ad results April 2024

I forgot to do an ad roundup post the last couple of months, but let’s do one for April now!

I do these posts because there are two errors indie authors can fall into regarding advertising. One is that advertising is totally useless. The other is that advertising is the silver bullet that will bring riches and fame showering upon their heads. Neither is true. The fact is that advertising is simply another tool, one that can bring good results, but must be used well and carefully to be effective.

With all that in mind, here is how my ads performed in April 2024.

First up, Facebook. Here’s what I got back for every $1 I spent on these series.

Facebook:

THE GHOSTS: $7.29, with 13.7% of the profit coming from the audiobooks. GHOSTS also benefited from a strong halo effect from GHOST IN THE VEILS.

CLOAK GAMES/CLOAK MAGE: $2.85, with 11.3% of the profit coming from the audiobooks.

Bookbub:

I didn’t really do anything with Bookbub ads this month due to lack of time, but I plan to run some FROSTBORN Bookbub ads in May if all goes well.

Amazon ads:

Remember that for Amazon ads, an ad really needs to get a sale (or a complete page read in KU) between every 6 to 8 clicks to be effective, so I will include that metric.

HALF-ELVEN THIEF: $12.67, with 8% of the profit coming from the audiobook, and a sale/complete read for every 0.46 clicks. This is an astonishingly good result, but HALF-ELVEN THIEF benefited hugely from the release of its sequel WIZARD-THIEF.

STEALTH & SPELLS ONLINE: CREATION: $8.86, with 10% of the profit coming from the audiobook, and a sale/complete read for every 1.41 clicks. This is much improved from previous performance for this book, and it’s entirely because of the title change from SEVENFOLD SWORD ONLINE: CREATION to STEALTH & SPELLS ONLINE: CREATION, since that is more in keeping with the conventions of the genre. (And a huge thank you to narrator CJ McAllister for taking the time to record new credits for the audiobook so quickly.)

DRAGONSKULL OMNIBUS ONE: $43.38, with 88% of the profit coming from the audiobook, and a sale for every 3 clicks. This is a weird one, because almost all the sales come from the audiobook, which massively outsells the actual ebook. I advertise this one because it’s obviously a good driver of sales to the audiobook at little cost to me.

So, as usual, we can see that long series with audiobooks are generally the most profitable ones to advertising. Also, if you’re writing a series that will go into Kindle Unlimited, it might be a good idea to set up some Amazon ads on the first book BEFORE you publish subsequent books, since the halo effect will also give a strong boost to your ads and the first book.

And as always, thanks for reading!

-JM