Irecently endured a series of heart-attack-inducing ear-exploding bangs, followed by seventy-nine variations of sparkly colour. It was hard to look away.

But then those fireworks faded into puffs of sulphuric smoke, likened to rotten eggs, that left car-paint-eating ash to scatter into the wind.

It reminded me of author-paid advertising compared to the author who steadily builds their author platform.

THE FIREWORKS OVER AUTHOR PAID ADVERTISING

Author paid advertising is expensive, but it has some significant results for many authors.

Yet, if you look beneath the dazzling colour of pretty gunpowder, they’re spending thousands per month on author paid advertising. On a constantly changing platform.

That’s a big gamble.

Facebook (which is Meta, also owns Instagram) its where many authors do their paid advertising. But Facebook is reducing some of their detailed targeting options, which means it’s getting harder to get that author paid advertising in front of their readers.

And then…

With the pandemic closing bookstores, the larger publishing companies started focusing on social media advertising. This caused advertising costs to rise in a place where individual authors used to easily promote their books.

You know the story, the kid with the more moola wins in the battle for getting a top spot on your street corner. According to Forbes: “Visibility for businesses hinges on how many financial resources can be put behind them.”

Not to blow more sparkly smoke into the sky, but according to All Business: “Brands compete with all advertisers on the platform, not just those in their industry.”

With all those big spenders muscling in on your advertising turf, it’s a frigging noisy world out there.

BOMBARDING READERS WITH FIREWORKS – DOES IT WORK?

I’d only just discovered, while craning my neck up at the fireworks, that they have fireworks at funerals where they sprinkle the deceased’s ash amongst the pretty gunpowder. Talk about going out with a bang!

How would you feel about the ashes of your dear-old Uncle Bob getting up your nostrils or in your hair?

It’s the same for those author paid advertisements bombarding readers. It annoys people.

The Harvard Business Review says: The effectiveness of digital ads is wildly oversold.

Just in the past few years, larger companies slashed their costs in paid ads to spend more time on building a brand. We’re talking about companies who used to spend millions on everyday old-school forms of advertising.

The New York Times had this sexy little headline: ‘People hate ads.’ (Did you just nod?)

“We tried to change the advertising ecosystem by doing more ads, and all that did was create more noise…” And so, traditional advertising fell by a walloping 15.7%! Social media advertising also declined in its effectiveness while the price went up. Ouch.

FUDGE-DUCKING FOR COVER

If you’ve survived one of those ‘Private’ numbered phone scammers, you’d be street savvy enough to swipe, tap, delete, or scroll past those ‘Sponsored’ posts on the socials.

Would you torture yourself into watching a collective stream of commercials on mainstream TV, or do you flick over to enjoy add-free viewing on Netflix?

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather poke around my refrigerator to scoff down a week-old burrito, while blow-drying my hair, than watch two minutes of paid advertising. Can you seriously expect the same from your readers?

Trends change. All. The. Time. Right now, it’s TikTok and the use of video in stories, reels etc that authors are paying to flood this area as prime advertising space.

And then when authors stop paying for the advertising fireworks, what are they left with?

More Smoke.

And more ash

*Hey, how are your sinuses holding up with all this smoke and ash, by the way?

A PUBLISHER’S FORTY-FOUR GALLONS OF FIREWORKS

A publisher promoting an author’s new book will go into launch mode. It’s battle stations, people, in this well-tested military campaign involving the strategic placement of the biggest and loudest fireworks.

They’ll use all their contacts to get a front spot in the bookstores. 

They’ll get all of their in-house authors (even if they don’t like the book or that author) to cross-promote the new book across social media. 

They’ll smooze with the book reporters to get them to leave a review in the tabloids.

Then they’ll crack open that four-combination, double-key, iris-scanning safe to go big-big-big on their advertising budget.

The results do work, guaranteeing that author a red-carpet, camera-flashing, podium position on the bestseller lists.

Sadly, publishers will only pull out those forty-four gallons of fireworks for the privileged few authors.

But then the launch is over.

And what’s left is…

Smoke.

And ash.

TRYING TO FIND A FIZZY NEW FIRECRACKER?

I’m not totally against author-paid advertising, it has its place.

But one of the best-bombshell-survival tips I ever got from a bestselling author was:

“Don’t bother with paid advertising until you have at least three books. Spend that time building your author platform instead.”

Its sage advice echoed by many bestselling authors out there, whose glow never dims between books.

According to various marketing experts, the most effective way to create your own brand of fizzy fireworks is by building your author platform. It may be a slower strategy, and it might not be as flashy as the short-term advertising fireworks, but it’ll still be standing there when the smoke clears and ash falls.

So, what would you rather invest in?