty expensive too (like $40 bucks?).
Okay, so this isn’t exactly what I learned today, but I’ve tried to compile a source of advertising knowledge in order to keep up a decent stream of income. HA! I laughed at that one. Anyway, I hope this helps someone. And if you have a good site you use, please feel free to post them in the comments! I would love to learn about some other good sites.