A New Service Helps Authors Advertise on Facebook

Reader Reach Ads comes from an established book promotion firm that has a strong track record of serving indie authors

A common lament of self-publishing authors is the necessity of advertising, whether that’s on social media or through Amazon, to keep book sales going. While ads can be effective and result in a profit, the advertising systems take time to learn and can feel impenetrable to the uninitiated. Many authors seek expert help, and while there are individuals and companies who offer services, what if their exposure to your genre or category is limited? Do they know what will work for your book? How can they guarantee results?

Just launched this month, Reader Reach Ads from Written Word Media are meant to eliminate the guesswork and heavy lifting for short-term Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns.Written Word Media is already well known for its ebook discount newsletters that compete against similar offerings from BookBub. The company started with Freebooksy in February 2011 as a way for self-publishing authors to capitalize on Amazon’s free KDP Select days; it now offers a range of promotional newsletters to help authors and publishers reach readers. They are largely recognized as the next best thing to a BookBub Featured Deal (which can be very challenging for an indie author to secure). They reach about one million readers via daily and weekly emails.

Reader Reach Ads are available in nine genres where Written Word Media feels it has cracked the code on Facebook advertising. These include mystery, cozy mystery, thriller, paranormal romance, sweet romance, steamy contemporary romance, romantic suspense, science fiction, and fantasy/paranormal. Ricci Wolman, the founder and CEO of Written Word Media, said they have a dedicated in-house team focused on Reader Reach. This team leverages their audience data from one million readers, plus they have insights from their ongoing, data-driven experiments on Facebook. Wolman told us, “Before opening a genre to authors, we run numerous test ads with multiple titles, experimenting with audience targeting, copy, and creative until we are confident we have a ‘marketing recipe’ that works. Reader Reach Ads are only available in genres where we have seen consistent results. If a genre is missing, it means we haven’t perfected the marketing recipe for that genre yet.” They are currently testing several nonfiction genres as well as historical romance.

Authors can book their ad to run for three to five days on Facebook and Instagram for $150. When we asked about the reasoning behind this duration, Wolman told us it coincides with the time period that most authors run price promotions. “Reader Reach Ads can act as a seamless add-on to increase reach during that concentrated marketing period,” she said. However, she added that authors have been using the ads to promote their titles outside of price promotion windows. “We will be testing longer campaign windows for the non-price promo use case in the coming months.” For now, authors are welcome to repeat a campaign as soon as they wish if they are happy with the results. (With Written Word Media’s email-based advertising, there is a 30-day wait between promotions, but that does not apply to Reader Reach ads since they reach bigger audiences on Facebook.)

Do these ads work for higher priced or non-discounted titles? Indie authors often see good results when advertising price promotions (e.g., $2.99 or less), while traditionally published titles almost always carry price points of $9.99+ if they’re not on promotion. Reader Reach specifically says in its FAQ that it sees the best results for ebooks priced $4.99 and less. Whether it’s worth the investment at higher price points depends on an author’s goals, said Wolman. “Reader Reach is very effective at getting a title in front of avid readers within the targeted genre. It is an efficient way to garner impressions and awareness for a title or author. When looking at sales, a title priced at $9.99 will have a lower conversion rate than a lower-priced book. However, the higher price point makes it easier to quickly cover the costs of the campaign. Once you factor in the time savings of not having to create and manage the Facebook campaign, we think Reader Reach is a good option for traditional publishers, small presses, and indie authors.”

Authors can expect anywhere from 200 to 800 clicks on a Reader Reach ad, according to Wolman; at least 60 percent of the $150 fee that authors pay goes directly into the Facebook ad budget to pay for those clicks. She said the conversion rate (how many clicks turn into actual book sales) will be highly dependent on the title’s book cover, reviews, price, and Kindle Unlimited status. Return on investment is also dependent on series read-through or backlist sales. “Authors may be disappointed if they are expecting to cover the full costs of their Reader Reach campaign within the five-day campaign time frame through direct sales,” Wolman said. In other words, this isn’t the equivalent of running an email newsletter promotion with their company. “With an email promo,” she said, “Your book is featured on one specific day in our daily email to tens of thousands of readers. This results in a large sales spike on that day, and many authors will immediately cover the cost of the email promo within 24 to 48 hours. In contrast, Reader Reach campaigns start small and build over time, and the resulting sales are spread over a much longer period. For an author with a very limited budget, we recommend starting with an email promotion, as email marketing remains the most effective marketing channel for authors and every other business out there!”

We scanned private Facebook groups to see what authors’ early, short-term results were like. One author tried a Reader Reach ad campaign in September even though she runs her own Facebook ads, but she didn’t enjoy immediate sales results that would beat her own efforts. Another author saw no discernible difference in sales. One person suggested Written Word Media should offer more insight into how they target the ads (e.g., age, gender, location), so authors can be more confident of the company’s targeting.

Bottom line: Hiring someone to handle Facebook advertising can be a tricky proposition for authors. The profit margin for ebooks can be razor thin, so once you add in the costs of hiring a third party, those profits can disappear, especially during a price promotion. However, Written Word Media could represent a cost-effective choice for genre fiction authors who haven’t learned the Facebook ad system but want to support an important launch or promotion. Learn more about the service.