Why Goodreads.com is better than Facebook for book promotion

     I am writing this in the hopes that it helps anyone who has limited funds and is trying to figure out how best to use their resources to promote their book. I want to share my experiences advertising my novel on Facebook and Goodreads.com. First of all, if you do not want to read any further, Goodreads.com was the best promotional tool of the two, read-on to learn why.

     The key is what webmasters call "targeted traffic," which is really just a modern version of what sales people have always referred to as "shoppers vs. buyers." Think of shoppers as people walking through a mall casually looking at store displays and shelves. They'll see something that interests them, pick it up, stare at it and then put it back and keep going to the next store. Buyers are people with money in hand eager to buy exactly what you are selling. A guy wants a new shirt, guy sees shirt, guy tries on shirt - it fit! - guy buys shirt. Done. Targeted traffic refers to buying advertising that will reach buyers, not shoppers.

     I began advertising my book on Facebook in January. I ran four ads, and constantly tweaked them in order to improve my click-though-rate. A pretty good indicator of how your ads are doing. It was my only method of promotion at the time. My ads generated constant "likes" for my Facebook page, but they did not generate any sales. Discouraged I learned about Goodreads on absolutewrite.com and spent $100 to run a campaign using the very same ads I perfected on Facebook (after all they were proven traffic generators.) Here are my stats for Goodreads vs. Facebook.

Facebook stats from January 2012.
Spent $200.00
Impressions 1,262,341

total Clicks 446

CTR 0.035% (click though rate)

CPC$0.45 (Cents per click)

My Goodreads stats from July 2012  (same ads, same targeted audience)

total credit purchased $200.00     

total impressions 691,399

total clicks 682

ctr for all time 0.1%

cpc for all time $0.50

     As you can see, I was much more successful advertising on Goodreads than on Facebook. I spent almost equal amounts of money, over a shorter period of time, less people looked at my ads, and yet I still received more clicks and my sales were better with Goodreads. Why? I believe the answer is targeted traffic. With Goodereads I reached book buyers, not shoppers. Your FB ad might be read by 1 billion people, but more READERS with cash in hand are on Goodreads.

     Another thing I like about Goodreads is that ability to track your book, to a certain degree. On Facebook you'll see your ads reach, your click-through-rate, and the number of clicks your novel got, but that's it. Sales will tell you if your ads are really doing anything.  But Goodreads gives you an author dashboard that gives you everything Facebook does, and more.

It looks like this:

number of works: 1

added by unique users: 19

fans: 0

ratings: 3 ratings (4.00 avg)

text reviews: 1 

to-read: 1 person
currently-reading: 2 people

     That kind of information is not only super informative, it's exhilarating and may be the shot in the arm you need during those dark times, when you wonder if your book is getting any attention. I hope this helps anyone trying to promote their book on a limited budget. Good luck.

Until next time I will continue writing into the wind.


Luis Mario  

I've found the urge to write again

     I wrote yesterday. Not so amazing news? It is for me. Since I've published my book I have not written a word. Oh, I've written ads and a dozen other forms of advertising, but I have not written anything I would consider literary. The biggest reason is that I've been so busy learning how to "build a platform," and about marketing and advertising. I've had little time for anything else. After spending years in a little corner writing page after page I am now expected to sell my book to all of the many friends I did not make because I was too busy writing! Publishing my book has been mind melting. That's what sucks about self publishing, maybe trade publishing too, you spend so much time on the business of publishing there's no time left for writing.

     I've just started to get the urge to write again. Oh sure, my subconscious has never stopped sending me new ideas, voices, and images. They still come and try desperately to leave a story behind, but I do not let them. I have been pushing away new ideas for months. Creativity is distracting, and right now, my life is about telling the world about my book. I've even been thinking about taking a break from writing for a few years and going back to school. I'm getting older, the jobs getting harder, and higher education might be a better plan for changing my life than writing another book.

     So what did my literary work produce? A very interesting short story, and that's all I want it to it to be. The only kind of relationship I want with my writing right now is something fun, non-committal, sexy. No novels and long relationships. However, I must admit it felt wonderful to feel the images and voices rush into my mind and not push them away. I felt the joy of  discovering new places and people again. I will finnish my little story, but I'm in no rush. I want to savor the process of writing it like I would a great meal, slowly. I still have new ads to create, stats to check and promotional giveaways to think about - everything a self-publisher has to do to survive. However, from now on I will make time to write. I've been so busy trying to save my book from literary oblivion I had forgotten that warm comfortable feeling that comes over me when I put words on paper. 

     Bye the way, I've gotten 91 "likes" on Facebook, Thank you! My goal is 100 and I'm posting like a madman to try to get there. Sales are depressing right now, but that's okay, they'll pick up. I know my readers are out there somewhere, I just have to keep searching for them.

 Until next time, I continue writing into the wind.

Lucho