The Black Hole of Marketing

I don’t know about you but sometimes I feel I am sending all my marketing dollars (of which I have little) into a black hole.

I am careful not to latch onto every scheme presented to me; I am discerning in that respect, but I still feel as though my efforts are not getting me much traction. Let me tell you what Ive done so far and how it’s going:

1. Amazon ads: I placed an ad for my debut fantasy middle grade novel, Farley Malone & The Fudged Up Fables by Tanzy Kohl (my fantasy pen name) and since the book release on March 19, I’ve sold 4 paperbacks and a fair amount of readers have downloaded it from KU ( if you don’t know, that is Kindle Unlimited, a paid service that allows readers to download epubs free).
   
2. Goodreads giveaways: I spent $119 to give 100 readers a free copy of my YA historical The Hair Dare on its release day. That move got me reviews when I did it for my cookbook back in 2013 so I hope its even better this time.
   
3. Bookfunnel promos: This site offers group promos that allow you to get in front of other authors’ readers. I have all my books on this site to build my newsletter list in exchange for ebook giveaways. They also have group sales promos that send readers to Amazon.
   
4. BookSirens: I also put the the fantasy novel on this reviewer site, the goal of which is to allow readers to get the ebook free in exchange for a review on the platform of your choice. So far no takers. I may dump that service.
   
5. Netgalley – I lucked up on a co-op for this so I didn’t have to pay the normal $550. My debut YA historical, As Gray As Black & White will show up there for three months, then depending on how things go, I will switch it out for another book for the remainder of the time.
   
6. IBPA eblasts – IBPA is the Independent Book Publishers Association that indie authors can join. They have what are called eblasts that they send to thousands of librarians they say ‘have opted in to get indie books’ so we will see where that goes. I also did their consumer marketing eblast which is supposed to reach 150K young adult readers. Again, we’ll see.
   
7. Local bookstore begging: Yes, I went one by one to my local indie bookstores schlepping my books onto them. So far they were gracious enough to consider my books so I will be taking them around next week.
   
8. Local libraries: I didn’t have much success with the local libraries but my hometown library was excited to get my debut middle grade historical The Hair Dare, which is set in that town. They even mentioned the possibility of a book signing so that was encouraging.
   
9. TikTok and IG: The booktokker I told you about who loved my YA historical As Gray As Black & White created three videos that featured my book! She single-handedly got the train moving in terms of sales. I am not selling out like some Dan Brown but for me it’s nice to see some progress where there was none before.
   
10. Virtual book tours: I have begun to inquire about a few of these on TikTok as I see trad authors having some success.
    
11. Live events: I am currently researching live book events I can attend in my area as well as places I can easily reach by car.

So there you have it. IT’S WORK. But I have learned that trad authors are pounding the pavement too. Even though their publishers are footing the bill, the bill will eventually come back to them if they don’t sell. So suffice it to say we are all working our butts off to get these books in the hands of readers.

That said. PLEASE CHECK OUT MY TITLES on Amazon and my TikTok shop. I’d appreciate it.