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Is paid traffic worth it to sell books?

Marketing, social media, advertising

MakeItHappen

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I am looking forward to help someone with his book publishing business.

As I have experience with paid traffic I am wondering if anyone here had a positive ROI or at least a breakeven ROI promoting books?

I thought about Amazon ads and Facebook ads.

I have a hard time seeing this work honestly, as the profit per book is so small.

Thanks!
 
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puckman

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Is the profit really that small with Kindle books?
 

MHP368

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well thats your answer, if the amrgins on the book dont support paying for clicks then obviously not.

Thats traditional ppc though, they also have the "shopping" dropdown , which is still paid but its my understanding that the sellers shown here are just feeding streams of information about offerings to google and if a sale occurs a cut is given to google , so as an example if you were selling on ebay you're listing would show up simply because ebay is feeding that information to google, if a sale occurs ebay pays google and that money comes from the funds ebay was already taking from you (vs you paying extra)
 

MTF

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As for Facebook Ads, with a single book, it's unlikely. If you have a book series, it's possible as your LTV will be much higher.

With Amazon Ads, it's possible even for a single book but it's tricky and might not be super profitable because you'll have to bid low (meaning low volume) if the book is priced low (like any regular self-published book, below $5).
 
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PizzaOnTheRoof

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The problem is super low LTV of the customer.

PPC is incredibly difficult when you’re working with thin margins like books, unless you can get get insanely cheap CPCs.

If the book is a gateway to more/bigger sales then yes, it could be viable.

I would look at cheaper/free marketing methods first.

JV/Strategic Alliance anyone?
 

GrandRub

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... (like any regular self-published book, below $5).

you mean ebooks? i sell a few books on amazon kdp and i never priced below 10€ for softcover books.
i even sell "no content" notebooks for more than 5$


/ the advantage of ams or other ppc ads for books is that it will boost your BSR what could lead to more organic sales.

maybe try a short excerpt of your book as a video ad on facebook and then retarget the people who watched more than 50%.

use kdp select to release a free "light" version of your book. make video ad about that. retarget again.

have some sort of "code" in your book to access a membership site or download exclusive content. create look alike audience.
 

MTF

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you mean ebooks? i sell a few books on amazon kdp and i never priced below 10€ for softcover books.
i even sell "no content" notebooks for more than 5$E

Yeah I mean Kindle, not physical.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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As I have experience with paid traffic I am wondering if anyone here had a positive ROI or at least a breakeven ROI promoting books?

I think the ROI comes from using the book as a trip wire / lead magnet (like on IG ... "FREE BOOK") and then leveraging the email list for bigger items.

With thin margins, I wouldn't think PPC for direct sales would be profitable, but should be a part of a larger strategy.
 

Andy Black

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I’ve not sold books via paid ads (yet?).

Same as anything, it will be a function of RPC and CPC, as per this video:
 

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