Weird to See a Full-Page Ad of My Novel

All my past book promos featured thumbnails of my book cover. That was fine; a postage stamp-sized image fighting it out with a hundred other postage stamp images. What more can one expect? So, it was jarring to see a full-page ad of my latest novel. Granted, I paid $35.00, but that was ostensibly for a review (which obviously hasn't been forthcoming yet, since it's only been a few days). The ad can be viewed here. The site is called The Book Network (UK), and I found it, strangely enough, in the comments section of an unrelated article. (The comment stated that it was free, so of course I grabbed it.)

Upselling is the name of the game, so once I filled out my submission, I was presented with the thirty-five-dollar review option. (It's fine; above-board. It's not as if the review will appear on Amazon.) Having spent zero dollars on promotion so far, I figured I'd take one baby step in that direction. Now they're offering me a "featured review" for $131.00 in US dollars. Sorry, I can't swing that. 

In the back of my mind, I always have this notion that my books will perform better in another country than they will in the US. That's silly, of course. It's as if only someone "more refined" will appreciate my work, singular artist that I am. Are people in other countries actually more refined? Granted, the US is currently suffering from a glut of immaturity, but I doubt that other countries are any better. And I placed a free ad on one of the UK's sites for either Lies and Love or Inn Dreams (can't remember) and received my one and only two-star rating. So much for their appreciation. Writers do like to kid themselves, though. 

Expanding my reach hasn't worked well in the past. I watched David Gaughran's comprehensive video regarding BookBub ads, and he mentioned testing an ad in other markets besides the US. I thought, sure! Never one to do things in half measures, I targeted one of my ads excluding the US entirely, and only focused on Australia, Canada, and the UK. Well, it got zero clicks. 😮 Oops! That's okay; I only spent $20.00.

Back to my full-page ad. My homemade cover looks fine, even when enlarged. Everyone is very firm that an author simply can't use a homemade cover. That's rule number one! That and hiring an editor compete for the top spot. I've never done either of those things. Having it drummed into my head repeatedly has led to self-consciousness ~ am I sabotaging myself before anyone even reads Page One? I've even read posts by impoverished writers like me, who ask about alternatives. They're basically told to "save up the money"; it's that important. Come on! I'm hardly a design expert, but I don't just slap any cover together. I've worked at it. One of my few expenditures is for a Canva Pro subscription, so that I have all the design tools available to me. With Running From Herself, once I found the right image, I experimented with about a dozen different fonts to find one that looked professional. I downloaded five or six of those, pulled them up full-size side by side and winnowed my choices down from there. Maybe the final iteration isn't genre-conforming, but I went with a cover that was most pleasing to my eye. Seeing it in the ad, I still like it.

So maybe this ad will be my book's only claim to fame. If I had a working printer, I'd print out a copy for my (imaginary) scrapbook. 

We have to be grateful for the little things.