Image Designed on Canva
You must be wondering why I’m posting my Wednesday Reflection on a Thursday night-Friday morning. Yes, that is indeed how long I reflected on this issue. And I have decided that this week, instead of reviewing works of others, I shall engage in shameless self-promotion and request review for my own work. After all, it’s been a whole week since Bad Daughter was published via Kindle Select and all the factors – starting from being an unrecognized self-published author to trying to advertise online using the rigidly controlled monetary outflow imposed by Bangladesh Bank to having my book initially under lockdown to appear only on Amazon UK – have cast my book into the pit of obscurity in the reader’s market. Tinkering all day on Facebook Ad Manager to only receive continuous “your ad has not been approved” e-mails (tell me, what is wrong with the above creative?) has not been a ball of laughs either. So I return to my one outpost of comfort, WordPress. A girl has to survive somehow…
I’m sorry to be in such a choleric mood tonight but choleric I am. I went to the bank twice this week in order to get my dollars endorsed so I can run some campaigns on Facebook and Twitter. When I finally returned home successful, I was primed to conquer the world of social media engagement, believing my years of honed marketing communications skills would, at last, come into use for my own product. I had spent all of 2015 and most of 2016 running pre-opening launch campaigns and post-opening promotions for a global chain hotel online so I though this should be as easy as 1-2-3. Not so. My ad, as mentioned above, has been rejected by FB numerous times and all the feedback I receive is a vague “does not meet the Ad Policy Guidelines”. No direction as to which policy it violates. I have tried changing everything from the creative to the target audience to the objectives… it just does not stick. And always the same vague feedback, even upon appeal. With Twitter, I can’t even seem to upload all the information properly before the page routes to error. All this has made me wonder if I am a total web illiterate. In which case, how the hell did I manage a quarter of a million dollars in PR earnings and Social Media engagements for our hotel’s grand launch campaign in 2015?
Image: Bidinotto
Which brings me to the reason why I was trying to run ad campaigns on Facebook and Twitter. I realize it’s a bit like putting the cart before the horse but I finally have planned out a marketing schedule to campaign my book. My first objective is to simply get people to read and review it. So I have set up a Free eBook Download promotion for this Saturday and Sunday (to run according to Pacific Standard Time) on Amazon. The links to my book (by market) are provided at the bottom of this post and all a reader needs to do is download the eBook and read it via Kindle App, which is available for free on iOS, Android, PC, and Mac. The image to the right says “Buy My Book…” but, this Saturday, purchase is not even necessary. All I’m requesting people at this point is download it for free, read it at your leisure, and if you think it’s worth a review, please return to Amazon and leave a couple of words. Do I sound desperate? Well, it’s because I’m feeling pretty desperate. You might be thinking I’m losing it too soon but my frustration reaps from the deluge of technical difficulties I’m facing. Because, you know, even if I don’t get stellar reviews, it would still mean people read it.
The good news is, at least the Free eBook Download is scheduled for the weekend. Nothing can go wrong there anymore, right? Knock on wood.
Links to download Bad Daughter by Region:
And yes, I’m still waiting for the book to become purchasable in the USA, even though I re-selected the country as the primary market.
Update: It’s finally on Amazon US, yay!
The Romantic Quill 
#1 by jrusoloward on May 26, 2017 - 4:03 am
I’ve just tweeted this out. Should I have asked first???
#2 by lupa08 on May 26, 2017 - 4:51 am
Not at all. It’s so kind of you! *hugs*
#3 by jrusoloward on May 29, 2017 - 7:09 pm
I just bought “Bad Daughter” and look forward to reading it!
#4 by lupa08 on May 29, 2017 - 7:18 pm
Aww.. Thanks! 😊 I look forward to your feedback.