One of the first questions we usually get from authors about our Ads for Authors program is “How many books will I sell?” The unfortunate answer is: We don’t know – it could be zero, or it could be a needle mover. You see, selling books depends on many factors, including:
• How much are you able to invest in advertising, and for how long?
• How active are you on social media, and how many followers do you have?
• Are you doing any offline marketing activities, like book signings or giveaways?
• Do you have a mailing list to whom you can promote your book?
• Have you published other books before, or are you a new author?
• And yes, is your book good enough to generate a buzz among readers?
All of these factors and more contribute to the effectiveness of your ad campaign.
When considering a marketing campaign it is important to realize that growing your book sales is a bit like growing a beautiful potted plant – it doesn’t happen overnight, and it requires regular attention. This process will take months, sometimes years as you build your reputation as an author. It starts with creating an awareness with potential readers – awareness of your book, and of you as an author.
Our Ads for Authors program can be a great first step to kick off an awareness campaign. Getting those prospective readers to see and notice your ad starts building mindshare with those readers. Interested readers will click to your book’s online selling page and read your book description and reviews. Some visitors may buy, others may not… but at the very least you’ve gained their awareness. And linking your ad to your BookBaby BookShop selling page will make it super easy for interested readers to buy your book.
So… while we can’t guarantee how many books you will sell, we do guarantee this:
• We will create an ad that features your attractive book cover.
• We will target your ad (with your input) to potential readers who are most likely to be interested.
• Your ad will be seen, and will get engagement from reader (views, likes, shares, and comments).
• We will share all available advertising stats with you in real time in your BookBaby author dashboard.
We've found that an author spending $100 for a week can expect about 300 clicks on average, and around 20,000 impressions. However, we cannot guarantee a specific amount as the range can vary quite a bit due to the nature of Facebook's ad delivery platform. Books with a more specific subject matter and more easily identifiable audience tend to perform better. For example, a book about woodworking will likely generate more clicks on the ad because it’s possible to target people who are very interested in woodworking. The universe of those people is smaller and likely more engaged than an audience for a romantic comedy might be.
When you do get a click on your ad, you want your BookShop or Amazon page to do as much selling for you as possible. The more compelling your BookShop or Amazon page is, the more likely you are to get a sale from that click. So, pay attention to those pages. You may want to consider our metadata optimization service, as well.
A short term ad campaign alone is not enough to make your book a best seller. That requires years of writing, publishing, social media activity, book signings, email list building and marketing, and advertising. But it is a good way to start creating that all-important awareness that your book is ready to be discovered by the world.