$$ out from marketing vs $$ in

[BellaPippin]

I am working on a book/workbook and while I receive the samples and prepare the whole thing I’ve made it available as an ebook for $7.99. I am on Shopify and Amazon KDP (note: I cannot run ads on amazon because they don’t like my cover.. working on whether to change it or not)

I spent $80 on IG features on relevant accounts that have around 300k followers on average.
I spent $50 so far on Facebook ads (that also show on IG)

I made 7 sales in two days at 7.99 = 55.93 Never mind the fees bc I’m not even making a profit here.

Is this a “until the traffic is organic” situation or what am I doing wrong? The thing is programmed to request reviews at the week mark as well and so far I got one and two on Amazon, all 5 stars.

 

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[Edgar King]

I am working on a book/workbook and while I receive the samples and prepare the whole thing I’ve made it available as an ebook for $7.99. I am on Shopify and Amazon KDP (note: I cannot run ads on amazon because they don’t like my cover.. working on whether to change it or not)

I spent $80 on IG features on relevant accounts that have around 300k followers on average.
I spent $50 so far on Facebook ads (that also show on IG)

I made 7 sales in two days at 7.99 = 55.93 Never mind the fees bc I’m not even making a profit here.

Is this a “until the traffic is organic” situation or what am I doing wrong? The thing is programmed to request reviews at the week mark as well and so far I got one and two on Amazon, all 5 stars.

Hey Bella!

I recently started trying to market an ebook online. I've been learning in that space for a while and here are some of the things other people have said that might help...

1. Raise the prices. Prices that end in 7 preferably. E.g. 17,27,37, and 47. I believe if you did that it could help to cover costs.

2. Make your own website and step away from Amazon KDP/marketplace platforms. Helps with control and allows you to keep the profits.

3. Use organic marketing. Stuff like building up a personal brand (e.g. on Tiktok) so your advertising costs are effectively zero.

New to this though, wish I could offer more solid advice.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

I am working on a book/workbook and while I receive the samples and prepare the whole thing I’ve made it available as an ebook for $7.99. I am on Shopify and Amazon KDP (note: I cannot run ads on amazon because they don’t like my cover.. working on whether to change it or not)

I spent $80 on IG features on relevant accounts that have around 300k followers on average.
I spent $50 so far on Facebook ads (that also show on IG)

I made 7 sales in two days at 7.99 = 55.93 Never mind the fees bc I’m not even making a profit here.

Is this a “until the traffic is organic” situation or what am I doing wrong? The thing is programmed to request reviews at the week mark as well and so far I got one and two on Amazon, all 5 stars.

Is the goal to be profitable?

Do you have the money to keep selling books at a loss?

What are your goals here?

 

[BellaPippin]

Hey Bella!

I recently started trying to market an ebook online. I've been learning in that space for a while and here are some of the things other people have said that might help...

1. Raise the prices. Prices that end in 7 preferably. E.g. 17,27,37, and 47. I believe if you did that it could help to cover costs.

2. Make your own website and step away from Amazon KDP/marketplace platforms. Helps with control and allows you to keep the profits.

3. Use organic marketing. Stuff like building up a personal brand (e.g. on Tiktok) so your advertising costs are effectively zero.

New to this though, wish I could offer more solid advice.

Thank you! I uploaded to KDP but effectively 99% of the orders came through the Shopify with my own efforts. I have to do #3 now! Thanks for the help!!

 

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[BellaPippin]

Is the goal to be profitable?

Do you have the money to keep selling books at a loss?

What are your goals here?

Interesting question… not as simple as it seems

I’m learning on the go. It would be nice to be profitable, but the main product will be the paperback and the ebook will become an upsell; however if I think about it this is growing my email list to which I‘ll be able to launch the paperback.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

Interesting question… not as simple as it seems

I’m learning on the go. It would be nice to be profitable, but the main product will be the paperback and the ebook will become an upsell; however if I think about it this is growing my email list to which I‘ll be able to launch the paperback.

You didn't really state the goal still

If you spent 80 + 50 for a total of $130 and got 7 sales, that means your CAC (customer acquisition cost) is currently $18.57.

Not out of the norm for book buyers across all industries (of course there are outliers).

You spent $180 to make $55.93 (a loss of $124.07)

I don't know if that's a single day but let's just assume it is. Multiply that out by 30 for the month, the numbers look like:

Monthly Adspend: 3900
Monthly Sales: 1677.90
Monthly Profit: -2,222.10
Customers Acquired: 210
CAC: $18.57

I know I'm just restating the facts but I want to point out, if this trend continues, you'll only get 210 customers a month and lose 2k a month doing it. Some businesses can afford that because they understand customer lifetime value (they have many more things to sell them so they can afford to lose on the front end to make money on the back end).

If I may be so bold... you ain't there yet

A possible solution:

Only 3 ways to grow the biz, right? More customers, more money, and/or more frequently.

In your case, more customers at this acquisition cost will put you out of business faster.

You don't have a series of books to sell them after (I assume) so frequency is out.

So the suggestion comes down to increased cart value -- more money per transaction.

All that to say: you need an upsell in your offer.

And I hate "telling people what to do" so here's me casually suggesting... you need an audio version as an order bump.

"You bought this book for 7.99, click here to add the Audio version for $29.99"

The math:

You need to make up $10.58 to break even. That means you'll need approximately 35% of the people to take the audio version to break even and acquire customers essentially for free.

IF you can do that -- you can spend as much money as you want on advertising and acquire as many customers as you want (as long as those numbers hold ... which is another conversation about your copy, images, etc.)

I've seen some books have upwards of an 80% take rate on the audio version so it's not out of the realm of possibility to hit 35% or more.

Bigger strategy:

An order bump is the little box you often see on a checkout page that has a check-mark box. "Yes, Please add the audio book for $29.99" (or whatever price you want).

An upsell is once they have completed the checkout, you send them to a thank you page which ends up being a sales page instead. (some people use corny tactics here that I don't suggest like "wait, your order is not complete")

The upsell is obvious to me: a pre-order of the hardback.

"Thanks, Your E-Book Is On The Way To Your Email... Would You Like To Pre-Order The Hardback for 50% Off?"

50% off came from my rectal extraction method. But if you can get a percentage of people to take the order bump and a percentage of people to get the hardback, now you've got something.

If enough people get your book and like it, you'll start getting organic sales which will dramatically increase the overall profit (and reach). Otherwise you can just keep running ads to your heart's content and not lose your a$$.

 

[MitchC]

What’s the conversion rate on your store?

Increase that, do what Steve said with the upsells, add some retargeting, let the ads and audiences optimise better and you could well be in the green quite quickly.

Where did the sales come from? The influencers or the Facebook ads?

Facebook ads are far easier to scale, and far cheaper to test creatives on than influencers. I would focus on them for now.

Influencers can be used to get good creative and some trust but that’s usually for physical products.

Funnel software will likely be better than shopify for a single digital product with upsells.

 

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[BellaPippin]

You didn't really state the goal still

If you spent 80 + 50 for a total of $130 and got 7 sales, that means your CAC (customer acquisition cost) is currently $18.57.

Not out of the norm for book buyers across all industries (of course there are outliers).

You spent $180 to make $55.93 (a loss of $124.07)

I don't know if that's a single day but let's just assume it is. Multiply that out by 30 for the month, the numbers look like:

Monthly Adspend: 3900
Monthly Sales: 1677.90
Monthly Profit: -2,222.10
Customers Acquired: 210
CAC: $18.57

I know I'm just restating the facts but I want to point out, if this trend continues, you'll only get 210 customers a month and lose 2k a month doing it. Some businesses can afford that because they understand customer lifetime value (they have many more things to sell them so they can afford to lose on the front end to make money on the back end).

If I may be so bold... you ain't there yet

A possible solution:

Only 3 ways to grow the biz, right? More customers, more money, and/or more frequently.

In your case, more customers at this acquisition cost will put you out of business faster.

You don't have a series of books to sell them after (I assume) so frequency is out.

So the suggestion comes down to increased cart value -- more money per transaction.

All that to say: you need an upsell in your offer.

And I hate "telling people what to do" so here's me casually suggesting... you need an audio version as an order bump.

"You bought this book for 7.99, click here to add the Audio version for $29.99"

The math:

You need to make up $10.58 to break even. That means you'll need approximately 35% of the people to take the audio version to break even and acquire customers essentially for free.

IF you can do that -- you can spend as much money as you want on advertising and acquire as many customers as you want (as long as those numbers hold ... which is another conversation about your copy, images, etc.)

I've seen some books have upwards of an 80% take rate on the audio version so it's not out of the realm of possibility to hit 35% or more.

Bigger strategy:

An order bump is the little box you often see on a checkout page that has a check-mark box. "Yes, Please add the audio book for $29.99" (or whatever price you want).

An upsell is once they have completed the checkout, you send them to a thank you page which ends up being a sales page instead. (some people use corny tactics here that I don't suggest like "wait, your order is not complete")

The upsell is obvious to me: a pre-order of the hardback.

"Thanks, Your E-Book Is On The Way To Your Email... Would You Like To Pre-Order The Hardback for 50% Off?"

50% off came from my rectal extraction method. But if you can get a percentage of people to take the order bump and a percentage of people to get the hardback, now you've got something.

If enough people get your book and like it, you'll start getting organic sales which will dramatically increase the overall profit (and reach). Otherwise you can just keep running ads to your heart's content and not lose your a$$.

Thank you thank you thank you thank you.

The audio book isn’t possible because it’s an all image book BUT the upsell concept of the paperback I think nails it, I only thought of kickstarter for pre-orders but that’s even more direct.

Also lmao @ “rectal extraction method”

 

[BellaPippin]

What’s the conversion rate on your store?

Increase that, do what Steve said with the upsells, add some retargeting, let the ads and audiences optimise better and you could well be in the green quite quickly.

Where did the sales come from? The influencers or the Facebook ads?

Facebook ads are far easier to scale, and far cheaper to test creatives on than influencers. I would focus on them for now.

Influencers can be used to get good creative and some trust but that’s usually for physical products.

Funnel software will likely be better than shopify for a single digital product with upsells.

For yesterday it says my conversion rate is 2.87% Today I have yet to sell. The influencers I notice is good for an injection of traffic but I’m gonna stop cause it says the Facebook ads bring more conversions.

I’ll look into re-targeting! The goal is to sell the paperback, as soon as its ready. So the pre-order upsell makes more sense, which I had not thought of in that way (I only thought of selling it straight forwardly or make a kickstarter for pre-orders)

Thank yoU!

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

Thank you thank you thank you thank you.

The audio book isn’t possible because it’s an all image book BUT the upsell concept of the paperback I think nails it, I only thought of kickstarter for pre-orders but that’s even more direct.

Also lmao @ “rectal extraction method”

I came up with this concept years ago about the "customer timeline" -- no matter what product or service you sell, there is a timeline of products and services someone is super likely to buy before, during, and after they purchase your thing.

What ELSE might they be interested in at the point of purchase?

Love the idea of pre-orders for the paperback. There has to be something enticing about it, though, a discount or a bonus or an add-on. Why purchase it NOW versus waiting until it comes out?

But if they ARE images, maybe your order bump can be for a private online collection or something along those lines... only fans?

 

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[Cameraman]

I am working on a book/workbook and while I receive the samples and prepare the whole thing I’ve made it available as an ebook for $7.99. I am on Shopify and Amazon KDP (note: I cannot run ads on amazon because they don’t like my cover.. working on whether to change it or not)

I spent $80 on IG features on relevant accounts that have around 300k followers on average.
I spent $50 so far on Facebook ads (that also show on IG)

I made 7 sales in two days at 7.99 = 55.93 Never mind the fees bc I’m not even making a profit here.

Is this a “until the traffic is organic” situation or what am I doing wrong? The thing is programmed to request reviews at the week mark as well and so far I got one and two on Amazon, all 5 stars.

I'm assuming there is a market for the book you are selling, that it's reasonably priced amongst competitors and delivers value. Then, if you want to sell a good number of books on Amazon, Amazon Ads is the way to go.

They are cheap and effective so PLEASE fix your cover problem. I use Amazon Ads in the US, UK and AU markets and they account for at least 50% of my monthly sales. I've had periods where I've stopped using them (to test their effect) and my sales dropped off a cliff each time. That's even for books with a good number of 5 star reviews.

They may take you a few months to refine and get working well, but they are well worth the effort and it's "easy" money (if there is such a thing).