Why did the gigs I bought completely fail?

[tonytallis]

Hello. I am new to Fiverr. How unusual is my experience and what factors might explain it?

I’ve written and self-published a few books on amazon. In the last month, I did three gigs to promote these books on the internet. I reasoned that if thousands of people see the promotion, as claimed, I could reasonably expect at least a few sales. These three gigs have resulted in precisely zero sales so far and several weeks have passed.

Is this experience very common? I’m sure that nobody would buy gigs if it was, so assuming that the books aren’t manifestly rubbish, easily detected as such just by reading the blurb - since nobody has actually read the books themselves - what could explain this fail?

[jey242]

That’s the reality of Internet marketing. Its usually more misses than hits. You have to send your ads to 100000’s in order to see just one sale sometimes, and that could get expensive when done properly.

[eoinfinnegan]

To be honest, I think that kind of mass publicity is a waste of time for something like a book. These services can work well (I run a pop-under ads website) for things like websites with attractive content etc.
I would suggest that you contact some blogs and ask if you can guest post with a link and mention of your book. Target blogs/sites that are relevant to your book and be realistic with what you are prepared to pay. There are a number of gigs like that on Fiverr, where you can post, guest post or advertise on blogs.

Advertising books is not easy and can take time.

[misscrystal]

The problem with assuming that if thousands see your promotions at least a few people will buy your books is the problem newbies to marketing always make. You don’t need thousands to see the promotions.
You need a hundred or two hundred people who are interested and looking for books on your subject to see your promotions. This is called targeted marketing.

You could have ten million people see your book promotions without even one sale.
But if you have a hundred people who are known to be interested in your subject matter look at your promotions you may get at least one sale.

[jey242]

I agree targeted marketing is the way to go that’s why many of my friends are into email marketing and building lists. However if you send an ad to ten million like you say there are bound to be some who would be interested in the ad and some of those some may even purchase from it. Yes targeted marketing does work especially online but to paraphrase what a guy who goes by the nickname “King Human” once said, if you put a store in the middle of a desert expect no sales but if you put a store in the middle of a metropolis full of people expect some of them to walk into that store and purchase something.

IMO its much easier and more effective to build a targeted list and market to that list than it is to just blast out ads hoping to reel in a customer.

[tonytallis]

Thank you. One of the gigs involved putting my book on a website that did seem to me to be highly relevant to the subject matter of my book. So I did make some attempt at target marketing. I went on to that site and found my book and browsed all the other books then noticed that I too didn’t buy any! I’m sure a lot of them were worth reading too, but I didn’t buy! So, yes - I see now the folly of my optimism. You need a massive campaign costing massive amounts and you need to be a well-known author before anyone would be even remotely interested.

Is there another way? I hate the industry of publishing and how books are just a ‘product’ like a jar of jam that needs an ‘image’. I’d like to be able to sell just a small trickle of books, mainly to prove that my efforts were worthwhile and interesting to others. Has anyone got any specific ideas?

[misscrystal]

There are some articles on how to promote your books on the internet but it’s difficult at best. It is a subject lots of people are interested in. People are begging for reviews on Amazon.

[eoinfinnegan]

I don’t know what the book is about but I know that a lot of authors sign up to forums like Quora and share their knowledge for free. If you provide useful info to people, by answering questions which are relevant to your book then they may be interested in buying it.

[emmaki]

Go out there and bust chops making a name for yourself. Anyone can write a book and buy a $76 “Secrets of Kindle Success” strategy, but… so can anyone else. One website one time is nothing.

Churn and burn or work the market. Don’t forget, readers hate inauthenticity, so you can’t exactly outsource this. Goodreads is meant to be quite good. Quora’s good if you can right insightful replies that are also witty and full of little tidbits of little-known info.

Also, check out erotica forums. There is A TON of great advice there on self-pubbing and you can use the same principles with any niche.

A few gigs won’t cut the mustard, in short. I can write a nice blurb but it won’t shift a book in an ocean of others. It’s just a small part of a machine.