Looking for feedback on paid advertising

I've resisted paid advertising to date in no small part because I believe that my books would not justify the cost, especially if I keep the books at the current low price point. My intellectual property reference book may be an exception as it is a higher price and generates enough royalties to justify some small expenditure in its promotion. I will certainly do that for the next edition unless I go with a traditional publisher which is an option as I have a standing offer to publish an expanded version of the book. But for the $2.99 short story collection and now $.99 book of poems, paying for ads or "pay per click" advertising seems a losing proposition.

Having said that, I was wondering whether anyone here has had any experience with paid advertising and would be willing to share that experience for my benefit and that of our friends who may also not have opted to go down that particular road in the past. I was specifically thinking about Google and Goodreads pay-per-click advertising and whether it has worked (or failed) for our colleagues in the past.

I have spent too much time trying to promote my books (the fiction and poetry only--the law one I've ignored thus far--unwisely, I might add, because it is a niche book that people seem to find on their own). In particular, I've posted some new work and numerous samples from the two books in numerous sites devoted to fiction and poetry. The posts are read fairly widely, and in one site where rating posts is possible (Jungleage.com) the short stories posted do quite well (7-9 star averages out of ten with hundreds of reads). But it has had no impact on sales. Nor have book giveaways through Goodreads and Librarything. Hundreds of people request the books, hundreds add them to their "to read" list, but very few actually buy it. Worse, by giving away books I actually received at least one bad review (2 stars out of 5) from someone whose review consisted of thanking me for sending the book which is something she had always wanted--I suspect the two-star rating related to the shipping time as I sent it book rate and it took about three weeks to be delivered (and still cost me $5), since the comment was a positive one. You can't win. (Someone also gave my poetry book one star without comment which is little more helpful than the five star with no comment rating it also received. At least the person giving it four stars actually wrote a review which is helpful and much appreciated.) If you took the time to mark your displeasure at a book with a one-star rating, wouldn't you at least write something like "This person's is as competent as a poet as Obama is as president."? I'm just saying.

Any thoughts?

Marketing is everything when it comes to selling books, Victor. Unhappy with the reaction to her first attempt at writing for an adult audience, J. K. Rowling remained anonymous when her latest book was published. However, the publishing company spent money on the book not normally spent on first-time authors. They failed to recover their costs, leaked that the real author was J. K. Rowling and the book sold over 300,000 (including orders) in less than a week. In other words, it isn't the amount that you spend that makes a difference; it's whether or not the increase in sales justifies the cost of marketing --- since we can't all announce that we are famous people using a pseudonym to bolster our sales and recover our losses! You can read about it here:

J.K. Rowling’s “Robert Galbraith” trick reveals nothing of how publishers really treat unknown novelists

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds nought and six, result misery."

-- Wilkins Micawber in Charles Dickens's David Copperfield

I have had no increase in sales from paid advertising in related markets.  My best ups in sales came from my $15 monthly ad in First Chapters Plus that has ads from $15 and up depending on your size.  I stayed with $15 and early on had benefits.  As time went on, benefits decreased.  I knew it was from the ad as the ad hit the Internet and my sales went up.  Also the ads appeared all over the place in bookseller blurbs and google etc.

My next best increase in sales is from having a book signing and the related newspaper and Internet ads.

http://firstchapterplus.com/

You'll perhaps see my Ghost Orchid $15 ad in their sample and I also gave them a good ref because it was the first paid ad that brought me any benefits.  I might as well burned the $ for the others - some were pricy in magazines about orchids, etc.

Thanks Shelagh and D.K. for the as always thoughtful feedback.

I've decided to do a low-impact test with a pay-per-click advertising with Goodreads that should go online in a couple of days. If I see no results by the end of the month, I may try an ad per D.K.'s suggestion. I like the ability to set the per click price and targeting of my desired demographic and am testing my intellectual property book which has the greatest chance of yielding some significant results. If I see a significant uptick in sales, I will do the same for my short story collection targeting the SF market. The cost will be about the same as giving away a soft cover book or D.Ks. ad suggestion. We'll see.

I look forward to your results info.  Another person who has done a log of marketing is DT.  I hope he weighs in with his success formulas.  He started small a few years ago and has quite a lot of books out there.

Thanks, D.K. Your $15 Ghost Orchid ad seems to now cost $25 which is still reasonable IF it pays for itself. I may try that next for my intellectual property book if Goodreads ads do not pan out. the cost is certainly reasonable (I'm doing a very limited test run with two books through the end of the month and will post the results here.)

Are you sure?  I'm going to go look.

You are right.  If I had it to do over, I'd pay the $25 - and maybe the $50 for a bigger ad (though I got plenty of exposure from my little one...)

Get on their mailing list.  They run specials - for my $15 I had three months one time.  I've always felt it was an up front outfit.  The owner recently lost a battle with illness but the new person seems to be doing well and was her partner.

I just lost my publisher due to the death of a major partner from illness.  Is it the industry?

I think the change has come since we first talked about it.  I looked before and my book was on the multiples page - it's not in the new services page.  They changed all the rates and added some new ones.  Before, the jump was huge - from $15 to $75 to $125...now there are some steps and the bottom has been increased.  It's been out about three years, so I guess they are doing well under the new management.

Hi - I asked DT on another thread about his advertising methodology - here's his response:

" I don't use pay per click ads, I did in the past and found that the payoff was not worth it. The Amazon free promos, forum postings and social media free postings is all I do now. I'm trying to have enough material out so that I can keep activity going with a promo running on something at all times."

I try to have a story or two on Amazon for free every day.  So far, at least a few people have downloaded the free stories, and a few have bought a story.  For my unknown, children's literature pages, I consider it is all that I can do.  I have gone to book signings at great expense.  I found that the expense was not worth it. The people were very nice, the schools did all they could for my book, but in the end, no, the sales did not cover the travel expense...motel,,,,food,,,
I have not ventured into the pay per click or any other internet media ad...I know I do not have the money for that.  Even if I did, I would feel that I was a small, small minnow in a large sea.
Love,
Betty

Thanks D.K. That helps. I revised the books' descriptions and will see if it has any impact when the ads go online again sometime tomorrow. No impact or cost so far. I'm only risking $15 for both books for the rest of the month as a trial. Give-aways do not work for me. I'll try this and maybe an ad next month if click-per-pay do not generate additional sales to cover their cost.

Betty, have you considered releasing your audio version on amazon's new platform? Since you paid for the voice talent and assume you have the rights to that as a work-for-hire (e.g., you own the copyright) you could get it published at no cost and not have to share the royalties with anyone. There is no cost to publish through ACX as it offers a similar model to Amazon/CreateSpace. Forgive me if I'm stating the obvious or, worse, already suggested this elsewhere and forgot, but I did not know about the ACX platform until very recently. Audible is their main partner, and royalties could be significant for your book which could find a good market without any additional advertising on your part. Just a thought.

I like your stories very much and listened to the audiobook in the car during my long commutes.

http://www.readerviews.com/services_Review_And_Trailer.html?inf_contact_key=fa16c2987baeb1f8b09d624407a9a6d2e96836f3e1b9e317779963b552b9b083

This is another online outfit that I have found creditable.  Unfortunately, their founder died recently, but the second in charge carried forward brilliantly from what I can see.

Thanks for the additional information, D.K.

The Goodreads campaigns have had no impact to date. I will let them continue to run until the $15 is exhausted and will not run them again unless something changes. I don't look at or click on such ads myself, and suspect most people don't either, other than perhaps from idle curiosity for which I am unwilling to pay.

I've had hundreds of downloads for a few of my short stories at two sites in particular--JungleDreams and Nicestories. I've begun removing the stories from the latter site and will probably do the same from the former since they have not generated any significant sales. People will read them and perhaps one our of 100 will actually take the time to comment, but with the glut of free material, perhaps one in five hundred will actually go to Amazon and buy a book or short story. Goodreads and JungleAge have generated a few very positive reviews, but these do not transfer to Amazon and are only seen by users of these platforms--if they bother to look for them. At least that offers some positive feedback whether or not it influences sales.

I've decided it is better to have the short stories at Amazon only--where they can at least be offered as free previews from time to time, at least the ones enrolled in KDP select. Now I need to decide whether KDP Select is worth the exclusivity or whether I'd be better off going back to listing the books and/or stories elsewhere as well.