Advertising on ugh, Meta
Still wrestling with the idea of advertising, to reach more people with A Speccy Man Has A Breakdown.
(This is a note to self, really, but I’m putting it here to hold myself accountable and transparent.)
I first started thinking about this particular ad campaign in May, not long after finishing the book but before anybody had actually seen it.
I created ads to run on ugh, Meta (specifically its Facebook and Instagram platforms). After running the ads briefly I paused to look at the numbers.
Meta claimed (in its advertising dashboard) to have sent 1,339 people to my website, but my own servers suggested that just eight had come from Facebook and Instagram. I sold one book during that period, which is either a terrible result (if 1,338 people decided against) or actually quite good. But I don’t know, because I have no idea whether that buyer came from Facebook / Instagram.
Part of the problem is that I refuse to install the Facebook surveillance code on my website (they call it a “pixel”, which sounds small and harmless). After all, I’m advertising a book about a mental-health crisis, and I don’t want to share with Meta the identity of people who click through to find out about that.
So I was advertising with one hand tied behind my back.
***
Since then, I’ve actually sent out the first books, and had a much better response than I could have imagined in May. Really, I feel very confident that this is a worthwhile book. I mean, you can see the responses yourself.
And a few weeks ago I spoke to an advertising expert, Marcus Hutchinson, who gave his time for nothing because that might lead to me paying him, which seems reasonable.
His advice was to edit the checkout in my shop, adding a question about how buyers heard about the book.
This seemed an excellent idea, and I quickly added that. But I haven’t done any more ads. It took me a huge amount of mental effort to do the first ones, and I just don’t like the idea. Maybe I’m being stupid.
It’s hard to run ads profitably, Marcus said, for low-cost items like books. I pointed out that my first-edition book costs £80.
Fine, he said, but when that sells out?
I can create a new hardback, signed like this one and delivered (like this one) with a signed art print. I could sell it for approximately the same price I first charged for the first edition: £45.
He sounded doubtful (this was on the phone) but said it might work. Then he did some sums in his head and told me that for every copy I sold I would give Meta approximately £10 to £15.
Business-wise, this makes sense. And if it gets my book into the right hands, that’s great.
But it sticks in the throat to give Meta any money at all. I loathe what that company has done.
***
In case you wonder why I still have an account on Facebook and Instagram, and why I continue to post things there, the answer is simple: sunk costs.
I set up my accounts a long time ago, I’ve put a lot of time and effort into both platforms, used to enjoy them, have met lovely people. It’s hard to walk away from all that. Cory Doctorow often puts it like this: Mark Zuckerberg owes his fortune to the fact that his users love each other more than they hate him.
-
If you have tips for other ways to reach a wider audience, please jp at this domain name.