Anyone Tried Publisher Rocket?

[NRuhwald]

I'm planning on launching my first self-published novel in the new year, and I'd like to give it the best shot I can. It seems like Publisher Rocket could really help, but it's fairly pricey, so I'm a bit on the fence.

 

[Prince of Spires]

I have tried publisher rocket and I've gotten some use out of it.

The thing with PR is that most of the things it does can be done in other ways as well. It just takes more time. Finding keywords, finding similar novels, the correct categories are all things you can do simply by browsing Amazon and putting in the elbow grease. PR just speeds up the process. It helps a bit with finding keywords you hadn't thought of and that sort of thing.

I personally think that if you're on a tight budget and this is your first novel then it's not worth it. PR enhances stuff you already know, it doens't magically teach you how to do stuff. So it helps you find better keywords, but you need to first know how to create good keywords, otherwise it has nothing to tell you. Same with finding competitors. That's nice to know when you know what you're doing and what to do with those competitors. But if you're just starting out then it's not worth much.

The thing is when publishing your first novel, no one will find it using organic search. Buyers have no reason to search for your book, and whatever keywords you come up with, you will not be at the top of the results page, since Amazon will put books it knows will sell there. Therefore, most of the information you can get from PR will not help you sell your book initially. Now, if your book gains traction, then it will help it sell better.

So, if I was on a tight budget and had to chose what to do with the $50 or $100 PR costs (depending on if you find a deal or not), then I would take that money and invest it in adds or a service like Bookfunnel or StoryOrigin (both of which focus on newsletter swaps and stuff like that). Either of those will get you a better return on investment. This is of course assuming you already have a professional looking cover and at least a proofread (if not an edit) of your book. Otherwise, invest in that.

 

[skip.knox]

I agree with Prince of Spires. It reflects my own experience. Even after four books, I don't really understand how keywords work in Amazon Ads (that is, not well enough to predict if this or that keyword will be effective), so having PR (which I do own) pick out keywords for me does save time but doesn't translate to more sales. Maybe if I were selling hundreds of books a month I'd have a different opinion.

 

[NRuhwald]

Ah I see. Thanks, that helps a lot. With all the services and products out there it's hard to know who they're really aimed at helping, or at what stage the product or service will be helpful. And of course, they all want everyone to use them.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Yeah, skip the rocket… I found it relatively worthless, although maybe I didn’t try it enough. Who knows. You want something for keywords that’s handy? Keyword sniffer from Booksniffer, which was built by authors.I like its list of books, authors, etc., that are current top sellers.

 

[skip.knox]

Booksniffer sounds interesting. Its team includes a number of people I recognize or follow. Alas, the website is buggy. I couldn't get anywhere with Firefox (times out trying to connect to Facebook).

Went to Chrome where Booksniffer said I already had an account. Cool, login. Nope, it just says its still verifying the account. I'm hoping for better results!

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Eeeyes, I’ve noted a few issues myself. Things tend to work on Safari, and if you do get it to work, the keyword sniffer will pile out a database for keywords that saves hours of poring over best seller lists and such.

Booksniffer sounds interesting. Its team includes a number of people I recognize or follow. Alas, the website is buggy. I couldn't get anywhere with Firefox (times out trying to connect to Facebook).

Went to Chrome where Booksniffer said I already had an account. Cool, login. Nope, it just says its still verifying the account. I'm hoping for better results!