OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! ā Joanna Penn
Generally, I'm a fan of free marketing like blogging, social networking, podcasting and video creation. All these things take time but are free or very cheap. But sometimes, there is a place for paid advertising, especially around the time of a book launch and I'll be using Facebook for the Pentecost launch.
A few years ago, Google Adwords was all the rage but now the keywords are so expensive as to be crippling especially for authors who don't have much budget. So, in order to create targeted advertising to the smallest budget, you can now use Facebook advertising for your book so I thought you might like to know more as well.
You may have seen adverts on the sidebar of your account and increasingly, there are books and audio-books advertised. Before Christmas I decided to spend $50 to increase the number of people downloading the free chapters of Pentecost. I had been given some free credit to be used within a short amount of time, so why not try it? The advert is shown left and below are some tips to help you.
Decide on your target market.
The truly amazing thing about Facebook advertising is that you can target your demographic. This will impact the number of people who will see the advert and also how much it will cost you. You need to decide on country, city, gender, age range, likes and dislikes and you can go down into further splits. As you change the demographics, you'll see how many people the advert could be shown too. The more specific you can be, the better your chances an ad will have an impact.
Create a targeted headline.
You can see on my advert above that I had a headline referencing James Rollins. I think my thriller is similar to some of Rollins' books and so I targeted his fans in the demographics (i.e. people who ‘like' James Rollins). The headline meant that their eyes would be drawn to it as they had already expressed a preference for his books.
I could have also used the same advert with the headline “Like Dan Brown?” and changed my demographic accordingly. It's incredibly important to target the market like this or you'll be wasting clicks. There's no point in advertising a romance novel to James Rollins fans! So think about how you can target a market. For example, a travel book about cycling around the world could be marketed to people who like ‘mountain-biking' or ‘travel'. Which is more specific?
You can also split test ads i.e. create several versions with different headlines or text and then rotate them. Check to see which performs the best and then use that to continue the campaign with. Tim Ferriss (NY Times bestsellers 4 hour work week and 4 hour body) used Facebook advertising split tests to decide on his book titles.
Use a compelling image and text.
There are only a few lines of text available in the body of the advert so make it count. It's very restrictive around what you can do e.g. you can't use all capitals or unconventional punctuation. You also want people to click so you need to word it in an enticing manner or make an obvious call to action e.g. click to buy now. Lorna Jane is a fitness-wear company for women and had a great advert that increases the number of fans for their page as well as promoting a competition. The call to action is very clear.
You also need an eye-catching image so people even look at the adverts. Make sure your book cover looks great as a thumbnail size image. You'll also need a specific landing page i.e. where people go when they click. This could be your Amazon buy page or a webpage specifically for buying the book.
Decide on your budget and length of campaign.
You can control how much you spend and how long you want to run the campaign for. I used $50 maximum over 7 days for the free download. For the Pentecost launch, I will probably invest $200 for 1 week in order to boost the numbers of books sold. I may also primarily target Kindle owners who generally read voraciously and can instantly download a sample. You can see the numbers on the left. Playing around with budget and targeting is a big part of the setup. Otherwise, it is very simple.
Make sure you set an end date on the campaign or the money will just keep going out!
In the week I ran the campaign, I had 60 clicks from the advert and 34 downloads of the first 3 chapters of Pentecost which cost me $40.19 (but it was free as a had a coupon). I will do some more specific measuring when I have the book available for sale but if all 34 had bought the ebook for $2.99, I would have made a small amount of money. Given the very small margin for books, it's not a surprise that there aren't more books advertised. But I think for a specific launch period, it's definitely worth it to raise awareness to try to spike your Amazon ranking which in turn can get you more sales.
It's worth looking at the demographics even if you aren't going to sign up for an ad campaign. You'll get an idea of how big your market is anyway. You can access Facebook Ads here and they have plenty of help.
Have you tried Facebook advertising for your book? Does it sound like something you could use? Please let me know what you think in the comments.
Brett says
Yeh I can’t wait to see the results after I test run a facebook add for my first book. I love your idea of offering sample chapters and I think I’ll model that. Even if they don’t buy Im sure to get a few fans out of it.
Good luck with the launch Joanna
Joanna Penn says
Thanks Brett. I will be running wekk 7-12 Feb for the real thing so I will post the results after that.
Livia Blackburne says
Good post. Why are you targeting US readers specifically? Is it because they’re more likely to own kindles?
Joanna Penn says
Hi Livia,
There are 20 million people in Australia.
There are 65 million people in UK
and there are 260 million in America š
So I target the US because it’s a larger market – and because they have more Kindles, more of everything actually
(and ‘cos I love you guys!)
Wendy A.M. Prosser says
Hope you’ll keep us updated on the success of your ad strategy! Shows how important it is for writers to identify their target audience as early as possible, preferably in the planning stage before the writing begins.
Joanna Penn says
Absolutely Wendy. I identified my audience before writing and specifically wrote for that genre.
Sarah Allen says
Ooh, this is so cool! I’m such a geek when it comes to marketing, for some reason I find it fascinating. I’m not quite to the coming out with a new book stage, but I hopefully will be soon, and I’ll for SURE be looking into this as a marketing strategy.
Sarah Allen
(my creative writing blog)
Joanna Penn says
Thanks Sarah. It’s great to hear someone else is fascinated with marketing. I LOVE marketing and am always reading on new aspects of it. Strange as I always considered it a bad thing until I started investigating and now it’s addictively fun!
Krissy Brady | Sell Crazy Someplace Else says
So am I! Online marketing especially is fascinating, as there is literally no limit to what you can do. Sometimes I get lost in all there is to learn, and it makes it fulfilling to take what you learn and help others get on the bandwagon. It’s so important, especially for writers who need that extra creative edge to succeed.
Doug Jackson says
I think it’s a great idea, Joanna. Relatively cheap, precisely targeted and above all very simple. I tried to get my publisher interested when my last book came out, but my suggestion disappeared into the system. I’ll try again this year with Defender of Rome, but if they don’t go for it I’ll fund it myself and see if it pushes me up the Amazon rankings.
Doug Jackson (Caligula, Claudius, Hero of Rome)
Joanna Penn says
ooh, I love ancient history. I’ll go look up your books!
I guess that’s one of the benefits of being indie, you don’t have to ask anyone! I have heard that some publishers will reimburse you if you have a great idea so maybe you can ask if it works.
Rob Kennedy says
I have had a Facebook ad for a week now. I have sold books, but can’t tell if it’s through the Facebook ad or my own promotion.
I imagine they are not allowed to give out such info, but how do I track who is buying my books. Through Oronjo I can, through Amazon I can’t. This is the past I’d like to know more about, whi is buying my books!
Joanna Penn says
Hi Rob,
What you do is set up a special landing page on your site and use that in the facebook advert only so you can tell where the sales are coming from. You can buy a URL for $10 from GoDaddy or the like and then redirect it to separate pages or just use that page in the advert. Hope that helps.
Thanks, Joanna
Simon Hay says
Thanks for the information. I’d consider doing this. It doesn’t seem to be time consuming, and I always believe we have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Joanna Penn says
Exactly – what’s $50 to give it a try and see if it’s effective!
Krissy Brady says
Joanna darling, I will be getting in touch with you either in the wee hours this morning, or this evening–my computer came down with a virus and I am waiting on a new hard drive. š
This post instantly caught my attention. I simultaneously set up Google Adwords ads and facebook ads for my blog at the beginning of the month. Google Adwords sucked up $75 in the blink of an eye, and while I received hits, no conversion into actual followers. For the word count you get and for how complicated it is to target your market, forget it! Who has the time? I cancelled my account.
As for facebook, my hits tripled (AND I received triple the hits that I was receiving from Adwords for way less money), AND I’ve been receiving not only more comments on my blog, but personal e-mails from visitors too who said they found my blog through facebook.
The things I like most about facebook ads are a) they give you a reasonable amount of characters to say what you want to, b) it’s a budget I can afford, and c) they make it so easy to target your market.
Joanna Penn says
Thanks Krissy. I’m so glad you have some proof of the advertising differences. I tried Google a few years ago and it was expensive even then. I think Facebook ads are only just being discovered and as you say, are SO easy to use. Thanks!
Krissy Brady | Sell Crazy Someplace Else says
My pleasure! I have now made it a regular routine to create ads each time I add a new article to my blog as well. I can now see, based on clicks, which articles receive a response so that I can pinpoint the types of articles that are most in demand, which only ups the quality of the blog content we can offer our visitors.
Lovelyn says
Thanks for the types about Facebook ads. I don’t have any experience with advertising at all. My husband used Google Adwords to advertise his last album and could really get the hang of it. Facebook ads seem easier.
Joanna Penn says
Facebook ads are definitely easier than Google!
Kevin L. Godbold says
Johanna,
I just read your blog in full, and I think it is very interesting. I have seen adverts on the side of the facebook comment pages, and I think that this could be a very good idea for me to post my advert. However, my computer posting skills are very limited, and unless it is a step-by-step process, I feel that I will have problems trying to post a advert without immediate help. That is selecting an image, (the cover of my book is rather eye-catching,) defining just what and who is in my demographic. For the most closes demographic my book is geared toward Christian readers. Setting up a link to my Amazon.com page is another situation that I do not know how to do. I am not sure that I can make the postings without tech support. Moreover, my publisher has a marketing department that set-up my Amazon and Kindle page for me. They are in the process of creating for me an ad page in an advertisement booklet that is sent to all the major Churches and book stores. Nevertheless, I still feel that a facebook advert page could be good for me in marketing my book. Can you address my issues with posting a facebook advert which I stated in this e-mail?
Joanna Penn says
Hi Kevin,
You really don’t need any skill to use the Facebook ads. It’s best to just go and try to do it yourself or ask the publisher too.
I seriously think it is more worthwhile than print advertising in terms of cost. You can target “Christians” in specific area or even church FB pages. Best go look at the page and have a play around. You just need a facebook account, you don’t need to pay any money to try it out.
Thanks, Joanna
Tony Eldridge says
I have been eying Facebook’s ad. I’m eager to hear what kind of results you get from them.
Kevin L. Godbold says
Johanna,
Are you saying that you can create for me the advert for facebook designed for my book, and in the demographic geared towards my book, with a link to my Amazon.com page? I talked to my publishers marketing agent and he thinks that it is a good idea. Their services does not go into the facebook market. So Johanna, what can you do for me?
Krissy Brady | Sell Crazy Someplace Else says
Hi there Kevin,
You are able to link a facebook advertisement directly to your Amazon page, using the instructions Joanna has posted above, and all through your personal facebook account. It’s a step-by-step process that facebook gives you, where you choose the keywords of your demographic (you would use Christian as one of your keywords), then facebook finds how many people are a part of facebook that your ad would suit. You can narrow down your demographic even further, choosing where you want to advertise (internationally, US, Canada, etc.) to make sure your ad is being shown exactly to who you want to see it. It’s a great process, and once you get the hang of it, you could do it with your eyes closed.
I could post where you have to go in your facebook account to get to the advertising section to test it out, if you’d like?
Joanna Penn says
Thanks for your help Krissy!
Krissy Brady | Sell Crazy Someplace Else says
My pleasure! We’re in this crazy industry together. š
Joanna Penn says
Sorry Kevin, I don’t do marketing for people, I just show people possibilities and share what I am doing.
You can try asking Alexis http://alexisgrant.com/socialexis/ who does social media for people – she may have availability but you’ll need to contact her directly.
All the best.
Kevin L. Godbold says
Johanna,
Kissy Brady sent me some information on setting up facebook advertisements I think I would like to try. Nonetheless, Kissy Brady tells me that she can put me on the step-by-step facebook site, and then of course I now have Alexis Grant’s web link if I need help. Thank you, you have been very helpful.
Kevin
Krissy Brady | Sell Crazy Someplace Else says
Hi there Kevin,
Do you already have a personal facebook account setup? Are you looking to setup a facebook page to promote your writing, or just the facebook ads that go on the right to link to your website and Amazon link? Feel free to e-mail me directly with the info: info@justjoanmarketing.com and I can send you instructions on what to do. š
cb says
Definitely split test first people… don’t just wing it wing one ad. That’s a great way to waste cash.
Try 20-50 different ads – using different titles, images and descriptions.
Joanna’s ‘Love James Rollins?’ is a very good use of title. Pose a question and get the customer to interact.
The description can be constantly altered to test effectiveness: ‘A power kept secret for 1000 years. A brotherhood broken by murder. Try the free chapters now!’
Like Joanna said; the call to action is important. People need instruction or approval to do something.
You can also try really short descriptions or titles that bait even more – Better than James Rollins?
The key is to Drill down on your key audience – eg, people who like James Rollins – but target each demographic (18-25M, 18-25F, 26-35M etc). Ads will work differently with each demographic. There’s a famous ‘Gray Shirt Girl’ used in dating ads that converts above all other images for a particular demographic! Also, images of people/faces convert better than all else. Many tests have proven this.
When you get your reports at the end of the campaign you will also discover what other books and movies your James Rollins readers have ‘Liked’ – this will allow you to scale up even further allowing you to trawl outside of Rollins readers.
Also, you don’t have to bid at the suggested bid. You can low-ball with CPC and CPM both then up the bid during the campaign run. These costs will be vastly different dependent on your demographic. It is possible to pay less than 5 cents a click with the right ad.
A winning campaign comes from finding the ad that gets good CTR for each demographic. Delete all the crap ones. Scale up the good ones. Once you have good CTR you will notice a reduction in your actually cost compared to bid. Also, you may get people to your site/fan page but you then need to think about your landing page layout … you must tweek this to convert traffic to a sale. This will of course take time and testing.
Good luck all.
Joanna Penn says
That’s fantastic extra info CB. I know what you are suggesting is a lot of extra work but it will definitely make a difference to people’s campaigns. In terms of images, most people would use their book cover as an image but I agree in terms of rotation of headlines and descriptive text. Thanks.
cb says
Okay, Joanna, I’ll give you another way to look at the image thing.
Get rid of the book cover and place an image of Robert Patterson in there, then redo the headline with something like: Sexier than Twilight?
For your book maybe you can grab an image of Audrey Tautou or Tom Hanks and play the Da Vinci Code angle?
Think way outside the box with this stuff. I can guarantee you that often times it is the most unusual and tenuous link to your product that will catch the customer’s attention. Remembering that you have to grab their attention first … then get them to read the headline … then the description … then hit the ad … etc etc.
Even try your own face on the ad … then chuck up a headline that says: Love yours bookish? Target men (single, married etc) 25-45.
I’m not kidding! The results will may surprise you.
Whatever you do, do not think mainstream print media type ads are the best converters … they aren’t. The only reason crap like traditional ads works in old media is because advertisers actually can’t prove whether they work or not.
On Facebook you will find what works within a day or two.
Remember: TEST TEST TEST. It sucks, but you just may be rewarded. š
Joanna Penn says
You really are very helpful! That’s great thanks. I might try something along those lines, play up the Lara Croft type angle!
cb says
Ha ha!!
Lara Croft is a brilliant angle to play!
BTW: I like the burning ghat scene. Brought back Diwali in Varanasi. Firecrackers, sandalwood pyres, flowers, insanity. Ahh, India, I need to revisit!
Joanna Penn says
Glad you enjoyed. I LOVED India and Varanasi was amazing. Both the burning ghats at night and dawn over the Ganges. I’ll see you back over there š
cb says
One last thing, Joanna.
FB ads may not be the best way to promote your book.
Personally, I think you could create a better marketing base by promoting your MysteryThrillerTv page. The fact that you are generating content already makes this a no-brainer. Plus it will index better with Google over time.
Advertise that page on FB and get people to like it (with an incentivised welcome page – see below). This will allow you to pick up fans of ALL mystery thrillers. The on-sell from there is a little easier and, of course, not as blatant.
You can also advertise direct to people who ‘Like’ your page via the FB ad dashboard. And … if you can get people to ‘Like’ each post you will get your updates onto their news feed (not every post goes onto people’s news feeds, the FB algorythm pushed popular posts as a priority – well, that’s my understanding).
To incentivise your page simply cut and paste the below FBML into a new tab – remembering that you will need to change the page status on your wall to default to the new tab as landing page. You would also need to delete my images from the code below and place in your own images. Chuck them on flickr or photobucket and you shouldn’t have any problems.
The preview of this test page can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/BuzzPages-Caloundra/126950104032423
You can ‘Like’ it and then ‘Unlike’ it to see how easily it works.
There are two images – a blurred background to mess with people’s heads! And the landing page proper once they click ‘Like’.
Also, use the profile pic to maximise the available real estate. Brand it. And brand it big. I’m not sure how savvy you are with photoshop but it is worth doing.
FBML CODE:
#wrapper {
width:520px;
height:731px;
margin:0 auto;
border:0;
padding:0;
position:relative;
text-align: center;
}
#not-fans {
width:520px; /* This is the width of FB default page image */
position:absolute; top:0; left:0;
height:731px; /* This should be changed to the height of your image */
}
Okay, I won’t labour the topic on your blog anymore!
As for India … I’ll be heading back when I’m a millionaire … because I need to be able to hire some poor soul to wrangle two tireless toddlers! I can’t imagine travelling the sub-continent with kids … barely able to deal with them in my own home. š
cb says
Sorry, comments ate some of the FBML.
If anyone wants it, the code can be found here:
http://buzzmonster.com.au/wp-content/uploads/FBML.html
Inglath Cooper says
Really good info on Facebook advertising. Appreciate the emphasis on importance of specific targeting. Thank you!