# Book Sprout lets you tell readers about your book, right on their reading device



## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

_Updated April 10th, 2016._

Hey everyone! My name is Chris and I've been living off of self-publishing for the last year and a half. A year ago I started my own small press at about the same time I began living the digital nomad lifestyle with my girlfriend, all because of the money I made through writing.

Today, I'm here to tell you about a new platform I've created that will help authors of all skill levels get their books in front of the readers who are the most likely to read it. As an author, you've all been told to get a mailing list if you want to be successful. It's solid, age old advice. Readers who like your work can subscribe and hear about all of your future books. As time goes on, your number of followers will increase and so will your sales on release day.

However, times are changing. More people than ever are reading on mobile devices (phones, tablets, and kindles), especially the younger generations. According to a bookbub statistic (http://insights.bookbub.com/things-you-dont-know-about-bargain-ebook-buyers/), "They primarily read on tablets" and "around 60 percent said they prefer tablets."

That's why I created Book Sprout (https://booksproutapp.com/publisher/). The idea is to give authors the ability to reach their readers right where they read. It's more than just that though; it's platform where authors can inform their fans of a new book and not have to worry about their message ending up in the user's spam folder. A place where we don't have to worry about Facebook's plans to stifle our reach or force us to cough up unknown amounts of money instead. Even more, Book Sprout will eventually work for you to get your books discovered by new readers (more on that at the bottom of this post).

More than that, readers have been asking for this for years. If you're an avid reader as well as an author, this is a struggle you probably know all too well. In order to stay up to date with your favorite authors you're probably subscribed to a dozen email lists, following a few dozen more authors on Facebook/Twitter, and even manually checking some author websites to see if they've released a new book since your last visit. It's *hard* for readers to stay up to date on more than a handful of authors. Book Sprout's goal is to make it easy. By making that easy, we increase sales for everyone.

The bottom line is this: I have yet to talk to a reader who doesn't love the idea. That's critical because we all know what happens when you make things easier for your customers (hint: they reward you by buying your books)!

But in order for this all to work, we need authors to be involved. That's why we're offering a **once in a lifetime** promotion right now. We're giving you the opportunity to become a Book Sprout Founding Author (https://booksproutapp.com/publisher/#pricing) and never have to pay a cent to reach your followers. That's *guaranteed forever*.

Hold on, that sounds too good to be true, right? What kind of hoops do you have to jump through to become a founding author? It's actually really painless. All it takes to become a founding author is to get a mere 10 followers on Book Sprout before May 15th. If you're able to do that, we guarantee that you'll get the current set of Book Sprout features for free, forever.

For the big name authors in the house, there's additional perks for when you get 100 or even 1000 followers before that May 15th cutoff (early access to new features and priority support).

That all sounds great right? Yeah, of course it does! But I can still hear some of you in the back saying that you already have a mailing list. So why would you want to use Book Sprout?

1.	Data. Nearly all of the successful authors I've had the luxury of conversing with over the last two years of my writing career are OBSESSED with data. Having good data allows them to make good decisions on the direction they should be heading. They want to know things like where their readers are buying their books so they can make informed decisions. Have you ever asked yourself if you should enroll in KU or not? I bet a graph breaking down exactly how many clicks your readers did to each store would have helped you make that decision. Book Sprout provides that and a variety of other metrics in an easily digestible way so you're always one step ahead of the game. Check out the different types of data we're currently offering (https://booksproutapp.com/publisher/#useful-data)
2.	Setup is a breeze. All you need to do is create a publisher account with us, add a pen name, and share your public author page(s). Readers can then follow you in our app and/or subscribe to your existing mailing list (more on that in the next point).
3.	Book Sprout integrates incredibly well with your existing mailing list. Readers who have the Book Sprout app can follow you in one click and those that don't can sign up to your old-school-cool mailing list. Your biggest fans can sign up to both so you can still run ARCs and all other kinds of goodies!
4.	Sending a promotion on a book to your followers is easy. Simply fill in a form and we take care of the rest. No need to deal with complicated email templates and subject lines.
5.	Book Sprout is cheaper and our pricing isn't confusing. But founding authors, such as yourself hopefully, won't have to worry about that!
6.	We have fancy marketing techniques. Email wasn't designed to handle things like countdown timers, but they're great at putting pressure on readers to buy before the time runs out. We do that. Email doesn't.
7.	Mailing lists need to be managed well. If you don't send enough emails people start forgetting about you. If you send too many, they start unsubscribing (or worse, report you as spam). 
8.	There's no spam folder to worry about in Book Sprout. If a reader is following you, they're going to see your book.
9.	Setting up a newsletter requires a mailing address to conform with anti-spam regulations. Book Sprout allows you to be completely anonymous. No mailing address required! 
10.	Readers can follow you on Book Sprout anonymously. It's hard to gain enough trust with people to get them to hand over their email address. Just think about how many times you've been presented with an email signup form and not filled it out just because you're afraid of what they're going to do with it. Wouldn't it be better for everyone if they didn't have to worry? You'd gain more fans and they'd have peace of mind!

Here's the real kicker though, and the real reason you're going to want to sign up and start collecting followers as soon as possible. The next major feature we'll be rolling out in Book Sprout is book discovery. That means we'll be showing your books to people who don't know about you yet but are likely to read them!

To make things simple, imagine there's another author out there who has a similar set of followers as you. Wouldn't it make sense that the uncommon followers between the two of you might also be interested in the books of the other author? How much would you pay to have your book discovered by those readers in a way that wouldn't harm the other author?

$50? $100? Nope! Just sign up to Book Sprout and we'll take care of it for you as part of the deal.

That's why you want to sign up today and start gaining followers as soon as possible. When this feature drops, you're going to want to be paired up with as many other authors as possible. But in order for us to make those pairings, you need followers. The more followers you have, the more pairings that will be possible.

Book Sprout is currently live so get started building your following now so that you can launch your next book up the charts!
https://booksproutapp.com/publisher

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to let me know. I'll answer as many of them as I can, as promptly as I can


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

I'm a reader, not a writer, and I will admit that your post was too long for me to sort through the whole thing, but I'm still trying to figure out how you are going to tell me about books  right on my reading device?


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

telracs said:


> I'm a reader, not a writer, and I will admit that your post was too long for me to sort through the whole thing, but I'm still trying to figure out how you are going to tell me about books right on my reading device?


Hey telracs! This post was targeted at authors mostly so you're right that a lot of it isn't relevant to you 

I'll be making another post sometime in the future to tell readers about it. But the basic premise is that you download our app, search for your favorite authors, follow them, then whenever that author has a new release or deal we'll tell you about it.

If you'd like more information, head to the homepage on our website. It shows things with nice pictures and stuff: https://booksproutapp.com

I hope you like it!


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

RodT said:


> I am trying to understand the upside for myself to your service. If I am reading this correctly, if I get 10 or more people who trust me with their email to download your app, you will allow me to send notifications to the people who are already open to receiving promotional news from me.
> 
> A few questions please.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the comment RodT, but there does appear to be some misunderstanding. I'd urge you to go back and re-read the original post I made here, since it seems like you may have skimmed over a few of the main points. For example, I included a numbered list of the upsides this app has over a traditional mailing list. There's also future plans for features such as book discovery, which is impossible with just a mailing list.

There's also no reason that those 10 people will be trusting you with their email address. They might, but it's not a requirement. With Book Sprout you can merely link them to your public author page where they can start following you and hearing about your future new releases and deals.

As for your questions:

1. There's no ads in the app, however I will be using affiliate programs on the books that authors send to their readers in order to generate some money to further the development of Book Sprout. That's how I'll be able to provide this for free to the founding authors.
2. Readers will only be sent notifications on books from authors they follow.

You're more than welcome to have someone build an app for you, but it will be missing numerous key advantages of Book Sprout. Mainly:

1. Nobody is going to install an app for every author they like. Their phone will run out of storage space.
2. Believe me, it's far from cheap to get an app like this developed. You're likely to never make back the money you spent on it before it goes obsolete.


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

I'm curious about the discoverability of similar authors and how that will work. You say readers will only receive notifications from authors they follow, so does that mean that the similar authors promotions won't be a separate push but something inside the original followng notifications, like scrolling down and "you might also likes?" Can you share a little bit more about this and how those associations will be determined?


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

Monique said:


> I'm curious about the discoverability of similar authors and how that will work. You say readers will only receive notifications from authors they follow, so does that mean that the similar authors promotions won't be a separate push but something inside the original followng notifications, like scrolling down and "you might also likes?" Can you share a little bit more about this and how those associations will be determined?


Hey Monique! I'll try and explain the basics of book discovery and how I have it planned to work. Obviously in the actual implementation I'll be taking into account more factors than I'll show here, however it should give you a good basic idea of things.

Let's say readers A, B, and C like author Z. Let's also say that readers A and B like author Y.

Now let's say that author Y releases a new book. Wouldn't it make sense that reader C might want to check out that book? Of course! So we'll display that book in reader C's book discovery area.

If you take a look at the iphone image at the top of our page at https://booksproutapp.com/publisher/, you'll notice two different sections. One titled "New Releases" and one "Deals." We'll be adding in "Book Discovery" below those, as well as an additional menu listing.

I'll be implementing it in a way that is completely not detrimental to the original authors. There will be no advertisements of other books on your book's page.

As for notifications, those will only be received from authors that a reader explicitly follows. Book discovery will have no notifications (we don't want to send too many notifications after all!)

Hopefully that makes sense! If you need further clarification, let me know 



RodT said:


> Thank you for your detailed response to each question. I understand how your business model works now, and can see how it would be useful to authors who wish to utilize such an app service and do not wish to have their own. I will confess my first thought when reading your post was ad mob, and am glad you are not cheapening your app using them, and like the fact even more you are not pushing others books onto the app.
> 
> Best of luck in getting your idea off to a fast start, and will watch the forums for updates on the success of your innovative idea.


Thanks RodT! I'll post occasional updates on how things are going and for sure again when we launch publicly.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

BookSproutChris said:


> Hey telracs! This post was targeted at authors mostly so you're right that a lot of it isn't relevant to you
> 
> I'll be making another post sometime in the future to tell readers about it. But the basic premise is that you download our app, search for your favorite authors, follow them, then whenever that author has a new release or deal we'll tell you about it.
> 
> ...


FWIW, as a reader, it doesn't sound like something I'd use. But I may be atypical. See, I do most of my reading on a Kindle -- an eInk device. You can't load apps.  But I suppose those who primarily use a tablet might find it useful.

I do already get notifications from various sites -- GR, FictFact, Amazon -- about books by authors I've read before or series I'm following. That works for me. I've got more than I can read in 5 years already anyway.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> FWIW, as a reader, it doesn't sound like something I'd use. But I may be atypical. See, I do most of my reading on a Kindle -- an eInk device. You can't load apps.  But I suppose those who primarily use a tablet might find it useful.
> 
> I do already get notifications from various sites -- GR, FictFact, Amazon -- about books by authors I've read before or series I'm following. That works for me. I've got more than I can read in 5 years already anyway.


you and i can be atypical together, ann. like you, i read on my kindle. i also already get e-mails from bookbub and other sites, and don't even have time to look at those.

and to be honest, when notifications come up on my phone from the apps i currently have (theater related), i glance at them and almost immediately forget them. something on my phone is not going to prompt me to go looking for a book. and if i have to go into the app on a regular basis to see stuff, that's not really going to happen, i just check things out on amazon.

oh, and if i were reading a book and a new notification from someone popped up and interrrupted my reading, i'd be getting rid of the app PDQ.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Well, I do think there's a market . . . . and if it's VERY customizable from the reader's point of view that would be a positive.  Like, I'd want to be able to say 'yay' or 'nay' to any notification and have that meaningfully affect subsequent notifications. Like what's that dating app? Except for books.  

Or like the beer app I have: when I try a beer and rate it, it then shows me others I might like.  

The problem is, I already pretty much get that via GR -- which also has an app -- so, for me, it would be redundancy. So would have to have amazing interface/results to be attractive.

Still it sounds intriguing enough that I did sign up to be notified when it's available. I'll see then.


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

Thanks for the feedback Ann and telracs! It may not be the best fit for you two yet, but keep your eye on it. As new features are added to Book Sprout and it becomes more mature it'll win you over eventually 

Since you're (quite literally) the first two readers I've had the pleasure of talking with that wouldn't use it, do you have any suggestions on how I could improve it to better suit your needs? For example, if we developed the app to work on eInk devices, would it become of more interest? I actually just looked it up and much to my surprise, it appears that it might be possible on some of the newer ones!


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## 25803 (Oct 24, 2010)

Hi Chris,

This sounds interesting. I couldn't tell from the website, but will this be available both as an itunes app as well as android?


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

KathyCarmichael said:


> Hi Chris,
> 
> This sounds interesting. I couldn't tell from the website, but will this be available both as an itunes app as well as android?


Thanks Kathy!

Yup, we'll definitely have itunes and android apps on launch day. We're also working on the Kindle Fire version which we hope to have available for launch. If not, it will be available shortly afterwards.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

BookSproutChris said:


> Thanks for the feedback Ann and telracs! It may not be the best fit for you two yet, but keep your eye on it. As new features are added to Book Sprout and it becomes more mature it'll win you over eventually
> 
> Since you're (quite literally) the first two readers I've had the pleasure of talking with that wouldn't use it, do you have any suggestions on how I could improve it to better suit your needs? For example, if we developed the app to work on eInk devices, would it become of more interest? I actually just looked it up and much to my surprise, it appears that it might be possible on some of the newer ones!


Honestly, I still doubt it. I'd definitely not want pop notices while I was reading something else. Though possibly something when accessing the home screen might be useful. Thing is, one of the best things about the eInk kindles is that there are no other distractions, so I think I'd be loath to add something that might produce them.

It actually used to be that there was 'active content' available for kindles. So there were some word games that worked on kindles up to about the 3rd generation. But most of those don't work on the current touch screen devices. I actually thought they'd stopped all development of such things.

***NOTE "Kindles" are different to "Fires" in the Amazon universe. The Kindles are touch screen, black and white, eInk devices for reading ONLY. NO apps and only a rudimentary browser. Fires are android tablets though the android OS has a customized interface. The kindle APP is built in, but, still, using it is reading on a tablet which is not my preferred method, though I do own a Fire.

Bottom line: for me, I'd just have to evaluate whether it offered something new or better, or whether it was redundant to what I already use.


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Honestly, I still doubt it. I'd definitely not want pop notices while I was reading something else. Though possibly something when accessing the home screen might be useful. Thing is, one of the best things about the eInk kindles is that there are no other distractions, so I think I'd be loath to add something that might produce them.
> 
> It actually used to be that there was 'active content' available for kindles. So there were some word games that worked on kindles up to about the 3rd generation. But most of those don't work on the current touch screen devices. I actually thought they'd stopped all development of such things.


The feedback is appreciated. Thank you! The notifications are as non-invasive as possible, so I'm hoping they shouldn't take away from the reading experience if anyone has the app installed.

As for the active content stuff, I definitely have some more homework ahead of me before I can determine whether or not it would be possible to develop such an app, or even if there's enough people who would take advantage of it to make it worthwhile.

Once again, thanks for the thoughts!


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

BookSproutChris said:


> Thanks for the feedback Ann and telracs! It may not be the best fit for you two yet, but keep your eye on it. As new features are added to Book Sprout and it becomes more mature it'll win you over eventually
> 
> Since you're (quite literally) the first two readers I've had the pleasure of talking with that wouldn't use it, do you have any suggestions on how I could improve it to better suit your needs? For example, if we developed the app to work on eInk devices, would it become of more interest? I actually just looked it up and much to my surprise, it appears that it might be possible on some of the newer ones!


Chris, I have to admit my surprise that you have not reached out to readers about this. 
Edited as I thought you hadn't spoken to readers....
Chris, how many readers have you reached out to? And where exactly? Depending on where you ask, you'll get different answers. 
It may be the greatest app in the world, but if you are basing its usefulness on a couple of polls that state most people read on tablets, you might be in for a rude awakening.

Most people I know (and see on the subway) are reading on e-ink devices. and most people who are reading, don't want anything interfering when they are reading.

Your idea sounds like others already out there, as mentioned by Ann.


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

BookSproutChris said:


> Thanks for the feedback Ann and telracs! It may not be the best fit for you two yet, but keep your eye on it. As new features are added to Book Sprout and it becomes more mature it'll win you over eventually
> 
> Since you're (quite literally) the first two readers I've had the pleasure of talking with that wouldn't use it, do you have any suggestions on how I could improve it to better suit your needs? For example, if we developed the app to work on eInk devices, would it become of more interest? I actually just looked it up and much to my surprise, it appears that it might be possible on some of the newer ones!


I'll jump in as another reader who wouldn't use it, even though I understand you are trying to reach authors for content right now. I think your thread title is what drew us (me anyway) to look at what you have to say, but your program isn't going to reach _any_ reader on a _dedicated reading device_. It's an app, and therefore will have to be used with a tablet, phone, or computer which aren't strictly reading devices.

Your program may become the best app ever made and I wish you success in your endeavor.


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

While I prefer reading on eInk devices, I think it's definitely on the decline when compared with the rise of tablet and phone reading.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-rise-of-phone-reading-1439398395


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

telracs said:


> Chris, I have to admit my surprise that you have not reached out to readers about this.
> Edited as I thought you hadn't spoken to readers....
> Chris, how many readers have you reached out to? And where exactly? Depending on where you ask, you'll get different answers.
> It may be the greatest app in the world, but if you are basing its usefulness on a couple of polls that state most people read on tablets, you might be in for a rude awakening.
> ...


I think there might be some misunderstanding on the app from the reader's perspective at this point. I'd prefer if we could keep this thread focused on authors, and have the reader chat in another one at a later time where I can point out the benefits for a reader. Otherwise this thread is going to get confusing (if that's all right with everyone of course).

I'll make one final point about it from a reader's perspective though. As an author, right now my most useful tool is a mailing list. I have over 3200 people on mine and I know of authors with much, much larger lists than that. Those types of readers want to hear specifically about new releases and deals from a specific author. Book Sprout has been designed with those types of readers in mind.

It will eventually appeal to a more general audience when we introduce more features such as book discovery, popular deals, etc. That might be a better time for you guys to check it out.



Monique said:


> While I prefer reading on eInk devices, I think it's definitely on the decline when compared with the rise of tablet and phone reading.
> 
> http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-rise-of-phone-reading-1439398395


Very true Monique! Amazon has been pushing their Fire devices and whenever I look at my website stats, I'm constantly surprised by how many of my readers are using Android/IOS.


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## Kessie Carroll (Jan 15, 2014)

I've tried to comment/track this thread the last two times the forum blew up. Glad to see you keep reposting! I'm interested in signing up and trying it out. Nothing like being a guinea pig, right?


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

Kessie Carroll said:


> I've tried to comment/track this thread the last two times the forum blew up. Glad to see you keep reposting! I'm interested in signing up and trying it out. Nothing like being a guinea pig, right?


I know right! It's too bad we had to lose all the valuable discussion and questions that the last two threads had. I'm hoping those people will stop by again and ask sometime.

Also, guinea pigs are the best. I look forward to testing on ...with you


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## Norman Steele Taylor (Nov 26, 2015)

BookSproutChris said:


> 2. Readers will only be sent notifications on books from authors they follow.


But eventually, all the readers who use the app will be exposed to books by OTHER authors as part of the app's upcoming 'book discovery' feature, correct?

Other authors pay to get 'discovered', correct?


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

Norman Steele Taylor said:


> But eventually, all the readers who use the app will be exposed to books by OTHER authors as part of the app's upcoming 'book discovery' feature, correct?
> 
> Other authors pay to get 'discovered', correct?


There's a disjoint between notifications and what a reader sees in the app. Notifications (the ones that alert you of something new in an app) will be reserved for things that the reader has explicitly asked to hear about. So things like a book deal or a new release.

Things like book discovery (where the reader has not explicitly asked to hear about) will be just in the app and they will only see it once the app is open.

Book discovery will be available to all authors who have an account and are releasing a new book or running a deal. So for Founding Authors it will be free, but for non-founding authors it will come with their monthly price.


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## Callaghan (May 5, 2014)

As a reader...this app will be on my phone as soon as it is available.


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## Guest (Dec 6, 2015)

I signed up. I suspect a lot of readers I know would love this app. How do I log in and invite them?


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## RinG (Mar 12, 2013)

I signed up. 

As someone who reads on an iPad, I would find this pretty useful.


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

Callaghan said:


> As a reader...this app will be on my phone as soon as it is available.


Glad to hear it Callaghan!


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## SasgoraBooks (Aug 27, 2015)

What is the actual cost? As I'm pretty sure I would have zero chance of acquiring the 10 followers by the required date.


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I signed up. I suspect a lot of readers I know would love this app. How do I log in and invite them?


Glad to hear it! As for inviting readers, you can't do it just yet. We're still putting together the final touches on the website/app. Once development is finalized, we'll be contacting everyone who left their email address to let them know.



Rinelle Grey said:


> I signed up.
> 
> As someone who reads on an iPad, I would find this pretty useful.


Happy to hear that Rinelle 



DarkarNights said:


> What is the actual cost? As I'm pretty sure I would have zero chance of acquiring the 10 followers by the required date.


The actual cost can be seen on the website booksproutapp.com/publisher/. There's a little link underneath the founder pricing section that says "display non-founder pricing"

To summarize it though, it's $5/month for every 1000 followers you have. Free until you hit 2000 followers.


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## ImaWriter (Aug 12, 2015)

BookSproutChris said:


> To summarize it though, it's $5/month for every 1000 followers you have. Free until you hit 2000 followers.


Billed monthly? Annually? Opt-out penalties? Accepted forms of payment?

I don't see an FAQ that would typically answer these questions.


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

ImaWriter said:


> Billed monthly? Annually? Opt-out penalties? Accepted forms of payment?
> 
> I don't see an FAQ that would typically answer these questions.


Thanks for the questions 

It'll be billed monthly. As of now there's no opt-out penalties and I can't foresee a need for them. As for accepted payments, I actually haven't even built the billing system yet. I'd rather focus my time on new features and getting people to use it, billing will come later. However, when it does come, I'll likely be using Stripe, so payment will be with credit card.


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

Chris, I'm impressed with your marketing skill. Your post makes it sound attractive, and I haven't really figured out what it is yet. And such a big post without any obvious typos!

So, I'm going to read more and figure out what it is.


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

Looking at it some more, I can see that you're an excellent marketer, but you haven't really explained what it is. Not saying that's bad.

So, here's may take on what it is:

Booksprout is an internet-based web that's dedicated to books. Authors set up pages on that web, and readers interact with those pages in the same way they might interact on Facebook or Twitter. Booksprout shares many characteristics with GoodReads, in that it can help readers find authors they like. But it's much more high-tech that GoodReads, with features that are geared toward mobile devices.

As an author, you'll set up your space on Booksprout and take advantage of its automated marketing systems.

Is that pretty close?

I've signed up. I see a lot of potential for this. Right now, our efforts are duplicated among blogs, FB, Twitter, Google+, mailing lists, GoodReads, and web sites. If Booksprout really takes off, it could be the next big thing in publishing. If it doesn't it will just add another medium that we have to bother with.

You definitely have the chicken and the egg problem to deal with.

Good luck.


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## Tommy Muncie (Dec 8, 2014)

My post in the last topic vanished with the rest of it, so I'll try to remember the gist of it again:

I admire the sales pitch here, even though some of the others have now pointed out the odd problem or question. I'm genuinely interested in this app, and where it might go. Strikes me that the interest costs me nothing, for something that might just help me reach more readers, so that's got to be a good thing.

One thing that didn't occur to me was what Ann pointed out about Kindle and apps. I don't own a Kindle, I use the Kindle app on a Nook HD - I like B&N and Amazon, so I get the best of all worlds under that roof. What's now occurring to me is that for those with wide-published books (and I'm currently wide rather than KDP Select, although I'm pro KU in many ways and as a reader I'm a subscriber) this might be quite good for marketing, because as it's been said, those who read on a Tablet or something app based might give it a try. Will be interesting to see if I gain any sales on iBooks in particular when this goes live.


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## RinG (Mar 12, 2013)

I'd encourage you to consider using PayPal for payments as well. I seem to recal you mentioning stripe in one of the previous threads, but to be honest, I wouldn't sign up for something like this unless I could use PayPal, which I already have an account with, and trust.


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## PermaStudent (Apr 21, 2015)

Tommy Muncie said:


> What's now occurring to me is that for those with wide-published books (and I'm currently wide rather than KDP Select, although I'm pro KU in many ways and as a reader I'm a subscriber) this might be quite good for marketing, because as it's been said, those who read on a Tablet or something app based might give it a try. Will be interesting to see if I gain any sales on iBooks in particular when this goes live.


When I read the OP, that's what I thought. It sounds like the Amazon Follow button, but not tied to any particular platform.

I'm signed up and interested to see where this goes.


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## KGorman (Feb 6, 2011)

Signed up.


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## SasgoraBooks (Aug 27, 2015)

BookSproutChris said:


> The actual cost can be seen on the website booksproutapp.com/publisher/. There's a little link underneath the founder pricing section that says "display non-founder pricing"
> 
> To summarize it though, it's $5/month for every 1000 followers you have. Free until you hit 2000 followers.


So if I only have 1999 follows or less from now till the end of time I'll not be charged?


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## blancheking (Oct 15, 2015)

interesting idea... i have a question though.

is it really more convenient for our readers to download an app just to keep track of our updates than to check their email/spam box every now and then? i think most readers follow more than 1 author, so unless all authors change, this may be a bit harder to get readers to download the app.


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

TromboneAl said:


> Chris, I'm impressed with your marketing skill. Your post makes it sound attractive, and I haven't really figured out what it is yet. And such a big post without any obvious typos!
> 
> So, I'm going to read more and figure out what it is.


Thanks TromboneAl! As for your understanding of what Book Sprout is, you've pretty much got it. It's like a mailing list but with extra features, data insights, and eventually added promotional avenues.



Tommy Muncie said:


> My post in the last topic vanished with the rest of it, so I'll try to remember the gist of it again:
> 
> I admire the sales pitch here, even though some of the others have now pointed out the odd problem or question. I'm genuinely interested in this app, and where it might go. Strikes me that the interest costs me nothing, for something that might just help me reach more readers, so that's got to be a good thing.
> 
> One thing that didn't occur to me was what Ann pointed out about Kindle and apps. I don't own a Kindle, I use the Kindle app on a Nook HD - I like B&N and Amazon, so I get the best of all worlds under that roof. What's now occurring to me is that for those with wide-published books (and I'm currently wide rather than KDP Select, although I'm pro KU in many ways and as a reader I'm a subscriber) this might be quite good for marketing, because as it's been said, those who read on a Tablet or something app based might give it a try. Will be interesting to see if I gain any sales on iBooks in particular when this goes live.


Thanks Tommy! I do remember your post from last time and I appreciate you taking the time to post again 

I'd also like to point out a possible misunderstanding. At launch, Book Sprout won't expose your books to readers who aren't already familiar with you. Book Discovery will be coming in the months following launch (once we get some data to work with).

However, if you merely meant that you're curious to see if your fans might choose to buy on iBooks instead of Amazon now that they're presented with that option, that's a very real possibility!



Rinelle Grey said:


> I'd encourage you to consider using PayPal for payments as well. I seem to recal you mentioning stripe in one of the previous threads, but to be honest, I wouldn't sign up for something like this unless I could use PayPal, which I already have an account with, and trust.


It's something I've considered, but haven't put a lot of thought into quite yet. Your opinion has been noted!



DarkarNights said:


> So if I only have 1999 follows or less from now till the end of time I'll not be charged?


Yup, exactly!



blancheking said:


> interesting idea... i have a question though.
> 
> is it really more convenient for our readers to download an app just to keep track of our updates than to check their email/spam box every now and then? i think most readers follow more than 1 author, so unless all authors change, this may be a bit harder to get readers to download the app.


In the end, that's going to be up to them to decide. From a lot of the reader feedback I've gotten, most are quite interested in the app and will definitely be giving it a try when it comes out.

Of course, I've predicted that not all readers are going to want to download an app. To combat that problem I've added mailing list support via Mailchimp right on your author page. So those that want to hear about your new releases and deals can download the app while everyone else can signup to your mailing list.

If you want an example, you can check out my author page:
https://booksproutapp.com/author/1/chris-leippi


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## Debbie Bennett (Mar 25, 2011)

DarkarNights said:


> So if I only have 1999 follows or less from now till the end of time I'll not be charged?


You say that this is indeed the case. But since I can't control who follows me, it means I can't control my budget. Could I (not that I'd necessarily want to) limit my number of followers? Maybe my budget will allow a fee per month, but I can't afford to go over that - how do I stop getting more followers?


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

DebBennett said:


> You say that this is indeed the case. But since I can't control who follows me, it means I can't control my budget. Could I (not that I'd necessarily want to) limit my number of followers? Maybe my budget will allow a fee per month, but I can't afford to go over that - how do I stop getting more followers?


That sounds like a good problem, no? More followers = more books sold = more money in your pocket! It might cost you a little more than anticipated, but with that many followers you could easily make that money back.

By the time a non-founding author hits 2000 followers (when they have to start paying), they're typically doing pretty well. I think in most cases $10/month should be more than affordable for an author with such a large fanbase. By the time Book Sprout starts getting expensive for an author, they should have enough of a fanbase to be doing this full time. For example, $50/month is 10,000 followers. If you hit those kinds of numbers a single book launch is going to net you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars almost instantly.

I don't plan on implementing any kind of follower limit (because that would reduce the user's experience), however if we ever have a problem with things like fake accounts you can be assured that we will make things right as soon as we're made aware of it.


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

I've subscribed. I guess in a while I'll an invitation and/or information regarding an author presence on the site?


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

TromboneAl said:


> I've subscribed. I guess in a while I'll an invitation and/or information regarding an author presence on the site?


Yup, exactly! We'll let you know when you can get in and start checking things out.


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## amdonehere (May 1, 2015)

Chris,

I'm not skeptical like some of the earlier posters on your thread. In fact, whenever I talk to marketing professionals outside of the indie book world, the general consensus is websites and emails are going the way of dinosaurs, even though indie authors are still holding on to email list as their Holy Grail. I've been hoping for someone to develop an app for promoting books, as well as for connecting authors with editors and book cover designers all over the world and with an easy payment method. So far none exists yet. I definitely see Apps as the way of the future. I'm curious to give your app a try. Do I just subscribe via the link you provided?

On the other hand, I have 2 issues. First, I'll be launching my book for the first time, so I don't have an existing following. I'm actually trying to build one. For that, it doesn't sound like your app will do much for me. What I think will be helpful for someone like me is an app alternative to Bookbub or Freebooksy, etc normally big promp sites. I would love to be one of the first authors to be on an app if you can draw readers as subscribers and I can reach them via an app instead of emails.

Another question I have is, when there are app followers for an author, how can the author "own" their followers? The big thing about email list now is authors can reach their readers away from Amazon or FB. If the followers are tied to the apps, what happens if the app disappears? 

Secondly, a different app where we can transact businesses with editors and cover designers. Reedsy right now provides a website. I think if they ever can create an app, it would make what they do so much more potent. Right now, it's got all sorts of technial barriers IMO.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

AlexaKang said:


> Chris,
> 
> I'm not skeptical like some of the earlier posters on your thread. In fact, whenever I talk to marketing professionals outside of the indie book world, the general consensus is websites and emails are going the way of dinosaurs, even though indie authors are still holding on to email list as their Holy Grail. I've been hoping for someone to develop an app for promoting books, as well as for connecting authors with editors and book cover designers all over the world and with an easy payment method. So far none exists yet. I definitely see Apps as the way of the future. I'm curious to give your app a try. Do I just subscribe via the link you provided?
> 
> ...


Hey Alexa! Thanks for the thoughts. To subscribe, you just put your email in the form at the bottom of the Book Sprout homepage. I'll be in contact later when you can start using Book Sprout.

As for your first issue, you are correct. In Book Sprout's current form, it won't help much for a new author to launch a book. Features will eventually be added to combat this problem. However, by including links to your Book Sprout public author page in your front/backmatter, you can start gaining a following right away so I'd still recommend trying us out! That will make subsequent book launches much easier 

In regards to "owning" your following, unfortunately, I could not come up with a good solution to that. I realize that author (like myself) would love to continue having that kind of control over their following, but with Book Sprout it's not possible. Of course I could hand over the email addresses of all the readers, however I feel like that would be a breach of trust on my part.

I've done a few things to help combat that issue, such as integrating Mailchimp (and eventually other email services) so that users can still sign up to your mailing list through both the app and on your public author page if they choose to. That way you can still handle things like ARCs on your own.

It's one of the trade-offs that authors will have to decide whether or not it will be worth it. In my opinion, the points I made in my original post make it a fair trade-off. Once book discovery and other features get added, it will become even more appealing.

If the app ever disappears, I'll definitely think of some way to let everyone know where to find their favorite authors. However, I personally do not envision this to ever happen. I'm pretty committed to making this thing happen one way or another, otherwise I just wasted 6 months and a few grand.

As for transacting with editors and cover designers, I've thought about something like that, however that might be getting a bit far from the vision I have laid out for Book Sprout. If features like that ever get added, it won't be any time soon.

Hope that answers all your questions, let me know if you need additional clarification!


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## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

BookSproutChris said:


> If the app ever disappears, I'll definitely think of some way to let everyone know where to find their favorite authors. However, I personally do not envision this to ever happen. I'm pretty committed to making this thing happen one way or another, otherwise I just wasted 6 months and a few grand.


Few folk outside the Warrior Forum plan to fail, but all businesses should plan _for _failure. Especially single-owner businesses. You're asking authors to give up some control of their most valuable commodity: their readership. Your taking a cavalier attitude toward what happens if the app goes away for whatever reason -- including infirmity or death -- gives me pause.

Just an observation: Michael Gallagher has had a Fire App for his Free Kindle Books & Tips ad service for 3 or 4 years now. It used to hang in the Top 100 of the overall Kindle store, and moved several hundred thousand copies. Its effectiveness has been on the wane now for a couple of years.

I appreciate your gaining buzz for your app now, but I see a lot of slick words and promises without much concrete info yet. I would also advise that the reader/author conversation is one that can be separated when you're talking to readers, but not for authors -- at least not this author. If you want us to recommend your app to our readers and do the brunt of your marketing for you, then we NEED to know exactly what the reader will get out of it. To be concerned that the reader side will somehow "dilute" the author message is a major flag for me. (I didn't read back; this convo could have been in one of the deleted threads, but it was a comment that got the klaxons ringing for me.)

I'm not positive nor negative but simply neutral about this service right now. I'm watching to see what it develops into.


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

PhoenixS said:


> Few folk outside the Warrior Forum plan to fail, but all businesses should plan _for _failure. Especially single-owner businesses. You're asking authors to give up some control of their most valuable commodity: their readership. Your taking a cavalier attitude toward what happens if the app goes away for whatever reason -- including infirmity or death -- gives me pause.
> 
> Just an observation: Michael Gallagher has had a Fire App for his Free Kindle Books & Tips ad service for 3 or 4 years now. It used to hang in the Top 100 of the overall Kindle store, and moved several hundred thousand copies. Its effectiveness has been on the wane now for a couple of years.
> 
> ...


You make some very good points actually! That's a lot of the reason that I wanted to get on here before launch. My previous comment was more along the lines of "I'm not just going to leave authors hanging." Death is something that never even occurred to me. There are people that I could give access to everything should such an event occur, but they wouldn't know what to do with it, so I'll whip something up as a backup plan. How would you feel about authors being given the opportunity to enter a new location to be found (website, facebook, etc), and that being sent out to all of the readers via email a couple times? The app could easily continue to run without me as well, it just wouldn't get new features.

What kind of concrete info would you like to see? The homepage (https://booksproutapp.com/publisher/) shows the way data will be displayed and a few screenshots. Other than that, I can only wait for launch to provide anything concrete.

As for wanting to split the reader/author conversation, I see your point. The overall benefits to a reader should have been mentioned somewhere. The main features for readers at the moment are:

1. They can follow authors anonymously and not have to worry about handing out their email address. That means they can subscribe and unsubscribe easily and without fear.
2. They can see all of their new releases and deals all in one place, side by side, and easily accessible, rather than trying to sort through dozens of emails, looking at author facebook pages, and checking author websites when deciding on a book to read.
3. The app can be installed on the same device they use to read in most cases. It will work on Kindle Fire, Android, and IOS.
4. It's free to use and download. No ads, only books and authors.
5. Future features such as book discovery will be great for readers who want to hear about unknown authors they are likely to enjoy. Nobody out there recommends books in the way Book Sprout will be able to. We'll be doing it based on their author preferences rather than individual book preferences.

Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns, I definitely appreciate such constructive feedback!


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## Felix R. Savage (Mar 3, 2011)

BookSproutChris said:


> Death is something that never even occurred to me.


This is a quote for the ages.

Seriously, I think you've possibly got a solution--not THE solution--to the discoverability problem that bugs readers ("Where can I find another book like THAT one?" and writers ("How can I put my books in front of THOSE readers?"). A smart, targeted version of Amazon also-boughts. I'm interested! I would offer two technical suggestions:

1) Paypal. This is not optional. It's essential.

2) Integration with other email providers. Not everyone uses the Chimp! I would sign up for this on its apparent merits, but not without support for my provider (AWeber). Having that mailing list signup form right there on the author page is essential IMO.


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## SasgoraBooks (Aug 27, 2015)

A couple of things.

1. Integration with other mail providers would be great. I'm currently considering moving from MailChimp to Mad Mimi.

2. I noticed on your Book Sprout author page the download buttons for the app you have get for "Kindle." You should change this to "Kindle Fire" or you will have confused Kindle e-ink users trying to figure out how to get it on their devices.


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## Leanne King (Oct 2, 2012)

I admit I'm intellectually challenged, so please help a girl understand. What's the difference between this and the Follow button + Also Boughts on Amazon?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

DarkarNights said:


> 2. I noticed on your Book Sprout author page the download buttons for the app you have get for "Kindle." You should change this to "Kindle Fire" or you will have confused Kindle e-ink users trying to figure out how to get it on their devices.


I wouldn't even say "Kindle Fire". I'd say "Fire". Because, at this point, Amazon clearly differentiates the two types of devices.

"Kindle" is an e-Ink dedicated reader -- onto which one can not load any external apps whatsoever.

"Fire" is a tablet optimized for content consumption whether it be music, movies and TV, apps, or books.


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

Felix R. Savage said:


> This is a quote for the ages.
> 
> Seriously, I think you've possibly got a solution--not THE solution--to the discoverability problem that bugs readers ("Where can I find another book like THAT one?" and writers ("How can I put my books in front of THOSE readers?"). A smart, targeted version of Amazon also-boughts. I'm interested! I would offer two technical suggestions:
> 
> ...


Suggestions noted! I'm definitely aware that I'll need more than just mailchimp, however it takes a fair amount of time to implement all of those various service providers and learn how all of their APIs work. So far I've only integrated Mailchimp because that's what I've seen most authors use. Aweber will be coming soon, because from what I can tell, that's about the second most popular one. I'll see if I can get a couple more in before we launch because I agree on the importance of them and a few people have already mentioned this to me.



DarkarNights said:


> A couple of things.
> 
> 1. Integration with other mail providers would be great. I'm currently considering moving from MailChimp to Mad Mimi.
> 
> 2. I noticed on your Book Sprout author page the download buttons for the app you have get for "Kindle." You should change this to "Kindle Fire" or you will have confused Kindle e-ink users trying to figure out how to get it on their devices.


I've fixed up the terminology on the Kindle links. It now just says "Fire" as per the discussion between you and Ann. Thanks for the tip!



Leanne King said:


> I admit I'm intellectually challenged, so please help a girl understand. What's the difference between this and the Follow button + Also Boughts on Amazon?


The Amazon follow button is a complete black box. Nobody knows if readers are using it, how many readers are following them, whether or not it even works (I've never seen a single sale after Amazon asks if I want to notify my readers), and it's tied to Amazon only. There are similarities, but I personally don't enjoy when Amazon leaves us in the dark.

Also boughts are books tied to books. They take a few days to kick in because Amazon needs data based on which books are bought by similar customers.

The book discovery feature that is planned for Book Sprout has a different take on it. Instead of a book being related to another book, we'll be relating authors to other authors. That has a few primary advantages:

1. Your book can be discovered right on release day since we will already know which other authors you're most closely related to.
2. It's a completely different way of discovering books, one that I've yet to see out there in the wild, and one that I think could provide some really interesting suggestions. I'm part of an author group that currently shares their mailing lists and it's working REALLY well. Everyone writes in the same genre, so whenever one of them releases a new book, _everyone _tells their readers about it. It helps a lot with their launches and I hope that book discovery will do the same.

The basic premise behind it will be as shown by the following simple example:

Let's say readers A, B, and C like author Z. Let's also say that readers A and B like author Y.

Now let's say that author Y releases a new book. Wouldn't it make sense that reader C might want to check out that book? Of course! So we'll display that book in reader C's book discovery area.


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## TromboneAl (Mar 20, 2015)

Here are some ideas/suggestions. These are things you might want to implement right away, so that someone checking out your app won't decide it won't work for them (or at least say: These features are coming soon!"

1. Import from GoodReads. Make this quick and painless. Here is their CSV format:
Book Id Title Author Author l-f Additional Authors ISBN ISBN13 My Rating Average Rating Publisher Binding Number of Pages Year Published Original Publication Year Date Read Date Added Bookshelves Bookshelves with positions Exclusive Shelf My Review Spoiler Private Notes Read Count Recommended For Recommended By Owned Copies Original Purchase Date Original Purchase Location Condition Condition Description BCID

2. Make book entry via Scanning quick and painless, and doable in a bulk way. GoodReads makes me have to scan/assign to shelves/scan/assign to shelves. Better: Tell Sprout to assign all the books to blah blah shelves, then blip, blip, blip [scan the barcodes].

3. See if you can enter books based on what's on the Kindle. Of course Amazon won't want to share, but what if a reader could take a screenshot, then tap the Share button, and choose BookSprouts? BS then does OCR on the image and enters in the books.










4. Put a lot of thought into the default bookshelves. If you can have standardized shelf names, it would make it easier for users to share their book info. For example, here are the shelves that I have in GoodReads:










I see those five mutually exclusive choices as important. As for the descriptive choices, have a big list of standard entries (Science Fiction, Literary, etc.), but also allow user-defined entries.

5. GoodReads' Android app currently doesn't have a way of making private notes. That's an important omission for me, since I want to make notes to myself (e.g. I read part of this on 2015/12/08. It was good, but I got bored. It has info on parallel universes). Make those searchable.

---------------------

Those features are important to me (as a reader), because I tend to forget which books I've read, and I'm unlikely to enter a book into the system if it isn't easily done.

HTH!

Al


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

TromboneAl said:


> Here are some ideas/suggestions. These are things you might want to implement right away, so that someone checking out your app won't decide it won't work for them (or at least say: These features are coming soon!"
> 
> 1. Import from GoodReads. Make this quick and painless. Here is their CSV format:
> Book Id Title Author Author l-f Additional Authors ISBN ISBN13 My Rating Average Rating Publisher Binding Number of Pages Year Published Original Publication Year Date Read Date Added Bookshelves Bookshelves with positions Exclusive Shelf My Review Spoiler Private Notes Read Count Recommended For Recommended By Owned Copies Original Purchase Date Original Purchase Location Condition Condition Description BCID
> ...


Hi again TromboneAl!

Thanks for the suggestions, however I think there might be a little bit of a misunderstanding of what Book Sprout is. We're not looking to compete with Goodreads quite yet. Book Sprout is going to be all about authors getting their books in front of the readers most likely to read them.

In the future we'll be adding things like book shelves for readers to keep a list of books they'd like to read later, and eventually book suggestions between friends. However, readers won't ever have to add books manually since the author would have already done that.


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## Not any more (Mar 19, 2012)

Ann in Arlington said:


> FWIW, as a reader, it doesn't sound like something I'd use. But I may be atypical. See, I do most of my reading on a Kindle -- an eInk device. You can't load apps.  But I suppose those who primarily use a tablet might find it useful.


The tablet I have is a Nook (Samsung). The problem there is that it will only install apps from B&N's store. Will this app be available through the Kindle and Nook stores?


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

brkingsolver said:


> The tablet I have is a Nook (Samsung). The problem there is that it will only install apps from B&N's store. Will this app be available through the Kindle and Nook stores?


The app will be available through the Kindle store for sure, but I haven't done much homework on Nook yet since I thought they were the same as any other Android device these days.

Out of curiosity, how old is your Nook? I thought they updated them so that they could install apps through the Google Play store?


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## Leanne King (Oct 2, 2012)

BookSproutChris said:


> I've never seen a single sale after Amazon asks if I want to notify my readers


Really? Wow. I unfailingly get a big boost from their notifications. Takes a few days for them to go out, but it always, always results in a sales boost for me.



> Let's say readers A, B, and C like author Z. Let's also say that readers A and B like author Y.
> 
> Now let's say that author Y releases a new book. Wouldn't it make sense that reader C might want to check out that book? Of course! So we'll display that book in reader C's book discovery area.


I guess that works for some people, but it's not how I discover books. For me it's all about genre, not author. Also boughts suit the way I shop, but as I say, I guess your way works for others.

Thanks for taking the time to reply, and good luck with the project.


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## Not any more (Mar 19, 2012)

BookSproutChris said:


> The app will be available through the Kindle store for sure, but I haven't done much homework on Nook yet since I thought they were the same as any other Android device these days.
> 
> Out of curiosity, how old is your Nook? I thought they updated them so that they could install apps through the Google Play store?


As of the last time I tried, the Nook will download apps from other sources, but will only install those acquired through the Nook store. My Nook is about a year old, but it's the Samsung tablet for Nook, i.e. I get email, can surf the web, etc.


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

Leanne King said:


> Really? Wow. I unfailingly get a big boost from their notifications. Takes a few days for them to go out, but it always, always results in a sales boost for me.


That's pretty interesting actually. Do you push people to follow you that way?

I'm still waiting on Amazon to ask me to notify my readers on a book that I published Nov. 29th. That's another great thing about Book Sprout, you control when it goes out and when you want to push things. You can also let them know about deals, which AFAIK, Amazon doesn't do.



Leanne King said:


> I guess that works for some people, but it's not how I discover books. For me it's all about genre, not author. Also boughts suit the way I shop, but as I say, I guess your way works for others.
> 
> Thanks for taking the time to reply, and good luck with the project.


Genre will be important. Readers will be able to select which genres they prefer so they don't end up getting recommended books by authors that they won't like for sure, even if a lot of other people might have. I'll be playing around with the algorithm over time, so eventually I might take into account click stats per book. My goal is to have a robust book discovery engine that works for as many people as possible, and Book Sprout should have the required data to do so.

If there's anything else I can let you know about, feel free to ask!



brkingsolver said:


> As of the last time I tried, the Nook will download apps from other sources, but will only install those acquired through the Nook store. My Nook is about a year old, but it's the Samsung tablet for Nook, i.e. I get email, can surf the web, etc.


Thanks for the info, I'll have to look deeper down that route and see what's up and if there will be any problems with my current setup.

Also, for anyone following this discussion, I'm currently changing things so that nearly almost all mailing list providers will work with Book Sprout. That was a major concern and I've found a way to do it without implementing each of their unique APIs.


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

Hi again everyone! Book Sprout is now officially live. Anyone can sign up and start building their following. Remember, now is the only time you'll ever get to become a founding author and use Book Sprout's current features set for free, forever!

You can check out Book Sprout here:
https://booksproutapp.com/publisher

Or, if you've been eagerly waiting for this day, you can sign up here:
https://booksproutapp.com/publisher/signup

As always, I'm here for any questions you might have!


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## DanielPotter (Aug 24, 2011)

Hi Chris,  

I decided to give BookSprout a try. Just setup my account and downloaded the app.  Just a bit of feedback but I think your missing an opportunity with no discoverability functions other than a search bar.  You could really use some sort of browse author's function by category or genre.


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

DanielPotter said:


> Hi Chris,
> 
> I decided to give BookSprout a try. Just setup my account and downloaded the app. Just a bit of feedback but I think your missing an opportunity with no discoverability functions other than a search bar. You could really use some sort of browse author's function by category or genre.


Glad to hear it Daniel!

As for your suggestion, it's much appreciated. Book Sprout is fairly basic right now, but I definitely have plans to implement a lot of features such as this one. Keep your eyes on things, it'll be coming!


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## Kessie Carroll (Jan 15, 2014)

I'm using an iPod and the app crashes whenever I try to Follow an author. I tried to report it on the website, and the site gave me a 500 error.

"When they opened Disneyland in 1956, nothing worked."
"But John, if the Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don't eat the tourists."
--Jurassic Park


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

Kessie Carroll said:


> I'm using an iPod and the app crashes whenever I try to Follow an author. I tried to report it on the website, and the site gave me a 500 error.
> 
> "When they opened Disneyland in 1956, nothing worked."
> "But John, if the Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don't eat the tourists."
> --Jurassic Park


Thanks Kessie! I've fixed the contact forms so now you should be able to properly contact me via the website.

However, the iPod problem might be a little bit more difficult because following an author seems to work on all of the IOS devices that I have available to test on. I'll PM you and get a few more details on this one so we can fix it too!


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

WasAnn said:


> I just signed up too...
> 
> There's no way to scrape book info from elsewhere? We really do have to add our entire library for each pen name manually? Yikes!


At the moment, there's no way to import libraries. However, I will take that as a feature suggestion!

If you have a very large library, I might suggest that you add your most popular books now and then the others only as you need them (for example if you decide to run a promotion on one, then you'll need to add it). My library is fairly large as well, so I'll be following this advice myself.


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## Lysandra_Lorde (Mar 6, 2016)

I signed up


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## Not Here Anymore (May 16, 2012)

BookSproutChris said:


> Thanks Kessie! I've fixed the contact forms so now you should be able to properly contact me via the website.
> 
> However, the iPod problem might be a little bit more difficult because following an author seems to work on all of the IOS devices that I have available to test on. I'll PM you and get a few more details on this one so we can fix it too!


I tried to use the app on my iPhone as well today and it crashed. (It did work on my kid's android phone.) I sent you the details in an email by replying to the email you sent announcing you were open.


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

Lysandra_Lorde said:


> I signed up


Glad to hear it!



Sara Rosett said:


> I tried to use the app on my iPhone as well today and it crashed. (It did work on my kid's android phone.) I sent you the details in an email by replying to the email you sent announcing you were open.


Okay, that's definitely something I'm going to have to look into then. Another iPhone user has also reported the same issues, so it's not just you. Thanks again for reporting the bug!


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

Book Sprout hit a big milestone today, after just over a month of being live! This morning we crossed over 1000 users and I'm pretty excited 

Over the last couple days a few NYT and USA Today bestsellers caught wind of Book Sprout and signed up, bringing a ton of new users with them. Because I like graphs, here's what my admin backend looks like today (


http://imgur.com/FzJME

) - and it's only noon. Feels just as good as selling a ton of books!

Anyway, back to creating new features. Keep your eyes peeled for ARC management in the next few weeks 

P.S. there's still a week left to become a founding author.


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## Luke Winters (Mar 29, 2016)

This does look interesting, but how do authors get followers when the service isn't live yet...?


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## Athena Grayson (Apr 4, 2011)

I just found this thread, and I like the idea of an app that's not tied to a single retailer, but allows readers to find and follow authors. I signed up. Found the "import from Amazon" feature VERY useful.

A few caveats: 

RWA tried this a few years ago for romance authors/readers, with I think 50 bucks buy-in from founding authors. No one ever used the app, but it was clunky and didn't focus on stuff I found useful as an author or a reader.

Your categories are the usual BISAC which have very limited use. A suggestion is to implement a tagging option for either readers or authors, so they can tag their books with the more specific subgenres that help readers find books closer to their specific tastes (ie. "Historical Romance" puts Ancient Egypt and Edwardian England in the same basket, when the readerships are pretty disparate).

Looking forward to seeing where this goes!


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

Luke Winters said:


> This does look interesting, but how do authors get followers when the service isn't live yet...?


The service is live and kicking! However I may have missed updating a post somewhere. If you remember which one it is I'll gladly update it!



Athena Grayson said:


> I just found this thread, and I like the idea of an app that's not tied to a single retailer, but allows readers to find and follow authors. I signed up. Found the "import from Amazon" feature VERY useful.
> 
> A few caveats:
> 
> ...


The import feature has been super useful for a lot of authors. Seems like after I added that the number of users has skyrocketed!

I'll have to look for this other app. I never could find one that did something like this. Do you remember the name or have a link? I'm taking into account a lot of feedback (and have done so a lot already) so I hope that Book Sprout shouldn't die of the same fate.

Categories are something I was concerned about. I haven't added a ton of them yet because I thought it would be nicer for readers to keep things more general until the app got bigger. Any idea where I could find a better list? I personally am not a big fan of the way Amazon organizes them. I could use the larger BISAC list though because I don't think all of them are on there yet.


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## aimeeeasterling (Sep 22, 2014)

I signed up and begged 10 followers (well, 14 actually) off my facebook page so I'd be a founding author. It was pretty simple from the author end. Still, I'm disappointed to see that I can't use it as a reader since I don't have a smart phone or fire. (I use an e-ink kindle, a computer, and a landline only.)

I realize I can just sign up for email lists directly (which is a nice workaround!). But, as a reader, I'd still be interested in a web-based version of the app as a way of discovering new authors, especially if there was also a way to note which had books in kindle unlimited. Any chance that will be available in the future?


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Reader here. I am still only 2 years into being a smart phone user, so I like trying apps.  

First thing I noticed is that I couldn't find it in the play store. I searched for book sprout. Two words, no go, would not come up. I took out the space and made it one word, then it showed up. That might be hindering folks in finding it in the store.

As a reader using the app is a bit frustrating to be honest. That is because one cannot do anything until one follows an author. Problem with that is coming up with an author that is part of the app. I kind of gave up after typing a bunch of authors in. So I can't see any deals, books anything. 

If I have to pull authors names out of thin air I don't know exist just to get using the app, its going to kill my brain  

So its not just a matter of getting more authors to sign up, you have to get authors to sign up that every new user knows off hand or they have to go through the loop of can't find. 

The idea is actually not a bad one. I imagine if Amazon came up with something like that, they already have a database of all authors so no matter what one picks, it would pop up to start using the app. 

Good luck with it though. It looks good, from the little I could see.


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## Athena Grayson (Apr 4, 2011)

BookSproutChris said:


> The import feature has been super useful for a lot of authors. Seems like after I added that the number of users has skyrocketed!
> 
> I'll have to look for this other app. I never could find one that did something like this. Do you remember the name or have a link? I'm taking into account a lot of feedback (and have done so a lot already) so I hope that Book Sprout shouldn't die of the same fate.
> 
> Categories are something I was concerned about. I haven't added a ton of them yet because I thought it would be nicer for readers to keep things more general until the app got bigger. Any idea where I could find a better list? I personally am not a big fan of the way Amazon organizes them. I could use the larger BISAC list though because I don't think all of them are on there yet.


The app was called "Novel Engagement" and sponsored by RWA. It was a good idea, but the few times I tried to use it as a reader left me disappointed. You sort of already had to know what you wanted, which was fine if you were stalking La Nora or one of the other big names in romance, but if you were looking to find new voices, you had to hope they ponied up the buy-in to create a listing.

With these apps, I think the lure will be updated content, so if you're constantly releasing, running a deal, or changing up something, you'll probably have more visibility as an author.

I'm really pulling for Sprout to do the platform-independent thing that Goodreads can't. I'd like to reach more readers with less intrusiveness and give them plenty of options to read how they want.


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

aimeeeasterling said:


> I signed up and begged 10 followers (well, 14 actually) off my facebook page so I'd be a founding author. It was pretty simple from the author end. Still, I'm disappointed to see that I can't use it as a reader since I don't have a smart phone or fire. (I use an e-ink kindle, a computer, and a landline only.)
> 
> I realize I can just sign up for email lists directly (which is a nice workaround!). But, as a reader, I'd still be interested in a web-based version of the app as a way of discovering new authors, especially if there was also a way to note which had books in kindle unlimited. Any chance that will be available in the future?


A web-based version should come eventually and has been on my mind for a little while as to whether or not it would be useful enough. Good to hear there's people wanting it! I don't have an ETA for that though, unfortunately, but your suggestion has been noted 



Atunah said:


> Reader here. I am still only 2 years into being a smart phone user, so I like trying apps.
> 
> First thing I noticed is that I couldn't find it in the play store. I searched for book sprout. Two words, no go, would not come up. I took out the space and made it one word, then it showed up. That might be hindering folks in finding it in the store.
> 
> ...


I might have to contact Google about why it can't be found by searching for it by name. I think that both "book" and "sprout" are fairly generic so they exclude them from search results... at least that's my best guess. I'll look into it though!

As for the Book Sprout author search suggestion, that's been a heavily requested feature and will be the next one implemented. It should be live in about a month or so along with a completely new interface that will be a lot easier to navigate.

Thanks for the feedback!



Athena Grayson said:


> The app was called "Novel Engagement" and sponsored by RWA. It was a good idea, but the few times I tried to use it as a reader left me disappointed. You sort of already had to know what you wanted, which was fine if you were stalking La Nora or one of the other big names in romance, but if you were looking to find new voices, you had to hope they ponied up the buy-in to create a listing.
> 
> With these apps, I think the lure will be updated content, so if you're constantly releasing, running a deal, or changing up something, you'll probably have more visibility as an author.
> 
> I'm really pulling for Sprout to do the platform-independent thing that Goodreads can't. I'd like to reach more readers with less intrusiveness and give them plenty of options to read how they want.


I'll have to look for the novel engagement app and see what they did that didn't work. Thanks!

As for your expectations of Book Sprout, sounds spot on with what I've envisioned. Make it easy for authors to keep their readers up to date on their new releases/deals. Eventually adding more features that help connect readers and authors without becoming intrusive or taking away from the authors they're already following. I have some other features planned as well to help authors automate things a little more as well, such as ARC management (something incredibly tedious that I usually spend hours on for every new release).


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## archaeoroutes (Oct 12, 2014)

Hello. I've joined and put a quick note up about Book Sprout on my blog.
One thing that strikes me is that there is no direct way for someone to follow me. Even if they already have the app, they still have to search for me. The author profile page just has my mailing list, which is great for me but doesn't help them use Book Sprout. This us something you need to address when you bring out the web version - at the very least a follow button on the author page, ideally a direct follow button for our websites and link for our emails.

EDIT:
I think you are really losing out on readers who might participate. Since doing a little appeal to my followers on Twitter, Facebook and blog to follow me on Book Sprout, I haven't gained any new BS followers. However, I have had a significant increase in my mailing list sign-ups. I contacted a few people who I recognised who had signed up to my mailing list, and all of them thought they had followed me on BS (having gone to my author page on BS and entered their email address).


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

archaeoroutes said:


> Hello. I've joined and put a quick note up about Book Sprout on my blog.
> One thing that strikes me is that there is no direct way for someone to follow me. Even if they already have the app, they still have to search for me. The author profile page just has my mailing list, which is great for me but doesn't help them use Book Sprout. This us something you need to address when you bring out the web version - at the very least a follow button on the author page, ideally a direct follow button for our websites and link for our emails.
> 
> EDIT:
> I think you are really losing out on readers who might participate. Since doing a little appeal to my followers on Twitter, Facebook and blog to follow me on Book Sprout, I haven't gained any new BS followers. However, I have had a significant increase in my mailing list sign-ups. I contacted a few people who I recognised who had signed up to my mailing list, and all of them thought they had followed me on BS (having gone to my author page on BS and entered their email address).


Excellent feedback! I've been noticing that a few users have gotten confused on how to follow authors so it's not just your fans. At the moment, Book Sprout is getting a complete overhaul in the look and feel department to help address this and a few other usability issues.

As for buttons to directly follow you from a website/email, that should also be coming in the next update or shortly thereafter.

I'm hoping that the new version should be ready within a month or so.


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

NEW FEATURE: ARC MANAGEMENT

If you're trying to hit the big lists with your next book launch, ARCs are going to be a critical part of that process. But why should you be spending hours going back and forth with potential reviewers? Why are you wasting your precious writing time sending the same email to hundreds of people?

I don't think you should be. *It's time to automate the whole-damn-thing.*

*-----
Introducing Booksprout's latest feature: ARC Management
-----*

So, how does it help? Our ARC Management feature will...

1.	*Prevent freeloaders* from requesting ARCs but never leaving reviews.
2.	Let you send all potential reviewers to *a single landing page for your ARC*. If they download the book, we'll hold them accountable to review it.
3.	*Distribute your ARC* for you. All you need to do is upload it once to our server.
4.	Send a *reminder email to reviewers* when it's time to review your book.
5.	You can *block reviewers* from future ARCs.
6.	*Readers can provide reasons* if they're unable to leave a review. You can track their reasons over time and decide if they're valuable to your ARC program or not.
7.	*Readers can opt-in to receive an email notification next time you run an ARC through Booksprout* right on your public landing page. If you already have a pen name setup in Booksprout, it's good to note that this features is off by default! To turn it on, head to your pen names and select a pen name you'd like to turn it on for. In the ARC management section, select "Let Booksprout collect and manage your ARC list" and save.

Like what you see?

Create your first Booksprout ARC: https://booksproutapp.com/publisher/review-requests
or
View a demo ARC managed through Booksprout: https://booksproutapp.com/arc/3/arc-demo

*-----
Suggestions?
-----*

As always, I'm constantly looking for feedback from the community. Just as reviews are important to you, feedback is important to me. Please let me know what you think of this new feature and any suggestions you might have to improve it!


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## BookSproutChris (Dec 5, 2015)

Hey again kboards!

I just want to drop a quick note to let you all know that Booksprout's free plan now scales a LOT better with authors as they grow. You can run unlimited ARCs through it (it's now limited by # of reviewers who can participate instead) and you can create the Reader's Choice Giveaways (it's now limited by the number of emails you can export monthly).

The price of our paid plans were also slashed. They used to be $29/m and $49/m but are now $10/m and $20/m.

Hit me up if you have any questions!


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## Marseille France or Bust (Sep 25, 2012)

Yes, I am bumping this old thread. I just added 2 non-fiction books for the ARC program 3 days ago and no once has signed on. Is that expected for nonfiction? What genres work best for your site?

Thanks.


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## Kingdavid757 (Oct 23, 2018)

I've tried Booksprout 2 times in the last 3 months.  The first was for a sci fi book. got 4 takers.  the second was for a horror story, got 2 takers. not sure if I will give them a shot again.  

One thing my non-success has done was pointed me to other options that I probably wouldn't have found or looked for . so thats a good thing


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## Marseille France or Bust (Sep 25, 2012)

Thank you for sharing your experience. I think it's a great idea. But I guess it needs to promote more to get more readers.



Kingdavid757 said:


> I've tried Booksprout 2 times in the last 3 months. The first was for a sci fi book. got 4 takers. the second was for a horror story, got 2 takers. not sure if I will give them a shot again.
> 
> One thing my non-success has done was pointed me to other options that I probably wouldn't have found or looked for . so thats a good thing


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

I've merged two vendor threads. Apologies for any confusion.


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## PhoenixFromTheAshes (Oct 1, 2018)

Marseille said:


> Yes, I am bumping this old thread. I just added 2 non-fiction books for the ARC program 3 days ago and no once has signed on. Is that expected for nonfiction? What genres work best for your site?
> 
> Thanks.


Seems they have the bad boy romance market cornered. Currently, there's a Top 100 mastermind book with close to 60 ARC reviews that specifically mention BookSprout. Not the first one/time either.


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## RPatton (May 28, 2017)

PhoenixFromTheAshes said:


> Seems they have the bad boy romance market cornered. Currently, there's a Top 100 mastermind book with close to 60 ARC reviews that specifically mention BookSprout. Not the first one/time either.


Before the MM's emerged as a group, some of them were part of the beta that helped bring readers to the platform. I honestly wouldn't be too worried about it as I know of several ethical and upstanding romance authors who use Booksprout.

However, I think as of right now, the Booksprout community leans towards Romance, probably Cozies, and some UF/YA. I don't think nonfiction will ever see much traction, but never say never.


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## Marseille France or Bust (Sep 25, 2012)

Thank you for posting your experience and numbers.



Kingdavid757 said:


> I've tried Booksprout 2 times in the last 3 months. The first was for a sci fi book. got 4 takers. the second was for a horror story, got 2 takers. not sure if I will give them a shot again.
> 
> One thing my non-success has done was pointed me to other options that I probably wouldn't have found or looked for . so thats a good thing


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