Learning New Things Among the Evergreens

So, the tree is up! Most of the decorations are in their new home for the next 40 days or so. I’m still in need of about 600 batteries and 72 hours of sleep, but it’s beginning to look, and smell, a lot like Christmas!

I’ve also been hard at work exploring new book-related things and trying to figure out all the technical and analytical parts of these new experiments. Audiobooks are still not affordable for me, but I continue to look for new ways to make this happen. I’ve been reading up on Amazon ads and I’ve decided to dip my toe in the Amazon advertising world. Talk about feeling like a guppy in shark-infested waters.

Five hundred thousand to a million new books are released every year. That’s an incredible amount of reading material. In 2022 I released one book. Finding one book in a library of a million is not an easy task. Sure, there are those who go in search of my books specifically, and for those lovely people, finding my books is super easy. But reaching the other millions of readers in a sea of a million books is nearly impossible. The sharks just eat me up and poop me out.

Now, I’m not trying to reach millions (yes I am), I’m just trying to find a few new readers and make a few more sales. After the initial release date, sales drop off dramatically and it’s disheartening to say the least. So much time and energy go into writing that one book, it’s not really fun to watch is die a slow painful death on the internet.

So, I’m trying new advertising venues. Some are somewhat successful, some are a waste of money, some I’m not sure how to gauge. Like Amazon. It’s takes quite a long time to see any results with Amazon ads, especially for a book that only has 4 or 5 reviews. (That’s why reviews are so important.) I’m still trying to understand all the algorithms and reporting systems and how and when to make tweaks to my ads, if at all, but essentially, it’s a waiting game. For me, that’s the hardest part. Just waiting and trusting that the Amazon platform is doing what it’s supposed to do and not just gobbling up my money. (At least I only pay if someone actually clicks on my book, which should mean a sale, but not necessarily.)

So, I put out a few decorations, sit down and watch a tutorial, pull up the ad reports and scroll around trying to make heads or tails of the data, scratch my head, then repeat the process, all the while enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells of Christmas. At least it’s a happy environment, this state of confusion I’m in.

How are you guys handling your holiday decorating? Is your house getting all gussied up for the holidays? Have you ever toyed around with Amazon ads? Have you had any success advertising anything anywhere else? So far I’ve had a modicum of success with Facebook ads and several other reader-oriented book sites but nothing from BookBub or magazine ads. I’d love to hear your success stories.

I’ve got exciting things planned for next year that only my newsletter followers will know about. Here’s the link to sign up: http://bit.ly/JansenSchmidtNewsletter

Word of the Day: Ocarina

Fun fact about me: I love Hobby Lobby. That is all.

Original post by Jansen Schmidt, November 2022. Images by Google and giphy.com