The Call of Kindle Publishing #2, or a Clever Way for Arrogant Creators, or When Your Work Catches Fire

Hello. I am Eiji Kurosaki. I wrote an article like this last time.

I am surprised that it received such a response, despite being written in a burst of momentum. Perhaps there are many struggling writers, or many people interested in Kindle publishing, or perhaps both.

In the comments of the previous article, I was recommended to use promo ads on X (formerly Twitter; I will use the terminology from the Twitter era below, am I an old fogey?). Thinking that was an interesting idea, I tried it out for about a month. I felt it had more effect and benefits than I expected, so I would like to write about it this time. By the way, an important point is that you cannot use promo ads unless you subscribe to X Premium. That's the one with the blue checkmark. By the way, I felt embarrassed to have the blue checkmark, so I hid it, but then I couldn't run ads, so it seems you need to keep it displayed.

What are X (Twitter) promo ads?

These are ads that appear in the timeline just like regular Tweets. A feature is that they don't look much like ads visually. There are two other major features.

You can narrow down the target audience for ads

This is called targeting. Gender, age group, genres of interest, etc. In this case, since it's a novel, if you set keywords like "book account," "finished reading," or "hardcore fantasy," it will preferentially display ads to people who are tweeting including those words. You can also specify accounts and target "people who follow that account." I specified accounts of famous authors who write novels in the same genre and accounts of labels that cover fantasy. Since displaying ads to diet accounts would likely have little effect, I think this helped increase the efficiency of the ads.

You can set your budget arbitrarily

It is exactly as the heading says. You can do "I'll spend 50,000 yen on advertising during Golden Week!" or "I'll go with a flat rate of one drink per day (160 yen)." I am doing the latter. I had an image that running ads on such a huge SNS must cost an exorbitant amount of money, but I was surprised that the cost-performance was better than I thought. There is no minimum amount, so I think you can do it even cheaper. Though 10 yen might be tough.

What kind of ads did I run?

It looks like this. I embedded a link in the introduction text and image. The image was one I had displayed when I uploaded the novel to note, so there was almost no effort in preparing it. The actual display is a bit more horizontal.

What is the effect of promo ads?

It was greater than I thought. Based on my rough research before doing it, the general market price is around 40 to 50 yen per 1,000 impressions. In other words, 20,000 impressions for 1,000 yen. By the way, you can also set costs based on the number of clicks or follows in addition to the number of impressions.

However, when I actually ran the ads, the number of impressions per 1,000 yen was approximately 1,700,000 (!). I didn't get the digits wrong. It's 1.7 million. The reason for this difference is that you don't have to pay for the spread through RTs and likes. In other words, 1.68 million impressions were free. If you target well and put effort into the wording and images, they will be spread, and you can have cost-effective ads.

Of course, it is important not only to have people see the ads but also to have them actually visit the sales page (and purchase). The result here was approximately 3,000 clicks per 1,000 yen. If you pay 100 yen, you can bring 300 people to the sales page. Amazing.

The final result of advertising is sales and balance, but I spent 6,000 yen on advertising in one month, and the sales were approximately 8,600 yen. Honestly, I thought I wouldn't be able to recover the advertising costs, so I was surprised by this too. Of course, there are likely inflows from sources other than ads, and there are various elements of the content itself... It would be nice if it spreads through reviews, rankings, and word of mouth.

Personal thoughts on promo ads

Because I am arrogant

I have strong pride and am shy, so I hated desperately promoting on SNS, gathering fans, or creating communities where people praise each other. I wonder if there are many writers of a similar type. Is that a prejudice?

In that respect, promo ads are business-like because you just need to tidy up the appearance a little and pay money. The work is a bit complicated, but I felt it suited my nature. Even with a post that goes viral, I think it's difficult to bring 1,000 people to a sales page, so my impression is that it is excellent even from the perspective of simple cost-performance.

A more sentimental impression

On social media, when a post attracts negative attention, we call it 'enjo' (flaming), and when it becomes popular in a good way, we say it 'catches fire.' Regarding running promotional ads, I also somehow got the image of 'fire' or 'burning.' I wondered if running ads is like roasting content with fire from the outside.

If we use the analogy that burning equals selling, things with high flammability (i.e., catchy, novel) will catch fire with just a little spark. Even if the flammability is somewhat low, if the heat it possesses (the quality of the work) is high, once it catches fire, it will burn long and bright. Even for things that are quite hard to burn, if you roast them with an incredibly strong flame (putting effort into commercials and packaging), the temporary popularity itself acts like oil, and it might burn regardless of the content. That is the scene.

Also, this is a bit of a position-talk statement, but I felt that if you truly love your work, it is a kind of responsibility to place it in a sunny spot or light a fire under it (i.e., promote it) rather than leaving it in a dark, cold place (simply believing that someone will discover and appreciate it).

The end. I didn't include links related to promo ads because readers would disappear halfway through. How cunning.

Promotions below.

Please try reading it to test the author who is saying such high-and-mighty things.

『Loading a Dragon onto a Steam Locomotive』

　Have you ever heard 'Puff' by Peter, Paul and Mary? It is a masterpiece with lyrics that touch the heart, about a boy who grows up and leaves his magical dragon behind, leaving the dragon in sorrow. This work, which uses this song as a motif, is themed around growth, friendship, and a nostalgic childhood. In a fictional kingdom that has undergone an industrial revolution, an apprentice reporter named Jacqueline and a pair of dragon twins follow in the footsteps of a boy who lived four hundred years ago. Recommended for those who like the Victorian atmosphere.

『The Enchanted Stone Mage of Abu-Barth』

　This work pays respect to One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights). The journey of a mage bearing a sin and a girl harboring a secret is told alongside numerous tales and recollections. Travel by camel through a world different from Western-style fantasy, and feel the presence of ancient sages, Jinn, and Ghouls.

　That is all. Thank you for reading.