ABOUT THIS BLOG:

ABOUT THIS BLOG: Much like myself, this site has worn down with many of its features no longer functioning. If you have questions (or answers), feel free to contact me: @WillTinkhamfictionist (Facebook) or @willtink (Twitter). Thanks!

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From Minnesota's Iron Range to Hollywood's Golden Age, Ike Savich discovers America—one Packard at a time. THE PACKARD SALESMAN

About Me

Will Tinkham has published eleven novels. THE PACKARD SALESMAN follows THE TEDDY & BARA SHOW, IF I LIE IN A COMBAT ZONE, FALLING DOWN UMBRELLA MAN, THE MIRACLES, THE CARY GRANT SANATORIUM AND PLAYHOUSE, THE GREAT AMERICAN SCRAPBOOK, THE ADVENTURES OF HANK FENN, BONUS MAN, NO HAPPIER STATE, and ALICE AND HER GRAND BELL. He lives and writes in Minneapolis, MN. His short fiction has been published on three continents and he long ago attended Bread Loaf on a scholarship. An actor of little renown, his credits do include the Guthrie Theater and Theatre in the Round. @WillTinkhamfictionist on Facebook, @willtink on Twitter, instagram.com/willtink

Sunday, August 6, 2017

On giving up on marketing, outreach strategy, page traffic analysis and trends

I've given up on marketing, outreach strategy, page traffic analysis and trends as of August 6, 2017. As all seven of my blog followers here and my Facebook friends are painfully aware, I'm involved in a “reader-powered publishing” venture called Kindle Scout. Readers are allowed to browse as-yet-unpublished books and—if they stumble on a title that strikes their whimsy (like, say, THE CARY GRANT SANATORIUM AND PLAYHOUSE) or a provocative cover catches your eye (maybe one created by my sister, Susan Tinkham)—they may read samples and possibly nominate books for publication by Kindle Press.

The writer, if lucky enough to be selected for publication, receives $1,500 and whatever advertising Amazon will dish out to recoup that advance. I guess that's where marketing comes in. Every day I get an updated “campaign page views per day” chart. Over the last week mine has been pretty constant: dropping below 100 for the first time to 95, slipping as low as 78, then back to 90 on August 5. Being 1/3 of the way through my campaign, I put out a little blurb on FB to remind my friends, maybe get some “shares” and spread the word. Immediately FB flashed me an opportunity: “Boost your ad for $10 and reach 3,400 views in 2 days!”

You gotta spend money to make money, right? I went for it, dammit!

Woke up this morning to find my FB blurb had indeed surged to 338 views—not quite what they'd promised but a 210% increase over my norm. I immediately went to my Scout chart to see how that would reflect on my campaign page views. With my $10 FB “boost” my 90 of yesterday had somehow plummeted to a mere 6—a decrease of 93%.*

   * my first use ever of the snippet tool!



On the bright side: I saw Bryan Ferry last night. DAMN!!!

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