[adamelijah]

I'm considering putting my book up for advertisement in the local theater. The theater has 15000 people buy tickets per month. My novel is a superhero novel and they'll be having three Superhero movies in the theater within the next few weeks.

The total cost is somewhat hefty ($540) for 6 months but seems a fair risk. Would you do it?

 

[gatehouseauthor]

That is a bit of an investment for advertising an indie book, but sometimes local exposure is the best kind.  I've been considering the same thing.  Question is, who produces the advertising material, you or the theater/advertising company?  It can be a bit pricey to put together even a still image for advertising, and that's a cost that has to be figured in, if it's not included.

You'll have to let us know how it goes!

 

[Ryne Billings]

I thought about that as well. It's $1 a night at the local movie theater here. Of course, it's only a city of 8,000, and it's a bit risky since it might not even be worth it.

 

[Andrew Neudecker]

I thought about that as well. It's $1 a night at the local movie theater here. Of course, it's only a city of 8,000, and it's a bit risky since it might not even be worth it.

Times are tough and maybe you can negotiate. I'd shoot for a 3 month deal for say 300 bucks. Word of mouth can spread like a forest fire!

 

[Ryne Billings]

Times are tough and maybe you can negotiate. I'd shoot for a 3 month deal for say 300 bucks. Word of mouth can spread like a forest fire!

That's not very good negotiating.

3 months is roughly 90 days, so that would be $90.

 

[Andrew Neudecker]

That's not very good negotiating.

3 months is roughly 90 days, so that would be $90.

Yeah... I was basing my numbers off his post but I quoted yours by mistake... But I suppose the price depends on location and potential viewers. The main point is try to cut a deal.

 

[Ryne Billings]

Yeah... I was basing my numbers off his post but I quoted yours by mistake... But I suppose the price depends on location and potential viewers. The main point is try to cut a deal.

I thought as much, hence the

 

[Andrew Neudecker]

I thought as much, hence the

No worries! I'm relaxing on my night off enjoying a few beers!

 

[Ryne Billings]

No worries! I'm relaxing on my night off enjoying a few beers!

I'm still a year too young to be able to do that.

 

[Andrew Neudecker]

I'm still a year too young to be able to do that.

"LEGALLY" you mean?

 

[Ryne Billings]

"LEGALLY" you mean?

I thought that was implied.

 

[andrewwrites]

I'm considering putting my book up for advertisement in the local theater. The theater has 15000 people buy tickets per month. My novel is a superhero novel and they'll be having three Superhero movies in the theater within the next few weeks.

The total cost is somewhat hefty ($540) for 6 months but seems a fair risk. Would you do it?

Noone has really given a straight answer yet: This would be a horrible investment imo. HORRIBLE. Everyone says almost any money spent advertising a book brings terrible returns, but an ad during a movie at a local theater, that to me just SCREAMS ineffective. Don't do it.

If you are hellbent on paying to advertise, print up $500 worth of copies and give them out to create word of mouth, or something. But that $540 just really sounds SO bad, sorry, not trying to be harsh, but no.

I went to college for advertising btw and have done a fair bit of advertising online (not for books - it is ineffective). I'm not saying there's no chance I'm wrong here, but I am fairly confident here.

 

[Casper Parks]

I'm considering putting my book up for advertisement in the local theater. The theater has 15000 people buy tickets per month. My novel is a superhero novel and they'll be having three Superhero movies in the theater within the next few weeks.

The total cost is somewhat hefty ($540) for 6 months but seems a fair risk. Would you do it?

I can't answer that question. There is one thing no one has mentioned. Name recognition, getting the brand or name into the public eye... If the ad runs everyday for six months and part of that time is during the airing of a super hero movie, it may be worth it to hit that target audience.

Let us know if you do it and how it pans-out.

 

[MonkeyScribe]

I also think it would be a bad idea. Better to spent the money at Pixel of Ink and KND.

 

[swolf]

I think it's a great idea.  The novel I'm writing is set in my hometown, and I'm hoping to generate a lot of local buzz when I finally release it.  Something like this would be hitting my target audience every night.  Thanks.

 

[39179]

I would agree with Michael. That's quite a lot of movie goers you'd be reaching, but how many of those people actually read books on a regular basis? I think you'd be better off using the funds in a more targeted way.

 

[gatehouseauthor]

It depends on your hook.  If your book has a lot of local appeal, that's a good hook for local readers.  My local hook is that half the proceeds are going to support one of the local high school marching bands.  With a good enough hook, I think local targeted advertising (super hero book in front of a super hero movie, fantasy book in front of Harry Potter, comedic romance novel in front of a romantic comedy, etc.) might actually be of benefit for local exposure.  But that price point, to me, is prohibitive... that's a lot of money to spend on advertising, when most advertising I've tried so far has yielded far less return than the cost.

Still, my local theaters do this as well, and I'm looking into the option.  In a town of 180,000 people, there are a LOT of people attending one of the two first-run theaters in town every week.

 

[MonkeyScribe]

Leaving aside the specifics of this case, I don't think advertising does much. I see that in my small business and have heard it from many other places as well. I paid for some Goodreads advertising, and in spite of hundreds of thousands of impressions in front of targeted readers, have received almost no benefit. All they have to do is click once to get to the Amazon page and once more to get the book and they don't do it.

I've seen book ads in larger cities and on the subways and never once bought a book via that sort of ad. Those are big, expensive ad campaigns run by slick advertising agencies. I'm a voracious reader. Why wouldn't they work? In part, I can't simply click, I have to take note, then go search out the book in a bookstore or online. But we also see so many ads every day that we tune them out. Just on this page I can find the book of the day, an ad for Kindle skins, a special offers ad, three different ads for Kindles, an ad for an ING mortgage, several link ads for the developers of this board, and several ads to purchase advertising on this site. I didn't notice one of those ads until I went looking for them.

How many ads will your moviegoers see on their way to, during, and after leaving the theater? Hundreds, probably. Anything that is not targeted ("let's go out to the lobby!") will be filtered out by your brain. A book ad is the same thing.

That's just my opinion and why I would decline to spend money on this sort of advertising for my own books.

 

[jimbronyaur]

I can't say yes or no.  

I agree with both sides here so far.

The $500 could be used for a bigger push - KND, Pixel, plus some freebie copies.  Get copies printed and put a stick on them that say PROPERTY OF _________  and then take them to local coffee shops, etc. and ask to leave them there.  Hell, even if someone steals the book, they're reading it, right  haha.
Personally, when I hit the movies, the last thing I care about it the ads on the screen.  And this "hits" are based on what?  Ticket sales?  How many people are in the theatre while those ads before the previews are showing?  How many are talking?  Texting?  Getting popcorn?  If I had to dig out... I remember two ads from the last time I went... a dentist and a Japanese restaurant.  Their names?  Heh, good luck.

THEN AGAIN... for 6 months, that's consistent.  Frequent goers, etc. may see the name and image over and over.

Another thought... in line with the neg. suggestion... talk 'em down to a month maybe.  Offer $100 for one month to see the hits on your site, views for the book, and of course, sales.

6 months is a long campaign.  And $500+ is a big price tag.  How many copies of your book will you have to sell to JUST break even.  And for that much, how many books do you have out?  Let's say someone buys the book because of the ad... they enjoy it... what's next?  Can they jump right back into another one?

For me, if I was going to have a big campaign like this, I'd have at least 5 books out.  That way if you get someone to go to the site, they see books.  And if they buy, they'll hopefully come right back.

Good luck with your decision - please let us know the results!

-jb


(And for me, views, impressions, it's all BLAH BLAH, because you just don't know.  I have 100k plus impressions for a Facebook ad I ran.  I got 90 clicks out of it... and 0 sales.  Just be careful of the wording because the theatre probably up sells their viewers with ticket sales, etc. when you can't say for sure if all those ticket sales are in their seats when your ad runs...)

 

[Dr. Laurence Brown]

This is a tough one. It seems like a great idea at first but the more I read the more valid the opposing points in this thread have. You don't know how many of these people seeing the movie will read, or even remember the ad. Around here at the theaters I find that most of the people don't even pay attention during the previews because they're: texting, talking, running to get snacks/restroom.