IWSG Blog Hop: Money and Marketing #IWSGbloghop

 

Hello and Welcome to the Focused on Story Blog 
AND the Insecure Writers Support Group Blog Hop

Insecure Writer's Support Group Blog Hop

Always on the first Wednesday of the month.

#IWSGbloghop

Happy IWSG Blog Hop Day!

What is the Insecure Writer's Support Group?

Founded by author Alex J. Cavanaugh, the Insecure Writer’s Support Group offers support for writers and authors alike. It provides an online database, articles and tips, a monthly blog posting, a Facebook and Instagram group, Twitter, and a monthly newsletter. To find out more, click this link:  Insecure Writer’s Support Group

The purpose of the group is 

* to share and encourage. 

* Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. 

* Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. 

*It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! 

You're invited to become a member of this supportive group. Click here to sign-up and join.

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Thank you to the awesome co-hosts for the June 2 posting of the IWSG: J Lenni Dorner, Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre, Lee Lowery, and Rachna Chhabria!

June 2 question - For how long do you shelve your first draft, before reading it and re-drafting? Is this dependent on your writing experience and the number of stories/books under your belt?

The quick and easy answer to this question is, "I don't know." I never thought about planning on a time to re-visit the first draft. Again, I don't know if the timing depends on my writing experience. I believe it depends more on how frustrated I am with the finishing of the draft. If it has been difficult, then I leave it until I can't sleep because ideas of how to fix it keep me awake at night! 

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Money and Marketing

 Money and Marketing
Bag of cash
Image by Mudassar Iqbal from Pixabay 

My memoir was released in January. I was pleased it reached #1 in the new releases category, so I decided while the buzz was around the release, I would pay a person to do the promotion for me. I added my humble attempts of doing it too. I did sell copies with the paid marketing. Plus I bought a FB ad and ran it for 5 days. I broke even after splitting the royalties with my publisher. 

The virtual book tour ended in February. Big thank you to my friends I have met through IWSG for getting the word out about the release. The hoopla around the release has disappeared even though I have been pretty consistent in shouting about the memoir on FB groups. But, sales have dropped, really dropped. 

I have a few presentations scheduled for this summer and am considering attending craft fairs and festivals. But to reach readers on a larger scale, I have pretty much reconciled I will have to spend cash to get the book in front of them. But will it be worth the expenditure? 

I have seen reports on how much the NY publishers spend on making their books into best-sellers and how much successful indie authors allocate 1000s of dollars to advertising to make their books #1.

Do authors have to pay their way to sell books?  I guess I have been naive all these years thinking a well-written story, a well-designed book cover, catchy description and the right keywords will do it. But, I am doubting that assumption now.

Selling books is like selling shampoo or cars. The more advertising, the more sales. We have to recognize we are in business, and our books are our products. 

What are your thoughts on this? Do you rely on free, organic, word-of-mouth advertising or do you pay for ads? Where is the best place to get the most bang from your marketing buck? Thank you.

Click here to visit more bloggers in the IWSG Hop.

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Arranging a Dream: A Memoir
by J.Q. Rose
Heart-tugging and Inspiring

And speaking of marketing...😊😎😉

My books, released by BWL Publishing, are 30% off with the code RK43L during the Spring into Summer Smashwords event during the entire month of June!! 

Click here to download them now!

The Rose Courier

Click here to sign up to receive the updates, articles, freebies, photos and fun in the Rose Courier. 

Thank you.

Figuring Out How to Create a Facebook Ad, This Week

Tulip time at our house
Photo by JQ Rose

Hello and welcome! Spring is in the air and while we are basking in the cool spring weather and enduring Mother Nature's tantrums, my thoughts and prayers are with those in other parts of the US who are enduring tornadoes and floods.

Figuring Out How to Create a Facebook Ad

Last week I tried something new and failed. But it was a good learning experience.

I decided to advertise on Facebook. My updated e-book for girls, Girls Succeed! is on sale for 99 cents through Wednesday. So I tried to "boost" a post on my J.Q. Rose Author page about the sale. I sweated over every detail--gender, age group, dollar amount to spend on the ad. Then I used my new book cover for the image. 

Girls Succeed! Stories Behind the Careers of Successful Women
Inspiring and empowering girls.

The ad was rejected because I had too much text on the image. Say what? It's the book cover, for Pete's sake, and the ad is all about the book's special price. I shook my head in disbelief. 

FB has a "grid tool" to check to see if the image is too wordy, so I uploaded the file and discovered I had 64% text on the page--way beyond the maximum of 20% text. 

I opened my trusty canva.com to design a less wordy image for the ad. I tried five times before I finally caught on.

After the book cover, I pared down the words,
but it didn't pass because too much text covered the space.

So I decided to make the font smaller. But still too much coverage.

I finally decided to just put the words at the top instead of using space at the bottom. And it worked!  I have to keep the words, Girls Succeed, so close to the top because I can't lower the second line or it will be in another box on the grid and put me over the 20% text allowed. 

$$$$

My next hurdle was to decide how much to spend on the ad. FB is recommended for advertising because it has the ability to make choices on the targets or audience for the ad's message. One day costs $5.00, so I decided to be wild and crazy and spend $10. for two days, but when I put that amount in, it said I could get 3 days for $3.33 a day. Hmmm, does that mean I get fewer ads for $3.33 a day, but more days for my $10.? I don't know the answer to that question, but I'm sure somewhere in their support information I could find the answer. But at that point I was just too frustrated to continue or even think about wrestling with the process again. 

Have you noticed how they are paring down views on your author page when mentioning your books or blog posts? Yes, they want you to boost the post. And honestly, $5. is very reasonable. It just strikes me as odd how a picture of my tulips will get hundreds of views! 

Have you tried using Facebook to advertise? Please share your experience with FB. 

Feel free to include your FB page link in your comment so we can like it. Here's my link to my J.Q. Rose page http://facebook.com/jqroseauthor

This Week:

Wednesday, May 4--Join in The Insecure Writers Support Group blog hop. Visit  100's of writers' blogs for inspiration, fun and wise advice.

Romamce Readers Want to Know
Every Thursday on the J.Q. Rose blog

Thursday, May 5--Southern author Gail Brannan answers reader's questions. You're invited to come back and ask her about her writing process.