I feel like I'm not getting it...

[notthatamanda]

Yesterday was the fourth negative day in a row for me, royalties versus ams spend.   It's been a week since I fired up new campaigns after turning everything off for my intl bookbub on that book, finally starting to spend, one book sold so far. 

[LilyBLily]

My Amazon ad cost so far this month is 50% of my sales income to come. However, that doesn't include KU income, which beats the cost of ads down to 45%. It also doesn't account for UK sales conversions, which Amazon never shows on the dashboard in USD.

I'm happy that some people are reading my books. I haven't released a new book all year, so of course my figures aren't great. Shortly, I'll release two in a row. That should make a difference.

[notthatamanda]

Are you advertising in the UK now?  They still haven't let me into that. 

[CoraBuhlert]

For the SFF writers on here - you could put together a proper (kosher) online magazine that was free to anyone. Put it on a website and promote the crap out of it far and wide (not subscribers). Use the links to sell advertising [again] to pay for promotion in real-world magazines. It's something that would have a longterm effect, always there increasing SEO opportunities that would drive more traffic to you online. Continually paid for out of mutual budgets or paid ads. You have to see the market from a different perspective and be imaginative, then you can get ahead of the game. It's wide open.

Magazines require people and dedication. I run two indie-focussed promo sites, the Speculative Fiction Showcase (for science fiction, fantasy and horror) and the Indie Crime Scene (for mysteries, crime fiction and thrillers). We have spotlights for newly released indie and small press books and also have interviews, a weekly round-up of links of genre interest, a monthly round-up of newly released books, very occasional convention reports and the occasional guest post. I'd like to do more with both sites - add reviews, more essays/articles, maybe even original short fiction - but we're only two people with lives and writing careers of our own and there is only so much two people can do.

Also, a lot of indies have no problem blowing hundreds on BookBub, AMS, Facebook ads, etc... but balk at writing a guest post for a site that's free.

There also were quite a few promo sites, Bookbub alternatives, etc... run by indie authors. Most of them didn't last long, because they couldn't get attention.

[Marti Talbott]

For the SFF writers on here - you could put together a proper (kosher) online magazine that was free to anyone. Put it on a website and promote the crap out of it far and wide (not subscribers). Use the links to sell advertising [again] to pay for promotion in real-world magazines. It's something that would have a longterm effect, always there increasing SEO opportunities that would drive more traffic to you online. Continually paid for out of mutual budgets or paid ads. You have to see the market from a different perspective and be imaginative, then you can get ahead of the game. It's wide open.

Magazines require people and dedication. I run two indie-focussed promo sites, the Speculative Fiction Showcase (for science fiction, fantasy and horror) and the Indie Crime Scene (for mysteries, crime fiction and thrillers). We have spotlights for newly released indie and small press books and also have interviews, a weekly round-up of links of genre interest, a monthly round-up of newly released books, very occasional convention reports and the occasional guest post. I'd like to do more with both sites - add reviews, more essays/articles, maybe even original short fiction - but we're only two people with lives and writing careers of our own and there is only so much two people can do.

Also, a lot of indies have no problem blowing hundreds on BookBub, AMS, Facebook ads, etc... but balk at writing a guest post for a site that's free.

There also were quite a few promo sites, Bookbub alternatives, etc... run by indie authors. Most of them didn't last long, because they couldn't get attention.

Cora, to be honest, after I left Kboards, I didn't keep up with your site. I have a couple of articles I can submit if you want. Could you please post a link to your sites?

[DougM]

I'm taking another stab at AMS ads. The results so far have been sub-lackluster.

[notthatamanda]

I do think it takes time for momentum to build with AMS, but it is not a fun wait.  Good luck however you decide to handle it.

[notthatamanda]

For the SFF writers on here - you could put together a proper (kosher) online magazine that was free to anyone. Put it on a website and promote the crap out of it far and wide (not subscribers). Use the links to sell advertising [again] to pay for promotion in real-world magazines. It's something that would have a longterm effect, always there increasing SEO opportunities that would drive more traffic to you online. Continually paid for out of mutual budgets or paid ads. You have to see the market from a different perspective and be imaginative, then you can get ahead of the game. It's wide open.

Magazines require people and dedication. I run two indie-focussed promo sites, the Speculative Fiction Showcase (for science fiction, fantasy and horror) and the Indie Crime Scene (for mysteries, crime fiction and thrillers). We have spotlights for newly released indie and small press books and also have interviews, a weekly round-up of links of genre interest, a monthly round-up of newly released books, very occasional convention reports and the occasional guest post. I'd like to do more with both sites - add reviews, more essays/articles, maybe even original short fiction - but we're only two people with lives and writing careers of our own and there is only so much two people can do.

Also, a lot of indies have no problem blowing hundreds on BookBub, AMS, Facebook ads, etc... but balk at writing a guest post for a site that's free.

There also were quite a few promo sites, Bookbub alternatives, etc... run by indie authors. Most of them didn't last long, because they couldn't get attention.

Cora, to be honest, after I left Kboards, I didn't keep up with your site. I have a couple of articles I can submit if you want. Could you please post a link to your sites?

Cora, my WIP is a psychological thriller.  I'll look at your site too, once you post the link and see if I have any ideas for articles.

[Maggie Ann]

I'm taking another stab at AMS ads. The results so far have been sub-lackluster.

I started a new ad on 11/1. So far, one click (45c spend), no sales, no page reads. To be honest, I didn't put a lot of effort into the ad. I should finish the WiP this week and then I'll have some time to see what I can do to upgrade it.

[Bill Hiatt]

For the SFF writers on here - you could put together a proper (kosher) online magazine that was free to anyone. Put it on a website and promote the crap out of it far and wide (not subscribers). Use the links to sell advertising [again] to pay for promotion in real-world magazines. It's something that would have a longterm effect, always there increasing SEO opportunities that would drive more traffic to you online. Continually paid for out of mutual budgets or paid ads. You have to see the market from a different perspective and be imaginative, then you can get ahead of the game. It's wide open.

Magazines require people and dedication. I run two indie-focussed promo sites, the Speculative Fiction Showcase (for science fiction, fantasy and horror) and the Indie Crime Scene (for mysteries, crime fiction and thrillers). We have spotlights for newly released indie and small press books and also have interviews, a weekly round-up of links of genre interest, a monthly round-up of newly released books, very occasional convention reports and the occasional guest post. I'd like to do more with both sites - add reviews, more essays/articles, maybe even original short fiction - but we're only two people with lives and writing careers of our own and there is only so much two people can do.

Also, a lot of indies have no problem blowing hundreds on BookBub, AMS, Facebook ads, etc... but balk at writing a guest post for a site that's free.

There also were quite a few promo sites, Bookbub alternatives, etc... run by indie authors. Most of them didn't last long, because they couldn't get attention.

From what I've seen other people go through, I think that a lot of good promotional opportunities require someone with huge amounts of time and dedication to organize them. I've seen some interesting ones come and go for that very reason. To succeed, Cobbah's idea to which you responded would require the support and work of a lot of people, not just one or two organizers.

I think one reason indies are wary of guest posts is that some of us have tried that approach and seen little to no impact. But it's apparent that most of us haven't tried your specific sites, and we probably should. I recall that they've been in operation for some time and probably have a following.

[Marti Talbott]

We should probably start a thread and help each other write AMS ads. I know I need to change mine and I'd sure like to learn what actually works.

[TimothyEllis]

We should probably start a thread and help each other write AMS ads. I know I need to change mine and I'd sure like to learn what actually works.

We all do.

But those who know, won't share.

Or those for whom it works, use something most of us can't duplicate.

But start the thread anyway, one never knows.

[LilyBLily]

For the SFF writers on here - you could put together a proper (kosher) online magazine that was free to anyone. Put it on a website and promote the crap out of it far and wide (not subscribers). Use the links to sell advertising [again] to pay for promotion in real-world magazines. It's something that would have a longterm effect, always there increasing SEO opportunities that would drive more traffic to you online. Continually paid for out of mutual budgets or paid ads. You have to see the market from a different perspective and be imaginative, then you can get ahead of the game. It's wide open.

Magazines require people and dedication. I run two indie-focussed promo sites, the Speculative Fiction Showcase (for science fiction, fantasy and horror) and the Indie Crime Scene (for mysteries, crime fiction and thrillers). We have spotlights for newly released indie and small press books and also have interviews, a weekly round-up of links of genre interest, a monthly round-up of newly released books, very occasional convention reports and the occasional guest post. I'd like to do more with both sites - add reviews, more essays/articles, maybe even original short fiction - but we're only two people with lives and writing careers of our own and there is only so much two people can do.

Also, a lot of indies have no problem blowing hundreds on BookBub, AMS, Facebook ads, etc... but balk at writing a guest post for a site that's free.

There also were quite a few promo sites, Bookbub alternatives, etc... run by indie authors. Most of them didn't last long, because they couldn't get attention.

Yes, there's a lot of work involved. Unfortunately, I do not write in your genres. The other side of the coin is that I've written guest blog posts repeatedly but it's as if they went into a black hole. Stupidly, I recently signed up to do another, so we'll see how that goes.

[notthatamanda]

We all do.

But those who know, won't share.

Or those for whom it works, use something most of us can't duplicate.

But start the thread anyway, one never knows.

I can't fault them for that.  An effective strategy becomes less effective the more people start using it.

Having said that, I will ship homemade chocolate hazelnut kahlua cheesecake anywhere in the world it's legal if someone can clue me in on scaling up effectively.

That's three effective-s.  Maybe I just stink as a writer.

[TimothyEllis]

That's three effective-s.  Maybe I just stink as a writer.

I find using the same word 3 or 4 times like that is very effective. 

[RiverRun]

I'm posting a link to Cora's Indie Crime scene site. http://indiecrimescene.blogspot.com/ She featured my new mystery for free, and I think it helped me sell a couple of copies, since I've done no other promotion except posting on my Facebook author page (which is mostly friends and family who don't read much and people who liked my Christian romance books.) It was a great feature to receive for free.

Here's her spec. fic. website I think. http://indiespecfic.blogspot.com/

I think people who do this have to really love this kind of thing, because it is a lot of work and I would think the burn out rate would be high, especially if you were just in it for the money.