UK Amazon Kindle Forum discussion

Hi,
I'm new here because I found your group searching for reviews of the Bublish platform for authors. I read some helpful comments from 2014 here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I would like to know if anyone has an update 2 years later. I just received an invitation to buy into Bublish for a discount on their yearly membership.

I looked at their marketing materials and they look good, but I'd like to get your sage advice, hopefully based on experience with the Bublish platform.

Thank you! Your group is awesome!

Thanks for you question Jan and yep, you're a member of the best group on the web!

I'm just gonna shift your thread into our Agony Aunt section.

I'm sure you'll get lots of feedback.

Won't she, group?

Sorry, I would if I could but I can't! I've never heard of it. I'm off to look it up. Rest assured, Jan, everyone else will probably be very much more helpful.

Hate to say it but I'd never heard of it until you mentioned. There appears to be an increasing number of these sites, all geared up to take money off writers.
It is very difficult to judge their value, I often look at their featured books on Amazon. If you look at any book on Amazon it'll feature an Amazon bestsellers rank.
In crude terms, if it's being featured by a site and it's best sellers rank is over 40,000 (on .co.uk) I'd guess the site is having an effect (obviously the author could be promoting elsewhere as well.
If the best sellers rank is below 150,000 (again on .co.uk) then the site is probably a waste of time and effort
If it's below 400,000 the site is a waste of time and effort

That's sensible thinking, Jim.

One of the first things I learned running a business is that you have to have some way of monitoring how you are doing. Ideally you need to know both how you are doing in absolute terms and how you are doing compared to the rest of the industry.

So looking at the situation as a vendor of books (because that's what self-publishing has made us) when offered an opportunity to sell more books, I have to have some form of comparison to be able to work out whether something is worth doing.
A lot of people have shared their experiences of promotions, and by and large, even those which are a success are a success only in that you get your money back.

It is slightly more complicated. If you go from selling 10 books a month and breaking even to selling 1000 books a month and breaking even, you are almost certainly better off because you're 'more visible' and have a greater chance of being 'discovered' and breaking out of the great roiling mass of unknown authors and of becoming a recognizable name

And that's where the Amazon best sellers rank comes in. As far as I can tell it's the only guide out there which you can use to look at the books of other vendors to give you a comparison.

Ah, bublish - is it still around?

I put an extract of one of my books on there when the site began.

Since then a lot of tumbleweed has passed by.

Take note of what Jim says above and bear in mind it doesn't matter how successful these sites are in gathering authors, it is the readers they need to attract.

And most of them don't.

Most of us buy books because someone we know and trust - some way or another - tells us how good it is, not through sites like this.

Thanks to all of you for your answers. I appreciate your input for sure.

Yes, Jim, your idea is perfect. If it's not selling, there is something wrong. And yes! David...the meddium has to work for the reader in order for the sales to appear.

Patti, thanks for putting me in the right place since I'm a newbie.

I checked one of the books Bublish mentions (I don't think it's fair to name the book--you tell me):

Amazon best seller's rank (this book debuted in 2012):
25 customer reviews rank it 4.4
#1.225M Paid in Kindle Store
#3109 in ....Kindle eBooks>Science Fiction & Fantasy>Fantasy>Coming of Age
#7222 in... ....Fantasy>Sword & Sorcery
#9787 in Books>Science Fiction & Fanacy>Fantacy>Sword & Sorcery

Another author's book that I found in an article about Bublish on bookbusinessmag.com (but written by Bublish's founder)

This one from 2006
805 customer reviews 4.4 stars
#99,579 paid in kindle store
#1442, #2437 in 2 categories of "family life" (one in kindle, one in books)
#13928 in ...Romance>contemporary

If I understand the main purpose of Bublish, which is to simplify authors' ability to share book excerpts with their FB and Twitter fans, then that also says something about what success people are having with social media, and this probably varies quite a bit.

an aside: ______
I went to the author's website for that first book. His site led me here http://www.indiesunlimited.com which is a database apparently updated by authors to show real results of advertising with different media. Haven't had time to check it out yet or to see if it is mentioned elsewhere in this group. Just thought I'd share it.