Tess Gerritsen on Internet vs Traditional Advertising

My favourite crime novelist, Tess Gerritsen writes about her experiences promoting her books in print, online and on book tours in this blog post.

Thanks for being so transparent with your thoughts, Tess! It's really interesting to all your avid fans (like me) and fascinating to get some insight into what goes on behind the scenes for me when I've got my 'internet advertising' hat on.

I've always got that hat on.

Here's Tess's book trailer for 'The Keepsake' ('Keeping the Dead' in the UK - very good by the way!):



Tess's main problem with online advertising is that it seems less accountable to her, she just doesn't know if it works or not. This is amazing to me, someone who's worked in online advertising for years. I know that 95% of online advertising is direct response, concerned only with generating sales and getting a return on the investment. She should know down to the last penny (or cent, whatever) how much money every single online ad made.

Granted, this is a bit different with video, especially YouTube videos which get emailed and shared on Twitter and Facebook and end up on blogs and sites halfway across the world where the book isn't even published. However, if there's an online advert and you want to see sales, then there must be a buying mechanism near it! More specifically, in the 'more info' section there should be a link to the book on Amazon.

I buy a lot of books on Amazon and most of the time I will add books to my basket, and usually do a bulk buy every few weeks. A link near the book trailer saying 'add this to your Amazon basket' or even 'check out the reviews on Amazon' would definitely encourage me to click, without feeling threatened or that I'm being pushed too hard into buying.