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Booklinker Broadcast

September 2025

Hello!

It has happened more times than I’d like to admit, but it’s what you do after that really counts.

With our book marketing, not everything will land the way we hope. I’ve tried ads that didn’t convert, promos that barely moved the needle, and strategies that looked great on paper but fizzled in practice. It’s just part of being an author.

As I’ve said before, if you are an author who is looking to make money from your books, whether that’s a little extra “fun” money, a part-time income or a full-time salary, you are a small business owner. And every small business has its shares of ups and downs.

I remember one time early on in my author career when I had set up some Amazon Ads. They were doing great and I was thrilled. What I didn’t realize was I was spending way too much on the costs per click. I watched the ads for about a week and then decided to let them ride, without watching them. Big mistake.

After a month, the bill came to me and my stomach, jaw, and whatever else could drop, did. I had spent over $1,500 in one month and I had no intention of spending anywhere near that much. I just wanted to try running some ads. Books did sell, but not nearly enough to cover this.

A few options, along with a few choice words, surfaced.

• Quit trying to sell my books and just hand them out on street corners
• Never run another Amazon Ad again, in fact never ever look at any Amazon ads for the rest of my life
• Learn to crochet and sell doilies to cover the cost of the ads

OR…I could figure out what I did wrong and do better next time. Although the other options were tempting, I went with this option. First and foremost, when you are spending money on ads, pay attention to the spend the whole time they run. I also learned that with Amazon Ads you can create a portfolio and set a monthly budget to avoid any unnecessary surprises. With this boundary in place, I felt safe trying Amazon Ads again and haven’t spent more than my budget since.

These types of experiences with our marketing are only failures if you don’t learn from them. Yes, they are discouraging but they always leave behind clues for what to adjust next time.

Have you had any marketing mishaps? I’d love to hear them if you are open to sharing.

Bottom line…keep going. Marketing success comes from trial and error.

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What is one marketing strategy you want to learn and implement?

Happy Marketing!

Kerrie

Kerrie
Booklinker Author Liaison
​Kerrie Flanagan​

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Want to learn to get a discount for a book promotion?
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Industry News & Articles ✍🏽

🌟 An Indie Author’s Guide to Diversifying Income Streams​
​https://www.writtenwordmedia.com/an-indie-authors-guide-to-diversifying-income-streams/​
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While book sales may be your bread and butter, relying solely on one source of income can leave you vulnerable to market changes, algorithm shake-ups, and seasonal dips. Diversifying your income streams can help you smooth out the ups and downs, build a reader funnel and create a more sustainable author career.

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🌟 How to Know When a Book Cover Is Killing Your Sales

​https://insights.bookbub.com/know-when-book-cover-killing-your-sales​

If your book isn’t selling as well as you hoped, is your book cover to blame? In this post, you’ll learn the signs it might be. Moreover, you’ll learn how to get your book cover right the first time so it can work as an effective marketing tool and boost your sales.
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🌟 Your Book Deserves To Reach a Larger Audience

​https://killzoneblog.com/2025/08/your-book-deserves-to-reach-a-larger-audience.html​

In this article, James Scott Bell Today won’t revisit the pros and cons, complaints and commendations, misgivings and infatuations writers have with AI. Rather, he talks about a recent report from Microsoft on the professions most and least susceptible to disruption from generative AI and where writers fall in the list.

I don’t know about you, but I am always looking for places to promote my book that don’t take much effort or break the bank. I typically doing a week-long price promo for one of my backlist books every 6-8 weeks. Then I line up a series of paid newsletter promotions to send the book info out to their readers.

One of my favorites (and one I use all the time) is CraveBooks. It’s an easy to use platform that is worth checking out if you haven’t already. The wonderful team over at CraveBooks created a special coupon code just for Booklinker authors.

They are giving you a 30% off one-time use coupon code on any CraveBooks promotions (they also partner with other sites like LitNuts and Bookspry which the promo code won’t work on). The cool thing is, you can schedule more than one promo at a time and the coupon code works for the whole purchase. Plus the books don’t have to be on sale to participate.

If you’re looking for a new promotion site to try or you are already a big fan, take advantage of this coupon. ​
​https://cravebooks.com/book-promotions​

BooklinkerCB30

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👉 Monthly Marketing Tip

Optimize Your Book’s Metadata:

Ensure your book’s title, description, and keywords are optimized for search engines. This improves discoverability for potential readers online.

📚 Recommended Indie Author Marketing & Industry Books

Looking to expand your book marketing knowledge? Here are some book I recommend from indie authors and marketing experts.*
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*This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click and purchase

About Booklinker

​Booklinker is a free service that helps authors save time and sell more books with a single, localized link for their entire international audiences.
Booklinker is owned by Georiot Networks and powered by its flagship service, Geniuslink. In 2022, Apple Books began supporting Booklinker, helping it become a fully multi-retailer tool. Booklinker remains free for authors through the generous support of Apple Books and partnerships with other retailers.

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