Some of you know that I just created a "page" on Facebook (I already had a personal page.) It's here if you want to go "like" me.
Creating the page was a bit like navigating a maze, and I've been wondering just why having this page is supposed to do me so much good in marketing my books. I didn't really understand about the ads business in the right-hand column. I had always thought there was a charge for advertising on Facebook, but then I thought, well, maybe when you take a page, you get some ads free. So I went through the process of setting up an ad. After filling in all the little boxes, you get to the bottom. Yep! Every time somebody clicks on your ad, you get charged $1.10 or some such figure. Nowhere in all the earlier instructions did they mention that! I got out of there as fast as I could! I don't want to pay for something that gives no assurance anybody will buy the book just because they click on the ad. Maybe that's shortsighted -- maybe if I had Facebook ads, I'd sell a thousand copies of my books this month -- but I think the way they go about getting their ads is deceptive, so that's not for me, at least not yet. They should tell you upfront, here is what we'll charge you if you advertise with us.
What do some of the rest of you other self-publishers do? If you have a Facebook page, do you pay for ads? Do you get any benefit from them?
