#craft How Much Do you Spend on Promotions?

Today is Insecure Writer's Support Group day again. Some of us are talking about how much time and money we should invest in promoting and marketing. Do you promote yourself as an author? Or your books? I have several genres I write in under the same pseudonym so it only seems beneficial to promote me. If you enjoy reading my erotic romance you may also like my paranormal romance or romantic suspense. All my books are sexy romances just at different heat levels. I believe there are enough warnings to keep away anyone not interested in reading certain details or circumstances. Not all are that explicit and I'm looking for a different way of producing the covers to define my hot from my sizzling.

But back to the question of the day...how much should you spend?

I think you should do your research. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

How effective are certain methods?
What can you handle yourself?
What has been effective for your author friends?
What do you anticipate your return on investment will be?
Do you promote a single book or a series?
Where can you get more bang for your buck?
Can you afford it?

We all believe in our books but at some level we have to realize discovery is out of our hands since algorithms drive the search engines. Rankings are affected by how many books are released on the same day yours is. Diluting your potential buyers by flooding the market is out of your hands. You need a team of people to get the reviews up and the promotions launched. Good luck. Remember to help other authors, leave reviews.

Comments

  1. I've been asking myself some of those exact questions. Promotion and marketing is so frustrating and time consuming. And like you say, so much of what can happen is out of your hands.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Put more books out. With ebooks, readers are accepting novellas instead of tomes. Serialized material is even very popular so think comic book or soap opera to hook readers in the future.

      Delete
  2. Marketing my first novel has been an expensive and frustrating experience. Basically my author friends advised that I shouldn't expect great sales until I get my next novel out there, and the next. Like I've heard from other author guru's: Keep in mind that you wrote the book because you love writing and believed in the story. Sales is secondary. Wishing you great success, Eliza.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've been told by an author who sells that writing and releasing the next book is the best promotion. It seems to work for many, so don't become frustrated. Keep putting it out there. :-)

      Delete
  3. "Good luck. Remember to help other authors, leave reviews."

    Thanks for the reminder.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Amazon did a lot to keep us from supporting each other at one time by removing author reviews. I am arguably a reader as well as an author therefore have every right to my honest opinion. I will leave 3 or higher reviews for books I read and enjoy. I do not leave reviews for a less enjoyable read.

      Delete
  4. Great, thought-provoking post. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I hope you benefit from my blog and thank you for commenting...