Tony's Post on My Experience as an Indie Author

As promised, I am sharing my detailed experience with ads and sales for my indie books. I am not going to include a bunch of charts and data. This is my personal opinion based on what I have seen in my own data, the research I have conducted, and the money I have spent.

I have included a data set from the Alliance of Independent Authors HERE so you can compare how they say we are all doing. My opinion is that it is better than nothing, but mostly off. The sample size is small, though some of it does match what I see.

So, before I start some background on me. Why even care what I think lol. I have run multiple businesses with high need for advertising. I have degrees in economics and other doctoral level education. I worked as an independent business consultant and specialized in leadership and organizational structure. But the main reason is simple as to why you should give what I am saying some thought, I am not trying to sell you anything.

I write hard science fiction, dystopian fiction, and horror. I also lean toward a 1960s style. That means I am a niche author. I do not adjust my writing to what is currently popular. There is nothing wrong with doing that, I simply do not. Keep this in mind, my audience is already a subset of a subset. By the end of this, you will probably realize you are too, regardless of what you write.

I started writing fiction in December 2023. Keyholes was the first novel I released as an indie author. I currently have 11 works published. Some titles have made a profit, but overall I am still in the red. (not making a dime lol)

As of April 17, 2026, I have sold 1,140 books. Based on available statistics, for what they are worth, I am somewhere slightly above the middle of the road and slightly ahead for my time in.

Here is what I am going to cover:

• Amazon Ads

• BookBub Ads

• Social Media, Bluesky and X

• Mailing Lists

• Reviews

• Goodreads and Giveaways

• Sales and Free Promotions

• Author Websites and Google Ads

Amazon Ads

I spent a lot on these, thousands of dollars. I really wanted them to work lol. I tried everything they offer. My list of what not to use for keywords is ten times longer than what to use. I have read most of what is out there on how to run them. They are pushed hard in the indie community. You are told they can work if you just A/ B test, let them run, adjust keywords, and so on. You only pay for a click.

Here is what I think.

The algorithm does not work well out of the box. You cannot really train it. It seems to make connections based on what someone who buys your book also buys, not on what you tell it, mostly. So, if a person normally buys books outside your genre, and they happen to buy yours, the algorithm starts targeting the wrong audience. While you get screwed, with clicks for some romance or WWII history. Real things I had to pay for lol.

Think about your own Amazon recommendations. How often are they off? It is built for widgets, not something as unique as a book. It shows.

Another suggestion is to target authors similar to you. Use some logic here. How often do readers search for “a book like Stephen King” versus searching directly for Stephen King? You are putting yourself in competition with them. You may get clicks, you will pay Amazon, but conversions are unlikely. Even impressions are poorly defined. No one really knows how the algorithm works.

What actually works are categories. Find a category where you can compete, meaning you can stay ranked in the top 300 or so. Smaller pools produce better results, if relevant. You can play SEO games and get a number one bestseller tag, but it will not matter long term and can even hurt you.

Kindle Unlimited promotions and Amazon’s built in promotions can work because readers actively browse those lists. Smaller pools, better fishing. This is one reason why you can’t put sale in keywords. It keeps that poll more relevant.

I stopped using Amazon ads.

BookBub Ads

These work okay and can be budget friendly. The trick is finding authors where you strongly overlap. Sometimes this makes sense, sometimes it does not. Most advice out there is fairly good.

The challenge is scale. Once you tap out good authors, finding new ones becomes difficult and time consuming. This does not scale easily.

I treat BookBub ads as reader discovery. Forget profit. You want to build your audience. The key metric is how many readers you are reaching. The number should grow over time. This is the number under your name when you do ads. Those of the folks interested in you that you have reached.

My metric is simple. The best result should always be yourself in the list and above 1. Drop any author that is not getting you about 0.50 or better. They cost too much. If they perform better, keep them.

Downside, BookBub audiences want cheap or free books. Profit is hard. This is why I treat it purely as discovery. My goal is to reach 7,000 to 10,000 readers. Once you hit that, new releases can scale. Until then, it is small gains.

I still use BookBub.

Social Media, Bluesky and X

Social media is mostly for credibility and discoverability over a long time. You will not monetize anything significant until you have around 10,000 followers, and you are not following 20,000 people.

Do it, but do not expect much early, soon, or later lol.

I have been on Twitter for years under another account. My current X account is newer. X is crowded and requires too many impressions. It is poorly organized. Hashtags are frustrating but necessary on X. While finding good ones never stops.

X is better indexed by Google, which helps discoverability. While I like Bluesky better for engagement and content. Their feeds are better than hashtag which I honestly hate.

My tips:

• Follow the 80 20 rule, 80 percent content, 20 percent promotion

• Do not post the same ad repeatedly

• Do not string together long post chains

• Do not over follow

• Do not try to move followers between platforms. You want to reach new people and increase your reach, not duplicate it.  

• Post consistently

• Like, reply, and repost naturally on stuff you like.

• Do not turn work in progress or other updates into ads. Sure, post it but just for those they follow you. They may care lol.  

• Post things readers actually care about

Mailing Lists

Sure, offer something for joining. Expect many people who want free content. Do not buy email lists.

Do not expect much until you have 10,000 or more subscribers.

Mine reached around 700. I deleted more than half. You must prune your list. Growth is slow. Put the signup in your books and website. This is long term credibility and reader capture.

It is work. Still worth doing. For your newsletter content follow my social media tips mostly.

Reviews

My favorite one star review:

“I couldn't get into this book. I couldn't understand this book. I wasn't able to finish this book.”

Reviews are opinions. They are neither right nor wrong. They matter a lot for sales.

You want an average between 4 and 5 stars. High 3s will not kill you but will not help much. The number of reviews matters. A book with none is invisible. A book with only five star ratings and no written reviews can look suspicious. A few negative reviews actually help credibility.

My tips:

• I use The Niche Reader for ARCs (love these people)

• Never cold ask for reviews

• Never argue with reviewers

• Read them all

• You will always want more

Goodreads and Giveaways

Goodreads is dated, but it has millions of users. It is owned by Amazon, and Goodreads reviews can appear on Amazon after a threshold of 20 reviews on a title is met. That helps.

Keep your profile updated. Be somewhat active. Join groups. There are some groups that have good reviewers.

Goodreads giveaways, I do not like them.

You get lots of TBR list adds, but you have little to no contact with the readers. You must give books away. I ran one that did well by metrics, but I saw no meaningful sales or review impact. I did see about 15% just drop my book from their TBR list after they lost lol.  Risk of people getting it just for something free.

Try it if you have budget, but do not expect clear results.

Sales and Free Promotions

Sales are important. I run several each year. They work best with book one in a series. I rarely discount other titles.

Free giveaways, stop doing them so much. Way too much of this out there.

We are competing with free. That is hard to beat. Too many free books devalue the market. They attract readers who only want free content. That is not helpful.

Free books can also lead to worse reviews. Readers outside your genre grab them, then dislike them.

Good uses of free:

• ARC copies

• Mailing list signup reward

• Special celebrations

• 
  

Be selective. Sales are better.

Author Websites and Google Ads

You need a website. It is your home base. It adds credibility. Most visitors are already readers or want to be.

Selling directly is difficult. I have sold exactly one book through my site. I still keep the store just in case.

Google Ads are not worth it. They behave like Amazon ads. Build a substantial following, this works much better.  

Still, have a website:

• Professional appearance

• Easy to read

• Your own domain

• Keep costs low

These are some of my thoughts. If you want to talk about any of these topics or other things I am happy too. The long story short is its uphill, lots of work, but doable.

Again, these are my opinions. I am sure others vary.