How my Facebook ad to gain newsletter subscribers went #WriterWednesday #AmWriting #BookMarketing #Newsletter #AuthorNewsletter

A few weeks ago I wrote about how to attract newsletter subscribers without giving a free book away. (You can read the blog here) As About Face is releasing tomorrow, I thought today would be a good day to discuss the results of my attempt to gain newsletter subscribers by giving readers a free sample of the first few chapters of the novel.

What did I do?

I ran a Facebook ad, which sent readers to a BookFunnel landing page where they could get a free sample of About Face in return for joining my newsletter.

How did it go?

The ad. I’m pretty happy with the stats from the ad. The cost per click averaged 15 cents. The click through rate was 17% for the US and Australia, whereas the UK was much lower at 9%. (I’ve found that with all my Facebook ads the UK has a lower click through rate.) I consider a Facebook ad successful if the click through rate is about 10%, so 17% had me jumping for joy. The 15 cents per click was a bit higher than I had hoped. With romantic comedies, I can usually keep the cost per click to under or around 10 cents per click. (Mysteries usually cost more per click.)

But did all those clicks lead to newsletter sign-ups?

BookFunnel stats. Of the 825 people who clicked on the landing page, 128 (15%) subscribed to my newsletter. I’m not sure how those statistics measure up against other authors, but I’m fairly happy with the result. To be honest, I had no idea what to expect. This was complete new territory for me.

I also had twenty-five pre-orders, which I’m fairly certain are the result of the ad. Although the overall pre-orders for About Face are much lower than previous books, I’m assuming this is because I didn’t lower the pre-order price to 99 cents as I usually do.

Would I do it again?

I’m giving a tentative yes to that answer. At this moment, I don’t feel my newsletter is doing very well. The overall open rate and click through rate are not great. However, I’m working hard on that. I’ve working my way through Newsletter Ninja and I’m reading some blogs and taking some courses to ensure my newsletter does better in the future. Fingers crossed.