I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve done a more personal post. Lately, it’s been book reviews, poetry challenges, or new releases. It doesn’t give me much space to explore other interests. I’ve thought about moving the reviews to another day. That leaves me open to new content, but also requires more time. It’s a balance I’m not ready to jump into but will give it a lot of thought.
I said I’d report back on how my marketing experiments went.
The first one was a giveaway through Rafflecopter for three gift cards. What it required from me, other than to put it all together, was some advertising. I did this through Facebook, which I have done in the past. At first, I limited my audience and later I expanded it. It was nice because I capped my spending to under twenty dollars. Plus, I posted it on my website and blog and there was a lot of interest or entries and follows. What I didn’t get were sales, but I added a few new followers. Having done this in the past, it was about the same interest level. One thing I wish I had included in the giveaway was Bookbub.
What I’ve noticed in the past and now is there is a sizeable community that likes to enter contests that have little or no interest in books. That aside, though, I still felt it was worth it for the people who connected with me on social media and stayed after the contest ended.
The second one I tried, which I’ve never done other than through a book club, was a paid tour promotion. I decided on the cheapest option of doing a one-day blitz and scheduled a month out. I didn’t advertise this because I wanted to go outside of my usual blogging world. It was easy enough. I sent in the requested information. There was good communication, and they kept me up to date on what was going on. I also got a couple of book banners to use too. With this tour, there was a ten-dollar giveaway through Rafflecopter.
When my day came, I had a list of those taking part in the blitz through blogs, Facebook, or Instagram. Even at almost thirty hosts, I was determined to thank each one. I only found a couple where I couldn’t locate a post. The main page on the tour site had action, and I was able to respond to several people. A couple of commenters expressed interest in my book, so that was nice.
Another blog had the same activity, but most didn’t. I found many blogs, just did blog tours, and had more than one going on at once. Of these hosts, very few responded to me when I thanked them, and no one commented that I saw but I only checked back for a couple of days.
I did like that the tour ventured out into Facebook and Instagram. Not a lot of interaction other than from the host, but glad for different venues and exposure. My takeaway from my first paid tour was I could tap into a new audience, but I didn’t see any sales. Of course, there is no telling if I was added on Kindle Unlimited. What I did get was meeting a few nice people along the way and I added some new followers from the giveaway, including Bookbub.
There is one option for the paid tours I might consider again. I’d do it using the one or two-week tours and include the people who usually support me. That would be the best of both worlds and, hopefully, less work for me.
I want to thank Jan and her marketing posts over on Story Empire which inspired me to explore different ideas. I’m not done trying new options and will report back here on how they go.
Personal updates:
- I’ve been busy with some unexpected babysitting, so that has kept me socially quiet recently.
- I had some good news with a couple of skin biopsies, both benign. I was getting a check-up twice a year and now it’s been moved to once. I have also avoided any more black widow bites or bee stings 😊
- After losing our dog during our first summer vacation, we are dogless for the first time in forty years. The following vacation we had to spend a lot of it clearing our property for insurance but luckily it got renewed, which is uncommon in our area. So, if you don’t see me around for a couple of days here and there, know I’m taking care of myself. Connecting to that peace that I may have lost recently on many levels. I’m guessing some poetry will come out of this time, but never know where I’ll be led.
Today I have a second post for a new book release from Marje you don’t want to miss, and my new newsletter will come out on the 20th.
Have a great week and embrace that inner child. I know I will be! D. L. Finn xo
