Guest post: BookBub ads: One author shares her experience
When I first connected with Susan Daffron several years ago, she was an award-winning author of nonfiction books, including several about pets and animal rescue. In the years since, she has successfully transitioned to writing fiction — Susan is now the author of the Alpine Grove Romantic Comedies series that features residents of the small town of Alpine Grove and their various quirky dogs and cats. Learn more about Susan on her website.
Guest post: BookBub ads: One author shares her experience
By Susan Daffron
If you’ve been writing books for any length of time, you’ve probably heard of BookBub. When it comes to e-book advertising, The Bub is arguably the most well-known option.
The bad news for authors is that a BookBub ad is going to cost you. On countless forums, you see writers whining that ad rates are expensive. If your book falls into one of the larger categories like crime fiction or contemporary romance, for example, you’re looking at many hundreds of dollars. The largest lists have more than 3 million subscribers, but spending more than $900 on a single ad gives many struggling authors considerable pause.
Along with the money, getting accepted by BookBub is the other challenge you face. According to the rejection email, BookBub doesn’t accept 80% the submissions it receives. And according to a recent infographic, it received 55,000 submissions.
You are not alone.
The numbers are daunting to say the least. As far as I can tell based on my experience and the experience of many other writers I know, most of the time you submit, your book will be rejected, which can be difficult for a sensitive author to bear. But like the old saw, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Perseverance is sometimes rewarded!
After quite a few tries, BookBub has accepted my books three times – twice for a free promotion and most recently for a paid one. In my experience, if you can afford it and your book is actually accepted, one ad can change everything.
Getting noticed, at last!
I’m not a million-selling author. In fact, you could argue that I was an idiot to write a second novel, given how poorly the first one was selling. It was akin to the Samuel Johnson quote about second marriages: “a triumph of hope over experience.”
But continue to write I did. I released my first novel, Chez Stinky, in 2013. By the time the book finally was accepted for my first BookBub ad, I had five books in the series and I had made Chez Stinky free. (Note that you can’t set a price of zero on Amazon; to make a book free, you set the price to zero on another site, so Amazon will price match it.)
For whatever reason, BookBub finally accepted Chez Stinky in its Chick Lit category, which is one of their smaller ones. At the time, the April 16, 2015 ad cost me $70 (now it’s $105).
Here’s what happened.
Over the next few days, people downloadedabout 20,000 copies of Chez Stinky. That month, I had a total of 36,000 downloads just on Amazon. Books that had sold absolutely nothing on other channels like Barnes and Noble started selling.
Literally overnight, my books went from invisible to visible. Sales of the rest of the books in the series skyrocketed. The ad paid for itself within hours of the email going out. I got a large number of subscribers to my new releases email list, fan emails, and a lot of new reviews.
Subsequent ads
Although the results of my first ad were impressive, subsequent ad results haven’t been quite as earth- shattering, partly because as a group, my series of books is doing better. Going from almost zero to something (anything!) is always going to be thrilling. But make no mistake, the results from the subsequent ads have been far better than any other marketing I’ve tried, bar none.
My second ad for Chez Stinky ran in November 2015. That resulted in 14,000 downloads, more new reviews, and another increase in sales for the series, which by then had seven books. So although I received fewer downloads, I still got a tremendous return on investment because readers had more follow-on books in the series to read.
My most recent BookBub ad on January 10 was for the second book in the series, Fuzzy Logic, which I discounted from $3.99 to 99 cents. Because the ad was for a paid book, not a free one, it cost more ($210). But it still paid for itself the same day and shot the book into the top 10,000 in the paid Kindle store. I’m still seeing follow-on sales from the tail end of that ad. Interestingly, I have not received any new reviews yet, although I know hundreds of people have bought the book.
New release notifications
New release notifications are a free BookBub feature that started on January 4. The releases are tied to your BookBub author profile. Because I had advertised with BookBub, I had followers on my profile. Followers are those people who have virtually raised their hand to say that they want to know when I release new books.
To take advantage of this new feature, I did a pre-order on my latest book, The Treasure of the Hairy Cadre, so I could time the official release to occur after January 4. That way, BookBub would automatically send a notification to my followers. When the notification went out, it resulted in a nice bump in sales. It wasn’t as good as the email to my own in-house list, but it cost me nothing.
Between the pre-order, Amazon notification (they have a similar “follower” program), and the BookBub notification, my book has stayed in the “Hot New Releases” list for its category since its release.
A few final thoughts
When I looked at the infographic stats from BookBub, one thing that stood out to me was how few authors were selected and able to advertise in 2015. Thousands of e-books are released every single day on Amazon. But there are only 7,600 BookBub authors.
What that means to me is that if BookBub selects your book, you’re hanging out with a small crowd that includes a bunch of big name traditionally published authors. I’ve seen some articles that say BookBub has become a bit of a curating mechanism. In other words, if your book is selected by the mighty Bub, it probably means your cover, blurb, and reviews are good.
Although there are no guarantees in book publishing and everyone’s experience is different, I’m glad I kept trying for a BookBub ad even in the face of many rejections. In a marketplace where it’s almost impossible to get noticed, for me, advertising with BookBub gave my books unprecedented visibility.
Have you advertised with BookBub or any of the other daily deal newsletters? Please share your experiences with them in a comment.
Tip of the Month
I always share a “Tip of the Month,” a free resource or tool for authors, on the last Wednesday of the month.
This month’s relates directly to Susan’s excellent guest post above. If you’re thinking about advertising with BookBub or any of the book daily deal newsletters, you want to make sure your book’s description in the newsletter works hard for you to sell books.
BookBub has researched the language used in its book descriptions to determine which phrases or strategies sell more books. I shared that research in a guest post: “Six Magic Phrases You Can Use to Sell More Books.” You won’t go wrong using what you learn in that article for your ads in other deal newsletters, too.
Subscribe to the free Build Book Buzz newsletter and get the free special report, “Top 5 Free Book Promotion Resources,” immediately!
BB is so powerful, great share.
On a side not, it’s crazy that many authors still question email list building and don’t build their own lists.. BB just proves that you need it.
And the new Follow feature from BB is amazing. Such great free marketing.. this will make quite some money and best seller tags for many authors!
Thank you for reading! I agree that having your own email list is extremely important. And yes, I was thrilled when BB launched their author profiles and “notifications” feature. When it comes to getting the word out, every little bit helps!
Thank you for sharing your experience with BookBub. I have used it several times for my novels and had excellent ROI. Sometimes you have to spend money to make money.
I completely agree.
I had two novels, both aimed at the middle aged and above woman.
I had a small advertisement, cost AU$375 in a woman’s magazine with a readership of 500,000.
Number of sales. Zero
Number of hits on the website. Zero
Two weeks ago I had a press release in my local newspaper on my third book about to be released.
Result was the same.
I have a hit counter on the website so I can tell how many visitors I have.
What am I doing wrong.
Harry, we don’t know enough to comment on your experience. I *can* say, though, that advertising in a magazine is different from advertising in a daily deal newsletter for booklovers like BookBub — you can’t compare the 2.
Sandy
A long time ago, I tried magazine advertising for a vegetarian cookbook in a high-circulation vegetarian magazine and the perfect target demographic. It resulted in no sales that I could discern. I was upset until I realized I had never purchased a book from a magazine ad myself. These email newsletters like BookBub are targeted to people who want to buy with one click. You can’t do that with a magazine. I think BookBub ads work so well partly because they are so selective and readers have learned to trust the recommendations.
As for press releases, they work better if they are promoting something “newsy” like an event. For example, if I wanted to write one for my vegetarian cookbook, a release about a free cooking class would probably get more interest than one about a new book. Thousands of new books are released every day, so it’s not big news.
I have been using BookBub ads since January of 2013, and every one has much more than paid for itself. I advertise a permafree Book I of a trilogy, so any revenue comes from sales of the next two books.
I first approached BookBub after getting a great review from the Historical Novel Society, a traditional reviewer that had just opened up to indies. I mentioned that review when I applied to BookBub, and I think they accepted my book on the strength of it, so be sure to mention any traditional reviews you may have, especially if you don’t yet have many customer reviews.
And keep trying. Some seasons of the year (Christmas) are more difficult than others in terms of securing a spot.
What a wonderful tip, Catherine! Thank you! I’m glad you’ve had success with BookBub.
Sandy
What timing to see your post tonight as I am doing a BookBub on Friday (1/29) for TERRANCE TALKS TRAVEL: A POCKET GUIDE TO SOUTH AFRICA. I submitted it to them and received the news four days later that I had been accepted. I’m told that’s very unusual and then I read your post so I feel better about spending the $265 they charged for giving the book away! Thanks for sharing your experience and that great BookBub infographic. Here’s hoping for the best!
Congrats on being accepted and good luck on Friday!
That’s fantastic, Terrance! Congratulations!
Thanks for the insight into BookBub. I’ve considered using them and haven’t yet taken the plunge. This article offers great food for thought and the tips about make the cost zero somewhere else so Amazon will pick it up and doing a pre-release campaign were an added bonus. Thanks!
I’m glad Susan’s article was helpful, Takara. Thanks for the feedback.
Sandy
Excellent tips and from so many. Thanks much and I will check it out.
I’m so glad Susan’s information was helpful, Howard! Thanks for stopping by.
Sandy
This article was very helpful. Author have so many avenues to market their books, and not enough testimonial on what works, and where one should focus. It was interesting to learn that Bookbub creates exclusivity by now accepting every book, which then increases the trust for those books accepted. Quite clever.
It’s definitely interesting, Isabelle. I suspect that book readers aren’t as aware of the exclusivity as we are. All they know is that they sign up for the emails, select the genres they read, and get deals every day. What they care about is that they’re getting a discounted price, and that they like the books when they read them. They don’t know much more than that — that authors pay for those newsletter slots, that they’re competitive, etc. So…the exclusivity increases the trust among those of us in “the business,” but the average consumer is unaware of it.
Sandy
When I look up costs for a Bookbub ad, they are over $1200 and over. Yet, you say you paid no more than a couple hundred. Am I looking at the wrong cost list?
Elaine
Elaine, ad prices for giveaways/free books are a lot lower.
https://www.bookbub.com/partners/pricing
Sandy
Hi, Sandra. I was wondering. Does doing bookbub ads help in getting new followers, too?
Thanks lots
April, are you asking if the ads help you get more BookBub followers? If yes, you might find this article on the BookBub site helpful: https://insights.bookbub.com/ideas-for-getting-more-bookbub-followers/
Sandy