I’ve worked with Michelle quite a bit over the last few months, and have come to realize that she’s one of the most organized author’s I’ve ever met. She keeps stats and spreadsheets on all of the marketing and advertising she does, which gives her invaluable insight into what is working and what isn’t. I recently asked whether she’d be willing to share some of this knowledge with our community, and she graciously agreed. 

After years of using a variety of newsletter promotion sites to market her novels, Michelle has come up with a simple metric to assess their price-to-subscriber value. In today’s guest blog, Michelle explains this metric and uses it to rank the value of close to 20 different newsletter promotion sites. Even if the list below is missing some of the newsletter sites you use, you can easily use her metric to rank them yourself and determine whether they are a good place to spend your marketing dollars.

So, I hear you’d like to sell more copies of your book, while doing less work. Hey, guess what? ME TOO. If that’s what you’re interested in, newsletter promotion sites are a killer way to go.

I’ve got spreadsheets upon spreadsheets of data to prove that most marketing methods for self-published authors do sell more books…but not enough to pay for the cost of said marketing. Newsletter promotions are one of the only tools I’ve found that moves lots of copies and also usually pays for itself.

For those who are new to the terms, newsletter promotions are when you pay a business to promote your discounted book with an email to their list of readers. Newsletter stacks are what happen when you get clever and think, “Hey, I just sold a bunch more books with ONE of these sites, how high could I get my Amazon bestseller rank if I stacked up a bunch of these same sites in the same week?” Basically, you book multiple newsletter promotions over a limited period of time, in a strategic way.

BookBub is the largest and most famous of the newsletter promotion sites, but it’s also the most expensive. So when you’re googling your little author heart out, looking for others to stack up with your BookBub Featured Promotion, how do you find other newsletter promotion sites? How do you decide on the best newsletter promotion sites?

Well, dear author friend, you just read this blog, because I’ve done all the work for you.

This is a selection of most of the heavy-hitters in the newsletter promotion space. I then broke it down by a metric I invented called SUBSCRIBERS PER DOLLAR. It’s very simple math, where I divide the total number of subscribers by the total cost of the promotion.

What this means is, every newsletter has a different number of subscribers they show your book to. They also all price their services pretty differently, anywhere from $10 to $1000, and their prices aren’t directly linked with the size of their audience. Turns out that surprise! BookBub may still be the way to get your book in front of the biggest audience, but it’s not the best value per dollar spent.

TL;DR – the sites at the top of this list are the best value for your buck. Book those first.

Disclaimers: All these numbers are for the Contemporary Romance genre, for a book on .99c sale. So this blog is the most helpful for choosing the best newsletter promotion sites for romance. If you advertise in a different genre, the ratio of subscribers may be similar, but not identical. For advertising promotions on free books, the pricing is quite different than .99c sales. Some of these websites share the numbers openly, and some I had to email to ask. If I was not able to confirm newsletter size of audience, I did not include them on the list.

Newsletter Promotion Sites Ranked by Subscribers Per Dollar

* Not all websites divide subscribers by what genre of books they’d like to see. The ones that send to all genres at once will be a much less targeted audience for your promotion.

** Book Raid is a better deal than it looks, because you only pay $.20 per click, not a flat fee to advertise your book, so this could be way cheaper and scales by how successful you are. If every single one of their subscribers clicks on your book, you still only pay $60.

Pro Tips for Newsletter Stacks

This is provided as a bonus for any super dedicated readers who kept reading all the way to the bottom:

• You can put all your promotions on the same day to spike your Amazon rank the highest, or spread them out over multiple days, to try to keep your Amazon rank high for a few days in a row, and give people more time to discover it organically from the higher bestseller rank.
• Write several short pitches for your book before you go to book newsletter sites. Most sites require you to have a 350-400 character description and you don’t want to just patch it together on the fly, as you’re booking your newsletter spot.
• Write down your sales for each day of your newsletter promo, and see which sites produced the most sales. That way you know which ones to book next time!

Now go forth and sell lots of books, with very little effort!

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We write a lot of articles about advertising your book on the various platforms, along with what we believe are best practices and the tips we’ve learned along the way. But when it comes right down to it, nothing beats hard data from the field. Matt Holmes has made a career out of helping authors with their advertising, starting with the Fantasy novels written by his wife. His ad spend tops six figures, which has provided him with a lot of data to draw conclusions about what works and what doesn’t.  After so much time and money spent advertising different books of different genres from a variety of authors, Matt has come up with a list of the five biggest lessons he’s learned about advertising self-published books on Facebook, and he’s sharing them with us today.

Spending over $100,000 on anything is going to provide you with some HUGE lessons and insights.

Yes, I’ve “wasted” money on Facebook Ads, but now I have a different mindset about advertising (seeing the money I spend on Ads as an investment rather than an expense), that “wasted” money I’ve spent is actually what taught me the biggest lessons.

I spent $116,361 on Facebook Ads advertising my wife’s Fantasy Fiction series, The Ancestors Saga, (a series of 4 books & 1 companion novel) **which now earns $15,000 – $17,000 per month in royalties.

I’ve spent even more than this running Facebook Ads for other self-published authors, in genres such as Crime, Horror, Self-Help and Romance, to name a few.

Today, I’m going to share with you the 5 biggest lessons I’ve learnt from spending 6 figures on Facebook Ads, in the hopes that you can avoid the “mistakes” I’ve made and start seeing traction from your own Facebook Ads as quickly and profitably as possible.

Without further ado, let’s dive into things…

Takeaway #1: Start Small

When I first started running Facebook Ads, I was spending around £7 per day (equivalent to around $10 USD per day).

Today, I’m spending $250-$300 per day, with a 2-3x return on that investment.

It took a couple of years to get to this level of daily ad spend, and by no means do you need to spend hundreds of dollars per day to see results from Facebook Ads.

Even when we were spending $10 per day, our daily Royalties were around $15-$25 per day, so profitable, just on a smaller scale to how things are today.

If you can only spend $5 per day, spend it. Afford a little more? Spend it.

But remember this… only spend what you can afford to lose.

There are no guarantees with advertising.

If you give Facebook $10 per day, they will spend it.

That doesn’t mean to say that that $10 will turn into $20. It might, in which case, great. But it may not and you have to be mentally prepared for that.

Yes, it can be tough, but as I alluded to at the beginning of this article, see your Ad Spend as an investment in your career as an author, not an expense.

At the very least, you will learn. And knowledge is HUGE.

So, takeaway number 1 is to start small, even if that’s spending just $5 per day. You can always scale up when you’re ready.

Takeaway #2: Target ONE interest at a time

One of the biggest “mistakes” I see authors making with their Facebook Ads is lumping a bunch of targets together into a single Ad Set, like this:

Believe it or not, this is the approach Meta/Facebook themselves recommend!

The reason why I 100% believe this strategy isn’t right took me a good few months to realize, but makes a lot of sense when you sit back and think about it.

When you stack several targeting options together into a single Ad Set, whether that Ad Set performs good or bad, as the advertiser, you have no idea whatsoever which of those targeting options you selected worked and which ones didn’t.

There will, without a doubt, be targeting options that don’t work and will be pulling down the performance of the entire Ad Set – and you won’t even know it’s happening.

Likewise, there will also be targeting options that are doing all or the majority of the legwork for you.

The problem is, you don’t know which ones are and which ones aren’t!

The solution to this is pretty simple…

You test each audience (i.e. targeting option) in its own Ad Set, like this:

When you set your Facebook Ads up this way, providing you’re tracking the results using Amazon Attribution Tracking Links (something I walk you through in this video), you will know which audiences are selling books and generating page reads and which audiences aren’t.

You can then turn off the poor-performers and scale up the good-performers.

Without that conversion data from Amazon Attribution though, you’re essentially blindfolded and making decisions on incomplete data.

It’s ok to stack proven audiences together into a single Ad Set, but until they’re proven, you need to figure out if they convert into sales and page reads on their own.

A couple of BONUS tips when it comes to targeting…

BONUS TIP #1: Narrow Your Audience By Kindle Store and Amazon Kindle

Use the Narrow Audience feature in the targeting section of your Ad Set to make sure you’re only showing your Ads to people who have some sort of interest in reading Kindle books (assuming that you’re advertising the Kindle version of your book).

BONUS TIP #2: TARGET BROAD DEMOGRAPHICS

In the beginning, unless you know for sure that your books don’t appeal to a specific gender, target ‘All Genders’ and the full available age bracket of 18-65+. Once you have some data, then you can start refining your targeting to only show your Ads to the demographics who are responding best to them.

Takeaway #3: Show Ads ONLY on the Facebook News Feed

Facebook will encourage you to use its Advantage+ Placements option, which essentially means your Ads will be shown across Facebook’s massive ecosystem, in places such as:

• Instagram Reels
• Instagram Shop
• Messenger Inbox
• Facebook Marketplace
• Facebook’s Audience Network
• And Many More…

The problem is, all Placements aren’t created equal.

From the 1000’s of Facebook Ads I’ve run, the Facebook News Feed (known as the Facebook Feed in your Facebook Ads Manager) is head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to performance.

So, I recommend you put 100% of your budget in to showing your Ads on the Facebook Feed and turn all the other Placements off. You’ll need to select Manual Placements to do this and then de-select all the Placements aside from Facebook Feed.

Here’s what it should look like once you’ve set this up.

The Facebook Feed is the only Placement that should be selected.

You will see far better performance, both from a cost perspective and a conversion perspective with this Placement setup.

Takeaway #4: The 2 Biggest Levers You Can Pull

Without a doubt, the 2 biggest levers you can pull with your Facebook Ads that will have the biggest impact on your results are:

• Targeting
• Ad Creative

Let’s dive into each of these a little deeper.

Targeting

By this, I mean who you are showing your Facebook Ads to.

There are 1000’s of targeting options available with Facebook Ads, not to mention all the demographic refinements you can make (i.e. country, age and gender).

Clearly, not everyone on Facebook is going to be the right fit for your books. And that’s ok.

You’re not writing your books for everyone. You’re writing them for a select group of readers, however small or large.

And these readers are highly likely to be targetable on Facebook.

You just need to test different, relevant audiences to find them.

And it will take time to find the right audiences for your books; that’s just part of the game.

As I mentioned earlier in the article, to figure out if a specific audience is right for your books (i.e. converts into sales and/or page reads) , you need to test them individually.

Ad Creative

Your Ad Creative is simply the Ads that people see on their Facebook News Feed.

Whilst there are no rights or wrongs when it comes to Ad Creative, there are some best practices, such as:

• Use Social Proof (i.e. reviews from your books)
• Hook readers in with a powerful, punchy first line of text
• Lay out the stakes of your book and create tension (fiction)
• Speak to your ideal reader, empathize with them, relate to them and tease how your book can help solve their problem(s) (non-fiction)
• Include a Call-To-Action (CTA), such as Read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited

Ultimately, the purpose of your Ad Creative is to entice readers enough to click on your Ads, which you do through a scroll-stopping image and compelling Ad Copy (text).

This next tip isn’t always possible when advertising a full price book, but if you’re running a discount/promo on your book, make your offer clear, obvious and attractive. For example, 5 books for 99¢, or 3 books for 99¢ each.

If you’re running some sort of a discount/promo, introduce scarcity into your Ad, by telling people that this discount is coming to an end on a specific date. For example, Ends January 29th.

Ad Creative and Targeting are what you should be testing each week, or at least each month, if you want to see the best results from your Facebook Ads.

Without testing new Ad Creative and Audience ideas, your Ads will grow stagnant and results will either plateau, or more likely, decline.

Takeaway #5: Have patience

I know this one sounds boring, but honestly, this is possibly the BIGGEST lesson I’ve learnt with Facebook Ads.

If you’re messing (i.e. tinkering) with your Facebook Ads each day, or even every other day, they are never going to perform at their optimum.

Every Facebook Ad goes through something known as the Learning Phase, where Facebook is testing your Ads with different pockets of your target audience to see who resonates the most with them.

Once they’ve found a pocket of people who engage well with your Ads, Facebook will go out and find more people similar to those people who are also in your selected target audience, in order for you to see the best (and cheapest) results.

Due to Facebook doing a lot of its own testing during the Learning Phase, results can be a little shaky in the beginning; this is ok and perfectly normal. Just have patience and let Facebook do its thing.

The Learning Phase typically requires around 50 clicks on your Ads to complete and exit.

Depending on your budget, this can take anywhere from 1-3 days, on average.

However, if you make changes to your Ads or Audience, during the Learning Phase, Facebook will need to start all over again!

Here’s how I recommend managing your Facebook Ads from a time perspective:

• Launch Your Ads
• Let them run for 7 days, untouched
• Optimize your Ads once per week (ideally on the same day each week, if possible)
• Check in on your Ads daily (for 5-10 minutes, max) to look for ‘red flags’, but don’t touch them unless absolutely necessary

IMPORTANT NOTE: Editing Existing Ads

When I talk about optimizing your Ads once per week, I’m not suggesting that you go in and actually adjust the images and/or text within your existing Ad Creative.

Instead, what I’m saying is that you should be looking at which Ads are working, and which aren’t (from a conversion standpoint), turn off the poor performers, and if you want to test a slightly different version of an existing, good performing Ad, that you actually create a brand new Ad within that Ad Set.

If you edit an existing Ad Creative, you will lose all the social proof (likes, comments, shares, etc.) from that Ad, which, if you’ve built up a lot of social proof, can instantly shatter the performance of this Ad.

Yes, the new Ad will need to start from scratch, but that’s the only way to do it without impacting the performance of your existing Ads.

So, whenever you want to test a new idea, ALWAYS create a new Ad Creative. Don’t edit an existing one.

Now, where were we…

Patience is a key skill to learn when advertising books, as is consistency and playing the long game.

It takes time to figure out which Audiences and Ad Creatives are going to provide you with both low costs and high conversion rates.

And you will inevitably find, as every Facebook advertiser across the world has found, that only a small proportion of what you test (Audiences and Ad Creatives) will work; typically, around 20%.

This means that the majority of what you test won’t work, and that’s ok. It’s perfectly normal and expected. You just need to have the right mindset in place to accept that.

Once you find your winning combination of Audiences and Ad Creatives, however, that’s when things get exciting as you can start scaling, spending more on what is working and less on what isn’t working.

Now, I wouldn’t recommend not testing anything new when you’ve found your winners, as there will come a point when these winning Audiences and Ad Creatives fatigue, and you’ll need something to replace them with.

But in terms of budgeting, I would recommend putting 80% of your total budget into your top performers and 20% of your budget into testing new ideas.

Bonus Takeaway: Track Your Results

I’ve mentioned conversions a few times in this article. This is essentially telling you how many people bought or borrowed your book after clicking on your Facebook Ad.

Without knowing the conversion data, you have no idea if your Facebook Ads are actually working. Yes, they may be generating cheap clicks, but are those clicks converting into Sales and/or Page Reads?

We can’t see the conversion data inside our Facebook Ads Dashboard, so we have another tool in our toolkit for this, called Amazon Attribution.

Amazon Attribution is a free tool inside your Amazon Ads Account, but you don’t need to run Amazon Ads in order to use Amazon Attribution.

With Amazon Attribution, you’ll create unique tracking links for each individual Facebook Ad you create and inside your Amazon Attribution dashboard, you’ll be able to see how many Sales and Page Reads each of your Facebook Ads have generated.

You can also use Amazon Attribution for tracking the performance of your other off-Amazon marketing and advertising, such as:

• BookBub Ads
• Email Marketing
• Links in your own books to other books in your catalog

So, it’s an incredibly powerful tool that every author should be using in order to see the true impact their entire off-Amazon marketing and advertising efforts are having on their bottom line.

Setting up Amazon Attribution is beyond the scope of this article, however, Hidden Gems have written about it recently, and the free video I linked to above (in Takeaway #2) also walks you through all the steps for setting them up and adding them to your ads.

Wrapping Up…

We’ve covered a few different topics in this article, all of which are lessons I’ve learnt from spending a LOT on Facebook Ads.

My hope is that what you’ve learnt today will help you see better results from your Facebook Ads, in a shorter timeframe than I did.

That’s not to say that you won’t experience your own challenges and obstacles; I’m 100% certain that you will, because that’s just the nature of learning something new.

And it’s in overcoming those challenges that you learn and develop your own unique skillset.

These takeaways we’ve been through together today though, will, without a doubt, set you off on the right foot and avoid some of the expensive pitfalls I’ve fallen victim to over my time running Facebook Ads.

The biggest takeaway I have for you, aside from everything else above, is this…

Take Action

It’s all well and good learning about Facebook Ads, but until you actually implement what you learn, you’re no further forward than you were when you started learning about them.

As the saying goes…

“An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.”

I wish you all the best with your Facebook Ads and thank you so much for taking the time today to read this article.

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When it comes to sending out queries or even publishing, there are three challenging forms of book marketing copy that authors need to master. All three are essential, though they each serve a different purpose, but what they have in common is that they need to be compelling and to the point, without any wasted words, in order to capture the interest of their intended audiences as quickly as possible.

Author Amy Bernstein has plenty of experience writing all three forms, and is here today to help explain when and where to use each one, as well as tips and best practices on writing them in the first place. 

A Logline, Synopsis, and Flap Copy meet up at a writers’ conference (or a bar, if you’re in that mood). The Logline utters two sentences, then shuts up. The Synopsis blabs on and on indiscreetly, and the Flap Copy gets everyone’s attention with some short, pithy observations.

These guys each have their own personality. And, yeah, they’re an acquired taste. But after hanging out with them awhile, they kind of grow on you. Little by little, you come to depend on them—each of them—and you learn to appreciate their quirks.

Seriously, all but the most pampered authors today need to befriend the Logline, Synopsis, and Flap Copy. You won’t get too far in publishing (or querying) without these trusty companions by your side.

So let’s get acquainted, shall we?

The Logline: Sell the sizzle

The logline grew up in Hollywood’s film industry, but it’s been adopted by the book world. You may hear it called a teaser, a pitch, or a hook (craft purists will argue these are all different, but let’s not quibble over semantics). Whatever you call it, you need a logline to grab a micro-second of an agent’s, publisher’s, or producer’s attention, and even, in some cases, a reader’s. 

The bad news about loglines is they are notoriously difficult to write well, especially if you’re an author close to your own work. The good news is there are formulas you can tap into to guide their construction.

A good logline is an elevator pitch on steroids—powerful and able to deliver a quick knock-out punch. Author and screenwriter Jeff Lyons defines the logline as “the narrative essence of your story that conveys the high concept, the tone, and core emotion of your premise, and does all this in one short sentence (or two).”

If that sounds easy, you’re not doing it right. It isn’t easy. Formulas help tame the beast. One of the best known formulas is distilled as the Killigator^TM method put forth by British author Graeme Shimmin. It goes like this:

In a (SETTING) a (PROTAGONIST) has a (PROBLEM) caused by (an ANTAGONIST) and (faces CONFLICT) as they try to (achieve a GOAL).

Here’s the formula in practice, with constituent parts identified in brackets:

The British Secret Service [SETTING] asks a retired spymaster [PROTAGONIST] to find a Soviet mole [PROBLEM] who must be one of his former protégés [ANTAGONIST]. He can trust no one [CONFLICT] as he tries to discover who the traitor is [GOAL]. (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré)

I suggest you begin with this approach and see where it takes you. You may learn a lot about your novel—its structure and story arcs—along the way. Consider that a bonus of logline research.

But before gouging out your eyeballs, you might also try a formula that’s logline-light. Boil it all down to one sentence that highlights the protagonist, conflict, and goal. Here are a couple of examples, courtesy of writer and blogger Erica Verrillo:

An unwilling wife who despises her roguish husband eventually comes to adore him. (Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare).

A young FBI cadet must confide in a manipulative convicted killer to receive his help on catching another serial killer who skins his victims. (Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris).

Both methods work well in summarizing the stakes in a high-concept format that captures—nay, demands—attention. If you can’t shoehorn your novel into one of these formulas, you might ask yourself some hard questions about whether you’ve constructed your book properly. Because virtually every work of fiction can bend to the will of the logline.

A few details to notice about loglines:

• Don’t name characters; it’s unnecessary, as these examples prove.
• Don’t straightforwardly summarize the plot (that’s the synopsis’s job); focus on the story’s overarching concept.
• And choose the most powerful adjectives you can; make every word count.

Once you’ve crafted a compelling logline, use it to open your query letter to agents. It’s a sure-fire way to grab attention and encourage them to read at least a few sentences more. Use the logline on social media when you’re promoting your book. It’s tailor-made for Twitter and Instagram. And use it on book-related graphics. That’s exactly what I’ve done here for my novel coming out in June. Note that I don’t really tell you what the book’s about, but I do try to interest you in its stakes:

The Synopsis: Spill the beans

Writers complain that writing a synopsis of their novel is harder than writing the novel in the first place. I maintain it’s easier than writing the shorter logline—but still not a cakewalk. Synopses generally come in three forms: very short (one meaty single-spaced paragraph); short (two double-spaced paragraphs) and long (at least one full double-spaced page, about 250 words). It’s increasingly rare to encounter a gatekeeper who wants more than a page-length synopsis, and often, in an emailed query pitch, one of the shorter versions is sufficient. You should have versions of all three on hand to meet the varying demands of agents and publishers.

The purpose of the synopsis, regardless of length, is to offer a clear, energetic summary of the entire book, including how it ends. This is not the place for cliffhangers or rhetorical questions (Will she survive?). Some agents will skim the thing and then focus on the end, in particular. Then they may loop back to see how you got there.

In general, you want to hit the primary beats of your story—the major story arcs, in other words. Include key plot twists, milestones, and revelations. Name the major characters (they have shed the anonymity of the logline) and secondary characters who advance the story. You can omit the great-grandmother who appears in one scene and doesn’t move the plot along.

There’s a handy Master Class on writing a synopsis that offers excellent guidance. For example, write your synopsis in the third person, regardless of your book’s point of view. Be sure to “reveal it all,” as the Master Class summary puts it. And choose your tone wisely: write in a style that alludes to the tone and mood of the book itself. If your book is humorous, make the synopsis light and funny. If you’ve written a hard-boiled detective novel, capture that snarky edge.

A badly written synopsis merely reports “this happened, then this happened, then that happened.” Boring! Done poorly, it’s overloaded with details that don’t help you tell the story. The principles of the logline still apply: focus on character, conflicts, and goals.

Here’s the synopsis for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Since it’s a film, this reads like a long-ish logline, but qualifies as a short synopsis that works equally well for a book:

In the 19th century, a mysterious plague turns the English countryside into a war zone. No one is safe as the dead come back to life to terrorize the land. Fate leads Elizabeth Bennet, a master of martial arts and weaponry, to join forces with Mr. Darcy, a handsome but arrogant gentleman. Elizabeth can’t stand Darcy, but respects his skills as a zombie killer. Casting aside their personal differences, they unite on the blood-soaked battlefield to save their country.

Note that the setting, problem, and conflict are explained out of the gate (drawing the reader in immediately), followed by the introduction of the protagonist (Elizabeth) and antagonist (Darcy), and the stakes they must confront. And we know how it ends: they will save the country. In a longer version, you might relay some details about the ups and downs of the battle, add a line or two as to how they save the country, and say something about the story’s romance.

You’ll find that the shorter versions of your synopsis come in handy a lot, not only when pitching to agents via email or the common template known as QueryManager, but also when engaging with publicists, podcasters, bloggers, and others who need to know a bit more than the logline reveals.

The Flap Copy: Leave ‘em wanting more

This is the copy written on the back of your paperback book (aka jacket copy). On the hardcover version, it’s often on the inside front flap of the dust jacket. (Hence the origin of the term, when most books were published between hard covers.) This is also the text that appears on Amazon’s page for the book (and other e-tailers).

If the logline is like smelling the sizzle of a cooking steak, and the synopsis is eating a few bites of that steak, then flap copy is watching the chef season and prepare the steak, whetting your appetite for the main course, uh, the book.

Many indie publishers ask their authors to write their own flap copy. But in reality, this is usually a collaborative effort between author and publisher (meaning, your assigned editor). This little bit of real estate is too important to leave to chance since, like the logline, it functions as external communication with potential readers and reviewers.

No pressure or anything, but market studies have shown that flap copy is the second most important factor leading to a book purchase, after favorite author. This is where you really want to hook the reader—to capture the imagination while also holding back. Flap copy is a seduction. It’s a difficult balancing act that requires extremely artful wordsmithing.

I would argue that flap copy comes in two parts—one mandatory, one optional. The mandatory part conveys the shape of the story without a single extraneous detail. Here’s that paragraph for The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, a recent bestseller:

The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it’s not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it’s everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters’ storylines intersect?

A few observations about this flap copy. It reads like a short synopsis—except the ending is withheld. That’s because we’re in seduction mode here. If you tell me the ending, why should I read the book?

Also note that we’re given a surname, and no other names. They would only take away from the high-stakes tale itself. And every line in this flap copy advances the story, whether by giving us a glimpse of the story’s setting or the challenges and conflicts the main characters must overcome. Remove one single sentence, and the sense of the whole falls apart. We also have a sense of the genre, which is key; this is literary fiction centered on an African-American experience.

The second part of flap copy, which is not always included, is the editorial comment at the end: a quoted review or praise statement about the book. The Vanishing Half supplements its core jacket info with a glowing appraisal of the book as “riveting,” a “brilliant exploration,” and an “engrossing page turner.”

If you’ve got it, flaunt it. If not, then make an airtight case for your story as a fascinating tale, well told, with high stakes that leave the reader wanting to know more.

The best way to learn to write flap copy is to read versions of it on scores of different books, from comedy to romance to horror. Study how those paragraphs are structured. What comes first? What’s last? How does the text excite your interest?

I used to think that writing a novel would be the hardest thing I’d ever do. Until I met my friends the Logline, Synopsis, and Flap Copy. They taught me that when the last line of my book is written, then the real work begins.

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This week, guest author Deryn Pittar is offering some advice on dealing with rejection and turning a potential negative into a positive. She’s referring specifically to when authors are rejected by traditional publishers after they have submitted their book, and what do when that happens. But at the core, much of this advice is centered around dealing with feedback and criticism of your work. After all, just because you self-publish doesn’t make you a stranger to these things. Whether it comes from beta readers, negative reviews, writing partners or uninterested publishers, writers need to have a thick skin when it comes to their work and be able to act on negative feedback when doing so may lead to an overall improvement of their story or characters.

Hands up if you have NOT BEEN bitterly disappointed when a rejection letter arrived in your inbox. Ah, I see there are a few hardy souls out there with tough rhino hides.

As for the rest of us, we need to create an alternative standpoint from which to view rejection letters. It’s not easy but unless you can look at rejections letters as positive feedback it’s very hard to get over them and move forward in your career as an author. Putting them on the floor and jumping on them will make you feel better, but it won’t help you get your work published.

The first thing to remember is – at least the publisher bothered to reply. Some publishers and agents don’t even do that. If it’s a ‘thank you but no thank you” type letter, without any comments or suggestions then you are free to fold it carefully into a paper dart and aim it at the nearest rubbish bin.  You should then send your piece off promptly to another market you have researched which suits your work.

Think positively. Your shiny new rejection letter proves you are a writer and have had the courage to submit your work for scrutiny.

Once you’ve got over the initial shock that someone doesn’t like your beautiful ‘child’, you need to look for their comments. Whatever they say, and however much you may disagree with them, remember they are the people you asked to publish your work.

It may be that your story doesn’t suit their publishing stable. This is a valid reason to decline your masterpiece and if that is the only criticism then whip it off straight away to another publishing company on your list. It could be ideal for their selection.

It might be your plot. If they say it doesn’t ring true, has holes, needs to be more plausible, then put your thinking cap on and fix it. If you thought of the plot you can think of a remedy.

Perhaps they don’t like one of your characters. Look at ways to improve them and make them better. One of my male leads was once considered too brutish. I added a whole chapter from his point of view, allowing the poor fellow to have deep feelings and fears – bingo, he was saved and no longer brutish, despite acting like a proper jerk on further occasions. The reader now knew of his inner turmoil and marshmallow center. Problem solved.

Too many grammar errors? Hire an editor, find a critique partner who loves correcting grammar, or use a software program to fix your manuscript. Then send it off again, elsewhere.

Not enough courtship? Throw in a couple of extra chapters. Put a spanner in the works and add a couple of heart-wrenching chapters. Not enough tension? If things are bad for your main character make them even worse. Add another disaster or two before easing off the tension and creating a resolution.

The thing to remember is to be flexible. The story you have created may be the most wonderful arrangement of words the world has ever seen – but if it never gets published the world will never know. Cut a bit out here, add a chapter there, fill this plot hole and kill off another character because there is always the next story you can use those bits in.

When you can’t bear to part with a phrase or paragraph, here’s your answer.  Do as the publisher suggests, but instead of ‘killing your darlings’ as writers are told to do, save them. Cut them out and put them in a file. Call it ‘lost moments,’ ‘precious pieces’ or just plain ‘discarded bits.’ They will sit there safe and secure, like diamonds in a vault, until you need them.

As you edit and rewrite and dance to the suggestions of various publishers who return your unruly ‘child’ again and again, consider it all part of the steps you have to climb to be a published author.

The first story is the hardest to get published.  I know. I have a full length novel, completely rewritten three times, that will never be published. I’ve labeled it ‘a learning experience‘, because rewriting it taught me so much. My prose, point of view and plots are all the better for 75,000 words rewritten three times.

Let’s consider the case of the writer with one manuscript. S/he’s been writing and rewriting it for years. (Let’s say the writer is a man) He won’t submit it anywhere because he can’t face the thought of it being rejected. There are a few of you out there, because I know of three people like this and I don’t know that many writers. My solution to this would be to look for a competition and submit just a portion (the first three chapters or however many words required). Dip you toes in the water and wait for feedback. At least the whole manuscript is not at risk of criticism! Some competitions cost money, some are free – chose your preference.

Another thing you could do is to write a new short piece of fiction. Aim for a novella 15,000 – 30,000 words. You could use the plot you have, alter it slightly, change some of the major events and wrap it up sooner.  This will give you a second ‘child’ you can send off heartlessly and submit to all the horrors of rejection without ever putting your first creation at risk. Or, try your hand at poetry; write a short story 3,000 – 5,000 words. This is a great exercise for condensing a plot. Use these shorter pieces as experiments. Submit them to the horrors of the publishing world, thus protecting your masterpiece until you are ready.

If you do this I guarantee the day will come when you will be ready to submit your ‘first born’ to the rigors of criticism. After you have paddled in the publishing pool with your smaller pieces you will gradually harden up. With luck and perseverance you will receive some feedback and best of all you will gain confidence in your ability to write.  Who knows, you could be an undiscovered poet or the master of short stories.

Just a few words of advice: never, ever write a nasty letter back to an editor who has refused to publish your work.  Always reply with a short note thanking them for the time and effort they have taken to read it. Remember that it has progressed from the slush pile into an editor’s warm grasp, which is a huge leap toward publishing. I suspect editors may keep a black list of people who write angry missives to them and you may want to submit work to this publisher in the future.

I received a rejection letter recently because my submitted novella “wasn’t erotic enough”. It made me smile.  I truly didn’t mind. I won’t be adding to the already explicit descriptions, or leaving home to indulge in some physical research sessions. I may remove all the sex scenes and turn the whole novel into a sweet romance – or a murder mystery.  I can do this – I’m a writer. I created this story, therefore I can do whatever I like with my characters. I can reverse the plot, kill off characters, introduce new ones and fiddle with the prose until no one would recognize it as the same story. But – I will keep the original, just in case. Always make a second copy to play with.

A critique partner recently returned half of my latest novel with many suggestions and a very terse comment after a paragraph of telling. She pointed out I was being lazy, regaling the reader with several events that had happened in the past few days by having my protagonist think about them.  She said. “Show me, don’t tell me about this.  Write a scene or two, even a whole chapter. Put in the dialogue and the action.  I want to see this happening, not be told about it in one paragraph!”  I dug my toes in (metaphorically speaking) and sulked, but she was right. Eventually I went back a chapter, found where the events would have occurred in the time-line and wrote another chapter with lots of dialogue and action.

As I edit the next seven chapters deleting all the extra words I’m inclined to throw in, I should still end up with enough words to classify it as a novel. If I don’t, I’ll have to find another telling paragraph I can turn into a scene. I’ve got over my sulk. I know my friend was right. I can do it again and again, if need be.  It’s not as if I haven’t done it before; I just haven’t had to do it for a while.  I thought I’d broken that bad habit of writing a paragraph of telling when I should be writing a scene full of people talking and doing things.

Entering short fiction contests or answering anthology calls for submissions is a great way to get your work out there, in short bites, rather than the long haul of a novel. It gives you experience in adhering to publishing requirements regarding layout and font. It also subjects you to the possibility of rejection, yet again, but this time in smaller doses. It hardens your skin a little and there is more chance of getting your work accepted. Sometimes a request is made for small alterations to the prose or plot. I always oblige because the publisher or contest organizer is paying attention to my work and wants it, if I agree to a change. Why wouldn’t you? Perhaps you don’t hear back, but read someone else has won. This is a softer form of rejection, but on the bright side you still have a story to send off somewhere else. Short fiction is also a great way to try your hand at various genres. There are a lot of calls for anthologies out there and contests galore to challenge you.

Presently I have a character ready to take the stage. He’s rugged and lovable with a major health problem. Nothing too serious, but enough to affect him earning a living. I’m working on building his life and loves. I don’t care how many times he comes home from the publishers, his gnarly hand clasping yet another rejection slip; or how often I have to change his life to suit another publisher’s whim, I’m going to get him out there, covered in stars on Amazon –  one day.

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Last week we wrote about finding your audience tribe, and speaking directly to them when you write your book.  Equally important, but for different reasons, is the idea of finding your author tribe. That is, finding some small group of like-minded writers that you can rely on for support. Even at the best of times, writing is a lonely business, and the pandemic that looks to finally be coming to an end (knock on wood) has only served to amplify that problem. But now that things are finally starting to get back to normal, there is no better time to start looking for a group of people that share your passion for writing, understand what you’re going through, and provide the support and encouragement we all sometimes need.  

So if you’re ready to start looking for your own tribe but unsure where to even begin, have no fear!  Bestselling crime and women’s fiction author Gywn GB is here to show you the way. 

Ernest Hemingway famously said, “Writing, at its best, is a lonely life.” It’s very true, as writers we spend a great deal of time inside our own heads, but there’s nothing better than finding other writers with whom you can talk about your favorite subject: books and words.

I also think it’s essential that you do seek out other writers. Some of us are lucky to have very supportive partners, family and friends, who understand our ‘need’ to write and the highs and lows of the process, but there’s nothing like a fellow writer to just ‘get it’ when you’re having one of those “It’s all rubbish, why did I even think I could write a book” moments. Yes, we all have them, even authors who have been writing for years.

The other reason to find fellow writers is to learn from each other and provide practical advice and support. I am one of The Blonde Plotters, there are three of us (yes all blonde) who are a mix of traditionally and independently published authors. We help each other out in so many ways, passing on information, emotional support, re-sharing things for marketing—you name it. And the most important thing? Through writing we have become the best of friends.

So how do you find your ‘tribe’?

Writing Groups

I moved to a new area and looked for a group that I could join in order to meet like-minded people, but the writing groups that existed seemed to only be in the daytime and for people who viewed their writing as a hobby. At this time I was still working full time, but writing in my spare time hoping eventually I would become a full-time author. Quite apart from the unsuitable timing of the meet ups, I wanted to meet other writers who were serious about their author careers, so I started a group myself.

Setting up a writing group can be as simple or as complicated as you wish to make it. I reached out to the local arts agency, who were happy to lend a meeting room, but if you’re not intending to get in any outside speakers, it can be just as easy to rendezvous in a café or wine bar, or someone’s home.

To find members, I contacted the local newspaper, and they ran a story, and I put some posters up in the library and bookshops. Before long, we had a group of around fifteen of us. We put together an anthology of short stories and we had some excellent speakers until eventually time became too constrained and I had to give up the organization of it.

If time is tight for you, then don’t worry about outside speakers, just meet up and chat. The important thing is to ensure the members all have a common purpose. It might be primarily to act as a critiquing group where you can get constructive feedback, or it might simply be to just hang out with people you can talk about writing with.

It was from that original group and the events we held that I met the other two Blonde Plotters. One good thing led to an even better one.

Online Groups

Pandemic aside, if you simply can’t meet up with people locally, whether that’s because you live somewhere remotely, are disabled or have very small children/care for someone else, then the next best thing is an online group.

If you want to arrange it yourself there is all sorts of technology to help, but again you need to decide what your purpose is and who your target authors might be. Some people are less comfortable with new tech than others. You can try anything from Facebook’s new Messenger rooms, or the brand new Roomkey, to Zoom meetings, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams meeting, and good old Skype.

If you don’t know who you want to meet with and are looking for fellow authors, then joining some of the existing Facebook groups is a great way to meet people. If you are traditionally published, does your publisher have a private group for its authors? If you are indie, then joining groups such as 20Booksto50k will put you in touch with others in the community. Then there are the genre specific societies, such as the Romance Writers of America, or The Romantic Novelists Association in the UK. Look for your genre and your country-specific grouping. There are some, such as the International Thriller Writers, which are global. Plus, if you’re indie published, you can also join organizations such as the Alliance of Independent Authors, which holds online events and has lots of opportunities for you to interact with other writers. Whatever your specialism, simply search on Facebook and in Google for the keywords you are interested in.

The next step once you’ve found your group is to just chat away. It won’t be long before you connect with like-minded people and that relationship can grow into a more direct one as you get to know each other. Or, you can put a call out for anyone in your locality. You’d be surprised how small the world is.

Providing help to fellow authors is a great way to build relationships. Perhaps you could offer to host interviews with them on your own platforms (text or video), or to do newsletter swaps. Using services such as BookFunnel’s newsletter swaps can connect you with people who you don’t already know and start that relationship. Or why not review books for other authors and put those reviews onto your social media and website, as well as Amazon and Goodreads etc. Hosting your own book club is another way to give back to fellow authors and these will also be great content and suggestions for your own fans.

Events and courses

Writer-focused events are a great way to meet like-minded people, as too is going on a writing course or writers’ retreat. Authors are often quite reclusive and can find it difficult to approach new people so you really do have to force yourself out of your comfort zone, but it can be really worth it. If you’re really shy, then prepare some ice-breaking questions before-hand, or wear something unusual that you know people will want to ask you about. Likewise, volunteering at book/literary festivals, is another way that you can meet other authors, and if you’ve got a job to do, it’s easier to interact with people and help you make that first introduction.

What else?

Goodreads has plenty of groups and discussions which you can join in. Plus, there is of course social media. Look on Twitter and Instagram for other writers. Search for hashtags such as #amwriting, #writingcommunity and for specific times that people post such as #WritingWednesday and take part in #FollowFriday, building up relationships with other writers. Share their posts, interact with them and assuming you’re not targeting a very well-known author with a huge existing following, then they will notice you and hopefully start interacting back.

Good luck with connecting.

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Most self-published authors sell their book on one or more of the traditional online eBook stores like Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, etc. Lately, however, a new option has emerged that is worth looking into, at least for those not tied to a long term exclusivity agreement. You may not have heard of Fiction Apps, or if you have, you may have brushed them off believing that they only exist to give books away for free and can’t be used to earn real money from your novels.  Times have changed, though, with new apps emerging and gaining popularity among both readers and silicon valley. NY Times and USA Today bestselling author Krista Lakes uses them, and she’s here to let us know why it’s time for authors to start taking these apps seriously, and what some of the options are. I think I’ll be experimenting with one of them in the near future myself!

For many authors, the question of whether or not to go wide rests on only two factors:

1. How many readers will I lose from Amazon by taking my books out of Kindle Unlimited
2. How many readers will I gain from the other big retailers by listing them there?

Usually, when considering other retailers, only a few names come to mind. Apple, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo are the heaviest hitters in eBooks. Google is usually a single-percentage add-on. All the places that Smashwords and Draft2Digital distribute to are usually worth checking the box to get that distribution.

But there’s a new set of platforms that are making some authors a lot of money, and they’re called fiction apps.

You may have gotten an ad for one of these before. Usually, it has a picture of a beautiful pregnant woman and then the first chapter of a book. It’s usually something that hooks you and makes you click the “read more.” Or maybe it’s one of the graphical ones. A handsome man stands next to a heavily pregnant woman and asks her how it’s going. Two options pop up: “Make small talk” or “Tell him the baby is his.”

Sound familiar? I know many of my most popular romance books use the secret baby trope. And while my books cost money to read, these apps seem to be free! But somebody’s got to be writing for them, right?

Do they get paid? Can I get paid? Is it worth it?

What are fiction apps?

The term “fiction app” refers to any of the various apps popping up in the Apple or Google app stores which deliver content on a more “pay-per-chapter” basis, rather than selling the whole eBook at once. Some of these apps, like Radish or Goodnovel, simply offer new chapters in a linear way. Others, like Episodes or Sana Stories, feature branching storylines. All these apps try to give enough free content away to entice the customer into buying more of the paid content.

Which fiction apps are worth writing for?

I am going to focus on Radish Fiction here, because it is the only app that I have really experimented with publishing on, but I will list some more apps and their possible issues below.

Radish Fiction

By far the most lucrative for romance authors, Radish Fiction recently got a $60m funding round from some venture capitalists. How did they convince Silicon Valley that they were worth so much? Because they’re making money – over a million dollars a month. The first three chapters of every story is free (much like Amazon’s “Look Inside”) and after that, the author can select how much more they want to be free, whether the next chapter will be locked for a number of hours, and whether any of the final chapters will only be available to purchase with coins. Their contract is also the best in the business. With a slick-looking app, regular promotions for authors, and a great support team, they’re poised to be the leader in this industry.

Genres: Romance, though they do have a horror section as well.

Format: Text only

Royalties: They pay 12.6 cents per chapter read if the chapter is bought with coins. While not a percentage, it works out to roughly 35%. They pay quarterly, about ten days after the end of the quarter.

Time to upload: Since every chapter must be copy and pasted separately, a thirty chapter book takes me roughly thirty minutes to upload.

Things to know: Radish does not allow any text on covers, so you’ll have to use stock photos or just take the title off your existing cover if you can do that.

Contractual issues: Stories that are free elsewhere can not be charged for on Radish. Stories must remain on the app until six months after the last chapter is released.

How to apply: Go to http://radishfiction.com/writer.html. Note that they are selective about who they pick to write on their app, but my suggestion is to share your sales figures and hope for the best!

Facebook groups dedicated to Radish books:

• Radish Fiction (for readers/writers)
• Radish Readers and Authors Lounge

Dreame

Genres: Any

Format: Text only

Royalties: Apparently, if you go through Streetlib, you get a much better deal. I don’t know what the difference is, though. They pay quarterly.

Time to upload: If submitted through Streetlib, the book is chopped up for you, meaning the only time spent is uploading your cover, blurb, and ebook file. However, if the book never seems to show up on the Dreame app, you have to email Streetlib to hurry the process along.

Contractual issues: Even with the better contract through Streetlib, it is difficult to get books taken down from the app.

How to apply: Simply submit the book through Streetlib and select Dreame as a retailer.

Goodnovel

Genres: Romance

Format: Text only

Royalties: Based on chapters read. Paid quarterly

Time to upload: Like Radish, you have to copy/paste every chapter, so expect to take some time on this for every book.

Contractual issues: First of all, you have to upload at least 15000 words of a book to their website without a contract. I know that that’s stressful, but that’s how they’ve decided to do things. Then, you can ask them for a contract. The first contract they send is very bad for the author. However, they are willing to negotiate on basically every term. Do not give up any rights you are not comfortable giving up, like film, TV, or audiobook rights. Even after negotiating with them, they will insist on a term of five years. You’re not exclusive to them during that time, but just know that you won’t be able to return that book to Kindle Unlimited for that long. There’s some red flags there, so proceed at your own risk!

How to apply: Start here https://www.goodnovel.com/writer_benefit

Sana Stories

Genres: Romance

Format: Interactive text

Royalties: 25% of subscription revenue

Time to upload: This one will take you a while. Like a choose-your-own-adventure book, you have to write both sides of every choice the reader is able to make. Of course, you can make one branch end, or have both branches meet up at a common point, but it can be a lot of work.

Contractual issues: None so far, but they’re a new app, so I hope that everything goes well with them.

How to apply: Start here https://www.sanastories.com/sana-writing-tool

Conclusion

One thing to remember is that when considering writing for any fiction app, it is very important for you to look over their contract and make sure that there is a way for you to exit and that you’re not giving up any rights that they don’t need. Some of these apps are hosted in foreign countries, and enforcing your legal rights might be more trouble there. Do your diligence!

For me, it’s a no-brainer to split my time between writing and uploading new books to these fiction apps. Since I left Kindle Unlimited, my Amazon income has been reduced, and even re-submitting books to KU hasn’t changed that. These fiction apps are definitely outperforming Apple, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo for me. I think that they might represent the future of reading, and I’m excited to be on the ground floor! And if you want to see reviews on more of these fiction apps in the future, or if you’ve tried them and want to share your experience with them, let us know in the comments below!

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We’ve published numerous blogs touting the importance of your cover when it comes to selling your book, but it’s often hard to give a concrete apples-to-apples example because the cover is rarely the only difference between two books. That is, if we looked at the great sales of Book A (with a strong cover) compared to the lower sales of Book B (with a weak cover), it would be impossible to argue that the cover was the sole defining factor. Maybe Book A also had a better blurb, or was written by an author with a stronger following, or was in a more popular genre or sub-genre. Any number of factors could be the cause.  So when D.F. Hart told me of her recent surge in sales after simply changing the covers on an existing series, I knew it was something that our author community would want to hear about. It’s so rare that we get the opportunity to see hard data that backs up the theory of how important a strong book cover is in such a compelling example as this one, and I’m so grateful that D.F. agreed to share her results with us.

There’s so much that goes into producing a book that people want to read. You spend hours upon hours crafting each word, each nuance, and at least you reach the end of your tale.

Now what? How to take that wonderful creation and build a ‘perfect storm’ that lures readers in and makes them lifelong fans of yours?

Well, conventional wisdom (and market research) makes certain things very clear, among them being this: You really need a book cover that hits genre expectations and pulls your potential audience in. After all, it’s the very first thing a potential reader sees.

The following is my own path on this indie author journey and what I experienced when I finally stopped being in denial and realized that my existing covers, while pretty, were completely missing the mark.

Here’s what happened in my case. First, a bit of background.

I write in two genres (Mystery/Thriller and Contemporary Romance) and began self-publishing in March of 2019. And I will be the first one to admit I had ZERO CLUE what I was doing. No marketing skills, not even any sort of newsletter following. NADA.

I started with Kindle Unlimited, and quickly realized that for my writing style the ‘rapid release’ model was unsustainable. So after roughly six months exclusive to KU, I opted to make a major change and moved my existing works wide. But even then, even as I learned and grew and finally got my act together along about book three of my thriller series and started doing things like actually building a subscriber following, things still weren’t taking off the way I’d hoped.

My total revenue for 2019 came in at just under $600 – and I’d spent more than that just on covers. Tack on editing and marketing spend, and well, you get the idea.

2020 came along, and I did have more of my act together – booking promos, applying for (and being rejected for) that Holy Grail of advertising, a Book Bub Featured Deal (BBFD), every 30 days like clockwork, making book one in my thriller series permafree as part of a more thought-out marketing strategy, and so on.

But by mid-September 2020, frustrated with sales revenue that creeped along at roughly the prior year’s numbers, I booked a consult with Craig at Hidden Gems, because I knew something was wrong with my current setup, I just didn’t know what.

Initially, my intent was for Craig and I to focus on solely the contemporary romance novella series that I’d started in the spring and that I was struggling with.

Imagine my shock when he mentioned, “Let’s look at your thriller series while we’re talking.”

“Why?” I asked, reluctant to change anything about that body of work.

“That series has been out longer, right? More data?”

“Yep,” I said.

“Just trust me,” Craig replied. “Let’s take a look at it.”

And the first thing he said to me when we drilled down into it all was “It’s your covers. They don’t ‘say’ thriller series. That’s your problem.“

Now, I admit, when I first heard that I was resistant – partially because I’d allocated cover budget toward trying to get the romance series off on a better foot, and partially because I can, at times, be very mule-headed.

But once I took a step back and thought about it, I realized he was right.

My current designer’s covers weren’t horrible, but they definitely weren’t portraying the mystery/suspense/thriller genre I was writing in. The majority of the people I was writing my stories for were passing them by based on the covers not being right.

I took a deep breath, ran some numbers, and made the decision to get the thriller covers right. At that point in time, I felt like it was do or die, so, I stopped all extraneous spend, including ads, and focused on the series covers.

After a few days of deep research in my genres, I selected a different designer whose focus is more mystery/thriller and let him do his thing.

The top row shown here are the pretty but not ‘dialed in’ original covers, and the bottom row are the new covers:

October 10, 2020 is the day that I uploaded all the new book covers.

Then, I opted to do some testing.

I’d run paid promos in late April / May and in late August / early September with the old covers. Those results looked like this. The best month I had was 167 units moved (paid and free).

I booked those same paid promos again in late October / early November, once the book covers were updated across all retailers. Here’s how those results look – I topped out at 7,587 units moved (paid and free).

And remember when I said I’d been applying religiously for a BBFD on my first in series and gotten rejections every month of 2019 and 2020?

Thanks to the new cover on my permafree book one, I finally landed that coveted – and worldwide – BBFD.

It ran December 14th, and it exploded my visibility – and sales revenue. Here’s how December 2020 has looked for my thriller series in terms of units moved (paid and free):

Lastly, remember when I said I only made $600 for all of 2019?

I made more than that just from 10/10 – 12/13 – BEFORE my BBFD even happened.

And I believe 1000% that it’s because my book covers now scream “Hey I’m an awesome thriller, read me!”

But the icing on the cake has been landing that BBFD. I truly believe if I had kept the old covers in place, I’d still be applying – and still be getting turned down.

December 2020 is my first four-figure month EVER as an author, and I am optimistic that it will not be my last. I’m on pace to at least quadruple my royalty revenue in 2020 comparative to 2019. Because I optimized my covers and let them finally be the genre-specific marketing beacons – the awesome leading edge of my books’ ‘perfect storm’ – that they are supposed to be.

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The case for going wide or remaining in KDP Select as an Amazon exclusive is fiercely debated, but at the end of the day there is likely no right answer that fits everyone. Like most things, it comes down to experimentation and doing your research. That’s the approach romance author Isabel Jolie took, and luckily for us she was willing to put together this blog breaking down her numbers and what she learned from her experimentation.

To KU or not to KU? It’s a question every author has at least considered and weighed.

“Any romance author should do KU.”

“KU is a no-brainer for a new author.”

These are things I was told – repeatedly. I ultimately chose to go wide, but I did briefly test KU, and the following is what I experienced.

Background

I released my first book in January 2020. In September, I released my fourth book. I’ve seen other authors share sales data and I offered to do so with Hidden Gems because I love the idea of authors helping authors.

I write contemporary standalone steamy romance. Each book leverages a different trope. I mention this to make it clear that in my KU vs wide scenario, it’s not truly apples to apples (but really, in book publishing, nothing REALLY qualifies as apples to apples. There are always variables).

I released my first book via Amazon, BN Press and IngramSpark on January 13 to an abysmal level of sales. Probably no surprise to experienced authors. In January and February combined I sold 249 units and 75% of those sales came from Amazon. I made enormously embarrassing mistakes with keywords and sometime in February I experimented with Amazon and FB ads (horrific results).

In April, I released my second book and did things differently.

• Recognizing that I needed help, I went to Amy Vansant at AuthorsXP. She strongly recommended KU and gave me a list of newsletters to stack and I did so.
• I got a BookBub Featured New Release!
• I got way smarter on category selection (contemporary romance was my only category for my first book – I could write a book on what not to do).
• I also consulted with industry experts such as Craig from Hidden Gems.

The result was that Trust Me earned the best seller tag in several categories. Yay!

Even though I started out dedicated to wide, I ultimately decided that this is my learning year, and heeding advice from the industry experts, decided I needed to test out KU. I also switched ebook distribution from IngramSpark to Draft2Digital. This change is important to note, because with daily reporting available, I could more effectively measure advertising effectiveness.

KU vs Wide Results

For one month – May – I had one book in KU and one book wide. It was a non-release month and for comparative purposes I believe this is important.

Here’s what I found:  I made twice as much money on my wide book as I did on my KU book.

Bear in mind, as a new author, I have no following. I especially had no following in May. I didn’t even have a newsletter.

Within Amazon, both titles (the wide and the KU) earned within a dollar of each other in royalties in May. But…my wide title kept on earning outside of Amazon. So, twice the revenue for that title. We aren’t talking big dollars here.

• KU title May earnings: $220 in total.  (Sales + 15k page reads)
• Wide title May earnings: $489 in total.  ($221 on Amazon, $269 wide)

Now, to be fair, I do suspect that KU magic happens when you have many books in KU and readers can move on to more of your books within KU. As a new author, that’s not a feasible situation. At the time I was enrolled in KU, I had a grand total of two books published.

I moved on, put that KU title back to wide when the three-month exclusivity was up, and have focused wide ever since.

In September I almost achieved the 50/50 milestone – meaning 50% of my income comes from Amazon, and 50% from wide retailers. Even though it was a release month, 54% came from Amazon, 46% wide. Apple, BN Press and Kobo make up the bulk of my wide sales, although I’m also on Google Play and a wide variety of retailers and libraries thanks to Draft2Digital.

For the first nine months total, I’m looking at 62% Amazon revenue and 38% wide. I’m not convinced if I had been 100% Amazon that I would have replaced 38% of my income with KU page reads. Of course, there’s no way to know for certain, unless I discover a time machine and fly back to January 13 and start over (which, hello, 2020…no strong desire to relive this year).

One thing I did notice by accident one day when I was playing around on Publisher Rocket is that while my Amazon sales were pretty much exactly the same, my ranking for the KU title was worlds better than my ranking for the wide title. I don’t pay much attention to rank (bank vs rank any day of the week is my motto) but I can see how someone wanting a bestseller flag might argue KU, or that the mystical Amazon algorithm might kickstart with rank.

All that said, my experience this year has been that Amazon is very much a pay to play environment. If you just put your book in KU, at least as an unknown author, you’re not going to see page reads. You’ve got to advertise. And I’m reading more and more that the only way to really make AMS ads work for you is to bank on income from read-through to other titles.

Which brings me to my next point. I’m better now at AMS ads (thank you Alana and Bonnie at Finding Your Indie). I’m toying with FB ads using Nick Stephenson’s 10K FB strategy. Still figuring FB out. I play around with BookBub ads, too. Always learning.

In my first 9 months, I’ve earned almost $10K in revenue. I have no idea if that’s good or bad. I can say that I’m probably hovering around break-even when calculating editor fees, book cover designs, classes and marketing expenses. And that’s okay with me. This is a new business and most new businesses re-invest every dollar they earn.

What I’ve Learned

These are my key take-aways from the first 9 months:

1. KU might work for some, but it didn’t work well for me with only one book enrolled.
2. Amazon is pay-to-play. For that matter, all retailers are, but free promotions may be more readily available on other retailers. Theoretically, while still high, competition is less intense for the romance genre on non-Amazon retailers. My highest CPC on BB ads is to target Amazon readers. iBooks/D2D gave me my first free promotion (sneak peek at my release) and I love them for it. Kobo has promotions at very low costs, and BNPress has free ones as well. I haven’t been approved for a Kobo or BNPress promo, but the name of the game is to never give up and keep applying.
3. BookBub is king. All hail BookBub.
4. Written Word Media properties performed quite well for me, too. If anyone is interested, Wide for the Win, a truly great FB group for wide authors, has a whole list of newsletters that work.
5. The 99-cent sale works great for newsletters and for releases when you are starting out. My fourth book released at $2.99. While my unit sales are lower than the prior two releases, my revenue is more than double.
6. I’ve had two BookBub Featured Deals. One was for a 99-cent title and one was FREE (my free BookBub ran 7 days before release day of my full price title). Even before my 4th title released, I made more revenue stemming from the FREE BB than the 99-cent BB. This is a little factoid I’m still pondering.
7. Some have said that being wide improves your chances of getting a BookBub. I don’t know if this is actually true, but if it is, it’s a huge reason in my mind to be wide.
8. My newsletter is important. I started the year with zero subscribers and now have over 2,000. Not a sizeable list by any stretch, but large enough that I saw a sales lift with my most recent new release email, and I definitely saw an impact when I announced a giveaway I was running.                 
9. New authors must be wary when reading other author’s accounts of what works. Marketing strategies differ by genre (i.e. what works for nonfiction may not work for romance). Authors with 20 books in distribution ultimately earn more with a single book sale and have a backlist to leverage. In a nutshell, they have a different game board. It’s always interesting to read what works for other authors, but there are no guarantees their playbook will work for you. The publishing world is evolving, and what worked last year may not work this year (OK – I don’t really know this from my first 9 months, but I have a marketing background and I know this in general). Everything must be tested.
10. There is joy in not boarding the Death Star. Root for the little guys, the force is strong.

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If you don’t already have an author website, you’ve probably heard or read someone, somewhere, saying you need one. What may not be as clear is why you need one. Or when you need one. Or where to go next if you do decide you actually should have one. That’s why we’ve turned to Virginie Carmichael for help. As someone who has made a business out of helping authors with their websites, Virginie has the answers to all these questions, and more.

Being a successful author is not for the faint of heart. It requires dedication, planning and making some mistakes along the way. You might have already set up a website, and just given up on it because it’s too much of a time suck to manage. Or maybe you haven’t slayed that beast yet, because it just seems too daunting. Or you might not even be sure if an author website is worth your time.

We’re going to help you weigh the pros and cons of creating your very own space on the web.

When does an author need a website?

Not everyone is ready to set up their website, and that’s okay. If you’re a brand new author with less than 2-3 books under your belt, a website is not something you need to worry about just yet. There are other more important things to figure out first, like increasing your sales and fanbase!

If you also decide to jump on the KDP Select bandwagon, setting up your own website might not be as useful as someone who publishes on multiple platforms. You can still absolutely use a website (and I’ll cover why it can still be a good idea later), but it’s up to you to decide if it makes sense to spend time on it or not.

If you’re a seasoned author, then having your own website is one of the best tools you can have working for you. Once it’s set up and you’ve figured out your flow, it shouldn’t take too much effort to manage. If it does, you might need to reconsider how it’s set up.

What is an author website used for?

First, let me set your expectations straight. An author website is there to do one main thing: turn one-time readers into lifetime fans.

It doesn’t necessarily need to generate money in itself or bring you new readers. It absolutely can, down the road, but that shouldn’t be your main focus in the beginning.

Your focus should be on making sure that readers have a haven to go to when they’re looking for your next book, and give them the proper incentives to stick around a little longer. Your books are what are going to bring them in, and how easy it is to use your website is what will keep them around to discover all you have to offer.

Now that that’s said, how can you use a website to make your life easier and at the same time keep those readers within your own little ecosystem?

Link to your website in all your backmatter

Sending readers to your own website after they’re done reading your book means that you’re exposing them to your whole catalog without having to update the backmatter in every single book every time you publish a new one.

You don’t have to worry about links expiring or changing, you can simply link to your own website knowing that it will always be there (as long as you keep it online, that is).

One link, multiple storefronts

If you’re publishing on multiple platforms, it can be pretty hard (and tedious!) to add all those links to your book backmatter.

Instead, have a dedicated page for each book that you can easily update with links to all stores. Not only will this make your life easier, but your wide readers’ lives much easier as well, and a happy reader is a paying reader!

Even if you’re currently in KDP Select, it can be a good idea to direct readers to your website in your backmatter. Otherwise, if you ever do go wide, you’ll be forced to update all of the backmatter in your books.

Turn one-time readers into newsletter subscribers

Like I’ve mentioned before, one of the best tools an author can have is a solid fanbase, AKA your newsletter. Your website is the best way to collect those email addresses! You can offer an incentive such as a free book or free sample to get them to sign up. Just remember that the easier it is for people to sign up, the higher the chances they’ll actually do it.

That means having signup forms straight on your homepage and even in your website footer so they can show up on every page.

It’s a good idea to make sure your sign-up forms are obvious, but not invasive and in the reader’s way. If you do decide to use pop-ups, make sure they are easy to exit and don’t take over the whole page on mobile devices.

Optimize newsletter delivery with a custom email address

This is one of those things a lot of authors overlook. If one of your goals is to build a solid mailing list, it’s important to also consider deliverability. You wouldn’t want to waste all that effort building a list, only to wind up in the spam folder right? 

The best way to avoid the spam folder and ensure high open rates is to use a custom email address to send from. It will look something like this:

your.name@domainname.com.

Once that is set up, you’ll want to use that email address to send your newsletter. When setup properly, you’ll have a much higher chance to reach your subscribers’ inbox. This is because mass emails sent from a free email account (like Gmail or Yahoo) appear spammy to most spam filters.

The second thing you can do is authenticate your domain name, which means telling your mailing list provider that you actually own the domain, and giving them permission to send emails on your behalf. This is achieved by adding a DKIM and SPF record to your DNS. If you’re like “DK what??” don’t worry, you’re not alone. A lot of authors skip this step because it involves knowing a bit about tech.

Basically, your mailing list provider will give you some information that you need to add to your DNS records with your webhost. Because this step will be different for every mailing list provider and webhost, we won’t go into details here.

If you’re uncomfortable doing this yourself, I would recommend asking your webhost for assistance. Most good hosts will assist you in adding the code to your DNS for you.

Which company should you set up a website with?

Now that you’ve decided an author website is for you, it’s time to learn how to set it up!

Certain platforms are definitely easier than others, while some offer more flexibility and are a bit more difficult to setup. Let’s take a look at the platforms you could use and their pros and cons.

Generic Hosted Website

This includes platforms like SquareSpace, Wix, WordPress.com, etc. If all you have to bring is your domain name and they provide everything else, it falls under this category.

Pros:

• Easy to get started
• Comes with support that can point you in the right direction

Cons:

• Tends to be a bit more expensive
• There are limits to what you can actually achieve

SquareSpace can be a good option if you’re a relatively new author who isn’t quite sure yet if this whole “writing for money” is going to get serious or not. You’ll be able to get a website up and running pretty quickly, but it will limit your website’s potential as it’s more limiting than the other options.

Self-Hosted WordPress Website

Yes, there is a difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. WordPress.com comes with hosting and has many limitations while WordPress.org is open-source and free, you just have to host it yourself.

There are many hosts out there, but my favorite is SiteGround. Their support is out of this world, which makes them especially good for anyone that doesn’t really know what they’re doing. Obviously, you can’t ask them to set up your whole website for you, but if you hit a roadblock, they’re usually more than happy to help.

Pros: 

• Cheap to get started (usually $80 to $120 for the first year)
• Very flexible, you can add almost any feature you’d like if you have the technical skills

Cons

• Requires either the willingness to learn the platform or an advanced knowledge of WordPress and how it works

If you don’t have a lot of funds, but a lot of time and a willingness to learn, setting up a self-hosted WordPress site can be very rewarding down the line!

Author-Specific Hosted Website

If you want the best of both worlds, we’ve built a platform called Novely that is made specifically for authors. You just answer a few questions and we’ll setup your website for you. Our plans include free setup and maintenance, so you only have to worry about updating it whenever you launch a new book.

Pros:

• Much easier to add content than any other platform
• Minimal upkeep
• Easy to get started
• It’s built with authors in mind, so features are tailored towards your needs

Cons: 

• Can be a bit more expensive

Custom-Built Website

If you’re successful enough to have the budget for a custom website, it’s always a great idea! Your web designer can help you pick which platform is best suited for you, and then set up your website for you.

Obviously, this comes at a much higher cost, and the maintenance cost can also be higher. You’ll most likely have to hire your web designer on a monthly retainer basis or have a techy virtual assistant who can help you maintain the site.

Pros:

• Will fit your needs 100%
• You can use whichever hosts, platforms or software you want

Cons:

• Starts in the $2-3K range and can go up to $10K depending on the complexity level of your website
• Most will likely also require a techy person to do the monthly maintenance

Conclusion

There are a lot of things to consider when it comes to setting up an author website, but if you take the time to set it up properly, it can make your life much easier. Just remember that whichever road you decide to take right now, you can always change in the future. At worst, you’ll lose a few hours and a bit of money, but you can always re-adjust as your needs change.

And if you haven’t found the right platform for you yet, don’t lose hope. There are so many website options out there, you’ll eventually find one that works great for you. Just give yourself some time, and take a break if you need to.

Building a quality website will be worth it, but if it takes a little bit longer than you had anticipated, it’s not a deal breaker. You’ll get to it eventually.

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Most independent authors are well aware of the importance of a newsletter and the benefits of using a mailing list to handle it, but a quick google search will result in plenty of different email marketing services to choose from. Unfortunately, it’s not a one-size-fits-all sort of problem, since every author has different needs. Luckily, author Annabeth Saryu has already done a lot of research into what factors need to be considered, and she’s put it all together here to make it easier to determine how to pick the service that will work best for you.

Regardless of where an author is in their career, they eventually encounter a piece of universally accepted advice: build your mailing list. Your mailing list not only consists of your most avid readers, but if cultivated properly, also includes your most dedicated customers.

While many experts on author marketing stress the value of an email list, few discuss the current needs of authors. Most commonly, they express a preference without any mention of non-technical factors to consider.

Trying to apply someone else’s solution to a problem you may or may not have encountered in your own author career can result in a choice that costs time, money and frustration.

That’s why the most important thing is to understand all of the factors that go into the decision of which email marketing service to choose so that you can select the one that works best for your needs. Thus, instead of recommending particular email marketing services, let’s focus on what you need to consider when making your choice, such as cost, integrations, your personal career journey and technical support needs.

A word about Email Marketing Services

Email marketing services are a lot like hairbrushes: all serve the same basic function but finding one that meets your personal needs makes them much more effective.

CAVEAT #1: There are some services that market themselves as CRMs (Customer relationship management) tools. Unless you’re an author who sells (A LOT ) direct from your website, you can avoid these marketing services.

CAVEAT #2: If you are heavily invested in your own ecommerce platform (direct sales of books, courses, subscriptions, merchandise), some of these considerations won’t apply to you.

 ‘Typical’ author business tactics

Most authors, trade or indie, sell their books, eBooks, and audiobooks on the major retail platforms, and their links may point directly to those, or to their own websites and lead magnets. An author’s newsletter typically drives sales on these platforms by announcing new releases, sales and special offers. Those that use paid advertising often direct readers to sales pages on retail sites, or landing pages with universal book links, rather than their own homepages. Many authors also use lead generation tactics such as paid ads and back matter to direct readers to lead magnets that require mailing list sign-up.

Take a look at your website platform (WIX, WordPress, other), your book delivery system (Bookfunnel, Prolific works, etc.), social media presence,  and ads usage. Also include any other tool you use to capture subscribers, such as Rafflecopter or KingSumo. With this list in hand, let’s take a look at things you should consider.

Integrations

Simply put, integration is a term that describes the ability of applications to work together.  It typically comes in the form of a plugin that connects an application directly with your email marketing service and allows actions to occur automatically.

Once applications are integrated, you can put email collection, authentication and lead magnet delivery on autopilot. You can also tag subscribers, assign readers to selected lists, use autoresponders or send special campaigns.

For the most part, anything your email service does can be done automatically through an integration.

No more manual uploading and downloading of CSVs ( and no more forgetting either). Communication with readers is more immediate and better targeted. Integrations also make it easier to understand where your subscribers are coming from, and which efforts yield the best response.

You want your email marketing service to integrate with as many of your reader collection tools as possible. With good planning and awareness, it’s possible to select providers that integrate with all your tools saving you time, money, and frustration down the line.

A note about Wix

Wix is a website development and hosting service that’s easy to use and offers some free services, as well as in-app upgrades for additional costs. Many authors love Wix. Others sometimes start with it and later switch to different platforms. But if you’re a Wix fan beware: very few email marketing services offer integrations to the platform, and those that do aren’t recommended by author gurus. Check out which of the services integrate with Wix here.

If you choose an email service that doesn’t integrate with Wix, you’ll need to find a work around. This involves a bit of coding or using a third-party integration service like Zapier.

Cost

Make no mistake, cultivating a newsletter audience will take time, which can make your email marketing service an ongoing, long term expense. So while ‘free’ accounts may seem pretty enticing at first, they’re not without their downsides. Specific considerations:

Many free accounts have a ticking clock

The typical time limits are 14, 30 and uncommonly, 60 days. They often require a credit card to begin the free trial period, which is automatically charged when the trial ends unless you cancel first, so make sure to set a reminder.

Accounts with ticking clocks are generally bad for new authors in the process of creating their author platform and who don’t have unlimited time to focus on the ins and outs of their particular service provider while trying to also understand the basics of email marketing in general. It’s just not long enough to make an informed decision.

Ticking clock accounts work best for established authors shopping for a new email marketing service provider with greater functionality or who are facing a big price jump with their current provider. Those time frames can work, but if you’ve got a big list, it’s worth contacting your new service provider about extending the trial period and/or support for migrating your list.

‘Forever free’ accounts typically aren’t full featured

List size restrictions, number of emails sent per month, limited technical support, and access restrictions on templates, segmentation, integrations or a/b testing are typical sacrifices that come with free accounts. If you’re keen to try an email marketing service but the free version doesn’t have the features you want, consider checking out the refund policy to see if you can try the full featured version within the refund period.

Cost increments as list size increases

Another important consideration is how fast an email marketing service’s costs go up as your list size increases.

If you’re in a popular genre like romance or thrillers, and you do lots of list-builders such as Bookfunnel promos or paid list building services like Ryan Zee or LitRing, you can easily gain 100s of subscribers with a single promo.

These kinds of increases make short work of free accounts, whose list size limits are typically 500 – 1000 subscribers.

If you’re anticipating faster list growth, it’s worth comparing pricing structures among the various providers. Most pricing structures include a big bump somewhere, and it depends on the providers’ composition of its most profitable customers.

For example, if your monthly costs double once you exceed 10,000 subscribers, being stuck at 10,003 for years with that service provider will sting. Conversely, if you’ve got a slow growing, smaller list, try to avoid providers that charge premiums for smaller list sizes and then become competitive at larger numbers. When your list size hits a plateau, it’s a good time to compare features and prices based on your actual list size, growth efforts and feature needs.

Your personal author journey

Some authors come from trade backgrounds and enjoy established audiences eager to buy their self-published books. Others are well-known in different fields and have a ready list of clients and followers who become customers with little effort. Some entered on the ground floor of kindle unlimited and remained top of the heap. Others start with no audience at all and must build from the ground up.

Where you are dictates how much work you’ve got ahead to build an audience.

But no one on my mailing list ever buys anything!

This is a common cause of night terrors among authors who find their email list isn’t the cash cow promised them. One reason for that comes from where you are on your author journey. 

The more giveaways and promos you participate in to gain sign-ups, the less familiar and invested your mailing list will be in your books. Which means you’ll have to work much, much harder to convert them into buyers. It can take months, sometimes up to a year.

Think about it: if a reader downloaded your magnet with hundreds of other magnets during a promo, it could be months before they read your book. In the meantime your email service keeps billing you monthly based on your ‘subscribers.’ Subscribers taking their time to become buyers.

There many gurus out there with books and how-to courses for email marketing, including Andre Chaperon and Tammi Labrecque. Numerous courses on Udemy, even people on Fiverr, who will help convert subscribers into customers. But until that happens, you’ve still got monthly email marketing bills to pay and books to write.

Unconventional options

If cultivating a paying audience is a long game for you, consider a service provider that bills for the total number of emails sent per month, rather than subscriber count. This can be helpful if you’ve got a list in the 3,000-10,000 range that’s taking a while to convert and you only send a few campaigns each month.

Another option is an email marketing service provider that allows you to pay-per-campaign. Many successful authors have cultivated big, happy, highly engaged Facebook groups where they devote considerable time and don’t want to invest in a regular marketing service provider.  There are also authors who send newsletters only for sales or new releases. A pay-per-campaign option can be pricey, but if your list size exceeds the limits of free plans and you send infrequently, this might be a good option.

Technical Support

Never underestimate the value of your time.

Do you love learning new software, troubleshooting technical problems, or coming up with creative solutions to keep your author business afloat? Maybe you’ve got a generous bankroll and can hire help, or a spouse who’s a tech whiz, or a day job that makes you an ads expert?

Or not.

Time is valuable. As authors it’s probably our most valuable commodity. Professionally speaking, the biggest competitor for our precious writing time is often marketing and technical issues related to marketing efforts.

The caliber of technical support varies widely by provider and plan, so it’s something to consider when making your selection, especially if troubleshooting technical issues isn’t your thing.

Just remember…

If you find an email marketing service that you like, embrace it and move on.  You’re not doing anything ‘wrong’ if it works for you. It’s okay if it’s not the one recommended by that best-selling superstar author you follow. A good service provider allows you to capture email addresses, connect with your readers, and work within your own personal author ecosystem— without heartburn or hair loss.

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