Truth in Advertising Part 4

I haven't done one of these posts in a long time. In truth, I'd given up trying new companies, because it seemed like everything new was a waste of money. About mid-year last year, I decided to give a few new places a try, because I'm starting to feel as if some of the bigger companies are losing effectiveness as well. As usual, everything in this post is only my opinion based on personal experience. It may be that some books do better with some companies or my book simply wasn't a good fit. Either way, here we go. Don't throw rocks. I spent real money on these ad spots. 

Free books:

If you're giving away a free book, FreeBooksy is the place to be. They are amazing. Love them. I've used them several times and never had a bad experience. 

Bargain books: I've not had the same luck. With some of these companies, I'm going to give exact numbers so you have a better understanding of why I feel the way I do. 

All these sites were the same basic experiment. Standalone title, solid book cover and edits, and on sale for $0.99 down from $2.99 It's hard to know what was sold organically and what was due to being featured in their newsletters, but I'll give each the benefit of the doubt, and assume each sale I got that day was due to them. Here we go... 

Romance Devoured: Cost $30. Loved them. More than made my money back. 

BookTastik: Cost $10- Broke even. Will try again. 

My Romance Reads: Cost $90 Lost my ass. Didn't come anywhere near making my money back. Not even close. 

BookSends:  Cost $50 Same deal. Lost my ass. I sold like 9 books. 

Red Roses Romance: Cost $10. With this one, I sold around 20 books. Since it was a Kindle Countdown deal, I did a little better than break even. I'm still interested in trying them again later. They were very nice and that counts A LOT with me. 

eXcite Spice: Cost  $10. I had high hopes for this one, but I didn't do great. I sold maybe 10 books. Maybe. I didn't walk away feeling like it was a complete loss. I think I'll give them another shot later down the road. 

Please check price listings with each before submitting. You never know when a company will increase prices or charge different prices for different genres. 

Okay, I wanted to add blog tour companies to this post, but it turns out I have nothing good to say. I recently posted on my Facebook page that I was looking for a new company to use, since the one I loved and used for everything closed up shop. I had several people comment on my post, suggesting themselves. I gave three of them a shot. It went like this:

Two companies sent me jumping through hoops, sending them lots of info about my books and then neither company contacted me again. 

Company number three had me send in a media kit, I never heard from them again, and then I got a bill for a completed tour a few weeks later. Did I have a tour? I have no idea. Was it more than one stop? Who knows. I paid my bill, because I'm a professional, but they won't get my business again. I'm not feeling too kindly toward those companies right now. 

On the other hand, if you need a good PR person who charges by the hour and doesn't require a contract or a minimum number of hours, I'd suggest Mary Ann Clarkson. Just shoot her a message on Facebook if you need her.