Writing for Fun and Profit by Kait Carson

I hear you laughing, writers. Fun and Profit! Seriously? That’s the definition of the intersection of the divine and absurd. Or is it? They’re not mutually exclusive.

 

When people ask me why I write, I tell them it gives me pleasure. There is something so satisfying about looking at a page of raw words and shaping them into something that resonates. I never understood Dorothy Parker’s “I hate writing, I love having written” quote. Had she said, “I hate the business of writing, I love writing,” she’d be singing my song. Times were different back then. Writers didn’t carry the entire can for their work. They wrote. Publishers and agents facilitated the business of getting the books to market and into the hands of readers. That is not true of this brave, new, world of writing.

 

In this, the second, third, I’ve lost count, act of my life, I decided to follow my bliss and be a full-time writer. Writing is fun, wouldn’t do it otherwise, but it’s also a business. It’s essential to pay attention to details, including financial details. As an independently published writer, that includes not only the universal costs of computer, printer, and paper, but software, editing, and advertising. Ideally, costs are covered by sales. As any start-up business owner will tell you, that takes time.

 

I am not a “wide” writer, one with books available on multiple platforms. I made that choice for several reasons. When my books were wide, most of my sales came from Amazon. I needed to be exclusive to Amazon to take advantage of their Kindle Unlimited (KU) program. Kindle Unlimited is a subscription service for readers. Readers pay a fee to receive access to the books of participating authors. Authors receive payment for pages read. Because my books are currently available only in the Kindle format and not in paperback or hardback, it’s a win/win.

 

This brings up the problem of how to get my books to the attention of readers. Social media plays a role, as does my newsletter (you can sign up here), but those results are hard to quantify. There are a number of pay-to-play marketing services who will feature writers’ books on their newsletters. Some of the more popular ones are BookBub (you have to apply and be accepted), Fussy Librarian, Book Gorilla, and BargainBooksy. Those are often effective when running discounts or for new launches. They are also most effective if you have a backlist as readers will often buy a discounted book, read it, and return for more from the same author.

 

Another option, and one I am learning, is paid ads. Facebook and Amazon both offer them. Of the two options, Amazon has made the most financial sense. Facebook allows the ad buyer to target certain audiences for a fee the author sets and agrees to pay. The fee is not tied to book sales and sales are difficult to track. My solution is to assign a Bitly shortcut. Bitly allows me to track the number of clicks to that particular link and offers some insight into origin. I have not found Facebook ads to be particularly effective and attribute this to the inability to refine targeting. It’s also my opinion that most Facebook users ignore ads.

 

Amazon ads have proven to be far more effective, although there is a learning curve, and I’m still on it. Amazon’s sponsored ads allow me to target book buyers, and drill down by categories, keywords, genre, and targeted ad copy. Unlike Facebook ads, there is no fee to place the ad. The advertiser pays based on clicks and the dashboard tracks impressions (people who looked at your ad, but didn’t click – no idea how they do that), sales, and KU pages read. The advertiser also sets a bid and a daily spend cap. Scary at first, but the advertiser is always in control.

 

Figuring out what works and what doesn’t is easy. For example, one of my categories is sea adventure. I receive lots of impressions, but no clicks or sales. That tells me that my scuba diving mystery books are not what sea adventure readers are looking for. Because of the high exposure, I’ve continued to run the ad, but I won’t run it again because it’s not producing. Another of my selected categories is scuba diving. It receives few impressions, but all of the impressions have resulted in a click, and of those about half of the clickers buy or read the book on KU. That’s a category I’ll keep.

 

A word of caution. The Amazon marketing dashboard is not easy to figure out or navigate. I joined Bryan Cohen’s quarterly Amazon marketing webinar to figure it out. It’s free as it’s an introduction to his paid classes and he offers step-by-step instructions that are invaluable. There are a number of other free and paid classes available, Reedsy, Mark Dawson, and Nick Stephenson all come to mind. If one comes along, and you’re considering placing Amazon ads, try it.

 

Overall, I’m learning that writing isn’t the only fun part of authorship. Putting together the puzzle of profit runs a close second.

 

Writers, what platforms do you use for advertising? Readers, what encourages you to click on an ad?