The indie writer has many dilemmas he or she must contend with like trying to visualize the perfect cover and then bringing that cover to fruition, making sure that his or her manuscript is properly edited and then formatted, as well as a myriad of other minute details before his or her book is ready to be published. By the time the “publish” button is actually pressed, there is nothing more appealing than the thought of kicking back and savoring the sweet victory of becoming a published author and letting life get back to some semblance of normalcy after months (or perhaps even years) poring over the keyboard in an effort to create the Next Great Bestseller (“NGB”).

Unfortunately, that’s little more than a pipe dream for most indie authors because unless that author is Stephen King or James Patterson, with legions of fans eagerly waiting to lap up their next literary offering, that NGB is at risk of slipping quietly into the dark void called Literary Oblivion – which is where published books tend to expire if their authors don’t make the Herculean effort of navigating the very expensive valleys of Advertising Everest. Of course, there are those fortunate few indie writers – and I do mean few – who will tell you that despite never advertising their books, they’ve had consistent sales with every book they’ve written. That may very well be true, but these writers fall into a very minute percentage of the writer population. Almost every other writer quickly learns that advertising of some sort leads to exposure, which in turn leads to the writer’s book getting noticed, which then leads to the writer’s book getting reviews, and so on, and so on...

Until now, many indie writers have chosen to go the KDP Select route. KDP Select allows writers to advertise their ebooks free on Amazon for a total of five days. These five days can be spread out over three months or they can be used consecutively. Amazon doesn’t care how a writer uses their free days – provided that the ebook is locked in and available for sale only through Amazon for 90 days. Some writers have found this caveat a small price to pay for the wide-spread exposure their book will garner, resulting in substantial free downloads and a nice bump in sales for several days afterwards. But what to do when a writer’s KDP Select free days are used up for that 90-day period?

That’s when the writer learns the ins and outs of navigating Advertising Everest. And, let’s face it, Navigating Advertising Everest takes patience and experimentation – and it’s not for the faint of wallet. Yes, book design, editing and formatting all cost money, but it’s a small drop in the bucket in comparison to the considerable expenditures an indie writer will put out so that readers will become aware of his or her book. What kind of expenditures, you ask? Well, that depends on which way you’re leaning.

By way of example, BookBub is the current behemoth in terms of advertising clout and results. It’s a free daily email that lists deeply discounted and free ebooks to its subscribers based on their genre preference. Unfortunately, with such clout comes a hefty price tag. For the thriller genre, BookBub boasts a subscriber readership of 2.8 million, with average free downloads at 40,500 and paid downloads at 2,870. For the crime fiction genre, BookBub boasts a subscriber readership of 3.9 million, with average free downloads at 53,200 and paid downloads at 3,130. In order to advertise to these masses, if the indie writer is lucky enough to be picked (the word “lucky” is NOT a typo because with writers literally throwing their hard-earned money at BookBub, they can afford to be highly selective), that writer must have deep pockets, to be sure. To advertise a “free” book in the thriller genre, it currently costs $394.00 USD, and to advertise in the crime fiction genre, it currently costs $512.00 USD.

Of course, there are many other smaller advertising venues who will happily take the indie writer’s advertising bucks. For an indie writer, spending money on advertising is inevitable; however, spending it without doing one’s homework and without assessing the marketplace is a waste of hard-earned money.