Is it fair...? > Likes and Comments

As authors trying to get our work out there, and noticed in the vast ocean of publishing, marketing is obviously rather essential, but everything seems to cost money, like...everything, so us poor authors always seem to have to pay out to get our work noticed.

I came across this when trying to promote my books:

'pay when a shopper clicks your ad'

So when some clicks on an ad, I as the author have to pay. There's no guarantee they will buy the book.

Is that fair?

I think I can answer that myself. No, it's not. Just yet another example of greed.

I agree. Not fair.

Pretty much universal that one pays for advertising. Pay-per-click is ubiquitous on the net.

I think we're paying for the visibility, whether or not anyone clicks. The company has bills to pay, but the cost of each click! Yikes! And when we know that we need to get an awful lot of clicks before we get a sale, then it becomes prohibitively expensive for most.

I used to use this sort of advertising some years ago when the cost of a click was minimal, but now it is strictly limited.

For some historical perspective on pay-per-click advertising, in case it's of interest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project...

I agree. Doesn't seem fair, but what else is there? I recently switched genres from 37 published romance books to self-pubbing a cozy historical mystery. I mistakenly thought I had made something of a name for myself. Apparently not so. Would love ideas on how some of you have gotten traction on your self-pubbed books.
Cynthia Thomason
www.cynthiathomason.net

Wish I had some advice to give you.

Richard wrote: "For some historical perspective on pay-per-click advertising, in case it's of interest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project..."

Thank you!

John wrote: "As authors trying to get our work out there, and noticed in the vast ocean of publishing, marketing is obviously rather essential, but everything seems to cost money, like...everything, so us poor ..."

We live in a capitalistic society (and that's good!) where products compete in the market place. That's why any product launch involves advertising and promotion, and those cost $$s. Books are no exception--unless you'd like to see the hand of the government leading books it sees fit into the hands of consumers....

I'd like to hear from you how you envision a scenario in which a book gets serious attention without any money spent.

I always tell novice writers that completing the manuscript is the easy part. The harder--and expensive--part is getting the world to read it.

Bravo Talia. That is the reality we all must deal with. Thank you for putting it so cogently.