Paying to be Number One: The Power of Paid Advertising

Paying to be Number One: The Power of Paid Advertising 

by Lucy Thompson

Stats for Land That I Love box set, Aug 11, 2016

I have a secret: my books were bestsellers because I paid for that title. 

😱😧Shocking! 😧😱

Let me backtrack just a little before y'all start boycotting me on facebook or throwing my books back at me. 😉

Amazon releases many, many books each year. Like hundreds of thousands of books on Amazon. Some to very famous authors whose name alone sells a gazillion books. Others to housewives whose dream it is to see a book in print, but who isn't well-known apart from family, loyal friends, and shopkeepers who I gush to…umm…where was I again? Oh, yes. Amazon also releases books of authors who aren't very well known.

How do I find readers and convince them to buy my book?

Enter the middleman. 

Advertisers.

Companies with a well-padded subscription list of readers hungry to fill their Kindles with new books. 😍📚📲 
I'll put some links to advertisers who've worked for me at the bottom of this post.

Yay! Let me find that ASIN number and hit "send". Oh. Wait… They want me to pay money for the privilege of sharing my awesome book with lucky readers? (That was sarcasm, btw.) 

In this day and age, to get books in front of new readers (that's readers outside of the people you know personally or see down the shops) you have to pay for them. Approximately $30+ per ad. For one day. To a couple of thousand people who may or may not even open their email or click the link. It's a gamble, people. And sometimes it works. Works really well.

See that picture at the top with the #1's? Where it says #897 in Kindle Store? That was a box set my first book, Mail Order Surprise, was a part of called Land That I Love. Sadly, that box set is no longer available, but when it first came out, myself and the other four authors paid a ton of money for a whole bunch of ads--thirteen different advertisers if I recall correctly, which well and truly paid for themselves. We hit #1 in all our listed categories and crept up to #784 in the entire Kindle Store. That means that (at that time) our book was the 784th bestselling Kindle book in the whole of Amazon. Yay! 😃 Lots of new readers. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of page reads. Thousands of book sales. Yay!

But only because we paid for that. 

Call me jaded, but when I see books, particularly box sets, with Bestseller banners and high Amazon rankings I immediately think "paid advertising" not "well-crafted book". Ouch. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for those authors and cheerfully applaud them. But I'm more aware of what it takes to get to those numbers now.

Does that mean that I should rest on my laurels and not pay attention to craft? NO. Not if I want readers to read anything else I ever write. Because they're watching. 😏

 Yes, there is power in paid advertising. But there is also power in a well-crafted book that speaks to the soul. The Lord has the power to open doors that would otherwise seem impossible (hello, there was my name next to Lynnette Bonner! Next to Janice Thompson!). 

Our words have power. Let us use that power wisely. 

All the best as you write for His glory,

   Lucy Thompson
Writer of Words, Worth, and Wit
Email: dingo4mum@yahoo.com.au
Blog: http://lucythompsonauthor.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lucy.thompsonauthor
Pinterest:  https://au.pinterest.com/lucythompsonaut
Books: A Cowboy's Dare: http://amzn.to/2ikiUm1

P.S. As promised: some links to helpful paid advertisers. 😊 Prices are approximate and in US$.
Robin Reads $60  FKBT $30 for a .99c ad. Fussy Librarian $26+ Faithful Reads $25
BookBub (the best and most expensive, but hard to get into) $190

Lucy's review of "Where Wildflowers Grow" by Gail Gaymer Martin

Hi! Lucy Thompson here :) with my review of Where Wildflowers Grow by Gail Gaymer Martin.

Genre: Christian contemporary romance.

“Falling in love can be wonderful, but for Sandy Fisher and Clay Burdett, it is more like a steep mountain climb. Sandy returns to her hometown concerned about her widowed mother’s health and to heal from her job loss and her broken engagement. Though discouraged, her attitude and determination never falter, and when her car acts up and the only mechanic in town gives her the runaround, she’s determined to win the battle. Clay, scarred by his childhood, left his promising career and moved into the small town to bury emotions and guilt involving the death of his wife. But life continues to be empty, and when he meet’s spunky Sandy who challenges him and awakens his spirit, he faces his wasted life unless he conquers his past. Like opposite poles, Sandy and Clay are drawn together, seeking something deeper and more meaningful than their past choices. Yet they continue to doubt until truth softens their hearts as sand softens clay.”

This book was a quick holiday read for me. I did laugh at a few parts and even teared up once. A great reminder about God’s timing in relationships. I like this quote from the book: “You have to nourish love, work at it”. I liked the wisdom and verses shared throughout the book.

The story tended to lag and I found myself skimming to get to the more important bits of the story. It also could have benefited from a more thorough edit. I found at least five errors—and I don’t consider myself the best proofreader.

I brought this book, but wouldn’t read it again. I’d give this a bare 3 out of 5 stars.

If you like light, holiday reads then this is the book for you.

Bio: Lucy Thompson is a stay-at-home mum to five precocious children by day and a snoop by night, stalking interesting characters through historical Colorado, and writing about their exploits. She enjoys meeting new people from all over the world and learning about the craft of writing. When she can be separated from her laptop, she is a professional time waster on Facebook, a slave to the towering stack of books on her bedside table, and a bottler, preserving fruit the old fashioned way so she can swap recipes and tips with her characters. Her home is in central Queensland, Australia, where she does not ride a kangaroo to the shops, mainly because her children won’t fit. ;) 
Represented by Chip MacGregorof MacGregor Literary, she is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, and Romance Writers of America.