Writing New Copy or Advertising...the Self-Publisher's Dilemna
Greetings friends,
Yep! It's Sunday and once again, I take to the keyboard for another update on my new novel, sales, and advertising. For this post, we'll tackle those topics in reverse order:
Advertising
A major problem for self-publishing writers is trying to balance the time we spend writing new copy (pages) versus the time we spend on advertising. Writing new pages is vitally important to getting a project to publication, but without advertising, no one will know that that project (and the writer's earlier projects) exist!
Working on a limited budget, my advertising is accomplished through electronic media online. I usually spend my Sunday's (when not in personal meditation on the Cosmic All) putting out a variety of advertisements on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Blogger (this blog!), Gmail, G+1, and the Kindle-Boards. Many of my advertisements have been written previously and, sometimes with minor modifications, I simply copy and paste them into the online forum, add graphics as appropriate, and send. Sometimes, I must spend valuable time developing new advertising copy, like for the upcoming Kindle Promotion Sale!
As limited as the time I spend advertising is, it is time that I am not writing some new pages for my current project! Given that I only generate 2-5 pages of new material per night (or afternoons and evenings on weekends), that is a significant amount of time that slows down the development and ultimate publication of a new project. *sigh*
So, I'm still working on finding the perfect balance between the two. Someday, I hope I find it!
Sales
Sales have been sluggish but I'm still getting quite a few reads from Kindle Ultimate subscribers through the Kindle Select and Kindle Edition Normalized Pages Read programs. It's nice to know that those subscribers can read my stories much like checking out a book from a library (only easier!) and I still get paid for my intellectual property! Those reads also influence an e-book's Amazon Best Seller Rank. The two Arizona State Guard books have moved up in their respective genres!!!
For those without a Kindle Ultimate subscription who wish to purchase my e-books, I will be running a Kindle Promotion sale for my e-novels starting at 12:00 a.m. (PST) February 12th and running through 12:00 a.m. (PST) February 19th. Sale prices will be:
Arizona State Guard: Bloody Border -- $2.99 (normally $3.99)
Arizona State Guard: Target Terror -- $2.99 (normally $3.99)
Chaos on Terra-Prime -- $1.99 (normally $2.99)
Foothold on Terra-Bravo -- $1.99 (normally $2.99)
Crisis on Terra-Bravo -- $1.99 (normally $2.99)
The Terra-Bravo Saga Volume 1 -- $3.99 (normally $5.97)
Death Haunts the Stars -- $3.99 (normally $4.99)
* Just a reminder, Honing Your Instructional Skills will NOT be on sale. It is already priced at Amazon's lowest price!
My e-books can be found at my Amazon.com Author Page: www.amazon.com/author/jeffreyfortney
The New Novel
Work on the new e-book, Arizona State Guard: Freedom's Forge, is coming along nicely. I'm 71 pages in, working on Chapter 8, and all hell is gonna bust loose soon!!! Got four pages in last night and the brain kept the story rolling even if the fingers weren't hitting the keys. When I sit down this evening, I'll actually be recording a sequence my mind worked out last night (and hopefully, a couple of pages more!?!?).