Can Facebook Ads Help Self-Published Authors to Sell Books?

SHOULD I BUY FACEBOOK ADS?

A few people have advised me to buy Facebook ads to help jumpstart my new book writing endeavour - especially now that I have finished the hot and sexy Infidelity. So, my advisers tell me that Facebook ads will help drive people to my e-books and paperbacks on Amazon.com and Kindle, help me become an Amazon bestselling author in no time flat. None of these people actually bought Facebook ads, btw. But they assure me it is a good idea if I bought Facebook ads. Can they be right?

I am a little bit skeptical.  I have been doing research on this and it is mixed at best.

I DID A GOOGLE SEARCH ON "FACEBOOK ADS TO SELL BOOKS" 


If you Google "How to Use Facebook Ads to Sell Books," as I did, you will get a healthy return of great websites and posts such as:

• How Authors Can Use Facebook to Sell Books - digitalworld.com
• Successful Book Marketing Using Facebook Ads - the creativepenn.com
• How to Use Facebook ads to Sell More Books - authorscrib.com
• Facebook Advertising for Authors - Selfpublishingadvice.org

There is this one article Why Facebook Cannot Help You Sell Books by Michael Alvear for Digitalbookworld.com. One quote that I particularly remember is this one:

Let’s review: Facebook shows your posts to less than 16 percent of your fans, and you have to pay to reach the other 84 percent. And even if you do, only two-tenths of 1 percent of the people who see a post about your book will even click on it.
Facebook gets you closer to book sales in the same way that jumping up and down gets you closer to the sun

I really got very nervous when I read that. This guy sounds experienced with this stuff and he really thinks that it is a TOTAL WASTE OF TIME to buy Facebook ads to sell books.

As I continued my research, I read the following by a guy named Mark Dawson, "Facebook is the single most powerful marketing and promotional tool that is available to authors, be they traditionally or self-published."

Hme...what does he know that Alvear doesn't. The article goes on to talk about some staggering sums he spends on advertising, like nearly 4 grand per month! This guy is not talking about folks like me who are just breaking into the business and are "virgins" with this marketing stuff.

I think the best advice I read was this by authorscrib.com:

Facebook Ads aren’t meant for selling low prized books like the common $0.99 and $2.99 books on Amazon. If you are still thinking about using Facebook ads to help you sell more books, you can do so NOT by directly selling using Facebook Ads, but using it to build your mailing list by offering something in exchange for your target book audience’s email and name and draw them into your sales funnel where you can finally sell them your books through relationship based email marketing.

CONCLUSION

OK. I think I get it. I will not be buying any Facebook ads not even for Infidelity.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=infidelity%2C+by+marion+lewis

10 Good Books About Divorce on Amazon.com's Bestseller's List

Hi Everyone!

I see I have some pageviews already! Yeah! Thank you for reading. It is encouraging to know that I don't always just talk to myself - which, by the way, is what I do best. And guess what? Not only do I talk to myself, now I have started to answer myself! Do you think it's my age?? Like, am I friggin' old? Is that why? I answer myself! As if I am a child talking to my wise, old mother!!

Maybe I should not have shared that....

So anyways. I just finished a compilation of DIVORCE BOOKS for Divorce Saloon. A list of 10.  I found them on Amazon, on the bestsellers list. If you are looking for good divorce books, maybe you can check them out. Or check out one of mine! Click on one in the right column and go straight to kindle!

Or just link to the list on Divorce Saloon is here.

Editing "How to Divorce Part 3"

It is a new day. I am in the middle of making breakfast. Today I am having a porridge made with peanut powder. So I guess it is a peanut porridge. I never made it before. It is an experiment. We shall see how it turns out. You should know that I am a godawful cook and quite dangerous in the kitchen. If you have time, check out my YouTube channel about cooking. I stopped updating it for a while but one day I will go back to it.

So today, on my agenda after breakfast, I am editing How to Divorce Part 3. I think this is my favorite one in the series. It is a trilogy of 3 books on "how to divorce" and it was supposed to be the "light" one but I think I like it the best. I talk about things like how to have a zen divorce, how to "consciously uncouple" and how to throw a divorce party. There is one chapter which will probably get me into trouble. It is called How To Hide Money From Your Spouse Before A Divorce.

I am not 100 percent sure that that chapter is appropriate but...

After that, I have to do some work on the memoir about my first 3 months in Paris. It's called PARIS: My first 3 Months. And you thought I only write divorce books. Nah. I write about just about everything possible to write about, my friend. Well, almost everything.

After that, I have another trilogy of books in my head - divorce books -  plus there is the book about some of my recipes when I was trying to cook that I think could be fun.

It is a lot of writing, isn't it? What is up with all this writing? I don't know. I just suddenly decided that I want to write a whole bunch of books. Maybe 100. Yes, I said 100. It is a personal experiment. And a lot of them are already written since I have all these blogs going back to the 1990s. I mean, books like The Law School Rules, I am going to do a revised version of that. So I am already well on the way to 100. Don't worry. Something just crystalized in my mind that it is time to pull these projects out and set them into books for folks who would like to read them.

But it is so much work! Don't let anybody tell you that writing is easy. It is painfully difficult. But in th end, when I see the books, it gives me a sense of joy and satisfaction.

So later, dolls. Am heading to my desk to edit How to Divorce Part 3. It will be on Amazon Kindle Store for 99 cents tomorrow in e-book format. And also paperback. Do you think it will be an amazon bestseller?

How to Divorce Part 1,2 & 3

I am putting the finishing touches on part 3 of the Three part series How to Divorce. This one has 12 Chapters and one of them is how to win your divorce in a court of "public opinion." This book is really timely because of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's divorce, which has been playing out in social media and traditional media alike. They were on the cusp of a domestic violence case but on the 11th hour, the parties issued a joint statement today, indicating that they have settled their divorce action.

As I point out in book 3, it is always better to reach a compromise with these things and not have your divorce case play out in the public glare. If you are interested in reading the books, the first two are available on Amazon. Book 3 will be available after August 23, 2016.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Divorce-Part-Marion-Lewis-ebook/dp/B01KFF4W80/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1471384422&sr=8-5&keywords=%22how+to+divorce%22

https://www.amazon.com/How-Divorce-Part-Marion-Lewis-ebook/dp/B01K5SD6IY/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1471384422&sr=8-9&keywords=%22how+to+divorce%22

See below for a quote from the guardian about the statement:

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have settled their divorce and her domestic abuse case against the Pirates of the Caribbean star, resolving one of Hollywood’s ugliest break-ups on the eve of a court hearing which threatened to expose details of their tumultuous relationship to public glare.
Heard filed legal documents on Tuesday to the superior court of Los Angeles withdrawing her request for a domestic violence restraining order in a deal which included a reported $7m divorce settlement.

                   

Johnny Depp v Amber Heard: abuse accusations split Hollywood and public

The former couple’s ongoing divorce and restraining order proceedings have scandalized Hollywood, splitting celebrities and fans into warring factions

Read more

Both actors issued a joint statement drawing a line under a saga which has appalled, titillated and divided the film industry and fans.
“Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love,” said the statement. “There was never an intent of physical or emotional harm. Neither party has made false accusations for financial gains.”
The statement said Heard would donate proceeds from the divorce to charity, without specifying how much, and struck a tone of reconciliation. “Amber wishes the best for Johnny in the future.”