How Much Money Did I Spend Marketing My Book?
- Jenna Moreci
- 20 hours ago
- 8 min read
HelloOoOo everybody!
I released the third book in my fantasy romance series, The Savior’s Series, and you wanted to know what sort of marketing I did and how much it cost. So today, I'm breaking down my marketing expenses. What exactly I paid for, whether it was worth it, and most importantly, whether I think it's necessary for other authors. Please note that just because I paid for a service doesn't mean you writers have to do the same thing. Some marketing only exists for specific genres, and some marketing just doesn't work.
Quick Disclaimer: I will not be listing any marketing that I do year-round, like my newsletter, for example. Now, let’s break down my expenses.
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Number 1: A Map Design - $150 USD
I wanted to include a map in The Savior's Army, both within the book itself and as a pre-sale incentive. If you're not familiar, a pre-sale incentive is a special gift given to everyone who preorders the book. It incentivizes readers to preorder, hence the name “presale incentive.”
I ended up hiring Subtle Touch Creations, and I cannot recommend her enough. She was fast. She was creative. She was so good at her job, and the map turned out perfect. I also think the rate was really good. I've seen map designers charge close to $1,000. So this is a purchase I would happily make again.
Now, does every book require a map? Obviously not. This is not a necessary marketing expense. But if you're writing fantasy or any of the fantasy sub-genres, readers love maps. It can be a great marketing asset for you as a writer. You can put it in the book itself, you can post it on social media, or you can use it as a newsletter or pre-sale incentive, as I did.
Number 2: Character Art - $1,200 USD
If you're on Bookstagram or BookTok, then you already know character art is a big part of marketing romance or romantasy books. Because of this, I really wanted to make sure I had some character art that I could use to promote the release of The Savior's Army. I was lucky because I found some really talented artists who had fantastic rates, so I was able to commission ten pieces for just $1,200 USD. Now, $1,200 USD sounds like a lot, but this is an insanely low rate for ten pieces. A single piece of art can easily cost $600. I'm honestly shocked that this final number is as low as it is.
I will say that whenever you commission an artist, it can be hit or miss regarding professionalism. Most of the artists I worked with were fantastic. They were talented, they were timely. There was only one who was really slow and pretty much ignored the brief. But that's the risk you gotta take.
All in all, I felt this was a worthwhile investment because I can literally use and reuse these images for years. If you're wondering if you need character art to promote your book, I'd say it depends on your genre. Character art is a big deal in romance and romantasy. As for other genres, I don't know because I don't write them.
Number 3: BookFunnel - $59.56 USD
BookFunnel is a platform that writers use to distribute ebooks, particularly reader magnets and ARCs. Whenever you have a book release, you have to send out ARCs, or advanced reader copies, to your target audience in return for honest reviews on Amazon, on Goodreads, and on their social media platform, if they have some kind of review platform. And it's a lot easier to send out arcs via BookFunnel versus contacting these reviewers individually. It's also handy because BookFunnel can track the email addresses. They can track the downloads. All that good stuff.
I'd say it was a worthwhile investment. It's not expensive at all, and it saved me a ton of busywork. All you have to do is send these people a BookFunnel link, and bam! You're done with ARCs.
Number 4: Paperback ARCs - $284.58 USD
While most ARC reviewers receive digital ARCs, there are a select few who receive paperback ARCs. These reviewers are usually influencers specifically on Bookstagram or BookTok, and they need a paperback copy so they can take pretty pictures or shoot cool videos. I ordered 25 ARCs to send out to 25 influencers, and that came to about $11 a book.
My personal opinion is that not all authors need to shell out money for paperback ARCs. I didn't send out any paperback ARCs for my last two book releases, and they went great. In fact, they went better than this release. I spent money on paperback ARCs for this release because some influencers required a paperback copy. All in all, I'd say this wasn't a necessary expense. It really depends on whom you plan to send ARCs.
Number 5: Book Blast Events - $0 USD
There are a bunch of author groups out there where authors of the same genre get together to organize Book Blast events. A Book Blast is essentially when a whole bunch of ebooks within the same genre go on sale for $0. These authors then band together to promote the sale at the same time. And because of the mass promotion, every author involved gets hundreds, if not thousands, of sales.
If you don't know much about marketing, you might think this is a stupid idea. You're giving away a ton of books for free. But this can be beneficial for a bunch of reasons. It boosts your rank and visibility on Amazon, which means you'll probably get a lot more purchases once the sale is over. It makes your book available to thousands of readers who wouldn't have heard of it otherwise. And most importantly, people usually use these sales to give away the first book in their series for free. Now that people have the first book, they are much more likely to pay for the second and third books.
I participated in a bunch of these events, and I got thousands of downloads for The Savior's Champion. And with each of these events, I got a boost in orders for The Savior's Sister, as well as preorders for The Savior's Army. Plus, The Savior's Champion hit multiple Amazon bestseller lists.
I also participated in other free marketing events put on by writer groups. One group I really enjoy is FaRo Society, which is specifically for fantasy romance authors. They offer tons of free marketing and collaborations for romantasy authors. If you are not already a member of FaRo Society and you write romantasy, I definitely recommend checking them out.
Anyway, I would absolutely do one of these events again. If you're writing a series, I definitely recommend that you check out groups like this for authors within your genre.
Number 6: The Fussy Librarian - $55 USD
The Fussy Librarian is a platform that will promote your eBook sales to a bunch of readers. As you already know, I participated in a bunch of free e-book sales for The Savior's Champion, and I paid the Fussy Librarian to promote one of these sales and give it an extra boost. I got over 1,000 clicks from The Fussy Librarian, which led to a slight boost in preorders for The Savior's Army.
While I don't think this expense was a game-changer in my marketing plan, I'd probably do it again. It was super cheap, and with the sales I incurred, it basically paid for itself. There are other platforms, like the Fussy Librarian, available all over the internet. You just have to research and find them.
Number 7: Book Trailer - $75 USD
I am so fortunate because I have an amazing video editing team. They edit all of my content. They're editing this video right now. They offered to make my book trailer for The Savior's Army, and it turned out perfect. They did a fantastic job. They were super quick, and they were super affordable. In the past, I've made book trailers myself, but it's always been really time-consuming because I'm not a professional video editor, so having this off my plate was a lifesaver.
That said, I don't believe this is a necessary expense for all writers. Not every book needs a book trailer. In fact, I'm not sure how popular they are these days. But since I have a YouTube channel, it’s kind of expected that I create some type of YouTube advertising for my book because my primary audience is here on YouTube. But if you're not on YouTube, you can probably skip this expense.
Number 8: Book Tour - $190 USD
When most people imagine a book tour, they imagine an author visiting bookstores and libraries across the country. I don't have time for that shit! Then there are digital book tours where a bunch of bookish influencers promote your book on social media at the same time. You can spend weeks researching, vetting, contacting, and tallying these influencers, or you can hire a service to do it for you. And that's what I did.
Basically, you send them all the need-to-know information about your book, and then they contact these bookish influencers within your target audience on your behalf. Come your release week, social media explodes with content about your book.
I would say this was money well spent. I am very happy with how my release week went. And I'm especially happy with how easy everything was. It definitely widened the reach for The Savior's Army to romantasy readers who had never heard of the series. And I think less than $200 is super affordable for this kind of service. You used to have to hire a PR company to do this kind of stuff, and it would cost thousands of dollars.
This is another service that I would absolutely use again, but whether or not I'd recommend it to you depends on your genre. If you’re writing a genre that isn't popular on Instagram or TikTok, then a digital book tour might be a waste of money. But if your audience is active on these platforms, then a book tour could be great for you.
Number 9: Total - $2,014.14 USD
So those were my marketing expenses, and the total comes to $2,014.14. I'm going to say something that might be upsetting. I know $2,000 is a lot of money. But I would consider this a low amount to spend on marketing. In fact, I was expecting the number to be a lot higher. The truth is, most career authors I know spend a lot more than this. Mostly because they also utilize pay-for-play ads. I didn't this time around, but it's something I plan to look into in the future. That said, please don't be discouraged.
Number 10: Final Considerations
Not every item on this list is necessary for all authors. In fact, you could argue that nothing on this list is technically necessary. But there wasn't anything that I personally felt was a waste of money, especially since I earned enough during my release month to pay for my publishing and marketing expenses and still make a profit. Some of the marketing I did was to gain interest in the series in general, some were specific to The Savior's Army preorders, and some was stuff that I can use for years to come. Some of it was also very specific to my genre.
So before you invest in a book tour or in character art, make sure that's something that's relevant to your target audience. And please note that one of the items on my list was free, and it made a huge impact.
So that's all I've got for you today!
Ultimately, I had a good marketing experience for The Savior's Army, and if there's one thing I’d change, I'd probably add Amazon, Facebook, or BookBub ads to the mix. We'll see if I can try that with my next book release.
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