What Does A Reader Cost Authors?

 

Customer acquisition cost. Return on investment. Vertical expansion prospects.

The financial industry has terms for everything, from new theories to well-established formulas and ratios, each one looking to help someone find a path to profitability. How much of these business theorems, truisms, or statistical formulas hold out to be true and applicable in the book world?

A customer (purchased reader) cost you what you spent on marketing divided by the number of books sold. Was it more than you made per book? Then you lost money. But can that reader lead to future riches?

Perhaps that reader will eventually buy your future books and/or prior ones. Maybe they will buy other products/services that you offer. Perhaps they will pay to attend one of your events. Now, we need to rejigger the cost — and pay-off — per reader.

How can you spend money on marketing?  

Easy, from advertising and paid book reviews to writer association memberships and book award submission fees, everyone has their hand in your pocket. Want your book displayed at a book fair? Need a publicist? Buying a media database? Ka-ching!

The questions to ask:

* What should I spend money on and why?

* What result do I hope to achieve, either short-term or long-term?

* What are my chances of success with this investment?

Sometimes, giving your book out for free can be a great way to gain readers and profits. Even paying people to have your book could be a worthwhile act. 

You can’t fully judge the efficacy of your book marketing strategy unless you have set goals and metrics by which to judge them. You will need to know what a reader is worth to you and then you can plan and act accordingly.

Need Book Marketing Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with 3.6 million page views, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!

 

About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.6 million pageviews. With 4,800+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and director of publicity positions at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.