Just a quick aside here. I don’t spend a lot of money on advertising my books… to do even the modest amount that’s usually recommended for independent authors is way, way out of my budget. I try to save the money I do have to devote towards my work for editing first, and then art assets second, with advertising a distant and terrifying third.
Now, if I were a businessperson, chances are pretty good that those numbers should be flipped straight on their head. Advertising first, because it doesn’t matter how good your book is if nobody reads it, art second because it doesn’t matter if people see your book but are immediately turned off by an ugly cover, and then editing third because once they’ve bought your book who cares. But I’m not interested in being a flash-in-the-pan. I want to be doing this for decades to come, and that means people need to know I make good products, and that I deeply care about how the finished product looks and reads.
I want people to like my work and to want more of it.
Anyway, what this means is that my monthly advertising budget is usually around $20. Most months it doesn’t hit that amount. But that’s okay, because in order for it to hit $20, it should really be selling at least $20 worth of books, and that’s equally rare… these days I only sell ten books or more on a week that I release a new book.
Small potatoes.
But regardless, important ones I suppose. Hopefully the things I learn by running these small (tiny, really) advertising campaigns will eventually let me be somewhat successful if I have to do it for a thousand dollar campaign (which, again, is the minimum I have seen recommended for independent authors). And last month I sold $15 worth of books, and the advertising only cost me $10, so that’s pretty much a win.
Now, if I could just multiply all those numbers by a thousand, I would be so happy…