SPF-015: Heading for $1.5m thanks to FB Ads – With Adam Croft
Can you imagine the day that all your efforts at self publishing – the hard work writing, promoting, and planning your books – finally pays off? Today’s episode is one author’s story about how that has finally come about. After writing for just over 5 years and self publishing a number of books, Adam Croft finally has a best seller to his credit. His latest book, “Her Last Tomorrow” is currently the #1 self published book on Amazon and he’s on track to make over $1.5 million from it this year. You can hear the account of his journey from his own lips today as he walks through the work and strategies he’s followed to get this latest book into the hands of thousands of readers.
Facebook Ads for Authors is a viable method of promoting your book.
But you can’t do it willy-nilly. There has to be a plan and a strategy in place to make the promotional efforts work. And it’s also got something to do with the book that you’re trying to promote. Adam tried Facebook ads before with other books but for some reason they weren’t the exact right fit to garner the attention he was hoping for. But this last time things appear to have fit just perfectly. Adam chats a bit about his success with Facebook ads and speaks highly of how it can be used to get your book into the hands of your perfect readers.
The money is coming in for his self published smash hit… but not yet.
As most self published authors know, once your book begins to make sales on Amazon there is up to a month lag between the actual sales of the book and the day you receive your royalty payments. The delay is understandable but it can make it difficult to finance continued promotions like Facebook ads. Adam openly shares about that difficulty and the decision he made to tap credit cards and family to finance his promotions in light of the revenue that his book sales was generating, but that he hadn’t received. Hear how Adam made the decision so you can make your own game plan for financing the marketing side of your self publishing business.
As an indie author, you must learn how to think like a business owner.
That’s because you ARE a business owner. You are the manufacturer and marketer, your books or writings are your products. There’s no “home office” that will take on the distribution and promotion of your books so you have to do it. Adam has been blessed with a keen understanding of that dynamic and the will to make both sides of the self publishing process – writing AND business – work in his favor, to the tune of $1.5 million this year alone. You can learn a lot from Adam’s approach as he outlines some of how he thinks about the business side of his writing platform, so be sure you take some time to hit the play button on this one and hear what he has to say.
A structured approach to writing and business.
Adam loves his career as a fiction writer and he also loves the self publishing aspects of it as well. He approaches both with the same studied, careful approach so that he’s able to ensure that his goals, in terms of writing and book sales success, are fully met. From outlining his books methodically before he begins to write, to the discipline required to stay in the chair and do the writing, all the way to the number crunching required to make wise decisions about marketing and promotions, Adam is a great case study you can learn from. It’s all in this episode of The Self Publishing Formula podcast.
Outline of this great episode
- [0:41] The introduction to this episode and a student of James’ course.
- [2:19] How you can get involved in the Facebook course that changed this student’s life.
- [5:00] The conversation with Adam Croft, student of SPF.
- [5:42] The current standing of Adam’s book on Amazon.
- [6:52] How Adam began to see success with is Facebook Ads campaigns.
- [8:00] Dealing with the lag between selling books and receiving the cash.
- [10:00] Thinking about crowdfunding for successful authors.
- [12:40] The overall story of Adam’s current success.
- [13:40] Adam’s main tips for those who want to achieve what he has.
- [15:43] Why writers have to think like business owners.
- [18:43] The plot of Adam’s current best seller.
- [19:55] Adam’s other books prior to this one.
- [21:30] The direction Adam believes he’ll be going with his books in the future.
- [22:35] How Adam structures his writing day in terms of habits.
- [25:03] Software, structure, and Adam’s approach to writing.
- [27:30] How it feels to be the #1 self published author on Amazon.
- [29:00] The webinar on June the 7th with Adam.
Resources & Links mentioned in this episode
Webinar coming up on June 7th – Details and SIGN UP HERE.
Mark Dawson’s Facebook Advertising for Authors Course
Adam’s current best seller: Her Last Tomorrow
Scrivener – writing software