Cost-Effective Advertising

Effective advertising, or the lack of it, will, in some cases, make or break a large company. Many companies have sizable advertising budgets that account for a major portion of their annual spending. Publishing companies are no different. New authors who land big contracts with big publishing houses are often surprised to learn just how much is spent on the advertising for their books; we’re talking astronomical figures when compared to smaller presses—counting everything from radio spots to newspaper and magazine ads, and even public placement, such as in subway stations, on trains, on billboards, and wherever else. Small POD presses, and even self-published authors, can’t be expected to go in for such exorbitant costs.

So, what’s a fair solution? Cost-effective advertising, that’s what. The internet is ideal for this kind of thing. Do you have a website? No? Are you nuts? Get one—a professional one at that. The more professional the site, the more clout you’ll earn. Do you blog? No? Start a blog, but make certain you’ll be able to dedicate time to composing informative and entertaining posts that will keep your readers coming back for more (oh, and you’re also supposed to be selling books, so write with that goal in mind). Bear in mind that you’ll have to somehow get people to actually visit your website and/or blog. Link exchanges are an effective way to begin the process of doing just that. Find similar author websites—authors who probably write in your genre—and kindly ask them if they’d be interested in exchanging links. (Link exchanges to blogs are the easiest to obtain.) If you have a killer site, how could they refuse you? Also bear in mind that killer content = killer site, and not just a fancy header and glowing gradients. My word, some of the sites I’ve stumbled upon! Who would think to read them, much less buy a book from the author?

Beyond all of that, you’ll also want to try getting reviews for your book and pointing your readers to those reviews from your blog or website. The more reputable the review source, the more willing your readers will be to go out and grab a copy of your masterpiece. So don’t just settle for any old reviewer; make certain they have a readership large enough to engender sales, or, at the very least, determine whether they will lend some weight and credibility to your writing abilities with a sterling review.

Google your review source; see how popular they are. Peruse their site and evaluate for yourself how effective their reviews are. Be wary of a review site that does nothing but dole out praise. That may be appealing at first glance, but think like a prospective reader. Say they went to this particular site, bought one of the books that received a glowing review (a bad book at that) read it, and were sorely disappointed. Highly miffed, not only do they immediately remove said site from their favorites list, but they advise their friends and every member of their family, even those in the remote jungles of “deepest, darkest Africa” (hey, I didn’t coin the phrase) against buying any books reviewed on said site, including your book. You’ve just lost 113 sales, roughly speaking.

In short, advertising is an important factor in the publishing industry, be it on the POD side, or the “traditional” side. Do not neglect to take advantage of the internet when dishing out money from your overall book budget. Give Google AdWords a try also—at least in the beginning. Try not to exceed $5.00 a day, and see what kind of traffic the ad(s) generate for your website.