Tag: Bookbub

BookBub Deal Conclusions

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BookBub is a site where readers can subscribe for free to a daily newsletter and receive news about free and bargain books in the genres of their choice. Achieving a spot on their daily deal has been coveted by authors for years. BookBub has strict guidelines on what works for them, and authors may apply numerous times before getting accepted. As a reader, I like this site to discover new series and authors that I enjoy reading.

I have done daily deals twice before, both for international markets only. This time, I landed one that included the U.S. for Easter Hair Hunt on March 10 at a discounted $0.99 price. Expecting to pay $1036 for my Cozy Mystery spot, I was surprised to learn BB had just instituted a new policy and the cost would be reduced to $829. This new policy allows BB to offer two books per day in the same genre. Prior to this change, I believe there was only one book per day per genre, which led to less competition.

As before, I stacked other ads around this date. These included sites such as Book Doggy, Authors XP, Bargain Booksy, a 5-day Facebook ad via Written Word Media, Book Goodies, The Fussy Librarian and EReader News Today. Including my own newsletter cost and a BookBub ad, this brought my total ad costs to $1406.

Then rumor said March was a month designated for an Amazon boycott. Whether this affected my sales or not, it’s hard to tell. Sales on Amazon have generally been dismal this year so far. Either it’s the economy, or people are choosing books at Kindle Unlimited instead. I did not earn back the money I’d invested in this venture.

I did notice two things about my BookBub Deal that also may have affected sales. Readers had to scroll down through the BB newsletter the day of my deal and click on a link at the bottom that read, View Entire Message. My book was on the second page, not visible to a reader unless they clicked on this link. How many readers bother to do so or even notice this other page?

Also, I felt the story blurb for my book was poorly written. I had no say in the ad copy, and I worried that this description might discourage readers rather than entice them to buy the book. Hopefully, this wasn’t the case.

The only good thing to come out of this adventure was Easter Hair Hunt made #1 on the Amazon Bestseller List in their Holiday Fiction category. So that was a win. And the number of Amazon ratings for my book increased, if not the reviews.

I also saw more downloads of my first-in-series free title, Permed to Death, and a smattering of purchases for other books in the series. Sales swelled at Barnes & Noble, Google and Apple. But I still didn’t make the big bucks other authors had led me to expect nor did I get paid back for my advertising expenses.

All of this has made me rather cynical of applying for another BB Deal. If I run a sale again, maybe I’ll just promote it on these other sites. The next few months will show if there’s a tail to this sale from other books in the series.

How about you? As a reader, do you click all the way through the newsletter when you receive it to check out all the choices? As a writer, have you had success with a BB Deal?

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BookBub Explained

BookBub is a popular reader subscriber service where you can promote your book for a fee. They have four million subscribers. Its readers are 84% women, the majority over 40 years old. 37% are retired. 58% are empty-nesters. 59% read four or more books per month. The devices they read on? 49% Kindle, 26% Apple, 15% Nook, 10% Android. Most use tablets, then e-readers, and then cell phones. 29% read non-genre material. 32% read mysteries and thrillers; 25% read romance; 14% read science fiction and fantasy. 95% of readers have purchased a book from an unknown author because of an e-book promotion. 63% have gone on to order more books by an author due to a price promotion.

When a book goes from $.99 to $2.99, there is a 50% drop in sales. But 77% of subscribers will purchase full price books.

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Why feature a book on BookBub? Readers get hooked on your work and they recommend books to their friends. 65% of readers tell their friends about books they discover. What results can you expect? A spike in sales during the promotion. 381% was the average increase. Average downloads are 29,500. 91% of authors have an increase in sales after the promotion when their book goes back to the regular price. There’s an average 73% increase in reviews and 81% increase in sales of related books.

Mysteries have the biggest subscriber list. If your book is free, you’ll pay $320 for a BookBub ad. Under one dollar, you’ll pay $640. If your book is priced from $1-$2, you’ll pay $960.

Go here for pricing in other genres: https://www.bookbub.com/partners/pricing

To submit a book to BookBub, fill out the form online. An editorial team selects the titles. You will get assigned an account representative. If selected, your date and category will be confirmed. Make sure your deal is available across all retailers on the sale date.

Requirements include discounting your book by at least 50% off the list price. It must be a full-length book. This should be a limited time offer of 30 days or less. The editorial team will make sure this is the best deal available for your book and that the work is error-free. They do not feature new releases, because they look at the overall platform and pricing history. No novellas or short stories. Book lengths are specified on their site. The same author may submit a book once every 30 days. The same book may be submitted once every six months.

Next the book goes out for quality assessment. Here the team will look at reader reviews, professional cover design, and cover tropes. For example, dogs do well on covers but motorcycles and tattoos do not. They’ll also look at critical reviews, formatting, and author accolades such as quotes from other authors. This is all part of your platform. BookBub receives over 200 submissions per day. The editors will compare your book to others in the same category that come in at the same time. They advise you to study books in your category on BookBub to see the average number of reviews. Only 15% of submitted books get accepted.

Be sure to put your quotes from other authors on your Amazon author page as they will look for these. Or you can include author quotes in your comment box when applying. They’ll also look at sales data from an author who has applied there again to compare this title to other BookBub books, so you’re not ensured a spot even if you’re a repeater.

Eventually they may make stats available to authors. As for distribution routes, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple are currently more popular than Kobo and Google.

Trends in subcategories that do well are also examined. For example, in historical fiction, American history and World War II do well.

Regarding box sets, reviews on individual books are viewed, rather than the box set itself. Books can be older but the box sets can be a new release.

For the selection process, they compare books and pick the best price and platform. Spots for discounted books are more competitive than for free books. Make sure you have your book available at as many retailers as possible, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Google Play, Kobo, and Smashwords. This is especially important if you don’t have enough reviews or a bestseller status to tout your platform. Google Play subscriptions are growing.

60% of indie books and 40% of traditionally published books are selected. These have an average of 140 reviews.

Tips for submitting your book

Be flexible with timing. Be available whenever they have an opening. Sell yourself in the comments section with your reviews, author quotes, sale figures, bestseller status. Resubmit at different price points. Be open to different categories. Promote when your book is at its best. Optimize your product page. Add more retailers. Continue to submit and try again. The beginning of the month sees a ton of submissions.

If you get selected, set your prices as far ahead as possible. Notify Amazon about the date for a price match. BookBub will do permafree, but put it on sale first at a retail price to get baseline stats.

A UK edition just launched. You can add them for a 5% fee to your BookBub promotion. Soon you’ll be able to just get UK promotion and they have 100,000 + subscribers.

How to be successful

Determine your goals and choose a pricing strategy based on these goals. Price as low as you can to attract new readers. Time the promotion strategically, i.e., seasonal books. Make sure your book is discounted in time. Optimize the back matter in your books and include links to your other titles and your newsletter. Spread the word. Measure the results.

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Note: Any errors in this article are due to my interpretation. This is from the BookBub session at the Novelists, Inc. Conference St. Pete Beach. Also please note that I have not used BookBub myself so some of you can chime in here about your experiences.

Novelists, Inc.

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