One of my usual claims – and what I’m trying to prove here – is that “success” isn’t necessarily about the quality of your book. It’s about your sales strategy.
The problem isn’t writing the book; its finding people to read it.
So when I launched Vengel Tein, I also started experimenting with how and where I advertise (that’s the wonder of running your own project; you are free to test any hypothesis!)
- Starting with Comicad (RIP Project Wonderful, you are missed)
I first set up ads on Comicad, a network that places small banners on independent webcomics. As an avid webcomic reader myself, that felt like a natural choice. (Also; the absolute delight of supporting indie content!)
And the results were encouraging: while traffic from Comicad wasn’t huge, it was insanely cheap, and people who clicked stayed. On some placements (unsurprisingly corresponding with comics I read and enjoy), the average time spent on my sample page was over three minutes. That means they were actually reading the sample beyond first scroll. - Enter Reddit
Next, I tried Reddit ads. (They came second because Reddit terrifies me) They have plenty of active readers, and are not Google or Meta, so second on my list they are. I am also curious because their ads offer comments, and while that is the most scary thing I know it might be a plus when hardly available on SoMe.
As expected Reddit delivered a huge spike in visitors: that is five times my previous numbers. The cost per click was also incredibly low (just €0.06 VS Comicad with ~$0.05), and my click-through rate sat between 0.4–0.5%, which I believe is solid for book ads.
But most Reddit visitors left quickly, with average reading times closer to 6 seconds.
RESULT: While I get awareness from my ad spend, I don’t get engagement on Reddit (yet?). Also, Google Kit keeps calling it «Organic Social, so I better set up my Reddit Pixel soon to better track it)
*A note on cost: Because they are the most expensive targets I excluded US & Canada from my Reddit campaign (keep it frugal while testing!), adding only the European countries. Most of my Reddit visitors are still US and India, and I don’t know if that is VPN skew or Reddit not entirely excluding countries left out of my targeting, but only preferring those I added.
What does it mean?
Different platforms bring different kinds of readers:
- Reddit = big ocean, cheap clicks, good for visibility.
- Comicad = smaller pond, but more engaged readers who actually read the sample.
BUT while they both brought traffic; only Comicad may have converted to sales, though hardly more than 1-2 copies. Also, I have spent twice as much on my Reddit Campaign than I have on Comicad – getting traffic, but not engagement. That means I must tweak my funnel ASAP.
The lack of people BUYING THE BOOK is a sales problem, and it MIGHT be a Kobo-only problem. (As I mentioned before I try to avoid Amazon).
So for me, the next step is setting up a webstore (Likely WooCommerce) and offering the book as pdf or mobi, to see if that is where the dragon is buried.
And as always; if you think I am onto something, or completely off my rocker; feel free to chime in.
