How to Sell Children's Books: Paid Advertising

Everyone wants your money!

In the world of indie publishing, everyone wants your money. No! They can’t have it UNLESS they help you make a stronger profit. That’s the bottom line.

When you move from traditional publishing to indie publishing, it’s hard to accept the need for advertising. But our livelihood depends on a constant stream of new readers. How do you help readers find your books?

Today’s Crowded Market

The market is flooded with new books! “Discoverability” is the ongoing problem for our books. How do readers find your books? I’ve talked before about general ways to market, how writing in a series helps discoverability, the strength of school visits, the importance of book awards to the school/library market, using catalogs as a marketing tool, grassroots marketing, and reaching the education market. Today, we’ll focus on paid advertising for everyone, and look at how it’s different when you sell direct on your own store.

I won’t give you a blow-by-blow how to on advertising, there are plenty of resources for that. Instead, I’ll focus on how advertising affects our work as indie publishers of children’s books.