Support for Indie Authors discussion

I've always been led to believe that BookBub is the Holy Grail for promotion and advertising and as such, is exceedingly difficult to have your book featured there.

If that's all true then I'm really confused about how a book with 7 reviews on Amazon was featured (alone mind you) in today's email from BookBub to me.

Has anyone had any experience with BookBub?

As far as I know, reviews are only a small factor in what Book Bub uses to decide what to accept. Regardless, instead of looking at this as a negative, be happy. Maybe it means those who didn't think they had a chance might.

Good outlook :)

Fantastic outlook...a diamond in the rough can be discovered!

The above comments are exactly right! Just how I see it! Especially as I have had two books accepted so far :o) I was amazed but oh so very pleased.

Their acceptance guidelines state their requirements and how they choose books. It all makes sense. As a business model it must make sense too as they are extremely successful.

You might like to add more genres to your preferences, Eldon, then you'll be able to see more of their choices.

They are choosy but so are their subscribers, I think.

Thanks for the feedback Anna :)

And congratulations on having 2 books accepted so far...how awesome for you!!

How surprising too!

Bookbub has just expanded. They've added advertising spots that are different from their newsletter "recommended reading" spots.

It has actually made me re-think doing Book Bub as they are known for their quality, but now that anyone can advertise, that quality factor may go down.

Congrats on that Anna!!!

I've read their page on the selection process but there are exceptions. There are indies on goodreads whose books have been featured with little to no reviews and even exclusive to Kindle. So it must be hit and miss. My book has been declined the last 6 times I tried.

Heidi wrote: ... It has actually made me re-think doing Book Bub as they are known for their quality, but now that anyone can advertise, that quality factor may go down.

I noticed it too and that thought crept into my mind. Then I hoped that they would also vet the books which advertise, at least to some extent. As there seems to be limited availability, I'm hoping they'll just take the cream.

Thank you, Lori!

And Marie, don't take it as a comment on your books, I think I just may have got the timing right. And some genres have more submissions than others, I suspect.

Guys, let's not pass judgement on the 'quality' of books we know nothing about. It's against the rules and it's just plain rude.

I just did my second promotion with BookBub on Tuesday this week and have been very happy with the results.

B.G. wrote: "I just did my second promotion with BookBub on Tuesday this week and have been very happy with the results."

Awesome!

Heidi wrote: "Bookbub has just expanded. They've added advertising spots that are different from their newsletter "recommended reading" spots. ..."

The main reason I haven't used Bookbub's display advertising is that they charge by impressions, not clicks. In other words, you could spend a huge amount of money with no guarantee of return.

All other major ad systems, including AMS, Goodreads, and Google AdWords, charge per click.

Ken wrote: "Heidi wrote: "Bookbub has just expanded. They've added advertising spots that are different from their newsletter "recommended reading" spots. ..."

The main reason I haven't used Bookbub's display..."

Wow! They charge per impression!? Impressions mean nothing...that's a ridiculous setup.

Impressions used to be the way to charge, but they stopped doing that with internet advertising as ad blockers became popular because now just because someone sees a page, doesn't mean they actually are able to view your ad. It's a bit different with a newsletter where ad blockers don't com into play.

Bookbub ads are visually distinct from their featured books. They appear as a small graphic at the very bottom of their newsletter, with no accompanying text other than what fits into the graphic itself. They're served on the fly, depending on a number of factors including the reader's preferences, the advertiser's target audience, and how much they were willing to bid on an ad buy.

If you're an RWA member, there's a webinar with a Bookbub representative on the RWA site that breaks down in detail how they serve and charge for their ads and what their criteria are for the featured book spots (it's a number of factors besides just reviews).

tl;dr Bookbub features are still difficult to get, but remain one of the most reliable promo tools if you can land one. Bookbub ads are available to anyone, but whether they're actually worth the money remains to be proven.

Regarding impressions vs. clicks, almost all the book promo sites charge based on the size of the audience they're delivering to rather than actual clicks. I'd be interested to see side-by-side statistics comparing Bookbub's rates vs. some of the other promo sites, but since they're two totally different systems, that's more math than I'm willing to do. Regardless, I'm not sure Bookbub ads are necessarily that worse than a lot of the promo sites that promise a lot more than they actually deliver. As always, it's important to do your research and track your results carefully to determine what strategy works best for your book.

I haven't started looking into FB ads or AMS yet (they're next on my list to dive into). Do they charge per click-through?

Susannah wrote: "Bookbub ads are visually distinct from their featured books. They appear as a small graphic at the very bottom of their newsletter, with no accompanying text other than what fits into the graphic i..."

Yes, Facebook, AMS, and even GoodReads charge based on click through. I would recommend focusing on GR and AMS as those audiences are easier to target than Facebook which is a broader audience base.

From what I have been reading from top authors, with Facebook, rather than doing a sales ad, the common recommendation is to do a free book for subscribing to email or something to get them into the top of your sales funnel. With Goodreads, focus more on books added to TBRs than the actual sales. Again, you're getting them in at the top of your sales funnel.

AMS seems to have the most correlation between clicks and actual sales because people are usually going there to buy books.

Congratulations to those whose book was accepted by Bookbub. To Eldon, I would say some recognition was given to your submission because contact was made with you by email, even if to push those books that were accepted. I think you should try again in the future. Keep your spirits up --- advertising results can be discouraging at times.

I've been turned down many more times than I've been accepted.

I've heard of GoodReads and FaceBook ads. What is AMS? I'm confused.

Amazon Marketing Services

BookBub accepted one of my books and it did well and also sold the sequel. I've seen ads for books that had poor ratings, even a 3.0 rating which surprised me. I think it depends on the genre. Some genres have more competition. They've turned down my other books.

The paid ads at the bottom of each email are different. Last I heard, they had to "invite" you to advertise and they have a waiting list. I've been sitting on that waiting list for quite a while.