RQ's Story: Marketing Phase 2

The publication part of my book ended October 15 when The Unlived Lives of Raymond Quinn became available for purchase. This is an update of where I am in the marketing process.

The first two weeks have focused on getting reviews. What a slog! You pester friends and family to not only read the book, but to review it as well. That only goes so far.

In addition, I've used companies such as NetGalley and Get Books Reviewed who connect authors with individuals interested in reading, and hopefully, reviewing books.

These two, and a few others are legit while many more offering to get positive reviews, for a cost, are not. If you have a book you'd like reviewed, don't even think about using them. Besides being unethical, it is now illegal. 

I've run out of friends and family, and have pretty much gotten all I'll get from NetGalley and Get Books Reviewed. So it's on to Marketing Phase 2; advertising on social and book oriented sites. 

But here's the problem. While you could just start throwing ads on line, unless you know how to maximize your ad spend effectiveness, which you probably don't, the likelihood of reaching the right people is almost zero.

I know; I ran a few test ads, not spending a lot, and got little in return for it, other than confirmation that I didn't know what I was doing. So what now?

I'm about a third of the way through Steve Pieper's Click Testing for Authors program (CTA). I'd be further along were it not for Facebook, which Pieper uses as an instructional base for his lessons, locking me out of my business account. I'm waiting for FB to unlock it so I can continue.

So far, I'm impressed. His instruction is making sense of FB's overly complicated, incomplete ad instructions. I also like the fact that before you pay for his course, he makes it clear that no one, him included, can make a bad book a sales success. 

He's not paying me to tell you about CTA, I paid him for the course. Sales of my book may not increase because of what I learn, but the chance it will is far greater than if I had not taken it.

You really do have to spend money to make money, and don't listen to anyone who says you don't.

​Just make sure you're spending it the right way.