Take My Money - Please!

A Literal Literary Loser Prepares To Spend

Last month’s LitNuts book marketing promotion was a complete bust. A dedicated e-mail blast retailing at $75 sold exactly one copy of “The Figure Skating Mystery Series (5 Books in 1).” (Maybe. It could have just been a coincidence.)

In comparison, last week, with no promotion whatsoever, I sold two copies of “The Figure Skating Mystery Series,” two copies of “Murder on Ice,” the first book in the series, and 634 pages read in KENP of “On Thin Ice,” the second book in the series. I even sold a copy of “The Figure Skating Mystery Series” on BN.com, and that hardly ever happens!

As I wrote in my postmortem on the failed LitNuts promotion, the e-mail blast was just too broad. My book is a cozy mystery set in the world of competitive figure skating. That is a very small niche and it needs to be targeted very precisely.

I suspect the spontaneous uptick in book sales last week was due to a combination of the US Figure Skating Championships taking place in Ohio, and the International Skating Union finally releasing their decision from the 2022 Olympics which stripped the team gold medal from Russia due to doping, and gave it to the US, instead.

The latest skating scandal likely drove more internet searches, which led fans to the below video, where my books are promoted:

But that’s just a guess on my part. As I have long stressed, when it comes to book promotion: NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING.

With the World Figure Skating Championships starting on March 18, 2024 in Montreal, Canada, I am, once again, open to paying for book promotion.

But what kind of promotion?

Not the kind that comes from badly-spelled scams on social media. We have covered how I feel - and how I deal - with those.

I checked out Amazon ads. But, looking through their categories, I feel that, like with LitNuts, their targeting is too broad. Sure, I can put my ad in front of mystery readers, but if they don’t read cozies and aren’t also figure skating fans, I don’t see the point.

Maybe I’ll try Amazon ads down the line for one of my more general romance titles, but at what they charge per click, I don’t see how a title retailing at $2.99 can turn a profit. “Figure Skating Mystery” retails at $9.99 and is the only one that stands a chance of not going into the red when promoted. (Click here for a breakdown of what I spent - and what I earned - paying to promote the book during the 2022 Winter Olympics.)

So I am ready to pay for ads, but which ads should they be? Should I exclusively target figure skating fans? Via what? Magazines? Banners? Direct mailing?

Should I go broader with mystery readers? What format? How much? When?

What’s worked for you when marketing a niche book or series? All suggestions welcome!