Ordering an author copy for each format of the book is another one of those essential indie author tasks. My first author copy finally arrived yesterday. How exciting! I received a notification while I was in a staff meeting at work. There was a photo of the package in the lobby area of my building. Thank goodness. Everyone was receiving their copies but me! I would certainly like to hold it in my hand.
I drove home and tore open the package. I had a big smile on my face. My first author copy. Everything looked good. The cover, the spine, the printed text inside. I was satisfied with the printing. The matte cover had a sort of sticky texture to it. Not sticky— waxy maybe. It wasn’t 100% smooth, but I assume that’s because it’s new. It’s definitely not an issue for me.
I had a long day of actual work yesterday. I had a full three-hour meeting with an urgent care center in Sherman Oaks. I didn’t rush it because I knew I had to go to the office afterward for a monthly staff meeting.
I headed downtown and made myself a big lunch. I also stocked up on car snacks—protein bars and Kind bars and such. I worked on the report for the meeting and tooled around online, testing Amazon to see where my book might show up for certain keywords. It’s still deep down there. I’m not sure what it’s going to take to get a bump. Maybe the actual holidays? I need reviews but it’s too early to ask.
I received the updated contract from Findaway Voices. I have been really patient with them. They’re saying the earliest the audiobook will be done is November 20. Wow. I didn’t expect it to take so long. But I’m going with the flow.
There’s always the chance that it’ll be done sooner. Maybe November 20 is the earliest date that it can be published. I’m fine with that. It would be great to have it online before Thanksgiving. If November 1 is not possible, then I’d love to have it in time for the holidays. The hardcover will already be online—it should be live this week. I’ll make sure to order my author copy for that. Once that is up and running, I’ll feel good about a stronger advertising push in November. Gotta have those reviews, though.
Yesterday was my first full day of my Amazon ads pilot campaign. I listed 20 keywords (now 21) and set my budget to $5 a day. The AMS dashboard was something to figure out. According to the main snapshot, my ads hadn’t received any clicks. I couldn’t see whether they were getting impressions until I clicked on the campaign and added impressions to the report.
At first glance, it said the ad got 500+ impressions and no clicks. When I sorted by impressions, it gave a different number. 800+ impressions and two clicks. I spent $0.52 on ads on day one. If one of those clicks converted, then I’d be sitting pretty. It’s so early, though. This is an advertising pilot program. Just testing the waters.
I listened to another podcast in which the host had nothing but good things to say about the Publisher Rocket keyword generator. I may break down and buy that. It’s $95. I would need to cut costs elsewhere in the budget, but right now the budget is all borrowed money, so does it really matter?
I’d like to keep spending down, especially since the book has only made me about $180 at this point, and sales have slowed significantly. I could reduce the advertising budget of $1000 to $905 and use the other $95 for Publisher Rocket. That way, if the book doesn’t sell, then I’ll only have spent the allotted $1000 on advertising.
