Urban Fantasy Author Sees Exponential Book Sales Using Facebook Ads
I was impressed when Urban Fantasy author TJ Green book series White Haven Witches made $20,000 in sales on Amazon and $2,000 on other platforms in one month. I had to ask her the question all authors want to know: How did she sell so many books?
TJ credits her bookselling success to growing her author platform, Facebook ads, and taking classes with industry experts. She didn’t have a website until after publishing her first book. Once she got her website up she did a lot of book reviews and tours with other authors to build up a readership and author name. She also participated in giveaways. The big turnaround in sales came when she started using Facebook ads.
Buried Magic is the first book in her current series White Haven Witches which now has six books total and TJ plans to writer more. Due to the success of this series, she is planning to do a spinoff. The books are available in audio and several publishing platforms. Her main way to market is to use Facebook ads. She has a newsletter list of about 4,000 subscribers and has set a goal of growing this list.
Please continue reading for her grounded and doable tips.
Tip#1 Know Your Audience
In her first go-around with publishing, in 2016 it took her five years to write Tom’s Inheritance, and when she published her sales were low because the titles don’t suit the genre. “It’s very important to know your audience and target them effectively. My first series was written with no clear audience in mind, and although it was clearly Arthurian Fantasy, it didn’t quite hit the mark.”
Tip#2 Take Time to Learn From the Experts
TJ used her first experience as lessons learned and sought out experts. A lot of writers keep doing the same things expecting different results. TJ recommends Bryan Cohen’s Amazon Ad course, Mark Dawson’s Ads for Authors, and Nick Stephenson’s Your First 10,000 Readers. She learned how to write compelling copy, how to grow an author career, and how to advertise on social media in these courses.
deadly. If you love romance with plenty of action
and magic, you’ll love Buried Magic.
Tip#3 Facebook Ads-Start With Small Amounts
Facebook advertising can be confusing at first so starting with small amounts such as $5 a day is a good way to learn without wasting too much money. TJ said that taking classes in Facebook ads helped her a lot. By monitoring ads and seeing what worked she gradually scaled up her ads while making a profit. The ads that were making money she added to and the ones that were not profitable she shut off.
Tip#4 Grow Your Facebook Author Page
It is important for authors to have both Amazon and Facebook authors pages. Amazon, however, doesn’t share how many followers you have making it hard to gauge your marketing effectiveness. Facebook, has great analytics that gives detailed metrics. When you advertise on Facebook and people comment on or like your post, Facebook invites you to invite them to like your page. TJ said she felt cheeky at first participating in this practice but when she did this was surprised at how many people liked her page in return. She has grown her followers from 500 to 9500 in one year. This is indicative that her organic engagement is growing. Followers receive your updates in their timelines. An author can make book announcements, run sales, and do other marketing to readers.
Tip #5 Sell On Multiple Platforms
TJ moved out of KU (Kindle Unlimited) without any regrets. Her books sales have increased since she left the KU. She also has a BookBub Featured Deal. She publishes direct to GooglePlay and Kobo and makes about $1000 (New Zealand) a month from both, and everywhere else using Draft2Digital making approximately $1500 on those platforms – particularly Apple and Barnes and Noble. The BookBub Featured Deal was great for this. Her goal is that in time sales will grow on other platforms.
TJ loves to connect with fans. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Amazon, Instagram and Bookbub. Please join check out her website at tjgreen.nz.
About Candace Waller
Candace Waller is a Christian fiction author. Her novel, What Goes Around Comes Around can be purchased on Amazon. Her new book Good Things Comes, a sequel to What Goes Around Comes Around, is available for preorder on Amazon.