I need to warn fellow authors about my recent experience. I hired what seemed like a reputable book marketing services for my thriller launch (withholding their name, but they're well-known and have been operating for 6+ years).
The problems started when they missed our agreed-upon launch date by two weeks, claiming technical issues. By then, my pre-order momentum had stalled completely. When they finally implemented the marketing plan, I discovered they were using outdated promotional techniques—like mass-email blasts to unengaged lists and generic social media posts that generated zero engagement.
The worst part? They used my marketing budget on sites and newsletters that weren't even relevant to my genre. My psychological thriller was being promoted on sweet romance newsletters! When I confronted them with evidence (screenshots from the promotions), they claimed these were "crossover audiences" based on their "proprietary data."
After demanding detailed accounting of my spent budget, they stopped responding altogether. I had to involve PayPal to recover part of my payment.
The silver lining is that I've managed to salvage my launch by quickly educating myself and implementing my own marketing strategy. Sales are finally picking up after essentially relaunching the book myself.
Lesson learned: thoroughly research any book marketing services, get everything in writing, and maintain access to all accounts they create for your campaigns. Has anyone else had similar experiences? How did you recover?
I need to warn fellow authors about my recent experience. I hired what seemed like a reputable book marketing services for my thriller launch (withholding their name, but they're well-known and have been operating for 6+ years).
The problems started when they missed our agreed-upon launch date by two weeks, claiming technical issues. By then, my pre-order momentum had stalled completely. When they finally implemented the marketing plan, I discovered they were using outdated promotional techniques—like mass-email blasts to unengaged lists and generic social media posts that generated zero engagement.
The worst part? They used my marketing budget on sites and newsletters that weren't even relevant to my genre. My psychological thriller was being promoted on sweet romance newsletters! When I confronted them with evidence (screenshots from the promotions), they claimed these were "crossover audiences" based on their "proprietary data."
After demanding detailed accounting of my spent budget, they stopped responding altogether. I had to involve PayPal to recover part of my payment.
The silver lining is that I've managed to salvage my launch by quickly educating myself and implementing my own marketing strategy. Sales are finally picking up after essentially relaunching the book myself.
Lesson learned: thoroughly research any book marketing services, get everything in writing, and maintain access to all accounts they create for your campaigns. Has anyone else had similar experiences? How did you recover?