Goodreads Ads Not Leading To Sales

grizzletoad1

Plodding around into things.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 23, 2010
Messages
673
Reaction score
33
Location
New Jersey
I have a series of ads on Goodreads for my novel The Railroad Man. The ads seem to be effective as I am getting a high number of "clicks" indicating the ad is drawing people to investigate the novel further by clicking onto the book's page. It also is getting a good count on something called the "added to read" list. Right now that count sits at 66, and counting. However, this is not translating to sales. For December, I've only sold a single book on Create Space. My November numbers were equally dismal. What am I doing wrong? Where am I losing buyers? If the ad is getting them to click on and check out my page, it has to be working. Where am I blowing the sale?
 

Fruitbat

.
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 15, 2010
Messages
11,833
Reaction score
1,310
Only a small percentage of the ones who put my book on their GR "to read" list actually buy it. I don't think you're doing anything wrong.

Have you tried a GR giveaway? That brings in a ton more "to reads" (several hundred) and a few sales for me. If you haven't, I'd only do it for a week and only one book at a time. When the books are stuck in the middle of the list, hardly anyone sees them so that time doesn't add much to the "to reads." And it seems to me I get as many people signing up for it whether it's one book or ten books.

ETA: In other words, giving away more books in one round doesn't seem to pay off. But what does pay off is to start another week long giveaway when the last one ends. Give them away one at a time in short durations and you get a big fat "to read" list. And then a small percentage of those buy it. Plus, you'll probably get some reviews from the freebies. They're asked to leave a review.

Good luck.
 
Last edited:

Polenth

Mushroom
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 27, 2007
Messages
5,017
Reaction score
735
Location
England
Website
www.polenthblake.com
People use 'to read' to bookmark things that interest them. Sometimes they return later to buy them. Sometimes they don't. The more people mark it 'to read' the better, as it increases the odds that some will buy the book. But the sales are not likely to happen quickly.
 

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman
Super Moderator
Absolute Sage
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 12, 2005
Messages
22,454
Reaction score
4,956
Location
In chaos
Ads are successful if they lead people to take a look at the product they're advertising.

If they look at the product and then don't buy it, you have to consider if there's anything you could improve in the way the product is presented, or in the product itself.

I've not looked at your book but consider if the cover or the blurb could be made better; or if the sample text you provide is gripping enough, or if it's error-free. These things all matter.
 

Bufty

Where have the last ten years gone?
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 9, 2005
Messages
16,768
Reaction score
4,663
Location
Scotland
With 300 sales under your belt you are not blowing anything, grizzletoad. It's just life. How many times do we all walk in and around stores without buying anything, even though we touch or pick up the odd item and twiddle it for a second?

There are hundreds and hundreds of books in stores that sit on the shelf and don't sell.

In the net there are books in galactic quantities and, as Old Hack said another way, if the product doesn't shine out like the north star.....
 
Last edited:

WriterBN

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 5, 2012
Messages
1,323
Reaction score
87
Location
Delaware
Website
www.k-doyle.com
There are many, many readers on Goodreads (myself included, possibly) who have more books on their TBR list than they can physically read in a lifetime. I pretty much ignore the TBR numbers in terms of correlation to sales; they can get you a brief moment of exposure but that's about it.

I experimented with Goodreads ads for about a year and found that they had very little effect on sales--not enough to be statistically significant, at any rate.
 

grizzletoad1

Plodding around into things.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 23, 2010
Messages
673
Reaction score
33
Location
New Jersey
Well, if Goodreads has no real significant effect on sales, what more can I do? My sales have completely flat-lined. Is this it?
 

Fruitbat

.
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 15, 2010
Messages
11,833
Reaction score
1,310
From what I hear, the best way to get sales of a book up is to get another book out there. Hopefully, I'll soon find out if it's true.
 

WriterBN

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 5, 2012
Messages
1,323
Reaction score
87
Location
Delaware
Website
www.k-doyle.com
What Fruitbat said. I haven't been able to tell yet, but I'm hoping the conventional wisdom is true.

To answer the question about sales flatlining, you can get a temporary boost with paid advertising in the big-name sites (BookBub, ENT, etc.). However, after a while, sales will eventually return to flatline until your next promotion.
 

Bufty

Where have the last ten years gone?
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 9, 2005
Messages
16,768
Reaction score
4,663
Location
Scotland
It may well be 'it'.

With books, a customer only buys one. Once the book is written and self-published there's no guaranteed way of maintaining sales of a one-off publication - or even attaining large initial sales.

Even trade published books can flatline after initial sales that may be in excess of the self-published novel because of the trade marketing capability and wide access to outlets.

Books sell themselves by virtue of readers liking the content and telling others - a good first book should help sales of the second but both will eventually plateau.

In any bookshop how many folk pick up the 'third/sixteenth book from the left/right on the second top/bottom shelf in the 'x' section' or whatever?



Well, if Goodreads has no real significant effect on sales, what more can I do? My sales have completely flat-lined. Is this it?
 
Last edited:

Michael Davis

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 18, 2008
Messages
557
Reaction score
44
Location
SW VA
Seven years ago with my first release I figured, "Advertisement, yeah, that's the ticket." I spend four grand and got a return of a nickel for every dollar spend. Yes, I spread the ads across about a dozen sites associated with my genre but the ROI was dismal. I talked to other more experienced authors at the time and their experience was the same. Not sure why, but that was my hard lesson learned with self promo, now I do other less expensive alternatives to ads.
 

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman
Super Moderator
Absolute Sage
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 12, 2005
Messages
22,454
Reaction score
4,956
Location
In chaos
Trade publishers rarely advertise to readers. They spend their advertising money on letting people in the book trade--booksellers, reviewers and so on--know that the book is available so they can do what they do. But this isn't an option for most self publishers, as to be effective it requires the book to be in stock and readily available at a major distributor.
 

Bufty

Where have the last ten years gone?
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 9, 2005
Messages
16,768
Reaction score
4,663
Location
Scotland
Tough way to learn. Before you spent your four thousand dollars did you think about the number of times you had personally bought a book as a result of reading an advertisement?

Seven years ago with my first release I figured, "Advertisement, yeah, that's the ticket." I spend four grand and got a return of a nickel for every dollar spend. Yes, I spread the ads across about a dozen sites associated with my genre but the ROI was dismal. I talked to other more experienced authors at the time and their experience was the same. Not sure why, but that was my hard lesson learned with self promo, now I do other less expensive alternatives to ads.
 

Arpeggio

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 24, 2011
Messages
355
Reaction score
5
You could tie the ad to some kind of promotion. The ad should be for the promotion.

You could put some kind of detective clue trial in the book (or just make that out of what is already in there) for the readers to work out then submit their answer to a cash prize draw equal or lesser than the income of how many books you sold for the promotion.

I'm a bit stuck on the "making profit" bit there, for lack of imagination of prizes that sell a promotion other than cash.
 

Edita A Petrick

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 6, 2007
Messages
89
Reaction score
22
Location
Richmond Hill
Website
www.editapetrick.biz
Frequent Releases as secret to sales-success...or so they say

Yep, I've heard this so often and from those I least wanted to hear it from, that it has to be at least partially true. Currently, I have 5 novels with 3 publishers and will have 6 new ones coming with 4 new publishers. Out of the 7 publishers I have, 5 keep reminding me every chance they get that, hey, the way our authors make money is with frequent and periodic new releases.

There are writers who can churn out 10 books every six moths. I'm, sad to say, not one of them. I actually have to plot, and then keep my interest in the plot buoyant, then keep writing and editing and...well, you know the tedious drill. This might - just might produce 3-4 95,000 word novels per year. Tops.

Then there is that pesky annoying thing - my job, every day, full time, fairly demanding and exhausting and then there is home, family, pets...I'd love to own a clone but then I'd just probably get arrested for slavery. I've come to believe that frequent releases is something that is a mindset, unique to a particular writing condition, unique to a particular genre, and unique to a particular writer in a particular situation.

While I'm not privy to anything so...particular.
 

Edita A Petrick

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 6, 2007
Messages
89
Reaction score
22
Location
Richmond Hill
Website
www.editapetrick.biz
Hm, you actually do have to come up with a new release. And yes, Goodreads advertising is a waste of money. So is anything you give away for free, but you do it to keep your 'name' in the game. As long as you don't expect the sales from such expenditure, you're doing the right thing.

What your new release will do for you is this - it will pull along with it your existing works. You still may not get a stellar re-performance from your old existing novel that flat-lined, but at least you have a new exciting reason to promote your new upcoming novel and hey, no one will fault you for plugging your existing tired old novel along with it - it'll be the proverbial hitching your old wagon to a new star.

If you're going to spend any money on promo, do it through one of those less expensive promo programs that will pimp your new release through a number of blogs, and will send out emails and will get you a few reviews and such. Set a limit - no more than $200 or if you can afford it, max of $500 but that's about it. For that you can apportion it to a blog tour, to some promo materials (think bookmarks and such), or your genre websites where annual membership will get you a promo package program (most have several levels) but don't get sucked into anything over $500 per any given new release.

I know authors who swear up and down by the free promo on facebook, and I know those who believe twitter to be the holy grail of promo. Whatever you choose, get a couple of good reviews - pay for them if you have to but get a few reviews. Then promote every day for about 3 months after your new release, then things will flat-line again and it'll be time for another new-release. This is the part I have yet to master. Doubt I ever will.
 

AnthonyJones

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 10, 2011
Messages
130
Reaction score
5
From what I hear, the best way to get sales of a book up is to get another book out there. Hopefully, I'll soon find out if it's true.

Yes, this is what I've been told too. Sometimes, I wish I put releasing my first book until later this month so that book 2 would follow shortly after. But I didn't.

I suppose I'll see how things work out after its release.

I just started a goodreads ad as well. What do you guys think is a good ratio , views:clicks? Within the first day, I had around 1,000 views. But no clicks.

I was going to change up the ad, but I wanted to see if this was normal first
 

KMTolan

No drama
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 22, 2009
Messages
236
Reaction score
12
Location
Near Austin TX
Website
www.kmtolan.com
I would go along with the "write more" suggestions, as the larger your reading audience, the more the whisper campaign. Not to mention more choices to hook a new reader. My rate is about one book every couple years now, so it's not about quantity alone.

My publisher has an author, Michael Davis, who used to work in data analysis. He put his considerable skills to work trying to see if various ads actually gave a good return on investment. They didn't. Based on his findings, I've not bothered to advertise at all. Often just getting the word out on forums and social media does the job. Sales fluctuate for small press authors as well, and can even flat line for a time - especially for older novels. The thing for me is to worry about shoving out a quality book and not concern myself with the vagaries of the market beyond the usual promo rounds.

Kerry
 

wordsmithy

M/M Erotica Writer
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 2, 2014
Messages
54
Reaction score
1
Website
www.amazon.com
Not that anything on this thread has made me super hot to go out and buy goodreads ads, but I'm still curious...

How much did they cost? I know the inquiry form as of now doesn't say, they just ask you to state your monthly budget and then they'll get back to you. :/
 

Lena Hillbrand

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 13, 2011
Messages
408
Reaction score
25
Location
dirty south
I'm not an expert on great sales, but whenever I do a KDP freebie promo, I get a lot of downloads. That's how I keep my oldest book on the radar every few months. It hasn't led to a ton of sales, but it got me a couple reviews each time, which increased my ranking for a while. You could also try changing your price and description. When I first dropped my price to .99 (pretty much getting pennies on each sale, but thought I'd give it a shot) I got an increase in sales for a bit.
 

WriterBN

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 5, 2012
Messages
1,323
Reaction score
87
Location
Delaware
Website
www.k-doyle.com
Not that anything on this thread has made me super hot to go out and buy goodreads ads, but I'm still curious...

How much did they cost? I know the inquiry form as of now doesn't say, they just ask you to state your monthly budget and then they'll get back to you. :/

The self-serve ads are PPC, so you choose what you want to spend. You can set a daily budget and a per-click amount. I think GR recommends starting with $0.25, but I've had the same results at $0.10.

If you're talking about the home page and sidebar banner ads, those are a different beast. They cost in the tens of thousands, which is why they're dominated by big publishers.
 

wordsmithy

M/M Erotica Writer
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 2, 2014
Messages
54
Reaction score
1
Website
www.amazon.com
Hmm, I thought it would be a lot more expensive than that. I've never paid for advertising, obviously. Thank you for the info! I am now slightly less ignorant about this topic than I was before. X)
 

ravenoak

Full-time author
Registered
Joined
Dec 16, 2014
Messages
24
Reaction score
0
Location
Seattle, WA
Website
www.ravenoak.net
I would also be careful with how much advertising on social media you do. Twitter accounts that do nothing but spam "OMG BUY MY BOOK" tend to not get a follow-back from me. I hate that junk. I don't buy a book because someone spammed me.
Look at reasons why you buy a book.
Is it a good cover? Reading a review somewhere? Word of mouth from a friend?
Those are three reasons I buy & read a book. So in promoting, that's what I need to do. Get visibility to folks who read SF/F so that their word of mouth will spread. Get reviews. Make sure I have a good cover that doesn't look like a 2-bit job in Paint. (I hate to phrase it that way, but 75% of the covers I've seen from self-published authors look horrific to me. I'm picky. I want art.)

Goodread ads and other ads may rope you an eyeball or three, but that's about it. I use ad-block and never see the ads at all. I typically don't like to buy things because of an ad. I will buy something because it is good and someone said so.

That's where I'd start.