Weighing Marketing Advice

Well, it's official: Novellas don't sell (says David Gaughran). I actually didn't need his word on that, but the fact remains, I write what I write. 

Call me weird, but I've always been more concerned that potential buyers will feel cheated, thinking they're purchasing a complete novel. Gaughran emphasizes that an author must be upfront about their book, but I've done pretty much everything I can think of to stress that my works are not novels. Most of my covers state, "A novella by April Tompkins". That seems pretty clear. My KDP category selections include "short works" or some variation (for some reason, KDP doesn't offer the same categories consistently). Among my keywords I give some indication of the book's length, such as "novella" or "quick read". And frankly, the price alone should be an indicator.

But all that really doesn't matter. From a marketing perspective, a complete novel priced at $1.99 or so would likely sell better than a ninety-nine-cent novella. Theoretically. Then again, I haven't had any success with my novels, either.

Gaughran's other advice involves marketing tiers. He's definitely right about the time and money wasters, but I have to disagree with him regarding ARCs and Goodreads. I've gotten what little buzz I have from both of those, and sometimes from both of those combined into one (offering ARCs on Goodreads forums); and really, I've garnered as many reviews from Goodreads than from Amazon. Of course, I'm very small potatoes, so...

He's down on blogging (agree) but "up" on newsletters. If you've been reading this blog, you know that my author newsletter is a complete and utter dud. I'm only maintaining the practice out of stubbornness. Gaughran likes BookBub and Facebook ads for promotion. BookBub hasn't worked out for me and Facebook is the devil incarnate. 

Bottom line is, though I very much value Gaughran's advice, one size does not fit all. As someone with very little money to spend on advertising, I have to choose the most cost-efficient methods and hope they pay off a little. 

But while reading about marketing is interesting, it's not all that relevant to me. I don't plan to do any further advertising, free or paid. All this is simply food for thought.