Book Advertising Pros and Cons: Does It Work?

Learn More About Book Ads Before You Dive In

Looking to learn more about how to advertise your book? It’s a topic that crosses many author’s minds, whether self-published or traditionally published. Book advertising programs can be stand-alone or combined with publicity campaigns to maximize visibility. 

The question is always, what’s the wisest investment of your book marketing dollar?

Book advertising is purchased media space to promote sales, and ads that sell books can appear in digital and traditional media. One of the pros of book advertising is controlling what is shown to readers and viewers. The best book ads have strong creative that often is developed by book advertising agencies.

Successful ads can provide a decent return on your investment, but a financial risk is involved because buying media can come at a steep price. If you plan to advertise a book, ensure you know what you’re doing and roll out your campaign over time based on results.

How Does Book Advertising Stack Up Against Publicity?

We think you’ll notice a difference when you compare the cost of book advertising versus publicity. Few book advertising firms can match our marketing programs at Smith Publicity. It’s because our campaigns are multi-faceted and jam-packed with exciting content.

Instead of buying book ads, we focus on earned media to reflect credit on you as the author and your book. While ads can be predictable, what we do is creative and often has a far more significant impact.

You also can place a book ad on social media. However, posting and contributing helpful content can be equally powerful. When authors communicate with their audiences in unpaid posts, people become interested naturally. It helps to promote book sales and downloads.

Advertising Books Gives You Control, But It’s Costly

In general, targeted, primarily online media buys, are best to achieve a positive return on investment. Yet some authors, including unknown ones, will buy a billboard or ad page in the book section of a media outlet. Before you start buying book ads, there are many things to consider.

• Will the ad cost outweigh the profits?
• Will I reach my target readers?
• How do I design my book ad?
• What if I advertise and don’t sell books?

Based on industry knowledge for self-published authors, it’s unlikely the profits from sales will cover the expense of buying ads. There is, however, an author branding benefit that may accrue from the visibility. You may realize some long-term benefits if your ad is well-produced and reaches the right people.

Advertising vs Publicity: What’s the Difference?

The key difference between the book marketing methods of advertising and publicity is control. When buying and writing ads, you have a complete say over when, where, and how your message will appear. With an earned media (publicity) approach, authors or publishers depend on media outlets to deliver the final messages to their target audiences.

When a journalist or blogger becomes interested in your work, they write a story that the public will read. Similarly, in a broadcast or podcast interview, a host can steer the discussion in various directions, all at their discretion.

Also, editors are above writers and journalists and can impact what is featured.

Ads Can Promote Titles, But What About Credibility?

One of the most vital concepts for any marketing program is credibility. Being viewed as a credible source or expert in your field is essential to people’s decision to buy or read your book. Therefore, earned (unpaid) media credits allowing you to say “seen on” or “featured in” are priceless.

The favorable media coverage generated by a publicity-driven book promotion campaign

can be a powerful driver of sales and visibility.

For example, let’s say a magazine and its website cover a specific topic, such as parenting. If your published work is about parenting, a story with your tips and advice is influential to readers.

However, if you only bought an ad in the same magazine, chances are the impact would be far less. The article gives you credibility because the reader can see the magazine thinks enough of you for inclusion in an article. The advertisement provides you exposure but lacks credibility.

To Advertise Books, Try These Online Media

If you are convinced you want to advertise your book, the list below includes online media where you can buy ads with a higher chance of profitability. Book advertising opportunities are numerous – pick carefully.

• Amazon: As the world’s largest and most influential bookselling platform, Amazon allows authors to advertise their books so they appear in selected search results. You can test and scale your buy with as little as $2. You’ll also receive insightful metrics that can serve as data to inform other marketing outreach.
• Bookbub: A free service that helps millions of readers discover books, Bookbub allows publishers and authors to drive sales and find new fans. Members receive deals on books and recommendations from people they trust. It also includes real-time updates from authors who are site favorites. You can buy self-serve display advertising to reach specific types of readers. Authors control ad design, timing, targeting, and how much they want to spend. Learn more here.
• Facebook: It enables authors to buy ads that target particular groups of people using some demographic breakdowns.
• Goodreads: With more than 430 million page views and 50 million unique visitors per month, Goodreads is an increasingly powerful platform. It offers a variety of resources for authors to enable them to buy paid promotions reaching specific audiences. Learn more here.
• NetGalley: It delivers digital galleys, often called advance reading copies, to professional readers, including reviewers, media, journalists, bloggers, librarians, booksellers, and educators. Its platform also includes paid advertising opportunities for authors and publishers. Look for more information about NetGalley here.
• Google Adwords: An AdWords buy can be helpful for specific and niche topics. Specific authors who have the means to set up a well-planned search campaign have reported profitable results.

Conclusion: Advertising Your Book: Yes or No?

Successfully advertising a book relies on several factors working together—and reaching an interested audience of potential readers with the right message is essential. It’s also crucial to control the amount of money spent on media.

It is wise for most titles and authors to stick with online book advertising and think twice about more expensive traditional media. However, it is not the same for everyone, and weighing all factors before deciding is vital.

For some books, there is no doubt sales can be driven by the best book advertising campaigns that are targeted and well-planned.