First, Happy Holidays! It’s already the 25th for some of you, so let me get that out there right away. (And sorry for missing other holidays that already occurred this month.) May you all be able to spend time with those you love the most.
Okay.
Now, having said that…
If I hear the phrase “pay to play” one more time I am going to break something. For those of you who don’t know, the phrase “pay to play” with respect to Amazon advertising has spread like wildfire in the last month.
People are up in arms saying that the only way you can sell books on Amazon these days is to advertise them. And that that has created a pay to play system. Some are going so far as to say that this means everyone should go wide. Or better yet, just sell their books off their websites.
At which point I start laughing uncontrollably.
Because, how do people think books sell on those other platforms? And how do they think books sell off of someone’s website?
By…wait for it…the author paying for advertising. And not even good advertising.
Here’s the thing: AMS show when people are on Amazon ready to buy books. They’re right there. Two clicks away from a sale.
What happens when you advertise on Facebook? Someone’s on there looking to see what outrageous thing their Aunt Rita said today and they see a book ad. Now they have to click on that book ad and leave Facebook to go buy that book. Are they going to do that? If they decide to and you send them to a landing page on your website now they have to click off of there to their chosen store. And then they still have to decide to buy your book.
And selling direct off your website? You’re a random stranger on the internet. How many people do you honestly think will buy from you when they don’t know you? Sure, if you’re known to a reader base, they might buy from you. And I do make the occasional direct sale here, but compared to what I sell on Amazon? Peanuts.
The self-publishing market is maturing. Which means that there is sufficient supply to meet demand. Which means that normal market factors are in play now. Five years ago people could throw a title up on Amazon, it could have a horrible cover or not cover at all, they could not do anything with it, and it could sell. That’s because there was a pool of users desperate for good content.
Those days are gone. There might be pockets of high demand like that. But overall? You need to present a good product and then find a way to get that product in front of potential readers. One good way to do that is to advertise your books.
And let me say here, too, that there are very few advertising options in the self-pub space that let you advertise for full price which in my opinion makes AMS a Godsend. But advertising books at full price is a shift in mindset that I think some self-publishers have yet to understand. So, yes, you will lose your shirt advertising a 99 cent book with AMS. Especially if you don’t have a long series with good readthrough to back up that 99 cent book. Which most self-publishers don’t.
So up your game. Write a book that’s worth paying $4 or $5 or $6 for.
Save 99 cents for mailing list promos like Bookbub. Or build up enough books in a successful series for your ads to pay for themselves.
And for all that’s holy, quit calling basic advertising “pay to play” just because some people used to get it for free.
M.L. Humphrey 