Books don’t sell themselves. 

You write an amazing story. Pen compelling sales copy. Create an eye-catching cover. 

And then you release your book baby into the wild. 

And … crickets. 

Let’s be honest, there’s a ton of competition when trying to sell your latest book. It’s an incredibly crowded market place. Especially online. 

I recently released my collection of short stories, Grampus and Other Tales of Holiday Horror, and ran several promotions associated with it. Today, I am going to invite you underneath the author’s hood and share with you the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Book Promotion. 

The Good

I believe that email marketing is one of the most powerful ways to connect with readers. 

A number of companies run email book promotions. They have a big list of 80,000 or 200,000 or more readers. I bought a spot in one of those emails focusing on readers who self selected as being interested in horror books. 

With these types of email buys, you are generally given the option as to whether to list your book as free or deeply discounted. 

My goal was simple: get Grampus into as many hands as possible. So I went for the free option, meaning I would be spending money to give my book away. 

I chose this option for two reasons. First, it’s the holiday season and I wanted to give freely. Second, I could get Grampus into as many hands as possible. 

So I scheduled the book to be free on Amazon, bought my $40 spot in the promotional email, and then waited for the sale day. 

I kept checking my Amazon dashboard throughout the day, and free copies of my book were moving. First 400, then 1,200 and finally closing out the day at a whopping 2,000 books given away. 

Grampus even hit number 1 in a few Amazon free book categories for a few hours. 

I was super happy with this promotion. I had shared the book widely, exposed 2,000 new people to my writing, and even made $30 through the purchase of my other books. 

If you subscribe to any book promotions emails, let me know so I can check them out. 

The Bad

Riding on the high of the success of the free book promo and the timeliness of the holiday season, I decided to employ another book marketing tactic: paid Amazon Ads. 

The idea behind this is simple. Place an ad on the platform where people are buying their books online already and set a bid for every time someone clicks on your ad. 

I honestly have mixed feeling about Amazon since I personally prefer to buy books directly from physical booksellers or online from small presses. But because this is a passion project, I sell all my books are sold on Amazon because it is easier and I know I can get in front of readers. 

So what was the bad in this? 

I set up my ad and pressed submit. And, it got rejected.

Apparently, my cover violated Amazon’s ad content terms because (in their eyes) it depicted harm to children. Yes, I admit fully cartoon kids are being stuffed into a basket by Krampus. But, come on, there’s no real harm and no real danger of this ever happening. (Maybe Krampus is just massaging Junior’s aching back.) 

So I had two choices. 

Cancel the ad or redo the cover. 

Let’s be honest, I’m not a cover designer. I created my original cover through my home-grown, guerrilla design skills. Now I was faced with redoing the cover. But I wanted to get this book out for the holidays. Because running an ad in January would have been a wasted effort. 

So I fired up the computer and put together a new cover no longer depicting “harm” to children. That cover is below (and if you want the original cover, you’ll need to pick up the paperback.) 

The Ugly

And now onto the part that stung me the most, and that all authors feel. 

One thing that helps sell any product, including books, is social proof. Someone else saying they liked the book. 

This is where reviews come in. Amazon allows you to rate books from 1 star to 5 stars, and people can write reviews as well. 

So, at first, everything was going swimmingly well. I had quickly secured about 10 reviews, with mostly 5 stars. 

And, then, the 1 star review came in. My first 1 star review after publishing 16 books. A reader absolutely hated Grampus. 

As an author, getting a 1 star is a sharp punch to the gut. A mix of emotions ran through my mind. Self doubt, annoyance, despair. Writing is a lonely venture so every time a positive affirmation comes in, it truly fills the tank. A negative one does the opposite. 

After a day or so of allowing the bad review occupy my mind, I let it go. Not all books are for everyone. Everyone has different tastes. Despite this bit of negativity, I believe in myself and my writing. 

That said, if you’ve read Grampus and are a person who leaves reviews, please do so. My goal is to share stories and connect with readers, and your review helps me find new readers.

I can’t wait to share with you my plans for what I have in store for this next year. But I’ll do that in the future.