Self Publishing Formula Sign Up Information

Hello from Salisbury,

In Thursday's email I broke down how to calculate the Click Through Rate of your ads (something that is a sign of your ad's good health no matter which advertising platform you use). But working out how many people who see your ad go on to click it isn't much use as a figure by itself. What really matters is how many people who click your ad go on to buy your book.

That brings us to number three in our list of five essential numbers for indie authors: your conversion rate.

As before, it's a simple formula.

Sales / Clicks = Conversion %

Let's use the same figures as when we worked out our Click Through Rate - 5,921 clicks from 3,732,593 impressions. From those clicks I made 1,003 sales. So in order to work out my conversion percentage, all I need to do is this:

1,003 / 5,921 = 0.17

That shows me that I have a very healthy conversion rate of about 17%, which means that out of every hundred people who clicked on my ad, seventeen people went on to buy my book. (My average conversion rate is around ten out of every hundred.) I do a lot of work on the blurb and book covers to make my Amazon product pages as compelling as possible in order to get the conversion percentage as high as I can.

So now you know how to work out the proportion of people who are seeing your ad, clicking on your ad, and ultimately buying the book you're advertising. But is that enough? Not without the second most important number an indie author needs to know - their ROI, also known as Return on Investment.

Ads for Authors

We've welcomed nearly 600 authors to the class during this opening. Registration closes soon, so if you are interested in learning more then I recommend that you head over to the course page here and check it out. And, as ever, please do get in touch if you have any questions about whether the course will be right for you. I have no interest at all in recommending an investment in education that does not match where you are in your career, and I'll tell you if I don't think it is a good fit at the moment.

Best wishes,

Mark

P.S. If you do not want to receive these Ads for Authors emails, please click this link and you'll be taken off this particular segment of our mailing list.

Hello from Salisbury,

Self-publishing can be a lucrative genre no matter what you write. You don't need to be a romance or thriller author to make a living - we've seen people writing everything from literary fiction to non-fiction to even print-on-demand colouring books make the switch from hobby-writer to full-time indie author. But there's one "niche" that's always been a little harder to market than most: poetry.

Not for this week's guest, it seems.

Pierre Jeanty moved to the US from Haiti back in 2000 and quickly realised his love for the English language as he progressed through high school. He created a very early Twitter account as an outlet for poetry and self-help, and went on to write The Unspoken Feelings of a Gentleman, a non-fiction book about how men fail to communicate their emotions well enough, and To the Women I Once Loved, his first poetry compilation.

Pierre was (and is) at the forefront of the modern poetry movement by connecting with a younger, social-media savvy audience. He doesn't believe he would have been anywhere near as successful without such a large following (five million Facebook fans, over 600,000 Instagram followers). Equally impressive, however, is that most of his sales come from physical paperbacks rather than ebooks. As Pierre says: there's a lane for everyone, it's just a matter of finding it.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service. And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you if you have the TuneIn skill installed - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on TuneIn."

SPS Live: Digital Tickets

We might all be stuck indoors now, but you still have the opportunity to attend one of the year''s biggest indie author events (without leaving your home, of course). A digital ticket for all the SPS Live sessions - that''s hours of valuable content - costs only $25. You can grab one here.

Blog: How to Read Like a Writer

It's imperative that any aspiring (or successful) writer also reads a lot. The books don't necessarily have be the genre in which you write (though that helps), but you're in for a hard slog if you aren't seeing what works and what doesn't, what your readers expect, and what contributes to a book's "wow factor". This week's article explains the importance of reading like a writer. Click here to read it.

Spotlight Podcast: Eve Power

Every week our Spotlight mini-podcast focuses on a different indie author, and every week we ask them the same five questions about their writing process. This week''s guest is a new author, Eve Power, who has written her first book in the post-apocalyptic genre. You can listen to her episode here.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

It's one of the best things about indie publishing: anyone is free to write anything. There are no gatekeepers telling authors which subgenres to write in or how their stories need to end. The only people who get to decide whether our books do well or not are our readers.

Our guest on the Self Publishing Show this week, Rich Amooi, was only too aware of this when he started writing romantic comedies. From a quick glance on Amazon, almost every other romance author was female. He knew the genre inside and out, but would readers want books written by a man? He was even advised not to use his real name. advice which he luckily ignored, wanting his audience to connect with him the same as they would any other author.

It turns out that readers don't really care who the author is - so long as they write good books. Following eighteen months of research on everything to do with self-publishing and figuring out a game plan (not to mention a few powerful BookBub deals!), Rich has written seventeen books and brings in a comfortable income from his writing. though as he says, there's always another level.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on Amazon Music."

Self Publishing 101

It's almost your last chance to sign up to Self Publishing 101 - the premium course that has helped thousands of authors turn their writing hobbies into writing careers closes this Wednesday. It won't reopen until sometime next year, so you might want to be quick. You can learn more about 101 by clicking here.

SPF Blog: How to Track Your Book''s Readability

Readthrough can play a big part in an indie author's success. but what if you only write standalone books? And what if you don't have many books under your belt? It's vital to know which plot points make your readers switch off and which keep them turning the pages long into the night. This week's article is all about how to track your book's readability. You can read it here.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

It's official - Ads for Authors is open for registration.

Inside you will find:

• Our brand new Amazon Ads for Authors course
• Facebook Ads for Authors
• Advanced FB Ads for Authors
• BookBub Ads
• How to Write Better, Simpler Ads
• Ad Design for Authors
• Facebook Messenger Bots; and
• Access to SPF University

We're aware that current events have left people with an element of financial uncertainty. That's why we've added a brand new payment plan to manage the costs.

You can:

• Pay for the course outright for the single price of $849 (USD)
• Split the costs across twelve monthly payments of $79
• Split the cost across twenty-four monthly payments of $45

Simply click here to learn more and sign up:

Whichever plan you choose, registration gives you full lifetime access to the course (and you get future updates for free).

You'll also get access to our students-only Facebook group, SPF Mastery, and a full set of VIP bonuses. You can check those out on the registration page.

I always say that, with all the changes that have happened to the publishing industry over the past decade, there's never been a better time to be a writer. Well, there's never been a better time to be selling books, either. Plenty of our students have taken Ads for Authors and gone on to have full-time indie author careers. They haven't started with big budgets or any prior marketing knowledge. If you write good books and invest in yourself, there's no reason why you can't do that too.

I look forward to seeing you inside.

Best wishes,

Mark

P.S. If you do not want to receive these Ads for Authors emails, please click this link and you'll be taken off this particular segment of our mailing list.

Hello from Salisbury,

I love writing books. but I also love selling books, too. The reality is that if you want to make a living from it, you have to treat your writing like a business. And given that you're the writer, that means treating yourself like a business too.

That might sound a little cold and clinical, like you're sucking all the art and passion out of your work and turning it into just another nine-to-five job. But it doesn't need to be. It's not about only writing what you think will make you a tonne of money (though there's nothing wrong with that), but rather making sure that your books get the best possible chance of reaching the readers you wrote them for.

Writing a book is difficult. If it weren't, everyone would do it. And there's nothing wrong with writing just as a hobby. but there's no reason all your hard work should go unrewarded, either.

The past six months or so have been hard on a lot of people around the world - emotionally, physically and economically. It hasn't been easy for writers, either. Even aside from all the uncertainty and anxiety, people have unexpectedly had to look after young kids whilst holding down jobs or share their previously quiet workspaces with other family members suddenly working from home. Many writers have seen their productivity fall through the floor.

That said, a lot of authors (indie authors, at any rate) have actually seen both a marked increase in revenue and a decrease in ad spend since the pandemic started. Some have even been able to quit their jobs and write full-time as a result.

That's probably because a.) people are stuck indoors whether they like it or not, and there's only so much TV one can binge before hungering for a different type of entertainment, and b.) other brands were reining in their online advertising budgets in the face of uncertain financial quarters.

According to the BBC, Waterstones (the British equivalent to Barnes & Noble) saw a 400% increase in online sales week on week during lockdown. And between March and June, OverDrive saw over 343,000 people sign up for digital library cards in order to borrow ebooks in the US alone. In fact, you can see from this NPD graph that, despite the pandemic, even print books continue to grow year on year.

As odd as it feels to write this, there really hasn't ever been a better time to be a writer. but only if you know what you're doing and treat your writing like a business.

I can help with that.

My Self Publishing 101 course won't teach you how to write books (that's down to you, I'm afraid), but it will teach you how to build the foundations for your very own indie author career. From building a mailing list of superfans to sourcing authentic and ethical reviews, all the way to choosing the right keywords and writing a killer blurb - everything you need to get your books into the hands of hungry readers is inside.

Click the button below to learn more.

It's still open for another week or so, after which it'll close again until some point next year. It's never too early or too late to start learning a new skill (now more than ever), and don't forget - there's a 30 day money-back guarantee in case you don't think the 101 course is the right fit for you.

But if you're serious about your writing, I think it will be.

Best wishes

Mark

PS: If you don''t want to receive emails about 101, please click this link and you will be removed from that part of our mailing list.

Hello from Salisbury,

Along with non-fiction, there's a question I always get asked: "Can you successfully self-publish a children's book?" Well, I certainly know somebody who's done just that - SPF student and guest panellist at SPS Live 2020, Karen Inglis.

Karen started writing children's books back in the mid 90s, but, when she couldn't get an agent or publisher, her manuscripts sat in a box until 2010, when she took a sabbatical from her day job and thought about writing again. Even though there weren't many indie authors writing books for kids at the time, she didn't hesitate to self-publish. and saw incredible success. The Secret Lake has sold over 200,000 print copies worldwide - at the time of recording, it was at #151 for all print books in the United States.

There are plenty of other things authors need to consider when writing books for children - if your book has pictures, you're the one who's going to have to source the right illustrator (and pay for them). If you plan to make ebook versions, how will the text scale? How do you want to approach print books - bulk buy or print-on-demand? And most importantly - how will you advertise to your target audience? Luckily for you, Karen discusses all that and more in this week's episode of the Self Publishing Show. Just tune in to find out.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service. And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you if you have the TuneIn skill installed - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on TuneIn."

Blog: How to Reduce Decision Fatigue

Decision fatigue - it's the reason why Steve Jobs always wore the same black turtleneck and blue jeans (not the exact same pair, mind you). Some of the world's smartest and most productive minds believe that focusing on less important decisions (what to wear, what to eat) distracts them from what truly matters: coming up with big ideas and creating things. Here are a few ways to avoid decision fatigue.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

The latest launch of Ads for Authors has got off to a great start. In particular, we've had dozens of students praise the new Amazon Ads for Authors course with Janet Margot, an ex-Amazon insider who shares all of the exclusive tips and secrets she learned whilst working on the platform.

Whether you're already a student or just thinking about enrolling, we'd like to share a few of those secrets with you.

Tonight we're running an exciting, never-before-seen webinar with Janet about the Six Secrets of Amazon Ads. Here are just a few things that Janet and I will cover:

• How to start your Amazon ads off small and scale up effectively
• Whether ad relevance or the highest bid is more important
• How to develop key learnings on what works for your books
• That simplicity is often key to a successful Amazon ad

There will be plenty more besides that, plus a live Q&A in which you can ask us questions about Amazon ads or the world of self-publishing in general. And it's all completely free.

Here's the link to register for tonight: https://selfpublishingformula.com/sixsecrets9

Spaces are limited so claim your spot quickly - it might be worth logging in 15 minutes before the webinar is due to start. We're expecting the webinar to be fully packed, but don't worry if you can't get in - we're holding a second webinar with Janet on the 17th June, which you can register for here: https://selfpublishingformula.com/sixsecrets17

Once you've registered, please keep an eye on your inbox for confirmation emails from SPF and GoToWebinar. Both will contain your all-important join link for the event. Click on the link to join the webinar at the advertised time (the event kicks off at 21:00 UK time - to check local start times, please use this). Any problems, please drop us a line at support@selfpublishingformula.com and we'll do our best to help you.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

To a lot of authors, our books are our core product. Anything else we do - be it producing a podcast, conference appearances or even merchandising - is often done to promote further sales of our books. But that doesn't need to be the case for every writer out there. Indeed, some find that writing a book is the best way to boost sales of a different business altogether.

It's a bit of a bumper edition of the Self Publishing Show this week - we've got not one but two different guests interviewed on the topic of writing books for a business.

Mandy Hickson was the second woman in the Air Force to fly the Tornado GR-4 on the frontline (yes, James was very excited), but having hung up her flying boots she discovered her real calling was in the speaking world. One of the most common questions she got asked was, "Have you written a book about it?" Well, now she has. and, following the pandemic, her book has gone from a business card to a product in its own right.

Then we have Mike Capuzzi, who's worked as a business consultant for over twenty years. He coined the term "Shooks" (short books), which focus on a very specific topic related to one's business and can be read in about an hour. Not everyone in the world can be your customer, and with so much free clutter around (particularly online), a book can make a business stand out.

Both successful non-fiction authors in their own right, and both selling books to boost their business on the back-end.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on Amazon Music."

SPF Blog: How to Become a Fearless Author

Self-doubt, modesty, imposter-syndrome - these can all hold back a talented indie author (not that there's anything wrong with a healthy dose of modesty, of course). When it comes to communicating with our readers and collaborating with fellow writers, we need to appear confident and discoverable. Here are a few ways to become a fearless author.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

If you listen to our podcast, you'll know that our tagline is that "there's never been a better time to be a writer."

We could probably add a temporary addendum to that: "especially now."

The last three months have been a slog. Lots of us are worried. Lots of us are home schooling our kids. Plenty will be dealing with loss. Others will be concerned about their jobs and paying the mortgage or the rent or putting food on the table.

You're never entirely sure how things will change when buffeted by events as fundamental as what's happened, but, as we went into lockdown in March, I was reasonably optimistic.

Books always do well in times of economic uncertainty. Families might baulk at dropping $100 on a trip to the movies, but books are different - readers can get one of mine for $4.99 and enjoy (I hope) a dozen hours of entertainment.

The furloughing of staff meant that people would have a lot of extra time to get lost in a book. That would include existing readers upping their intake. It would include "lapsed" readers reigniting their appetites. Or it could be people trying out a book for the first time since school. The drop in the per pages read rates for Kindle Unlimited signals the increase in reading during the lockdown; Amazon won't tell us, but I suspect that they've seen a double-digit increase in the number of pages read in the program.

The factor that I didn't anticipate - but probably should have - was that advertising would become much cheaper. As the big budgets of brick and mortar stores and the brands that need them were removed from the auction, the price of clicks fell through the floor. Whereas a click might normally have cost me $0.40 before COVID, the prices I have been seeing are around a quarter of that. It's not just the USA - CPC is down all around the world.

That gives us an equation of competitive pricing + increased demand + cheaper visibility and the result has been the best three month stretch in my career.

(That big spike was the release of the new Milton book, The Man Who Never Was. I'm not blogging my precise income this year, but I can tell you that the launch was my best ever and that it was achieved in the depths of lockdown.)

Writing is a good career to be in during turbulent times, provided the circumstances of that writing are suitable. I wouldn't be interested in a traditional deal at the moment, and the hardback re-release of my first Milton novel has illustrated how hard it has been for the team and I to make accurate calls when we were not in control of the situation. And I'm lucky - I am partnered with a forward-thinking imprint prepared to work hand in hand with me. I've seen authors with traditional houses finding that their Q1 and Q2 releases have been shunted to Q3 and Q4 where those books will now have to compete in the biggest scramble for shelf space ever. (An indie need not worry about any of that. You can release to your own schedule, and with great flexibility.)

It's possible to begin a second stream of income in times like these, or take an existing side hustle as a writer and increase sales with judicious use of well targeted digital ads. With the caveat - of course - that you should never spend what you can't afford (and that includes on courses!) and that debt is something to be approached with caution - maybe there's an opportunity for you.

Maybe you're selling $10 a day. Why not invest that in ads and see if you can make $30? Invest another $10 and maybe you can make $60? Maybe that'll see you on the way to your first four figure month, then your first five figure month and then. who knows.

Maybe, as we come out of hibernation, that side hustle could be something more and you won't have to worry quite as much if we have to go through this again.

Are you ready?

Ads for Authors closes on Wednesday and it won't open again until 2021. Just click the button below to learn more.

Can''t wait to see you in the course.

Best wishes,

Mark

P.S. If you do not want to receive these Ads for Authors emails, please click this link and you'll be taken off this particular segment of our mailing list.

Hello from Salisbury,

We've been running through the five numbers that every indie author needs to think about when running ads. It doesn't matter whether they are on Facebook, Amazon or elsewhere.

They are, in reverse order of importance:

• Average Cost of Sale (ACoS)
• Click Through Rate (CTR)
• Conversion %
• Return on Investment (ROI)
• Readthrough

This last one is the most important, and yet it's something I didn't pay enough attention to for far too long. As a result of that negligence, I've almost certainly left quite a bit of money on the table by switching off ads that were making me money when I thought they were duds.

Readthrough is the most fundamental calculation an author needs to make, because it dictates how much you can actually afford to spend on an ad and still bring in a profit.

It might seem obvious, but when you're advertising Book 1 in a series (or a single book in a catalogue of standalones), you don't just factor in the sales of that one book alone. You need to work out how much that individual reader is worth, on average, through sales of your entire series or back catalogue.

Let's say someone reads my first Milton book, The Cleaner, and enjoys it enough to buy book 2, then book 3, and eventually the rest of the series. That reader isn't worth whatever royalties I get from The Cleaner on its own - they're worth the royalties of every book they go on to purchase.

Let's imagine I am running Amazon ads and bidding 50c for a keyword. Let's also say that the target book is 99c (from which we get 35c). On that basis, it doesn't look like the ad could ever be profitable - and by itself, it isn't - but if our average reader goes on to buy enough books that we're looking at 5, or 8, or even $10 worth of royalties in the long run, that 50c suddenly looks a lot more reasonable (assuming that we are able to make a sale frequently enough to stay in the black). If I had not worked out how much the average reader spends on my books, my instinct would be to shut that 50c keyword bid down.

Of course, this requires us to take a benchmark without advertising in order to know how much effect our ads are actually having. It would be a mistake to just assume we're getting good enough readthrough to let expensive ads run.

In my Ads for Authors course I show you the exact way I calculate my royalties and readthrough - including Kindle Unlimited page reads - with a spreadsheet template so you can work out your own.

If you're an indie author looking to get your books into the hands of the right readers and supercharge your sales, there's never been a better time to register - and, bear in mind, the course closes next week and will stay closed until late 2020 or early 2021.

Just tap the button below to learn more.

Best wishes,

Mark

P.S. If you do not want to receive these Ads for Authors emails, please click this link and you'll be taken off this particular segment of our mailing list.

Hello from Salisbury,

Aiki Flinthart is a fighter. Literally - she's an experienced martial artist and spends the entirety of her episode on the Self Publishing Show surrounded by swords and daggers. But she's also a successful author, both in regard to her various fantasy series (from historical to urban) and her non-fiction books about how to write convincing fight scenes. especially when they involve kick-ass women.

She wrote her first books - a middle grade series for her son - all the way back in 2010 and tried (and failed) to get them traditionally published. Knowing nothing about the industry, she turned to self-publishing. and did very well. Unfortunately, she didn't realise quite how well - it wasn't until 2015 that she wrote her next book, by which point the marketing landscape had changed considerably.

But Aiki mostly came on the show to discuss writing believable fight scenes. People tend to write them how they are in the movies, but that doesn't always make them fun to read. Readers care about characters being hit, not the punches being thrown. And not every character will engage in or react to violence the same way, whether that's down to gender or training. She's been kind enough to put together a free PDF checklist of what to consider when writing about combat.

And as we discovered during filming, Aiki is also battling terminal melanoma. Continuing to write her series and teach fellow writers even after such difficult news is pretty incredible in itself. Very inspiring.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you if you have the TuneIn skill installed - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on TuneIn."

SPF Blog: Rapid Learning Techniques for Authors

Authors don't have the luxury of writing stories and nothing else anymore. We have to wear a lot of hats - learning up-to-date marketing techniques, coordinating with editors and cover designers, communicating with readers. all whilst still making time to pen the next book. It's easy to become overwhelmed. Here are a few effective techniques to learn at a rapid rate and give yourself more time for writing.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

It's hard to market to a niche audience. When you're writing in a big genre - thrillers, science fiction and fantasy, romance, etc - you've got an ocean of readers to choose from. And even when you exhaust one audience, you just move onto the next. Things aren't quite so simple when your chosen category is so small. which makes finding success all the more impressive.

Carly Kade has made a name for herself as an equestrian fiction writer - that is, she writes a series of standalone stories about horses for adults. She always loved writing growing up, and one day the idea for her series sprung into her mind while she was tending to her horses. After her husband encouraged her to finish the book, she started looking for ways to release it. Remembering the importance of retaining IP rights following a career in media, she came across this podcast (among others!) and decided to self-publish.

Understandably, Carly thought she might be the only person writing in such a specific niche. But thanks to the indie community, she discovered a whole host of other like-minded writers and readers interested in books themed around horses. Of course, there are other challenges when writing for such a passionate fandom - you have to know what you're writing about.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on Amazon Music."

SPF Blog

Promoting one's books to bloggers, podcast hosts and publishers can be extremely time-consuming, especially when you have to repeat the same information over and over again. That's why some authors choose to create an AI, or Advanced Information sheet. Here are all the key details you need to include in your one-pager to pique the interest of industry experts.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

My last few emails have been about the Ads for Authors course and, specifically, my experiences with advertising across the three main platforms that I use: Facebook, Amazon and BookBub.

I've always been as open as possible with my results: the amount that I have made through my advertising and, most importantly, the amount that I have spent. There's not much point in spending $20 if that drives sales of just $15, for very obvious reasons.

I've been running Facebook ads since January 2015, and ads designed to drive sales since 15 March of that year. Since then, I've spent $599,034 on advertising just on that platform. You can probably add another $300,000 for Amazon ads and another $500,000 for ads placed on my behalf by Amazon Media Group. Add in BookBub and I suspect the total isn't far south of $2,000,000.

Which - as I just realised as I typed that number - is f*cking terrifying. (Thank the Lord for a supportive spouse who trusts me.)

And it brings me very neatly to one of the criticisms I see a lot from authors who have seen me spout those ridiculous numbers while trying to persuade them to buy a not inexpensive course that will teach them how to advertise and sell their books. I make a big song and dance about how the ads have driven my revenue to very healthy levels and many of the authors who receive my emails often reply to say:

"Ads might work with those big spends, but I can't afford to invest that kind of money."

(Some are much less polite).

This is a very reasonable position to take. My response to them is that I didn't start with deep pockets or a large amount of money that I could afford to drop on advertising.

My first sales ad - placed just over five years ago on 14 March 2015 - spent the grand total of twelve dollars and fifteen cents.

Here it is:

(It's not even a very good ad - I didn't know that linking to Amazon would import some of the blurb, clipping it mid-sentence in a look that just screams "slapdash amateur.")

I didn't have much cash in those days. My wife was on maternity leave with our second child and so I was still working full-time, commuting to and from from London and writing on the train. I had a little cash put by for frivolities and I decided to invest that in my books.

I saw immediate - and startling - results. With the caveat that Facebook ads were like a gigantic ATM back in those glorious days, here is a grab from my BookReport that shows sales of the book that I was advertising: the first John Milton box set.

You'll see revenue tripling from February (no ads) to March (ads switched on), and then - as I became confident in the numbers that common sense told me couldn't be possible and started to double down on the ads - a quintupling in April.

And that was all with an initial outlay of twelve dollars and fifteen cents.

How did I do it? I took the revenue generated by that first ad and reinvested it in more ads.

I scaled slowly and carefully, checking and double checking my numbers every day to make sure that I was making more than I was spending. (I actually called my accountant to check my numbers because I couldn't believe I was calculating things correctly. It turns out I was, and he asked to invest in my business.)

By the end of that month I was spending around $90 a day and making five or six times that amount in return.

As I have continued to scale new ads on new platforms, I've always followed that same mantra: start conservatively, prove that the ads are working, and then reinvest. That's the pattern I recommend in the course, too.

Now, I should make clear that Facebook is not pumping out returns on investment of 400% and 500% these days (unless you are better at advertising than me - entirely possible). But it is still generating significant profits. I have ads running in Australia at the moment that are generating solid 150% returns, and much more when readthrough into the rest of my series is taken into account.

Amazon and BookBub ads are just the same.

Twelve dollars and fifteen cents. It's probably the most important money I've ever spent.

Ads for Authors

As I said, the course isn't cheap, although you can use the twenty-four month payment plan to bring the cost down to just under $1.50 a day. You'll also need some money to spend on the ads, and I'd advise - at least in the early days - that this should be money that you are comfortable with losing.

The aim of the course - and the tutelage that you'll find in the closed FB Mastery group that goes along with it - is to find the sweet spot between audience and creative that will enable your ads to generate positive returns so that you, too, can reinvest and grow your career.

If you''d like to learn more, you can check out a ton of extra information by clicking the button below.

I'll leave it there for now. If you have any questions about the course, or your suitability for it, please reply to this email and I'll give you an honest assessment.

Best wishes,

Mark

P.S. If you do not want to receive these Ads for Authors emails, please click this link and you'll be taken off this particular segment of our mailing list.

Hello from Salisbury,

Readthrough is one of the most important metrics an indie author can know. It's so important, in fact, that it dictates a lot of the other numbers in our business - namely, how much we can afford to spend making a sale and still expect to bring in a profit.

We're hosting a brand new SPFU webinar at 9pm UK time (4pm New York, 1pm Los Angeles) this Tuesday, November 24th. Prestozon's Dierk Demers will take us through their new tool, which calculates exactly how much the first book in your series is actually worth.

This is incredibly valuable information, so if you haven't done this already, get on it - for ages I switched off effective ads simply because they didn't immediately look like they were turning a profit (they were).

You can register for the event by clicking here. The webinar is free, as is the Readthrough Calculator we will demonstrate.

We're expecting a very high turnout of attendees, and please understand that registering your interest does not guarantee you a seat on the night. Sign in early to avoid disappointment. And for anyone who struggles to get in or can't attend live (or simply wants to watch it again!), a replay will be uploaded to the SPFU course folder. If you''re not signed up for SPFU - you can do so here.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

If there's one thing indie authors need to wrap their head around (besides the ins and outs of writing a good book, of course) it's data. Cost-per-click; average cost of sale; readthrough rate. Calculating these numbers is essential if one wants to market books and turn a profit. But it's not just our data that we should be diving into - Amazon's data can help us make business decisions, too.

This is something our guest on the Self Publishing Show this week, Alex Newton, knows more than pretty much anyone else. He's the man behind K-lytics, and for the past six years he's produced in-depth reports on Amazon's genres and categories so that authors can marry their passion with the knowledge of which sub-genres are most in-demand. This is Alex's second appearance on the show - this time he's here to discuss the impact COVID-19 has had on the retail industry.

There are some unexpected results. Here are a few tasters: print sales are actually up for the year, despite the obvious impact the coronavirus has had on bookstores. This year saw KDP Select's highest ever monthly pay-out, but authors got paid less per page. And ambulance chasers didn't do as well as you might think.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service. And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you if you have the TuneIn skill installed - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on TuneIn."

Blog: How to Get Your Family On Board with Your Writing Career

Some people find that their partners are extremely supportive of their creative endeavours, but others run into only concern. How much is this "hobby" going to cost? Isn't your focus best spent on other "more important" things? It can be difficult to get family members on board, especially when finances are involved. Here are some ways to bring them around to your indie author career.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

Our guest on the Self Publishing Show this week makes a good comparison: professional athletes have coaches even if they're the best in the world at their sport. So why not writers?

Of course, most of us aren't in a position to hire a full-time personal trainer for health reasons, let alone to stand behind our shoulder and make sure we get the right words on the page. But Chris Banks' software might be the next best thing. You've probably already heard of it: Chris is the founder of spelling, grammar and writing feedback tool, Pro Writing Aid.

Millions of people use either Pro Writing Aid or Grammarly to make sure their writing is as professional as it can be, even if it's just in email correspondence. Chris explains why his option goes beyond being a simple spellcheck system, with specialised reports that give key actions to sharpen your writing and improve readability, all without compromising a writer's unique voice. He also goes into why, as an author himself, he felt the need to build Pro Writing Aid, and what the future of digital writing mentors might hold. This episode is great for those looking to polish up their writing and potentially reduce editing costs.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service. And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you if you have the TuneIn skill installed - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on TuneIn."

SPS Live: Digital Tickets

We might all be stuck indoors now, but you still have the opportunity to attend one of the year''s biggest indie author events (without leaving your home, of course). A digital ticket for all the SPS Live sessions - that''s hours of valuable content - costs only $25. You can grab one here.

Blog: How to Avoid Distractions

Distractions are one of the biggest issues writers come across, even when there isn't a global pandemic to worry about. Netflix, Facebook, the dishes. Anything can seem more exciting than putting words to paper if you're not in the mood. Here are a few ways you can reduce distractions and increase your productivity.

Spotlight Podcast: Sarah Weldon

Every week our Spotlight mini-podcast focuses on a different indie author, and every week we ask them the same five questions about their writing process. Our guest this week is Sarah Weldon, a cosy mystery author with fifteen books. You can listen to her episode here.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

The first course I put together was Facebook Ads for Authors. It was, as the name suggests, focused entirely on how to use Facebook advertising in order to drive sales of books. The course was immediately successful, and some of our most famous alumni took it back in those early days.

I have always tried to ensure that students get the very best value for money when they invest in their educations with SPF. That has meant that we have never charged another penny to a student - there's no annual licence, renewable every year, and we've never asked for additional payment when we have added new content.

The course has grown beyond all recognition since it was first launched. It's not just Facebook now; we've added extensive modules on Amazon ads, BookBub ads, copywriting, image design, Facebook Messenger and more. Those early students have received all of that content at no extra cost.

I've no intention of changing that philosophy and, indeed, we are doubling down on it. The new Amazon Ads for Authors module written and presented by Janet Margot, ex-of Amazon, is the single best course on Amazon advertising for authors available on the market. (If you know of a better one, please do let me know because I will definitely check it out!)

And I'm happy to announce today that we are adding even more.

Ads Automation for Authors

I've been aware of Prestozon for almost as long as the course has been running. I had a call with the founders four or five years ago when I suggested that I thought they were missing a trick by concentrating their software on Amazon sellers and vendors and not including authors. There were lots of good reasons why they decided to delay, but I'm pleased to say that they are now making a concerted push to develop the software so that it is optimised for our particular needs.

So, what is Prestozon? It is a software application that automates some of the drudgery that we would otherwise have to do when monitoring and optimising our Amazon ads.

For example:

(a) it is able to automatically adjust our bids so that they are more likely to hit whatever profitability target we have set. I've told the software that I want my ads to hit an ACoS score of 70%. I'm now seeing it identifying keywords that are too expensive and adjusting the bits downwards. Keywords that have room to deliver additional profit are being adjusted upwards in an attempt to increase the number of times that they are shown.

(b) It also allows you to simply and easily view the search terms that readers are entering into the Amazon search bar and thereby triggering your ads. There are lots of cool strategies that you can access with this kind of information; how about taking the most profitable search terms and running them in your own campaigns? Prestozon can do this for you automatically.

It's a really nice piece of software and I'd recommend that authors take a look at it. Anything that can reduce the amount of time that we need to spend on something other than our writing has got to be a good thing. It also makes dispassionate decisions on our ads and, as someone who has clung to favourite ads for too long can attest, dispassion can be a good way to save money.

The guys and gals from Prestozon have produced a course for SPF students. Those already enrolled in Ads for Authors will see it added to their Teachable schools this week and everyone who joins between today and the end of this registration period next week will also get the content. The team has also provided us with a generous introductory offer whereby you can trial the software for a month - in concert with the information in the SPF course - to see whether it is something that would work for you and your situation.

Ads for Authors closes next Wednesday. You can register and learn more about the course here.

If you are on the fence about signing up, please do not hesitate to drop me a line and I'll give you a brutally honest assessment of whether this is something that would be suitable for you now, or whether you should wait.

Best wishes,

Mark

P.S. If you do not want to receive these Ads for Authors emails, please click this link and you'll be taken off this particular segment of our mailing list.

Hello from Salisbury,

People are eager to seek help whenever they have a physical ailment, but unfortunately we're not always so quick to act when it comes to matters of the mind. Stress, anxiety, depression - these can all take a toll. Our guest this week, James P Sumner, found this out the hard way.

We first met James five years ago, and he was one of the first students to take my Ads for Authors course. Things went well for James after that - he was soon making enough money each month to quit the nine to five and fulfill his dream of becoming a full-time author. or so he thought.

The problems started about six months later. In a poor relationship and with nowhere to escape to (when your hobby is your job, your problems are always only a room away) his mental health began to suffer. It all crescendoed when he had a heart attack at 37. Something, evidently, had to change.

James is now back in full-time work, providing him a sense of stability - and support network - he didn't realise he needed. He hasn't stopped writing, of course - only now he can write what he wants, when he wants, without the pressure of maintaining a career from it. Both mental and physical health are of the upmost importance (you can't write if you're not healthy) - there are lessons in James' interview that all of us can learn from.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service. And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you if you have the TuneIn skill installed - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on TuneIn."

SPS Live: Digital Tickets

We might all be stuck indoors now, but you still have the opportunity to attend one of the year''s biggest indie author events (without leaving your home, of course). A digital ticket for all the SPS Live sessions - that''s hours of valuable content - costs only $25. You can grab one here.

Blog: Book Merch Ideas for Authors

Authors don't just have to sell books - there are all sorts of merch opportunities too, from clothes to mugs to buttons and pins. The merchandising industry is one of the biggest in the world (just ask George Lucas) and avid readers are always after something more. Here are just a few of the merch items an author can put together with the minimum of effort and cost.

Spotlight Podcast: Jacqui Broderick

Every week our Spotlight mini-podcast focuses on a different indie author, and every week we ask them the same five questions about their writing process. Jacqui Broderick is under the spotlight this week - she's written seven books across a range of genres. You can listen to her episode here.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

Editing is an essential part of the publishing process. Just because we're indie authors doesn't mean we can afford to skip what the traditional publishers would do for us. It just means we have to carry out those responsibilities ourselves. Editing, cover design, marketing - all of it.

We owe it to our books. and we owe it to the readers who pay good money for them.

Take my first self-published book, The Black Mile, for example. I'd had a couple of books traditionally published before, but for some reason I didn't think my self-published novels required the same degree of professional treatment. I put them out into the world with the minimum of quality control.

I bet you can guess how that went.

It was littered with grammatical errors. Character development was non-existent. To say that the dialogue was wooden would be an understatement.

And the reviews I received reflected that. Readers aren't just spending money on your book - it's a time investment, too - and they don't expect to receive an inferior product in return.

Needless to say, I didn't make the same mistake again.

Now, neither will you.

We've got a brand new course launching in the next few days. It's presented by Jennie Nash from Author Accelerator - you might recognise her from our BookLab episodes on the Self Publishing Show - and it covers everything you need to know to identify issues with your book before it goes to market.

I'll be back in touch tomorrow to tell you more about it.

Best wishes

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

When I first started self-publishing, I didn't know what I was doing. In my defence, most people didn't back then - it wasn't as if there were any book-centric courses I could take to teach aspiring indies everything we needed to know. I had to build my knowledge and experience up piece by piece.

There were some pretty expensive mistakes along the way.

Take the promotion of one of my earlier books, The Black Mile, for example. I was pretty chuffed when I managed to get 50,000 free downloads of it during a promotional period - as well I should have been.

It was only afterwards that I realised my big mistake. There was no call-to-action in the back of the book. I didn't ask them to join my mailing list, or to leave a review - nothing. I didn't even have another book for them to buy! So when it did come time to release the next book, I had no way of reaching those 50,000 readers. Amazon wasn't about to give me all their email addresses. Instead of a massive success, in retrospect the promotion was a massive waste.

Well, almost a waste. Because I learned from it.

I learned a lot, in fact. It cost me a lot of both time and money, but I learned from my mistakes (and my successes - there were a few of those, too) and grew my self-publishing business big enough that I could quit my lawyer job in London (and the arduous daily commute that came with it).

Here's the good news. You don't have to stumble through the dark like I did. You don't need to learn from your own mistakes, because you can learn from mine instead.

My Self Publishing 101 course covers everything an indie author needs to know in order to turn their writing hobby into a profitable business. It's full of the strategies and tips I used (and still use to this day) to go from earning a few dollars a month to a very comfortable full-time income and more than 4 million books sold.

I won't guarantee that you'll see the same success, but it will make building an author career a lot easier. Some of our students now earn enough to go on a nice vacation a few times a year, others to quit their job and focus on writing full-time. And a few others have even started to outsell me.

The course reopens to new students this Wednesday. I'll be back in touch tomorrow to tell you exactly what you can expect to find in it when it does.

Best wishes

Mark

PS: If you don''t want to receive emails about 101, please click this link and you will be removed from that part of our mailing list.

Hello from Salisbury,

It's official - the Self Publishing 101 course is now open to new students.

Given everything that's happened this year, we've kept our 24-month payment plan in place to make purchasing 101 that little bit easier. You can choose from:

• A one-time payment of $549;
• 12 monthly payments of $54; or
• 24 monthly payments of $29.

That last option makes the 101 course cost less than $1 a day. You can't even buy a coffee that cheap anymore.

If you're still on the fence, don't forget that there's a thirty-day money-back guarantee. You can take a look around and see if the course is the right fit for you. If not, we'll refund you - no questions asked.

But honestly? I don't think that will happen.

None of the students I showed you earlier today had any prior book marketing experience. They didn't have deep pockets or some sort of magic wand. All they had was an entrepreneurial attitude (and some good books, either ready to go or in the process of being written). The 101 course took care of the rest.

You needn't be any different.

Click the button below to learn more about 101, sign up, and supercharge your indie author career.

Of course, feel free to reply this email if you're not sure if the 101 course is right for you. My team and I are standing by to answer any questions you might have, and we'll always give you our honest opinion. If we don't think you're ready, we'll say so.

Best wishes

Mark

PS: If you don''t want to receive emails about 101, please click this link and you will be removed from that part of our mailing list.

Hello from Salisbury,

As I mentioned in my email yesterday, we've partnered with editing guru and writing coach, Jennie Nash, to produce our premium How to Revise Your Book course. After months (or even years) of writing, your book deserves the best chance at success you can give it - this course will teach you how.

(And yes - if you're a student of our How to Write a Bestseller course, this is the perfect companion piece!)

Editing, from the developmental level all the way down to fixing grammar and typos, can be an expensive process. but it's also an essential one. Without it, readers will be disappointed. and disappointed readers won't buy any more of your books. Even after thirty-plus novels, I still make sure to get a professional eye on them before they go out. It's that important.

That said, not everybody can afford an editor when they're first starting out as a writer, and even fewer can afford to pay multiple editors to fix a manuscript littered with different problems. That's why you need to know how to identify issues with your book beforehand - to cut down on costs or editors altogether.

In How to Revise Your Book, you will learn:

• How to switch from a writer to an editor mindset;
• How to build an outline of your entire novel (and really understand what it's about);
• How to prioritise your problems using the Stoplight Method;
• How to fix the problems, from the biggest plot holes to the tiniest typos;
• And how to know when your book is ready to be published.

The course goes live tomorrow. I'll be back then with details on how to sign up, including the special discount offer for early students. and the surprise mini-course we're bundling with it for free.

Best wishes

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

Launching a children's book isn't easy. Usually, an indie author uses Amazon and Facebook ads to target the actual readers of their book, but, when their audience consists of children, things can get a little more complicated. When you factor in the cost of getting illustrations done, things can get pretty expensive, too.

Aside from a website-related vanity project three or four years ago, our guest this week, Matthew Ralph, didn't always intend to be an indie author. Back in December of 2018, he was going through the airport when he saw a poster of a sloth - and on the short flight to Berlin, he wrote the bulk of a story that went on to become a bestseller.

As already mentioned, soliciting illustrations for a children's book can come with a hefty upfront cost, but Matthew found a way of producing a professional-looking book on a budget. His Sam the Speedy Sloth books are drawn by an Indonesian artist, and another of his children's books was produced solely using artwork he sourced himself! Matthew's also on the show to discuss the best (and cost effective) ways of promoting a book where your readers aren't your ad audience - definitely important listening for anyone thinking about tackling one of the trickier genres.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on Amazon Music."

SPF Shorts: VELLUM

You may recall James and I mentioning a new series of shorter, cheaper courses on the horizon, each one tackling a specific but essential aspect of self-publishing. Well, the first SPF Short course is here. and it's free!

You can sign up for our free Vellum course by clicking here. And keep an eye out - we've got plenty more short courses on the way.

SPF Blog

Indie authors have to do a lot more than beginners often expect - along with writing books, there's marketing, getting reviews, soliciting editing and cover design services, and much more. It's easy to get overwhelmed. That's why some writers get a virtual assistant to take over some of these duties. Here are some of the tasks authors can best outsource to someone else.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

I am lucky enough to be asked to speak to authors all around the world - virtually and in person - and to explain how advertising can be used to find new readers and sell more books. One of the benefits of that exposure is that I am able to see the reservations and fears that prevent authors from biting the bullet and learning how to advertise. There are several: fear of technology, the suspicion that it will be too expensive or will take more time, a worry that "selling" connotes something sleazy. and, my favourite, a fear that it will involve maths.

(Before my American friends tell me I can't spell, that's how the Queen spells it and that's good enough for me.)

Here is a confession. I was pretty good at school, but my main weakness was maths. I wasn't very good at it. Here's another confession: we have been home schooling our kids in all the lockdown madness of the last few months and I discovered that I was really struggling to teach my daughter how to handle numbers.

My daughter is eight.

I'll let that sink in and wait for the derision.

So, with the context that maths is not my strong point, the next handful of emails from me will take you through the five numbers that you need to understand in order to be able to monitor and tweak your ads - on all platforms - so that they make you money, rather than cost you.

There are five numbers every indie author needs to know. We'll count them down from least important to most important and, today, we'll start at number five. It's the one that many authors fixate on: the ACoS, or Average Cost of Sale.

ACoS follows a simple formula: the cost of selling a book divided by the sale price.

In other words: if the price of your book is $10, and the cost of your ads to sell one book is $6, then your Average Cost of Sale (cost divided by sale) is 60%, with a profit margin of 40% ($4).

People tend to look at the ACoS score on their Amazon Ads dashboard and think it's the ultimate way of determining the effectiveness of their ads. It isn't. It's useful when calculating whether an ad should be allowed to continue running or not, but only when combined with other figures (many of which we will cover in subsequent emails).

A high ACoS score doesn't mean you should kill an ad; once you factor in readthrough (more on that to come), you might find that it's actually bringing in a significant profit.

And that's before you consider what your Amazon Ads dashboard doesn't count (yet): KU page reads, rank boosts and the organic sales that are concomitant to that, audiobook sales or just the general increase in brand awareness.

Let's take a look at another example.

If your book is priced at $2.99, then you could argue that the maximum ACoS on the Amazon dashboard that you can stomach is 70% (i.e. $2.09) as the other 30% goes to Amazon. But rather than worry about hitting an ACoS of 70% or less, it's far better to calculate your readthrough value and make sure your cost of sale is lower than that instead.

You could have an ACoS score of 100% if you're spending $2.99 to make one sale.

It would be 200% if it costs you $5.98 to make the sale.

But if - thanks to readthrough - each sale of your first book is actually worth $10 in future sales, then you would be killing an ad that is still making you a profit all the way up to an ACoS score of 300%.

It does involve a little girding of the loins, but keeping that ad alive might mean that you are making a profit.

You'll learn more about advertising metrics in the full Ads for Authors course. We provide spreadsheets that will calculate the most important numbers for you, and I'll explain which ones deserve your focus and which ones can be disregarded.

Remember, Ads for Authors is open now for another couple of weeks. You can learn more and register for the course here. If you have any questions as to your suitability for advertising, please email back and set out your circumstances. You'll get an honest recommendation.

I'll be back tomorrow with the fourth most important number an advertising author needs to know - the Click Through Rate (CTR) of their ads.

Best wishes,

Mark

P.S. If you do not want to receive these Ads for Authors emails, please click this link and you'll be taken off this particular segment of our mailing list.

Hello from Salisbury,

There are only a couple of days left until the Self Publishing 101 course closes until around March next year. If you want to learn how to build a readership full of superfans and supercharge your writing career, this is your last chance to register.

You might be reading this email and thinking, "But what if the course isn't right for me?" It's not an unreasonable question to ask. There's no one singular path to becoming a successful author, and the approach a thriller writer takes may differ slightly from that which works for a romance author or a non-fiction writer.

But regardless of what you write, the strategies and guides in Self Publishing 101 work because they cover topics that every indie author needs to know before publishing - whether they're writing science fiction or poetry or children's books.

Let's take a look at our eclectic range of students.

Imogen Clark writes commercial women''s fiction. She wasn''t a technical whizz but in 2018, having taken the 101 course, her book hit the #1 spot for the entire UK Kindle store. Within three months she was offered a three-book deal by Amazon. You can listen to her story here.

How about Supernatural Thrillers? David Delaney had been trying to write on-and-off in the genre for years but, despite his background in television marketing, he didn''t know how to get his books into the hands of readers. Before taking the course, he wasn''t selling any copies. After taking 101, his sales increased with each passing day. You can hear more from David here.

And of course we have plenty of authors who write romance, crime, fantasy and even literary fiction, too. You can hear from some more of them by clicking here.

Ultimately, the only way you can tell if the Self Publishing 101 course is going to work for you is to try it and see for yourself. We offer a 30 day guarantee to all students, no matter how they choose to sign up - if you don't think the course is the right fit, we'll give you your money back, no questions asked.

You can learn more and register for 101 by clicking here.

Best wishes

Mark

PS: If you don''t want to receive emails about 101, please click this link and you will be removed from that part of our mailing list.

Hello from Salisbury,

You might recognise our guest this week, Christina Kaye, from her podcast, How to Write Your Best Book. Christina has been in the publishing industry for about ten years now. She was originally a traditionally published author (even winning some awards), and then started editing her friends' books on the side. As her freelance business grew, she became a full time editor and book coach (though she's now made the switch from trad to indie author, too).

A book coach can be of great help to an author struggling to get his or her book in shape (just ask James Blatch). Getting that first (or tenth) book finished can sometimes seem like an insurmountable task, and a book coach (or accountability partner) can give you the motivation you need to cross that finishing line. Christina is on this week's episode of the Self Publishing Show to talk not just about coaching but also common issues she runs into with authors - from common craft mistakes (writing in passive voice, slipping between tenses, head-hopping) to writing in the right tense and point-of-view for their story.

Speaking of editing and polishing your manuscript - we've got a brand new course coming out soon called How to Revise Your Book. It's been produced in collaboration with Jennie Nash, another stellar book coach, and there's even a bonus module about copyediting from ProWritingAid. Keep your eyes open for more news on that over the next few weeks.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on Amazon Music."

Self Publishing 101

We're almost at the halfway point of the current Self Publishing 101 launch, which means you have about a week and a half left to register. Much like Ads for Authors, 101 has proven incredibly popular this year - with everything going on in the world, there's never been a better time to learn a new skill (or improve an existing one). You can learn more about the course here.

Reaching the Rest of the World

It's not impossible to turn a profit selling one book, but it's a lot easier when you've got a whole catalogue of books for readers to choose from. Whether writing in a series or multiple standalones, readthrough is an essential part of an indie author's business. Click here for just a few of the ways you can improve your readthrough from one book to another.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

Each year, KDP holds a competition called the Kindle Storyteller award. It's an easy competition to enter - simply add a specific keyword to your ebook's metadata (so long as the book is released between May 1st and August 31st) and enrol it in KDP Select. Several factors go into deciding which books make the shortlist, and then a panel of judges gets to crown the winner.

2020's competition still has just under a month to go, so this was the perfect time to interview last year's winner, Ian W. Sainsbury.

Ian has always been an avid reader of multiple genres, and his experience as both a songwriter and stand-up comedian helped strengthen his writing. His first book, a science-fiction novel called The World Walker, did surprisingly well (not that Ian realised it at the time) and encouraged him to take a break from music to focus on his writing. a break which still hasn't ended (and has become increasingly more lucrative). He's since made some less-than-ideal genre choices - switching from sci-fi to superhero to an obscure subgenre of dark fantasy - but finally settled on writing thrillers, the first of which - The Portrait on the Fridge - won the Kindle Storyteller award that he now, in 2020, gets to judge.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service. And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you if you have the TuneIn skill installed - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on TuneIn."

Blog: 5 Author Lessons That Come With Experience

For authors writing and releasing their very first book, everything can feel very make-or-break. Their novel is their "baby" and, if people don't rush out to buy it in droves, or they can't churn books out at a rate of twenty-per-year, it's a terrible disaster that will stop their future career in its tracks. Luckily, that's far from the case. Here are five author lessons that come with experience.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

Up until recently, every book of mine has been written with an adult audience in mind. I have two small children, however, and I really wanted a project on which I could work with my daughter, both to show her what her father does for a living and to teach her what's possible in today's increasingly digital landscape.

If you're in the SPF Community group on Facebook, you may recall that I posted enquiring about potential authors of middle-grade fiction for a collaboration. I wanted to create something that reminded me of my own childhood - think Enid Blyton, Famous Five, etc - updated for a contemporary audience, of course. I had dozens of offers from fantastic authors, but I found the perfect writing partner in Allan Boroughs. and he's our guest on the Self Publishing Show this week.

Allan had seen plenty of success writing books for kids long before I came along, of course, both through traditional and self-publishing. He explains the difference between writing for children and adults (and there are far fewer differences than you might expect), how to tell a good story for kids, and why it's surprising that more authors don't collaborate on books. plus a whole lot more.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on Amazon Music."

SPF Blog

A reader magnet is a great way of incentivising readers to sign up to your mailing list. Many authors use a free book to gain new subscribers, but not every writer has a whole novel they're willing (or able) to give away. From short stories to character sheets to image galleries - click here for some of the best alternative reader magnets.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

Our guest this week is quite the entrepreneur. Prior to getting into self-publishing, Vinnie Fiorello has owned a toy store, a tattoo parlour and a record label. but if you've heard of him before, it's mostly from his time as the drummer, lyricist and founding member of the ska-punk band Less Than Jake.

He's since left the band's touring line-up and now focusses on a new venture: comic books. He's worked on them before, but Vinnie started his latest effort, "The Inevitables", with a substantially over-funded Kickstarter campaign last August. Combining his talents and passions, the comic will also come with a full-length companion record, with plenty other spinoff projects in the works.

Of course, it's not all about comic books and music. The main focus of this episode of the Self Publishing Show is on the balance between creativity and business - no matter what the industry - as well as effectively collaborating with numerous creative partners and involving one's audience in a business model. Vinnie's an interesting guy, and this episode's worth watching no matter what genre (or format) you write in.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on Amazon Music."

New Course: How to Revise Your Book

We launched a brand new course last week - How to Revise Your Book, with editing guru Jennie Nash. Take your book from good to great by identifying narrative issues with your manuscript, eliminating typos, and writing sensational sentences.

You can learn more and register by clicking here. Remember: there''s a 14 day guarantee, so if you don''t think the course is right for you, we''ll give you your money back - no questions asked.

But hurry - it''s only $197 right now, but the price will go up soon.

SPF Blog

Writing can be a lonely profession, especially if those around us don't appreciate the highs and lows we go through during our chosen career. That's why some authors join writers' groups to share experiences, give feedback and advice, and generally keep each other accountable. But are they always a good idea? Click here for three pros and three cons of joining a writers' group.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

Ads for Authors has proven incredibly popular this launch period, most likely a result of our brand new Amazon Ads for Authors course with Janet Margot, an ex-Amazon insider with world-class knowledge in how to make the platform work. Our first webinar with Janet was in extremely high demand, with 4,600 authors registering their interest. We were only able to cater to 1,000 and, even then, the weight of numbers caused our webinar software no end of problems. We've asked Janet to do a second webinar next Wednesday and you can indicate your interest by clicking here.

But back to numbers, my rudimentary math(s) and how you don't have to be Einstein to figure out the key indicators to keep an eye on when you are in the business of running successful ads.

Click-Through-Rate (CTR)

Yesterday I told you about ACoS, an important (but not critical) number that authors need to know in order to make a success of their writing career, especially when using the Amazon advertising platform.

We're looking at the fourth most important number today: Click Through Rate, more commonly referred to as CTR.

Your click through rate is calculated by the number of clicks an ad generates divided by the number of impressions it receives. In other words, it is the percentage of how many people who saw the ad for your book went on to click that ad.

Let's take a look at one of my ads. Since it started running in April 2018 this ad has received 3,732,593 impressions (yes, that's quite a lot). Out of all those impressions, the ad got 5,921 clicks.

To work out the CTR, we divide the amount of clicks by the number of impressions.

Clicks / Impressions = Click Through Rate

That gives us a result of 0.0016, which means that the lifetime CTR for that account is less than a quarter of a percent.

CTR is an important indicator for Amazon as to how relevant an ad is. If lots of readers who see the ad go on to click on it, it's not an unreasonable conclusion that there is congruence between what they are looking for and what your ad is offering them. Amazon looks for relevance as one of the key determinants (together with the amount that you are prepared to bid for a click) in deciding whether you will win the auction to have your ad shown and, if you do win, how prominently the ad will be displayed. On that basis, CTR is a good indication of how healthy your ad account is.

You may find that your own ads do a lot better than this example; some of my better-performing ones hover around the 2% and 3% mark, which means 2 or 3 out of every 100 people who see the ad end up clicking it.

But remember: so long as the ad is profitable, it's worth running.

And how do you work out if an ad is profitable? By calculating your Conversion percentage and your Return on Investment - the next two essential numbers I'll be covering over the next couple of days.

Want to learn how to advertise?

Ads for Authors is open now for another couple of weeks. Inside you''ll find spreadsheets that will calculate the most important advertising metrics for you, as well as ninja tips on how to effectively target new readers on Amazon, Facebook and BookBub.

You can learn more and register for the course here. If you have any questions as to your suitability for advertising, please email back and set out your circumstances. You'll get an honest recommendation.

Best wishes,

Mark

P.S. If you do not want to receive these Ads for Authors emails, please click this link and you'll be taken off this particular segment of our mailing list.

Hello from Salisbury,

Not everyone warms to marketing. Plenty of authors wish they could simply write their books and let somebody else take care of all the rest. Unfortunately, even traditionally published authors are often expected to handle their own promotion these days (despite the huge cut in royalties an author takes in exchange for the publisher's clout). So how can an author earn good royalties and avoid doing their own marketing? That's where somebody like Nicholas Erik comes in.

Nicholas is an author of science fiction and urban fantasy, with over twenty books under his belt. He also works with lots of successful indie authors, running their ad campaigns and other marketing so that they can concentrate on what they do best: writing more books. Of course, working with a marketing consultant/manager isn't for everyone. Authors often need a sizeable backlist in order to turn a profit.

There's plenty of actionable information in this episode even for those authors just dipping their toes into marketing, however. Nicholas goes into the differences between deploying Facebook and Amazon ads to sell books (how they spend your money, for example), as well as targeting strategies when you exhaust your existing audience.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on Amazon Music."

New Course: How to Revise Your Book

We launched a brand new course this week - How to Revise Your Book, with editing guru Jennie Nash. Take your book from good to great by identifying narrative issues with your manuscript, eliminating typos, and writing sensational sentences.

You can learn more and register by clicking here. Remember: there''s a 14 day guarantee, so if you don''t think the course is right for you, we''ll give you your money back - no questions asked.

SPF Blog

As authors, we all make mistakes. but it's often learning from those mistakes that separates the bestselling authors from those who give up. Plus, publishing is an ever-changing industry - even established authors have to course-correct sometimes. From not checking the competition to misunderstanding business models, you can read about five of the most common indie author mistakes by clicking here.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

It's not just about the course.

In addition to forty hours of high quality content in Ads for Authors, I've added a suite of bonuses to the program. I'm pitched a lot of content by third parties in the hope that I'll offer them to students and. this isn't that.

I only recommend the best stuff, and that means it is almost always a service or product that I use and can stand behind.

These bonuses will be delivered to every Ads for Authors student (past and present):

• $50 OFF the standard price of our Cover Design for Authors Course by Stuart Bache, the designer of book art for multiple bestsellers - including mine.
• PRO BOOK COVER DESIGNS by Stuart: discount worth over $100 for ebook design, Facebook ad images and 3D packshot package
• Discounted membership for an annual plan with BOOKFUNNEL, the popular eBook distribution service (worth $50)
• Discount (40%) worth up to $199 for ProWritingAid, the premium grammar checker and style editor

• Get $10 OFF a Book of the Day ad with book promotion service BOOKSENDS
• Secure a $120 discount on the annual plan for READERLINKS, the impressive data dashboard created by indie authors for indie authors
• BOOK BRUSH: 15% DISCOUNT on the ANNUAL PLAN FOR LIFE! This amazing service makes creating professional ad and social media images for your book campaigns an absolute breeze - worth $15 a year for as long as you subscribe
• FREE EBOOKS: from The Alliance of Independent Authors - practical and genuinely useful guides on self publishing services and selling publishing rights (worth $25)

• TWO great offers from the team at PUBLISHDRIVE with 50% off the first two months of their ebook distribution service (worth up to $100) and a free month (worth $7) with ABACUS, their ace royalty-splitting tool
• We also have THREE fantastic options to create a professionally produced, engaging and marketable AUTHOR WEBSITE at DEEPLY DISCOUNTED PRICES (one discount is worth $1000).
• And more.

At least $1600 in bonuses if you sign up to the course before we close the doors on Wednesday.

Selected with care, and delivered with my best wishes.

Click here to join Ads for Authors and take your author career to the next level.

Best wishes,

Mark

P.S. If you do not want to receive these Ads for Authors emails, please click this link and you'll be taken off this particular segment of our mailing list.

Hello from Salisbury,

I first came across Prestozon almost four years ago - around the time that the company was first founded. The service was originally designed by the founders as a way to automate and simplify their own experience of selling product through Amazon Ads - little did they know they'd stumbled across a product in its own right. And now it's a viable tool for indie authors - so viable, in fact, that we've added a mini-course about it to Ads for Authors.

Dierk Demers has been with Prestozon for about eighteen months, and he came on the Self Publishing Show to explain how ad automation can improve your Amazon Ads and save you a lot of time (and a lot of headaches). The Amazon Ads platform is of incredible use to indie authors, but it's not the best platform for transparency and optimisation (even before you take into account the lack of page-read attribution). Prestozon can raise or decrease your bids according to your ACoS targets, move your keywords into different campaigns based on specific performance stipulations, and even tell you the specific search terms your customers are typing into the Amazon search bar.

It's a platform which probably requires some prior knowledge and benchmarking before jumping into, but for those making a decent income through Amazon Ads it's well worth considering. Plus we have an exclusive discount offer for listeners of the show - tune in to get it.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service. And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you if you have the TuneIn skill installed - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on TuneIn."

Blog: Do Ads Work (And How Can You Tell?)

Do ads actually work? It's not an unreasonable question to ask - clearly I make money from advertising my books, but I've got a large back catalogue and a considerable budget to play with. What about somebody just starting out? Well, James and I recently took over the rights of a six-book series by Robert Storey through our new imprint, Fuse Books. Click here to find out how James got on.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

Well, here's a first. SPF is doing its very own Black Friday sales event!

We've bundled together three of our premium craft courses into one package that'll help make your books irresistible to readers. It includes:

How to Write a Bestseller - Let bestselling author Suzy K Quinn reveal the secrets behind writing a book that readers will love, from starting with a killer premise, title and tagline all the way to ensuring your prose keeps your readers glued to the page.

How to Revise Your Book - Take your book from good to great with our brand new course from author coach and editing guru, Jennie Nash. Identify structural issues, tidy up those typos and get your manuscript perfect before you hit publish.

Cover Design for Authors - Always make a great first impression with this course from Stuart Bache, a cover designer who's worked with Stephen King, John Le Carre. even me! Boost your book's market visibility and increase your sales, no matter your book's genre.

Buying all three courses separately would normally set you back $891. But for a limited time only, you can grab the Craft Course Triple Pack for just $399. That's 55% off!

And don't worry if you recently took advantage of our discounted How to Revise Your Book offer - if you want to upgrade, we'll send you a voucher so you only have to pay the difference.

The offer is available from now until December 1st. You can grab it by clicking the button below.

That's a tonne of content for an incredibly good price. If you've ever been on the fence about signing up to these craft courses, now's the perfect time.

Best wishes

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

It's all well and good me telling you how good Ads for Authors is. I'm completely biased and you should disregard my opinion entirely.

What do you do when you're choosing a new book on Amazon? If you're anything like me, you'll check out the reviews. Making a significant purchase like this should be no different. You need to get the thoughts of authors who have taken the course, and, to that end, I've shared video testimonials with plenty of writers on this page.

But most of those authors took the course a while ago.

Some of them - for a variety of reasons - aren't writing any more.

Wouldn't it be more relevant to get the thoughts of authors who signed up for the course during this launch period? Their views are fresh and they come to the content with various levels of expertise and experience.

I posted a question into the exclusive Mastery group - where authors are discussing the course and their early experiences right now - and asked students for first impressions of the education they're getting. I didn't try to influence their responses. There were no incentives to say nice things.

Here are the uncensored screengrabs of some of the responses.

Reviews from authors growing their mailing lists.

From those who had a little experience with ads.

.and those with no experience at all.

From the sceptics.

To the non-fiction authors.

And the first-time fiction writers.

I'll leave the last word to Gina.

What about you?

The course is only open until tomorrow. Registration closes at 11.59pm and won't open again until 2021. It's a significant investment, and I want you to make an informed decision as to whether or not it is right for you. There are some minimums that you'll need:

• Enough money to afford the course (which can effectively be had for $1.50 a day on the 24-month payment plan).

• Enough money to run your ads (start with $5 a day, with the idea that these quickly become self-funding).

• At least one book either written or nearly written. More books make it easier to turn a profit, but you might take the view that there's no reason to wait to learn something that is only getting more necessary, not less.

If you can tick those boxes, the next task is to work out whether this is the course for you. I've invited individual questions as to your suitability - or otherwise - throughout this launch. I do not want you to sign up if it's obvious you're not ready. You'll have a bad experience and that's no good to anyone. I'm pretty well known for delivering a straight-up assessment and I'll make the same offer again; if you're not sure if you are a good fit, email me back with your circumstances and I'll let you know what I think.

If you want to get real-time answers to your questions, then click the chat box at the bottom right of the registration page here. I'll be there along with members of the team until tomorrow to address queries and issues.

Or you can sidestep me completely and investigate yourself. You can sign up today and you'll get the entire course - all forty hours of it - for a whole month. Dig into the lessons, start to run ads, enjoy the camaraderie in the Mastery group, dig into the new Ads Automation module coming this week. and then make up your mind. You might think that that's a risky proposition for us, but I'm comfortable with making the offer. Our refund rate is low - I like to think that's because people get great value from the course and choose not to ask for their money back. You might disagree with that and, if you do, just email within the first thirty days and you'll be refunded.

Ads for Authors closes tomorrow, Wednesday, at 11:59pm. Here''s the link to join.

Best wishes,

Mark

P.S. If you do not want to receive these Ads for Authors emails, please click this link and you'll be taken off this particular segment of our mailing list.

Hello from Salisbury,

If 2020 has taught us anything, it's that factors outside of our control can all too easily get in the way of our writing. Our guest on the Self Publishing Show this week has never had any doubt that the blood of an author runs through her veins. yet even she has her own obstacles to contend with.

Kristina Adams wrote her first crime story when she was seven and subsequently did a BA and Masters in Creative Writing. The course's attitude towards self-publishing was, unsurprisingly, far from encouraging, but Kristina chose to go that route upon realising it meant writing and releasing books more quickly (not to mention keeping more of the royalties). Her first book launched in 2016 to modest sales; her sequel, unfortunately, did worse. But she kept at it, and by the time she released the fourth book in her series, sales started to take off.

Thanks to her perseverance (not to mention a little help from a couple of SPF courses!), Kristina is now comfortably self-employed as a full-time indie author. She's on the show to talk about her popular blog, The Writer's Cookbook, as well as tips on how to keep going as a writer even when struggling from physical or mental health issues (or anything else life happens to throw at you). She's even giving away a free book, Productivity for Writers, to every listener. Tune in to find out more.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on Amazon Music."

SPF Blog

Motivation comes and goes for creative people, especially in a turbulent year like 2020. And true inspiration can be even rarer - most writers get the words down not because of fluke strikes of literary lightning, but because they force themselves to sit down and get the job done. Here are a few ways to continue being productive even when you don't necessarily feel like it.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

If you're on the fence about signing up to the Self Publishing 101 course, you might want to make a decision soon. We're officially closing the doors at midnight tonight, and then you won't get another chance to register until at least March next year.

As I mentioned in a previous email, the 101 course is suitable for all authors regardless of which genre they write in. It won't teach you how to write your book, but it will help you build the foundations every indie author needs in order to make a career out of their writing. Whether you write fantasy or romance or non-fiction, the fundamentals are the same.

You won't be on your own once you sign up, either. You get access to our Genius Facebook group full of like-minded authors at different stages of their own careers, who are all more than happy to help guide each other towards success. And of course, you can always reach out to Team SPF if you run into any technical difficulties with the course itself.

We introduced a new payment option earlier this year to make the course even more affordable. You can now sign up by paying:

• A single one-off payment of $597;
• 12 monthly payments of $59; or
• 24 monthly payments of $29.

And remember: there's a 30 day money-back guarantee. You get full and instant access to the entire 101 course the second you sign up, even with the $29 a month option. So if you sign up and decide the course isn't for you within those first thirty days, we'll give you a full refund - no questions asked.

That's how confident I am in the 101 course. I offer that guarantee to all new students, but very few ever take me up on it. If you're serious about your writing, I don't think you will either.

You don't need to be a technical whizz or have any prior marketing experience - I certainly didn't when I first started - just the right knowledge and the right attitude.

Click the button below to learn more.

If you've got any questions at all about Self Publishing 101, please don't hesitate to reply to this email. My team and I are standing by to help. We'll always give you our honest opinion - if we don't think you're ready for the course, we'll tell you.

Best wishes

Mark

PS: If you don''t want to receive emails about 101, please click this link and you will be removed from that part of our mailing list.

Hello from Salisbury,

In my last email I said that advertising was no longer a luxury for indie authors. It's true - releasing a book without any fanfare and promotion is almost guaranteed to send it sinking to the bottom of the charts. There are over eight million other books on Amazon, so that's a lot of sinking.

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm on course for my best ever month in May. I've had a new release, which certainly helps, but the rest of the sales are of backlist titles and have been driven by advertising. I usually advertise the first book in my Milton series and the first box set; I do that because I know that readers are more likely to prefer to start with the first book in a series and, if they enjoy that book, they are likely to 'readthrough' into subsequent books. It's not essential to have more than one book to make ads work, but it does make it easier.

My ad budget has been split between Amazon and Facebook this month. I thought I'd show you what that looks like: I'll look at Amazon today and then Facebook tomorrow.

My Amazon Advertising in May

My ad spend has been split between the United Kingdom, United States, Germany and France. Most of my ads are of the sort that everyone can access through their KDP dashboard: Sponsored Product ads bidding on keywords so that when someone types a certain phrase into the Amazon search bar - "Thriller," for example - my books are shown to them in the search results or on the product page of the book that they end up looking at.

At the time of writing, here are my results for May:

Spent: $12,235

Copies sold: 2023

Revenue: $10,115

You'll notice, no doubt, that it looks like I made a loss on those ads.

Not so fast!

Remember what I told you about readthrough. I know that I make more than just the revenue generated by the sale of the book that I am advertising as readers buy subsequent books. In fact, my calculations suggest that each sale of the first book in the series is worth north of $10, and certainly much more than the 70% of the $2.99 retail price (and the same is true of the $7.99 box set).

Let's use a conservative value of $10 for each sale of the advertised book and look at what happens to the numbers:

Spent: $12,235

Copies sold: 2023

Revenue: $20,230

That is a Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) of 1.65. In other words, I spent just over $12k to make just over $20k, and a profit of around $8k.

Some additional points of note:

• You don't have to spend huge amounts of money. Advertising doesn't have to be expensive. I always recommend starting out only with what you can afford and then scaling up from there. That's how I did it when I started taking my author career seriously. As little as $5 a day can put you on the right track.

• You don't need a ton of books to make an ad profitable. For example, one of my better ads this month is an automatically targeted Sponsored Product ad that has spent $328 and made $549. That's not unusual.

• I run dozens of ads, but I would recommend that beginners start with just three: an automatic ad and then two manual ads that are used for research and performance. I'll go into more detail on that in the course.

The NEW Amazon Ads for Authors

We've had a very popular Amazon Ads module in the course for a couple of years now. I'm always looking to make things better and, with that in mind, when the Amazonian who was responsible for running the ad product for authors said that she would be able to put a course together for us. well, I jumped at the chance.

Janet Margot had been a friend of mine for several years and she has built an incredibly detailed blueprint that shows you exactly how to use the Amazon ads products that are available to authors and then how to optimise them for best performance. It's an extensive course - the deepest that I've seen on the market - and I'll be popping up to add in my experience and some tips and tricks that I have deployed to help make this such a profitable platform.

It was a big course before and now it's positively huge, and full of secrets you won't learn anywhere else.

We're talking everything from the difference between Sponsored and Lockscreen Ads, to developing an advertising strategy that's right for you, to housekeeping and controlling costs, to advanced tricks and upcoming advertising options. Anything worth learning about how to master the world's largest retail search engine is in there, from a teacher who knows her stuff.

It's also worth mentioning that all students who have previously enrolled in Ads for Authors - and there are over 10,000 of them now - get this new course for free. One of the things that I have always insisted upon is that Ads for Authors alumni get future updates and additions for free. That will continue as we anticipate adding more to this particular course in the next six months as new features and products are made available to authors.

Want to Learn How To Automate Your Ads?

I spend around thirty minutes a day on monitoring and optimising my ads, and I'm in the process of adding some automation into the mix with the guys from Prestozon. They have a nifty piece of software that will take some of the tweaking out of my hands, adjusting the amount I am prepared to spend for a click and harvesting the best performing keywords so that they can be plugged into 'performance' campaigns that generate the most significant profits. We are going to be adding a module to the Ads for Authors course showing how you can use Prestozon to optimise your ads on autopilot. More on that soon.

Ready to use Amazon ads in your business?

With more people reading right now than ever, and with Amazon still the number one online retailer, there's no better place to advertise your books. Your audience is already online with the intention of downloading a new book - with the right know-how, you can make sure it's one of yours.

Best wishes,

Mark

P.S. If you do not want to receive these Ads for Authors emails, please click this link and you'll be taken off this particular segment of our mailing list.

Hello from Salisbury,

Just a quick reminder that we're running a free webinar on how to get your first (or next) ten book reviews tonight - easily, ethically and effectively. It's proven to be very popular when we've run in the past and we expect tonight to be no exception - you can register to attend here.

(And don't worry if spaces fill up or you can't make it - everyone who registers for the webinar will receive a replay via email in the next few days.)

That's 9pm UK time, 4pm New York, 1pm Los Angeles, or 6am tomorrow morning for anyone planning to join us from Sydney!

Of course, the webinar will also conclude with a fairly extensive Q&A session with James and me - if you've got questions about any aspect of self-publishing, this is the perfect chance to ask them.

This is normally content we'd cover exclusively in the Self Publishing 101 course, but anyone interested in indie publishing is welcome to attend - no strings attached. I look forward to you joining us tonight.

Best wishes

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

It's usually advisable that indie authors, especially when first starting out, focus on just one or two forms of social media when growing and engaging with their fanbase - otherwise they run the very real risk of being overwhelmed. There's only so much time one can spend not writing, after all. I personally dedicate that time to Facebook and Twitter, but many in the indie community - including Stuart Grant and Cecelia Mecca, to name just a couple - find Instagram just as valuable for reaching new readers.

Our guest on the Self Publishing Show this week, Hanna Sandvig, joined Instagram about eighteen months before her first book even came out - as an illustrator, she thought she could use maps and drawings about her upcoming book to generate interest. Though her eventual launch was modest, her sales (and newsletter subscribers) came entirely from Instagram, and she's continued to sell books whenever she posts.

Now Hanna has written a book, Instagram for Fiction Authors, to help other writers make the most of the platform. From keeping posts on-topic and establishing a brand, to identifying your audience on Instagram and using the right hashtags, to getting people with over 50,000 followers to post about your book - this week's episode has a lot to offer even established authors, too.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on Amazon Music."

New Course: How to Revise Your Book

You don''t have long left to grab our brand new How to Revise Your Book course at a discount - down from $297 to just $197.

You can learn more and register by clicking here. Remember: there''s a 14 day guarantee, so if you don''t think the course is right for you, we''ll give you your money back - no questions asked.

SPF Blog

Few authors expect their first book to be an overnight success, catapulting them to literary stardom and bestseller riches. Most see writing as a marathon, not a sprint - their writing improves with every book, and so does their income. With that in mind, here are a few ways to ensure that you writing career survives in the long-term.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

One of the biggest dilemmas for new authors is how to get reviews. It can be a little disappointing to see established names receiving hundreds if not thousands of positive reviews within weeks and months of launching a new book, when it seems impossible to even get one or two decent reviews for one's own novel.

It's a conundrum, all right - how do you get reviews if you're not selling any books, when you can't sell any books without at least some positive reviews?

Good news. I know plenty of ways you can break that sales-review cycle, and they're all easy, ethical and effective.

Normally this content would be covered inside our Self Publishing 101 course, but we're holding an exclusive webinar in which I'll teach you all these methods and techniques completely free - no strings attached. All you need to do is register here.

We'll be going live at 9pm on Tuesday 29th September (UK time), which is 4pm New York and 1pm Los Angeles (or 6am Sydney time the next day!). Make sure you get there early - these webinars tend to hit maximum capacity not long after we start.

Best wishes

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

I've often been asked if I would put together a course focussing on the craft of writing. I'm fairly confident in my ability to tell a story, but I've always preferred teaching about the marketing side of the business myself.

That's why we got Suzy K Quinn to create our How to Write a Bestseller course instead.

Suzy is another internationally bestselling author, one who has achieved great success through both traditional and self-publishing avenues. She's sold three quarters of a million books worldwide in seven different languages.

One of the reasons why Suzy has been so tremendously successful is that she knew how to craft a bestseller before she even put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard).

She didn't just write whatever story she wanted and then hope that the publishers - not to mention her readers - would gobble it up. Suzy considered what her audience was looking for, and went from there.

But enough from me. I'll let Suzy introduce herself. Click the link below to watch the very first session from our Bestseller course, where she does just that.

Intrigued? I hope so. The course is absolutely fantastic, and I can't wait to share more details with you about what bestseller secrets you'll find inside. I''ll be back with a second email tomorrow.

Best wishes and stay safe,

Mark

P.S. If you''d like to unsubscribe from emails about our Bestseller course, just click here.

Hello from Salisbury,

There are two reasons why you might recognise our guest this week. He's the man behind the immensely popular 20Bookto50K writing community, and he's also the founder of LMBPN - a prolific indie publishing house with an output that beggars belief. It''s indie titan and friend of SPF, Michael Anderle.

We caught up with Michael way back towards the end of 2019, before the 20Books conference in Vegas (and before we knew what we'd got ourselves into hosting a live show of our own).

Michael Anderle started his writing career at a sprint - he wrote his first three books very quickly, and quickly discovered that readers care more about a good story and loveable characters than they did his editing skills. Cut to a few years later, and his publishing company has released over 600 books. But whilst speed is still key, his strategy for rapid release has changed somewhat (now he's trialling releasing the box set first, then splitting the trilogy for individual release after).

And of course it would have been a missed opportunity if we hadn't questioned Michael on the future of acquisition and amalgamation in the indie industry. Don't miss this one!

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service. And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you if you have the TuneIn skill installed - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on TuneIn."

SPS Live: Digital Tickets

We might all be stuck indoors now, but you still have the opportunity to attend one of the year''s biggest indie author events (without leaving your home, of course). A digital ticket for all the SPS Live sessions - that''s hours of valuable content - costs only $25. You can grab one here.

Blog: How to Grow an Organic Twitter Following

Facebook might be far better place for authors to focus their advertising, but millions of potential readers still use Twitter as their social media platform of choice. This week's blog post will show you how to build a strong Twitter presence optimised for networking and keeping at the forefront of your readers' minds. Click here to read it.

Spotlight Podcast: Jeremy Spillman

Every week our Spotlight mini-podcast focuses on a different indie author, and every week we ask them the same five questions about their writing process. This week's guest is Jeremy Spillman, author of a music-themed western novel. You can listen to his episode here.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

There's a lot more to being an author these days than just writing a book. Even aside from running ads (which is a necessity now, rather than a luxury), there's editing, formatting, cover design, getting reviews, building a mailing list, delivering titles to your ARC team and generally promoting your book to the widest (but also precisely targeted) audience.

It's a lot to juggle. There are services and mediators who can help with a number of these tasks - BookFunnel and Reedsy, to name just a couple - but our guest this week, Evan Gow, has set up a one-stop shop for indie authors. From delivering reader magnets to organising newsletter swaps to distributing ACX and Findaway codes - if you want it, StoryOrigin seems to do it.

It's a considerable undertaking, even before taking into account that it's one Evan is doing single-handedly. I haven't used the StoryOrigin service myself so I can't officially recommend it, though his website looks very professional and his system for screening potential reviewers for genre suitability is certainly intriguing. It's definitely one to watch as the indie service industry continues to grow. especially as all its features are currently free to use.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service. And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you if you have the TuneIn skill installed - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on TuneIn."

SPS Live: Digital Tickets

We might all be stuck indoors now, but you still have the opportunity to attend one of the year''s biggest indie author events (without leaving your home, of course). A digital ticket for all the SPS Live sessions - that''s hours of valuable content - costs only $25. You can grab one here.

Blog: UK or US English - Which Should You Use?

The US and the UK - as they say, two countries divided by a common language. The SPF Facebook community recently had a debate about which was the best for an author to use when writing for a global market, balancing authenticity for commercialism. In this week's article, Tom takes a look at some of the language decisions to consider. Click here to read it.

Spotlight Podcast: Jim Cliff

Every week our Spotlight mini-podcast focuses on a different indie author, and every week we ask them the same five questions about their writing process. Jim Cliff is under the spotlight this week - author of a number of detective fiction and non-fiction books. You can listen to his episode here.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

The publishing industry is no stranger to collaborations - it takes more than just an author to get a book ready for market, after all. Plenty of writers have teamed up to tell stories they might not wish to tackle alone or, in James Patterson's case, simply haven't got the time to write. The self-publishing industry is no different, with entire fictional universes being born from indie author collaboration.

Daniel Willcocks is a "dark fiction" writer who has tapped into numerous genres, predominantly horror, and is also one of the founders of the Other Stories podcast. He's no stranger to teaming up with other writers - he's written with Michael Anderle, J. Thorn and Luke Condor, to name a few - enough that he's written a book all about his experiences: Collaboration for Authors.

He's on the Self Publishing Show this week to discuss both his own books (and the strategies he takes with them - understanding tropes, deploying Amazon Ads, etc) and the positives and pitfalls of writing stories set in another author's world, from understanding characters that aren't you own, to negotiating royalty splits, to sharing readerships, to finding the right kind of authors to work with.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service. And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you if you have the TuneIn skill installed - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on TuneIn."

Free Webinar: The Three Secrets of Bestselling Books

Want to learn how to write a bestseller? Suzy K Quinn and the team over at Teachable are hosting a free, online webinar all about the three secrets behind writing a book that readers will love. It''s on Wednesday 21st July at 2pm Eastern Time/ 11am Pacific Time.

You can register your interest in the webinar here.

Blog: How to Stay Productive Working From Home

Even months after lockdown first went into effect around the world, many of us are still largely stuck working from home and minimising the time we spend out and about. Yet despite spending more time in close proximity to our computers, it can be harder than ever to actually get the words down - too many distractions, be they Netflix or small children. Here are some tips on how to stay productive while isolating.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

One of the highlights of the year (there have been one or two, despite the circumstances!) being asked to appear as a judge in the annual Kindle Storyteller competition. Thousands of authors submit their books between May and September each year - five of these are shortlisted, and only one can be the winner. The quality of these books is always impeccable, and the winner always deserving.

Our guest on the Self Publishing Show this week is Anna McNuff, who won the 2020 Kindle Storyteller award with her non-fiction book, Llama Drama. Anna used to have a corporate marketing job but realised what she really wanted was to travel. Taking an extra job and saving up for nine months straight, she could finally afford the trip of a lifetime - a six month, 11,000 mile bicycle ride across every state in America!

Anna has taken plenty of other trips since then, many of which have inspired non-fiction books (and a few children's adventure books are in the pipeline, too!). Far from a broke ex-marketer, her income is now entirely a product of her travelling and writing, from books to guest speaking to brand deals. Llama Drama, based on her trip from Bolivia to the southernmost point of South America, is a delightful read, and Anna makes for a brilliant guest.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on Amazon Music."

SPF Blog

2020 put a stop to all but a few writing conferences around the world (SPS Live seems like a lifetime ago!). Hopefully next year will allow the indie community to get together again, because there are plenty of networking events around the world that prove endlessly useful for authors. From 20Books to London Book Fair, here are just a few of them.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

I've always wanted to be an author. I've always wanted to be a bestselling author, too.

It's not easy, of course. If it were, everyone would do it. Nobody said writing a bestselling novel would be a walk in the park. but with our new How to Write a Bestseller course, climbing to the top of the charts just became that little bit easier.

Suzy K Quinn is another bestselling author. Whilst I revel in teaching the marketing side of the business, Suzy enjoys the craft side - in particular, unlocking the secrets of writing a bestselling novel. You can sell a book with a great cover and a snappy blurb, but it's your writing and your storytelling that will keep readers coming back for more.

In other words, don't leave your writing career to chance. Learn how to craft believable characters, compelling narratives and addictive prose that will keep your readers turning page after page. And before all that - learn what your readers are looking to buy in the first place.

Think of it like baking a birthday cake. It's all well and good knowing what cake you want to make. Learning which ingredients to put into it will certainly help make it a tasty one. But wouldn't everything go a lot easier if you knew what the person receiving the cake was actually hungry for before you dived into the kitchen?

It's a great course and we want to get the word out, so those who enrol now can take advantage of our Early Bird offer - $100 off the regular price. That means it's only $197 as a single payment or twelve payments of $21 a month. As usual, you get lifetime access. But hurry - this opening discount won't last forever.

You can sign up to our How to Write a Bestseller course here.

We look forward to seeing you inside!

Best wishes and stay safe,

Mark

P.S. If you''d like to unsubscribe from emails about our Bestseller course, just click here.

Hello from Salisbury,

Simon McCleave is no stranger to writing - even before he turned his hand to novels, Simon was reading, developing and eventually penning scripts for the BBC. But he grew disillusioned with the unforgiving process - when you're writing for pre-plotted British soaps like Eastenders and The Bill, the writers are at the bottom of the pile - and he gave up writing in order to teach.

Of course, Simon couldn't stay away forever. Having moved from South London to Snowdonia (Wales), he wrote a book about a policewoman who made the same move for a quieter life only to discover it much less tranquil than expected. A couple of agents he'd stayed in touch with told him "not at the moment", but he came across a certain podcast and started learning everything he could about self-publishing.

It would be an understatement to say that Simon's first year has gone well. Having taken both our 101 and Ads for Authors courses, Simon waited until he was writing book 3 in his series before releasing anything. He first pressed publish back in January and has his eighth book coming out next month, but he's already sold 125,000 copies (plus seen about as many downloads through Kindle Unlimited). Regional crime fiction is very big right now - it'll be interesting to watch Simon McCleave's career grow from here.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on Amazon Music."

Self Publishing 101

One of the courses Simon took to supercharge his indie career has just opened its doors to new students. Learn how to build your author platform and get setup for an indie career selling your books with Self Publishing 101.

You can read more about the course and watch testimonials from more of our successful students here.

Free Live Training

Getting your first reviews is a challenge. It''s also a chicken and egg situation - reviews lead to sales but it''s sales that lead to reviews. So how do you start garnering genuine reviews for your first book? On Tuesday 29th September I''ll be teaching exactly that, going through a number of methods that have served me well through the years. You need to register in advance to join us and places are limited to 1,000.

Sign up here.

SPF Blog: Treat your Indie Career as a Business

It's easy for authors to forget that they're running a business. They write all day alone, and then they often do all their marketing alone, too. Mindset and experience can be all that stand between a hobby and a full-time living (plus some good books, of course) - here's how to start treating your writing as a business.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

We've got a fan-favourite author back on the Self Publishing Show this week - former police sergeant and now indie advisor, Patrick O'Donnell. You might remember that we interviewed Patrick at the 20Books conference in Vegas this time last year when he was on the cusp of retiring. We thought we'd catch up with him (virtually this time, of course) and see how his new life advising authors is working out for him.

Patrick's an author in his own right, of course, but he's also the man behind the Facebook group Cops and Writers - a community in which authors can ask questions about law enforcement and detective work and get accurate answers from people who've actually worked in the field. Patrick was a sergeant, but there are cops from all around the world in there, as well as attorneys and detectives.

For those of you who write thrillers, mysteries and other crime-related genres, Patrick's insight is invaluable. Tune in to learn more about the FBI's relationship with local law enforcement, the role detectives actually play, and his new book, Crime Scenes and Investigations. as well as some fascinating anecdotes from Patrick's time on the force.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on Amazon Music."

SPF Blog

Indie authors are primarily successful in the online bookselling arena and are making great strides in audiobook production, too. Yet few of us have managed to dominate print and get out books into stores, despite the possible royalties and increased exposure. Click here for some of the ways to get your book ready for physical bookstores.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

Ads for Authors opens for the tenth time tomorrow evening. More than 6,000 students have passed through our digital doors in the years since I first launched the course. Many have seen not just increased book sales, but such great success that they've been able to quit their nine-to-five jobs and focus on writing full time.

I can tell you from experience, there's no better feeling.

In my last email I introduced you to two authors absolutely killing it with Amazon and Facebook Ads: Lucy Score and Shayne Silvers. But they write in two very popular genres - Romance and Urban Fantasy. What if your books belong on the science fiction, non-fiction, or historical fiction shelves, for example?

What if you write kids books?

Or horror?

Or fantasy?

Or erotica?

Or sweet romance?

Or young adult?

Or legal thrillers?

And more.

No matter what genre you write in, the lessons taught in the Ads for Authors course are the right fit for you. I can say that with total confidence because of the sheer range of students singing its praises in our testimonial videos.

Want to meet some of our students and hear what they've got to say? You can do so here.

Eileen Coleman markets her husband's horror novels.

Marc Reklau is making a great living selling self-help non-fiction books.

And Octavia Randolph writes niche Scandanavian historical sagas, and what she's learned in the Ads for Authors course has given her a six-figure annual income.

I'll be back tomorrow with a full rundown of everything you can expect to find in the Ads for Authors curriculum (plus some bonus content, too).

Best wishes,

Mark

P.S. If you do not want to receive these Ads for Authors emails, please click this link and you'll be taken off this particular segment of our mailing list.

Hello from Salisbury,

If you've been keeping up with my emails the past few days, you'll know that I'm breaking down the top five most important numbers an indie author advertiser needs to know.

So far, we've looked at your Average Cost of Sale (ACoS), your click-through rate and your conversion rate.

If you're following along with your own ads, you should know by now how many people who see your ad go on to click it, and how many who click it go on to buy your book. But whilst all this information is useful for deciding if you should keep an ad running, there's another number that's even more important - your Return on Investment (ROI).

That's the second most important number (although I'd certainly entertain an argument that it is the most important).

To figure out what the ROI of your ad is, follow this simple formula:

(Revenue - Cost) / Cost = Return on Investment

To demonstrate how that works, let's look at that ad of mine that we've been examining in this series. You'll remember that I spent $1,441 to 3,732,598 impressions and 5,921 clicks. I'll use an ad from the same ad account we used for the CTR and Conversion examples. I made $4,123 (minus Amazon''s 30% take, of course) from an overall ad spend of $1,441.

First we have to calculate revenue minus cost.

A revenue of $4,123 minus a cost of $1,441 equals $2,682. So now the formula looks like this:

$2,682 / $1,441 = 1.86

A figure of 1.86 might look low, but it actually means tells me that the lifetime ROI of my ad is an excellent 86%. In other words, I make $1.86 for every $1 I spend on that ad. It's not the 400% ROI some authors saw in yesteryear (nor is it the best performing ad I have running right now), but it would certainly be a mistake to shut it down.

So if Return on Investment is the second most important number, what's the first? Well, I mentioned it as a key metric for defining which of your ads are working or not all the way back in my first email about calculating your ACoS - it's your all-important readthrough. I'll be back with more on that tomorrow.

Best wishes,

Mark

P.S. If you do not want to receive these Ads for Authors emails, please click this link and you'll be taken off this particular segment of our mailing list.

Hello from Salisbury,

I've heard this line quite a few times when talking about the importance of advertising as an indie author these days: "That's all well and good, but I don't have the sort of budget you do." And that's a fair response - I sell a lot of books, so I have a bigger marketing budget to play with. But that wasn't always the case. I first started with an ads budget of $5 a day, and recommend that new authors do the same.

James and I recently launched our publishing imprint, Fuse Books, taking control of the marketing for all six Ancient Origins books by Robert Storey. The books had no advertising running to them in 2019, which provided us a really good benchmark on which to base our ads' performance. And with Fuse Books having a much more limited budget than my own, this made the Ancient Origins series a great way to demonstrate advertising from a beginner level.

(And you won't find a much bigger beginner than James.)

In this episode of the Self Publishing Show, we also cover the importance of calculating readthrough (especially when working out if an ad is effective or not), the difficulty of scaling Amazon ads, finding the right keywords, and why it's essential to calculate your profit versus advertising spend. plus all the usual banter, of course.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service. And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you if you have the TuneIn skill installed - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on TuneIn."

Ads for Authors is Now Open

Speaking of advertising, our flagships Ads for Authors course is now open to new students. We just added a massive, brand-new course on Amazon Ads by Janet Margot - an ex-Amazonian fresh from working behind the scenes at KDP - full of exclusive tips and strategies you find anywhere else. Click here to register and learn more.

Blog: Licensing Ideas for Authors

A few weeks ago we featured an article all about how to maximise merchandising opportunities for your author brand. This week we're extending that topic to cover licensing - from selling your movie rights to outsourcing translations to licensing graphics novels, board games and consumables. Click here to read it.

Spotlight Podcast: Karen Booth

Every week our Spotlight mini-podcast focuses on a different indie author, and every week we ask them the same five questions about their writing process. We put Karen Booth under the Spotlight this week - she's written 34 books in the Contemporary Romance genre. You can listen to her episode here.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

Our guest this week, Nicholas Kotar, is a full-time creative - in addition to writing novels, he conducts a men's choir, does speaking engagements, and can translate Russian (his first language) into English. But it's his approach to funding his books - epic fantasy inspired by Russian fairy tales - that's the focus of this week's Self Publishing Show.

Nicholas had tried a number of different approaches to see what did and didn't work with publishing when Prolific Works (Instafreebie at the time) approached him asking if he'd be interested in a pilot course for crowdfunding fiction. It was free, so why not?

It must have been good. When Nicholas came to set up a Kickstarter for his own book series, he set a target of $7,000. By the end, he'd raised over $25,000.

He walks us through how an author should approach Kickstarter (as much a pre-order/ bonus platform as a fundraiser), making goals affordable for your supporters, and why you should find an angle that focusses on the reader, rather than you as a writer. Of course, hopefully you won't need to put a $2,000 sword up for grabs.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service. And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you if you have the TuneIn skill installed - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on TuneIn."

SPS Live: Digital Tickets

We might all be stuck indoors now, but you still have the opportunity to attend one of the year''s biggest indie author events (without leaving your home, of course). A digital ticket for all the SPS Live sessions - that''s hours of valuable content - costs only $25. You can grab one here.

Blog: How to Write Faster First Drafts

We all wish we could write faster, if only so we can make every story rattling around in our brains a reality. Hearing about outliers who write a book or two a month can be disheartening for many just starting out, who may struggle to achieve more than one book a year. But never fret - here are just some of the ways you can motivate yourself and get those word counts climbing.

Spotlight Podcast: Michelle Medhat

Every week our Spotlight mini-podcast focuses on a different indie author, and every week we ask them the same five questions about their writing process. This week Tom asks the five questions to Michelle Medhat, who has written five books in the political espionage/sci-fi genres. You can listen to her episode here.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

Ads for Authors launches again tonight. You've heard me sing the praises of the three main courses you'll find inside (Facebook, BookBub and our brand-spanking new edition of Amazon Ads for Authors with Janet Margot, an ex-Amazonian with a lot of insider tips to spill). Before you sign up, let me introduce you to a couple of authors who have taken the course and gone on to achieve bestseller success as a result.

Lucy Score describes her writing journey before Ads for Authors as "rough". Her romance novels were selling but not in the numbers she would have liked, and she wanted to formulate a proper marketing plan.

After taking Ads for Authors, sales of her books immediately took off. She hit just over three quarters of a million dollars in 2018, then reached that target only seven months into 2019. Lucy has become one of the bestselling romance authors on Amazon, and I look forward to seeing how much her books bring in this year.

Then there's Shayne Silvers, who writes urban fantasy. Before taking the course, Shayne wasn't treating his writing like a business - he couldn't get his books in front of the right people. Some months he'd make $5 or $10. Within weeks of taking Ads for Authors, he was making five-figures per month - enough to quit his nine-to-five job and write full-time.

To paraphrase Shayne: "you can be the best writer in the world - if you don't get your books in front of the right people, you're not going to sell any."

I want to teach you the same advertising tips and tricks that I taught Lucy and Shayne - not to mention everything I've learned since. Neither of them had any prior marketing knowledge or deep pockets before they became indie superstars. There's no reason why, with the right knowledge and entrepreneurial spirit, you can't do the same.

Best wishes,

Mark

P.S. If you do not want to receive these Ads for Authors emails, please click this link and you'll be taken off this particular segment of our mailing list.

Hello from Salisbury,

Our guest this week, Vicky Fraser, has had a varied career - originally a Scenes of Crime officer, she then became a copywriter for a marketing agency before quitting to be a freelance writer. It was the right call - she's been writing for a living ever since. Not just from writing copy for corporate clients, either - she's also written a non-fiction book appropriately-titled: "How the Hell Do You Write a Book?"

Like any good copywriter, Vicky knows the importance of telling a story when writing about non-fiction topics. Stories help to increase reader engagement and the retention of that information. And that helps with any topic, no matter how dry - a client once wanted her to write a book about the benefits of recycling printer cartridges. As Vicky says: facts tell, but stories sell.

This episode has lots of other valuable information for every non-fiction writer out there (and fiction writers, for that matter): from working out what story it is you're telling (i.e. what your audience needs to hear or experience) to building a writing habit that makes it fun to write, no matter the topic.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service. And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you if you have the TuneIn skill installed - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on TuneIn."

Blog: Crafting an Effective Writer Identity

It's something touched upon briefly in our How to Write a Bestseller course - that being a successful author isn't all about writing talent (though that certainly helps). Approaching your writing habit with the right attitude and mindset can be a gamechanger when it comes to turning your hobby into a viable career. Click here for our article about crafting an effective writer identity.

Spotlight Podcast: Paul Stephenson

Every week our Spotlight mini-podcast focuses on a different indie author, and every week we ask them the same five questions about their writing process. Our final guest (for now, at least) is Paul Stephenson - he's written five novels in the horror and sci-fi genres. You can listen to his episode here.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

Today's the day - Ads for Authors opens for registration at 10pm tonight.

It's an incredibly deep learning experience that will show you everything you need to know to advertise your books and reach readers. It's thorough - there are more than fifty hours of content - and it will take you through how and why you should advertise. It runs the gamut from basic set-up to deep mastery that will enable you to find readers, sell books and really build your author business.

Why choose Ads for Authors? After all, there are other courses on the market. You've probably seen some of them. I get the emails, too. If I got a penny every time a "guru" offered me a "secret" hack that would take me from zero to hero then I'd be a very rich man.

There are hacks and ninja tips in the course that will deliver quick wins, but that's not the point of Ads for Authors.

Building your business on short-term tricks isn't sustainable.

The really successful authors - and you've seen testimonials from many who have taken the Ads course over the last few years - don't rely on ethically dubious tactics to shortcut their way to success. That's a sure way to getting into hot water with Amazon or Facebook or whoever it is that they're trying to take advantage of.

I'll show you some cool strategies that will lead to easy wins, but again - that's not the point.

Beginners look for hacks. Experts will use the hacks, but they know that short term tactics date fast.

And the thing that doesn't date?

A deep and thorough mastery of the fundamentals. That's timeless, and it's what I will teach you in the course.

What You'll Find Inside Ads for Authors

I've already told you what to expect from our core courses - Facebook, BookBub, and our brand-new Amazon modules with Janet Margot, an ex-Amazonian who worked behind the scenes at KDP and has plenty of exclusive secrets to spill.

Three online platforms with unparalleled marketing access to readers hungry for new books.

But you get a whole lot more than that when you sign up to Ads for Authors.

You also get enrolled in "How to Write Better, Simpler Ads" by blurb guru Bryan Cohen, in which you'll learn how to make your ad copy as snappy as possible.

You get "Ad Design for Authors" by Stuart Bache, who has designed book covers for authors including Stephen King and John Le Carr? (and me).

Ads for Authors grants you access to our Mastery Facebook group filled with other authors willing to share tips of what's working for them.

And then, of course, there's the SPF University - a compendium of webinars and lectures, regularly updated with in-depth teachings from bestselling authors and industry experts.

Plus you get a load of bonus offers from premium services, too - from discounts on cover design and formatting to services such as Pro Writing Aid, Book Brush and Prolific Works.

I'll be back in touch tonight when the course officially opens, but, in the meantime, if you have any questions about the course or if you're unsure whether it is right for you at this stage of your career, then please email back. I guarantee you'll get a careful and honest appraisal - I'm well known for telling people who would like to buy the course that they might be better to wait, and I'll extend the same courtesy to you.

Back later.. we're just applying the final spit and polish.

Best wishes,

Mark

P.S. If you do not want to receive these Ads for Authors emails, please click this link and you'll be taken off this particular segment of our mailing list.

Hello from Salisbury,

I'm sure it comes as no surprise that books are far from the first medium to be widely self-published - movies, video games and music have been championing indie creatives for years. But there's one product almost everybody in the world has somewhere in their house (or their parents' house), which you may not know started out entirely self-published too.

Pictionary.

Rob Angel is with us on the Self Publishing Show this week to discuss the origins of one of the bestselling board games of all time, from its humble beginnings as a made up game between friends in the 80s, to assembling the first set of 1,000 boxes by hand and taking them from store and store, all the way to eventually selling the rights to it to gaming powerhouse Mattel back in 2001. There's a real sense of entrepreneurial belief behind Rob's inspiring story about overcoming obstacles, especially when he declines a deal from a different (and also massive) game distributor because they couldn't promise not to mess with the product that he knew would be a global success.

And now Rob has now turned that story into a new self-published creation - a book about his experiences called "Game Changer". It's a great episode - don't miss it.

Watch the show on YouTube here, read the transcript here, or listen via your usual podcast service. And, don't forget, you can listen to the podcast on our SPF app, available for both iOS and Android devices. You can even ask Alexa to play it for you if you have the TuneIn skill installed - just say, "Alexa, play the Self Publishing Show on TuneIn."

Blog: AI Benefits for Authors

Artificial Intelligence - or at least, Machine Learning - is having a big effect on numerous industries, both positive and potentially negative. Luckily for authors, it's almost entirely the former. AI can help us write faster through dictation software or even record audiobooks using the voices of famous actors. Here are a few of the ways we can benefit from up-and-coming technology.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hello from Salisbury,

As you will recall from yesterday's email, my Ads for Authors course opens for the first time this year next week. I'm taking you on my usual tour of the main advertising platforms as we get ready to open the doors to more students. We looked at Amazon ads first, and doing things in that order was intentional. Amazon is the hottest platform at the moment, and I also wanted to let you know about the extensive new course that we have put together with Janet Margot. I think it's going to be the best in the world for authors, and I'm excited to share it with you.

But what about Facebook? It definitely shouldn't be seen as Amazon's poor cousin. FB was the platform that I mastered first and it is still - five years later - one of the fundamental tools in my advertising toolbox.

Indie authors should be using Facebook ads to do two things: build a mailing list of readers who love the sort of books they write, and selling their books to that same audience. In Facebook Ads for Authors, I'll teach you how to do both. From setting up a Facebook Page to putting together Lead Gen and Traffic ads, to monitoring your metrics and maintaining good mailing list hygiene - if it's something I've used to take my own career from humble beginnings to bestseller status, it's in there.

And that's just what you'll find in the regular Facebook course. There's an Advanced Facebook Ads for Authors course that covers the more complicated aspects of the platform - reader funnels, campaign budget optimisation, audience research, and more. All that's included in your enrolment and is being updated free of charge. You can expect new content to find its way into this course throughout the next few months.

My Facebook Ads in May

I showed you my spend and results on Amazon yesterday, so how have I been doing on Facebook?

Pretty well.

The pandemic has had a marked impact on the cost of clicks, with an average drop across all my campaigns of around 40%. Of course, the conversion % of those clicks (in other words, the number of people who buy relative to the number of people who click) has remained static at around 5% for ads on my $7.99 box set. It's possible to do better than that - I've managed around 15% before - but anything around that level with the cost of clicks remaining constant ought to mean those ads are profitable.

Facebook is constantly evolving, and the days of Interest targeting (sending ads to the fans of similar authors) might now be coming to a close. The algorithm is becoming extremely effective, and it is now possible to tell it to find the best ad from a variety of different creative combinations (ad copy and image) and then to test that winning ad in a number of different audiences. It will work out which combination works best in the most fertile audience and all you need to do is monitor sales to confirm that those cheap clicks are converting as you would like them to.

I've been sending ads to a 2m deep US lookalike audience all month and, in that time, I've spent $1800 for 8156 clicks at a cost of 22c per click. Those clicks have been converting at a decent rate and the ads have been profitable (nearly doubling my spend by way of return).

Facebook is also very effective in secondary markets. It's been responsible for the fast growth of my sales in Germany and I'm just getting around to sending traffic to the translations of my books in Spain and France. Clicks are cheap and the readers are just as hungry for new things to enjoy.

I'll be back tomorrow with a look at BookBub ads, and then, as we start the new week, I'll have further details on the course including all the content, the bonuses, the new 24-month payment plan and testimonials from alumni who have taken the course and used it to propel them to publishing success.

Best wishes,

Mark

P.S. If you do not want to receive these Ads for Authors emails, please click this link and you'll be taken off this particular segment of our mailing list.