Amazon Ads

[David A. Werling]

Thanks, Skip. That helped put things into perspective.

Presumably you want someone to read the story.

Yes. That's the reason why I published, but actually reaching that audience was something I never really considered. I guess I thought "if you build it they will come." That was naive, and I'm learning that the hard way.

You first have to be clear on your goals.

This is something for which I'm going to have to be more honest with myself. During the editing phase I realized that my novel was really a love letter of sorts. That was the motivation for writing, but how does that motivation play into reaching an audience? That will take some soul searching, which brings me to what you said here:

I want readers. I'd love to have them asking for sequels, writing fanfic, coming to a book signing (*sigh*). To have strangers think Altearth is interesting.

That's really the gist of it. If the novel is a love letter, I want to shout that love from the rooftops. I really don't care about making a living at it. I have a good job. What I want to do is tell the world that I'm in love. And that probably does make me one of those "easily bruised" folks that would be the topic for whole other thread.

So I guess that means I do want to advertise and market this thing as long as it doesn't break the bank. What I'm struggling with is lack of time and resources.

I do not gravitate toward social media. I've never trusted it, and from experience what I find there is often ugly. I really don't want to be a part of the hate and vitriol that festers on twitter and facebook. I've never had an instagram account or a twitter account, and the thought of making those accounts makes my stomach hurt. I wish I had enough resources to hire someone to do it for me.

As for dollars spent, I'll offer this. Maybe it'll resonate, but it's ok if it doesn't. While I'm serious about my writing, when it comes to money I regard it as a hobby. Most people have one, and most hobbies cost money. Spending money on marketing is still cheaper than owning a boat, collecting stamps, or any of a hundred other hobbies. So I spend as long as I'm spending disposable income. If that's a hundred or a thousand or ten thousand a year, the number doesn't matter, so long as it's not affecting my daily expenses. And however much that level of spending gets me, that's what I'm satisfied with.

After reading this thread, and particularly your last post, I think I might give Amazon advertising a try, maybe just a $100.

[Skip]

>What I'm struggling with is lack of time and resources.
You are not alone. I'm retired and I struggle with lack of time myself. So, on one hand, don't worry about it because there will never be enough time. On the other hand, don't worry about it because some time spent is better than no time spent, so you already have enough time!

Just as it's good to know your goals as a writer and as a marketer (two different sets of goals there), so you should know your goals in terms of time. Maybe you commit to writing three hours a day, six days a week (just grabbing numbers here). How many hours will you spend in marketing? Remember that "writing" also means research, outlining, reading books about writing, going to a conference (hah!). All of it. So, too, "marketing" means learning how to market as well as time spent actually doing it.

You should also plan to set scope. You already said no Twitter, no Instagram. That's fine. How about a website? A Facebook page for you as a writer? Did you set up a page at Amazon's Author Central? There's plenty to do, and you can take it one step at a time. And, just as you can expect to throw out pages and whole chapters (and sometimes whole novels), so you should expect some time spent on marketing is wasted time. Er, call it learning experiences. Whatever.

I do recommend you do some research on Amazon ads before spending the money. Check out David Gaughran's website and his free books there. Or, look around here at threads on marketing and check out recommendations made there. There are plenty of guides and advice; the trick is finding the one or two that speak to you. Just don't go in blind. It's overwhelming and not likely to do as well as you hoped.

And a final thing. Marketing (a term you get to shape according to your own tastes) really is a different mind-set and process from writing. Some people do their marketing stuff at the end of the day and always do their writing first. For myself, I set aside Wednesdays. Other days are for writing; Wednesdays are for all things relating to marketing (and it's really only two or three hours). You might consider something along those lines; it helps keep one from feeling like the Marketing Monster is ever ready to consume you.