I’ve been unwell this week, nothing serious, just a cold but still the freight train of my journey rolls on, hopefully gathering momentum as I go!

Advertising & Marketing

This is where my concentration sits. I’ve been spending a pretty penny continuing to test out Facebook advertising. In order of success here’s what I’ve tried so far:

• Boosted Post about Survivor – This is creating a Facebook post in the normal way then ‘boosting’ it or paying for it to be displayed to your target audience. The post I used explained about Survivor and that it is free to my mailing list subscribers. Running this for a week pushed about 500 new visitors to my site which has resulted in around 80 newsletter subscribers. I think the cost works out to be about 75p per subscriber. The adverts reached a saturation point which I probably should have found and turned off the ad which sooner, which would have made it cheaper overall.
• Direct Audiobook Advertising – Simply advertising my audiobook on Facebook to audiobook horror fans in the US has definitely realised a direct increase in sales, although small. Due to the royalty level on an audiobook this is a much more cost effective method of getting sales and I will be keeping this up my sleeve if sales slow again. It would be useful if audible let you know when you book is in a wish list so you can get more feedback other than your daily sales figures.
• Direct Adverts – These are where you create the advert from scratch and target your audience. These have been the least successful, both for direct linking to Amazon and linking to my site. The subscriber and sales conversion for these ads was very poor.

I’ll talk about advertising for Facebook Likes next week as they link into my book signings.

With great surprise Reddit has been a success story. I’ve connected with another audience, received subscribers and have been interviewed for a community, all through posting in Reddit for free.

Canva!

I’ve found Canva! What a revelation! I’ve heard about it before but have only just taken a look. For those who don’t know, it is a very simple to use online design tool for use on a computer or mobile device. It allows someone with very little design skill to produce beautiful adverts or even print material. Plus the basic version is free! I’ve found it so useful I’ve already signed up for the free trial of the full version.

Here’s what I created just last night and I’ve been using to great success in getting attention for Survivor! The different sized graphics are automatically set by the system from templates for each different social media platform.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

If you want to check it out then here’s the link https://www.canva.com/

You can also check out all my social media rebranding created using canva!

Survivor

The book officially releases on Amazon today, the Kindle version at least and although I’m offering it for free some people either haven’t got the message or are so reluctant to give me their email address they have placed pre-orders! I won’t say no but eh!

The paperback, which is very beautiful, even if I say so myself, is delayed due to some of the increased difficulty in the bleed settings on a full colour paperback. I’ve submitted a third version to KDP after another round of adjustments so hopefully it will go through this time. I had hoped to have copies available to display at my signing event this weekend, instead I will use the proof, which is perfect in every way.

Overall I’m very pleased with how Survivor is working as both a subscriber magnet, a sales tool for In The End and as a stand alone product. I’ve had awesome feedback and can see many more editions coming in the future, both from my own mind and the amazing suggestions from the various communities.

If you haven’t yet taken a look then just sign up to my mailing list and download it.

Signing Events

This weekend is the signing event in my home town of Slough. I’ll be at the WHSmith in the High Street from 10am till around 3pm and I’ll be trying out more strategies for increasing sales and collecting mailing list subscribers. I now have cards to give out for people to sign up on the day, they’re fully GDPR compliant (yawn) and I’ll be doing a prize draw for a paperback copy of Survivor for those who enter on the day.

Although I sold 20 copies plus 5 for the store on the last event, my target will be 10 copies in Slough but I’ll be going full throttle to do my best.

I now have the contact details for around forty stores in the South East and I’m working my way to organise signings, but only doing a maximum of one every two weeks or I risk alienating my family!

Upcoming Events

I’ll be adding a page to the website shortly, but for now you can see my upcoming events below. In addition I’m in the middle of organising a market stall in a local town for May, but I’ll let you know all the details when it’s confirmed!

30th March 2019 – Slough WHSmith – 10am – 3pm

13th April 2019 – Gerrards Cross Book Fair – 9am – 4pm

(I now how the ability to take credit card payments! More on that in a future post)

4th May 2019 – Kingston WHSmith – 10am to 4pm

18th May 2019 – Windsor WHSmith – 10am to 3pm

8th June 2019 – Wokingham WHSmith – 10am to 3pm

I’m going on holiday to Cornwall in the summer and my wife and friends had the great idea that I should do a signing event near where the book is set whist we are there. This is of course a wonderful idea and they came up with it so I won’t feel guilty about taking time out of the holiday. Details to be released nearer the time.

Newsletter

I’ve sent out two newsletters now and I’m mindful of not sending another out too soon. The next will probably in about a weeks’ time where I will report progress on Before The End and book three, plus much more, including my ideas for the next volume of Survivor!

That’s just about me for now. Catch you on the flip side!