Assessment, Part Two

I glanced back at the bullet list from my last post, and decided to limit this post to two promotional items. Comments from last time told me there is a lot of interest in the Amazon advertising. I'll talk about that, but first I'm talking about Macabre Macaroni.

Macabre Macaroni is my name for Halloween themed micro-fiction. I posted one per week during October. Mostly it was just fun, but I turned it into a mild promotion for my Experimental Notebook. The idea was, “If you like this sort of thing, why not spend 99¢ on Experimental Notebook, etc.”

I never know which story will pique everyone's interest. My personal favorite was called There's a Cat on my Grave. I watch the likes on a post, to keep score. Your favorite was called Selfie. This story was popular enough to join my top ten posts of all time.

To tell you the truth, I thought Selfie would be a middle of the pack story. Last year, I thought the same thing about Jack O' Lantern. It could be that readers like a bit more blood and death than I thought.

As far as the promotional value goes, there were clicks to Experimental Notebook from my page on the story days. There were sales on those days. Data isn't available to prove whether the stories produced those sales.

Which brings me to the entire assessment in general. There is no way to get tracking data from Amazon on these promotions. I've shared statistics on occasion with people who guest posted here. Sometimes they like to know how their visit performed. They don't have access to whether someone clicked on their link, but I do – so why not share? We still never know if the click led to a sale, but we do what we can.

I ran three different Amazon promotions during my big push. The results are confusing, but encouraging. I made a mistake at the beginning, but changed things up right away. Amazon offers two options, target products or target book genres. I decided to run one of each and compare.

I ran Will O' the Wisp out by targeting products. I chose nearly a hundred items with a Halloween vibe about them. If you shopped Amazon for the movie Hocus Pocus, you might have seen my ad.

I ran The Experimental Notebook of C. S. Boyack by targeting genres. I felt pretty good about the experiment and let them both loose.

Later on, I learned that targeting by product will never appear in a Kindle device. I made the assumption this probably included all the various apps too. Will O' the Wisp was my best shot at Halloween sales, and time was ticking. I ran a third campaign by pushing Wisp out toward various genres. I was assured that Wisp would appear on Kindle devices at least for this campaign.

I justified the extra expense by telling myself that using the same book to compare the different advertising options was a better comparison. Here are the results

When I targeted products using Will O' the Wisp the ad was shown to 90,516 shoppers. It was intriguing enough for 53 people to click upon it. These clicks cost me $4.18. It never sold a single book.

When I used Wisp to target genres, and appear on Kindle devices, the ad went out to 25,501 readers. 171 of them clicked on the ad, costing me $34.05. It never sold a single copy.

I'm going to break the flow to explain how these ads work. I've posted about them before, but I might find a new reader today, so bear with me. I have the option of setting my own time period, so I ran every campaign for one month. There is a fail safe in the system, so I set the campaigns to halt if I spent $100. Beyond that, I get to decide how much I'm willing to pay when someone clicks on the ad. I pay nothing to have it appear, but if they click I get charged. Amazon holds an instant auction among competing advertisers, and the high bidder is the only one who gets placed. I bid 20¢ per click.

Wisp cost me 8¢ per click when I pushed toward products, but 20¢ per click when pushed toward genres. There was some tough competition for Halloween books. Neither campaign produced a sale, but it's still data to consider. There is value in being seen, even if nobody buys. It's possible that someone saw my ad and came back later to download the book.

What about that campaign for Experimental Notebook? The other one that pushed to genres? It performed best of all. 31,979 shoppers saw my ad. 207 of them clicked the ad, costing me $38.48. Each click cost me 19¢. But out of those clicks, 15 of them actually downloaded the book.

Before anyone gets too excited, this is a 99¢ book. After I split with Amazon, I pocket a sweet 35¢. I lost money, but did I really? If you remember my last post, Notebook was designed to be a gateway drug into my other works. Take a 99¢ chance… Come back for the novels. I found 15 new readers I wouldn't have reached otherwise.

Why did Notebook sell, while Wisp did not? There were sales of Wisp for two months, but not because of Amazon advertising. It could be that Notebook's cover appeals to more people. Maybe my blurb was better on Notebook. Personally, I think price has a lot to do with it.

People might take a 99¢ chance on a new author, but not a $2.99 chance. Macabre Macaroni is free, if you enjoyed them… Notebook is 99¢ if you enjoyed it…

It appears the conversion rate is higher when targeting genres, and appearing on Kindle gadgets. It makes sense. Those shoppers are all readers in the first place. When targeting products, the shopper might not have read a book since 1974. Less people saw those ads, but they were more productive ads.

Still, a crap ton of people saw my ads in total. Maybe something lodged in their brains, and they will buy a book a month from now. Exposure has some value too.

I've spent more money on promotional stuff that produced less. There is a reasonable chance that I'll run an Amazon campaign again in the future. I'll probably target book genres and appear on Kindles. I may bid low and give it more time too. I haven't really pushed The Cock of the South lately. Maybe it's time. It keeps my name out there for a couple more months.

Assessing the promotions reminds me of the paleontologist who finds one fingernail and interprets the skeleton of a giant ground sloth. There isn't much evidence to go on, but we do what we can based upon that evidence. We can also share with our friends. This includes not only campaign data, but blog stats when we host someone.

What about you guys? I've shown you the fingernail, do you see something I'm missing? Let me hear from you. Next time I'll try to cover the rest of the things I did during September and October.

S’pose I ought to post something

I go on vacation for nearly three weeks, starting Friday. This gave me a little bit of time to get the camper ready, and maybe move a couple of projects forward before we head out. I also get a bit of time after we get back home.

I'm getting company next weekend. It's never failed so far. My vacation time is like a company magnet. It doesn't matter, we always have a good time together. This is one of the reasons I stay non-committal about deadlines and such. Writing is my fun time, and I don't have to live by rigid performance deadlines. If it has to wait a week it can. I don't have a New York publisher breathing down my neck.

Here is my loose plan of what I want to accomplish. I'm going to participate in the Rave Reviews Book Club Back to School Book and Blog Party. (Who names this stuff?) this will take up one day of blog space in mid September. It looks like a good turnout of people exchanging support for our various projects.

I want to publish The Experimental Notebook of C. S. Boyack in early September. I still haven't decided how I'm going to promote this one, but I should set up some relatively free stuff. I'll ponder on the idea and come up with a few things.

I decided to write posts for Macabre Macaroni again this year. This involved micro fiction I posted weekly during October last year. I debated its merit on this blog, and the feedback helped me make up my mind. If I'm doing it again, I might as well make it work for me. I'm going to figure out a way to make it part of my promotion for the Experimental Notebook. I already have a couple of the stories written.

I'm going to make a pretty big push for Will O' the Wisp in October. I booked a blog tour, and have all the posts written already. I decided to submit this one to a few more book reviewers too. I need to get on the stick if I'm going to time this before Halloween. Wisp is a natural for a Halloween push and I'm going to go for it. Reviewers need time to read it, so I'd better get moving.

I'll probably do most of the standard things, like cover reveal posts for the new book. I may do some guest spots here and there. Right now, I'm concentrating on the issues that must be planned ahead.

I'm still thinking about placing some more Amazon advertising. This is more about awareness than sales. You gamble with $100, but they normally don't spend it all. I think 19,000 people saw my ad last time, and it cost me about $18. I don't see that as a bad thing.

Every day involves baby steps toward these goals. If I keep doing a bit here and there it all gets done. It leaves me time for a trip to the coast, and a visit with company. If I wait until the last minute I get too stressed out.

I need to plan for other events too. I already have a post with Lisa about the upcoming book. I need to write another one about choosing which outline will become my next project. Then I need to spend some quality time with my current manuscript and edit it into something coherent. This will involve some time with Doubt the Raven.

I'm kind of surprising myself here. It's a lot to do, but I can manage it. After October I will prioritize editing my novel, and finishing the winning outline.

Here is a question for those of you who've tested a specific Amazon process. Is there any value in setting up my book of short stories as a pre-order? This involves publishing it using a specific date. Consumers can order it, but Amazon won't deliver it until the specific date. Presumably, you get credit for all the sales the day it gets delivered. It's a way to start off with a higher ranking, and hopefully stay there. This book will price at 99¢, so people might take a chance. Let me ask it a different way. Is there any reason I should not set my book of short stories up with a pre-order time period?

Blasphemy

I’m a bachelor again this weekend. I figured once the kids moved to Boise, my wife wouldn’t be travelling to Nevada quite so much. I figured wrong.

My daughter-in-law is taking the grandkids south to visit my son. He’s working, and won’t return to Boise for a week or two. My wife decided to go with them, and watch the big game with her brother.

That leaves me to my own devices. I have a beta reading project that I’m nearly finished with. This requires some writing to send off my notes. I got a bunch of invites to host and visit other bloggers. Some of them have already delivered some fantastic stuff. I still have to write my posts, and any intros that accompany their posts.

I have an appointment for my daughter to cut my hair tomorrow. I don’t usually have to pay her to spend time with me, but I really don’t mind. She’s doing a fantastic job, and I want to support her.

I need to work on my novel to some degree. I concede that the middle is slower going, but I need to get some mileage on it. I have some decent plans, and have to move the characters toward each other now.

I have to write my normal blogs, in addition to anything I’m cross posting with other writers.

With this in mind, I’m considering not even watching the Superbowl. I know for a red blooded American male, that’s blasphemy. I just don’t care that much about the game. I’m not invested in either team.

I suppose I could do like half the world, and watch the broadcast to see the advertisements. There isn’t much value to that either. I already know Carl’s Jr. is going to use boobs to market hamburgers. I think my Lisa Burton graphic proves I already know that lesson, as evidenced by my blog invitations.

Then my wife went and made me a salami and cheese platter. She didn’t want me to watch the game without snacks. She even bought me some outstanding beer to keep me company. (She loves me.)  I’ll work my fingers raw, but come Sunday afternoon, the old pit bull and I are watching the game.

What are your writing plans? Do you have any marketing plans? Who’s watching the game, and are you invested in the outcome?