Free Prize Draw for my novel, 'The Poster'

Your chance to win a copy on Storygraph

I’m trying something different to promote awareness of my novel and to get it seen by people outside of my immediate circle.

You can win a free copy in the prize draw by entering here. You can, of course, also buy a copy here.

I have allocated a marketing budget for The Poster and have been researching different ways to use it. The perceived choices are:

1. Facebook ads

2. Amazon ads

3. Bookbub

4. Pinterest

These came from either presentations I have seen or blogs/articles from authors. Feedback from authors on the first two was that Facebook gobbles up your budget in seconds and is indiscriminate. Amazon is more direct, but it’s harder to use the budget because there’s so much competition and the marketing advice is impenetrable.

I’m unfamiliar with Bookbub and didn’t research it. I heard how Pinterest worked well for two female authors, but they were already big users of Pinterest. I was open-minded but, without being familiar, I didn’t want to stumble around like a drunk man at a teetotaller’s party.

The learning curve and time investment of creating suitable content were off-putting to me.

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Why Storygraph?

Three reasons why I opted into the Storygraph giveaways:

1. It’s not owned by an oligarch. Any questions I had were answered by a human being in a short timeframe.

2. The ‘Giveaway,’ had been mentioned by three authors who said their books were put in front of readers. This might sound obvious, but if I’m spending money on marketing, I want it spent on reaching the right audience. Also, I didn’t have to create an advert; the Storygraph people do the promoting.

3. Each book is given a dashboard that is updated in real time. It shows how many people have clicked on your page, entered the competition, and added your book to their ‘To Be Read (TBR)’ virtual shelf. Here’s mine after four days of going ‘live.’

Over half of the people who have read the ‘blurb’ decided they want to win the book. Also, 29 people have added ‘The Poster’ to their TBR. That’s 29 more people than before I started the promotion.

The promotion runs until April 17th. I will share the stats after that. Of course, I want sales, but by giving away copies of the book, I might get reviews, and at least more people know about ‘The Poster’ now.

If you use Storygraph or have run a giveaway there before, please share your experiences.

Other writing news

I’ve been line-editing my latest novel, Stone and Water, before sending it to my beta readers (Mandi and Leslie). It’s taken ages! I’ve been disciplined in getting some done every morning, before work. I need a break now.

I’m looking next at publishing the Poster with ‘Draft2Digital.’ I am conscious that many people want to access books outside of the Amazon ecosystem. I have no idea how long it will take to edit and publish on that platform.

Our regular reader may note that I have been in a continuing discussion about book sales numbers with

Richard Donnelly

and

Jim Melvin

. The Guardian published an article about ‘too many books being published,’ that has some interesting stats.

The piece was created after some comments made by Bill Bryson (traditionally published, millions of copies sold) about self-publishing being second tier. Interestingly, the article showed balance and said that Bryson was at least 10 years out of date. It’s worth reading.

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Finally, some good news.

If you haven’t already, register with the ALCS. £122 covers my Society of Authors membership fee for the year.

Thanks for reading.