I recently started advertising my new children's book, The Cloud Show, on Facebook. My book's potential reach is up to 120 possible purchasers. The demographics of those potential purchasers are women between the ages of 25 and 65. After doing research on demographics of mothers, I left the demographics broad since everything I do from now forward will be tests. And, I included older women because they're grandmothers or grandmothers-to-be. I didn't include education or interests or target parents because – again – everything is a test. My total budget for seven days was $5.
That was the easy part. The hard part? Ah... The hard part was trying to figure out why Facebook (FB) didn't accept my attempt to publish my ad. The worse thing about that is they DIDN'T TELL ME WHY I couldn't place my ad. I didn't know if it was my ad, my demographics, my credit card or the amount of money I was spending.
After working for probably 30 to 45 minutes reading and re-reading the application page, I finally threw my hands up in the air and signed out. I know when to stop, catch my breath, calm myself and take a day.
The next day, I signed into FB and headed to the ad section. Again, I attempted to place the ad. Nope. Ain't gonna happen.
Fine, let's play with the budget slider do-hickey. I slid the button to $8 and voila! The action button high-lighted allowing me to click it. Why didn't they just tell me my total reach for the budget was too low? Why?
Honest to gosh, I've had so many trip-ups self-publishing my books. Ingram doesn't furnish an ISBN number. You have to buy one. Amazon doesn't allow their ISBN numbers to be used in other print-on-demand sites. Barnes and Noble along with Google Play didn't like my meta data nor a couple blank pages. Amazon told me if I wanted to use the cheaper paper, I'd have to publish at least 72 pages. It was only after I researched that I found their paper type minimums. Again, they don't tell you outright. Amateurs don't know that crap.
If you want into a library, you need their wholesaler and an ISBN number. If you want to get into Walmart, you have to have a business license and an ISBN. If you want to go through Walmart's wholesaler, you need an ISBN number.
I know I could hire a marketer/publisher, but then I'd have to split my royalties with him/her.
Yes, yes, I know it's a choice I've made. I'm just telling you that selling your self-published book isn't as easy and simple as bloggers say it is. There's a lot that goes into getting your book on shelves and into certain print-on-demand sites.
I'm not giving up, though. I'm a tenacious sort. I won't be beaten. I'll find a way to make the money I need to buy an ISBN number, find a way to get my books into Google Play and Barnes and Nobel, and – by golly – I'll get into libraries. When? Well, it won't be soon, but that's okay. Working towards those goals gives me something to do.
Please check out my children's books for ages 2 - 5. They're beautifully illustrated and in rhyme. Both are available in POD or eBook.
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