One Author’s Challenges of Cozy Mystery Marketing
The times they are a-changin’. In all aspects of our lives. Maybe the challenges of cozy mystery marketing, or any book marketing, never rank high on most people’s minds—unless you’re an author struggling with ever-increasing expenses and ever-shrinking book sales. For those of us in that boat, it’s a serious personal and financial problem.
Publishing has always been a fickle industry.
Marketing was once the responsibility of publishing companies. The author had one job and one job only—meet their deadline. However, these days, whether you publish traditionally, independently, or both, most authors are required to do a huge chunk, if not all, of their own marketing. The reason? In today’s topsy-turvy world, publishers devote all their marketing dollars to the top one percent of their authors—the very authors who have such incredibly established names and reputations that their books would sell (and sell well) without the benefit of any marketing and publicity efforts.
Authors are always looking for new ways of marketing their books to readers.
The trouble is, whenever we hit upon something that works, it never lasts for long. Or what works for one author offers little or no results for another. Not only are we constantly in search of that elusive Golden Ticket, when we finally grab onto it, it often slips through our fingers.
Social Media
Social media? Some fellow authors have told me I’ve sabotaged myself by not being on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Maybe they’re right, but I’ve seen the nasty side of social media and want no part of it. I was bullied enough as a kid.
Amazon ads
I tried Amazon ads. They worked great for several years. Until they didn’t. I switched over to what’s called Defensive Ads, at the suggestion of another author who was having quite a bit of success with them. A month and a half later, they’ve resulted in exactly one sale.
I attended a workshop where the presenter claimed her success came from growing her newsletter mailing list through reader magnets, which is creating a landing page on your website where you offer a free read to anyone signing up for your newsletter. Since creating my reader magnet seven months ago, I’ve increased my subscriber list by nearly 1,000. During that time, though, I’ve seen no increase in monthly sales.
Promo newsletters
Promo Newsletters featuring discounted books used to work well for me. Until they didn’t. I wasn’t alone. Other authors have said the same thing. The only one I’ve continued to use is Bookbub—when I’ve been lucky enough to get a spot. They’ve always been extremely successful for me. So I was thrilled several weeks ago when I was offered a U.S. Bookbub promo on Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and Apple Books for the 2-book bundle featuring the first two books in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries for .99 cents.
Not only is a Bookbub promo hard to get, but they’re also a huge financial commitment. A bite the bullet, close your eyes, cross your fingers, and hold your breath-sized commitment. You need to sell several thousand books just to break even. The hope is that people who paid less than a dollar for your book (or books, in this case) will enjoy them enough to buy other books in the series at the regular retail price. In the past, that’s the way it’s worked for me.
I’d heard the rumors about other authors not doing well with Bookbub anymore. I suspected enough authors had stopped trying for Bookbub ads that even Bookbub was starting to feel the pinch because they had dropped the price in the Cozy Mystery category by nearly $200. My initial reaction was that I’d have to sell far fewer books to break even.
Bookbub promos always sell the most books the first day of the sale when the promo newsletter goes out. The book then remains on Bookbub’s website for the length of time the author has set for the sale. I’ve always gone with the 30-day max. Each day after the first, sales go down incrementally. However, in the past, I’ve always made Amazon’s bestseller list that first day. Not this time. I was shocked at how few books sold.
My promo end July 10th. Seeing the results this time is both sobering and depressing. I have little hope of breaking even. I know with what’s going on in the U.S. and the world right now, people are worried. I’m worried. But I’d hoped I could give them a little bit of an escape and a few laughs for only .99 cents, and at the same time, help my own financial bottom line. However even .99 cents seems too steep a price for many people to pay these days.
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USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website www.loiswinston.com. Sign up for her newsletter to receive an Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mystery.
Thanks for this! I’ve seen the same issues as you. Many marketing and advertising programs worked great until everyone and their uncle started using them, driving prices up and ROI down. At this point, I’m just trying to write the best stories I can, do a few simple marketing things, and moving onto the next book. I write because I need to write and I’ve come to terms with the fact that after achieving competency, luck plays a huge part in this game. I’ve had less success (in terms of sales) than many and more success than most who try to write a novel. I wish the world (and the publishing world, especially) were different, but it is what it is. Since we can’t change that, we have to find a way to live in it and stay sane.
All so true, Karen. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment.
Is that you with your head on your keyboard, Lois? Hurts my heart to see someone who writes as well and works as hard as you losing heart. I think the whole industry suffers from intense competition, less literacy, AI, economics, and more. Writing (and therefore reading), like all of the arts, falls into the category of “frills,” but there are still many of us who can’t live without great books to read, and we appreciate authors like you who offer them.
Thanks, Saralyn. I really appreciate your kind words. That image sums up how I feel sometimes, but I’m also incredibly stubborn. I’m not giving up. I’ll continue to write because it’s a part of me. I wouldn’t know what to do if I didn’t. 🙂
Scary… frustrating .. and utterly confusing. Marketing and life. And yet, we plug along. Thanks for your piece. I had wondered how defensive ads, etc. worked for people as many of the suggestions I have tried during the past few years were not as effective for me as others.
Debra, I think it often has to do with genre and sub-genre. The author who told me about Defensive Ads and who has had great success with them, writes paranormal stories. The readership is completely different, and that might have something to do with her greater ad success. Or it could just be completely random why one author has success with something and another doesn’t. I guess there’s no way of knowing.
Thanks for this very helpful insight. If only there was a silver bullet.
Or a golden ticket…
I had the same experience with BookBub, although I did reach Amazon #1 in my category, and sales for other books in my series improved. However, I did not make my BookBub cost back on the featured title alone, at least not in Amazon sales. I wonder if more people just want “free” books on KU these days.
I think more and more readers are only going for free books, Nancy. Most of my Kobo sales each month are from having my books in Kobo Plus, which is like Kindle Unlimited but without the restriction of having to be only on the one site.
Thanks for your honesty, Lois! You’re such a good writer, and I’m so glad you’re continuing to continue. I feel the same way that you do about social media and the discouragement of being unsure of what exactly will work to move the needle on our books. But I keep coming back to our passion for writing and the joy of sharing our work– even if it’s with many fewer folks than we wish for.
Lynn, I’m still holding on to the hope that someday Tina Fey might discover my series. I think she’d make the perfect Anastasia. I’d love for her to option the series for a movie or TV show.!
Agree with the rest, thank you for your frank insights, Lois. Whatever happened to Writers write? Not to mention companies like Book Gorilla shoot us authors in the foot with ads that say, “Why pay X for a book?” I think it’s .75 in the ad but I may be mistaken. It’s telling readers they’re paying too much for our products. While they make money on bargain books, authors are left floundering.
Donnell, I blame romance authors. They’re the ones who started giving their books away for free when indie publishing first started. The idea was that if you gave away the first book in the series, readers would fall in love with it and pay for the other books in the series. But that hasn’t necessarily happened. They created a monster that has devoured us. I’ve actually seen comments online from readers who brag they haven’t bought a book in years because there are so many free books available.
Wow!
Thank you, Lois, for sharing your marketing woes. Here I was, thinking it’s just me. Not only are sales harder to come by, but I’ve noticed that readers are less prone to write reviews, especially when they’ve received a free or deeply discounted book.
I’ve noticed that too, Gay.
I’ve noticed the lack of reviews as well, Gay. I’ve never been able to crack the secret of getting lots of reviews. Some books have thousands while others are lucky to get a few dozen.
Yup, I used to earn 3 x the spend on BookBub. My last promo I barely broke even. That’s fine if the spend is $20 or so (like Fussy Librarian, which used to be great but isn’t any more). But for me, as a Canadian, a full deal is $1,500 CAD. That is a full month worth of electric, gas, phone, internet, and food. And forget reviews. I always leave them but most don’t bother unless it’s for a NYT bestseller and they are just piling onto the pile. I had no success with Amazon or FB ads. For me, the best bang is Facebook (regular posts) and some blogs. I think if you do enough blogs, the repetition can help as there is overlap. But that, too, has reduced in effectiveness. I blame authors who thought free books was their ticket. Now no one wants to pay for books. I have friend, very well off, and she is only interested if a book can be free from library! Go figure
Judy, most of relatives and my non-writing friends have never bought any of my books. They’re only interested if I offer them a free copy. Even then, few have read any and even fewer have left reviews. Once I even had the dry cleaner ask me for a free copy. Can you imagine how she’d respond if I expected her to clean my clothes for free? Talk about chutzpah!
Lois, this one really hit home. Only one person in my extended family has ever bought a book. (Although plenty have asked for free ones.) And out of the three I’ve published, only one relative ever left a review. Maybe they don’t know how important reviews are. Or maybe it just never occurs to them. I’ve stopped handing out freebies, though. Except to my son who goes on a lot of ocean cruises with his family. He always takes copies of my books and donates them to the ship’s library.
Rebecca, I always stress the importance of reviews, but too many people can’t be bothered. I love that your son leaves copies of your books in cruise ship libraries. I wish I’d thought to do that when I was on a cruise.
I’ve done my entire career in marketing (note: this does not help me in figuring out how to sell books) and one thing has always been clear, it’s basic psychology: people do not value what they get for free. They think that if you can afford to distribute the product without “coin”, it’s because it’s cheap to make and worth less than peanuts. Apply that to literature and what happened is a race to the bottom, a devaluation of books for readers as well as writers. How much do you value your own work if you put it out there for nothing? Then, you get into the toxic realm of “the hobby”, close to the notion of “lady writers”, something done to occupy our time, a leisurely occupation … monetizing it??? How crass!!! To say that this is a vicious circle is putting it mildly.
Amen to that, M.E.! I have no problem with a limited sale. It’s called a “loss leader” in retail. You draw the shopper in with a deal and hope she buys other products while there. For us authors, it’s a way of getting new readers who may be wary of paying full price for an unknown-to-them author. We’re hoping the reader enjoys the book enough to want to read more by the author.
I self-published my debut mystery two months ago. I’ve gone with just Facebook (trying to post regularly) and maybe an Instgram post here and there. I told myself that I’d hook up with book clubs as I love to talk about the book and the process of writing. But how to connect with them? It’s been a struggle. But I know it’s a damn good book so I’ll keep at it. That said… I’d rather be writing. I’ve book 2 in the series to finish, an historical mystery that I’m half-way thru, and guest blogging which has been fun.
Who first said it… So much to do and so little time!
Julie, I think most of us would rather be writing than marketing. We have no choice, though.
As for book clubs, it’s hard to get invited. Most are only interested in reading bestsellers. I haven’t even been invited to speak at my church’s book club! I guess I’m not highbrow enough for them.
🙁
Lois, thanks so much for this post. Your words, and the comments from stellar authors, let me know I’m not alone in my frustration. Keep on keeping on!
Catherine, you’re definitely not alone. All we can do is keep on keeping on.
Thanks, Lois, for bravely sharing your experiences and frustrations here. I feel seen.
Melissa, I’m a firm believer that we have to be our own village. No one understands like other authors.