When I made the decision to take my writing to the next level and truly treat it like a business, I knew that I had to commit to some level of advertising to bring in new readers. I decided that I would start advertising the Book One’s of my series with Facebook Ads using the testing model I learned in Author Skye Warren’s Facebook Ads class.
The plan was after I figured out which ads were my “winning” ads, I’d then level up and increase the budget on those ads. But since you pay for ads on Facebook by impressions or clicks and on a monthly basis, AND we don’t get paid from most book retailers until 60 days, how was I going to pay for this grand plan of mine? The answer: the good ole’ American way. A low interest credit card.
If you are truly running an author business it is probably a good idea to take out a low interest business credit card that you use for all writing/publishing related expenses. It helps you keep track of what you’re actually spending on your business and your accountant will thank you at tax time. Banks typically extend more credit to a business than an individual, so it will give you some breathing room to run ads and pay your initial investment down once your royalties pay out. And while the company runs your personal credit to make the initial approval decision on your card, that card (and its balance) does not typically show on your personal credit report which can also be nice if you’re trying to get credit approval for other things in your life and don’t want the balance on your business card to impact approval(s).
The cards that work best for me are the American Express Business Card and the Chase Ink Visa which has no annual fee and gives me 5% cash back for every qualified purchase, especially on advertising purchases. Another great thing about these cards is that there was an introductory 0% interest fee on them for a year. *Terms are subject to change but were in place at the time of this writing.
But shop around. Another great source of low interest credit cards are ones from a bank you have an account or personal relationship with, especially credit unions. I have found that they give great rates as well. If you’re smart and disciplined with your spending, using a low-interest credit card can be a great (and semi-painless) way to get started seriously with advertising.