A look inside Arthur's brain...
>Odd Victorian Factoid#13: the term jingoism comes from the lyrics of a popular Victorian song: "We don't want to fight, but, by Jingo if we do/We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got the money, too." It was called "The Great McDermott's Song" and was written during the time of the Russo-Turkish war. "By Jingo" was a minced oath for "by Jesus!"
>Odd Victorian Factoid#12: Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz of the Ottoman Empire had 5500 courtiers, 600 horses, 200 carriages and a harem of 1500 women. All this while the empire was going broke. Did I mention the new palaces he also built? He was later "unpalaced" by a military coup and placed under house arrest. He committed suicide with a pair of nail scissors.
*I've been doing a series of these factoids on Facebook and Twitter, and just thought I'd add them to my blog, too. Here I can add a bit more info. So that's why I'm starting with #12. The first 11 are on Facebook or Twitter. All of this comes from research for my The Hunchback Assignments series...
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>Well, I tried out advertising on Facebook to see if I could gather a bit more interest in my novel Jolted: Newton Starker's Rules for Survival. Anyone who is on Facebook will know that ads appear on the right hand side of every page. That was the space I was buying. You can choose to pay for the number of impressions that an ad has (that is how many times it appears on the side of the page) or you can choose to pay each time someone clicks on your ad. I chose the second option, believing I'd get a fair number of impressions before someone actually clicked on it. There is also a "bidding" system, which means you are competing with other people for that ad space.
Here's the ad I came up with:
Catchy, eh? I thought the title would grab people's attention. I made sure they knew it was a YA book, since I didn't want people to click on it (and cost me money) unless they were truly interested. If you click on the ad now, you'll go to the page that people would have gone to.
These are the "targets" I chose. Since my book was released in the U.S. a month or so ago, I thought I'd try getting the attention of readers there. The other choices are a bit more obvious.
The ads ran on April 15th and 16th. I, of course, didn't see them since I'm in Canada. Here are the results:
As you can see there were 328,000 impressions and 107 people clicked the ads. I paid $25 (U.S) per day for a total of $50.00. I also used google analytics and my own website stats to verify the results.
My conclusions: The advertising worked in that it brought people to my website. I have links to several online bookstores, but there's no way to measure how many books I actually sold. My Amazon.com #'s went from around 800,00 to 700,000 and are now at 250,000--but figuring out Amazon #'s will drive one mad. Mad, I tell you! The rise in my ranking may mean that my mom bought a few copies. I would have to sell about 25 books to make back the amount I invested, so I highly doubt that 1 in 4 of my new visitors bought books (though maybe they went to a nearby story and bought all of my books). But at least now there are 107 people who are either going "that was a neato book" or "geez, I'm never gonna get the 10 seconds I spent on that website back."
Overall, it was an interesting experiment which wasn't too expensive to my pocket book (uh, can anyone loan me $50.00? Anyone?). If I were to do it again, I would probably set up a page specifically for Facebook visitors with some kind of offer for free bookmarks, just so I could track them. I'd also put a link so that they could sign up on my listserv. Or I could have the ad go directly to B&N or Amazon or another bookseller and see if that improves sales.
Anyway, that's my Facebook ad experiment. Anyone else have some interesting advert experiences?
>
Christopher Steininger, who is doing the Canadian Hunchback covers, has a new "mature audiences" webcomic. The artwork is amazing. Click here: Dead Heaven.
>[blip.tv http://blip.tv/play/AfeIe5CKFg]
>Well, I had a contest to win a hardcover copy of JOLTED: Newton Starker's Rules for Survival and here were a few of the entries. The tough, mind bending question was: how do truffle pigs find truffles?
By dining at the world famous Truffles Restaurant in Saskatoon, SK Canada. Google map attached --Arla G
Truffle pigs find truffles as they truffle along to Buffalo where they can get a copy of JOLTED.--Pat R
I don't know about you but I eat them both and then they find comfort in my tummy.--Louise
Truffle pigs find truffles in the pigtionary and therefore don't do any sniffing or digging. There are no words or letters in the pigtionary. It contains only sounds. Our truffle pigs find the truffles somewhere between troubles and trifles. Sounds complicated, doesn't it? But really, take it from me, it's no truffle at all.--Dave C.
Truffle pigs find truffles by scouting about with their snout,
sniffing in and out,
finding the treasure,
they give out a shout.
OINK!--Debbie S
The truffle pigs ears twitch when they are near truffles, then they use their nose to smell out where exactly the truffles are.--
Nathalie K
Truffle pigs find truffles
With the ease a nose finds snuffles
Not a squabble, no kerfluffles
Then they stuff them into duffles
For you see, these pigs are nosey
In the woods they often mosey
Seeking truffles, though, not posy
And they root them ‘til they’re dozy.--Valerie S
Fun stuff! If you want to join in on the excitement, wit, and other stuff, just sign up for my cheeky e-mails. I only send out 4 e-mails a year, so your inbox won't be flooded.
Thanks to all the entries!
