Don’t Spend Money On Ads Unless You Have A Lot Of Books

I got a few questions this month from new-ish writers asking when they should start advertising. I told them all that, in my opinion, they should wait until they have written more books to start advertising, especially for CPC (cost per click) platforms like Facebook. Especially if you have one book, you shouldn’t try to advertise it.

First, some context. Here’s how my ads did in February 2022. This is what I got back for every $1 I spent on advertising a particular series.

Frostborn, $3.57

Ghosts, $6.92

Cloak, $11.83

Demonsouled, $10.92

I gotta admit those are pretty good results. That said, there were some unusual circumstances. I didn’t spend that much on DEMONSOULED, just Amazon Ads with a low bid rate, and so while DEMONSOULED didn’t make all that much, I didn’t spend all that much. CLOAK GAMES/MAGE really benefited from releasing CLOAK OF IRON in February, and GHOSTS was still going strong from GHOST IN THE SUN back in November.

But this is the important point – my ads were targeted only at four specific books. FROSTBORN: THE GRAY KNIGHT, CHILD OF THE GHOSTS, CLOAK GAMES: THIEF TRAP, and DEMONSOULED. However, between those four books, they mark the entry point to a combined SEVENTY-FOUR books with their subsequent series. And that is where I can glean a profit. I can afford to advertise a free book because if, for example, someone reads FROSTBORN: THE GRAY KNIGHT and likes it enough to buy the rest of the series, that will more than pay for the number of clicks required to get someone to download the book and read.

So when someone tells me that they have just one book, or one or two books and they want to start advertising, I wince when I hear that. It’s possible to make a profit advertising just one book, but it’s really, really hard. It’s like playing Diablo III on Inferno Mode and the buttons randomly reassign their functions every so often. I know of people who’ve done it, but it’s really hard.

For that matter, the snarky part of my brain wants to point out that I had 50+ novels when I started using CPC ads. I started experimenting intermittently with CPC ads in 2017, and didn’t get really competent with them until 2019.

I think it’s important to emphasize that there are more effective ways of selling books than CPC ads. For me, I’ve found the most effective way of selling books is to give away a lot of stuff for free in the form of first-in-series books and short stories, to cultivate an email newsletter list (and to induce people to sign up my giving them free stuff when they do), and to publish regularly in the same series over time. If all those things are true, then CPC ads can work as a sort of force multiplier. However, if you’re not doing those things, and your books have other problems – like the covers are bad or the blurb is just this wall of text – then CPC ads will do nothing and you’ll just waste money on them.

Now, if you want to learn how to use CPC ads, there are four sources I would recommend:

-A book called HELP! MY FACEBOOK ADS SUCK! by Mal & Jill Cooper. This was my introduction to Facebook ads, and it taught me to effectively use the platform to advertise books. I don’t 100% agree with everything in the book (specifically about the use of affiliate links), but it is an excellent introduction to Facebook ads.

–BOOKBUB ADS EXPERT by David Gaughran. My Bookbub ads got way more effective when I read this book, and the advice is solid and comprehensive. True story – I was talking with someone at Bookbub a couple of months ago and mentioned that I followed the advice in Mr. Gaughran’s book, and the Bookbub people said they heard that a lot and agreed with the advice.

-Bryan Cohen does a quarterly Amazon Ads Profit Challenge that teaches the basics of turning a profit on Amazon Ads. It is an excellent introduction to Amazon CPC Ads.

-Finally, the Self Publishing Formula has a comprehensive course called Ads For Authors. It is a bit on the pricey side, but it is both comprehensive and exhaustive. I’ve gone through (most) of it myself, and I recommend it.

So if you’re really serious about learning CPC ads for your books, those sources should be able to get you started.

-JM