Book Marketing Isn't Working Anymore

As an impoverished author, I'm constantly evaluating risk versus reward. Everything in book marketing is a risk, but some writers can easily absorb the risk. I can't. Some indie authors spend $100.00 or more a day on Facebook or Amazon ads. (You know, man, if you're already rich, why are you bothering with trying to sell books? Go set sail on your yacht.) 

When I published my novel on March 1, I was excited to get it into readers' hands, and thus I overspent on promos. When those didn't work, I (still excited, but a bit less) fell into the trap of entering book contests. Those were a complete bust, of course. Now I have zero excitement left in me, and I think the very last time I spent any money was on a FreeBooksy ad, which cost $60.00, and that was at the end of May. Since then I've held tight to my few remaining dollars. And you know what? Smart move. I remain firm in my belief that there's money to be made in indie publishing, except not by the author, but by people selling "services" to authors. 

I'm not seeing it to a high degree yet, but indie authors are slowly beginning to clutch their wallets more tightly. I think it's dawning on them (us) that hardly anything works, so why pay money for that thing? (unless you own a yacht) 

Noticeable, too, is that book promotion sites are trying new things, like "standalone Pinterest advertising", wherein an author pays a fee to have the site post a conglomeration of books on its Pinterest page. Or one site teaming up with another, which is getting very common. I wonder if these businesses are peering into the future and realizing that paid marketing is about to dry up, so they're grabbing onto any lifeline they can think of to keep the money flowing in...for now. 

Indie publishing is great...except for the not making money part. AI is having an effect (see my related post), but there's more to it than that. Fewer and fewer people are reading books. I don't care what stats someone wants to throw out; it's true. We are too distracted by social media to read the printed (or digital) page for even an hour at a time. Along with that sad reality is that for those who do read, the market is oversaturated to the point of being ready to burst.

One can see the shift in little ways, too. I subscribe to a lot of industry-related newsletters, and where once some of them touted indie books, those books are now being replaced with the latest trade published releases. Because big publishing houses are reasserting their dominance, even while the books they publish are 99% pure trash.

Google tells me this about a publishing house's marketing budget:

Typical budget allocation

 

While there's no fixed rule, publishers generally allocate around 10% to 20% of the book's production cost towards marketing. This can translate to a wide range of budgets in practice. 

• Low-tier or debut authors: Might receive a few thousand dollars, perhaps not exceeding $5,000.
• Mid-tier authors: Budgets could range from $10,000 to $50,000 and may include national ads, influencer campaigns, and bookstore deals.
• High-profile releases or "lead titles": Can receive significantly larger budgets, potentially reaching $25,000 or more, and in exceptional cases, even a seven-figure deal book could have a larger budget,

Gotta love the "low-tier or debut author" stat that doesn't exceed $5,000. Compare that to my $100. But as you can see, it rises much, much higher after that. (Of course, if I spent 10% to 20% of my production cost, I'd be spending far less than $100. So there's that.)

Even bookshop.org, which one would assume is a big fan of indie work (think of it as the NPR of book selling) is more apt to push books from the Big Five than from indies nowadays.

The old timers on Reddit will reply to a marketing question with, "you gotta spend money to make money" ~ blech. Old advice from a bygone era. Those days are gone. While I know from hard experience that you can't just publish a book and "hope" people will find it, it's best to just do one thing and then let nature take its course. Because the more you do and spend, the less return you're going to get.

I'm foreseeing a time, sooner rather than later, when indie writers will give up. Yea, yea, I love writing, too, but I also love people reading my writing. For me to invest as much time in writing as is required, there needs to be a purpose. Right now, I'm not seeing one. Once AI-written books take over, we're screwed. The AI-driven hustlers who are only in the game to make a buck will flourish for a while, until buyers finally catch on that these books are soulless.

After that? 

Nothing.