Yesterday’s winner: Lara Rose – congrats!! Email me with your contact information.
Today’s topic: ads, covers and banners. You visit websites and see banners for authors and books. Some of these are on sites you might expect to see ads and banners like Romance Junkies, Novel Talk , All About Romance and others. There are some sites where you might not expect to see ads, but they’re there – ex. Smart Bitches. You pick up RT and see glossy ads about this new release or that one.
So…
(1) Do ads and banners affect you at all? Do you see them? Notice them? Click through or go look for more information based on something you’ve seen?
(2) Do you subscribe to or buy RT (or other similar magazines)? If so, do the ads do anything for you?
(3) Ever buy a book as a result of an ad or banner?
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Well, I’m not sure if I’ve ever bought a book directly because of a banner, but they do definitely get the book in my head, which is always a good thing when I’m scouring the bookshelves in search of something impulse-y to buy.
by Nicole July 20th, 2006 at 10:31 amI subscribe to RT BOOKreview magazine and I love it! I’ve clicked on banners to check out books. And, yes, I’ve purchased the book as a result. Sometimes I buy Bookmarks magazine and Pages.
by Melissa July 20th, 2006 at 10:37 amOOPS….Congrats, Lara Rose!
by Melissa July 20th, 2006 at 10:40 amYay for Lara Rose! congrats!
1. I see those banner ads, but I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve actually clicked on one for more info. Most of the time they are like white noise…I know they are there, but I just don’t pay that much attention.
2. I don’t subscribe to any of those trade mags. I’m not much of a magazine person.
3. Hmmm. I can’t honestly say I have. Maybe. But if I did, it was not solely due to the ad/banner.
by Angie July 20th, 2006 at 11:12 amNope I do not subscribe to any rom magazines and cant say that I have bought a book due to seeing a banner.
Again, I buy by author, recommendations, back blurbs – a cover does draw me, but then I read the blurb.
by Pat July 20th, 2006 at 11:58 amHey! That’s me! Woo-hoo!
Thanks HelenKay! 
I know people are spending all kinds a dough on banner ads, but I’m wary of clicking through, because you never know where you’re going to end up or what kind of spyware is going to be secretly downloaded. It’s probably an irrational fear, but I can be irrational sometimes
by Lara Rose July 20th, 2006 at 2:00 pmI don’t subscribe to RT and have never clicked on a banner or bought a book because of a banner.
by Estella Kissell July 20th, 2006 at 2:39 pmI usually buy books by author or recommendation.
Banner ads are usually deliberately ignored. They have to be exceptionally well done to be considered anything but tacky and, as someone else commented, suspect.
I do not subscribe to RT, though I will occasionally buy it if there is someone I know on the cover or in an article. I just discovered Pages and will buy it again.
I have purchased books based on print ads.
by LA July 20th, 2006 at 3:47 pmI dont buy a book because of a banner or add.
I dont subscribe to RT and the banners really dont catch my attention.
by Helen Mac July 20th, 2006 at 6:20 pm(1) I’ve seen the banners on various sites but I can’t think of a time when I’ve actually clicked on it.
(2) I subscribe to RT. The ads don’t influence me in any way.
(3) No
by KimW July 20th, 2006 at 6:50 pm1. I dont pay attention to banner ad.
by Karen T. July 20th, 2006 at 8:33 pm2. I do not subscribe to RT.
3. No I have not.
Congrats Lara Rose! It’s a great anthology
Website banners don’t get much attention from me. I pretty much ignore them. I do however subscribe to RT and the ads in that mag do catch my eye, or at least a few of them do. If the blurb on the front sounds interesting, I will find out more about the book, and go from there. That’s how Ellora’s Cave came to my attention, and how I discovered my love of erotic romance *g* So yes, RT ads have inspired me to find out more about a particular book which on occasion I have purchased. The website banners have not done this for me.
by Stacy ~ July 20th, 2006 at 9:40 pmI don’t subscribe to RT or any romance magazine, nor does any banner ad get much attention from me nor cause me to buy a book.
by Lori D. July 20th, 2006 at 10:04 pm[...] HelenKay Dimon has asked some interesting questions about promo. From her final post: Let me start with the second part of the question first. I call this the Shannon McKenna phenomenon. Shannon writes for Brava. She lives in Italy. She doesn’t go to conferences, or do online chats or do a great deal of promo as far as I can tell. She has a website, but it’s usually not updated (notice how her News blurb is from February). She’s on the Brava author website, but I don’t think she’s all around the internet as many other authors are. She writes for one publisher and doesn’t write 10 books a year – more like 1 or 2. She’s also wildly popular and her books hit bestseller lists and Bookscan. She’s doing something right and not doing promo. So, what’s the explanation for that? [...]
by Jorrie Spencer » Blog Archive » Friday links July 21st, 2006 at 7:29 pmNope.
Nope.
Nope.
I share Lara Rose’s irrational fear of viruses and spyware.
I used to work for an ad agency, so advertising doesn’t really work on me anymore — I’m too cynical. I usually only notice if an ad is particularly well or poorly done. Content doesn’t seem to have much impact.
by Sela Carsen July 23rd, 2006 at 8:25 amgreeaat site and books keep up the good work
by Linda Chaput July 31st, 2006 at 7:25 pm