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KWL Live Q&A – Marketing Magic with Melissa Storm

The Kobo Writing Life team invites you to join us on August 29th from 1:00 PM-2:00 PM EST for another amazing Live. KWL director Tara and author engagement manager Laura will chat to New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Melissa Storm.

SOMETHINGS AS I LISTENED
6:32 when did you start?
interesting point, Melissa said, she was doing a marketing job and a parent and she wasn't sure anyone would buy her book. She started teaching courses on marketing. Several years before her writing took off.

8:05 thoughts on pen names?
mixing pen names is a bad idea. 

9:17 continued
she wrote an urban fantasy and she co pen named and so she makes everything separate in terms of pen names.
For non English she has mentioned while for English pen names she hasn't crossed. 

11:21 what not to do in marketing?
depends on authors but for the most your brand need to be niche down and consistent. if she would had written everything as melissa storm, she wouldn't have been able to fix problems. if you dont want to have separate profiles and newsletters then don't write in multiple genres.

15:55 how authors using twitch?
she has been on twitch since Tuesday . One lesson, she needs to play an appropriate video game, not the witcher. She knows some write. She has a friend, who offered suggestions. She wonders what she needs to talk about. 

18:15 How important is social media to an indie author? What are ads and press be sufficient?
her firm does advertisements for one hundred authors and almost always the reader review does better. authenticity will have more value with the rise of A.I.  . The press quotes don't resonate  as much as a review from a human with its errors. If you don't like social media, don't be on it. Be on a platform you like to be on.

20:40 Can you name difference between facebook and google ads?
Are there ever going to be Kobo ads? [Tara answered: never say never, but we focus on experience]
The TikTok ads are secret handshake. She doesn't care for TikTok but someone else does it. Her personal specialty is facebook or Instagram. Her authors who do TikTok videos she puts on reels. If you know you have a good cover and blurb, then time for ads. She isn't good at short form videos. She would start with Instagram which starts at $5 a day over TikTok who wants $50 an ad. No static image Instagram ads. But you need to be careful. 

25:16 has an ad made you rethink your cover?
She is obsessed with hoarding book covers. But even if she makes a perfect choice, so she is a big rebrander. New cover or title. She has changed the title plus covers of her melissa storm books and that has helped them sell. 

26:40 Is it better to wait for ads when you have a few titles?
it depends, but some genres need complete series. Romance readers want a complete series, especially in subscription. Psychological thriller tend to be one off. Some authors want 5,000 to get that on a book, but industry matters, some retailers underreport or a contentious election influences readers habits, or A.I. can influence. But if you are willing to say goodbye to whatever money , then go ahead. Authors get killed by their own anxiety. Even if she doesn't profit she wants one to one and with a brand new pen name, her goal is to not lose money, and go for the long term. 

29:44 how long would you have an advertisement before you adjust it?
she has made adjustments the next day. she has years of experience that she knows intuitively. she probably spends on a new campaign, $25 and have 20 different  audiences each with 4 advertisements inside. About 80 ads a day. An average cost per click, anything above average goes off, and then what are the patterns. She has campaigns with one thousand ads, testing so much. Facebook advertising , you pump full of content,and test and study.  am*zon ads are very static. She has experts for am*zon. Facebook ads is a game where the prize is money. 

32:19 any common mistakes on facebook ads?
many of her clients she has had for years. She has secret requirements, one is to have a recommendation from a prior client. 
For authors, cover and blurb is not enough. Alot of authors use ai images in their ads. And they will get blasted in comments. Her firm has a new ai image policy , cause it isn't a good business choice. If her anxiety gets to high, she losses a day and she treats her mental health for all things book industry. 

32:42 how about pricing?
Higher priced books are harder to sell. Some authors have a permafree that doesn't work. Some authors have work at 99 cent and that is hard to profit with advertisements. But she is willing to change. Raise your price and if it doesn't work you can lower it. 
[Tara: she tells authors to round pricing to comfortable]  She comprehends market, so in Canada she wants to put kobo not am*zon. 

37:14 How to ad reach boomers?
Sell on facebook. Her audience is 80 ear old widows. Suddenly she has a younger audience that is not on facebook.  Her problem with gen -z  is they are younger less disposable income and are on TikTok. Boomers are on facebook. They like excerpts. For most genres boomers are the primary buyers. Paranormal romance is one the don't like. 

39:34 What are common challenges with translations?
It depends, that shows you have a good question. Translation can be hard because you have to trust strangers with a language you don't know. Some people who call themselves translators, run it through a.i. and charging one thousand dollars. and with ads, be willing to never see that money again. She decided to do Japanese cause the Japanese loves cats. But, the text moves in a different direction, different letters. With am*zon you have to have another account for Japanese.  She needed a new cover, cause they have their own art style for covers, but she worked it for the French. But she realized she didn't know how to sell it. So she will physically go to Japan and take copies of her book, a new business plan. 

42:46 what languages you do outside English? 
German, French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese. biggest hits, german, French , Italian. Spanish is for spain, not Mexico. Right now, german and Italian are smart. German is where everyone goes. But, german is expensive to translate into and high demand. Italian, people will go once they have been translating for a while. Italian cost half as much as german. but her social media and newsletter has grown there at a faster rate. She had no idea they loved cats in Italy like they do. ... and you will need to put your face out there more as a.i. grows. 

46:43 do you shift images for ads  based on language?
Mostly it is down to the covers. She has three covers for a series, she realized the French did not like the cover good in Germany.  she learned in the uk it is character based descriptions. It isn't always French german but also an English translation.

49:43 would you change cover per platform?
Probably not. Know the readership in the platforms. She swears and talks about sex alot in real life but in her books , which are romance. She had a hard time on apple, they liked the steamy. Nook or Kobo are sweeter. Even changing the cover will not change what the readers want. She personally read on multiple platforms, and their are books she has on kindle and kobo by accident.
 
52:01 Do you have any strategies for organic readership?
Patience... determine what your core values are. Not just getting your face out there, but focus on your values.  Day by day. Organic readership is really slow until a big boom. She is asking influencers for quotes. She wanted to emphasize so many people don't get what they want because they don't ask. So ask people. ask questions. The worst someone can say is no. Ask for what you want. A very major person in the fantasy genre is willing to endorse my book. She had a panic attack all day when the person said yes. Be able to work with people you don't know. You will know her at a conference cause she is loud and say inappropriate things. I will rather have one hundred readers who know me than one thousand inflated readers of a newsletter. An author does need to know how to say no. And have a good therapist and friends. 

58:01 Laura recommends author groups on facebook, go to conferences.
She grows at every conference. She has made her best friends at conference. Just knowing you are not alone. You need to go ,to hear things at the right time.

What does Melissa Storm have coming up next?
https://lunarauthor.com/

VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pPW_J_xBqo