Experimentation - My first foray into paid advertising

Trying to get a book off the ground is no picnic.  I totally flubbed the launch of E, as I was one of those authors who thought that a good book will sell itself.  I had no platform, no online presence when I started out just a handful of months ago in May.  Over time, E has built up some great reviews, and I have a small but loyal base of fans who can't wait for the next book (hugs to that wonderful little group).  But in the meantime...  I'll be honest with you: The sales just aren't there.  And while I don't really care about making money off my books at this point, I would at least like to have people read them!

I'm getting ready to release the second book in the series, November 12th.  Yay!  So I figured it was high time to try to get some buzz going with the first book.  Not that I haven't been working on this all along, but there are some things I have not yet tried.  Enter: Paid Advertising.

This week marks my first foray into the realm of paid advertising.  I have set up E on a Countdown Deal that starts Friday, with the book pricing at 99 cents for a few days, and slowly increasing in price over the course of the week.  In conjunction with this, I've taken the dive and scheduled some paid advertising.  On Friday, I've spent a whopping $5 through Fiverr to have a (reputable) PR person share my book on a very active Facebook page.  And on Saturday, EReader News Today will promo E through a newsletter.  This one cost me $15 for a grand total of $20 spent.  I figure I can live with that if it doesn't work.

Just a word to the wise-- research advertising before you try it.  Find out what works for people, what the returns usually are, and whether or not it is in your budget.

Next week, I'll share the results of my little experiment, including my Amazon sales chart.