Wait a Minute, Mr Postman by Ruby Barnes
Letters coming through my letterbox here in Kilkenny are a rare thing. Bank statements - electronic these days. Payslips - electronic. I did recently have a cheque for €53.70 arrive from my previous broadband supplier, which was quite exciting.
Unfortunately Alfie the Dog has become unused to snail mail and thrusts his fangs through everything that postie shoves in the door, including hands. So the cheque had two teeth marks in it, and my bank wasn't happy with me. Their processing machines don't appreciate bent, spindled, twisted or chewed financial documents. I ordered a paperback book (remember those things?) for Mrs R recently, after her traumatic run-in with a herd of cows and a bull while collecting river water samples for analysis; Apocalypse Cow by Michael Logan, naturally. Zombie cows, a very good read. Alfie the Dog appreciated the beefy taste, biting right through the packaging. Two tooth dents in back and front covers.
Well, one set of mail that my hound can't chew beyond recognition is my email inbox. These days it's mostly full of twitter and facebook notifications, with the odd review request and a whole pile of subscriber updates from mail lists for free, bargain and new release e-books. Here's a picture of a typical day at the receiving end of e-book recommendations:
I've subscribed to all these outfits and they fill my mail account every day. According to my proclaimed marketing strategy I'm supposed to be advertising my books on these websites, in these mailouts, but it's a bit bewildering to be honest. And if I'm getting fatigued by it all then I suspect readers are too. There are also many others that aren't listed but I do interact with them on fiverr.com and suchlike hangouts. The results from advertising? A bit hit and miss, to be honest. Unless your book fits smack bang in the middle of a popular genre, and you've selected a mailer who has a sizable and good quality list segment for that genre (e.g. BookBub thriller freebie yielding 30k+ downloads and follow-on full-priced sales of same book plus sequel), then it can be tricky to break even. The temptation is to go for a scatter-gun approach of every advertiser that will accept your book, but then the efficacy of each advertiser is difficult to judge (unless they provide some kind of tracking link that counts each time a recipient clicks). I'm not going to go into a detailed study of all the advertising possibilities because I'm far too lazy. But here's a chap who has done all the hard work for us - http://www.readersintheknow.com/list-of-book-promotion-sites
Add on top of this promotional complexity the new Amazon author ad campaigns that have an entry-level budget of $100 but don't seem to be able to use up any money because almost no one is clicking the ads. I am well and truly Confused of Kilkenny. There are more questions than answers, and the more I find out ... all together now.
Unfortunately Alfie the Dog has become unused to snail mail and thrusts his fangs through everything that postie shoves in the door, including hands. So the cheque had two teeth marks in it, and my bank wasn't happy with me. Their processing machines don't appreciate bent, spindled, twisted or chewed financial documents. I ordered a paperback book (remember those things?) for Mrs R recently, after her traumatic run-in with a herd of cows and a bull while collecting river water samples for analysis; Apocalypse Cow by Michael Logan, naturally. Zombie cows, a very good read. Alfie the Dog appreciated the beefy taste, biting right through the packaging. Two tooth dents in back and front covers.
Well, one set of mail that my hound can't chew beyond recognition is my email inbox. These days it's mostly full of twitter and facebook notifications, with the odd review request and a whole pile of subscriber updates from mail lists for free, bargain and new release e-books. Here's a picture of a typical day at the receiving end of e-book recommendations:
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| My daily selection of e-book offer subscriptions |
I've subscribed to all these outfits and they fill my mail account every day. According to my proclaimed marketing strategy I'm supposed to be advertising my books on these websites, in these mailouts, but it's a bit bewildering to be honest. And if I'm getting fatigued by it all then I suspect readers are too. There are also many others that aren't listed but I do interact with them on fiverr.com and suchlike hangouts. The results from advertising? A bit hit and miss, to be honest. Unless your book fits smack bang in the middle of a popular genre, and you've selected a mailer who has a sizable and good quality list segment for that genre (e.g. BookBub thriller freebie yielding 30k+ downloads and follow-on full-priced sales of same book plus sequel), then it can be tricky to break even. The temptation is to go for a scatter-gun approach of every advertiser that will accept your book, but then the efficacy of each advertiser is difficult to judge (unless they provide some kind of tracking link that counts each time a recipient clicks). I'm not going to go into a detailed study of all the advertising possibilities because I'm far too lazy. But here's a chap who has done all the hard work for us - http://www.readersintheknow.com/list-of-book-promotion-sites
Add on top of this promotional complexity the new Amazon author ad campaigns that have an entry-level budget of $100 but don't seem to be able to use up any money because almost no one is clicking the ads. I am well and truly Confused of Kilkenny. There are more questions than answers, and the more I find out ... all together now.
Comments
It all feels so overwhelming, so I turn the computer off and read. Much more refreshing!