The Super Bowl is upon us again. It is the 60th one — and it will likely be the most-viewed television event ever. Commensurate with the super ratings, pre-game advance media buzz, and post-game commercial reviews, buying ad time during the game is both prudent and a gamble for some companies.
On a much different scale, authors too, must decide if they should invest in advertising their books, and if so, with what sized budget and to what audience. Many ad opportunities do not pay off for authors.
Many writers lack a Super Bowl moment to advertise their book. There is no major event for the book world that is televised and captures tens of millions of viewers. Instead, authors mostly look to spend a few hundred or a few thousand dollars on pay-per-click ads on amazon, facebook, or google. Most authors waste their money.
Ads attempt to:
Sell some books, but many one-book authors do not come close to recouping their investment.
Seek to get the attention of not consumers, but of others, such as movie producers, publishers, or literary agents, but these ads do not do the trick. It is a longshot desperation reach.
Give some type of content away or call attention to a web site. That could work, but again, is there always pay-off? Not necessarily.
Get readers, even if the book is downloaded for free. Good. Maybe they will leave reviews or spread positive word of mouth on social media.
The four times that it definitely pays to advertise a book are the following:
1. When you have a series of books to sell. By advertising one, even at an initial loss, those who buy and enjoy your book will likely buy up your other books and maybe stay with you for future books.
2. When famous/successful people merely want to announce their newest book is out. The ad serves as an alert, and does not have to be persuasive.
3. When you want to promote the book as a loss leader, to help you sell other products or services that are money-makers.
4. If you are fortunate enough to have a timely, newsworthy, and relevant book. For instance, if you wrote about an event with an anniversary, or a famous person or institution, or something wildly popular, like AI, your ad may work well enough. But an ordinary romance novel or solo thriller will struggle.
Otherwise, stay away from investing in ads, dear author.
In 1967, when the first Super Bowl was played, covering the 1966 season, a 30-second TV spot cost $37,500. Now, granted with inflation and the growing popularity of the NFL, prices have gone up, but the premium commercial spots have fetched $10,000,000. That is about $333, 000 per second! Most spots this year sold for $8 million — up nearly than 15 percent from last year and 43 percent from 2022.
The available commercial time for the game is completely sold out. There are roughly 60 spots, so that means around a half-billion dollars will be spent by advertisers for the game. Advertisers are said to spend an equal amount on the production of the commercial. That means upwards of a billion dollars will be spent. No wonder why consumer prices keep going up. Consumers pay for those ad costs.
Do You Need Book Marketing Help?
Brian
Feinblum can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com He is available to help authors like you to promote
your story, sell your book, and grow your 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
This award-winning blog has generated over
5,600,000 page views. With 5,500+ posts over the past 14 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.” Copyright 2026.
For
the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He
formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the
head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the
director of publicity 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.
His
writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s
The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully). He was recently interviewed by the IBPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0BhO9m8jbs
He
hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and
has spoken at ASJA, BookCAMP, 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. He served as a judge for the
2024 IBPA Book Awards.
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.
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.
You
can connect with him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum/ or https://www.facebook.com/brian.feinblum
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