My marketing campaign for Lessons in Love has consisted of the following (in no particular order):

Boosted posts on Facebook: Total $30 over the month (not enough)
3x per day posting on social media (Twitter, Facebook)
1x per day posting on Instagram
Amazon Ad Campaign: $5 per day as a test for 3 days
Posting frequently on Facebook groups in my genre (that allow promo)
My website (pop up promos)
Free Lessons in Love eBook for 3 days
Readers Collective Mailing list sent day of: 57 recipients
4 giveaways during the month before launch
My sister texted everyone in my family

Now, before I go on, let me say, the traffic I have gotten is amazing. But you’ll see below, it’s not quite a homerun. I am, by no means, ungrateful for the following I have built. I am so GLAD HAPPY ECSTATIC to have you here. You have no idea what this means to me. What I want to demonstrate here is that I have done almost everything recommended in self-publishing guides and received what some might consider a lackluster launch.

Launch Results - First Three Days

Paid Book Purchases:

Day 1 - 1
Day 2 - 0
Day 3 - 1

Free eBook Downloads:

Day 1 - 22
Day 2 - 9
Day 3 - 5

This is a version of the ad I used for the launch.

I have continued to grow my Twitter platform thanks to the #WritingCommunity. As cool as everyone is, these numbers don’t mean anything. I have over seven-hundred followers as of today and as you can see by the numbers, they’re not all biting. I’ve seen others with far more followers than me complain their sales are low - even for free books. Why is that?

In general, my launch-related posts contained basic information about the book, a custom image, and a link. My most frequently used hashtags are #freeEbook #RomanceWriters #Romance. Sadly, my hashtag game is weak. I used a variation of the image to the left, custom-sized for each platform.

On Twitter:

Impressions (how many times someone saw the image) were always under 200.
Engagements (I think this is how long someone spends with your Tweet) were never over five.
Link clicks: 1-2 per post

This is for each post. Now, I did not over-post. In fact, over the last three days, I hardly posted at all. To be honest, I have burnout. I also don’t know what’s too much. I hate when people overflood my feed with ads about their books, so I played it cautious - which was probably not a good idea. There has to be a middle ground. The most likes I get on any given post - even what I consider top quality posting - is usually about four on a good day.

Note: When I unveiled my animated cover, I received thirteen retweets, fifty-seven likes, and had a reach of 145.7K - You read that right. One-hundred forty-five point-seven thousand people viewed my animated cover. This is mostly due to retweets. I will never again get this kind of traction, so I’m trying to enjoy it. Still. How many of those people actually downloaded my book?

On Facebook:

My launch day post reached three people (out of twenty-two followers + hashtags) and had ZERO likes. Facebook is (by far) the worst when it comes to being seen in any capacity.

Website traffic:

Day 1 - 9
Day 2 - 0
Day 3 - 0

Have I offended someone? These numbers are abysmal and depressing. Not feeling the love, here.

Launch Day Newsletter:

Opened: 8
Clicked the link: 2

Out of fifty-seven subscribers (who thankfully, haven’t jumped ship yet) I got two link clicks - I have no idea if they downloaded the book or not. Thank you to those that did. I love you so freakin’ much.

Final Big Launch Giveaway:

I have to say, this one was the most disappointing so far. I really expected, since the prize was bigger, it would do well. I even made that cool video for it. You probably didn’t see it. Click here if you want to check it out.

Entries: 19

I ran four giveaways during the month before the launch. One per week. They increased in coolness over the weeks. Out of the four, the final launch giveaway came in third place as far as people who entered. My first giveaway (four weeks ago), did the best with thirty-three entrants.

Amazon Ad Campaign:

I don’t even know. I started the ad on the 21st and wanted it to finish on the 23rd. I just checked and it was set to end on April 23rd, 2020. WTH? I’ve gotten eight views so far. I have no idea how much that’ll cost me. I changed the end date to reflect the three-day promo. Eight views, no purchases. I don’t know what happened with this one. I assume that ALL ads with both Facebook and Amazon require a SIGNIFICANT investment. I may try another ad and see how it goes. Should I spend the money? I really believe this is how so called “bestselling” authors become that way.

Looking at the above information, there is NO way to tell how many of those people actually downloaded my book or where those thirty-seven people came from. I suspect a good majority of them are my family and friends. Thanks, guys ;) But seriously, what can I do with this data? Not a whole lot. To truly understand social media and get the most out of it, you have to know more information. Days of the week and times posted also play a factor. I experimented with posting early in the morning, hoping to get that “before work” traffic, but I have no idea if that’s good or not. Even if you post at the right time, the best amount, the perfect graphics, there is no guarantee you’ll get any bites. Companies spend BIG money trying to figure this stuff out. What makes me think I can do it with no money, less resources, and only one person on staff? Maybe people don’t buy books before work. Ugh.

So what’s the answer? The answer you don’t want to hear: Don’t worry about it, do your best, and that’s all. Let’s say I take the above information and deduce that Mondays at 6 p.m. are the best time for me to post. It doesn’t matter. I can post the following week and never have a repeat of the same traffic. Maybe the image isn’t as good, it’s a weird news week, it’s the grand finale of some popular TV show. Who knows? The only way to get exact science on social media engagement is to hire a statistics person who lives and breathes numbers. I ain’t got that kind of money. You’d have to REALLY dig into the numbers to get any useful information and I ain’t got that kind of time.

I’ve been following an entrepreneur guru who claims she got 100,000 downloads the first day of her book launch. I think she’s lying. Or she’s omitting how much she spent on ads. I could put a thousand dollars towards an ad, but would I make my money back? It’s something to think about. I really think the only way to get those kinds of numbers is to put your money where your mouth is. And lots of it. I’ve gotten thirty-seven downloads of my free eBook in the last three days. I am beyond grateful. Today has been the slowest day so far and I can’t tell you why. Perhaps it’s all about that first day momentum. So how do you build on that? When I find out, you’ll find out.

In other news, I’ve started work on the second book. It’s gone a totally different direction than I intended. Because it takes place during Christmas, I’m looking at a December launch. Maybe I’ll get those last minute Christmas shoppers. I might not. I don’t want to rush, but it is set during the holidays and that’s the best time to sell a Christmas book. Since the foundation is set up, all I have to do is write the book, edit it, design the cover, and do the marketing - which starts now.

Let’s be real here: My advertising campaign was half baked. This was my first time and I kind of did things as I thought of them. It’s been sort of a “spray and pray” method. For the second book, I need to plan a real attack. Once I set a release date, I’ll work backwards and schedule an actual battle plan. When I do, I’ll share.

Lessons in Love Book Launch - Aftermath and Math