Advertising Guidelines

Dec 30 2019 Update. In the next few weeks I’ll be rearranging the blog so that mobile readers can see some book promotions. Stay tuned. Otherwise, what is posted below remains true.

On the right sidebar I am  running  ebook ads, basically a one line tag line with a book cover. (See my FTC-mandated commercial disclosures).    I expect to be writing a lot of book reviewers and literary-type blogposts. Also, I hope to expand to another site which is more review-focused, so there is potential for ads here to go on the other site as well.

There are 2 ad opportunities here:

1. a paid ad, which will consist of a book cover and a caption of your choice/my choice. The ad will be for one month, possibly longer. OR
2. a free ad (if you are a Smashwords author and willing to increase the affiliate payout on your ebook). These usually stay on the website for at least a month.

Paid ads will stay reasonably-priced, especially if the ebook fits these criteria:

1. it’s a literary title and likely to interest my readers.
2. It’s a good value and not too expensive. I don’t want to run ads for anything costing more than $5 usually. Prose ebooks should  be 40,000 words or more. (15,000 or more for poetry titles).
3. Poetry. I’m trying to include at least one poetry ebook a month, so get in touch (especially if you’re already on Smashwords). I’ll give you a great deal on ad rates if you have a decent  poetry ebook.

To propose a paid ad for an ebook, send me an email with the name of your book (a review copy might be good too). For July 2019, the rates are $20 for the top ad, and $10 for an ad below that (usually the third in the stack). That rate changes every month.

To propose a free ad for Smashwords ebook, see this  information about how to submit an ebook ad for a Smashwords title. Note:  Ebook ads stay on my website (all 2700 web pages worth!) for a full month. I plan the ads and placement on the first day of every month.

To send me a review copy of your book for possible coverage/review,  read my policy on writing book reviews and how to send something to me.

About ads:

• All Ads will appear as a widget within this wordpress blog (i.e., they are not third-party).  That means ad-blockers will never hide your ad.
• If the web visitor is using a browser with a width smaller than 975 pixels, the sidebar ads will drop below the web content.  I may eventually change my wordpress  theme so it can include interstitial ads, but for now it’s not a priority.
• An image-based ad is ok (file size no bigger  than 30K), but it has to be static and not too distracting. Prefer an  image that is somewhat abstracted or simple or design-oriented. I’ve been just using book covers with a caption.
• Mobile Viewers:  In the last month, 48% of web traffic came from mobile devices, 42% comes from Desktop and 10% comes from Tablets.  I assume that almost all the traffic from Desktop and tablet shows the sidebar, while almost none of the traffic from mobile devices displays the sidebar.
• I am not tracking your clickthroughs (that’s your job!)

Web Content and Web Traffic Data (Feb 2019)

My blog took a hiatus between 2014-7 more or less, but from November 2018 onward I plan to post regularly (usually 2x a week, if not more often). I expect to increase gradually over 2019 and 2020.

• I have published 2700 pages here. Most of the pages are long content. 2018 and beyond, I have focused primarily on posts about ebooks, literary subjects and publishing.
• My blog is 18+ years old. For posts between  2001- 2017, I would break down content in this way:  Personal essays (15%), Technical Linkdumps (10%), Political Linkdumps (10%), Random essays about art and letters (25%),  rants about technical subjects (5%), rants about political problems (5%),  climate change stuff (10%)  reviews of movies and books (10%),   humorous pieces (10%).
• Historically, this website averages 10,000-20,000 visits per month. For the most recent month, the number of “active users” (which I assume to be unique visitors) is 3000-4000 per month.
• Because my blog publishes all posts on a single page, total  page views are probably less, but time spent on site tends to be longer than average.
• In the last month, 48% of web traffic came from mobile devices, 42% comes from Desktop and 10% comes from Tablets.  I use a mobile-friendly WordPress Theme which puts the sidebar underneath the posts when screen width goes less than 975 pixels. From that, I guess  that  55-60% of site visitors are seeing the ad sidebar.
• Geography: 58% come from USA, 10% come from UK, 5% come from Canada, 1-3% come from Australia, India, Philippines, Ireland, Germany, Japan, Spain, Malaysia, Poland.
• 80% are Search Traffic;  18% is direct traffic,  with 1% being referrals and social media.