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Do the old marketing strategies still work today?

Posted on 3rd May, 2026

I blog once a month. I’m not sure why as I don’t think many people read it. I’ve also arranged blog tours for my indie published Regency series, The Earl’s Unexpected Wards, but again I’ve no idea if these blogs will be seen by many. I’ve not read a blog in years – don’t know anyone who has. I think that maybe in US they are more popular. Certainly the thirteen bloggers for each of the first tours are American sites. My publisher, Boldwood, has stopped doing them so maybe they don’t think that they are helping with marketing. Sales now seem to be generated by tik tok, Instagram etc, not blogs.

I decided to give Amazon ads a go for The Earl’s Bride. Simple enough to set up -Amazon do the ad – you just have to enter details and how much you want to spend. These ads ran for two weeks. Cost me £100 and made me £13. Therefore not cost effective for me. I know someone who makes millions of $ every month, an indie publisher, and she spends over £10 000 on adverts every month. Works for her – maybe if you spend more eventually it balances in your favour.

My publisher spends a lot on assets, do a lot of marketing for us, but we’re also asked to do our bit. I have almost 11 000 followers on Amazon, I’m sure that generates more sales than anything else I do. I know some writers who just write books and put them out and do really well. I’m sure really big names can do this, we mid-list writers have to make a bit of an effort. Amazon is my biggest market, and for most of us, and their algorithms  if you get them right will put your books in front of readers.

What do you do? Facebook Ads, Instagram post, reels, tiktok, Booktok? What works for you. I’d love to know so I can have ago myself.

Fenella J Miller