# $10,000 AD budget. Where do I spend it?



## Rhynedahll (Oct 23, 2010)

I'm coming into a windfall shortly and am going to pump some money into the business.

I've read through the many other posts that deal with low-budget advertising, but most of the suggestions don't seem to meet my needs.

I have an established audience and my books are often, but not always, in mid-list territory.

I intend to focus the ads on one single book.

I'm interested in straight up paid ads on websites or possibly in print.

Kboards is on the list, but I've already ruled out Facebook.

Any and all suggestions are appreciated.


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## nobody_important (Jul 9, 2010)

Bookbub if you can get it.


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## KDMcAdams (Feb 14, 2014)

I am a complete book marketing rookie so please read this accordingly. 

I recently took advantage of a free offer from Twitter to use their ads feature. I spent a small fraction of your budget but really liked the experience. The targeting of demographics and reporting functionality were impressive. If you can come up with compelling copy in less than 140 characters you can get it in front of relevant eyes. 

Regardless of where you invest the budget make sure to use good analytics and perform some A/B testing so that you can tune the message for best results.


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2014)

I'll be spending a similar amount when I release my new series, so I can tell you what I'm doing. Amazon ads are about $10,000. Everything I've seen amazon promote has sold very well...no brainer there.


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## AlexBrantham (Feb 27, 2014)

Let me admit that I'm a complete novice when it comes to marketing books - though I do have quite a bit of experience marketing other goods and services.

This is just a question: if you have a $10,000 marketing budget, why do you think you should spend it all on advertising? There are other ways of spending money to get eyeballs and sales.

For example, you could spend some of it on a PR agent who would use their expertise to put out targeted press releases and contacts, which ought to yield interviews and high-value reviews (by high value I don't mean 5 stars! I mean by a recognised reviewer in a respected publication).

Or, pay someone to put the hours in with all the free and low cost marketing opportunities that there are?


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## ElHawk (Aug 13, 2012)

1) Make sure all your covers are up to snuff

2) All the BookBub ads you can possibly get!  Honestly, at this point I wouldn't really mess around with ads on any web sites like FB, etc. -- but EbookSoda is a nice list that's worth keeping an eye on.  They're still building their subscriber list, but I consistently like their recommendations for me better than the ones BookBub sends, so I think EbookSoda will become the go-to list for readers in a few months here.


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## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

I'm going to be blunt and say that your covers look like they belong on elementary-school-age nonfiction.

I used to make buying decisions on that category of book, and I've seen thousands of those covers, and they strike a major chord of recognition. 

I gather from the blurbs that your books are aimed at adults? If so, I think you might rethink the ad budget and first spend on branded covers that fit your genre. I think it'll be hard to get BookBub ads (or an Amazon ad, if they have a selection team) with those covers in your genre. 

Don't know about the other part of the question. Price promos supported by ads have been the main thing that have worked for me. I'd probably do the covers, then stick the rest of the money in an ad budget and start doing promos over some months. A promo for a 99-cent book costs me about $1,000 for five or six sites (including BookBub which is half of that). 

Good luck, and congratulations on the $10,000!


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## Rhynedahll (Oct 23, 2010)

BrianDAnderson said:


> I'll be spending a similar amount when I release my new series, so I can tell you what I'm doing. Amazon ads are about $10,000. Everything I've seen amazon promote has sold very well...no brainer there.


I didn't even know that Amazon sold ads. 

Thanks for the heads up.


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## Rhynedahll (Oct 23, 2010)

Rosalind James said:


> I'm going to be blunt and say that your covers look like they belong on elementary-school-age nonfiction.
> 
> I used to make buying decisions on that category of book, and I've seen thousands of those covers, and they strike a major chord of recognition.
> 
> I gather from the blurbs that your books are aimed at adults? If so, I think you might rethink the ad budget and first spend on branded covers that fit your genre. I think it'll be hard to get BookBub ads (or an Amazon ad, if they have a selection team) with those covers in your genre.


This is, of course, the conventional wisdom, but it does not apply in this case. As I said, I have established sales in the mid-list with these covers. People that buy my books don't buy them for the covers and frankly, I have no wish to attract people simply based upon a cover image. In my experience, people who do so would not care for my fiction.


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2014)

Rosalind James said:


> I'm going to be blunt and say that your covers look like they belong on elementary-school-age nonfiction.
> 
> I used to make buying decisions on that category of book, and I've seen thousands of those covers, and they strike a major chord of recognition.
> 
> ...


I must say that I agree regarding the importance of covers. I go to great length in that regard. There is another option. Goodreads banner ads are very effective and half the price of an amazon ad. That would leave $5000 for art, design, etc.


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2014)

KDMcAdams said:


> I am a complete book marketing rookie so please read this accordingly.
> 
> I recently took advantage of a free offer from Twitter to use their ads feature. I spent a small fraction of your budget but really liked the experience. The targeting of demographics and reporting functionality were impressive. If you can come up with compelling copy in less than 140 characters you can get it in front of relevant eyes.
> 
> Regardless of where you invest the budget make sure to use good analytics and perform some A/B testing so that you can tune the message for best results.


Good to know, thanks! Putting this information in my ads file.


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## 31842 (Jan 11, 2011)

Rhynedahll said:


> This is, of course, the conventional wisdom, but it does not apply in this case. As I said, I have established sales in the mid-list with these covers. People that buy my books don't buy them for the covers and frankly, I have no wish to attract people simply based upon a cover image. In my experience, people who do so would not care for my fiction.


When I first published, I had a hand-drawn cover done by one of the top rockabilly concert poster designers in Los Angeles. It was a thing of beauty. I was doing a lot of comic conventions and it appealed to that demographic. But when I tried to submit my book to the major book advertising sites, I kept getting rejected. Finally, I received a note back from one of them saying that despite all of my positive reviews, they would not carry my book until I got an "industry standard" book cover. At first this really stung. How dare they! Didn't they know who did my cover? It reached the demographic I wanted it to reach! But... I really needed their help to increase my sales, so I swallowed my pride and did it. I changed my cover. And it turns out, they were right. That one change? I went from 20 sales a month to 1200 sales a month in thirty days. There are now over 200,000 copies of that book alone out in the wild. It was optioned for film and television development. And all because of one cover change.

So, I get what you're saying. But before you go invest this huge chunk of change in expensive advertising, you might rethink your view on covers. And I get it! Visually, there is fun kitch to your style. B-movies and retro fun. But I think you'll find you'll get more bang for your advertising buck if you invest in unified covers that take that aesthetic to the next level. Advertising is all about visuals. ALL about visuals. It is about slapping an image in front of someone for half a second and having them go, "I'm IN! Take my money!" You may find if you spend $100 on each cover (if you really want to go upscale, Damonza is $400 a cover), $500 on BookBub, you won't even have to do anything more advertising-wise and can use the rest of your windfall AND the profits you'll be raking in to go on a Caribbean cruise. Maybe do a scientific experiment and just try a cover change on just one of your books and see if it helps increase sales. If it doesn't? It's no big loss. Couple hundred bucks. And if it does work? You'll know what to do next.


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2014)

BrianDAnderson said:


> I'll be spending a similar amount when I release my new series, so I can tell you what I'm doing. Amazon ads are about $10,000. Everything I've seen amazon promote has sold very well...no brainer there.


This is also good to know. I'll keep this in mind for when I get to that point in my indie career where I can spend $10,000 just at Amazon. Thanks.


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## Christa Wick (Nov 1, 2012)

I'm going to chime in and agree with the cover upgrade suggestion - those are ads that last as long as you have the cover. Also, I know someone who did the Amazon ad Brian references and they said it was a complete waste of money - this from an author who has hit Amazon top 100 in kindle paid books and in overall author rank for the entire store on his/her own (the caveat being with a 99 cent title) and a publishing team that has hit multiple times top 100 kindle paid, NYT/USAT, with box sets (box sets don't make it "easy" to hit this high, they just make it "easier" and there is a very wide distinction). And this wasn't a shoulder shrug "waste of money" remark but a "here are my numbers, see how it was a waste of money" demonstration.


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## Deke (May 18, 2013)

Do you really anticipate the $10K will result in more than $10K in sales?


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Rhynedahll said:


> This is, of course, the conventional wisdom, but it does not apply in this case. As I said, I have established sales in the mid-list with these covers. People that buy my books don't buy them for the covers and frankly, I have no wish to attract people simply based upon a cover image. In my experience, people who do so would not care for my fiction.


I must ask, how do you know what draws people to your books? 
I thought children's books too.
Have fun spending that 10k on advertising and please let us know how it works out for you.


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## blakebooks (Mar 10, 2012)

If one isn't interested in selling books to those who judge them by their covers, one has just excluded most of those purchasing on Amazon, from what I can tell.

The covers look like something computer generated in either a free program or by someone on Fiverr. If you want to attract readers who would be interested in a product that has amateurish covers as their first example of the quality of your work, you are doing it right. If you want to attract the other 99.9% of potential book buyers cruising Amazon who gauge overall product quality by the quality of the cover, you are doing it wrong. Judging by the claim that you're willing to spend ten grand to get new readers (that's what advertising does), I find it strangely fascinating that you would ignore the very first element readers will evaluate to determine whether they're interested enough to look any further.


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## mrv01d (Apr 4, 2011)

I would hire a FB expert and pick their brains to develop an ad campaign. It would cost you less than $500 for a consultation. You might learn something valuable.

What do you want to achieve with your marketing? Push the book? Grow your brand?  Expand your platform? What?

Just to push the book, I don't think $10k is a wise investment. Sure, spend some money but you'll be working hard to go over the $2k mark imo/ime. There's only so much you can do. Selling books imo is more about how you market than how much you spend and there is a point of diminishing returns. (ETA: I'm knocking on the Top 100 door right now and I haven't spent even $1k. As an example.)

If you have a clear vision of your brand and platform, you can use your marketing to use the book to push your reach, but that's a little more sophisticated (and I don't claim to be an expert although I have some experience in that arena). So it looks like you're selling a book and you are, but there's more to it that funnels readers into your platform for the future.

Try to set some defined, concrete goals/desired outcomes before you spend any money.


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2014)

I would spend some money on a good line editor. Just browsing through the samples, my brain kept wanting to "red pen" a lot of excessive verbiage and redundancy. I think a good line editor would tighten up your writing tremendously.

New covers. You need to think of a book cover like a movie poster. It needs to convey in six seconds what readers can expect from your story. People DO judge books by the cover. The cover is shorthand for the reader. You are competing with tens of thousands of other books for a reader's attention. It is nothing but hubris to think your book is so good that the cover doesn't matter. That doesn't fly in 2014. There is too much competition vying for a reader's attention. 

Think about your goal for advertising. What is the plan. I know. I know. Sell more books. But that is an end result. Your advertising plan has to have a purpose. Are you trying to build your brand and develop name recognition? Make inroads into brick and mortar stores? Increase visibility on Amazon? Depending on the goal, you will want to look at different ad options. Different advertising outlets are going to reach different demographics. Who are you trying to reach? 

$10,000 is a lot of money to spend without first having a game plan.


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2014)

OP, if you come to WC and ask for advice, you're going to get it.  

After you get it, you can either: 

1) Take the advice.

2) Disregard it.

You have five books in your signature, and there ARE readers who are buying them.  

HOWEVER, you wouldn't be asking about advertising if you weren't interested in MORE sales.  

Therefore, acting on the covers advice is a good move.


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## zoe tate (Dec 18, 2013)

Rhynedahll said:


> I have no wish to attract people simply based upon a cover image.


No one suggested that you should try to attract people _simply_ based on cover images.

With $10k to spend on marketing, in your position, I'd be allocating only a proportion of it to advertising, and starting off with professional cover designs. I'd be very reluctant to spend much else without doing that, and I'd be aware that several otherwise potentially profitable marketing and advertising avenues would also, understandably, probably remain permanently closed to me without first doing that.


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## KL_Phelps (Nov 7, 2013)

I hope you post how things turn out. And for the importance of covers!?!?! They are the first impression that people get of your book! Every writer wants (or sure as heck should) to have their books have 'curb' appeal. Of course everyone has different tastes and a different vision for what they want. Good luck!


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## Rhynedahll (Oct 23, 2010)

Thanks everyone for the comments!  I appreciate each and every one.

However, I am mainly interested in finding out about places to purchase ads.  (Thanks again for pointing out Amazon!)

No offense meant to anyone, but I did not ask for advice about editing, cover art, business plans, return on investment, or anything else and will cheerfully disregard all of it.

I am a successful professional author right now in the sense that I live on what I make.  I write the stories that I want to write in the style that I want to write in.

I sell books now.  I make money selling books now.

This is not about breaking in or changing to appeal to a different audience.

To those who seem concerned about how I spend the 10K, I'll just say this: advertising is a business deduction.  Read between the lines.

But, rather than stir this pot any further, I will retire from this thread and ask that one and all do the same unless they would like to point out a particular place for advertising


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2014)

I would never advise spending ad dollars on a book that needs polish. Were you to spend $10,000 on an amazon ad you will certainly get sales - there's no doubt in my mind. But then, you will also get reviews. If the work needs editing, in the long run you're going to do yourself more harm than good. Understand that I haven't read the book or samples. 

I'll be spending money on an amazon ad to promote a new series, not to ramp up an existing series. But before that, I'll have spent roughly $2000 on an original cover, editing, proofing, etc.. I would NEVER spend money on advertizements for an unfinished book. It is a waste of time and money. Not to mention it could ruin my reputation as an author - one that I've worked very hard to gain.


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## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

If it doesn't matter whether the ads are successful in terms of attracting potential readers, because you've already attracted the people you want to attract and are selling at the level where you want to sell, what does it matter where you throw the money? What are you hoping to achieve? It sounds like you're saying that you're just looking for a writeoff. Honestly confused here.

But in case others are interested in ad effectiveness, as am I, here's my 2 cents:

BookBub ads--by far the most bang for your buck anywhere, of the things I've tried. Their "admission rate" is about like Harvard's, though, at this point. 
Goodreads ads--maybe the banner ads work; the self-service ads do nothing in my experience. I've used them at times when the books advertised were quite high on Amazon (top 2000 or top 1000 overall), and had very few clicks.
KBoards ads (sorry, KBoards)--completely ineffective for me.
BookBlast (BookSends now, I guess)--seems to work.
KND, sponsorship of "Kindle Fire" option--has worked pretty well.
BookGorilla: has worked pretty well; not sure it's worth the $150 for a "starred" ad.
fkbooksandtips--hard to say, seems to have helped.
ENT: Others have had good success; it hasn't done much for me.
Book tours: a form of advertising (particularly a promo blitz). I think they do help with visibility. Again, they'll be vetted by the tour host--they want books that will appeal on sight to their bloggers, books that will in turn appeal to those bloggers' readers.

Any kind of ad unconnected to a price promo, other than the promo blitz/book tour thing: of minimal value for me.

Many of the best-performing ads are vetted, and they will be looking at cover, blurb, how your book sells now, and even looking inside the book, and will choose only the books that they think will generate the most clicks from their readers who buy in that genre. I'm guessing that Amazon ads might fall into this category, but I've had no experience with them.


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2014)

Rhynedahll said:


> Thanks everyone for the comments! I appreciate each and every one.
> 
> However, I am mainly interested in finding out about places to purchase ads. (Thanks again for pointing out Amazon!)
> 
> ...


I totally dig what you've said here and kudos to you for having the courage to say it. However, let me leave you with a couple of things. 

1)

Are you trusting your instinct? (I don't care who the author is who's throwing advice at me, I trust my instinct before anything else. My instinct is rarely wrong.)

If you honestly feel you're making the right move by sticking with your covers, then fine. However, if your instinct is telling you to change your covers, and you're ignoring your instinct, don't ignore your instinct.

2)

I know you don't want to deal with Facebook ads, but have you seen this thread? (Start on page 3 and pay attention to Joseph's advice.)
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,178306.50.html

~~~

Good luck with whatever you do, and congrats on that 10 grand!


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## rosclarke (Jul 12, 2013)

Billboard campaign? TV commercial?


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## Craig Andrews (Apr 14, 2013)

Rhynedahll said:


> I sell books now. I make money selling books now.
> 
> This is not about breaking in or changing to appeal to a different audience.
> 
> To those who seem concerned about how I spend the 10K, I'll just say this: advertising is a business deduction. Read between the lines.


And yet your completely disregarding advice from people who sell more books in one afternoon than you or I do in a month. Combined. If this advertising venture isn't about expanding your brand and getting more sales through appealing to a larger audience, and is, as you imply a tax write-off, then I must say it's a complete waste of money. If you want a tax write-off, find a charity or non-profit. Make a donation. Make an impact in someone else's life.


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## Steve W. (Feb 23, 2011)

Hmm, $10K

I would talk to KateDanley and Blakebooks and ask what it would take to put an ad in the back of their top sellers linking to my book   ETA: Totally not joking


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2014)

Harper Alibeck said:


> It's so much easier when these threads pop up if the OP just titles it "This is a 'yeah, but'" thread.


There are threads at WC with pages and pages of posts by authors who claim that selling books is NOT a primary reason they write them. They claim they'd write books even if they didn't sell.

Here, the OP asserts he's happy with his books and his sales, and he's just seeking avenues for advertising . Yet, in this thread, he's told he shouldn't be happy with his sales, and he should change the covers, despite the fact that he's cool with them, to attract more readers.

I would want more readers and more sales. Therefore, I would change the covers. But that's me.

That's why I hope the OP simply trusts his instinct and goes with his instinct, whatever it is. The noise disappears when you do that simple thing.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

In December-January, I decided to invest a big chunk of money in my books.

I took out all ads I could get (and seriously, you'd be hard-pressed to spend even $1000 on advertising that's even halfway effective). Bookbub had never accepted me, neither had Bookblast.

I also got someone to re-format all of my books. The books looked fine to me, but I always had trouble with the NCX view and the TOC. Eventually got it to work, but meh, it's a lot of fiddly work and I have better things to do. So, I invested about $600 to get someone to do this for me.

Anyway, guess what? Bookbub accepted the book with the new formatting. Bookblast accepted it. ENT accepted it. These are the major and most effective advertising sites (seriously, FORGET Facebook or goodreads unless you're an expert and know what you're doing, otherwise it's just a GREAT FREAKING WASTE OF MONEY I don't know how much harder I need to scream that).

You want to advertise in the long-term increased sales of your books. Ads are a short in the arm, and the effects don't last very long. Investing in your books means presenting them well so that the major sites will feature them. Investing in books has two components: 1. costs to make the books more attractive and 2. direct advertising costs.

But I guess the OP really doesn't want to hear this. FWIW I wouldn't even click on anything with those covers. I'd be hugely surprised if Bookbub would accept them.


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## rosclarke (Jul 12, 2013)

Joliedupre said:


> Here, the OP asserts he's happy with his books and his sales, and he's just seeking avenues for advertising . Yet, in this thread, he's told he shouldn't be happy with his sales, and he should change the covers, despite the fact that he's cool with them, to attract more readers.


The thing is that if he's happy with his sales... he doesn't need any advertising. The whole point of advertising is to sell more books, right? To people who aren't buying them at the moment. That's why people are giving advice on how to reach new readers and sell more books, because in general, that is what advertising is for. People aren't generally in the market for ineffective advertising, and if they are, they can probably find it without asking for advice.

And if you say, as the OP did, 'Any and all suggestions appreciated', then you should expect to get suggestions.


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## LeeBee (Feb 19, 2014)

He seems to be implying that he doesn't need advertising so much as he needs an excuse to dump his 10K windfall into something that he can write off as a business expense. The fact that he could use this money to actually generate substantially greater profits going forward either doesn't occur to him or doesn't matter to him.


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2014)

rosclarke said:


> The thing is that if he's happy with his sales... he doesn't need any advertising. The whole point of advertising is to sell more books, right? To people who aren't buying them at the moment. That's why people are giving advice on how to reach new readers and sell more books, because in general, that is what advertising is for. People aren't generally in the market for ineffective advertising, and if they are, they can probably find it without asking for advice.
> 
> And if you say, as the OP did, 'Any and all suggestions appreciated', then you should expect to get suggestions.


Look, if it were me, I wouldn't be asking WC about advertising if I wasn't interested in selling lots of books. I'm not just in this for the love of it, and for the art, and blah, blah, blah. I'm also in this to make some damn money.

I'd be curious to know what the OP ends up doing. In the future, he may post about why he changed his covers and how changing his covers helped his sales. Who knows?


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## Robert A Michael (Apr 30, 2012)

Since you don't think the covers matter in terms of your marketing and how that effects the value of the dollars you are planning on spending, maybe a *radio ad* is what you are looking for. Just _sort of_ joking.

Also, research some *print and online magazines that are in your genre and inquire about ad prices*. Often, they will run it for a quarter. Traffic on those sites may vary, but at least it is your target demographic.

If you are absolutely set on your existing creative representation, then I would definitely not waste time with BookBub/POI/ENT, etc. Your branding is not consistent with their readership or their gatekeepers' tastes. HOWEVER, there are sites out there (like Ebook Soda) that for little to no cost may have readerships that do not rely on discerning the contents of a book by its cover. Or, conversely, the cover tells them this is exactly the book they may prefer.

In your defense, most of Terry Pratchette's covers sucked lizard scrotums. Look where that got him. In the end, opinions are like gastric orifices: everyone's got one.

Finally, I would not spend the money on advertising. I think that you might as well dig a hole in that very green, and very large back yard of yours, toss it in, and bury it. It would be the same effect. Especially, if commercial appeal is not something you are trying to buy.

Whether or not you think the money is "between the lines," the truth is that one does not spend money on advertising merely to donate it. Don't try to twist the logic of that. Otherwise, millions of charities do _actually exist_ that could use the money. Get someone to take your picture handing a charity organization in your local market a big fat check. *PR, baby*. In the caption, or in the story, it will say: "Joe Charitable, author of blah, blah and blah blah, donates $10,000 to Just the Right Charity. Charitable's books can be found at Amazon and The Book Mobile in Yonkers." Something like that.


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## SunshineOnMe (Jan 11, 2014)

Robert A Michael said:


> Get someone to take your picture handing a charity organization in your local market a big fat check. *PR, baby*. In the caption, or in the story, it will say: "Joe Charitable, author of blah, blah and blah blah, donates $10,000 to Just the Right Charity. Charitable's books can be found at Amazon and The Book Mobile in Yonkers." Something like that.


This is great advise!


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## CJ Davis (Aug 12, 2013)

If it were me I'd try IGN Entertainment. Lots of eyeballs that seem to be the right demographic.

See here: http://corp.ign.com/


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2014)

Rhynedahll said:


> To those who seem concerned about how I spend the 10K, I'll just say this: advertising is a business deduction. Read between the lines.


You know what else is a deduction? Charitable donations. 

If you are interested in doing BOTH advertising AND supporting charity, I just finalized my sponsorship contract with Volunteers of America. Our annual writing contest starts on the 15th, and we're donating the bulk of the reading fees to VoA to support Operation Backpack. If you would like to be a co-sponsor and throw some money toward the prizes, it would be a deduction going toward a worthy goal: providing school supplies for homeless children and children living in foster care. Obviously, the bigger the prizes I can offer, the more entries we'll attract and the larger the final donation to VoA.


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## Micah Ackerman (Feb 16, 2014)

I might be an idiot, but if I had ten thousand dollars to spend on bettering my name recognition I'd buy ten thousand copies of my own book, send them and drive them to every library/bookstore/convention I could find and hand them out for free. If you don't care about making money ie. selling books, but you want your book to simply be read... Give it away so the most people you can access can read it. Hell, if you're burning money, order the books straight through amazon, do about 100 a day and drive up your amazon ranking.

you could spread a good amount of books around the world for ten grand.

~Micah


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## Rich Amooi (Feb 14, 2014)

This is a very fascinating thread. It's one of those get-a-better-cover ragfests. I love it!  

Yeah, everyone is giving you crap about your covers, but they mean well. I get what they're saying, though. I'm going to get killer covers for all of my novels. I paid $300.00 for the cover of my non-fiction book and I will pay between $300 to $500.00 for each of my romantic comedy novels. Even my novellas will look great. I want to put the best product out there every time.

The funny part is, you asked for advertising advice and they are telling you spend your money to improve your product because that will get your more sales. AND, putting your money in better covers and editing is also a write-off. God, I love it. 

One thing...I prefer that you don't make me have to "read between the lines." Just come out and say what you're trying to do. It's a lot easier that way and my brain will hurt less.

I noticed that your books rank between 25,000 and 75,000 in the Kindle store. Is that considered good? Maybe someone else could chime in and let me know what is considered "the success zone" in the kindle store and what that may equate to in regards to copies sold per day. I have no clue, but I'd love to know. I'm not sure what that would equate to money wise, but you say you sell books and make a living from them.

But if you know your market, they love your books so much, and you are selling a ton—enough to make a living—how come you barely have five to ten reviews on many of your books? Something seems off to me.

Maybe it's true, readers in your genre like those covers or don't care about covers. I certainly wouldn't know. I do know this, though: if I had 10k to spend on advertising, I would not be putting it all in one place. I would diversify for sure—like they tell you to do in the stock market. Take the top 3-4 sites most people talk about and evenly distribute the money between them. Maybe you'll prove everyone wrong and show that these places will have no problem with your cover and will accept you because they understand your genre, just as you say you do.

Whatever you do, share your results with everyone. And good luck!


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## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

I just want to say (not to the OP, because I get that he isn't interested, and that's OK), but to anyone else who's reading: I've paid $100 each for my covers, max, including the stock art. It doesn't have to cost hundreds of dollars. 

(I may get a break because I have a "look" worked out already, but I don't think it's huge.)


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## Jnassise (Mar 22, 2010)

Facebook. Hands down the biggest bang for your buck if you understand what you are doing.  If you don't, hire someone who does.  I'd be happy to discuss it with you.

I would also look at sites like PublishersMarketplace.com, Rifflebooks.com, PublishersWeekly and the like.

-Joe


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## Joseph Turkot (Nov 9, 2012)

Hire. Jason. Gurley.


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2014)

Rosalind James said:


> I just want to say (not to the OP, because I get that he isn't interested, and that's OK), but to anyone else who's reading: I've paid $100 each for my covers, max, including the stock art. It doesn't have to cost hundreds of dollars.
> 
> (I may get a break because I have a "look" worked out already, but I don't think it's huge.)


It really can, depending on genre. Fantasy (my genre) has a different standard regarding covers than other genres, and original artwork from a good artist can be a bit more costly. The same can be said for Science Fiction. Not to say you have to spend thousands. My latest cover cost me $370.


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## JohnHindmarsh (Jun 3, 2011)

Joseph Turkot said:


> Hire. Jason. Gurley.


Seconded! Other excellent designers include Damon Za and Jeroen Ten Berge.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

With that kind of money, I'd talk to Goodreads.


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2014)

Jnassise said:


> Facebook. Hands down the biggest bang for your buck if you understand what you are doing. If you don't, hire someone who does. I'd be happy to discuss it with you.
> 
> I would also look at sites like PublishersMarketplace.com, Rifflebooks.com, PublishersWeekly and the like.
> 
> -Joe


I plugged your info about Facebook ads in an earlier post in this thread. Hopefully, the OP will check it out.


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## trublue (Jul 7, 2012)

Rhynedahll said:


> This is, of course, the conventional wisdom, but it does not apply in this case. As I said, I have established sales in the mid-list with these covers. People that buy my books don't buy them for the covers and frankly, I have no wish to attract people simply based upon a cover image. In my experience, people who do so would not care for my fiction.


Rhy,

I never post in threads where people are giving good advice because there is no need to add my two cents.
However, if you only walk away with one thing, let it be this: Change your covers. The thing about not wanting to attract readers that only look at the cover...I admit, that makes no sense to me. Anyway, you seem like a cool writer who wants the best for his work. Change your covers, seriously.

No ad in the world will work as well as changing your covers. Okay, good luck.


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## Vidya (Feb 14, 2012)

Christa Wick said:


> I'm going to chime in and agree with the cover upgrade suggestion - those are ads that last as long as you have the cover. Also, I know someone who did the Amazon ad Brian references and they said it was a complete waste of money - this from an author who has hit Amazon top 100 in kindle paid books and in overall author rank for the entire store on his/her own (the caveat being with a 99 cent title) and a publishing team that has hit multiple times top 100 kindle paid, NYT/USAT, with box sets (box sets don't make it "easy" to hit this high, they just make it "easier" and there is a very wide distinction). And this wasn't a shoulder shrug "waste of money" remark but a "here are my numbers, see how it was a waste of money" demonstration.


Christa, yes I have heard the same. I know someone on my writing site who has been pubbed by Amazon and has sold half a million copies of his books. He has had all those ads, where amazon sends millions of texts to mobiles, sends ads to tablets, etc.

he said he saw NO immediate increase in sales from the expensive amazon ads and he viewed it as more of a getting the word out kind of thing. He emphasized that expensive ads do not result in immediate sales but in name recognition. He did see immediate sales from things like the Daily Deal.

Just thought I'd give a heads up to people before they consider spending big this way. I was seriously considering it and I consider this guy a godsend who saved me wasting money.

If Brian still wants to take those ads, I'd be very interested in hearing from him how they went. I suppose he could be the lucky one who disproves the odds&#8230;you never know.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Patty Jansen said:


> In December-January, I decided to invest a big chunk of money in my books.
> 
> I took out all ads I could get (and seriously, you'd be hard-pressed to spend even $1000 on advertising that's even halfway effective). Bookbub had never accepted me, neither had Bookblast.
> 
> ...


Goodreads has what I have been told is a very effective advertising program IF you are willing to pay $5000+ and up.


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## trublue (Jul 7, 2012)

JRT,

I did the 5k goodreads and what it did was help me stay in the top 5 for a few days. This would have been great but I was already in the top 10 for months so It wasn't a big leap. It may be different for someone else but just thought I would chime in. The crazy thing is at one point it doesn't matter how much money you have because there are very few places that work. You have bookbub, Bookblast, Kindle fire, book gorilla, ENT, And POI. If you want to drop big money, goodreads (make sure you have an ad that moves) or Amazon (also tried them, results were just okay) again, best thing I ever did was 1- perma free, 2-change cover


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## Speaker-To-Animals (Feb 21, 2012)

I think a key question here is what are you doing now? The success you've had up to now is to most of us pretty difficult to understand. However, it's clearly working somehow.

Do you have anything stand alone coming out soon that you could try a different cover style on? Seems like your fans know who you are and will keep buying your books and it might bring them to the attention of people who might not otherwise look at them. If it doesn't work, you can always switch it out and you can get a very nice premade cover in the $30-100 range.

I'm not sure I'd spend $10k on advertising at those sales ranks. I think I'd dribble it out on a BookBub here and a small advert there. But I'll be honest, I've never understood the business expense thing as an excuse for just spending money. Sure, if it's something you need anyway, you get a "discount" from your tax savings, but seems to me you're better off with some of the money in your pocket and some in Uncle Sam's than all of it in someone else's pocket. Mostly it seems to be something that people do if they don't understand marginal taxes.


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## Nancy Beck (Jul 1, 2011)

Robert A Michael said:


> Finally, I would not spend the money on advertising. I think that you might as well dig a hole in that very green, and very large back yard of yours, toss it in, and bury it. It would be the same effect. Especially, if commercial appeal is not something you are trying to buy.
> 
> Whether or not you think the money is "between the lines," the truth is that one does not spend money on advertising merely to donate it. Don't try to twist the logic of that. Otherwise, millions of charities do _actually exist_ that could use the money. Get someone to take your picture handing a charity organization in your local market a big fat check. *PR, baby*. In the caption, or in the story, it will say: "Joe Charitable, author of blah, blah and blah blah, donates $10,000 to Just the Right Charity. Charitable's books can be found at Amazon and The Book Mobile in Yonkers." Something like that.


This. Research a literacy charity or a charity of your choice, and give the $10K to them. Get the local paper (if the charity has a local affiliate) or TV station to do a local interest thing. Smaller papers are always looking for interesting local news beyond the usual. Like Robert says, you can make this into a small PR event, let the reporters know about your books, and stick the pics on your website or something.


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## Nancy Beck (Jul 1, 2011)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> You know what else is a deduction? Charitable donations.
> 
> If you are interested in doing BOTH advertising AND supporting charity, I just finalized my sponsorship contract with Volunteers of America. Our annual writing contest starts on the 15th, and we're donating the bulk of the reading fees to VoA to support Operation Backpack. If you would like to be a co-sponsor and throw some money toward the prizes, it would be a deduction going toward a worthy goal: providing school supplies for homeless children and children living in foster care. Obviously, the bigger the prizes I can offer, the more entries we'll attract and the larger the final donation to VoA.


Here you go, OP, something charitable that you don't even have to go looking for.


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## Rich Amooi (Feb 14, 2014)

Rosalind James said:


> I just want to say (not to the OP, because I get that he isn't interested, and that's OK), but to anyone else who's reading: I've paid $100 each for my covers, max, including the stock art. It doesn't have to cost hundreds of dollars.
> 
> (I may get a break because I have a "look" worked out already, but I don't think it's huge.)


Hi Rosalind,

I did see some pretty awesome pre-made covers online for $40.00 to $50.00 so I know I can spend a lot less if I find a pre-made that fits my story well. Otherwise, it's worth it to pay a few hundred to get exactly what I want. I definitely will use a pre-made for my novellas, though.

Can you share which person or company you used for your covers?

By the way, my wife has two of your books in her kindle.


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## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

Rich Amooi said:


> Hi Rosalind,
> 
> I did see some pretty awesome pre-made covers online for $40.00 to $50.00 so I know I can spend a lot less if I find a pre-made that fits my story well. Otherwise, it's worth it to pay a few hundred to get exactly what I want. I definitely will use a pre-made for my novellas, though.
> 
> ...


Mine are done by Robin Ludwig. They aren't pre-made--fully custom. She does most genres and I think her portfolio is pretty awesome. I find images I like, but she often finds better ones. I give her blurb, mood, tone, and she translates that into a "look" that always works. I give Robin a lot of credit for my success. She just did my audiobook covers, and again she just nailed it in, apparently, minutes.

Thanks re your wife! That's nice to know.


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## Rich Amooi (Feb 14, 2014)

Rosalind James said:


> Mine are done by Robin Ludwig.


Thanks for letting me know! I'll check out her website.


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## teresahill (Jan 22, 2014)

Hi,
  I wonder what you expect to get for $10K? Because I don't know anyone who ever advertised their way to success as a novelist. If it worked, people would have done it. You'd be hearing from people who've done it as indie authors. They'd be here telling other authors how to do it, because that's what we do. We help each other.

  You say you want advertising. The most-effective advertising any of us knows right now is Bookbub, if they'll accept you. If you have a series of books to sell, and people will read one and like it enough to want to read the next one and the next one, and the one after that.

  You've had a ton of people say your covers look amateurish and like the books are aimed at kids. I agree. But you don't want to change them because you think they're attracting people who like your books. Okay, but you don't know how many sales you might be missing from other readers who might like your books but didn't try them because they thought they were aimed at kids or that the books would be amateurish because the covers look amateurish.

  I'm not sure if you really want advice, but for $10K, I'd want a plan by an expert for an online presence for me. A brand that is used throughout a website, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and whatever other online media you want to participate in. I'd want an expert to show me how to tie all that stuff together and sell me, not a book. And I'd get better covers, make sure I had no formatting issues, make sure I'd had a good editor for my work. I'd hire the editor first, because nothing sells your next book like readers loving your previous book. Then formatting. Then new covers.

You only have a few seconds to grab readers, if you can get them to even look at your cover, and they'll probably see it in thumbnail size. So your cover has to first look good as a thumbnail and do everything it can to tell readers what kind of book yours is. Yours doesn't do that.

  Then I'd get a lot of recommendations by authors who are selling well about media/pr experts to hire to make a plan to spend the rest of the money you have.

  Well, okay, I probably wouldn't. I wouldn't spend that much money on any kind of publicity campaign because I've never heard of any writer who advertised her way to any sort of success.


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## Mike_Author (Oct 19, 2013)

It's not often I completely agree with every single piece of advice in a thread.  So far this thread has featured almost uniformly apt advice to the OP.

To the OP - sorry, I can't understand your logic in ignoring your covers.  It's like - your friend comes up to you and says "I have a big date tonight, should I wear light red or dark red lipstick?"  You then point out that your friend is wearing a billowy, unflattering caftan and perhaps she could go with a nice dress or sensible slacks instead.  She then says "hey I didn't ask you about the clothes.  Light red or dark red?"

Your initial post implies that your target market is attracted to home made/DIY covers - this would be the first time I have ever heard of this.  To give you my own (n=1 only though) experience - whenever I am browsing Amazon, if I land on a page with home-made covers or I see the thumbnail with home-made covers, I either jump straight off the page or don't click the thumbnail.  If the cover or title (by the way, nothing wrong with your titles - they're great!) gets me to click, then it's the blurb's turn to lure me in.

Firstly, I think it would be folly to actually spend 10k in one go on your books.  I had a quick look at your sales ranks and you seem to be selling 1 copy per day on a couple of your books and 2-5 copies per day on some of the others (for the US store).  So let's say, around 20 copies per day on the US store (by the way, love the title "Potatoes, Come Forth"!).  Depending on your commission %, that is a heck of a long time before you even make back your 10k investment.  You would want to be pretty certain that whatever you choose to do gives you your current sales + alpha (and alpha should be a big number to make back the 10k in a reasonable space of time).

To reiterate existing advice - 

1. Hire Jason Gurley.  I'm not kidding.  Do it.  Trust me - nothing will put a rocket under your sales like a Jason Gurley cover.
2. Hire a copywriter to redo your blurbs.  Get someone who knows HTML to get the blurbs done stylishly for Amazon's system (using orange, bold, italics etc).  Lose the word count bit at the end of your blurbs.
3. Traditional marketing stuff - Bookbub, PR etc.  But this also needs a cover.  Professional looking covers are one of Bookbub's requirements.

But the foundation of any marketing is to get your product as good as it can be before you start driving eyeballs to it.  That means covers and blurbs.

Hope that helps in some way.


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## Guest (Mar 4, 2014)

Thanks to everyone for the advice. It's really good.

I'll chime in.

Firstly, why do you want to spend $10,000 on ads?

Secondly, can someone please explain this more to me - Amazon ads are about $10,000.
Are you telling me that instead of showing readers the best books Amazon is taking $10,000 from people to promote them? What

Thirdly, instead of becoming a martyr on 'look I sell decently with awkward covers' + 'my readers are so deep they instantly know that my books must be beautiful on the inside' you should look at REALITY.

I know the app market and books market very well. And the single most important element in BOTH is how beautiful your cover is.

Because people won't read the title or the description or anything else if the cover doesn't catch their eye. Note: The cover has three jobs

1) To catch the user's eye.

2) To get the user to click.

3) On the page itself, make the user feel 'if the cover is so polished and beautiful, then the author must have put effort into the rest of the book too'.

Seriously, this is the one thing you really need to fix.

*******

Fourthly, putting that $10,000 (or atleast $9,000) into improving the QUALITY of the book (cover, editing, proofreading, etc.) is worth 10 times more than handing it over.

With the $1,000 left pick one of the sites that works or use a 'first book in the series free' type strategy.

*******

I think at some point of time you have to consider the benefit of a one-time boost (via an expensive $10K ad) VERSUS a long-term investment ($9K into improving the books).


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

blakebooks said:


> If one isn't interested in selling books to those who judge them by their covers, one has just excluded most of those purchasing on Amazon, from what I can tell.


Wow, Russell Blake and I agree! 

Rhynedahll, I do think that sales success isn't just determined by ads.

Investing in better covers, and perhaps even looking at whether your books need some better editing (some might, some might not, I don't know) would ensure that what you're selling generates improved word-of-mouth, which is the most powerful form of advertisement, anyway.

Taking $10K and dumping it all into just ads alone, especially just one title, seems like a formula for you to get a lot less out than you put in.

If you have a $10K resource, I'd suggest a multi-prong approach that includes improving your current titles, ads, and also keeping some funds in reserve for new releases. The only reason to pour all $10K into one title is if you think you'll get more than $10K back, and a backlist title that's been out for a year or more, making "midlist sales," might not be as good a title to invest $10K in as your next new release. Something to consider, at least...

But I'm a bit baffled by the "people who buy books because of a cover image won't like my books" response. Um, your book cover is your very first FORM of advertising... it's purpose is to draw a customer's eye and shout, "Consider OneClicking ME!"

Also, what is it about your books that makes your reader averse to better covers? That's just kind of a baffling conceit.

All of us can find ways to improve.

I'm sure Shada might see an uptick in sales, for example, if I invested in a cover by Phatpuppy. But would the uptick be enough to make it worth the investment? Would it be enough to cover a $600 to $800 cover? I don't know. But considering that book is almost three years old, I suspect if I had the budget to buy a Phatpuppy cover, I'd slap it on a new release first.

Even so, heck, traditional publishers upgrade their covers on a regular basis. Even change it from hardcover to paperback to eBook.

I mean, here are a bunch of covers that have been used over the years for Carrie by Stephen King:





































































































So, anyone who says "my cover is perfect as it is and never needs to be changed" is not really thinking. I haven't even scratched the surface of all the CARRIE covers over the years, here....

Covers are your first and most important form of advertising. No cover is "beyond improvement."


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## Anna K (Jul 2, 2011)

abhi said:


> Fourthly, putting that $10,000 (or atleast $9,000) into improving the QUALITY of the book (cover, editing, proofreading, etc.) is worth 10 times more than handing it over.
> 
> With the $1,000 left pick one of the sites that works or use a 'first book in the series free' type strategy.
> 
> ...


I think this is an excellent way of looking at your situation. The covers, editing, and formatting will continue to benefit you years in the future, while a round of advertising will typically only benefit you for the next few months. Best of all, the money spent will also qualify for tax deductions.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Anna K said:


> ...while a round of advertising will typically only benefit you for the next few months....


"Next few months?" If that long... most ads have an impact for a few days, at best. Depends on where you advertise. Still, it's very short-term thinking.

A new cover can give new life to a book that lasts up to a year or more....


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## Crime fighters (Nov 27, 2013)

Joseph Turkot said:


> Hire. Jason. Gurley.


I love me some JG, but the OP has made it very clear he's not interested in changing his covers, and he's certainly not interested in paying for a custom cover from JG. They are well worth it, though. I would say he's one of the best (if not the best, for certain genres anyway) indie designers out there.


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## death wizard (Jan 31, 2014)

Jnassise said:


> Facebook. Hands down the biggest bang for your buck if you understand what you are doing. If you don't, hire someone who does. I'd be happy to discuss it with you.
> 
> I would also look at sites like PublishersMarketplace.com, Rifflebooks.com, PublishersWeekly and the like.
> 
> -Joe


Agreed.


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## AndreSanThomas (Jan 31, 2012)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> *I would spend some money on a good line editor. Just browsing through the samples, my brain kept wanting to "red pen" a lot of excessive verbiage and redundancy. I think a good line editor would tighten up your writing tremendously.*
> 
> New covers. You need to think of a book cover like a movie poster. It needs to convey in six seconds what readers can expect from your story. People DO judge books by the cover. The cover is shorthand for the reader. You are competing with tens of thousands of other books for a reader's attention. It is nothing but hubris to think your book is so good that the cover doesn't matter. That doesn't fly in 2014. There is too much competition vying for a reader's attention.
> 
> ...


All of this but especially, *this.*


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## PC Donan (Feb 15, 2014)

I hate to be a practical person, but here's what I suggest, use $1000 for advertisement. The $9000 invest in a Roth IRA Index Fund and collect when you are 62, 67 or 72 years old.


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## Calvin Locke (Mar 6, 2012)

Anyone notice the OP stopped paying attention? It's hard to hear what you don't want to hear. Can't say I blame him/her.

If the OP still wants advice, I say this: submit to Bookbub. If they accept, then the advice here is wrong. If they don't, time to reconsider if someone will not take your money. Others will, but they can't produce on what would be considered by one of the best in the biz as not up to snuff marketability wise.

Also, mid-list would be an Amazon ranking of under 10k I think, but I suspect you might be selling elsewhere. If not, then I'd like to know how you are making money. I'm not questioning...just curious.

Good luck.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

CJ Davis said:


> If it were me I'd try IGN Entertainment. Lots of eyeballs that seem to be the right demographic.
> 
> See here: http://corp.ign.com/


I don't know anyone who actually READS IGN, or surfs over there anymore. At their origin point in the very late 1990s to around 2000, they had some good content, but shortly after 2000 they started just become tons and tons and tons of pop-up ads and a nightmare to navigate for any... y'know... actual content like videogame reviews or whatnot.

IGN, therefore, may have a ton of ads, but I'd wager a Burt Buck that very few ads on that ad-soaked site have any impact at all.

But hey, the OP doesn't want advice. He just wants some place to dump $10K for a tax write-off.

Must be nice to have that kind of money to waste.


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## Steve W. (Feb 23, 2011)

If it's about spending money, I'd buy a table at the Frankfurt, Bologna, London, China... etc etc book fairs and use the money to travel those places and write it all off as a marketing to foreign markets attempt.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Steve W. said:


> If it's about spending money, I'd buy a table at the Frankfurt, Bologna, London, China... etc etc book fairs and use the money to travel those places and write it all off as a marketing to foreign markets attempt.


Here is your Franfurt table, to get you started:


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## nobody_important (Jul 9, 2010)

K.B. Nelson said:


> I love me some JG, but the OP has made it very clear he's not interested in changing his covers, and he's certainly not interested in paying for a custom cover from JG. They are well worth it, though. I would say he's one of the best (if not the best, for certain genres anyway) indie designers out there.


If I were writing SF or literary or something, I'd definitely hire him. He understands typography & colors and everything that a good designer should know. It's rare that I go through an artist's portfolio and not find anything to nitpick.


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## J. R. Blaisy (Feb 4, 2014)

Goodness - so much good advice to an OP who's said he's retiring from the thread and can people please desist! LOL, really.

On the subject of covers, perhaps his are so wonderfully appalling that they're good. Now, my cover (below) is DIY, and as I have a little graphic design experience is at least neat (not in the American sense) and quite striking I think. And if the title was "Let's Learn Swedish" it would be just the job.

Change your cover! I get it.

My replacement is being done by Brandi Doane McCall (ebook-coverdesigns.com) and is going to look great, original but with an 'industry standard' look. I suspect you don't need to seriously wow potential readers with your covers - just reassure them that it's a professional-type product and give some clue to the genre. But don't let the cover misrepresent the book or people who actually read it might be cross.


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## Mike_Author (Oct 19, 2013)

So, if I can possibly summarize this whole thread for anyone late to the party -

_OP - I have a huge bundle of cash to spend on my books - where should I spend it?
Everyone - On your covers
OP - You're all wrong and what's more, I will no longer read any replies to my original question. Good bye._

Hopefully I have captured the essence correctly.


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## mrv01d (Apr 4, 2011)

Mike_Author said:


> So, if I can possibly summarize this whole thread for anyone late to the party -
> 
> _OP - I have a huge bundle of cash to spend on my books - where should I spend it?
> Everyone - On your covers
> ...


Yes that's correct. I wonder if the OP just wanted to talk about having the money?


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## Mike_Author (Oct 19, 2013)

mrv01d said:


> Yes that's correct. I wonder if the OP just wanted to talk about having the money?


yep, that's what I was thinking too.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Mike_Author said:


> So, if I can possibly summarize this whole thread for anyone late to the party -
> 
> _OP - I have a huge bundle of cash to spend on my books - where should I spend it?
> Everyone - On your covers
> ...


Yup.

Sad part is, what do you feature when you buy an ad somewhere that grabs people's attention?

Cover art.

It is the beginning of any ad campaign. Catching the eye with an interesting cover is extremely important as a feature and centerpiece of ANY other form of advertising.

So it's amazing he's the only author in the world who has create such perfect covers that he believes they are beyond all possibly room for improvement.

Guess that makes Stephen King and his 30-40 covers for Carrie in his 40-plus year history of that book look like an amateur... since he keeps having his publishers change up the cover so often.

Good thing the OP is a "professional writer" who's "making a living" off his sales. I guess King can't claim that, because he needs to keep changing his covers....

...learn something new every day hanging out here.

On a side-note: here's the original Stephen King hardcover cover for CUJO. I saw an add for it a couple months prior to release, probably in Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine, and knew I *had* to have it.

(Just double-checked and I'm probably right; T.E.D. Klein was editor of TZM when it started in 1981 and the novel CUJO was released later that year, in September 1981. The third issue of TZM (June 1981) featured King's story, The Jaunt, and it was probably in that issue where Viking Press bought the full-page ad for the novel they would be releasing that coming September. If I remember correctly, it was an inside-cover, black-and-white ad.)










Yet King and his publishers have changed even that awesome cover up over the years...

I found about 20 variant covers on the very first page of a Google image search:

https://www.google.com/search?q=cujo+book+cover&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=ABcXU6eeCMbnoATh5IGgDw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1440&bih=775

But hey... what does Stephen King know, right? He's just a hack, not a guy making a living off "solid midlist sales" off covers he'll never change because he got them so right the first time...


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## Sarah M (Apr 6, 2013)

Harper Alibeck said:


> It's so much easier when these threads pop up if the OP just titles it "This is a 'yeah, but'" thread.


*snickers*


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## Kay Bratt (Dec 28, 2011)

J.R.Blaisy said:


> Goodness - so much good advice to an OP who's said he's retiring from the thread and can people please desist! LOL, really.
> 
> On the subject of covers, perhaps his are so wonderfully appalling that they're good. Now, my cover (below) is DIY, and as I have a little graphic design experience is at least neat (not in the American sense) and quite striking I think. And if the title was "Let's Learn Swedish" it would be just the job.
> 
> ...


Brandi is awesome. She did my cover for _Train to Nowhere_. (below)


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## mrv01d (Apr 4, 2011)

Mike_Author said:


> yep, that's what I was thinking too.


I wish I wasn't steamed about it, but situations like this really make me less inclined to post on KB. I'm not here to waste my time and experience.


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## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

SM Reine said:


> On the bright side, there are a lot of lurkers and newbies on KB who DO want to learn, and they benefit from reading threads like these even when OP doesn't.  It's never a waste of time to try to be helpful.


I agree. That's why I posted the second time, about the advertising I'd done and what had worked & hadn't--thought, well, maybe the OP doesn't want to know, but somebody else might.


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## mrv01d (Apr 4, 2011)

Good point ladies!


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## Bluebonnet (Dec 15, 2013)

SM Reine said:


> On the bright side, there are a lot of lurkers and newbies on KB who DO want to learn, and they benefit from reading threads like these even when OP doesn't.  It's never a waste of time to try to be helpful.


You're right! I'm a newbie, and I've been reading the thread with interest. Lots of good marketing information.


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## Scottish Lass (Oct 10, 2013)

SM Reine said:


> On the bright side, there are a lot of lurkers and newbies on KB who DO want to learn, and they benefit from reading threads like these even when OP doesn't.  It's never a waste of time to try to be helpful.


I've been viewing it as a sortof 'fantasy marketing game'. If I had an amazing amount of money to spend on my books, what would I do with it?

It's been a fun game


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## mariehallwrites (Mar 14, 2013)

I'm not a noob, but I did just discover a new cover artist for my 'maybe someday' folder. JG is pretty flipping awesome!


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

This was an enlightening thread. Learned quite a bit; thank you to everyone who contributed advice. I hope OP sees the merit of it, but even if he doesn't, others certainly do.


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## Janet Michelson (Jun 20, 2012)

What are the chances the OP will return and report the results of the $10,000 advertising investment? 

Maybe the real question is: what are the chances the OP will return?


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## Rhynedahll (Oct 23, 2010)

Janet Michelson said:


> What are the chances the OP will return and report the results of the $10,000 advertising investment?
> 
> Maybe the real question is: what are the chances the OP will return?


I would say zero to none. 
While searching for bootleggers, this thread popped up.

On the subject of advertising, my experience has been that an excellent place to put add dollars is at Goodreads. Their program is self-serve and straightforward. My return has been in excess of 2 to 1.

(And no, I'm not coming back to read any replies.)


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