Addled and Rattled

The first advert to appear on national UK television in 1955 was a tube of Gibbs SR toothpaste immersed in a block of ice. Black and white of course. It made headlines in the national press, which meant that Gibbs had stolen a march on their rivals, albeit temporarily. Their target audience was anyone watching the TV, their audience reach was anyone watching the TV as well, and the knock-on effect was carried over in the newspapers to a huge audience. Job done. But how would they achieve that in today’s modern world of advertising? Indie authors are well aware of the need to advertise their books, but only a minority are able to achieve the desired results. Sure, there is a great deal of information out there, some of it very good, but boy, is it complicated.

On the Mark Dawson SPF Facebook group, the question was posted by one member about the cost of advertising. He had spent $40 and had no sales, and that was on AMS and BookBub. He asked what would be a reasonable amount to spend? The first reply was from a lady writer who said she spent $400 a DAY! No, that’s not a misprint. It was followed by a perfectly understandable query about the cost, but she replied that she didn’t begin that way; she kept it small: $75 a day and gradually built up as she sold more books. Another writer pitched in who was spending $200 a day, and further responses went as high as $1200. This is when I felt myself shrinking back in my chair.

Of course, those who posted those enormous figures did claim that it meant a great deal of testing and changing their adverts on a constant, almost daily basis. There was talk of distorted CTR as a result of a badly configured ad, not targeting the right audiences with the right authors, split testing using the same advert but with a different daily spend, daily budget and careful monitoring. Now I’m on my knees and struggling to get back into my chair. It’s clear to me that my pathetic attempts at promotion and marketing are infantile, and no way are they going to achieve one sale. My only recourse is to rely on organic sales.

Another question was posed on the Indie author mindset — this is Adam Croft’s group — about what price is better? The consensus of opinion came down to a price higher than the bog standard $2.99/$0.99, and pitch the book at $3.99 and go up from there. So I decided to follow that conventional wisdom and advertise my crime novel, Where the Wicked Dwell (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WD8988W) at $3.99. My results thus far on AMS are 1300 impressions and a spend of $0.55. On BookBub it’s about 1400 impressions and a cost of $5.00. So, after four days I have achieved zilch. What must I do now? Well, according to a lot of answers I’ve seen, I must spend up to at least $100 a day, split test my ads, change the authors I’ve referenced in my ads, select a different target audience, change my daily budget, get the money spent quickly rather than spread the cost over too long a period, and get a gun and shoot myself in the foot so I would have a good reason to be hopping mad! But no, I’m not going to do any of that; I’m going to be really cool and typically British. I will soldier on and prove them all wrong because my books will sell themselves, right? Yeah, I thought so.

Back in the real world, I have made some progress on my WIP and come up with a dramatic arc that will (should) make the reader wonder where the hell I’m going with it. But I’ve given it some thought and believe it will be a big help. I’ve been editing the story with the aid of Scrivener where I keep a scene by scene copy of the book, and rearranging some of the character’s situations too. I’ve only increased the word count marginally, but I believe I can see a way through to reaching a minimum of 60,000 words as I get to the end.

Looking ahead, I hope to get to our CHINDI meeting on Thursday in Arundel. That will be the book group’s tri-monthly gathering, simply to get to know each other, meet face to face and generally talk about books. Should be good.

Those of you who have been following my blog and wonder how my wife Pat is getting on: so far we are no further forward. Pat has been referred to the haematology department for further investigation. Poor girl is fed up with it all. So am I. But we’ll persevere. Wish us luck!

Where's that Holy Grail?

Most of us know what it’s like to fail at some stage in our lives, but I wonder how many of us have profited from that failure? To get up and try again often results in some kind of success, and most writers have succeeded by not giving up. The country’s Brexit failure makes me wonder if our representatives in Parliament will adopt that attitude and not give up. No doubt readers here will have their own opinions, but we all need to see some light at the end of the tunnel. And so it is with indie writers. I’m sure we all struggle and suffer from self-doubt. If you don’t, please email me the secret and I’ll soak it up. I watched a podcast from the LBF of Barry Hutchinson, a children’s author, being interviewed. He is (was) a professional writer working for comic books here and in UK, and penning endless children’s stuff for Harper Collins. He was asked to give a talk at a school on self-publishing. It was then he realised he didn’t know how to self-publish. So he knocked out a quick children’s Sci-Fi, uploaded it on to Kindle and started selling about twelve books a day immediately. No advertising, no back catalogue, no knowledge. Now he’s on a roll and has finished with trad publishing. I uploaded my latest Pulp Fiction thriller about four weeks ago, sold about 40 copies through my subscribers, and then about six over the next few weeks. I’m advertising too on Amazon and BB. I have a back list, plenty to offer, but still struggle to find that magic: the stuff that has readers beating a path to my door, wanting to read anything I’ve written. But I won’t give up; I’ll still pile in there and hope to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Next week I hope to hear from James Blatch of SPF about the Book Lab interview. He told me it should be early April, so I’m expecting a call and then that moment when the experts take me apart. But I’ve promised myself I’ll use their advice and spend some money on a new jacket and a ‘relaunch’.

Talking of James Blatch and SPF, during their podcast from the LBF, Mark Dawson said there was a good chance of an SPF gathering in London next year, and probably at Amazon’s HQ. Should be good. It will be well attended, I know, and it’s something I will certainly try to get to. I did think of going to the LBF next year, but the SPF do, if it comes off, will probably take precedence for me.

I picked up my WIP again, and have set every scene out on Scrivener, without chapter headings, and following what I hope is a logical chronological path. Next week I hope to expand it and bring the whole thing to a conclusion. Trouble is, I was standing at the kitchen sink peeling the spuds this morning when I came up with a twist that would blow the reader away. But to re-write the plot again would be too much for me. Mind you, I do have a habit of managing this kind of development. It usually gives me a headache, but isn’t that what writing does to us?

On the domestic front I have been given to all clear again from the cancer clinic: they don’t want to see me for another year. I had a follow-up referral for dental treatment meaning three extractions and dentures. Bang goes my author’s public image: it will play havoc with the selfies. Pat had a consultation with the surgeon who performed her op in London. We’re still no further forward with that and are waiting for results from one of the London hospitals. Hopefully we’ll know more on Monday. Wish us luck!

Busy, busy, busy.

Lot of book stuff for me during the week. I watched a webinar Monday evening about 9pm. It was with Mark Dawson and the chat was about book reviews: the right and the wrong way to go about them, how to get them and how to use them profitably. I also watched a podcast from the London Book Fair with James Blatch of SPF talking to the author, Michael Anderle; more about that later. I went back to editing my pulp fiction book, HUNTED, dived into my current WIP and received the first report for my Book Lab venture from Bryan Cohen. Oh, and while that was going on, I celebrated my birthday, took Pat to a cancer seminar at the hospital, took her to the doctor’s and also to the hospital after being called in for an ECG. Phew!

The talk about book reviews was informative and educational if you haven’t been down that road before. There was a great deal in it that I knew about, but never really managed to apply the philosophy successfully; and there were elements that I disagreed with. I think the idea of paying for reviews, however ‘legal’ it might be, is simply not something I ascribe to, which is probably why I don’t sell many books.

The interview with Michael Anderle was jaw-dropping in a way. It always amazes me when a writer decides to reshape the whole game of writing and self-publishing, and is turning over thousands of dollars within a couple of years. This guy not only decided he was not turning out books fast enough, but encouraged other authors to write with him and guarantee several books per month between them, simply to feed a market that I for one never knew existed. It was all about Science Fiction and Paranormal Fantasy, but with a kind of Orwellian twist. Certainly nothing I could get involved in. But for him and those who joined him, it works. And the turnover after five years from beginning was brilliant.

My initial Book Lab report from Brian Cohen included a new blurb for The Boy from Berlin, Amazon Ads headline options and options for Facebook ads. I can’t use these yet because I have to wait for James Blatch to speak to Jennie Nash who will be providing a critique, and Stuart Bache who will be offering advice and suggested changes to the book jacket. Once those interviews are over, James will contact me and conduct a video interview which will be published in April on the SPF You Tube channel. I plan to use the advice these experts offer, and will probably ask Stuart to do a book jacket for me. I won’t know how successful any of this is until I’ve tested it all on promotion and marketing.

I started editing HUNTED again because the inevitable happened: I picked up the paperback and immediately saw changes that were needed. We all know about typos etc., and how they slip through. I’ve edited the book twice and have been completely satisfied, so I thought, but now I have to do it all again.

I picked up my WIP and began looking at the chronological sequence of events, putting them all down on paper with the help of Scrivener. This meant I was able to fit the new character in that I introduced before Christmas without messing the story-line up, and it also gave me a clearer idea of where I was going with it.

And I now have some dental work coming up: totally unexpected, but it is what it is. So, what with dental appointments, Book Lab, rewrites and hospital appointments, I seem to have my hands full. Let’s hope it’s all worth it. Wish me luck!