Support for Indie Authors discussion
Writing Process & Programs
>
How long did it take for your book to sell?
date
newest »
newest »
message 51:
by
Peter
(new)
Oct 26, 2020 05:43AM
I only have my first book, Preternatural, out now, but the second book in the series will be out in a few months. I saw the initial month it came out as the highest selling times, with lower, residual sales consistently each month or so since then.
reply
|
flag
Hello Peter,Though I am not sure about why the consecutive months get lower selling rates, my experience with my book has shown me that you have to keep advertising your book, even after the launch date. I have used a pre-order option and tried to promote my book via sending out ARCs and social media. If I want to keep my sales on a certain level, I guess I have to promote continuously. So yeah, advertising is a huge part. Promotions as well. Hope this helps.
Best,
Dion
Yes, Peter, I'm afraid Dion is right: advertising and promoting have to keep going most of the time.. At least that's what I find.
I wonder if this is true for chilren’s Books... do you need to set up ARCs?
Bit of a loaded question here lol. I started writing in 2010 and 6 books later I'm still waiting for those big sales.
Big sales isn't the most important, steady sales are. If you keep advertising (and that doesn't mean to your email list) you can keep steady sales is you get a lot of click throughs. The big sales are good, but keeping the stead sales is what you want. Steady sales means you are doing something right. You are getting Word of Mouth sales along with ad sales. That is you main goal. That is what will get that nice income. As you keep getting to new people, hopefully you'll get more regular sales. It all takes time.
Mod
I don't have much experience to share as my book is out for mere three weeks, and all I have so far is one sale and ~150 KU page reads on release day. Since that, nothing.
Not much book has been out three weeks, eight sales and no reviews so far.
What kind of advertising are you doing? Have you checked out Fussy Librarian or the other discounted book promoters? How about Twitter or Facebook groups? I'm in a bunch of history groups that focus on the era I write about and I think I've gotten a lot of sales that way. The thing about being an Indie writer that we all need to learn is that we are also Indie advertisers.
A favorite quote from PT Barnum: "A terrible thing happens without promotion. Nothing."
Good question Eileen. I’d like to know the answer also. Sorry I can’t help.
If you are an indie author, you are also an indie advertiser. Look for book promotions through various venues like Fussy Librarian. There is a folder in this group that lists all the promo sites others have used. Look at joint promotions. Bookfunnel offers those. I did a couple an they were great. I actually had 248 imprints from sending it out three times during the promotion and I'm a small time marketer.
There is a lot you can be doing, but word of warning....DO NOT SPAM. if you join a group, get to know them before you even mention you have a book out. Have your own facebook page. Spend $10 to promote it one a month. Advertise on Amazon. (it's cheaper than you might think) Leave business cards in various places where readers might go or book markers. Vista print is cheap and you can do your own designs in Canva, BookBrush, etc. Get that email list started (AXP, ProlificWriter and Bookfunnel all have email list builders) Send out something once a month about your book or you. have fun with it. Share your expertise. I'm one of those annoying people who was prepared for the mass runs on supplies in the store when COVID started. I wrote a newsletter on things you can do to be prepared that I learned while in Florida where we had hurricanes. I got over 50 people giving comments on that one. It's all about connecting to your readers or potential readers. Hoped that helps
I was just looking at my sales details yesterday so I thought I'd jump in and share a little bit. Short version: I started getting sales when I started doing promotions to put my books in front of readers. People need to know it exists first in order to buy it. Are they significant/big sales? Definitely not, but I'm learning as I go.
Long Version:
I started slow when it comes to self-publishing. I decided to start off by publishing a few short stories that I had in order to figure out how it works and get used to everything. And I started by putting the books up on Kobo, because it seemed the easiest and most author-friendly platform and is based in Canada so I thought it would be a good place to start. I eventually expanded to Amazon and Google Play, etc.
Anyway, I started publishing the short stories in Aug 2016.
It took a year and three months for me to get a single sale.
Yes, short stories are different from novels, and there are many factors to all this, but the bottom line is that for the first year and three months I was mostly focused on putting them up. Getting some kind of cover and just uploading it. I was also doing all kinds of "research" and wasting time overthinking prices, etc. When I finally started getting sales it was because I started to use the free promo sites posted here in this group. Things like bookoftheday and free99books and bookzio and stuff like that. I also discovered Kobo's promotions tab at around the same time and began using that. With these strategies I started to get one or two sales when I enter a promo or use one of these advertising sites.
I don't (yet) spend any money on advertising. I have a website all coded and ready, but I also decided not to spend money on hosting the website yet and am currently using blogger until I think I can justify the expense of hosting the website. Right now I'm just continuing to run promos and see what works and what doesn't, but I'm also collecting e-mails to start up a mailing list following some great suggestions from other indie authors in this group. Hopefully once my next novel is ready to roll out I'll have a decent sized e-mail list to use and a better grasp of what promo sites are worth my time and what ones aren't.
B.A. wrote: "I hate to break this to you, but publishing a book anywhere doesn't mean you are going to ever sell any books. There are over a 1000 book put up on Amazon daily. There are millions of books availab..."Great practical advice. Thank You.
Jason
The jury is still out on that one, although I have sold a number of copies, since my book's release, in Jan 2018. With my chosen genre (self-development), sales are slower, because my challenge is breaking through one of the toughest obstacles to overcome: the human ego.
Dave wrote: "Hello. My book, Sineria: The Great Kingdom, has been published for quite some time in different editions. My most recent edition, published on kdp on January 15, 2020, hasn't made a dime. I'd expec..."Dave, build up your platform and go from there. There are many books available showing you how to do it. Twitter has a huge community of persons buying and selling books.
I don't use Instagram much, but understand it is fast moving for book releases and advertisements.
Consistent marketing is the key to consistent sales. For beginners, I recommend David Gaughran's website, his free book Let's Get Digital, and his free course.
D. wrote: "Consistent marketing is the key to consistent sales. For beginners, I recommend David Gaughran's website, his free book Let's Get Digital, and his free course."I just learned about him too on Twitter, and enrolled in his class. It looks really good.
Here is the definitive answer according to all those who are marketers from large companies to authors: You do need an email list. Why do you think Amazon wants your email. Walmart. Home Depot, your Bank, etc...that email list is money. You can go to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. but you don't own those lists...the company does. Also they change the algorhythms any time they want where you can lose all your followers or buyers. Also, they cut the number of people who can see your list of ads when they want and you can't take those lists with you when you leave that platform.
Most of the studies done, show that your email list will get you more sales than any other platform out there. So, tell me again, why don't you want one? Sure, it takes up a little time, but not as much as you might think.
As for ads, you do need them, but you don't need to spend a fortune on them. It took me three months to spend $50 on Amazon but it did bring in some sales, but for nothing more than my time, I got as many sales from my email list.
David Guaghran is good. So is Tim Grahl who does marketing for a living. Nick Stephenson is also good. Derek Murphy (Creativindie) has a lot of free stuff out there. Joanna Penn also has a lot of free things as does Carla King.
Marketing is something anyone can learn. To get good at it, you need to put in the time and effort. That is my next year's goal. To get good at marketing since it is a thing that I've been putting off for way too long.
Here is the other thing to remember. For marketing to work, you need to have a good product. So the basis for your business is having great books to market. If the book isn't good, then you are spending money for something that isn't going to sell not matter how much you spend on it.
B.A. Great points. About the email, I have about 600 of them now but I'm stuck as to what interesting stuff I can send them or enough material for a monthly newsletter.
I need to make one of my 2012 to learn goals.
I've said this before, but it does need a repeat. They want to know about you, your life, your writing, your books. I've sent posts about my dogs, my wild life, my significant other who is a professional train robber, about my characters, about how I write and how I choose what I write. My most noted post was on prepping for the unexpected. That was when I went to the story and there were not paper products and no soap. I got over 50 responses on that of people thanking me for the information. I may send it out again. But here is the kicker, I learned from living in Florida after my first hurricane to keep things on hand including cash.
Just about anything goes, but make sure you have your books listed with a link to your website or where they are forsale. don't be afraid to ask them for help you...as beta readers, as ARC readers, to leave reviews, to send out that your book if for sale, etc. That is why you have this list, to help you sell books.
Get to know them. If you aren't bugging them every day, you can get decent open rates. (Mine is 40%) and click rates (10%) and buyers (80% of the 10%) which are decent stats for a list. The 40% is high, but then again, I'm not always asking them to buy books but I do link to promotions or other's people's books that I've read that I liked.
It's your list, use it as you would like others to treat you when you sign up for a list. FYI it do unsubscribe if all I get is 'buy my book'. Give me something else to read or I don't open your email.
B.A., thank you very much for your insights. They seem straightforward and doable. I've always talked me out of the mailings (except for an occasional one) thinking what I want to send my contacts is too basic. I'll definitely start sending monthly newsletters from January of 2021.
Thanks again.
B.A. wrote: "If you are an indie author, you are also an indie advertiser. Look for book promotions through various venues like Fussy Librarian. There is a folder in this group that lists all the promo sites ot..."Thanks for the insight. I’m working on my short story with poems now. I’ll add some of your ideas in my marketing strategy.
Hey guys, This is a fascinating discussion. I'm a new writer, with books that first appeared in 2018. The reviews, especially the more recent ones, have been okay. My sales are lousy.
There's an entire cottage industry out there implying that sales depend on the quality of your cover or your writing. Hire a professional editor!!! How many times have I heard that?
But here's the thing: I have run numerous searches on Amazon, and I have yet to find any of my books in the first twenty pages of results.
The big challenge, I think, is getting a book in front of anyone's eyeballs.
So I think the early sales depend more on marketing than the writing or the art. I'm cool with that... my marketing efforts are lousy, but I got into this to write, not to be a marketer or a blogger.
If you think this is stupid, you might be right, and I forgive you.
Write on.
Hey Roger, what you’ve posted (about rather writing than marketing)... I could have written exactly the same to explain how I feel about it. I had visions of contacting a super-yacht builder and then the Ferrari factory. Then, I just hoped I’d recover the cost of artwork, professional readers and all the rounds of editing. Now I get excited if I see the sales counter labour around one more click. And I’m totally with you (and I reckon most would agree) — if you could get people to read your book, you’d start getting traction.
Ho hum
Mod
This is pretty much a fact. So far, I haven't done any marketing at all, and my results are 3 sales (one was me, one was a gaming friend, and one is unknown), and one full read via KU from a member of this group.
However, marketing is pretty much impossible without having at least a few reviews, and getting them without visibility is difficult. And getting visibility without marketing... I guess you get the point.
So, the hardest part is to find the first early readers.
First of all, if you are a writer, you will need to learn marketing because no one will do it for you. If you are doing it right, you should only be spending a few hours a week on marketing. That includes emails, newsletters, ads, etc. Yeah, those all go together. If you want sales, you are the one who has to put it out there that you have a book.Long story short, the easiest, cheapest way is to have that email list, keep them engaged, get them to share your newsletters/blog, etc. Remember, contact once every couple of weeks will keep them there. They are also the ones most likely to buy your book.
A few Amazon ads, maybe a couple of FaceBook will help, but keep the spend rate low and reasonable. I ran an Amazon ad and spent less than $20 for the month but few sales from it directly. I get more sales from my list or word of mouth than anything else.
You do have to do the work of marketing. Use that email list or the people you know to spread the word. Remember, it is all an uphill climb as you are starting in the dungeon and need to work your way to the tower top.
Write short, write fast; write something people want to read; have the mechanics of writing down before you publish.Have a great cover, give away tons of books (lots of marketing) and don't take forever to get your series published. Forget the list and do it later. Spend your time writing and promoting.
I know someone who has done this--and years later the series is still - and always -- in the top 100.
B.A. wrote: "First of all, if you are a writer, you will need to learn marketing because no one will do it for you. If you are doing it right, you should only be spending a few hours a week on marketing. That i..."Everything B.A. says, except I personally think Facebook ads are a waste. I don't think I've ever bought anything from a Facebook ad, and I generally ignore them. I think Amazon ads work best because the people there are actually looking for books. You might also try a Goodreads give-away. I'm not sure how many reviews I've gotten from them, but at least a few.
As for Facebook, I write historical fiction and am involved in Facebook groups that focus on the period I write about. That's one place I've gotten a lot of sales. There are Facebook groups for a lot of things, maybe you could find one that works for your book. If you just publish on Amazon, you could do a few free book days, let the people in the groups know about it, and I'm pretty sure you'll give away a ton of books. You won't get that many reviews back (sad to say) but you'll get some. It's a start.
I have tried posting ads on Twitter but right now it's just drenched in book ads (and ads for everything else!). I believe the sales I've gotten on Twitter are again from people interested in the era I write about and comment about on Twitter. If they decide to friend me they'll see my books. I link to my blog posts too.
M.L. wrote: "Write short, write fast; write something people want to read; have the mechanics of writing down before you publish.Have a great cover, give away tons of books (lots of marketing) and don't take f..."
Have the mechanics of writing and storytelling down before you publish. (forgot that small but important part) :) The person who did all this and is extremely successful was not a beginning writer; knew/knows the craft which makes it all possible.
Marketing is definitely a learn-as-you-go process for writers. One thing I'd recommend is Story Origin. You can add your book there, offer it free to reviewers or newsletter subscribers, create reader magnets, and/or do group promotions. There are usually multiple promos open, you just have to find the one that fits.I had my best success with a newsletter swap promo. When I listed my first book & did the swap, I got 22 newsletter subscribers in a 10-day period, 3 reviews, and my highest ever pages-read on Kindle for that month. I didn't list my second book in a swap, and got 3 new subscribers total. With my third book coming out this month, I'm using SO again. The best part of these swaps is you don't necessarily have to be running a sale, as many of the free book promo sites want.
(Just to be clear: a newsletter swap doesn't mean that you give away the email addresses of your newsletter subscribers. It only means that you mention others' books in your newsletter and they will mention yours. You can usually accomplish this with a single link to all the others participating in the swap.)
For those of you who don't have a mailing list yet, Jane Friedman has a great beginner's guide.
It also pays to put your author bio up in as many places as you can find, especially those that specifically promote your genre. I think the best advice I ever got was "connect your bio to what you write". That way, people looking for your subject matter will come across your name, even if they haven't heard of your book.
There are also blogs that do free interviews or allow you to post excerpts. If your name isn't out there along with your books, you may miss out on repeat customers.
These are the things that worked for me. My success is still small compared to some, but I like knowing that it's growing all the time.
Mod
Eileen wrote: "B.A. wrote: "First of all, if you are a writer, you will need to learn marketing because no one will do it for you. If you are doing it right, you should only be spending a few hours a week on mark..."I agree about Facebook ads. That isn't where your readers are. They are good for getting signup for your list but that is about it.
Mod
With this, I see the same problem as with direct sales. Just as people won't magically discover your book (at least not in meaningful amount), they won't magically appear as your subscribers. And I have yet to see decent advice to have a newsletter discovered without sales (end-of-a-book request). I'm not saying newsletters don't work, but it seems like they add one chicken-egg problem on top of another.
M.L. wrote: "Write short, write fast; write something people want to read; have the mechanics of writing down before you publish.Have a great cover, give away tons of books (lots of marketing) and don't take f..."
This is good advice.
Tomas wrote: "B.A. wrote: "Long story short, the easiest, cheapest way is to have that email list, keep them engaged, get them to share your newsletters/blog, etc."With this, I see the same problem as with dir..."
Tomas,
That is where you put a novella or short story as a give away. (Novellas work better) You do a promotion with Prolific works, or Authors XP. They aren't that expensive and you will have at least 600 email or more to work with. From there, you get them to spread the work about your books, to free promotions through Bookfunnel or email swaps with other authors in your genre. A newsletter once a month (ask them to share it) and a few promotions and you are on your way.
You don't have to give away tons of books. Just on to a lot of people. Two if you have one you can give as a bonus. But writing a ton of books isn't going to get you noticed, especially if they aren't really, really good to begin with.
You do not have to spend tons of money of ads. If you are working on a shoestring budget, it's simple to put a sponsored ad on Amazon. you will not spend tons of money on it, but you do want it make sure it's in the correct category, and has a good cover for that category. (This is after you have learned how to write and have a completed book.)
Tomas wrote: "With this, I see the same problem as with direct sales. Just as people won't magically discover your book (at least not in meaningful amount), they won't magically appear as your subscribers. And I have yet to see decent advice to have a newsletter discovered without sales (end-of-a-book request). I'm not saying newsletters don't work, but it seems like they add one chicken-egg problem on top of another."I was with you on this, but a few months ago I joined storyorigin and decided to just try using it to collect e-mail newsletter sign-ups to see what happens, especially after all the great advice from others in this group encouraging me to try. I've got my novella set as a reader magnet and I keep adding it to "giveaway" promotions on storyorigin. All the authors in the promo share it with their existing followers so that's a bunch of people looking at your cover and noticing your book exists. It works. And storyorigin is currently free so it's definitely worth trying out.
Mod
Still, it feels like an unsustainable goal to not run out of ideas for monthly messages sooner rather than later.
Sorry if my previous comment sounded way too frustrated, but it often feels to me like this.
How to sell books? I agree with BA. You need to think like a book seller and pay for promotional ads in campaigns.Blogs are often overlooked. Worth a try tricky to build interest.
Newsletters are great if you have fans, it has to be their option to opt-in though.
Goodreads Giveaways - used to be great, now they are paid only. Not sure I ever sold a book as a result, but did attract some reviews.
Facebook ads? Nope. A like doesn't lead to a sale. It's too many steps from FB to buying a book.
Amazon ads? Can work, they can also become expensive, so learn the ropes.
Print ads? V expensive. Best avoided unless you really nail the economics.
Online website ads? Again, cost vs click through vs sales is the bottom line. Trial first, pay as little as you can, as zero sales = loss.
Mod
Facebook ads supposedly work, if you get down to nerd-level targeting and nail it. This is the case with most online ads, but more with a massive site such as FB.
People may clock your ads if the book looks well, but I'm very skeptical about getting actual sales from ads if you have no reviews - so it's a hard place to start as well.
Deal sites are supposedly decent in return value, but those have requirements in rating and review count, which is a massive hurdle for those starting out.
GR giveaways are probably a massive waste because you shell out a lot of money and attract a lot of people I call "internet kleptomaniacs" - people who try to grab anything because it's free (be it a book, a game, whatever), regardless of whether they'll actually use it. Same risk with free runs compared to $1 sales.
Facebook - a tough crowd, also digital butterflies hopping around from topic to topic? Perhaps I'm biased in my dislike for FB.If someone has succeeded with FB I'm genuinely keen to hear how they made it work and for what genre of book / audience. I'm always keen to learn.
I know you can target demographics really well on FB, whether those browsing and clicking folk are interested in a book purchase is the next ask. I did a trial with some additional free credit, but it lead nowhere. Similar story from a friend who indie-publishes serious biographies - likes but not sales.
At least on Amazon people are looking to buy something on that platform, which helps. As commented above, you can throttle these as low as you wish to spread costs.
I am also sceptical about giving away books. I wonder how many are read? Piracy is the other issue.
ARCs via a reputable site is another option, a bit pricey but with the idea of pre-release reviews in return for free copies.
Tomas wrote: "B.A., Noor, both your posts sound like good advice. I plan to give some attention to my weblog in late spring or early summer, so I may try to edit the short story I've written a few years ago as a..."You will not run out of ideas for a monthly blog. Those readers are interested in you. I've done letters about my two dogs, my cat Boo, my mustangs (yeah, I like animals) along with my moving to the ranch. I've included things on villains, my main characters, where I got specific stories, and other trivia about where my characters may be (Like there is no water in the Rio Grande in El Paso and they don't get fog, it's too dry) Then I did a post on how to prepare for a crisis like this pandemic or a hurricane or blizzard. (Been in all of them). I've also covered a few places I've visited. If you are from outside the US, give some snippets of where you live and your life there. Then there is the English/Spanish issues with writing. There is so much more like giving a review of a book you liked or sharing contests, or other author newsletters or promotions of more emails (Both are free if you have BookFunnel) That is just a short rundown. Use that list to get reviews, to do beta reading, and buy your books when they come out.
For those who don't understand why I keep pushing the email list. First of all, it is yours. Always keep a copy of your list and keep it current. No one can take it away from you. On FB, twitter, Instagram, and Amazon, they own the platform, not you. (FYT, FB ads are expensive and you will get very few sales from them along with twitter so starting out, don't use them) Amazon ads are cheap and you can run 10-20 at a time and get better coverage and more sales. Again, that depends on your cover, ad copy and that you have a good book. With that said, most of our sales will come from that email list, so spend most of your time with that list, not ads or social media where you will get very few sales without spending a ton of money.
I have pretty good success with Facebook ads. For example, a recent promotion I had running over 12 days across all 3 books in a trilogy had 290 sales over the 12 days DIRECTLY from facebook ads. I spent an average of £25 a day. Longer term, this means I have found readers who may go through and buy other books of mine, and some also join my facebook group. It also increases the overall ranking making books more visible to other readers. Of course I wouldn't recommend just starting to spend that much on Facebook ads unless you have done some testing and know what ads work. I also don't spend that much all the time, just during promotions. It takes a bit of time to find a successful advert and audience and you need to tweak things and keep an eye on it, but if you have a decent ad you can leave it running with a small spend each day for months and keep a steady trickle of sales without that much upkeep.
Facebook ads probably work better for some genres than others, and probably work especially well if you are writing to market, and have a good cover and blurb that fits your genre.
Yes, it's true that a mailing list is yours. I have a mailing list. I use it to let people know about new releases. Different things work well for different people, and it's good to find something that you are happy with and isn't going to be too much of a drain on your energy. You do need money for ads, but you can start small. You can keep a spreadsheet of ad spend and earnings to make sure you are making a profit (though when you are first starting out and experimenting you will almost certainly make a loss initially).
M.L's approach is good - take note of the strategies of successful authors, especially ones in your genre.
L.K. wrote: "I have pretty good success with Facebook ads. For example, a recent promotion I had running over 12 days across all 3 books in a trilogy had 290 sales over the 12 days DIRECTLY from facebook ads. I..."Thanks, L. K.!
And L. K. knows of what she speaks. She is the author of an in-demand series of psychological thrillers.
L.K. wrote: "I have pretty good success with Facebook ads. For example, a recent promotion I had running over 12 days across all 3 books in a trilogy had 290 sales over the 12 days DIRECTLY from facebook ads. I..."25x12=300 pounds. that is a lot of money. Are you positive all those came for FB? If so, you did well, but that isn't the normal. Most people are lucky they get back what they spent on the ad. Most have a loss. You must have had great targeting. Great job.
From all the marketers who do this for a living, FB is normally a losing proposition. There are a few like Mark Dawson who has had success with it, but if you don't have the $300 to loose, then I'd say as a new author, don't go there. Put your money to better use. Amazon ads you generally safer and if that is your main platform, you need to learn how to do them.
All I'm saying is to put your time and money were you are going to get the most back. Your email list, if handled correctly, will get you more in return than most ads at zero cost. It ls long term, doesn't cost you a ton once you have it going.
B.A. wrote: "25x12=300 pounds. that is a lot of money. Are you positive all those came for FB?" The 290 sales were all from affiliate links only used in Facebook ads. I had more than 290 sales in total in that period.
£300 is quite a bit of money, I agree. It's not a trivial amount of money for me to spend - I wouldn't spend that much if I didn't know I was getting sales during the promotion, and that I would also get full price sales after the promotion ended. When you start spending a lot of money on ads, covers and editing, you have to really start getting into the mindset of running a business. I am willing to invest more money upfront on editing, covers and ads now because I am very confident of making money back. My first book ever was a disaster, I made a loss, but I learnt loads. Then I wrote a psychological thriller and published it virtually for free, all I paid for was a stock image to make the cover. It's an uphill battle to get started. I had a mailing list a long time before I started seriously investing in ads.
I just wanted to encourage people not to immediately dismiss social media when it can be so effective. My audience is mainly women in the UK aged around 35-60. This seems to be a really good demographic for facebook ads, with psychological thrillers being very popular. My ads sometimes only target people with just a general interest in reading within this demographic and still get results, I also have ads targeting people interested in psychological thrillers & kindle books, or I target people who have interacted with my ads or my page previously. The actual ad itself makes a massive difference, too. I have not paid for any courses to learn how to do ads, I learnt using free resources I found online and trial and error. I do pay for Book Brush to make the ads, which saves a lot of time.
Very interesting and helpful, L.K. Thank you. I have been using very small scale FB ads with some notable success. I haven't got the targeting down pat yet, or the ads which I've done myself. So, your input is extremely helpful!
Thank you for the feedback. I figured you had been doing it awhile to get that type of sales. And it was with a promotion. But without the previous learning and experience, that isn't a typical return, and would be unlikely for a first time author with no following. It does make a difference. Plus you have a backlist, which also makes a difference. Also you have very good targeting which is an art in and of itself. It isn't that Facebook ads don't work, but you need to consider where you are in your publishing career. For your first book, you might want to avoid them unless you have a bunch of reviews from preorders. The other thing, you still want that list and like LK pointed out, she started long before she published, which is a wise way to do it. And note that it is an uphill battle with a steep learning curve. But don't give up. You can do it. Just start small. Know that you are learning new skills that will serve you well the further along in your career you get. I know I work on a tight budget. $300 or pounds isn't something I can throw out there and not see a return. As I build my backlist, I'll be more willing to put more money into the advertising. Hey, no one said this was easy. I just took a class with NYT bestseller, Laura Drake. She had 423 rejections over 5 years before selling her first book to a publisher so there you go. It takes time.
