What's the latest thinking on the best advertising platform?

[The Bass Bagwhan]

Hey everyone, I know we all get varied results from different advertising platforms depending on our experience, genre, etc, but before I thrown some promotion money on advertising a new release, are there any latest trends that suggest, say, Facebook ads are better than Google or AMS? (Or vice versa). Genre is horror/science fiction, adult readers (as in not YA).
I think a few people have pretty much written off AMS?
I'm not doing TikTok or Instagram.

Cheers for any help.

[Bill Hiatt]

Disclaimer: my experience is limited.

I've found FB ads to be good at achieving FB goals, like page likes (when those used to mean something). Those ads definitely got me more FB visibility. It's not clear to me that they sold many books. I do know a few FB fans that became actual fans, but that's a slow process.

In contrast, AMS ads always sell books. I think you have to be an expert to get them to sell books for a decent ROI. I've also experimented and determined that a higher expenditure sells more books, but again, not necessarily enough more to compensate for the extra cost.

I still do an assortment of newsletter promos for a standalone or first in series new release. Those also move books, but the ROI has gotten worse over time. I think the newsletter subscribers reach a saturation point over time.

[The Bass Bagwhan]

Thanks Bill, interesting thoughts. I've done AMS before, but a long time ago and the learning curve will be steep again, but you've convinced me to dig deeper there. This will be a re-release of the first of five full-length horror/supernatural novels, (not a series, all standalone of titles I've recovered the rights) so essentially it'll be a standalone title. AMS may fail without other titles to support it, but I'm willing to spend and even lose some funds in experiments.

These days, you have to do something...

[PJ Post]

I'm still in the minority as far as writing circles go, but I think social media is still the best long-term investment.

[notthatamanda]

I'm still in the minority as far as writing circles go, but I think social media is still the best long-term investment.

Data?

[Post-Crisis D]

I'm still in the minority as far as writing circles go, but I think social media is still the best long-term investment.

I would concur with the caveat that social media sites should be used to drive traffic to your own website and not directly to Amazon or wherever.

[The Bass Bagwhan]

I'm still in the minority as far as writing circles go, but I think social media is still the best long-term investment.

I would concur with the caveat that social media sites should be used to drive traffic to your own website and not directly to Amazon or wherever.

Yes, but playing devil's advocate, if that traffic drives to a comprehensive website landing page with links to your Amazon product page, aren't you potentially getting a better message across?

[idontknowyet]

I don't know if i agree with that. To make social media effective takes a ton of a work. I prefer to use fb ads to drive sales to my books on amazon. Then readers that love my books search me out on social media or my newsletter to follow along if they are so inclined.

[Crystal]

When it comes to selling books on Amazon, AMS is by far the most effective platform... if you know how to work it. Most people don't. I don't. I know a few people who work AMS like magic (high spend, low to medium bids, high profit), but most people I know either work with low to medium bids and low spend or high bids and high spend (and profit coming from the visibility and/or sellthrough that spend drives, not from the ads themselves).

[Hopscotch]

Just to satisfy my curiosity, Crystal, what is high spend (US$100+ per day?) and what is medium to low bid (50 cents or less?) to reach these vast profits?  Or do I sacrifice my last goat, instead?

[Crystal]

Just to satisfy my curiosity, Crystal, what is high spend (US$100+ per day?) and what is medium to low bid (50 cents or less?) to reach these vast profits?  Or do I sacrifice my last goat, instead?

High spend is a subjective thing, yes. I would consider high spend to be 100+/day on a single book, or $200/day on a series (depending on length). But the people I am talking about with high spend are more in the $300-1k+/day range (across their catalog, though I have heard of many 1k/day spends on new releases). So much higher.

As for bids, it depends on the genre and the region, but I would say, yes, generally, under .55 is medium to low, and over .75 is medium to high, and over 1.00 or 1.25 is high (though I have heard of bids of $2+ so the sky is the limit).

(I do know someone with bids under .35 but I have no idea how she does it).

(That is in the US. In the UK, bids under .55 are more workable. In Euro-using countries, under .35-40 is workable, and Australia and Canada are more hit or miss for me).

[LilyBLily]

$1k a day is definitely above my touch. How many thousands of dollars do you have to spend before the big profit happens? How long do you run the ad at that rate before you bail? You do realize that even if the ads work magnificently, you might have to front $60k before you see a dime in income? Very few of us can do that. Or should.

[notthatamanda]

That's not how it happened for me. I spent big (for me) and sold big ($10K sales on Amazon in 2019) but there was just some ceiling I couldn't break through. Then in Feb 2020 (I'm not sure exactly, but it was definitely prepandemic) the ads just stopped working, both getting impressions and sales. Starting small and increasing spending, while always being profitable, was feasible and not that risky, but I just could not ramp it up.

[The Bass Bagwhan]

Some of the above suggests to me that you'd have to run AMS at, say, $100 per day for perhaps a week just to see if your ad can work. In other words, dabbling with a very low budget just to get the hang of things and learning the system is pointless, because that low level of spending is doomed to fail regardless of the quality of your advert.

A bit scary...

[Crystal]

$1k a day is definitely above my touch. How many thousands of dollars do you have to spend before the big profit happens? How long do you run the ad at that rate before you bail? You do realize that even if the ads work magnificently, you might have to front $60k before you see a dime in income? Very few of us can do that. Or should.

Who are you addressing this to? Cause I'm not suggesting anyone do anything. I'm relaying what I've heard. I can talk about my AMS experience too, but I haven't had many higher budget ads recently, so my experience isn't as relevant.

Do you not want people to share information? This kinda thing is why everyone left Kboards.

Lots of successful people spend five-figures a month. The authors at the top, in my genre, are either spending five (or six) figures a month on new releases or viral on TikTok. There's really not much in between.

This is a business and, as with all businesses, you sometimes have to spend before you know how much profit a product will make. Our biggest "spend" is the time writing the book, but sometimes there is a $ spend too.

Some of the above suggests to me that you'd have to run AMS at, say, $100 per day for perhaps a week just to see if your ad can work. In other words, dabbling with a very low budget just to get the hang of things and learning the system is pointless, because that low level of spending is doomed to fail regardless of the quality of your advert.

A bit scary...

Um... based on what? No one is suggesting this. I am certainly not suggesting this. I am suggesting an ad might not be easy to scale and the ability to run a profitable ad that spends $100/week is different than the ability to run a profitable ad that spends $500/day. You can run your AMS with whatever budget and bid you want.

Is it doomed to fail? No. But it's not an easy system to master. Publishing is not easy. Nothing about it is easy. If you want to make easy money, go into finance.

[LilyBLily]

No, I'm just saying that kind of ad spend is daunting.

[writeway]

To answer the OP's question about what's happening in marketing these days, just the same old stuff it seems. Writing the next book is always the best marketing IMO because new work continuously brings readers to your catalog. I don't do click ads anymore and never did TikTok (not my thing at all). I use the promo sites, BookFunnel sales promos, book spotlights, and gathering reviews. The holidays are coming up so the romance crowd is gearing up for the holiday book rush. Nov-Jan. is huge for romance so I am excited. I tend to do well with my Christmas releases but I wouldn't release a non-holiday book (in romance) for the next two months. That's just my opinion. I already got my Nov. promos set. I will be promoting my Christmas books and I have a new Christmas box set coming out next month and will be pushing it until after the holidays. But, the best thing I find works is to keep writing and releasing.

[PJ Post]

I'm still in the minority as far as writing circles go, but I think social media is still the best long-term investment.

Data?

The data is everywhere, except in book world because reasons. All of the other Creative Indie fields are embracing social media as a means of Brand Management - but it's important to note that social media is not an advertising channel in the traditional sense, although many corporations continue to walk that line. It does take time, both as an investment and to see results, but it's also as close to free as we can get. The best thing about it is we have control, so it doesn't matter if Amazon changes their AMS algos or not.

I still believe the key is brand differentiation, it's a traditional business view to be sure, but it works far more often than not.

I also believe in the 1,000 True Fan approach - building an audience one fan at a time.

____

The OP was about specific platforms, as for strategy advice - do everything you have time for. The important thing is for your brand to become familiar enough to be folded into your target demographic's worldview - that's where people spend the most of their time and money. So, be as visible in as many places as humanly possible.

And if you can make AMS work - as Crystal has explained - it really really works.

[alhawke]

AMS didn't work for me. I dabbled and spent up to $2k AMS after about a year (not in a day  ). I really wonder if it's worth it for wide books. ?? It makes better sense to advertise for page reads with AMS if you're in KU.

I primarily use Bookbub ads. Seems I'm the only one that gets those to work.

[cecilia_writer]

It has taken a long time to build up, but currently I'm finding engagenent and making connections on Twitter seem to have led to some increase in sales, and to a slightly lesser extent involvement in relevant FB groups has also had an effect. I've made some small attempts at actual advertising over the years, but I don't have enough skill or indeed enthusiasm to persist, and I've never been able to afford to gamble, whereas I actually enjoy Twitter (in its better moments) and I have other reasons to use FB so it isn't all about selling. I don't suppose I will ever make much out of writing this way but that isn't really my main aim.