# Has anyone here used Bookbub?



## Brenda Coulter

Bookbub just e-mailed that they'd given me some free promo today because they had extra space in their newsletter, and suddenly my falling Amazon numbers have picked up again. I don't think I'd want to pay for this service--simply having my book go free (via price match) at Amazon has given me PLENTY of exposure (I've been in the top 40 for Kindle freebies, and as high as #10, for the past 4 days). But it does appear that Bookbub reaches a lot of people.

If anyone would like to share their experiences with the service, I'm all ears.


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## ScottC

I used them a few days ago targeting a Sci Fi audience. I am currently running a select promo. I thought they had a good writer who knew how to pitch a book. Her/his description of my novel was new and fresh. I'm not sure they are able to report on clicks/results yet...


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## Amanda Brice

I've never used them for a free book before, but I used them when the first book in my series was reduced to 99 cents back in June, and got great results.

Their prices are based on what genre you write, because the emails are targeted to those who have asked to receive promotions for certain genres. Last time I checked, it looked like most of their subscribers are mystery/thriller readers, because that's the most expensive genre to advertise. When I did it, a YA ad only cost $30. Now I think it's up to $70.

I made back the cost of the ad (even with reducing the book to 99 cents) by about noon, and the sales bump continued even after the book went back to paid. In all, I think I sold 400 books that I can directly attribute to the ad, and the influx in sales made my ranking rise so I continued to sell (albeit not at that rate) for several weeks afterwards.


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## dalya

Probably the best ad I've paid for, and yet I'm not going to book one again. Their price keeps going up and up and up. I made my money back, sorta, but didn't make any gains. It's still one of the better venues I've sampled.

Of course now that it's been mentioned on WC, nobody will be able to book an ad until 2015.


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## Amanda Brice

LOL, true.

I haven't heard how the results have been since the price went up for YA. Like I said, it was great when it was $30. Last I checked it was $70, but is probably more now. It was $175 for Mystery/Thriller back when it was $30 for YA.


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## TexasGirl

Their prices have jumped considerably. Romance is now $260 and Mystery/Thriller is over $300--almost $400. YA is $80.

Those are for paid books. It's cheaper to publicize a free book.

They go up weekly or so.


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## Amanda Brice

I'd be curious to know what the results have been since those huge price jumps. Nearly $400 is a LOT to spend on a one-shot ad.


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## Al Dente

I would love to promote there, but I refuse to pay that much for promotion. I don't think I'd pay anywhere near that, to be honest. If people were making their money back when prices were much lower, I can't imagine what the point would be at the higher price. Of course, the higher price means that they have more subscribers than they did before, but it's still too much of a risk in my opinion. That's also likely because the genres I'd have to advertise in are the most expensive ones.


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## dalya

Amanda Brice said:


> I'd be curious to know what the results have been since those huge price jumps. Nearly $400 is a LOT to spend on a one-shot ad.


We are in the wrong end of the business.


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## Amanda Brice

Dalya said:


> We are in the wrong end of the business.


Dude. No kidding. I'd like to charge $400 to post something on my website and send out some emails. (OK, yes, I know they built up that subscriber base and that took a lot of work.) And they have several books featured per day!


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## ecrotty

I might be able to jump in here and add some value.

They took a risk. Plain and simple. The same exact risk everyone is now discussing.

I'm not associated with them in any shape or form but I watched them over the past 6+ months.

Long and short, they took a risk. A big one. They put a LOT of advertising dollars out there. A *LOT*. Like, a whole crapton and a half. They had google ads (beyond the typical facebook ads most of the free promotion sites do) and bing ads. And they put a lot of money into it.

How do I know? Because their ads never went away. And, one has to reasonably assume when you are bidding on high CPC (cost per click) terms such as "free kindle books", you will not only get lots of clicks, but, it's going to cost a lot of dough. In short, when you put google ads up, every time someone clicks.. that takes away from the amount of money that your campaign has available for the day. And to last all day long.. day after day... it was a big pot.

Did it pay off? I'd say so. They have a tremendous growth :

http://www.quantcast.com/bookbub.com

That's all from advertising.

If I were an author... would I think it was worth it? Hell, yes. To have an audience that is that targeted and large... I think they have a tremendous product.

But, first... I would ensure that every marketing aspect of your book page on Amazon/insert-your-seller-here was in the best light it could possibly be. THEN take up costly opportunities like this.


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## Amanda Brice

Oh, absolutely. They most definitely put a crapton of money behind it. They're visible EVERYWHERE.

Like I said, I had a great experience with them when they had a much smaller subscriber base, so I'd hope it would be that much better now. Fortunately I'm in one of the less expensive ad categories. LOL 

(But I don't have any freebies to advertise, just paid titles, and I know from my own experience with receiving the Bookbub emails, I rarely click the listings for the paid titles. The only paid titles I've clicked on there have been the very deeply discounted, like from $9.99 down to 99 cents, because these come in the same email with the freebies. So it scares me if my buying habits are at all similar to others.)


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## Brenda Coulter

Thanks, everyone, for chiming in. Maybe these experiences will be useful to others here.

Since my book went free on Monday morning, it had risen to #10 and then dropped to around #26 on the Kindle Store's "Top 100 Free" list. I've done no promotion, so I guess I have this morning's Bookbub mention to thank for the fact that my book started moving up again, and is now sitting in the #9 spot.

I agree with Scott that Bookbub puts together a concise, well-written book summary.

Their e-mail says they sent the ad to 50,000 subscribers (the "religious" category). And again, I don't know what else would be driving my numbers up right now, so I'd say Bookbub can really deliver an audience.


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## 鬼

Very odd that they don't seem to have a Horror category.

http://www.bookbub.com/advertise/categories.php


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## dalya

The smartest thing they've done is to not take anyone who tries to advertise. There's always going to be money in filtering and gatekeeping.

ETA: Arrrrgh I didn't mean that in response directly to them not having horror as a category. I just mean in general. I applied for an ad for one book and they turned me down. They turned down my attempt to give them money, which kinda made me respect them a bit.  It was just a form rejection, and I think it was because I foolishly applied at the time the book was actually free, and they won't take an ad for a book that's recently had a better deal on it.


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## 60911

Same story for me as the OP. Mine was not positioned nearly so well as hers (my book Alone was at about 550 in the free store when I checked this morning) but was at 430ish when I got their email and now it's at 87. Was kinda surprised at the number of downloads so far but I am not complaining. Nice work, Bookbub!


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## dalya

For freebies, it's either 30k download or NOTHING.

Seriously. If the book doesn't rack up some big numbers, it's barely worth doing.


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## AmberC

Dalya said:


> For freebies, it's either 30k download or NOTHING.
> 
> Seriously. If the book doesn't rack up some big numbers, it's barely worth doing.


This. Go big or nothing.


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## 60911

Dalya said:


> For freebies, it's either 30k download or NOTHING.
> 
> Seriously. If the book doesn't rack up some big numbers, it's barely worth doing.


Umm...depends. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have a 30k download day, but since I've had my book Alone free (it went somewhere around the 1st of September) it's only been downloaded about 40,000 times total (over 4,000 of that just today), but because of subsequent sales of books 2 and 3 in the series as well as cross-sales to my other books, I've made close to ten grand, which is not an insubstantial bit of money for a month and a half, at least not for me. It's not Hugh Howey money or anything, but I'd say it was definitely worth doing.


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## chrisstevenson

Oh, Lawd. I get bent when I have to poof out $50 for an ad. But $400 and they're still going up?  I give. Uncle.


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## dalya

chrisstevenson said:


> Oh, Lawd. I get bent when I have to poof out $50 for an ad. But $400 and they're still going up? I give. Uncle.


Yeah but the majority of the $50 ads don't get you anything. It's better to drop some dough on something that gets you something.

I'm not paying for ads again, though, so I'm off! Cold turkey!


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## TexasGirl

I've been toying with getting an ad here for a while and have been watching how other books do for a couple months. Many of the books listed are formerly traditional, with rights reversion, at least in romance. 

I went ahead and bought a romance one for Stella & Dane for next Thursday. Dropping the price to $1.99 from $4.99 for it. I sent the request in yesterday and it was approved last night. I already paid the $260.

I have to sell precisely 400 copies to break even.

My ranking is currently right at 20K. 21 reviews at 4.6 stars. Contemporary romance.

I'll report back!


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## teashopgirl

I booked an ad for Monday. I'll also report back!


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## teashopgirl

Actually, my ad is today. So far I've sold 21 books because of it...I sure hope things pick up this evening. 

The majority of the sales are from BN.com (did not expect that, but I'll take it).


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## That one girl

teashopgirl said:


> The majority of the sales are from BN.com (did not expect that, but I'll take it).


Your B&N sales update the same day? Mine are always two days behind.


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## RM Prioleau

> Scifi/Fantasy	60,000+	$85 / $125


Wow, I never heard of this place. I'll definitely have to check them out. This place sounds like it puts PoI to shame. Or is trying to get advertising with them more impossible than PoI?


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## Mark Dawson

Hi all... first post.

Bookbub seemed like a decent reason to stop lurking and get involved.

It was $250 for a thriller yesterday, which is a hell of a lot of cash. The list - if it is self-selecting - is tempting, but I can't help but think that that price is a little too rich for my blood. Very interested in other opinions, though.


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## teashopgirl

T.S. Welti said:


> Your B&N sales update the same day? Mine are always two days behind.


Yes, but it's not at the top under "Number of ebooks sold." I clicked on "Today's Sales" in green text lower on the page. Seems to be updating continuously.

Here's the update: 22 sales today from BN.com and 29 at Amazon. Still not close to making back my $80, but I love to see some sales happening during an otherwise VERY slow month for me.

I suppose my numbers aren't very useful until I have the total tally in a day or so.  But I'm checking obsessively, so I can't help but post!


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## Wansit

Rachelle Ayala said:


> I'm trying Bookbub on Thursday in the Historical Fiction category ($120). My price has already been lowered from $2.99 to 99c in preparation. I need to sell 360 books to break even. So crossing my fingers.
> 
> I'll post my rank the night before (Oct 24) and report back.
> 
> teashopgirl, do you have your final numbers? I'm a bit nervous about blowing the money I just made from formatting e-books on one promo.


G'luck Rachelle!


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## Cege Smith

Rachelle- I'll be your buddy on Thursday! I am going in the YA category ($80) with Heiress of Lies. I'm running a $0.99 promo on three of my titles for Halloween, so I didn't lower it specifically for this but will hopefully will get a sales bump. I'll keep everyone posted.


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## TexasGirl

Oh my. Four KBers are doing BookBub on Thursday! Wow.

Today's email for me had four freebies and the 99 center was at the bottom. Not sure sales will be great for that one.

We'll see how it goes!


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## AmberC

TexasGirl said:


> Oh my. Four KBers are doing BookBub on Thursday! Wow.
> 
> Today's email for me had four freebies and the 99 center was at the bottom. Not sure sales will be great for that one.
> 
> We'll see how it goes!


Watch for prices to go up again. 
ENT was a better value for us when we did both over the summer. It is a very temporary high in both cases.


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## B.A. Spangler

Just saw this thread - I am Number Four for Thursday. Putting _An Order of Coffee and Tears_ out there to see what happens. 
Fingers are crossed. Best of luck to everyone.


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## teashopgirl

Hi All,

Basically, I broke even. My strategy was a bit different, however, so your results may vary. I only cut the price on Notes to Self by 50%, so it was on sale for $1.99. I think there is more resistance at that price point, at least for YA. I moved around 100 copies on Amazon and around 40 at BN.com in the end.

I'm glad I did the ad, but I dearly wish there were more effective advertising options for indies. Results from ads never stick, so I think in order to have a breakthrough, you'd have to run three or four solid campaigns in the same week. I'd love to be more aggressive with promotion in the lead up to Christmas, but I'm running out of ideas!

Anyway, good luck to everyone. Please report your numbers; I'm thinking of doing another ad in a few weeks with Bookbub in a different category and the more data the better.


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## Amanda Brice

T.S. Welti said:


> Your B&N sales update the same day? Mine are always two days behind.


It depends. Sometimes they update the same day, and sometimes it's two days behind. But I remember the day the B&N email went out that advertised my new release. It was so much fun to watch those sales numbers. I'm glad there was no lag that day!

As for the point about there being a lot of former traditionally-published rights reverted books (and actually, I see a lot of currently Big Six books advertised on there as well), honestly, I think that's a good thing. Some readers are hesitant to buy indie books, and so have stopped using POI and ENT (which aren't limited to indie books, of course, but the overwhelming majority of the books advertised are) to find their bargain books, whereas they see Bookbub as being the place to find quality (not saying you don't find quality at POI or ENT, because you definitely do). And although some people will overlook the indies and lesser known authors in favor of the big names (Dan Brown had a book advertised the day my Bookbub ad ran), I also think it gives a sort of air of credibility at the same time.


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## MJWare

I did a $60 FREE ebook promotion for Monday. Yes, I paid $60 to tell people my book is free. Not only that, I paid $30 for the ebook highlighter service on the same day.

Why? I'm stupid--errr, actually I'm desperate to make free work again.

We'll see.


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## Cege Smith

Glad to see that this thread was bumped!  No sales yet- but I don't think they send out the email blasts until mid-day. I did see all my KB friends on the "Deals" page on their site this morning though.


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## TexasGirl

It's a Kindle Boarder packed email today.

Remember the email will vary based on what you sign up for.

In my email, Cege is still first, then Brian, then Rachelle, then me. The fifth is the traditional bestseller, which is typical.


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## Cege Smith

I see it! Now I'm not sure what lists I signed up for- YA, Romance, and Bestsellers I think?

My email has mine, then Deanna's and then a non-KBer- that's it. 

I've had 1 sale post so far. Good luck, everyone!!


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## Cege Smith

Rachelle Ayala said:


> *Cege, that was me!* I bought all of books featured today from KBers. I think you should be seeing more. It was a bit slow at first but now I have 43.
> 
> Not going to keep staring at it though.
> 
> Yep, today's a KB day. four out of five you say?


Thanks Rachelle! I also picked up the deals from all the KBers today.

I've had 20 sales so far- I know that things usually pick up in the later afternoon/evening once people get home from work, so I'm hoping to see more soon.


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## B.A. Spangler

Rachelle Ayala said:


> Not going to keep staring at it though.
> 
> Yep, today's a KB day. four out of five you say?


Oh yeah you will - just like me


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## Dan Harris

Interesting. Not worth my bothering until I've got some good reviews, but $125 to hit 60,000 Sci-Fi/Fantasy subs seems reasonable. If I chopped my price from 4.99 down to 2.99 I'd only need to sell 63 more books than I would have anyway to cover it.

I appreciate that 2.99 is on the high end of their usual price points, but hey - 63 books is only 0.1% of the subscribers


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## balaspa

Never even heard of them before.  I hope it turns out well for you and you can report back.  I might have to add them to my list.


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## Cege Smith

I've sold 50 since the email went out 6 hours ago. Not bad, but at the 35% royalty rate, no where close to breaking even for the $80 spent at the moment. I would have thought I might at least get a boost in rankings, but it's been dropping all day- obviously lots of people buying books today.  (It started out the day around 26K, and is just under 30K now.)

For comparison, I ran a KB bargain book ad for the same book on Tuesday. I only had 20 downloads, but that day it was enough to propel it to an 11K ranking at the high point.

I'll keep everyone posted!


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## MJWare

cegesmith said:


> I've sold 50 since the email went out 6 hours ago. Not bad, but at the 35% royalty rate, no where close to breaking even for the $80 spent at the moment. I would have thought I might at least get a boost in rankings, but it's been dropping all day- obviously lots of people buying books today. (It started out the day around 26K, and is just under 30K now.)
> 
> For comparison, I ran a KB bargain book ad for the same book on Tuesday. I only had 20 downloads, but that day it was enough to propel it to an 11K ranking at the high point.
> 
> I'll keep everyone posted!


Sorry to hear that. If it's any consolation, that always seems to happen with my promotions.

However, I think overnight you might see a bunch more sales roll in, so don't count it out yet.


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## cvwriter

Rachelle Ayala said:


> Don't forget to pay to highlight your book the day it comes off free. What happens now is that you drop to the basement as far as paid ranking is concerned since you haven't sold any books during your free days and Amazon does not count free "sales" in the paid ranking.
> 
> You don't want to lose all that visibility.


How do you pay to highlight? What is this? Do you pay Amazon? I'm doing Select soon, so I'm not sure how everything works.


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## TexasGirl

I have known about Alexa a long time and understand it to be a good service. But I have to wonder how Alexa judges traffic. I have Google analytics, and I know I get 3000 visitors a DAY on my miscarriage site. And yet I am ranked 800,000 by Alexa. That doesn't seem right.

So I don't know how relevant that is for judging all these sites for worthiness in charging for an ad. Plus, I find it is not the web site itself that gets the sales--it's either an email subscriber list or a Facebook following. The only truly good data is results from books similar to yours.

As far as BookBub, I won't do it again. Sold about 300 books but that is at a big loss on the advertising fee for romance ($260). I've done WAY better on much less expensive venues. I'll stick to those.


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## cvwriter

Rachelle Ayala said:


> These are sites that you pay to post your book. Do look at their Alexa ratings before you pay. I'm shocked at the Alexa ratings of some of the sites that have the nerve to ask for money. They get less hits than my blog! My blog is alexa rated 360,000 - 370,000 and I get about 400-600 hits a day.
> 
> Some of these charging promo sites are Alexa rated 3-4 million and they charge people for book promos. At that rating they are probably getting less than 10 hits a day. Download the Alexa toolbar and check before buying.
> 
> Kindleboards now has book promotion. I would start there. http://www.kboards.com/ads/
> 
> or take a look at my listing: (ranked by Alexa)
> 
> http://www.rachelleayala.com/p/promo-sites.html


Thanks. I am planning to do KB first. I made a banner at Banner Snack, but I'm wondering how many people can actually see banners because of Ad Blocker. I didn't even know banners were on this site until a publisher commissioned me to make one for an author. I realized I needed to turn my Ad Blocker off, which I did because sometimes there are cool books up there. At least with the Book of the Day people can see that and it's constant.

I may do Bookbub too, once I take my book out of Select, but under YA. The mystery-thriller category seems too great of a risk, even though it has a wider audience. I just wasn't sure what you meant by highlight to prevent a major dropoff. I didn't know if that was something extra.


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## H.M. Ward

Does BB send a confirmation that your ad was run?


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## Cege Smith

I ended up with just over 100 downloads (I'm giving them credit for 105). The ranking did finally update late last night, and I hit as high as #1227. So I definitely didn't come close to breaking even, but I did get a rankings push. I'm starting to see a slow uptick on sales of the sequel- 7 sold since Wednesday.

H.M.- I had a confirmation of when they were going to run it, but not one that they did. I signed up for the YA list so I saw it go out.


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## H.M. Ward

cegesmith said:


> I ended up with just over 100 downloads (I'm giving them credit for 105). The ranking did finally update late last night, and I hit as high as #1227. So I definitely didn't come close to breaking even, but I did get a rankings push. I'm starting to see a slow uptick on sales of the sequel- 7 sold since Wednesday.
> 
> H.M.- I had a confirmation of when they were going to run it, but not one that they did. I signed up for the YA list so I saw it go out.


Thanks! I sent them a note requesting confirmation. They sent me the email. BTW that was stellar response time. My book jumped from 1400 to 990. KDP seems stuck, so I have no idea how many sold as a result of the ad.


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## Rachelle Ayala

cvwriter said:


> How do you pay to highlight? What is this? Do you pay Amazon? I'm doing Select soon, so I'm not sure how everything works.


I mean promote, not highlight. there is no such thing as highlighting a book. It means buying an ad.


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## dalya

August - I ran a romance ad. Broke even for the cost of the ad, plus a handful of extra sales.

September - I ran a YA list ad. Almost broke even, but not quite.

One of the better ads I've run, but still not good enough for me to try again.


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## David Alastair Hayden

I'm launching two new novels in the next two months. So I'm definitely intrigued. Thanks for posting about it! I'd never heard of the service before. Looks promising. That's why I started visiting KindleBoards again now that I've got more free time. Knew I was probably missing out on all the cool things to do!

Wonder if my YA fantasy would be better advertised in YA or fantasy. Anyone know what their YA recommendations are like? If it's mostly targeted toward teen paranormal readers, that probably won't work well for me. (Nothing wrong with teen paranormal, just to be clear. I just don't write it. Unfortunately.)


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## Mark Dawson

Bookbub price for an ad for a thriller?

$350.

Erm, no.


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## EmilyG

Rachelle Ayala said:


> These are sites that you pay to post your book. Do look at their Alexa ratings before you pay. I'm shocked at the Alexa ratings of some of the sites that have the nerve to ask for money. They get less hits than my blog! My blog is alexa rated 360,000 - 370,000 and I get about 400-600 hits a day.


Alexa rankings are notoriously unreliable. They only count the people who have the Alexa toolbar installed in their browser.

So, if you have a 300 visitors and 100 of those have the Alexa the toolbar installed, your ranking will be much higher than a site with 100,000 visitors that don't have the toolbar installed.

Google analytics is a much better way to track traffic.


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## trublue

Hey,

How long did bookbub take to get back to you after you filled
Out a form? It's been a few days now:-/


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## trublue

Well they better hurry. Other places that 80 could go to (Bills,Bills)
Thx


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## Selina Fenech

I'm going to try these guys out, if they'll accept me for the date I want anyway. I've got an ENT Book of The Day ad coming up, and figure I should do everything I can to capitalise on that. I need a big boost for my book, so if I can get a whole bunch of ads on decent sites/lists all around the same day when the book is discounted, maybe I'll get enough sales to float the book into some top sellers lists or better also boughts or whatever happens to actually keep some sales going. That's the plan anyway. 
So, apart from ENT and Bookbub... anyone have some tips for good advertising sites (that I have a hope in heck of actually getting onto for the 21st Nov)?


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## trublue

Kindle fire has worked well for me. It's worth sending Gadget an email


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## David Alastair Hayden

trublue said:


> Hey,
> 
> How long did bookbub take to get back to you after you filled
> Out a form? It's been a few days now:-/


Where are they based? If in the Northeast US, they may have delays from Hurricane Sandy power outages.

Aside from that, they take time to decide whether they will advertise a book. Not automatically taking everyone who pays makes things take longer.


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## trublue

I had not thought of that. Thx!


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## Selina Fenech

Yay, I got in! Applied yesterday, got the invoice and confirmation today. $40 for a YA ad on the 21st Nov. It will be hard to tell what comes from it and what from ENT but hopefully in combination it will be GOOD THINGS!


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## Cege Smith

So it looks like they have a new pricing model that goes into effect on the 21st.

I paid $80 for a YA ad that ran last Thursday. I had 100 sales the day it ran, and another 70-ish that came in during the tail, so their average that they listed for YA (160 downloads) was spot on for me. 

I have to say, I like the tiered pricing better- you should have a better chance of at least breaking even on the deal. And I'm off to book another ad...


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## Alondo

cegesmith said:


> So it looks like they have a new pricing model that goes into effect on the 21st.
> 
> I paid $80 for a YA ad that ran last Thursday. I had 100 sales the day it ran, and another 70-ish that came in during the tail, so their average that they listed for YA (160 downloads) was spot on for me.
> 
> I have to say, I like the tiered pricing better- you should have a better chance of at least breaking even on the deal. And I'm off to book another ad...


My first book is permafree, and they turned it down flat as a result. I don't understand the logic. They won't even let me PAY to advertise it.


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## David Alastair Hayden

Alondo said:


> My first book is permafree, and they turned it down flat as a result. I don't understand the logic. They won't even let me PAY to advertise it.


That's something I really like about them. I'm about to put out my first sequel to one of my novels. With just one sequel, I'm not ready to embark on perma-free yet. I'm going $2.99 with some $.99 sales. But a lot of the places to advertise are only interested in promoting free books. There's no love at Pixel of Ink for those of us who aren't doing free. This whole culture of free has developed and it's not friendly to everyone.

Now, once I have 3 or 4 books out and go perma-free like you, I might be annoyed 

But I'll also have more promotional opportunities.

I also like that they won't take just any book. I say, hoping they will take me on.


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## trublue

I was very happy with my YA promo. I made to 1,004.ranking.
And 50-80 in sub Fantasy genre. Next day my ranking stayed under 2k.
I would use them again.


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## David Alastair Hayden

trublue said:


> I was very happy with my YA promo. I made to 1,004.ranking.
> And 50-80 in sub Fantasy genre. Next day my ranking stayed under 2k.
> I would use them again.


Brilliant! Thanks for the update.


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## matthewturner

First time I've heard of Bookbub, but it's certainly on my radar now. Looks like a good way to get word out. A tad expensive (and looks like it will continue to rise), but you need to pay more sometimes for the best results. 

Matthew


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## Wansit

cegesmith said:


> So it looks like they have a new pricing model that goes into effect on the 21st.
> 
> I paid $80 for a YA ad that ran last Thursday. I had 100 sales the day it ran, and another 70-ish that came in during the tail, so their average that they listed for YA (160 downloads) was spot on for me.
> 
> I have to say, I like the tiered pricing better- you should have a better chance of at least breaking even on the deal. And I'm off to book another ad...


I'll definitely be using BookBub once my book is released. Love the cover art for Queen Betrayal by the way.


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## Onedayatatime

I am hoping that they will accept my book for an ad next month.

Fingers crossed. Will be the most money I've ever spent on advertising/marketing.


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## Griffin Hayes

Thought I'd bump this thread with my bookbub results. 

Before the promo my horror novel Malice was ranked 100k+ on Amazon. Reduced the price to .99 cents everywhere but B&N (another problem with going through SW). I scheduled my promo for Dec 27 hoping that people with new Christmas Kindles would be on the lookout for inexpensive books. 

Day 1 sold 378 copies
Amazon 320
Apple      50
Kobo.      8

Day 2 90 copies
Amazon 86
Apple      2
Kobo.      2

My highest ranking on Amazon was 760 (it's currently at 1300 and dropping...as in heading back to that 100k netherworld). So I made my money back for sure. I just wish I'd had B&N in the mix.


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## Kay Bratt

BookBub ran _Chasing China _ on December 26. I just calculated and since the ad ran, the book has sold 1026 copies in just a few days.


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## Gennita Low

I realize having a book not in Select would get more sales through BookBub. But what about those who did it with a free book through Select? Were you happy with the results?

I'm thinking of buying an ad (if they approve of my book) for my romantic military suspense, first of a series, but it will be for during Select/Free days (cheapest for romance!). Breaking even isn't the main goal, but to find new readers who will buy Book 2 and 3, etc. so I can get maximum sales from across the board.

Think it's a good idea?


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## Rachel Schurig

Gennita Low said:


> I realize having a book not in Select would get more sales through BookBub. But what about those who did it with a free book through Select? Were you happy with the results?
> 
> I'm thinking of buying an ad (if they approve of my book) for my romantic military suspense, first of a series, but it will be for during Select/Free days (cheapest for romance!). Breaking even isn't the main goal, but to find new readers who will buy Book 2 and 3, etc. so I can get maximum sales from across the board.
> 
> Think it's a good idea?


I used Bookbub to advertise my free book for a few days pre-Christmas. I had awesome downloads (more than 35k) over the three days and paid results since have been great. Nice return on the later books in the series as well. It's a little hard to attribute all my downloads to Bookbub since I was also featured on POI and KFD. Personally, I will definitely try them again.


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## Gennita Low

Rachel Schurig said:


> I used Bookbub to advertise my free book for a few days pre-Christmas. I had awesome downloads (more than 35k) over the three days and paid results since have been great. Nice return on the later books in the series as well. It's a little hard to attribute all my downloads to Bookbub since I was also featured on POI and KFD. Personally, I will definitely try them again.


Thanks for the info. POI hates me no matter how many times I try so I'm hoping BookBub will help push up my downloads . I average 15,000-20,000 without POI for this series but it's been sliding. My best was 38,000 in Aug and I have no idea how that happened, LOL.


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## Ernie Lindsey

I ran an ad with BookBub for Sara's Game on Black Friday and can roughly guesstimate that I had >2,800 sales (Amazon only) in about 12 hours.  Made it to #25 overall.  I was floored.  So, after enough time has passed, I'll certainly go back for another shot, even though I'm positive the numbers will be lower.

I have an ad with them tomorrow for Going Shogun in the Action/Adventure category ($0.99 special) and if I get a tenth of the sales of SG, I'll be happy.  No matter what I've tried, I just can't get that book to move on Amazon.  And I'm hoping to build a small base with B&N and Kobo too because for me, they've both been a wasteland.  The ultimate goal is to break even, obviously, but any amount of traction beyond that will be better than collecting dust.


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## N. Gemini Sasson

Ernie Lindsey said:


> I ran an ad with BookBub for Sara's Game on Black Friday and can roughly guesstimate that I had >2,800 sales (Amazon only) in about 12 hours. Made it to #25 overall. I was floored. So, after enough time has passed, I'll certainly go back for another shot, even though I'm positive the numbers will be lower.


That's phenomenal, Ernie!

I have a bargain book ad running today for _The Crown in the Heather_. I'm not checking numbers until tonight though, and again tomorrow morning, since the reporting delay is so long these days. Hoping for a good run.


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## Pnjw

DaIya said:


> For freebies, it's either 30k download or NOTHING.
> 
> Seriously. If the book doesn't rack up some big numbers, it's barely worth doing.


That's only if you're counting on the back to paid bump. For my freebie, the $120 I spent has come back to me over ten-fold with with increasing sales of book 2 and 3.

Edited: I just saw this thread is a few months old.  Still, I hope my stats on BB are useful.


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## teashopgirl

I did an ad with BookBub on Dec 23 to promo my free run for Notes to Self. I think I got around 3-4,000 extra downloads as a result of the ad. I really love them. I wish they had a children's books category.


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## Christopher Bunn

I'm doing a Bookbub ad today for A Storm in Tormay. Fantasy genre, original $4.99 dropped to $1.99. Solid results so far. $160 to run the ad, made the cost back already. I'll post more data tomorrow.


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## MJWare

I'd requested one for Monday (free book), but I haven't heard back. I will update with my results.


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## Anna Elliott

I am very impressed with BookBub.  I bought an ad Dec. 19 for a free book on all platforms.  I got about 14,000 downloads on Amazon that I would attribute to the ad, and the increase in sales of the sequel paid the cost of the ad in a few days on Amazon alone.  I think the peak was about #8 free, and it stayed in the top 100 for about 5 days.  But the real benefit was that it got the free book some traction on BN, iBookstore, etc.  I don't have numbers for downloads on other stores yet, but it appears based on ranking improvements that it was very helpful everywhere but Kobo.  (or maybe Kobo's ranking are just stuck?)  This book had been given away via POI, ENT, KFD, etc many times and yet BookBub still found lots of new readers for it.  The whole process was a pleasure. 

Thanks, BookBub!


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## N. Gemini Sasson

Hi Anna! My Select free days were just after your Bookbub ad ran and I noticed you on the HF list. Glad to hear you were able to find so many new readers through Bookbub.

I'm very happy with my Bookbub bargain ad so far. It ran yesterday and I've had well over 800 downloads (as of this morning) on a book I'd lowered to 99 cents. It got as high as #1 Mens Adventure, #11 Historical Fiction and #232 overall (although it probably peaked in the middle of the night, because it was on its way back down when I checked in the morning). This is for the first in a series, so I'm hoping the carry-through will continue. I'd also had this book permafree in the past and considering I'd already given away 30,000 copies of it, I'm really pleased it was still able to find a new audience.


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## Anna Elliott

Hi, Gemi!  That's great that Crown in the Heather did so well.  I'm rooting for 100% read-through to the rest of your series!  It is great to hear that the ads for paid books earn back their cost too... and then some when you figure in the upcoming bump to the rest of the series and the fact that Crown in the Heather will be going back to full price with a very nice starting rank.  Good luck!


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## Caddy

I just submitted Gastien Part 1 to them and am hoping to be accepted.


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## Mark Leslie

A few weeks ago I submitted a book that is normally $4.99 - I planned to drop the price to $0.99 for a week on Kindle as well as on Kobo. (I really like that BookBub allows you to mention more than a single retailer - because you never know where your customers are coming from, and my own sales tend to be spread out among 4 different retailers somewhat evenly....

The book I submitted was CAMPUS CHILLS (a college themed horror anthology) 
http://www.amazon.com/Campus-Chills-Mark-Leslie/dp/097356881X/ref=la_B004DAC862_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357864268&sr=1-1

It cost me $110 for this title in the horror category, and the average sales is about 290. I figure if I hit somewhere in the 300 sales range, I'll break even.

The promo went live today.

[URL=http://bookbub]http://bookbub.com/deals/2013/01/10/campus-chills-by-mark-leslie-editor/[/url]

I was impressed that almost immediately my sales at Kindle and Kobo started to go up and have continued. The email notifications went out mid afternoon.

So far, I have sold 164 units between the two platforms (I get 35% via KDP and 45% via Kobo Writing Life)

At this rate (and yes, I'm being optimistic), I'll at least break even, might even make a few dollars more than I invested, and perhaps it'll help me find some new readers, which made this a good experiment for me.


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## thesmallprint

I paid $185 for an ad on Jan 2nd and offered Warned Off free for 3 days beginning Jan 2nd (normally $4.99).

Within 6 hours of their email going out WO was number 1 in Mystery & Thriller cat (Top 100 Free). A couple of hours later it hit number 4 in the overall chart of top Free.  It held both positions fairly solidly for a while (2 days after hitting NO 1 in MysteryThriller, it was still at the top).

I extended the freebie to all 5 days and ended up with 30,000 downloads. Post-promo, aggregate sales (all titles) have doubled though it's slightly complicated by publication of 1 new title on January 2nd.

It paid for itself in the first 24 hours and I'm planning another one next month.

Good luck
Joe


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## Becca Mills

Fantastic results, Joe! Thanks for sharing, and congrats!


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## TexasGirl

Since you're getting all the happy stories, I'll share what happened to a writer friend.

He was offering a free thriller and bought a BookBub ad. They were sold out on thriller but assured him he would be fine in Action/Adventure. He paid $60 for the freebie slot. He also took about $80 in other freebie ads out.

He got 4500 downloads the day of the ads, and fewer than 1000 the other days. He's only sold 17 and had 20 borrows in the week after, so he in no way made his money back on that. He's gotten two reviews. Hard to say how much BookBub even gave him.

Anyway, moral to the story: stick to your category and turn down the ad if they can't book you where you ought to go!


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## thesmallprint

Becca Mills said:


> Fantastic results, Joe! Thanks for sharing, and congrats!


Thanks Becca


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## Susan Kaye Quinn

I just had a BookBub ad yesterday (YA) - great results. Lots of sales, paid back the ad ($60) and then some, currently sitting around #400 paid Kindle. I also released my trailer yesterday, so it's hard to say how much was the trailer and how much was BookBub. Still, I would use them again.


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## L.T. Ryan

Susan Kaye Quinn said:


> I just had a BookBub ad yesterday (YA) - great results. Lots of sales, paid back the ad ($60) and then some, currently sitting around #400 paid Kindle. I also released my trailer yesterday, so it's hard to say how much was the trailer and how much was BookBub. Still, I would use them again.


Sounds like a great run! Love the trailer too.

I submitted to BookBub last month, but was rejected for not having enough reviews/critical acclaim. Generated another dozen or so reviews and resubmitted today. Hopefully I'll receive good news next week.


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## Anne Frasier

i have the heart of a gambler, and am kind of an all or nothing person. but i'm wondering if $1,000 for a 2.99 mystery/thriller ad, amazon only, is insane. i filled out the form, but couldn't make myself hit that final button.


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## David Thayer

Anne, you've described my reaction to Book bub to a tee. The investment is for a one time event; I think that's what inhibits me from signing my latest thriller up with them.


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## Mark Leslie

I'm curious as to why, when BookBub allows you to include links to multiple retail channels, an author would only select a single retailer.

I included links to Amazon and Kobo in my own add. (I purposely didn't ignore Nook and iBooks, etc, but I manage those titles through Smashwords and wasn't confident that my price update on SW would make it through to B&N and Apple in a timely fashion - at least I knew I could control my pricing directly and quickly via KDP and Kobo Writing Life. I MADE the change everywhere, but I only posted links to the ones I knew would be live when the ad/email went out)

http://bookbub.com/deals/2013/01/10/campus-chills-by-mark-leslie-editor/#.UPFm1HdLqSp

Yes, my sales via Amazon were a much larger percentage of my return, but about 3/4 of my sales through Kobo were into the US market - normally, I have been selling well on Kobo in Canada, the UK, AUS and NZ with barely a nibble in the US. (My US sales tend to be through Kindle, Nook, iBooks mostly)

An any case, this promo helped me increase my sales in the US via both Kindle and Kobo, which only helps and adds to my reader base.

And before spending the money, I broke out the calculator and carefully decided how much I was willing to invest, what exact price point I should discount the title to, and what my goal of expected return was. I also had to determine if I could live with paying this money and not seeing a return on that investment. (Sort of like Anne's "heart of a gambler")

In a nutshell, I determined I would be happy if I broke even. I broke even within the first 12 hours and am now in the gravy.

But a really interesting side effect is that I also started to trend within the Amazon Author Rank, and my book also started to climb the Horror chart on Kobo in the US. (On Kobo in Canada, it barely registered a change to my ranking, since the competing sales in Canada in that genre are huge, but within the US market, there's less activity, so I climbed the rankings a bit faster there)

On Amazon, I landed within the top 10 horror category (have since dropped back down) and in the top 5 of anthologies.
http://www.amazon.com/Campus-Chills-ebook/dp/B007HC1986/ref=tmm_kin_title_0

On Kobo, in Canada I'm ranking 400+ and 600+ in my categories
But on Kobo in the US I'm ranking #102 and #232 in the same categories (thanks to a buddy in the US who shared screen shots with me)
http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Campus-Chills/book-Kdv04DnsTkqhHTTKqBLSSA/page1.html?s=B4cQ_-zbBEKnjzHn292ZuA&r=4

For the Amazon Author Rank I actually hit #13 which was fun - I'm now back down to #25, but still, that extra visibility never hurts, because the title is still 99 cents until this Wednesday and I'm still trickling in daily sales on both Amazon and Kobo. Prior to the promo, I was selling a copy here and there at best.

http://www.amazon.com/author-rank/Horror/digital-text/157060011/ref=ntt_dp_kar_B004DAC862#3

In a nutshell, I'll be investing in BookBub again for a future promo. But I will, of course, break out the old calculator, determine the odds of making my investment back, the potential positive side-effects and what my goals of doing the promo are.


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## Anne Frasier

mark, good to hear you're seeing nice results. seems like it's the ol' your mileage may vary thing.  
and i see your book is horror; i wondered how horror does since i have a couple of titles that fall into that genre. 

as far as leaving books in select for bookbub...  i too thought it didn't make sense to advertise a Select book, but amazon only would give a person a bump in borrows.  it's all a gamble.


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## Debbie B Phillips

I have bought items from Book Bub for my kindle. But I am way outnumbered here, just starting out even. I have not e-published a book and am very interested in doing so in the near future. I am so honored to see so many wonderful authors on this site. All of your book covers look fantastic and I feel I could learn a lot by being on here.


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## robin_hart

Debbie B Phillips said:


> I have bought items from Book Bub for my kindle. But I am way outnumbered here, just starting out even. I have not e-published a book and am very interested in doing so in the near future. I am so honored to see so many wonderful authors on this site. All of your book covers look fantastic and I feel I could learn a lot by being on here.


Welcome! It's nice to know that readers buy from bookbub as well.


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## Quiss

I'm considering Bookbub for my next run but I'm worried about the categories.

My books are Science Fiction, but it's character-driven soft sci-fi and my most avid readers are women. 
I wonder if Bookbub subscribers that specifically sign up for sci-fi would be expecting high-tech.


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## ToniD

Quiss said:


> I'm considering Bookbub for my next run but I'm worried about the categories.
> 
> My books are Science Fiction, but it's character-driven soft sci-fi and my most avid readers are women.
> I wonder if Bookbub subscribers that specifically sign up for sci-fi would be expecting high-tech.


Can't answer your question re science fiction, but I have a similar concern re categories. I've just signed up Volcano Watch for the action/adventure category for a free run. It kinda/sorta/why-not fits there. I chose that cat because, frankly, it's cheaper, and also because VW ran in the mystery/thriller cat last July (stupendous results), where it more naturally fits.

Long-winded way of saying, BookBub has a tremendous reach and I'd think if your book fits loosely or tightly in a category, it's worth a shot.


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## H.M. Ward

I just ran a romance ad. The ad paid for itself and then some. I put links to the book in kindle, kobo, itunes, sw, and nook. After the ad ran, I wondered if that was stupid, if i could have driven everyone into the kindle funnel to boost my rank? Kobo and iTunes were a joke. I hit the top 100 in Nook and Kindle.  I ran a YA ad prior to this and didn't see results like this.


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## EC Sheedy

Debbie B Phillips said:


> I have bought items from Book Bub for my kindle. But I am way outnumbered here, just starting out even. I have not e-published a book and am very interested in doing so in the near future. I am so honored to see so many wonderful authors on this site. All of your book covers look fantastic and I feel I could learn a lot by being on here.


Welcome! And good luck with your book. You'll find tons of helpful information here to help you on your epubbing journey.


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## 13893

Quiss said:



> I'm considering Bookbub for my next run but I'm worried about the categories.
> 
> My books are Science Fiction, but it's character-driven soft sci-fi and my most avid readers are women.
> I wonder if Bookbub subscribers that specifically sign up for sci-fi would be expecting high-tech.


I used BookBub for Firebird at the end of December, priced at 99¢, and I was very happy with the promotion. I think it works best if the book is in a series and available on most sites. I made well more than I paid for the ad, but that was because Spiderwork picked up a bunch of sales too at regular price. I'll do BookBub again - unless they raise their prices much more.


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## JRTomlin

One thing I just learned about Bookbub that I didn't know: they don't allow you to book ads more than 1 month in advance.


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## Quiss

I'm running a Bookbub experiment that may well end up with a bullet in my foot.

They didn't want the first book in my series and I'm guessing it's because it only has 10 reviews. 
However, they accepted the second one at relatively short notice. So it's running THIS Friday to promote a two-day freebie run for Only Human (which is now over the 90-day cliff and recently re-enrolled in Select).

Things to worry about:

1) While I let a few others, including ENT know, I did NOT heavily promote the freebie run because I want to see how successful the Bookbub ad will be by itself. Dumb? Maybe. But if it doesn't work I could save myself money by not using Bookbub again for a freebie run in the future.

2) It would have made more sense to use Bookbub to advertise the FIRST book, rather than the second, just because of the chronological order. Then again, both books are completely standalone, no cliffhangers.

3) Only Human is selling now about 3-5 copies a day with the rank bouncing around 30k or so. I'd be taking it out of the paid rankings for two days and it'll drop, of course. 

Is there something else I need to obsess over?


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## Mark Leslie

Quiss said:


> I'm running a Bookbub experiment that may well end up with a bullet in my foot.


I don't know, Chris, it looks like the bullet didn't go into your foot at all -- I checked out your book on Amazon this morning and it looks like it is working quite nicely for you. #1 in two categories and #16 overall. It'll be interesting to see how many people buy book 1 after getting book 2 for free. Congrats.

For what it's worth, and I'll likely be blogging about my own BookBub experience, my sales increased at both Amazon and Kobo. (With higher Kobo/US sales than I've ever seen), earning me back my investment within the first 6 hours - and the post-promo "halo effect" on my sales (ie, sales volume not earth-shattering, but still higher than pre-promo) kept on keeping on for a couple of weeks after. So for me, BookBub worked wonderfully and I'll be using them again.


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## Quiss

Mark Leslie said:


> I don't know, Chris, it looks like the bullet didn't go into your foot at all -- I checked out your book on Amazon this morning and it looks like it is working quite nicely for you. #1 in two categories and #16 overall. It'll be interesting to see how many people buy book 1 after getting book 2 for free. Congrats.


Yes, I'm over 10k this morning, slowing down now, though.
What absolutely thrills me is that I am seeing a HUGE spike (comparatively speaking) for the other book in the series, The Catalyst.
Originally, I had asked Bookbub for an ad for that one but they said 'no', I suppose because it only has 10 reviews. However, it looks like people are also grabbing this title because it's gone from 1-5 sales a day or so to 31 copies sold since yesterday which put it into the top 100 in two sub categories.


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## JGray

Just resurrecting this thread to ask a question: how long did you set your promo for? Is a week-long promo more advantageous than, say, two days?


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## J.R. Thomson

I know an author that used it and ended up #3 on Amazon with 24,000+ downloads


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## Quiss

I just did a two-day freebie promo.

I advertised with Bookbub on Friday. It was also picked up by Kindle Free Books and Tips and I posted to Addicted to eBooks.
8904 downloads, mostly .com    Made it to 13 overall on the free list and #1 in sci fi.

Today so far I'm up to 4200 or so downloads, so it's definitely slower but still very nice. 
Since your rank for paid sales drops while you're doing the freebie promo I don't think I'd want a third day.

The nicest thing from this run has been a very large uptick in sales for the other book. Perhaps people are seeing it in the "also bought" list and are grabbing it, too.  I broke the Top 100 in my sub category earlier today and am still hovering around 12k overall now.
If I attribute this to the Bookbub ad, I'd say it's paid for itself 

So, yeah, I'd do bookbub again.


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## JRTomlin

I ran an ad today for The Shadow Ryana which normally has pretty good sales running at a rank of between #2500 and #3000. The sales so far today have been good at about 250 but so far since very early this morning the ranking hasn't updated. It's at #2100 which I am reasonably sure is quite below what it will be -- eventually.  

It's priced at 99 cents and the ad cost $120 so it hasn't paid for itself yet, but I should end up with good placement on the category BS lists and it may yet pay for itself or come close.


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## Caddy

I have one running tomorrow for Gastien Part 1: The Cost of the Dream.  Usually $4.99 for .99.  I hope it does well.


----------



## JRTomlin

312 sold today and the ranking is finally updating.

#1,265 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) 
#5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Fantasy > Historical 
#6 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Historical 
#20 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Fantasy > Epic 

Still hasn't quite paid for the ad but it's very close.  

ETA: I know it's silly but one of these days I would love to make the Top 100 Paid if only for five minutes. 

It just hit #740


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## JRTomlin

Ok, I admit it. I am now doing some kind of weird "happy dance".


----------



## Libby13

I tried, but I just got the email notifying me that they will not be running my ad.  I only have 15 reviews so far, so that may be why.  Not sure though.


----------



## JRTomlin

Libby13 said:


> I tried, but I just got the email notifying me that they will not be running my ad. I only have 15 reviews so far, so that may be why. Not sure though.


I'd try again in a month or so. I think it's harder to get them to accept it if it's your only novel too and they may hold you to a higher number of reviews.


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## Caddy

I'm dancing with you, J.R.  Cool.


----------



## JRTomlin

Caddy said:


> I'm dancing with you, J.R. Cool.


Good luck on yours tomorrow. I assume it's in the Historical Fiction category? I'll be interested in how that works for you. I'll cross my fingers, etc.


----------



## Bruce Blake

I did an ad with them for a free promo yesterday (promo days yesterday and today). At the same time, I marked the second book of the series down to 99 cents from $3.99 and made note of it in the free book's description. The second book has sold 200 copies, paying for the ad while making it as low as #1500. Hopefully see some full-priced action when I put it back up tomorrow.


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## Caddy

Yes, historical fiction. Do sales start right away in the morning?  I never get their book email until late afternoon.


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## Jay Allan

Bookbub is a high quality service. Their list is very strong, filled with people who are clearly interested in buying books.

I've done two ads and sold just about 1,000 books each time, plus lots of extra sales (over the next week) from higher position and sales of other books.  I never got to the top 100, but both times I was top 200.

My advice for using Bookbub:

1.  Forget the free stuff...their list is good, and the people on it will buy books, especially for 99 cents.  There is no need to go free to try to get higher on the paid list, because a successful Bookbub ad will move you up considerably anyway.

2.  Make the price reduction for one day only.  I've seen a lot of increased sales even when the price goes back up.

3.  Try to sell something in a series or at least something where you have similar "easy" follow up buys for the new purchasers.

4.  Don't forget B and N.  I've seen 150ish direct sales, and a lasting increase in my sales levels afterwards.  In fact, the first bookbub ad seemed to permanently increase my average sales at the site.

5.  Be as prepared as you can.  Make sure your cover and blurb are very good.  You are going to get a lot of people looking at your book, and people have seen hundreds, and even thousands, of sales from Bookbub ads.  But people have to like what they see, which to me means a strong cover and a short, sharp, tightly-written blurb.


To answer the question about when the sales come in, it depends on how quickly sales are reporting.  I saw some sales pretty early, but most of them rolled in later in the day and overnight.


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## JRTomlin

jayallan said:


> Bookbub is a high quality service. Their list is very strong, filled with people who are clearly interested in buying books.
> 
> I've done two ads and sold just about 1,000 books each time, plus lots of extra sales (over the next week) from higher position and sales of other books. I never got to the top 100, but both times I was top 200.
> 
> My advice for using Bookbub:
> 
> 1. Forget the free stuff...their list is good, and the people on it will buy books, especially for 99 cents. There is no need to go free to try to get higher on the paid list, because a successful Bookbub ad will move you up considerably anyway.
> 
> 2. Make the price reduction for one day only. I've seen a lot of increased sales even when the price goes back up.
> 
> 3. Try to sell something in a series or at least something where you have similar "easy" follow up buys for the new purchasers.
> 
> 4. Don't forget B and N. I've seen 150ish direct sales, and a lasting increase in my sales levels afterwards. In fact, the first bookbub ad seemed to permanently increase my average sales at the site.
> 
> 5. Be as prepared as you can. Make sure your cover and blurb are very good. You are going to get a lot of people looking at your book, and people have seen hundreds, and even thousands, of sales from Bookbub ads. But people have to like what they see, which to me means a strong cover and a short, sharp, tightly-written blurb.
> 
> To answer the question about when the sales come in, it depends on how quickly sales are reporting. I saw some sales pretty early, but most of them rolled in later in the day and overnight.


I've made mine 2 days but I may try a 1 day one later. I'm really pleased with the results. I'm not going to get 1000 sales but that would be surprising with a fantasy. Since I now have a much higher position, it should mean continued sales afterwards and fantasy readers seem to go looking for our other fantasies (several reviewers have said so) so I do think it will have far more than paid for itself.

I couldn't be more pleased. With the day not yet over, I have about 400 sales. For an epic fantasy that is good, believe me.


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## JRTomlin

Caddy said:


> Yes, historical fiction. Do sales start right away in the morning? I never get their book email until late afternoon.


My impression is that it is on their website before the emails go out, so sales start trickling in early but really speed up as the day goes by after people get the email.

ETA: And the ranking for Ryana is now at #440 and it is even at #23 for general fantasy. It is at about 425 sales for the day. I don't expect to hold that kind of position in the rankings long, but I do expect the good position to give a boost in sales.


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## Caddy

Okay, my .99 promo has started! Fingers crossed...
http://bookbub.com/deals/2013/01/29/gastien-part-1-the-cost-of-the-dream-by-caddy-rowland/


----------



## teashopgirl

jayallan said:


> Bookbub is a high quality service. Their list is very strong, filled with people who are clearly interested in buying books.
> 
> I've done two ads and sold just about 1,000 books each time, plus lots of extra sales (over the next week) from higher position and sales of other books. I never got to the top 100, but both times I was top 200.
> 
> My advice for using Bookbub:
> 
> 1. Forget the free stuff...their list is good, and the people on it will buy books, especially for 99 cents. There is no need to go free to try to get higher on the paid list, because a successful Bookbub ad will move you up considerably anyway.
> 
> 2. Make the price reduction for one day only. I've seen a lot of increased sales even when the price goes back up.
> 
> 3. Try to sell something in a series or at least something where you have similar "easy" follow up buys for the new purchasers.
> 
> 4. Don't forget B and N. I've seen 150ish direct sales, and a lasting increase in my sales levels afterwards. In fact, the first bookbub ad seemed to permanently increase my average sales at the site.
> 
> 5. Be as prepared as you can. Make sure your cover and blurb are very good. You are going to get a lot of people looking at your book, and people have seen hundreds, and even thousands, of sales from Bookbub ads. But people have to like what they see, which to me means a strong cover and a short, sharp, tightly-written blurb.
> 
> To answer the question about when the sales come in, it depends on how quickly sales are reporting. I saw some sales pretty early, but most of them rolled in later in the day and overnight.


Great advice, thank you.


----------



## TexasGirl

I would agree about the 99 cents. Don't do 1.99. I did that and fell into the no-man's land, only selling about 160, not enough to pay for the ad.

If you're desperate for a free run that is good, use them as insurance in case you don't get picked up by the majors. Even in the small categories like Action/Adventure, they'll get you 4k. In bigger cats, much more.


----------



## ToniD

TexasGirl said:


> If you're desperate for a free run that is good, use them as insurance in case you don't get picked up by the majors. Even in the small categories like Action/Adventure, they'll get you 4k. In bigger cats, much more.


I used the action/adventure cat for a recent free run, with great results. Would sure like to know exactly how many came via BookBub, as opposed to the other sites that listed it.

JR, nice happy dance 

Good luck today, Caddy!


----------



## JRTomlin

This morning post-ad (but with the price at 99 Cents for today) my sales are at 500 which more than paid for the ad and the rankings are:

#414 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) 
#2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Fantasy > Historical 
#2 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Historical 
#7 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Fantasy > Epic

What doesn't show is that it is on page 1 of the general Fantasy category best seller list at #18 which may put it in front of a bunch of new eyes, or that's what I'm hoping anyway.  

So yeah, this is one ad where I don't feel like I was throwing my money away.

ETA: Caddy, I looked at your ad and it looks really nice. Good luck with it!

Ryana is also at right around #90 on the Fantasy Pop list. I suspect the effects of this ad aren't reflected there yet and it will improve in the next day or two.


----------



## David Thayer

Caddy, I saw your ad on Bookbub today at 9:30 PST. I don't know if their emails arrive this early every day or not ( in Seattle.)

Josh Bazell's BEAT THE REAPER is also featured on BB this morning. The novel created quite a stir in the crime fiction community when it came out; very trendy. I was reviewing for The Rap Sheet at the time and the book was assigned to me. Don't bother with it.

Good luck Caddy and RS Guthrie.


----------



## RuthNestvold

Excellent results, JR! Way to go! I did a freebie ad back in November and was very happy with the results too. 

Good luck, Caddy and RS!


----------



## momilp

Caddy, just received my Bookbub mail and saw your ad. In Redmond, not so distant from Seattle, it arrived an hour later  Good luck!


----------



## Caddy

I don't ever get my email from them until about 4:30 pm.  So far Amazon has not updated my horrible ranking.  How long does that take?

I don't know if this is poor, average, or good but so far I have sold 60 and a handful of the 2nd in the series, which helps at $3.50 royalty there.

I also don't know B&N as it seems to take about 60 years for their sales update and kobo I don't know how quickly they update because I might as well not be on there.  

I think most will come later.  At least, I hope so.


----------



## JRTomlin

Caddy said:


> I don't ever get my email from them until about 4:30 pm. So far Amazon has not updated my horrible ranking. How long does that take?
> 
> I don't know if this is poor, average, or good but so far I have sold 60 and a handful of the 2nd in the series, which helps at $3.50 royalty there.
> 
> I also don't know B&N as it seems to take about 60 years for their sales update and kobo I don't know how quickly they update because I might as well not be on there.
> 
> I think most will come later. At least, I hope so.


This early, that was about what I did. Yesterday it took forever it seemed like for my ranking to update. It was fairly late in the afternoon Pacific although I don't remember exactly what time.

ETA: I notice I posted that ranking had started updating around 6PM yesterday and that was soon after I saw the ranking update. I freely admit I was watching the ranking pretty closely.


----------



## Caddy

Yeah, between clicking to see sales and clicking to see if ranking has changed I am developing a spastic finger.  As for my writing today, we won't discuss how many words I have done.


----------



## JRTomlin

Caddy said:


> Yeah, between clicking to see sales and clicking to see if ranking has changed I am developing a spastic finger. As for my writing today, we won't discuss how many words I have done.


That is how I was yesterday and I'm not much prone to constantly watching sales and rankings, but I got almost nothing productive done. I don't think I can count staring at the ranking as I waited for it to update as productive. 

I DID decide as my mind wandered what I will write next though so it wasn't totally a waste.


----------



## Caddy

I went and banged out 1,000 for the first draft so I don't feel so guilty now.  Sold over 105 so far of the .99 book.  Plus, be still my heart, I have a (Yes, one) kobo sale! That is the third in 3 months.


----------



## JRTomlin

I have about a million hours of editing to do.  

It looks like your novel has at least started updating which is always encouraging even when it's only a tad.


----------



## Keith Strohm

How difficult is it to coordinate the sales price through all your sales outlets. If you schedule a bookbub ad for the 16th, how early should you start changing prices in your outlets so that the sales price is ready by the 16th?

  Keith


----------



## JRTomlin

Keith Strohm said:


> How difficult is it to coordinate the sales price through all your sales outlets. If you schedule a bookbub ad for the 16th, how early should you start changing prices in your outlets so that the sales price is ready by the 16th?
> 
> Keith


I did mine 24 hours in advance just to be on the safe side. I've never had it take that long but I know the power of the ill-timed glitch.


----------



## NathanWrann

My perma-free YA Paranormal Dark Matter Heart went live on Bookbub today. There was a slight uptick in downloads throughout the day to the tune of about 15-20 per hour. Then at about 4:15-4:30 (Eastern US Time) 2500 downloads hit like a nuclear bomb.


----------



## TexasGirl

That would be when the email went out!


----------



## anotherpage

Brenda Coulter said:


> Bookbub just e-mailed that they'd given me some free promo today because they had extra space in their newsletter, and suddenly my falling Amazon numbers have picked up again. I don't think I'd want to pay for this service--simply having my book go free (via price match) at Amazon has given me PLENTY of exposure (I've been in the top 40 for Kindle freebies, and as high as #10, for the past 4 days). But it does appear that Bookbub reaches a lot of people.
> 
> If anyone would like to share their experiences with the service, I'm all ears.


Maybe I am wrong but has anyone noticed their Advertising prices are different to when you actually go to order. They are more expensive when you go to order. They need to update their page


----------



## Caddy

I changed my prices a couple of days before to be safe.


----------



## Caddy

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,033 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Drama > Continental European
    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Drama > Continental European

Yay!  Now I would like to see where I am in just the general "drama" category... and also know how many have sold at B&N.  So far on kindle: 250 and some of the other books.


----------



## Quiss

Caddy said:


> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,033 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)


Yay! I was so hoping that would work out well for you!


----------



## Caddy

Thank you Quiss!


----------



## JRTomlin

Caddy said:


> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,033 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Drama > Continental European
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Drama > Continental European
> 
> Yay! Now I would like to see where I am in just the general "drama" category... and also know how many have sold at B&N. So far on kindle: 250 and some of the other books.


It looks like you're #8 in general drama. Great! I'm glad for you.


----------



## Carol (was Dara)

Way to go, Caddy! May your ranking continue to go up.  

I totally want a Bookbub ad but Magic got rejected for not enough critical acclaim (only 8 reviews at the time) and because there were only two books out in the series. Maybe I'll try again when books 3 and 4 are out.


----------



## Caddy

Yes, do try.  It is worth it.  J.R. how did you find the #8 in drama?  DId you just type in drama and find my book?


----------



## JRTomlin

If you click on Drama in the string on your page, it will take you to that list.


----------



## Caddy

thanks! Saw it!


----------



## Patty Jansen

What the heck. I submitted an ad. I've got to do something invest-y with this month's windfall from Kobo, and trying to breathe some life into Amazon sales is probably not a bad investment.

I'm under the assumption that they'll reject it.


----------



## JRTomlin

Patty Jansen said:


> What the heck. I submitted an ad. I've got to do something invest-y with this month's windfall from Kobo, and trying to breathe some life into Amazon sales is probably not a bad investment.
> 
> I'm under the assumption that they'll reject it.


You realize they'll link to other retailers as well. That's one of the nice things about them. It is one of the few ways of promoting other retailers.

I sometimes feel like slapping myself for pimping Bookbub. I should shut up or else I'll never manage to get another ad there when they're all bought out.


----------



## TexasGirl

JRTomlin said:


> I sometimes feel like slapping myself for pimping Bookbub. I should shut up or else I'll never manage to get another ad there when they're all bought out.


It was a huge secret for a long time! I don't think you were the first thread that outed it. Its time had just come.

Definitely harder to get and more expensive now, though.


----------



## Patty Jansen

They don't list their criteria for acceptance on their website. I suppose it depends on how much else they have going on any given day. You might just happen to want to book in a busy week, or a quiet week.


----------



## Caddy

(taping J.R.'s fingers together so she can't tell more people...)

That's whats nice about this board. We do support each other.


----------



## Gennita Low

Caddy said:


> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,033 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Drama > Continental European
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Drama > Continental European
> 
> Yay! Now I would like to see where I am in just the general "drama" category... and also know how many have sold at B&N. So far on kindle: 250 and some of the other books.


Yay! Very happy for you! I have a Bookbub ad coming up early Feb and hope it'll bring me some sales too!


----------



## JRTomlin

TexasGirl said:


> It was a huge secret for a long time! I don't think you were the first thread that outed it. Its time had just come.
> 
> Definitely harder to get and more expensive now, though.


No, I definitely wasn't the first. I've just been noisy about it lately. 

It certainly isn't the cheapest advertising out there.


----------



## AshMP

I submitted my novel, In The After, to bookbub just last night.  I received an e-mail this afternoon saying that they'd be happy to feature, BUT since it was part of KDP, they were wondering if I didn't want to do a free run instead as a "marketing plan".  

I don't.  

But, I found it odd they would suggest that when I was already "marketing" by reaching out to purchase as $220.00 ad as well as discounting my novel by $3.00.


----------



## Caddy

Gennita and Italia, the very best luck with your run!

Here is where I am at 8pm Central:

#464 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Drama > Continental European
    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Drama > Continental European
    #16 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical

329 sold in Amazon.


----------



## AshMP

Caddy said:


> Gennita and Italia, the very best luck with your run!
> 
> Here is where I am at 8pm Central:
> 
> #464 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Drama > Continental European
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Drama > Continental European
> #16 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical
> 
> 329 sold in Amazon.


That's super impressive. I'll be interested to see if the bump continues post ad ... but your numbers are really, really good! Congratulations!


----------



## JRTomlin

Caddy said:


> Gennita and Italia, the very best luck with your run!
> 
> Here is where I am at 8pm Central:
> 
> #464 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Drama > Continental European
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Drama > Continental European
> #16 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical
> 
> 329 sold in Amazon.


Caddy, that is great!!


----------



## JGray

Italiahaircolor said:


> I submitted my novel, In The After, to bookbub just last night. I received an e-mail this afternoon saying that they'd be happy to feature, BUT since it was part of KDP, they were wondering if I didn't want to do a free run instead as a "marketing plan".
> 
> I don't.
> 
> But, I found it odd they would suggest that when I was already "marketing" by reaching out to purchase as $220.00 ad as well as discounting my novel by $3.00.


They asked me the same thing today. Strange.


----------



## Patty Jansen

Did you mean to say that your books were in Select?

Mine isn't. I registered for a 99c sale. Haven't heard yet. Still expecting to be rejected.


----------



## JGray

Patty Jansen said:


> Did you mean to say that your books were in Select?
> 
> Mine isn't. I registered for a 99c sale. Haven't heard yet. Still expecting to be rejected.


They didn't mention KDP with mine, only mentioned that I'd run a free promo in October. I'm guessing they're fully booked for the paid promos but have some free promo slots available.


----------



## Caddy

Final total before bed at 11pm:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #329 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Drama > Continental European
    #1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Drama > Continental European
    #12 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical

Also now #1 in "Drama"

Sold on Amazon: 413
Don't know B&N yet.
Kobo: 1 (!)

Good Night!


----------



## JRTomlin

Caddy those are some fantastic results. Congrats!


----------



## Caddy

Thanks. This morning I am #12 in Kindle ebooks/fiction/genre fiction/historical (slightly different category)
Also, #290 in Best Sellers PAID 

470 sold on Amazon and don't know B&N. Sold some of the others in series. 

Does this next day usually still do quite well?


----------



## Cheryl Douglas

Those are great numbers, Caddy. Congrats! My ad is coming up on Valentine's Day, can't wait!


----------



## ChrisWard

I just had my book Man Who Built the World accepted (it has nine reviews) but like others have said I got asked to do it as a freebie.  I wanted to do paid but they told me that they have to do it free as that's part of my "marketing strategy".  It was, but I was hoping to move away from that.  Still, as it's a standalone novel and not my main focus, I agreed, but I also asked how long I would have to wait on my other book before I could do it as a paid promo.  It was last free in Dec, and I'm hoping to do paid promos on it around June/July just before part two gets released.

Looks like a great site though, and there are some awesome results on this thread.


----------



## Caddy

Thanks, and good luck Cheryl and headofwords with your promo.


----------



## Gennita Low

Caddy said:


> Thanks. This morning I am #12 in Kindle ebooks/fiction/genre fiction/historical (slightly different category)
> Also, #290 in Best Sellers PAID
> 
> 470 sold on Amazon and don't know B&N. Sold some of the others in series.
> 
> Does this next day usually still do quite well?


Awesome! Can't wait to hear how Day 2 goes. As I write in the romance genre, I have to sell a lot more to pay off the ad . I'm hoping readers will take a chance on me. Right now, I'm trying to figure out the Kobo registration thing because they refused to recognize my bank's routing # and their customer service hasn't even replied to my email asking how to proceed next. I need to upload on Kobo soon because Smashwords Premium Services hasn't done so, in spite of having approved of it since Nov. Can't wait for them any longer.


----------



## purplesmurf

Does anyone know if Bookbub accepts books that are available via prime? I know they say on their site that they won't accept books that could potentially be gotten cheaper, and with prime you can use free days, so just wondering if anyone has any knowledge on this.


----------



## AshMP

Patty Jansen said:


> Did you mean to say that your books were in Select?
> 
> Mine isn't. I registered for a 99c sale. Haven't heard yet. Still expecting to be rejected.


Yes, mine is in Select ... sorry for any confusion.

Don't worry about not hearing back ... after the initial contact made there hasn't been anything else from them to come through. I'll update if/when I hear back.


----------



## AshMP

Okay, that was relatively quick ...

I heard back about ten minutes ago. In The After was accepted. My ad will be pushed on February 19th. It's costing me $220.00 for Lit Fic and if the "estimated downloads" proves to be correct (around 890), I'll barely break even ... but what price visibility? I'm honestly not banking on that many either ... I'll be conservative and figure this venture will cost me rather then earn me. It's a strategic move more then anything else.

I'm not sure what to make of the threshold to be accepted others have mentioned, my book only has 16 reviews and hovers at 4.5 stars. So, not a perfect score and not a high quantity either. My thought is, maybe the sale? My book is normally $3.99 and I'm dropping it for the _entire_ month of Feb to $.99. It might be attractive to them.


----------



## JGray

I just heard back and she asked if I wanted a Feb. 12th slot, but since Mon/Tue/Wed are my slowest days, I asked if I could have a weekend slot instead. So now I'm in for Feb. 22!

Crossing fingers all goes well! It'll be such a long wait!


----------



## KOwrites

I have an ad running today for _Seeing Julia_. Romance category ~ big bucks because I truly wanted to see how well it worked for a $0.99 sale. I swore off of free at the beginning of January. So far, 330 downloads (1 dl/minute) since I saw the email at 10:11 a.m. And, because this is how it goes ~ ratings for SJ have not updated _for hours_ on Amazon. My whole objective was to rise in the romance category and get to the lower ranks on the BS lists, but soaring the charts may not happen for a while, if at all, if the servers aren't updating and, of course, that glitch impacts the overall sales. *That's a whine. *

I'm hoping PST time will see updates on Zon's servers, my rankings, and more downloads...

Live & learn _or_ Live & just write. 

*Edit/updated 1/31/13* ~ just to end this post: rankings finally updated at 5:19 PM
Here's as low as I saw for Seeing Julia: 
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #251 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#5 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Coming of Age
#58 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Contemporary
#65 in Books > Romance > Contemporary

I didn't breakeven with downloads (500+) in terms of what I paid for the ad, however, I'm pleased to make it up into the visible ranks of this competitive category. I've done other marketing efforts where I put up this kind of money for a free run. Would I do it again? I'm not sure. I need to evaluate what happens in the coming days with this one.


----------



## KOwrites

Okay, I had to search for this thread to provide an update, but didn't want to let it go because I think it's worth noting.

As I have been trained to look at mostly Amazon...I forgot to go back and look at B & N and Apple numbers last night. I've never even paid attention to the rankings in either place. So, I finally did this this morning. My expectation for Amazon had fallen short by about 400 DLs, but Apple and B & N made up that number. (Kobo...no.) I broke even for my $360 promotion fee and I'm on the top 100 lists at iTunes #27 Top 100 and B & N at #67 Top 100 today. That has never happened before, so I'm stoked because it's fulfilling one of my strategies for being everywhere for readers this year. Without Bookbub's one day ad that wouldn't have happened. _Yay._ So, if you are in multiple places with your books, you could benefit greatly and widely, if you decide to pay the hefty fee at Bookbub. Just my opinion. YMMV. Carry on.


----------



## Patty Jansen

Nope. Rejected.

I think I'll just have to forget about making sales on Amazon. How can I sell hundreds of copies of these books on Kobo and B&N and none on Amazon?


----------



## TexasGirl

It definitely looks like being on all venues is the best thing for BookBub. That way you are sure to break even and hopefully see a boost.

Patty, which book did you send them?


----------



## Patty Jansen

Fire & Ice. It's part 1 of a trilogy, which is what they like to see.

They do not say anything about minimum review numbers (it's got 13, but 23 on Kobo, where it's only been since August). In fact their "guidelines" are infuriatingly vague.


----------



## JRTomlin

TexasGirl said:


> It definitely looks like being on all venues is the best thing for BookBub. That way you are sure to break even and hopefully see a boost.
> 
> Patty, which book did you send them?


Mine paid for itself on Amazon only, but it is _nice_ that you can use it for promotion with other retailers. Places you can do that are scarce on the ground.


----------



## Patty Jansen

Well, none of this is going to any bloody good if they don't accept my application, isn't it?


----------



## JRTomlin

Patty Jansen said:


> Well, none of this is going to any bloody good if they don't accept my application, isn't it?


Sorry they didn't, Patty. Honestly, I'd try again in a month. I've had a couple turned down for one reason or another such as that it had been free too recently. They are picky and it looks like they can afford to be.


----------



## Patty Jansen

I might try again for Watcher's Web (which as been free a number of times and has perhaps been downloaded by about 30,000 people for free), but I have a second volume coming out.

Although, I half-expect the Bookbub thing to have run its course by then. They will be either too expensive or not effective anymore.


----------



## RuthNestvold

Caddy said:


> Thanks. This morning I am #12 in Kindle ebooks/fiction/genre fiction/historical (slightly different category)
> Also, #290 in Best Sellers PAID
> 
> 470 sold on Amazon and don't know B&N. Sold some of the others in series.
> 
> Does this next day usually still do quite well?


Excellent results, Caddy, congrats!


----------



## TexasGirl

Patty Jansen said:


> Although, I half-expect the Bookbub thing to have run its course by then. They will be either too expensive or not effective anymore.


We get a lot of success stories on here, but yes, many authors already don't earn out, or are so thrilled with a one or two day bump they don't care that they actually barely broke even. I personally know six people who lost money, myself included, and that is over the long haul too--it's been three months since mine and I *still* haven't paid for it.

It's a pull of the slot machine lever, though, and better odds than most. I learned from my mistake and might try again.


----------



## JRTomlin

TexasGirl said:


> We get a lot of success stories on here, but yes, many authors already don't earn out, or are so thrilled with a one or two day bump they don't care that they actually barely broke even. I personally know six people who lost money, myself included, and that is over the long haul too--it's been three months since mine and I *still* haven't paid for it.
> 
> It's a pull of the slot machine lever, though, and better odds than most. I learned from my mistake and might try again.


There are never any guarantees. Bookbub at the moment has a pretty good chance of giving you a bump. I earned out and several days later have better sales, but that doesn't mean it always works that way.


----------



## chrisanthropic

We had Thieves at Heart featured as a $.99 book on Bookbub yesterday, marked down from $3.99.

This book has been languishing around the mid-high 6 digit rankings before the promo, with these results:
Amazon: 270 sales
Nook: 45 sales
iTunes: 16 sales
Kobo: 0 sales 

Those sales saw us at about a 725 rank at the highest point, #42 in overall Fantasy, and we're currently still #1 in Fantasy > Series subcategory.

Overall, very pleased with the results.


----------



## N. Gemini Sasson

#2 Free overall in the entire kindle store for Uneasy Lies the Crown, thanks to BookBub!

I've never been on the same page as Colleen Hoover, Nicholas Sparks, Stephen King and Bella Andre before. *swoon*

ETA: Standing at 15,500+ downloads so far.


----------



## 41352

I just had a free run with the help of a BookBub ad and gave away 10K. The ad has already paid itself from the increased sales on the other books in the series.


----------



## Caddy

B&N always reports 2 days later for me so I have been waiting to post my final totals. I had to sell 700 to break even.

I sold 712 of the .99 book and a couple dozen of the other titles. So, I made a wee bit of money and had great boostings in the ranks.  557 of those were on Amazon. 

I am still #1 in Continental European Drama in both kindle and in Literature & Fiction books. Book #2 is at #6 in kindle Continental European. Additionally, Book 1 is #7 in the wider "Drama" category for e-books and #5 in same category for Literature & Fiction books in same Drama. I am still in the Top 11 in e-books historical fiction.

I am sure I will see a fast drop now because I have gone from 290 to 2,000 something in best selling.

The cool thing is in drama I am sitting above Romeo & Juliet, Les Mes, Raisin In The Sun and Of Mice & Men to name a few. lol Kind of fun to beat out ol' William Shakespeare and John Steinbeck.  Steinbeck is one of my top 3 favorite authors. In fact, he may be my favorite. Can anyone tell I love to read "drama"?


----------



## AshMP

N. Gemini Sasson said:


> #2 Free overall in the entire kindle store for Uneasy Lies the Crown, thanks to BookBub!
> 
> I've never been on the same page as Colleen Hoover, Nicholas Sparks, Stephen King and Bella Andre before. *swoon*
> 
> ETA: Standing at 15,500+ downloads so far.


That's incredible! Congratulations! Your paid sales will soar after this I suspect!


----------



## RuthNestvold

DDark said:


> Has anyone had luck advertising the sequels of a series, or only the 1st book?
> I also wonder if there's a certain day of the week for the ad to go up that does the best.


The only BookBub ad I've taken out was for Shadow of Stone, Book 2 of the Pendragon Chronicles. It was free, but I earned out what I paid for the ad within hours through sales of the first book, Yseult. That was back when freebie ads were only $45, though.

OTOH, the following month, my sales continued to be quite high (for me). Even at the higher prices, I'm pretty sure I would do it again.


----------



## N. Gemini Sasson

Italiahaircolor said:


> That's incredible! Congratulations! Your paid sales will soar after this I suspect!


Thanks! I hope so, too. Visibility like this is a great opportunity to reach new readers.


----------



## AshMP

TexasGirl said:


> We get a lot of success stories on here, but yes, many authors already don't earn out, or are so thrilled with a one or two day bump they don't care that they actually barely broke even. I personally know six people who lost money, myself included, and that is over the long haul too--it's been three months since mine and I *still* haven't paid for it.
> 
> It's a pull of the slot machine lever, though, and better odds than most. I learned from my mistake and might try again.


Your results are very interesting.

You know, I wasn't published back when Select was a gold-rush, so I have no experience in what that was like -- but I think it must have been akin to magic. But last summer I picked a random three day sprint for FREE and made it to #6 in the entire Kindle store, #1 in both my categories. My sales following that were great, better then they had ever been -- which, sadly, includes a huge and expensive book tour I ran when I first published (sunk around 5k into marketing) which resulted in 100 sales over 3 months.

I've tried marketing from almost every angle. Book tours, bloggers, social media, free runs. BookBub will be my first ever paid ad. But, like you, I look at everything like a slot machine -- pull the lever and wait for three triple diamonds, if you get cherry, apple, pear, you just pull again.

Do I think Bookbub will help? It can't hurt. I have to be willing to invest in myself from time to time, which I think it the safest advice an author can take. We've seen the site pull off amazing things -- one author just made it to the USA Today best seller list. I think so much of what works is just throwing a whole bunch of stuff against the wall and seeing what sticks. And then you have add the +/- for the particular book. I just think it would be impossible to nail down the perfect formula.


----------



## N. Gemini Sasson

Italiahaircolor said:


> I think so much of what works is just throwing a whole bunch of stuff against the wall and seeing what sticks.


To some degree, yes, that's true. But you can take more educated guesses by paying attention to others' tactics and results. Certain blogs or web sites like BookBub have a broad reach. They are a means to accessing your potential audience, but you do have to understand there are no guarantees with any single strategy. A lot of factors come into play, like what other books are being advertised or offered for free at the same time (and you have absolutely zero control over that), what day of the week it is or if there have been recent holidays, your cover, your blurb, your reviews, what other books you have out and whether people have noticed them before, etc.



> And then you have add the +/- for the particular book. I just think it would be impossible to nail down the perfect formula.


What is so often overlooked is the book itself. Did you ever read a blurb - forget the cover and genre for a moment - and think, "Wow. That sounds really interesting"? Don't some movie trailers make you want to run out and see _that_ movie NOW? Some stories have that element, a tease, that makes you want to find out what happens and how it ends.

BookBub is one tool of many. When it works, the results can be huge. If, for you, the investment isn't worth the gamble, then keep tweaking the other elements, keep writing and continue to pay attention to what others are doing. If there's one thing I've figured out on this crazy self-publishing journey, it's that what works today may or may not work tomorrow. Just do something, even if all you do is continue writing more books.


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## Jay Allan

Danica - I did a Bookbub on a second book in a series, and it did just about as well as the first one had (about 900-1,000 sales at 99 cents).  I had substantially higher sales at normal price for a week or so after.

Althought it's always hard to tell, I think I also got increased sales on book one as a result (as well as book three).


----------



## L.T. Ryan

I've got a BookBub ad for a freebie that will be advertised to their Thriller list. Haven't seen the email yet, but FKBT picked the book up this morning. It is rocking the downloads to the tune of 1 per second at the moment. I have to admit, I'm curious to see what happens once that email goes out.


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## David Thayer

LT, Looks like your Bookbub ad is paying dividends. email hit my desk in Seattle.


----------



## L.T. Ryan

I just received the email, too. The book has gone over 10,000 downloads on the day. Not bad at all.


----------



## L.T. Ryan

A quick update on my promo. The book is closing in on 22,000 downloads for the day and am currently #3 overall.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Political
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Suspense


----------



## JRTomlin

L.T. Ryan said:


> A quick update on my promo. The book is closing in on 22,000 downloads for the day and am currently #3 overall.
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Political
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Suspense


Nice results, I'd say.


----------



## AshMP

L.T. Ryan said:


> A quick update on my promo. The book is closing in on 22,000 downloads for the day and am currently #3 overall.
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Political
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Suspense


Fantastic results! Yay you!!


----------



## Gennita Low

L.T. Ryan said:


> A quick update on my promo. The book is closing in on 22,000 downloads for the day and am currently #3 overall.
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Political
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Suspense


Nice! Congrats!


----------



## L.T. Ryan

JRTomlin said:


> Nice results, I'd say.


Thanks, JR. I would have to agree with you. Just moved up to #2. I'm beyond impressed. Only wish I'd been able to take advantage of the $0.99 ad.

Thanks, Italia and Gennita


----------



## Christopher Smith

I've used BookBub three times, and each time, it landed my books high into the overall Top 100 on Amazon and, in one case, on Nook (that particularly book wasn't in Select, so I could point it to BN).  Each time, I got my money back and much, much more.  I have another promotion coming at the end of February.  I find them to be strategic, professional and friendly.  And--it works!  Good luck to those who try it.  It's worth the price.  I'll be using them going forward.


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## Emily Kimelman

I've used Bookbub twice with really great results. I've got another ad coming out in the middle of the month. It's the most effective paid advertising I've found. When I did a free promo with them it was even more effective than when Pixel of Ink picked me up... of course it cost a lot more javascript:void(0);


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## Caddy

L.T. Glad to see you had great results!


----------



## L.T. Ryan

Caddy said:


> L.T. Glad to see you had great results!


Thanks, Caddy. I held the #1 spot for a couple hours, then slipped back to #2. Spent close to 24 hours in one of those two spots. I pulled in 36,000 downloads. Ended the promo around 9pm last night and have had close to 100 sales or borrows since. Based on past experiences, the ranking hasn't crunched yet, but the book is in the top 2000 at the moment, which is good enough for #17 on the political fiction chart. I'll update one more time when I see the final ranking boost.

Other benefits... sales on the follow up novel, _A Deadly Distance_, have seen an uptick, as have sales on the Season compilation books of the episodic series featuring the same main character. Perhaps most importantly, I've added close to 100 subscribers to my mailing list, and they keep on signing up.

Good luck to anyone who gives Bookbub a shot. I will definitely use them again for both free and paid books.


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## SusanKL

Just wanted to toss my two-cents worth of experience in. Last month I ran an ad in Bookbub for my women's literary book "Finding Infinity." This book launched in August and I have probably sold a dozen since then. VERY unhappy with that. Within six hours of my Bookbub ad ($60 in Women's Lit) I started getting mega-downloads. I was running my Kindle Select 5-days Free during when the ad ran. After the five days, I had 47,000 downloads!! Once it went back to full price, ($3.99) it started to sell at the rate of five books an hour. I was flabbergasted. I ended the month with over 500 books sold at full price (2 weeks after the ad) and am still easily selling 12 a day. THIS from a book I cold not sell, that I did give-aways on, blog tours, Goodread mega contests, ENT YOU NAME IT. 
After reading some of the comments here, I realize there could have been more than a few things in play to help this along (and some I might not be able to repeat) I did have a concomitant Kindleboards freebie promotion (which costs nothing) that probably helped.

I am now a BIG believer in BookBub and will use it for each of my titles every month (I found out they only allow you one a month.)

BTW I also did a $50 Kindleboards promo for another of my titles (it was discounted to 99c, not free) and it did well, too. Paid for the ad plus another 100 or so. Problem with that was that when I tried to put the price back to full price to take advantage of all the new attention, I didn't realize for several days that it had NOT gone back up to $3.99. I finally got it to "take" and it continued to sell well for a bit but has now collapsed back to normal levels.

Anyway, BookBub, I love you!


----------



## Caddy

That's so cool, Susan. I am also happy to see it was in Women's Fiction because that has a lower number of subscribers and may be where my next series falls into. I have been wondering if Bookbub would work for that down the line. I will wait until I have a few books in the series out before trying it.  Also, between now and when I get the last book in The Gastien Series our I may have changed my mind a couple of times about the next direction I am going!  It will be drama, but not sure what other category yet.


----------



## scottmarlowe

I've got an ad scheduled for next week for one of my fantasy novels. I'll report back as well. It seemed like a lot of the advertising venues were dropping off in terms of ROI way back when, but it sounds like Bookbub is still a worthwhile investment. I guess I'm going to find out.


----------



## Gennita Low

I'm a little nervous because I used some of lunch and "extra aside" money to buy a Bookbub ad which starts on Friday. It's for the 99cts Romance category, so it's expensive, and I'm nervous because I've never changed the prices on all platforms before. Just to be safe, on Weds morning, I'll start changing the prices on Smashwords and Kobo (through Draft2Digital) since I've no idea when the prices will take effect. In the evening, I'll change it on Amazon and B&N.

I also read some folks have been having trouble getting Amazon to change back to the original price after the promo because Ammy keeps getting the cache page of the other platforms. Here's hoping I won't get that problem!

Anyway, reading all your results here have been encouraging. It's Chinese New Year this weekend and I'm crossing my fingers it'll be my year .


----------



## momilp

scottmarlowe said:


> I've got an ad scheduled for next week for one of my fantasy novels. I'll report back as well. It seemed like a lot of the advertising venues were dropping off in terms of ROI way back when, but it sounds like Bookbub is still a worthwhile investment. I guess I'm going to find out.


Scott, may I ask you which one of your novels?


----------



## kurzon

I had an ad today for _And All the Stars_, my "Alien invasion set in Sydney" book, setting it at $0.99 down from $4.99. I started out at rank #14,445.

Currently (about 18 hours after the ad went up), it's had about 420 sales on Amazon and is #10 on the Movers and Shakers Kindle list:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #311 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) 
#1 in Books > Children's Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction 
#4 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teens > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction 
#7 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Science Fiction > Adventure

Only sold a couple on Kobo and Smashwords, but my B&N ranking has gone from around 100k to a sales rank of 195, so presumably sold a few there. The Kindle sales alone will have covered the ad cost.

Oddly, despite it now being rather late in the US, I think the sales are speeding up a little on Amazon. Well worth the exercise, even if the sales fall off a cliff tomorrow. Especially for the B&N progress.


----------



## sarahdalton

kurzon said:


> I had an ad today for _And All the Stars_, my "Alien invasion set in Sydney" book, setting it at $0.99 down from $4.99. I started out at rank #14,445.
> 
> Currently (about 18 hours after the ad went up), it's had about 420 sales on Amazon and is #10 on the Movers and Shakers Kindle list:
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #311 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> #1 in Books > Children's Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction
> #4 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teens > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction
> #7 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Science Fiction > Adventure
> 
> Only sold a couple on Kobo and Smashwords, but my B&N ranking has gone from around 100k to a sales rank of 195, so presumably sold a few there. The Kindle sales alone will have covered the ad cost.
> 
> Oddly, despite it now being rather late in the US, I think the sales are speeding up a little on Amazon. Well worth the exercise, even if the sales fall off a cliff tomorrow. Especially for the B&N progress.


Did you bump me off the #1 in Books > Children's Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction ?? That's where I got to with my Bookbub on Sunday - lasted a couple of days too, it was nice 

Congrats and good luck with it, Kurzon!

I've found that my sales are slowing right down now. On the day of Bookbub I had over 300 on Amazon, now it's down to about 20 a day. Oh well, I knew it wouldn't last forever!


----------



## Kwalker

It's nice to see you all having success with the YA titles. I'm running my ad on the 21st of this month for a YA fantasy at .99. I'll have just released a new title at that point, which I'm also going to put on sale. I'm hoping customers grab both.

I need to dig up a list of where to submit your bargain book to, like the where to submit your free book to list.


----------



## scottmarlowe

momilp said:


> Scott, may I ask you which one of your novels?


Well, it was going to be for The Five Elements, but Bookbub denied my listing. I hear they do this a lot. Oh well. I'll try again at some point in the future. I'm currently trying to de-list my books from Sony. They take too long to respond to changes and right now they're holding TFE down at 99 cents on Amazon.


----------



## TexasGirl

scottmarlowe said:


> Well, it was going to be for The Five Elements, but Bookbub denied my listing. I hear they do this a lot. Oh well. I'll try again at some point in the future. I'm currently trying to de-list my books from Sony. They take too long to respond to changes and right now they're holding TFE down at 99 cents on Amazon.


Ahhh. So that's why they denied you. Your book isn't on special in their eyes since it is 99 cents all the time.

At least you know you can try again when it's back at full price.


----------



## momilp

scottmarlowe said:


> Well, it was going to be for The Five Elements, but Bookbub denied my listing. I hear they do this a lot. Oh well. I'll try again at some point in the future. I'm currently trying to de-list my books from Sony. They take too long to respond to changes and right now they're holding TFE down at 99 cents on Amazon.


I'm sorry to hear that. I was asking because I'm in a similar position regarding reviews and wondering how they decided the cut. Maybe, as TexasGirl says, the problem is the perma-99 cents?


----------



## A.A

kurzon said:


> I had an ad today for _And All the Stars_, my "Alien invasion set in Sydney" book, setting it at $0.99 down from $4.99. I started out at rank #14,445.
> 
> Oddly, despite it now being rather late in the US, I think the sales are speeding up a little on Amazon. Well worth the exercise, even if the sales fall off a cliff tomorrow. Especially for the B&N progress.


Yay to a YA book set in Sydney! Just bought it 
The first book of my series is set in an Australian forest and I have a sci fi coming up late this year set in outback Queensland. I can clearly recall agents and publishers saying that YA books set outside the US are a hard sell (especially Australia) but it seems that indie publishing has shown differently.

(I was meant to have a bookbub ad up today, but it seems I blew it as I didn't understand EST and changed my price too late. Waiting to hear back from them as I don't want $90 down the drain! ))

Hope your promo keeps blasting along!


----------



## scottmarlowe

TexasGirl said:


> Ahhh. So that's why they denied you. Your book isn't on special in their eyes since it is 99 cents all the time.
> 
> At least you know you can try again when it's back at full price.


Yep. That's what I figured they based their decision on. Once I get this 99 cent thing cleared up I'll try again. No biggie.


----------



## AshMP

momilp said:


> I'm sorry to hear that. I was asking because I'm in a similar position regarding reviews and wondering how they decided the cut. Maybe, as TexasGirl says, the problem is the perma-99 cents?


I'm not what decides the cut and what doesn't. It seems to be a mystery. When I submitted ITA it only had 15 reviews, 4.4 stars. It was accepted rather easily, minus the request they had that I consider listing the book for free ... which, I declined (I'm not a huge fan of paying to notify my book is free).

I do have a sneak suspicion of what makes the cut though, and it's just a hunch ...

1. How far down you put your book on sale. If the list price is 4.99 and you're willing to discount it to .99, I think that appeals to Bookbub. This would make sense regarding perma-.99 books.

2. The length of your sale. I made it clear my book would be on sale for the entire month of February. I think they may be interested in books that they publicize initially, but also keep up on their site for an extended period of time. The longer the deal is in effect, the longer they stand to make money from it. If the book is only on sale for, let's say, three days, after that time period they have to put the "DEAL NOT AVAILABLE" slash through your book cover and break the link.

3. And the person who initially vets your request. I think a lot has to do with their particular interests ... which translates into how well a book will perform for them. Since they make money per purchase, they have to collect data on which themes do better then others -- after all, even when you consider genre, not all books are created equal.

Those are my hunches right now. Obviously if your book has a plethora for 1-star reviews and low rating, that will effect their decision ... but when all other things are created equal, I think it's the small things that make the difference.


----------



## BBGriffith

These guys know what they're doing. They comped me for an Action and Adventure free run several months ago (a $60 dollar spot) and the other night I was feeling saucy after a few glasses of rum and reading this thread and booked a Mystery/Thriller spot for early March for Blue Fall ($460). That's a $400 gain in their corner. Talk about a business plan! I salute them!


----------



## JRTomlin

Italiahaircolor said:


> I'm not what decides the cut and what doesn't. It seems to be a mystery. When I submitted ITA it only had 15 reviews, 4.4 stars. It was accepted rather easily, minus the request they had that I consider listing the book for free ... which, I declined (I'm not a huge fan of paying to notify my book is free).
> 
> I do have a sneak suspicion of what makes the cut though, and it's just a hunch ...
> 
> 1. How far down you put your book on sale. If the list price is 4.99 and you're willing to discount it to .99, I think that appeals to Bookbub. This would make sense regarding perma-.99 books.
> 
> 2. The length of your sale. I made it clear my book would be on sale for the entire month of February. I think they may be interested in books that they publicize initially, but also keep up on their site for an extended period of time. The longer the deal is in effect, the longer they stand to make money from it. If the book is only on sale for, let's say, three days, after that time period they have to put the "DEAL NOT AVAILABLE" slash through your book cover and break the link.
> 
> 3. And the person who initially vets your request. I think a lot has to do with their particular interests ... which translates into how well a book will perform for them. Since they make money per purchase, they have to collect data on which themes do better then others -- after all, even when you consider genre, not all books are created equal.
> 
> Those are my hunches right now. Obviously if your book has a plethora for 1-star reviews and low rating, that will effect their decision ... but when all other things are created equal, I think it's the small things that make the difference.


Just to give a spread of experience, so far every time I have wanted to promote a one or two day sale, they have approved them. My one that is coming up at the end for February was originally a one day sale and it was my suggestion to extend it to two. They were fine with either.


----------



## Gennita Low

My Bookbub ad started this morning and my book, Tempting Trouble, is selling for 99cts at Amazon, BN and Smashwords. 250 sales so far and quite a bit to go to make back the $360 I paid for the ad. So far, #28 on the Thriller/Spy Stories list.

I pubbed Tempting Trouble through D2D for my Kobo and Apple listing. That* was a bust because after a week, both platforms still wouldn't/couldn't/hadn't changed my price to .99cents. The D2D people told me they had been talking to Kobo and Apple but no one seemed to be able to help me. So I'm not getting any Kobo/Apple sales, like I'd planned. 

Anyway, fingers-crossed that I'll have some good numbers to report later! Need to get 1000 people to buy my book this weekend! 

Happy Chinese New Year!


----------



## momilp

Italiahaircolor and JR Tomlin, thank you both for the explanation. At 12 review, probably my book wouldn't qualify anyway. Hopefully, by the time I get out of select, the third in the series will be out and it will make more sense trying paid advertising. 
Scott, good luck to you.


----------



## amishromanceauthor

Submitted a book deal to bookbub and got the vague rejection.  I think it's probably because I only have seven reviews.  Just wondering, what's the least amount of reviews anyone has had on a book and managed to get accepted?


----------



## Kwalker

I had 12 when they accepted mine.


----------



## amishromanceauthor

Kwalker said:


> I had 12 when they accepted mine.


12? Good. I may just be a librarything giveaway away then.


----------



## Paul Clayton

I did.  And it was good.


----------



## AshMP

amishromanceauthor said:


> Submitted a book deal to bookbub and got the vague rejection. I think it's probably because I only have seven reviews. Just wondering, what's the least amount of reviews anyone has had on a book and managed to get accepted?


There is currently a book listed under Women's Fiction (free) that has 2 reviews and a 4.5 star rating.


----------



## Gennita Low

Reporting in from my Bookbub results:

Selling Tempting Trouble at 99cts, the ad cost me $360, so I needed to sell at least 1000 to break even.

As of right now, I've sold
@Amazon: 1600
@BN: 550 (which AMAZING to me because I never sell at BN)
@Smashwords: 20

My highest ranking at Amazon was #70 overall with a Movers and Shakers listing at #4 at one point! #5 on the Romantic Suspense list. #2 on the Intrigue/Spy Stories list. #24 on Romance.

And another amazing moment, I'm currently at #51 on BN, which is the icing on the cake. My goal had been to try to get some BN readers and I'm hoping being in the Top 100 will get readers to check out my books.

So, Bookbub has been a success. Didn't make much money but my ranking went up and I'm hoping for more sales when I reset the price on Monday. One more day of 99cts tomorrow .

What do you guys think?


----------



## LilianaHart

Gennita Low said:


> Reporting in from my Bookbub results:
> 
> Selling Tempting Trouble at 99cts, the ad cost me $360, so I needed to sell at least 1000 to break even.
> 
> As of right now, I've sold
> @Amazon: 1600
> @BN: 550 (which AMAZING to me because I never sell at BN)
> @Smashwords: 20
> 
> My highest ranking at Amazon was #70 overall with a Movers and Shakers listing at #4 at one point! #5 on the Romantic Suspense list. #2 on the Intrigue/Spy Stories list. #24 on Romance.
> 
> And another amazing moment, I'm currently at #51 on BN, which is the icing on the cake. My goal had been to try to get some BN readers and I'm hoping being in the Top 100 will get readers to check out my books.
> 
> So, Bookbub has been a success. Didn't make much money but my ranking went up and I'm hoping for more sales when I reset the price on Monday. One more day of 99cts tomorrow .
> 
> What do you guys think?


That's awesome! Congratulations to you!


----------



## Gennita Low

LilianaHart said:


> That's awesome! Congratulations to you!


Thanks, Liliana! My only disappointment was that I couldn't get Kobo and Apple to match down to 99cts. I pubbed through D2D and for some reason, there were some issues when I tried changing the price. Sigh.

I'm now crossing my fingers that my change back to regular price will be smooth!

Question to you: how long was your run at 99cts before you changed back to regular price? Did Amazon gave you any problems changing back?


----------



## Sharebear

Gennita Low said:


> Reporting in from my Bookbub results:
> 
> Selling Tempting Trouble at 99cts, the ad cost me $360, so I needed to sell at least 1000 to break even.
> 
> As of right now, I've sold
> @Amazon: 1600
> @BN: 550 (which AMAZING to me because I never sell at BN)
> @Smashwords: 20
> 
> My highest ranking at Amazon was #70 overall with a Movers and Shakers listing at #4 at one point! #5 on the Romantic Suspense list. #2 on the Intrigue/Spy Stories list. #24 on Romance.
> 
> And another amazing moment, I'm currently at #51 on BN, which is the icing on the cake. My goal had been to try to get some BN readers and I'm hoping being in the Top 100 will get readers to check out my books.
> 
> So, Bookbub has been a success. Didn't make much money but my ranking went up and I'm hoping for more sales when I reset the price on Monday. One more day of 99cts tomorrow .
> 
> What do you guys think?


WOW! This is crazy impressive!
Also that cover is awesome!


----------



## Gennita Low

brinacourtney said:


> WOW! This is crazy impressive!
> Also that cover is awesome!


Thanks, Brina! Very happy I did well!


----------



## JRTomlin

brinacourtney said:


> WOW! This is crazy impressive!
> Also that cover is awesome!


Those are some good results! You should get a major bump in positioning too.


----------



## TexasGirl

Those are crazy good results!

And Amazon is going to give you quite a bit of trouble if any other vendor is 99 cents still. They'll price match down. I've been moving away from Smash because of this and going direct on all venues.


----------



## Gennita Low

TexasGirl said:


> Those are crazy good results!
> 
> And Amazon is going to give you quite a bit of trouble if any other vendor is 99 cents still. They'll price match down. I've been moving away from Smash because of this and going direct on all venues.


I only have BN (direct) this time. Smashwords is just their platform. I pubbed to Kobo and Apple using D2D but for some reason, I couldn't change the price down to .99 with them. Worked with D2D for five days, republishing, etc., but finally gave up on those two venues . So I've only BN and Smash (with no premium channels) to worry about.


----------



## Caddy

Great results Gennita! Congrats!

I go direct, waited until the book was back to reg. price both other places and STILL Amazon priced matched an imaginary .99.  I sent them links showing both places were $4.99, and also the link showing my book was no longer on sale through Bookbub and they said they would fix it within a couple of days. It took about 1 1/2 days after that.


----------



## Gennita Low

Caddy said:


> Great results Gennita! Congrats!
> 
> I go direct, waited until the book was back to reg. price both other places and STILL Amazon priced matched an imaginary .99. I sent them links showing both places were $4.99, and also the link showing my book was no longer on sale through Bookbub and they said they would fix it within a couple of days. It took about 1 1/2 days after that.


Thanks for letting me know what to expect, Caddy. Hey, how are post sales results after a week or two of the Bookbub promo? Are they back to normal or do you see new sales?


----------



## scottmarlowe

I've got my books delisted from Sony's Reader Store. Now I just need to get Amazon to remove the price-match. Then I'll try again with Bookbub. I'm curious to see if it goes through this next time.


----------



## Caddy

> Thanks for letting me know what to expect, Caddy. Hey, how are post sales results after a week or two of the Bookbub promo? Are they back to normal or do you see new sales?


Seeing new sales. The other books in the series and some of the first book. Got a review on B&N and a couple on Goodreads and a few ratings on Goodreads and a new reader emailed me to tell me I'm her favorite author now.


----------



## scottmarlowe

Caddy said:


> Seeing new sales. The other books in the series and some of the first book. Got a review on B&N and a couple on Goodreads and a few ratings on Goodreads and a new reader emailed me to tell me I'm her favorite author now.


Hard to beat any of that, especially the last bit.


----------



## RuthNestvold

Caddy said:


> Seeing new sales. The other books in the series and some of the first book. Got a review on B&N and a couple on Goodreads and a few ratings on Goodreads and a new reader emailed me to tell me I'm her favorite author now.


That's excellent, Caddy!


----------



## Consuelo Saah Baehr

I just used Book Bub for an ad and was very satisfied.  They steered me away with the first book I wanted to advertise and led me to one of the others feeling I would have more success with a book that had more reviews.  

I booked the ad, it ran and I made back almost three times my investment.  Interestingly, although I sold most books on Amazon, I did amazingly well at B&N and reached #34 on their 100 list.  I only reached in the low 100s on Amazon.  This promotion ended on the 12th but I'm still getting sales from it.  It gave me some visibility on B&N that I had not been able to get on my own.  I think it will translate to more sales over there.  Sold approx 360 at B&N and 780 on Amazon, 8 on Kobo and don't know how many on Apple (through Smashwords).

I would do it again although I just saw that their prices went up.

I've heard they don't always accept a book for an ad, but they seemed flexible when they worked with me.


----------



## BBGriffith

Seems to me that they are propelling authors on Amazon to the sub 1000 level fairly routinely, and sometimes the sub 100 level. But it's their success on B&N that really is intriguing. As far as I know, no other promo group has that kind of success there. One wonders how long this will last.


----------



## Jan Strnad

I got a free Mystery/Thriller listing for a _Risen_ giveaway, and it was a successful promo, but I can't parse out how many freebies were downloaded thanks to BookBub vs. the other sites that listed it.

I tried to buy a Mystery/Thriller listing for _Alice_ at $0.99 but they were booked up for the month, so I'm trying a Literary Fiction listing. Might be kind of putting on airs to call it that, but we'll see how it goes on the 28th.


----------



## MJWare

Consuelo Saah Baehr said:


> I've heard they don't always accept a book for an ad, but they seemed flexible when they worked with me.


They just turned down Super Zombie Juice, even though they accepted it before and it did quite well. I guess they are getting a bit stricter.


----------



## Cheryl Douglas

For those who are considering a Bookbub ad for their free books, I thought I'd chime in with my results. One word. Wow! My ad was on Friday and my free book went from approx 3100 to #1 in contemporary romance and #2 overall. It's currently #1 in romance and #14 overall. I've had over 30,000 downloads and the rankings for all of my other books are higher than they've ever been. Yesterday was a 200+ book sales day for me. That's never to me happened before, not even with successful Select runs where I was giving away more than 24K. All I can say, if you're thinking about whether a book bub ad for your free book is worth it... I can tell you that it was for me! I'm in still on shock.   It makes me wonder how long I'll have to wait before they'd be willing to accept my book again.


----------



## Gennita Low

Cheryl Douglas said:


> For those who are considering a Bookbub ad for their free books, I thought I'd chime in with my results. One word. Wow! My ad was on Friday and my free book went from approx 3100 to #1 in contemporary romance and #2 overall. It's currently #1 in romance and #14 overall. I've had over 30,000 downloads and the rankings for all of my other books are higher than they've ever been. Yesterday was a 200+ book sales day for me. That's never to me happened before, not even with successful Select runs where I was giving away more than 24K. All I can say, if you're thinking about whether a book bub ad for your free book is worth it... I can tell you that it was for me! I'm in still on shock.  It makes me wonder how long I'll have to wait before they'd be willing to accept my book again.


Congrats, Cheryl! Great promo! The sales will keep coming .


----------



## Caddy

I'm always happy when I see others are doing well with Bookbub.  Congrats to each of you!


----------



## SusanKL

Results of my latest Bookbub ad have, unfortunately, not been stellar so far. The ad ran Thursday on my Free action & adventure book, The Heidelberg Effect, and I clocked over 10K downloads by Saturday midnight. On Friday I was at #16 in the Kindle Free Store and stayed right at #1 for Time Travel and #2 for Action Adventure the full three days. Now--the morning after it went back to full price--I'm floating back in the 500,000 ranking with NO sales. Nada. I know the bump usually comes a couple days out...it's just that, last month when I ran the BookBub ad for my Women's Lit book, Finding Infinity, I was racking up the sales _the minute_ the book came off "free."
I'm not totally discouraged yet...but aiming in that direction.


----------



## TexasGirl

My friend got put in action/adventure by BookBub too and he only got 5K downloads. He wound up selling a few, but not enough to pay for the BookBub ad. I don't think it's a great category.


----------



## ToniD

I had great results with the action/adventure cat in January, for a freebie. I think it's the same old same old YMMV. So many variables and all that.

Susan, maybe things are slower because it's a holiday weekend? Hoping your sales kick in soon.


----------



## SusanKL

Thanks, y'all. I know we can't have control over every element of this process   but I still think I'll try again with a diff cat than Action Adventure. OTOH, the only good thing about not getting great results was that I wasn't OUT much for the ad and if I move to another cat, I WILL be!


----------



## theaatkinson

weird question: is the price for ads as they have them in their table, based on regular book price or sale book price? If my book is regularly 2.99 and I put it on sale for .99cents do I pay the ad price for <$1 or for >2?

it's a lot of coin...


----------



## Lynn McNamee

theaatkinson said:


> weird question: is the price for ads as they have them in their table, based on regular book price or sale book price? If my book is regularly 2.99 and I put it on sale for .99cents do I pay the ad price for <$1 or for >2?
> 
> it's a lot of coin...


You pay the ad price. In fact, from what I've heard, they may ask you to lower your price to get into one of those categories. They do that if your book has been on sale recently, as they want to offer the best prices to their readers.


----------



## Cheryl Douglas

Gennita Low said:


> Congrats, Cheryl! Great promo! The sales will keep coming .


Thank you so much! I'm still experiencing a little bit of shock and awe right now because you're right the sales are still coming and the ranking is holding steady. I'm used to Select promos where they sink like a stone the day after.


----------



## AshMP

So ... today is the day of my ad ... and as of 10:00a CST I've sold ... *0* books. As far as I know, the e-mail hasn't gone out yet (it's not in my inbox) ... and I'm trying very hard not to second guess this investment so soon into the day ... _but_ for what I paid, I'd had hoped to see at least ONE sale.

When did you you all start seeing sales?


----------



## chrisanthropic

I remember emailing them about the same thing, they stagger their emails and I believe mailing times are PST.  Wait until the emails go out and your numbers should start rolling.


----------



## TexasGirl

BookBub posting to their site has zero effect. The emails won't start going out until afternoon/evening.

Then the rankings will be slow to update.

You're not going to know how you've done until tomorrow morning. It will be fine!


----------



## AshMP

Thanks.

I have to at least appreciate the method to the madness on some level ... they've done well for other people and clearly know how to operate their business.  So, I believe what you're all saying to be true ... and I'm just going to quietly back away from the computer for fear of driving myself mad if I don't.


----------



## Atunah

I haven't gotten my Bookbub email yet. I just took a look at when I usually get it and the earliest is 11:30 am and is usually later than that. 1 pm, 2 pm, sometimes noon.


----------



## JRTomlin

Italiahaircolor said:


> So ... today is the day of my ad ... and as of 10:00a CST I've sold ... *0* books. As far as I know, the e-mail hasn't gone out yet (it's not in my inbox) ... and I'm trying very hard not to second guess this investment so soon into the day ... _but_ for what I paid, I'd had hoped to see at least ONE sale.
> 
> When did you you all start seeing sales?


I can tell you from experience that the sales start in the afternoon. I also had no sales before the email went out which happens around noon Pacific.


----------



## AshMP

JRTomlin said:


> I can tell you from experience that the sales start in the afternoon. I also had no sales before the email went out which happens around noon Pacific.


Thank you! I'm going to try to keep my promise of not checking sales until this afternoon.


----------



## AshMP

Atunah said:


> I haven't gotten my Bookbub email yet. I just took a look at when I usually get it and the earliest is 11:30 am and is usually later than that. 1 pm, 2 pm, sometimes noon.


Thanks!  I get so many notifications now from other sites I've signed up for it's really hard to keep track!


----------



## momilp

Haven't received the email yet. I'm sure it will be a great success, Italiahaircolor  Coming back later to congratulate you on your incredible numbers


----------



## Atunah

Just got my email from Bookbub  .


----------



## JGray

I haven't received my BB email yet, but I just wanted to wish you a good promo!! May you have many, many sales!!

*throwing dollar symbol confetti in the air*


----------



## AshMP

I haven't gotten the e-mail yet ... but thank you, *everyone*, for your good book sellin' juju ... ya'll are so nice.


----------



## Caddy

Same with me. Sales started in the afternoon.


----------



## Cheryl Douglas

Italiahaircolor said:


> So ... today is the day of my ad ... and as of 10:00a CST I've sold ... *0* books. As far as I know, the e-mail hasn't gone out yet (it's not in my inbox) ... and I'm trying very hard not to second guess this investment so soon into the day ... _but_ for what I paid, I'd had hoped to see at least ONE sale.
> 
> When did you you all start seeing sales?


I panicked at first too. In my case, it was a freebie, but downloads started in the afternoon and Amazon ranking didn't catch up until 6:00 p.m. Best of luck with your promo! I can't wait to hear how it goes. It was the best advertising $ I ever spent!


----------



## AshMP

Caddy said:


> Same with me. Sales started in the afternoon.


I still haven't received my e-mail ... but since it was four hours since I first posted, I looked at my reports ... I've sold 44 books. Maybe they'll pick up from here ... and while I'm tickled that I've moved so many books, I have to remind myself that I paid to move that many and I'm still a good long way from recouping even a fraction of the cost. So, yes, I'm crossing my fingers that you are right and sales will continue on.


----------



## AshMP

Cheryl Douglas said:


> I panicked at first too. In my case, it was a freebie, but downloads started in the afternoon and Amazon ranking didn't catch up until 6:00 p.m. Best of luck with your promo! I can't wait to hear how it goes. It was the best advertising $ I ever spent!


Yes, my sales ranking hasn't moved an inch -- actually, it's gone up (started at 98k and I'm now sitting at 113k). Thank you so much, I hope it goes well.


----------



## 13893

I'm having a BookBub day for Spiderwork today. The sales are starting to come in. Thea, I think you'll do well in the fantasy category - super well. 

I like how BB categorizes its offerings so readers get ads for the kinds of books they want to read.


----------



## AshMP

LKRigel said:


> I'm having a BookBub day for Spiderwork today. The sales are starting to come in. Thea, I think you'll do well in the fantasy category - super well.
> 
> I like how BB categorizes its offerings so readers get ads for the kinds of books they want to read.


You'll have to let us know how it goes!! I'm wishing you huge sales!!


----------



## Lisa Grace

They just sent out a tweet about your book, and it seems rankings are way behind what they should be. 

I have a BookBub ad running on the 27th, and may run one for my historical next month. ($700 yikes!)


----------



## 13893

Italiahaircolor said:


> You'll have to let us know how it goes!! I'm wishing you huge sales!!


Thanks. In the After looks really good. Good luck to you too!


----------



## AshMP

LisaGraceBooks said:


> They just sent out a tweet about your book, and it seems rankings are way behind what they should be.
> 
> I have a BookBub ad running on the 27th, and may run one for my historical next month. ($700 yikes!)


Thank you so much! I'll tweet for you too on the 27th! I can't imagine paying $700.00 ... I choked on $220.00.


----------



## AshMP

Hi all, just wanted to stop back by and update ... as of this evening I've sold 412 books and my rating has skyrocketed to the 7k's as Amazon has finally caught up.  I'm still a good deal away from out selling my investment, and I'm remaining optimistically realistic on the chances of doing that ... but so far, all things considered, I'm happy.


----------



## Gennita Low

Italiahaircolor said:


> Hi all, just wanted to stop back by and update ... as of this evening I've sold 412 books and my rating has skyrocketed to the 7k's as Amazon has finally caught up. I'm still a good deal away from out selling my investment, and I'm remaining optimistically realistic on the chances of doing that ... but so far, all things considered, I'm happy.


good luck! I'm going to go pick one up now.


----------



## robin_hart

I got it too! Good luck!


----------



## AshMP

Oh, you all are so sweet.  Thank you so much, I sincerely couldn't appreciate the support more.


----------



## momilp

Italiahaircolor said:


> Hi all, just wanted to stop back by and update ... as of this evening I've sold 412 books and my rating has skyrocketed to the 7k's as Amazon has finally caught up. I'm still a good deal away from out selling my investment, and I'm remaining optimistically realistic on the chances of doing that ... but so far, all things considered, I'm happy.


The day isn't over yet


----------



## Lisa Grace

In the After: 
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #878 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #59 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Literary Fiction
    #70 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Women's Fiction
    #76 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Contemporary Women


----------



## AshMP

LisaGraceBooks said:


> In the After:
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #878 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #59 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Literary Fiction
> #70 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Women's Fiction
> #76 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Contemporary Women


Oh my goodness! I've _never_ been there before (paid, anyway). *Thank you* (so much!) for pointing it out, I would have probably missed it all together -- it's bound to be one of those "look fast!" moments!


----------



## robin_hart

Well you've been super supportive of so many here as well.  Keep us updated.  I am stalking this thread.


----------



## ChrisWard

Went out as a free on Bookbub on Feb 13th.  Got picked up as well by Kindle News and Tips on Day 1 and by Ereader New Today today on the 15th, last day.  Ended up with around 14,300 downloads, roughly 13k in the US and 1.3k in the UK.  Got to #19 overall.

In the three days since sales have been pretty underwhelming.  I kept my price at $4.99 which might have made a difference, but I've only had 27 sales in the US (plus 21 borrows) and 28 (with 8 borrows) in the UK.  Very strange that the UK is outselling the US, considering the difference in download numbers.  I made back my $60 investment on the first day and while I can't fault Bookbub, which probably brought me 10k downloads plus, I'm pretty disillusioned with the fading power of free promos.  I had 60 sales last time I gave away 4k in January, so I was hoping for more like 200, but they're already starting to tail off.


----------



## AshMP

robin_hart said:


> Well you've been super supportive of so many here as well. Keep us updated. I am stalking this thread.


That's so kind of you to say, thank you!


----------



## Cheryl Douglas

Congrats on the great ranking! I'm so glad to see it's working for you!


----------



## Kwalker

I have my ad coming up tomorrow, if you all could please cross some fingers for me. Maybe a few toes.


----------



## Sharebear

Kwalker said:


> I have my ad coming up tomorrow, if you all could please cross some fingers for me. Maybe a few toes.


I crossed my arms to but it's becoming increasingly difficult to type.
aka Good luck.


----------



## AshMP

Kwalker said:


> I have my ad coming up tomorrow, if you all could please cross some fingers for me. Maybe a few toes.


Crossed! I am sure you're going to have a great run!


----------



## Cheryl Douglas

Kwalker said:


> I have my ad coming up tomorrow, if you all could please cross some fingers for me. Maybe a few toes.


Fingers and toes crossed! I'm sure it will be great. can't wait to hear how it goes.


----------



## Gennita Low

Kwalker said:


> I have my ad coming up tomorrow, if you all could please cross some fingers for me. Maybe a few toes.


Good luck! Can't wait to see the results!


----------



## ChrisWard

Kwalker said:


> I have my ad coming up tomorrow, if you all could please cross some fingers for me. Maybe a few toes.


Good luck! Bookbub rocks!


----------



## Amanda Brice

Here's the listing, Kelly!

Cornerstone
By Kelly Walker
When the 16-year-old daughter of two dueling families learns her father has been captured, she desperately decides to marry the prince of a rival land for her father's freedom — but an ominous prophecy could spell doom for them all...
Originally: $2.99 
$0.99


----------



## AshMP

Just grabbed a copy!  Good luck Kelly, I'm rooting for you!


----------



## Kwalker

Thanks! I'm so nervous. If recent results from other ads are any indication, my book could sell more today than it has in its 3 months on sale so far.

I'm praying that sales spill over to the sequel.


----------



## JGray

My cont. romance is up tomorrow!

Here's hoping Amazon changes the price on time! Does anyone know how long it takes for iTunes to update prices?

ETA: That was quick... for Amazon.


----------



## AshMP

ShortySmalls said:


> My cont. romance is up tomorrow!
> 
> Here's hoping Amazon changes the price on time! Does anyone know how long it takes for iTunes to update prices?
> 
> ETA: That was quick... for Amazon.


AHHH! I'm literally going to spend all my royalties buying books! I'll snag yours tomorrow to do my small part in bouncing your rating upwards!


----------



## Kwalker

Which of yours is up tomorrow? I liked Taking Heart


----------



## JGray

Italiahaircolor said:


> AHHH! I'm literally going to spend all my royalties buying books! I'll snag yours tomorrow to my small part in bouncing your rating upwards!


Thank you! I picked yours up yesterday as well!!


----------



## JGray

Kwalker said:


> Which of yours is up tomorrow? I liked Taking Heart


Thank you! Yes, it's Taking Heart. The poor little novel needs a shot of adrenaline.


----------



## AshMP

ShortySmalls said:


> Thank you! I picked yours up yesterday as well!!


That's really nice, thank you!


----------



## Kwalker

I'm on pins and needles, and a bit surprised.

I just got my email about 10 minutes ago. I've sold 5 on Amazon since (whee!) but 14 on B&N since. *Jaw Drops*

Oh and I forgot to tell you, Ashley. I have a writer acquaintance who was having a really hard time trying to figure out how to balance the important aspects of her MC's childhood, with her being older. I suggested she take a look at In The After. Hopefully she did, because you did it beautifully.


----------



## AshMP

Kwalker said:


> I'm on pins and needles, and a bit surprised.
> 
> I just got my email about 10 minutes ago. I've sold 5 on Amazon since (whee!) but 14 on B&N since. *Jaw Drops*
> 
> Oh and I forgot to tell you, Ashley. I have a writer acquaintance who was having a really hard time trying to figure out how to balance the important aspects of her MC's childhood, with her being older. I suggested she take a look at In The After. Hopefully she did, because you did it beautifully.


Oh my goodness, that's so sweet. If she ever wanted to ask particular questions -- more in depth stuff, she can always e-mail me and I'd be more then happy to help.


----------



## Rachel Hanna

When you send a request for a date to BookBub, how long does it usually take for them to respond? I sent one about 24 hours ago, but no response yet...


----------



## Kwalker

In my experience, it takes 2-3 days


----------



## AshMP

Rachel Hanna said:


> When you send a request for a date to BookBub, how long does it usually take for them to respond? I sent one about 24 hours ago, but no response yet...


Mine came in less then 24 hours ... if I sent it in the afternoon, I heard by late morning the following day (if memory serves). It wasn't long at all. They say 48 hours is the average, so don't panic yet ... anything beyond that, I suppose they've passed on your ad, which happens unfortunately and they don't (to my knowledge) flat out tell you they've passed either -- but the plus is, you can always reapply with another book immediately or later on.

Good luck!


----------



## AshMP

So ... for the sake of making a record and keeping consistent with the spirit of this thread, I'm going to cliff-notes my experience with BB in case anyone missed my celebratory thread which will undoubtably become buried soon.

I posted my ad under Literary Fiction (121,000 reach) and paid (in January 2013) $220.00.

I ran a $.99 sale discounted from my MSRP of $3.99.  The sale ran the entire month of February, not just my BB day.

My ad went live in February 19th.  I picked my date based off previous success with early week free runs, the fact that Valentine's Day had just passed (hello new Kindle owners!) and the timing of the month -- shortly after payday when people have more disposable income.

The day started slowly, picked up around 2:30 CST and reached a peak early evening where I was selling +/- of 3 books a minute.  

Prior to BB, I'd sold 26 books this month and had two borrows.

By midnight CST on my sale day I'd sold 866 books.  I'd outsold my invest easily (needed to see 660 books).

Currently (48 hours past the initial burst) I've sold 1,208 and gained 11 borrows.  Sales slowed considerably on day 2, and have continued to fall on day 3.

My highest ranking was #94 in the entire Kindle store, officially making me a Best Seller (hurray!) (it could have been higher at some point, but a girls gotta sleep!) and peaked in Literary Fiction, Contemporary Women's Fiction and Literary, allowing me to outsell some big trade names.  I made it to #3 on the Movers & Shakers list.  While my ranking continues to backslide, I'm still charting in the genre's and #340 overall.


----------



## Kwalker

Thanks so much for sharing your data Ashley!


----------



## JTCochrane

I have a free promo with bookpub which will run next Wednesday the 27th.  I am very excited to see what happens as the first book in my series is perma-free everywhere.


----------



## JRTomlin

So... It has been two months since I took A Kingdom's Cost out of Select and since it had a free promotion and from what they had said previously I thought that after three months they would be willing to run a promotion for it, so I tried to schedule a 99 Cent promotion for the end of March. This is the response I just received:



> While we would love to feature A Kingdom's Cost, it looks like you have historically offered this title for free. When free promotions are part of an author's marketing plan on a certain book, we don't feature that book at a higher price. We have this policy in order to ensure we're always offering the best deals for our subscribers, which in turn ensures that we continue to be able to provide an engaged and loyal audience of readers to our advertisers.
> 
> Would you be interested in promoting your next free run of A Kingdom's Cost with BookBub instead? Let me know, and I hope we get the chance to work together on this!


That sounds as if any book you've ever had free will not be eligible for paid promotions. I emailed them to follow up because it would be too bad if I can never schedule most of my books with them as none of them are in Select any more. I'll let you know what response I receive.


----------



## MJWare

JRTomlin said:


> So... It has been two months since I took A Kingdom's Cost out of Select and since it had a free promotion and from what they had said previously I thought that after three months they would be willing to run a promotion for it, so I tried to schedule a 99 Cent promotion for the end of March. This is the response I just received:
> 
> _While we would love to feature A Kingdom's Cost, it looks like you have historically offered this title for free. When free promotions are part of an author's marketing plan on a certain book, we don't feature that book at a higher price. We have this policy in order to ensure we're always offering the best deals for our subscribers, which in turn ensures that we continue to be able to provide an engaged and loyal audience of readers to our advertisers._
> 
> Would you be interested in promoting your next free run of A Kingdom's Cost with BookBub instead? Let me know, and I hope we get the chance to work together on this!
> 
> That sounds as if any book you've ever had free will not be eligible for paid promotions. I emailed them to follow up because it would be too bad if I can never schedule most of my books with them as none of them are in Select any more. I'll let you know what response I receive.


Wow, very interesting. I've already done a couple free runs, but was thinking of changing over to 99 cent runs myself.
Let us know what you find out!


----------



## JRTomlin

> I'm happy to clarify. We do understand that authors' marketing plans change over time, so if an author no longer plans to run a title for free, we can look at running it as a paid listing down the road. Generally, the more time has passed since the title was last offered for free, the more confident the editorial team can be that the author has no plans on offering their book for free in the future. For A Kingdom's Cost, we could look at running this title as a paid listing sometime in early April. We hope that helps, and please let me know if you have any additional questions on this.


So it looks as though they want at least a little more than three months to go by before you schedule 99 Cent promotions, but they are willing to scheduled them as long as they feel confident you are changing your marketing. I can understand that they don't want to do a 99 Cent promotion and have an author turn around and immediately do a free one.

ETA: I have always found Bookbub responsive and quick to reply to questions which I do appreciate.


----------



## RuthNestvold

Thanks for sharing, JR! That's good to know.


----------



## Amanda Brice

JRTomlin said:


> That sounds as if any book you've ever had free will not be eligible for paid promotions. I emailed them to follow up because it would be too bad if I can never schedule most of my books with them as none of them are in Select any more. I'll let you know what response I receive.


It really seems to vary by who is answering the emails that day, and how diligently they're researching, because I'd heard this rule as well, and yet I know plenty of people who have very recently been able to schedule Bookbub ads for books they'd previously run for free. So...I guess it depends.

I do know that the people who have managed to schedule a 99 cent Bookbub after going free have not offered that book for free in several months, however. Specifically one woman did her last free promo nearly a year ago, so maybe the longer it's been since the book was free, the more likely they'll approve it assuming there is any space on the list around that time.


----------



## JRTomlin

Amanda Brice said:


> It really seems to vary by who is answering the emails that day, and how diligently they're researching, because I'd heard this rule as well, and yet I know plenty of people who have very recently been able to schedule Bookbub ads for books they'd previously run for free. So...I guess it depends.
> 
> I do know that the people who have managed to schedule a 99 cent Bookbub after going free have not offered that book for free in several months, however. Specifically one woman did her last free promo nearly a year ago, so maybe the longer it's been since the book was free, the more likely they'll approve it assuming there is any space on the list around that time.


That was exactly her comment, Amanda, that the longer it has been the more likely they are to accept it.

By the way, I pretty much always deal with the same person there. I'm not sure if it is coincidence or not


----------



## MJWare

Yes, good information. I have found that they've been responding a bit slower lately, but still responding and always helpful!


----------



## ChrisWard

JRTomlin said:


> So it looks as though they want at least a little more than three months to go by before you schedule 99 Cent promotions, but they are willing to scheduled them as long as they feel confident you are changing your marketing. I can understand that they don't want to do a 99 Cent promotion and have an author turn around and immediately do a free one.
> 
> ETA: I have always found Bookbub responsive and quick to reply to questions which I do appreciate.


This is pretty much what they said to me. I wanted a paid listing but they refused it and I ran it as free instead. While I'm leaving my standalones in Select I'm taking the series out and was looking at getting paid listings in the summer when the sequel comes out. The email they sent you is almost word for word what they sent me. Good that they're flexible I suppose.


----------



## AshMP

Hey *Shortysmalls* your book is doing REALLY well and it's still VERY early! Just grabbed my copy! Yay you!

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,070 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)


----------



## Kwalker

That's awesome!

Mine did well, though not as well as I'd hoped but certainly well enough that I am pleased.

I sold 320 books between Amazon and B&N. Looks like I sold about 20 on Itunes as well. 

I had some spillover sales to the next in my series as well, yesterday and I hope that continues over the next few days.

I ended up at 

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #866 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #13 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Fantasy & Futuristic
    #20 in Books > Children's Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy & Magic
    #25 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teens > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy

At one point it was at #763 overall. 

I also landed at #150 on B&N, which is nice, and I'm hoping to see more movement there.


----------



## AshMP

Kwalker said:


> That's awesome!
> 
> Mine did well, though not as well as I'd hoped but certainly well enough that I am pleased.
> 
> I sold 320 books between Amazon and B&N. Looks like I sold about 20 on Itunes as well.
> 
> I had some spillover sales to the next in my series as well, yesterday and I hope that continues over the next few days.
> 
> I ended up at
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #866 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #13 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Fantasy & Futuristic
> #20 in Books > Children's Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy & Magic
> #25 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teens > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy
> 
> At one point it was at #763 overall.
> 
> I also landed at #150 on B&N, which is nice, and I'm hoping to see more movement there.


Congratulations! Those are great numbers! You must be very proud.

I think the genre ranking matters a lot in terms of the continued sales. I'd imagine you'll continue to see them roll in, albeit more slowly. Yesterday, after I did my update here, I sold another 50 books -- not earth shattering, but worth mention. My ranking continues to slide backwards, but that was expected -- the continued sales and longevity in the "sub-lists" however, was not. That's where, I expect, you'll continue to see the boost. I also checked BookBub, and you're still right up front in your genre, so that's good!

One thing I've done is now, since the sale is "still on" is reach out to the smaller sites that promote the $.99 sale (Flurries of Words, ENT -- fingers crossed!) ... Flurries picked up the book, and for $16.00 I'll be on the site for the remainder of the month, ENT ... who knows. Depending on how long you're "on sale" you may consider looking into those to boost the numbers a little more.

Congratulations again!


----------



## Kwalker

Thanks Ashley =)

I hadn't heard anything promising about results from Flurries of Words. I'll have to take a peak at them again.

I can't get ENT to give me the time of day. I've submitted to them every time that I've had a free run or a 99 cent run, as well as for their book of the day. Not once have I had a response from them on anything. I get crickets.


----------



## Amanda Brice

Kwalker said:


> I sold 320 books between Amazon and B&N. Looks like I sold about 20 on Itunes as well.
> 
> I had some spillover sales to the next in my series as well, yesterday and I hope that continues over the next few days.


That's great! There's a reson the Teen list ads are so much less expensive than the other genres -- you don't sell anywhere near as many books as you do with a Mysteries/Thrillers list or Romance list ad. But you made it high on Top 100 lists for your genres, so you should see sales for a little while afterwards, as long as it sticks there.

And #150 on B&N is great! (With that ranking, that probably puts you somewhere around #20-ish in Teens overall on Nook, which is awesome!) I've found that when you spike that that on B&N, your ranking is much more likely to stick a lot longer than at Amazon. And Nook readers are a lot less price-sensitive, meaning that when you go back to full price, your book is more likely to hang out in the good ranks than it will at Kindle. So you should see a nice return at Nook for a while.

Go you!


----------



## Kwalker

Thanks Amanda =)

I can't figure out how to get it into Teens at B&N. They have it in Childrens/Kids. I do have teens and YA listed as a keyword, but it doesn't seem to help.

Edit - I fiddled with categories more this AM and now it seems to have moved itself to Teens. Yay! It's right on the front of the teens section as a new release too. *crosses fingers*
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/teen-nook-books-ebooks/379003091


----------



## JGray

Italiahaircolor said:


> Hey *Shortysmalls* your book is doing REALLY well and it's still VERY early! Just grabbed my copy! Yay you!
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,070 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)


Thank you!!

It got down to the #4K yesterday after Summer posted it on her FB page (Thank you, Summer!!!).

Did your copy download with the new cover or the old illustrated cover? It was glitching for me last night.


----------



## JGray

Kwalker said:


> That's awesome!
> 
> Mine did well, though not as well as I'd hoped but certainly well enough that I am pleased.
> 
> I sold 320 books between Amazon and B&N. Looks like I sold about 20 on Itunes as well.
> 
> I had some spillover sales to the next in my series as well, yesterday and I hope that continues over the next few days.
> 
> I ended up at
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #866 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #13 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Fantasy & Futuristic
> #20 in Books > Children's Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy & Magic
> #25 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teens > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy
> 
> At one point it was at #763 overall.
> 
> I also landed at #150 on B&N, which is nice, and I'm hoping to see more movement there.


Awesome numbers!! BN rankings are a lot stickier than Amazon's, so here's hoping you get more sales over yonder!


----------



## valeriec80

Hmm... it sounds to me like Bookbub really wants more free books. Several people are reporting that they are trying to push them into free spots instead of paid ones.

Interesting. I bet they want to be able to offer their subscribers as many free books as they can. However, from an author's perspective, paying for the free runs doesn't seem to be as great an investment as the paid ads, unless maybe it's first in a series.


----------



## Amanda Brice

valeriec80 said:


> Interesting. I bet they want to be able to offer their subscribers as many free books as they can.


They run one free and one discounted book per day in each category (although I've noticed that recently -- in the past 2 weeks -- they've started doing 3 books per day in Mystery and Romance instead of the normal 2).


----------



## valeriec80

Amanda Brice said:


> They run one free and one discounted book per day in each category (although I've noticed that recently -- in the past 2 weeks -- they've started doing 3 books per day in Mystery and Romance instead of the normal 2).


Ah, there's a method. I can't tell myself. I do get the emails, but I guess I'm not paying close enough attention.


----------



## L.T. Ryan

valeriec80 said:


> Hmm... it sounds to me like Bookbub really wants more free books. Several people are reporting that they are trying to push them into free spots instead of paid ones.
> 
> Interesting. I bet they want to be able to offer their subscribers as many free books as they can. However, from an author's perspective, paying for the free runs doesn't seem to be as great an investment as the paid ads, unless maybe it's first in a series.


Bookbub pushed me toward a free run for my last promo. It paid off big time. The extra sales on the other books in the series paid for the ad the first day.


----------



## JGray

Just received the BB email!

Aaaannnndd the day of checking sales and ranks begins...


----------



## L.T. Ryan

ShortySmalls said:


> My cont. romance is up tomorrow!
> 
> Here's hoping Amazon changes the price on time! Does anyone know how long it takes for iTunes to update prices?
> 
> ETA: That was quick... for Amazon.


We're Bookbub buddies today! I'm in for the Mystery & Thrillers $0.99 book.

Scared.

Good luck!


----------



## JGray

L.T. Ryan said:


> We're Bookbub buddies today! I'm in for the Mystery & Thrillers $0.99 book.
> 
> Scared.
> 
> Good luck!


Good luck, BBBuddy!


----------



## JGray

The email went out at 9:45 a.m. and so far I've sold 510 copies on Amazon (the ranks haven't updated yet) and 310 on BN (although I'm fairly certain a large number of that was from my existing fanbase on FB).

The best part is that it's now #44 on the Top 100 Nook Books! WOOT!


----------



## Kwalker

That is fantastic!


----------



## JGray

Kwalker said:


> That is fantastic!


Thanks!! I'm so excited!


----------



## Lisa Grace

Congratulations!


----------



## JGray

LisaGraceBooks said:


> Congratulations!


Thank you!!


----------



## TexasGirl

I wonder if they are going to have to mix up their free/bargain mix a little differently with the new Amazon rules, or just let the fees carry them. They are defnitely the most expensive out there.


----------



## Anne Frasier

they don't book more than a month out.


----------



## Kwalker

I did a YA ad, and I doubled my investment yesterday ( the day of the ad) alone.

In spillover sales on day 2 from the extra exposure I've gotten about half the cost of the ad over again. I did it for the first in my series, and I got enough sales for my brand new release of the second in the series to put it on some of the new release lists about midway up ( more than I've managed before since I don't have much of a fan base ) it seems like about 10 % of the purchasers went ahead and picked up the second book while they were grabbing the first. 

Of course, I'm hoping the rest of them come back in the next few weeks to grab the second book at full price =)


----------



## AshMP

ShortySmalls said:


> The email went out at 9:45 a.m. and so far I've sold 510 copies on Amazon (the ranks haven't updated yet) and 310 on BN (although I'm fairly certain a large number of that was from my existing fanbase on FB).
> 
> The best part is that it's now #44 on the Top 100 Nook Books! WOOT!


Congratulations! That's HUGE!


----------



## Gennita Low

Congratulations Kelly and Shorty (June!)! It's always fun to see success on this thread . Good luck to those who just started their promo. I'll be picking them up!


----------



## L.T. Ryan

DDark said:


> Glad to see this service works. How "ahead" is everyone pulling after they make back what they spent on the ad? I'm considering doing this around the time that I release my next book in the series. I should read through this entire thread but I'm on a carb crash at the moment; I'd like to know how soon they book when you put in the request (closest date you can get, or if there is a waiting list).


It's 9 p.m. eastern now and the book I promoted has already earned more than the cost of the bargain Mystery & Thriller ad. Keeping in mind that Amazon's sales reporting is around 4 hours behind, I should end up pretty far ahead.

But don't base the cost just on what happens the day of the ad. These people are book buyers. The ones that like the first book will move on to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, sign up for the email list, buy future books.


----------



## JGray

Okay, it's 9pm PST and I just saw that my book has cracked the Top 100 on Amazon. It's sitting at #78 and I am FREAKING OUT. 

Not only that, it's also #18 on the Top 100 Nook Books list.

!!!

I've sold 1100 copies on Amazon thus far. 561 on B&N. 4 on Kobo. ? on iTunes.

(silent squeeing)


----------



## Atunah

Don't forget to take the screenshots.


----------



## JGray

Atunah said:


> Don't forget to take the screenshots.


My husband and I are screencapping like crazy! lol.


----------



## Adam Poe

I put in for an ad yesterday and they sent me an email declining, hrm...not sure why. (Book one in signature.)


----------



## AshMP

ShortySmalls said:


> Okay, it's 9pm PST and I just saw that my book has cracked the Top 100 on Amazon. It's sitting at #78 and I am FREAKING OUT.
> 
> Not only that, it's also #18 on the Top 100 Nook Books list.
> 
> !!!
> 
> I've sold 1100 copies on Amazon thus far. 561 on B&N. 4 on Kobo. ? on iTunes.
> 
> (silent squeeing)


Welcome to the Best Sellers Club!


----------



## JRTomlin

ShortySmalls said:


> Okay, it's 9pm PST and I just saw that my book has cracked the Top 100 on Amazon. It's sitting at #78 and I am FREAKING OUT.
> 
> Not only that, it's also #18 on the Top 100 Nook Books list.
> 
> !!!
> 
> I've sold 1100 copies on Amazon thus far. 561 on B&N. 4 on Kobo. ? on iTunes.
> 
> (silent squeeing)


Wow!


----------



## L.T. Ryan

ShortySmalls said:


> Okay, it's 9pm PST and I just saw that my book has cracked the Top 100 on Amazon. It's sitting at #78 and I am FREAKING OUT.
> 
> Not only that, it's also #18 on the Top 100 Nook Books list.
> 
> !!!
> 
> I've sold 1100 copies on Amazon thus far. 561 on B&N. 4 on Kobo. ? on iTunes.
> 
> (silent squeeing)


Congratulations! What a rush, eh?


----------



## Wansit

That's fantastic! Congrats June! I'm a big fan of the new cover - think it's looks like an amazing Romance.


----------



## Adam Poe

ShortySmalls said:


> Okay, it's 9pm PST and I just saw that my book has cracked the Top 100 on Amazon. It's sitting at #78 and I am FREAKING OUT.
> 
> Not only that, it's also #18 on the Top 100 Nook Books list.
> 
> !!!
> 
> I've sold 1100 copies on Amazon thus far. 561 on B&N. 4 on Kobo. ? on iTunes.
> 
> (silent squeeing)


Holy cow  congrats!


----------



## Alondo

I have no experience of Bookbub, but looking at their site I don't see why you couldn't have a mystery/thriller title (cost to advertise - $1175), call it action/adventure instead and pay only $300, saving $875?


----------



## Mainak Dhar

I used them to advertise a freebie on Line of Control that I ran for 2 days on the 19th and 20th of Feb. Got over 20000 downloads and reached #4 on the free list. After coming 'unfree' have had 95 sales/borrows so far in 2 days over normal sales rates so almost already paid out the ad. Have an ad for a discounted deal next month- let's see how that goes.


----------



## Gennita Low

Great run, Shorty! Congrats!


----------



## Alondo

Does anyone have experience of a Science Fiction run?


----------



## AshMP

Alondo said:


> I have no experience of Bookbub, but looking at their site I don't see why you couldn't have a mystery/thriller title (cost to advertise - *$1175*), call it action/adventure instead and pay only $300, saving $875?


My jaw hit the ground on that price! That's almost debilitating for the average mid-list writer.


----------



## Alondo

Italiahaircolor said:


> My jaw hit the ground on that price! That's almost debilitating for the average mid-list writer.


All I did was look up the prices on their site.

Still, it seems to me that if you choose the genre then you effectively choose the price you pay.


----------



## Mel Comley

Alondo said:


> I have no experience of Bookbub, but looking at their site I don't see why you couldn't have a mystery/thriller title (cost to advertise - $1175), call it action/adventure instead and pay only $300, saving $875?


Not sure about your logic here. Surely it'll depend on what your target audience is.

That's like putting an erotica title up as a sweet romance, isn't it?


----------



## Alondo

Mel Comley said:


> Not sure about your logic here. Surely it'll depend on what your target audience is.
> 
> That's like putting an erotica title up as a sweet romance, isn't it?


Well, what they say is they put your book out to 600,000 plus subscribers, whatever it is. So it goes out to the same number of people whatever genre you choose. At least, that's how I read it.


----------



## AshMP

Alondo said:


> All I did was look up the prices on their site.
> 
> Still, it seems to me that if you choose the genre then you effectively choose the price you pay.


For me, when I was looking to book my ad, I went for the biggest reach possible.

My book does fall into two categories. Literary Fiction and Women's Fiction. $220.00 vs. $170.00. 150,000 reach vs. 140,000 reach (the reach appears to have fallen for Lit Fic since I booked my book, I'm strictly going off their current table -- if my recollection serves, at the time I ordered, the reach was 121,000).

I think you should aim for the biggest, broadest reach your novel has. For me, that was literary. I have both female and male readers. When I personally think of Mysteries & Thrillers vs. Action and Adventure, I consider them different books. I would click on M&T but not A&A. Similar to my experience ... you may find that A&A readers click on M&T, but not every M&T reader clicks on A&A.

For me, the difference was small. For you, the difference would be huge ... you're talking about roughly 250,000 more people seeing your ad. Since you're looking at prices for novels 2.00 and above, the difference in price is dramatic, but the difference in downloads could be dramatic as well.

I would suggest doing the fast and dirty math to see what exactly you'd have to sell to make your money back. Then, look at the results that are listed on this page. Those will give you a conservative idea. Is it possible to out earn the ad?

That's how I'd decide.


----------



## AshMP

Alondo said:


> Well, what they say is they put your book out to 600,000 plus subscribers, whatever it is. So it goes out to the same number of people whatever genre you choose. At least, that's how I read it.


True, but also not true.

Have you signed up for BB?

If so, you'll know they ask you (as a reader) to select your primary genres of interest. Those will be the ONLY genres that arrive in the e-mail blast. You won't get every book offered that day, unless of course you click every genre when you initially sign up -- but not everyone does that.

When they say they expose your book to 600,000 readers ... true. But only on their website. There is a front page that the "new books" are listed on. But I think, as others have said, it's only from the e-mail you see a plethora of sales being generated. It could be why their Alexia rating is so slow, most of their customers depend mostly on the e-mails to pick and buy their books without stopping by the website to see what's for sale.


----------



## Alondo

Italiahaircolor said:


> True, but also not true.
> 
> Have you signed up for BB?
> 
> If so, you'll know they ask you (as a reader) to select your primary genre's of interest. Those will be the ONLY genre's that arrive in the e-mail blast. You won't get every book that day, unless of course you click every genre.
> 
> When they say they expose your book to 600,000 readers ... true. But only on their website. There is a front page that the "new books" are listed on. But I think, as others have said, it's only from the e-mail you see a plethora of sales being generated.


No I'm not signed up. And I did say in my first post I had no experience of Bookbub. I was merely going by what I read on their website.


----------



## Gennita Low

Alondo said:


> No I'm not signed up. And I did say in my first post I had no experience of Bookbub. I was merely going by what I read on their website.


Look at the Avg Books Sold column. That's where you have to do your dirty math off of. Or gamble with, depending on how you look it .


----------



## Kwalker

I'm not sure if Texas Girl will chime in here or not, but I think she recommended not booking them for something other than Free or 99 cents. With the increased cost of the ad, and less sales, she didn't make her money back. It seems their customers want to purchase at those price points specifically. 

Congrats June!


----------



## TexasGirl

You have conjured the Negative Nelly!

I must say I wish more people who didn't earn out would speak up, just for balance. I follow BookBub super duper closely to see who is succeeding and who isn't. While they are pretty good about placing you in categories and turning you down if they are concerned that you won't earn out, they are often wrong. Out of the five friends who placed ads with them and whose numbers I know, only one of us earned out within 30 days. The money we made was less than what we would have if we'd not done the ad--the  amount over the ad was less than an average month. It was a rush to sell a couple hundred over a day or two, but the numbers, in our case, didn't bear out long term.

But, in two cases, BookBub had shoehorned a book into a category it had available rather than what was requested. A thriller went in Action/Adventure. And a romance went in women's fiction. In my case, I chose to be $1.99 (and possibly, had a cover not suited for the cateogry--I've changed it since my BB ad went so far south.) I would not at this point do anything but a 99 cent promo. Of course the book may just be a dud, but the reviews are really good on it. So who knows. With the changes to Amazon's rules about affiliates and free book percentages, the game may very well change again, and quickly.

I LOVE the success stories, and many people are happy with trading ad fees for a temporary rise to the top of Amazon. There is a curve here, though. And there are authors having wild success (often, if you ask them, with a secondary factor involved--a big personal following or a one-two punch with another promo.) And there are ones who are apparently not reporting how they did--not even breaking the top 1000 after paying $1000 for an ad.

I plan to do BookBub again--I'm not against it or anything. But I do know the amazing stories that appear here are not the rule. Not necessarily the exception either, but everyone's mileage IS going to vary, and the thrill of being high on the list is almost inevitably going to crash without more to sustain it. But it is a shot at the bulls eye, a hope that bloggers and word of mouth or Amazon itself will notice you and make you a Daily Deal or otherwise push you out to readers.

If you have poor also boughts and poor sales, BookBub can only help. If you have ideal also-boughts and steady sales, it's riskier, just like a free run is, because it gets you a new set of also-boughts, one that might be more volatile or a less-perfect fit.

At any rate, I set the following precautions in place before I will do my next BookBub had
1. Have 20 reviews, to make sure I GET picked.
2. Be lock-sure my cover works for my genre
3. Go 99 cents, not any other odd price point
4. Be in multiple stores--this is how you ensure you will earn out and profit over the average month
5. Have additional books to buy--series books really are the best bet.


----------



## Alondo

Gennita Low said:


> Look at the Avg Books Sold column. That's where you have to do your dirty math off of. Or gamble with, depending on how you look it .


So I did that - the figures look bad.

Assuming my downloads are average (420 books) they effectively take 82%. I would make more money selling just 11 books at the regular price.

So unless I do substantially better that their stated average, I'm going to lose money.

My conclusion - they're too expensive.


----------



## L.T. Ryan

Here are my results from yesterday's run in the M&T category:

I reached #75 on Amazon with just under 1200 sales. One thing of note is that the first two stories in my compilation are perma-free and they both saw a surge in downloads yesterday to the tune of more than a few hundred each. I might have a lost sales on the main book, but those that like the stories will hopefully return to buy the compilation at a later date. It will be interesting to compare with one of the non-episodic books featuring the same character.

At B&N, I topped out at #11 and saw 590 sales yesterday. I'm almost at 100 sales on B&N today (around 11 a.m. EST) and am currently ranked #12.

I sold TWO at Smashwords.

I publish to Apple via Smash, so I have no idea how many sold there, but last I checked, my ranking was #40.

I'd do the promotion again in a heartbeat. I earned out by 5 p.m. The Season Two compilation book has averaged $50 a day this month. It broke $100 in earnings yesterday at Amazon. The other books maintained their daily average, but I'd expect a few additional sales on those in the coming weeks.



> I LOVE the success stories, and many people are happy with *trading ad fees for a temporary rise to the top of Amazon*.


Personally, it is about more than the fleeting moment I'll have in the top 100. Increased exposure can not be a bad thing. Sure, the book will wind up in the hands of those who might not have bought it otherwise, and those people will return and leave a one or two star review. But there will be those that like the book and go on to read the next and sign up for the newsletter and hopefully buy everything I write the moment it is released 

If you have the tolerance for risk, and the cost of the ad is not going to take away from you paying a bill or putting food on your table, take the chance and sign up!


----------



## TexasGirl

I definitely agree that exposure is never a bad thing, as long as you're willing to lose money and can afford the cost up front. It's super critical to stay on top of the current state of sites like this--we all know what happened to KND. And this new ruling by Amazon about affiliates is going to change things. I'm glad BB doesn't book more than 30 days out. It's hard to know what anything will look like many months down the road.


----------



## L.T. Ryan

One other thing to take note of, Bookbub changed the format a bit yesterday. They offered one bargain book and two freebies per category.


----------



## JGray

*Thank you, everyone!!*

And thanks, Ashley. I feel very honored to be part of the bestsellers club!

My results were very similar to L.T. Ryan's, in fact, we appear to be chasing each other up and down the different bestseller lists. lol.

On Amazon I topped out at #65 in the Top 100 with about 1250 sales. I'm back down to #81, but I'm hoping it will improve as the day progresses.

On BN I am holding steady at #11 in the Top 100 Nook Books, with approximately 600 sales.

On Kobo I sold 6.

On iTunes I sold 211 books and am currently at #52 in their bestsellers list.

All told, I'd have to say that this has been *the best* promo I've done. I made my money back by around 3 p.m. and the rest, as they say, is history. $360 is a steep price, but I wouldn't hesitate to do it again, next time with a stronger book.


----------



## JGray

DDark said:


> I don't see a $360 price. Did they bump it? I plan on trying this in the future but will be disappointed if they continue to increase the prices at a rapid pace.
> 
> Congrats again!


Sorry, I meant $380, under the Romance <$1 category.


----------



## LilianaHart

I've got a BookBub ad going today for WHISKEY REBELLION, the first book in my Addison Holmes Mystery Series. I got the email about noon today and already I'm ranked #34 at Barnes and Noble and #30 at Apple. Amazon hasn't updated yet because the lag sucks, but I've sold about 600 copies there. I'll keep you updated on how it goes.

http://www.amazon.com/Whiskey-Rebellion-Romantic-Mystery-ebook/dp/B0053HWAWQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1361742018&sr=8-4&keywords=liliana+hart+whiskey


----------



## RBC

LilianaHart said:


> I've got a BookBub ad going today for WHISKEY REBELLION, the first book in my Addison Holmes Mystery Series. I got the email about noon today and already I'm ranked #34 at Barnes and Noble and #30 at Apple. Amazon hasn't updated yet because the lag sucks, but I've sold about 600 copies there. I'll keep you updated on how it goes.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Whiskey-Rebellion-Romantic-Mystery-ebook/dp/B0053HWAWQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1361742018&sr=8-4&keywords=liliana+hart+whiskey


What's the price of it? 99 cents? Nice cover colors btw, bit similar to Bond movies but looks good.


----------



## Patrick Adams

I tried, but I think my first novel didn't have enough of a web presence at the time. Working on that now


----------



## LilianaHart

RBC said:


> What's the price of it? 99 cents? Nice cover colors btw, bit similar to Bond movies but looks good.


Yes, it's dropped down to .99.

UPDATE: I ended the first night at #106 at Amazon, but they're being really slow to update and I think it will go higher judging by the number of sales I've had. I'm #9 at B&N and #26 at Apple. It ended up okay, but I think the Oscars might have hurt sales a bit. We'll see if I can keep up the momentum the rest of the week.


----------



## Gennita Low

LilianaHart said:


> Yes, it's dropped down to .99.
> 
> UPDATE: I ended the first night at #106 at Amazon, but they're being really slow to update and I think it will go higher judging by the number of sales I've had. I'm #9 at B&N and #26 at Apple. It ended up okay, but I think the Oscars might have hurt sales a bit. We'll see if I can keep up the momentum the rest of the week.


It's been an incredibly slow sales weekend.  But I'm sure your numbers are great (look at your ranks!). I had a Bookbub ad request last week but in light of the changes by Amazon, Bookbub hadn't updated me about payment and their plans. Another .


----------



## JGray

Hope your Amazon rankings rise, Liliana! I just purchased a copy!


----------



## cblewgolf

# 54 Liliana - congrats!


----------



## JRTomlin

I'm running a 99 Cent promotion on Blood Duty with them today. That novel has always had excellent reviews but the sales have been at best mediocre, around one a day. I would love to see this give it the kind of boost I think it deserves.


----------



## BBGriffith

Both LA Mondello and Jana Deleon have two things in common: 1.) They hit the USA Today Bestseller list this week. 2.) They ran Bookbub promotions last week.


----------



## JRTomlin

Has anyone received their Bookbub email? It's usually out by this time.


----------



## Atunah

Mine came at 13:00 pm central US time.


----------



## LilianaHart

Gennita Low said:


> It's been an incredibly slow sales weekend.  But I'm sure your numbers are great (look at your ranks!). I had a Bookbub ad request last week but in light of the changes by Amazon, Bookbub hadn't updated me about payment and their plans. Another .


Yeah, it was a bad decision to run one on Oscar night. I only sold about half what I did with my first bookbub ad. I sold about 11,000 copies the week I hit USA Today. I'll know better for next time, so I'll just chalk this one up to a failed experiment.


----------



## 鬼

JRTomlin said:


> Has anyone received their Bookbub email? It's usually out by this time.


I got one an hour or so ago.


----------



## JRTomlin

Blech. I marked the promo the wrong day on the calendar. It's tomorrow. 

Anyway, good luck to anyone who has one today.


----------



## 48306

I used BookBub for my YA BRIGHTEST KIND OF DARKNESS. BKoD is on permafree and it went as low as #31 on Amazon and hit #103 in iTunes.  One thing I do like about BookBub is the ability to gain some visibility in iTunes.


----------



## Alondo

I finally filled in an application - we'll see what they do with it.

I kind of balk at spending $80 to promote a FREE book, but I'm hoping it might boost sales of my series. If just 20 subscribers out of 140,000 go on to buy the Trilogy, I'll break even. That's the theory at any rate.

I'll report the results here, naturally.


----------



## glc3

I noticed that too. A lot of places are sticking horror in the sci fi or thriller section now. I was going to use it too but I feel it should be trageted to a zombie aud.



AdamGeen said:


> Very odd that they don't seem to have a Horror category.
> 
> http://www.bookbub.com/advertise/categories.php


----------



## Adam Poe

We just got our free book slot for 3-15. Hoping we generate enough sales of sequels to cover the cost. We will see!


----------



## JRTomlin

Not a great promo so far, but not really terrible either. That is a book that just doesn't sell very well in spite of extremely good reviews, so this was kind of a last ditch effort to spur sales. 120 sales so far today. I think at worst it will probably at least come close to paying for the ad. 

They can only do so much. If it doesn't do as well as the others, I'm afraid I'm going to blame the book. It's one of those stories that just seems to have limited appeal although some people really like it.


----------



## Adam Pepper

How far in advance are you guys changing your prices? I'm running a 99 cent promo and want to make sure I get all the sites changed on time. Especially Apple which I list through Smashwords. Also dont want to get stuck in pricematch hell and never be able to get Amazon back to 2.99 or 3.99 if I want later.


----------



## Anne Frasier

JRTomlin said:


> Not a great promo so far, but not really terrible either. That is a book that just doesn't sell very well in spite of extremely good reviews, so this was kind of a last ditch effort to spur sales. 120 sales so far today. I think at worst it will probably at least come close to paying for the ad.
> 
> They can only do so much. If it doesn't do as well as the others, I'm afraid I'm going to blame the book. It's one of those stories that just seems to have limited appeal although some people really like it.


 a person needs to sell a lot of books to break even. it's a gamble.


----------



## Lisa Grace

Anne Frasier said:


> a person needs to sell a lot of books to break even. it's a gamble.


Especially if you're running a free book... 

My free one is running today. I'm selling Book 2 in my series for $3.99, so x70%= $2.80 per book 
My sell through is 1 sale for every nine free
The ad cost me $40

40 divided by 2.80 means I need to sell 15 of Book 2 to break even. Since I'm 1 to 9, 9 x 15= I have to have at least an additional 135 downloads.

Somehow, I don't think that will be a problem.


----------



## Caddy

> How far in advance are you guys changing your prices? I'm running a 99 cent promo and want to make sure I get all the sites changed on time. Especially Apple which I list through Smashwords. Also dont want to get stuck in pricematch hell and never be able to get Amazon back to 2.99 or 3.99 if I want later.


I changed Amazon 3 days prior and then B&N and kobo 2 days prior. I didn't do Apple, as I've heard it can take a LONG time.


----------



## Adam Pepper

Caddy said:


> I didn't do Apple, as I've heard it can take a LONG time.


Thanks Caddy. That's what I'm afraid of...but I'm also hearing people are selling pretty well there so I dont want to pass up the opportunity when I'm springing $460 on the ad.


----------



## Lisa Grace

My ad started running 15 minutes ago, and so far I've had 236 new downloads in the US on Amazon, and one additional sale showing. 

Not bad for 15 minutes.


----------



## Kwalker

I downloaded Lisa. Good luck!


----------



## Lisa Grace

Kwalker said:


> I downloaded Lisa. Good luck!


Thank you, KWalker 

For me, running free is all about the visibility. People can't find my book if they don't "see" it somewhere. Now I'm up to 482 extra downloads, within a half of an hour. 
I applied and took out the BookBub ad in the hopes of getting into the top 100 in the free store. I've been bumping around the 1,600 - 2,200 rank on typical days. I've been on two genre bestseller lists consistently, and so has my third in the series.


----------



## Lisa Grace

An hour and half in and I'm up to 1,370 extra downloads, just at Amazon US, and three sales of books 2 & 3. I'm sure I've had them on other sites, just not sure how to check.


----------



## JTCochrane

My Free book listing hit today and I have given away about 1400 books already.  That is the most I've ever given away in short amount of time.  Although the amzon rankings haven't updated YET!  I'm still around where I was yesterday.


----------



## Lisa Grace

JTCochrane said:


> My Free book listing hit today and I have given away about 1400 books already. That is the most I've ever given away in short amount of time. Although the amzon rankings haven't updated YET! I'm still around where I was yesterday.


I'm in the same boat. I'm at 2,027 downloaded for mine (since promo began), yet I'm still at my 2,260 rank. They're slow today.


----------



## Caddy

Good luck LIsa!


----------



## AshMP

Just tweeted it out!  Good luck!


----------



## Lisa Grace

Caddy said:


> Good luck LIsa!





Italiahaircolor said:


> Just tweeted it out! Good luck!


Thank you Caddy and Ashley.  It's going well so far. Over 2,300 downloaded in the last three hours.


----------



## PaulOBrien

I'm up tomorrow. Good luck to all!


----------



## JTCochrane

I am around 2000 downloads.    I am in the teen category.  

Lisa, what category did you advertise in if you don't mind my asking?


----------



## Alondo

What day of the week do you guys recommend for a listing?


----------



## JTCochrane

Alondo said:


> What day of the week do you guys recommend for a listing?


I just took the day they offered. Didn't really have a choice of days.


----------



## Alondo

JTCochrane said:


> I just took the day they offered. Didn't really have a choice of days.


They offered me a Sunday, but I was going to ask for a Friday or a Saturday. Is that being cheeky? I figure it's my dime, after all...


----------



## PaulOBrien

I asked for my day, although they said they saw no difference in what day the listings went out.


----------



## Adam Poe

Downloaded your two's free books just now. Obviously that bump will kick-start the Amazon rankings update!


----------



## JRTomlin

I set the promo for Blood Duty for two days which shows on their website. The sales are now at 190 which at 99 Cents just pays for itself. The question is always if it has any effect on longer term sales. That we'll have to wait and see.


----------



## Lisa Grace

JTCochrane said:


> I am around 2000 downloads.  I am in the teen category.
> 
> Lisa, what category did you advertise in if you don't mind my asking?


Young adult/teen. It's geared for age 12+


----------



## Gennita Low

Adam Pepper said:


> Thanks Caddy. That's what I'm afraid of...but I'm also hearing people are selling pretty well there so I dont want to pass up the opportunity when I'm springing $460 on the ad.


Apple was hell for me. Mine is through D2D and they were trying to help me like crazy, but Apple was ridiculous. It stayed "republishing" till too late and then I had to repubbed it to get back to the normal price! And after that, Amazon was price-matching the 99cts that didn't even show up!!! But maybe it was just my book....


----------



## Lisa Grace

Just made it to:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror > Occult
    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Religious Fiction > Science Fiction & Fantasy


----------



## Monique

Moving up, Lisa! I've got one in a few weeks, so I'm following along closely. How are sales for the rest of the series?


----------



## Lisa Grace

Monique said:


> Moving up, Lisa! I've got one in a few weeks, so I'm following along closely. How are sales for the rest of the series?


I've sold 17 of my 5.50 bundle today, and a few each of books 2 & 3, so I've made my investment back. But you and I know it's the visibility of getting into that top 100 that helps boost visibility so customers can find us.


----------



## Alondo

I've now been accepted for a listing on March 10! It's a bit of a pricey gamble, but we'll see how it goes.


----------



## Lisa Grace

Here are my results so far from yesterday's listing in the $40 teen/YA category (ad should be up for another 3 hours, they seem to switch out at 8:30am Pacific time) I still have three more hours to go for the full twenty four.

I made it as high as #34 in the free store (when I went to bed) now it's at #40. With 5,516 units downloaded in the one day.
I sold 7 each of books 2 & 3, but lately I'd only been selling about two each, so this was an improvement.

I sold 29 (day of the ad) of my bundled Angel Series (Books 1, 2, & 3) by Lisa Grace at $5.50 a pop. (Lately I've only been selling 1 or 2 a day)

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,303 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

#10 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror > Spine-Chilling Horror
#19 in Books > Children's Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Spine-Chilling Horror

I'm letting you know my statistics so you can gauge whether running an ad is worthwhile for you. I made enough off the increased sales on my bundle to pay for the add three times over, in just one day. However, I'm more excited about getting into the top one hundred, that my book was downloaded by my target market, who are much more likely to read it, and i'm sure sales will keep trickling in over the next month or two as they get around to reading it.

Yes, I would do the Bookbub ad again.


----------



## Lisa Grace

Wow. I'm still moving up the ranks, which is cool.

In a little less than twenty-four hours I've had 5770 free downloads 


Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror > Occult
    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Religious Fiction > Science Fiction & Fantasy
    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Religious Fiction > Christian > Fantasy


----------



## PaulOBrien

Just finding my feet now. The numbers are whizzing in. I'm at about 4,000 free DL's in 2-3 hours. I can't see it keeping up like this though. Also, my ranking has been taken off Amazon for some reason. I do know that I'm number one in the 'wrestling' category on the UK site. 

Anyone else trying BookBub today?


----------



## JTCochrane

I have had over 4400 downloads and am at the following rankings.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #49 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store) 
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Science Fiction > Adventure 
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy


----------



## Lisa Grace

PaulOBrien said:


> Just finding my feet now. The numbers are whizzing in. I'm at about 4,000 free DL's in 2-3 hours. I can't see it keeping up like this though. Also, my ranking has been taken off Amazon for some reason. I do know that I'm number one in the 'wrestling' category on the UK site.
> 
> Anyone else trying BookBub today?


You're right. I don't see a ranking, but I think your book will continue climbing at the same rate. You just might crack the top ten. Congratulations.


----------



## PaulOBrien

LisaGraceBooks said:


> You're right. I don't see a ranking, but I think your book will continue climbing at the same rate. You just might crack the top ten. Congratulations.


Thanks Lisa. I'm not sure. The pace seems steady but it's hard to tell this early. Any idea why the ranking is gone?


----------



## TexasGirl

Amazon product pages pull from a database and if there is anything off on the query, it will leave that element off the page. Sometimes you won't see all the categories you are ranking in.

Always, when you go from free to paid or paid to free, you switch to a different database pull on your ranking and there can be as much as a half day wait to see anything.


----------



## PaulOBrien

TexasGirl said:


> Amazon product pages pull from a database and if there is anything off on the query, it will leave that element off the page. Sometimes you won't see all the categories you are ranking in.
> 
> Always, when you go from free to paid or paid to free, you switch to a different database pull on your ranking and there can be as much as a half day wait to see anything.


Excellent. Thanks for filling in the gaps.


----------



## Robert A Michael

@Paul O'Brien and LisaGrace:

Downloaded your books. Wanna return the favor? Mine is free today, too. http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Mountain-ebook/dp/B007VSY08W.


----------



## Gennita Low

PaulOBrien said:


> Excellent. Thanks for filling in the gaps.


Paul, I'd check the top 50-100? to see whether you're ranking in free. One time, Amazon didn't rank me at all while I was free and I lost all visibility for a day. They wrote an apology email when I inquired and did give me an extra half a day but the first day push was all gone. Needless to say, that promo didn't get me too many sales.


----------



## PaulOBrien

Gennita Low said:


> Paul, I'd check the top 50-100? to see whether you're ranking in free. One time, Amazon didn't rank me at all while I was free and I lost all visibility for a day. They wrote an apology email when I inquired and did give me an extra half a day but the first day push was all gone. Needless to say, that promo didn't get me too many sales.


I didn't see myself in there unfortunately. I'm heading for 5,000 downloads now. Is that Top 100 country do you think?


----------



## Monique

Paul, your book shows a ranking for me: #1,673 Free in Kindle Store

5k should put you in the top 100 once it catches up.


----------



## Gennita Low

PaulOBrien said:


> I didn't see myself in there unfortunately. I'm heading for 5,000 downloads now. Is that Top 100 country do you think?


Paul, you're at:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,673 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Sports > Individual Sports > Wrestling
#17 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Crime

Yay!

And if your downloads are continuing, you should be in the Top 100 by tonight .


----------



## PaulOBrien

Monique said:


> Paul, your book shows a ranking for me: #1,673 Free in Kindle Store
> 
> 5k should put you in the top 100 once it catches up.


Thank you again Monique. Just past 5,000 now. We shall see.


----------



## PaulOBrien

Gennita Low said:


> Paul, you're at:
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,673 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
> 
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Sports > Individual Sports > Wrestling
> #17 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Crime
> 
> Yay!
> 
> And if your downloads are continuing, you should be in the Top 100 by tonight .


Thanks Gennita! Hopefully the downloads continue and we get to find out!


----------



## PaulOBrien

At about 7,500 downloads now. My rank hasn't changed since earlier today but I've cracked the top 100, at 91.


----------



## RBC

PaulOBrien said:


> At about 7,500 downloads now. My rank hasn't changed since earlier today but I've cracked the top 100, at 91.


Awesome! Is that the one with Mick Foley's blurb?


----------



## PaulOBrien

RBC said:


> Awesome! Is that the one with Mick Foley's blurb?


Thank you. And it is indeed.


----------



## RBC

PaulOBrien said:


> Thank you. And it is indeed.


That's huge help. Great stuff, best of luck with the campaign. Good to see success stories like this!


----------



## PaulOBrien

RBC said:


> That's huge help. Great stuff, best of luck with the campaign. Good to see success stories like this!


He was a huge help in getting me started with the wrestling world. And then Eoin was a huge help in getting established with the literary/crime world.


----------



## Lisa Grace

Congratulations Paul. You're closing in on the top 10.
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Sports > Individual Sports > Wrestling
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Crime



Robert A Michael said:


> @Paul O'Brien and LisaGrace:
> 
> Downloaded your books. Wanna return the favor? Mine is free today, too. http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Mountain-ebook/dp/B007VSY08W.


Sure I will. Sorry it took me so long to respond, but I was gone most of the day.


----------



## PaulOBrien

LisaGraceBooks said:


> Congratulations Paul. You're closing in on the top 10.
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
> 
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Sports > Individual Sports > Wrestling
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Crime
> Sure I will. Sorry it took me so long to respond, but I was gone most of the day.


Didn't quite make it! Still hugely impressed by this whole run though. Maybe there's more to come today.


----------



## Gennita Low

Hi Paul,
Curious about how many downloads in the first day for your position at #14? I'm trying to gauge if Amazon's new affiliate policy has changed download habits and download results.


----------



## PaulOBrien

Gennita Low said:


> Hi Paul,
> Curious about how many downloads in the first day for your position at #14? I'm trying to gauge if Amazon's new affiliate policy has changed download habits and download results.


Hi Gennita. Yesterday was 13,500 DLs. Although slower today, the numbers are picking up again and now I find myself #11 after only another 500-600 DLs. (Only 500-600? I would kill for those numbers any other day!)

So I might break into the top ten after all.


----------



## Gennita Low

PaulOBrien said:


> Hi Gennita. Yesterday was 13,500 DLs. Although slower today, the numbers are picking up again and now I find myself #11 after only another 500-600 DLs. (Only 500-600? I would kill for those numbers any other day!)
> 
> So I might break into the top ten after all.


That's great! I wanted to compare numbers pre- and post- Amazon Affiliate Atomic Axplosion . Last month, I had 29,000 downloads in 3 days to get to #2 overall. The first day was the fastest, at around 18000 and the next day I added 7000 more. Being the top ten gives more visibility where downloads are concerned and the more downloads, the higher your post-freebie rank is, so keep going if you have momentum!

I'm wondering, now, after the AAAA, whether it takes more downloads to reach the top Ten and whether readers will look for the free page themselves to scan for downloads. And post-promo period, whether Amazon will rank the book differently. That's why I'm watching you  and crossing my fingers the high ranking = great sales afterwards!


----------



## Atunah

Don't forget also that a repeat freebie has already been downloaded by a lot of the targeted audience. I can't tell you how many times I click on an interesting looking freebie and then I get the notice from Amazon that I already own the book.  

Sometimes the freebie was a month ago already, or a year ago. And the reason I don't immediately know before clicking is that a lot of authors keep changing their covers.


----------



## Caddy

> Don't forget also that a repeat freebie has already been downloaded by a lot of the targeted audience. I can't tell you how many times I click on an interesting looking freebie and then I get the notice from Amazon that I already own the book.
> 
> Sometimes the freebie was a month ago already, or a year ago. And the reason I don't immediately know before clicking is that a lot of authors keep changing their covers.


Very valid point. I am also wondering what the value is for advertising a discounted, but not free, book again in six months. Unless the opt in for that genre has grown significantly, wouldn't the same be true? Has anyone done this and seen strong success a second time? I had extremely good success my first round. Not sure how doing the same book again in six months would help me.


----------



## Lisa Grace

Atunah said:


> Don't forget also that a repeat freebie has already been downloaded by a lot of the targeted audience. I can't tell you how many times I click on an interesting looking freebie and then I get the notice from Amazon that I already own the book.
> 
> Sometimes the freebie was a month ago already, or a year ago. And the reason I don't immediately know before clicking is that a lot of authors keep changing their covers.


This isn't quite true. Bella manages to get 70,000 a month dl's on the same book. Target markets can run in the millions. New people get ereaders, tablets, and ereading applications everyday. Because of people aging into the market, reader supply is endless, not only that, but foreign markets are where the US was five years ago. Those markets are nowhere near their peak.


----------



## Lisa Grace

Caddy said:


> Very valid point. I am also wondering what the value is for advertising a discounted, but not free, book again in six months. Unless the opt in for that genre has grown significantly, wouldn't the same be true? Has anyone done this and seen strong success a second time? I had extremely good success my first round. Not sure how doing the same book again in six months would help me.


Mine is perma free, still I had very good success targeting it with the Bookbub ad. Made it to #29 in the whole free store, and this is a book geared toward the 12-16 yr old market. I'd say that's a pretty darn good run.

It's also boosted my sales on all three paid books in the Angel Series, and put all on best seller lists for the genre. There is value in visibility. It's still in the top 100 in the free store and on bestseller lists:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #69 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Religious Fiction > Science Fiction & Fantasy

and #9 in religious fiction:
 [URL=http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Kindle-Store-Religious-Fiction/zgbs/digital-text/158434011/ref=zg_bs_fvp_p_f_158434011]http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Kindle-Store-Religious-Fiction/zgbs/digital-text/158434011/ref=zg_bs_fvp_p_f_158434011?_encoding=UTF8&tf=1[/url]


----------



## Atunah

Caddy said:


> Very valid point. I am also wondering what the value is for advertising a discounted, but not free, book again in six months. Unless the opt in for that genre has grown significantly, wouldn't the same be true? Has anyone done this and seen strong success a second time? I had extremely good success my first round. Not sure how doing the same book again in six months would help me.


One of the things I love about Bookbub is that they are not only listing free books. They are the only bargain book email I get anymore. I cancelled all the others. 
When a book that looks interesting has never been free and then I see it going on sale, I am more willing to snap it up. 
When I see the same books over and over in the free listings, I wouldn't bother buying it as I expect it to be free again at some point. Unless of course I already got it for free.

I would think 6 months in between sales is fine. Its the up and down from week to week that I see sometimes. One week its 3.99, then its .99, the next its 2.99 etc. I have seen many books like that. In those cases I just put it on a site like ereaderiq to get notification when it goes down again. If I know the author keeps playing with the prices so much, all I have to do is wait it out.


----------



## Lisa Grace

Atunah said:


> One of the things I love about Bookbub is that they are not only listing free books. They are the only bargain book email I get anymore. I cancelled all the others.
> When a book that looks interesting has never been free and then I see it going on sale, I am more willing to snap it up.
> When I see the same books over and over in the free listings, I wouldn't bother buying it as I expect it to be free again at some point. Unless of course I already got it for free.
> 
> I would think 6 months in between sales is fine. Its the up and down from week to week that I see sometimes. One week its 3.99, then its .99, the next its 2.99 etc. I have seen many books like that. In those cases I just put it on a site like ereaderiq to get notification when it goes down again. If I know the author keeps playing with the prices so much, all I have to do is wait it out.


But tons of authors don't. The rest of my books in my series are never discounted, and never free. Just the firsts. Again, Bookbub is growing, new readers have a chance to discover books everyday. The ebook market is still only around 20% of all books. That means there are 80% who have no clue and some of those are discovering ebooks on a daily basis. I'd never heard of Bookbub until a month ago, and I'm "in" the ebook loop, so how many others are just like me? Enough theat Bookbub is growing like hot cakes.

I run into ebook readers who have no idea there are "free" lists. How many are like those people? Tons.

KB readers and authors are the most informed but far from the majority of ebook readers.


----------



## Caddy

Thanks, Lisa and Atunah.  I may just have to try it again in six months because the whole series wil be out for a few months by then.  I hope to have the last book out in April.  Of course, if I keep hanging around here and commenting, it may be April of 2020.


----------



## Amanda Brice

Atunah said:


> Don't forget also that a repeat freebie has already been downloaded by a lot of the targeted audience. I can't tell you how many times I click on an interesting looking freebie and then I get the notice from Amazon that I already own the book.
> 
> Sometimes the freebie was a month ago already, or a year ago. And the reason I don't immediately know before clicking is that a lot of authors keep changing their covers.


THIS! I'm always coming across an interesting freebie in the BookBub email and when I go to click on it, am surprised to see I already own it...and I generally downloaded it 6 months earlier! (And should note, still haven't read it -- I have a LOT of freebies in my queue, and I doubt I'm alone in this behavior, which is why I laugh when people complain that they haven't seen any follow-through sales to the next books in their series and it's only been 24 hours since the first book went free -- really?)


----------



## LilianaHart

Adam Pepper said:


> How far in advance are you guys changing your prices? I'm running a 99 cent promo and want to make sure I get all the sites changed on time. Especially Apple which I list through Smashwords. Also dont want to get stuck in pricematch hell and never be able to get Amazon back to 2.99 or 3.99 if I want later.


I change mine about 3 days before so I don't run into weird glitches.

UPDATE: My bookbub was Sunday 2/24 and as of today I've sold about 6100 copies. It never gained the momentum my first ad did, but that's probably because the book has already sold 60k copies and had a successful 2 day freebie where it was download 50k times.

I've got another ad scheduled on April 1st with a book that's never been on sale, so I think it will do much better. Both of my ads have been well worth the money. It was easily made back within a few hours.


----------



## David Thayer

Liliana, WHISKEY REBELLION is number one in cozy mystery. You sounded discouraged in your post.


----------



## Gennita Low

LilianaHart said:


> I change mine about 3 days before so I don't run into weird glitches.
> 
> UPDATE: My bookbub was Sunday 2/24 and as of today I've sold about 6100 copies. It never gained the momentum my first ad did, but that's probably because the book has already sold 60k copies and had a successful 2 day freebie where it was download 50k times.


Heh, most of us would like to sell 6100 copies . I was pleased with my last sale with BookBub (half of yours, sweets!) and have booked one for end of March. Hopefully I will have a good day.


----------



## 13893

Atunah said:


> I would think 6 months in between sales is fine. Its the up and down from week to week that I see sometimes. One week its 3.99, then its .99, the next its 2.99 etc. I have seen many books like that. In those cases I just put it on a site like ereaderiq to get notification when it goes down again. If I know the author keeps playing with the prices so much, all I have to do is wait it out.


guilty! (used to be, anyway). Pricing has always driven me insane. Now my policy is: Discount the first week the book comes out, and then only for a BookBub ad (or comparable effective promo venue).

I've run Bride of Fae a couple of times, once last October and then again in January. My second run was more successful than the first. I'm sure not every single subscriber opens the email every single day.


----------



## 48306

I ran a BookBub ad for my permafree YA *BRIGHTEST KIND OF DARKNESS*. Several other sites picked it up as well. Ended up with around 7K downloads after the ad ran. My sales ticked up on the other two books in my series, but sometimes with free books, the resulting sales come later after readers have had time to read the free book.


----------



## JRTomlin

Dalya said:


> We are in the wrong end of the business.


They only book one month ahead.


----------



## EdShull

I'm new here, so forgive me if this is a silly question. I was wondering if this strategy would make sense for a series. 

1. Price every book at $3.99

2. Knock the first book to free for a BookBub run, and the other to $2.99 during that run, try to let people know that the others are on sale for the next 48 hours.

3. A short time later (Maybe 2 - 4 weeks), run book 2 through Bookbub at .99, push book 1 back to free, and again mention the other books are on sale at $2.99 for a short time.

Does that make sense?


----------



## Aaron Pogue

I just wanted to check in before my promotion (sometime tomorrow). I'm advertising _Taming Fire_ at $0.99 in the hopes it'll sell through to the sequels.

These days, I generally do 40-60 sales per day of _Taming Fire_ with a roughly 80% sell-through to book 2. I'll let you know what happens tomorrow. At $0.35 per copy, I'd need to sell 545 copies of _Taming Fire_ to pay for the ad. But if I assume I'll maintain that 80% sell-through, I can call it break-even as soon as _Taming Fire_ sells about 70 copies. They claim the average for my category at this price point is 800 sales.


----------



## EdShull

Aaron Pogue said:


> I just wanted to check in before my promotion (sometime tomorrow). I'm advertising _Taming Fire_ at $0.99 in the hopes it'll sell through to the sequels.
> 
> These days, I generally do 40-60 sales per day of _Taming Fire_ with a roughly 80% sell-through to book 2. I'll let you know what happens tomorrow. At $0.35 per copy, I'd need to sell 545 copies of _Taming Fire_ to pay for the ad. But if I assume I'll maintain that 80% sell-through, I can call it break-even as soon as _Taming Fire_ sells about 70 copies. They claim the average for my category at this price point is 800 sales.


Sounds like the numbers are conservative. Let us know how many direct sales you get.


----------



## Lisa Grace

LilianaHart said:


> I change mine about 3 days before so I don't run into weird glitches.
> 
> UPDATE: My bookbub was Sunday 2/24 and as of today I've sold about 6100 copies. It never gained the momentum my first ad did, but that's probably because the book has already sold 60k copies and had a successful 2 day freebie where it was download 50k times.
> 
> I've got another ad scheduled on April 1st with a book that's never been on sale, so I think it will do much better. Both of my ads have been well worth the money. It was easily made back within a few hours.


Wow! 6,100 sold. Congratulations.


----------



## KristenDaRay

I'm tempted... but should I really spend so much? I just put my first book out. I know nothing comes for free.


Edit: just realized I would have to lower price. Not interested at the moment lol


----------



## Not Here Anymore

I'm in a quandary. Bookbub turned down the first book in my mystery/suspense because I didn't have enough reviews. I had 8 at the time. Anyone know a good number to shoot for before I reapply? On the day I was turned down there were books in my category with the same number of reviews as mine. I've seen as few as five up to over a hundred. 

My book is $2.99 and I'm debating lowering the price, but I hesitate to do that since Bookbub doesn't want to feature books that have been on sale recently. It seems self-defeating to lower the price to generate possible reviews, then get the reviews, but get turned down for being on sale too recently.  

In the meantime, I'm running some Library Thing giveaways to hopefully get some more reviews. I got 5 new reviews after the last giveaway. 

Any thoughts? I'd love some advice.


----------



## EdShull

Sara Rosett said:


> I'm in a quandary. Bookbub turned down the first book in my mystery/suspense because I didn't have enough reviews. I had 8 at the time. Anyone know a good number to shoot for before I reapply? On the day I was turned down there were books in my category with the same number of reviews as mine. I've seen as few as five up to over a hundred.
> 
> My book is $2.99 and I'm debating lowering the price, but I hesitate to do that since Bookbub doesn't want to feature books that have been on sale recently. It seems self-defeating to lower the price to generate possible reviews, then get the reviews, but get turned down for being on sale too recently.
> 
> In the meantime, I'm running some Library Thing giveaways to hopefully get some more reviews. I got 5 new reviews after the last giveaway.
> 
> Any thoughts? I'd love some advice.


Sucks they won't just tell you how many they need. It looks like you have 10 now, which is better.


----------



## Not Here Anymore

Yes, 10 is better.  I have a feeling the number of reviews is a discretionary thing. There's probably no set number and/or it may vary by category.


----------



## Alondo

Sara Rosett said:


> I'm in a quandary. Bookbub turned down the first book in my mystery/suspense because I didn't have enough reviews. I had 8 at the time. Anyone know a good number to shoot for before I reapply? On the day I was turned down there were books in my category with the same number of reviews as mine. I've seen as few as five up to over a hundred.
> 
> My book is $2.99 and I'm debating lowering the price, but I hesitate to do that since Bookbub doesn't want to feature books that have been on sale recently. It seems self-defeating to lower the price to generate possible reviews, then get the reviews, but get turned down for being on sale too recently.
> 
> In the meantime, I'm running some Library Thing giveaways to hopefully get some more reviews. I got 5 new reviews after the last giveaway.
> 
> Any thoughts? I'd love some advice.


I would be inclined to write back (politely) and ask how many reviews are needed to secure a listing to help you know when to reapply? That would put them on the spot.

I was accepted right away, but then I have 86 reviews on my featured book, so that's not much help!


----------



## TexasGirl

I'm betting it's a moving target. We've made them very very popular as an advertiser, and they are no doubt inundated with ad requests, so they can opt to be pickier and pickier.

I am sure they look at your backlist as well, or at least you should be mentioning your backlist if you have one so they know. One book with five reviews might not make it alone, but if there is a host of back titles with tons of them, that's different.


----------



## Not Here Anymore

Thanks, everyone. I appreciate the input. I think I'll wait a bit and see if I get a few more reviews from the LT giveaway, then reapply with a mention the backlist.


----------



## dldkrypto

I've got no idea what makes them choose which books to advertise.  I've seen books with no reviews at all be offered on the odd occasion, which does annoy me a bit when I get turned down for having only a measly 19 reviews.


----------



## Alondo

dldkrypto said:


> I've got no idea what makes them choose which books to advertise. I've seen books with no reviews at all be offered on the odd occasion, which does annoy me a bit when I get turned down for having only a measly 19 reviews.


I can only repeat my previous advice - ask them how many reviews are needed for acceptance and then you know what to shoot for.


----------



## EdShull

dldkrypto said:


> I've got no idea what makes them choose which books to advertise. I've seen books with no reviews at all be offered on the odd occasion, which does annoy me a bit when I get turned down for having only a measly 19 reviews.


I'm betting they look at other factors, like a positive Kirkus review or a good blurb.


----------



## Anne Frasier

EdShull said:


> I'm new here, so forgive me if this is a silly question. I was wondering if this strategy would make sense for a series.
> 
> 1. Price every book at $3.99
> 
> 2. Knock the first book to free for a BookBub run, and the other to $2.99 during that run, try to let people know that the others are on sale for the next 48 hours.
> 
> 3. A short time later (Maybe 2 - 4 weeks), run book 2 through Bookbub at .99, push book 1 back to free, and again mention the other books are on sale at $2.99 for a short time.
> 
> Does that make sense?


it might, but it hurt my brain.


----------



## Aaron Pogue

Aaron Pogue said:


> I just wanted to check in before my promotion (sometime tomorrow). I'm advertising _Taming Fire_ at $0.99 in the hopes it'll sell through to the sequels.
> 
> These days, I generally do 40-60 sales per day of _Taming Fire_ with a roughly 80% sell-through to book 2. I'll let you know what happens tomorrow. At $0.35 per copy, I'd need to sell 545 copies of _Taming Fire_ to pay for the ad. But if I assume I'll maintain that 80% sell-through, I can call it break-even as soon as _Taming Fire_ sells about 70 copies. They claim the average for my category at this price point is 800 sales.


Roughly twelve hours into my promotion, I can already call it a success. I've already earned out the cost of the ad in direct sales (at $0.99), and have seen a significant spike in my sales rank on multiple vendors, which should certainly help with long-term sales. There's also potential for several thousand dollars in sell-through sales of my (higher-priced) sequels.

This wasn't an unsuccessful book, but (after spending more than a year with a Kindle Store rank between 200 and 400) it had slipped off Amazon's Science Fiction & Fantasy Top 100 last March and has since stagnated around a sales rank between 2,000 and 4,000. I'm certainly not complaining, but (sort of like Konrath) I wanted to see if a BookBub promo could bump me back up onto the Top 100 (and, with any luck, keep me there).

I _also_ really wanted to see if the promo could get my book moving at Barnes & Noble or iTunes. As popular as it's been at Amazon, _Taming Fire_ has sold virtually nothing at the other retailers. So far I can easily call B&N a success. I've gone from a sales rank there so high that I'd never even bothered to keep track of it down to an overall rank of 115 right now (and still improving hourly). I won't have any information about iTunes until tomorrow, but I'm feeling pretty optimistic.

Now that I've made a solid profit on the direct investment, the real remaining question is how much long-term benefit will I get from the increased visibility. This is a book that already spent its time in the sun and fell away, so I'm particularly curious to see if a little promotion can give it a second-wind, or if (outside extraordinary measures) the book is basically following its natural trajectory. I'll try to come back in a couple weeks and analyze the long-term trend.

(I'll probably come back tomorrow with a more detailed report about exactly how well the immediate bump went, but that's mostly just because I'll want someone to celebrate with me.)

_Taming Fire_ sales (last two weeks):









Sales by hour (last 48 hours):


----------



## Gennita Low

Great news . Congrats.

One thing I love about Bookbub is the visibility it brings the book to other platforms. When I promoted Tempting Trouble through them, I sold 600 books there, when before, I was lucky if I had 6, LOL. I was thrilled.


----------



## Lisa Grace

EdShull said:


> I'm betting they look at other factors, like a positive Kirkus review or a good blurb.


Every book goes through a review. They state they will turn down books if they feel the cover doesn't look professional, the blurb, etc.
They also say they won't pick up books that have themes within a genre that haven't done well in the past.


----------



## Jan Strnad

There's a certain arbitrary/subjective element in all of these decisions to promote a book or not. I've done well with ENT and BookBub and other sites, but I can't get an ounce of love out of Pixel of Ink. Go figure.


----------



## PaulOBrien

Haha. Worth it.


----------



## Robert A Michael

PaulOBrien said:


> Haha. Worth it.


Sweet! That badge looks AWESOME! Congrats.


----------



## ChrisWard

Sara Rosett said:


> I'm in a quandary. Bookbub turned down the first book in my mystery/suspense because I didn't have enough reviews. I had 8 at the time. Anyone know a good number to shoot for before I reapply? On the day I was turned down there were books in my category with the same number of reviews as mine. I've seen as few as five up to over a hundred.
> 
> My book is $2.99 and I'm debating lowering the price, but I hesitate to do that since Bookbub doesn't want to feature books that have been on sale recently. It seems self-defeating to lower the price to generate possible reviews, then get the reviews, but get turned down for being on sale too recently.
> 
> In the meantime, I'm running some Library Thing giveaways to hopefully get some more reviews. I got 5 new reviews after the last giveaway.
> 
> Any thoughts? I'd love some advice.


My book Man Who Built the World got accepted with nine reviews. Bookbub was awesome - along with getting picked up by Free Kindle Books and Tips on day 1 and ENT on day 3, I had 13,000 downloads in the US. A massive 37 sales and 25 borrows in the three weeks post free tend to suggest that free promos are a waste of time these days, though.


----------



## Alondo

Jan Strnad said:


> There's a certain arbitrary/subjective element in all of these decisions to promote a book or not. I've done well with ENT and BookBub and other sites, but I can't get an ounce of love out of Pixel of Ink. Go figure.


I have now been accepted by Bookbub but haven't had any response at all from ENT or POI, and that's despite well over 300 reviews on my books averaging between 4.3 and 4.8. I don't know what you have to do to get listed by them. I agree there seems to be a high degree of subjectivity in their decisions.


----------



## Alondo

headofwords said:


> My book Man Who Built the World got accepted with nine reviews. Bookbub was awesome - along with getting picked up by Free Kindle Books and Tips on day 1 and ENT on day 3, I had 13,000 downloads in the US. A massive 37 sales and 25 borrows in the three weeks post free tend to suggest that free promos are a waste of time these days, though.


I hope that's not true, or I just wasted 80 bucks.


----------



## ChrisWard

Alondo said:


> I hope that's not true, or I just wasted 80 bucks.


I made my money back on the first day but it was hardly an avalanche of sales. I did significantly better in the UK - gave away 1300 and have sold about 80, but the US was an absolute joke. Not had a sale there in five days. Bookbub does what it says it will - gives you a stack of downloads, but how well you do after is anyone's guess. I hope you're a lot luckier than I was, but I had more sales off a promo back in Jan and I only gave away 4200 that time.


----------



## Alondo

headofwords said:


> I made my money back on the first day but it was hardly an avalanche of sales. I did significantly better in the UK - gave away 1300 and have sold about 80, but the US was an absolute joke. Not had a sale there in five days. Bookbub does what it says it will - gives you a stack of downloads, but how well you do after is anyone's guess. I hope you're a lot luckier than I was, but I had more sales off a promo back in Jan and I only gave away 4200 that time.


My offering is the first in a series and the received wisdom says that series do better than the average, but we'll have to see.

My promo. is this Sunday.


----------



## ChrisWard

Alondo said:


> My offering is the first in a series and the received wisdom says that series do better than the average, but we'll have to see.
> 
> My promo. is this Sunday.


Mine was a standalone and I kept my prices high ($4.99) afterwards, plus it ran over 13-14-15th Feb, in other words Valentine's, when there were a lot more frees available. I made about $350, which is a decent return on a $60 stake, but hardly setting the world alight. I was hoping for at least 200 sales in the US. I haven't had any douchebag reviews yet, which is another thing that's good about Bookbub - it targets people who actually like your genre, rather than people who just download anything they can get their hands on and then whine that it's not the exact kind of thing they like to read. Overall, it was worth a shot but I think it's Select that's the problem, not Bookbub. You should do better with a series, though.


----------



## PaulOBrien

Robert A Michael said:


> Sweet! That badge looks AWESOME! Congrats.


Thank you Robert. I ended up number one on a couple of different lists.


----------



## Alondo

headofwords said:


> Mine was a standalone and I kept my prices high ($4.99) afterwards, plus it ran over 13-14-15th Feb, in other words Valentine's, when there were a lot more frees available. I made about $350, which is a decent return on a $60 stake, but hardly setting the world alight. I was hoping for at least 200 sales in the US. I haven't had any d**chebag reviews yet, which is another thing that's good about Bookbub - it targets people who actually like your genre, rather than people who just download anything they can get their hands on and then whine that it's not the exact kind of thing they like to read. Overall, it was worth a shot but I think it's Select that's the problem, not Bookbub. You should do better with a series, though.


I don't use Select. My first book is permafree.

Personally, I would be quite happy with a $300 profit!


----------



## BBGriffith

I have a .99c promo for Bookbub running this Friday in Mystery/Thriller. Here's my question: I've had two fairly big free runs with this book where it was picked up by POI and ENT, the most recent was in November of last year, in which Bookbub actually comped me a listing in Action/Adventure. All in all I'd say I've given away something like 25k copies. Has anyone run a Bookbub promo for a free book, then gone on to do the same promo for .99c? I'm sure there is a crossover in audience between ENT, POI and Bookbub, I just have this feeling that there will be diminished returns since a lot of them have already probably picked my book up during a previous free run. Thoughts?


----------



## ToniD

BBGriffith said:


> Has anyone run a Bookbub promo for a free book, then gone on to do the same promo for .99c? I'm sure there is a crossover in audience between ENT, POI and Bookbub, I just have this feeling that there will be diminished returns since a lot of them have already probably picked my book up during a previous free run. Thoughts?


As best I understand the BookBub policy, they will not run an ad for a book that has been free within the last three months. So if your last free run was November, you should be okay, policy-wise. And presumably they judge it effective to run an ad for the same book, paid, three+ months after it was a freebie.

If that makes sense.

Another thing to keep in mind: if they run your book in the paid category, you're not supposed to offer it for free for another six months.


----------



## RuthNestvold

BBGriffith said:


> I have a .99c promo for Bookbub running this Friday in Mystery/Thriller. Here's my question: I've had two fairly big free runs with this book where it was picked up by POI and ENT, the most recent was in November of last year, in which Bookbub actually comped me a listing in Action/Adventure. All in all I'd say I've given away something like 25k copies. Has anyone run a Bookbub promo for a free book, then gone on to do the same promo for .99c? I'm sure there is a crossover in audience between ENT, POI and Bookbub, I just have this feeling that there will be diminished returns since a lot of them have already probably picked my book up during a previous free run. Thoughts?


Oh, yes, I want to know this too.  I'm considering a 99c ad for Yseult, which I took out of KDP Select a few months. But during a couple of freebies, it was featured by both POI and ENT.

The number of BookBub subscribers is pretty impressive, though. Maybe it would still be worth it.


----------



## Kwalker

I sold a few hundred with bookbub 2 weeks ago, and I've got the BoTD with ENT today. So far my BOTD results have been pretty small, so I am kind of thinking that they may share readership.

So far I've only sold about 40 @99 with ENT, but sales reporting is definitely lagging too.


----------



## BBGriffith

Kwalker said:


> I sold a few hundred with bookbub 2 weeks ago, and I've got the BoTD with ENT today. So far my BOTD results have been pretty small, so I am kind of thinking that they may share readership.
> 
> So far I've only sold about 40 @99 with ENT, but sales reporting is definitely lagging too.


I had a bargain promo on ENT in Feb that I think was hurt because ENT picked me up for free in the past. I think that a lot of people don't realize that when you go free, if you're picked up by the big guns it really saps your power to go paid with them after that, even many months later, I think even perhaps up to the better part of a year later. I'm hoping that Bookbub might be different just by the sheer size of their subscriber base, but we shall see. I've seen sky high results in this thread, but I'm going in just hoping to make my money back.


----------



## Kwalker

That may be so, but I'd never been picked up by them as free.


----------



## Jan Strnad

I just did a BookBub $0.99 promo. (Results here: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,144168.0.html)

I'd originally planned a $1.99 promo, but I'd run a $0.99 promo on this book a few months before. BookBub would accept my ad only if I lowered the sale price to $0.99.

As noted above, you have to be a little careful. If you offer a freebie, it can definitely hinder your ability to run a paid sale later. BookBub wants to have the lowest price.


----------



## BBGriffith

Jan Strnad said:


> I just did a BookBub $0.99 promo. (Results here: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,144168.0.html)
> 
> I'd originally planned a $1.99 promo, but I'd run a $0.99 promo on this book a few months before. BookBub would accept my ad only if I lowered the sale price to $0.99.
> 
> As noted above, you have to be a little careful. If you offer a freebie, it can definitely hinder your ability to run a paid sale later. BookBub wants to have the lowest price.


Jan, had you ever done a free promo for The Summer we lost Alice before the Bookbub .99c promo?


----------



## JumpingShip

Gosh, I think I goofed. I submitted my Mark Taylor Omnibus last night. It's normally $9.99 and I was going to offer it for $5.99. It has 1 novella/novel length book at around 50k, and 3 full-length novels in the 90k range--all of my books, actually. I haven't heard back from them but no way will I decrease the price to 99 cents. It will cost me $1150 for an ad though, and now I'm wondering if I would have any chance of recouping my cost. I haven't heard back from them yet and maybe they'll reject my book as the Omnibus itself only has one review (but the books that comprise it have 298 combined).


----------



## 13893

Mary, I've seen them run an omni in the past with no reviews when the source books have good reviews.


----------



## Cege Smith

DDark said:


> How quick do they respond when you send a submission?


I submitted on Saturday and got my approval email today. I think that's about the average response time from what I've seen.


----------



## Mike McIntyre

Bookbub declined my request for a $460 ad because the title was previously offered for free, although my last promo was more than 90 days ago. I guess that's commendable on their part. All three of my books had free Select runs last year, so I will never be able to use Bookbub--for paid titles anyway. They did offer to sell me a $230 ad if I wanted to make my book free again. That sounds like a waste of money since I've been able to exceed their average downloads without them, not to mention the ever-diminishing returns from free runs.


----------



## BBGriffith

Have a .99c ad running for Blue Fall today in Mystery/Thriller on Amazon/itunes/B&N/Kobo. Time to spin the wheel! I'll be sure to share results.


----------



## Heather Walsh

I have one running today as well for 99 cents in Literary Fiction. The email went out two hours ago and I've already gotten 60 sales, so I am hopeful. I will share the results too. Good luck, B.B.! Hope we have a good day.


----------



## BBGriffith

hwalshwriter said:


> I have one running today as well for 99 cents in Literary Fiction. The email went out two hours ago and I've already gotten 60 sales, so I am hopeful. I will share the results too. Good luck, B.B.! Hope we have a good day.


Thanks! So far 250 sold, I think I need to sell something like 1000 to break even on the ad. Still, it's fun to see it all happen. Reminds me of the good ol' KDP Select days. How are you faring?


----------



## Heather Walsh

I've sold 420 so far! I only need to sell about 200 more to break even. Hope we both keep the steam going.

I've hit refresh way to many times today. They are like an addictive drug, I tell you, these promos.


----------



## Heather Walsh

Great final result. 

Sold 1,030 copies and 9 borrows. And I made it all the way to #100!

    Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #100 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
        #5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Family Life
        #6 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Domestic Life
        #12 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teens 

Granted it was there for just a few hours (it's at #105 now), but I managed to get a screenshot at least. This is the upside of having a teething 1-yr-old who is waking at night.

What a thrill!


----------



## Gennita Low

Congrats, Heather, and thanks for sharing the info. Many more sales will come for being in the top 100 I'm sure .


----------



## J. W. Rolfe

I'm toying with using Bookbub but am kind of vacillating on whether or not I want to lay down that kind of money for an email ad. Even though the site has tons of subscribers, how many actually read the ads? When I did the math, the median number of sales didn't seem too high. Sounds like some had success and others thought it was kind of mediocre. At least the prices for sci-fi aren't as astronomically high as they are for some of the other categories.


----------



## Lisa Grace

J. W. Rolfe said:


> I'm toying with using Bookbub but am kind of vacillating on whether or not I want to lay down that kind of money for an email ad. Even though the site has tons of subscribers, how many actually read the ads? When I did the math, the median number of sales didn't seem too high. Sounds like some had success and others thought it was kind of mediocre. At least the prices for sci-fi aren't as astronomically high as they are for some of the other categories.


I ran my free book and received over 6,000+ downloads. But I have three other paid angel books and the increase in sales from my daily average, was enough to get all three on genre best seller lists, plus their sales in the first 24 hours more than paid for the ad 3X over.


----------



## benji smith

I have a BookBub promo scheduled for this Tuesday for my book.

It's the true story of how my wife and I escaped from the sinking cruise ship last year (on our honeymoon), got stranded in Rome, found our way back home again, recovered from PTSD, and completely changed our lives. The book has gotten great reviews from The Daily Beast and The Daily Telegraph. If you enjoyed Wild or Into Thin Air or Eat, Pray, Love, then I think you might also enjoy my book 

Anyhow, the book has been available for about two months now. So far, I've sold about 450 copies and gotten 32 reviews (avg rating: 4.7). I'm really happy with how readers have been responding to the book so far, but I've had a hard time finding new readers and attracting visibility. So I'm doing a KDP Select free promo on Tuesday/Wednesday March 12 - 13, and I have a handful of paid and free promos in the works. But the biggest and most important component of this campaign is the BookBub ad. I paid $110 for an ad in the Memoir category, and I have high hopes that the book will finally get the exposure it needs!

I'll let you know how it goes when the campaign swings into gear on Tuesday


----------



## Alondo

The Bookbub email for my FREE book goes out tomorrow. I'm anxious to see what happens!


----------



## Heather Walsh

Alondo said:


> The Bookbub email for my FREE book goes out tomorrow. I'm anxious to see what happens!


Good luck!


----------



## EdShull

hwalshwriter said:


> Sold 1,030 copies and 9 borrows. And I made it all the way to #100!


Congrats!


----------



## Alondo

About 3000 of the free books have been downloaded so far since this morning. No attendant sales so far as I can see yet. Also my ranking has hardly moved, which is odd.


----------



## cblewgolf

Alondo said:


> Also my ranking has hardly moved, which is odd.


I've been told that free rankings update every 4 hrs unlike paid which updates every hour.
Good luck!


----------



## TexasGirl

cblewgolf said:


> I've been told that free rankings update every 4 hrs unlike paid which updates every hour.
> Good luck!


Free ranks move about like paid in that when you are super low, they move slow, and the closer you get to the top, you move faster.

So your first jump up takes a long time, 4-8 hours, then after that, you should see hourlies.


----------



## Pnjw

For anyone who pays for a free ad, expect your sales of the rest of your series (if you have one) to come in the weeks after. It's normal to not make back your paid fee the first fee days. readers need to read your free book and then move on to the rest if they enjoyed it.

I have a 99 cent ad coming next weekend. It's for book two with book one free right now. I'll let you know how it goes. I really just need to get sticky in the ranking again. I'm in a slide.


----------



## Alondo

cblewgolf said:


> I've been told that free rankings update every 4 hrs unlike paid which updates every hour.
> Good luck!


It's now updated as follows:-

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #131 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store) 
#3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Science Fiction > Adventure 
#4 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy > Epic

About 4,200 downloads so far, and no signs of slowing down.

Not too shabby!


----------



## BBGriffith

Had a .99c paid ad for Bookbub this weekend in Mystery/Thriller, here are the results:

468 sold on Amazon
288 sold on Barnes & Noble
135 sold on Itunes
10 sold on Kobo

There was also spillover onto the second in the series, which is awesome. 

So just about 900. I am still seeing a decent number of sales per day, but the big run is over. It didn't quite pay out (yet) but it was fun being right next to Lee Child on the thriller bestseller list for a while. This is a potent promo tool to be sure.


----------



## Alondo

Over 7000 downloads and I am at number 21 FREE. Got to as high as 20.


----------



## Heather Walsh

BBGriffith said:


> Had a .99c paid ad for Bookbub this weekend in Mystery/Thriller, here are the results:
> 
> 468 sold on Amazon
> 288 sold on Barnes & Noble
> 135 sold on Itunes
> 10 sold on Kobo
> 
> There was also spillover onto the second in the series, which is awesome.
> 
> So just about 900. I am still seeing a decent number of sales per day, but the big run is over. It didn't quite pay out (yet) but it was fun being right next to Lee Child on the thriller bestseller list for a while. This is a potent promo tool to be sure.


Great results, B.B.! Congrats. I was definitely pleased with my results too. I am thinking of running it again in 90 days if I pull out of Select to try to get readership on B&N, iTunes, etc. I sold 1,300 on Amazon so I am very happy with the ad!


----------



## Gregory Lynn

Can I ask a stupid bookbub question?

I've seen some bookbub e-mails with three links to buy in various stores.

I'm wondering if you can do four.

Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Apple.


----------



## Anne Frasier

Gregory Lynn said:


> Can I ask a stupid bookbub question?
> 
> I've seen some bookbub e-mails with three links to buy in various stores.
> 
> I'm wondering if you can do four.
> 
> Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Apple.


yes. i think you can have as many as you like.


----------



## Gregory Lynn

Anne Frasier said:


> yes. i think you can have as many as you like.


Cool, thanks.


----------



## Gennita Low

Be careful with iTunes, though. First, they take longer to re-publish your new price so you have to change earlier. And after that, they take longer to re-publish back to your old price and then you find Amazon matching the lower price, and you get the hassle of a lot of back-and-forth emails (and in the meantime, you're losing money).

I'm not price-matching with iTunes in my next Bookbub ad.


----------



## TexasGirl

Gennita, did you do iTunes through an aggregator like Smash or D2D? I find iTunes and BN are changing faster than Amazon these days, when going direct.


----------



## Gennita Low

TexasGirl said:


> Gennita, did you do iTunes through an aggregator like Smash or D2D? I find iTunes and BN are changing faster than Amazon these days, when going direct.


I did Kobo and iTunes through D2D. Kobo because they freaking would not recognize my bank's number for electronic transfer (they wanted a SWIFT) and their customer service is sooooo slow. Whatever. I had no time to go to my bank to ask what a SWIFT was. And even though others had no problem with them through D2D, they had trouble republishing mine too.

I don't have a Mac to upload to iTunes and it was easier to do it this way.

Anyway, iTunes took a week to publish, another four days to republish the new price, AND another four days to republish back to the original price. Meanwhile, Amazon matched them for those extra four days. It was frustrating.

D2D was very helpful but they couldn't do much with either of those.

Anyway, I uploaded another title through D2D for Kobo, so will see if that first time was just an anomaly.


----------



## Lynn McNamee

MaryMcDonald said:


> Gosh, I think I goofed. I submitted my Mark Taylor Omnibus last night. It's normally $9.99 and I was going to offer it for $5.99. It has 1 novella/novel length book at around 50k, and 3 full-length novels in the 90k range--all of my books, actually. I haven't heard back from them but no way will I decrease the price to 99 cents. It will cost me $1150 for an ad though, and now I'm wondering if I would have any chance of recouping my cost. I haven't heard back from them yet and maybe they'll reject my book as the Omnibus itself only has one review (but the books that comprise it have 298 combined).


Mary,

I'm just curious, but wouldn't it be better to do a .99 sale on the first book in the series in hopes that the readers would buy the rest?

My thought is that after they buy the omnibus, what else can they buy of yours?


----------



## Lynn McNamee

We purchased a Bookbub ad to run a freebie sale on our YA book.

We gave away over 27,000 copies, and the residual sales far exceeded our expectations.

I've lost count, but I'm pretty certain we also received more than 10 new reviews on the book, almost all 4+ stars.

In addition to Bookbub, we also ran an ad on the same day on KB.


----------



## Adam Pepper

My Bookbub ad just went live (99 cent promo). I love the punchy description they gave Skin Games. Here's to hoping for a big run!


----------



## Gennita Low

Adam Pepper said:


> My Bookbub ad just went live (99 cent promo). I love the punchy description they gave Skin Games. Here's to hoping for a big run!


Good luck! Can't wait to see the numbers for these "new" times . I'm going to get one today!


----------



## stacyjuba

I had a Book Bub ad last night and it has been a huge success. It gave Twenty-Five Years Ago Today the boost it needed to become ranked #5 in the overall Nook store and #30 on the Top 100 Paid List for Kindle. I started from a 16,000 ranking on Nook and about 800 on Kindle, and it was a 99 cent sale in the Mystery/Thriller category.


----------



## Adam Poe

Our bookbub add for a free book went well. It got blasted out on 3/15 and as far as we can figure attributed to about 6500-7000 downloads (YA category). The book got as high as #23, only 3 spaces from the first page sadly. Since then it has been bouncing between around #40-#60. We have already went from selling an average of 4 books a day this month to 8, so the 40$ should be paid off in no time. It also netted quite a few new reviews. I know we also sold books on other platforms but since we are distributed to them via Smashwords...who knows when we will actually know what the results were


----------



## Quiss

Harper Alibeck said:


> Can you pick specific weeks/days for a promo? If I'm launching a new book the first week of June, for instance, can I target the ad to run for that week?


You can pick a day among what's available on their calendar but unless you have a significant number of reviews they are not likely to give you space.


----------



## Pnjw

I've got a BB ad today too for Witches. So far I've recouped my ad money, made it to #46 on B&N and #141 on Amazon. I'm certain Amazon's rankings are lagging way behind. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it dips into the top 100. _Please, please, please_.


----------



## Gennita Low

Deanna Chase said:


> I've got a BB ad today too for Witches. So far I've recouped my ad money, made it to #46 on B&N and #141 on Amazon. I'm certain Amazon's rankings are lagging way behind. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it dips into the top 100. _Please, please, please_.


Whee! Good luck, Deanna! I'm glad Bookbub is still strong.


----------



## vrabinec

Quiss said:


> You can pick a day among what's available on their calendar but unless you have a significant number of reviews they are not likely to give you space.


It's funny. I notice they don't specify how many reviews, they just say "an acceptable level of acclaim", whatever the hell that's supposed to mean.


----------



## TexasGirl

V-rab, I'll give you so much acclaim that they'll give you an ad for free.

But of course, you have to publish something first.


----------



## Not Here Anymore

I applied and was turned down for a BookBub ad recently (not enough reviews, I think I had 7 or 8 at the time). I posted here, asking for advice. 

I resubmitted, noting my backlist w/ reviews and that my book now has 13 reviews--thanks to LibraryThing giveaways. I also threw in my GoodReads rating and the fact that my promo dates are flexible....and success! 

I have an ad scheduled 3/26.  

Now obsessing over when to change the price. Already lowered it at itunes through D2D, but waiting on Amazon, nook, and kobo until about 3 days before. Good strategy?


----------



## vrabinec

TexasGirl said:


> V-rab, I'll give you so much acclaim that they'll give you an ad for free.
> 
> But of course, you have to publish something first.


Aww, thanks, but no author rewiews, please.

Hey, when did you change covers on Stella and Dane? I can't quite see it in your sig, but I liked the chick on the bike.


----------



## RuthNestvold

I don't have any specific advice for you Sara, but I'd love to hear how long it takes to get prices reduced through D2D.


----------



## Not Here Anymore

RuthNestvold said:


> I don't have any specific advice for you Sara, but I'd love to hear how long it takes to get prices reduced through D2D.


Ah...about 15 minutes. I nearly fell out of my chair.

I must have hit at just the right time.

I read back through this thread and saw some authors reporting it took a week to get the price change through at itunes, so I changed mine since yesterday since it is one week out. Fifteen minutes later it was live. Not sure why, but I'm glad. I only use D2D for itunes.


----------



## Kwalker

With Nook through pubit it usually takes 30 minutes or so for my price to change.

With Kobo direct through KWL it was usually within a few hours, but through Draft2Digital Kobo was very difficult. They dropped it to 99 cents within an hour, but they refused to raise it. Kris had to fight with them to get them to manually fix it. 

My Amazon price usually changes within 6 hours, but once it took days.


----------



## TexasGirl

vrabinec said:


> Aww, thanks, but no author rewiews, please.
> 
> Hey, when did you change covers on Stella and Dane? I can't quite see it in your sig, but I liked the chick on the bike.


I LOVED the chick on the bike, but I did two really big promos that tend to work for everyone and lost money on both. A KBoard evaluation of my book and blurb revealed great blurb, but the cover, while pretty, didn't convey genre well enough. So the romance ads cost me since mine didn't meet the expectations of a romance cover and didn't inspire people to click.

Melody sold me a premade for the new cover. I'd say it's working better but I'm still $1000 in the hole on that book (mainly copy editing.) Sigh. Thankfully my other books do well.


----------



## ToniD

Is there any wisdom--collective or otherwise--about which day of the week is best for a BB ad? And/or, weekdays versus weekends?


----------



## ToniD

DDark said:


> Now, bookbub is more than welcome to run my ad every day of the week as a test. I'll be a willing victim.


I hear that! 

And I take your point, re timing. Thx.


----------



## Not Here Anymore

FYI: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bookbub-reaches-one-million-subscribers-2013-03-20

BookBub reaches 1 million subscribers.

"BookBub today announced it has surpassed one million subscribers. The company, which sends readers a free daily email alerting them to limited-time discounts on acclaimed ebooks, is currently signing up between five and ten thousand new subscribers a day."


----------



## ChrisWard

Not sure if anyone's had this experience but I thought I'd let you know I got accepted for an April bargain book listing on my book The Tube Riders. The significance in this is that my book has previously been free through Select but I pulled it out of the program a month or two ago because I was sick of getting torpedo reviews. It's last free promo was on Dec 23rd, so it seems that as long as enough time has passed Bookbub will accept "historically free" books for bargain book listings.


----------



## CraigInOregon

I haven't used BookBub yet as an author.

I have used them for the past month or so as an email subscriber and have found myself really appreciating the service on a reader level.

I think it's one of the better "here are today's discounted books" services.


----------



## otterific

headofwords said:


> Not sure if anyone's had this experience but I thought I'd let you know I got accepted for an April bargain book listing on my book The Tube Riders. The significance in this is that my book has previously been free through Select but I pulled it out of the program a month or two ago because I was sick of getting torpedo reviews. It's last free promo was on Dec 23rd, so it seems that as long as enough time has passed Bookbub will accept "historically free" books for bargain book listings.


I was accepted for an April bargain book promo as well, and my book was in Select and free several times last year.


----------



## RuthNestvold

otterific said:


> I was accepted for an April bargain book promo as well, and my book was in Select and free several times last year.


They accepted Yseult for a promo on March 26, and it was in Select until November of last year. So it looks like if your book has been out of Select for a few months, you can still get a slot.

I forgot, though, that Yseult is on iTunes via Smashwords rather than D2D, so I'm not listing iTunes for the promo, just B&N and Kobo, where I can change the price myself.

I'm trembling in my boots at the $180 I just shelled out. I'm mostly hoping to finally get some sales on other venues. And maybe a few sales of the second book too.


----------



## Adam Pepper

RuthNestvold said:


> I forgot, though, that Yseult is on iTunes via Smashwords rather than D2D, so I'm not listing iTunes for the promo, just B&N and Kobo, where I can change the price myself.


If it's not too late, you may want to reconsider. I was hesitant to include iTunes as well, for the same reason. But the price was changed promptly and I saw a healthy spike in sales there.


----------



## ToniD

As I understand the terms, BB doesn't care if your book is in Select--what they care about is that it not have been free recently, or will be free in the near future.

I think 'recently' means three or more months ago. 'Near' future ... not sure.


----------



## RuthNestvold

Adam Pepper said:


> If it's not too late, you may want to reconsider. I was hesitant to include iTunes as well, for the same reason. But the price was changed promptly and I saw a healthy spike in sales there.


Hm, maybe I can. How long did it take for the price to get switched back when you returned to normal?


----------



## Atunah

Just to drop a little readers note on bookbub. I had the intention of not buying any books in March. Budget and all that.  
Yeah right.  . 
So I just checked, 8 out of the 10 books I bought in March were bought because I saw them on bookbub. 
It has become the only site I kept signed up with. 

And the 8 books I bought were bought, not free.

As a reader, I love it. Whatever they are doing, how they pick what they feature, its working for me. 

That's all I got.


----------



## Scott Daniel

I've read through several pages of this thread and I'll apologize in advance if this has already been talked about ... I'm considering the service for my novella, a romantic suspense piece. At 99 cents, I'd have to sell 1200 (if my math is right) to break even. Is that realistic? I'd be happy even if I got close just to get the exposure and potential reviews.

For those of you that have used Book Bub for novella, what has been your experience?


----------



## L.T. Ryan

Scott Daniel said:


> I've read through several pages of this thread and I'll apologize in advance if this has already been talked about ... I'm considering the service for my novella, a romantic suspense piece. At 99 cents, I'd have to sell 1200 (if my math is right) to break even. Is that realistic? I'd be happy even if I got close just to get the exposure and potential reviews.
> 
> For those of you that have used Book Bub for novella, what has been your experience?


They have strict length requirements. Off the top of my head, 150 page is their cutoff.


----------



## Mip7

They will not accept novellas. They tell you that on their website if you look close enough (see the "guidelines" page).

If you are a big-name author, of course, rules can be bent.


----------



## Scott Daniel

So much for that idea


----------



## shel

I used Bookbub for a promo earlier this week for their YA distribution.  I know that everyone probably has different ways that they measure success, but I'd consider the ad a success. I more than broke even at a 99 cent price point and it boosted my rank, which had been hovering around 15K, to #864.  Today, two days later, I'm still at about #3,500, and still visible in my categories. 

I'd love to work with them in the future on other books, if they'll have me.


----------



## CJArcher

I had a great day 2 days ago with my bookbub feature. I was a bit nervous because I'd asked to purchase a romance spot for my 2-book bundle historical paranormal romance, and they suggested I buy a fantasy spot instead (because apparently paranormals do better there). My books are definitely more romance than fantasy, but I went with their advice. I had over 1600 downloads at 99c that day on Amazon, and over 350 the following day. More than paid for the ad, which was cheaper anyway in the fantasy category than romance. I made it as high as #40 in the store and #1 in all my categories. Well worth the cost of the ad.


----------



## Gennita Low

That's great, CJ, great promo! And your covers are GORGEOUS .


----------



## RuthNestvold

Wow, great results, CJ!


----------



## CJArcher

Gennita Low said:


> That's great, CJ, great promo! And your covers are GORGEOUS .


Thanks. I love how they look lined up in my KB sig.



RuthNestvold said:


> Wow, great results, CJ!


Is it? I didn't know, as I haven't gone back through this thread yet. The bundle was deeply discounted, from $6.99 to $0.99, and I think this helped. I've popped the price up to $2.99 for a few days just to see if I can get some sales at the 70% rate. I think if I'd gone straight back up to the $6.99 price, I would have slid down much faster too.



DDark said:


> This gives me hope I might actually earn back my expense.


I really didn't know what to expect with my ad going out to the Fantasy crowd, but the Bookbub people seem to understand their audience well. I think the Romance crowd expect a "pure" romance with less action and no paranormal elements. Just my take. Hopefully you'll get a great result from your ad too. Good luck!


----------



## CJArcher

I forgot to mention that I sold over 170 copies on Apple on the day of the ad too, and about 15 or so on Kobo. I was pleased with the Apple results because those figures got me into the #1 spot in Historical Romance and in the top 20 for Romance as a whole. Not being based in the US, I can only get to B&N through Smashwords so changing prices quickly was never going to happen there, so I chose not to include B&N in the ad. I'm bitterly disappointed about it too. When will B&N allow non-US authors to go direct?


----------



## morgan_n

Here's Mark Coker's post about Smashwords' price updates to Kobo and iBook ( http://goo.gl/LwEjS ). Very fast now. I'm not sure about Sony.


----------



## Jay Allan

FYI, I just did a bookbub a second time for the same book.  90 days ago I did the ad and sold a little over 1,000 on Amazon and BN.  This time, I sold around 700 on the two sites, which I thought was very good for a second go around.  This is for a SF book.

They definitely have a quality mailing list.


----------



## otterific

CJArcher said:


> I really didn't know what to expect with my ad going out to the Fantasy crowd, but the Bookbub people seem to understand their audience well. I think the Romance crowd expect a "pure" romance with less action and no paranormal elements.


Bookbub accepted my book for romance, and it has paranormal elements (time travel). One of my listing categories on Amazon is Historical Fantasy. I guess I'll trust them to think my book is best suited for their romance mailing list. My ad isn't for another three weeks. I wonder if it would be worth contacting them and asking about category placement.


----------



## Atunah

Romance has a lot of subgenres though. If a romance is placed in fantasy, I wouldn't be seeing it on the bookbub ad as I don't get the fantasy books send. Now I wonder how many other romance titles I miss seeing for these placements.  

Or course on the other hand I only like to see actual romance placed in that section, or else there would be no point for me to sign up to the targeted emails.


----------



## Steven L. Hawk

_Peace Warrior_ is today's Sci-Fi deal. The cost was $60.

To provide perspective, I typically keep this book (# 1 of the trilogy) listed as free across all platforms. It's downloaded roughly 2000 times a month and generates on average about 1000-1500 follow on sales each month for Books 2 & 3. Here is the current, pre-BookBub ranking:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: *#1,954 Free in Kindle Store* (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
*#10 in Kindle Store* > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > *Science Fiction > Military*

I will post follow up rankings after BookBub hits for comparison.


----------



## RuthNestvold

morgan_n said:


> Here's Mark Coker's post about Smashwords' price updates to Kobo and iBook ( http://goo.gl/LwEjS ). Very fast now. I'm not sure about Sony.


I list directly with B&N (using my dad's US address, which is also the address for my American account). But I listed Yseult on iTunes through Smashwords. I changed the price last night before I went to bed, and the price change is now live everywhere, including iTunes.

After hearing about all the people who had problems with Sony, I now always opt out there. I only ever sold about 3 books, and it really didn't seem to be worth the hassle. They were also the last to delist a book I wanted to put into KDP Select, and it took many emails. Life is too short ...


----------



## isabellajones

One of my nonfiction books was accepted for Bookbub to run this week. When do they contact you about blurb copy and such? (Yes, they invoiced and I paid.)


----------



## Steven L. Hawk

isabellajones said:


> One of my nonfiction books was accepted for Bookbub to run this week. When do they contact you about blurb copy and such? (Yes, they invoiced and I paid.)


They didn't contact me for any of that so I assume they pull it together for you. I haven't seen my promo yet, though... ergo, the "assume."


----------



## CJArcher

Steven is right, they don't contact you about the blurb. They do it themselves and do quite a good job of it too. It's one of the things I like about them, as a reader.


morgan_n said:


> Here's Mark Coker's post about Smashwords' price updates to Kobo and iBook ( http://goo.gl/LwEjS ). Very fast now. I'm not sure about Sony.


That post was from June 2012, so a bit out of date. I can assure you their price updates don't filter through very quickly to B&N.


----------



## JRTomlin

Atunah said:


> Just to drop a little readers note on bookbub. I had the intention of not buying any books in March. Budget and all that.
> Yeah right. .
> So I just checked, 8 out of the 10 books I bought in March were bought because I saw them on bookbub.
> It has become the only site I kept signed up with.
> 
> And the 8 books I bought were bought, not free.
> 
> As a reader, I love it. Whatever they are doing, how they pick what they feature, its working for me.
> 
> That's all I got.


Sounds a lot like my budget, Atunah, which seems to always break when it comes to books. 

Good to know about Bookbub. At the moment, they are the only place I'm spending money to advertise. Whatever they're doing, it seems to work -- for now.


----------



## Steven L. Hawk

Interesting results on my listing today. More than 6500 copies of _Peace Warrior_ have been downloaded so far. That's a great number, as my daily average is around 60.

The strange part is that my overall sales rankings haven't changed much. I'm hoping those results are just lagging, but but here's the current ranking:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: *#1,457 Free in Kindle Store* (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
*#8 in Kindle Store* > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > *Science Fiction > Military*

Despite the lack of movement in the rankings, I'm thrilled with the number of downloads. I only need 29 of them to turn into sales of book 2 for the ad to pay for itself.


----------



## Sharebear

I've followed this post pretty closely but I can't find if anyone has done a Fantasy for a NA (or YA) Paranormal Romance... is there anyone out there?
Trying to figure out if $450 is going to pay off for a $2.99 omnibus. 
Thanks!


----------



## Quiss

Wohoo, just got a Bookbub spot for later in April.  
Also had a few back and forth emails with one of their very nice people. They're my favourites now.


----------



## CJArcher

brinacourtney said:


> I've followed this post pretty closely but I can't find if anyone has done a Fantasy for a NA (or YA) Paranormal Romance... is there anyone out there?
> Trying to figure out if $450 is going to pay off for a $2.99 omnibus.
> Thanks!


I had a YA historical paranormal romance in the YA category at Christmas. It was a freebie so it may not help you, but I was very pleased with the number of downloads and carry-over to the rest of the series. It was a cheap ad, however, being YA and free. My books are upper YA but I chose the YA category over the romance one.


----------



## morgan_n

CJArcher said:


> I can assure you their price updates don't filter through very quickly to B&N.


I stand corrected. Didn't notice the date. Do you have a rough idea of how long the B & N price transfer takes?


----------



## RuthNestvold

Steven L. Hawk said:


> They didn't contact me for any of that so I assume they pull it together for you. I haven't seen my promo yet, though... ergo, the "assume."


I did a freebie promo with them back in November, and they did put the blurb together for me -- which I was wildly happy with, since it was for a freebie of the second book in the Pendragon Chronicles, Shadow of Stone, and they actually included a link to the first book, Yseult. The ad paid for itself within hours.

Which is why I shelled out the cash to try a sales ad for Yseult at 99c, which will go live tomorrow.

This was *way* more expensive, though: $180, compared to $45 for the freebie ad before prices started exploding, so I'm a bit nervous that I'll end up in the hole. I have to sell over 500 copies to break even. Argh.


----------



## JRTomlin

Quiss said:


> Wohoo, just got a Bookbub spot for later in April.
> Also had a few back and forth emails with one of their very nice people. They're my favourites now.


They are very nice. I've traded emails with them when a date wasn't available or the book I wanted to advertise didn't fit for some reason. They always suggest alternatives and are really good to work with.


----------



## Steven L. Hawk

Steven L. Hawk said:


> Interesting results on my listing today. More than 6500 copies of _Peace Warrior_ have been downloaded so far. That's a great number, as my daily average is around 60.
> 
> The strange part is that my overall sales rankings haven't changed much. I'm hoping those results are just lagging, but but here's the current ranking:
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: *#1,457 Free in Kindle Store* (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
> *#8 in Kindle Store* > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > *Science Fiction > Military*
> 
> Despite the lack of movement in the rankings, I'm thrilled with the number of downloads. I only need 29 of them to turn into sales of book 2 for the ad to pay for itself.


Another quick update. Total downloads for the day are in excess of *8,000*. Plus, the rankings have caught up. Here's where they stand as of this post:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: *#19 Free in Kindle Store* (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
*#1* in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > *Science Fiction & Fantasy*
* #1 *in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > *Science Fiction > Military*

Plus, I've already received 16 purchases of my omnibus, which sells for $6.79. I average 2 sales per day of the omnibus, which means I can attribute 13 to the promo. So the ad is paid for and everything else is profit from here on out! Happy with my BookBub results!

**Late Update ** Now 9:21pm MT. More than 9,000 downloads today and currently #13 Free in Kindle Store.


----------



## RuthNestvold

I'll play too.  Here are the rankings for Yseult, pre-Bookbub ad: 

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #69,278 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #4 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Arthurian
    #33 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy > Arthurian


----------



## Saul Tanpepper

BB's running my GAMELAND Books 1+2 package today as a 99-cent bargain book. Because the 1st book is permafree, I haven't had but maybe three total downloads on the 1+2 package ever, so the ranking was in the high 300,000s pre-promo. First bump and it's now at 131,236 in paid. Waiting to see what the next bump will look like.


----------



## BBGriffith

Has anybody here done the same book twice with Bookbub?


----------



## Ernie Lindsey

BBGriffith said:


> Has anybody here done the same book twice with Bookbub?


I ran SARA'S GAME twice. Once on Black Friday and then again in late February. The first time, I hit #25 in the entire Kindle store and then #23 in Feb. I had *more* sales the second time, which I didn't expect in the slightest. (Although, less profit because the price of the ad had increased by $200ish.) If they'll allow me, I'm thinking about running it a third time in late May or early June to build up some steam on B&N and Kobo now that I have SG out on other platforms.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

I published the sequel to my first novel last week and that's the one I've been promoting. But if I were to list with Bookbub, wouldn't it make sense to promote the first book there since it has a link to the sequel at the end? Or is it better to promote the most recent book in a series? 

It's an expensive ad, so I want to use it in the best way. Thanks!


----------



## BBGriffith

Ernie Lindsey said:


> I ran SARA'S GAME twice. Once on Black Friday and then again in late February. The first time, I hit #25 in the entire Kindle store and then #23 in Feb. I had *more* sales the second time, which I didn't expect in the slightest. (Although, less profit because the price of the ad had increased by $200ish.) If they'll allow me, I'm thinking about running it a third time in late May or early June to build up some steam on B&N and Kobo now that I have SG out on other platforms.


That's very encouraging. Especially since I've seen such diminished returns with the other big promo vehicles. And definitely a good idea to hit the other platforms. My B&N sales were half of my Amazon sales in number after the promo, which is a lot, considering I hadn't moved more than ten copies of Blue Fall there before the promo.


----------



## Saul Tanpepper

BBGriffith said:


> That's very encouraging. Especially since I've seen such diminished returns with the other big promo vehicles. And definitely a good idea to hit the other platforms. My B&N sales were half of my Amazon sales in number after the promo, which is a lot, considering I hadn't moved more than ten copies of Blue Fall there before the promo.


BB's efficacy has been getting better as they grow their list and target their subscribers better, which may explain BBGriffith's results (or not). It's hard to gauge an effect when there are so many moving parts and baselines are constantly changing. We could also simply be looking at the familiarization effect (readers passed the first time when the book/author were new). If anything, I think it means that there's potential for reaching as many/more new readers.


----------



## ToniD

BBGriffith said:


> Has anybody here done the same book twice with Bookbub?


I'll be doing it a third time with Volcano Watch. First time was a 99cent sale back in July 2012, second was in January 2013 for a free run, third will be mid-April for a 99cent sale. Fingers crossed and all that.


----------



## JRTomlin

I have one coming up for _A Kingdom's Cost_ in early April on three retailers. Anyone have any idea what kind of results they get at B&N and Apple?


----------



## RuthNestvold

First update on Yseult. Since the ad went live, I've sold 130 copies on Amazon, none yet on B&N, Kobo, or Apple. Here are the present rankings: 

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,679 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #1 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Arthurian
    #2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy > Arthurian
    #14 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy > Series

Upstream, someone asked about advertising a sequel. The first Bookbub ad I ran back in November was for the second book in this series, The Pendragon Chronicles, and it did very well. But I'm writing these books as standalone novels in the same universe. If that's the kind of sequel you're talking about, go for it! But I wouldn't recommend it for a book that's a continuation of an ongoing story.


----------



## BBGriffith

JRTomlin said:


> I have one coming up for _A Kingdom's Cost_ in early April on three retailers. Anyone have any idea what kind of results they get at B&N and Apple?


I did a .99c in Mystery/Thriller and saw about 500 sales on Amazon, 300 sales on B&N, and 100 sales on Apple from it.


----------



## RuthNestvold

BBGriffith said:


> I did a .99c in Mystery/Thriller and saw about 500 sales on Amazon, 300 sales on B&N, and 100 sales on Apple from it.


Wow, I'd love to have those kinds of results! One of the reasons I decided to shell out all the cash was int he hopes of finally seeing some sales elsewhere -- no luck til now.


----------



## Saul Tanpepper

BBGriffith said:


> I did a .99c in Mystery/Thriller and saw about 500 sales on Amazon, 300 sales on B&N, and 100 sales on Apple from it.


Dang! I guess that's why BB's cost for a Mystery/thriller cat is so high. I'm knocking on hundred sales for GAMELAND Episodes 1-2 (S. W. Tanpepper's GAMELAND) in the Sci Fi cat. At this rate won't make back the investment (need ~340 sales). I knew it would be close, at best, since the book has no reviews (the series does, however). Still, this isn't quite what I was hoping for.


----------



## Incognita

I'm sorely tempted to try BB, but my books tend to sort of straddle categories -- they're all romance, but fantasy/romance, SF/romance, paranormal romance, etc.. Has anyone promoted books with BB that weren't all that easy to categorize?


----------



## JRTomlin

BBGriffith said:


> I did a .99c in Mystery/Thriller and saw about 500 sales on Amazon, 300 sales on B&N, and 100 sales on Apple from it.


Not at all shabby. 

It can't hurt that AKC has about 80 reviews so I'm hopeful about good results.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

RuthNestvold said:


> Upstream, someone asked about advertising a sequel. The first Bookbub ad I ran back in November was for the second book in this series, The Pendragon Chronicles, and it did very well. But I'm writing these books as standalone novels in the same universe. If that's the kind of sequel you're talking about, go for it! But I wouldn't recommend it for a book that's a continuation of an ongoing story.


Thanks for the info. My books can be stand alones, but are better when read in order. So I guess the promo should be for book one, although it's not the newest. I'd include the first chapter of book two and a buy link at the end.

Anyone else with Bookbub experience with sequels?


----------



## BBGriffith

RuthNestvold said:


> Wow, I'd love to have those kinds of results! One of the reasons I decided to shell out all the cash was int he hopes of finally seeing some sales elsewhere -- no luck til now.


Thanks! They have remarkable sway on the other platforms and it's only getting better. I don't think you will be disappointed!



Saul Tanpepper said:


> Dang! I guess that's why BB's cost for a Mystery/thriller cat is so high. I'm knocking on hundred sales for GAMELAND Episodes 1-2 (S. W. Tanpepper's GAMELAND) in the Sci Fi cat. At this rate won't make back the investment (need ~340 sales). I knew it would be close, at best, since the book has no reviews (the series does, however). Still, this isn't quite what I was hoping for.


Yeah, it's not a sure thing to make the investment back, from what i've read, and it took me almost two weeks to make back the $460, but it did happen eventually, and the exposure across platforms is worth more than the actual sales, in my opinion.



JRTomlin said:


> Not at all shabby.
> 
> It can't hurt that AKC has about 80 reviews so I'm hopeful about good results.


I'd say you're in good shape! Especially since you can capitalize on the spillover across platforms and across the series.


----------



## Gennita Low

Harriet Schultz said:


> Thanks for the info. My books can be stand alones, but are better when read in order. So I guess the promo should be for book one, although it's not the newest. I'd include the first chapter of book two and a buy link at the end.
> 
> Anyone else with Bookbub experience with sequels?


My Bookbub ad for Book Two of my SEAL series will start in two days. I'm hoping for good results .


----------



## Saul Tanpepper

Okay, closing in on 150 99-cent books total across Amazon sites for today. B&N ranking has dropped but won't know numbers till tomorrow at the earliest. Same with iTunes and Kobo. No SW sales (no big surprise there). Rank rose from ~133K to 1231, and I broke the top ten in high tech, so I'm happy about that. But the real bonus has been the number of my other books purchased (more than tripled my daily average), so even if I don't make back my initial investment on sales of the 99-cent books (tho I think I might over the next few days, due in part to my own promotional efforts in combination with BB's), the promo has been well worth it already.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,231 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#9 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Science Fiction > High Tech
#10 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > High Tech


----------



## Jeroen Steenbeeke

I must say I am seriously considering running an ad with them (assuming they'll have me). The thing is, with the price for my category being about $270 (discount price for my book is $0.99 on Amazon and Kobo but $1.39 everywhere else - long story), which would mean I need to sell almost 800 copies to break even (roughly 150 times my normal monthly sales).

With the average sales numbers they list this would mean a 66% chance of breaking even (or better), but still, tough choice.


----------



## RBC

Jeroen Steenbeeke said:


> I must say I am seriously considering running an ad with them (assuming they'll have me). The thing is, with the price for my category being about $270 (discount price for my book is $0.99 on Amazon and Kobo but $1.39 everywhere else - long story), which would mean I need to sell almost 800 copies to break even (roughly 150 times my normal monthly sales).
> 
> With the average sales numbers they list this would mean a 66% chance of breaking even (or better), but still, tough choice.


Run it when your next book will be coming out. Few weeks before it. That way you will get sales for older books and once the readers finish it they will learn that new one is coming out!


----------



## Jeroen Steenbeeke

RBC said:


> Run it when your next book will be coming out. Few weeks before it. That way you will get sales for older books and once the readers finish it they will learn that new one is coming out!


That is an excellent idea! I think I'll do just that


----------



## RBC

Jeroen Steenbeeke said:


> That is an excellent idea! I think I'll do just that


Yeah, timing is important and if you have book in the works already, why not wait. That way you will maximize sales. You could even include spoilers and offer at the end saying that new book is coming out soon (wouldn't even do a special sale for it then too, if it's like 2.99, people should buy it either way).


----------



## Gennita Low

I'm getting worried. My ad runs tomorrow and it's been two days and KOBO hasn't updated to .99cts yet. Sigh. The last time, I was having problems with Apple. These are my two books through D2D.


----------



## RuthNestvold

I haven't manage to earn out on the Bookbub ad yet. I would have to sell 500+ copies, and until now it's been 260. Sales also haven't been carrying over to the second book in the series. Nor have I had much luck with B&N and Kobo, only 2 sales. 

Here's the present ranking for Yseult: 

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #658 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

   #1 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Arthurian
   #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy > Arthurian
   #4 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy > Series

According to KND, the best rank Yseult hit was 580. 

I can still hope that the improved rank will result in more sales once I return the price to normal (the 99c sale goes through today). But the biggest disappointment is that the ad didn't really help on B&N and Kobo.


----------



## JRTomlin

BBGriffith said:


> Thanks! They have remarkable sway on the other platforms and it's only getting better. I don't think you will be disappointed!
> 
> Yeah, it's not a sure thing to make the investment back, from what i've read, and it took me almost two weeks to make back the $460, but it did happen eventually, and the exposure across platforms is worth more than the actual sales, in my opinion.
> 
> I'd say you're in good shape! Especially since you can capitalize on the spillover across platforms and across the series.


I'm really hoping for spillover across the series. At the moment, the novel that is selling best is the third one, indicating (I think) that a lot of people are reading through the series and picking up the last one. 

So fingers crossed.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Gennita Low said:


> I'm getting worried. My ad runs tomorrow and it's been two days and KOBO hasn't updated to .99cts yet. Sigh. The last time, I was having problems with Apple. These are my two books through D2D.


I'll be watching your results and wish you luck since this is a sequel like mine. I knew that Smashwords was slow to update pricing and I hope D2D is better since I switched over to them also.


----------



## Graeme Reynolds

I ran my first Bookbub promo for a freebie promotion of my horror novel, High Moor, yesterday.

Since the mail went out last night, the downloads shot up from a couple of hundred to 8057 in the US store, which was enough to put me 16 free on Kindle Store overall, but only 186 in the UK, giving me an overall UK freebie rank of 216.

As I did the promo to coincide with the launch of the sequel, Moonstruck, I am very happy with these results. Its actually better than when I was featured on ENT. Well worth the $55 I paid for it


----------



## Jonathan C. Gillespie

I submitted for a .99 deal for _Revenant Man_ in mid-April. We'll see if they take it.


----------



## HeyDrew

Thanks for posting your results Graeme. I'm running a horror freebie promotion myself on the 30th for 2 days, and I'm quite curious to see the results. 8000+ downloads is a solid number, that's about what I was able to get at the end of Feb. and it netted me close to 300 sales / 300 borrows in 2 weeks. I hope your bounce is truly excellent.



Graeme Reynolds said:


> I ran my first Bookbub promo for a freebie promotion of my horror novel, High Moor, yesterday.
> 
> Since the mail went out last night, the downloads shot up from a couple of hundred to 8057 in the US store, which was enough to put me 16 free on Kindle Store overall, but only 186 in the UK, giving me an overall UK freebie rank of 216.
> 
> As I did the promo to coincide with the launch of the sequel, Moonstruck, I am very happy with these results. Its actually better than when I was featured on ENT. Well worth the $55 I paid for it


----------



## Cege Smith

I did a $0.99 promo yesterday for Heiress of Lies that went out to BB's Teens & YA subscriber base. It's one of the smaller BB lists, so the best I hoped for was to recoup my costs on the HoL ad, and profit by getting sales on book 2 (and book 3 which I'm releasing this weekend).

I've had 152 sales on Amazon, 57 sales on B&N, 2 on Kobo and 1 on SW. (iTunes I won't know until SW updates.) So I've made about $75 so far, and I spent $80 on the ad- so I've almost broke even. I'm happy!


----------



## Jonathan C. Gillespie

DDark said:


> I ran an ad Wed and also had bloggers helping to promote me. I'm currently on the barnes and noble top 20.


Congrats.

They wouldn't take my booking request. I suspect they're booked-up for April, but since their form letter provides no insight, I'm left to speculate.


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## BlankPage

_Comment removed due to VS TOS 25/9/2018_


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## ToniD

Estelle, every time I see your covers I mean to tell you how good they are. Gorgeous, real grabbers.

Is your ad in the mystery/thriller category? I have an ad two days after yours in the M/T cat, and will be watching and cheering you on.


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## MegHarris

I got a book approved to be listed on Bookbub!  It's not one of my erotic romances, but a romance under my other name (which could badly use a boost!). It's for 4/25, and it will be on sale, not free. I'm delighted. Never have I been so happy to spend so much money.


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## BlankPage

_Comment removed due to VS TOS 25/9/2018_


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## ToniD

Estelle Ryan said:


> Oh wow, thanks Toni! Yes, my ad will be in the M/T category. Thanks for the cheering on - I'll return it in spades when it's your turn. Mine will be for $0,99. Will yours be free or discounted?


Mine is a 99-center as well. Sure hoping to earn out the cost of the ad, gulp. Since we're in the same cat, do you want to exchange tweets/FB links on the ad days?



MegHarris said:


> Never have I been so happy to spend so much money.


Well put!


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## BlankPage

_Comment removed due to VS TOS 25/9/2018_


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## ToniD

Estelle Ryan said:


> YES! Brilliant idea. I'll pm you.


Sounds good.


----------



## 48306

My BB ad went live for A TASTE FOR PASSION on Monday (also ran a KB ad at the same time) and my book went as high as 120 overall in the Kindlestore   So close to top 100, but man I'll take it!   What I loved about the BB ad is the exposure to B&N and iTunes that is so hard to come by. Of course I'll never beat out heavy hitters like Ward or Frost, but it sure is nice to be sitting right underneath these fab authors...however long it lasts. Thanks BB and KB and ENT too, who jumped in on Wed to keep the run going.


----------



## 48306

DDark said:


> ...but I was really happy with my results.


This! B&N and iTunes were great as well. Yes, I wanted exposure on Amazon but I really wanted to see more traction in other on-line sites, which have been the hardest to see movement, so was super happy that happened.


----------



## MegHarris

Those of you who do iTunes via Smashwords, how did you get your price lowered in time? Should I go ahead and lower it now, in the hopes it will go through in a timely manner?


----------



## Cege Smith

MegHarris said:


> Those of you who do iTunes via Smashwords, how did you get your price lowered in time? Should I go ahead and lower it now, in the hopes it will go through in a timely manner?


Just to be safe, I submitted the price change through SW a week before the promo started. It was updated within 24 hours- it seems like the iTunes updates are happening a lot faster than in the past.


----------



## Gennita Low

Harriet Schultz said:


> I'll be watching your results and wish you luck since this is a sequel like mine. I knew that Smashwords was slow to update pricing and I hope D2D is better since I switched over to them also.


Hi Harriet, everyone,
My prices changed in time for the Bookbub promo today and tomorrow for .99cts. This is for a second book of my SEAL series, under romance, so the ad is priced at $380 (I know, gulp). This is a bit of an experiment for me because I've recently taken this book out of Select and it has done very well in freebies promotion, so I knew the sales would be lower than when I did a similar promo for my new book a few months ago.

The sales started going at about noon EST for me. So, after nine hours, I've sold:

Amazon: 980 books
BN: 300
A couple of dozen divided among Kobo, iTunes and Smashwords.

Not as kickass as the last promo but I'm still very pleased. I'll keep you posted for Day 2 as well as whether sales for the rest of the series pick up (what my goal is, so I hope so!).

Bookbub rocks!


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Gennita Low said:


> Hi Harriet, everyone,
> My prices changed in time for the Bookbub promo today and tomorrow for .99cts. This is for a second book of my SEAL series, under romance, so the ad is priced at $380 (I know, gulp). This is a bit of an experiment for me because I've recently taken this book out of Select and it has done very well in freebies promotion, so I knew the sales would be lower than when I did a similar promo for my new book a few months ago.
> 
> The sales started going at about noon EST for me. So, after nine hours, I've sold:
> 
> Amazon: 980 books
> BN: 300
> A couple of dozen divided among Kobo, iTunes and Smashwords.
> 
> Not as kickass as the last promo but I'm still very pleased. I'll keep you posted for Day 2 as well as whether sales for the rest of the series pick up (what my goal is, so I hope so!).
> 
> Bookbub rocks!


These results sound good to me...will they cover the cost of your ad? It'll be interesting to see if people also pick up the first book in the series.


----------



## Gennita Low

Harriet Schultz said:


> These results sound good to me...will they cover the cost of your ad? It'll be interesting to see if people also pick up the first book in the series.


I've sold another 200 books on Amazon since the last post, so yes, I've made back my ad money. The books sold at BN and elsewhere is gravy . I hope this continues for tonight and tomorrow and make this March end happily for me. I've been calling this month my Funeral March .

***********ETA (early hours of morn!)

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #60 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

#2 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Action & Adventure
#3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure
#4 in Books > Romance > Romantic Suspense

Very happy!

And just checked--Bookbub raised their prices for the romance category another $40 . They must be getting A LOT of submissions. Holy Wabbit!


----------



## RuthNestvold

Congrats -- that's amazing, Gennita! 

I didn't earn out on my ad, but I did get almost 100 sales on B&N, so maybe I will finally be on the map there.


----------



## B.A. Spangler

I have a Bookbub ad tomorrow and earlier this week realized my ad falls on a holiday weekend. 
Not sure how it will do considering it is a holiday weekend. Lesson learned, check the calendar before agreeing to a date.


----------



## Gennita Low

DDark said:


> As much as I'd love to buy a slot in Romance, that's a steep price. If their prices continue to rise, they're going to get fewer people buying. Especially knowing that 99 cent is really the price point that's going to garnish more sales, and you'd have to sell a lot of copies to recoup. Not everyone may achieve the same sales results, so that's a big decision for some people.


I think they keep raising the price to discourage submissions from everyone looking for ad space, at least for now. From what I gather, they're inundated right now, which is great for them, but bad for us because we'll be priced out. $420 is a scary bill!


----------



## Mark Dawson

I ran my first BB ad for The Black Mile yesterday and it lived up to expectations:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #113 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Crime
    #20 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers
    #21 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers

I had a poor single sale on iTunes but a much more healthy 482 at B&N. Adding those numbers to the 830ish that I sold on Amazon means that I made the ad price back (it was a whopping $420) plus a week's worth of reasonably expensive coffee to finish the book I'm working on now. I wouldn't class this as a money-spinning ad by any means but it's easily the best way to market into B&N (for me - a non US writer) and it makes up a little for the lack of punch from Select. It's also a blast to see the book outgunning Crais, Connelly, Flynn, Larsson et al - if only for a day.

As a side-note, I used D2D to fire up the book onto everything bar Kobo and Amazon and I have been very impressed indeed.


----------



## MegHarris

> As much as I'd love to buy a slot in Romance, that's a steep price. If their prices continue to rise, they're going to get fewer people buying. Especially knowing that 99 cent is really the price point that's going to garnish more sales, and you'd have to sell a lot of copies to recoup. Not everyone may achieve the same sales results, so that's a big decision for some people.


I agree that it's a lot, but my other name could really use the exposure, so I'm willing to take the gamble. The results people report suggest that it could well be worth it *crosses fingers*.


----------



## Gennita Low

Congrats, Mark, thanks for sharing your numbers.

The advantage of Bookbub, for me, is in readers buying the rest of my books/series. I'm seeing an uptick in Book 1, 3 and the short story right now.

Fingers-crossed that it's also the same with you!


----------



## Gennita Low

Whoa, I just checked, I sold 141 on iTunes yesterday! That's from 3 sold since beginning of March. This is what I'm talking about!

Okay, Good Friday, everyone! Off to work.

Brian S., I'll pick up your book tomorrow to add to my collection .


----------



## joanhallhovey

the prices seem very high~  Since my novels are $3.99 an ad would cost over $1150.00
or am I reading them wrong?


----------



## B.A. Spangler

Gennita Low said:


> Brian S., I'll pick up your book tomorrow to add to my collection .


Thanx and congrats on the great run you had!!



joanhallhovey said:


> the prices seem very high~ Since my novels are $3.99 an ad would cost over $1150.00
> or am I reading them wrong?


Is that discounted??
Bookbub wants to advertise your book at a discounted price. So for a 3.99 book, I'd discount it to .99 cents and leave it there a few days to stay active on their page. The pricing changes based on genre and discount. For Coffee and Tears I am dropping from 3.99 to .99 with the selected genre women's fiction so my cost is much lower than say Mystery and Thrillers.


----------



## JRTomlin

Gennita Low said:


> I think they keep raising the price to discourage submissions from everyone looking for ad space, at least for now. From what I gather, they're inundated right now, which is great for them, but bad for us because we'll be priced out. $420 is a scary bill!


I agree that they are in a position of not caring if price rises discourage submissions. They turned down one of my submissions specifically (according to their email) because they had too many submissions. They said they would love to advertise it but simply couldn't accept more fantasies.


----------



## Not Here Anymore

Checking in with my Bookbub results in the M/T category. I marked Elusive down to 99 cents. The ad ran Tuesday. By Wednesday, I'd broken even--so glad! (It was the most expensive advertising I'd ever done.) Couple of things FWIW: Elusive has never been in Select and I'd never priced it below $2.99. 

I topped out at #116 in the paid Kindle store, #5 in the Women Sleuth subcategory, #7 on the Movers and Shakers list (up 55,258%--love that stat!), and my author rank went up to #39 in the Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery. So great visibility. 

Also had a big jump in sales on Nook and iTunes, just a smattering on Kobo, and a single lonely sale on Smashwords. 

I was also picked up for an ENT bargain book listing Wed. I applied for it way before the Bookbub ad and it was a coincidence that the ads ran back to back. I was surprised Bookbub picked me up as they'd said 'no thanks' before. Got a boost from the ENT ad as well, but nothing like Bookbub. Don't have the final numbers on that ad yet.

The sales are tapering off, but I'm hoping to see a boost in sales of book #2 in the next weeks and months, although I'm still hanging in there at #15 in Women Sleuth and still in the top 100 Authors in Mystery. 

Overall, very happy with Bookbub!


----------



## morgan_n

Mark Dawson said:


> As a side-note, I used D2D to fire up the book onto everything bar Kobo and Amazon and I have been very impressed indeed.


What's D2D?


----------



## Mark Dawson

Draft 2 Digital - a new alternative to Smashwords. There's a useful thread on it.


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## Not Here Anymore

Here's the link to the thread:

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,137808.0/topicseen.html


----------



## Mark Dawson

Thanks, Sara. Terribly lazy of me!


----------



## Robena

[The sales are tapering off, but I'm hoping to see a boost in sales of book #2 in the next weeks and months, although I'm still hanging in there at #15 in Women Sleuth and still in the top 100 Authors in Mystery.

Overall, very happy with Bookbub!

[/quote]

Thanks for sharing, Sara. I'll purchase an ad to coincide with my full release.


----------



## Not Here Anymore

Good luck with it, Robena! 

Not lazy, Mark. I just happened to have it bookmarked.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Gennita Low said:


> Whoa, I just checked, I sold 141 on iTunes yesterday! That's from 3 sold since beginning of March. This is what I'm talking about!
> 
> Okay, Good Friday, everyone! Off to work.
> 
> Brian S., I'll pick up your book tomorrow to add to my collection .


Outstanding, Gennita! I have a feeling I better climb aboard the BB bandwagon before its prices reach further into the stratosphere. I love that your promotion also helped your other books.


----------



## Cheryl Douglas

I just booked another one for the end of April. I have to reduce the price on this one through SW. Judging by most responses in this thread, it looks like one week should be enough time. Has anyone had it take longer for a SW price reduction to appear on other sites? I just want to make sure I give myself enough time. Thanks!


----------



## Mark Dawson

One thing to add - I'm a UK writer and I have always had more success with sales in the UK than US. Don't know why. BookBub has had a massive effect on US sales but almost no effect on the UK. Their list must be skewed almost exclusively to the US.


----------



## morgan_n

Mark Dawson said:


> Draft 2 Digital - a new alternative to Smashwords. There's a useful thread on it.


Thanks. I might try it with a book I'm having nightmares trying to format for Smashwords. OK everybody: back to the Bookbub topic now


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Just requested a date for the first book in my series.


----------



## Gennita Low

Harriet Schultz said:


> Outstanding, Gennita! I have a feeling I better climb aboard the BB bandwagon before its prices reach further into the stratosphere. I love that your promotion also helped your other books.


Definitely seeing some good bumps. Not great, about 50-80 of the other three in the series. Although sales are slowing down and I'm tumbling down the list, I did get another 400 sales. Overall, Hunter sold over 2100 copies (two days).

I'm now trying to get the other platforms (esp. Kobo, which just HATES ME) to change back to my regular price before changing it at KDP. If I do it all at once, KDP sends me one of those scolding emails. ;-P


----------



## B.A. Spangler

My Bookbub ad went out this morning. Trying to write, but find I'm distracted and hitting refresh… a lot.


----------



## Mark Dawson

A little bit of additional info. The ad went out on the 28th.

Sales were as follows: 

28 - Amazon, 612 
29 - Amazon, 353
30 - Amazon, 83

Over the three days, B&N has totaled 922, with 165 on Apple and a handful at Kobo.

Very happy indeed.


----------



## Gennita Low

DDark said:


> How were your results on B&N? I have NEVER had any luck selling there, and now my book is on the top 100. Also worth noting, Nook readers will purchase the sequels with the first title whereas Amazon shoppers will not. In fact, my other two books are climbing the charts as a result.
> 
> Your book is on my also boughts now, btw. Kind of fun, because this may actually help expand the title to new readers since I always had the same books/authors on there before.


I sold about 500 on BN. Like you, I never sell there until Bookbub. Last run, I sold over 1000 there, this run is less because Hunter has been free before on Kindle and maybe readers already picked it up via Kindle. I went to #4 the last run too but this time was around 30-40, maybe higher.

Itunes and Kobo gave me another 200 sales.

And yay on the also-boughts. I hope you and I get a bunch of sales of our other books .


----------



## B.A. Spangler

Sales are going string with my Bookbub ad today.

With sales slowing, I'm guessing the numbers below are Peak:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #107 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Family Life
#6 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Domestic Life
#8 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Coming of Age

Still cannot seem to break that Top 100 barrier. So Close!!


----------



## B.A. Spangler

Brian Spangler said:


> Sales are going string with my Bookbub ad today.
> 
> With sales slowing, I'm guessing the numbers below are Peak:
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #107 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> #5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Family Life
> #6 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Domestic Life
> #8 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Coming of Age
> 
> Still cannot seem to break that Top 100 barrier. So Close!!


Correction - Actually broke the Top 100 for a few hours overnight, reaching #95. 
I didn't get a screen shot of it but used KND's EBookTracker. Glad I had that open and watching.


----------



## Guest

I wonder: Has anybody used BB to promote a scifi book, and how has it worked out? I'm trying to keep up the momentum of my Tears of Orion...


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Although my novels are romantic suspense, based on the "also boughts," most of my readers buy romances. BB has offered a spot in mystery/thrillers since they believe my book fits there. 

Have any romantic suspense writers taken that route with them? Has it worked? As much as I want one of their coveted listings, I wonder if I should spend (big) dollars on what may be the wrong genre for my book. Thanks for your advice.


----------



## L.T. Ryan

Harriet Schultz said:


> Although my novels are romantic suspense, based on the "also boughts," most of my readers buy romances. BB has offered a spot in mystery/thrillers since they believe my book fits there.
> 
> Have any romantic suspense writers taken that route with them? Has it worked? As much as I want one of their coveted listings, I wonder if I should spend (big) dollars on what may be the wrong genre for my book. Thanks for your advice.


There's a thread from January where Liliana Hart posted her results of a run in the Mystery & Thriller list with a romantic suspense. If I recall correctly, she hit #1 on B&N and maybe broke the top 10 on Amazon.


----------



## L.T. Ryan

SPBreit said:


> I wonder: Has anybody used BB to promote a scifi book, and how has it worked out? I'm trying to keep up the momentum of my Tears of Orion...


Subscribe to their mailer and select any categories you are interested in monitoring. You'll get an email from them every day. Save that email and when you get up the next day, look at where the books are ranking. Sci-fi and horror books tend to get close to the top 10 free and around top 100 paid @ $0.99.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

L.T. Ryan said:


> There's a thread from January where Liliana Hart posted her results of a run in the Mystery & Thriller list with a romantic suspense. If I recall correctly, she hit #1 on B&N and maybe broke the top 10 on Amazon.


Thanks. I'll scroll back and see if I can find it.


----------



## Sharebear

What time do these typically go out?
Waiting on pins and needles over here for my freebie today!


----------



## Harriet Schultz

So excited! I've booked a romance promo for early May!


----------



## Not Here Anymore

brinacourtney said:


> What time do these typically go out?
> Waiting on pins and needles over here for my freebie today!


I usually get an email from them in the early afternoon...11 to 2-ish East Coast time, but I'm sure it varies for different genre lists. Good luck!


----------



## JumpingShip

brinacourtney said:


> What time do these typically go out?
> Waiting on pins and needles over here for my freebie today!


I'm signed up for their Romance, and Mystery/Thriller lists and haven't received an email yet. It usually hits about mid-afternoon, I think. (Central Time)

I have a promo coming up Friday. I'm excited but also bummed because I can't have my book on any other place but Amazon. It's a duobook and one of the books is still in Select. It won't come out until late May. 

ETA: Just after I posted this, I received an email from KND's new service that is a clone of Bookbub, BookGorilla. I think I'm signed up for the same genres, so maybe that is part of BookGorilla's strategy--to beat Bookbub's email. ;-) Of course, they won't normally have the same books so it's not a big deal.


----------



## TexasGirl

BookGorilla isn't quite there yet. On the romance list, several people had terrible results. The emails are huge, with too many books listed, and you have to pay an extra $100 be a "starred" book. The most anyone has sold there is 50 copies, and at 35 cents per unit, it's a losing deal still since a base ad is $100.

KND hasn't had a good promo deal in a while now.


----------



## JumpingShip

BrinaCourtney--Bookbub just hit my mailbox. I hope you have your fingers all limbered up to refresh your reports.


----------



## LilianaHart

Several of us have a BookBub that went out today. It's a boxed set of 8 books with 8 different authors for .99, so I'm excited to see what happens with the book bub. We're only going to doing for a week, and we decided this might be a great marketing tool to draw more readers into the other books each of us have. We'll see if it works!

The ad went out about 11am and it's #92 at BN and #50 at Amazon. I'll keep you updated.


----------



## Elizabeth Ann West

For those of you griping about the cost of Bookbub's ads, go take a look at the MONTHLY cost of using Mailchimp with 1,000,000 subscribers. http://mailchimp.com/pricing/ Keep in mind, that $4,623 price allows you to send 13.2 million emails in one month and they're emailing everyone basically daily. So they're more in the 30 million+ emails sent per month, which would be a higher charge.

I have no affiliation with Bookbub, some might even say I'm a "competitor" though I don't look at it that way. I will say as my business has grown, expenses have scaled up as well, which is what happens. But it get's scarier too because none of us know how long this will all last or when things will change etc.

I am just saying that I understand their need to carefully protect their system of doing things, balancing reader needs with author needs, and preparing for leaner times when they still have bills to pay to keep the business open should a major shift occur in their revenue streams.

On the surface, things can look like gouging, but as indies are moving more and more book units, there are very real infrastructure costs to the bigger service providers where it comes to marketing, editing, cover art, etc. It takes people to handle orders, to fulfill orders, to make sure the parts of the system that are automated run smoothly. It takes money to keep that all running, money that individual authors alone couldn't sustain. Even an author with multiple books out would only see a finite amount of sales from 1 million subscribers, and then is stuck with the bill every month he or she doesn't have a new release to get them to buy. Something like Bookbub, and many of the other advertising sites only make sense when the costs can be spread out across authors.

Just thought I'd point that out....


----------



## Anne Frasier

Mark Dawson said:


> One thing to add - I'm a UK writer and I have always had more success with sales in the UK than US. Don't know why. BookBub has had a massive effect on US sales but almost no effect on the UK. Their list must be skewed almost exclusively to the US.


i noticed that too. pretty much nuthin' in the UK.

also, those B&N and iTunes sales don't stick even if the sales numbers are fairly large.


----------



## Sharebear

Thanks for the info ya'll.
My update is I am now closing in on 4k downloads and I'm 49 in the free store, 103 in iBooks
I'll let ya know tomorrow full results!


----------



## otterific

I have a bookbub promo on April 14th at $0.99. How soon should I change my prices on iTunes and Kobo (I'd be going through D2D).


----------



## LilianaHart

Woohoo! The BookBub ad today put our TO DIE FOR boxed set at #1 at B&N, #4 at Apple, and #18 at Amazon  I love BookBub!


----------



## Gennita Low

LilianaHart said:


> Woohoo! The BookBub ad today put our TO DIE FOR boxed set at #1 at B&N, #4 at Apple, and #18 at Amazon  I love BookBub!


Very, very cool, Liliana! I'm so excited for you!


----------



## Harriet Schultz

LilianaHart said:


> Woohoo! The BookBub ad today put our TO DIE FOR boxed set at #1 at B&N, #4 at Apple, and #18 at Amazon  I love BookBub!


That's great! Bought it.


----------



## KC75

I used Bookbub for CRUXIM for the first time on the 31st March. The results have been astonishing. More than 15000 books given away and more than 150 sales within 24 hours. And it has skyrocketed me up in my categories. I'm very impressed and easily made my money back. I will certainly use it again in future.


----------



## MegHarris

I see that _To Die For_ is all the way up to #5 in the Kindle store. Yay for you guys!


----------



## Gennita Low

MegHarris said:


> I see that _To Die For_ is all the way up to #5 in the Kindle store. Yay for you guys!


Amazing. Now I want to do a box set!


----------



## MegHarris

> Amazing. Now I want to do a box set!


Me too. I imagine it would be complicated, though; you'd have to set it up as a publisher, and distribute royalties, and fill out tax forms, and all that stuff. Yikes. Looks like it could be worth the trouble, though!


----------



## LilianaHart

All I can say is that we're very fortunate that Dorien Kelly is an attorney and Jana DeLeon is a CPA. It's a very complicated process.


----------



## Gennita Low

MegHarris said:


> Me too. I imagine it would be complicated, though; you'd have to set it up as a publisher, and distribute royalties, and fill out tax forms, and all that stuff. Yikes. Looks like it could be worth the trouble, though!


New account, A FEIN #, a 1065 at the end of the year, and a few 1099-INTs. Oh, and a biz bank acct .


----------



## 48306

LilianaHart said:


> All I can say is that we're very fortunate that Dorien Kelly is an attorney and Jana DeLeon is a CPA. It's a very complicated process.


But it looks like it's paying off! Yay for you ladies!


----------



## TexasGirl

I love how well it's doing for you all! Yay! I meant to put together one of these box sets for summer, but looking like Halloween for me now.

If you already have a publishing company set up, it's not nearly so hard. I have an LLC and multiple authors already, so doing a box set like this doesn't scare me.

Eight books is a lot! Quite a deal for readers!


----------



## trublue

otterific said:


> I have a bookbub promo on April 14th at $0.99. How soon should I change my prices on iTunes and Kobo (I'd be going through D2D).


I did it and it took only two or three days to get new price to show up if you're on smash words.
Kobo takes only a few hours normally. But if you change your price on other sites, amazon will price match so be ready for that.good luck


----------



## Not Here Anymore

otterific said:


> I have a bookbub promo on April 14th at $0.99. How soon should I change my prices on iTunes and Kobo (I'd be going through D2D).


I'd read about some authors having a hard time getting their price changed on itunes, so I lowered my price to 99 cents everywhere 1 week before. I used D2D for itunes, direct with everyone else. The price change went through everywhere in a couple of hours. Don't know if it was a fluke or if all changes go that fast now. Probably a once in a life time event. Good luck!


----------



## teashopgirl

I did a BookBub ad yesterday to promo a free run of Notes to Self. It worked very well! I've given away almost 9000 books in a single day and arrived at #14 in the overall Free store. Yay! Today is another free day, so I hope I can maintain a high rank.


----------



## JRTomlin

_A Kingdom's Cost _ is reduced to 99 cents for today and tomorrow for my Bookbub promotion. I didn't think the email had even gone out yet but sales have gone from 39 last night to 149, so I assume that it has. Of course, that is Amazon. I won't know the B&N and Apple sales for a couple of days since they lag in my experience. I'll post when the promotion is over.


----------



## JRTomlin

I still don't have updated sales numbers of B&N and Apple so I have no clue what those are like. On Amazon as of a few minutes ago, A Kingdom's Cost had garnered 847 sales since yesterday morning. Last night it hit the best ranking of this promotion at #174 in the Kindle shop and it has been at #2 and #3 in its categories. The ad cost $180 by the way. So from my point of view any sales on the other retailers are strictly gravy. 

My question, of course, is whether it will boost sales of the other novels and whether higher sales will have some staying power. The sales of Books #2 & #3 have been steady but I can't say they've gone up so far. 

ETA: 129 sales on Apple where I had never had a sale before.


----------



## theaatkinson

That's awesome JT. I have an ad coming out May 1 I think, so I'm anxious to see if I make back my 180...although the exposure on the other sites is what I'm really gunning for, so any BN, Kobo, and Apple sales will make me happy.


----------



## JRTomlin

theaatkinson said:


> That's awesome JT. I have an ad coming out May 1 I think, so I'm anxious to see if I make back my 180...although the exposure on the other sites is what I'm really gunning for, so any BN, Kobo, and Apple sales will make me happy.


That was one of my main goals as well although Amazon is always important to me since that's where most of my money comes from.

My B&N sales finally updated and ended up at 324. By the end of the promotion I had 1005 sales on Amazon, 129 on Apple. So that gives a total of 1338 spread over the three retailers.

That more than met my expectations. 

ETA: Good luck with your ad.


----------



## Gennita Low

JRTomlin said:


> That was one of my main goals as well although Amazon is always important to me since that's where most of my money comes from.
> 
> My B&N sales finally updated and ended up at 324. By the end of the promotion I had 1005 sales on Amazon, 129 on Apple. So that gives a total of 1338 spread over the three retailers.
> 
> That more than met my expectations.
> 
> ETA: Good luck with your ad.


Great numbers! Glad everything went smoothly. Bookbub accepted my book for May so I'm crossing my fingers since they raised their prices again. Each time they do that, another 100 books need to be sold before I see some $$$. ;-P


----------



## mjstorm

Does anyone know what the "critical acclaim" threshold to get a listing on Bookbub is? I just got rejected, and given that I know they didn't read the book I'm wondering what number of reviews & ratings they want. They haven't responded to my question so I thought I'd throw it out here. I've got twelve reviews on Amazon, all but one are 5-star. (And none were written by my mother).

Thanks,

- MJS


----------



## JRTomlin

mjstorm said:


> Does anyone know what the "critical acclaim" threshold to get a listing on Bookbub is? I just got rejected, and given that I know they didn't read the book I'm wondering what number of reviews & ratings they want. They haven't responded to my question so I thought I'd throw it out here. I've got twelve reviews on Amazon, all but one are 5-star. (And none were written by my mother).
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> - MJS


They seem to be more likely to accept an ad from someone who has at least several books out. That is just an observation, but I have seen a lot more people who had ads turned down who only had one book out. Beyond that, it is really hard to tell. Sometimes they just have too many ads already ordered to take a particular genre and I have a feeling they don't like to show their subscribers too many books that seem similar, but prefer to mix things up. I have had at least one novel turned down, so don't take it to mean they'll never accept an ad. I'd try again once you have a few more reviews.


----------



## theaatkinson

JRTomlin said:


> That was one of my main goals as well although Amazon is always important to me since that's where most of my money comes from.
> 
> My B&N sales finally updated and ended up at 324. By the end of the promotion I had 1005 sales on Amazon, 129 on Apple. So that gives a total of 1338 spread over the three retailers.
> 
> That more than met my expectations.
> 
> ETA: Good luck with your ad.


HOLY cow! That's amazing. THanks for the wish of good fortune; I'll post back for data purposes.


----------



## Rachel Schurig

I searched back a few pages and didn't see anyone mention Women's Fiction. Has anyone booked an ad in that genre? I submitted to them for Romance for the first book in my Three Girls series and they emailed back suggesting I go for WF instead. They say that is typically where they put chick lit. It's quite a bit cheaper but the list isn't nearly as big. Has anyone had success listing a WF book?


----------



## KOwrites

Rachel Schurig said:


> I searched back a few pages and didn't see anyone mention Women's Fiction. Has anyone booked an ad in that genre? I submitted to them for Romance for the first book in my Three Girls series and they emailed back suggesting I go for WF instead. They say that is typically where they put chick lit. It's quite a bit cheaper but the list isn't nearly as big. Has anyone had success listing a WF book?


I have! I just did a Women's Fiction ad with my novel, _When I See You_ on March 28th. It went great. The book is available on Amazon, B & N, Apple iBooks, and Kobo. I hit the best sellers list for the Amazon #80 Top 100 Kindle , B & N #5 Nook under Contemporary Romance, and Apple #16 Contemporary Romance after the ad ran. (From $3.99 to $0.99 from 3/28/13 to 04/04/13).

This was the best run I have had with sales and ranks. I did a romance ad with them with my other novel _Seeing Julia_. It did well and I made my money back because I sold on Apple and B & N, but this last run even in the women's fiction category was quite good. The sales high lasted about a week. (I also did it intentionally at the end of the month so that it would give me some lift into this one which it did for the first week...esp. Amazon.) Hope that helps and let me know if you need more info.

EDITED to add:

3/28/13 end of day
Amazon - 1088
Apple iBooks - 202
B&N - 459

Sales were higher for the next week... 200+ sales on Amazon, 100+ on B & N, 90+ on Apple, Kobo not so much (I sold 30 since 3/28, but that's more than I ever have...)


----------



## Rachel Schurig

Katherine Owen said:


> I have! I just did a Women's Fiction ad with my novel, _When I See You_ on March 28th. It went great. The book is available on Amazon, B & N, Apple iBooks, and Kobo. I hit the best sellers list for the Amazon #80 Top 100 Kindle , B & N #5 Nook under Contemporary Romance, and Apple #16 Contemporary Romance after the ad ran. (From $3.99 to $0.99 from 3/28/13 to 04/04/13).
> 
> This was the best run I have had with sales and ranks. I did a romance ad with them with my other novel _Seeing Julia_. It did well and I made my money back because I sold on Apple and B & N, but this last run even in the women's fiction category was quite good. The sales high lasted about a week. (I also did it intentionally at the end of the month so that it would give me some lift into this one which it did for the first week...esp. Amazon.) Hope that helps and let me know if you need more info.
> 
> EDITED to add:
> 
> 3/28/13 end of day
> Amazon - 1088
> Apple iBooks - 202
> B&N - 459
> 
> Sales were higher for the next week... 200+ sales on Amazon, 100+ on B & N, 90+ on Apple, Kobo not so much (I sold 30 since 3/28, but that's more than I ever have...)


Awesome! Congrats on your success and thanks so much for sharing the numbers. It's really nice to know people still get good results on the cheaper lists. I booked the Women's Fic spot with them for May. Fingers are crossed!


----------



## ChrisWard

Rachel Schurig said:


> Awesome! Congrats on your success and thanks so much for sharing the numbers. It's really nice to know people still get good results on the cheaper lists. I booked the Women's Fic spot with them for May. Fingers are crossed!


Out of interest, if you're going through Smashwords is there any way to know how many you've sold in the other outlets? I've got a BB promo with Bookbub going out on Mon but because I'm a Brit all my other outlets are through SW and it'll kind of suck if I have to guess based on the rankings.


----------



## Kathy Clark Author

I tried once but got rejected.  The book just won Best Indie YA fiction for 2013 and was a finalist in the Beverly Hills Book Award for 2013 so I was a little miffed.  They didn't explain why but I am  sure we exceeded all their criteria by a mile.

Then today, I was notified that another request for the same book I submitted after they wouldn't tell me the specific criteria that it didn't meet a week earlier, was approved for a slightly different date range.  I gave them the latitude to alter the dates and they did.

I guess I'm excited. It will be a reduced price offering of the first book in the CUL8R Time Travel Mystery series.  I've got other experiments running such as no advertising, KBoards, ENT and Pixels in ink.  We'll see which works best.


----------



## BlankPage

_Comment removed due to VS TOS 25/9/2018_


----------



## cblewgolf

Great results, Estelle!  Hope it has staying power.


----------



## martyinmaui

I've gone back several pages and haven't seen any reference to nonfiction. Obviously Bookbub is a great resource for fiction, but I primarily write about personal growth (resilience, life design, etc.) and just wondering if anyone has had experience with this genre. Thanks!


----------



## ToniD

Had a .99 BB ad yesterday for Volcano Watch, in Mystery/Thriller. So far, 1100 sales, which pleases me greatly! The ad runs through Monday; I'll report back with final numbers then.

I'll need another 3-400 sales to pay for the ad! Kinda crazy.


----------



## Alan Petersen

ToniD said:


> Had a .99 BB ad yesterday for Volcano Watch, in Mystery/Thriller. So far, 1100 sales, which pleases me greatly! The ad runs through Monday; I'll report back with final numbers then.
> 
> I'll need another 3-400 sales to pay for the ad! Kinda crazy.


Just saw you at the top of police procedurals, congrats! You're preventing a Konrath sweep of the top five.


----------



## ToniD

Thanks Alan.

I feel like a road boulder in there!


----------



## David Thayer

Toni, nice job, congratulations.


----------



## ToniD

Thank you David


----------



## JRTomlin

I must admit, their prices give me a headache. I just paid $320 for a May promotion so that's no surprise. Ouch! 

But they work where not much else does.


----------



## Gennita Low

Bookbub is my way to get traction on BN.


----------



## JRTomlin

Gennita Low said:


> Bookbub is my way to get traction on BN.


Agreed. So far, it's the only way I've found to boost sales there. Not as big a boost as they give me on Amazon, but a boost nonetheless.


----------



## Gennita Low

JRTomlin said:


> Agreed. So far, it's the only way I've found to boost sales there. Not as big a boost as they give me on Amazon, but a boost nonetheless.


I'm back to selling less than 10 a day at BN across all titles so next month, Bookbubbing again .


----------



## Onedayatatime

I have a bookbub ad coming out tomorrow in the romance category. I paid $400 so I am really hoping that it pays off!!

I'll update with my results tomorrow!


----------



## N. Gemini Sasson

Gennita Low said:


> Bookbub is my way to get traction on BN.


This is what I'm hoping for. I've never been able to sell more than a couple of books a day there. Yesterday was my BB ad for Isabeau. So far I have 242 sales on B&N. It's currently at #40 overall in the Nook store.

1010 sales on Amazon.com for the first day. I saw it at #103 overall in Kindle at about 6 a.m. today, but my husband swears he saw it at #100. I should have told him to get a screenshot.

Still waiting for Apple to update via D2D. 110 sales reported for Apple! Gosh, I'm sure I haven't sold that many there the whole time I've been on Apple.

Even though I changed the price with my distributor six days ago, Kobo never did update the price, but that was the site I was the least concerned about.


----------



## Gennita Low

Fantastic results! Congrats.

Getting Kobo and Apple to change the price on time can be a harrowing experience, I tell you!



N. Gemini Sasson said:


> This is what I'm hoping for. I've never been able to sell more than a couple of books a day there. Yesterday was my BB ad for Isabeau. So far I have 242 sales on B&N. It's currently at #40 overall in the Nook store.
> 
> 1010 sales on Amazon.com for the first day. I saw it at #103 overall in Kindle at about 6 a.m. today, but my husband swears he saw it at #100. I should have told him to get a screenshot.
> 
> Still waiting for Apple to update via D2D. 110 sales reported for Apple! Gosh, I'm sure I haven't sold that many there the whole time I've been on Apple.
> 
> Even though I changed the price with my distributor six days ago, Kobo never did update the price, but that was the site I was the least concerned about.


----------



## N. Gemini Sasson

Gennita Low said:


> Fantastic results! Congrats.
> 
> Getting Kobo and Apple to change the price on time can be a harrowing experience, I tell you!


So far I've had good luck with Apple making changes. And before this, Kobo had been decently quick, but not this time. I've had problems with Sony before, so since I do them through Smashwords, I didn't even bother changing the price there. The big pain is when you want to raise the price back up and it's stuck somewhere, so Amazon keeps price matching.

Anyway, I'm very pleased with the results. 1 1/2 days in and I have 1100 on Amazon, 300 sales on B&N and 110 on Apple. Tomorrow is a KBT ad for the same book.


----------



## MegHarris

I had a Bookbub ad go up midday on an older (2010) contemporary romance under my other name. Here are my results so far:

Amazon: 1054 copies sold, ranked at #249 (started at #104,000 and went down to #108,000 before rising), #83 in contemporary romance

B&N: 290 copies sold, ranked at #126 in the overall store (started at over #500,000)

iTunes: Can't track copies sold, but am ranked at #16 in contemporary romance, #21 in romance and #47 in books

No sales on ARe and only one on Smashwords. No significant spillover to my other books under that name as of yet.

I think I'll make the ad cost back easily. I did already get a two-star review complaining that the reader had thought the bare chest on the cover belonged to a black guy, and were disappointed to find it was about a blond Caucasian guy. Presumably they were looking for an African-American romance *shrugs*. I don't personally think the cover dude looks anything other than tan, but he'll be leaving anyway. I've been planning on replacing the cover, but didn't dare once Bookbub had approved it "as was."

I am pleased with the results, and will hope for a wee bit of "stickiness."

ETA: Just jumped to #62 in the Amazon store. 62!!! I don't believe I've ever hit the top 100 before. I may start a thread to do some rump dancing.


----------



## Gennita Low

Rump dancing here with you, Meg! I hope to do as well as you next month!


----------



## kdarden

Is BookBub worth it for books that are ONLY on Amazon (and not anywhere else)?


----------



## Gennita Low

kdarden said:


> Is BookBub worth it for books that are ONLY on Amazon (and not anywhere else)?


If you're in Select, yes, esp. if you're promoting one book of a series.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

I love watching the numbers and obvious glee of people who have used Bookbub and I'm getting so excited about my Bookbub promo starting May 2. 

Question: Where do you publicize the promo other than your blog and FB or do you just let the Bookbub listing do it for you?


----------



## Jonathan C. Gillespie

Now that _Revenant Man_ has four good reviews, I subbed again. Fingers crossed.


----------



## TexasGirl

Waiting until my second book is out for my pen name to submit my first book to BB. That will happen next week. First book has 20 reviews. Fingers crossed that they take it!


----------



## Tony Bertauski

Bookbub... I'm a bublieber. Ran a 0.99 sale yesterday. 

>400 on Amazon
>150 on BN
>5 on Kobo (bit sad, yeah, but 5 more than 0)

The paid sales ran the book up the ranks, top 5 in its categories. Compared to other promo sites for the same book (Halfskin), it killed. Not even close. I'll be running a Bookbub ad as often as they let me because I'm a bublieber.


----------



## Gennita Low

What category, TBert?

Glad you got good numbers! And LOL at "bublieber." I think I'll use that next time!


----------



## Tony Bertauski

Gennita, rankings still seem to holding. Hit #300 on Kindle store, overall. Which is nice.

#5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Science Fiction > High Tech
#5 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > High Tech
#8 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Psychological Thrillers


----------



## ElHawk

I definitely think BookBub is worth the money.  I have a wedding to pay for, but once that's all wrapped up, I'm going to be buying a couple of ads (one for each pen name.)


----------



## Not Here Anymore

Gennita Low said:


> I'm back to selling less than 10 a day at BN across all titles so next month, Bookbubbing again .


Gennita, how often are you able to apply for an ad at Bookbub? I thought they would only feature an author once every 3 months??


----------



## Tony Bertauski

Sara, you can advertise a book every 30 days. However, the same book can only be advertised every 90 days.


----------



## MH Sargent

This week BookBub voluntarily promoted my perma free book, Seven Days From Sunday, in their Action & Adventure category.

Of course, I had no idea that they had done this, I just looked at my ranking in the afternoon, which had been at about 800, and suddenly it was about 112. I knew someone was talking about it, but I had no idea who. It shot up to #10 overall the next day, and right now it is at 42.

Then I got an email from them.

Dear MH,

I'm with a daily deals website called BookBub. Every day, authors, publishers, and book retailers pay us to promote their discounted eBooks to our 1,000,000+ email subscribers.

Occasionally, when we have extra space in our daily email, we give away a free promotion to an author or publisher in the hope that they have a good experience and may want to advertise with us in the future.

Yesterday we selected you for a free advertisement, so Seven Days from Sunday was featured in our daily deals email and sent to the 160,000+ people who opted in for our "Action & Adventure" category.

We hope that you found this free advertising helpful, and that you'd consider purchasing a listing in the future.

Total Amazon downloads: just over 20,000 in 3 days. 
Kobo - no idea, since they don't report free books
B & N - 5 books.

Will I consider advertising with them? You bet!


----------



## Alan Petersen

MH Sargent said:


> This week BookBub voluntarily promoted my perma free book, Seven Days From Sunday, in their Action & Adventure category.
> 
> Of course, I had no idea that they had done this, I just looked at my ranking in the afternoon, which had been at about 800, and suddenly it was about 112. I knew someone was talking about it, but I had no idea who. It shot up to #10 overall the next day, and right now it is at 42.
> 
> Then I got an email from them.
> 
> Dear MH,
> 
> I'm with a daily deals website called BookBub. Every day, authors, publishers, and book retailers pay us to promote their discounted eBooks to our 1,000,000+ email subscribers.
> 
> Occasionally, when we have extra space in our daily email, we give away a free promotion to an author or publisher in the hope that they have a good experience and may want to advertise with us in the future.
> 
> Yesterday we selected you for a free advertisement, so Seven Days from Sunday was featured in our daily deals email and sent to the 160,000+ people who opted in for our "Action & Adventure" category.
> 
> We hope that you found this free advertising helpful, and that you'd consider purchasing a listing in the future.
> 
> Total Amazon downloads: just over 20,000 in 3 days.
> Kobo - no idea, since they don't report free books
> B & N - 5 books.
> 
> Will I consider advertising with them? You bet!


That's awesome. BookBub turns down a lot of ad requests, so that's an impressive feat that they reached out to you!


----------



## Not Here Anymore

Tbert204 said:


> Sara, you can advertise a book every 30 days. However, the same book can only be advertised every 90 days.


Thanks for the clarification. That's great news! Now I just have to get some more reviews...

MH Sargent, you're a lucky guy. Enjoy the Bookbub effect!


----------



## Stephen T. Harper

I have my first one coming up May 7th.  So far they’ve been great to work with.  I wanted to put King’s X under Mystery and Thriller because that’s a bigger category.  They said they were fine with that, but actually talked me into trying it out in Fantasy, which costs less than a third.  It also reaches less the a third, but I was impressed that they didn’t seem to be after the money, but rather creating a good match of product and customer.  If I like the results I have the option of reaching out to the larger audience later.  I’m looking forward to it.


----------



## TexasGirl

I think, though, that sometimes they suggest a different category because that is what they have available. Some of the shifts have not been a good fit.


----------



## Stephen T. Harper

TexasGirl said:


> I think, though, that sometimes they suggest a different category because that is what they have available. Some of the shifts have not been a good fit.


Maybe so. But they did offer the same days for the one I originally wanted too. I figured they might be trying to fill out the ranks of smaller categories, but they definitely left it up to me offered any cat for the dates I wanted.


----------



## Gennita Low

Sara Rosett said:


> Gennita, how often are you able to apply for an ad at Bookbub? I thought they would only feature an author once every 3 months??


What Tbert says. Usually they say no if you're want to sell your Select book in the 99ct category, esp. if it's been free the same year.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Based on the outstanding results I've been reading about on this thread, I bought a Bookbub promo for Legacy of the Highlands, the first book in my two-part series. It's contemporary romantic suspense and Bookbub wanted to list it in thrillers, but agreed to place it in romance since it's clear that my "also boughts" are romance readers.  The 4-day promo starts tomorrow. So excited and will post results.


----------



## theaatkinson

my ad for Water Witch goes out today, and the folks there have been wonderful with communication. But I thought I'd give a useful tip to other Canadians who are using kobo writing life that it is impossible because of the exchange to get it set to the $.99 threshold that bookbub needs to see in the US. When I sent it to $.99 it shows as one dollar USD and I can't go below the $.99 threshold in order for the USD amount to show as 99. So it's something you should keep in mind when deciding whether to lower it there.


----------



## Mark E. Cooper

I just received my confirmation email from Bookbub. This thread made me try a promo with them for the first time and I'm looking forward to seeing the results. So, here's hoping May 2nd is a big day. With sales reports all fresh with only a half dozen or so sales on the board, it should be really easy to see a swing either way.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

markecooper said:


> I just received my confirmation email from Bookbub. This thread made me try a promo with them for the first time and I'm looking forward to seeing the results. So, here's hoping May 2nd is a big day. With sales reports all fresh with only a half dozen or so sales on the board, it should be really easy to see a swing either way.


Good luck. Our promos start on the same day.


----------



## Mark E. Cooper

Harriet Schultz said:


> Good luck. Our promos start on the same day.


Thanks for the good wishes. Good luck with your promo as well.


----------



## EmilyG

Bookbub rocks! After an amazing day of downloads, _A Pledge of Silence_ is currently *#1 Free in Kindle Store*!


----------



## Harriet Schultz

EmilyG said:


> Bookbub rocks! After an amazing day of downloads, _A Pledge of Silence_ is currently *#1 Free in Kindle Store*!


That's great, Emily. Congratulations!

It's noon EST and I'm still waiting for Bookbub to send out my listing to subscribers (it's in romance and I'm on their mailing list for that genre so I'll know when others receive it). Anxious to watch what happens.


----------



## Atunah

I got my email an hour ago, which is early for me to get it. I am subscribed to romance.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Atunah said:


> I got my email an hour ago, which is early for me to get it. I am subscribed to romance.


Was Legacy of the Highlands in the email you received


----------



## Mark E. Cooper

Atunah said:


> I got my email an hour ago, which is early for me to get it. I am subscribed to romance.


It has been about 2 hours since my offer went out from bookbub. Downloads just hit 3k.


----------



## Atunah

Harriet Schultz said:


> Was Legacy of the Highlands in the email you received


Yes it was.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Atunah said:


> Yes it was.


Thank you! Can you hear my big sigh of relief? Now I have to leave my house so I can stop obsessing about this!


----------



## Mark E. Cooper

Half way through first day of the promo and downloads are over 9000 now. I hope they read and like the book. Be a bit gutted if they don't like it.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

My promo is for a paid book-- $0.99 instead of its regular $1.99. I've sold close to 2000, mostly on Amazon, but enough on B & N to put me on their list at #33. Plus, some people are also buying my new book at its $2.99 price. I've made back the cost of the ad, plus. Bookbub is amazing!


Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Mystery & Suspense > Suspense
#6 in Books > Romance > Romantic Suspense
#15 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers


----------



## Mark E. Cooper

Harriet Schultz said:


> My promo is for a paid book-- $0.99 instead of its regular $1.99. I've sold close to 2000, mostly on Amazon, but enough on B & N to put me on their list at #33. Plus, some people are also buying my new book at its $2.99 price. I've made back the cost of the ad, plus. Bookbub is amazing!
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> #5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Mystery & Suspense > Suspense
> #6 in Books > Romance > Romantic Suspense
> #15 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers


That's great news. My promo was for my perma free book. It's the first in a series so I'm hoping sales will come with books 2 and 3. Downloads are 9500 at Kindle and 843 at apple. None reported at Kobo but they might simply be slow in reporting.

Ranking is #14 overall in free list and #1 in all its categories. The category thing is misleading though as it was already #2 and #3 before the promo.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

markecooper said:


> That's great news. My promo was for my perma free book. It's the first in a series so I'm hoping sales will come with books 2 and 3. Downloads are 9500 at Kindle and 843 at apple. None reported at Kobo but they might simply be slow in reporting.
> 
> Ranking is #14 overall in free list and #1 in all its categories. The category thing is misleading though as it was already #2 and #3 before the promo.


Nice! I hope it boosts sales for your paid books. You'll know in the next month or two.


----------



## theaatkinson

theaatkinson said:


> my ad for Water Witch goes out today, and the folks there have been wonderful with communication. But I thought I'd give a useful tip to other Canadians who are using kobo writing life that it is impossible because of the exchange to get it set to the $.99 threshold that bookbub needs to see in the US. When I sent it to $.99 it shows as one dollar USD and I can't go below the $.99 threshold in order for the USD amount to show as 99. So it's something you should keep in mind when deciding whether to lower it there.


update:

Now, 3 days later, not only did kobo fail to shift the price in time for the ad, but now will NOT shift it back. I made zero sales on kobo and can't shift my price back to the regular 2.99 at amazon because it's still showing .99 at kobo. grrr.

BUT: this has been an amazing experience. sales of book 2 and 3 are up and increasing.

Very pleased with bookbub!!


----------



## Anne Frasier

theaatkinson said:


> update:
> 
> Now, 3 days later, not only did kobo fail to shift the price in time for the ad, but now will NOT shift it back. I made zero sales on kobo and can't shift my price back to the regular 2.99 at amazon because it's still showing .99 at kobo. grrr.
> 
> BUT: this has been an amazing experience. sales of book 2 and 3 are up and increasing.
> 
> Very pleased with bookbub!!


i've had same issue with kobo, and finally had to unpublish my book because the price wouldn't change.


----------



## theaatkinson

ayup. I've delisted it too, but it won't even do that. sigh. it's been stuck for two days.


----------



## Mark Dawson

I put Subpoena Colada up for a BB freebie post last week and was knocked out by how successful it was - it was just on Amazon, I shifted 30,000 freeloads and there has been an appreciable bounce since it has gone back to paid.

There's no question in my mind that BookBub is the best way to promote books at the moment. Good luck to those who have ads booked.


----------



## Gennita Low

Came back from RT conference to check on my favorite thread at KB. So glad many of you did great, free or .99ct sale!

My book will be on sale at .99cts on the 9th and 10th so it's time to bite my nails and hope all the prices change on time, etc. It'll be the first time Into Danger will be on sale at that price (it's never been free/in Select) so I'm crossing my fingers that I'll do as well as you all! The book being a romantic suspense, I bought a Romance ad so I'll need to sell 1500 copies to make back the investment. Wish me luck!


----------



## TexasGirl

Still waiting to hear from them. Sent in a request Friday morning... EEK!


----------



## Harriet Schultz

My four-day $0.99 promotion for Legacy of the Highlands (the first book in my two-book series) brought phenomenal results. I'm really happy with Bookbub although now that the book is back at its regular price, things will settle down. 

I sold 2600 books and, more important, more than 200 copies of the full-priced sequel. I'm hoping that a portion of those who bought the first book will buy the second over the next couple of months. Bookbub rocks!

(I had no problem with price changes on Kobo, but I publish to them, Apple and Barnes & Noble through Draft2Digital. The price changes only took hours).


----------



## Gennita Low

My Bookbub ad for Into Danger runs today!

Nervous, of course, and it's going to be frustrating because I'll be working on a roof most of the day where I can't get online :-/. This will be the first time I have AllRomanceEbooks in on the sale too, besides Amazon, BN, Kobo and iTunes. I hope I do well. April was blah and May is turning out to be Mayn't!

Will keep you informed!


----------



## BlankPage

_Comment removed due to VS TOS 25/9/2018_


----------



## Quiss

I've got a 99-cent special for Only Human on the 31st.
Never discounted before, so this is a First for me. I'm already biting my nails!

The Bookbub ad is on the 31st, but I'm running the 99-cent price into June 1st before changing back.
Should I keep it there longer?

Only Human is NOT the chronologically first book in the series but it works just fine as a stand-alone book, which it was intended to be originally.


----------



## Kwalker

Kobo is so frustrating about price changing. Do you go through Draft2Digital?

When I changed my price with them, I had to email Draft2Digital, who hounded Kobo until they finally delisted it because I couldn't change the price. Now it has been almost a month and they are having to hound them ago to relist it after a month of it not going through.

If Kobo didn't work to get Amazon to price match, I'd completely stop listing there, considering I've never sold a single book there.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Estelle Ryan said:


> Good luck, Gennita!! I'm sure you'll do more than well!
> 
> That's fantastic, Harriet! Those are good numbers. My Bookbub ad was on the 17th of April for Gauguin, the first in the series. Two weeks later sales for Dante, the second in the series started picking up. I'm sure you'll see the same results.


Thanks, Estelle. Sales are continuing even at regular price, so the exposure and higher ranking has a residual effect. I know from prior experience that it will fade away and I'll have to do something else. Promotion never ends! Good to know that the second book in your series got a boost since my whole purpose was to make readers aware of the sequel (even though the promotion was for book one).


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Quiss said:


> I've got a 99-cent special for Only Human on the 31st.
> Never discounted before, so this is a First for me. I'm already biting my nails!
> 
> The Bookbub ad is on the 31st, but I'm running the 99-cent price into June 1st before changing back.
> Should I keep it there longer?


I kept the price at 99 cents for four days (that was what my bookbub ad said too). The biggest numbers came on day one. I think three days at 99 cents would be what I'd do next time. Some people (I have no idea who THOSE people are) don't check their email every day and may not see the Bookbub promo on day one. Good luck!


----------



## MegHarris

I wanted to update. As I said a few pages ago, I had a Bookbub ad on a "regular" romance under another name on April 25, and lowered my price from $1.99 to 99 cents. The book quickly rose from the 100,000s all the way up to 57. As it descended, I also had an ENT ad (which they told me sold 148 copies) and a KBoards blog mention. Clearly most of my boost was from Bookbub, but the other mentions helped too. 

Two weeks later, the book is still selling on Amazon. I sold about 2000 copies in April, and have sold 219 in May, which is not bad when you consider I'd only sold three copies in April before the ads. The book is ranked about #6800, which again is quite good considering its prior ranking of above 100K. So for me, the results of the ad were fairly "sticky" on Amazon, though it didn't do much to move my other titles under that name. (I also sold a few hundred on B&N in April, but that rapidly tailed off, and the book no longer seems to be selling much there. I do best on B&N with my hot stuff.) I don't know about iTunes yet-- it hit the bestseller list for a few days there, but I have no way of knowing what that will amount to saleswise.


----------



## Margo Karasek

Harriet Schultz said:


> I kept the price at 99 cents for four days (that was what my bookbub ad said too). The biggest numbers came on day one. I think three days at 99 cents would be what I'd do next time. Some people (I have no idea who THOSE people are) don't check their email every day and may not see the Bookbub promo on day one. Good luck!


I did a slightly different strategy. My BookBub ran on 4/21 and I initially had the sale scheduled until 4/28 (that's what I told BookBub), but then I decided to experiment and keep the book at $.99 for longer. The move paid off because three days ago the book got featured by Pixel of Ink. I notified PoI of the initial 4/21 to 4/28 dates, but when they didn't take the book then, I never bothered to re-notify them of the extension. Imagine my surprise when PoI featured the book out of the blue.


----------



## TexasGirl

I got scheduled! I'll be mid June in Women's Fiction.

Seems like most everyone in romance sells 1200-2000 if you are 99 cents. I infamously did romance last fall at 1.99 and only sold 250, which didn't make back the price of the ad and didn't provide any lasting bump.

Won't make that mistake again!


----------



## Gennita Low

Night update of my Bookbub promo at 99cts.

Almost 1000 sold, and #13 on the Movers and Shakers list! Yeeha. I need to sell 200 more, I think, then everything is gravy. My goal has always been to get more buys at BN and iTunes so I'm hoping by tomorrow I'll be a happy girl .


----------



## Quiss

Gennita Low said:


> Night update of my Bookbub promo at 99cts.
> 
> Almost 1000 sold, and #13 on the Movers and Shakers list! Yeeha. I need to sell 200 more, I think, then everything is gravy. My goal has always been to get more buys at BN and iTunes so I'm hoping by tomorrow I'll be a happy girl .


Weeeeee, nice going!
I wonder how the 99-cent promo works for sci-fi. My ad costs $120.


----------



## Gennita Low

Quiss said:


> Weeeeee, nice going!
> I wonder how the 99-cent promo works for sci-fi. My ad costs $120.


Bookbub gives an average number of downloads on the graph where they show the prices for the ads for free/.99/1.99/2.99. So far, I've found their promise pretty accurate for the free and .99 ads. No idea for the other prices.

$120. Sigh. Last year, the romance ad cost that price and I made some good money after the cost of the ad was covered. Now, it's a nerve-wracking experience because I'm always afraid I can't sell over 1000!


----------



## CJArcher

TexasGirl said:


> I got scheduled! I'll be mid June in Women's Fiction.
> 
> Seems like most everyone in romance sells 1200-2000 if you are 99 cents. I infamously did romance last fall at 1.99 and only sold 250, which didn't make back the price of the ad and didn't provide any lasting bump.
> 
> Won't make that mistake again!


So how long did they take to get back to you? I filled out their form about 4 days ago and haven't heard back yet.

ETA: never mind, as soon as I posted this their email dropped into my Inbox. I'm approved!


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Margo Karasek said:


> I did a slightly different strategy. My BookBub ran on 4/21 and I initially had the sale scheduled until 4/28 (that's what I told BookBub), but then I decided to experiment and keep the book at $.99 for longer. The move paid off because three days ago the book got featured by Pixel of Ink. I notified PoI of the initial 4/21 to 4/28 dates, but when they didn't take the book then, I never bothered to re-notify them of the extension. Imagine my surprise when PoI featured the book out of the blue.


That's great...I notified POI about my four-day BookBub promo, but they didn't pick it up, so your strategy paid off.


----------



## Quiss

DDark said:


> I just think if they go too high, they're going to deter authors from using their service.


It certainly will deter those with a thin advertising budget. I suppose it depends on whether you're looking for immediate ROI or whether you're looking at those generated sales as a future investment - getting your book out there, reviews, sales of other titles.

My ad costs $120 and even if I sell at the top of their projected range for sci-fi, I'm looking at making about $350 from this venture. Not exactly paying the mortgage. However, since the book is 99 cents and not free, I'm hoping to get more people who will actually read it, rather than just grab freebies.

With the current glut of freebies out there and more people aware of them, along with the dismal decline of the post-freebie sales bump and fewer reviews, spending a lot of dollars on freebie promos doesn't make very much sense to me any more.


----------



## Gennita Low

Has anyone ever put up a box set for more than .99cts? Results?

I mean, $620 for $1.99  .  Can one ever recuperate THAT?! Is it worth the ranking if the box set goes for 99cts? Argh.


----------



## TexasGirl

I think people have successfully done box sets for more, but it's risky. BB buyers seem really to respond to 99 cents.


----------



## Gennita Low

TexasGirl said:


> I think people have successfully done box sets for more, but it's risky. BB buyers seem really to respond to 99 cents.


Yeah, gambling with $620! Gulp. Maybe my box set will just have two books of the three and going for 99cts. The third book for regular price?


----------



## Gennita Low

DDark said:


> In 6 more months it'll probably be $900. I don't think a box set guarantees more sales. Next month, I'm seeing how my 2nd book does on a run. I'm a little nervous that people won't be inclined to buy a sequel at a discount.


If they up the price again, I probably won't do Bookbub for a while. The monetary return per investment, other than being on Top 100 or Movers and Shakers list would be zero or less. If I'm making a sale, I'd like to at least make a bit of money after giving them the current $420!


----------



## TexasGirl

Between BookBub, NetGalley, a blog blitz, and myriad other smaller items, I've dropped a cool grand on promo this month.

Let's hope it pays off! I'm pretty happy with how things have been going, and I'm ready to take it to the next level!


----------



## Luke Young

I've been very pleased with their service. I've used the service four times - they promoted me the first time without letting me know in advance or charging me. (so I've paid three times) Does anyone know of a similar service that also actually works? I'd like to get in a six week cycle of free promos and bookbub will only promote the same book every 90 days. What about bookfreesy?


----------



## erikhanberg

It took me three tries to get a book accepted. Today the The Marinara Murders is a bargain book on Kindle, Nook, iTunes, Kobo, and Smashwords. I haven't done any promotions for my mysteries in a couple months since I've been focusing on the nonprofit books, so sales have been lagging. I'll report how it goes!


----------



## Shaun Jeffrey

The Kult is a bargain book today too. Bookbub is one of a number of sites I'm promoting through over the next few days (I have a separate thread on these boards about that), but the Amazon sales rank hasn't moved in the last 8 hours, despite sales


----------



## 13893

DDark said:


> In 6 more months it'll probably be $900. I don't think a box set guarantees more sales. Next month, I'm seeing how my 2nd book does on a run. I'm a little nervous that people won't be inclined to buy a sequel at a discount.


I've had great results with sequels on BookBub.


----------



## 13893

Shaun Jeffrey said:


> The Kult is a bargain book today too. Bookbub is one of a number of sites I'm promoting through over the next few days (I have a separate thread on these boards about that), but the Amazon sales rank hasn't moved in the last 8 hours, despite sales


Shaun, it seems Amazon is half a day behind reflecting sales and rank changes these days.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

LKRigel said:


> I've had great results with sequels on BookBub.


Is your sequel a stand alone? I did BookBub last week for the first book (of a two book series) as a way to get people to read that and then buy the sequel. The results were great with just under 3000 sales @ 99cents. But I didn't think doing the same for that book's sequel would have the same impact. 
Did you find that people bought the first book while you had the sequel on BookBub?


----------



## 13893

Harriet Schultz said:


> Is your sequel a stand alone? I did BookBub last week for the first book (of a two book series) as a way to get people to read that and then buy the sequel. The results were great with just under 3000 sales @ 99cents. But I didn't think doing the same for that book's sequel would have the same impact.
> Did you find that people bought the first book while you had the sequel on BookBub?


Yes, they did. I'll put it this way: If I had the choice to run the first or a later book in a series, I'd run the later book.


----------



## erikhanberg

A MASSIVE day of Bookbub fueled sales!

As of now ...

Kindle sales are at 1470, so right there is what I put down. It also put me to #68 in the Kindle Store!

The Saints Go Dying and The Con Before Christmas (in the series) both saw surges in sales too (40 sales for TSGD and 10 for TCBC).

For Nook ... I don't know what to make of it. The back-end shows no sales. But the bestseller list shows that I am NUMBER THIRTEEN in the whole Nook Store. WHAT? So that's just crazy.

For Kobo, I've sold 15 books.

No data yet on iTunes, since I went through Smashwords. But again ... the app shows that I'm #24.

So let me just say...

WOAH.


----------



## Gennita Low

Congrats!

My Bookbub ad sales weren't bad either but not in your great numbers . You'll be surprised when you see your Nook and iTunes sales. Kobo, meh.


----------



## erikhanberg

Found my Nook sales! I didn't realize there was a place in the Nook Press for "recent sales" as opposed to the normal graph of sales.

Anyone, 900 there! Plus sales of the other books, even one of the nonprofit guides, which is great.

Can't believe it! Between iTunes and Nook I sell so few normally, and then this.


----------



## Shaun Jeffrey

erikhanberg said:


> A MASSIVE day of Bookbub fueled sales!
> 
> As of now ...
> 
> Kindle sales are at 1470, so right there is what I put down. It also put me to #68 in the Kindle Store!


Despite all my extra advertising yesterday, you've sold far more than me. You're currently ranked #36, whereas I reached #384 Paid in Kindle Store. My sales are also far behind at 380 on .com! I have another few days of various promotions to go, so have to see how that affects it! Congrats though. You've had excellent results.


----------



## Gennita Low

Update of May 9 and 10 promo.

The sales across all channels = 1700 sold. 

I'll probably keep it at .99cts all weekend and then change back to normal price for all channels except Amazon next week. If I do it immediately, I usually get an email from Amazon saying some site shows a cheaper price, etc. etc. 

This sales promo wasn't as crazy good as the one for Tempting Trouble which got me to #16? on Amazon and #4 on BN but I'll take it! I love it when I get movement at BN and iTunes.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

erikhanberg said:


> A MASSIVE day of Bookbub fueled sales!
> 
> As of now ...
> 
> Kindle sales are at 1470, so right there is what I put down. It also put me to #68 in the Kindle Store!
> 
> The Saints Go Dying and The Con Before Christmas (in the series) both saw surges in sales too (40 sales for TSGD and 10 for TCBC).
> 
> For Nook ... I don't know what to make of it. The back-end shows no sales. But the bestseller list shows that I am NUMBER THIRTEEN in the whole Nook Store. WHAT? So that's just crazy.
> 
> For Kobo, I've sold 15 books.
> 
> No data yet on iTunes, since I went through Smashwords. But again ... the app shows that I'm #24.
> 
> So let me just say...
> 
> WOAH.


That's great. The whole BookBub experience is a mind blower. I think I got to #16 on B&N, but it didn't last!


----------



## Harriet Schultz

LKRigel said:


> Yes, they did. I'll put it this way: If I had the choice to run the first or a later book in a series, I'd run the later book.


Interesting. BookBub advised running the first book in the series, which is what I did. I may give the sequel a try now that it's accumulated more reviews.


----------



## Shaun Jeffrey

My post further above shows the difference between the thriller category (which I requested) sales and the horror category they thought my book was more suitable for.


----------



## Guest

Okay, probably a stupid question, but... the prices are _per limited time listing_, not _per day_, right?


----------



## Shaun Jeffrey

1 email post is all you get I believe and the listing on their site.


----------



## Gennita Low

DDark said:


> Sometimes I wonder if the day of the week has any impact. Guess we'll never know. If anything, it was a great boost for me on B&N that I needed. I'm not making near the number of sales I did after the promo, but I'm doing a lot better on a daily basis than I was before the promo. I decided to run several ads for my next promo through several services, and I'm going to employ my FB peeps to try to pimp me out. They're pretty awesome with that. I have a book release this week and just want to boost the series as a whole.


I always have my promos the same day and run them through the weekend. I think it's a combination of no male bod sexy cover and slow May month that brought down my sales (just my opinion).

I was thinking last night (hee, head hurts) and have decided to keep the 99cts price point and instead contact ENT and POI to see whether they'll feature me the rest of this month. That way, if they do, I get more readers trying Into Danger. What do you think?


----------



## Quiss

Gennita Low said:


> I was thinking last night (hee, head hurts) and have decided to keep the 99cts price point and instead contact ENT and POI to see whether they'll feature me the rest of this month. That way, if they do, I get more readers trying Into Danger. What do you think?


I don't quite get ENT's policy. Their information seems to say that they decide when they promote your 99-cent posting but only let you know a few days in advance.
That would make scheduling temporary promos a little tricky.


----------



## Atunah

I don't know if there is any relation to anything, but I usually get my email from bookbub at around 10 am to noon each day. Yesterday I didn't get it until 6:30 pm, today after 3 pm, on thursday the 9th I got it at 8 pm. Monday and Tuesday was around 3 pm also.

I didn't even see the one from Thursday until the next day it came that late. I don't know if that is part of some rotating email schedule they do, but it was a change for me this week.


----------



## TexasGirl

When an email list gets particularly huge, the service provider will start putting you on a staggered release. Otherwise they risk getting their IP addresses banned as spam. I'm sure BookBub has hit that.


----------



## erikhanberg

Atunah, my sales started well before then yesterday, so I assume it's a rotational thing and not system-wide.


----------



## Atunah

TexasGirl said:


> When an email list gets particularly huge, the service provider will start putting you on a staggered release. Otherwise they risk getting their IP addresses banned as spam. I'm sure BookBub has hit that.


That makes sense. I guess that is good news for you guys that their subscriber list is getting large.


----------



## Gennita Low

Atunah said:


> That makes sense. I guess that is good news for you guys that their subscriber list is getting large.


8pm Thursday? That could explain why my sales started slow that day. Always some glitch with a promotion .


----------



## Atunah

Gennita Low said:


> 8pm Thursday? That could explain why my sales started slow that day. Always some glitch with a promotion .


I think though it is like Deanna and Erik said with it being staggered. Others might have gotten it in the morning, some in the afternoon. I guess its my turn now to get the email a little later.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Atunah said:


> I think though it is like Deanna and Erik said with it being staggered. Others might have gotten it in the morning, some in the afternoon. I guess its my turn now to get the email a little later.


When I didn't see the email promo for my book until early afternoon last week and panicked, BookBub told me that they stagger their emails so Texas Girl is right.


----------



## 13893

Atunah said:


> That makes sense. I guess that is good news for you guys that their subscriber list is getting large.


Didn't they announce lately that they passed the million subscriber mark?


----------



## Quiss

DDark said:


> A certain length of time must pass to put up the same book again (90 days I think?). Has anyone who had successful results with a book put the same one up again, and what were your results? I've been curious about this, as just because it wasn't purchased the first time around doesn't mean it won't the second. If anyone does this, let me know how it worked out.


I don't have the exact numbers with me, but generally:
I ran The Catalyst for free (two days) in January and got about 14k downloads

I asked them to run it at 99cents last month and they recommended that, because I did it free last time, I should do it free again. I had the feeling that was a sort of take-it-or-leave-it recommendation and so I agreed.
I ran a two-day promo again and got just slightly over 10k downloads this time.

The bump on the second run was smaller than the first. In both cases, I got additional sales of the other book(s)


----------



## LilianaHart

I've got a new bookbub out today and will keep you posted as to how numbers and rankings are going. CADE started at a rank of #679 before the BB ad went out this morning, but rankings haven't updated since the ad went out. I've sold about 300 copies at Amazon and 83 at B&N. This one went out in the romance category, so it's a smaller audience than the last two mysteries I did.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

LilianaHart said:


> I've got a new bookbub out today and will keep you posted as to how numbers and rankings are going. CADE started at a rank of #679 before the BB ad went out this morning, but rankings haven't updated since the ad went out. I've sold about 300 copies at Amazon and 83 at B&N. This one went out in the romance category, so it's a smaller audience than the last two mysteries I did.


Just bought it, so make it 301 at Amazon! When I did my promo of Legacy of the Highlands last week it took many hours for its rank on Amazon to catch up with sales. Good luck!


----------



## LilianaHart

Quick update for CADE numbers.

Amazon: 673 (ranking hasn't changed; still 645)
B&N: 150 (ranking 129)
Apple: 100 (estimate because my ranking is #35)


----------



## Sophrosyne

I did a Bookbub and Book Gorilla ad for my bargain book. It came out this morning, and I've sold 250 books so far, in the last three hours.

Oddly enough though, my ranking hasn't changed at all, so there's gotta be something glitchy on Amazon today. Even though when I sold fewer books per hour last week, I was ranked #3. Today I've been stuck on #10.


----------



## FictionalWriter

I used Bookbub last month and sold over 1300 copies on Amazon the *first day*. On B&N sold 300 copies and on Apple 170. Definitely worth the price. It took about 9 days for the effect to wear off. A month later, I'm almost back to pre-BookBub numbers and ranking.


----------



## TexasGirl

Yeah, ranks haven't changed today. I've sold 38 books since this morning of a new release and it's still at 167k.


----------



## LilianaHart

Ranking at Amazon STILL hasn't updated. I've sold 1,163 at Amazon today and ranking still shows as #645. I've only sold 243 at B&N today, which is very disappointing since last time I did a bookbub I sold almost 1700 in 24 hours. The problem with doing this book as a bookbub is there's a possibility I've saturated my market since it's already sold 100k copies. Estimate is around 250 at Apple as my ranking there is #28. So all in all, this hasn't been a great bookbub compared to previous ones. I'm wondering if they're starting to lose their effectiveness.


----------



## beccaprice

Just checked out Bookbub's categories. I can't advertise with them; they don't have a children's category. The closest they have is teen/YA, and I'm definitely younger than that. Oh, well.


----------



## Gennita Low

LilianaHart said:


> Ranking at Amazon STILL hasn't updated. I've sold 1,163 at Amazon today and ranking still shows as #645. I've only sold 243 at B&N today, which is very disappointing since last time I did a bookbub I sold almost 1700 in 24 hours. The problem with doing this book as a bookbub is there's a possibility I've saturated my market since it's already sold 100k copies. Estimate is around 250 at Apple as my ranking there is #28. So all in all, this hasn't been a great bookbub compared to previous ones. I'm wondering if they're starting to lose their effectiveness.


I have the same results to report. My just-finished run was nowhere near the last one I had, which was at the same time as yours too . Then, my BN sales were 900 copies after three days and 400 at iTunes. This time, half that.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Gennita Low said:


> I have the same results to report. My just-finished run was nowhere near the last one I had, which was at the same time as yours too . Then, my BN sales were 900 copies after three days and 400 at iTunes. This time, half that.


Sorry to hear that this promo hasn't been as effective for you or Liliana. I wonder if Bookbub will go the way of free days on KDP Select. I never enrolled (don't like the idea of exclusivity), but I followed other people's experiences there and it doesn't work the way it once did.


----------



## Gennita Low

Harriet Schultz said:


> Sorry to hear that this promo hasn't been as effective for you or Liliana. I wonder if Bookbub will go the way of free days on KDP Select. I never enrolled (don't like the idea of exclusivity), but I followed other people's experiences there and it doesn't work the way it once did.


I still think Bookbub works (see some of the recent posts above), bringing great results. I'm not complaining about my results because it still got me what I wanted (visibility) and it did make back the cost of the ad.

BUT. If Bookbub continues to raise its price, it will lose effectiveness for me because I don't want to just make money for them. I want some profit for myself too.

OTOH, I haven't done a free run since Feb., so can't compare whether the the high downloads would generate enough sales of the rest of the series and other books to pay for what they charge for advertising a Select Free book. Last year, I made over 2500 sales of the rest of the series from a free ad of Book 1. Looking at current result updates by others, I doubt I would match that if I do the same today.


----------



## ZombieEater

I have a BookBub ad running on June 19 in the Literary Fiction category (for The Island of Ted). Cost me $220. Looks like the current average is around 660 sales, which is quite a bit lower than for the top categories. Has anyone had any success in Lit Fic? The book is actually popular fiction but BookBub doesn't list that as a category, and my book isn't steamy enough for Romance. I'm curious to see how this run goes. For me, this book went bananas during the peak of Select and sales were pretty good for a while, then fell off a cliff in 2013. Hoping this ad will light a fire.


----------



## LilianaHart

Free is still working for me just as effectively as it did when I put the book up more than a year ago. It's been free ever since and is still ranked #135 overall in the free store, and sometimes it even dips back down into the top 100. It definitely propels the sales of the rest of the books in the MacKenzie series. 

This is the first time I've used BookBub's romance newsletter list. The first time was in January on the Mystery/Thriller list and I sold 5000 copies between all vendors in 24 hours. The 2nd time I did it in March on the Mystery/Thriller list and it was about 3500 in 24 hours. This time I'm on the romance list and it's not as big of a list. My bookbub came out today and I've sold 1424 at Amazon with a ranking of #343 (Amazon hasn't updated to the correct rank), 300 at Barnes and Noble with a rank of #126, and I'm estimating about 250 at Apple with an overall rank of #42. I'll make my money back, but like Gennita, that's not my goal. I want the exposure BookBub brings by propelling you to the top of the lists, and when that stops happening it won't be an effective tool for me any longer. My sales are good enough on their own without doing a BookBub and dropping the price to .99. Maybe the day after Mother's Day is just a bad day.


----------



## Gennita Low

I submitted the third of my trilogy for a 99ct sale a few days ago. Bookbub just requested for me to make it "free" because their 99cts spots are sold out. I'm conflicted because

1) I'll have to put Sleeper into KDP Select and take it off the other platforms for three months. True, it's not selling that many a day right now but I've never set it free before, just Books One and Two.

2) The recent Bookbub free numbers noted here have been great downloads but very few sales/small bump afterwards. Would these sales be worth being off the other sites for three months? Currently I only have one short story in Select.

Your thoughts? Should I chance it?


----------



## Nathan Elliott

Gennita Low said:


> I submitted the third of my trilogy for a 99ct sale a few days ago. Bookbub just requested for me to make it "free" because their 99cts spots are sold out.
> ...
> 
> Your thoughts? Should I chance it?


Tough call. Free does work well on BookBub, but I think it makes the most sense for permafree, not Select. IMO, a major selling point of Bookbub is their ability to get results on BN and Apple.


----------



## Gennita Low

Nathan Elliott said:


> Tough call. Free does work well on BookBub, but I think it makes the most sense for permafree, not Select. IMO, a major selling point of Bookbub is their ability to get results on BN and Apple.


That's what is making me hesitate this time. I've done great with KDP free through Bookbub before, though. When Protector was free (checking my little book here) in Dec., I had 29115 downloads and in the following week, had 600 sales and borrows of the title, and about 300 of each of Hunter and Sleeper, which weren't in Select. But this is before the March 2013 affilliates and something-odd-again tweaks by Amazon.

My sales for the series have really dropped and I do need the visibility to get some kind of momentum again but am not sure whether the third book in the series is the way to go.

Thanks for letting me use you as a sounding board!


----------



## Lynn McNamee

As a reader, I wouldn't buy the third in a series at any price unless I already owned the first two. But then, if I enjoyed the first two, I would have already bought the third.

I can't see much benefit to putting the third up for free.

Have you considered making a boxed set of the first three in your series? 

I've purchased some boxed set from Bookbub e-mails, so I know the ads work.


----------



## Gennita Low

Lynn McNamee said:


> As a reader, I wouldn't buy the third in a series at any price unless I already owned the first two. But then, if I enjoyed the first two, I would have already bought the third.
> 
> I can't see much benefit to putting the third up for free.
> 
> Have you considered making a boxed set of the first three in your series?
> 
> I've purchased some boxed set from Bookbub e-mails, so I know the ads work.


Good point. These could be read standalone, though, and Bookbub vetted the book so I know they considered the fact before coming to the decision.

The box set idea sounds great but three books for free is steep for me. Bookbub wanted Sleeper to for a freebie, not 99cts, for now. Sigh. Maybe I should offer Protector again? Dec. was half a year ago....


----------



## Lynn McNamee

I wasn't suggesting you do the box set for free. 

I think you should take a pass for the moment. You can get your box set ready then resubmit for a later ad to get one to sell your set.


----------



## Mark E. Cooper

I reported my bookbub success earlier in the thread. This time I would like to ask you all if there is any way to get bookbub to point readers toward the UK market as well as the US market. Here's why: my sales are through the roof since the promo. The first book in a three book (so far) series is perma free. Apple sales have kicked off from zero to 61 so far, which is low I know, but I had no traction with apple at all before. Barnes and kobo are really tiny for me, BUT amazon.com sold over a thousand of book 2 and 3 and we are only halfway through the month. There is no sign of any decrease either. 

Because bookbub didn't point any buyers to the uk amazon (surely it must have some UK readers?) Uk sales have not twitched. They are identical to previous months. No bump at all.


----------



## 13893

Gennita Low said:


> That's what is making me hesitate this time. I've done great with KDP free through Bookbub before, though. When Protector was free (checking my little book here) in Dec., I had 29115 downloads and in the following week, had 600 sales and borrows of the title, and about 300 of each of Hunter and Sleeper, which weren't in Select. But this is before the March 2013 affilliates and something-odd-again tweaks by Amazon.
> 
> My sales for the series have really dropped and I do need the visibility to get some kind of momentum again but am not sure whether the third book in the series is the way to go.
> 
> Thanks for letting me use you as a sounding board!


If you make a book free, you'll be restricted from advertising it as a paid book for 90 days after that. Why not ask BookBub for the next available 99 cent day?


----------



## JRTomlin

I have a 99 Cent promo running for _Freedom's Sword_ on Monday. They'll have it on ENT too as a Bargain Book. I'm pretty hopeful for good results. 

I'll let you know how it goes.


----------



## JRTomlin

Freedom's Sword has started a two-day 99Cent promo. It's listed at Bookbub and ENT. So far at a little before noon, I've had a modest 85 sales, but it is too early to make any judgments.


----------



## Gennita Low

Good luck! I'm sure you'll do great.

I am going to try a Freebie Promo next month to compare the difference between Dec. 2012 and now .


----------



## JRTomlin

So far the sales aren't fantastic, only 500 on Amazon and B&N not updated yet, but the rankings should give the novel some nice visibility:

#226 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
#1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
#6 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical

ETA: The ranking has actually slipped in the last hour. This may not be one of my promotions that does much more than pay for itself, but it will give better visibility at the worst.


----------



## Saul Tanpepper

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #184 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
#6 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical

Looks like you gained back the ground and more. Hope it leads to many more sales over the next several days!


----------



## JRTomlin

Yep. I'm up to 700 Amazon sales according to the dashboard which isn't close to what my last one did, but isn't anything to complain about either. Getting near the top of the HF Best Seller list isn't something that happens to me every day either.


----------



## JRTomlin

Up to 900 sales on Amazon this morning. So far the ranking is holding steady but it will probably start that slow slip soon. The promotion was advertised going through today though so that will help keep it going a bit longer. Amazon alone has already more than paid the $180 that the promotion cost. The sales on A Kingdom's Cost (first in the Black Douglas Trilogy) have picked up a bit as well which I attribute to the promotion.


----------



## Maya Cross

Spotted you in the top 50 on B&N too, which is at least a few hundred sales. Congrats!


----------



## JRTomlin

Thanks! It looks like it's in the top 5 in HF there as well. Sales haven't updated but it looks to be doing well and that is one of my goals, to manage to actually SELL something on B&N.  

I don't do much on B&N without a Bookbub promotion but at least those do work.


----------



## Caddy

Woo Hoo! Bookbub scheduled me for June 25th.  Gastien Part 1 will have its second run.  Crossing fingers. The readers for HF have doubled since the first one, but it cost over $300.  Need to sell a lot of books at .99 but if it can be done anywhere, it's Bookbub.


----------



## Kathy Clark Author

On our time travel mystery series CUL8R [See you later], we ran a 99 cent Book Bub run on our $3.99 book. It netted us over first 3 days 211 in sales. We saw an increase to 3 to 6 a day of the book #2, BRB [Be Right Back], which wasn't typical. On day #4, we had a ENT advertisement and 3 days resulted in 257 in sales. So the ENT looked like it performed better as neither service was willing to allow me to pick a mutually exclusive date.

The a week later after sales sunk to pre BBB and ENT levels we had a Digital Books Today ad run and netted 12 books for the two. However, because DBT also is not customer focused it was a surprise that it was set up so a few days before it ran I have set the price back up.

I hope this isn't too confusing...it looks great on a graph but there's no way to display that here.


----------



## TexasGirl

I'm doing a mini-blitz with 

Day 1
BookBlast ($15), averages around 50 sales.
Day 5
BookBub ($240), averages 970 sales
Day  7
Kindle Books & Tips ($25), averages around 70 sales

I need 785 sales to break even. I'm hoping to boost my new, full-priced book as a secondary sale.

I asked for ENT but haven't heard. I submitted to POI but who knows. I've been lucky that POI has picked me up twice out of the blue for $2.99, so I am not greedy in asking for more.

I'll report after it's all over mid June.


----------



## valeriec80

Well, somebody's got to be on bookbub on Memorial Day, and I am going to be that someone.

I'm doing a box set for $.99 in YA category, which is one of the smaller cats. The ad was less than $100, and I need to sell about 230 books to break even. 

On Memorial Day.

I'll let you guys know how it goes.


----------



## ToniD

The latest change at BookBub: they've broken the Mystery/Thriller category into separate Mystery and Thriller cats.

Here's the breakdown: (with subscriber numbers and prices)
Mysteries 500,000+ $240 $480 $720 $1,200
Thrillers 300,000+ $140 $280 $420 $700 

So, it's gonna cost more to reach the same number of subscribers.

I've already had trouble choosing between the action/adventure and (previous) mystery/thriller cats. Depending on who's asking, my books are either adventure, mystery, or thriller. I foresee more hand-wringing; what to choose, what to choose...

Sigh.


----------



## JRTomlin

ToniD said:


> The latest change at BookBub: they've broken the Mystery/Thriller category into separate Mystery and Thriller cats.
> 
> Here's the breakdown: (with subscriber numbers and prices)
> Mysteries 500,000+ $240 $480 $720 $1,200
> Thrillers 300,000+ $140 $280 $420 $700
> 
> So, it's gonna cost more to reach the same number of subscribers.
> 
> I've already had trouble choosing between the action/adventure and (previous) mystery/thriller cats. Depending on who's asking, my books are either adventure, mystery, or thriller. I foresee more hand-wringing; what to choose, what to choose...
> 
> Sigh.


According to what you posted, it costs more to reach 200,000 more subscribers though. But $480 starts getting into the "OMG That's a lot of money!" category.

Then again so does the $380 I pay for historical fiction.


----------



## ToniD

JRTomlin said:


> According to what you posted, it costs more to reach 200,000 more subscribers though. But $480 starts getting into the "OMG That's a lot of money!" category.
> 
> Then again so does the $380 I pay for historical fiction.


If I recall correctly (bought an ad in April in the mystery/thriller cat), the subscriber list was about 800K and the cost was $480 (or maybe $460; how quickly I blacked that out). That is, same or almost-same price that's now being charged for the Mystery cat with its 500K subscribers. I made my money back and then some with the April ad....but that was with the larger list.

But yeah, any way you dice it that's a lot of coffee money


----------



## JRTomlin

I was comparing the breakdown you just posted rather than to before they split them, but I see what you mean. However, for a lot of authors with books that are pretty distinct between mysteries and thrillers, they should actually get better results. Like a lot of people, I only read one of the two, for example. As a mystery reader, showing me a thriller is a waste of your promotion dollar.


----------



## ToniD

JRTomlin said:


> I was comparing the breakdown you just posted rather than to before they split them, but I see what you mean. However, for a lot of authors with books that are pretty distinct between mysteries and thrillers, they should actually get better results. Like a lot of people, I only read one of the two, for example. As a mystery reader, showing me a thriller is a waste of your promotion dollar.


Good points. I'd probably have better sales if my books were distinctly one or t'other.


----------



## Some Writer Cat

ToniD said:


> The latest change at BookBub: they've broken the Mystery/Thriller category into separate Mystery and Thriller cats.
> 
> Here's the breakdown: (with subscriber numbers and prices)
> Mysteries 500,000+ $240 $480 $720 $1,200
> Thrillers 300,000+ $140 $280 $420 $700


Since the list for mystery was 480,000 before, at the same cost, how is this a bad thing? Mysteries and thrillers are not the same at all. It's all about pace and character depth. Patterson writes thrillers. James Lee Burke writes mysteries. If you read them both, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Remember, most people click more than one category, so you're not getting 800,000 unique emails. There's lots and lots overlap. But if you think your book can do well in two categories, doing them both six months apart is not a bad idea. It's part of the "multiple touch" marketing approach.

I tried it out with a YA book a couple weeks ago and sold 300 at 99 cents that I can attribute directly to Bookbub, so I actually made money (the ad cost $80). I see it as targeted advertising aimed at building long term readership more than a money maker, though, so if it makes money, that's gravy. (And actually, because Amazon price-matched at 70% before I got around to changing the price, I actually made $100.). 90% of the sales have come from Amazon, all of it US, but then it is YA. My sales of those books have always been very US-dominated, no surprise. Duh. It's about US teenagers.

So there's another data point for you. In fact, I plan to run this next month for one of my mysteries, and I'm thrilled that they've broken up the lists this way. Well, since it's definitely a mystery and not a thriller, maybe I shouldn't say thrilled. Jazzed? 

With all the changes at Amazon regarding free books, I don't think it's a good idea to do a free book unless it's the first of a series, of which hopefully you've got at least three more books. I'm actually seriously tempted to do $2.99 (I generally price my books around $5.99/$6.99, trying to position them more at the low end of traditional books), but man, that's a lot of dough.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

ToniD said:


> I've already had trouble choosing between the action/adventure and (previous) mystery/thriller cats. Depending on who's asking, my books are either adventure, mystery, or thriller. I foresee more hand-wringing; what to choose, what to choose...
> 
> Sigh.


Mine is a romantic thriller or romantic suspense and the way I determined its best category was to look at the "also boughts" on Amazon. The majority of my readers buy romance, so that was where I put my book on BookBub despite their inclination to list it as a thriller. Hope that helps.


----------



## ToniD

Scott William Carter said:


> Since the list for mystery was 480,000 before, at the same cost, how is this a bad thing?


To clarify: the list for mystery/thriller _combined_ cost $480 for an ad, to reach a combined subscriber list of around 800K.

Now, the price is $480 for just the mystery subscriber list. That is, same price, fewer subscribers on the category list.

Not sure what you mean by "most people click more than one category, so you're not getting 800,000 unique emails." As a reader/buyer you get emails for the lists you sign up for. EG, I've signed up to receive emails for mystery/thriller and action/adventure and literary. So I get the day's deals in those cats.

As an advertiser, if I buy an ad in only 'mystery' (the new cat), only readers who've signed up to receive deals in the mystery cat will see my book.

Harriet: good point about the alsobots. I've got both mysteries and thrillers (as well as other genres) on mine, but I'll take a longer look to see if one predominates.


----------



## Some Writer Cat

ToniD said:


> To clarify: the list for mystery/thriller _combined_ cost $480 for an ad, to reach a combined subscriber list of around 800K.
> 
> Now, the price is $480 for just the mystery subscriber list. That is, same price, fewer subscribers on the category list.
> 
> Not sure what you mean by "most people click more than one category, so you're not getting 800,000 unique emails." As a reader/buyer you get emails for the lists you sign up for. EG, I've signed up to receive emails for mystery/thriller and action/adventure and literary. So I get the day's deals in those cats.
> 
> As an advertiser, if I buy an ad in only 'mystery' (the new cat), only readers who've signed up to receive deals in the mystery cat will see my book.
> 
> Harriet: good point about the alsobots. I've got both mysteries and thrillers (as well as other genres) on mine, but I'll take a longer look to see if one predominates.


Oh, no, it wasn't that high, was it? I remember the combined mystery/thriller list being around half a million before, not 800,000. But I was conflating the price there with the actual number, my bad. Still, I distinctly remember it being around half a million and that was only a week ago when I checked.

If I select both mystery and thrillers in my categories (and I do, simply because I want them all), then I will get your ad whether you place it in mystery or thriller. But if someone only selects mystery and not thriller, and you put your add in thriller, then they don't get it. That's what I mean by overlap. There aren't 800,000 unique emails.


----------



## ToniD

Scott: Ah, gotcha.

And wow, I _thought_ the MT cat had about 800K subscribers when my ad ran, in April. But if you saw it last week at 500K, then my memory must be, um, faulty.

Oh well, not that it matters now. I'll just make my choice between mystery and thriller for my next ad and cross my fingers, as always.


----------



## Some Writer Cat

ToniD said:


> Scott: Ah, gotcha.
> 
> And wow, I _thought_ the MT cat had about 800K subscribers when my ad ran, in April. But if you saw it last week at 500K, then my memory must be, um, faulty.
> 
> Oh well, not that it matters now. I'll just make my choice between mystery and thriller for my next ad and cross my fingers, as always.


I doubt your memory is any better better than mine, Toni.  But I went and Googled it, and sure enough, the old combined list was half a million. They say their *total* number of subscribers is a little over a million now, and that seems about right. Some people check lots of categories, others check one or two.

What's harder for me to understand is how they broke it apart and still ended up with 500,000 in the mystery-only list. That must meant that almost everyone who checks "thriller" when they sign up to get the emails also checks "mystery," but not vice versa. Since thriller writers typically outsell mystery writers, I actually found that kind of surprising. OR am I missing something?


----------



## Anne Frasier

i wonder where suspense would fall. i guess mystery, but then it should probably be called mystery/suspense.


----------



## katherinef

What happened to Teen/YA category? It says they have 90K+ subscribers, but I could swear the number was bigger a couple of days ago, somewhere around 150K. It seems to me like the stats numbers are lower too.


----------



## ToniD

Scott William Carter said:


> I doubt your memory is any better better than mine, Toni.  But I went and Googled it, and sure enough, the old combined list was half a million. They say their *total* number of subscribers is a little over a million now, and that seems about right. Some people check lots of categories, others check one or two.
> 
> What's harder for me to understand is how they broke it apart and still ended up with 500,000 in the mystery-only list. That must meant that almost everyone who checks "thriller" when they sign up to get the emails also checks "mystery," but not vice versa. Since thriller writers typically outsell mystery writers, I actually found that kind of surprising. OR am I missing something?


Google def trumps my memory! 

I too am surprised that the mystery list is bigger than the thriller list.

Anne, I've always lumped mystery/thriller/suspense under one umbrella, although there are obviously differences. With the new BB cats...whichever you prefer, I guess.

Katherine, now you've got me wondering about numbers all over again.


----------



## Some Writer Cat

katherinef said:


> What happened to Teen/YA category? It says they have 90K+ subscribers, but I could swear the number was bigger a couple of days ago, somewhere around 150K. It seems to me like the stats numbers are lower too.


Hmm. You're right. I sold 300, and I remember thinking if I sold about average (200 or so), then I would at least make the $80 back. They do ask authors for data afterwards, so they must be tweaking the results. Glad to know I was at least on the high end. 

But I do remember the list being closer to 120,000 or so. Maybe people checking every box, then changing their minds later? Can't think of any other reason for the subscriber list to drop so much.


----------



## Monique

If you still have your email from them or the invoice, it should day the number of subscribers any of your past emails went out to.


----------



## ToniD

Monique said:


> If you still have your email from them or the invoice, it should day the number of subscribers any of your past emails went out to.


Just checked my invoice and all it said was:
"Listing in the BookBub Daily E-mail Targeted at Members Interested in Mysteries/Thrillers"
but not the number.

Unless I'm missing something....


----------



## CJArcher

I've got a YA ad booked for June 2nd and I'm sure the subscriber numbers were over 100k mark, more like 120k. It's not on the email or invoice, Monique, unfortunately. But hopefully I'll still get good results as it's a deep discount of a boxed set. I'll be interested in the other YA authors reporting back, especially anyone doing a boxed set.


----------



## Monique

My mistake. I could have sworn it was there. Poop.

ETA: The WayBack Machine has some info: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://bookbub.com


----------



## TexasGirl

Yes, they've adjusted their numbers. The average for women's fiction has gone up a teeny bit. I just checked it two days ago and put it in my spreadsheet.

Also, I have a dozen friends who have tried to get in the erotic romance category and all have been rejected. All. The books they are sending out for it are interesting, not what I would have considered erotic romance. As a subscriber, I've been disappointed by that list.


----------



## JRTomlin

TexasGirl said:


> Yes, they've adjusted their numbers. The average for women's fiction has gone up a teeny bit. I just checked it two days ago and put it in my spreadsheet.
> 
> Also, I have a dozen friends who have tried to get in the erotic romance category and all have been rejected. All. The books they are sending out for it are interesting, not what I would have considered erotic romance. As a subscriber, I've been disappointed by that list.


You might consider mentioning that to them (separate from an order). They do respond to feedback. I commented that I felt their HF descriptions (not my own but ones I received) sometimes left something to be desired and they asked me why and specifics. As someone who reads that genre, your opinion would be of interest to them I suspect.


----------



## David Thayer

I haven't used Bookbub but I find it interesting that they have cleaved the mystery/thriller category into two distinct camps. My books are self-described thrillers which tends to be borne out by the also boughts, but, wow, that mystery category has a lot of people to be left waving on shore as the thriller ship sails.


----------



## JRTomlin

David Thayer said:


> I haven't used Bookbub but I find it interesting that they have cleaved the mystery/thriller category into two distinct camps. My books are self-described thrillers which tends to be borne out by the also boughts, but, wow, that mystery category has a lot of people to be left waving on shore as the thriller ship sails.


Funnily enough, that prompted me to sign up for the mystery list. I never had before because I don't read thrillers and I thought I'd get too much of what I don't want.


----------



## valeriec80

Memorial Day Bookbub ad:

Cost: $80 for a $.99 promotion to the YA list (Three book bundle, first three books in an eight-book series)
Sales: Around 350 that I can attribute to bookbub at the $.99 price. It looks like I've sold 15-20 at the regular $7.99 price since it went back up.
Highest rank: 486 in the Kindle Store
Sell-through to the rest of the series: 1 to the fourth book, 1 to the next three-book omnibus. I guess it's a little early to tell, since it might take people a while to read three books. When I did the freebie bookbub ad for the first book in the series, by the end of the day, the sales for the second book in the series had started to take off. Doesn't seem to be the case here.

Either
-people haven't gotten through all three of the books yet
-people bought it 'cause it was cheap, but won't end up reading it.
-people didn't like the books and either didn't finish or don't want to continue the series.

I'm really hoping for an uptick in the rest of the series. It was my whole reason for running this ad in the first place. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.


----------



## Atunah

I didn't know they changed some of the categories. There is now paranormal romance in addition to regular romance, I like that. But I don't see any thriller to pick from. Not something I would pick, but I did pick mystery/thriller initially. So now I can just pick mystery. But I don't even see thriller as an option. This is what I have to pick from. 

Bestsellers
Mysteries
Romance
Historical
Literary
Religious
Scifi
Fantasy
Paranormal Romance
Horror
Action and Adventure
Women's Fiction
Teen
Children's and Middle Grade
Advice
Biographies
Cooking
General Nonfiction
Erotic Romance
Business


----------



## Lynn McNamee

That's odd because there is a choice for "Thrillers" when purchasing an ad.


----------



## Atunah

Maybe they haven't updated the choices yet for subscribers. I didn't even know the options changed until I just read it here. I mean if one had picked mystery/thriller like I had and now those are split, wouldn't one have to make a choice, or do they just auto subscribe them in both. I just did the new options a little while ago, so as of now I don't see thriller. 

I would have expected to get an email from bookbub asking me to update my choices.


----------



## S.A. Mulraney

Well, the mystery/thriller split finally brought the cost back into a reasonable range for me. $480 was just a bit too much of a gamble (despite all the good vibes). I've signed up. Hopefully they'll accept. Still have to sell off 800 copies @ $0.99 to recoup.  But, I'm hoping to have book 2 out by then, so maybe there'll be a residual effect.


----------



## N. Gemini Sasson

valeriec80 said:


> Memorial Day Bookbub ad:
> 
> Cost: $80 for a $.99 promotion to the YA list (Three book bundle, first three books in an eight-book series)
> Sales: Around 350 that I can attribute to bookbub at the $.99 price. It looks like I've sold 15-20 at the regular $7.99 price since it went back up.
> Highest rank: 486 in the Kindle Store
> Sell-through to the rest of the series: 1 to the fourth book, 1 to the next three-book omnibus. I guess it's a little early to tell, since it might take people a while to read three books. When I did the freebie bookbub ad for the first book in the series, by the end of the day, the sales for the second book in the series had started to take off. Doesn't seem to be the case here.
> 
> Either
> -people haven't gotten through all three of the books yet
> -people bought it 'cause it was cheap, but won't end up reading it.
> -people didn't like the books and either didn't finish or don't want to continue the series.
> 
> I'm really hoping for an uptick in the rest of the series. It was my whole reason for running this ad in the first place. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.


You should see a slight uptick within a week, but it may take as much as a month or so for carryover readers to purchase following books. Many books bought off a bargain ad aren't read right away, but just go on someone's TBR pile.

I have to say, though, that I'm not quite seeing the sell-thru rate on subsequent books that I used to when I lower the first in a series to 99 cents now. My hunch is that there's a bigger proportion of buyers now who *only* buy bargain books or download freebies than in the past. Or perhaps that's just the case with readers who purchase off of sites like this? I ran an ad last fall and got almost an immediate boost on my other books. The ad I ran more recently on a different book ... not so much. I'm advertising that first book again in a month. We'll see if my theory holds true.


----------



## JRTomlin

N. Gemini Sasson said:


> You should see a slight uptick within a week, but it may take as much as a month or so for carryover readers to purchase following books. Many books bought off a bargain ad aren't read right away, but just go on someone's TBR pile.
> 
> I have to say, though, that I'm not quite seeing the sell-thru rate on subsequent books that I used to when I lower the first in a series to 99 cents now. My hunch is that there's a bigger proportion of buyers now who *only* buy bargain books or download freebies than in the past. Or perhaps that's just the case with readers who purchase off of sites like this? I ran an ad last fall and got almost an immediate boost on my other books. The ad I ran more recently on a different book ... not so much. I'm advertising that first book again in a month. We'll see if my theory holds true.


I am having a similar experience. I had a small uptick in sales on other books, but pretty small and remarkably NO followup reviews so far in spite of more than 1000 sales. However, my promotions have all paid for themselves so I am going to keep trying this and see how things go over a longer period.


----------



## N. Gemini Sasson

JRTomlin said:


> I am having a similar experience. I had a small uptick in sales on other books, but pretty small and remarkably NO followup reviews so far in spite of more than 1000 sales. However, my promotions have all paid for themselves so I am going to keep trying this and see how things go over a longer period.


This time last year I lowered the price on the first in my trilogy to 99 cents. I may have run an ENT - I can't recall without looking, but results were great. That book vaulted in the rankings and carried the other books up with it. Eventually, I took the plunge into permafree. No BB ad then, but even better results ... for about three weeks. Then I fell off a cliff. This was back when Amazon seems to have altered something, because others saw a distinct slump. So whether sales were down because my Also-Boughts had been altered or something else, I don't know. I returned my book to paid, waited awhile and ran my first BookBub ad. Very glad I did.

It's amazing how quickly things can change. What worked a year ago may have less effect now or even none at all. You really have to keep on top of things, try new tactics. Most of all, keep writing!


----------



## tallulahgrace

I ran a Bookbub ad yesterday for my psychological thriller, The Littles, and I could not be more pleased with the response. 

Sales across all retailers nearly tripled the cost of the ad in one day, but the really great part is that The Littles reached #29 in Books at Amazon and #2 in Books, Psychological Thrillers. If it went higher overnight, I'm not aware of it and have no clue how to find out. At the moment, it's sitting at #29 in the Kindle Store, #3 in Books, Psychological Thrillers, #6 in Kindle Store, Suspense and #8 in Books, Suspense. It's also #2 at B&N as I write this.

I'm not sure how the category changes affected the distribution. I purchased the ad when Mystery/Thrillers were one category and paid $480. Best money I've spent in a long time. 
Bottom line, I highly recommend Bookbub.

Tallulah


----------



## Some Writer Cat

N. Gemini Sasson said:


> My hunch is that there's a bigger proportion of buyers now who *only* buy bargain books or download freebies than in the past. Or perhaps that's just the case with readers who purchase off of sites like this? I ran an ad last fall and got almost an immediate boost on my other books. The ad I ran more recently on a different book ... not so much. I'm advertising that first book again in a month. We'll see if my theory holds true.


Yeah, I also noticed something interesting. I went back through my Bookbub emails and looked at books on Amazon that ran a week or two ago, enough time for the "also boughts" to get updated. I saw many of the same Bookbub books down there from those emails -- regardless of genre! Which means a huge percentage of Bookbub buyers are just buying everything.

That's still not a bad thing, but it does mean that you need to think long term with it and not so short term. When many of the readers get around to reading the book later, hopefully you have other similar books for them to buy, even better if it's in a series. I see it as highly targeted advertising, and since you have a good chance of at least earning your advertising money back right away, it's really a no brainer. I mean, what would it cost to run an ad in a mystery magazine with a 500,000 circulation? This is far better, and, um, there is no mystery magazine with that kind of circulation. Ellery Queen is barely a tenth of that, the last I checked, and a full page add in there would have far less effect than a Bookbub ad.


----------



## ToniD

Atunah said:


> I didn't know they changed some of the categories. There is now paranormal romance in addition to regular romance, I like that. But I don't see any thriller to pick from. Not something I would pick, but I did pick mystery/thriller initially. So now I can just pick mystery. But I don't even see thriller as an option.


I just booked an ad in the newly-split (from the old Mystery/Thriller cat) category of thriller. No idea why it's not on your list. The BB emails I'm getting still list books in the combined MT cat, and I'm wondering if/when the change will filter through there.

Scott, re alsobots: when my last ad ran, in April, I picked up several mystery/thrillers that were running the same time as mine. They are still in my alsobots.


----------



## Atunah

tallulahgrace said:


> I'm not sure how the category changes affected the distribution. I purchased the ad when Mystery/Thrillers were one category and paid $480. Best money I've spent in a long time.
> Bottom line, I highly recommend Bookbub.
> 
> Tallulah


I was initially signed up for emails on mystery/thrillers when they were one. I changed the category to mystery. There was no option for thriller. I got yesterday's bookbub email after I made the changes and I did see your book in the email listed under mystery/thrillers.

So I don't think they got that sorted out yet.


----------



## Quiss

My May sales were pretty icky, with sales between 1-5 a day across the three space opera titles. 

I ran a Bookbub ad on May 31 for the first day of two 99-cent special days for Only Human. Cost $120

May 31, day of the ad - 233 sales  plus a total of 31 sales for the other titles. Not bad 
June 1, placed an ad with Bookblast - 62 of the 99-centers plus another 9 copies sold.

Made my money back, got a nice boost in ratings, a few reviews.

And now sales are back to suckage


----------



## CJArcher

I ran a Bookbub ad for a trilogy bundle on Sunday (discounted from $6.99 to $0.99). I got 555 sales on Amazon on the day and made it to #62 in Nook (don't know the actual sales numbers as I'm through Smash). I was disappointed because back in March I ran another bundle discount on BB and sold 3 times as many. I think the difference can be attributed to the latest being YA and the March one being in the Fantasy category (although it was heavily romance). The YA ad only cost $80 so I easily made my money back, but I just think it goes to show the different reach of the various categories.


----------



## Lanie Jordan

I just requested to run my first ad with them. It's kind of nerve wracking, to be honest, lol. Wish me luck?


----------



## Mark E. Cooper

I just got knocked back on my second ad with BookBub for Wolf's Revenge. It only had 3 reviews so I'm not surprised they said it needs more acclaim. So, I'll have to go free promo route and get more reviews first. I can't think what else to do.


----------



## cblewgolf

I learned the hard way that once you run a book for free, you cannot run the same book at a discounted price ($.99).  They said that since Free was part of my marketing plan, it must stay that way on BB.  Oh well, happy to have another Free run...


----------



## TexasGirl

cblewgolf said:


> I learned the hard way that once you run a book for free, you cannot run the same book at a discounted price ($.99). They said that since Free was part of my marketing plan, it must stay that way on BB. Oh well, happy to have another Free run...


Did you run it for free on BookBub before? Because both the books I have done sales with on Bookbub (one at 1.99 and the one coming up next week at 99) were free via Select before, just never on BookBub.


----------



## Cege Smith

I have a Bookbub scheduled for one of my permafree titles tomorrow. I was thrilled that they took it because it is permafree and it has 3.7 rating. I've been averaging about 450 downloads a month on it with the exception of 10 days after it permafree and got picked up by POI (picked up about 8K downloads from that). Very curious to see how things go.


----------



## Mark E. Cooper

cegesmith said:


> I have a Bookbub scheduled for one of my permafree titles tomorrow. I was thrilled that they took it because it is permafree and it has 3.7 rating. I've been averaging about 450 downloads a month on it with the exception of 10 days after it permafree and got picked up by POI (picked up about 8K downloads from that). Very curious to see how things go.


My bookbub promo on my permafree was a huge success. 19000 downloads that month and almost 2000 downloads of the other 2 books in that series. This month sales are a bit lower but still over double what they were pre promo.


----------



## EmilyG

My mom's Bookbub promo (free, historical fiction, May 1-2) resulted in over 35,000 downloads, #1 on the "Top 100 Free" list, 651 sales for May, and over 65 new reviews. 

It was a smashing success!


----------



## Cege Smith

markecooper said:


> My bookbub promo on my permafree was a huge success. 19000 downloads that month and almost 2000 downloads of the other 2 books in that series. This month sales are a bit lower but still over double what they were pre promo.


I'll cross my fingers- those are some fantastic results!!


----------



## Wansit

cegesmith said:


> I'll cross my fingers- those are some fantastic results!!


Good luck Cege! Which category are you in?


----------



## RuthNestvold

EmilyG said:


> My mom's Bookbub promo (free, historical fiction, May 1-2) resulted in over 35,000 downloads, #1 on the "Top 100 Free" list, 651 sales for May, and over 65 new reviews.
> 
> It was a smashing success!


Where are the free lists these days on Amazon? I can't even find them anymore! That might have a lot to do with the reason free doesn't work as well as it used to.


----------



## Gennita Low

I have a Bookbub ad for free running today. It's an experiment to compare with the last run before the affiliate/Amazon change in March. Will the free promo bring in sales of the rest of the series? What about the borrows? Is there a 30 day cliff or will it be a fast dive?

Wish me luck!


----------



## TexasGirl

LuckLuckLuckLuck!

It's a gamble these days, but BookBub is what makes free runs work. Most of the other sites are very conservative on listing free, so BookBub generally takes you to the top.

It's the aftermath that changes, and how many you can sell in the wake of free.


----------



## 13893

Gennita Low said:


> I have a Bookbub ad for free running today. It's an experiment to compare with the last run before the affiliate/Amazon change in March. Will the free promo bring in sales of the rest of the series? What about the borrows? Is there a 30 day cliff or will it be a fast dive?
> 
> Wish me luck!


Much luck! BookBub days are always fun days.


----------



## Gennita Low

TexasGirl said:


> LuckLuckLuckLuck!
> 
> It's a gamble these days, but BookBub is what makes free runs work. Most of the other sites are very conservative on listing free, so BookBub generally takes you to the top.
> 
> It's the aftermath that changes, and how many you can sell in the wake of free.


Yeah, this is what I want to find out.

Anyway, will report later!


----------



## Cege Smith

I had a promo on my permafree on Friday. It ran in the horror category- so one of their smaller lists. I was still quite pleased with the results and the book just fell out of the top 100 free this morning (it got as high as #12). So far I've more than made back my $70 investment.

Freeloads: ~15,000
Sales on book 2 (at $3.99): 24
Sales on book 3 (at $3.99): 20

I also picked up 18 sales on the box set (at $5.99).

These are just Amazon results. I haven't seen a noticeable increase in the sales on B&N or other channels. (I see 2-3 copies of book 2, 3 or the box set there every day.)


----------



## Gennita Low

LKRigel said:


> Much luck! BookBub days are always fun days.


Thank you! Here are the Bookbub Day One results:

They did great for me. Downloads-wise, I think this time was higher than the last run: 21,000

Day One is always the highest, of course, so I might pick up another 10 in the next few days, if I'm lucky. Rankings:
#2 was the highest Overall Free
#1 in Romantic Suspense
#2 in Romance
#1 in Action/Adventure
#1 in Military

Sales of the other books in the series have been slow. In the last run, during the first day, I sold about 100 book across all my titles. Yesterday, 50. However, during the last run, everything was clicking along and I was getting good numbers--10 a day from most titles. After Whatever-Amazon-Did (I always blame Amazon, ha, because it's always such a dramatic fall the next month), I was lucky if I sold 10 a day overall. So, in short, yes, an improvement from my current problems, and hopefully, will last for 30 days.

Meanwhile, hoping to get my new short story out by end of the month. It's my first male/male romantic suspense, so I'm both excited and terrified at the new venture .

General observations: Bookbub still works when it comes to getting ranking. But the readers aren't picking up the rest of the series like before. I know some readers are waiting for the rest of the series to be free too, but I don't stagger my frees monthly like some authors. Book 2 won't be free till maybe next year because right now, my plan is to only keep one big book in Select.

Will report more numbers for Days 2 and 3!


----------



## Harriet Schultz

I had a very successful Bookbub promo of the first book in my series at the beginning of May. The numbers held for a couple of weeks and a decent number of readers picked up the sequel also. I'm also noticing an uptick in that one now that people have had time to read the first book. Nothing to rave about, but still...

I'm in the midst of changing the covers on both of my books to give them a more commercial, branded look. If I were to run another Bookbub ad in a few months, would the same readers who bought the book in May be attracted to it again and then be P.O.'d resulting in mega-returns once they realize it's the same book?

Has anyone run a Bookbub after changing the cover on a book they've already featured there?


----------



## TexasGirl

As long as you just change the cover, they can't buy it again. Amazon will tell them they already have it. Only if you repub it under a new ASIN would this be a problem.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

TexasGirl said:


> As long as you just change the cover, they can't buy it again. Amazon will tell them they already have it. Only if you repub it under a new ASIN would this be a problem.


That makes perfect sense since it's happened to me when I didn't remember that I'd already bought a book. Thank you, Texas Girl!


----------



## Gennita Low

30,000 downloads with Day 3 ending.

Should I keep it going or end it? I always have a hard time deciding this! I know, if I end it, the two days left will give me only a few thousand downloads next time (no Bookbub and I know no luck with POI or ENT) but yet, will help push the ranking up a bit for visibility when it's in the Select third month doldrums.

Any opinions?

Sales have been moderate so far, with Books 2 and 3 being picked up. I think I'm pretty close to paying off the price of the ad just counting the sales of Books 2 and 3 and not counting the other books.


----------



## BBGriffith

I'm sure this has been asked and answered, but this thread is getting long and I'm a tad lazy this Friday so I'll just ask. Is it a smart idea to run a bookbub freebie with a price-matched free book? Do people do that a lot? Can you even do that?


----------



## Gennita Low

BBGriffith said:


> I'm sure this has been asked and answered, but this thread is getting long and I'm a tad lazy this Friday so I'll just ask. Is it a smart idea to run a bookbub freebie with a price-matched free book? Do people do that a lot? Can you even do that?


You mean a permafree? Yeah, some KB writers have done that.


----------



## Rick Gualtieri

I had a bookbub promo for a $.99 sale on Wednesday: Total seems to be about 1200 extra sales since then, including a nice chunk on B&N (a place where triple digit months often elude me).  Easily worth the investment for me.


----------



## Gennita Low

Great numbers, Rick! The tough part for me is always AFTERWARDS, when I have to change the price back. Amazon always finds a reason to stick to the .99cts for a while .


----------



## Rick Gualtieri

Gennita Low said:


> Great numbers, Rick! The tough part for me is always AFTERWARDS, when I have to change the price back. Amazon always finds a reason to stick to the .99cts for a while .


Oh yeah, I'm prepared for that. Making sure I change B&N back first to let it filter out, but won't be surprised if I wake up to find Amazon still discounting it.


----------



## BBGriffith

Gennita Low said:


> You mean a permafree? Yeah, some KB writers have done that.


So I guess you just book it a month in advance and hope the permafree holds?


----------



## Cege Smith

BBGriffith said:


> I'm sure this has been asked and answered, but this thread is getting long and I'm a tad lazy this Friday so I'll just ask. Is it a smart idea to run a bookbub freebie with a price-matched free book? Do people do that a lot? Can you even do that?


Yes- my Bookbub last Friday was a permafree book. I had results a bit further up the page, but this is most recent as I ride the tail of it:

Freeloads: ~17,000
Sales on Book 2 (at $3.99): 51
Sales on Book 3 (at $3.99): 40

Sales on the box set (at $5.99): 25

I'm just starting to see a small lift at Kobo and B&N.


----------



## Mark E. Cooper

BBGriffith said:


> So I guess you just book it a month in advance and hope the permafree holds?


I made mine permafree and asked bookbub for the first available slot. They put me into one just a few days later. A cancellation I guess. They email you just before it goes public so you can cancel in time if the book suddenly goes paid.


----------



## cblewgolf

Bookbub ad for TLJ yesterday.  Close to 30K downloads.  Currently #3 overall and #1 in Historical Fiction.  2 more Free days, then we'll see what happens...


----------



## Simon Haynes

I have a permafree title in today's BookBub SF promo.  600 downloads in the first hour, so far, and I'm guessing that's blink groan blink a.m. in most parts the States. (Right now it's 10.30pm on monday night in my timezone.)

The downloads should accelerate as people actually wake up, although I'll be asleep so I'll miss all the fun.


----------



## LilianaHart

I've got a BookBub today for DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Barnes and Noble doesn't block me at the mysterious #126 ranking like they did with my last BookBub.


----------



## Gennita Low

LilianaHart said:


> I've got a BookBub today for DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Barnes and Noble doesn't block me at the mysterious #126 ranking like they did with my last BookBub.


FB'ed your promo today, Liliana, and fingers-crossed that the "Gatekeeper" of #126 will let you through .


----------



## LilianaHart

Nope, not caught at #126 today. It helps that it's a mystery title instead of romance. They have a tendency to only do that to romance titles. 

Here's an update:

Amazon: 1247 sales & rank #216 (not updated in a while)
BN: 679 sales & rank of #12
Apple: #23 rank est. sales of 250
Kobo: #31 rank (sales will show up tomorrow)


----------



## Simon Haynes

Update on my Bookbub promo for Hal Spacejock (a perma-free title):

On Amazon.com it's currently sitting at #1 in SF, #24 on 'free' overall.

B&N shows "Sales rank: 17,577"

Kobo shows "#597 in Sci Fi & Fantasy > Space Opera"


----------



## TexasGirl

LilianaHart said:


> Nope, not caught at #126 today. It helps that it's a mystery title instead of romance. They have a tendency to only do that to romance titles.


I didn't get caught either. Mine is a contemporary romance and got above the 125 ceiling. Last week I had:

Amazon -- sold 840 high rank of #243
BN -- sold 201 high rank of #91

Can't see Apple or Kobo yet due to Smash.


----------



## EC Sheedy

Maybe if you start your own thread, saying that you're looking for promo advice, someone can help.  Welcome.


----------



## karamina

I'm in the midst of my first ever Bookbub experience and it's been amazing. My UK downloads have been consistently good but my US ones haven't been anywhere close. With my Bookbub feature yesterday, I've had over 31,000 downloads in the US alone, in the first 24 hours of a 2 day free promo. Most excitingly I've reached no3. in the Amazon free download chart, and no1. in the romance chart - so I'd say it's definitely been worth it for getting my book out there and shared with new readers! (link to the book: www.amazon.com/Sealed-with-a-Kiss-ebook/dp/B00BE9EUW0/ )


----------



## Gennita Low

Congrats Karamina! Please do report back in a week or so to give details about your book's sales and numbers, okay?

It hasn't been a week for me yet, but as an experiment with doing Select Free again, so far, the numbers are way, way, WAY down compared to the last one. I had 32000 downloads and made it to #2. The ranking brought good sales and visibility, so those goals have been achieved, but there are only 4 borrows! Last Select Free promo, I had over 100 borrows by now.

What about you all? How are your Borrow #s?

I'll wait till the weekend to report back on all #s, ok?


----------



## ZombieEater

Ok, I'm in for some results. I had a Bookbub ad run yesterday for The Island of Ted in the usually quiet Literary Fiction category. The biggest shocker, for me, was Barnes and Noble, since A) I don't know anyone who actually owns a Nook and B) I never get any love over there. I was expecting maybe a handful of sales at B&H and Apple but ended up on the bestseller lists on both (peaked at #85 out of all books on B&N, and #250 on Apple). My ranking on Amazon topped out at #414. 

Amazon: 405
B&N: 203
Apple: 46
Kobo: 6

Total sales -- 660


----------



## ToniD

Hey Omada, I bought it! Sounds like a terrific read.

I had Badwater up on BookBub Tuesday in the thriller cat. So far, about 700 sales (all Amazon; in Select). I was interested to see how the book would do with the newly split mystery and thriller cats. Had an ad in April for Volcano in the combined mystery/thriller category; sold about 1700. So this smaller cat definitely yields fewer sales. Although I am comparing two different books, so that might have an effect as well.

Not complaining though. Really needed a boost and BookBub, as always, came through.


----------



## ZombieEater

Toni, thank you! Your results sound pretty strong to me. Looks like the genre split lost you a thousand sales, but of course the price for Thrillers went down. Have you considered running it in Mysteries? 

I was nervous to run a book in the Lit Fic category and may try to run it again (in 90 days, of course) in the Romance category, though my book is technically neither. I'm not sure if they allow this, but it's worth a shot.


----------



## ToniD

Yes, I did consider the mystery cat. My book fits there equally well. Maybe next time.

I've found in the past that BB will tell you if they think a category choice is a bad fit. Even so, you can make a case for your choice and they're pretty receptive.


----------



## Shaun Jeffrey

ToniD said:


> I've found in the past that BB will tell you if they think a category choice is a bad fit. Even so, you can make a case for your choice and they're pretty receptive.


I agree. They wanted to run my next book as a horror novel, but I convinced them that it's a thriller novel and they agreed to run it as such.


----------



## JRTomlin

I started a three day promo today. This is different for me since I usually only do two days but I wanted it to overlap the release of the sequel which won't be live until Monday it looks like.

It's for _The Shadow Ryana_ which has 107 sales as of now and is (surprisingly) at #14,410 Paid in Kindle Store. It is also reduced on Apple and B&N.

ETA: And OUCH! The price on a 99Cent promotion for Historical Fiction is now $340. They are getting very close to out of my price range.


----------



## TexasGirl

Just as a point of data, my BookBub sales dried up completely 8 days after the feature even though I left it at 99 cents.

Sold 800 on Amazon, 200 on BN during the week. Made about $100 over the cost of the ad.

It's fun to do, to take a shot at sticking, but not any super strategy. I had a similar experience with it last fall.


----------



## JRTomlin

TexasGirl said:


> Just as a point of data, my BookBub sales dried up completely 8 days after the feature even though I left it at 99 cents.
> 
> Sold 800 on Amazon, 200 on BN during the week. Made about $100 over the cost of the ad.
> 
> It's fun to do, to take a shot at sticking, but not any super strategy. I had a similar experience with it last fall.


Yeah, getting the sales level to "stick" is difficult. I don't have a strategy that works.

There is this feeling that with a novel that is professional looking and with good reviews, that once you achieve visibility by being high in rank and on AB lists--sales should continue at a high rate. *sigh*

Not necessarily.


----------



## TexasGirl

JRTomlin said:


> There is this feeling that with a novel that is professional looking and with good reviews, that once you achieve visibility by being high in rank and on AB lists--sales should continue at a high rate. *sigh*
> 
> Not necessarily.


I'd say not often.

It's rare to break out or even to stay steady. For the vast majority of us, it's promo rise fall promo rise fall. The nice thing about having a lot of books out is that you create a bass line for your other titles beneath your promo melody. While my Bookbub just went promo rise fall, my matching title is going tick tick tick on sales. Not a frenetic beat, but a nice little rhythm at full price.


----------



## ZombieEater

I'm now up to 728 sales across all distributors. My rankings started to drop pretty fast yesterday afternoon. There's a link to my latest release at the back, but no crossover sales at this point since people have to read the book first. 

I'm with JR and TexasGirl, getting "sticky" after a promo seems elusive here too. Perhaps that only happens with books that come out of the gate with decent rankings to begin with (like a new release that's shot out to a big mailing list). Are there examples of books that floundered for a long time and then got a sticky ranking after a promo?


----------



## Cege Smith

The ad I ran two weeks ago was my first time promoting a free title with Bookbub, and although the number of freeloads dramatically decreased over the last week I am still seeing decent sales on Books 2 and 3 and the box set. Even better, I'm continuing to see sales over on B&N and even Kobo. Since my follow-on sales are coming in at the $3.99 and $5.99 price point, I've made back my money on the promo several times over already.

So two weeks post-promo:

Freeloads: ~18,000 (Amazon only since I can't see Smash #'s yet)
Book 2 (at $3.99): 139
Book 3 (at $3.99): 95
Box set (at $5.99): 89


----------



## JRTomlin

TexasGirl said:


> I'd say not often.
> 
> It's rare to break out or even to stay steady. For the vast majority of us, it's promo rise fall promo rise fall. The nice thing about having a lot of books out is that you create a bass line for your other titles beneath your promo melody. While my Bookbub just went promo rise fall, my matching title is going tick tick tick on sales. Not a frenetic beat, but a nice little rhythm at full price.


I was being... moderate with the "not necessarily". Frankly, I would say most often not.

I need more books out. And I just can't see that running expensive promos is worthwhile for the second and third book in a trilogy. I have managed a promo a month but having to go back and forth between fantasy and HF puts me at a disadvantage for keeping them all selling as steadily as I would want since there is pretty much zero cross over between the genres.


----------



## TexasGirl

Cege has the best case scenario -- a perma free with two other books to buy. 

The reason the other two books are sticky is because their sales did not come from BookBub, but a natural purchase pattern following reading the first one. That's the kind of growth that makes the Zon algorithms happy.

Spikes do not.

In fact, one of the prominent authors on Amazon visibility has said that Amazon actually discounts BookBub downloads and sales when factoring in how often to serve you up as a suggested purchase, which is one reason we fall to get sticky.

I'm not sure I agree with him about singling out BookBub or even all affiliates. I just think that BookBub drowns out all your also bots with a specific set from their email, and you can't get visibility outside those books and you all crash together since they were already all bought as a set.


----------



## JRTomlin

TexasGirl said:


> Cege has the best case scenario -- a perma free with two other books to buy.
> 
> The reason the other two books are sticky is because their sales did not come from BookBub, but a natural purchase pattern following reading the first one. That's the kind of growth that makes the Zon algorithms happy.
> 
> Spikes do not.
> 
> In fact, one of the prominent authors on Amazon visibility has said that Amazon actually discounts BookBub downloads and sales when factoring in how often to serve you up as a suggested purchase, which is one reason we fall to get sticky.
> 
> I'm not sure I agree with him about singling out BookBub or even all affiliates. I just think that BookBub drowns out all your also bots with a specific set from their email, and you can't get visibility outside those books and you all crash together since they were already all bought as a set.


I tried perma-free and found that I lost quite a bit of money on it. It just didn't work for me in HF. There is no mechanism for continually promoting perma-free books and they don't get high visibility in that genre. The increase in sales on the other two in the trilogy wasn't even close enough to make up the loss. I'm not the only one who had that experience in HF.

I haven't found that Bookbub particularly changes my also boughts. After all they go to people in my genre.

I did notice that it didn't seem to raise my ranking on the Pop List much which I found strange. I wonder if they are adjusting for it somehow there.

ETA: My sales on this trilogy have slipped so badly, I've considered trying perma free again, but I don't really see that it would be likely to work. The issue of promoting it is a difficult one. I have no clue how people in other genres get it to work for them.


----------



## JRTomlin

So far, this promotion is looking pretty bad with only about 150 sales so far today. Of course, it is possible that KDP is running really slow but it's not encouraging. Even BB can have a promotion that doesn't work.


----------



## Gennita Low

TexasGirl said:


> I'd say not often.
> 
> It's rare to break out or even to stay steady. For the vast majority of us, it's promo rise fall promo rise fall. The nice thing about having a lot of books out is that you create a bass line for your other titles beneath your promo melody. While my Bookbub just went promo rise fall, my matching title is going tick tick tick on sales. Not a frenetic beat, but a nice little rhythm at full price.


Yeah, my Bookbub free promo is giving a boost to the rest of my series. It's been a week and the sales have been steady. I'm not unhappy with it, but like I said in the earlier post, the difference in numbers is huge.

Same book in January, the first week, I had over 300 sales and 300 borrows.

This week, 60 books, 4 borrows.

The rest of the series in January, the first week, I had over 1000 sales (2 books at $3.99, 1 at .99).

This week, 400 sales for the rest of the series.

The other of my books (not this series) are selling a bit more too, so the readers are happy with what they're reading, so I'm glad. But the difference in sales is not pretty.


----------



## N. Gemini Sasson

I had a BB ad running today for _The Crown in the Heather_ and as of 11:30 pm Eastern time ---

SQUEEEEEE!!!!!!!

--- it's #98 in the Kindle store! I'd say I'm going to bed now, but I'll probably wake up in a couple hours to check again. And then in a couple more hours. I know it's transient, but I've never been up there before. The air is thin. I'm feeling faint.


----------



## 56139

TexasGirl said:


> Cege has the best case scenario -- a perma free with two other books to buy.
> 
> The reason the other two books are sticky is because their sales did not come from BookBub, but a natural purchase pattern following reading the first one. That's the kind of growth that makes the Zon algorithms happy.
> 
> Spikes do not.
> 
> In fact, one of the prominent authors on Amazon visibility has said that Amazon actually discounts BookBub downloads and sales when factoring in how often to serve you up as a suggested purchase, which is one reason we fall to get sticky.
> 
> I'm not sure I agree with him about singling out BookBub or even all affiliates. I just think that BookBub drowns out all your also bots with a specific set from their email, and you can't get visibility outside those books and you all crash together since they were already all bought as a set.


Yeah... le sigh.  I'm never happy, I'll just put that out there right now. I have no reason to complain about my sales this month, but coming to the realization that most of the time it will be fleeting - like a day or two at the most, is tough. Tragic did very well, it's still not doing bad, and it will pick up again when the next book comes out, which is very soon. But it's addictive to see five hundred sales a day, and then it starts dropping...four, then three, then two, then one... I stuck there for a few weeks. But it's slower even more now. 50-80 sales a day. I stopped keeping track, it's not so exciting anymore.

But I'm doing Junco on a Bookbub ad on Friday, that should be interesting. SF is still cheap. I can't envision dishing out for a romance ad, I might do Francesca in August in YA becasue that's super cheap.


----------



## JRTomlin

JanneCO said:


> Yeah... le sigh.  I'm never happy, I'll just put that out there right now. I have no reason to complain about my sales this month, but coming to the realization that most of the time it will be fleeting - like a day or two at the most, is tough. Tragic did very well, it's still not doing bad, and it will pick up again when the next book comes out, which is very soon. But it's addictive to see five hundred sales a day, and then it starts dropping...four, then three, then two, then one... I stuck there for a few weeks. But it's slower even more now. 50-80 sales a day. I stopped keeping track, it's not so exciting anymore.
> 
> But I'm doing Junco on a Bookbub ad on Friday, that should be interesting. SF is still cheap. I can't envision dishing out for a romance ad, I might do Francesca in August in YA becasue that's super cheap.


While this has been the worst month I've had in a very long time, I still shouldn't complain. I sell a lot more than a lot of people and a bad month will still pay the bills. But it has been a bad enough month that I'm feeling distinctly whiny for which I apologize.

This promo isn't being as good as I hoped but not terrible either. I find it strange that you get substantially more sales on a HF promo than a fantasy.

Anyway at the end of the day I have 406 sales on Amazon (not sure yet about B&N and Apple) with this ranking:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #319 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#1 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Historical
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy > Historical
#5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy > Sword & Sorcery

It isn't picking up Epic Fantasy where it ranks #10. So it's not great but like I said not terrible either. I expect with the other two retailers it will at least pay for itself and I'm keeping it running through Monday. The sequel has been uploaded but hasn't gone live yet.

ETA: Typo in my original post and I said 306 sales.


----------



## PhoenixS

I guess now that everyone knows about them, I can out myself as a BookBub addict. I ran my first ad in March of 2012. That launched my thriller, SECTOR C, into the Top 100 Paid. In Feb of this year, I ran it as a freebie, got 44,000 downloads and it hit #1 Free two days in a row. 

Starting in April 2012, I've run eleven 99 cent titles for Jennifer Blake, and each of them has hit in the Top 100 Paid in Amazon. Eight of those books were in Select, so had no BN/Apple sales, but the other three hit in the Top 20 on BN, as well.

Of the 12 books I've managed that have made it to the Top 100 Paid, only two titles, a brand new release and a box set of backlist novels, have "stuck." The single title went on to sell 25,000 copies in 6 weeks. The box set sat in the Top 100 for 7 straight weeks and hopscotched in and out of the Top 100 for another three. It sold about 70,000 copies.

We've added two new bestselling romance authors to Steel Magnolia this month, and they have free books being boosted this weekend. Lynette's book - 1st in a collection and a new digital edition - ran on Saturday, and is sitting at #1 Free right now with 28,000 downloads. Book 2, also a newly released backlist title, has had about 90 collateral sales. Christina's new freebie - also a Book 1 in a 2-book series, with Book 2 priced at 99 cents (both new digital versions of backlist) - runs today (Sunday). Jennifer has a backlist title at 99 cents today that will sell on Amazon and BN. 

I'm capitalizing on the ads by running 11 more books free and 10 more books from our inventory at 99c over the next few days in a Summer Extravaganza.

Next month, the three authors each have a 99 cent title scheduled, and all three books will be sold through BN in addition to Amazon. Really looking forward to that! Hoping by the end of July that Steel Magnolia Press can say we've had 16 Top 100 Paid books and 4 #1 Free books (Jennifer had one in October without a BookBub boost, so we're at 3 now) in Amazon over the last year and a half.


----------



## JRTomlin

Wow, those are some impressive results, Phoenix. If I could ask, how are you promoting your Summer Extravaganza? Solely with a Bookbub ad?


----------



## Mark E. Cooper

Quick update. On May 2nd I ran a bookbub promo on my perma free book. As I said before the result was 19k downloads and books 2 and 3 went from 5 sales a day each to 30-35 a day each. 

It's six weeks later and the effect has finally worn off I think. Books 2 and 3 are down to 5-10 a day. I noticed a drop from 30-20 a day about 5 weeks after the promo. This is week 7 now. I think that was a good result, but I had hoped the books would have become self supporting. 

Amazon have killed the permafree again now. I think I'll let it be paid for a few weeks and try out the price pulsing I've read about next.


----------



## N. Gemini Sasson

Overnight, The Crown in the Heather topped out at:

#20 on B&N
#50 on Kobo 
#72 on Apple
And #67 on Amazon.  

I had run an ad thru BB on this same book at the end of last year, although I only changed the price then on Kindle. At that time I think it peaked at about #151 on Amazon. So it really surprised me that it got so high there this time.


----------



## PhoenixS

JRTomlin said:


> Wow, those are some impressive results, Phoenix. If I could ask, how are you promoting your Summer Extravaganza? Solely with a Bookbub ad?


I'm certainly relying on the visibility gained from the 3 BB ads this weekend to help promote all 25 books. I've subbed the eligible ones to the larger usual suspects with the caveat that I've also got ads bought for after the free run with some of the larger sites for the new releases, so they won't be advertising any of the freebies. I think BookBub visibility alone will have to take care of most of the free numbers. Although 100FreeBooks kindly ran a number of the freebies for us yesterday.

Also, the freebies in the Top 100 _without_ BB ads are all free virgins in a popular category by a known author, so those are helping to drive sales and downloads across the books that don't have the necessary number of reviews or star ratings to get free or paid mentions - yes, I have to deal with a lot of those too . Finding ways to promote them can absolutely be a challenge. Luckily we have enough eligible inventory that the ineligible books can do some coat tailing.



N. Gemini Sasson said:


> Overnight, The Crown in the Heather topped out at:
> 
> #20 on B&N
> #50 on Kobo
> #72 on Apple
> And #67 on Amazon.


Nice results!


----------



## Mel Comley

Great result Gemini. Did the new covers help maybe?


----------



## ChristinaGarner

Well, I'm on the Book Bub train on June 28th with Gateway. It's a Saturday which I'm a bit concerned about, but I figured I'd go for it and use it as data if it doesn't pop. It seems like there are as many different experiences as there are authors, so I can't say I have an expectation. (Just hope. Lots and lots of hope!)

Congrats to all those who have had such wonderful successes. 

*Edited to ask this question:

I'm curious--how many of you also contact the book blogs during your BookBub promotion? POI, for instance...


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## BlankPage

_Comment removed due to VS TOS 24/9/2018_


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## N. Gemini Sasson

Mel Comley said:


> Great result Gemini. Did the new covers help maybe?


Thanks! I'm pretty sure it was the same cover as last time, Mel. I just had Karri adjust the contrast on the photo and typography (slightly different/bigger font on the name and bigger point size on the subtitle), but the CITH cover is essentially the same. Steven Novak redid the Isabeau cover for me late last year also.

Isabeau reached #101 on Amazon and #38 on B&N with its BB ad in April. Over the course of time, that book has sold me for me than CITH, so I was extra surprised to see CITH had even better BB results.

If I'm going to venture a guess, I'd say _when_ the ads ran on may have made a difference. The April Isabeau ad ran on a Monday. The December CITH ad ran a few days after Christmas, when people probably started out loading their new Kindles with old familiar favorites. Also, the BB readership continues to grow.


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## JRTomlin

Does it seem strange to anyone else that Bookbub's fantasy list is apparently smaller than its HF list. I assume that is the case from the substantial difference in price and that I get a lot less results in fantasy. That seems backwards to me, not that I complain when I run HF. Still I thought that it would be the other way around. Maybe fantasy readers just use another way to find books.


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## N. Gemini Sasson

I would scratch my head at that, too, Jeanne. I'd always thought Fantasy was a bigger market than HF, but who knows? Maybe I'm just basing that off of certain series that have been perennial favorites. Do you think Fantasy readers are as divided about subgenre (epic, urban, etc.) as HF readers are about time periods?


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## 56139

ChristinaGarner said:


> Well, I'm on the Book Bub train on June 28th with Gateway. It's a Saturday which I'm a bit concerned about, but I figured I'd go for it and use it as data if it doesn't pop. It seems like there are as many different experiences as there are authors, so I can't say I have an expectation. (Just hope. Lots and lots of hope!)
> 
> Congrats to all those who have had such wonderful successes.
> 
> *Edited to ask this question:
> 
> I'm curious--how many of you also contact the book blogs during your BookBub promotion? POI, for instance...


Well, you and I are on the same day so it will be nice to compare. I'm not under any illusions in the SF category. I told myself last spring I'd never do a Junco BB ad, but yeah... LOL... it's hard to pass up when it's one of the cheapest ones available. As far as weekends go - I LOVE weekend promos.


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## JRTomlin

N. Gemini Sasson said:


> I would scratch my head at that, too, Jeanne. I'd always thought Fantasy was a bigger market than HF, but who knows? Maybe I'm just basing that off of certain series that have been perennial favorites. Do you think Fantasy readers are as divided about subgenre (epic, urban, etc.) as HF readers are about time periods?


I think I base off having been told by publishers that there wasn't enough market for HF. 

But considering that the Bookbub promos for HF cost almost twice what fantasy ones do, I have to think they were wrong. I'm not sure about subgenre in fantasy. I'm pretty picky but never really thought much about it. Good question.


----------



## ChristinaGarner

Estelle Ryan said:


> With my BB ad, I had my book at $0.99 only for a few days, so I wanted to make as much of it as possible. Why not push it as high as I could? It's not everyday my book is priced that low. I was lucky to get ENT to run my other book, which was also at .99. I also let a few other places know and I think POI ran it, but can't recall now. I'm in lazy Sunday mode, which means checking is suuuuuuch hard work.
> 
> Also... the 28th is next Friday, so you might just miss any kind of weekend shopping-low. Good luck!!


Thanks for the input! I agree--my book has never been $.99 and I've been out of Select for months so I want to push it.

Sadly, I wrote the date wrong. It's the 29th--Saturday. I hold out hope


----------



## ChristinaGarner

JanneCO said:


> As far as weekends go - I LOVE weekend promos.


Oh good--I've heard mid week is best since not everyone turns on their computer on Saturday and Sunday. I will be thrilled to be misinformed


----------



## PhoenixS

JRTomlin said:


> I think I base off having been told by publishers that there wasn't enough market for HF.
> 
> But considering that the Bookbub promos for HF cost almost twice what fantasy ones do, I have to think they were wrong. I'm not sure about subgenre in fantasy. I'm pretty picky but never really thought much about it. Good question.


Jeanne: I've watched a lot of BB books, and HF pretty much has always outperformed fantasy. Caveats would be ensuring paranormal romance not being classified as fantasy because PNR can return some great results, and box sets trumping single title sales. Trad publishers may not be buying HF, but customers certainly are based on the results I've seen.


----------



## JRTomlin

Phoenix Sullivan said:


> Jeanne: I've watched a lot of BB books, and HF pretty much has always outperformed fantasy. Caveats would be ensuring paranormal romance not being classified as fantasy because PNR can return some great results, and box sets trumping single title sales. Trad publishers may not be buying HF, but customers certainly are based on the results I've seen.


Mine certainly have. When I run a HF, it gets twice the sales of a fantasy.


----------



## RuthNestvold

JRTomlin said:


> Mine certainly have. When I run a HF, it gets twice the sales of a fantasy.


That's interesting. I've been thinking of trying to market the Pendragon Chronicle books more to historical readers, even though it has some magic (but pretty minimal, more along the lines of what could be regarded as second sight). And a lot of the good reviews praise the historical detail, while the bad reviews complain about the old words.

There are just so many more fantasy categories, at least the books remain semi-visible there. Amazon really needs some sub-categories in historical fiction. Historical/Dark Ages would have to be good! *g*


----------



## Simon Haynes

A week later, this is my bookbub report:

(Title is perma-free and the genre was Science Fiction, one of the smaller ones on BB's list.)

Total downloads, a fraction under 10,000
Highest rank: #1 in SF and #20 free overall on Amazon Kindle. (B&N and Kobo ranks didn't seem to change much. Couldn't see a rank for Sony or iTunes)

It took a few days for sales of book 2 to trickle in, but there have been 20-21 copies sold over and above the usual, and now I notice 3 copies of book three sold as well. I can tell because books 2-5 tend to sell the same number of copies each month, since people who buy book 2 stick with the whole series. Book 6 is a special case because it only came out last month so sales are high for that one anyway. Book 7 is the serial, also brand new, so figures for that aren't relevant either.

Sold a few more on Kobo, and with B&N I won't know the result for several weeks. (As an Australian, I have to publish to B&N via Smashwords, with all the delays in reporting that entails.)

Anyway, I'm very happy with the results. There are 10k copies of my first novel seeded on Kindles out there, and a good chance of hooking new readers to the whole series.


----------



## JRTomlin

I decided to keep the price at 99 Cents for three days with the sequel coming out, hoping that would help. Of course, that keeps it on the Bookbub page longer to get every bit of advertising out of it that I could. At the end of day 1 it was up to 409 sales and with the promotion ending today, it's up to 545 sales. The ranking has slipped but is still high enough to keep it high in the three subcategories it's in.

#1,004 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#4 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Historical
#5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy > Historical
#19 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy > Epic

It is also at #21 in Sword & Sorcery. 

(I will never understand Amazon's thinking or policy on subcategories)


----------



## 41419

Simon Haynes said:


> Anyway, I'm very happy with the results. There are 10k copies of my first novel seeded on Kindles out there, and a good chance of hooking new readers to the whole series.


*puts hand up*

I'm a convert. Grabbed Hal #1 when free and now I'm gonna work my way through all of 'em. Really enjoyed it.


----------



## Caddy

I am only off and on today as I had eye surgery (simple in and out but very sleep). I have a Bookbub .99 promo today for Gastien Part 1 again today. It is the 2nd time I've ran one for this book. The number of subscribers has doubled so I took a chance, even thought it cost me $320. 

So far, I have sold over 500 copes plus I have sold enough of others in the series to make up $150 by themselves. With that, I've sill easily make the $320 plus some and am very happy.

I am 38 in Family Saga and 43 in Historical Fiction, but it hasn't updated for awhile so I think I will be higher since quite a few have sold since that update.  

Happy!  I haven't even got me bookbub email yet.  Last time sales were good all night and the next day, plus another day wasn't bad either. I do if for 7 days because this book does not go on sale for .99 other places during the year.  Cool!


----------



## Caddy

Now 12 in Family Saga and 15 in Historical Fiction! (paid)  359 Paid Kindle Store


----------



## Simon Haynes

dgaughran said:


> *puts hand up*
> 
> I'm a convert. Grabbed Hal #1 when free and now I'm gonna work my way through all of 'em. Really enjoyed it.


Thanks! Was it you who blogged about working directly with translators last year, offering them a cut of the proceeds? I posted a comment at the time, and I believe that's how two different translators ended up contacting me. The German translator fell by the wayside, but the Italian translator and I signed a contract recently, so that worked out well.

I also picked up Let's Get Digital before that, which is how I happened to arrive at your blog in the first place ;-)


----------



## Caddy

280  257 244 in Paid Kindle bookstore
8 6 Family Saga
13 12 11 Historical Fiction!
B&N sales rank: 88


----------



## Shaun Jeffrey

I had an ad for Killers yesterday. I was unsure how it would go as this is the second book in a series, but currently it's:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #148 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#6 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Psychological Thrillers
#13 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Suspense
#16 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Suspense

And at Barnes & Noble: Sales rank: 30

Very happy with the results so far


----------



## 41419

Phoenix Sullivan said:


> Jeanne: I've watched a lot of BB books, and HF pretty much has always outperformed fantasy. Caveats would be ensuring paranormal romance not being classified as fantasy because PNR can return some great results, and box sets trumping single title sales. Trad publishers may not be buying HF, but customers certainly are based on the results I've seen.


I have a theory on this.

As all HF writers will know, Amazon doesn't have any sub-cats for HF, despite there being over 25k books in the category (for comparison, SF has 50k books, and _twenty_ sub-cats).

Naturally, we tend to look at this from the self-publishers perspective (i.e. that it makes it impossible to gain traction as you need to be ranked below #2500 to hit the back of the list). But if you look at it from the readers' perspective, it means that (a) there's a real hodgepodge of books in the catch-all HF category - historical romances, historical mysteries, WWII thrillers, as well as "straight" historical fiction, and (b) there's _way_ less churn on that HF list (because there are no sub-cats where you can bootstrap yourself up to the main category).

So a big mix of books that you don't want to read and that rarely change. Talking with HF readers (and being one myself), I know they use the Best Seller lists way less than readers of other genres to find new books (because of the above mentioned reasons).

Aside from not having useful BS lists to look at, the other big sites (ENT, POI) don't feature HF that often (outside of Historical Romance, which I don't really consider part of HF, it's more a subset of Romance). And there's also not many book blogs etc. that feature HF - or, at least, the ones that do tend to be quite trad-focused, and trad-published HF carries even more of a price premium than other trad-pubbed books.

As such, HF readers need to look elsewhere for book recommendations, and I can see why something like BookBub would be very popular with them.

Alternative theory: HF is much more popular in the UK where it is a big genre. A lot of those BookBub sales/mailing list peeps could be UK based (maybe), but the sales don't show up on your UK KDP reports because they are buying from the US site (the only one BookBub links to). This is the source of those funny prices you see in your 6-weekly reports each Sunday. UK readers can use the US site, but they see US$ equivalents of the UK price rather than whatever US price you have set.


----------



## Caddy

Great results, Shaun!


----------



## Nathan Elliott

dgaughran said:


> A lot of those BookBub sales/mailing list peeps could be UK based (maybe), but the sales don't show up on your UK KDP reports because they are buying from the US site (the only one BookBub links to). This is the source of those funny prices you see in your 6-weekly reports each Sunday. UK readers can use the US site, but they see US$ equivalents of the UK price rather than whatever US price you have set.


Thank you for that! I wondered why BookBub promos seem to have almost no effect on UK sales/downloads and yet give awesome US numbers. I thought there would be more UK users, but maybe they just don't show up as such.


----------



## 41419

...just a theory, I hasten to add.


----------



## Sarah Woodbury

I did not know that, David! UK readers can get Kindle books from the US site, but not vice versa? Huh.


----------



## JRTomlin

dgaughran said:


> I have a theory on this.
> 
> As all HF writers will know, Amazon doesn't have any sub-cats for HF, despite there being over 25k books in the category (for comparison, SF has 50k books, and _twenty_ sub-cats).
> 
> Naturally, we tend to look at this from the self-publishers perspective (i.e. that it makes it impossible to gain traction as you need to be ranked below #2500 to hit the back of the list). But if you look at it from the readers' perspective, it means that (a) there's a real hodgepodge of books in the catch-all HF category - historical romances, historical mysteries, WWII thrillers, as well as "straight" historical fiction, and (b) there's _way_ less churn on that HF list (because there are no sub-cats where you can bootstrap yourself up to the main category).
> 
> So a big mix of books that you don't want to read and that rarely change. Talking with HF readers (and being one myself), I know they use the Best Seller lists way less than readers of other genres to find new books (because of the above mentioned reasons).
> 
> Aside from not having useful BS lists to look at, the other big sites (ENT, POI) don't feature HF that often (outside of Historical Romance, which I don't really consider part of HF, it's more a subset of Romance). And there's also not many book blogs etc. that feature HF - or, at least, the ones that do tend to be quite trad-focused, and trad-published HF carries even more of a price premium than other trad-pubbed books.
> 
> As such, HF readers need to look elsewhere for book recommendations, and I can see why something like BookBub would be very popular with them.
> 
> Alternative theory: HF is much more popular in the UK where it is a big genre. A lot of those BookBub sales/mailing list peeps could be UK based (maybe), but the sales don't show up on your UK KDP reports because they are buying from the US site (the only one BookBub links to). This is the source of those funny prices you see in your 6-weekly reports each Sunday. UK readers can use the US site, but they see US$ equivalents of the UK price rather than whatever US price you have set.


Some interesting theories, David. I think the first one may be the right one. Yes, as you say, just a theory, and it is very difficult to find anywhere to find someone to review indie HF.

ETA: That UK buyers show up on US sales is also a strong possibility so it might be a combination of the two. But I also think that HF may be more popular than publishers have said for a long time. They have this tendency to drop genres that they view as losing popularity. This may have turned around somewhat with Mantel's success.


----------



## JRTomlin

To complete the report on my Fantasy promo: In addition to the approximately 545 Amazon sales, it had approximately 200 at B&N, and 30 at Apple. that more than paid for the promotion and it is holding at higher sales 5 days later. And I am pretty sure that the 95 sales the sequel had the first 2 days of release were at least partially spill-over from the promotion. 

Now to the usual struggle of scheduling yet another promotion. *sigh*


----------



## JRTomlin

I feel I should mention that the bounce is sticking better than usual with this novel. Post-promotion sales are quite strong, but I timed this rather carefully to coincide with the release of a sequel as I mentioned before. As a way of bringing attention to a new release, in addition to my fairly modest mailing list, it worked really well and this is something to keep in mind for future reference.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

JRTomlin said:


> I feel I should mention that the bounce is sticking better than usual with this novel. Post-promotion sales are quite strong, but I timed this rather carefully to coincide with the release of a sequel as I mentioned before. As a way of bringing attention to a new release, in addition to my fairly modest mailing list, it worked really well and this is something to keep in mind for future reference.


The Bookbub promo I did for my first book in May also resulted in sales of the sequel (the one I really wanted to promote). In fact, a month later it often outsells the first book, although not with the kind of numbers either had in the weeks after Bookbub.

I'm starting to think that Bookbub is like an addiction since the high it gives us is so pleasant and we come back to them so that we can experience that euphoria again!


----------



## JRTomlin

Harriet Schultz said:


> The Bookbub promo I did for my first book in May also resulted in sales of the sequel (the one I really wanted to promote). In fact, a month later it often outsells the first book, although not with the kind of numbers either had in the weeks after Bookbub.
> 
> I'm starting to think that Bookbub is like an addiction since the high it gives us is so pleasant and we come back to them so that we can experience that euphoria again!


I hadn't thought of it that way, but maybe you're right. I am now a Bookbub-crack addict.


----------



## RuthNestvold

JRTomlin said:


> I feel I should mention that the bounce is sticking better than usual with this novel. Post-promotion sales are quite strong, but I timed this rather carefully to coincide with the release of a sequel as I mentioned before. As a way of bringing attention to a new release, in addition to my fairly modest mailing list, it worked really well and this is something to keep in mind for future reference.


Did you do anything in particular to promote the new release as well? I'm working on the third novel in the Pendragon Chronicles and wondering if there's anything I can do along those lines to give it a head start.


----------



## Some Writer Cat

All right, this thread has been very informative for me, so it's only fair that I share my own Bookbub results. I ran *The Gray and Guilty Sea *yesterday on their mystery list. I made it 99 cents everywhere. They emailed to say the Sony site was down, so they had to leave that one off, but otherwise they included everyone else. I won't know for a while on iTunes, Kobo, or any the others I've been using Smashwords for (I've since switched to direct on Kobo, but still had it with Smashwords with this title), but these are the sales from yesterday morning to 4:00 pm Pacific Time today:

*Amazon: 1402 sales, highest rank: #63 in the Kindle Bestseller list
BN: 1099 sales, higest rank: #9 (!!!) in the Nook Bestseller list

Total: 2501 sales 
*

My purpose with this promo was 1) to promote this book and the sequel, 2) give it a boost now because I'd recently re-branded these books under my own name, and 3) give a little extra push to Ghost Detective (which I published just before the ad came out), with a sample chapter at the back of the book.

Still too soon to say if I'll be successful on all fronts, but I'm already happy with the results. Didn't quite get high enough on Amazon to get it to kick to the next gear (I think if you get top 20, you see an extra burst of sales). I contacted POI and ENT a few weeks ago, aiming for tomorrow, so we'll see if either of them picks it up and I get another boost. I was planning on running it at 99 cents until after the 4th. My thinking was that I was going for the July 4th "I'm loading up my Kindle because I'm going camping" crowd. I'll try to remember to come back and do an update after I raise the price back.

I'd also like to say that news of BN's death might be a little premature. <g>

A couple other thoughts:

This is a book that's been selling for over two years, but I've never really done any promo on it beyond a perma-free short story sequel. It was also originally priced at $5.99 (where I've done pretty well with it), so it was also a pretty significant discount.


----------



## JRTomlin

RuthNestvold said:


> Did you do anything in particular to promote the new release as well? I'm working on the third novel in the Pendragon Chronicles and wondering if there's anything I can do along those lines to give it a head start.


I have a mailing list, but as mailing lists go it's extremely modest, only about 100 people. I put a bolded comment at the bottom of the original novel description saying: Book II, The Shadow Gypsy, is now available on Amazon for Kindle! Other than that, not a thing. The sequel is sitting at #2900 which by my standards is pretty successful. 

ETA: Oh, I did a blog post and tweeted an announcement about the new novel about three times which did get a few RTs. I generally totally avoid tweeting about my novels, but I think when you have a new one, it's pretty acceptable to tweet that you have a new one out--a few times.


----------



## 56139

Clutch ran today for the SF list.  I've already made my money back ($140) but here's the current ranking:

Started at: 56,804

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #326 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

   #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy > Metaphysical & Visionary
   #3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Science Fiction > Genetic Engineering
   #7 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy > Paranormal & Urban

Also #12 in Movers and Shakers

I wish I had better categories.. but what can you do?  Paranormal fantasy is pretty cool I guess.


----------



## ToniD

Scott, that's a great result. I was wondering how the newly split mystery and thriller lists were performing. Pretty darn good, for you.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

JanneCO said:


> Clutch ran today for the SF list. I've already made my money back ($140) but here's the current ranking:
> 
> Started at: 56,804
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #326 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy > Metaphysical & Visionary
> #3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Science Fiction > Genetic Engineering
> #7 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy > Paranormal & Urban
> 
> Also #12 in Movers and Shakers
> 
> I wish I had better categories.. but what can you do? Paranormal fantasy is pretty cool I guess.


The movers and shakers rank is a biggie. Congratulations on your great results. Where did you publicize your listing?


----------



## 56139

Harriet Schultz said:


> The movers and shakers rank is a biggie. Congratulations on your great results. Where did you publicize your listing?


No where really. Just the bookbub ad. I never even saw the ad myself - I don't get any of their newsletters. So no clue what it said or anything. I did some Facebook promo the night before and morning of... but that's it.

Last time I checked I was #11 on Movers and Shakers, but the paid store has risen a bit (as expected) to #363

I'm almost at 500 Amazon sales right now, with a couple hundred more over at B&N. Pretty good for the SF list - I made up an arbitrary number the night before the ad on what I'd accept as "successful" (beyond paying for itself, of course). And 500 Amazon sales by Sunday night was what I came up with. I'll probably hit that in a few hours, so all is good in BB land for me today.


----------



## JRTomlin

JanneCO said:


> No where really. Just the bookbub ad. I never even saw the ad myself - I don't get any of their newsletters. So no clue what it said or anything. I did some Facebook promo the night before and morning of... but that's it.
> 
> Last time I checked I was #11 on Movers and Shakers, but the paid store has risen a bit (as expected) to #363
> 
> I'm almost at 500 Amazon sales right now, with a couple hundred more over at B&N. Pretty good for the SF list - I made up an arbitrary number the night before the ad on what I'd accept as "successful" (beyond paying for itself, of course). And 500 Amazon sales by Sunday night was what I came up with. I'll probably hit that in a few hours, so all is good in BB land for me today.


Where IS the Movers and Shakers list? I've never found it. 

Congrats! That's doing great.


----------



## 56139

JRTomlin said:


> Where IS the Movers and Shakers list? I've never found it.
> 
> Congrats! That's doing great.


LOL... I have no idea how you find it via Amazon, but i just do a Google search for it and the list comes up.


----------



## JRTomlin

JanneCO said:


> LOL... I have no idea how you find it via Amazon, but i just do a Google search for it and the list comes up.


Thanks. LOL I wonder if that's how everyone finds it.


----------



## 56139

JRTomlin said:


> Thanks. LOL I wonder if that's how everyone finds it.


Probably - which means it's almost meaningless for sales. I didn't even take one screenshot of this sale... I'm so over rankings. They are way too temporary to get excited about past the first initial wave of relief that your money was in fact, well spent.


----------



## ChristinaGarner

I'm not sure why, but my promo seems to have flopped. Ad ran today and I've sold 115 above what I had pre-promo. So far not even enough to cover the cost of the ad. Back to the drawing board...


----------



## JRTomlin

ChristinaGarner said:


> I'm not sure why, but my promo seems to have flopped. Ad ran today and I've sold 115 above what I had pre-promo. So far not even enough to cover the cost of the ad. Back to the drawing board...


Your ranking doesn't look bad. I'd hold off on judging at least for a few more hours and see.


----------



## Steve Robinson

I was lucky to get a free promotion from Bookbub when I made one of my books free. They saw my Tweet and had a slot free on the day. I had no idea at the time and wondered why my book was suddenly getting so many downloads as I hadn't arranged any promotion prior to making the book free. Within 24 hours it had shot to Number 1 in the free chart and is stayed there for most of the promotion which ran over 5 days. Total downloads on Amazon.com was around 50,000.

My second book reached its first year anniversary this month, so I decided to pay for some promo with Bookbub - having already seen how effective they could be. I took one of the $480 Mystery/Thriller slots and reduced my book to .99c. Within a day it reached No.15 in the paid chart! I couldn't believe it. Bookbub definitely gets my vote. With no continued advertising the chart position has dropped back down now, but what a ride! I wrote a little piece on my blog about it: http://www.ancestryauthor.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/to-grave-makes-amazoncom-top-20.html

I think I did particularly well both times because of the number of reviews and the offer price. Offers higher than .99c won't shift as many copies and therefore won't climb so high, so I guess it depends whether you want revenue of exposure - although for me, revenue was higher selling cheap because the book sold so many copies. The exposure from being in the top 20 helped to sell more books after the promotion as well, because of the increased visibility. I suppose you never know whether Bookbub will work for you until you try it. If you're offering a title that has plenty of reviews and a good blurb, and is well priced, I'm pretty sure you'd at least get your money back and hopefully more sales on top. The other good thing about this kind of promotion (over going free) is that a reader who pays for your book is more likely to read it.

Best of luck.


----------



## Shaun Jeffrey

You've had excellent results, Steve. Wish I had half your amount of reviews. Damn, a quarter of them would suffice. Lol.

One point I would make is that if you're not tied to Select, don't forget Barnes & Noble. Smashwords has just updated the sales from my Killers Promo, and I was stunned to see it had sold around 1500 copies there (reached number 26 in the Barnes chart, but remained high for a while).


----------



## Steve Robinson

Hi Shaun!  Yes, when I saw the option to tick all those other formats I wished I wasn't exclusive.  I might pull out soon, but I have two other books that I've never given away and do very well from the lending library.  I suppose the other formats will still be there when I drop the exclusivity, so they're out there for later on.


----------



## Some Writer Cat

ToniD said:


> Scott, that's a great result. I was wondering how the newly split mystery and thriller lists were performing. Pretty darn good, for you.


Thanks, Toni. Up to almost 3000 sales between the two. Definitely slowed down, but I just heard from ENT that they're promoting it tomorrow, so maybe I'll get another boost. Still no idea if POI will promote it.

Already seen a nice spill over to other books already, so it really is exceeding all my expectations. Really curious how it will do on the other retailers, but since I used Smashwords, well, you know ...


----------



## Gennita Low

Scott, those are fantastic results! Congrats! I'm sure your sales # are going to be higher when everything is tallied up.


----------



## 56139

OK, here's my final tally for CLUTCH:

First book in NA SF series
Starting rank: 56,804
Three day promo
Current Rank (Day three): 1,122 in Paid Kindle Store
Highest rank (Day One, around 8PM MST) #308 in Paid Kindle Store
Movers and Shakers highest rank: #11 (Day Two - early AM)

Total sales Amazon US: 636
Total Sales B&N: 166
KOBO: 10
Total all platforms: 812

Sales of other books: @150 Tragic got a push from a big book blog the night before the BB ad ran, so most of that came from that promo, not this one.

Total sales since Thursday night: 962

Not bad for the science fiction list and $140.


----------



## Gennita Low

I've been approved for a Bookbub ad for middle of this month but they wanted me to try the new Thriller listing instead of Contemporary/Historical Romance. I agreed because I wanted to see if romantic thrillers/suspense will generate sales in other categories besides the $480 Romance category.

I'm nervous about it, though, because I'm more romance than suspense, so we'll see whether this experiment will be successful  .


----------



## Shalini Boland

Gennita Low said:


> I've been approved for a Bookbub ad for middle of this month but they wanted me to try the new Thriller listing instead of Contemporary/Historical Romance. I agreed because I wanted to see if romantic thrillers/suspense will generate sales in other categories besides the $480 Romance category.
> 
> I'm nervous about it, though, because I'm more romance than suspense, so we'll see whether this experiment will be successful .


Good luck, Gennita!

I have my first ad tomorrow - eeeek! It's not a freebie, it's a 99-center. I'll let you know if I manage to sell a respectable amount


----------



## ChristinaGarner

JRTomlin said:


> Your ranking doesn't look bad. I'd hold off on judging at least for a few more hours and see.


Thankfully, you were right. When all is said and done, I ended up with 240 sales on Amazon and 120 on Barnes and Noble. Nothing overwhelming, but at least it will pay for the ad. Hopefully, I'll get some reviews and see a bump in Book 2. Ranking never went higher than about 1050 overall and #7 in my categories.


----------



## JRTomlin

I'm glad it went better than you thought it was going to.


----------



## Simon Haynes

Hal Spacejock 1 ended up with around 10,000 downloads, and while there wasn't much action on the other books over the subsequent week, it's been steadily picking up. Now I'm seeing 20 sales a day across my published titles, which is 5 times what it was before the bookbub promo.

Confusing things slightly is the fact I've been releasing new titles in the meantime.


----------



## Gennita Low

Shalini Boland said:


> Good luck, Gennita!
> 
> I have my first ad tomorrow - eeeek! It's not a freebie, it's a 99-center. I'll let you know if I manage to sell a respectable amount


Mine will be too. I'm picking yours up tomorrow!


----------



## Caddy

I was really hesitant to do a summer promo that cost $320 but I made my money back and also made about $350 profit. I needed to sell 1,000 at .99 and did so, plus I sold several dozen of others in my series. I very happy.


----------



## Shalini Boland

Gennita Low said:


> Mine will be too. I'm picking yours up tomorrow!


Thank you!

Well, the email went out an couple of hours ago and I've sold 12 on Amazon so far, lol. My ranking hasn't moved yet ... Hoping I haven't picked a stupid time to run the ad...


----------



## Maya Cross

I already messaged Holly about this, and she was super prompt replying, but I thought I'd put it to the wider group too. I'm debating trying for a bookbub ad for the second book in my series. The third book is due out in a little over a month, and I was hoping to shoot my titles back up the rankings just before that to add some more visibility, and hopefully lock up a few hundred more potential buyers when the final one is released (the cliffhanger at the end of book two is epic, so I feel like the buy through rate at that point would be pretty large).

I know some people have done ads for sequels, but has anyone done it with the middle book in a longer series? Unfortunately, I can't promote my first book, as it's been permanently at $0.99, but I was hoping that that cheap price would induce people who saw the ad for book two to pick up both. The problem with this is, since my series is kind of a serial in very long parts, people can't read book two without reading book one, so I may wind up with some unhappy readers who don't realise.

Holly said doing this kind of thing, while shooting her up the rankings, ultimately canablised her sales, but I believe she was doing it with the latter in a two book series, rather than the middle of a trilogy, so the flow on may be slightly different. Basically, since each book so far has done better than the last, I feel like the third has a chance to really shoot up the charts, so I want to throw everything I can behind it right out of the gate.

Anyway, if anyone has any input one way or the other, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.


----------



## Gennita Low

Maya,

My book, Hunter, is the second of a trilogy (sold originally as trilogy, now I have fourth book coming out) and it did very well as Free through Bookbub. I've had Book One, Protector, and Book Two, Hunter, alternately free the last two years and had great results after the promo. Admittedly, the sales for the last promo (Protector) is nothing compared to the numbers before the Amazon Change in Jan/Feb 2013, but I'm still riding the aftereffects (10-20 books a day per title as opposed to 1-3 a day).

I didn't see any cannibalizing at all and since I don't intend on making third or fourth books free, I've been happy with the results.

Hope this helps with your decision!


----------



## Monique

I've had pretty good luck running book 2 for promos. My books are fairly, mostly, kinda standalones and book one is free. So, it's not quite an apples to apples comparison.


----------



## Nathan Elliott

Maya Cross said:


> Anyway, if anyone has any input one way or the other, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.


I got good results with a 0.99 sale on book 2 of a trilogy. (Book 1 is perma-free, so not really an obstacle for readers who are on the fence about jumping in at book 2). The read-through rate to book 3 was pretty decent, but not as high as usual when book 2 is full price. I believe it still was a good idea, though, since I think enough extra people impulse-bought it to make up for the number who would have bought it at full price anyway. The ad definitely paid for itself in the short term. If the books had the visibility that Holly's have to begin with, I am not sure the decision would be the same. But BookBub can lift a series from obscurity rather nicely. And book 2 can do the lifting. It doesn't need to be book 1. This has nothing to do with BookBub, but back in the day, I think Michael Sullivan broke out when his book #2 went free at BN. I believe there are other examples of this. Since your book 1 is so inexpensive, I don't think people should be too miffed to realize that they have to go back and pick up book 1. I think Michael's book 1 was full price at the time, so I am not even sure how much of a consideration that is to readers.


----------



## Sophrosyne

I need to ask this. I'm thinking about running a promo on Bookbub in the Mystery section, but it's $720.

Has anyone else tried that category? What have your results been?


----------



## thesmallprint

Sophrosyne said:


> I need to ask this. I'm thinking about running a promo on Bookbub for Tillie, in the Mystery section, but it's $720.
> 
> Has anyone else tried that category? What have your results been?
> 
> I've run a promo in the Fantasy category, and that's more than paid for itself, but it costs a LOT less.
> 
> So, before I hit the send button, I'd like to get some input. Please. Eep.


I have one in Mystery coming up next week - the 16th, if you want to hold off and await the results. Having said that, it might not give an accurate reflection for your choice. I guess that, at $720, you are selling higher then 99 cents, which is my price. Also, that 99 cents will get readers three books (the Eddie Malloy Series), close to 220,000 words.

I will post results here anyway.

Good luck
Joe


----------



## Harriet Schultz

I am so, so bummed that Bookbub said "no" to listing the sequel to my first book. I'm totally confused by their decision since the early May promo for that one had great results (3000 paid downloads). That book was listed as a romance although they first suggested the thriller category. Since the series is romantic suspense, I requested the thriller category this time to see how that would go. The rep's initial response was to list it as paranormal (!) and I can only guess that conclusion was based on the word "haunted" in the first sentence of my blurb. I explained that haunted doesn't necessarily apply to other-worldly things and asked them to reconsider the thriller category. The response: no. 

Has anyone had any luck resubmitting a book that's been turned down? This one has 25 reviews, averaging 4.5 stars. The first has 75 reviews, also with 4.5 stars, so I don't think this is a quality issue. Frustrated.


----------



## Quiss

Harriet Schultz said:


> Has anyone had any luck resubmitting a book that's been turned down?


Yes. Just resubmit next month. They might just have enough titles in the genre you wanted for the date range you wanted.

I wouldn't take a 'no' from them as any reflection on the quality of your work.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Quiss said:


> Yes. Just resubmit next month. They might just have enough titles in the genre you wanted for the date range you wanted.
> 
> I wouldn't take a 'no' from them as any reflection on the quality of your work.


Thanks, Quiss. I'll stop sobbing now.  The rep I dealt with on the first promo was much more responsive than the one who handled this one. I hope my next request lands on her computer.


----------



## Gennita Low

Harriet Schultz said:


> Thanks, Quiss. I'll stop sobbing now.  The rep I dealt with on the first promo was much more responsive than the one who handled this one. I hope my next request lands on her computer.


Just resubmit again next month. I think they're very booked in certain categories and are trying to fill up some empty slots that are available. They asked me to change my next promo from romance to thriller. I agreed, but only because I wanted to see whether the thriller subscribers are open to romantic spy thrillers with sex scenes. We shall see . I'm doubting myself and thinking the sales will not equal that with the my promo under romance (3000 sales).


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Gennita Low said:


> Just resubmit again next month. I think they're very booked in certain categories and are trying to fill up some empty slots that are available. They asked me to change my next promo from romance to thriller. I agreed, but only because I wanted to see whether the thriller subscribers are open to romantic spy thrillers with sex scenes. We shall see . I'm doubting myself and thinking the sales will not equal that with the my promo under romance (3000 sales).


Thanks, Gennita. Since we both write romantic thrillers and my first promo was in romance with results similar to yours, I'll be curious to see if the thriller listing works as well for you. Good luck! What day is your promo?


----------



## thesmallprint

Gennita Low said:


> Just resubmit again next month. I think they're very booked in certain categories and are trying to fill up some empty slots that are available. They asked me to change my next promo from romance to thriller. I agreed, but only because I wanted to see whether the thriller subscribers are open to romantic spy thrillers with sex scenes. We shall see . I'm doubting myself and thinking the sales will not equal that with the my promo under romance (3000 sales).


Gennita, do you mind me asking what price your book was, the one with 3,000 sales?


----------



## Gennita Low

Harriet Schultz said:


> Thanks, Gennita. Since we both write romantic thrillers and my first promo was in romance with results similar to yours, I'll be curious to see if the thriller listing works as well for you. Good luck! What day is your promo?


18th of this month! I'll report here, as usual .


----------



## Gennita Low

Steeplechasing said:


> Gennita, do you mind me asking what price your book was, the one with 3,000 sales?


.99cts and I'm counting sales from across all platforms. It was a new book out a few months when I promoted it and I was very nervous because it cost so much and I knew I had to sell a bit over a thousand to pay for the ad. The best thing about .99 sales is to have the book not in SELECT so you can pick up sales from the other places. I sold 500 at Apple alone that day.


----------



## Kathy Clark Author

The conversation cycles around and around about Bookbub and the conversation never changes and will never change. We were not accepted several times and then accepted.  Big deal.

If you were running Bookbub and you've started to have some continuing or sustainable success two things would happen.  First as the owner either your fixed expenses would have risen as you grew the business or your personal expectations and needs for earnings would have risen by now. Either or both?  

You would change and tighten down on policies that would increase the revenue per opening in the advertising schedule.  After all the identifying characteristic of Bookbub has been their ability to keep the number of highly desirable books to a minimum and not overload their customer base.    And that one algorithm would mean  that all of your decision criteria would be aimed at providing the best selling books on the market today given the genre, price and the likely demand by readers.  Like I pointed out earlier this is very similar to the airline ticket sales process where prices are changed 100,000s per day and all changes are aimed at maximizing ticket revenue.

So keep submitting.  If you are well known, have a lot of really great reviews, rank high in the eBook sale rankings and sell on ten different platforms your chance of success of getting listed on Bookbub are a lot higher than a newer author, 5 reviews, no sales ranking and you can only buy the book on Kobo.

This doesn't help the new less known authors but then again that is not an objective of Bookbub.


----------



## Gennita Low

Kathy Clark a.k.a. Bob Kat said:


> The conversation cycles around and around about Bookbub and the conversation never changes and will never change. We were not accepted several times and then accepted. Big deal.


So you would rather we don't talk about Bookbub on the Bookbub thread at all? Or not inform new users on whether the numbers or service have changed?

The service IS changing. They're breaking into more categories. Someone has to experiment and report whether being in a smaller (but cheaper) category bring in sales or not.


----------



## ToniD

^ This.

The feedback on this thread is invaluable. Trying to decide which cat to choose is not always easy. Many of us have books that fit in several. I'll be very interested in the latest mystery results.


----------



## thesmallprint

Gennita Low said:


> .99cts and I'm counting sales from across all platforms. It was a new book out a few months when I promoted it and I was very nervous because it cost so much and I knew I had to sell a bit over a thousand to pay for the ad. The best thing about .99 sales is to have the book not in SELECT so you can pick up sales from the other places. I sold 500 at Apple alone that day.


Thanks. yes, I'm out of Select now, so very hopeful for next week


----------



## Ethan Jones

I've used it a few times always with good results. Highly recommend it.

Ethan


----------



## Maya Cross

Thanks for the replies about running ads on the sequels everyone. Genita, I get the sense even though yours is a series, the first book doesn't need to be read to enjoy the second?

I'd love to find just one person who has a trilogy where that is the case, and ran an ad on the middle book. I'm debating just mailing bookbub and asking them what the think. They probably have a decent idea of what their customers want.


----------



## JRTomlin

I may give some serious consideration to a sale on #2 in my HF trilogy. I hadn't thought that would work well, but it might be worth a try. The cost of HF ads does make me nervous about it, but it sounds like other people have done well with it.


----------



## Ethan Jones

Hi Maya,

I just did an ad on my second book in the series, not a trilogy. It did as well as the ad about the first book and prompted quite a few sales of the first book in the series. I'm not sure if it will work well in a trilogy. My series is set up in a way that the reader will not have to read the previos book to enjoy the next one, althought the experience would be much better if did.

I hope this helps.

Ethan


----------



## ToniD

Echoing Ethan: I've had very good results running book two in my series (Volcano Watch). It can be read as a standalone.


----------



## Gennita Low

Maya Cross said:


> Thanks for the replies about running ads on the sequels everyone. Gennita, I get the sense even though yours is a series, the first book doesn't need to be read to enjoy the second?
> 
> I'd love to find just one person who has a trilogy where that is the case, and ran an ad on the middle book. I'm debating just mailing bookbub and asking them what the think. They probably have a decent idea of what their customers want.


Maya, my trilogy can be read standalone but there is a story arc that involves the SEAL team's Joint Venture through all three books. Hopefully, just enough infodumping to get readers interested in Books One and Three .


----------



## Glen Krisch

I'm sure this has been covered somewhere in this voluminous thread, but to save time, I thought I'd just ask.  When do Bookbub ads go live?  I have one scheduled for today, but I don't receive any of their emails.


----------



## JRTomlin

I've done my usual nail biting whether they were going to accept my next promotion, but they did. (Whew!) So I'm scheduled for a 99Cent promotion on August 7 for A Kingdom's Cost. Now at $340 I'll nail bite over an ad that costs that much.


----------



## Bec

Glen Krisch said:


> I'm sure this has been covered somewhere in this voluminous thread, but to save time, I thought I'd just ask. When do Bookbub ads go live? I have one scheduled for today, but I don't receive any of their emails.


Usually between 8 and 9am, Pacific time. 10am at the latest.


----------



## JRTomlin

Is there a list somewhere of other places to notify or run ads for 99Cent promotions? I'm pretty sure I've seen one but can't seem to find it.

Thanks.

ETA: The ones I think of off-hand are ENT and POI. Bookblast perhaps as well although they have a small charge. I can't think of any others.


----------



## Cherise

JRTomlin said:


> Is there a list somewhere of other places to notify or run ads for 99Cent promotions? I'm pretty sure I've seen one but can't seem to find it.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> ETA: The ones I think of off-hand are ENT and POI. Bookblast perhaps as well although they have a small charge. I can't think of any others.


Kindle Books and Tips, although they are run by the same guy as Bookblast.


----------



## JRTomlin

Cherise Kelley said:


> Kindle Books and Tips, although they are run by the same guy as Bookblast.


Huh. I ordered a Bookblast ad which is really inexpensive. Wonder if I should look into one with Kindle Books and Tips too. I've never advertised there.


----------



## KerryT2012

JRTomlin said:


> Huh. I ordered a Bookblast ad which is really inexpensive. Wonder if I should look into one with Kindle Books and Tips too. I've never advertised there.


Hi, is this the link for book blast?


----------



## thesmallprint

I ran a 99c promo yesterday with Bookbub in Mystery, at a cost of $480. The book would have been seen as good value (ebook $9.99, print $34.99) as it contains 3 novels. On the downside, it's a pretty narrow sub genre - Horseracing.

Sales (as of a few minutes ago)

Kindle 1210
B&N 583
Apple 149
Kobo 11

Being in Select will cost you plenty sales

Although it hit number 1 in a category, I was happiest about the number 2, the cheap filling in an Elmore Leonard/Stephen King sandwich


----------



## Gennita Low

Yay, Richard!

Congrats on the great promo.

Mine runs tomorrow and I'm experimenting with their new Thriller category instead of Romance (general). Fingers-crossed!


----------



## Ryan Sullivan

Steeplechasing said:


>


You only had one review?! I thought you needed heaps more. *Considers applying again.* Need to look over the guidelines again.


----------



## TexasGirl

Ryan Sullivan said:


> You only had one review?! I thought you needed heaps more. *Considers applying again.* Need to look over the guidelines again.


When you have a boxed set, they look at how many reviews the individual books have, not the boxed set, which is often new.


----------



## Ryan Sullivan

I see.


----------



## thesmallprint

Ryan Sullivan said:


> I see.


Texas Girl is right. I did check first with Bookbub that they'd accept reviews from the individual titles and they said they'd be happy to. The 3 titles in involved have a reasonable number of reviews.

Good luck
Joe


----------



## Amy Corwin

Steeplechasing said:


> Texas Girl is right. I did check first with Bookbub that they'd accept reviews from the individual titles and they said they'd be happy to. The 3 titles in involved have a reasonable number of reviews.
> 
> Good luck
> Joe


Hi:
What is considered a reasonable number of reviews?
(I've made several pushes to get reviews, i.e. requesting reviews, etc, and am thinking of making another big push and just wanted to know if there was a a minimum number of reviews to shoot for if one wants to participate in BookBub ads, etc.)
Thanks.


----------



## Christopher Meeks

Amy Corwin said:


> Hi:
> What is considered a reasonable number of reviews?
> (I've made several pushes to get reviews, i.e. requesting reviews, etc, and am thinking of making another big push and just wanted to know if there was a a minimum number of reviews to shoot for if one wants to participate in BookBub ads, etc.)
> Thanks.


First, I'm impressed that there are so many responses to this thread, but BookBub does it right. Where Kindle Daily Nation used to be as effective, its effect is now moderate. There are too many ads on KND each day. I like Stephen Windwalker a lot (the head of KND) and if he can fill his coffers, more power to him. BookBub, I have to say, is clever. As been noted in this thread, BookBub changes its rates monthly based on the number of members each genre has. YA is presently $80 for an ad, while Mystery is $460. BookBub accepts books that it thinks will do well. If you're not accepted, they don't think you book is ready.

How many reviews do you need? I've asked at BookBub, and stress that many factors are taken into consideration including the overall look of your Amazon and BN pages. A lot is probably based on what openings they have and how many people are competing in each category. Conisider a dozen reviews as being minimum.

When I get BookBub's daily feed, there or only four or five books to look at, so I take them in with interest, knowing they are probably good. KNK and it's sister BookGorilla come with 30 ads or more, and it's too much. BookGorilla is clearly based on BookBub, but with more ads, which misses the point.

I happen to run a small publishing company, White Whisker Books, and I've used BookBub a lot. When I paid $460 for one of my author's mysteries, I worried I was betting a lot of money as the book had only been selling a few copies a month--yet I knew it was a good book. (Iron City by David Scott Milton.) We sold 1600 copies on Kindle and over 400 on Nook in a day, and it's been selling ever since. My own titles typically get results much like Joe's a few posts above. My books often hit #1 or #2 for the day, and sometimes I've broken into the top 100 sales for the whole day. I remain on top, slowly going down, for about a week.

It's worth trying to get more reviews and improving your Amazon page using Author Central to get on BookBub. For more reviews, try a blog tour.


----------



## Kwalker

Ryan Sullivan said:


> You only had one review?! I thought you needed heaps more. *Considers applying again.* Need to look over the guidelines again.


I can only hope for those results.
I'm running my box set ( same setup - 9.99 down to .99 ) but in YA on 8/17


----------



## Gennita Low

Romantic suspense authors:

My experiment with placing Tempting Trouble in Bookbub's Thriller category hasn't been great. When I placed TT in the old Romance category, that ran for $420, I sold almost 2200 on Amazon and close to 800 on the Nook. So far, today, I've sold 700 on Amazon and less than 20 on the Nook. I sold 400 on Apple within 24 hours the last time, but I'll wait for a day or two to report the results. Yes, the ad for just Thriller category is cheaper and yes, I'll probably make back my $280 but my goal has always been to use Bookbub as a way to get sales on the other platforms, so for me, this has been a bust.

Lesson learned: I'll stick to the more expensive contemporary romance category from now on, unless I write a less romancey suspense.


----------



## JRTomlin

Steeplechasing said:


> I ran a 99c promo yesterday with Bookbub in Mystery, at a cost of $480. The book would have been seen as good value (ebook $9.99, print $34.99) as it contains 3 novels. On the downside, it's a pretty narrow sub genre - Horseracing.
> 
> Sales (as of a few minutes ago)
> 
> Kindle 1210
> B&N 583
> Apple 149
> Kobo 11
> 
> Being in Select will cost you plenty sales
> 
> Although it hit number 1 in a category, I was happiest about the number 2, the cheap filling in an Elmore Leonard/Stephen King sandwich


That's a pretty darn nice filling there. 

Congrats on a great promo.


----------



## JRTomlin

Amy Corwin said:


> Hi:
> What is considered a reasonable number of reviews?
> (I've made several pushes to get reviews, i.e. requesting reviews, etc, and am thinking of making another big push and just wanted to know if there was a a minimum number of reviews to shoot for if one wants to participate in BookBub ads, etc.)
> Thanks.


The first in his series has more than 80 reviews. 

ETA: I don't mean to say you necessarily need that many to get an ad but it doesn't hurt.


----------



## thesmallprint

JRT, thanks for the kind words 

Christopher's observations are sound, in my experience, and Bookbub appear to have judged their offering just right. They must be sorely tempted to up their number of recommendations in emails, but it's the selectivity that is key. It's not the first time a business has succeeded by doing the opposite of what seems standard cram-'em-in, practice.

Gennita, sorry to hear of your disappointment in that category, although posting here helps everyone else to keep refining strategy. The beauty of Bookbub is that it's rare, I think, for it to cost an author anything in the end (assuming he/she has other books for sale in a free promo). Some used to claim that cheap/free was giving away books (I haven't heard that argument for some time now).

Apart from Tuesday, my only other Bookbub promo was in early January this year - Warned Off was free. I got 30,000 downloads, 50+ reviews, and sales of other titles more than doubled and held there for almost two months. Warned Off was in Select and therefore restricted to Amazon - that's relevant to my next point.

What's interesting, I think, is the decision making process for Nook owners. I expected around 15% at most through Nook for this promo. But I got enough sales by Wednesday afternoon (UK time) to have sent the book to number 17 in B&N's top 100 and to number 3 in their Mystery category (I have the screenshot of it sitting 3rd in line to James Patterson and JK Rowling  ). I quickly went from good luck to bad though (as you do!) when B&N removed every book uploaded by draft2digital. Those crucial hours of lost sales wiped me off all visibility charts by the time things were put right.

Still, as I write, B&N sales are close to *900* (Amazon *1500*) Apple remain at *149* and Kobo, *12*.

So do Nook owners have slightly different tastes from Kindle owners? Is their perception of value different? Did their decision to buy a Nook among the hail of Kindles and relentless Amazon marketing say something about a 'rebel' personality, which also comes through in book-buying? A fascinating subject...

In an attempt to squeeze the last out of the promo, and try to keep the book in the top 10 of the three categories it survives in, I uploaded a different cover to Amazon yesterday - a 3d Boxed Set illustration - in the hope of giving a greater perception of value (It's worth noting here that Apple do not accept these 3d covers - that's why I reverted to the current one). Anyway, I got the Amazon email saying the changes were live, but the 'old' cover is still there. I've emailed them.

I'll be trying for another Bookbub promo next month. So far it's been win-win-win: I made a profit, got new readers and reviews; Bookbub make money from the ad price and affiliate sales, and the reader gets superb value from a company he/she trusts: the perfect business model.

I'll do a final update next week. Good luck to all. And Gennita, you might well find sales continue for some time. You'll definitely get reviews from it and sales of your other titles.


----------



## Gennita Low

Joe,

Thanks for the advice. No worries. I didn't lose any $$$; I knew going in that I would make back the cost of the ad through my Kindle sales but was interested to see whether readers of hardcore thrillers would pick up thrillers with romance. I personally didn't think so but Bookbub asked me, suggesting otherwise.

Now I know I'm right .

The romance readers of suspense are very specific with their romance. The suspense readers are very specific about their suspense. The book blurbs are written with that in mind and when I wrote mine, I made sure it sounded exactly how my target readers would want their story.

When Tempting Trouble had the same deal in Jan., but in the correct category, the results were very similar to yours and I reaped the benefits of exposure on BN and Apple. I know your happy feeling very well  and am excited for you! I definitely hope you see more and more readers coming back to get the rest of your series.

I still have Day 2 numbers to report so hey, maybe I'll get a spike at BN and Apple today!


----------



## thesmallprint

Thanks Gennita. I have a book called For Your Sins (Catholic priest leaves Church to marry; something happens to his wife - he's heartbroken and sets out to find who's responsible) Certainly more mystery than romance, but my instinct is to try and fit it into a Romance cat at Bookbub. They don't seem to have a suspense/romance Cat, but I see a Women's Fiction - any idea what that is? Restricted to female authors perhaps?

Thanks
Joe


----------



## Gennita Low

Steeplechasing said:


> Thanks Gennita. I have a book called For Your Sins (Catholic priest leaves Church to marry; something happens to his wife - he's heartbroken and sets out to find who's responsible) Certainly more mystery than romance, but my instinct is to try and fit it into a Romance cat at Bookbub. They don't seem to have a suspense/romance Cat, but I see a Women's Fiction - any idea what that is? Restricted to female authors perhaps?
> 
> Thanks
> Joe


Yeah, they put romantic suspense in the Romance category. I think it's because romance readers read almost any kind of romance and knows by title and blurb what kind they want (hot/mild/erotic romance/historical/rom suspense). That's why I always emphasize blurb and title as important.

Without knowing your blurb, I'm not sure which category to suggest. Women's fiction is very specific, like the knitting stories from Debbie Macomber. Women empowerment, older heroines, finding one's self. I don't think your married Catholic priest should try that market, to be honest .

If yours is heavy in the whodunnit, certainly they have a Mystery category that looks like it can push your book to the top. That category has even more subscribers than Romance!

Good luck! I'm back on the Strategy Board to see which book to promote next besides my sexy RS novella end of this month (not eligible for Bookbub, boo).


----------



## thesmallprint

Ha! I might make him a knitting Nun instead 

Thanks
Joe


----------



## Lynn McNamee

We had a Bookbub ad yesterday for _Dastardly Bastard_ in "Horror."

We've had over 13,000 downloads so far. The highest ranking has been #12 in the Kindle Free Store.


----------



## thesmallprint

Good luck with that Lynn. I usually try and send good luck wishes to KBers on Bookbub, but didn't recognize your name. I hope it turns into plenty of sales.

Joe


----------



## Lynn McNamee

Steeplechasing said:


> I usually try and send good luck wishes to KBers on Bookbub, but didn't recognize your name.


Ah, you didn't recognize my name because I'm not the author. I just own a publishing company. 

Edward Lorn is the author. 

Thanks for the luck.


----------



## Lanie Jordan

I have my first Bookbub ad running today. It's only been a few hours since it showed up on the website (yes, I'm stalking it!) and, obviously, I've already got a case of Refreshitis. Arg! 

*refreshrefresh*


----------



## James Bruno

This may have been addressed earlier, but when in a book's life cycle is it best to do a discount promotion through Bookbub? Right after release? Much later in order to give it new momentum? Or, somewhere in between?


----------



## JumpingShip

I had a BB ad last week for No Good Deed. I had what I considered an excellent free run, with over 33,000 downloads and it reached #3 in the Free Kindle Store. However, since going back to paid, sales have not been great. The first day back to paid, Sunday, I sold about  25 copies of NGD and had one borrow. Yesterday, one more borrow and about 15 sales. Today so far, just 5 sales. I have an uptick on sales of the other books in the series, and so that's nice, but that's slowing down too. I'm just perplexed because I've never had such a good free run, but I've had much better post free results. On Sunday, I wasn't too worried because past free runs, I've noticed that sales don't usually start for about 18 hours post going back to paid--but that didn't really happen this time.

I'm trying to focus on the other good things that came from this which are: 11 more reviews, all positive, along with some emails and new likes on my FB page. Hopefully, a long-tail of increased sales of the other books. My biggest hope would be increased word of mouth. I wish I knew what the magic number was of people spreading the word was.


----------



## BBGriffith

James Bruno said:


> This may have been addressed earlier, but when in a book's life cycle is it best to do a discount promotion through Bookbub? Right after release? Much later in order to give it new momentum? Or, somewhere in between?


They rarely accept new releases for promotion, unless it's a boxed set of previously well received work, or unless you have a proven track record with them already. That said, early is best to capitalize on new release lists at Amazon.


----------



## Paul Clayton

I had a great result with BB.  Sold 5,000 at 99 cents over two weeks, tripling my investment.  The book make it to the number 25 Kindle sales overall, and is now dropped back to about 1300.  I was on travel while this was happening and am now tracking sales every day to see if it makes sense to leave the price at 99 or to raise it back up.  What was your experience on raising your price back up?  How soon?  How much?


----------



## James Bruno

BBGriffith said:


> They rarely accept new releases for promotion, unless it's a boxed set of previously well received work, or unless you have a proven track record with them already. That said, early is best to capitalize on new release lists at Amazon.


Thanks. So, if I understand correctly, it's best to try with Bookbub within, say, six months of release?


----------



## ER Pierce

I bit the bullet and applied. Now, the wait begins


----------



## ER Pierce

ER Pierce said:


> I bit the bullet and applied. Now, the wait begins


Well, declined.

Awesome.


----------



## S.A. Mulraney

It's a fairly common club. I'm hoping to try again soon to coincide with my sequel's upcoming release.


----------



## Glenn Wood

Actually, don't give up.  Bookbub offered to run my book for free but I refused, going back with a polite argument to run it at $1.99 and they have accepted that.  I did play the best selling book, published author and interest in New Zealand due to LOR and Hobbit card but still very happy to be accepted.  We'll see if it sells now!


----------



## journeymama

MaryMcDonald said:


> I had a BB ad last week for No Good Deed. I had what I considered an excellent free run, with over 33,000 downloads and it reached #3 in the Free Kindle Store. However, since going back to paid, sales have not been great. The first day back to paid, Sunday, I sold about 25 copies of NGD and had one borrow. Yesterday, one more borrow and about 15 sales. Today so far, just 5 sales. I have an uptick on sales of the other books in the series, and so that's nice, but that's slowing down too. I'm just perplexed because I've never had such a good free run, but I've had much better post free results. On Sunday, I wasn't too worried because past free runs, I've noticed that sales don't usually start for about 18 hours post going back to paid--but that didn't really happen this time.


This is pretty much what just happened to me. I gave away 33,000 copies of The Eve Tree with a Bookbub ad, and have sold 22 copies since. The ad was successful, the free promotion was not. Bummer.

Thankful for new reviews, though.


----------



## thesmallprint

Here's my post from January 10th.

_I paid $185 for an ad on Jan 2nd and offered Warned Off free for 3 days beginning Jan 2nd (normally $4.99).

Within 6 hours of their email going out WO was number 1 in Mystery & Thriller cat (Top 100 Free). A couple of hours later it hit number 4 in the overall chart of top Free. It held both positions fairly solidly for a while (2 days after hitting NO 1 in MysteryThriller, it was still at the top).

I extended the freebie to all 5 days and ended up with 30,000 downloads. Post-promo, aggregate sales (all titles) have doubled though it's slightly complicated by publication of 1 new title on January 2nd.

It paid for itself in the first 24 hours and I'm planning another one next month._

In fact, I didn't do another till July, by which time BB had split their categories. The purpose of that split was to refine choice, which should have helped both reader and writer, but it's beginning to look unbalanced. The readers might be happier, but I'm sensing an edge of disappointment from writers now, a bit like when the effect of the early Select freebies began fading. My January post-ad boost lasted to the end of that month; sales went from 30 a day to 75 a day and stayed there, taking a long time to fade. From 30k downloads I got about 70 reviews.

In recent weeks, there appears to be nothing like that 'long tail' of buying after a promo. Perhaps comparing winter (especially post-Christmas) with July is apples and pears. I plan to do another ad on Jan 2 2014; the results from that might allow a more accurate comparison.

Bookbub is mature enough now for readers to realise that books in a series will quite probably appear on the list at some point, and this might discourage immediate buying of other titles. And I expect BB will be adjusting their prices to try and hit that sweet spot where the author gets his/her fee back in sales, and little more.

FYI, my July promo finished with about 3,000 sales at 99 cents, although the offer was very good value to readers (a 3 book collection; 200,000 + words: print price was $35, Kindle price $9.99), so it might not be a reasonable benchmark. So far, it's brought 14 reviews. If you want to extrapolate the figures very roughly, the percentage of reviews against my first (free) promo doubled with this paid promo. Make of that what you will!

A final thought, perhaps the most important one: my first promo was Kindle only (the book was in Select). My second one was to all comers and Kindle sales made up about 58% of the total. A lot of BB readers do not use Kindles.

Good luck
Joe


----------



## JRTomlin

Steeplechasing said:


> Here's my post from January 10th.
> 
> _I paid $185 for an ad on Jan 2nd and offered Warned Off free for 3 days beginning Jan 2nd (normally $4.99).
> 
> Within 6 hours of their email going out WO was number 1 in Mystery & Thriller cat (Top 100 Free). A couple of hours later it hit number 4 in the overall chart of top Free. It held both positions fairly solidly for a while (2 days after hitting NO 1 in MysteryThriller, it was still at the top).
> 
> I extended the freebie to all 5 days and ended up with 30,000 downloads. Post-promo, aggregate sales (all titles) have doubled though it's slightly complicated by publication of 1 new title on January 2nd.
> 
> It paid for itself in the first 24 hours and I'm planning another one next month._
> 
> In fact, I didn't do another till July, by which time BB had split their categories. The purpose of that split was to refine choice, which should have helped both reader and writer, but it's beginning to look unbalanced. The readers might be happier, but I'm sensing an edge of disappointment from writers now, a bit like when the effect of the early Select freebies began fading. My January post-ad boost lasted to the end of that month; sales went from 30 a day to 75 a day and stayed there, taking a long time to fade. From 30k downloads I got about 70 reviews.
> 
> In recent weeks, there appears to be nothing like that 'long tail' of buying after a promo. Perhaps comparing winter (especially post-Christmas) with July is apples and pears. I plan to do another ad on Jan 2 2014; the results from that might allow a more accurate comparison.
> 
> *Bookbub is mature enough now for readers to realise that books in a series will quite probably appear on the list at some point, and this might discourage immediate buying of other titles. *And I expect BB will be adjusting their prices to try and hit that sweet spot where the author gets his/her fee back in sales, and little more.
> 
> FYI, my July promo finished with about 3,000 sales at 99 cents, although the offer was very good value to readers (a 3 book collection; 200,000 + words: print price was $35, Kindle price $9.99), so it might not be a reasonable benchmark. So far, it's brought 14 reviews. If you want to extrapolate the figures very roughly, the percentage of reviews against my first (free) promo doubled with this paid promo. Make of that what you will!
> 
> A final thought, perhaps the most important one: my first promo was Kindle only (the book was in Select). My second one was to all comers and Kindle sales made up about 58% of the total. A lot of BB readers do not use Kindles.
> 
> Good luck
> Joe


Mine won't be. Of course, mysteries are much more likely to amenable to that kind of promotion since they are more often stand-alone, but I am not at all sure that is something that Bookbub users should assume.

I have a Bookbub 99 Cents promo running today for A Kingdom's Cost. This is the second time I've run one for it and so far (admittedly only a few hours in) it isn't looking all that good with only about 225 sales. (Ouch!) That may be because it is the second I've run a 99 Cent promotion for it. Maybe everyone interested in medieval war fiction and Scottish fiction bought it the first time. That is something to consider.

Because of concern about that factor, I supplimented it with ads in other places such as Kindle Books & Tips (much cheaper--the bookbub price for HF has gotten scary). Of course this also means that any results aren't totally from Bookbub.

Anyway, I'll update the results later.


----------



## Monique

Just saw yours, JR. I thought the write-up might have steam coming out your ears. 

I think there are diminishing returns for repeats, but still better than a poke in the eye.


----------



## thesmallprint

Good luck with it Jeanne. I'll grab a copy (It didn't appear in my email from BB and I'm subscribed for all cats as far as I know).

When they broke their database up by category, I think we lost quite a few random sales/downloads from those to whom the cover/blurb appealed, irrespective of their 'normal' genre


----------



## JRTomlin

Monique said:


> Just saw yours, JR. I thought the write-up might have steam coming out your ears.
> 
> I think there are diminishing returns for repeats, but still better than a poke in the eye.


It did make me blink and I will be in touch with them about it. "him his humanity"??! Say what?

I am going to be in touch with them about that.


----------



## Monique

JRTomlin said:


> It did make me blink and I will be in touch with them about it. "him his humanity"??! Say what?
> 
> I am going to be in touch with them about that.


Oh, I didn't mind that. That makes sense to me. I thought the Braveheart reference though might send you over the edge.


----------



## JRTomlin

Monique said:


> Oh, I didn't mind that. That makes sense to me. I thought the Braveheart reference though might send you over the edge.


Nah, I'm accustomed to that. I don't like it but am fairly realistic. It's going to happen anytime a novel is about medieval Scotland.

But that "may cost him his humanity" line did make me unhappy. (Makes it sound like fantasy, isn't anything I said in the description, and misrepresents the novel) Very unhappy, if you want to know the truth.

ETA: Heck, there is even a quote from a review comparing it to Braveheart on the home page of my website. It makes me flinch but... they're going to say it, so they're going to say it. (It isn't. I SWEAR)

ETA: And so far the results are well short of "mediocre".


----------



## otterific

I had a 99c bookbub ad in April with one of my romance novels that is also a time travel. It was accepted into the historical romance category. I also had an ad with the second book in the series in July in the same category. I was very happy with my results (I even cracked the top 100 overall for a couple of glorious hours in April). 
Anyways, I submitted the same book again a few weeks ago, and they told me they would like to feature it, but it would be better suited for Paranormal Romance. I responded and said that, while there was time travel involved, the book was stronger under historical romance, and they had featured it under historical romance before. The response was they still felt it would be better under Paranormal Romance. I was also told they were booked for the month, and to resubmit in a few weeks, which I found odd, because my ad in July was offered to me six weeks before the date. 
I did submit again today, and I'm waiting to hear back. I strongly feel the book is more historical romance than paranormal, and several of the books in the series do not contain any time travel elements in them. If they offer me paranormal, I'm not sure what I'll do.


----------



## jackz4000

Not too shabby JR. I checked my BookBub email at noon and you were at 3700. Good movement 6 hours later:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: *#462 Paid in Kindle Store *(See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
#3 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
#19 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical

I'm sure your ad has easily paid for itself.


----------



## JRTomlin

jackz4000 said:


> Not too shabby JR. I checked my BookBub email at noon and you were at 3700. Good movement 6 hours later:
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: *#462 Paid in Kindle Store *(See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> #3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
> #3 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
> #19 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical
> 
> I'm sure your ad has easily paid for itself.


Actually, jackz, I consider those poor results, I'm afraid.

No, it won't come anywhere near paying for the cost of the ad. HF ads are very expensive, but I'll eat the cost and hope will increase the sales of the sequels.

I was concerned about repeating a promotion and it appears my concern was well taken. It's a mistake I won't make again. I suggest giving it some serious second thoughts before doing that.

ETA: Let me say that I've run a Bookbub promotion pretty much every month this year and this is the first I've been disappointed in. I assume that it is more the fact that it's a repeat than that it has a line in the blurb that I hate, but ... they are normally excellent with blurbs.


----------



## jackz4000

eeeekkkkk. My bad. I thought you sold a few thousand.


----------



## JRTomlin

jackz4000 said:


> eeeekkkkk. My bad. I thought you sold a few thousand.


I wish. Just a bit over 700. Still it could be enough to give the sequels a boost and I knew I was taking a risk, so I won't really complain.

I do want others to know that a second promotion isn't necessarily successful though.

ETA: That doesn't include B&N and Apple though. I can cross my fingers they do a bit better than usual and at least get me close to break even. Usually my Bookbub promotion sales on those runs about 20% of my Amazon sales. (Regular sales aren't close to that high) B&N sales haven't updated for me yet but its Sales rank is #51 there so that's encouraging.


----------



## JFHilborne

Monique said:


> I think there are diminishing returns for repeats, but still better than a poke in the eye.


I've noticed the diminished returns for repeat ads with BB, and also the post promo bump is much shorter than in previous months. The BB split in the mystery/thriller category is frustrating (for authors anyway). 2 of my books are psychological thrillers and categorized as such on Amazon, yet BB is insisting they must be advertised in their more expensive mystery category. This makes no sense, especially as I'm targeting thriller readers for these books. I think BB needs some competition.


----------



## JRTomlin

I always tell everyone else to be patient and that sometimes results take a while to show up. In my defense, it was late afternoon and usually results are starting to show by that time. Apparently sales and rankings were just running slow. I really don't have much room to complain about the results. Amazon may not quite pay for the ad, but with B&N and Apple (although I still don't have the sales totals there) it should better than break even.

And it is now in the Top 100 overall. Any time that happens, I assume I have results along the line of a miracle for my novels. 

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
#1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
#2 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical

So... maybe the lesson is to be patient and give it time. I spoke rather too soon about repeating a promotion.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

JRTomlin said:


> I always tell everyone else to be patient and that sometimes results take a while to show up. In my defense, it was late afternoon and usually results are starting to show by that time. Apparently sales and rankings were just running slow. I really don't have much room to complain about the results. Amazon may not quite pay for the ad, but with B&N and Apple (although I still don't have the sales totals there) it should better than break even.
> 
> And it is now in the Top 100 overall. Any time that happens, I assume I have results along the line of a miracle for my novels.
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
> #1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
> #2 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical
> 
> So... maybe the lesson is to be patient and give it time. I spoke rather too soon about repeating a promotion.


Excellent results...congratulations! 
BookBub is starting a new category and I'm waiting -- impatiently, I might add -- to be told when my promo will run. I'll have to heed your advice about being patient, but when sales start to slide that's hard! Also, I'm considering Select, but don't want to lose those lucrative B & N and Apple sales when BookBub finally schedules me.


----------



## jackz4000

10AM EST: #98 still in Top 100. Not so bad JR.


----------



## O_o

Applied  
Rejected  

Looks like it's back to shouting "buy my book!" at random strangers for me


----------



## 56139

Figured I'd post a CLUTCH update for SF... I had a June 28th ad, I had a total of about 700 sales from that ad in three days (this is only SF sales) across Amazon, KOBO (only 10) and B&N (couple hundred) and the entire series continued to sell very well all through July.  It's just now slowing down.  So for a $140 SF ad, BB was fantastic.


----------



## JRTomlin

jackz4000 said:


> 10AM EST: #98 still in Top 100. Not so bad JR.


NOW I will agree, not bad.


----------



## thesmallprint

That's encouraging, Jeanne. Congrats

Joe


----------



## journeymama

I need some advice.
I have both my books in Select, put them back in to do a free promo to help with my new release. I did really well with my Bookbub ad for my older book, The Eve Tree for the free days, (34,000 downloads, number 5 in the store) but it didn't really pay off in sales. Now I'd like to do a .99 promo for my newer release. 

It's in Select, though, so no B&N, and the .99 Bookbub ad for memoir is $300. What do you think? Is it crazy? They might not accept it since it only has 10 reviews- they are 10 five star reviews- in which case it doesn't matter, but do you think the cost is too risky?


----------



## BellaRoccaforte

journeymama said:


> I need some advice.
> I have both my books in Select, put them back in to do a free promo to help with my new release. I did really well with my Bookbub ad for my older book, The Eve Tree for the free days, (34,000 downloads, number 5 in the store) but it didn't really pay off in sales. Now I'd like to do a .99 promo for my newer release.
> 
> It's in Select, though, so no B&N, and the .99 Bookbub ad for memoir is $300. What do you think? Is it crazy? They might not accept it since it only has 10 reviews- they are 10 five star reviews- in which case it doesn't matter, but do you think the cost is too risky?


It doesn't cost anything to submit. they only charge you when they accept your campaign. In my experience (work for an author publicist agency) they will not take your book unless it is "widely available" which includes B&N Kobo itunes etc. The other thing they look for is that have not done a price reduction or free day for at least 6 months. If the reviews are quality reviews and look legit they may overlook the low number (I've seen it happen). They will also expect you to do a price reduction by at least half or let it go for free.

That's just my experience. But remember nothing ventured nothing gained.


----------



## jackz4000

Two days later and the book is still swimming nicely JR.   

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #316 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
#3 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
#14 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical


----------



## J.R. Thomson

I've seen many authors get to the top 10 with the help of BookBub.  They don't accept all books though... more reviews and a high star rating helps get you in.  If they don't accept
your promotion for some reason, you're welcome to try my service


----------



## jez1982

Woo Hooo!!! Oh, how I love Bookbub!! I had an EXCELLENT free promo with them back in April  with my book An Embarrassment of Riches (almost 26,000 downloads) and got to #4 on the free charts. Then, however, the horrible one star reviews came pouring in. They made me feel so bad about my writing, I've put my next book on the back burner since. Now 5 star reviews are appearing, so I feel a bit better, but still...it shook my confidence! Anyway, I've seen people wondering about if Bookbub works well the second time around with the same book. I now have An Embarrassment...for 99 cents today on Bookbub. I did ask them (Bookbub) before if they thought it was too soon (and especially after a massive free promo!), but they said they thought it would be fine. And they were right!! I'm over 1,400 downloads so far, #22 on B&N, #97 on Amazon (#2 humor), and...what excites me the most...I'm #8 on iTunes (and as we all know, I don't know those sales numbers yet. I hope they post them soon!) So, Bookbub is amazing...!! Though, of course, I'll be bracing myself for more horrible reviews. But if I only get a few, and there are some 5 star ones as well, I might just start writing my fourth book again...!!!! What a great day it's been, but my fingers are aching from all the refreshing!!!


----------



## MJWare

My book ran yesterday in the children's section, just over 100 sales on amazon--pretty disappointed, but that's part of writing.

I think (at least part) the problem is it's a teen book (say, 12-15+), but they insisted on putting it in the children's section.

The children's list is pretty new, too.


----------



## A.W.Hartoin

Wow, MJAWare. I would've expected much better results than that. I agree that your book and mine shouldn't be in the same category as children's picture books. They're closer to YA than children's. 
Here are my results. I put them in another thread, but I don't think anyone saw it. 

232 sold on Amazon in the first 24 hours and 70 more since then. Amazon highest rank was 947.
56 sold on Barnes and Noble on day one. Highest rank 241. That surprised me. I would've thought 241 meant more sales than that. 
Don't know about Apple yet, but highest rank 154. Hopefully, that's a good sign. 
Same with Kobo, but the rank jumped from the 18 thousands to 648. I'd be shocked if I did well there. Kobo hates me as far as I can tell.
Overall, I'm pleased. The ad cost 70.00 and it paid for itself. I'll report back when the rest of the channels show on Smashwords.


----------



## Lisa Scott

I did a bookbub freebie promo for my perma free title Flirts! 5 romantic Short Stories yesterday.  (It's the first of 8 volumes, so I'm hoping for sales to trickle over to the other volumes. I've seen a bit of that already.)

I got to #1 in the freebie store for the first time, with about 25,000 downloads on amazon in less than 24 hours, and the downloads are still coming in. A freebie ad for romance is $240.  I think I'll make it back and more with sales of the other volumes. Plus, I already got two new reviews from people saying they loved the book and will be telling friends about it.  I'm happy.


----------



## Lisa Scott

I just noticed something odd regarding my freebie Flirts! When it was at #3 in the freebie store, it was also #1 on the romantic comedy list, and the romance anthologies list.  But once it hit #1 in the overall store, it was taken off those two lists, and is now listed as #1 on the contemporary romance list.  Why do you think that is?


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Lisa Scott said:


> I did a bookbub freebie promo for my perma free title Flirts! 5 romantic Short Stories yesterday. (It's the first of 8 volumes, so I'm hoping for sales to trickle over to the other volumes. I've seen a bit of that already.)
> 
> I got to #1 in the freebie store for the first time, with about 25,000 downloads on amazon in less than 24 hours, and the downloads are still coming in. A freebie ad for romance is $240. I think I'll make it back and more with sales of the other volumes. Plus, I already got two new reviews from people saying they loved the book and will be telling friends about it. I'm happy.


Great results, Lisa. New readers "telling friends" is the best part. Wishing you lots of buzz.


----------



## JRTomlin

jackz4000 said:


> Two days later and the book is still swimming nicely JR.
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #316 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> #3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
> #3 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
> #14 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical




Four days on it's not doing too badly:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,307 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#7 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
#8 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
#49 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical

The sequels had an uptick in sales although nothing huge. I probably got an extra 50 sales altogether on those. I will report the B&N and Apple sales tomorrow.


----------



## Lisa Scott

Lisa Scott said:


> I just noticed something odd regarding my freebie Flirts! When it was at #3 in the freebie store, it was also #1 on the romantic comedy list, and the romance anthologies list. But once it hit #1 in the overall store, it was taken off those two lists, and is now listed as #1 on the contemporary romance list. Why do you think that is?


Weird, about an hour later, it's off the contemporary romance list and back on romantic comedy and anthologies. Must have to do with what other books are also being downloaded with it?


----------



## Lisa Scott

Heh, and now it's only #1 in the overall store.  No sublists.


----------



## jdrew

TexasGirl said:


> As far as BookBub, I won't do it again. Sold about 300 books but that is at a big loss on the advertising fee for romance ($260). I've done WAY better on much less expensive venues. I'll stick to those.


 Hi TexasGirl, I know this is old news and I'm still catching up with this thread so maybe you've already answered my question. If so, I apologize. What venues were you talking about that got you better results at lower cost?


----------



## Bookside Manner

I just want to say that this thread has been invaluable. I'll be running a BookBub promo on 9/1, and was searching to get an idea of what to expect, and I found this thread and have now joined Kboards. Looking forward to being a part of this community. Thanks!


----------



## jdrew

Kelly Cozy said:


> I just want to say that this thread has been invaluable. I'll be running a BookBub promo on 9/1, and was searching to get an idea of what to expect, and I found this thread and have now joined Kboards. Looking forward to being a part of this community. Thanks!


 Kelly, can you give us details on what ad you will run on 9/1? And please let us know how it worked for you after the fact.
Thanks.


----------



## Austin_Briggs

I’ve just signed up for 2 deeply discounted campaigns, both from $4.99 to $0.99, for non-fiction and for fantasy. Will report if they accept me, and how the results will be.


----------



## MJWare

Just wanted to update my results from my Aug. 11th run. As some may recall, my sales (99 cents) were lackluster. I think this is because it's a teen book that they wanted to put in the kids/MG list. I sold a little over 100 copies.

However, since my BB ad, my sales have stayed high. I went from just over 3 copies a day to 9 or 10 (US numbers here). And so far it seems to be holding.

This book used to do even better than 9-10 a day (and at $2.99--I've kept at 99 cents since the 11th), but all my sales have been down, so I'd be thrilled if it stayed at that level--at least for a while.


----------



## Bookside Manner

jdrew said:


> Kelly, can you give us details on what ad you will run on 9/1? And please let us know how it worked for you after the fact.
> Thanks.


Sure. I'm running a 99 cent sale of my novel The Day After Yesterday. I'd asked that it be put in women's fiction but they're putting it in literary fiction. I was skeptical of this (I've never considered it literary fiction - it has quotation marks!) but after looking at their genre listings on their site, that's the best place for it.

I'll be selling on Amazon, BN, Kobo, Apple, and Smash - Sony too if they get the damn price changed in time. Have already rearranged my social schedule so I can be obsessively refreshing my month-to-date sales on KDP. 

I'm the ENT Book of the Day tomorrow as well, so I'm hoping to end August in style and start September off with a bang.

If BookBub goes well I will try to get an ad for my other book, which will be on 99 cents for all of October in preparation for publishing its sequel in November.


----------



## Shaun Jeffrey

I'm running my third Bookbub promo today, but for a book I ran before, The Kult. Last time I ran it as a horror novel, this time it's being promoted as a thriller. It will be interesting to see how the sales compare, and I'll update the results in my promotion blitz thread.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

BookBub is introducing a new category, romantic suspense. Perfect fit for my books, but they said "not at this time" due to the number of submissions, although they encouraged me to resubmit eventually.  Phooey. I'd waited almost two months for the category to finally launch and skipped other promo opportunities. 

Has anyone used Book Gorilla? I know they're not Bookbub, but are they a viable option? Any other recommendations would be very much appreciated!


----------



## Bookside Manner

My BookBub promo goes live today (it's already on their website). The Brown Bar of Shame is already gone (earliest this has ever happened), but I've been seeing a slow-but-steady stream of sales (alliteration, booya!) since I was an ENT Book of the Day last week.

Planning on spending the day hunched over the laptop obsessing over the numbers. Unfortunately since everything non-Kindle is through Smashwords, those numbers may be delayed. I'll check them anyway.


----------



## Bookside Manner

So far I've sold a little over 560 copies of the one featured in BookBub (the numbers are for Kindle only - all other versions are via Smashwords and I don't expect to get those reports for a couple weeks), plus a few for my other book. It's been pretty poky today but I think that's partly due to the holiday. Hopefully things will pick up this evening when everyone gets back from cookouts and whatnot.


----------



## BBGriffith

Bookbub just changed up their requirements...interesting. Now they will only post the same book twice a year. And nothing under 150 pages.

http://home.bookbub.com/advertise/requirements


----------



## Bookside Manner

Sale is still going on, but so far I've sold over 700 books   , and that's just for Kindle. (I distribute the others via Smashwords so there's a reporting delay, but I should get Nook and Sony figures in the next few days.) I'm really happy with this! The most successful thing I've ever done, by far.

As for BookBub's new standards, I'm fine with those. If it keeps the readers from getting bored with the same titles and gives more authors an opportunity, I'm all for it.

Question: I have a suspense novel out, and its sequel will be published in November. Should I try for a BookBub for book 1 now, to drum up readership for it, or wait until the sequel qualifies and put that one on sale? If I do a BookBub ad for book 1, I should probably wait til book 2 is available so people could get both if they wanted to? (The books can be read as stand-alone, but it's best if you read both to get the full story/character arc.)


----------



## jdrew

Kelly Cozy said:


> Sale is still going on, but so far I've sold over 700 books  , and that's just for Kindle. (I distribute the others via Smashwords so there's a reporting delay, but I should get Nook and Sony figures in the next few days.) I'm really happy with this! The most successful thing I've ever done, by far.
> 
> As for BookBub's new standards, I'm fine with those. If it keeps the readers from getting bored with the same titles and gives more authors an opportunity, I'm all for it.
> 
> Question: I have a suspense novel out, and its sequel will be published in November. Should I try for a BookBub for book 1 now, to drum up readership for it, or wait until the sequel qualifies and put that one on sale? If I do a BookBub ad for book 1, I should probably wait til book 2 is available so people could get both if they wanted to? (The books can be read as stand-alone, but it's best if you read both to get the full story/character arc.)


Hey Kelly sounds pretty darn good to me. I am going to have to give bookbub a shot. My books (not the short story collection) far exceed the 150 pages so they fit that new requirement. I'll have to check out what else is required to see if I qualify.
Based on comments from others I'd say wait for book 2 to hit the market and then offer a deal on book 1. Whatever you decide to do, keep us informed. Thanks for sharing.


----------



## JRTomlin

Just to be sure, I asked the Bookbub folks if a book being in Matchbook would affect eligibility and received this response:

Hi Jeanne, 

Thanks for reaching out about this. Books in the Matchbook program are still eligible for BookBub promotions. Please let us know if you have any other questions.

All best,
BookBub Partner Relations

I didn't think it would, but why guess?


----------



## Juliana_Haygert

Do you guys know if there's requirement about WHEN to submit a listing? I mean, if I want to have a promo in the end of October, should I submit to them now, one month before those dates, two weeks before? 

Thanks!


----------



## JRTomlin

Juliana_Haygert said:


> Do you guys know if there's requirement about WHEN to submit a listing? I mean, if I want to have a promo in the end of October, should I submit to them now, one month before those dates, two weeks before?
> 
> Thanks!


You can only submit up to 30 days in advance and I always suggest submitting a listing exactly 30 days before you want it. With the high demand, you want to get it in as far in advance as possible to have a shot at the date you want.


----------



## Juliana_Haygert

JRTomlin said:


> You can only submit up to 30 days in advance and I always suggest submitting a listing exactly 30 days before you want it. With the high demand, you want to get it in as far in advance as possible to have a shot at the date you want.


Thank you!


----------



## jdrew

JRTomlin said:


> You can only submit up to 30 days in advance and I always suggest submitting a listing exactly 30 days before you want it. With the high demand, you want to get it in as far in advance as possible to have a shot at the date you want.


Thanks. Good to know.


----------



## JRTomlin

One hint: I never schedule anything else until Bookbub is scheduled because it really helps if you can tell them you are flexible on the date so they can put it in whenever they have an opening.


----------



## Saja

Hey guys,
I wanted to check in too, since reading everyone else's updates has been so helpful to me! 
My books are non-fiction (and I know most of you guys submit fiction!) . . . but hopefully this helps someone.

After hearing and seeing everyone's amazing BB results, I decided to give Bookbub a try. Now, at $400 for my category and listing-- I was hesitant to say the least. My Bookbub ad posted today in "Advice/How-to" for _Rehab_ and it's on sale through 9/15. The ebook version of _Rehab_ usually sells about 40-60 copies monthly at $9.99 across AMZ/BN/Apple and KOBO. I decided to go with $2.99 for the sale.

So far today, I've sold around 160 units on AMZ and about 20 on BN... not sure about apple. Hoping to at least make back the cost of the ad. We shall see.

*heads back into lurk mode*


----------



## Ernie Lindsey

I thought I'd shoot for one last free run with my final book that's still enrolled in Select.  The enrollment expires after Friday so I set the dates for today through the 13th.  One final hurrah before I move it to the other platforms, right?  Ran a BookBub ad in the Mystery category and so far, I'm sitting at #2 on the free side with just over 36,000 downloads.  I haven't tried for a mega free run in probably six or seven months and I'd forgotten what the rush was like!  Highest I've ever been and way over the most copies moved.

ETA -- Just noticed that Pixel of Ink included the novel in their evening post as well.  Huge surprise since I didn't submit, and many thanks to POI.


----------



## ER Pierce

Ernie Lindsey said:


> I thought I'd shoot for one last free run with my final book that's still enrolled in Select. The enrollment expires after Friday so I set the dates for today through the 13th. One final hurrah before I move it to the other platforms, right? Ran a BookBub ad in the Mystery category and so far, I'm sitting at #2 on the free side with just over 36,000 downloads. I haven't tried for a mega free run in probably six or seven months and I'd forgotten what the rush was like! Highest I've ever been and way over the most copies moved.
> 
> ETA -- Just noticed that Pixel of Ink included the novel in their evening post as well. Huge surprise since I didn't submit, and many thanks to POI.


Awesomesauce!!


----------



## sarracannon

My bookbub ad for The Trouble With Goodbye ran today! 

I finished the day with about 1900 sales across all vendors (excluding Apple until they report tomorrow.)

Current ranks - 
Amazon #30 overall! (My first time in the Top 100 ever! So exciting!)
Barnes & Noble #11 overall
Apple #45

Didn't get many sales at Kobo or All Romance ebooks. 

Overall, this was a huge success for me. I more than made back my money today. I was pushing to try to get the second book in my series out by today, but life is unpredictable with a little one and I just couldn't make it. Hoping to have it out this weekend, so should still see some trickle through!


----------



## ToniD

Nice results, all!

Ernie, I just grabbed yours. Sheesh, I remember hopscotching with you on free runs way back when. Good luck on the last hurrah. I left Select a couple of weeks ago. It's a new world out there  

I have a BookBub on Saturday for Volcano, in the the thriller cat. Will report back.


----------



## Writer1000

Running an ad with them on October 8th when I use up my KDP Select free days for Secret Words. The book will be under the "new" Contemporary Romance category (which was the old Contemporary and Historical Romance list). They are launching a new, separate Historical Romance listing on September 18th.

Here's what they said in the email:

"We wanted to let you know that we are launching a new, separate Historical Romance list on September 18th. After that date, our current Contemporary and Historical Romance list will be the Contemporary Romance list and will still reach 470,000+ subscribers."


----------



## Harriet Schultz

MirandaPCharles said:


> Running an ad with them on October 8th when I use up my KDP Select free days for Secret Words. The book will be under the "new" Contemporary Romance category (which was the old Contemporary and Historical Romance list). They are launching a new, separate Historical Romance listing on September 18th.
> 
> Here's what they said in the email:
> 
> "We wanted to let you know that we are launching a new, separate Historical Romance list on September 18th. After that date, our current Contemporary and Historical Romance list will be the Contemporary Romance list and will still reach 470,000+ subscribers."


They did the same recently with romantic suspense. I requested a romance listing and received a similar response to yours about the new romantic suspense category...it took two months to launch and then they had so many requests for listings that they accepted very few (and some of them traditionally published). Mine wasn't among them  . 
I've checked to see what else they've listed since then and there's a notice at the top of the category's page that there are no new listings. It's still the same ones. I think they're just breaking out new categories as an experiment to see how their subscribers react. I wish you better luck than I had!!!


----------



## jdrew

Thanks to all who have been reporting results.  I hope those who have upcoming Bookbub ads will report results as well.  If it continues to be as positive as what I've seen so far, I'm going to get in on it.  However, I am pushing to get my third novel in print before year end and I think it would be best to have it available before running an ad.  It seems the more books you have the more spill over purchases you can get from an ad for a single book.  Any thoughts on that from the group?


----------



## Randy M.

A BookBub ad ran in July increased the sales of all my books. That trend continued through August. September, not so much. In any case, I have another BookBub promo scheduled for September 24th. Hopefully I will have the same results this go around. I will keep you posted.


----------



## Gennita Low

Anyone else tried to promote their books in the new Romantic Suspense category? I notice it's kind of slow and I'm thinking of buying a spot for my Sex Lies & Spies collection. I notice there aren't many of the usual RS in the contemporary category either, so where are the RS authors promoting their books?

RS's cost is affordable right now because of low number of subscribers and when they gave be the spot for free a month ago, I received okay sales with a slight boost for about two weeks. I wouldn't mind getting some of the same action for the SLS anthology. I don't think it'd be accepted for the big Contemporary category since it's all...contemporary  titles there nowadays.

Any RS results to report? Thanks!


----------



## SEAN H. ROBERTSON

Thanks everyone for the priceless advice here regarding Bookbub. I just submitted To Be Loved for the RS category and No Panties Fridays for erotic romance...both for any date they'll give me. Will report their response this week. Fingers crossed for us all!


----------



## ToniD

Reporting back with results from my BB promo for Volcano Watch, a 99cent sale in the thriller category. It ran yesterday, 9/14, and I’m including sales numbers through 5:00 pm today. Also including numbers for Badwater, book one in the series—it got a nice boost.

Amazon:
Badwater 135
Volcano 1,031

Barnes&Noble:
Badwater 145
Volcano 533

Apple (first day results only):
Badwater 15
Volcano 145

Kobo:
Badwater 2
Volcano 14

I’ve just recently taken the books out of Select and put them on the other platforms. They were pretty much dying there until BB worked its mojo.

This is Volcano’s fourth run on BookBub. Last time it ran was in the combined mystery/thriller category, and I’m happy with its performance in the smaller thriller cat.


----------



## otterific

I had a bookbub ad yesterday with Yellowstone Heart Song in the Paranormal Romance category for $0.99. This is the book's second time with bookbub. The first time, in April, I was listed in historical romance, which is what I wanted again, but they said I would have a better response in paranormal romance. (The book is a time travel). I disagreed with them, arguing that the book (the entire series in general) had a heavy emphasis on historical romance, and they had just accepted the second book in the series under historical romance (also a time travel) in July. They wouldn't budge, so I went ahead and bought the paranormal romance ad. As I predicted, my results were only about half of what my runs the first time were for the book, or the results on the second book. 
It did push me into the number one position in time travel romance for a day (which was surpassed today by another book bub book), and on Barnes and Noble, my overall rankings jumped as high as 101 at one point. I have an ENT spot on Tuesday, so hopefully that will help keep my rankings high on Amazon for a little while longer. I also submitted to POI, but they've only accepted the book once, over a year ago when it was still in Select. 
I also am not seeing the immediate big boost in cross-over sales to the other books in the series as I saw last time. I'm hoping those will come later, but as I tried to tell the folks at bookbub, these books are more geared toward the historical romance readers than the paranormal readers.


----------



## valeriec80

I've got a romantic suspense ad running them this weekend. I'll be sure to pop back in and give my results.


----------



## Gennita Low

valeriec80 said:


> I've got a romantic suspense ad running them this weekend. I'll be sure to pop back in and give my results.


Thank you! I'm curious to see how this category is working out and hoping it has some eager subscribers .


----------



## Guest

I've been turned down on all the books I've submitted.

My question is for those who've been turned down, but then had one accepted.

How long did you wait after that final rejection before submitting again with success?

I hear at least 4 weeks.  Any other experiences?


----------



## Just Browsing

Greg Strandberg said:


> My question is for those who've been turned down, but then had one accepted.
> 
> How long did you wait after that final rejection before submitting again with success?
> 
> I hear at least 4 weeks. Any other experiences?


I had one accepted that was turned down four times. The first time I asked why--they said it had been published too recently. The second time, I asked again--they said not enough reviews (I had over 20). The third and fourth times I didn't ask (though I did have more reviews). But that second time, I also asked if it was a book they would _ever_ take, and they said maybe, but to wait a month before re-submitting. So I did, each time. Their own site says to wait 2 weeks before resubmitting. I did have other books that were being accepted while that one was turned down; I have no idea if that made a difference or not.

I think they'll tell you (or, well, the person I was corresponding with last year would have) if the book just isn't ever going to make it. I have one fab collection of short stories by one author, literary fiction, and the answer on that one was "Nah, probably not ever." This one that had the 4 refusals, I really believed in. Nice cover, great book, glowing reviews, good author, in a series... I have no idea why it took so long, but because I really did think they should take it and it would do well, I kept trying. It depends whom you're up against, and there's no way to see/know that.

I've tried twice with Pleasure Dial (in my signature here) in the erotic romance category--that's two no's there. So far. I might try a few more times on that one, but I know it's a bit different from others that they take in that category. So that might honestly be a "Are you kidding us?" Although they did say I could resubmit it.


----------



## sarracannon

Greg Strandberg said:


> How long did you wait after that final rejection before submitting again with success?


I was turned down in June, but then approved in August for an ad in September. So I think I must have waiting somewhere right around 8 weeks between.


----------



## Guest

sarracannon said:


> I was turned down in June, but then approved in August for an ad in September. So I think I must have waiting somewhere right around 8 weeks between.


I'm about at 2 months since my last try, perhaps it's time to get up the nerve again.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

valeriec80 said:


> I've got a romantic suspense ad running them this weekend. I'll be sure to pop back in and give my results.


Curious to know how the ad worked.
Also, did they tell you how many subscribers are on the romantic suspense list? My guess is not many, because the ad is so inexpensive compared to the other categories. Thanks!


----------



## jdrew

1001nightspress said:


> I had one accepted that was turned down four times. The first time I asked why--they said it had been published too recently. The second time, I asked again--they said not enough reviews (I had over 20). The third and fourth times I didn't ask (though I did have more reviews).


When they told you that you didn't have enough reviews (over 20) where were they looking at reviews? Amazon, Goodreads, dozens of other places? I'm just curious as it might affect my decision to try for a BookBub ad.


----------



## SEAN H. ROBERTSON

SEAN H. ROBERTSON said:


> Thanks everyone for the priceless advice here regarding Bookbub. I just submitted To Be Loved for the RS category and No Panties Fridays for erotic romance...both for any date they'll give me. Will report their response this week. Fingers crossed for us all!


Not selected for No Panties Fridays and no reason provided. Holding out hope for To Be Loved.


----------



## Just Browsing

jdrew said:


> When they told you that you didn't have enough reviews (over 20) where were they looking at reviews? Amazon, Goodreads, dozens of other places? I'm just curious as it might affect my decision to try for a BookBub ad.


I don't know. My highest # of reviews was on Amazon. I had some on Goodreads for that book too, but often they were the same review, cross-posted. And I can't say that BB has a "must have 30 reviews" policy or anything. It could be than mine had 23, but every other book that applied for that week had 57. But then the next time when I had 32, every other book had 15.

I have no problems resubmitting a book I think is good and hoping to get in. But I don't want to keep sending them a book they'll just never want. Waste of my time, waste of theirs. I would love it if, with a rejection, they gave you some indication of whether it was worth trying again. But instead you just get that link to their guidelines, which by now everyone has memorized. It's not like we're submitting, getting turned down, reading those guidelines for the first time, and then going "D'oh! I should have put an attractive cover on it! If only I'd known!"

All you can go on is "In general"s. In general, they don't like new releases. In general, they seem to be happiest with 20 or more reviews.


----------



## dotx

SEAN H. ROBERTSON said:


> Not selected for No Panties Fridays and no reason provided. Holding out hope for To Be Loved.


No Panties Friday has a lot of things going against it. First, the title makes it sound like it's erotica, but not erotic romance.

Also, it's 133 pages, and the new Bookbub requirement is at least 150 pages.

They also want a high review average (4* or higher) and 20 or more reviews. They don't really say that on their guidelines but that's more or less what we've all figured out from past rejections.

To Be Loved has only 5 reviews, so I would be very surprised if they took it on. Maybe you can try to get more reviews for the book?


----------



## SEAN H. ROBERTSON

dotx said:


> No Panties Friday has a lot of things going against it. First, the title makes it sound like it's erotica, but not erotic romance.
> 
> Also, it's 133 pages, and the new Bookbub requirement is at least 150 pages.
> 
> They also want a high review average (4* or higher) and 20 or more reviews. They don't really say that on their guidelines but that's more or less what we've all figured out from past rejections.
> 
> To Be Loved has only 5 reviews, so I would be very surprised if they took it on. Maybe you can try to get more reviews for the book?
> 
> Thanks Dotx. I've been working on requesting more reviews for To Be Loved. I'm hoping that since Romantic Suspense is a new category for BB, they'll allow me in with the 4.4 average stars, price reduced to .99 cents and date flexibility (whichever date they decide. Sweetest day would be awesome!


----------



## Harriet Schultz

YIPPEE !!! Or at least I think so.

After being turned down about a month or so ago, BookBub just let me know that A Legacy of Revenge will run as romantic suspense---they say they have 80,000 subscribers for this category. My only concern is that it's for a Saturday, October 12, but at this point I was going to say yes to whatever they offered.  

Has anyone had a good result with them from a Saturday run


----------



## dotx

valeriec80 said:


> I've got a romantic suspense ad running them this weekend. I'll be sure to pop back in and give my results.


How did it go?



Harriet Schultz said:


> YIPPEE !!! Or at least I think so.
> 
> After being turned down about a month or so ago, BoobBub just let me know that A Legacy of Revenge will run as romantic suspense---they say they have 80,000 subscribers for this category. My only concern is that it's for a Saturday, October 12, but at this point I was going to say yes to whatever they offered.
> 
> Has anyone had a good result with them from a Saturday run


Congrats! I hope weekends are not a bad thing, because they scheduled my ad for a Sunday.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

dotx said:


> How did it go?
> 
> Congrats! I hope weekends are not a bad thing, because they scheduled my ad for a Sunday.


Well, we'll find out, won't we? It's gotta be better than doing nothing and the price was right for mine.


----------



## ToniD

Harriet Schultz said:


> YIPPEE !!! Or at least I think so.
> 
> After being turned down about a month or so ago, BoobBub just let me know that A Legacy of Revenge will run as romantic suspense---they say they have 80,000 subscribers for this category. My only concern is that it's for a Saturday, October 12, but at this point I was going to say yes to whatever they offered.
> 
> Has anyone had a good result with them from a Saturday run


I just had a Saturday run (the 14th), and had very good results. I too was a little worried about weekend versus weekday, but worried for naught. So good luck to you and Dot on your weekend runs.

BTW, couldn't resist chuckling over your typo. Romantic suspense is likely a good fit for BoobBub.  (I've made that same typo. Easy to do)


----------



## Harriet Schultz

ToniD said:


> I just had a Saturday run (the 14th), and had very good results. I too was a little worried about weekend versus weekday, but worried for naught. So good luck to you and Dot on your weekend runs.
> 
> BTW, couldn't resist chuckling over your typo. Romantic suspense is likely a good fit for BoobBub.  (I've made that same typo. Easy to do)


OOPS! Fixed, but happy to provide a giggle.


----------



## HeyImBen

I have a question for those who've had their book(s) featured on Bookbub.  Once your
book has been accepted for a listing, how soon did you receive your invoice.  My email
from them yesterday says I should receive an invoice shortly via a separate email.  Does
that mean within seven days or by the next day?  Just curious.  I so want to give them 
my money.


----------



## 56139

HeyImBen said:


> I have a question for those who've had their book(s) featured on Bookbub. Once your
> book has been accepted for a listing, how soon did you receive your invoice. My email
> from them yesterday says I should receive an invoice shortly via a separate email. Does
> that mean within seven days or by the next day? Just curious. I so want to give them
> my money.


I actually had to email them for my invoice. Two weeks went buy and I got paranoid.  They sent it that day.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

HeyImBen said:


> I have a question for those who've had their book(s) featured on Bookbub. Once your
> book has been accepted for a listing, how soon did you receive your invoice. My email
> from them yesterday says I should receive an invoice shortly via a separate email. Does
> that mean within seven days or by the next day? Just curious. I so want to give them
> my money.


My invoice arrived minutes after they sent the email that my book had been scheduled. If you still haven't received yours, check with them.


----------



## Shalini Boland

Hi Guys 

I had the Bookbub email go out today for my KDP Select free promo for OUTSIDE. So far just over 7k downloads!

Wondering (hoping) it will result in actual sales once my freebie ends. Maybe the sequel will see an uptick...


----------



## HeyImBen

Harriet Schultz said:


> My invoice arrived minutes after they sent the email that my book had been scheduled. If you still haven't received yours, check with them.


Thanks, Harriet. I did just that and received it about fifteen minutes ago.


----------



## Maia Sepp Ross

Ran a Bookbub ad yesterday in Women's Fiction.

About 1200 sold on Amazon, peaked at #67 and hit #1 in Humor. Not sure how many I sold on Barnes and Noble but I'm currently at #17. Not sure about Apple either, but I peaked at #80. Sold about 15 on Kobo, where I generally sell well.

Woo!


----------



## Lo/Roxie

I didn't see anyone share results of an erotic romance ad (or maybe I missed them!) so I figured I'd toss out my results. My ad ran today (er...yesterday) 9/20 for a 3 book boxed set normally priced at 7.99 on sale for 99 cents. This boxed set had, like, one 5-star review when I queried for a spot--but the first three books in my HRP series had hundreds of reviews with a 4.5-star or higher average rating across Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, etc.

*The boxed set is currently sitting at #15 Paid at B&N and #37 Paid at Amazon. I've had 350-ish sales reported for B&N for 9/20 and 1400+ for Amazon.* Sales at Kobo were very low at 30-ish copies. Smashwords had another 25 or so. No sales at Apple because the boxed set is stuck in Smashwords limbo.

I've also seen a surge in mailing list signups today and sales of the 4th book in the series are gaining speed again. I chose to do this ad this week because I'm releasing the first book in the spinoff series next Friday (9/27) and the 5th book in the HRP series in late October.

Overall I'm pleased with the experience. Oh--and I initially asked for a romantic suspense spot but they countered with an offer for erotic romance instead. At $240, I decided to take a gamble!

ETA: Just wanted to update with the sales figures for yesterday now that B&N has caught up. I moved 388 copies on B&N on 9/20 for a final rank of #13. I'm still sitting at #13 on B&N and have moved 350+ copies today (9/21.) On Amazon, I'm bouncing around between mid-30s and low-60s with nearly 400+ sales reported today. I expect I'll probably see a dump of sales later this evening because Amazon seems to be lagging behind. Still very pleased with this ad!

ETA 2: My second day sales were 395 at B&N and 500+ at Amazon. I'm slowly sliding now (#34 rank at B&N, 100s at Amazon) but the sales of the fourth book in the series and my backlist are starting to rise.


----------



## Writer1000

Thanks for sharing, Lolita.


----------



## Lo/Roxie

Happy to share, Miranda! I figured there were other e-rom writers out there who might be wondering what sort of boost a BookBub ad on that list could offer.


----------



## 56139

Awesome result, Lolita. I have noticed that BB loves the boxed set when you go 99 cents.  I have a friend who did a fantasy box set for $1.99 (regular price was $6.99 or 7.99 I believe) and she sold about as much as you.  That was like last May, though.


----------



## valeriec80

Well, since Amazon didn't lower my price, my Romantic Suspense ad was basically a bust.  

But I did get to #123 in the Nook Store, selling 116 copies.

On Kobo, I sold like 10 books. 

Sorry, Gennita! I am going to try to get another Bookbub ad going for another of my books in the next couple months, but it will probably not be in Romantic Suspense. Anyway, I am no help for determining effectiveness.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

valeriec80 said:


> Well, since Amazon didn't lower my price, my Romantic Suspense ad was basically a bust.
> 
> But I did get to #123 in the Nook Store, selling 116 copies.
> 
> On Kobo, I sold like 10 books.
> 
> Sorry, Gennita! I am going to try to get another Bookbub ad going for another of my books in the next couple months, but it will probably not be in Romantic Suspense. Anyway, I am no help for determining effectiveness.


Sorry that the Amazon price change didn't go through in time....how many days in advance did you ask them to do it?

I've got a romantic suspense ad on Oct 12 so, like Gennita, I was interested to find out how yours went. At least you hit a good number on B & N.


----------



## valeriec80

Harriet Schultz said:


> Sorry that the Amazon price change didn't go through in time....how many days in advance did you ask them to do it?
> 
> I've got a romantic suspense ad on Oct 12 so, like Gennita, I was interested to find out how yours went. At least you hit a good number on B & N.


I did it on Thursday evening for a Saturday ad. It just went to $.99 this evening (Sunday). I'm convinced something screwy happened on Amazon, because any other time, it would have been long enough, but so it goes, eh?


----------



## Shalini Boland

valeriec80 said:


> I did it on Thursday evening for a Saturday ad. It just went to $.99 this evening (Sunday). I'm convinced something screwy happened on Amazon, because any other time, it would have been long enough, but so it goes, eh?


That's such a shame. I agree it sounds like something screwy happened. I changed mine on Monday for a Wednesday promo and it went through okay. Hope you have better luck next time!


----------



## Lynn McNamee

My problem wasn't getting the price to change, but getting it to change back.  

After our promo, I went to all venues, except Amazon, and changed the price back to its original non-sale price.

Then, I waited until every one of them showed the correct price on the book pages. 

After that, I changed the price on Amazon. 

Amazon promptly price-matched it back down to $.99.   

This is the third book they've done this on, completely screwing up the momentum I had planned.

Oddly, this time, I had a new release for the same weekend. It was priced at $2.99 for the two-day release sale. I changed it's price to $4.99 at the same time that I changed the pricing of the $.99 sale book. But Amazon did not price-match that one.


----------



## kwest

Well, my BookBub went out on 9/21 and things since then have been sheer insanity.

_Apocalypse _is currently #13, peaking at #7 free. The second two books have almost had 200 downloads each. That's the usual amount I get A MONTH! _Origins _is ranked 4500ish, _Evolution _is ranked 6000ish. I don't think I've even hit the big part of the bell curve yet...we'll see.

Total downloads from the promotion so far, about 15,000. I expected the book to slide down the rankings by now, but it's sticking at least a little while. I also have a major free promotion going out tomorrow on _Apocalypse_. With my new book coming out on the 1st, this is the most brilliant unplanned marketing strategy that I've ever devised.

My email list has exploded from 8 subs to 25 now. I am walking on air.

This level of AWESOME is almost too much to comprehend!


----------



## Gennita Low

valeriec80 said:


> Well, since Amazon didn't lower my price, my Romantic Suspense ad was basically a bust.
> 
> But I did get to #123 in the Nook Store, selling 116 copies.
> 
> On Kobo, I sold like 10 books.
> 
> Sorry, Gennita! I am going to try to get another Bookbub ad going for another of my books in the next couple months, but it will probably not be in Romantic Suspense. Anyway, I am no help for determining effectiveness.


Aww. I just got home from the LL-RAW conference, so hadn't had time to check the Cafe as often. I didn't know of your problems till today. So, so sorry it happened. At least you made back your money, right? And the number at Nook will stick longer than Amazon, so there's a positive.

I'll see whether they'll accept my antho in the Romantic Suspense category. Maybe I'll be my own guinea pig . If they refuse, I might submit an older book and try again.

Anyway, good luck with sales for the coming two weeks!


----------



## Writer1000

Sorry with what happened, Valerie. Glad you made your money back, though.

Congrats on your results, kwest!


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Brilliant is right, kwest, and congratulations!!!


----------



## wilsonharp

Woohoo! After multiple times of being refused, I just got an ad for October 22nd on my Robin Hood book, 'The Ghost of Sherwood'!

Will definitely be getting the price set right by the 20th.


----------



## kwest

Two days later, _Apocalypse_ is still sticking to the top 25. #15 now. Almost 20K downloads. Almost up to $1,000 dollars made from the whole thing. Best $70 ever spent. Except maybe, that one time...well, we won't go there. 

Might make a post about it in a week or two when I've had time to wrap my head around it.


----------



## wildwitchof

Congrats, kwest. That's great. What a rush! And Valerie, so sorry your price didn't change. That really sucks. Thanks for posting it here, though, so others know to do it early.

I'm doing my first Bookbub promo on Oct. 2. It's for a 99c sale on This Time Next Door, which has been at $3.99 since June 1 after a successful free run. Now I want another run of daily sales over single digits, you know? Watching those KDP numbers go up with every hit of the refresh button... oh yeah.

I'm so paranoid now about the price change, I'm tempted to do it right now. Hopefully 5 days will be enough. Anybody else have trouble getting your sale price to readjust back up to what you want? I've heard of this happening to a friend of mine, too. Bestseller, big hit, stuck at 99 cents. She's losing money and pulling her hair out.


----------



## CJArcher

My BB ad ran yesterday for The Wrong Girl, a gothic historical paranormal romance. It was 99 cents in the Fantasy category, although I asked for paranormal romance - it was a difficult one to categorise though, so I didn't mind which cat it ended up in. 856 sales on Amazon.com yesterday and it got to #64 at B&N (I'm go through Smashwords so I won't know the final tally for a while). Book 2 has already seen a bump in sales and I've gathered some emails for book 3's release. I'm very happy. ENT picked it up today, but only 281 sales today so far today. Now if only POI had picked it up...  

Regarding Amazon dropping the price - I didn't have a problem. It took less than 12 hours, so about normal. Still, I was very nervous after reading Valerie's experience.


----------



## Writer1000

Congrats, CJ! Thanks for sharing.


----------



## jdrew

Congratulations to the bunch of you that reported since it looks like everyone had one degree of success or another.  The pricing issue is a cause for concern and I hope it doesn't keep happening to others.  The bottom line is bookbub looks like a worthwhile ad campaign.
Thanks to all who have shared results so far.  Please keep the reports coming.


----------



## HeyImBen

I have a question for the folks who've run promos on BookBub.  Did any of you purchase ads on other bargain book websites
or did you go strictly with BB? (aside from ENT and POI)  I mean it's a lot of scratch to shell out.  My thinking is that if 
you're a reader getting email deals from BookBub, then you are probably signed up for emails from the other lesser known websites
as well. Is it logical to look at it this way?


----------



## jdrew

HeyImBen said:


> I have a question for the folks who've run promos on BookBub. Did any of you purchase ads on other bargain book websites
> or did you go strictly with BB? (aside from ENT and POI) I mean it's a lot of scratch to shell out. My thinking is that if
> you're a reader getting email deals from BookBub, then you are probably signed up for emails from the other lesser known websites
> as well. Is it logical to look at it this way?


Great question. Anyone care to comment?


----------



## Michael_J_Sullivan

My publisher did a BookBub promotion and while I don't know the sales numbers the ranking results are as follows.

The book in question was being discounted from normal price of $9.99 (although discounted by Amazon to regularly sell at $8.89) to $2.99 for the entire month of August.


Before the price discount the book was ranked about 4,000 - 5,000
When it went to $2.99 it went to 1,700 - 2,000
When the Bookbub hit it went to 270-740
It stayed in the 2,000 or below for the rest of the $2.99 promotion
It's been running in the 3,500 - 4,300 since the price was returned

Hope that data helps for anyone who is analyzing the promotion.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

HeyImBen said:


> I have a question for the folks who've run promos on BookBub. Did any of you purchase ads on other bargain book websites
> or did you go strictly with BB? (aside from ENT and POI) I mean it's a lot of scratch to shell out. My thinking is that if
> you're a reader getting email deals from BookBub, then you are probably signed up for emails from the other lesser known websites
> as well. Is it logical to look at it this way?


I didn't do additional ads for my May BookBub which was for book one in my series, but book two needs a serious shot of adrenalin so I bought an ad on Bargainbooksy for my BookBub promo on Oct. 12. It's $50 and people have had good results with Freebooksy. If I were spending hundreds on my BookBub ad like I did in the spring, I probably wouldn't add another expense, but their romantic suspense listing is still just $80, so the extra $50 didn't cause too much pain.


----------



## Cappy

I'm thinking of going Bookbub for _Vows to Kill_, inspired by all these success stories. But has anybody completely tanked on a Bookbub? I can't believe that everybody has such a good result. Call me a pessimist ;-)


----------



## wildwitchof

Cappy said:


> I'm thinking of going Bookbub for _Vows to Kill_, inspired by all these success stories. But has anybody completely tanked on a Bookbub? I can't believe that everybody has such a good result. Call me a pessimist ;-)


I know what you mean; I'm afraid of how much I'm looking forward to my ad on Wednesday. Contemporary Romance is a popular genre, This Time Next Door is my most popular book, and 99 cents is a great price. I have to cool my expectations. In May, over 250,000 (!) people downloaded this title for free (across all platforms worldwide). Now it's ranked at 100K+ (Amazon US.) I have no idea what to expect. Back in the top 100? or just... meh?

I'll post back next week.


----------



## Cappy

I don't if anybody's willing to shed any light on this, but is it strictly a 24-hour phenomenon. Or do the results last longer in terms of visibility?


----------



## Michael Buckley

Gretchen Galway said:


> I know what you mean; I'm afraid of how much I'm looking forward to my ad on Wednesday. Contemporary Romance is a popular genre, This Time Next Door is my most popular book, and 99 cents is a great price. I have to cool my expectations. In May, over 250,000 (!) people downloaded this title for free (across all platforms worldwide). Now it's ranked at 100K+ (Amazon US.) I have no idea what to expect. Back in the top 100? or just... meh?
> 
> I'll post back next week.


That is crazy. The book had 250,000 free downloads a day in May, more than 8,000 copies a day for a month. It's just four months later and your at 100k one book a day?
The whole marketing thing is hard to understand and how your book was so insanely popular then and now it has almost stopped selling. People are tightening their money belts, they cut back on their spending. I would think a book that popular could generate at least ten sales a day.

I had a book a while back I had on select and it does 500 downloads a day for free. I felt that was a lot. 8000 a day, I cannot even imagine that many downloads.

8000 downloads a day, you had a product people were extremly interested in.

I think we have curved the way people buy books, with our perma frees, kdp select free books. Promotional books. The reader now has and endless aray of free books at their disposal. It has become more difercult to put a price tag on a book when there are tons of free novels with high ratings of four plus stars for free. To include profesional covers and editing.

The sites that are running ebook blasts and promos are increasing. It has become more difercult to give the readers a slice of apple pie when they can go around the corner and get one for free with vanila ice cream on top, we are only offering the pie with no ice cream 

I am not a person who has a clue about marketing and the more I learn the more difercult it appears.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Michael -- precisely!

The Catch-22 is if you price your book too high and avoid those $0.99 promotions, that book will drop to the bottom of the heap no matter how good it might be.


----------



## wildwitchof

In my case, it isn't a mystery, or even a Catch-22. I'm thrilled This Time had such a great free run in May--it led to lots of paid sales of my other books, which do continue to this day--just not on the ex-free title. I had the brilliant strategy of giving away Book 2 of an unfinished series. I sell lots of Book 1 and get lots of requests for nonexistent Book 3, lol. If I had a complete series and had made book 1 permafree, my income would be quite lovely right now, I suspect. But I didn't have enough books, so I took it off free, and here I am.

Yes, those were heady days last spring, watching the numbers jump up by double digits with every refresh... Mmmmm. I do think the old advice is still good: write a series and put the first book on sale (free, big discount, etc). If you have something with sales potential, you'll probably find it that way.


----------



## Lynn McNamee

We have a BookBub ad tomorrow for First to Find.

I started the freebie run today, just to be prepared, and the book is already doing well:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009V4LABY

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #808 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

#6 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Mystery > Cozy
#26 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Mystery > Women Sleuths

Downloads are still in the low three digits, but that's a pretty good ranking. Is this a sign that not as many authors/publishers are doing free runs?

Just curious what you think...


----------



## Romi

This thread has been very helpful to me (thank you!), in terms of learning about the impact of Bookbub, and ultimately deciding to submit book 2 in my series, which would coincide with the release of book 3. I was accepted for a free book listing on September 27th, so I'll share my ad details and initial results:

*Book: "Last-Minute Love" (book 2 in my series)*
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Price: FREE
Bookbub list: Women's Fiction (360,000+ subscribers, $140 cost; I submitted for the Contemporary Romance category with 520,000+ subscribers, but they offered me a spot in Women's fic)
Free run: Sept 26th-Sept 28th
Bookbub ad: Sept 27th

*RESULTS:*
-Day 1, with the help of a Book Blast ad I ran under romance for $50: 5,000 downloads, #30 the in Kindle free store
-Day 2, with Bookbub ad going out in the morning: 21,000 additional downloads, #5 in the Kindle free store
-Day 3, no ad: 4,000 additional downloads, was #9 in the Kindle free store when I went to bed (may have dipped further, as I'm on Europe time!)
*Total free downloads for 3-day KDP Select run: 30,301*

Book 1 in my series has always been perma-free, and I didn't want to struggle with trying to get that back to paid for 3 days and then trying to make it free again, so readers got the extra advantage of getting books 1 AND 2 in my series free, at least for 3 days (ahhh! I hate money!  ). I was okay with this, because book 3 in my series had just come out. I also have a prequel to the series available as a 10K-word short story, so here are some interesting coinciding results:

*Sales of other books during free run:*
-Year of the Chick, book 1 in the series which is free, went from having about 320 downloads for the entire month, to 2050 downloads (*so about 1700 additional downloads*)
-Year of the Chick: Beginnings, my short story for 99 cents, went from having 3 sales for the entire month, to 99 *(96 additional sales in less than 3 days, a real surprise!)*
-Never or Forever, book 3 in my series at $4.99: 164 sales since coming out 3 days ago; 100 or so sales came in the first two days, which I assume were sales from existing readers, so I'm guessing *about 50 additional sales as a result of book 2's free promo*

I know that post-KDP free results are not what they used to be, but I was only selling 1 copy a day of Last-Minute Love before the promo, so any uplift is good with me. I won't get many borrows though, since my book will be out of KDP Select in 2 days.

Overall, I'm VERY happy Bookbub didn't put me in the Contemporary Romance category and gave me Women's Fiction instead, because I saved $100, and still got more downloads than I was hoping for  (my goal was at least 20,000 downloads). It seems like I've made back my total investment of $170 if I attribute 50 of the "Never or Forever" sales to the promo, but I'll know for sure in the coming days.

Will keep you posted on if "Last-Minute Love" gets a post-free sales bump!


----------



## Gennita Low

Congrats, Romi! Those are great numbers! Women's Fiction--must check out that category!


----------



## Writer1000

Congrats, Romi! Great results. Thanks for sharing.


----------



## Donna White Glaser

I'm hoping to do a BB ad in the next few months--if they'll accept my 2nd book. (The first is permafree.) My plan is to drop Book 2 to 99c rather than free, since I won't be changing 1's price and they'll be getting a great deal on both. My worry is how long will it take BN, Kobo, etc. to change the price to 99c? I go through Smashwords and there seems to be a real hit-or-miss with getting prices changed to the various channels thru them. 
I suppose I could take my books off SW for BN and Kobo and upload directly to them. I've done that before, though, it's a pain. Gives me more control. 

Thoughts? Suggestions?


----------



## Anne Frasier

Cappy said:


> I don't if anybody's willing to shed any light on this, but is it strictly a 24-hour phenomenon. Or do the results last longer in terms of visibility?


it all depends on how well the book does during the promotion. if it does really well, you'll see sales beyond 48 hours. if the book doesn't do much more than break even...then, no.


----------



## dotx

Mysterygirl said:


> I'm hoping to do a BB ad in the next few months--if they'll accept my 2nd book. (The first is permafree.) My plan is to drop Book 2 to 99c rather than free, since I won't be changing 1's price and they'll be getting a great deal on both. My worry is how long will it take BN, Kobo, etc. to change the price to 99c? I go through Smashwords and there seems to be a real hit-or-miss with getting prices changed to the various channels thru them.
> I suppose I could take my books off SW for BN and Kobo and upload directly to them. I've done that before, though, it's a pain. Gives me more control.
> 
> Thoughts? Suggestions?


I wouldn't count on SW updating quickly enough. Either upload directly or use D2D.

I have a Bookbub ad on October 6th in paranormal romance. I lowered my price to 99 cents today -- well in advance because I was worried after reading the many horror stories of prices not updating on time. Of course, Amazon updated the price in less than two hours.

I was a bit disappointed about missing out on 2.99 sales for almost an entire week, but Pixel of Ink picked up my book as a Bargain Read and I sold 86 copies so far today. So maybe it will be ok.

ETA: 321 copies sold today! Thank you POI, I think I love you!


----------



## MitchHogan

Nice to see people's Bookbub sales results! My book has been accepted for later this month (at $2.99) so I'll post my results once it's over. Once I was accepted I scheduled a BookBlast ad for the same day as well.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

dotx said:


> I wouldn't count on SW updating quickly enough. Either upload directly or use D2D.
> 
> I have a Bookbub ad on October 6th in paranormal romance. I lowered my price to 99 cents today -- well in advance because I was worried after reading the many horror stories of prices not updating on time. Of course, Amazon updated the price in less than two hours.
> 
> I was a bit disappointed about missing out on 2.99 sales for almost an entire week, but Pixel of Ink picked up my book as a Bargain Read and I sold 86 copies so far today. So maybe it will be ok.
> 
> ETA: 321 copies sold today! Thank you POI, I think I love you!


Did you submit your prematurely lowered price to POI or did they find you themselves? I have a BookBub promo Oct. 12 and POI has never picked me up


----------



## dotx

Harriet Schultz said:


> Did you submit your prematurely lowered price to POI or did they find you themselves? I have a BookBub promo Oct. 12 and POI has never picked me up


They found me.


----------



## JRTomlin

HeyImBen said:


> I have a question for the folks who've run promos on BookBub. Did any of you purchase ads on other bargain book websites
> or did you go strictly with BB? (aside from ENT and POI) I mean it's a lot of scratch to shell out. My thinking is that if
> you're a reader getting email deals from BookBub, then you are probably signed up for emails from the other lesser known websites
> as well. Is it logical to look at it this way?


I didn't until my last time partially because I wanted to compare results. I do think that signing up with the lesser known sites added enough to the results to be worthwhile. It wasn't a huge increase but enough that I will this time as well.

Have another promo scheduled for Oct. 23 for Book 2 in my Black Douglas Trilogy. Crossing my fingers about doing book 2.

PoI never picks me up. I have long since given up on them.


----------



## wildwitchof

Welllllll, count me in as a Bookbub success story. I'm still reeling. And my fingers are sore from refreshing (is that what the kids are calling it...)

ANYHOO. Had a beer, so the numbers might be a bit goofy, but... it looks like the 12 hours since the email went out, THIS TIME NEXT DOOR has sold, at 99 cents instead of its regular $3.99....

Amazon US: 1,463, now at #214 entire Kindle paid. (The Author Central screen shot is fun to see. I went from a ranking of100K at $3.99 last week to this.)
Amazon UK: just a few
Apple US: enough to hit #13 in Romance, #62 in the entire fing iTunes bookstore (thus the beer)
BN: 512, enough to hit #27 in the entire Nook store--one day of sales that is more than my best month this year
Kobo: sales haven't really come in, but I'm at #15 for Romance, Contemporary.

So. It paid for the ad.


----------



## wildwitchof

OK, dayum. Here I am as I get ready for bed:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Humor
    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Romantic Comedy
    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Humor & Satire > General Humor

Wonder what tomorrow will bring, how long this might last.


----------



## JRTomlin

Gretchen Galway said:


> OK, dayum. Here I am as I get ready for bed:
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Humor
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Romantic Comedy
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Humor & Satire > General Humor
> 
> Wonder what tomorrow will bring, how long this might last.


Nice!


----------



## Writer1000

Great result, Gretchen! Congrats!


----------



## Shaun Jeffrey

I have my fourth Bookbub promo planned for October 6th, for my horror novel, Deadfall. This book only has 13 reviews, so I didn't know whether they would accept it, but they did


----------



## Mark E. Cooper

Gretchen Galway said:


> Welllllll, count me in as a Bookbub success story. I'm still reeling. And my fingers are sore from refreshing (is that what the kids are calling it...)
> 
> ANYHOO. Had a beer, so the numbers might be a bit goofy, but... it looks like the 12 hours since the email went out, THIS TIME NEXT DOOR has sold, at 99 cents instead of its regular $3.99....
> 
> Amazon US: 1,463, now at #214 entire Kindle paid. (The Author Central screen shot is fun to see. I went from a ranking of100K at $3.99 last week to this.)
> *Amazon UK: just a few*
> Apple US: enough to hit #13 in Romance, #62 in the entire fing iTunes bookstore (thus the beer)
> BN: 512, enough to hit #27 in the entire Nook store--one day of sales that is more than my best month this year
> Kobo: sales haven't really come in, but I'm at #15 for Romance, Contemporary.
> 
> So. It paid for the ad.


Bookbub is excellent in everything EXCEPT the UK market. It doesn't even try. I have emailed them and used the survey to ask they start adding UK links to their emails, but so far no joy. I KNOW some of my readers are Brits, because I AM one!


----------



## christianem

Gretchen Galway said:


> OK, dayum. Here I am as I get ready for bed:
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Humor
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Romantic Comedy
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Humor & Satire > General Humor
> 
> Wonder what tomorrow will bring, how long this might last.


I bet you had the most amazing dream last night. =D Congratulations Gretchen!


----------



## Just Browsing

markecooper said:


> Bookbub is excellent in everything EXCEPT the UK market. It doesn't even try. I have emailed them and used the survey to ask they start adding UK links to their emails, but so far no joy. I KNOW some of my readers are Brits, because I AM one!


See, you should start one, then. Call it BoukBubstershire (rhymes with "glosster"), and make it the hottest thing in the UK. There really isn't much competition at the moment. I'd pay for that.


----------



## dotx

Shaun Jeffrey said:


> I have my fourth Bookbub promo planned for October 6th, for my horror novel, Deadfall. This book only has 13 reviews, so I didn't know whether they would accept it, but they did


Mine is also on the 6th, for a paranormal romance.


----------



## wildwitchof

Still at #28 in the Kindle store! I suppose I'm on the way down, but maybe I'll get another surge this morning.

I was disappointed in the UK numbers--I've had a lot of success in the UK with this title, as much as 40% of my sales. They do need a Bookbub-on-Trent or something, definitely. If just for Rom Coms.

I'm supposed to be a mom for a little while this morning. I'll post better numbers at the 24-hour mark.


----------



## James Bruno

What's the thinking on submitting two books at once of the same category, but not of a series? Seems to me, if BB took them on, the books could help sell each other. Does this make sense?


----------



## dotx

My Bookbub ad is today. The book is already up on their site, but I guess you don't see big numbers until the email goes out. My rank is currently at 1554, courtesy of Pixel of Ink picking me up a couple of days ago. I'll report later when I have some numbers. 

Shaun, good luck with your promotion too!


----------



## Gennita Low

dotx said:


> My Bookbub ad is today. The book is already up on their site, but I guess you don't see big numbers until the email goes out. My rank is currently at 1554, courtesy of Pixel of Ink picking me up a couple of days ago. I'll report later when I have some numbers.
> 
> Shaun, good luck with your promotion too!


Oh, you're going to have a good day!  Good luck!


----------



## dotx

Gennita Low said:


> Oh, you're going to have a good day!  Good luck!


I hope so!


----------



## Harriet Schultz

dotx said:


> My Bookbub ad is today. The book is already up on their site, but I guess you don't see big numbers until the email goes out. My rank is currently at 1554, courtesy of Pixel of Ink picking me up a couple of days ago. I'll report later when I have some numbers.
> 
> Shaun, good luck with your promotion too!


Is break a leg an appropriate thing to wish a writer? My BB ad in their new romantic suspense category is 10/12. It's for the second book in my series, so I'm curious to see how it will do. I'll report back.

By the way, because of the time lag in Amazon dropping the price that others have reported, I lowered mine yesterday and it went through in hours so instead of a three day sale, this will last a week. I'm OK with that.


----------



## LG Castillo

dotx said:


> My Bookbub ad is today. The book is already up on their site, but I guess you don't see big numbers until the email goes out. My rank is currently at 1554, courtesy of Pixel of Ink picking me up a couple of days ago. I'll report later when I have some numbers.
> 
> Shaun, good luck with your promotion too!


Awesome! I can never get Pixel of Ink to pick me up when I have a sale. Did you contact them or they just found your sale?

Goodluck with BB!


----------



## dotx

Linda Castillo said:


> Awesome! I can never get Pixel of Ink to pick me up when I have a sale. Did you contact them or they just found your sale?
> 
> Goodluck with BB!


They found me. I lowered the price four days early because I was afraid Amazon was going to be slow. The price change went through in a couple of hours and POI picked up the book that same day.

First time they do this, by the way. I've always been ignored before


----------



## HeyImBen

dotx said:


> They found me. I lowered the price four days early because I was afraid Amazon was going to be slow. The price change went through in a couple of hours and POI picked up the book that same day.
> 
> First time they do this, by the way. I've always been ignored before


Same thing happened to me. Lowered my price early for my BB promo on 10/10 and POI picked me up yesterday. 340 sales later I'm sitting at # 500 something. Of course, price change went through in no time.


----------



## JRTomlin

I have a BB promotion scheduled for the 23rd and am debating how far ahead I need to change the price. I'm thinking that 48 hours might be far enough, but the idea of it not going through in time considering the cost of the promotion is enough to give me nightmares.


----------



## valeriec80

JRTomlin said:


> I have a BB promotion scheduled for the 23rd and am debating how far ahead I need to change the price. I'm thinking that 48 hours might be far enough, but the idea of it not going through in time considering the cost of the promotion is enough to give me nightmares.


Just don't put it through more than once. I think that screwed me up, according to the Amazon rep who got back with me.

If you put it through and it says live, and it isn't live, just WAIT. If 24 hours pass and it still hasn't changed, contact Amazon. But don't put it through again, you'll only cause more delays.


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## B.A. Spangler

JRTomlin said:


> I have a BB promotion scheduled for the 23rd and am debating how far ahead I need to change the price. I'm thinking that 48 hours might be far enough, but the idea of it not going through in time considering the cost of the promotion is enough to give me nightmares.


I'd push it out a little further. To be safe, you may want to consider 72 hours.


----------



## dotx

My amazon rank hasn't moved at all so I'm not sure if the book isn't selling any copies or if something's stuck... Maybe it's too early to start freaking out?


----------



## JRTomlin

Brian Spangler said:


> I'd push it out a little further. To be safe, you may want to consider 72 hours.


Possibly. That way if there should be a problem, it gives time for Amazon to work on it.



valeriec80 said:


> Just don't put it through more than once. I think that screwed me up, according to the Amazon rep who got back with me.
> 
> If you put it through and it says live, and it isn't live, just WAIT. If 24 hours pass and it still hasn't changed, contact Amazon. But don't put it through again, you'll only cause more delays.


Good advice I think. I will definitely take it.


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## LG Castillo

dotx said:


> They found me. I lowered the price four days early because I was afraid Amazon was going to be slow. The price change went through in a couple of hours and POI picked up the book that same day.
> 
> First time they do this, by the way. I've always been ignored before


I guess the key is to ignore them first. LOL! I'll try it next time.


----------



## dotx

Sitting at #728 at the moment, which is not very impressive. Especially when you consider that after POI picked me up, the book went all the way down to #379, and I didn't have to pay anything for that. 

Hopefully it will get better later today. 

Because paranormal romance is only $180, the ad already paid for itself today, so whatever happens, I didn't lose any money.


----------



## Wansit

dotx said:


> Sitting at #728 at the moment, which is not very impressive. Especially when you consider that after POI picked me up, the book went all the way down to #379, and I didn't have to pay anything for that.
> 
> Hopefully it will get better later today.
> 
> Because paranormal romance is only $180, the ad already paid for itself today, so whatever happens, I didn't lose any money.


You just did a huge jump to #322 - think Amazon rankings are just slow today.


----------



## dotx

Wansit said:


> You just did a huge jump to #322 - think Amazon rankings are just slow today.


I'm actually tracking three other books that came in the same Bookbub email and one just jumped from 198 to 914! All others, including mine, just went up as well. Which makes me think the rankings are a bit of a mess right now. Not good.


----------



## Shaun Jeffrey

dotx said:


> I'm actually tracking three other books that came in the same Bookbub email and one just jumped from 198 to 914! All others, including mine, just went up as well. Which makes me think the rankings are a bit of a mess right now. Not good.


Different categories, but you're doing better than me. You're at #131 while I am at only #608. And at Barnes you're at 32 while I'm languishing at 111. Congrats.


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## dotx

Shaun Jeffrey said:


> Different categories, but you're doing better than me. You're at #131 while I am at only #608. And at Barnes you're at 32 while I'm languishing at 111. Congrats.


Yours was one of the books I was tracking. However, you started with a rank over 300,000, right? I started at 1500. So, technically, I'm doing much worse than you 

I'm not very impressed with how my day went. At all. I didn't break into the top 100 and I think it's unlikely to happen. I went ahead and already changed the price back to 2.99 at D2D. Hopefully Kobo and B&N will adjust it soon. I might be able to get some sales at the 70% rate that way.

I guess I was expecting more. This past July, this same book, on its own, with no paid advertising, had a rank of 500 for a few days. That was at the original price of 2.99. A rank of 130 at 99 cents is disappointing. It doesn't earn me any money or give me much more visibility than I already had.

I'm going to leave the price at 99 cents at Amazon for about 10-12 more hours and then go back to 2.99. Maybe I'll get some sales that way.

ETA: I did make my money back plus a few hundred extra, but it's just not as mind-blowing as I was hoping for.


----------



## Shaun Jeffrey

Yes, I started at 300,000 odd. I'm hoping to hit the movers and shakers list (you're on there at 53), but it hasn't happened yet. Perhaps I didn't get high enough overall.


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## Gennita Low

I was hoping to get one of my books onto the contemporary listing but Bookbub just wanted me on their Romantic Suspense list, which is much smaller. I don't know how Sharon Hamilton and Shannon McKenna, both romantic suspense writers, got on the contemporary list but I so wanted to join them! 

The Bookbub RS list is still small (100,000) with an average of 300-500 sales. It won't get one onto Amazon's main top 100, though, which is what I wanted for this time of the year (to get more eyes). Ah well. I suppose I need to write a contemporary romance!


----------



## jdrew

James Bruno said:


> What's the thinking on submitting two books at once of the same category, but not of a series? Seems to me, if BB took them on, the books could help sell each other. Does this make sense?


Did anyone respond to James' question? I'm curious too.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Gennita Low said:


> I was hoping to get one of my books onto the contemporary listing but Bookbub just wanted me on their Romantic Suspense list, which is much smaller. I don't know how Sharon Hamilton and Shannon McKenna, both romantic suspense writers, got on the contemporary list but I so wanted to join them!
> 
> The Bookbub RS list is still small (100,000) with an average of 300-500 sales. It won't get one onto Amazon's main top 100, though, which is what I wanted for this time of the year (to get more eyes). Ah well. I suppose I need to write a contemporary romance!


My BB romantic suspense listing (the only one they offered me) is Saturday 10/12. I'll let you know how it goes. My last promo for the first book in the series was listed under romance and drew 3,000 sales over a few weeks. I'm not expecting that kind of results this time.


----------



## Gennita Low

Harriet Schultz said:


> My BB romantic suspense listing (the only one they offered me) is Saturday 10/12. I'll let you know how it goes. My last promo for the first book in the series was listed under romance and drew 3,000 sales over a few weeks. I'm not expecting that kind of results this time.


Same experience. 3000 sales under romance when it was just lumped together. My one experience with RS was when they featured me on their new list and it had 500 sales. Big difference! Yes, the ad paid for itself but the book did not get on the Top 100 bestselling list. I guess I've been spoiled because I've always hit top 20 before ;-P.

The RS list needs to get as big as the Thriller list for a decent chance to get that many sales again. I'm sure Bookbub is working on this . But I still want to know how Hamilton and McKenna's RS got on the Contemp list!

Good luck on your promo! Fingers-crossed for excellent results! I'm going to pick one up!


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## wildwitchof

I'll chime in with an update if anyone's interested.

Ad ran on Wednesday in Contemporary Romance. Since the email, (6 days), I've sold about 4000 copies of that title at 99 cents. I haven't raised it back to $3.99 yet, but I will tonight. The sales have really died down, but it was fun while it lasted.

The biggest surprise was Nook/BN. I've had a deadly year there, but this showed there are indeed readers still buying from BN, just from the bestseller lists. I sold over 1000 copies in three days. That's more than all books, all year, to date, I believe. I appreciate that extra $0.05 per book, too, on a 99 center.

It's all died down now, however.

I feel very lucky. I fear they won't accept any of my other titles, because they don't have the gobs of reviews THIS TIME did.

Good luck everyone!


----------



## JRTomlin

Gretchen Galway said:


> I'll chime in with an update if anyone's interested.
> 
> Ad ran on Wednesday in Contemporary Romance. Since the email, (6 days), I've sold about 4000 copies of that title at 99 cents. I haven't raised it back to $3.99 yet, but I will tonight. The sales have really died down, but it was fun while it lasted.
> 
> The biggest surprise was Nook/BN. I've had a deadly year there, but this showed there are indeed readers still buying from BN, just from the bestseller lists. I sold over 1000 copies in three days. That's more than all books, all year, to date, I believe. I appreciate that extra $0.05 per book, too, on a 99 center.
> 
> It's all died down now, however.
> 
> I feel very lucky. I fear they won't accept any of my other titles, because they don't have the gobs of reviews THIS TIME did.
> 
> Good luck everyone!


Not necessarily on accepting your other titles. I have had them accept novels with fewer reviews than _Love Handle_s. I think the look at your other works. If you have other novels with a lot of good reviews it makes them more likely to accept one with fewer.


----------



## dotx

Genita, I think you'll do ok even if you get "only" 500 sales on the featured title because you have many other books. Readers will probably go on to buy other titles, so you'll make up for it there. I have only one full-length novel, so I didn't get that benefit. Maybe I need to try this again when book 2 in the series is out. 

I did really well in B&N too. Made it into the top 100. Not sure how long that's going to last (I'm at 67 right now, so I might be out of the list soon), but it did get me some extra visibility there.  

Gretchen, congrats on such a great run! Contemporary romance seems to be a winner with Bookbub.


----------



## dr_sassy

Hi everyone,

I'm thinking of taking the plunge with Bookbub in February. I'd be aiming for mystery, which is, of course, tied for the most expensive category.
So I've read through most of this thread, and I've got a few questions, especially since I'm hoping for recent data.

1. Did anyone NOT have it work, especially in a mystery category?
2. Did anyone bite the bullet and try a $2.99 price? ($5.99 is my normal price, but $1250 for an ad? Serious ouch. I assume they're trying to get you to discount it more.) I might be willing to do 99 cents or 1.99, but not free. Because I like money, you see.
3. How far in advance do you have to discount to make sure it goes through? I saw one person dropped it 48 hours in advance on Amazon and didn't have it go through. Horrible. I would prefer to get a price match on Amazon, but I know that doesn't always work anymore.

Thanks for giving advice to a relative newbie,
Melissa


----------



## wildwitchof

JRTomlin said:


> Not necessarily on accepting your other titles. I have had them accept novels with fewer reviews than _Love Handle_s. I think the look at your other works. If you have other novels with a lot of good reviews it makes them more likely to accept one with fewer.


Great, thanks JR. I hope you're right.


----------



## wildwitchof

dotx said:


> Gretchen, congrats on such a great run! Contemporary romance seems to be a winner with Bookbub.


Thanks! and congrats to you, too. I agree with you that the total benefit goes across multiple titles. And contemp romance is good with Bookbub. They did a great blurb, by the way. I'm going to use it again. They've got good writers on their team.


----------



## Shaun Jeffrey

Gretchen Galway said:


> I feel very lucky. I fear they won't accept any of my other titles, because they don't have the gobs of reviews THIS TIME did.


My book Deadfall that was just featured on Bookbub only has 13 reviews, so I don't think that matters so much.


----------



## dotx

I'm trying to figure out why some people leave their book at 99 cents after the ad and why others raise their prices. When I saw I wasn't going to make it into the top 100 and the rankings started to fall, I put the price back up to 2.99. I figured I might as well make some money while I was still riding the pop list. 

I was checking past Bookbub ads today and realized about half of the writers raise their price right away (like I did) while the other half keep the price at 99 cents. I'm trying to understand the logic behind sticking to the 99 cent price. 

I understand it if you're still in the top 100, because the visibility is worth it. But if the rank is falling by the hour, why not make the price higher and at least make some money out of it? I think I might be missing something -- maybe 99 cents is the correct move and I made a mistake changing the price.


----------



## Writer1000

One of my books is in BookBub today as a freebie. (It's my last book in KDP Select so I thought I'd use up my promo days as my way of saying farewell to it--Select has served me well but time to move on).

It was under Contemporary Romance category in BB and is currently #5 free overall.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction > Women's Fiction

.com downloads are currently just a little over 25K while downloads from other countries are nothing to crow about.

I also have a Freebooksy ad for this on Day 3, so it will be interesting to see what impact that would do to rankings that would already be sliding down by that time.

I'm not expecting a huge post free bump for this book but hopefully, there would be a good boost for my other books. I'm already seeing a tiny bump for Book 2 of the series and hopefully, that's only the beginning.


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## Shaun Jeffrey

dotx said:


> I'm trying to figure out why some people leave their book at 99 cents after the ad and why others raise their prices. When I saw I wasn't going to make it into the top 100 and the rankings started to fall, I put the price back up to 2.99. I figured I might as well make some money while I was still riding the pop list.


I can only speak for myself, but I have to raise the price via Smashwords first and then wait for that to filter through to the various vendors before raising the price on Amazon as they won't raise the price if somewhere else has it cheaper. But even that didn't go smoothly last time, as although everywhere else had raised the price, Amazon kept it at 99c and I had to email them twice and then wait another week before it was sorted!


----------



## dotx

Shaun Jeffrey said:


> I can only speak for myself, but I have to raise the price via Smashwords first and then wait for that to filter through to the various vendors before raising the price on Amazon as they won't raise the price if somewhere else has it cheaper. But even that didn't go smoothly last time, as although everywhere else had raised the price, Amazon kept it at 99c and I had to email them twice and then wait another week before it was sorted!


Ugh, what a pain! D2D changed the price in all vendors in under two hours, and then I made the change on Amazon (took about four hours there). Maybe I should consider myself lucky this time!


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## Guest

Hey guys,

Since you are the experts, how long does it usually take for Bookbub to respond to a submission?


----------



## brie.mcgill

I'll second the question, for those who have done a 99¢ promo on Bookbub, when do you raise your price back to normal and why?

Also, does it matter when you told Bookbub your promotion would end? I gave myself a window of @ five days, hoping they would pick one of them. Should I leave the book on sale for all of those days? Seeing that people raise their prices sooner, it just made me wonder.

Thanks!


----------



## Just Browsing

I would give it at least one day past the BB ad. I say that as someone who sometimes gets books from their mailings--but just doesn't have time to open them every day. So if the deal is still good a day or two later, I might still pick it up.

For my own ads, I think I've always had a second or third ad at some other place a few days later (trying to prolong the glory). But once everything is done, I change first at Nook Press and draft2digital and Smashwords, and when they've gone through, then at Amazon. (I always take Sony off the distribution list way before the sale, though, because they are SO slow--at least via Smashwords) to return the price. And it's not like I sell anything there anyway).

Last time, Amazon immediately price-matched me back to .99. I sent them a link of every other store, where the price was full, and asked them to correct it. They said, "Oh, see, your Kobo link shows it at .99". And I had to answer that and say, "No, actually, Kobo was one of the links that I sent YOU as proof that the price was NOT .99", and then they raised it back up. That took maybe 5 days all told? I just pretend in my head that any further .99 sales were the result of my brilliant placement with some other advertising site, and that the whole thing was intentional all along. It's either that or take to drink, and these days I need to save my drink for dealing with my trad publishers.


----------



## Colin Taber

1001nightspress said:


> Last time, Amazon immediately price-matched me back to .99. I sent them a link of every other store, where the price was full, and asked them to correct it. They said, "Oh, see, your Kobo link shows it at .99". And I had to answer that and say, "No, actually, Kobo was one of the links that I sent YOU as proof that the price was NOT .99", and then they raised it back up. That took maybe 5 days all told? I just pretend in my head that any further .99 sales were the result of my brilliant placement with some other advertising site, and that the whole thing was intentional all along. It's either that or take to drink, and these days I need to save my drink for dealing with my trad publishers.


Kobo is often a problem, and it's not their site, but their reselling chain. People often talk about ebook stores that are part of Kobo's distribution network in New Zealand and Australia being slow to pass on the price correction.


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## Harriet Schultz

Stella S. said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> Since you are the experts, how long does it usually take for Bookbub to respond to a submission?


It can take them up to a week. Patience! They say if you haven't heard back after 7 days to contact them again.


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## Guest

Thanks, Harriet.

I wouldn't mind except I have to get on a plane in two days and cross the Atlantic. 

Oh, well, I'll have someone else check my email during those 24 hours of traveling.


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## Harriet Schultz

Stella S. said:


> Thanks, Harriet.
> 
> I wouldn't mind except I have to get on a plane in two days and cross the Atlantic.
> 
> Oh, well, I'll have someone else check my email during those 24 hours of traveling.


Good luck w/BookBub. Remember that if they turn you down -- and they do that often -- try again in a month or so. It may be that they simply have others lined up for your genre.


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## HeyImBen

I've got my Bookbub promo running today. As others have done, I'll report how it goes. POI picked it up Saturday after the price change so I'm beginning the promo with around 470 sales across all channels. <Crosses fingers and starts drinking>


----------



## the quiet one

My science fiction promo for my permafree book ran yesterday, and KBT and Digital Book Today picked it up as well. As of this moment, I've had 14,000+ downloads across all sites (95%+ on Amazon.com). The book is currently sitting at #7 on the Amazon.com free list. The rankings boost on the paid titles in the series has been impressive as well; all three are sitting in the 1,000-2,000 range.

I may have been quite giddy during the day yesterday.


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## Harriet Schultz

ajalbrinck said:


> My science fiction promo for my permafree book ran yesterday, and KBT and Digital Book Today picked it up as well. As of this moment, I've had 14,000+ downloads across all sites (95%+ on Amazon.com). The book is currently sitting at #7 on the Amazon.com free list. The rankings boost on the paid titles in the series has been impressive as well; all three are sitting in the 1,000-2,000 range.
> 
> I may have been quite giddy during the day yesterday.


Outstanding! My romantic suspense (the second book in my Legacy series) is on BB tomorrow. A good run with them is akin to manic-depression - manic joy on the day of and for the few days following until those sales start to slide again and you land in the dumps! But the ride is really nice.


----------



## jdrew

HeyImBen said:


> I've got my Bookbub promo running today. As others have done, I'll report how it goes. POI picked it up Saturday after the price change so I'm beginning the promo with around 470 sales across all channels. <Crosses fingers and starts drinking>


So, how's it going?


----------



## Harriet Schultz

My romantic suspense listing for A Legacy of Revenge runs on BookBub today. No traffic yet (10:30 am EST), so I guess the email hasn't gone to subscribers yet. Fingers crossed!


----------



## Gennita Low

Harriet Schultz said:


> My romantic suspense listing for A Legacy of Revenge runs on BookBub today. No traffic yet (10:30 am EST), so I guess the email hasn't gone to subscribers yet. Fingers crossed!


How did it go today, Harriet? I picked up one!


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## dotx

Harriet Schultz said:


> My romantic suspense listing for A Legacy of Revenge runs on BookBub today. No traffic yet (10:30 am EST), so I guess the email hasn't gone to subscribers yet. Fingers crossed!


How's it going?


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Gennita Low said:


> How did it go today, Harriet? I picked up one!


Thanks Gennita...we share some alsobots! The BB romantic suspense listing is disappointing, especially when I compare it to the spectacular results I had with romance in May.

I was a bargain book on ENT yesterday and my rank moved higher from that than from today's BookBub until this evening. I'm also featured on BargainBooksy today so it's hard to figure out which sales are coming from Bookbub.

My numbers stayed sluggish most of the day and then after 4pm BookBub may have finally kicked in. I've only had 300 sales of A Legacy of Revenge, but the upside is that about 75 copies of the first book in the series were also bought at the regular $2.99 price so I made back the cost of the ad. My highest "paid" rank is 1320 so far although Amazon's rank updates are lagging. I hope the upsurge from this evening lasts into tomorrow. This is a little disjointed, but I hope you get the idea.

Did you book a romantic suspense listing? I doubt that I'd buy one again, but the better categories are harder to get.


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## Harriet Schultz

Rank just updated (9:30 pm). I'm not sure why it's not showing in romance.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #684 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#79 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Suspense
#79 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Suspense


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## Gennita Low

Harriet Schultz said:


> Did you book a romantic suspense listing? I doubt that I'd buy one again, but the better categories are harder to get.


Yes, like I said before, this listing is nothing compared to being in Romance Contemporary. They gave me an RS for my next promo even though I asked for Romance Contemp. I don't think they will ever put my books in Contemporary again which sucks because that means I'll never get to Regular Top 100 with Bookbub again. 300 sales is okay but that's just not enough money left over after covering the cost, imo.

When they offered me RS this time (and I took it because I needed some promo done), I had to adjust my goals. I can't say I won't buy another Bookbub listing for RS again because their list will keep growing, but for now, it seems that you and I (and other RS writers) are out of the gold mine that is the Romance Contemp. category. Remember to write your concerns if they send you a survey! Bookbub associates are good listeners.


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## 48306

I have a Bookbub ad today for the first book in my BRIGHTEST KIND OF DARKNESS series. This is the first time all outlets (Amazon, B&N, Kobo, iTunes) have the book up for FREE so I'll be interested to see how it goes. Will report back!


----------



## Harriet Schultz

There's still some residual effect from Saturday's romantic suspense BookBub ad for A Legacy of Revenge, but for what I paid ($80), I definitely got my money's worth although these results aren't as spectacular as those for books in other categories. 

The novel had an early boost on Friday from an ENT bargain book listing and was also on Bargainbooksy Saturday. I tried to hit it hard!

Friday morning's starting rank (before ENT kicked in) was 30,874
Saturday morning, before BB sent out their email, the rank was 1,322 (Yay, ENT!)
I suspect BB didn't contact subscribers in this category until late Saturday because by 3pm ranking slid (does that ever happen with BB?) to 1532 and my positive attitude quickly evaporated. 
Movement picked up dramatically Sat. evening and remained steady with ranking topping out at 506 paid and #61 in suspense around midnight.
Two day sales from Amazon for this book as of now: 426

Barnes & Noble: Rank is 475 with 71 sales (some of these are from iTunes, but I cant break them down). 

Even better, 135 people bought the first book in the series at its regular $2.99 price. 

I initially thought I wouldn't do another romantic suspense listing with BB, but I've found 500 new readers and that's always a good thing. I'd do it again.


----------



## Marti talbott

Well, I finally tried it yesterday for Marblestone Mansion, book 1 for $150.

This is a permafree book that was already sitting at around 1900 in the rankings. I wanted to see if I could pump it up to the top 100 list and it worked. As of this morning, it's #5 free in Kindle. Downloads 21879 in Kindle, 2500 at Apple, 200 in Kobo and who knows in Nook. It was a bad day in Kobo because of all the erotica mess, I think.

It remains to be seen if the other five books in this series will sell enough to make my money back, but at least there's a chance they will. However, be advised that booking for the 14th or 15th of the month can make you crazy. Amazon runs their reports on those two days and the rankings are slow to change. Mine sat at 870 for hours.


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## jdrew

Harriet Schultz said:


> I initially thought I wouldn't do another romantic suspense listing with BB, but I've found 500 new readers and that's always a good thing. I'd do it again.


Harriet, thanks for keeping us up to date. And, based on the discussion here I'm going to give BB a try though not until my third novel is out. I don't think having only one other book can bring in enough residuals to make it worthwhile. So, off to get the next book done and then back to marketing.


----------



## Guest

Brenda Coulter said:


> Bookbub just e-mailed that they'd given me some free promo today because they had extra space in their newsletter, and suddenly my falling Amazon numbers have picked up again. I don't think I'd want to pay for this service--simply having my book go free (via price match) at Amazon has given me PLENTY of exposure (I've been in the top 40 for Kindle freebies, and as high as #10, for the past 4 days). But it does appear that Bookbub reaches a lot of people.
> 
> If anyone would like to share their experiences with the service, I'm all ears.


When I first heard people saying they had 100K downloads form bookbub promo I said no way, their alexa isn't that high.

But most of their email list is not going to their site, so they send out a blast to 100K or so people and that pops it on Amazon, then amazon's power does the rest.

Once you get a new title high on the main freebie list from a push by bookbub, then it takes off, if the cover and book is decent.

It's the path to top 10 for free IMO unless you have a ton of press.

Just look at today's top 10 on amazon free, then go to bookbub

They're there.


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## Gennita Low

You really should read the whole thread or most of it instead of replying to a post from 2012. Many here have lots of experience in Bookbub and you might use that experience to form your strategy.

What you're telling us is 12 month old strategy. Things have changed since Amazon changed their algos.

If you get on Bookbub, please do post your numbers. Many here keep track of books and follow their ranks to see how books are treated by Amazon algos.


----------



## Guest

Harriet Schultz said:


> I was a bargain book on ENT yesterday and my rank moved higher from that than from today's BookBub until this evening. I'm also featured on BargainBooksy today so it's hard to figure out which sales are coming from Bookbub.
> 
> My numbers stayed sluggish most of the day and then after 4pm BookBub may have finally kicked in.


So when you do a promo on Bookbub you also submit to other free sites? Is this usual?


----------



## Gennita Low

WPotocki said:


> So when you do a promo on Bookbub you also submit to other free sites? Is this usual?


I used to stagger the days. One day with Bookbub, next day with Freebooksy, the next with some other site. That way, the momentum keeps building. On a good free promo, it's not unusual to have about 30,000 downloads (when I used to promote using Select) and during the first few days sell hundreds of your other books. Unfortunately, this doesn't work that way any more .


----------



## Guest

Gennita Low said:


> I used to stagger the days. One day with Bookbub, next day with Freebooksy, the next with some other site. That way, the momentum keeps building. On a good free promo, it's not unusual to have about 30,000 downloads (when I used to promote using Select) and during the first few days sell hundreds of your other books. Unfortunately, this doesn't work that way any more .


from what I've been reading as to best ways to use select with bookbub

you put a title at least 3 days on select, with the push by bookbub, and now due to the value of bookbub, you may want to shoot all 5 days in a row

the reason is, bookbub gets you to the top spots on amazon and then amazon can keep a title there as long as it is free, so bookbub is the push and then amazon keeps a title going

so one day is wasting what bookbub gets you, near the top or the top of amazon, then you ride the top spot for as long as amazon lets you milk it

without bookbub we see 100 to 500 for most free titles but they're not stuff most people want, non-fiction

we're just now developing fiction series to specifically aim at the amazon kindle market

and bookbub is the only thing we see that seems to work, and as soon as we get our new fiction writers on bookbub, if I have my way they will have all 5 days to ride amazon

if they get 50K to 100K free downloads in those five days, great

then each author will have a couple of more titles to offer to new fans

at least that's our strategy for now

I just wish there were more sites with proven push power than just bookbub

bookbub is still the only proven push site, and I've spent 3 months looking at data from all over the net trying to find another site like bookbub, they don't exist


----------



## Guest

Gennita Low said:


> I used to stagger the days. One day with Bookbub, next day with Freebooksy, the next with some other site. That way, the momentum keeps building. On a good free promo, it's not unusual to have about 30,000 downloads (when I used to promote using Select) and during the first few days sell hundreds of your other books. Unfortunately, this doesn't work that way any more .


I see. But it's best to keep it free for a few days after the promo on Bookbub even if you don't promote? Especially if it's the first in a series?



> so one day is wasting what bookbub gets you, near the top or the top of amazon, then you ride the top spot for as long as amazon lets you milk it


Yes, that's why I'm asking the above question. I like what Gennita said though. If it's promoted on Bookbub and then promoted on another site, I think it could build. Brilliant!



> I just wish there were more sites with proven push power than just bookbub
> 
> bookbub is still the only proven push site, and I've spent 3 months looking at data from all over the net trying to find another site like bookbub, they don't exist


Yes, please post if you do find it.

I tend to trust what the authors here say about promos. Especially if the results are echoed.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

WPotocki said:


> So when you do a promo on Bookbub you also submit to other free sites? Is this usual?


This wasn't for a free book so as Gennita has already said, I wanted momentum. Since A Legacy of Revenge ran on BookBub on Saturday, it's still sitting in the 2000s (paid). Multiple ads are a way to maximize the BookBub listing. It may seem like every reader in the world subscribes to BookBub, but why not spread the widest net? ENT (ereader news today) has always worked well for me and it did this time too. They're just as selective as BB, but a lot less expensive since the cost is based on your sales originating from their site.


----------



## Guest

Harriet Schultz said:


> This wasn't for a free book so as Gennita has already said, I wanted momentum. Since A Legacy of Revenge ran on BookBub on Saturday, it's still sitting in the 2000s (paid). Multiple ads are a way to maximize the BookBub listing. It may seem like every reader in the world subscribes to BookBub, but why not spread the widest net? ENT (ereader news today) has always worked well for me and it did this time too. They're just as selective as BB, but a lot less expensive since the cost is based on your sales originating from their site.


I apologize for misinterpreting. I thought when you said the first in the series sold, you were distinguishing between your books that were paid and the one in the promo.

I'll have to see if I ran a promo with ENT. I know I ran one with Freebooksy. I'll have to see what happened.

I think it's a great idea to run consecutive promos. It really never even occurred to me before reading this post. Not much of a marketeer, but you can always learn. Hopefully!


----------



## Gennita Low

WPotocki said:


> I apologize for misinterpreting. I thought when you said the first in the series sold, you were distinguishing between your books that were paid and the one in the promo.
> 
> I'll have to see if I ran a promo with ENT. I know I ran one with Freebooksy. I'll have to see what happened.
> 
> I think it's a great idea to run consecutive promos. It really never even occurred to me before reading this post. Not much of a marketeer, but you can always learn. Hopefully!


Free is good if you have a series. If you have a Bookbub for that and if it's for one of their top categories, I would use all five days. You want maximum downloads to get as high in ranking as possible.

I've already posted my numbers in the past on the difference in post Free/Bookbub bumps. The difference between last year's and this year's numbers is HUGE. That's why I switched to 99cts promos. I was doing good till Bookbub cut Romantic Suspense out of the Romance (Contemp) category. Now I'll have to change strategy again .

I'm terrible at marketing too. That's why I depend on all the generous writers who share their numbers and strategies. While their suggestions may not work for me, at least I can modify them to try out.

Right now, I'm even thinking of putting one of my series back in Select to test whether I could get a sales bump for the new book that's coming out at the end of the year. But I haven't really made up my mind yet, LOL. Harriet's report has given me hope that I might be able to start Nov. with a bang instead of my current pitiful whimper!


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Gennita Low said:


> Harriet's report has given me hope that I might be able to start Nov. with a bang instead of my current pitiful whimper!


More reason for hope in this category--if you follow how each day's BB romantic suspense books are doing on Amazon, they seem to rise quickly and most keep that $0.99 price going for five days (or more). It's not the magic bullet of the romance category with a quick zoom to the top, but it's a way to wake up your book and have readers discover you without shelling out a lot of cash. Positive thoughts!


----------



## Writer1000

Here's an update on my results for those interested.

Secret Words (Book 1 of the series) went free for 5 days from Oct 8 to 12. The BookBub ad went out on Day 1 (it was on the Contemporary Romance category) and a Freebooksy ad went out on Day 3. I also submitted this to other free sites (although I didn't check which ones picked it up - ENT and POI did not).

Download Numbers (total across all Amazon stores):
Day 1: 27,250
Day 2: 7,892
Day 3: 5,185
Day 4: 3,707
Day 5: 2,778
Total Downloads: 46,812 (44,731 were from .com)

It reached #2 overall on Day 1 and was #1 briefly on Day 2. It finished Day 5 at #22 overall (#9 in Romance).

On the first day of this book going back to paid ($2.99), there was a spike in sales (sold around 40), but that post free bump didn't last. Only 10 were sold in the last couple of days. I'm wondering if those sales from the first day back to paid where from people who thought it was still free? Most of those sales seemed to be from the early hours of that day.

Book 2 (at $2.99) however, is still doing well. It went from a ranking of 89,000 prior to Book 1 going free to low 1,000's. It's still sitting in the low 2,000's currently.

I'm also getting some bump for my other books but I'm not sure how much of it I can attribute to this promo. Book 1 of that other series is permafree.

Overall, I'm happy with the result. Will try for a .99cent promo next time (hopefully, BookBub accepts).


----------



## Harriet Schultz

I'm glad you had great results, Miranda. Congratulations!

I'm still waiting -- four days after I requested it -- for Amazon to change the price of the book I had on sale from $0.99 to $2.99. I just sent a fifth email and will try not to grind my teeth! Frustrating that there's no way to contact them directly. If anyone knows the secret to doing this, please share!

Getting Amazon to change prices up or down in a timely way is the one downside of promos. D2D had the price changed on Apple and B & N within hours!


----------



## Wansit

Harriet Schultz said:


> I'm glad you had great results, Miranda. Congratulations!
> 
> I'm still waiting -- four days after I requested it -- for Amazon to change the price of the book I had on sale from $0.99 to $2.99. I just sent a fifth email and will try not to grind my teeth! Frustrating that there's no way to contact them directly. If anyone knows the secret to doing this, please share!
> 
> Getting Amazon to change prices up or down in a timely way is the one downside of promos. D2D had the price changed on Apple and B & N within hours!


It's showing as 2.99 for me on .com


----------



## Writer1000

Harriet Schultz said:


> I'm glad you had great results, Miranda. Congratulations!
> 
> I'm still waiting -- four days after I requested it -- for Amazon to change the price of the book I had on sale from $0.99 to $2.99. I just sent a fifth email and will try not to grind my teeth! Frustrating that there's no way to contact them directly. If anyone knows the secret to doing this, please share!
> 
> Getting Amazon to change prices up or down in a timely way is the one downside of promos. D2D had the price changed on Apple and B & N within hours!


Thanks, Harriet! Congrats on your results too.

Hope your Amazon price changes soon. It's still showing at 99cents on .com from here in Australia.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Wansit said:


> It's showing as 2.99 for me on .com


Where are you? I just checked and it's $0.99 on .com in the U.S.


----------



## Wansit

Harriet Schultz said:


> Where are you? I just checked and it's $0.99 on .com in the U.S.


The US but I should clarify the Highlands books is not Revenge. I guess you did the BB with Book 2? *sorry my mistake*


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Wansit said:


> The US but I should clarify the Highlands books is not Revenge. I guess you did the BB with Book 2? *sorry my mistake*


Not a problem. I just received an email from a member of Amazon's "leadership team" assuring me that the price would be changed "within a few business days."

*To reiterate advice from others regarding price changes on Amazon:*
The time they take is so variable that if you're doing a promo it's a good idea to give the new price four or five days to happen. Mine was lowered within hours (five days before the promo began), but this request to return to its normal price was made on Sunday and it still hasn't happened.


----------



## Guest

Harriet Schultz said:


> Good luck w/BookBub. Remember that if they turn you down -- and they do that often -- try again in a month or so. It may be that they simply have others lined up for your genre.


Thanks, Harriet! I got my listing  It took them nine days to respond and by that time I was certain they'd turn me down but luckily that wasn't the case!!


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Stella S. said:


> Thanks, Harriet! I got my listing  It took them nine days to respond and by that time I was certain they'd turn me down but luckily that wasn't the case!!


That's great, Stella! Let us all know when it runs.


----------



## Guest

Harriet Schultz said:


> That's great, Stella! Let us all know when it runs.


Will do...


----------



## Guest

MirandaPCharles said:


> Here's an update on my results for those interested.
> 
> Secret Words (Book 1 of the series) went free for 5 days from Oct 8 to 12. The BookBub ad went out on Day 1 (it was on the Contemporary Romance category) and a Freebooksy ad went out on Day 3. I also submitted this to other free sites (although I didn't check which ones picked it up - ENT and POI did not).
> 
> Download Numbers (total across all Amazon stores):
> Day 1: 27,250
> Day 2: 7,892
> Day 3: 5,185
> Day 4: 3,707
> Day 5: 2,778
> Total Downloads: 46,812 (44,731 were from .com)
> 
> It reached #2 overall on Day 1 and was #1 briefly on Day 2. It finished Day 5 at #22 overall (#9 in Romance).
> 
> On the first day of this book going back to paid ($2.99), there was a spike in sales (sold around 40), but that post free bump didn't last. Only 10 were sold in the last couple of days. I'm wondering if those sales from the first day back to paid where from people who thought it was still free? Most of those sales seemed to be from the early hours of that day.
> 
> Book 2 (at $2.99) however, is still doing well. It went from a ranking of 89,000 prior to Book 1 going free to low 1,000's. It's still sitting in the low 2,000's currently.
> 
> I'm also getting some bump for my other books but I'm not sure how much of it I can attribute to this promo. Book 1 of that other series is permafree.
> 
> Overall, I'm happy with the result. Will try for a .99cent promo next time (hopefully, BookBub accepts).


50K free nice amount

40 fast sales is not even .1%

you have lots of titles, so did you have links to them all?

Numbers I've seen from others using bookbub are

1% sales to 3% sales as to percentage of downloads

so 50K downloads, is 500 to 1500 sales not 40

But they were not your genre

So either that genre doesn't convert well, or your writing may not interest that many users

50K is a huge amount of exposure

40 sales post bumb with a large backlist is terrible

So if other authors get 1% to 3% bumps and you didn't even get .1% bump

Hmmm

What's wrong?

Genre?
Writing?
No links to back titles?

Sounds like a misfire


----------



## LG Castillo

Lash (Broken Angel) is on Bookbub today. I'm so excited! The Bookbub email just went out. Here is where my books stand as of last night.

Lash #56,769 
After the Fall #79,568

Keeping fingers crossed.


----------



## Gennita Low

Linda Castillo said:


> Lash (Broken Angel) is on Bookbub today. I'm so excited! The Bookbub email just went out. Here is where my books stand as of last night.
> 
> Lash #56,769
> After the Fall #79,568
> 
> Keeping fingers crossed.


Keeping my fingers crossed for you, Linda! I'll post it on my FB too!


----------



## LG Castillo

Gennita Low said:


> Keeping my fingers crossed for you, Linda! I'll post it on my FB too!


Thanks, Gennita!


----------



## PhoenixS

**********


----------



## Kat Lilynette

Phoenix Sullivan said:


> I've theorized before that freebies made via BB are excluded from the visibility algos, and have been since about May. Standalone titles seem to be punished most. Again, theory only based on my personal observations and analysis.


Care to expand on this? It's piqued my interest. Why/how did you draw such conclusions?

Thanks.


----------



## Maia Sepp Ross

Linda Castillo said:


> Lash (Broken Angel) is on Bookbub today. I'm so excited! The Bookbub email just went out. Here is where my books stand as of last night.
> 
> Lash #56,769
> After the Fall #79,568
> 
> Keeping fingers crossed.


Best of luck, Linda!


----------



## blakebooks

Thanks, Phoenix. Seems like Historical Romance is still treating you more than well on the .99 specials.

Interesting about the pop lists. Sucks if you're right.


----------



## PhoenixS

XXXXXXXXXX


----------



## Patty Jansen

How long do they take to reply to an application?

I normally apply once a month to prove that yes, they definitely hate me. Normally, I have my "go away" email within 24 hours (often less than that), but I've been waiting for two days now. Is it because of the weekend? I did get a confirmation email.


----------



## brie.mcgill

Both my "go away" email and my "yes, we love you" email came after 3-4 days, so... sometimes you do have to wait and bite nails. Can't remember on which days I applied for the ads.

Good luck!


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> How long do they take to reply to an application?
> 
> I normally apply once a month to prove that yes, they definitely hate me. Normally, I have my "go away" email within 24 hours (often less than that), but I've been waiting for two days now. Is it because of the weekend? I did get a confirmation email.


And how often are you submitting applications? You have different books. Are you putting in 3 applications on a Monday for 3 different books? Do you put a few in on different days of the week?

I'd be worried they see too many books from the same author all at one or all the time and they'd get nervous.


----------



## Patty Jansen

Greg Strandberg said:


> And how often are you submitting applications? You have different books. Are you putting in 3 applications on a Monday for 3 different books? Do you put a few in on different days of the week?
> 
> I'd be worried they see too many books from the same author all at one or all the time and they'd get nervous.


There are only two books that I've ever applied for and that I'm interested in advertising on their site because they're the first of a series. I only put in one application a month. Don't worry, they've never accepted me.


----------



## LG Castillo

24-hour later and I'm really disappointed in the Bookbub promotion for Lash. I have yet to make my money back. I was so excited to get the ad because I kept hearing about everyone's great experience with Bookbub. Many people earned their money back within hours of running the ad. When I ran an ad on ENT or Bookblast this summer, I earned my money back within hours. Bookbub? Nope. Still waiting.

I really hope I can get enough sales today to get my investment back. But as of now, I think I'm total fail with my Bookbub run. 

Here is the summary of my run. I hope Day 2 is better.

Bookbub email was sent out at about 9:30am Saturday.

*Lash @ 99 cents; Book 1 of a series - Paranormal Romance
Day 1 - 422 (295 Amazon; 94 BN; 33 iTunes); #479 Amazon
Day 2 - ??
Ad Cost: $180*

There was a small uptick on sales on Book 2.
After the Fall @ $2.99; Book 2
Day 1 - 16 #11690

ETA: added iTunes sales.


----------



## PhoenixS

XXXXXXXXXX


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Phoenix Sullivan said:


> For everyone posting time of email, keep in mind that the BB emails go out in batches throughout the day, lasting from 10-12 hours. It appears the batches are randomized, too, so emails often hit your inbox at different times. So just because you got your email at, say, 9:30am, doesn't mean that's when I received it. I may not have gotten mine until 6:00pm, even if we're in the same time zone. And tomorrow, I may get the email at 10:00am and you get yours at 4:30pm.


You're absolutely right. My Oct. 12 promo didn't have any action until evening so my guess is most people didn't get (or look at) the email until at least 6ish. It's very frustrating to know your book is scheduled and then not see movement for most of the day. I also wonder how much more effective the ad would be if subscribers had a whole day to check their email. My guess was that my book's romantic suspense category -- a new one for BB that only cost $80 -- had a low priority for them. I still cleared about $500, so I this is a comment, not a complaint.


----------



## LG Castillo

Harriet Schultz said:


> You're absolutely right. My Oct. 12 promo didn't have any action until evening so my guess is most people didn't get (or look at) the email until at least 6ish. It's very frustrating to know your book is scheduled and then not see movement for most of the day. I also wonder how much more effective the ad would be if subscribers had a whole day to check their email. My guess was that my book's romantic suspense category -- a new one for BB that only cost $80 -- had a low priority for them. I still cleared about $500, so I this is a comment, not a complaint.


Ah, that's good to know. I did notice a flurry of action in the evening.


----------



## LG Castillo

Yay! Just got an email from ENT. They're running a 99 cent ad for Lash tomorrow. Hopefully, the BB and ENT combo will help with sales and get me out of the red for this promo.


----------



## Gennita Low

Linda Castillo said:


> Yay! Just got an email from ENT. They're running a 99 cent ad for Lash tomorrow. Hopefully, the BB and ENT combo will help with sales and get me out of the red for this promo.


Yay! I think you will see some uptick from Bookbubbers who open their emails on Monday morning .

I know you will be the black, Linda.


----------



## JFHilborne

I'm running my first free Bookbub promo, which is also the first promo I've done on a Sunday, so I was a little nervous about the results. I'm happy  

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Suspense > Psychological
#2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers


----------



## SLFleming

I have a BB promo on Saturday. I wanted some advice as to when to send through the price change on Amazon. I know a couple of days in advance--but should it be 48 hours or four days? I don't want to stress out about the price not changing.
I figured y'all would know. Thanks!

-Sarah


----------



## Harriet Schultz

SLFleming said:


> I have a BB promo on Saturday. I wanted some advice as to when to send through the price change on Amazon. I know a couple of days in advance--but should it be 48 hours or four days? I don't want to stress out about the price not changing.
> I figured y'all would know. Thanks!
> 
> -Sarah


To be on the safe side after reading some horror stories, I changed the price for my BB promo six days in advance. Amazon changed it within hours. After the promo, it took five days for them to adjust the price back up. Money was definitely lost during those days of higher than normal sales following the BB listing. My advice is to lower the price well in advance because Amazon is unpredictable.


----------



## Anne Frasier

Harriet Schultz said:


> After the promo, it took five days for them to adjust the price back up. Money was definitely lost during those days of higher than normal sales following the BB listing.


This has become a HUGE issue with BB sales. Or any sales. Amazon is not adjusting the price back up. This started happening to me a couple of months ago, and now it's the norm. Even if you raise prices at B&N etc. a day earlier, Amazon is not accepting the raised price. So the after-sale income has really been impacted in a big way. This is a recent issue as far as I know. Maybe they fine-tuned their price-matching machine so it's now matching prices that are a week old. Of course this probably wouldn't happen if the books were in Select, so was this implemented after everybody started bailing out of Select?


----------



## dotx

I had a Bookbub ad on October 6th and adjusted the price back up a few hours after midnight. D2D changed it in about two hours and Amazon took less than four hours. I guess I caught a break.


----------



## Anne Frasier

dotx said:


> I had a Bookbub ad on October 6th and adjusted the price back up a few hours after midnight. D2D changed it in about two hours and Amazon took less than four hours. I guess I caught a break.


oh, interesting info! good to know it's not happening across the board. hmm.


----------



## HeyImBen

HeyImBen said:


> I've got my Bookbub promo running today. As others have done, I'll report how it goes. POI picked it up Saturday after the price change so I'm beginning the promo with around 470 sales across all channels. <Crosses fingers and starts drinking>


Totally forgot to update my results (estimates)

For my $.99 promo (Killing Chase) on Oct. 10th- Amazon sales- 1000
B&N- 300
Apple- 100
Kobo- 8
 POI sales 10/5-10/6- 470

I had hoped to break into the top 100, but the best ranking was #130 in the Kindle store. I think I would have made Top 100 (just my opinion) if I wouldn't have lowered my price to $.99 six days early. POI picked it up Saturday Oct. 5th (470 sales) and I think siphoned off some BB downloads. If I had it to do all over again, I would change my price 72 hours in advance of the sale and trust Amazon to lower in time. My promo ran to the 13th and of course it took Amazon three full days to raise the price back to $3.50, even though it was full price on all other channels. Sales since the promo have been on the average of 5 a day with my other book having 2-3 a day.


----------



## LG Castillo

Update.

Lash @ 99 cents; Book 1 of a series - Paranormal Romance
Day 1 - 422 (295 Amazon; 94 BN; 33 iTunes); #479 Amazon
Day 2 - 113 (70 Amazon; 31 BN; 12 iTunes); #1,042 Amazon
Day 3- ?? Other ads such as ENT, Indie Voice Newsletter, and Fussy Librarian will post today.
Ad Cost: $180


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Anne Frasier said:


> This has become a HUGE issue with BB sales. Or any sales. Amazon is not adjusting the price back up. This started happening to me a couple of months ago, and now it's the norm. Even if you raise prices at B&N etc. a day earlier, Amazon is not accepting the raised price. So the after-sale income has really been impacted in a big way. This is a recent issue as far as I know. Maybe they fine-tuned their price-matching machine so it's now matching prices that are a week old. Of course this probably wouldn't happen if the books were in Select, so was this implemented after everybody started bailing out of Select?


It took two emails to customer service and a plea for a "supervisor's" help to get it done--finally! D2D's price changed on Apple and B&N in hours both before and after the promo so this wasn't an issue of price matching. GRRR.


----------



## TexasGirl

I saw Bookbub in my Facebook feed for the first time ever today -- odd, since I've "liked" them for over a year. Maybe they did some boosting.

But I saw a picture of their people! So, the faces behind your success or defeat:










They seems sort of hard to not like.


----------



## BBGriffith

I have a bookbub freebie ad on Blue Fall tomorrow, the first in my series, to coincide with the release of the third book later this week. I wanted to time it so that the third was already out, but looks like it's not going to happen. I'm rolling with the ad, though, since I had them move it back a month already and I think the release will be close enough to catch residual sales. 

I've had an interesting history with this book and Bookbub. Way back when bookbub first started they featured me for free in action/adventure for a KDP select giveaway that got me 20k downloads. Then six months later I ran a .99c mystery/thriller promo (before they split the two genres) on it that sold about 1000 books across all channels. Now six months after that I've changed up the marketing and am going free again in thriller across all channels. I'm not sure how previous runs will affect this, but I'll report back.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Harriet Schultz said:


> It took two emails to customer service and a plea for a "supervisor's" help to get it done--finally! D2D's price changed on Apple and B&N in hours both before and after the promo so this wasn't an issue of price matching. GRRR.
> 
> The best visual during the promo was seeing A Legacy of Revenge one slot higher on the thriller list than Lee Childs! (of course, his position in the top 100 is secure; mine was transitory).


----------



## ToniD

Deanna: thanks for posting that. They are all smiling. Giving thumbs up. That means they love our books, right?  

BB: I'll be interested to hear how your run goes. I've done Volcano both free and at 99cents on BB--although the free was way back in January. I also experienced the split in the mystery/thriller cat. No question smaller cats lead to fewer sales (at a cheaper ad price), but my last thriller run for Volcano got close to my combined MT ad last April. Meaning, I think the split cats are picking up steam on their own.

Good luck!


----------



## Marti talbott

Well, mine ran Monday the 12th for Marblestone Mansion, book 1 and it is still in the top 100 free - #73 this morning to be exact. I expected it to slide off the top last weekend when all the Select books went free.

Approximate 34,000 given away so far
The other five books in the series went from:
48 - 262 (sales) = 214 $740.00
42 - 167 = 125 $432.00
44 - 138 = 125 $432.00
51 - 113 = 62 $214.00
56 - 116 = 62 $207.00

Paid $150.00 - made $2025. Money well spent in my case. Of course, some of those were readers. already hooked on the series.


----------



## Guest

Got another rejection from them today. Can you analyze anything in their rejections? I remember seeing a thread somewhere talking about this. Here's today's:

*Thanks for submitting an order with BookBub. Unfortunately, the editorial team has not selected your book for a listing at this time.

Due to the volume of orders we receive, we're only able to feature 20% - 30% of the titles that get submitted to us. BookBub employs an editorial team to choose the books they feel fit best with our subscribers' unique tastes. *

That's the email you get when they thought the book was alright but they just didn't have room or it was a tough decision with something else. Dates could also be a factor, although I think they'd perhaps work with you or notify you?

Here's one I got awhile ago:

*Thanks for submitting an order with BookBub. Unfortunately, we are unable to accept your listing at this time.

In order to preserve a consistent experience for our subscribers, BookBub employs an editorial team to review all listing submissions and approve those they feel are the best fit for the daily deal email. They base their decision upon a number of factors, which are outlined here:*

Now this submission was for a non-fiction book that I don't even think made their length qualification. That's an automatic disqualification.

Does anyone have what a successful BookBub email looks like? I'd like to have a realistic picture running through my dreams.


----------



## dotx

Acceptance email from Bookbub:

Subject: 
Your listing has been selected

Email: 
"Congratulations, our editorial team has selected your title for a BookBub feature! Thanks for your interest in partnering with us on your promotion. 

In order to complete your order, we need to receive payment from you. Please click on the link below to view and pay your invoice."

Then there's a link for payment and some general wording.


----------



## Anne Frasier

TexasGirl said:


> I saw Bookbub in my Facebook feed for the first time ever today -- odd, since I've "liked" them for over a year. Maybe they did some boosting.
> 
> But I saw a picture of their people! So, the faces behind your success or defeat:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They seems sort of hard to not like.


awww!


----------



## TexasGirl

Maybe they just hired some cute smart-looking college kids to work their booth, sort of like tequila bottlers hire pretty girls in short skirts to give out free samples.


----------



## Anne Frasier

TexasGirl said:


> Maybe they just hired some cute smart-looking college kids to work their booth, sort of like tequila bottlers hire pretty girls in short skirts to give out free samples.


----------



## LG Castillo

Another update.
I finally made my money back on this investment. whew! Although, I was hoping to do better, and I think that it was with the help of ENT rather than on BB alone. oh well...

Lash @ 99 cents; Book 1 of a series - Paranormal Romance
Day 1 - 422 (295 Amazon; 94 BN; 33 iTunes); #479 Amazon
Day 2 - 113 (70 Amazon; 31 BN; 12 iTunes); #1,042 Amazon
Day 3- 120 (89 Amazon; 17 BN; 5 iTunes; ENT, Indie Voice Newsletter, and Fussy Librarian announced the sale); #1,266 Amazon

Ad Cost: $180


----------



## LG Castillo

Greg Strandberg said:


> Got another rejection from them today. Can you analyze anything in their rejections? I remember seeing a thread somewhere talking about this. Here's today's:
> 
> *Thanks for submitting an order with BookBub. Unfortunately, the editorial team has not selected your book for a listing at this time.
> 
> Due to the volume of orders we receive, we're only able to feature 20% - 30% of the titles that get submitted to us. BookBub employs an editorial team to choose the books they feel fit best with our subscribers' unique tastes. *
> 
> That's the email you get when they thought the book was alright but they just didn't have room or it was a tough decision with something else. Dates could also be a factor, although I think they'd perhaps work with you or notify you?


I was able to get accepted the first time I submitted an application. In my application, I gave a range of dates and then put in the comment box that I was willing to take any date in October that they could give me.


----------



## Cege Smith

I have been collecting BB rejection emails for the last several months. The last promo I had accepted was for Edge of Shadows (which is a permafree) that they took in early June. With follow-on sales of book 2 & 3, that ended up being my best month of sales ever.

On a whim (and because my birthday is in November so I'm all about doing a big, crazy sale) I submitted to BB over the weekend to put the Shadows Trilogy box set on sale for $0.99 -normally sells at $5.99. I asked for Oct. 30th hoping to pull in some Halloween traffic but noted I was flexible on the dates. I almost fell out of my chair when I got the acceptance email for it this morning- although they've pushed me to November 7th. I'm doubly surprised because the box set only has 2 Amazon reviews.

Now I'm thinking I should submit to ENT to see if I could get picked up for the 8th or 9th.

I'm running a Bookblast/KFD promo on Edge of Shadows on Halloween- people who want to get the 2nd two books for a deal would be able to a week later- I'm thinking that may help push sales as well since I'll have to set the box set free several days in advance of the promo. Crossing my fingers that this all will translate into some big numbers- I'd consider it my birthday present to myself.


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## JRTomlin

I have a Bookbub/ENT promo set for tomorrow for Countenance of War. My prices are already reduced at Amazon, B&N and Apple, so I'm good to go. Now for the nail biting. (Added to waiting for the edit and cover for my new novel, I'm a wreck lol)


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## wildwitchof

Just popping in to say that, even though my BB promo from a few weeks ago led to over 4K sales (possibly 5K if you count the week after), my other book (the prequel) has been gently rejected for next month. I left the dates wide open, but no go.

I'm grateful for others posting that here so I know I have a chance some other time. I used to take rejection far too hard, but this indie thing has made me tough.

Good luck tomorrow, JR!


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## Bookside Manner

I just sent them an email asking about how far in advance I can send a book in for submission, as I'm planning a sale for the Christmas-Epiphany time period. They recommended 7 to 30 days in advance, so I've already got November 25 flagged as the day to send in my request.


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## Cege Smith

Good luck tomorrow, JR!


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## wilsonharp

My ad went out today and so far I am hopeful.

It was $380 for 99 cent Historical Fiction ad and so far I have sold 296 on Amazon and 118 on Barnes and Noble. Also had an Apple link, but no info on that yet. I am #101 in Barnes and Noble and #780 on Amazon right now, including #4 in Mythology and Folk Tales, #5 in Fairy Tales and #35 in Historical Fiction.


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## Guest

Kelly Cozy said:


> I just sent them an email asking about how far in advance I can send a book in for submission, as I'm planning a sale for the Christmas-Epiphany time period. They recommended 7 to 30 days in advance, so I've already got November 25 flagged as the day to send in my request.


Good to know on that one. I might have to fill in that comment box more 'creatively.' Thanks!



Gretchen Galway said:


> Just popping in to say that, even though my BB promo from a few weeks ago led to over 4K sales (possibly 5K if you count the week after), my other book (the prequel) has been gently rejected for next month. I left the dates wide open, but no go.
> 
> I'm grateful for others posting that here so I know I have a chance some other time. I used to take rejection far too hard, but this indie thing has made me tough.
> 
> Good luck tomorrow, JR!


I hope they've been giving me the gentle ones too.  I am happy to know that they're not giving the same authors back to back listings all of the time though.



Linda Castillo said:


> I was able to get accepted the first time I submitted an application. In my application, I gave a range of dates and then put in the comment box that I was willing to take any date in October that they could give me.


Thanks!


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## MitchHogan

I have a Bookbub and Bookblast promo tomorrow at $2.99. Will post results.


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## Guest

MitchHogan said:


> I have a Bookbub and Bookblast promo tomorrow at $2.99. Will post results.


Boy, you're already at #1,527. You could really go far with that combination. I'll look forward to those results!


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## Anne Frasier

i'd be very interested in knowing how people do with a 2.99 ad.


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## JRTomlin

The Bookbub mailing just hit my inbox. I can't tell you how much I wish I could hire them to do my blurbs for me. The one for _Countenance of War_ rocks:

_Using sneak attacks, battle-hardened Scottish knight James Douglas and his warriors are wearing down the invading forces of cruel English monarch Edward II. But can they ultimately defeat the army of a king? A breathtaking, epic novel_

Love it!

It is a 99Cent promo that I'm running at ENT as well. Considering that my sales on HF have dropped about 50% this month, I need a good promo.


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## Guest

JRTomlin said:


> The Bookbub mailing just hit my inbox. I can't tell you how much I wish I could hire them to do my blurbs for me. The one for _Countenance of War_ rocks:
> 
> _Using sneak attacks, battle-hardened Scottish knight James Douglas and his warriors are wearing down the invading forces of cruel English monarch Edward II. But can they ultimately defeat the army of a king? A breathtaking, epic novel_
> 
> Love it!
> 
> It is a 99Cent promo that I'm running at ENT as well. Considering that my sales on HF have dropped about 50% this month, I need a good promo.


Keep us updated on this one. I've had no luck getting Book 1 with BB and I'm curious as to how your Book 2 promo will affect the sales of the rest of your series. I'm tempted to buy this one after looking at your covers for the past 2 months.


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## JRTomlin

Thanks! 

I've run Book 1 and it did well, so I'm curious to see how Book 2 does. Not to mention I need the sales!  

So far the dashboard shows 280 sales with no budge in the rating. It's early for results to come through though so I'm not discouraged yet.


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## JRTomlin

At 560 sales now and the rating is very slowly inching its way up. It's 15k now which I hope is not going to be the best it does. We'll see how it does. The promo is running through the 24th and I have a second ad running on another smaller site tomorrow to try to extend the affects. 

An hour later (6:30 PM West Coast) it has 650 sales. The rating has finally caught up but that's not enough sales to get anywhere near the Top 100 which is disappointing. Ouch. Hope the sales are just lagging showing.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #448 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) 
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Scottish 
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > British 
#2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical


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## JRTomlin

One other thing, it has given the other two novels in the trilogy a bump, nothing huge but considering how slow sales have been all month, 25 each today was something I noticed and of course at full price which helps pay for the expensive ad. I had been averaging about 2 a day on each of those novels so a nice bump was really good. What's more it put it on page 1 of the entire HF category as well as the subcategories, which is not easy to do.

It has all 3 on page 1 of British but only CoW is on page 1 of Scottish HF. To be absolutely frank a lot of what is in the Scottish category is by no stretch of the imagination HF but is what is called Highland Romance. (*shudder*) 

Anyway, the bump on the rest of the trilogy is really nice to see. I wasn't sure how well this would work. I am concerned that being book 2 is keeping the sales from being as high as they would be otherwise. Still at the least it looks like I will break even with some good positioning at least for a few days. 

10PM West Coast and it is at #105 overall. Not bad although not as good as I would have hoped. My experience in the past is that is probably about as good as it will get, but I could be wrong there, of course. 830 Amazon sales that doesn't quite pay for the add but sales on other venues and extra sales on the other novels will at least put it in the black. Now to see if it has any lasting results.


----------



## MitchHogan

I'll jump in with my results from today. My Bookbub AND Bookblast promo was at $2.99 (down from $7.99). I dropped my price to $2.99 two days before (gave myself 48 hours just in case and it was updated in 2 hours...) In those two days had 111 and 142 sales respectively, so I'll use those figures as my guide for how many extra sales the promos generated.

*Sales*
Sales today reached 281, so pretty much double the previous day. I'll leave the price at $2.99 for a day or two and see what happens, but at this stage with 140 extra sales I made about 55% of the cost back. To add some more perspective at $7.99 I was averaging 65 sales per day this month so I actually made less royalties with a price drop to $2.99 for the two days prior to the promo.

*Rankings*
Best rankings were:
#497 Paid in Kindle Store
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy > Dark Fantasy (was #4 prior to promo)
#4 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult Science Fiction & Fiction > Fantasy > Coming of Age (was #6 prior to promo)
#6 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy > Sword & Sorcery
#7 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy > Epic

I'll consider this promo a success just based on the increased visibility. I made less money but it wasn't my aim to make money from the promo. At the rankings I already had a few places increase on the best seller lists isn't a huge visibility increase, however now a lot more readers have at least heard of my book.

Ideally I'd have a few more books published to take advantage of flow on sales but I don't at this stage. My final thought is that a 99c promo is probably the better option, and I'll wait until I have at least 3 books published before doing this again.


----------



## Guest

JRTomlin said:


> 10PM West Coast and it is at #105 overall. Not bad although not as good as I would have hoped. My experience in the past is that is probably about as good as it will get, but I could be wrong there, of course. 830 Amazon sales that doesn't quite pay for the add but sales on other venues and extra sales on the other novels will at least put it in the black. Now to see if it has any lasting results.


You're up to #95 now. These are all paying customers, so you'd think they'd give your book a look, if not a full read. I expect sales on the other titles will do better in the coming weeks.



MitchHogan said:


> Ideally I'd have a few more books published to take advantage of flow on sales but I don't at this stage. My final thought is that a 99c promo is probably the better option, and I'll wait until I have at least 3 books published before doing this again.


Yeah, you've really got to have other books out to really get an effect, but you're doing great. I think people who can't read a book 2 will be more likely to leave a review, and those are great reviews because people are saying "I can't wait to read book 2!" Hopefully you'll also get some people on your mailing list because of this, which is almost like a guaranteed sale come the next book, well, about as close as you can get. Now the main question is, how long before we can see another great looking cover down there by your name?


----------



## JRTomlin

I looks like it was in the Top 100 for a few minutes in the middle of the night. Very helpful.  

One day into the promo it has about 950 sales on Amazon. Sales on B&N and Apple haven't updated but typically on those on a Bookbub promo, I can expect a couple of hundred sales total. That pays for the promo with a little spare change left for coffee. 

It's current rankings are:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #117 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) 
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Scottish
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > British 
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Biographical 
#1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical 

More importantly it is #5 in overall Historical Fiction. In addition, the promo spike the sales of the rest of the trilogy enough that they are on page 1 of all of the subcategories (but not of overall HF which takes a lot of sales). 

So I definitely consider this promo a winner. Not only did it make back the cost and more, it gave the entire series a boost in visibility and sales. I don't think I could ask for a lot more. I'll update the total results including other retailers when I return the price to $3.99 at the end of the promo.


----------



## BBGriffith

The free promo for my book Blue Fall is going very well. The whole goal was to get books in hands and time it with the release of the third book in the trilogy, and it's doing that. Yesterday I gave away 18000 copies and the highest I hit was #4 overall free. 

The last time I ran a free promo with this book was back when it was in KDP select in April of 2013 with the help of ENT, but no bookbub, I moved 12,000 copies over three days, 7,000 copies on the first day, and the highest I sat was #31 overall free. 

The time before that was in April of 2012, when I gave away 17,000 over three days, 10,000 on the first day. The highest I cracked was #13 overall free.

Like I said, I'm not flipping the switch back to paid for Blue Fall, so I won't get any jump in paid rankings. The point was to get readers into the series. I don't think I'll get a good idea of residual sales on the other two books in the trilogy for a while, but I'll report back with the sales of my second book after about a month, when I'd like to try to hammer down that elusive "freebie readthrough" ratio.


----------



## M. Sid Kelly

This has been a very useful and encouraging thread. So I thought I'd add some results from my active BookBub promo.

It looks like the BookBub email went out at 10:27AM California time. But does anyone know whether it goes to everyone at once? It's in the science fiction category.

Used Aliens had 250 buys at $0.99 in the first 6 hours. The hourly rate seems to have increased gradually through the day. Maybe as folks get home from work...?

The list price has been $3.95 for about two months. The book had 15 sales for October and was at ~55,000 on the Kindle bestseller list when the promo began.

The first update to the bestseller rank just happened:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,159 Paid in Kindle Store
#2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Political 
#2 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Political 
#8 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Satire

It's also at #23 in Sci-fi > Alien Invasion but that isn't showing on my sales page for some reason.

My goal was to at least make my money back directly from the promo - and then hope I got some traction for additional sales, etc. So it seems well on track to break even. It has until Halloween...

So thanks to everyone for sharing this valuable info, and I'll plan to give some updates.

Later! Sid


----------



## 60169

I just want to say thanks to everyone for sharing such great info in this thread. A year ago, I followed the "Mega Thread for Select Free Results" with tremendous interest, and now this thread seems to be the equivalent for 2013.

I've run two BB ads so far this year, but both were for free runs - one in April and one in July. I love the instant juice it gives to a free run, but with the diminishing returns for even the biggest of free runs and the fact that BB limits how often it will feature a book/writer, it seems to make more sense to apply for .99 or 2.99 ads currently. 

I got accepted for a .99 ad in Memoir/Biography for November 12th, and I will chime in with whatever results I get when the time comes. I had read that some people are thinking the bloom is off the rose for BB, but based on the results I see others posting, I am encouraged!


----------



## Guest

M. Sid Kelly said:


> This has been a very useful and encouraging thread. So I thought I'd add some results from my active BookBub promo.
> 
> It looks like the BookBub email went out at 10:27AM California time. But does anyone know whether it goes to everyone at once? It's in the science
> Later! Sid


Wow, I think you said you wanted 500 in 5 days so you're well on your way!


----------



## brie.mcgill

I have a sci-fi Bookbub ad for Kain going out tomorrow. *gulp*

I also have a Bookblast going off on the 27th, possibly a Kindle Books and Tips, and I applied to POI, but who knows anything about getting picked up by them?    

I released book 1 in a sister series to Kain yesterday, and have a release day blitz running from the 28th-31st, plus some other blog stuff happening. I'm stoked to see if I can kick one or both of them into the stars.  Even for a few minutes!  

It's a bummer that I have to work late tomorrow night, so I won't be able to watch the sales action hour-by-hour (who needs hockey? football? PFFFFFT).

I have yet to break even in costs for an ad that I've run... but I'm feeling hopeful.


----------



## M. Sid Kelly

_I have a sci-fi Bookbub ad for Kain going out tomorrow. *gulp*_

***

Good luck! I think we might end up on each other's Amazon "Also Bought" lists in a couple of days. So good sustained luck too!

Used Aliens has 330 sales after eight hours. The latest rate has gone from 45/hour between 4 and 6PM California (PDT) time - to 30/hour from 6 to 7.

Latest rank:

#586 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) 
#1 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Political 
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Political 
#2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Satire

And it's #6 in Sci-Fi > Alien Invasion without showing on sales page.

Still zero sales from UK & others.

Sid.


----------



## JRTomlin

Day two of the promotion still not doing badly. It's up to 1040 sales so that's a couple of hundred since late last night. The other two in the trilogy are still doing better than previously, not huge sales but substantially up from the miserable sales they had earlier in the month. About 30 for A Kingdom's Cost and 30 for Not for Glory.



Shawn Inmon said:


> I just want to say thanks to everyone for sharing such great info in this thread. A year ago, I followed the "Mega Thread for Select Free Results" with tremendous interest, and now this thread seems to be the equivalent for 2013.
> 
> I've run two BB ads so far this year, but both were for free runs - one in April and one in July. I love the instant juice it gives to a free run, but with the diminishing returns for even the biggest of free runs and the fact that BB limits how often it will feature a book/writer, it seems to make more sense to apply for .99 or 2.99 ads currently.
> 
> I got accepted for a .99 ad in Memoir/Biography for November 12th, and I will chime in with whatever results I get when the time comes. I had read that some people are thinking the bloom is off the rose for BB, but based on the results I see others posting, I am encouraged!


I don't think that "the bloom is off" so much as we have to understand that no venue always works for ever book. We can't assume that it will always work, even though they are pretty picky about choosing what they think will appeal to their subscribers.


----------



## 60169

JRTomlin said:


> I don't think that "the bloom is off" so much as we have to understand that no venue always works for ever book. We can't assume that it will always work, even though they are pretty picky about choosing what they think will appeal to their subscribers.


Good point, as always, JR!


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## M. Sid Kelly

Ah, now I get why BookBub promos don't sell on Amazon.uk. BB doesn't give a link to the UK Amazon site. I wonder why.

Oh well, I had my first sale ever at Amazon Canada!

Used Aliens rank dropped to 930 after being in 500s, but everyone else I was following dropped proportionally at the same time too. I wonder why about that also.

It's had day 1 sales of 385 on Amazon in BB's science fiction category at 99 cents. Based on others report in this thread, that seems like a reasonable level for the category.


----------



## JRTomlin

Total sales of the three day promo which ends in a few hours: Amazon 1108, ITunes 81, B/N 201 That doesn't include the boost in sales for the other novels both of which went from 40 sales for the month to 80 sales for the month during the three days (at full price, of course).

This isn't the best Bookbub promotion I ever had, but I have no complaint.


----------



## thomaskcarpenter

JRTomlin said:


> Total sales of the three day promo which ends in a few hours: Amazon 1108, ITunes 81, B/N 201 That doesn't include the boost in sales for the other novels both of which went from 40 sales for the month to 80 sales for the month during the three days (at full price, of course).
> 
> This isn't the best Bookbub promotion I ever had, but I have no complaint.


Thanks for the info. I have a Historical Fiction ad coming up on Bookbub in November. What did you do besides just the ad and would you do anything differently if you could do it again?

Thanks!


----------



## JRTomlin

The only other thing I did was contact ENT which ran one of their "Bargain" ads. I assume some of the sales came from there but my past experience with ENT is that my HF does not do well there. The last time I ran a similar HF ad at ENT I ended up being billed for 45 sales through them. It surprises me that they bother with my ads I have such a terrible record with them. (No insult to ENT. I believe other genres do well)

ETA: I can't say I would do anything differently. The results of this were about as good as I could expect. As I said, it's not the best promo I ever did with BB but it did well more than pay for itself and the higher visibility in the HF categories, even though not as good as being in the Top 100, is bound to help sales.


----------



## brie.mcgill

From noon-3pm, I've sold about 100 books so far... but my Amazon ranking hasn't budged an inch.   It's stuck at 160,000. I hope it updates sometime before midnight so I can get some algorithm love.  

I also have to leave for work soon... so I wanted to bask in a few moments of glory.  

I'll report back whenever I'm done with the day's drudgery... hopefully not too late.


----------



## thomaskcarpenter

JRTomlin said:


> The only other thing I did was contact ENT which ran one of their "Bargain" ads. I assume some of the sales came from there but my past experience with ENT is that my HF does not do well there. The last time I ran a similar HF ad at ENT I ended up being billed for 45 sales through them. It surprises me that they bother with my ads I have such a terrible record with them. (No insult to ENT. I believe other genres do well)
> 
> ETA: I can't say I would do anything differently. The results of this were about as good as I could expect. As I said, it's not the best promo I ever did with BB but it did well more than pay for itself and the higher visibility in the HF categories, even though not as good as being in the Top 100, is bound to help sales.


Thanks JR!


----------



## M. Sid Kelly

Here are some 48-hour BookBub promo results for Used Aliens. 

Sales averaged about 33 per hour for the first 12 hours - then just a couple per hour overnight - for a total of 440 sales at 99 cents in the first 24 hours. (This paid for the promo plus a little.)

This is where I think it peaked - about 18 hours in:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #250 Paid in Kindle Store
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Political 
#1 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Political 
#2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Alien Invasion

It had an additional 70 sales over the next 24 hours, and is still selling about 2 per hour entering day three. The total is at 520 sales.

My goal was 500, so I'm pretty happy. I'm leaving the promo in place until Halloween, so I'm upping my goal to 600. I decided to make the sale a week long just thinking that being active on BookBub's page for few extra days couldn't hurt. I think I could make more money by switching to the regular price while it's still hot, but I think I'll have better visibility in the long run if I can sustain higher sales for a longer period. From what I understand, the algorithms give search priority to sustained sales over short spikes of sales.

Used Aliens has had a major reshuffle of its Also-Bought list. It's now on several of the other recent BookBub promo books' lists - including some good sellers - like Piers Anthony and Bob Meyer. So I think that is a positive outcome.

I searched all my keywords and found that the search results were higher all around. So I switched a couple of keywords to more popular search terms, e.g., from GEEK HUMOR to HUMOROUS FICTION.  And I'll be checking those once they kick in. But I don't know whether it's better to be #1 or 2 in a search with 150 results, or page 3/4 in a list of several thousand books. I'll adjust if I think I should, but there's no actual science being done here. 

There have been several fun things to keep track of too. It peaked at #14 on the Movers and Shakers list. My author ranking went as high as 37 in science fiction, and I was briefly #48 while Kurt Vonnegut was at #47 - so I got to see myself hanging out with KV! A screen grab that I'll always cherish...

I also switched categories to take advantage (hopefully) of higher visibility in more popular genres. Switched from POLITICAL HUMOR to SCI-FI ADVENTURE, while remaining in SATIRE and ALIEN INVASION.

I haven't sold any of my other two titles yet. Of course they wouldn't appear to be related until you've read Used Aliens... And it's had no new reviews yet.

But best of all, I finally sold a book on Amazon Canada! WOOHOO, eh!


----------



## brie.mcgill

I started off with a bang yesterday, and then sales died off to nothing after 6pm. Makes me wonder if Halloween funtimes was a factor? Sold a decent number today, but wasn't quite what I had hoped. Sort of a bummer, when I did a promo way back when, I hit the Top 100 Free without Bookbub.

Going to find an artist to put some moobs on the cover and see what that will do.

I'm hoping a for a steady trickle of sales over the next few days... will keep everyone posted.

On the plus side, I did get a pretty nice review from a top ten reviewer.


----------



## 13893

I have a bb ad today for Firebird, the third book in my Apocalypto series. I've run this book before, but it's the first time with its nifty new cover. It's too early to tell what's happening with Firebird, but the permafree first book has already had a pop in downloads, so that's a good sign.


----------



## Guest

Good luck!

The cover looks awesome.


----------



## PhoenixS

XXXXXXXXXX


----------



## Gennita Low

That is one gorgeous cover, LK Rigel! I will definitely pick it up! But all your covers are so beautiful.

Phoenix, yeah, once the split happened, the "pop" to get to the top is definitely gone. I have since changed my expectations/goal. I have a Sunday BB promo coming up for a book that has been dying in the dungeons, so to speak, so for it to make it back up to decent ranking is all I want right now. And it's connected to a second book, so with a link/sentence telling the reader which book has the side character's story, I hope to get some sales there. And right around that week, I hope to push out my box set for to get on the Amazon new books out list. So maybe with these three things, I'll have a good promo week.

Fingers crossed . I just hope to end the year with a couple of good months. It'd so help the bills department!


----------



## PhoenixS

XXXXXXXXXX


----------



## jdrew

LKRigel said:


> I have a bb ad today for Firebird, the third book in my Apocalypto series. I've run this book before, but it's the first time with its nifty new cover. It's too early to tell what's happening with Firebird, but the permafree first book has already had a pop in downloads, so that's a good sign.


LK - I don't know what the previous cover looked like but this one is really good. Let us know how sales go with the bb ad.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Gennita Low said:


> I have a Sunday BB promo coming up for a book that has been dying in the dungeons, so to speak, so for it to make it back up to decent ranking is all I want right now.


Good luck, Gennita. The post-Bookbub nosedive was swifter in the romantic suspense category for my book/s than it was with a romance ad. I hope yours maintains its ranking. I think those in RS that kept the $0.99 price longer and therefore remained listed as active deals on BB have done better, so perhaps don't raise your price as quickly as other times. Might work!


----------



## 13893

Thanks so much for the compliments on Firebird's cover!

The BB ad had nice results, not spectacular. As I said, I've run this book before. It's the third book in the Apocalypto series - a difficult series to promote. People either hate it or love it. 

I sold 723 copies over three days at Amazon and B&N together, and it gave me a nice bump in the freeloads of the first book and sales of the second.


----------



## 13893

Harriet Schultz said:


> Good luck, Gennita. The post-Bookbub nosedive was swifter in the romantic suspense category for my book/s than it was with a romance ad. I hope yours maintains its ranking. *I think those in RS that kept the $0.99 price longer and therefore remained listed as active deals on BB have done better*, so perhaps don't raise your price as quickly as other times. Might work!


Harriet, I've found this works with my books, and it's not so awful staying down at 99¢ if there's a bump in sales for other books in a series. Other sites seem to be picking up their 99¢ deals from the BookBub emails now, so leaving the price down a few extra days seems to help with getting picked up by them.

Though I can't get picked up by PoI to save my life.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

LKRigel said:


> Though I can't get picked up by PoI to save my life.


Ditto! 
I marked my first book down to $0.99 for the next few weeks and submitted yet again to POI despite never being picked up by them. Like BB, can't hurt to keep trying (I'm an optimist)!


----------



## Maya Cross

Finally booked a BB ad for one of my titles. Nov 14th in the erotic romance category. Timing and price never worked before, but since the first in my series recently went permafree, I decided to give it a shot. Thankfully they took it despite the fact that it's only 35,000 words long.

I'm happy to finally be on the BB train. Very curious to see how it plays out for the other books in the series. My sell through rate before going permafree was pretty high (75% book one - book two), but I have no idea how that will correlate with free downloads.


----------



## ToniD

Maya, that's very interesting that they took a 35K book. My newest is novella-length, 39K, and I just assumed it was a no-go for BB. I shall reconsider.

Best of luck with your run!


----------



## 13893

Maya Cross said:


> Finally booked a BB ad for one of my titles. Nov 14th in the erotic romance category. Timing and price never worked before, but since the first in my series recently went permafree, I decided to give it a shot. Thankfully they took it despite the fact that it's only 35,000 words long.
> 
> I'm happy to finally be on the BB train. Very curious to see how it plays out for the other books in the series. My sell through rate before going permafree was pretty high (75% book one - book two), but I have no idea how that will correlate with free downloads.


BookBub subscribers are classy. I get lots of sell through to other books in series - and very VERY low return rates on BB promos. You're going to have a blast!


----------



## EC Sheedy

I feel as if I've been handed a tiara--have a BB ad scheduled for Nov 28th. This is my second try with this book, and my third try in total. The book is a standalone romantic suspense--a sale book, going on for .99. 

I'm glad that I've kept up with this thread though, because I've been learning a lot and slowly lowering my mega-sales expectations. Although I must say the lowered-expectation thing is no fun at all.


----------



## Jack Blaine

I have a BB for Helper12 today. Am excited and hopeful.


----------



## Guest

Jack Blaine said:


> I have a BB for Helper12 today. Am excited and hopeful.


Good luck!


----------



## Jack Blaine

Thanks, Stella!


----------



## David Thayer

EC congrats!


----------



## Jack Blaine

Oh, dear. Just realized that my preferences on the BB form were not filled out correctly, and so I never got the email. I wonder if anyone who had "Science fiction" as a preference would be so kind as to forward me their BB email from today?  I really was hoping to see it.


----------



## Guest

Sure. PM me your email address.


----------



## Jack Blaine

Stella, thank you! I PMed you.


----------



## Guest

Done!


----------



## Jack Blaine

My fingers are crossed. Here are the rankings so far.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,026 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #10 in Books > Romance > Science Fiction
    #12 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Science Fiction
    #25 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Dystopian


----------



## RussianWriter

My Stats after my first BB promotion in Women's fiction on the 29 Nov 2013 - (my book - $0.99, 4 stars average, 32 reviews): Amazon - highest ranking - #443 in Kindle store and #11 - in Humour; #20 - in Romantic comedy - translated into 400 sales (cumulative 3 days after the e-mail has gone out), B&N - 145; Smashwords - 2. 

Probably only going to get 3/4 of the advertising expenses back. But the sales still trickling through. Still happy about it, - more readers, more exposure.

BB published updated tables for sales range, it seems like there are lot more flops nowadays, lower sales limit for Women's fiction used to be 300, not it's 140, is BB losing its power? Is there saturation in the market?


----------



## Jack Blaine

Yay! I've made back my ad investment and am enjoying a lovely boost in the rankings. So far the highlight is:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #628 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) 
•	#1 in Books > Romance > Science Fiction 
•	#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Science Fiction 
•	#9 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Dystopian


----------



## Guest

Jack Blaine said:


> Yay! I've made back my ad investment and am enjoying a lovely boost in the rankings. So far the highlight is:
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #628 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> •	#1 in Books > Romance > Science Fiction
> •	#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Science Fiction
> •	#9 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Dystopian


Jack,

Those are fantastic numbers! You should be very happy!


----------



## Jack Blaine

WPotocki said:


> Jack,
> 
> Those are fantastic numbers! You should be very happy!


Oh my gosh, I am! Thanks!


----------



## Gennita Low

My romantic suspense, Big Bad Wolf, was on Bookbub today. Unfortunately, for some reason, they couldn't find a working link on Apple for it and didn't include it in their emails //sad. By the time I received their communication and a check-up with D2D, which pointed me to it being live, it was too late. The Apple/iTunes link is on the Bookbub site but I did not get ONE sale from that. So now you know how powerful those emails are.

Here are my numbers for today:

Morning, BBW was ranked 33,000

Right now:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #499 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #23 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Mystery & Suspense > Suspense
    #25 in Books > Romance > Romantic Suspense

I sold roughly 370 books on Amazon and 110 books on Barnes and Noble. I usually get a couple of hundred from Apple but, sigh, not this time.

But I will take it! I'm running my promo for a few more days. Hopefully, somehow I'll pick up some Apple sales and also get some bounce on the other books. Will report back!

Special thanks to Harriet Schultz for picking up my book. Truly appreciated!


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Gennita Low said:


> My romantic suspense, Big Bad Wolf, was on Bookbub today. Unfortunately, for some reason, they couldn't find a working link on Apple for it and didn't include it in their emails //sad. By the time I received their communication and a check-up with D2D, which pointed me to it being live, it was too late. The Apple/iTunes link is on the Bookbub site but I did not get ONE sale from that. So now you know how powerful those emails are.
> 
> Here are my numbers for today:
> 
> Morning, BBW was ranked 33,000
> 
> Right now:
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #499 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #23 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Mystery & Suspense > Suspense
> #25 in Books > Romance > Romantic Suspense
> 
> I sold roughly 370 books on Amazon and 110 books on Barnes and Noble. I usually get a couple of hundred from Apple but, sigh, not this time.
> 
> But I will take it! I'm running my promo for a few more days. Hopefully, somehow I'll pick up some Apple sales and also get some bounce on the other books. Will report back!
> 
> Special thanks to Harriet Schultz for picking up my book. Truly appreciated!


You're very welcome. That's how KBers support each other!
Great ranking! I hope you can linger in the top 100 for a while. I noticed that BB upped the price for romantic suspense to $100 from $80 since the number of subscribers increased...doesn't look like it resulted in a higher number of sales, however. Your results are similar to mine two weeks ago, but it's well worth the $100 investment.


----------



## Gennita Low

Harriet Schultz said:


> You're very welcome. That's how KBers support each other!
> Great ranking! I hope you can linger in the top 100 for a while. I noticed that BB upped the price for romantic suspense to $100 from $80 since the number of subscribers increased...doesn't look like it resulted in a higher number of sales, however. Your results are similar to mine two weeks ago, but it's well worth the $100 investment.


I do think the sales # is a little higher than when it premiered.

I'm now up to 500 sales on Amazon and 150 on BN. Apple sucks big eggs because of the linking no-find that resulted in it no being included in the email out. I've lost at least 200-400 sales there. 

Not seeing any sales of my other books yet.


----------



## Guest

Sorry I haven't read much of the thread but I wanted to ask a question. I submitted a book to Bookbub and they emailed me an order confirmation saying they'd review the submission. Is this what they do for everyone now? I submitted a book to them once before and they just sent me a rejection email really quickly, not an order confirmation. Does everyone get an order confirmation email now or do I have some hope? (please please please )


----------



## ER Pierce

Another rejection for me. Screw you Bookbub.


----------



## dotx

Kitten said:


> Sorry I haven't read much of the thread but I wanted to ask a question. I submitted a book to Bookbub and they emailed me an order confirmation saying they'd review the submission. Is this what they do for everyone now? I submitted a book to them once before and they just sent me a rejection email really quickly, not an order confirmation. Does everyone get an order confirmation email now or do I have some hope? (please please please )


Yes, this is normal. They'll take up to a week to give you a final answer.


----------



## Guest

I'm more than excited about my Bookbub ad yesterday in science fiction even though sales and rank updates were very delayed all day yesterday -- I never even saw any sales before noon PST.
Anyway, I woke up to this today:
•  Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #98 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) 
•	#1 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Post-Apocalyptic 
•	#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Post-Apocalyptic 
•	#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Dystopian


----------



## Cege Smith

That's fantastic, Stella! Congrats on cracking the top 100!!  

My box set is on promo tomorrow. I'm sitting at #249 right now after a really nice run with an ENT Bargain book ad yesterday (450 sales). I'm really hoping the BB boost will put me in the top 100- it would be my first time ever.


----------



## Guest

Thanks, Cege!

Nice coincidence on the ENT run! I had mine last week and it pushed me to about #240 as well so I think you'll definitely crack the top 100 tomorrow!
It was my first time, too, and it doesn't feel real


----------



## Gennita Low

Congratulations, Stella! Good going for this category!

*****************

Harriet and other romantic suspense writers,

Updating my promo from Sunday-->
Three days later, I've sold 800 copies between Amazon and BN. I'm still pouting over the Apple bungle because I'd have had over 1000 sales to report, had the link been included with the email  .

There is still no noticeable carryover of sales to my other books, though. I'm going to keep the 99ct price till all the other platforms are back to its normal $3.99.  It's going to take a week or more, I'm sure.

I received an email this week from ENT that another book of mine will be BOTM, so I'm excited to have two productive promos this month. It's my first time with ENT--I feel "like a virgin, wooh!" Hee.


----------



## Guest

Thanks, Gennita, and congratulations on the ENT BOTM deal!


----------



## Bookside Manner

ENT is great. Their promos are easier to get than BookBub's and they are second only to BookBub in the success of their promos.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Gennita Low said:


> Congratulations, Stella! Good going for this category!
> 
> *****************
> 
> Harriet and other romantic suspense writers,
> 
> Updating my promo from Sunday-->
> Three days later, I've sold 800 copies between Amazon and BN. I'm still pouting over the Apple bungle because I'd have had over 1000 sales to report, had the link been included with the email .
> 
> There is still no noticeable carryover of sales to my other books, though. I'm going to keep the 99ct price till all the other platforms are back to its normal $3.99. It's going to take a week or more, I'm sure.
> 
> I received an email this week from ENT that another book of mine will be BOTM, so I'm excited to have two productive promos this month. It's my first time with ENT--I feel "like a virgin, wooh!" Hee.


Congratulations on your terrific BB run, Gennita! ENT is great and any time they list one of your books, it's a winner and it gives you a chance to pick up those iTunes people you missed this go 'round.


----------



## Gennita Low

Harriet Schultz said:


> Congratulations on your terrific BB run, Gennita! ENT is great and any time they list one of your books, it's a winner and it gives you a chance to pick up those iTunes people you missed this go 'round.


Thanks, so you change all your book prices on all platforms, not just Kindle?


----------



## Cege Smith

Anyone else feel like waking up on the day of your BB promo is like waking up Christmas morning?


----------



## Guest

Well, so I'm thrilled to say that I was selected by BookBub, and that my two-day promo ran Nov 5 and Nov 6. I am in the category of Horror. I understand it's considered a smaller genre. Nonetheless, the results are: 

Total downloads: 12,781
Total sales of other books: 24
Highest placing in both Amazon's Top 100 Horror & Occult: #2
Highest placing in Amazon's Kindle Store: #16 

I'm very pleased. I'm a little bummed out about a paid promo not kicking in on the 6th like it was supposed to, but what the hey? Everyone makes mistakes and I didn't get a little extra bump in sales yesterday like I'd planned.  

A big thank you to Bookbub and to everyone who downloaded a copy of my book!


----------



## Guest

cegesmith said:


> Anyone else feel like waking up on the day of your BB promo is like waking up Christmas morning?


Almost as exhausting, too 

Good luck with your promo!


----------



## thomaskcarpenter

cegesmith said:


> Anyone else feel like waking up on the day of your BB promo is like waking up Christmas morning?


Yep.


----------



## Randy M.

I scheduled a two day Bookbub promotion to start on November the 28th, completely forgetting it was Thanksgiving Day. Oh, well. I guess I'll take my chances that Bookbub subscribers will still check their e-mails that day. Crossing fingers.


----------



## anniejocoby

Soooo excited! I'm at over 8,000 downloads of my free book, and it's only 4 PM! I've had 5 new downloads on my first book, 4 on my second, and 16 new sales for my omnibus. 

Best money I have ever spent, by far!!!!!


----------



## Cege Smith

So I ended up with the promo running for Amazon, B&N, and Kobo only- Apple doesn't like my 3D cover and although I managed to slip it through last time, when I dropped the price for this promo it appears to have removed it from Apple altogether so I didn't get to include that channel.

I got my email at 12pm CST, and things were slow to get going, but I finally started to see downloads coming in about 2 hours later. I've made my money back and then some already, although it's hard to gauge impact right now because Amazon's updating on rank is lagging bad.

The big   for me today were the downloads from B&N. Really nice uptick there. As of right now:

536 sales on Amazon, ranking #275. (Started at around 600 today due to an ENT promo two days ago. Was really hoping to crack the top 100 with this promo boost, but I guess we'll see.)
284 sales on B&N, ranking #40    (Although that is just what it shows in the book detail. It doesn't show on the actual top 100 list.)

Definitely can't complain- just wish I could see accurate (or even semi-accurate) rankings.


----------



## anniejocoby

cegesmith said:


> Anyone else feel like waking up on the day of your BB promo is like waking up Christmas morning?


Ha! That's exactly how I felt! I was so excited I could barely sleep last night. And I got almost 13000 downloads, and sold almost 100 of my other books, and sent my omnibus from being ranked 110, 000 to a ranking of around 4000. Yup, Christmas day is a great analogy!


----------



## Nathaniel Burns

Yeehaw! I just got informed by bookbub _"that our editorial team has selected your listing" for a feature on November 24th."_ You folks are right. It really feels like the night before christmas.


----------



## Cege Smith

anniejocoby said:


> Ha! That's exactly how I felt! I was so excited I could barely sleep last night. And I got almost 13000 downloads, and sold almost 100 of my other books, and sent my omnibus from being ranked 110, 000 to a ranking of around 4000. Yup, Christmas day is a great analogy!


Congratulations! That is fantastic, and you'll see the follow-on sales for awhile (when I promoed my permafree with them last June, I saw significant follow-up sales on books 2 and 3 for about a month afterward.) 



Nathaniel Burns said:


> Yeehaw! I just got informed by bookbub _"that our editorial team has selected your listing" for a feature on November 24th."_ You folks are right. It really feels like the night before christmas.


Getting that email is a present in and of itself. 

An update on my sales: I cracked the Amazon top 100 briefly this morning, but have already slid out.

My current ranking:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #115 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

#2 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror > Occult
#2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror > Occult

That's with 787 sales.

On Barnes & Noble- I'm #16 right now. Front page baby!! 
457 sales there, which I'm still in shock about.


----------



## Cege Smith

2 days post-BB promo- things are slowing down, but I'm still sitting pretty on the lists for both Amazon and B&N.

Amazon: 975 sales
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #319 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror > Occult
#3 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror > Occult

B&N: 794 sales
#46 on the top 100 list

Now the question is when do I raise the price back up? I was intending to do it today on B&N and Kobo (which garnered 4 sales) so that I could hopefully change it on Amazon by Monday (to avoid the price match scenario), but given the strength of where it is on the B&N list, I'm tempted to let it ride a few more days. Thoughts?


----------



## TPiperbrook

cegesmith said:


> 2 days post-BB promo- things are slowing down, but I'm still sitting pretty on the lists for both Amazon and B&N.
> 
> Amazon: 975 sales
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #319 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> #3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror > Occult
> #3 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror > Occult
> 
> B&N: 794 sales
> #46 on the top 100 list
> 
> Now the question is when do I raise the price back up? I was intending to do it today on B&N and Kobo (which garnered 4 sales) so that I could hopefully change it on Amazon by Monday (to avoid the price match scenario), but given the strength of where it is on the B&N list, I'm tempted to let it ride a few more days. Thoughts?


Congrats Cege! No real advice other than I will be watching to see what people say on raising the price. I have a Bookbub ad coming up in a few weeks and I'm excited as well! I had a question for you. What were the initial dates you advertised for the promo? Are you already past the initial window and you are extending? Just curious.

Hope you continue to have success!


----------



## Cege Smith

TPiperbrook said:


> Congrats Cege! No real advice other than I will be watching to see what people say on raising the price. I have a Bookbub ad coming up in a few weeks and I'm excited as well! I had a question for you. What were the initial dates you advertised for the promo? Are you already past the initial window and you are extending? Just curious.
> 
> Hope you continue to have success!


Thanks!!

Given my past experiences with running promos and trying to change the price back, I didn't put specific dates around it. What I added to the top of my book description was:

****FOR A LIMITED TIME , THE SHADOWS TRILOGY IS ON SALE FOR ONLY $0.99!!****

In my mind, I was planning on a week for the promo. It's been 7 days, so I've gone ahead and submitted the price change to B&N and Kobo. As soon as those are clear, I'm going to change it on Amazon. Might as well try to grab some full-price sales while I have the visibility.


----------



## JB Rowley

_Whisper My Secret_ is doing a 5 day free run (finishing 11.11.2013).

Twitter and free websites that promote freebies sent the book soaring up the Free chart into the top 100 within 24 hours and then into the top 50.

The BookBub ad on November 9 sent it right to the top and it sat on #2 for 24 hours (I think) and is now at #5.

Bookbub works!


----------



## anniejocoby

OMG, Cege, your results are AMAZING! You must be so proud!

Well, for me, I'm at 20,000 free downloads on book 1, and around 300 sales of book 2, and around 250 sales of book three and 140 sales of my omnibus. For some odd reason, my omnibus is what took off first, but it stalled out. 

I'm really in shock, because my category was erotic romance which had a range of 3,000-12,000 downloads with an average of 8,000, and I blew right past the high number on the first day. Best of all, my newsletter actually has subscribers - about 30 and counting, most of them signing up in the last couple of days!

Cege, it's good to know that the afterglow will last at least a little while. What's frustrating, though, is that, even though I have a decent ranking, I'm still not appearing in also-boughts, apparently. I was hoping that I would, so that the sales could stay elevated even after the BookBub afterglow wears off.

At any rate, the best, bar none, $140 I have EVER spent!!!!!!


----------



## Shayne Parkinson

Great to see such excellent results for so many fellow KBers!

My perma-free has a BookBub ad scheduled for tomorrow, and my fingers are firmly crossed!


----------



## anniejocoby

Shayne Parkinson said:


> Great to see such excellent results for so many fellow KBers!
> 
> My perma-free has a BookBub ad scheduled for tomorrow, and my fingers are firmly crossed!


Prepared to be amazed and dumbfounded...I never knew that one promotion would have so much power!!!!!

Be sure and check in and let us know how things went!!!!!!


----------



## Guest

Shayne Parkinson said:


> Great to see such excellent results for so many fellow KBers!
> 
> My perma-free has a BookBub ad scheduled for tomorrow, and my fingers are firmly crossed!


Shayne -

You're gonna be amazed!

Please let everyone know how you do!


----------



## John A. A. Logan

http://authorselectric.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/bookbub-experiment-3-storm-damage-by.html

Bookbub Experiment 3: Storm Damage


----------



## Shayne Parkinson

My perma-free has leapt from c.500 to #5 in the entire Amazon free listings! That's its best-ever ranking.

It's quite a long book, so I'll wait patiently to see the effects on the remaining books in the series.


----------



## JB Rowley

John A. A. Logan said:


> http://authorselectric.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/bookbub-experiment-3-storm-damage-by.html
> 
> Bookbub Experiment 3: Storm Damage


Thanks for that info, John. I read your blog entry with interest. JB


----------



## 60169

John A. A. Logan said:


> http://authorselectric.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/bookbub-experiment-3-storm-damage-by.html
> 
> Bookbub Experiment 3: Storm Damage


Hey, John, thanks for the post. If you get a chance, will you post your sales numbers once you come off free? I think we're all interested in what kind of post-free bounce is happening these days.

And finally, tomorrow is my Bookbub ad. It will go out to the Memoirs and Biographies list. I'll post whatever numbers come of it, good or bad.


----------



## J.D.W.

Today is my first BookBub ad and I'm really pleased with the results so far--except for one thing.  What does it take to move the rankings at Amazon? I've sold over 1200 copies of my Baby Dreams box set at 99c--and Amazon still has me at :
#6,514 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#95 in Books > Romance > Anthologies
#96 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Collections & Anthologies

Seriously?

Meanwhile on the top 100 nook I'm #26.  I have no real platform at B&N--I have most things in Select.  I'm beginning to have second thoughts.


----------



## J.D.W.

ok--sorry everybody for my little temper tantrum.  The rankings have finally moved and are now:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #109 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#4 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Humor
#4 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Humor & Satire > General Humor
#5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Romantic Comedy

I'll be quiet now.


----------



## Guest

Greg Strandberg said:


> Got another rejection from them today. Can you analyze anything in their rejections? I remember seeing a thread somewhere talking about this. Here's today's:
> 
> *Thanks for submitting an order with BookBub. Unfortunately, the editorial team has not selected your book for a listing at this time.
> 
> Due to the volume of orders we receive, we're only able to feature 20% - 30% of the titles that get submitted to us. BookBub employs an editorial team to choose the books they feel fit best with our subscribers' unique tastes. *
> 
> That's the email you get when they thought the book was alright but they just didn't have room or it was a tough decision with something else. Dates could also be a factor, although I think they'd perhaps work with you or notify you?
> 
> Here's one I got awhile ago:
> 
> *Thanks for submitting an order with BookBub. Unfortunately, we are unable to accept your listing at this time.
> 
> In order to preserve a consistent experience for our subscribers, BookBub employs an editorial team to review all listing submissions and approve those they feel are the best fit for the daily deal email. They base their decision upon a number of factors, which are outlined here:*
> 
> Now this submission was for a non-fiction book that I don't even think made their length qualification. That's an automatic disqualification.
> 
> Does anyone have what a successful BookBub email looks like? I'd like to have a realistic picture running through my dreams.


I just wanted to confirm - does BookBub still send two types of rejection emails? Like Greg I've received both of the above rejections, but the second one listed above I received a while ago while the top rejection listed above I only got recently.

Are they still sending both types of rejection emails, in other words if you get the top rejection listed above does that mean your book is okay, and they might list it if you keep submitting? I'll happily keep submitting the book that received that rejection, but am unclear if the book is suitable or they reject every book this way now.

I hope that makes sense!


----------



## Maya Cross

First Bookbub day today! Fingers crossed for top five free.


----------



## A.W.Hartoin

I got rejected yesterday with this. 

Thanks for submitting another promotion. Unfortunately, our editorial team has not selected this title for a BookBub listing at this time. Due to limited space in the email, we aren't able to feature every title we'd like to include. Therefore, the editorial team must choose the books that are likely to perform best with our readers, and they do not believe this deal would be the best fit right now. We're very sorry for the disappointment, but we hope we get the chance to work together again soon.

So maybe they use many different rejections.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

A.W.Hartoin said:


> I got rejected yesterday with this.
> 
> Thanks for submitting another promotion. Unfortunately, our editorial team has not selected this title for a BookBub listing at this time. Due to limited space in the email, we aren't able to feature every title we'd like to include. Therefore, the editorial team must choose the books that are likely to perform best with our readers, and they do not believe this deal would be the best fit right now. We're very sorry for the disappointment, but we hope we get the chance to work together again soon.
> 
> So maybe they use many different rejections.


This reminds me of the more encouraging rejections agents and publishers send that say you're welcome to submit anything else you write in future. By all means, try again in a few weeks.


----------



## thomaskcarpenter

Maya Cross said:


> First Bookbub day today! Fingers crossed for top five free.


Good luck!


----------



## S.A. Mulraney

A.W.Hartoin said:


> I got rejected yesterday with this.
> 
> Thanks for submitting another promotion. Unfortunately, our editorial team has not selected this title for a BookBub listing at this time. Due to limited space in the email, we aren't able to feature every title we'd like to include. Therefore, the editorial team must choose the books that are likely to perform best with our readers, and they do not believe this deal would be the best fit right now. We're very sorry for the disappointment, but we hope we get the chance to work together again soon.
> 
> So maybe they use many different rejections.


I've been rejected three times and I'm going for a fourth.   First two were the "didn't meet editorial standards" version. Most recent was "try again later." It's like turning over the magic 8 ball!


----------



## A.W.Hartoin

S.A. Mulraney said:


> I've been rejected three times and I'm going for a fourth.   First two were the "didn't meet editorial standards" version. Most recent was "try again later." It's like turning over the magic 8 ball!


Good luck! I hope you get in there.


----------



## 60169

My first .99 Bookbub ad was on Tuesday and the results were not sterling. It was for my second book, _Both Sides Now._ It went out in the Biographies and Memoirs category and the ad was $360.

In the first 36 hours after the ad, I moved 460 copies of the book. I also picked up about 25 sales of the first book @ 2.99. and a dozen sales of my short story at .99. That means I netted out about $250 worth of commissions on the promotion. The book also picked up its best ranking to date, topping out at around #330.

I don't mind losing the hundred bucks, but overall I was disappointed in the ad. I have always thought that BB did a good job in writing the blurb that goes with the ad, but they definitely missed the mark with mine. They presented the book as a "heartwarming memoir of two people who have been together since the seventies." For one thing, that definitely lacks dramatic tension, but more importantly, that's not what the book is about at all. It's the story of a couple who were together in the seventies, separated for 30 years by a lie, and then found their way back together against long odds in middle age.

All in all, I have to grade the promo out to a C-: it lost money, but it did improve the visibility of the book and I have already gotten a couple of Five Star reviews in the last 48 hours.


----------



## Caddy

My free promo of Gastien: The Cost of the Dream is now #9 in the top 100 free. SO far, 15, 232 downloads. HF range is 3,000 something to 16,800. Maybe I'll beat their high.


----------



## anniejocoby

Caddy said:


> My free promo of Gastien: The Cost of the Dream is now #9 in the top 100 free. SO far, 15, 232 downloads. HF range is 3,000 something to 16,800. Maybe I'll beat their high.


Great job! That will give your series a HUGE boost. Way to go!!!!


----------



## Caddy

THanks. I hope so.


----------



## Maya Cross

My ad was a huge success. It ran on the 14th for my permafree title Locked. It hit about 16,000 downloads in the first twenty four hours, peaking at #8 on the free store. Four days later, it's still doing well, sitting at #51 and I expect it might go back up again once today's bookbub ads lose their steam. That's happened each day so far, a little decline, then a jump back up. It's still dropping overall, but it seems to be happening in waves as KDP books with bookbub ads go back to paid or whatever.

The real reason the ad has been a success is the flow on. The two sequels jumped all the way up to #200 in the paid store! I expected them to drop the day after the ad, but they're hanging around. Just from those sales the ad paid for itself in about four hours, and they've been there now for four days!

I couldn't be happier. Best $140 I've ever spent. Take note, people: bookbub can work wonders for permafree if you have a series.


----------



## Maya Cross

Caddy said:


> My free promo of Gastien: The Cost of the Dream is now #9 in the top 100 free. SO far, 15, 232 downloads. HF range is 3,000 something to 16,800. Maybe I'll beat their high.


I noticed you passing me by. Congrats! Breaking the Bookbub limit would be an awesome little high-five moment.


----------



## Shayne Parkinson

That's excellent, Maya!

Mine ran on the 11th, and my results so far are broadly similar to yours, just not quite as glittering.  My permafree reached #4, and is currently at #135, though I've seen the same decline-and-jump that you report. The next two in the series are at #661 and #970, and are actually still trending upwards day by day. I don't know how much longer the effects will last, but I'm thoroughly enjoying them.


----------



## Caddy

Yes! Broke the upper limit Bookbub showed for HF, which was 16,800. I'm at 17,047 so far and sitting at #7 Top 100 Free!


----------



## 13893

Caddy said:


> Yes! Broke the upper limit Bookbub showed for HF, which was 16,800. I'm at 17,047 so far and sitting at #7 Top 100 Free!


Congratulations, Caddy - I saw your book in the ad this morning, and I was rooting for you!


----------



## BlankPage

_Comment removed due to VS TOS 24/9/2018_


----------



## Shayne Parkinson

That's great, Caddy! Congratulations!


----------



## JRTomlin

Sounds like it went great, Caddy! Congrats!


----------



## Susanne O

I'm doing a Bookbub promo on December 9 for Hot Property. I had initially asked for womens fiction at $160 for a free promo (through Select) but they came back to say they thought Contemporary Romance would be a better fit for this book and that it would perform better in this genre. They also have 550000 subscribers in this category. Althought that's $250, I accepted. So I'm hoping I'll at least get my money back.


----------



## Mark Dawson

I had a BookBub ad for my novel SAINT DEATH on Friday. It's the third or fourth ad I've run with them and, like all the others, the results were superb. There were around 30,000 freeloaders - so well outside the stated margins for thrillers - and then it's sold like crazy since. I've around 230 copies at $5.99 which has more than paid back the cost of the ad. 

There's no two ways about it - nothing else comes remotely close to the effect a BB ad has.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Maya Cross said:


> My ad was a huge success. It ran on the 14th for my permafree title Locked. It hit about 16,000
> 
> I couldn't be happier. Best $140 I've ever spent. Take note, people: bookbub can work wonders for permafree if you have a series.


That's awesome, Maya! Great news about the flow through to your paid books. I guess I better hurry and finish writing book three in my series! Great covers too.


----------



## Caddy

Thanks, guys. I'm now at almost 19,000 and still some coming in. 



> Congrats, Caddy!! That's fantastic. Bookbub really works.


And you did fantastic yesterday, too! Estelle made it to #2 to Top 100 free. CONGRATS!


----------



## Susanne O

Brilliant results, Caddy. Congratulations.


----------



## BlankPage

_Comment removed due to VS TOS 24/9/2018_


----------



## scottmarlowe

Damn--rejected again. Maybe they didn't like that I wasn't going free? Who knows... I'll try again in a couple of weeks.


----------



## anniejocoby

scottmarlowe said:


> d*mn--rejected again. Maybe they didn't like that I wasn't going free? Who knows... I'll try again in a couple of weeks.


Hang in there, and keep trying - it is soooooo worth it!

My BookBub ad ran on the seventh, and my sales for books two and three are still phenomenal (for me). Might end up with around 1200 sold of each on Amazon, and running triple digit royalties on B&N and Apple combined. Considering I sold 160 of each last month, and about thirty a month in each months before that,I would say that BookBub has definitely paid off in spades!!!


----------



## Incognita

I just got the email from BookBub for my ad today (for _Dragon Rose_). Fingers crossed! I started out with a nice round number of sales on that book, so it'll be easy to calculate how many occurred after the email went out.


----------



## Guest

Good luck, Christine!


----------



## BBGriffith

Alright, it's been a month since my freebie for Blue Fall, the first in my thriller series. During the height of the run I hit #4 free overall. To do that I had to give away 18,000 books in one day. Over the month since the ad I've given away just under 27,000 copies of the book and I have kept a free ranking of about 1500 for some time, as well as top ten and twenty in all of my categories, so as far as exposure I couldn't be happier.

In the month since the run I've sold about 400 copies of the rest of the series. I don't really have a precedent here, but I am very pleased with this. When I ran a paid ad on Blue Fall I got hundreds of sales in a day, but that number halfed the next day and so on until they were back to my normal levels. This is as sustained a period of growth as I've had yet, although I think a lot of it has to do with the release of the last book in my series, which I timed with the Bookbub ad.

Just thought I'd share my experiences. This has been such a helpful thread for me.


----------



## Incognita

Stella S. said:


> Good luck, Christine!


If only Amazon's reporting weren't so wonky. I don't think I'm going to have an accurate count until tomorrow sometime.

But I've already sold 57 units on B&N in less than an hour. That's more than my best month ever with them.


----------



## thomaskcarpenter

I have a bookbub ad going today. It's a $0.99 ad for Fires of Alexandria.

http://www.amazon.com/Fires-Alexandria-Thomas-K-Carpenter-ebook/dp/B005BCOGT8/ref=la_B004QVVEJA_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1384972182&sr=1-8

Not sure when the ad went out but at 12:30pm central, I have these sales:

* Amazon - 78 sales 
* B&N - 138
* Smashwords - 1
* KOBO - 1

Sales rank for Amazon hasn't updated yet, but B&N is at #107. I'll update as this goes. Looks like a promising start, but who knows. 

And I'm supposed to get work done today?


----------



## H. S. St. Ours

scottmarlowe said:


> d*mn--rejected again. Maybe they didn't like that I wasn't going free? Who knows... I'll try again in a couple of weeks.


Me too. Can't seem to get their reviewers interested in anything I write. At any price.


----------



## Incognita

Sales rank is totally broken (grr), but I've sold 547 copies on .com and 229 at B&N so far. A whopping one at Kobo (I am THIS close to pulling my books from Kobo. Seriously). I guess I won't know about Apple until tomorrow (if anyone wiser than I knows how to check current sales on Apple, please let me know!).

So I've more than broken even. Sales on other books are going up, too.


----------



## thomaskcarpenter

Going crazy now.  Here's the current status at 6:18pm (central):

Amazon - 813 sales
B&N - 333 sales
SW - 4 sales
Kobo - 1 sale

And I hit #1 on Amazon's Alternate History list and I'm currently #12 on Historical Fiction.  Also at #32 overall at B&N!


----------



## thomaskcarpenter

ChristinePope said:


> Sales rank is totally broken (grr), but I've sold 547 copies on .com and 229 at B&N so far. A whopping one at Kobo (I am THIS close to pulling my books from Kobo. Seriously). I guess I won't know about Apple until tomorrow (if anyone wiser than I knows how to check current sales on Apple, please let me know!).
> 
> So I've more than broken even. Sales on other books are going up, too.


Sales rank seems to only update about ~4 hours now. Not broken, I think, just delayed.

And I know what you mean about Kobo. I still have only 1 sale there. Even Smashwords beats them with 4.


----------



## thomaskcarpenter

The 7:36pm update:

Amazon - 951 sales
B&N - 373 sales
SWs - 4 sales
Kobo - 1 sale  

No updates on the Kindle ranking, but I'm thinking it should continue to climb.


----------



## Incognita

This is my current rank, so I would think yours would be updating soon:

#162 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

#1 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Historical
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Sword & Sorcery
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Historical


----------



## thomaskcarpenter

My rankings look like this now (9:26pm central):

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #72 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#1 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Alternate History
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Alternative History
#3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction

Amazon sales - 1148
B&N - 414

I really need to go to bed since I get up early.  But...


----------



## 56139

thomaskcarpenter said:


> My rankings look like this now (9:26pm central):
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #72 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> #1 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Alternate History
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Alternative History
> #3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction
> 
> Amazon sales - 1148
> B&N - 414
> 
> I really need to go to bed since I get up early. But...


WoooHooo - look at you now! 

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #46 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

#1 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Alternate History
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Alternative History
#2 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction


----------



## Incognita

I'm about to crash, too, but here's where I am right now:

#54 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Sword & Sorcery
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Historical
#1 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Historical

I seriously never thought I'd get here. BookBub, I love you, man!


----------



## thomaskcarpenter

Woke up this morning to even more good news.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Alternative History
#1 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Alternate History
#2 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical

I snuck into the top 50 AND I'm also #1 in Fantasy and #3 in Sci-Fi.

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Kindle-Store-Fantasy/zgbs/digital-text/158576011/ref=zg_bs_nav_kstore_3_668010011

Pretty crazy.

Oh and sales to get here:

Amazon - 1520
B&N - 485
SW - 4
Kobo - 2


----------



## Gennita Low

Thomas,

Exciting!

Congrats! I'm going to read the blurb and pick it up for the giant TBR pile. I like alternate history stories!


----------



## Incognita

Since it's been about 24 hours exactly since I got my BookBub email, here's my final tally:

Amazon: 1,400
Barnes & Noble: 417
Apple: 105
Kobo: 3 (ha...Kobo, I think you and I are done professionally)

Since BookBub has 1,400 as the upper limit for fantasy, I'm really thrilled with these results. Sales of other books in the series are up, too.

Highest rank was 50 overall (it might have been higher overnight...I wasn't going to stay up to find out).


----------



## Ismcrazy

I ran a BookBub ad Horror ($.99 deal) from Wednesday 11/20 to Saturday 11/23 (though I have an ENT campaign that started on thursday 11/21 - so I stopped measuring the BookBub numbers after 3p because I could see a reversal in the declining number of sales per hour, which to me indicated that the ENT ad started to kick in.

Here are the results:

Highest Amazon Best Sellers Rank: *#250* Paid in Kindle Store, 
at 2pm Amazon Best Sellers Rank: *#328* Paid in Kindle Store

Highest* #5* in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror
At 2pm #8 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror

Highest *#8* in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror
at 2pm #10 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror

Highest *#8* in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Science Fiction
At 2pm #14 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Science Fiction

Highest Nook Sales Rank: *94*
At 2pm Nook Sales Rank: *94*

Total Sales: *650*
Nook Revenue: *$52.00*
Kindle Revenue: *$182.00*
Total Revenue: *$234.00*
BookBub Fee:_ -$140_
Total Direct Profitability over a 26 hr period: *$94.00 *


----------



## TPiperbrook

Ismcrazy said:


> I ran a BookBub ad Horror ($.99 deal) from Wednesday 11/20 to Saturday 11/23 (though I have an ENT campaign that started on thursday 11/21 - so I stopped measuring the BookBub numbers after 3p because I could see a reversal in the declining number of sales per hour, which to me indicated that the ENT ad started to kick in.
> 
> Here are the results:
> 
> Highest Amazon Best Sellers Rank: *#250* Paid in Kindle Store,
> at 2pm Amazon Best Sellers Rank: *#328* Paid in Kindle Store
> 
> Highest* #5* in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror
> At 2pm #8 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror
> 
> Highest *#8* in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror
> at 2pm #10 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror
> 
> Highest *#8* in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Science Fiction
> At 2pm #14 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Science Fiction
> 
> Highest Nook Sales Rank: *94*
> At 2pm Nook Sales Rank: *94*
> 
> Total Sales: *650*
> Nook Revenue: *$52.00*
> Kindle Revenue: *$182.00*
> Total Revenue: *$234.00*
> BookBub Fee:_ -$140_
> Total Direct Profitability over a 26 hr period: *$94.00 *


Awesome results! Thanks for sharing!

I have an ad running with Bookbub today for my boxed set at 99 cents. Fingers crossed that it will be good!


----------



## scottmarlowe

anniejocoby said:


> Hang in there, and keep trying - it is soooooo worth it!
> 
> My BookBub ad ran on the seventh, and my sales for books two and three are still phenomenal (for me). Might end up with around 1200 sold of each on Amazon, and running triple digit royalties on B&N and Apple combined. Considering I sold 160 of each last month, and about thirty a month in each months before that,I would say that BookBub has definitely paid off in spades!!!


Thanks! I will keep trying. They rec'ed waiting 2 weeks before submitting again, which is ok with me as I want to get this next book out before doing any advertising, anyway.

It's almost time for Christmas miracles! (which it seems I might need to get a spot.  )

Those are some great results! I hope to have similar results if/when I get an ad accepted.


----------



## jdrew

Good results from everyone here that I've seen.  Makes me want to get a BookBub ad.  But got turned down with the "you can try again in 2 weeks" e-mail.  So, that's what I'll do.  In the meantime, keep all the good results coming so I have something to dream about.


----------



## TPiperbrook

I am super happy with my Bookbub ad so far!

I received the email around 4 p.m., though from what I understand, Bookbub emails in batches throughout the day. This makes sense as I started seeing some sales trickle in around 11 a.m.

As of now (6:30 p.m.) I've more than covered the cost of the ad, and I'm thrilled! I ran the ad for my boxed set at 99 cents, in conjunction with the release of the 4th book of the series, so I've seen sales on the new book as well (though I'm not sure whether they're directly related).

My sales so far:

Amazon - 588
BN - 266
Kobo - (wait for it) 0
*Total - 854*

My BN rank right was at 44 as of a while ago; Amazon rank is at 273.

Definitely happy with Bookbub!!!


----------



## O_o

Rejected again!  

They are taking longer and longer to send me the rejection email though, so from this I can deduce either:

a) They will soon accept me  
b) They will soon stop responding altogether  

Sixth application will be the one. I can feel it


----------



## TPiperbrook

Update as of this morning:

Overnight I hit #56 paid in the Kindle store, #1 in Horror Occult, #1 Dystopian and #1 Post-Apocalyptic.  Also hit #29 in the overall BN store, and it is showing in the Top 100 Nook Books!  Currently I am sitting at:

#60 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Dystopian
#1 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Post-Apocalyptic
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror > Occult

Sales to get here:

Amazon - 1174
BN - 398
Kobo - 0
Total - 1572


----------



## NS

I've been rejected two times with two different books and finally got accepted with Quiet River. My ad will run on December 9th. Great timing. I don't know how psychological thrillers do, but I hope for good results.


----------



## Bookside Manner

Wish me luck, I just sent in a submission for the first book in my suspense/thriller series. Hoping to get a promo during the post-Christmas time when people are looking to fill up their new Kindles.


----------



## Derek Pedley

I've finally been accepted, but stupidly left the dates wide open, offering to accept any date before Christmas. Naturally, they've given me Christmas Eve. Can't decide if this is really good or really bad, but I suppose I'm going to have to invest $360 to find out. (It's a true crime book discounted from $7.99 to $1.99). 

To help ease my anxiety while I wait, is there anyone who has experience with doing a BookBub promotion in peak holiday periods?


----------



## Bookside Manner

We'll find out together, Derek. I just got accepted for a promo starting 12/23 (I'd originally planned for 12/26 but requested 12/25 as I wanted to get my request in ASAP). The sale will go through 1/6 (my original ending date, so I'm fine with that). My hunch is we'll see fewer sales on the initial rollout but greater sustaining of sales for the duration. 

I'm bowled over, though - I sent in the request last night and just now got the OK. Daaaamnnn!    Really looking forward to this as I've just released the sequel of the book I'm promoting, so I hope there's a sales boost of that one as well.


----------



## JA Konrath

Ebook: Whiskey Sour by me
Prior sales: Earning $80 a day at $3.99
Prior rank: #2054
Prior sold in November: 587

Bookbub promo: Mystery, November 21 at 8am, $0.99 Cost: $500
BookBlast promo: Bestseller, November 22 at 8am, Cost $100
Highest rank: #15
Current rank (November 25 at 5pm): #77
Sold while on KDP Select Countdown: 5089
Total made during promo so far: $3460

Results: Minus the promotion costs, and the $80 I was making prior to the promo, I've cleared an extra $2460, and I'm still goign strong.

I also noted an uptick in sales in other ebooks in the series, but haven't been tracking it.

For me, BookBub is a very good investment.


----------



## Romi

Romi said:


> This thread has been very helpful to me (thank you!), in terms of learning about the impact of Bookbub, and ultimately deciding to submit book 2 in my series, which would coincide with the release of book 3. I was accepted for a free book listing on September 27th, so I'll share my ad details and initial results:
> 
> *Book: "Last-Minute Love" (book 2 in my series)*
> Genre: Romantic Comedy
> Price: FREE
> Bookbub list: Women's Fiction (360,000+ subscribers, $140 cost; I submitted for the Contemporary Romance category with 520,000+ subscribers, but they offered me a spot in Women's fic)
> Free run: Sept 26th-Sept 28th
> Bookbub ad: Sept 27th
> 
> *RESULTS:*
> -Day 1, with the help of a Book Blast ad I ran under romance for $50: 5,000 downloads, #30 the in Kindle free store
> -Day 2, with Bookbub ad going out in the morning: 21,000 additional downloads, #5 in the Kindle free store
> -Day 3, no ad: 4,000 additional downloads, was #9 in the Kindle free store when I went to bed (may have dipped further, as I'm on Europe time!)
> *Total free downloads for 3-day KDP Select run: 30,301*
> 
> Book 1 in my series has always been perma-free, and I didn't want to struggle with trying to get that back to paid for 3 days and then trying to make it free again, so readers got the extra advantage of getting books 1 AND 2 in my series free, at least for 3 days (ahhh! I hate money!  ). I was okay with this, because book 3 in my series had just come out. I also have a prequel to the series available as a 10K-word short story, so here are some interesting coinciding results:
> 
> *Sales of other books during free run:*
> -Year of the Chick, book 1 in the series which is free, went from having about 320 downloads for the entire month, to 2050 downloads (*so about 1700 additional downloads*)
> -Year of the Chick: Beginnings, my short story for 99 cents, went from having 3 sales for the entire month, to 99 *(96 additional sales in less than 3 days, a real surprise!)*
> -Never or Forever, book 3 in my series at $4.99: 164 sales since coming out 3 days ago; 100 or so sales came in the first two days, which I assume were sales from existing readers, so I'm guessing *about 50 additional sales as a result of book 2's free promo*
> 
> I know that post-KDP free results are not what they used to be, but I was only selling 1 copy a day of Last-Minute Love before the promo, so any uplift is good with me. I won't get many borrows though, since my book will be out of KDP Select in 2 days.
> 
> Overall, I'm VERY happy Bookbub didn't put me in the Contemporary Romance category and gave me Women's Fiction instead, because I saved $100, and still got more downloads than I was hoping for  (my goal was at least 20,000 downloads). It seems like I've made back my total investment of $170 if I attribute 50 of the "Never or Forever" sales to the promo, but I'll know for sure in the coming days.
> 
> Will keep you posted on if "Last-Minute Love" gets a post-free sales bump!


I thought for sure I had followed up the above post with my "one-week-post-free results," but it appears I only wrote and sent that update in my MIND... 

Anyway, I had a feeling that my post-free sales of "Last-Minute Love" might not be great even after getting 30,000 downloads, but "not great" doesn't even cover it.. 

*Exhibit A:*

(Preface: prior to the free run, Last-Minute Love was selling about 1 copy a day at $2.99)

*After 1 full day post-free, and the price back at $2.99:* 10 sales and 1 borrow
*2nd day post-free:* 4 sales and 1 borrow

Since usually some kind of bump happens after two days and nothing was happening here, I lowered my price to 99 cents at this point (and even though I knew this would mean less money, I wanted to move more copies to drive more sales of the next book in the series)

*3rd day post-free:* 5 sales at 99 cents
*4th day post-free:* 9 sales
*5th day post free:* 6 sales
*6th day post free:* 9 sales
*7th day post free: *3 sales

After that, sales went back to 1-2 copies a day, so I soon changed the price back to $2.99. In other words, I would've made $20.50 (10 sales x $2.05 royalty) in the 10 days if I'd done nothing, but WITH the free promo I made nothing in the 3 days the book was free, and (16 sales x $2.05 + 32 sales x $0.33) then $43.36 in the 7 days after. So in total, only $23 of incremental income, which is really -$117, when you consider the $140 cost of the Book Bub ad.

But....BUT... I sold 171 copies of book 3 "Never or Forever" during those 7 days post-free at $3.99, for earnings of $470. Even though book 3 was a new release, I know most of my existing readers on my newsletter bought it in the first few days, so I can attribute almost all of these sales to "Last-Minute Love" being free.

What I learned from this experience is...I would have been SO DISAPPOINTED if "Last-Minute Love" wasn't part of a series, because there's no way my ad would've come close to breaking even without the sales of the next book in the series. I also learned that even 30,000 downloads means nothing post-free when you're in KDP Select (I gather that many people have figured this out by now, I guess I was late to the party  ), which I guess means they don't even put you on any kind of popularity list or anywhere after your free run, you pretty much just end up where you started a week later (at least in my experience...).

Needless to say, I won't be going back to KDP select for the free days (my first book is perma-free and I'm still happy with that), and so far that new KDP Countdown thing isn't enough to entice me back into Select either ;-).

I do however LOVE hearing the results of people who used Bookbub for paid sale bargains; congrats guys!


----------



## valeriec80

Derek Pedley said:


> I've finally been accepted, but stupidly left the dates wide open, offering to accept any date before Christmas. Naturally, they've given me Christmas Eve. Can't decide if this is really good or really bad, but I suppose I'm going to have to invest $360 to find out. (It's a true crime book discounted from $7.99 to $1.99).
> 
> To help ease my anxiety while I wait, is there anyone who has experience with doing a BookBub promotion in peak holiday periods?


I had a free book (first in a series) on Bookbub last Christmas Eve in the YA category. Did fairly well for me. I got into the Top 100 Free and had a decent sell-through to the rest of the series. Bookbub was less big then, and the YA category was even tinier than it is now (to give you an idea, I paid $25 for that Bookbub ad  )

Back then, I remember being disappointed with the afterglow, which only lasted about a month before sales went back to normal. I was used to ranks being fairly sticky for about two months. Of course, now it's even worse, lol.

But, yeah, it didn't seem to work any differently around the Christmas season. I was really hoping I'd get massive visibility or something and take off like a bullet. Not so much. However, I also didn't feel like I got buried by the Christmas rush. I got very decent results. I'm sure you'll do fine.


----------



## Gennita Low

Jack Kilborn said:


> Ebook: Whiskey Sour by me
> Prior sales: Earning $80 a day at $3.99
> Prior rank: #2054
> Prior sold in November: 587
> 
> Bookbub promo: Mystery, November 21 at 8am, $0.99 Cost: $500
> BookBlast promo: Bestseller, November 22 at 8am, Cost $100
> Highest rank: #15
> Current rank (November 25 at 5pm): #77
> Sold while on KDP Select Countdown: 5089
> Total made during promo so far: $3460
> 
> Results: Minus the promotion costs, and the $80 I was making prior to the promo, I've cleared an extra $2460, and I'm still goign strong.
> 
> I also noted an uptick in sales in other ebooks in the series, but haven't been tracking it.
> 
> For me, BookBub is a very good investment.


 

Whoa! The power of Bookbub, Countdown, being popular AND in a very popular genre = Kilborn Killing Machine!

Congratulations!


----------



## jdrew

All I can say is best of luck to everyone who got accepted.  I didn't.  Just the try again in two weeks e-mail. Whatever the results let us know.


----------



## Kathy Clark Author

How many times have I read..."Thanks for submitting another promotion. Unfortunately, our editorial team has not selected this title for a BookBub listing at this time."

The last one rejected had 68 reviews averaging 4.7 stars, is up on Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble Nook and Kobo, won 4 Major awards this year alone, was flexible on dates and was discounted 57%. 

The only other book I had up there sold 2.5x more than it cost me.

I think I have cooties.


----------



## Randy M.

My Bookbub promotion runs tomorrow, on Thanksgiving day. I forgot about Thanksgiving when I set up the promotion a month ago. I'll post the results. Happy Turkey Day to all.


----------



## EC Sheedy

I have a BB ad running now; a romantic suspense novel priced at .99. I didn't realize when they accepted me that it was Thanksgiving in the great USofA, so I don't know how that will impact sales.  

So far though... 185 sales, taking the book to #1440 in the paid Kindle Store, # 13 in mystery, #61 suspense, #66 romantic suspense. 

I'm happy, because there is time left in the day--and maybe, just maybe, I'll earn back the 100. the ad cost.    I'm a writer, I live in hope. 

I'll add that I'm also doing a Kindle Countdown on another title: so far, an additional 3 sales.


----------



## TexasGirl

EC, do report back, as I'm curious if BB can trump what is always a holiday mega-slump on Thanksgiving day for me.

I sold ZERO on iTunes Thursday, and that never ever happens. NookPress shows zero sales in the last two days as well! EEK!

I didn't check Zon with certainty since they don't have daily sales counts, but looking at Wednesday to Friday, which I did write down, only maybe 20, which would be way way down.

Wow, November derailed at the end!


----------



## Jan Strnad

northwooder said:


> My Bookbub promotion runs tomorrow, on Thanksgiving day. I forgot about Thanksgiving when I set up the promotion a month ago. I'll post the results. Happy Turkey Day to all.


I did a BookBub promo on _Risen _two days before Thanksgiving. It went out to their horror list at $1.99, so the cost was $210.

I'd sold all of 8 copies in November before the sale. (Hence, the sale!)

By the end of the month, I'd sold 439 at Amazon.com, 148 at Nook Press, 47 at iTunes, and 2 at Kobo.

Forgetting the Kobo and Apple sales (that I may never see checks for since the minimum is so far off for me), that's about $423. Minus the $210 cost of the ad, for a $213 profit. Eventually, maybe, I'll get another $65 from Apple.

So, results this time weren't spectacular, but I came out in the black.

The main point to me is that I sell virtually ZERO at Nook Press and Apple except through BookBub ads.


----------



## JRTomlin

I just started a Bookbub ad for _Freedoms Sword_ and sales are already starting to show on the dashboard--nothing spectacular but it's had about 50 sales already and the email is just out. The timing may be good. With Thanksgiving and "Black Friday" over, people may be ready to think about books. I can hope anyway and I don't think I've ever seen sales start going up quite so fast.

ETA: HF ads are so darn expensive though that I always hold my breath. $400 is... a lot.


----------



## Quiss

Going free with Only Human tomorrow, which I haven't promoted in about a year.  It was a HUGE success last time, but so much has changed since.

I'm hoping that everyone is tired of the long weekend, food and shopping and ready to laze about with a book.


----------



## Shayne Parkinson

JRTomlin said:


> I just started a Bookbub ad for _Freedoms Sword_ and sales are already starting to show on the dashboard--nothing spectacular but it's had about 50 sales already and the email is just out. The timing may be good. With Thanksgiving and "Black Friday" over, people may be ready to think about books. I can hope anyway and I don't think I've ever seen sales start going up quite so fast.
> 
> ETA: HF ads are so darn expensive though that I always hold my breath. $400 is... a lot.


You're looking good on B&N! #139 in the whole store, and #2 in historical fiction.


----------



## telracs

JRTomlin said:


> I just started a Bookbub ad for _Freedoms Sword_ and sales are already starting to show on the dashboard--nothing spectacular but it's had about 50 sales already and the email is just out. The timing may be good. With Thanksgiving and "Black Friday" over, people may be ready to think about books. I can hope anyway and I don't think I've ever seen sales start going up quite so fast.
> 
> ETA: HF ads are so darn expensive though that I always hold my breath. $400 is... a lot.


When I opened my bookbub e-mail this morning I saw a title with Scotland in it and said to myself, "wonder if that's one of JR's books?" Yup, it was.

Interestingly, there's also a Valmore Daniel book on bookbub today.


----------



## JRTomlin

Shayne Parkinson said:


> You're looking good on B&N! #139 in the whole store, and #2 in historical fiction.


Thanks for checking B&N for me. I hadn't looked at them yet.

I'm at about 350 sales on Amazon as it inches toward paying for the ad. #28 in HF.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #898 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Scottish
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Biographical
#1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical

It's still only mid-afternoon so I *think* it is likely to improve through the rest of the day. 



telracs said:


> When I opened my bookbub e-mail this morning I saw a title with Scotland in it and said to myself, "wonder if that's one of JR's books?" Yup, it was.
> 
> Interestingly, there's also a Valmore Daniel book on bookbub today.


 Yep. That's one of mine.


----------



## Lynn McNamee

We had a $.99 ad for _Lay Death at Her Door_, by Elizabeth Buhmann, yesterday.

The ranking topped out at #97 on the Kindle store. 

We love BookBub! 

Edited to add: The book reached #13 on Barnes & Noble.


----------



## Lynn McNamee

Ms. Tomlin, you're #1 in all your categories. Nice!  

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #219 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Scottish
    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > British
    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical


----------



## JRTomlin

Lynn McNamee said:


> Ms. Tomlin, you're #1 in all your categories. Nice!
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #219 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Scottish
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > British
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical


Thank you kindly. 

Only the subcategories though. #9 in the big Historical Fiction category -- not that I'm complaining since that is so very competitive. #9 is pretty darn good actually.

I'm still in the red for the ad, but seeing some small increase in sales on the other HF.


----------



## Quiss

JRTomlin said:


> I'm still in the red for the ad, but seeing some small increase in sales on the other HF.


How are things looking this morning?

I have my BookBub free promo today for Only Human. They tend to send their mailings out later in the day so it's always a good idea to run their ad on the first of several discount/freebie days. Annoying, though, to get my mailing late afternoon.

Kindle Books & Tips also picked it up. Yay, Michael! His is already posted so now I have to figure out a way to keep checking the reports ever 2.3 minutes.


----------



## Cege Smith

Good luck today, Quiss! Wishing you many, many downloads.


----------



## Quiss

cegesmith said:


> Good luck today, Quiss! Wishing you many, many downloads.


Thanks! Utterly awesome so far.
I've had over 600 downloads in the time it took me to have my shower this morning. Darn fine.


----------



## Lynn McNamee

Quiss said:


> How are things looking this morning?
> 
> I have my BookBub free promo today for Only Human. They tend to send their mailings out later in the day so it's always a good idea to run their ad on the first of several discount/freebie days. Annoying, though, to get my mailing late afternoon.
> 
> Kindle Books & Tips also picked it up. Yay, Michael! His is already posted so now I have to figure out a way to keep checking the reports ever 2.3 minutes.


Actually, BookBub sends out mailings all throughout the day. I've already received mine for today. 

I've gotten them as early as 7 in the morning and as late as 11 at night.


----------



## Valmore Daniels

telracs said:


> When I opened my bookbub e-mail this morning I saw a title with Scotland in it and said to myself, "wonder if that's one of JR's books?" Yup, it was.
> 
> Interestingly, there's also a Valmore Daniel book on bookbub today.


Got about 14,000 downloads on the book so far over several retailers, and I think I got as high as #8 or #6 in the Free store. The other titles are experiencing a notable bump through all retailers.


----------



## Gennita Low

Good luck, Quiss!

I think I picked it up before so this time I'll put it on my FB page. Internet is slow at this restaurant, though, so I might have to do it this evening instead.


----------



## Quiss

Gennita Low said:


> Internet is slow at this restaurant, though, so I might have to do it this evening instead.


Is that research you're doing there? Anything... yummy walking by?

Downloads are going well and sales of the other titles are definitely on the upswing.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #646 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

#2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Galactic Empire
#2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Space Opera


----------



## JRTomlin

Good luck, Quiss!

I forgot to check the sales numbers right before midnight so now I don't know my total sales for yesterday! *cries*

Sales today are so-so. 67 on Freedom's Sword and a scattering of others.


----------



## Shayne Parkinson

Good luck, Quiss! I hope you see great results.


----------



## ToniD

Congrats to all on their latest BB blowouts  

And good luck Quiss!

JR: for yesterday's sales totals you can click on "Unit sales covering period 11/01/2013 to 11/30/2013" on your dashboard in the current sales tab. It'll show the sales through midnight.


----------



## Quiss

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Science Fiction
    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Military > Space Marine

weee, and #2 in Sci-fi.

And, in an embarrassment of riches, now the title I was hoping to make permafree this week is selling really rather well today.

After a dismal November, I really needed this shot in the arm, even if the freebies don't translate as well as they once did.


----------



## Grace Elliot

Do you need luck or persistence to be accepted by Bookbub?
I've applied twice and been rejected twice.
I'm wondering how they decide which books to choose.


----------



## JRTomlin

ToniD said:


> Congrats to all on their latest BB blowouts
> 
> And good luck Quiss!
> 
> JR: for yesterday's sales totals you can click on "Unit sales covering period 11/01/2013 to 11/30/2013" on your dashboard in the current sales tab. It'll show the sales through midnight.


Thanks, Toni.


----------



## ToniD

You are most welcome JR


----------



## Quiss

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Galactic Empire
    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Military > Space Marine

Also sold more of the other titles today than I did all of last week, which pays for the BookBub ad. 

Also seeing an increase of visits to my web site and a few mail list sign ups. 
I'm happy with this.


----------



## the quiet one

Quiss said:


> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
> 
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Galactic Empire
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Military > Space Marine
> 
> Also sold more of the other titles today than I did all of last week, which pays for the BookBub ad.
> 
> Also seeing an increase of visits to my web site and a few mail list sign ups.
> I'm happy with this.


Fantastic news! Congrats!


----------



## Shayne Parkinson

Excellent news, Quiss!


----------



## Nathaniel Burns

Pride and Honour - The Battle for Saxony was free 11/22 - 11/25 and got 45,671 downloads


----------



## Maia Sepp Ross

Congrats, Quiss!


----------



## Quiss

Nathaniel Burns said:


> Pride and Honour - The Battle for Saxony was free 11/22 - 11/25 and got 45,671 downloads


HOLY CARAMBA! That's got to be a record. 

I'm at about 10k now and made it up to #6. I may end the run by the end of today.

And, ahem, congratulate me: I just received my very first one-star review by someone who objects to having the book start with action (all of my books do). 
That's always the danger of doing freebie runs, I guess, and the main reason I'm worried about trying a permafree title.


----------



## PhoenixS

XXXXXXXXXX


----------



## belindaf

Interesting results. Does the thread feel BB does better for FREE books than those on sale for say, 99 cents? I've considered BB, but I think the cost is just too high. Like others, I haven't had great luck with paid ads and I am reluctant to shell out that kind of cash.


----------



## BBGriffith

Here's the Bookbub lineup I just got in the mail today: 

Michael Crichton
Paricia Wrede (NYT Bestseller)
Anthony Summers (NYT Bestseller)
Michael Wallace (KB Stud/WSJ Bestseller)
Carl Hiassen (NYT Bestseller)

I think the traditional publishers are fully on the Bookbub train now. Pretty impressive. I think it's going to get more and more competitive to get listed.


----------



## JRTomlin

The Freedom's Sword BB ad had the least results of any I've done so far with only 790 sales on Sat. and 170 on Sun. There were 135 on B&N. While that doesn't quite pay for the ad, I did have a jump in the sales of _A Kingdom's Cost_ which I attribute to the sale/increased visibility. I probably didn't lose money and saw a vital increase in visibility going into the pre-Christmas season.


----------



## JRTomlin

belindaf said:


> Interesting results. Does the thread feel BB does better for FREE books than those on sale for say, 99 cents? I've considered BB, but I think the cost is just too high. Like others, I haven't had great luck with paid ads and I am reluctant to shell out that kind of cash.


No. I certainly don't. I would say that Bookbub is one of the few places where it is worthwhile to shell out cash. It isn't cheap, but for the results it is well worthwhile.

Let me put it this way, Belinda. The sales for _Freedom's Sword_ had been seriously lagging and I was doing well to have 1-2 sales a day on it for the past couple of months.

Two days after the sale (but I haven't raised the price yet) it is #19 in the main Historical Fiction category and his these rankings:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #565 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
#1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Scottish

It is the novel that leads into my Black Douglas Trilogy (more or less a prequel) and my sales of the trilogy have gone up markedly. Next month I am going to try, if Bookbub cooperates, combining one with a Countdown promotion since that gives 70% royalties even on the lower royalties which considering the cost of BB would be -- nice.


----------



## Becca Mills

BBGriffith said:


> Here's the Bookbub lineup I just got in the mail today:
> 
> Michael Crichton
> Paricia Wrede (NYT Bestseller)
> Anthony Summers (NYT Bestseller)
> Michael Wallace (KB Stud/WSJ Bestseller)
> Carl Hiassen (NYT Bestseller)
> 
> I think the traditional publishers are fully on the Bookbub train now. Pretty impressive. I think it's going to get more and more competitive to get listed.


Whoa.

More competitive for sure.


----------



## David Alastair Hayden

Grace Elliot said:


> Do you need luck or persistence to be accepted by Bookbub?
> I've applied twice and been rejected twice.
> I'm wondering how they decide which books to choose.


I was accepted twice, Jan '13 and December '12. Since then, I've gotten rejected twice ... for one of the same books, more than seven months apart. So I don't know. Qualifications have changed I guess.


----------



## Nathaniel Burns

Quiss said:


> And, ahem, congratulate me: I just received my very first one-star review by someone who objects to having the book start with action (all of my books do).
> That's always the danger of doing freebie runs, I guess, and the main reason I'm worried about trying a permafree title.


I hear you there! Just got a 2-star review for 'too many difficult names and places to remember' Uff-da.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Quiss said:


> Is that research you're doing there? Anything... yummy walking by?
> 
> Downloads are going well and sales of the other titles are definitely on the upswing.
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #646 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
> 
> #2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Galactic Empire
> #2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Space Opera


Good going, Quiss! After the frustration you had with your countdown promo, I'm glad this one is doing so well.


----------



## Quiss

Harriet Schultz said:


> Good going, Quiss! After the frustration you had with your countdown promo, I'm glad this one is doing so well.


I made it to #6 overall!

After two days I came out at a decent rank and with a little post-freebie bump, the title is now sitting at 18k paid. Not too shabby. 
The others are doing well, too.
Did I mention that I love BookBub?


----------



## Usedtoposthere

Quiss said:


> I made it to #6 overall!
> 
> After two days I came out at a decent rank and with a little post-freebie bump, the title is now sitting at 18k paid. Not too shabby.
> The others are doing well, too.
> Did I mention that I love BookBub?


Congratulations! Me too! They have been the biggest reason I've sold. I mean, the BIGGEST.
I've had these results (my top 3, all in 2013)
92,300 downloads (January)
86,000 downloads (November)
72,000 downloads (July) 
Three different books; all these got to #1. 
And always a huge bump. I've paid for their ads three times (the 86K and 72K promos were with BB ads); before that, twice they picked me up and then told me afterwards, because they had space in a category. The first time was that 92,000 one. I about fell out of my CHAIR that day. (I didn't know who they were, and I only realized that was what had done it afterwards. They emailed me after the second time they picked me up and said, we did this, invited me to advertise with them next time. Which I did. Slow learner but I get there!) Prior to that, max I'd sold in a month was 2,100 (with 4 books), and the book had maybe 35? reviews, and nobody knew me from Adam. That was my breakout month, and it's pretty much all due to BookBub, just got really lucky that they picked me up and pushed me over the hump like that.

Trying them for the first time with an ad for a 99-cent book later this month. Of course, I don't expect anything like those kinds of numbers, but also of course, I'll actually get money for every book! And my book will move up the "Paid" rankings and show up in also-bought lists, which doesn't happen anymore with free books. So--interesting experiment, fingers crossed. Others seem to have done well with those promos and the book has lots of reviews and a good average (it's "Just for Now,"), and a family theme, so I'm hopeful. I am a little concerned about having all my eggs in one basket (Select), so want to try a promo on a paid book and feel like I have options for the future.

I guess it's just the stars aligning, if your book's a fit with what they perceive as the tastes of their list. But if the stars do align, they're just great.


----------



## Patty Jansen

Data point:

I just got accepted for a freebie listing for Fire & Ice.

The book has 24 reviews, average 3.5 stars. It has 3 1-star reviews which all say something like "this book had sex and horrible stuff", which, yes, I warn readers about in the editorial.


----------



## TexasGirl

Anybody submitting in romance right now? I'm going to submit soon for a January listing, and trying to get an idea of where they are booking.

Hoping that 100+ reviews will be good enough!


----------



## Usedtoposthere

TexasGirl said:


> Anybody submitting in romance right now? I'm going to submit soon for a January listing, and trying to get an idea of where they are booking.
> 
> Hoping that 100+ reviews will be good enough!


I submitted about 10 days ago for a listing on Dec. 29. (I said the 28th, but that I was flexible all that week, and they gave me the 29th. I've had Sundays with them twice and they've worked just fine.) I write in Romance. 
I would think that 100+ reviews would do it.  And your review average is fantastic, cover is good too (assuming it's the "Forever Innocent" one?). But they do seem to have their own ideas of the kind of book they want, never sure what the mysterious criteria are. I'm always crossing my fingers, but so far, so good.


----------



## O_o

Accepted!  

With er...5 reviews  

It was my seventh submission though...I think they accepted just to get me to leave them alone


----------



## Carol (was Dara)

TexasGirl said:


> Anybody submitting in romance right now? I'm going to submit soon for a January listing, and trying to get an idea of where they are booking.


I'm not romance but I got slotted a week ago for December 27th. I'd guess they're booking for January now.


----------



## TexasGirl

Rosalind James said:


> I submitted about 10 days ago for a listing on Dec. 29. (I said the 28th, but that I was flexible all that week, and they gave me the 29th. I've had Sundays with them twice and they've worked just fine.) I write in Romance.
> I would think that 100+ reviews would do it.  And your review average is fantastic, cover is good too (assuming it's the "Forever Innocent" one?). But they do seem to have their own ideas of the kind of book they want, never sure what the mysterious criteria are. I'm always crossing my fingers, but so far, so good.


Yes, it's FI. The sequel comes out Jan. 10 and I'm hoping to BB the first book to get more people ready to buy the second.

I will write them next week. SOOOO nervous.


----------



## S.A. Mulraney

KRG said:


> Accepted!
> 
> With er...5 reviews
> 
> It was my seventh submission though...I think they accepted just to get me to leave them alone


This gives me some hope. I've submitted five times now with no luck. Pretty much re-submitting every two weeks now.


----------



## SusanKL

I ran a freebie Thursday (Dec. 5) on the first title in my Irish End Game series. I've run "Free Falling" with BB before in Women's Fiction. This time, they declined that category but said they'd run it in Science Fiction. I argued with them. Yes, the setting is a bomb dropping on a country but the story is very much the woman in the story, NOT the apocalypse. It is as close to chick-lit as a book can be and still have a nuclear bomb go off. They said no dice. It was sci-fi or nothing. So I agreed. To tell you how wrong this category is for this book--when my email came on the day, my book wasn't listed! And THAT was because the categories that I'm interested in reading do not include science fiction! So if the AUTHOR wouldn't read the category, I can only wonder what kind of reader ended up downloading my book and thinking WTF? I pray I don't get a slew of bad reviews from disappointed geeks. (Update: while the downloads weren't as good as expected (22K after two days) the next two books in the series have jumped. So who knows?)


----------



## Carol (was Dara)

Susan, I'm betting it was your cover that made them insist on science fiction. Although it's a really cool cover, it couldn't suggest a book further from women's fiction and covers are really important to BB. They don't want their readers to glance over their email and respond with a volley of "I didn't subscribe for sci-fi" complaints. Or to just skim past it because they assume it was listed by mistake. Just a guess but I'd bet if your cover focused more on the traditional chick-lit elements from the book and minimized the bomb part, you wouldn't have a problem getting in under that category. (Sorry, I know you didn't ask but you sound frustrated by the problem so I thought it'd be helpful to point out.)


----------



## SusanKL

Dara, thank you! I think you're exactly right. Going forward, I've decided to re-design the covers to better reflect what the series is about. What's the point of attracting readers if they're the wrong readers for the book?


----------



## Mark E. Cooper

Becca Mills said:


> Whoa.
> 
> More competitive for sure.


I foresee price increases incoming. Indies may get priced out of BB entirely.


----------



## 41352

removed


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Just sent off a request to BB and I have fingers, toes, eyes, crossed with the hope that they'll say yes to a January listing for Legacy of the Highlands with it's eye-catching (to me) new cover. Its first run with them in May was terrific and I hope they'll agree that it's time to do it again.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

Just to tell folks--the time to hear back can really vary. First time, it took me over a week and a second email--and they'd invited me to advertise! I think maybe they were regretting it  , because even after second email, it took a couple days. Second time, it took a couple days, period. Third time, it took an hour. So if you haven't heard, that doesn't necessarily mean "no."

And yeah, it is SO pricey. $500 for a promo of a 99-cent book. But it's the only marketing expense I'm spending on right now other than book tours (and my website, of course), because it works the best, so I figure I just save my ad budget for it. 

(I did do an ad with Kindle Nation Daily during most recent promo also--also pricey, $200 I think for a "featured listing" which is supposed to be "extra curated" like BB. That did seem to help, though not to the same extent, so it might be an option/alternative.)


----------



## notreallyhere

My first Bookbub ad, for my permafree, is scheduled for January 9. I submitted yesterday, and they got back to me this morning. I asked for any date after December 25, so it definitely looks like January dates are the earliest available.

Very excited - it's the first book in a completed series, so I'll have four more books, plus two box sets to offer, along with the rest of my backlist.


----------



## Cege Smith

Good luck, Cate! My permafree runs with BB on Jan. 1st. I envy you with your completed series! My last book in that series won't be out until mid-January. I am sure you'll see an awesome boost on your other books.


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## notreallyhere

cegesmith said:


> Good luck, Cate! My permafree runs with BB on Jan. 1st. I envy you with your completed series! My last book in that series won't be out until mid-January. I am sure you'll see an awesome boost on your other books.


Thanks, Cege! Good luck with yours as well. And shout out the soon to be released book - you'll have loads of people wanting to know, after they grab the others.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Yippee! I have a Jan. 7 BB for Legacy of the Highlands @ $0.99. It only took them three days to respond, which was a great relief since this book also ran in May and other times it's taken much longer to get an answer. 

The only negative, if there is one, is that it's being listed in romantic suspense instead of contemporary romance which has a MUCH larger subscriber base. The flip side is this ad costs $140 instead of $520. Regardless, BB always leads to a big boost and more readers. My designer promises to have the new cover finished by then for book two in the series, A Legacy of Revenge.

I hope that people are still loading their new ereaders in early January! Did any of you have a BB ad for a paid book in early January last year? Did it do well?


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## pwtucker

I also have a $0.99 BB ad slated for January in the horror category. My first in awhile! I'm a little concerned though because it's the first in a series with no sequels out. It is, however, the only novel of mine that BB has accepted. I'm going to promote the first book in my other series at the back, and hope there's some cross over. Either way, good to get some exposure.


----------



## Guest

I thought this article brought up some good points about what you're paying for BookBub and what you're getting. Is anyone feeling reticent about paying all that much for a second go-round?

http://tobecomeawriter.com/indie-authors-questioning-bookbub/

Personally, and I know many will think me crazy, but I'm just going to boycott BookBub for the first 2 quarters of 2014.

Why not all year? Well, I want to see what happens. I think there'll be a backlash against BookBub (articles like this will appear more, and you're already seeing a growing sentiment on threads similar to this) and a few surveys and petitions will pop-up. Of course they're there already, but even people that were having success aren't.

This author makes a good point - some of these ads are a mortgage payment. Boy, when you look at it like that, I don't know. And free? I think you're throwing your money away. I'll take a cheaper site any day of the week. After all, we're talking about series sales here that may come down the road or not at all.

Guess I just shot myself in my marketing foot. Oh well, BookBub's too big, sclerotic, and has lost much of its earlier effectiveness. Doomsayer! Yeah, said all before. He can't get accepted, bwaw-waw-waw. Truth is if I got accepted I'd have to reject them for lack of funds.


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## 41352

removed


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## JRTomlin

Chrystalla said:


> Reporting in a little late, but I had a BB 99c ad for my boxset (in sig) on Dec 11th in the sci-fi category. Got in the Movers and Shakers, sold over 1K already and still moving well. Very pleased. Definitely worth it.


Excellent results! We've both come a long way since the olden days.


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## JRTomlin

Greg Strandberg said:


> I thought this article brought up some good points about what you're paying for BookBub and what you're getting. Is anyone feeling reticent about paying all that much for a second go-round?
> 
> http://tobecomeawriter.com/indie-authors-questioning-bookbub/
> 
> Personally, and I know many will think me crazy, but I'm just going to boycott BookBub for the first 2 quarters of 2014.
> 
> Why not all year? Well, I want to see what happens. I think there'll be a backlash against BookBub (articles like this will appear more, and you're already seeing a growing sentiment on threads similar to this) and a few surveys and petitions will pop-up. Of course they're there already, but even people that were having success aren't.
> 
> This author makes a good point - some of these ads are a mortgage payment. Boy, when you look at it like that, I don't know. And free? I think you're throwing your money away. I'll take a cheaper site any day of the week. After all, we're talking about series sales here that may come down the road or not at all.
> 
> Guess I just shot myself in my marketing foot. Oh well, BookBub's too big, sclerotic, and has lost much of its earlier effectiveness. Doomsayer! Yeah, said all before. He can't get accepted, bwaw-waw-waw. Truth is if I got accepted I'd have to reject them for lack of funds.


If you want to "boycott" them, that's your choice. I don't think anyone is going to twist your arm. As for the article, frankly, I thought it was rather silly. Sure there will be writers complaining they can't afford Bookbub. So what? The only backlash that would matter would be with readers and I see no sign of that happening.

Lost its effectiveness? Not for me it hasn't. But we all do what we feel best for ourselves, so good luck with your boycott.


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## 41352

removed


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## B.A. Spangler

I know BookBub changed their terms a while back, what is the minimum word count now? 
I recently had a rejection on a book due to word count. The book is over 35k words, so I'm either near the line or they've raised the limit to something very high.


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## Guest

JRTomlin said:


> so good luck with your boycott.


Thank you.


----------



## Cege Smith

Greg Strandberg said:


> http://tobecomeawriter.com/indie-authors-questioning-bookbub/


 

This article is a bit chaotic and doesn't do a very good job of proving her case. Especially as she recites a bunch of numbers as her evidence and then at the end says "the numbers in and of themselves isn't the point of the post".  Perhaps she should visit this thread to give her some real numbers and some real insight into how BB is working?

I have to say that I think folks are viewing BB kind of like the glory days of Select. In the beginning, you could make some pretty sizable bank coming off a free run, and then when Amazon changed the algos, people were upset by it. Amazon never said Select was going to make you a lot of money- it was a marketing program that they have continued to tweak over time (and as such appears practically useless at this point to those of us who were there at the beginning.)

Yes, we all want ROI on our advertising ventures and being able to say that we've cleared the investment and then some is a beautiful thing. (I guess I'm one of the lucky ones- every BB promo I've done, and I've done 5 of them so far- has earned out and then some.) But BB doesn't guarantee anything in terms of ROI- you are paying them to advertise your book and get eyeballs on it who are more inclined to buy your kind of book. That's it. They've been able to raise their prices because a) they're getting more eyeballs all the time, and b) more people want in. Supply and demand- that's business pure and simple.

Right now they're the best game in town, and if I were to take a gamble anywhere with that sizable of a chunk of change, I'd put my money on BB every time. But that's just me- everyone else has the right (and should) make the call for themselves. That's the great thing about being in the captain's chair.


----------



## notreallyhere

What she said. 

I am more than happy to pay for the number of new people who will be exposed to my series. A number I couldn't get by just throwing it out there. And I waited until I was in a good position, with a backlist I can offer, before I jumped on the BB bandwagon.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

cegesmith said:


> This article is a bit chaotic and doesn't do a very good job of proving her case. Especially as she recites a bunch of numbers as her evidence and then at the end says "the numbers in and of themselves isn't the point of the post".  Perhaps she should visit this thread to give her some real numbers and some real insight into how BB is working?
> 
> I have to say that I think folks are viewing BB kind of like the glory days of Select. In the beginning, you could make some pretty sizable bank coming off a free run, and then when Amazon changed the algos, people were upset by it. Amazon never said Select was going to make you a lot of money- it was a marketing program that they have continued to tweak over time (and as such appears practically useless at this point to those of us who were there at the beginning.)
> 
> Yes, we all want ROI on our advertising ventures and being able to say that we've cleared the investment and then some is a beautiful thing. (I guess I'm one of the lucky ones- every BB promo I've done, and I've done 5 of them so far- has earned out and then some.) But BB doesn't guarantee anything in terms of ROI- you are paying them to advertise your book and get eyeballs on it who are more inclined to buy your kind of book. That's it. They've been able to raise their prices because a) they're getting more eyeballs all the time, and b) more people want in. Supply and demand- that's business pure and simple.
> 
> Right now they're the best game in town, and if I were to take a gamble anywhere with that sizable of a chunk of change, I'd put my money on BB every time. But that's just me- everyone else has the right (and should) make the call for themselves. That's the great thing about being in the captain's chair.


I'll just say, "Ditto." Nothing's a guarantee, but BookBub's a pretty good bet.


----------



## Bookside Manner

The author of that piece lost me with her complaint that she's CERTAIN her book would be perfect for the BookBub list. 

I'm also puzzled by her complaint that the BookBub sales aren't solely for the day of the promo. I've only run one BookBub promo so I'm not an expert, but they asked me to keep the prices at 99c not just for that day but for a week beyond it. Most of the sales were in the first couple days, but the sales in the week afterward were not to be sneezed at. All my books got a boost that lingered for a good month.

I was overjoyed with the results of my BookBub promo. Sales were above the average they list for that category (literary fiction) and I more than earned my money back.

I'll admit that I'm uber-nervous about my upcoming BookBub on the 23rd as it's in a category with a higher ad cost, but even if I don't make all my money back it will still be a better investment than many of the ads I've run.


----------



## valeriec80

Both of those articles were from authors who had previously been accepted by Bookbub and then got turned down.

That happened to me too. It was upsetting. 

But I don't think that getting angry with Bookbub is the way to deal with it. Bookbub is Bookbub. You have no control over what they select. That they didn't select a book is not a good argument that their business is flawed. It just sounds like sour grapes.


----------



## Susanne O

As you might now, I had spectacular downloads (57K) from my Bookbub freebie promo that ended on Wednesday.

After that the result were: so far close to 1K sales at $0.99 and now I have raised the price to $2.99. I will eventually put it back to $3.99.

Not as spectacular as the free downloads but great results all the same. An added bonus was a huge boost in sales for my new book, Hot Gossip ( number 2 in the series) and increased sales right across the board of all my other eleven books. Plus a lot of excellent reviews, more sales in the UK and all other European countries. Also more paperback sales for Hot Property. Also,some e-mails from readers telling me how much they loved the book and more 'likes'on my Facebook author page.

I have earned the promo fee back + $300 profit and I'm sure it's not over yet.

I think, if you look at the broad spectrum, my Bookbub promo has produced terrific results and helped raise my profile enormously.

Very,very happy.


----------



## Cege Smith

That's fantastic, Susanne!  Congrats and keep us posted on your continued results. It is always good to see the short/long tail effects of these promos.


----------



## Susanne O

cegesmith said:


> That's fantastic, Susanne! Congrats and keep us posted on your continued results. It is always good to see the short/long tail effects of these promos.


Thanks! Yes, I will.I think it's important to look at the big picture, rather than the day after promo results.


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## Cege Smith

I realized that I had some interesting tail data to share.
My Shadows series box set had a $0.99 promo on Nov. 7th. It was on sale from Nov. 2nd-11th at which point the price went back up to $5.99. I'm just showing Amazon and B&N results here because the rest of the platforms were negligible.

*Amazon:*
1,123 sales at $0.99
98 sales at $5.99 for the rest of November
10 sales at $5.99 so far in December
Current rank: #66,957

*B&N*:
1010 sales at $0.99
86 sales at $5.99 for the rest of November
23 sales at $5.99 so far in December
Current rank: #10,043

I've picked up 2 new reviews on Amazon and 3 on B&N.

What surprised me here was a) how close B&N sales were to Amazon, and b) how much more stable my rankings have been over there. Definitely don't discount the power of other platforms.


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## Isabel Dare

Chrystalla said:


> Reporting in a little late, but I had a BB 99c ad for my boxset (in sig) on Dec 11th in the sci-fi category. Got in the Movers and Shakers, sold over 1K already and still moving well. Very pleased. Definitely worth it.


Congrats Chrystalla, I see you're #284 Paid in Kindle Store right now! Do let us know how things go after your price goes back up to regular? I hope it has a carry-on effect.

I think your bookcover is one of the most compelling I've seen on BookBub so far, across all genres I signed up for. Just stunning.


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## djv1120

cegesmith said:


> I realized that I had some interesting tail data to share.
> My Shadows series box set had a $0.99 promo on Nov. 7th. It was on sale from Nov. 2nd-11th at which point the price went back up to $5.99. I'm just showing Amazon and B&N results here because the rest of the platforms were negligible.
> 
> *Amazon:*
> 1,123 sales at $0.99
> 98 sales at $5.99 for the rest of November
> 10 sales at $5.99 so far in December
> Current rank: #66,957
> 
> *B&N*:
> 1010 sales at $0.99
> 86 sales at $5.99 for the rest of November
> 23 sales at $5.99 so far in December
> Current rank: #10,043
> 
> I've picked up 2 new reviews on Amazon and 3 on B&N.
> 
> What surprised me here was a) how close B&N sales were to Amazon, and b) how much more stable my rankings have been over there. Definitely don't discount the power of other platforms.


Thanks for the data. The key thing I got out of this is how much money I'm leaving on the table by having my book in KDP Select. Essentially, you are doubling your earnings by having your book on Amazon and B&N. Lesson learned. I will be cancelling KDP Select after the 90 days are up.

Are you published on Apple as well?

Dave


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## Cege Smith

djv1120 said:


> Are you published on Apple as well?
> 
> Dave


Amazon won't take my 3D cover image, and I've been slack about getting a 2D version. I can only guess, but I saw a boost on Apple when I did a BB promo on book one in this set last June on the rest of the series there for sure. It's easy to see BB results there for me because I sell maybe 20 books a month on Apple otherwise.


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## ToniD

cegesmith said:


> Amazon won't take my 3D cover image, and I've been slack about getting a 2D version.


Cege, I had just commissioned my cover guy to make me a 2D image for Apple when I heard back from D2D that Apple had accepted my 3D. Indeed, it lives. No idea if the policy changed or some Appleton messed up and I will soon get a nastygram.

Meanwhile, you might want to check again


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## Cege Smith

ToniD said:


> Cege, I had just commissioned my cover guy to make me a 2D image for Apple when I heard back from D2D that Apple had accepted my 3D. Indeed, it lives. No idea if the policy changed or some Appleton messed up and I will soon get a nastygram.
> 
> Meanwhile, you might want to check again


Thanks, Toni!! So, it was live on Apple until I lowered the price for the BB ad- and then they kicked it back and took it down altogether. It's been sitting in D2D purgatory since then, so I'll have to ping them on it- this gives me hope!!


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## ToniD

cegesmith said:


> Thanks, Toni!! So, it was live on Apple until I lowered the price for the BB ad- and then they kicked it back and took it down altogether. It's been sitting in D2D purgatory since then, so I'll have to ping them on it- this gives me hope!!


Good luck!

Dontcha love Apple's light touch...


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## TexasGirl

They are inconsistent on the 3D images. Officially, they do not allow them, but somehow a few get through -- for a while.

It's not a safe bet and I wouldn't do it.

Been 3 days since I requested a BB ad. Not looking good. All the yes's lately have come within three days.


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## Cege Smith

TexasGirl said:


> Been 3 days since I requested a BB ad. Not looking good. All the yes's lately have come within three days.


I wouldn't get discouraged yet, Deanna. I'm guessing they're getting a ton of requests right now for January book launches, and just have to make it through list.


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## Harriet Schultz

djv1120 said:


> Thanks for the data. The key thing I got out of this is how much money I'm leaving on the table by having my book in KDP Select. Essentially, you are doubling your earnings by having your book on Amazon and B&N. Lesson learned. I will be cancelling KDP Select after the 90 days are up.
> 
> Are you published on Apple as well?
> 
> Dave


Dave-- If you decide to publish on Apple, Barnes & Noble and Kobo after you leave Select, take a look at www.draft2digital.com which makes the process relatively painless and are very author friendly.

As far as BookBub, I've always earned my money back and then some. The bonus is being discovered by readers who might never have found your books any other way.


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## TexasGirl

I'm in. Jan. 12.

WHEW!

Response took six days.


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## notreallyhere

TexasGirl said:


> I'm in. Jan. 12.
> 
> WHEW!
> 
> Response took six days.


Congrats! I know you were nervous about that.


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## Guest

cegesmith said:


> This article is a bit chaotic and doesn't do a very good job of proving her case. Especially as she recites a bunch of numbers as her evidence and then


It's hard not to read articles like that and think, 'oh, they got burned real bad.' I mean, most critical/complaint articles have a certain amount of that in there somewhere.

I still think, and have mentioned it here before, that BookBub seriously divides the haves and the have-not's of self-publishing. They cater to the more affluent crowd, and us welfare folks will just have to get dang creative with our advertising. I think that sounds a little better, actually.


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## Cege Smith

I could really understand this more if people weren't able to turn a profit after paying BB their cut. Reading through this thread in particular, you see example after example of people gaining excellent visibility and turning a profit. I get that it rubs people the wrong way because they feel they can't afford it- but this is one of the few places where you beg, borrow, and steal to put the cash together, and then you've got a better than average shot of breaking even/making your money back. But everybody's got to make that choice for themselves.

I also don't think they market to the "affluent". I think they've adjusted their prices according to supply and demand as well as the straight cost of them doing business. I'm sure they've had to hire more staff, pay for office space, and for the means to continue to grow their subscriber base among other things. All of those things factor into how much they charge. It's not personal- it's business.

I have had promos with other sites where I might as well have flushed my hard earned money down the toilet for what it got me. I've had nothing but success with BB. I don't have limitless funds to play with, and I'm very cautious about where I do spend marketing dollars. I focus almost exclusively on BB at this point. My bank account tells me that logic is working out alright. I'm looking forward to my promo on Jan. 1st.


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## Cege Smith

TexasGirl said:


> I'm in. Jan. 12.
> 
> WHEW!
> 
> Response took six days.


Congrats, Deanna! They must be busy over there.


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## Usedtoposthere

TexasGirl said:


> I'm in. Jan. 12.
> 
> WHEW!
> 
> Response took six days.


Congratulations! Like I said, my first took over a week. I think it just depends.


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## JRTomlin

My next promotion is January 12th for one of my fantasies. 

I think I've already expressed my opinion on the debate about whether it's worthwhile or not. Yes, they are expensive. Bookbub is a business, one that requires staff, offices, etc. They charge to make a profit. I invariably more than make my money back. The article that demands that they change their business model, one that obviously works well for them, is frankly silly. 

I cringe every time I shell out four hundred bucks for a historical fiction promotion but HF readers are very difficult to reach any other way. For them, BB works. That is one of their more expensive campaigns. Anyone who doesn't think it's worth it shouldn't do it. Obviously, it works for many of us.  I have yet to have a campaign that didn't turn a profit.


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## Justawriter

Bookbub probably isn't even profitable yet. They spent over a year building their lists, which costs money, advertising, etc. I can understand why they are picky, their success depends on how well the ads do and if the readers keep buying. I just read that article that was linked and I don't think she made a very good case. She offered the 3rd or 4th book in her series, which isn't likely to be as popular with readers as the first or second, especially when you consider that a lot of the bookbub buys are impulse purchases...for me anyway, but I think I'm probably a typical reader. 

I wish Bookbub would come out with a special second list, just for new releases, books out that month. That would be wonderful!


----------



## Guest

PamelaKelley said:


> Bookbub probably isn't even profitable yet. They spent over a year building their lists, which costs money, advertising, etc. I can understand why they are picky, their success depends on how well the ads do and if the readers keep buying. I just read that article that was linked and I don't think she made a very good case. She offered the 3rd or 4th book in her series, which isn't likely to be as popular with readers as the first or second, especially when you consider that a lot of the bookbub buys are impulse purchases...for me anyway, but I think I'm probably a typical reader.
> 
> I wish Bookbub would come out with a special second list, just for new releases, books out that month. That would be wonderful!


I hope we have other sites come out instead, and those currently challenging able to do better. More competition for BookBub will only mean lower prices for advertising. Or a reduction in the quality of the books they show, which judging from many of the covers I've seen over the past 6 weeks, I'd say is happening already.


----------



## RJJ

I've never applied to BB and have no personal-level ax to grind with them. The reason I've never applied is two-fold. (1) One, because the concept of paying a third party to help me give my books away for free is one that I find repugnant. I know, there can be some residual bounce following paid-for visibility, but still. I can't and doubt that I ever will be able to used to the concept paying to be able to give something away for feee. 

(2) Two, and more importantly, BB is TOXIC to authors AS A GROUP. Step back and look at the big picture. Before BB, authors in Select could make their book free, and many thousands did, time in and time out. As a result, many, many authors reached the top 100 free books in the store, or the top 100 in their particular category, and got great visibility. IT WAS FREE! Thousands of authors were getting great visibility FOR FREE. They got on the lists and rose up them based on their own merits, via competition, and via survival of the fittest. 

Then along came BB and wedged its way between authors and readers. Now, BB controls the free categories. Want to be in the top 100? Pay big money; money you didn't have to pay before. You don't want to pay the money? Then fine, you won't get into the top 100, irrespective of your merits. Those spots are not available any longer. They are controlled by BB.

BB now gets the money that, COLLECTIVELY, used to go into the pockets of authors. And, folks, it many millions of dollars. 

Sure, an INDIVIDUAL author can use BB and get visibility, and may break even or even get ahead. There are lots of people on Kboards who love to tout how many books there were able to give away. They're so proud of themselves. But in the end, the system is toxic to the group of authors, since most of the group has been kicked out of the game. 

To me it's a shame that a third party that has nothing to do with writing has been able to wedge it's way into the $ that used to go to authors. I find it fascinating that most authors can't or won't see the big picture.


----------



## JRTomlin

RJJ said:


> I've never applied to BB and have no personal-level ax to grind with them. The reason I've never applied is two-fold. (1) One, because the concept of paying a third party to help me give my books away for free is one that I find repugnant. I know, there can be some residual bounce following paid-for visibility, but still. I can't and doubt that I ever will be able to used to the concept paying to be able to give something away for feee.
> 
> (2) Two, and more importantly, BB is TOXIC to authors AS A GROUP. Step back and look at the big picture. Before BB, authors in Select could make their book free, and many thousands did, time in and time out. As a result, many, many authors reached the top 100 free books in the store, or the top 100 in their particular category, and got great visibility. IT WAS FREE! Thousands of authors were getting great visibility FOR FREE. They got on the lists and rose up them based on their own merits, via competition, and via survival of the fittest.
> 
> Then along came BB and wedged its way between authors and readers. Now, BB controls the free categories. Want to be in the top 100? Pay big money; money you didn't have to pay before. You don't want to pay the money? Then fine, you won't get into the top 100, irrespective of your merits. Those spots are not available any longer. They are controlled by BB.
> 
> BB now gets the money that, COLLECTIVELY, used to go into the pockets of authors. And, folks, it many millions of dollars.
> 
> Sure, an INDIVIDUAL author can use BB and get visibility, and may break even or even get ahead. There are lots of people on Kboards who love to tout how many books there were able to give away. They're so proud of themselves. But in the end, the system is toxic to the group of authors, since most of the group has been kicked out of the game.
> 
> To me it's a shame that a third party that has nothing to do with writing has been able to wedge it's way into the $ that used to go to authors. I find it fascinating that most authors can't or won't see the big picture.


Advertising isn't "wedging its way into the $" or "toxic". Many of us have always paid for advertising whether it was on Bookbub, ENT, or somewhere else. It's purely a business decision whether or not to advertise and where to advertise, if we decide to do so.

In case you haven't noticed, many, possibly a preponderance, of the promotions discussed here are for reduced prices, not for free books. (What affected the effectiveness of free books was the change in Amazon algorithms and their policy on payouts to second parties much more than any single or group of advertisers.)

I see the big picture just fine, thanks. However, I tend to be pragmatic rather than emotional about the topic.

ETA: What I came her to mention was this: http://unbound.bookbub.com/post/67397885769/the-best-day-of-the-week-to-discount-your-ebook

It has some interesting information on what Bookbub is seeing about response rates on various days.


----------



## Cege Smith

JRTomlin said:


> ETA: What I came her to mention was this: http://unbound.bookbub.com/post/67397885769/the-best-day-of-the-week-to-discount-your-ebook
> 
> It has some interesting information on what Bookbub is seeing about response rates on various days.


Oh- I hadn't had a chance to read that post yet, thanks for reminding me. Very interesting- I know there has been quite a bit of angst on the board on that topic. Nice to see some data on it!

I like Pamela's idea of having a list for just new releases- I'd sign up for it!


----------



## Bookside Manner

RJJ said:


> BB now gets the money that, COLLECTIVELY, used to go into the pockets of authors. And, folks, it many millions of dollars.
> 
> ... To me it's a shame that a third party that has nothing to do with writing has been able to wedge it's way into the $ that used to go to authors. I find it fascinating that most authors can't or won't see the big picture.


Forgive me, but I'm a bit confused by this. Your example was for free books. I'm not clear how BookBub takes away money from an author whose books are free. I assumed that free book = no revenue for the author (at least, I wasn't paid for any of the books downloaded when I did a free day in Select).


----------



## Usedtoposthere

Wow. I just try stuff and do more of what works. 

(That BookBub post also has interesting stuff about the extent of discount that works best, by the way. The answer is: as much as possible. Having a higher-priced book discounted to 99 cents, to nobody's surprise, gets the most response. To MY surprise, anyway, however, two of my three top-downloaded "free" promos were for my 99-cent book. I'm not sure the original price matters much with "free." Anecdotal, but for what it's worth.)


----------



## dalya

I've run several ads now, to 3 different categories, and made a profit every time. I've run to contemporary romance, erotic romance, and also to YA fantasy for my YA pen name.

Bookbub is great. They're reliable, and they're probably keeping the less-effective advertisers from taking all our desperate money. I've seen people lining up to throw their money at far worse deals over the last 2 years.


----------



## 56139

I made a profit off my last SF run - I sold 1300+ across all markets (Amazon + B&N).  Not bad for SF. The ad was $160 for 99 cent book.


----------



## JETaylor

I haven't been able to break through the book bub guards.  Been rejected every time. I'd even be willing to do a sale on their availability schedule but no dice.


----------



## Deena Ward

No one else in my family, other than my partner, gets what a happy moment this is, so I've come here to share the news.

My official, blatant, I don't give a d*mn, "look at me" post --

I just got accepted by Bookbub for a slot in January. Can you believe it? I'm so stoked, I can hardly stand it. Seriously, this is the best!

:::::::doing the rah-rah Bookbub dance:::::::::

That oughta do it. Yep, I feel better now. Thanks.


----------



## Gennita Low

I have a BookBub ad coming out tomorrow . First time trying out with a two-book box set. I wanted a later date closer to my new book, Warrior, coming out (early Jan), so I could get a good boost for it, but they gave me this date instead. I hope it will still give Warrior a push when it comes out!

Crossing my fingers because I need some Christmas paychecks (roofing is slow in Dec, man).

And oh, Apple fails me again. My boxset has been in publishing status through D2D since the beginning of the month. Sigh. I want to cry about that, boohoo.


----------



## Gennita Low

Still not a word from Apple  .

Anyway, this morning 8.30am EST, starting rank info:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #21,688 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #75 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Romance
    #77 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Crime

Here's hoping for a good day .


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Gennita Low said:


> Still not a word from Apple .
> 
> Anyway, this morning 8.30am EST, starting rank info:
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #21,688 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #75 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Romance
> #77 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Crime
> 
> Here's hoping for a good day .


Your boxed set promo just arrived in my BB email (1:15 EST and it was in first position on the listings), so you should see more movement soon. Is it in romantic suspense again? Good luck and keep us posted! The first book in my series, Legacy of the Highlands, has a rom. suspense BB listing on Jan. 7.


----------



## Gennita Low

Harriet Schultz said:


> Your boxed set promo just arrived in my BB email (1:15 EST and it was in first position on the listings), so you should see more movement soon. Is it in romantic suspense again? Good luck and keep us posted! The first book in my series, Legacy of the Highlands, has a rom. suspense BB listing on Jan. 7.


Yes, it's romantic suspense. I just checked iTunes and the box set is finally live there. As usual, a dollar short . I emailed Bookbub to tell them but doubt they'll include the link in their later emails. ITunes/Apple usually adds another 500 sales so this second time slow-pokeness is frustrating.
Do remind me when your book is up! I'll buy it!


----------



## djv1120

Gennita Low said:


> Still not a word from Apple .
> 
> Anyway, this morning 8.30am EST, starting rank info:
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #21,688 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #75 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Romance
> #77 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Crime
> 
> Here's hoping for a good day .


Definitely looking forward to hearing your results.


----------



## Gennita Low

djv1120 said:


> Definitely looking forward to hearing your results.


Checking at midnight. My results, minus Apple (which has gone live, TWO freaking hours AFTER the email went out, bah):

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #153 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Crime
#2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > War & Military
#3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Military

This amounts to 530 sales today on Kindle. 
On BN, it's at #21 with 400 sales

I've made back my money and then some, but my main goal is the ranking. I have a new book coming out in Jan, so I wanted the first two books high in rank so new readers can see them and hopefully, get Book #3 and the short story and dive into the new #5 . That would be my Christmas wish come true!

Will update numbers tomorrow.

Thank you to the KB readers here who have bought my book! Truly appreciated and Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!


----------



## djv1120

Which Bookbub category did you promote to?


----------



## Gennita Low

djv1120 said:


> Which Bookbub category did you promote to?


Romantic suspense.


----------



## scottmarlowe

JETaylor said:


> I haven't been able to break through the book bub guards. Been rejected every time. I'd even be willing to do a sale on their availability schedule but no dice.


Ditto here. No joy for me with Bookbub. It's gotten to the point where I've taken them out of my marketing plan. I know they're the Big Fish, but oh well.


----------



## Gennita Low

Checking at 8am, 24 hours after:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #106 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Crime
    #2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Romance
    #2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > War & Military

I'm hoping to break top 100 . I'm surprised (on this page, anyway), I'm not in top 100 of Romance > Suspense which is where my readers would look.

Sales:
Amazon: 850 sales
BN: 450
Apple: None, Zero, Nada, Kaput. Which means, nobody looks at the Bookbub web page . Christmas Coals for you, Apple, for slow response.
Not selling on Kobo (nope, they are worse than Apple)
Smashwords: About 10? Not sure
All Romance Ebooks: 6

Thank you, Bookbub .


----------



## Cege Smith

I'll cross my fingers you make it into the top 100, Gennita!  Thanks for the update- things are looking great. (And sorry about Apple- I missed out on my shot selling there with my last BB too because of a slow cover update.)


----------



## Gennita Low

cegesmith said:


> I'll cross my fingers you make it into the top 100, Gennita! Thanks for the update- things are looking great. (And sorry about Apple- I missed out on my shot selling there with my last BB too because of a slow cover update.)


Thanks and yeah, Apple's tardiness is frustrating. I knew they were slow, so as soon as one of the books in Select came off it, I uploaded immediately (early Dec). I asked for a date closer to Christmas but Bookbub gave me the 18th. I thought maybe 2 weeks would get me into the iTunes catalogue but no dice, they were still* a couple of hours late. The grrrr thing is, the last time promo this happened, I uploaded a week before and they were also the same: couple of hours too late! They hate me . My next report will be whether there is any bounce on the third book and short story, and then on to the Jan new book. That would be so nice. Hopefully, this marketing plan with Warrior's launch pays off!


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Gennita Low said:


> Checking at 8am, 24 hours after:
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #106 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Crime
> #2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Romance
> #2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > War & Military
> 
> I'm hoping to break top 100 . I'm surprised (on this page, anyway), I'm not in top 100 of Romance > Suspense which is where my readers would look.
> 
> Sales:
> Amazon: 850 sales
> BN: 450
> Apple: None, Zero, Nada, Kaput. Which means, nobody looks at the Bookbub web page . Christmas Coals for you, Apple, for slow response.
> Not selling on Kobo (nope, they are worse than Apple)
> Smashwords: About 10? Not sure
> All Romance Ebooks: 6
> 
> Thank you, Bookbub .


Great! 1300 sales in less than 24 hours is more than excellent...it's sure to carry over for another week or two before the inevitable slowdown. That should help to make up for the winter roofing slump!


----------



## CEMartin2

Any chance these sales figures are for a series? Do you have sequels? I'm very interested in follow-on sales. My bookbub in January is for my free Book 1 in my series--really hoping it turns into purchases of the remainder of the series.


----------



## Cege Smith

CEMartin2 said:


> Any chance these sales figures are for a series? Do you have sequels? I'm very interested in follow-on sales. My bookbub in January is for my free Book 1 in my series--really hoping it turns into purchases of the remainder of the series.


In June I ran a promo on the permafree Book 1 in my Shadows series and I had about 170 sales on Book 2, 120 sales on Book 3, and about 100 sales on the box set.

I'm also promoting a permafree, Book 1 in my Bloodtruth series on January 1st so I'll have updated stats soon. I'm hoping to at least see the same kind of results I saw in June.


----------



## Gennita Low

Harriet Schultz said:


> Great! 1300 sales in less than 24 hours is more than excellent...it's sure to carry over for another week or two before the inevitable slowdown. That should help to make up for the winter roofing slump!


Harriet, yes, I'm happy . Definitely does help the holiday roofing slump. I must remember to make sure the publication date stays the same when I change the price back. And here is the grrr factor. Now I have to change the iTune price from the promo price and who knows how long that's going to take?! LOL. Apple, you're killing me.


----------



## Gennita Low

CEMartin2 said:


> Any chance these sales figures are for a series? Do you have sequels? I'm very interested in follow-on sales. My bookbub in January is for my free Book 1 in my series--really hoping it turns into purchases of the remainder of the series.


Yes, they are for my series. In the "old" days, meaning last year around the same time, my follow-up sales numbers were phenomenal. I sold over 1000 of each of my titles. This year, since the new Amazon algos tweaks, follow up sales have gone down, down, down to maybe between 100-200 of my titles after a promo. Also, it didn't help when Bookbub split its romance category up and my books are no longer featured in the contemporary romance category. That cut my sales in half right there, even though the ad price is way cheaper. I used to sell around 1500-3000 copies under that category.

Sniff. The good old days....


----------



## djv1120

Any more updates.  Are you still going strong a few days later?

Dave


----------



## Gennita Low

djv1120 said:


> Any more updates. Are you still going strong a few days later?
> 
> Dave


Sales of the set is still not bad. I have 1230 sales as of today and am still in the top positions of my categories.
The third book sales isn't there yet. This is the part where it differs with last year's results. Last year, I would have gotten hundreds of sales immediately following a 99ct sale. But there are some sales.

Over at Nook, I've netted 800 sales. I think I ranked as high as #20 at one point. The best thing is the movement in the other books. I think I sold about 100 more books there so far. Nook readers still behave like last year's Kindle readers--they sweep up the rest of the series after downloading the promoted books.

Apple? Sigh. What could have been, if they had just gotten that book through in time.

The best surprise is Smashwords! I have netted some sales there! Not a lot, but hey, it's been the sound of silence there for a while, so 20 sales is like 2000% growth .

Steady at All Romance Ebooks. I sold about 50.

All in all, I would say it was a pretty good promo. I'm crossing my fingers about keeping that rank going till Warrior comes out in January! I've contacted ENT to see if they will pick it up via their profit sharing but no reply so far. If that happens, I'll call it my Christmas present .

Hope the above info gives you an idea what to expect for your own promo and how to strategize. You must pick your goals--is it for ranking? Is it for sales? Is it to promote a new book? Is it for maximum eyes?

Good luck!


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Gennita Low said:


> Sales of the set is still not bad. I have 1230 sales as of today and am still in the top positions of my categories.
> The third book sales isn't there yet. This is the part where it differs with last year's results. Last year, I would have gotten hundreds of sales immediately following a 99ct sale. But there are some sales.
> 
> Over at Nook, I've netted 800 sales. I think I ranked as high as #20 at one point. The best thing is the movement in the other books. I think I sold about 100 more books there so far. Nook readers still behave like last year's Kindle readers--they sweep up the rest of the series after downloading the promoted books.
> 
> Apple? Sigh. What could have been, if they had just gotten that book through in time.
> 
> The best surprise is Smashwords! I have netted some sales there! Not a lot, but hey, it's been the sound of silence there for a while, so 20 sales is like 2000% growth .
> 
> Steady at All Romance Ebooks. I sold about 50.
> 
> All in all, I would say it was a pretty good promo. I'm crossing my fingers about keeping that rank going till Warrior comes out in January! I've contacted ENT to see if they will pick it up via their profit sharing but no reply so far. If that happens, I'll call it my Christmas present .
> 
> Hope the above info gives you an idea what to expect for your own promo and how to strategize. You must pick your goals--is it for ranking? Is it for sales? Is it to promote a new book? Is it for maximum eyes?
> 
> Good luck!


Your results are great, Gennita! Especially considering the lower cost of their rom suspense ads. 
If Legacy of the Highlands' numbers are this good on my Jan. 7 BB promo, I'll do cartwheels (and after recent surgery, that would be something)! My December numbers are abysmal, so there will be no complaints from me. I hope my designer and I can finalize the cover for book two by then.


----------



## Bookside Manner

The BookBub for my suspense book ran yesterday. I was worried because the date was before Christmas, but I've already made my money back, and that's on Kindle sales alone (I do all other types via Smashwords and won't get the results for another month or so). Sold some of the book's sequel and my contemporary novel too.


----------



## Gennita Low

Harriet Schultz said:


> Your results are great, Gennita! Especially considering the lower cost of their rom suspense ads.
> If Legacy of the Highlands' numbers are this good on my Jan. 7 BB promo, I'll do cartwheels (and after recent surgery, that would be something)! My December numbers are abysmal, so there will be no complaints from me. I hope my designer and I can finalize the cover for book two by then.


I hear you on the Dec. numbers. I'll keep you and anyone interested posted on how the ranking continues and whether that helps with getting Warrior better sales.

I'll be picking Legacy up! Just post here to remind me!


----------



## Derek Pedley

The tide is receding after my Christmas Eve promotion of a true crime book in BookBub's Non-Fiction section ($360 for $1.99 listing). It's running in conjunction with a Kindle Countdown Deal. 
Sales peaked about 12 hours after the email went out. _Almost_ made Top 100 Paid.





Very pleased with results to date. Sharing them here because all the knowledge I gleaned for this promotion came via the wisdom of this forum's many generous writers - thanks to each and every one of you.
I'll post full results when the Countdown Deal ends.

Best bit was waking up on Christmas morning to discover that I'd sold 500 books in about five hours. Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!


----------



## Bookside Manner

Holy frijoles! My BookBub ran on 12/23 and since then there's been 1400 sales in Kindle alone!    Never dreamed this would happen!


----------



## BlankPage

_Comment removed due to VS TOS 24/9/2018_


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## Derek Pedley

Wow... 1400 sales is a fantastic start, Kelly.. so much for your pre-promotion hunch of fewer sales on the initial rollout!


----------



## CLStone

I just ran a freebie giveaway on Bookbub for a permafree book.

Before, I was still hanging around the top 600 for freebie books given away, and in the top five in my categories, usually.

During the promo, I saw the big jump and I'll guesstimate that a little under 20k units were given away. Part of that might have been simply that it got knocked into the top 10 free for a day or two. It's been sliding back down and is now still in the top 100, but I'm sure it'll slip back into the normal range it was before eventually. The bump is nice though. 

The sales bump took two days, but after the first start of the promo and the giveaway increased on the 22nd, by the 24th, my sales jumped on my book two through four from an average of $400 to $500 a day on Amazon, to $1300 and over. Today I woke up to over $2000 earned in the last 24 hours.

So a nice little Christmas bump. And it's kind of cool as I have a bunch of new readers before a release of book five in Jan. I didn't expect results so soon as I thought they collect freebies and eventually get to them. So a number of them picked up and started reading right away. Kinda cool.


----------



## Gennita Low

Congrats to everyone's success! I'm still charting pretty nicely after a week from my Bookbub ad. I'm trying to think of ways to keep that visibility before the debut of the new book. Maybe putting a short story back in Select for the Countdown. That way, hopefully, the readers would have read the Boxset (2 books) and the short story to be intrigued enough to buy the new one. Anyway, that's New Year's wish.


----------



## Anne Frasier

Derek Pedley said:


> The tide is receding after my Christmas Eve promotion of a true crime book in BookBub's Non-Fiction section ($360 for $1.99 listing). It's running in conjunction with a Kindle Countdown Deal.
> Sales peaked about 12 hours after the email went out. _Almost_ made Top 100 Paid.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Very pleased with results to date. Sharing them here because all the knowledge I gleaned for this promotion came via the wisdom of this forum's many generous writers - thanks to each and every one of you.
> I'll post full results when the Countdown Deal ends.
> 
> Best bit was waking up on Christmas morning to discover that I'd sold 500 books in about five hours. Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!


i've always wondered about listing over .99.


----------



## Gennita Low

Anne Frasier (Theresa Weir) said:


> i've always wondered about listing over .99.


Yeah, interesting results, esp. in conjunction with Countdown. I might try it!

Hey Anne, LOVE your new Dead covers. Really gives it that suspense-y feel. I need to come up with some sexy non-bod covers like yours .


----------



## Derek Pedley

The $1.99 ad was $360. $2 or above was $600 - I drew the conclusion that they use their pricing to push authors to $1.99 or below. I certainly wasn't going to risk almost doubling the cost of the ad for the sake of an extra dollar a book! 

I'm crediting BookBub with lifting my book from being invisible on the Countdown Deals site to hitting the main front page today, which is helping sustain high rankings and keeping the BookBub tail wagging nicely. I've even sold a handful of books in the UK which is nice - finally tips me over a hundred pounds in royalties after being stuck on 92 pounds for months - now I'll be eligible for a payment! (Until recently, Amazon seemed unwilling to accept that as well as kangaroos, we have electronic banking in Australia). Promo ends in 48 hours, will report back with full results.


----------



## Carol (was Dara)

My freebie BB ad today has (so far) generated 5,500 downloads (this is for permafree book 1 in a series). It's too early to say what the final total will be but I'm here for now:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)  
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Sword & Sorcery 
#2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Historical 

The ad cost me $90. Books 2 and 3 in the series are priced at $2.99 (with book 4 releasing at $2.99 next month) so it shouldn't be hard to earn out my investment. *Fingers crossed*


----------



## Cege Smith

Nice results so far, Dara! I'll definitely be watching your results. My permafree goes up on Jan. 1st, and like your situation, my follow-on books 2 and 3 are $2.99. I'll be in YA though (a smaller list) so I'll be curious to see how that factors into the number of downloads I get.


----------



## Anne Frasier

Gennita Low said:


> Yeah, interesting results, esp. in conjunction with Countdown. I might try it!
> 
> Hey Anne, LOVE your new Dead covers. Really gives it that suspense-y feel. I need to come up with some sexy non-bod covers like yours .


thank you! i love them too!!!!


----------



## Carol (was Dara)

cegesmith said:


> Nice results so far, Dara! I'll definitely be watching your results. My permafree goes up on Jan. 1st, and like your situation, my follow-on books 2 and 3 are $2.99. I'll be in YA though (a smaller list) so I'll be curious to see how that factors into the number of downloads I get.


Thanks Cege! Good luck with your January run.  Here's my last update for the day:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store) 
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Sword & Sorcery 
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Historical

9,000 free downloads so far and more than enough sales of books 2 and 3 to pay for the ad.


----------



## Bookside Manner

Checked Smashwords on a whim (I can never remember when Apple and BN update their numbers) and saw that the BookBub promo got me over 600 Nook sales. Jiminy Christmas. I'm now officially over the 5,000 total sale milestone, and I doubt this time last year I had 50 sales total. What a difference a year makes!


----------



## Derek Pedley

BookBub promotion in Nonfiction category, for a true crime title priced at $7.99, discounted to $1.99 (Ad cost: $360 - or $400 in Aussie dollars, with conversion fee and credit card fee included)

Top chart figures during December 22-28 promotion:
Bestsellers (Paid store): #126 
Author rank (All books): #488
Author rank (Biographies & Memoirs): #12
True Crime (Kindle): #1
True Crime (Books): #1
Murder & Mayhem (Kindle): #1

Conclusion: I've sold a LOT of books (by my own humble standards), lifted the book's profile and even made some handy cash. Best of all, I have a screen shot of a "No.1 Bestseller - True Crime" badge on my book (it's those little things that matter most!)


----------



## J.D.W.

I have a BookBub ad today (Destiny Bay Romances boxed set volume 1 books 1-3, free) and am reporting in--it's been incredible so far--39,000 downloaded and it's #1 at the free Kindle Store right now!  
Sales on related books have started off a bit slow, but I'm hoping to make the price of the ad back.  This is my second BookBub ad and I'm a believer!


----------



## Gennita Low

Congrats, Nin!

My Bookbub ad from the 18th is still paying off, especially through NOOK. I have close to 1000 sales there, with follow-up sales of the rest of series at a few hundred, which is way better than the week before when there were just two sales .


----------



## J.D.W.

Thanks Cate!  Appreciate it--and hope you enjoy the stories.  

Helen 

Gennita--you're one of my inspirations!


----------



## Gennita Low

ninjac said:


> Thanks Cate! Appreciate it--and hope you enjoy the stories.
> 
> Helen
> 
> Gennita--you're one of my inspirations!


Oh wow! Thank you for saying that! I was just adding your book link to my FB page to get you some new readers .

My target is for the long tail. So, the more people to pick up the cheaper 2-for-1 antho, the more I hope to grow a longer tail . That sounds so silly, but you know what I mean.


----------



## J.D.W.

"The long tail" was just one of the concepts I had to learn about when I made the switch to self pubbing--still learning--and often failing, such as in trying to understand how to use my facebook page--totally inept at that one.  But you're doing so well and I'm just going to watch you and learn!  Thanks!

Helen


----------



## Cege Smith

This is hands down my favorite thread right now.  I love seeing everyone's results, both on the day of and in the days after the promo. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to post in here- it is really insightful and inspiring!!


----------



## wildwitchof

Hi everyone, esp. the romance writers:

I'm trying to get accepted for another Bookbub ad. My 99c one (for THIS TIME NEXT DOOR in October/ Contemp Romance) was a huge success, but then they turned me down for a lesser-reviewed title for December, and I'm waiting to hear back about January.

What do their standards (for # of reviews, or ranking) seem to be for contemporary romance these days? Should I keep submitting my requests? Lower my hopes? I have one book with hundreds of reviews b/c of a permafree run, but the rest only have a few (max of 24 on Amazon US.) Those are the ones I want to promote. It's the catch-22 of can't-get-reviews without a promo, can't get a promo without the reviews.

Any info? Thanks!


----------



## O_o

My Bookbub ad ran yesterday - I think it was roughly 24 hours ago that my sales report started making me do this -  - and I haven't stopped yet!

The ad was for the first in my series, which is permafree, in horror, which apparently averages around 5,000 downloads according to BB. 

So far I've had 13,500!  

And reached number 12 in the overall Kindle free chart  

I hoped to get around the top of the horror chart, so this is a huge result. Didn't know if I'd see any immediate sales on other books, but have had well over a hundred already and the ad has paid for itself.

Naturally, I've barely slept 

BB rejected me six times, so it's definitely worth bothering them until they accept


----------



## CEMartin2

KRG said:


> My Bookbub ad ran yesterday
> The ad was for the first in my series, which is permafree, in horror, which apparently averages around 5,000 downloads according to BB.
> 
> So far I've had 13,500!Â
> 
> And reached number 12 in the overall Kindle free chartÂ


That is AWESOME. I'm crossing my fingers for 10,000 downloads on Jan 7 when my mil scifi/horror series' first book goes up. Please keep us updated on your follow on sales. I'm interested in what your percentage is in relation to total giveaways.

And your covers look GREAT.


----------



## O_o

Thanks!  

Will keep you updated!


----------



## Cege Smith

KRG said:


> My Bookbub ad ran yesterday - I think it was roughly 24 hours ago that my sales report started making me do this -  - and I haven't stopped yet!
> 
> The ad was for the first in my series, which is permafree, in horror, which apparently averages around 5,000 downloads according to BB.
> 
> So far I've had 13,500!
> 
> And reached number 12 in the overall Kindle free chart
> 
> I hoped to get around the top of the horror chart, so this is a huge result. Didn't know if I'd see any immediate sales on other books, but have had well over a hundred already and the ad has paid for itself.
> 
> Naturally, I've barely slept
> 
> BB rejected me six times, so it's definitely worth bothering them until they accept


That is fantastic! I had a BB ad in June on my permafree in horror and had 19,000 downloads. Follow-on sales for the next two books ensured that not only did I recoup the ad costs, but I also had my best month to date. Enjoy the ride!


----------



## Eskimo

I've had a lot of success with BB as well.

In September 2013 I ran a free promo with BB for my first mystery novel Post Pattern. The book had 52,000 downloads and shot up to #2 on Amazon Free. Shortly thereafter I sold 450 books on Amazon, the majority being my 2nd novel, Fade Route. For a new author -- with absolutely no visibility beforehand -- that is pretty good. I had done a previous free promo in June 2013 for Post Pattern but only got 1,500 downloads, despite promoting it heavily at other sites. BB was clearly the difference.

The other nice thing that happened after the BB promo was I began getting a lot of customer reviews for both books. Whereas I only had a few reviews of each book before September, I now have 79 for Post Pattern and 27 for Fade Route -- and a number of people commented that these positive reviews helped convince them to buy the book.

Yes, BB isn't cheap, but I've found it to be very effective.


----------



## Bookside Manner

My BookBub ad I ran on 12/23 was one of the best things I ever did. More than 2000 sales (Kindle and Nook, no figures for ibook or kobo yet) of the book I promo'd, and another 200 for that book's sequel and 100 for another book that's unrelated to those two. Can't wait to see the iBook figures next month. My best month ever! I am over the moon.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

Update on mine: Day 4 of Countdown, Day 3 since BookBub ad: about 5,500 copies of "Just for Now" sold so far during promo. So, yeah, BookBub is the real deal. Don't know how they do it, but they sure do. Cost me $500 (99-cent book in Contemporary Romance), but well worth it.


----------



## J.D.W.

I'm stunned by the number of downloads I've had (BookBub ad 12/30 for my first boxed set--free)  Over 62,000 and I'm still #1 in the Free Kindle Store.  Just phenomenal.  (is that how you spell that?)
I've had over a hundred sales on other box sets--all of which are priced at 4.99-5.99, so I've definitely paid for the ad.  I'm just hoping there will be a lot more sales.  I'm considering the downloads to be seeds, like Lisa Grace says.  Take root, little seeds!  I need to see more green shoots!


----------



## Gennita Low

These yearend numbers are awesome, people!

Congrats and a long tail to y'all!


----------



## PhoenixS

We had 5 books with BB ads in December. Sales #s for each above normal daily numbers...

PNR with a Christmas theme and a bonus "Shirley, Goodness and Mercy" short story by Debbie Macomber:
6518 total sales over 2 weeks
6324 @ 99c
194 @ 2.99
______________________________

Contemporary Romance TwinPack:
4464 total sales over 10 days
4393 @ 99c
71 @ 2.99

Book 3:
287 @ 2.99 over 10 days
______________________________

Historical Romance Box Set - Part One (Books 1 and 2):
2532 total sales over 9 days
2438 @ 99c
94 @ 2.99

Historical Romance Box Set - Part Two (Books 3-5):
397 @ 3.99 over 9 days
______________________________

Thriller - standalone:
2477 total sales over 10 days
2447 @ 99c
30 @ 3.99
______________________________

FREE Historical Romance - Book 1 in a 2-book series:
#2 Free - 40,000 DLs
260 sales @ 2.99 over 2 weeks

Book 2:
447 total sales over 2 weeks
427 @ 99c
20 @ 2.99


----------



## J.D.W.

Phoenix--you're so generous in sharing your results--and that gives someone like me who doesn't get very far only looking at my own a better idea of different strategies.  Thanks so much!


----------



## Gennita Low

Phoenix,

I learned a new word to use from you . TWINPACK! Yeah. That's what I've been looking for instead of Box Set. Ah well. Too late now.

I was interested in your Twinpack results. I hope to come close to that with the same strategy -- $0.99 and then moving up to $2.99, and perhaps back to its original $5.99 (I sell these 2 books at $3.99 alone).

Thank you for sharing your information!

Except for Apple, I did really good. Waiting for a few more days so I can report in on the "tail" results.

Happy New Year, everyone here!


----------



## Patty Jansen

Got my pre-flight email from them.

Eek.


----------



## TexasGirl

Some amazing results -- 5000 sales -- WOW!

I have set up all my promos for my 99 cent sale (and of course it's doing great at 3.99 now -- silly little book!)

Jan. 14 Bookblast (romance $50)
Jan. 16 Bookbub (new adult romance $80)
Jan. 18 Kindle Books & Tips (featured book $100)
Jan. 20 TIV newsletter (free)

It will also be part of a blitz tour of about 100 blogs Jan. 13-17.

I'm also involved in a multi author boxed set Jan. 7 and releasing a sequel to the 99 cent book Jan. 10. 

Gonna be a busy month. I just hired a VA to help me. She'll be sending the sale to about 300 FB pages.


----------



## Gennita Low

Happy New Year! Sounds like 2014 is going great already! Congratulations!


----------



## Crime fighters

TexasGirl said:


> Some amazing results -- 5000 sales -- WOW!
> 
> I have set up all my promos for my 99 cent sale (and of course it's doing great at 3.99 now -- silly little book!)
> 
> Jan. 14 Bookblast (romance $50)
> Jan. 16 Bookbub (new adult romance $80)
> Jan. 18 Kindle Books & Tips (featured book $100)
> Jan. 20 TIV newsletter (free)
> 
> It will also be part of a blitz tour of about 100 blogs Jan. 13-17.
> 
> I'm also involved in a multi author boxed set Jan. 7 and releasing a sequel to the 99 cent book Jan. 10.
> 
> Gonna be a busy month. I just hired a VA to help me. She'll be sending the sale to about 300 FB pages.


1. What's a VA? 
2. I've been wondering how effective the New Adult listing is, since it's new. Should be interesting.


----------



## Gennita Low

VA = virtual assistant


----------



## Crime fighters

Thanks for the info


----------



## Quiss

BookBub happening today for my permafree. No other concurrent promo.
I'm up to 8600 downloads and at around #1000 free.  Not bad for five hours in on New Year's day 

Sales of other titles are going well. Interestingly, although the freebie is Book One, I'm seeing a good number of sales for the last book in the series. Then again, I've had other promos in December, so these might be sell-throughs from there.


----------



## Crime fighters

Saw it in my inbox this morning. It always brings a smile to my face when I recognize a book there from the writers here.


----------



## Quiss

K.B. Nelson/Parker said:


> It always brings a smile to my face when I recognize a book there from the writers here.


Me, too!

WOOT:
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #71 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

#2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Galactic Empire
#2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Space Opera


----------



## Quiss

Update

Things have slowed down now but I'm happy with the results so far. 10575 downloads at. com and about 250 at Smashwords. Kobo? Fuhgeddaboudit.
A decent number of sales for the other titles.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Space Opera

Does anyone know what it means when you're added to someone's library at Smashwords? Does this mean they are interested, but not interested enough to actually download the freebie to their readers?


----------



## Cege Smith

I also had a BB promo today and have been chasing Quiss.  
I ran my permafree Book 1 in the Bloodtruth series in the Teen & YA category and have had 9000 downloads so far. I hit as high as #19 on the free list. Starting to slide a bit now- #22.

Just broke even on the ad cost with sales across the various channels on books 2 and 3, so everything from this point forward is profit. Not a bad way to start 2014.


----------



## JRTomlin

TexasGirl said:


> Some amazing results -- 5000 sales -- WOW!
> 
> I have set up all my promos for my 99 cent sale (and of course it's doing great at 3.99 now -- silly little book!)
> 
> Jan. 14 Bookblast (romance $50)
> Jan. 16 Bookbub (new adult romance $80)
> Jan. 18 Kindle Books & Tips (featured book $100)
> Jan. 20 TIV newsletter (free)
> 
> It will also be part of a blitz tour of about 100 blogs Jan. 13-17.
> 
> I'm also involved in a multi author boxed set Jan. 7 and releasing a sequel to the 99 cent book Jan. 10.
> 
> Gonna be a busy month. I just hired a VA to help me. She'll be sending the sale to about 300 FB pages.


Wow! 5000? That is amazing!


----------



## Usedtoposthere

Tomorrow's the last day of my Countdown promo promoted by BB. About 6,500 sales (99 cents) so far, with about half of those coming on my BB day. My major, stars-in-my-eyes "stretch goal" for the promo was 7,000, and it looks like I'll probably get at least very close. My thinking was that I might get 10% of the sales at 99 cents that I'd expect during a free download period, and I think that's about right. 

(Can I confess that I got a thrill when I saw my book was #1 on Countdown right now--AHEAD of Konrath? I know it's not a competition. I know, I know, I know. He seems like a wonderful, generous, helpful person. I can't help it. I still got a thrill.)

However: I will say that my bump on the other books isn't as big as I've experienced from free runs. Whether or not everybody reads the free book right away, if you get many tens of thousands of downloads, even at a 2-3% conversion rate, that's going to be a LOT of sales of the other books. Jury's still out, but those are my preliminary thoughts--maybe free is still a better option, at least for me, and at least as long as the "free promo" thing lasts. I do wonder if it's headed out.


----------



## PhoenixS

XXXXXXXXXX


----------



## TexasGirl

I ran the numbers for my last 99 cent Bookbub to see if I would have been better off using Countdown and Amazon exclusive for 70% instead of 35% and having sales at BN, Apple, etc.

I found I would have made $40 more if I was in Countdown, _for the period of the sale_. So about a week.

Once we were out of the promo period and back to full price, though, the elevated sales across the board meant I made more money over the long tail using all retailers. Amazon fell quickly back into obscurity, but BN held a lot longer.

BN has been better for holding rank in general. My last release Oct. 1 sold 3000 on Amazon versus 600 on BN during the first month, but now that we are three months out, BN is still selling 200 a month when Amazon has dropped to 100.

iTunes had the worst tail, selling 1000 during release month and a paltry 20 in December.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

Phoenix Sullivan said:


> There are other considerations for a few folk to use Select that have nothing to do with the free or Countdown deals or borrows offered, so, of course, YMMV in this as in all things (generic You).
> 
> I've run the numbers against a couple of real-world promos (romance and thrillers) and, for the authors I work with, the difference between a BookBub promo in conjunction with a Countdown Deal versus advertising on BN - we're talking series books here - is pretty much a wash, _in general_. Including Apple sales tips in favor of a _non_-Countdown promo. For a standalone? A BB + Countdown promo seems the way to go.


That's useful information. I've always been in Select, and have had amazing success with the "Five free" days. (I do write series, but the individual books can also stand alone.) In fact, I can directly attribute most of my success to those free days. This was my first shot at Countdown.

I've been seriously considering putting my first series up on all platforms in the spring (leaving the second one, third book to be released Feb. 1, in Select), to have a basis for comparison if nothing else. One reason I haven't is simply that being in Select simplifies my marketing efforts so much, leaving me free to concentrate on writing books. I run a promo every 6 weeks-3 months, helped along by BookBub, and that's it. I upload one version of the book one time, and I'm done. That's a huge benefit, since thinking about sales and marketing pulls me out of writing. And heaven knows, Select has been very good to me.

Always decisions. I appreciate your feedback, that I may not be giving up as much as I'd thought (Oh, and Deanna, didn't see yours till I posted--appreciate that too. Maybe the answer is an assistant to do the tedious stuff, huh? THAT would be nice!)


----------



## Gennita Low

Cege,

Putting your beautiful cover on my FB page today! Hope you get more downloads!


----------



## S.K. Falls

Ooh, I didn't know we had a Bookbub thread here! I ran a BB sale for December 9th-12th last year (heh, I love saying that). It was for my dystopian World of Shell and Bone, which is an adult dystopian (ran under sci-fi). It's regularly priced at 2.99, but I put it down to 0.99 for the sale. I also released the sequel, which has been priced at 3.99 all along. I do have a mailing list that was notified at the same time as the Bookbub ad.

Results: 

World of Shell and Bone sales: Roughly 488 at 0.99, but overall about 600 for the month
Land of Masks and Moonlight: About 300 for the month

For a book that was slowly sinking down in ranking, that's not bad. It also helped readers see the sequel was out. It hit the 300s in the paid store overall, and my sequel shot up to the bestselling sci-fi romance list as soon as it was released. Hope that helps someone!


----------



## Cege Smith

Gennita Low said:


> Cege,
> 
> Putting your beautiful cover on my FB page today! Hope you get more downloads!


  Thank you, Gennita!! This is the 4th round of covers for the series trying to get them right, so hearing that feedback really makes my day.


----------



## CLStone

I don't know how to gauge this any better, but I ran a freebie promo for a permafree book on Dec. 22nd. Over 20k+ free downloads I think contributed from that as a mix from direct from BookBub and then the people catching on seeing it on top ranks. Hit I think #6 in free overall.

Today it is still lingering below top 200 free but I'm sure that'll even out. 

I wasn't expecting sales straight away, but two or three days after the freebie ad, sales went from $500 a day to $2k a day. Sales are going pretty strong still and have been hitting $2k a day since then. 

I expect it to even out eventually, right? That's how it works?  I don't know, never done it before. I've got two releases in the next few weeks so there's going to be another couple of bumps that will probably muck up trying to figure out how long this 'wave' lasts.


----------



## Crime fighters

Rosalind, your posts are always such a joy to read. 

That's all. 

Keep on


----------



## Quiss

Gennita Low said:


> Cege,
> Putting your beautiful cover on my FB page today! Hope you get more downloads!


----------



## Patty Jansen

My Bookbub day. So far close to 7000 downloads of my freebie and they're still going at a couple of hundred per ten minutes. My dashboard updates in spurts.

Sales of volumes 2 and 3 needed to re-coup my costs: 29. Currently sitting at 7.

Quite happy, since I can't expect all those people to have looked at book 1 yet.

ETA make that 10 sales.


----------



## Crime fighters

3 sales within three minutes of posting? Congrats, Patty! Look forward to seeing how the rest of the day goes. Which reminds me, I need to check my email. Love seeing kboarders on there 

Edit: I must not be signed up for your genre


----------



## Patty Jansen

It's fantasy. You can grab it from the link in my sig file anyway.

While I cleaned the bathrooms, downloads climbed to almost 8000 as well as two more sales. That's the best use I've ever had of my bathroom-cleaning.


----------



## A past poster

Gretchen Galway said:


> Hi everyone, esp. the romance writers:
> 
> I'm trying to get accepted for another Bookbub ad. My 99c one (for THIS TIME NEXT DOOR in October/ Contemp Romance) was a huge success, but then they turned me down for a lesser-reviewed title for December, and I'm waiting to hear back about January.
> 
> What do their standards (for # of reviews, or ranking) seem to be for contemporary romance these days? Should I keep submitting my requests? Lower my hopes? I have one book with hundreds of reviews b/c of a permafree run, but the rest only have a few (max of 24 on Amazon US.) Those are the ones I want to promote. It's the catch-22 of can't-get-reviews without a promo, can't get a promo without the reviews.
> 
> Any info? Thanks!


I can empathize. I've been trying to get on BB without success, even though I actually saw a book in my genre on BB with only 6 reviews, another with 11 reviews. BUT I've also noticed that the books that didn't have many reviews were trad. published, not indies. It does feel like a Catch-22 situation: it's hard to get reviews without enough sales, and it's hard to get the sales without promos. In my case, what makes it worse is that one of my novels doesn't treat trad publishing kindly, and they may be the people BB wants to court. BB rejected that novel with breathtaking swiftness. I don't think it helped that the first review under Most Helpful Reviews on the Amazon page says, _"It was interesting to read about the "dirt" in the publishing/reviewing industry that publishers probably won't be happy about seeing in print."_


----------



## Shayne Parkinson

You're off to a good start, Patty! Best of luck for those ongoing sales.


----------



## Patty Jansen

Now up to 9500 downloads and 20 sales.

This is awesome. This is the power of series.


----------



## TexasGirl

I haven't been accepted in contemporary romance in a year. Either I am rejected or bumped to another category.

That is a category where the regular rules just don't seem to apply. Big name authors rule, either trads still with trads, or rights-reversions trads, or indies who have had crazy big runs of sales in the past. My contemp rom books with 30 reviews got flat-out rejected. My last book with 120 reviews (and zero one or two stars and only five three-stars) got bumped to another cat.

See if you can't fit somewhere else. I think the only way to get in contemp romance with a midlist book is to get lucky that no one big submitted that week, which is getting less and less likely anymore.


----------



## Writer1000

I think its easier to get into Contemporary Romance if you're running a freebie. They ran one of my books in October (during its last days in Select) and my permafree in November.

They've rejected all of my 99c submissions.


----------



## Cege Smith

Patty Jansen said:


> It's fantasy. You can grab it from the link in my sig file anyway.
> 
> While I cleaned the bathrooms, downloads climbed to almost 8000 as well as two more sales. That's the best use I've ever had of my bathroom-cleaning.


  Hitting that refresh button is even more fun when you give it a little bit of time to make those big jumps.

Two days post-BB promo I'm at 14,828 downloads on Amazon. Just shy of 200 on Google. Have no idea on B&N and Apple since those are through SW. I also had 10 sales on my permafree that must have come from folks downloading it outside the US.

Follow-through sales are 48 on Book 2 and 33 on Book 3 across all channels so far. I broke even with 25 sales, so I'm delighted.


----------



## Patty Jansen

cegesmith said:


> Hitting that refresh button is even more fun when you give it a little bit of time to make those big jumps.
> 
> Two days post-BB promo I'm at 14,828 downloads on Amazon. Just shy of 200 on Google. Have no idea on B&N and Apple since those are through SW. I also had 10 sales on my permafree that must have come from folks downloading it outside the US.
> 
> Follow-through sales are 48 on Book 2 and 33 on Book 3 across all channels so far. I broke even with 25 sales, so I'm delighted.


This pretty much echoes my experience. Downloads are at 11500, sales at 36. Ad earned out at 11030 this morning. There's also a crapload of downloads at Smashwords (well, by usual standards). I can't get Kobo to update, and the book is not on google play yet.

I reported above that I don't think the number of stars matters, but the *content* of them does. This book has an average of 3.5 stars, dragged down by three 1-star reviews that complain about "disgusting stuff", which I warn people about (not that I think it's very prominent, mind).


----------



## pwtucker

Quick report from the front lines:

My BB promo went live today. I paid $140 for a $0.99 promo of my $2.99 novel The Grind Show in the Horror category, and also boosted it with a $25 Kindle Books and Tips ad, along with a number of free promo's from the Author Marketing Club. To break even I needed to sell 472 copies. 

I've been keeping track of sales each hour. Yeah, I know, a bit obsessive, but I was so excited. Now? Not so much. Doesn't look like I'm going to be able to pay for the ad. I wonder why the BB magic didn't work for me? Still, there's always tomorrow. 

Ranking at 1pm: #171,455 (7 books sold)
Ranking at 2pm: #170,327 (13 books sold)
Ranking at 3pm: #172,481 (27 books sold)
Ranking at 4pm: #172,481 (39 books sold)
Ranking at 5pm: #173,069 (54 books sold) + 32 Nook
Ranking at 6pm: #11,702 (65 books sold) + 39 Nook
Ranking at 7pm: #11,704 (81 books sold) + 44 Nook 
Ranking at 8pm: #4,728 (103 books sold) + 45 Nook
Ranking at 9pm: #4,728 (119 books sold) + 52 Nook
Ranking at 10pm: #2,608 (132 books sold) + 55 Nook
Ranking at 11pm: #2,469 (139 books sold) + 56 Nook 

I'll add more updates tomorrow, if only to complete the picture.


----------



## O_o

CEMartin2 said:


> That is AWESOME. I'm crossing my fingers for 10,000 downloads on Jan 7 when my mil scifi/horror series' first book goes up. Please keep us updated on your follow on sales. I'm interested in what your percentage is in relation to total giveaways.


Hard to know when to report on my figures - I kinda feel like the Bookbub ad is still happening! Ran on the 30th and have since had about 24000 downloads, still hovering just outside the top 100. Absolutely unbelievable. So far that's translated to 400 sales on other books in the series, and the sales are actually going up each day which seems incredible. Loads of reader engagment too - reviews and ratings on amazon and goodreads, and people contacting me through facebook.

In summary:


----------



## gilda6

Hi! I need advice on running a bookbub ad. I've been rejected twice for the contemporary romance category. I have 23 reviews on amazon - all 4 or 5 stars (I think I have one at 3 stars.) I'm about to release the sequel. Would everyone advise trying to go free and make sales on the sequel? Or do an ad for $.99? Thank you in advance for the insight!


----------



## TexasGirl

gilda6 said:


> Hi! I need advice on running a bookbub ad. I've been rejected twice for the contemporary romance category. I have 23 reviews on amazon - all 4 or 5 stars (I think I have one at 3 stars.) I'm about to release the sequel. Would everyone advise trying to go free and make sales on the sequel? Or do an ad for $.99? Thank you in advance for the insight!


Contemporary romance is the most competitive category with so many trad and rights reversion trads in the mix, plus the indie heavy hitters. You might be able to get in with free.

Is there any other category that works?


----------



## gilda6

Hi Texas Girl,
  I was hoping women's fiction? I'll try again. I did want .99 but maybe free makes sense.


----------



## wildwitchof

Yup, another one of my contemp romances just got rejected. They only want my mega-reviewed book that once had 300K freebie downloads. Considering a permafree of another title. Or nagging them to death until they cave!

I could try women's fic for my latest. Chick lit. Literary (bwa ha ha).


----------



## Heather Walsh

I applied for Contemporary Romance for my novel The Drake Equation but they instead told me they would run it in Women's Fiction. And I'm thrilled!


----------



## wildwitchof

Good luck hwalsh!


----------



## Heather Walsh

Gretchen Galway said:


> Good luck hwalsh!


Thanks Gretchen. And to you as well!


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Legacy of the Highlands has a BB romantic suspense ad today (although it's clear that their emails haven't gone out yet). Regular price is $3.99 and it's $0.99 for the next few days.

When I checked their romantic suspense listings yesterday, EVERYTHING was free. Will readers want to even pay $0.99 when they can get other books free Fingers crossed that it does well and, as always, I'll post results.

If you have a blog or Facebook page or tweet, it would be terrific if you could mention the sale ... actually, that would be a good idea for any BB listing in this thread! Thank you.

www.amazon.com/dp/B0062LPAO2


----------



## Usedtoposthere

K.B. Nelson/Parker said:


> Rosalind, your posts are always such a joy to read.
> 
> That's all.
> 
> Keep on


That's so nice. Thank you!


----------



## Mike McIntyre

My new book, _The Distance Between_, has a BookBub ad today in the Biographies and Memoirs category. The regular price is $5.99 and it's discounted to $1.99 through January 13. I'm running a Kindle Countdown Deal at the same time.

(I was getting nervous because the BB email didn't hit my inbox until 10:51 AM (PST). That's later than usual.)


----------



## EmilyG

Bookbub must be having a big advertising push right now. They sponsored both the New York Times Book Review and BookRiot podcasts this week.


----------



## CEMartin2

Mike McIntyre said:


> My new book, _The Distance Between_, has a BookBub ad today in the Biographies and Memoirs category. The regular price is $5.99 and it's discounted to $1.99 through January 13. I'm running a Kindle Countdown Deal at the same time.
> 
> (I was getting nervous because the BB email didn't hit my inbox until 10:51 AM (PST). That's later than usual.)


I still yaven't gotten my daily bookbub email. They must be havin technical diiferculties


----------



## Mike McIntyre

CEMartin2 said:


> I still yaven't gotten my daily bookbub email. They must be havin technical diiferculties


I hope not. I wonder if the emails are staggered.


----------



## A past poster

Harriet Schultz said:


> When I checked their romantic suspense listings yesterday, EVERYTHING was free. Will readers want to even pay $0.99 when they can get other books free Fingers crossed that it does well and, as always, I'll post results.


I'm beginning to think .99 cents is the new free.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Mike McIntyre said:


> I hope not. I wonder if the emails are staggered.


Yes, they do stagger their emails. Legacy of the Highlands (on BB in romantic suspense today) didn't show any movement until after 4pm EST. Your numbers are sure to go up this evening. Good luck.


----------



## Mike McIntyre

Harriet Schultz said:


> Yes, they do stagger their emails. Legacy of the Highlands (on BB in romantic suspense today) didn't show any movement until after 4pm EST. Your numbers are sure to go up this evening. Good luck.


Thanks, Harriet, you too!


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Mike McIntyre said:


> Thanks, Harriet, you too!


I bet you're happier now, Mike! Just checked your book and found this:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,210 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Travel
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Travel > Essays & Travelogues
#2 in Books > Travel > Travel Writing


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Why I love BookBub. My romantic suspense book started the day ranked 53,485.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,037 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#43 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Mystery & Suspense > Suspense
#51 in Books > Romance > Romantic Suspense

It's ranked 157 on Barnes & Noble.

Update @11:30pm
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #606 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#31 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Mystery & Suspense > Suspense
#37 in Books > Romance > Romantic Suspense

#124 on Barnes & Noble

And at 8 am the day after
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #470 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#21 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Mystery & Suspense > Suspense
#23 in Books > Romance > Romantic Suspense

#115 on Barnes & Noble


----------



## CEMartin2

Calling it a night early, bnut here's my bookbub results for Scifi, Jan 7

Permafree book #1 started the morning at #42 in free Scifi>Military, and 77 downloads since Jan 1.

At 10pm, finally passed 10,000 mark.

#1, free, in Scifi, Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Mil scifi, and #34 overall Kindle.

First couple of hours after 9am, downloads were low. By 11, started doing about 1400 an hour. Now it's slowed to under 1000 an hour. I expect that to drop more overnight. Does this mean a lot of lunch downloads? Or that the west coast downloads more than east?

I'll track follow on sales for a week and post results. But yes, bookbub has gotten me the exposure numbers I wanted, and for the month, after deducting the price, I'm $3 up. So yes, succesful. Now to pray for reviews to list the sequels on book bub later on...


----------



## Tricia O&#039;

I was accepted for Bookbub last July. I had submitted for a .99 posting in General Nonfiction but they insisted that I list it free. I decided to go ahead with it simply for the publicity and was rewarded with 26,000 downloads and a small spike in sales. 

I was just accepted for my second promo to run on February 3rd. This is for the same book but will be at .99 in the general nonfiction category. I will update with results after the promo. 

Does anyone have recommendations on when I should change the price on iTunes? From what I understand they are relatively unpredictable with their timing. I have changed the price before but not for a promo and didn't pay attention to the time frame.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Tricia OMalley said:


> I was accepted for Bookbub last July. I had submitted for a .99 posting in General Nonfiction but they insisted that I list it free. I decided to go ahead with it simply for the publicity and was rewarded with 26,000 downloads and a small spike in sales.
> 
> I was just accepted for my second promo to run on February 3rd. This is for the same book but will be at .99 in the general nonfiction category. I will update with results after the promo.
> 
> Does anyone have recommendations on when I should change the price on iTunes? From what I understand they are relatively unpredictable with their timing. I have changed the price before but not for a promo and didn't pay attention to the time frame.


Good luck! Make the price change 5-7 days ahead just to be sure.


----------



## O_o

CEMartin2 said:


> I'll track follow on sales for a week and post results. But yes, bookbub has gotten me the exposure numbers I wanted, and for the month, after deducting the price, I'm $3 up. So yes, succesful. Now to pray for reviews to list the sequels on book bub later on...


Good luck with the follow up sales 

I grabbed a copy from the UK - the first sentence was enough to tell me I'll like it


----------



## Susanne O

Follow up sales since my amazing free run (59K downloads) a month ago are still amazing- 50-60 sales a day on average.


----------



## TexasGirl

If you're doing direct, iTunes changes the price almost instantly via Connect. I just did one yesterday. Amazon will price match pretty much right away, so know you may be extra long at 99 cents.

Not sure if you are doing D2D or Smash. iTunes is way way backlogged in general. Connect changes to price are one of the few things that bypass the wait.


----------



## Tricia O&#039;

TexasGirl said:


> If you're doing direct, iTunes changes the price almost instantly via Connect. I just did one yesterday. Amazon will price match pretty much right away, so know you may be extra long at 99 cents.
> 
> Not sure if you are doing D2D or Smash. iTunes is way way backlogged in general. Connect changes to price are one of the few things that bypass the wait.


Thank you! I should have clarified - I've uploaded my books directly to iTunes. My promo runs on a Tuesday so if I change it the weekend before, I should be fine.

I'm really hoping this turns out to be a great promotion. It will run the same time as I will have an article in Animal Wellness Magazine. Plus, I always donate a portion of sales to rescues so it will be extra special if I have a larger amount to give. We will see what happens!


----------



## TexasGirl

Have a great run! I'm on the 16th but I also have ads on the 14th and 18th with Bookblast and KBT.


----------



## Mike McIntyre

Here are the results for my BookBub ad: My travel memoir, _The Distance Between_, sold 652 copies in the 24 hours after the ad ran. It peaked at #249 in the Amazon store late last night after starting the day at around #135,000. The jump got it to #6 on the Movers and Shakers List.

This was my first BB ad, and I was a little nervous because this is a new book with zero reviews. But it all worked out.

The BB ad coincided with a Kindle Countdown Deal, so I don't know how many sales can be attributed to BB vs. Countdown vs. random browsers. I see that the BookBub site posts the average and range of sales figures for each category, so I guess they can tell how many people buy the book via their site. But does BookBub ever share the specific sales figures for an individual author's ad run?


----------



## Tricia O&#039;

TexasGirl said:


> Have a great run! I'm on the 16th but I also have ads on the 14th and 18th with Bookblast and KBT.


Best of luck! Keep us posted!


----------



## A past poster

Mike McIntyre said:


> This was my first BB ad, and I was a little nervous because this is a new book with zero reviews. But it all worked out.


Wow! Congratulations on doing so well!

Please share how you got on BookBub with no reviews.


----------



## KevinH

I think someone asked a version of this question with respect to iTunes, but what's the consensus regarding how far in advance to change your price on the various platforms (Kindle, B&N, etc.) in anticipation of a Bookbub ad?


----------



## TexasGirl

I start changing three days ahead. So today if your ad is on the 11th.


----------



## Mike McIntyre

Marian said:


> Wow! Congratulations on doing so well!
> 
> Please share how you got on BookBub with no reviews.


Thank you.

In the comments box of the BookBub application, I pointed out that while "The Distance Between" was new and without reviews, my two previous travel memoirs had 300+ reviews of 4 stars and above. I also mentioned that one book was featured on Oprah and the other was serialized in the Los Angeles Times. I had been rejected before by BB for my lone mystery (because it had free promos previously through Select), and I wanted to take my best shot. Whether my pitch affected their decision, I have no clue. It could have been something else, like maybe they needed a book that day for my category (Biographies and Memoirs). Whatever the reason, I'm glad they made an exception.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

My romantic suspense BookBub ad for Legacy of the Highlands on Jan. 7 had, and continues to have, great results. I was worried because the other books in this category that day were all free and mine was $0.99.

The book started the day ranked 53,485 and reached a rank of 470 paid in the Kindle store and #21 in romance>mystery & suspense>suspense. 
I broke into the top 100 on Barnes & Noble, ranking #86. 

I sold a total of 492 copies of Legacy of the Highlands @ $0.99 on Amazon, 212 on B & N, 53 on Apple for a total of 734. It has a rank in the 100s on Kobo so I assume they sold some, but no reports yet.

The novel's sequel, A Legacy of Revenge, also had improved sales with 107 sold. 

So with 841 sales, I easily made back the $140 ad cost, plus some. 

BookBub is the best thing out there to dramatically boost sales, only problem is after a few weeks it's painful to watch the slide.


----------



## Ethan Jones

I'm on BookBub today.

Please help share the news.

Thanks in advance,

Ethan


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Ethan Jones said:


> I'm on BookBub today.
> 
> Please help share the news.
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> 
> Ethan


Tweeted you. Good luck!


----------



## Ethan Jones

Thanks, Harriet. About 80 sales so far 

Ethan


----------



## A past poster

Mike McIntyre said:


> Whatever the reason, I'm glad they made an exception.


Thanks for responding. Maybe they made the exception because your pitch was so good. Now I have to think of a good pitch!


----------



## Harriet Schultz

cate dean said:


> Update: movin' on up.
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
> 
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Paranormal & Urban
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror > Occult
> 
> 
> 
> Color me thrilled!


Excellent! No wonder you're smiling.


----------



## Ethan Jones

This is this morning's ranking of ARCTIC WARGAME featured on BookBub yesterday:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #200 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > War & Military
    #5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > War
    #6 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > War

Thanks,

Ethan


----------



## Ethan Jones

Thanks, Cate.

Congrats, Julia.

Ethan


----------



## CEMartin2

Following up on my initial post about my Jan 7th Bookbub...

It was for the first in my pulp-horror, Men's Adventurey, Mil Scifi series, perma-free, which I consider to be a very niche market. 

I started Jan 7 with 77 downloads for the month. By 11PM that night, I was at 10765. Most of those in the middle of the day, with peak downloads of 1400 or so an hour from noon to 5PMish (Eastern Time)

I started Jan 7 with the following sales:

Book 2: 7, now at 30
Book 3: 5, now at 19
Book 4: 5, now at 9
Book 5: 2, now at 7
Book 6: 2, now at 6 +1 borrow

Prequel Short Story 1: 5, now at 26
Prequel Short 2: 2, now at 6
Prequel Short 3: 4, now at 12

Omnibus 1 (books 1-3): 2, now at 10
Omnibus 2 (books4-6): 2, now at 7

I made it all the way to #31 on Kindle (Fre). I held #1 in science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fantasy for about 48 hours. I'm still at #1 MScience Fiction>Military and Dark Fantasy. 

Weirdly, the best I did in Horror was #2.

I've slipped to 90-something for Kindle. I can't bear to watch it fall off. 

All in all pretty good for my little series, priced $2.99 per novel, $.99 per short. 

Oh, and I've gotten three reviews in two days, a clear record for book 1 that has been out since June 2012.


----------



## Ethan Jones

Those are some good number, CEMartin2. Congratulations.

Ethan


----------



## Tricia O&#039;

Ethan Jones said:


> This is this morning's ranking of ARCTIC WARGAME featured on BookBub yesterday:
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #200 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > War & Military
> #5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > War
> #6 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > War
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Ethan


Congrats Ethan!


----------



## JRTomlin

My promotion of The Shadow Ryana started today. It had 48 sales (*sigh*) so far this month. It is a longer promotion than I usually use, for the whole week and I have an ad at KB&T to try to boost the results. I'm biting my nails because I really need to boost sales across my entire list.


----------



## JRTomlin

cate dean said:


> Fingers crossed for you, JR.  I'm going to grab a copy.
> 
> My results: I peaked at 19 overall on the Free list. Couldn't get past those darn religious books. Still excited, because the highest I've gotten before is 150.
> 
> I am still in the top 50 overall, and #1 in my categories, closing in on 20k downloads.
> 
> Sales by the end of the first day more than paid for the ad, so I am in gravy territory, and beyond thrilled with the results of my first Bookbub experience.


Congrats! Sounds like you did great. And thanks for grabbing a copy.


----------



## JRTomlin

One of the nice things about fantasy promotions is that it doesn't take a lot of sales to at least pay for them. It only takes about 540. I am showing reports of 60 sales on Amazon and 47 on B&N already which is about 20% to making the cost, although of course I'm hoping for better than paying for the cost.  

So far the ranking hasn't budged on Amazon but that's typical. I've seen a lag of at least several hours lately.


----------



## TexasGirl

Just found out ENT is also going to run my sale. So I will have ads:

1/14 Bookblast
1/15 ENT
1/16 Bookbub
1/18 KBT

If POI will just pick it up 1/17 I'd have...a heart attack, probably.

It's already selling a couple hundred a day without any ads. I also have over 100 bloggers running it.

I think it's going to be a good week.


----------



## Bookside Manner

Holy frijoles, that's going to be one awesome week! I'm not jealous or anything...


----------



## JRTomlin

TexasGirl said:


> Just found out ENT is also going to run my sale. So I will have ads:
> 
> 1/14 Bookblast
> 1/15 ENT
> 1/16 Bookbub
> 1/18 KBT
> 
> If POI will just pick it up 1/17 I'd have...a heart attack, probably.
> 
> It's already selling a couple hundred a day without any ads. I also have over 100 bloggers running it.
> 
> I think it's going to be a good week.


That's a great lineup of promotion sites! Congrats!


----------



## Harriet Schultz

TexasGirl said:


> Just found out ENT is also going to run my sale. So I will have ads:
> 
> 1/14 Bookblast
> 1/15 ENT
> 1/16 Bookbub
> 1/18 KBT
> 
> If POI will just pick it up 1/17 I'd have...a heart attack, probably.


Wow, that must have taken some coordination since you can't always get the days you request. Good luck with POI...I've yet to have them pick up any of my sales.


----------



## TexasGirl

Dumb luck, Harriet. That's all.

POI has picked me up a couple times, but I'm not asking for any more lightning to strike. I'm happy. Gloriously so. It's already sold 500 copies since I dropped the price two days ago. My ad break-even is only about 750 copies since I'm getting a steal with the $80 new adult Bookbub list. I do have to sell 60 copies a day, though, just to cover what I would have sold at full price. But still, I think it's going to be good.

Now if I could just get over the flu! 11 days and counting.


----------



## JRTomlin

Ouch. Sounds like a nasty flu bug. Hope you feel better soon.

So far my promotion is a bit meh. Not a disaster but nothing to be excited about. 

The Amazon dashboard shows 330 sales and I'm underwhelmed. B&N shows 110 and nothing yet from Apple. I can hope sales reports are lagging and the promotion does run a few more days with a KB&T ad. It should pay for itself but I was hoping for some needed visibility.

As far as rankings, these are the most recent:

#508 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#3 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Historical
#3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Historical
#12 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Epic

What that doesn't show is that it is at #60 in the main SF&F category which is at least some boost in visibility. So... I'm hoping for some improvement yet but that #508 is a bit discouraging.

ETA: POI absolutely never picks up my novels.  I am being quite literal there.


----------



## Ethan Jones

Thanks, Tricia.

Over 1,000 sales so far and still a few trickling in.

Ethan


----------



## JRTomlin

At a bit more than 24 hours my BB promotion is still a bit 'meh'. 457 sales on Amazon and 136 sales on B&N. That pays for it. I can't say the sales on the sequel have improved yet although in my experience that often takes a few days. 

The Amazon rankings are: #528 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#3 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Historical
#3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Historical
#11 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Epic

This doesn't indicate the ranking in the larger Science Fiction & Fantasy or Fantasy subcategories where it is at #58 and 39. It is at #171 over at Nook.

I must admit I was hoping for better results than this, however, it has paid for the BB promotion at least. I have a Kindle Book & Tips ad today and a Book Blast one on Wednesday so this will be running for a few more days and I'll let you know how it goes.


----------



## Bookside Manner

Question for those of you with series. Does BookBub ever do deals for series books other than the first book? I have a two-book series (duology? sounds like a medical condition). Ran a BookBub on book one last month to great success. Any chance they'd be open to a promo for book two? The full effect of the story and character arc is best when you read them together, but the books can be read as stand-alone (and several reviews have attested to this).

I'm planning a box set of the series later this year, throwing in a prequel short story to add value. I was just wondering if there's any hope of doing a promo for just book two.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

Kelly Cozy said:


> Question for those of you with series. Does BookBub ever do deals for series books other than the first book? I have a two-book series (duology? sounds like a medical condition). Ran a BookBub on book one last month to great success. Any chance they'd be open to a promo for book two? The full effect of the story and character arc is best when you read them together, but the books can be read as stand-alone (and several reviews have attested to this).
> 
> I'm planning a box set of the series later this year, throwing in a prequel short story to add value. I was just wondering if there's any hope of doing a promo for just book two.


Bookbub ran the second book in my series a few months ago. Mine are also a two-book series (although it will be a trilogy once I finish book three). That promo didn't do nearly as well as the one for the first book that ran o BookBub last week. It's hard to pinpoint the why of it, but it just wasn't as successful. The most recent promo moved more than 900 copies of the first book and people also picked up 120 copies of book two. I think when the second book ran, I sold about 500. Your experience may be totally different, so go for it!


----------



## JRTomlin

Kelly Cozy said:


> Question for those of you with series. Does BookBub ever do deals for series books other than the first book? I have a two-book series (duology? sounds like a medical condition). Ran a BookBub on book one last month to great success. Any chance they'd be open to a promo for book two? The full effect of the story and character arc is best when you read them together, but the books can be read as stand-alone (and several reviews have attested to this).
> 
> I'm planning a box set of the series later this year, throwing in a prequel short story to add value. I was just wondering if there's any hope of doing a promo for just book two.


I've also had BB promotions for the second book in a series.

ETA: They have raised the price of HF promotions--again. $420 for a 99 Cent promotion.


----------



## Mike McIntyre

After your ad runs, does BookBub ever tell you how many copies were sold via links from their site? If not, how does one ever know how effective the ad was. I had a BB ad last week, but I also ran a Countdown Deal at the same time. I'd really like to know how effective the ad was.


----------



## TexasGirl

You can write Bookbub and ask them what their affiliate sales were for your book.

And yes, they take book two of a series. They took Mimi Strong's book 2 of her Peaches series and it shot into the top 100.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

Kelly Cozy said:


> Question for those of you with series. Does BookBub ever do deals for series books other than the first book? I have a two-book series (duology? sounds like a medical condition). Ran a BookBub on book one last month to great success. Any chance they'd be open to a promo for book two? The full effect of the story and character arc is best when you read them together, but the books can be read as stand-alone (and several reviews have attested to this).
> 
> I'm planning a box set of the series later this year, throwing in a prequel short story to add value. I was just wondering if there's any hope of doing a promo for just book two.


I've done books 1, 2, and 3 with BB (free and 99 cents). My books stand alone but are in series also. I haven't had issues as far as success of the promo from the book not being #1. Maybe different if it were a true series, though.


----------



## EmilyG

My mom has a Bookbub ad today for _A Pledge of Silence_.

Historical Fiction
99 cents (regularly $4.99)

Starting stats: 
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #56,777 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#22 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Asian

She also has ENT and KBT tomorrow. I don't know what magic incantation you need to get into POI.

It should be a fun couple of days!


----------



## Craig Andrews

I got my first BookBub rejection letter yesterday.   I'll give it a couple weeks and try again.

-Craig


----------



## Mark E. Cooper

I wonder... 

I wonder what Bookbub would say if i went to them and said, "hey, you know my book that you gave away succesfully twice lsst year and made me a ton of money? Well its going to be released in audio soon. Can you please put it on your list and promote the new version?"


Or will they do the usual and say nope!


----------



## Usedtoposthere

markecooper said:


> I wonder...
> 
> I wonder what Bookbub would say if i went to them and said, "hey, you know my book that you gave away succesfully twice lsst year and made me a ton of money? Well its going to be released in audio soon. Can you please put it on your list and promote the new version?"
> 
> Or will they do the usual and say nope!


For what it's worth, I always start my "comments" to them with, thank you so much, here's what your last promo for me did. I figure it can't hurt to say it right up front. So I'd try that!

I'm planning on doing just that--doing a free promo of the ebook when the audio version of the first book comes out in March. And I'm sure planning to tell them that I'm doing it because the audio is coming out. Hey, every little bit helps.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

TexasGirl said:


> Just found out ENT is also going to run my sale. So I will have ads:
> 
> 1/14 Bookblast
> 1/15 ENT
> 1/16 Bookbub
> 1/18 KBT
> 
> If POI will just pick it up 1/17 I'd have...a heart attack, probably.
> 
> It's already selling a couple hundred a day without any ads. I also have over 100 bloggers running it.
> 
> I think it's going to be a good week.


I went back & looked for your list because I just asked BookBub for an ad for next month, and THIS time, I'm going to be smart and list it other places, too. (Or other places instead, of course--gulp.) Thank you for sharing it!

Anybody have any other good places where they advertised a 99-cent promo? I've done Kindle Nation Daily as well, and that's worked, but I don't know which of the other sites are "go-to."


----------



## CEMartin2

Do you HAVE to discount Book 2 in your series to get them to carry it? I sell all my books at $2.99, which I consider an ongoing discount.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

CEMartin2 said:


> Do you HAVE to discount Book 2 in your series to get them to carry it? I sell all my books at $2.99, which I consider an ongoing discount.


I believe the whole point of their service is that they're telling people about price promotions. They ask on their order form what the regular price is, and what your promotional price is. So, yes, I think you have to discount.


----------



## NS

Bookbub just accepted my second book! I didn't expect it at all and feel like blacking out a little bit. They've rejected this book before. My first promo with them went fantastic, top 100 on Amazon and B&N. Can't wait for this one!

Keep trying guys, I've been rejected two times and here I go.


----------



## wildwitchof

I'm back! I was rejected a couple of times for a 99c promo, so I caved and made SUPERMODEL perma-free, which is what gave me my first big sales last year (different book).

Well, SUPERMODEL shot up the free charts over the weekend--hit #21 in the Kindle store--and NOW Bookbub says, "sure, we'll take ya."

LOL. I jumped at the chance. Who knows how long it'll stay up there? The ad is 1/2 that of the 99c ad, and I have the sequel to sell. Ad runs on Jan 30. 

Unfortunately I won't get the BN bump, since I couldn't reduce it to free via Nook direct. I wonder if it's worth using Smashwords for that title in the future to get the price lowered... but at this point, Nook just doesn't have much of a future. Don't know.


----------



## TexasGirl

I think it's worth it to get Smash to get it in BN for free. I sell a LOT of my sequels on BN and Apple based on the permafree. Do it TODAY. It takes a couple weeks to go up.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

Gretchen Galway said:


> I'm back! I was rejected a couple of times for a 99c promo, so I caved and made SUPERMODEL perma-free, which is what gave me my first big sales last year (different book).
> 
> Well, SUPERMODEL shot up the free charts over the weekend--hit #21 in the Kindle store--and NOW Bookbub says, "sure, we'll take ya."
> 
> LOL. I jumped at the chance. Who knows how long it'll stay up there? The ad is 1/2 that of the 99c ad, and I have the sequel to sell. Ad runs on Jan 30.
> 
> Unfortunately I won't get the BN bump, since I couldn't reduce it to free via Nook direct. I wonder if it's worth using Smashwords for that title in the future to get the price lowered... but at this point, Nook just doesn't have much of a future. Don't know.


Congratulations, Gretchen! That's GREAT news!


----------



## wildwitchof

TexasGirl said:


> I think it's worth it to get Smash to get it in BN for free. I sell a LOT of my sequels on BN and Apple based on the permafree. Do it TODAY. It takes a couple weeks to go up.


Thanks for this advice, Deanna. You're the second to tell me that. I spent a crazy amount of time revising the Smash edition yesterday (that's an understatement--it was hours and hours of epub error messages that were WRONG and I finally just recreated a .doc for them to meatgrind). It's in review now, and I hope it filters through to BN in time. URGH. I had very dark thoughts about Smashwords yesterday. My cover was not corrupt, nonexistent, or too small. But they kept insisting it was. URGH. BANG SMASH ANGER.

Rosalind: Thanks!


----------



## Donna White Glaser

My turn to try for a Bookbub ad. I submitted the 1st in my series. It's got 129 reviews and a 4.2 star ave. so I hope they take it. Because it's on permafree, I'm able to be flexible about the date, too. Fingers crossed!


----------



## A past poster

Rosalind James said:


> Anybody have any other good places where they advertised a 99-cent promo? I've done Kindle Nation Daily as well, and that's worked, but I don't know which of the other sites are "go-to."


I had good luck with www.fkbooksandtips.com


----------



## Usedtoposthere

Marian said:


> I had good luck with www.fkbooksandtips.com


Thank you! I've written that down. I want a Plan B. I asked them yesterday morning & haven't heard back--last couple times it's been really quick. I've always done super well with them, but as we know, they have their own ideas. And I'm asking for a period around Valentine's Day--got to be a few other romance authors thinking a BookBub promo sounds good for that weekend! So--Plan B.


----------



## KellyHarper

TexasGirl said:


> I think it's worth it to get Smash to get it in BN for free. I sell a LOT of my sequels on BN and Apple based on the permafree. Do it TODAY. It takes a couple weeks to go up.


Grumble, I've been putting this off because I've come to abhor Smashwords. No reason in particular other than the meatgrinder is way more frustrating than warranted by their sales volume.

Have there been any changes over there? Can I just send them an ePub and be done with it, or do I still need to go the .doc route?


----------



## Dave Renol

You can send an epub.


----------



## KellyHarper

OK, so I have a general question about prioritizing potential book promos (I say potential, because BB has turned me down 2-3 times already, and I am at a loss for whatever their magic "OK, we'll list you now" word is.).

Here's what I've got in the series I'm expanding this year--

_The By You Series_
1 - Ruined By You - perma-free
2 - Saved By You - 3.99
3 - Following You - 0.99 (novella, not eligible)
4 - Following Me - full novel due out around the end of the month

Curious if people think it would be best to try and run some ads for #1 (it's been permafree nearly a week, and has been hovering between #50 and #100 in the Kindle store ever since -- and #50 in the UK -- all without much advertising effort), or if it would be better to try for a $0.99 promo on #2?

I'm also prepared to buy drinks for anyone who teaches me the Secret-BookBub-Handshake so I can be a part of the club.

Thanks, peeps!


----------



## Donna White Glaser

Does it usually take the full week to be rejected hear back from BB?


----------



## TexasGirl

Kelly, I would do ads on the permafree and cash in on book 2. You aren't going to make much on 99 cents #2. Your best bet is a boxed set, I think.

Donna -- it took me 8 days to hear from them in December.


----------



## KellyHarper

TexasGirl said:


> Kelly, I would do ads on the permafree and cash in on book 2. You aren't going to make much on 99 cents #2. Your best bet is a boxed set, I think.
> 
> Donna -- it took me 8 days to hear from them in December.


Thanks! I have a boxed set that I forgot to list, because it's priced at 5.99 and doesn't move any copies (first book is now free, and 2nd is 3.99).

I'm not sure how promo'ing the boxed set would be the best bet? Is there something I'm not seeing?

I was thinking the same about running some ads on the first book, though. It's been downloaded over 15,000 times in the last week without an real work on my part, and it's starting to have an impact on Book 2.

....now if I can only convinced BB it's a good idea, too....


----------



## Heather Walsh

Marian said:


> I had good luck with www.fkbooksandtips.com


I agree. I love advertising on that site. And Michael is a pleasure to work with, too.


----------



## TexasGirl

KellyHarper said:


> Thanks! I have a boxed set that I forgot to list, because it's priced at 5.99 and doesn't move any copies (first book is now free, and 2nd is 3.99).
> 
> I'm not sure how promo'ing the boxed set would be the best bet? Is there something I'm not seeing?
> 
> I was thinking the same about running some ads on the first book, though. It's been downloaded over 15,000 times in the last week without an real work on my part, and it's starting to have an impact on Book 2.
> 
> ....now if I can only convinced BB it's a good idea, too....


Run the Boxed Set on Bookbub. They like single-author sets. Get price back up as fast as possible to ride the wave.

I find more people go from the perma free #1 to the boxed set now than go to #2. I assume you pimp out the set at the end of the permafree. It's best if you do it by saying THE END on the SAME PAGE as the last line of the book and then go STRAIGHT into the image of the boxed set, no hard page turn.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

It can take all sorts of time to hear back. I just heard back *wipes brow* after a day and a half--for 99-cent promo (w/ Countdown) on Feb. 12. Time before this, it was a couple hours. Three or four times back, it took more than a week and a second email. I know it's taken others quite a while, too, for an acceptance. 

My list of other sites this time (being smarter about it, doing all the ads) is:
ENT
KBT
KND
POI (we'll see if they accept me!)
BookBlast
fkbooksandtips

At least one ad/day. If anybody has other suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

I'm doing a Countdown because I only have 3 books in this series (am promo-ing Book 2 because I have Book 3 coming out on Feb. 1, and I figure by 2/12 I should have some reviews ). I'm doing it for 5 days: 2/11 to 2/15. Trying to get some Valentine's Day push. (I like to do my BookBub promo on Day 2 of any run, because I like to be SURE there are no issues. I've never had issues, but I think I'd have a heart attack and die if I did.) And I did a free offer on Book 1 back at beginning of October. 

BUT--to answer another question posted by Kelly a few back--I've had my best luck in terms of movement of other books with "free." In your situation, especially with a book that's doing so well already in the free store, my inclination would be to push the free book and promote the boxed set at the end of it. Just my 2 cents.


----------



## EmilyG

EmilyG said:


> Historical Fiction - 99 cents (regularly $4.99)
> 
> Starting stats:
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #56,777 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> #22 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Asian


Here's the roundup for my Mom's BookBub ad on Tuesday.

Total sold: over 5000 (3600 Amazon, 1400 B&N, 25 Kobo)

#24 Amazon Best Sellers (#5 Historical Fiction)
#3 Barnes and Noble Top 100 Best Sellers

She stayed in the top 100 on Amazon until this morning where she is currently #160 (#220 in B&N).

I think having the ENT and KBT chaser ads on Wednesday helped keep it up in the charts. We are very, very happy with the results.


----------



## N. Gemini Sasson

EmilyG said:


> Here's the roundup for my Mom's BookBub ad on Tuesday.
> 
> Total sold: over 5000 (3600 Amazon, 1400 B&N, 25 Kobo)
> 
> #24 Amazon Best Sellers (#5 Historical Fiction)
> #3 Barnes and Noble Top 100 Best Sellers
> 
> She stayed in the top 100 on Amazon until this morning where she is currently #160 (#220 in B&N).
> 
> I think having the ENT and KBT chaser ads on Wednesday helped keep it up in the charts. We are very, very happy with the results.


Excellent results, Emily! I just happened to be browsing the top 100 and saw it.


----------



## Sonya Bateman

Thought I'd add my experience to the collection. 

BookBub ran my ad yesterday for my Select free book, Broken Angel. (located here for reference: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B76OXCC) It went free Wednesday and will remain free through Saturday.

As of this morning, I have a little over 19,000 downloads. My current ranks on Amazon:

#6 Free in Kindle Store 
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Suspense

I am a happy, happy person.


----------



## Donna White Glaser

Yay!! Just got accepted by BB for a feature on the 21st. AWESOME! It was the first time I applied, but this book has some strong factors going for it. Since going permafree, it's gotten a lot of (good) reviews, it's the first in the series, and I was completely open about dates. So excited!

Oh, and I had asked about how long it took for them to reply, so I'll answer my own question for future references--24 hours.


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## TexasGirl

You guys are rocking it!

I'll publish all my numbers next week when all the ads are done, but my Bookbub numbers for yesterday's 99 cents New Adult Romance list ($80, 80K subscribers, expected range 30-700):

660 Amazon
154 Nook
59 iTunes
8 Kobo
6 Google Play

about 890

Plus
150 of book 2 in the series at 2.99

If I had been in Countdown/Select, I would have made $462 on the sale book.
With all the retailers in play and no Select, I have made $312.

Of course, this book has made about $3000 on those other vendors prior to the sale, so no way would I give them up for Select, but just thought I'd show the numbers for those of you not selling on the other retailers.


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## 69959

I just received my first BB rejection.  Do I have to wait 2 weeks to submit another book or just the one they rejected? I think this one might not have had enough reviews (although according to their guidelines it does). Or maybe I need to put together a boxed set.


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## Usedtoposthere

Thanks all for your sharing. It is so helpful. 

Here's where I am, for the period around my 2/12 ad with BookBub for "Nothing Personal" (Countdown promo 2/11 through 2/15, 99 cents @ 70% royalty--decided on 5 days as 5-day free runs have always done really well for me):

2/11: BookGorilla: $150 for a "starred posting" (I did this with my last free promo, the day after the BookBub ad, and it seemed to help)
2/12: BookBub: $540 for Contemporary Romance 
2/13: Bookblast: $50
sometime: KND: Kindle Fire "sponsorship" ad: $99.99
2/15, fkbooksandtips: $25
Pixel of Ink: informed them; we'll see!

I passed on ENT, because they take 25% of your revenue, and I don't see any reason to give that up--basically, I'd be giving them part of the benefit I received from BookBub. I could see doing them if they were your only promo site.

(ETA: I submitted a request to advertise with ENT after getting the feedback below. I do wonder, though: their "no sexytimes!" rules seem to have gotten stricter. They did pick me up on my very first promo, I saw after the fact, but now their wording sounds like they only want "clean" romance. I guess they can do what they want, but aren't they leaving about, oh, 90% of Adult Contemp Romance $$ on the table? But OTOH, if they DO accept my ad--haven't heard yet--am I just setting myself up for 1-star "kinky sex-fest!" reviews, if that's their readership's taste?)

Guess we'll see!

$875 in all, without knowing about ENT. It's a lot, but I paid about that much to promo my last free run, and it paid off many times over. And this is my only real marketing expense.

I decided against doing the Countdown in the U.K. this time, but may change my mind. Last time, the results were underwhelming. Yeah, I sold some books, but fewer than 300 of the promo'd book. I've done a lot better with Free runs in the U.K. Maybe it's that I have no U.K. ads. Anybody have a good spot for this? I tried one place with my last Free promo, but they said I didn't have enough U.K. reviews on the book. (Ironically, it got to something like #3 Free in the U.K. store during its run. So much for that.)

Really hoping Amazon will promo me over V-Day, if I'm doing well. Again--we'll see! It's a really romantic book--fingers crossed.

Thanks again all for sharing where else you've promo'd. I'm going to be very interested to see how this one compares to my first Countdown promo, when I advertised only on BookBub. (Of course, this is a different book and a different time of year, so the comparison isn't really apples to apples, but still.)


----------



## Kathy Clark Author

Over the past two months these are things I have discovered about advertising my most recent 8 titles that have been released across 3 genres on 3 series and each with 15 to 20+ 4.5 stars and above reviews and several of the books that having won several first and second place book competition awards:

Just because BB has no books listed for a given genre for several days in a week is no reason to pick a book that outsold their expected sales the first time around 6 months earlier
eBookbuster and Best Books Free have proven to be a *total *fail
Book Gorilla and ENT performed better that BB
Bookblast is hard to do business with as they don't bother telling you they're not going to run your books. On the other hand they never ran four submittals I made for four different books

Just thought everyone might want so data.


----------



## Crime fighters

Rosalind James said:


> I passed on ENT, because they take 25% of your revenue, and I don't see any reason to give that up--basically, I'd be giving them part of the benefit I received from BookBub. I could see doing them if they were your only promo site.


ENT only takes 25% of the sales that their ad garners. So if you sold 3000 copies total, but only 100 from them, they would only take 25% of 100 sales. They have no way of knowing how many copies you sold, only how much they helped you sell.


----------



## djv1120

K.B. Nelson said:


> ENT only takes 25% of the sales that their ad garners. So if you sold 3000 copies total, but only 100 from them, they would only take 25% of 100 sales. They have no way of knowing how many copies you sold, only how much they helped you sell.


I was going to ask how they knew how many they sold, but I would guess they use their Amazon Affiliates link so they get a report of how many books were bought through their link. Is that right?


----------



## Crime fighters

I would assume that's how it is done.


----------



## Mark E. Cooper

Rosalind James said:


> I passed on ENT, because they take 25% of your revenue, and I don't see any reason to give that up--basically, I'd be giving them part of the benefit I received from BookBub. I could see doing them if they were your only promo site.


As a percentage, what would you estimate Bookbub take of revenue? I mean just as a "back of the envelope calculation" let's say your income would be $1000 and ENT take 25% = $250 Bookbub is $500+ So...? Bookbub takes 50% or am I looking at it wrong?

I use both these places BTW but not at the same time.


----------



## Mark E. Cooper

djv1120 said:


> I was going to ask how they knew how many they sold, but I would guess they use their Amazon Affiliates link so they get a report of how many books were bought through their link. Is that right?


Yes I think this is was they do. Follow on sales at other site and of other books on Amazon wouldn't count I suppose.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

K.B. Nelson said:


> ENT only takes 25% of the sales that their ad garners. So if you sold 3000 copies total, but only 100 from them, they would only take 25% of 100 sales. They have no way of knowing how many copies you sold, only how much they helped you sell.


Good to know!


----------



## Justawriter

Rosalind,

You may want to consider doing an ENT ad after the BB ad, to continue the momentum. ENT is one of the least expensive options out there and the second most effective behind Bookbub. I ran one on my romance that sold 486 books and cost me $42. I just ran an ENT ad yesterday on my mystery, TRUST, and it looks as though the results will end up about the same. I am a big fan of ENT!    They track by affiliate code and about a week after your promo they send you an invoice letting you know how many books sold and your final cost.

In comparison to Book Gorilla….which you are paying 150 for, for you to pay that much on ENT, you would need to sell 850 books (that's at your higher royalty rate as well). 

Do you think it's likely you'll sell that many via Book Gorilla? If not, that makes them more expensive. I suspect quite a bit more expensive as I haven't heard of people doing that well with them. I recently ran a Kindle Nation Daily .99 sponsorship that included a Book Gorilla ad and it did almost nothing. The $50 Bookblast.co ad I ran way out-performed it. I've done Bookblast.co twice now, once for the mystery and once for the romance and the results were consistent, about 150 books sold each time, which breaks even and gives a nice boost to the ranking, especially if you combine with another promo.

Maybe you will have better results doing a featured spot on Book Gorilla. I wonder if they have had some email glitches though, as I noticed that my daily emails from them stopped mid-December, so I had to sign on again to see my ad come through. I wouldn't have thought anything of it, but a friend said the same thing happened to her, which made us wonder if it was a factor in the poor results.


----------



## TexasGirl

Trust me, ENT is a very good deal. It always, hands down, turns out to be the cheapest per sale.

I have run three to five ads with all the majors in women's fiction, literary fiction, and romance.

Bookbub cost me between 30 and 110% of what I earned. (lost money 1 out of 4, others did okay, only 1 did well)
Bookblast cost me 90 to 150% of what I earned (lost money 4 out of 5.)
KBT cost me 75-150% of what I earned (also lost money 2 out of 3). I have one today -- we'll see.
ENT cost me between 15-20% since they only took 25% of those they counted (3 runs).

It's become a lot harder to get ENT, though. Nobody really talks about it, but I'm getting Bookbub more than ENT now.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

TexasGirl said:


> Trust me, ENT is a very good deal. It always, hands down, turns out to be the cheapest per sale.
> 
> I have run three to five ads with all the majors in women's fiction, literary fiction, and romance.
> 
> Bookbub cost me between 30 and 110% of what I earned. (lost money 1 out of 4, others did okay, only 1 did well)
> Bookblast cost me 90 to 150% of what I earned (lost money 4 out of 5.)
> KBT cost me 75-150% of what I earned (also lost money 2 out of 3). I have one today -- we'll see.
> ENT cost me between 15-20% since they only took 25% of those they counted (3 runs).
> 
> It's become a lot harder to get ENT, though. Nobody really talks about it, but I'm getting Bookbub more than ENT now.


Thanks for the feedback. My one-and-only 99-cent promo with BookBub, I got about 3,000 sales on the BB day, so that worked out to about $2,000, which more than justified the (then) $500 cost. I've only used BookGorilla for a free promo, but I did get about 15,000 downloads on the BG day, so they seem worth doing. I do think the "starred promo" helped. 
For ENT, if they did half what BookBub did with my last 99-center, I'd expect 1,500 sales that day, which would be $250-which is why I was balking. But since, as you say, they only charge you for the sales that come from their site, I wouldn't expect it to be that much. (Did not realize that! Thank you!)

Of course, the big money isn't what you make ON the sale, it's what you make AFTER the sale. My last free promo earned me $20K for the following month over & above what I'd been making. The 99-cent promo is probably going to be more in the neighborhood of $15K, but better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick! In either case, throwing a little extra money around to do all the promos, even if $50 here or there may be "wasted," seems like a good bet. Promoting my promos, at this point, is the only marketing expense I do.

I will go to ENT and see if they'll run me for Valentine's Day or the day after. Many thanks for the feedback!
ETA: Requested. We'll see what happens...


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## Bookside Manner

Does anyone know what sort of books show up in BookBub's "general nonfiction" category? Later this year I'm publishing a book of geeky film reviews, and I'm wondering if it's even worth querying BookBub. (Ye gods, it's like high school all over again - "well, the worst he can say is 'no'.")


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## N. Gemini Sasson

I have a BB ad set to run Monday 1-20. Dropped my price on Amazon and via D2D late on 1-16. Amazon discount went into effect within hours, but _nothing's happening at D2D_.  I checked my dashboard and re-saved it yesterday (maybe I shouldn't have, but my first thought was that I'd forgotten to save the changes).

I've always had price changes go through for B&N and Apple within a day at D2D, slightly longer for Kobo, so I'm freaking out a bit. HF is a very expensive category and I'm counting on the B&N and Apple sales to help. I sent a message to D2D to see if there was some hold up. I thought 4 days would have been plenty of time.

_ETA: D2D replied within an hour and said they'd manually put it through and check on it tomorrow for me. _


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## Donna White Glaser

Getting nervous! My ad runs tomorrow for my permafree. I keep telling myself, "Don't get your hopes up. Don't get your hopes up." 
It's not working.


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## Usedtoposthere

Donna White Glaser said:


> Getting nervous! My ad runs tomorrow for my permafree. I keep telling myself, "Don't get your hopes up. Don't get your hopes up."
> It's not working.


I'm always a basket case. My first promo, I sat on the couch ALL WEEKEND and refreshed. I try to promo when I'm not writing a book, because the book-writing goes out the window. Or I resign myself that I won't be that productive.

Best of luck! If anybody has a track record, it's BookBub. Bet you'll do great.


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## BlankPage

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## Donna White Glaser

Rosalind James said:


> I'm always a basket case. My first promo, I sat on the couch ALL WEEKEND and refreshed. I try to promo when I'm not writing a book, because the book-writing goes out the window. Or I resign myself that I won't be that productive.


This is it exactly! I have the morning off and told myself the only thing I have control over is my writing, but I've realized I don't even have that because I can't concentrate! Oh, well. My kid has solo ensemble at school this afternoon and I work tomorrow, so I'll be more occupied then. Thanks for the kind words, Rosalind! I've been reading back through the posts and you are a wonderful cheerleader/resource here!


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## Donna White Glaser

Estelle Ryan said:


> I have no words of wisdom, except make sure to stock up on your super-comfort food/beverage. And get ready for a fun ride. I hope you have a great run!


What a fine excuse reason to stock up on the goodies! Thanks!


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## Tricia O&#039;

Kelly Cozy said:


> Does anyone know what sort of books show up in BookBub's "general nonfiction" category? Later this year I'm publishing a book of geeky film reviews, and I'm wondering if it's even worth querying BookBub. (Ye gods, it's like high school all over again - "well, the worst he can say is 'no'.")


I'm not entirely sure what their exact guidelines for "general nonfiction" are. However, I've submitted The Stolen Dog (a true story of our dog being stolen and how he was recovered) and it has been accepted twice. The first time for free and the second time at .99.


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## Donna White Glaser

My BB promo is running! Enemy started out this morning w/ a ranking of #1400 (it fluctuates between 12-14K most days) and it's had 12K downloads already! The pricing pae on BB's site says average is ~18K so I'm thinking I'm on track. Ranking is #970 at 2pm.    Not sure I love the blurb since it gives away a plot point, but I suspect I won't care about it too much when all is said and done. 
Whee!


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## Usedtoposthere

Donna White Glaser said:


> My BB promo is running! Enemy started out this morning w/ a ranking of #1400 (it fluctuates between 12-14K most days) and it's had 12K downloads already! The pricing pae on BB's site says average is ~18K so I'm thinking I'm on track. Ranking is #970 at 2pm.  Not sure I love the blurb since it gives away a plot point, but I suspect I won't care about it too much when all is said and done.
> Whee!


That's great! Are you on the couch hitting the "refresh" button, or are you actually being productive? (If so, mucho kudos to you!)


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## Donna White Glaser

Ha! Productive.    I've got 3 tabs open- the first to KDP, of course, the second to my AMZ page so I can watch the rank that never moves, and the third to Kboards. So, I'm not only refreshing, I'm multi-refreshing.


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## Usedtoposthere

Donna White Glaser said:


> Ha! Productive.  I've got 3 tabs open- the first to KDP, of course, the second to my AMZ page so I can watch the rank that never moves, and the third to Kboards. So, I'm not only refreshing, I'm multi-refreshing.


  Oh, so been there!


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## Donna White Glaser

It's a sickness.


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## Bookside Manner

My friends and family are daring me to give up checking my KDP reports for Lent. This wouldn't be so bad, but I'm trying for a BookBub in April. This could get ugly.


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## Usedtoposthere

Donna White Glaser said:


> It's a sickness.


Just looked at your book: #37 Free in the Kindle store! Whoo-hoo!


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## Donna White Glaser

Rosalind James said:


> Just looked at your book: #37 Free in the Kindle store! Whoo-hoo!


Eeeeee! Just scared the crap out of my sleeping cat. She gave me such a dirty look. The dog is happy for me though.


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## Heather Walsh

You are number 5 now. Congrats!


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## Donna White Glaser

I'm breathless!


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## BlankPage

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## Usedtoposthere

Estelle Ryan said:


> #3!!!!!! Congrats, Donna. Ooh, I'm doing a little happy dance for you. Now you'll need that comfort food/beverage to _*celebrate*_!


I just looked! Are you just running around the house screaming like a madwoman? Especially for a non-romance book ... AWESOME.


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## BlankPage

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## J.D.W.

Great Donna--fun, huh?  
I just got accepted by BookBub this morning for Feb 17.  It took them eight days to accept me, which makes me wonder....
But they did, so I'm thrilled.  
But Rosalind, I saw your post about doing Gorilla the day before and I thought--what a good idea.  But they insist on 5 reviews, which I haven't got.  So I guess I'll try to find someone else. Reviews!  They are so hard to get!


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## Usedtoposthere

ninjac said:


> Great Donna--fun, huh?
> I just got accepted by BookBub this morning for Feb 17. It took them eight days to accept me, which makes me wonder....
> But they did, so I'm thrilled.
> But Rosalind, I saw your post about doing Gorilla the day before and I thought--what a good idea. But they insist on 5 reviews, which I haven't got. So I guess I'll try to find someone else. Reviews! They are so hard to get!


Took them that long to accept me one time, too. I don't think it means much.

Maybe try one of the other outfits for the day before?


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## Guest

Yep, #3 in the Kindle Store - Fantastic number!!!!!!


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## natsaw

Okay, newbie kboarder here. Just discovered this board and have been loving all the advice and commodore!

So, I have a question for those that did Bookbub for their book 2 or 3 in their book series. Did you put the books in the series that preceded the BB deal book on sale as well? Or did you keep it at regular price? My book 2 in my series was just accepted on Bookbub. Should I also change book 1 from $2.99 to $.99 for the sale? Or should I keep it at $2.99? I'm torn between the two routes and wanted to see what others have done and what worked. 

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! It's my first BB and I'm so excited, but so clueless!


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## Donna White Glaser

For someone who's supposed to be able to communicate with clarity and efficiency, I'm pretty much reduced to rocking in my chair and smiling. Lots of smiling. 
Thanks for the good thoughts everyone!  My family is happy for me but they don't really understand it and my f2f writers group has been completely mum during this roller-coaster. Kinda sad about that. 


Adding: Just passed the 30K mark. Wowza!


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## Shayne Parkinson

Hurrah, Donna! That's great!


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## Usedtoposthere

natsaw said:


> Okay, newbie kboarder here. Just discovered this board and have been loving all the advice and commodore!
> 
> So, I have a question for those that did Bookbub for their book 2 or 3 in their book series. Did you put the books in the series that preceded the BB deal book on sale as well? Or did you keep it at regular price? My book 2 in my series was just accepted on Bookbub. Should I also change book 1 from $2.99 to $.99 for the sale? Or should I keep it at $2.99? I'm torn between the two routes and wanted to see what others have done and what worked.
> 
> Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! It's my first BB and I'm so excited, but so clueless!


Keep the other books priced normally. The idea is that people will read the one, and then a certain percentage will pick up the others. You've hooked them with your bargain book. They WANT to read the others now. No need to reduce price on the others.


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## natsaw

Rosalind James said:


> Keep the other books priced normally. The idea is that people will read the one, and then a certain percentage will pick up the others. You've hooked them with your bargain book. They WANT to read the others now. No need to reduce price on the others.


Thanks!!!


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## Donna White Glaser

OK, here's the Day After report: Enemy is at 35,400 downloads, it's still at #3 on the Free List and I've sold 11 of the next two in the series so far.    Of course, the latter are the numbers I hope to see really take off. That might take a bit, since I know not everyone reads the freebie right away. I have stopped gibbering in the corner, but I'm still smiling. I'll check back in a few days to give another update. Thanks to all for the lovely virtual hand-holding!


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## Writer1000

Congrats, Donna! Great result.


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## Heather Walsh

Congrats, Donna! That is an amazing results. Good for you!

The Drake Equation is running tomorrow on the Women's Fiction list for 99 cents. Fingers crossed! And I just found out that Drake was selected for ENT BOTD for Feb 24th. Woo!


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## Usedtoposthere

Heather Walsh said:


> Congrats, Donna! That is an amazing results. Good for you!
> 
> The Drake Equation is running tomorrow on the Women's Fiction list for 99 cents. Fingers crossed! And I just found out that Drake was selected for ENT BOTD for Feb 24th. Woo!


That's great, Heather! Please post how it does with both! I'll be very interested.
I haven't heard back from ENT. I'm guessing I may have too many sexyfeels for them. Sigh....


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## Heather Walsh

Rosalind James said:


> That's great, Heather! Please post how it does with both! I'll be very interested.
> I haven't heard back from ENT. I'm guessing I may have too many sexyfeels for them. Sigh....


Thanks Rosalind. I will let you know! And if they are just announcing Feb for ENT, I wouldn't blame the sexyfeels yet--there are still lots of slots left. Good luck!


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## Donna White Glaser

Heather Walsh said:


> Congrats, Donna! That is an amazing results. Good for you!
> 
> The Drake Equation is running tomorrow on the Women's Fiction list for 99 cents. Fingers crossed! And I just found out that Drake was selected for ENT BOTD for Feb 24th. Woo!


Very cool, Heather. Best of luck!


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## Heather Walsh

Donna White Glaser said:


> Very cool, Heather. Best of luck!


Thanks Donna! Hope you see lots of residual sales from all those downloads


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## Donna White Glaser

The residual sales are starting to trickle in already. Yay! Also, Enemy is still at #8 on the Free list and just squeaked past 42K downloads. I love Bookbub.


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## Justawriter

I was just rejected for a BookBub ad for my romance.   Is there a certain length of time they like to see a book out before agreeing to a promo? I'm guessing maybe it hasn't been long enough for me, and it's a tough category, contemporary romance.


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## BBGriffith

I was accepted for a bookbub ad for my box set priced at 2.99 from $9, and I wanted to see if anyone had success with the $2.99 price point and what people's experiences were. I know there are a lot of schools of thought surrounding bookbub discounts, and I think the prevailing one is that if you're discounting, you should discount to .99c all the time, box set or no, because you're not trying to make money, you're trying to move copies. But here's my reasoning for 2.99:

1.) I have a permafree loss leader for the first book in the series, but the others are priced at 4.99 and I'm trying to foster an acceptance of that price point for my writing. I think it's slowly working, but I think .99c for the whole thing might undercut that. 

2.) I've had a .99c discount on one book in this series, and it seems weird to then do a .99c discount for three.

2.) This box set is all of my current books. I have no carry-over sales potential for other work, so driving sales from the box set to other stuff isn't a factor for me.

3.) I'm not really trying to make money either. If I can make most of the ad money back I'll be excited. I more want to see if/how a 2.99 discount is received versus a .99c discount.  

Any thoughts? I'll be sure to share my results with you guys as well.


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## Donna White Glaser

BBGriffith, I think your reasoning is sound.


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## Usedtoposthere

Makes sense to me too. Try it and see. All any of us can do is experiment.


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## phil1861

For those who've had them accept: the 90 day price requirement. I ran a bargain period in December. Price is back to 2.99. Do they require a 90 day stability prior to the submission or for the time frame you're requesting, i.e. a request for a promo to run in two months? 

Is it too soon to submit or do I wait another two months?


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## Shaun Jeffrey

I have my fourth Bookbub promo planned, this time for my Prosper Snow Series on January 28th. This is comprised of two books, The Kult and Killers. Had good results with both books individually, so it'll be interesting to see how the set does, especially as those who wanted the books might have already bought them previously individually! Down from $5.99 to $0.99


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## KevinH

Ran my first Bookbub ad yesterday - a $0.99 promo for my novel _Sensation_. The book started out ranked at about 4,000 with a regular price tag of $3.99. At present, it is ranked as follows:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #266 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Superhero
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Coming of Age
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Romance

Needless to say, I am quite pleased with the results and look forward to using Bookbub again.


----------



## Donna White Glaser

Thanks for the report on the 99c promo, Kevin. I'm interested in running one in a few months for the 2nd in my series, but I don't want to do free.


----------



## Christy777

Kevin!



> Ran my first Bookbub ad yesterday - a $0.99 promo for my novel Sensation. The book started out ranked at about 4,000 with a regular price tag of $3.99. At present, it is ranked as follows:
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #266 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Superhero
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Coming of Age
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Romance


WOOT! Congratulations! From 4,000 up to the 200s, and it's only just after 7am here in Calif.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

KevinH said:


> Ran my first Bookbub ad yesterday - a $0.99 promo for my novel _Sensation_. The book started out ranked at about 4,000 with a regular price tag of $3.99. At present, it is ranked as follows:
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #266 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Superhero
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Coming of Age
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Romance
> 
> Needless to say, I am quite pleased with the results and look forward to using Bookbub again.


Congratulations! Great result!


----------



## KevinH

Thanks everyone for your kind words. It was all the people generously sharing their results here that encouraged me to give it a try, so my thanks to all.


----------



## Donna White Glaser

I agree. This thread is a blessing.  to all!


----------



## Susanne O

KevinH said:


> Ran my first Bookbub ad yesterday - a $0.99 promo for my novel _Sensation_. The book started out ranked at about 4,000 with a regular price tag of $3.99. At present, it is ranked as follows:
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #266 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Superhero
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Coming of Age
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Romance
> 
> Needless to say, I am quite pleased with the results and look forward to using Bookbub again.


Woohoo! That's brilliant! Congratulations.

I have to say I feel that my whole writing career has seen a huge turnaround since my own Bookbub promo in early December. Not only did I get close to 60K downloads and raced to the #1 spot in free in four hours on the first day, but post-promo sales have been great and I have also raised my profile considerably.

I have now 124 reviews on that book, most of them positive (they keep coming in still) and I have increased my readership enormously. In dribs and drabs, I get lovely e-mails from readers and also requests to be added to my e-mailing list. Plus a couple of new likes every day on my FB author page I started a few weeks ago. All my other books have seen more sales too.

Very, vary happy with all of that!


----------



## 13893

I have a BookBub at today for my permafree book Space Junque -Apocalypto 1. I feel odd about it - I'm in the "don't pay to advertise a free book" camp - but I'm interested to see how it goes. Will report back.


----------



## Donna White Glaser

I know the feeling, but for me it was certainly worth it. I wouldn't have done it before having at least 2 sequels out, though. My BB ad ran on Tues and I'm starting to see some nice sales on the other two. 
Good luck on yours!


----------



## Usedtoposthere

LKRigel said:


> I have a BookBub at today for my permafree book Space Junque -Apocalypto 1. I feel odd about it - I'm in the "don't pay to advertise a free book" camp - but I'm interested to see how it goes. Will report back.


Good luck! And nothing convinces like money! Hope you get lots of sales out of your ad.


----------



## Heather Walsh

LKRigel said:


> I have a BookBub at today for my permafree book Space Junque -Apocalypto 1. I feel odd about it - I'm in the "don't pay to advertise a free book" camp - but I'm interested to see how it goes. Will report back.


Good luck--you and I will be refreshing constantly together today!


----------



## Donna White Glaser

My book's rank 3 days after BB promo.   

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery > Series
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Women Sleuths


----------



## Usedtoposthere

Heather Walsh said:


> Good luck--you and I will be refreshing constantly together today!


I just looked, Heather--#6014! And it's not even 10:00 here yet!


----------



## Donna White Glaser

And LKRigel closing in w/ 7454 and #45 in Sci Fi!  Way to go, ladies! BTW, I love the covers on both of your promos.


----------



## 13893

Thanks.  I know KDP lags in reporting, but Space Junque has had 2199 downloads so far. It's in the Fantasy category, btw.

EDIT: 7454 was the starting rank, I'm sure that will improve


----------



## Donna White Glaser

That's a good rank to be starting out with. Very cool!


----------



## Heather Walsh

Rosalind James said:


> I just looked, Heather--#6014! And it's not even 10:00 here yet!


That ranking is because of a few smaller promos I did to get the book in good position for the BookBub ad. I will keep you posted on what happens from here! I'm nervous.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

Heather Walsh said:


> That ranking is because of a few smaller promos I did to get the book in good position for the BookBub ad. I will keep you posted on what happens from here! I'm nervous.
> 
> [/quote
> If you got that far with smaller promos, it's going to do great. But I know. I'm always SO nervous that it'll fall with a dull thud. But it won't.


----------



## Heather Walsh

Rosalind James said:


> If you got that far with smaller promos, it's going to do great. But I know. I'm always SO nervous that it'll fall with a dull thud. But it won't.


Thank you, Rosalind! You are such a helpful and supportive member of the boards. So glad you are here.


----------



## 13893

Heather Walsh said:


> That ranking is because of a few smaller promos I did to get the book in good position for the BookBub ad. I will keep you posted on what happens from here! I'm nervous.


Your cover looks great in the ad. Good luck!


----------



## 13893

wow - Amazon is updating more quickly today. Space Junque is 43 in the free store.

EDIT - hm. it says #43 in Author Central, but not on the product page.


----------



## Donna White Glaser

So, AC give you a sneak peek, huh? That's cool.


----------



## 13893

I guess updates populate through the system in waves. It's showing now. That's a pretty good jump. It's "only" had 6095 downloads.


----------



## B. Ashcroft

Heather have you tried emailing Amazon about your ranking perhaps being stuck?  Maybe also ask them to add you to a few other categories so you can be on multiple lists?  Just wanted to come out of lurking on this thread and say I'm here cheering for you and everyone else with a Bookbub. I picked up The Drake Equation because it's just my type and also because the cover is AH-mazing! Who did it?


----------



## Usedtoposthere

B. Ashcroft said:


> Heather have you tried emailing Amazon about your ranking perhaps being stuck? Maybe also ask them to add you to a few other categories so you can be on multiple lists? Just wanted to come out of lurking on this thread and say I'm here cheering for you and everyone else with a Bookbub. I picked up The Drake Equation because it's just my type and also because the cover is AH-mazing! Who did it?


I've noticed at times when I've been looking . . . and looking . . . and looking (namely, during promos!) that the rankings of Paid and Free update differently, and that it can often be three hours or more between updates. Which is really frustrating when you're on your way up the rankings, but terrific when you're on your way down and you can hold onto that high ranking a couple hours longer.


----------



## B. Ashcroft

Rosalind James said:


> I've noticed at times when I've been looking . . . and looking . . . and looking (namely, during promos!) that the rankings of Paid and Free update differently, and that it can often be three hours or more between updates. Which is really frustrating when you're on your way up the rankings, but terrific when you're on your way down and you can hold onto that high ranking a couple hours longer.


Yes, this. But it can't hurt to check in with the powers that be, right? I'm sure that sometime this evening she'll see a huge leap, but hopefully sooner than later.


----------



## Heather Walsh

B. Ashcroft said:


> Heather have you tried emailing Amazon about your ranking perhaps being stuck? Maybe also ask them to add you to a few other categories so you can be on multiple lists? Just wanted to come out of lurking on this thread and say I'm here cheering for you and everyone else with a Bookbub. I picked up The Drake Equation because it's just my type and also because the cover is AH-mazing! Who did it?


Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. Damon at damonza.com designed it and I just love it.

I agree with Rosalind. I've been monitoring the women's fiction 99-cent selections over the past month and none of them refresh into later in the day. I am refreshing a lot


----------



## 13893

Space Junque is permafree, and they're running it today.


----------



## Heather Walsh

Good luck, LK!

Amazon just updated:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,293 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#18 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Literary Fiction > Women's Fiction
#78 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Romance

And BN is #135 in the store. So far so good!


----------



## JRTomlin

I wonder if I will ever be able to look at the subject of this thread without my sarcasm kicking in and thinking, "No! No one here has ever used Bookbub."


----------



## Zoe Cannon

My BookBub ad for The Torturer's Daughter (YA dystopian) ran on Wednesday.

By the end of Wednesday, the book had sold 500 copies. (About a quarter of which were from B&N.) Adding in sales from yesterday and today, it's sold 750.

That is _insane_  For perspective, up until the promo, TTD had sold a total of 14 copies this month. It's sold more in the past three days than it did during my entire first year of publishing.

On Wednesday night, it hit #350 in the Kindle store. (It started with a rank somewhere around 120k.) It also made it up to #6 in Dystopian and #18 in Teen Science Fiction. (And #46 in Nonfiction...)


----------



## Heather Walsh

I am very happy with my promo. Sold about 600 copies and more coming in as we speak 

400 on Amazon
150 on B&N
33 on itunes
3 google play
2 kobo


Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #386 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#4 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Literary Fiction > Women's Fiction
#24 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Romance
#29 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction > Women's Fiction

I also made it to #89 on BN list.

I did not get the huge results that many of you do, but because my novel was more of a Romance listed on the Women's Fiction list, I wasn't expecting them. I am very pleased with all of my new readers and exposure. I love BookBub! And now I have ENT BOTD coming up on Feb 24 to continue the momentum.  Yeah!


----------



## Herman

Wow, congratulations that sounds impressive. The questions remains, how much that promo costed you and how much it did return. Any clue yet?


----------



## Heather Walsh

Herman said:


> Wow, congratulations that sounds impressive. The questions remains, how much that promo costed you and how much it did return. Any clue yet?


Thanks! The ad cost $320. When I raise it back to 2.99 while my ranking while is still high, I should see more returns from it. I have BookBlast running on Monday, and then I'll put it back to 2.99. Even if I don't make my money back, I am more than happy with all my new readers and exposure. There just doesn't seem a better way to do that than BookBub. I love them!


----------



## Cege Smith

Congrats on the results, everyone! 

I was looking at my sales report for B&N this morning, and realized that I actually sold more there in December than I did on Amazon (January has been a blur). I didn't do any promo in December, so those results were the tail from my Shadows box set BB promo in November (A $0.99 promo and it went back to full price at $5.99 3 days after the ad). I made it into the top 20 on B&N and it's still ranked right around 10,000 as of this morning (2 -1/2 months later). Amazon is the flash in the pan, but B&N is the slow burn that definitely shouldn't be counted out.


----------



## Miriam Minger

Yes, and overall satisfied with the results.

Miriam Minger


----------



## 13893

For my BookBub ad yesterday for Space Junque, it was #12 in the free store when I checked thi morning with a total of 11533 downloads as of this morning. 

The ad cost $90. I didn't make the money back on sales of Spiderwork and Firebird, but I did see a bump in their sales, plus I sold 6 omnis - which I usually sell that many in a month. 

I'm interested to see what the residual effect is on a permafree.


----------



## Donna White Glaser

LKRigel said:


> I didn't make the money back on sales of Spiderwork and Firebird, but I did see a bump in their sales, plus I sold 6 omnis - which I usually sell that many in a month.
> 
> I'm interested to see what the residual effect is on a permafree.


I had a bit of a lag in selling the 2nd and 3rd books, too, and I think that only makes sense. People are going to read the 1st before spending on the next ones. So factor in "reading time" before discounting your earned back monies. My 2 & 3 have gone from ~4-6/day (for both, not each) to triple that the day of and day after the promo, then 20/day before yesterday and 26 yesterday.

I don't believe you can really know what sales originate from the 1st freebie, because some people have TBR piles and can take months before sorting through to ours.


----------



## 13893

Donna White Glaser said:


> I had a bit of a lag in selling the 2nd and 3rd books, too, and I think that only makes sense. People are going to read the 1st before spending on the next ones. So factor in "reading time" before discounting your earned back monies. My 2 & 3 have gone from ~4-6/day (for both, not each) to triple that the day of and day after the promo, then 20/day before yesterday and 26 yesterday.
> 
> I don't believe you can really know what sales originate from the 1st freebie, because some people have TBR piles and can take months before sorting through to ours.


Donna, that's a nice result!


----------



## Donna White Glaser

I agree wholeheartedly, LK! I'm so hugely grateful to BB. I'm excited to see what happens after I get the 4th book up and then I want to run a 99c promo on the second. Or I might do a boxed set with all for. 
SO. DANG. EXCITING!


----------



## laceysilks

I can't tell you how much I appreciate your excitement and numbers in this thread. I've been rejected by BookBub several times, but they've finally accepted my NA/ER book "Layers Deep" for a promo on Feb 5th. And I don't want to even hope of what this sale could mean (going from $2.99 to $0.99) because I don't want to be disappointed. So far, my luck in publishing has always been so that something happened to stop a momentum (algorithm change or stupid me making a file update a week after publication).

So having this promotion means a lot and I'm glad I'm not the only nervous/excited one about BookBub. 

Cheers!


----------



## Anne Frasier

i'm probably going to really regret this, but i'm doing a BB 1.99 ad today for a memoir. i think i paid over 500 for it (price has gone up to 630 now).


----------



## laceysilks

I see their prices increase as the number of subscribers does for the specific category. So at least they're not increasing them without cause. I'm not counting on the promo to make the money back, but I'm hoping the spillover to the second book in the trilogy and the prequel will. We'll see.


----------



## 13893

Anne Frasier (Theresa Weir) said:


> i'm probably going to really regret this, but i'm doing a BB 1.99 ad today for a memoir. i think i paid over 500 for it (price has gone up to 630 now).


I haven't got my newsletter yet, but if it's The Man Who Left, I hope it sells a TON. I love that book!


----------



## 13893

laceysilks said:


> I see their prices increase as the number of subscribers does for the specific category. So at least they're not increasing them without cause. I'm not counting on the promo to make the money back, but I'm hoping the spillover to the second book in the trilogy and the prequel will. We'll see.


Having a 2nd and 3rd book out in the same series is great - you should do fine, esp if you're also at B&N.


----------



## Anne Frasier

JRTomlin said:


> I wonder if I will ever be able to look at the subject of this thread without my sarcasm kicking in and thinking, "No! No one here has ever used Bookbub."


i can now report that this comment continues to delight me with every visit to this thread.


----------



## Anne Frasier

LKRigel said:


> I haven't got my newsletter yet, but if it's The Man Who Left, I hope it sells a TON. I love that book!


yes and thanks.  i really don't know why i did the 1.99 thing. i guess i just wanted to test it. it was kind of an impulsive thing.


----------



## 13893

Anne Frasier (Theresa Weir) said:


> yes and thanks.  i really don't know why i did the 1.99 thing. i guess i just wanted to test it. it was kind of an impulsive thing.


1.99 just seems weird in people's brains! On the other hand, for this book it's a good discount so it will probably work great.


----------



## Cege Smith

Good luck, Anne! Geez, though. $500 is  . I'm still playing in the BB minor leagues with my genres.

For a bit of a perspective on the permafree question and follow-on sales: I ran a BB promo on my permafree Heiress of Lies on Jan. 1st. I have books 2 & 3 out, with book 4 on the way in February.

I've had just under 20,000 downloads so far for the month (15,000 those first few days), and since then on Amazon, B&N, and Apple:
Book 2- 424 sales
Book 3- 330 sales

I've also gotten about 45 new subscribers to my email list and had quite a few comments on my blog asking about book 4. 

Previous to the promo, I was getting about 1500 downloads per month on the permafree, and probably 2-3 sales a day on book two, with a sales a day on book 3.


----------



## Anne Frasier

cegesmith said:


> Good luck, Anne! Geez, though. $500 is . I'm still playing in the BB minor leagues with my genres.
> 
> For a bit of a perspective on the permafree question and follow-on sales: I ran a BB promo on my permafree Heiress of Lies on Jan. 1st. I have books 2 & 3 out, with book 4 on the way in February.
> 
> I've had just under 20,000 downloads so far for the month (15,000 those first few days), and since then on Amazon, B&N, and Apple:
> Book 2- 424 sales
> Book 3- 330 sales
> 
> I've also gotten about 45 new subscribers to my email list and had quite a few comments on my blog asking about book 4.
> 
> Previous to the promo, I was getting about 1500 downloads per month on the permafree, and probably 2-3 sales a day on book two, with a sales a day on book 3.


those are great results!!!

looks like i'm going to at least break even on my 1.99 ad. phew.


----------



## Bookside Manner

A month later, I am still seeing bump from my December BookBub. I just took a closer look at the latest numbers Smashwords fed me from B&N (where my sales were always fairly poky before) and I'm seeing a slow-but-steady trickle in sales, primarily for the backlist books. I'm taking this as a good sign that people liked the book that was being promo'd to the point where they're coughing up full price for my other books. It probably helps that I finally have some customer reviews on B&N.


----------



## Maia Sepp Ross

Rosalind James said:


> I haven't heard back from ENT. I'm guessing I may have too many sexyfeels for them. Sigh....


May I just say that I don't think you can ever have too many sexyfeels.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

maiasepp said:


> May I just say that I don't think you can ever have too many sexyfeels.


Well, that's how *I* feel!


----------



## wildwitchof

*sneaking in to join ENT discussion re: sexyfeels*

How prudish _are_ they? Their submission info is very strict, yet they advertise romances that I know have lots o' sexyfeels. I submitted my least-hot book (the one I wrote last year after getting the first reviews saying my books were shockingly graphic (they're not)). I'm wondering if somebody over there is reading through it right now, judging each kiss. Like they do at Apple before they upload to iTunes (this is my imagination and I hope it's true.)

*returning to Bookbub conversation*

I'm glad, Anne, that your $1.99 memoir will at least break even. I'm a little uneasy about my ad for a newly permafree title on 1/30. It's been free for 2 weeks already, had a huge streak to #21 Free (US Kindle), and is sinking fast. My concern is that it's so soon after its first spike, Bookbub might not be as effective. Ah well! At least I got it free on BN as of yesterday, thanks to the advice here (and from a friend.) The only sales I've seen on BN have been because of Bookbub. It was a shocker to see, yes, there are people shopping over there!


----------



## Justawriter

Regarding ENT….I just had a friend get accepted there and she writes erotica….very hot stuff.  So, I'd go ahead and try, odds are good you'll get accepted.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

Gretchen Galway said:


> *sneaking in to join ENT discussion re: sexyfeels*
> 
> How prudish _are_ they? Their submission info is very strict, yet they advertise romances that I know have lots o' sexyfeels. I submitted my least-hot book (the one I wrote last year after getting the first reviews saying my books were shockingly graphic (they're not)). I'm wondering if somebody over there is reading through it right now, judging each kiss. Like they do at Apple before they upload to iTunes (this is my imagination and I hope it's true.)
> 
> *returning to Bookbub conversation*
> 
> I'm glad, Anne, that your $1.99 memoir will at least break even. I'm a little uneasy about my ad for a newly permafree title on 1/30. It's been free for 2 weeks already, had a huge streak to #21 Free (US Kindle), and is sinking fast. My concern is that it's so soon after its first spike, Bookbub might not be as effective. Ah well! At least I got it free on BN as of yesterday, thanks to the advice here (and from a friend.) The only sales I've seen on BN have been because of Bookbub. It was a shocker to see, yes, there are people shopping over there!


Re ENT: I don't know. My first-ever free Select promo, Sept. 2012, they picked the book up, I found out later. For my second promo--same book--I asked for an ad, which was cheap at the time, and said in my email, "Hey, I know you say no sex, but you picked my book up before." And they said, no problem.

But now their guidelines sound SO, well, Amish, I just don't know. My sex is likewise not graphic a bit, starts a good 50% of the way through the book, and consists of three good scenes and some references per 100K-word book. Not ezzackly erotic romance, in other words. But I do get plenty of review comments on the steam, mostly positive, but including a few ladies who might want to look for that horse & buggy on the cover next time. Steam (and "kink," for that matter) is so much in the eye of the beholder--who knows?

Last time I asked them for a promo--on a book that, yes, has steam, but absolutely zero kink, they never got back to me. That was the one that got to #32 in the paid store during the 99-cent promo. At the time I asked, it was I think #2,000-something, had about 125 reviews and a 4.7-star average. So--yeah. What the heck else could it be besides the steam? Dunno, but I'm crossing them off my list. They don't want me. Fine. I'm taking my potato chips and going home. (Marilyn Monroe, "The Seven-Year Itch.")

(Apologies for thread derail. But here comes the train, circling back around: I think I'll stick with BookBub.)


----------



## RJ Kennett

BookBub is running now on my $0.99 Countdown price. Almost 400 sales since the newsletter landed, about 8 hours ago. Of course, it took Amazon 6 hours to bother updating my rank...   ...but they finally did...   ...and I'm still moving. Full report in a few days.


----------



## Justawriter

Rosalind James said:


> Re ENT: I don't know. My first-ever free Select promo, Sept. 2012, they picked the book up, I found out later. For my second promo--same book--I asked for an ad, which was cheap at the time, and said in my email, "Hey, I know you say no sex, but you picked my book up before." And they said, no problem.
> 
> But now their guidelines sound SO, well, Amish, I just don't know. My sex is likewise not graphic a bit, starts a good 50% of the way through the book, and consists of three good scenes and some references per 100K-word book. Not ezzackly erotic romance, in other words. But I do get plenty of review comments on the steam, mostly positive, but including a few ladies who might want to look for that horse & buggy on the cover next time. Steam (and "kink," for that matter) is so much in the eye of the beholder--who knows?
> 
> Last time I asked them for a promo--on a book that, yes, has steam, but absolutely zero kink, they never got back to me. That was the one that got to #32 in the paid store during the 99-cent promo. At the time I asked, it was I think #2,000-something, had about 125 reviews and a 4.7-star average. So--yeah. What the heck else could it be besides the steam? Dunno, but I'm crossing them off my list. They don't want me. Fine. I'm taking my potato chips and going home. (Marilyn Monroe, "The Seven-Year Itch.")


Rosalind,

My friends book is WAY steamier than yours! If anything, I suspect they may have just been overwhelmed and missed your email. They are very nice, I wouldn't rule them out.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

PamelaKelley said:


> Rosalind,
> 
> My friends book is WAY steamier than yours! If anything, I suspect they may have just been overwhelmed and missed your email. They are very nice, I wouldn't rule them out.


Thanks. I also don't like, though, that they don't tell you whether they're running your book or not. At the time, the thing was, "Tell us that you want to do a promotion, and we'll tell you a couple days ahead of time so you can set your price." I really want to SCHEDULE my promos. I want to know, you want it? Or not? (And I'd also like to know upfront what it will cost.)

I did ask them for a promo, though, for my upcoming V-Day deal. If they get back to me, I'll go ahead and try it and quit whining. If not, oh well! I'll just quit whining! Starting now!

(Really just bats**t crazy due to one week more till new release oh nooooooo)


----------



## wildwitchof

RJKennett: congratulations! May your run up the charts be long and fruitful.



Rosalind James said:


> a few ladies who might want to look for that horse & buggy on the cover next time


LOL! I was really thrown (off that horse) by the 'oh my, I didn't want a sex manual' reviews. It got to the point Amazon was pulling them out as one of the "readers are saying" reviews in pull-out quotes at the bottom. The book was very mainstream romance. I'm sure the reviews didn't hurt me (people who want sexy books will like mine, everyone's happy), but I started feeling pervy. I believe in my case it's the cartoon covers. Chick lit doesn't usually go as far as trad romance. Whoops!
(ps: good luck with your new release, Rosalind)


----------



## Heather Walsh

Rosalind James said:


> (Really just bats**t crazy due to one week more till new release oh nooooooo)


Good luck with the new release!


----------



## Usedtoposthere

Thanks, guys! It'll be fine, I know, but always hard to wait for.

And why the heck shouldn't you have some fun sexytimes in chick lit? Who sez it's against the rules? You're just ahead of the curve, Gretchen.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

rjkennett said:


> BookBub is running now on my $0.99 Countdown price. Almost 400 sales since the newsletter landed, about 8 hours ago. Of course, it took Amazon 6 hours to bother updating my rank...  ...but they finally did...  ...and I'm still moving. Full report in a few days.


I just clicked--#254 Paid! How does BB DO that? Congratulations!


----------



## anniejocoby

laceysilks said:


> I can't tell you how much I appreciate your excitement and numbers in this thread. I've been rejected by BookBub several times, but they've finally accepted my NA/ER book "Layers Deep" for a promo on Feb 5th. And I don't want to even hope of what this sale could mean (going from $2.99 to $0.99) because I don't want to be disappointed. So far, my luck in publishing has always been so that something happened to stop a momentum (algorithm change or stupid me making a file update a week after publication).
> 
> So having this promotion means a lot and I'm glad I'm not the only nervous/excited one about BookBub.
> 
> Cheers!


I'm telling you, the day the ad runs is like Christmas Day when you're a kid. I was bouncing off the walls! That was over two months ago, and my sales are still elevated ( although not nearly what they were, of course)!


----------



## Deena Ward

anniejocoby said:


> I'm telling you, the day the ad runs is like Christmas Day when you're a kid. I was bouncing off the walls! That was over two months ago, and my sales are still elevated ( although not nearly what they were, of course)!


Same here re: like Christmas as a kid. My ad ran last Sunday in erotic romance and I've been in a state of bliss ever since. Hope my tail stretches as far as yours has!


----------



## rosewynters

I've been curious about Bookbub so I'm thrilled to see so much information shared here. I have seen posts on other sites that many authors have found it to be a useful service.


----------



## CelinaGrace

I've been waiting to post my results of the Free ad (the Mysteries section) I did with Bookbub a week ago because, quite frankly, I'm still pinching myself. I ran it for Hushabye, which is the first of a series of detective mysteries (3 currently out in the series plus a boxed set). It went perma-free at Christmas and I'd already had about 16,000 downloads before the Bookbub ad went out so had reasonable visibility.

*On the day of the ad, I got 60,000 downloads - a week later, I'm currently at over 110,000.
*I was No. 1 in the overall free charts in the US for a couple of days. I'm currently at No. 17 in the overall charts and have been at No. 1 in my genre chart (Police Procedurals) since the ad.
*I've had over 45 new reviews, mostly of Hushabye but some for the other books in the series (and mostly, dare I say, good!)
*I've had about 26 new sign ups to my mailing list
*Have sold hundreds of copies of the others in the series

I could not be happier. I did a 99c ad with Bookbub about 6 months ago in their Literary Fiction category which was successful and I made a decent sum, but it doesn't go anywhere near this for results


----------



## wildwitchof

Congratulations, Celina! Those are amazing results!


----------



## CelinaGrace

Thanks Gretchen! I am seriously gobsmacked by the results, but in a good way


----------



## RJ Kennett

My ad ran yesterday on BookBub, going out to about 230,000 Horror subscribers.

As of 1/23/14, pre-Countdown figures
====================================
#128,132
24 US sales (January) @ $2.99. This is roughly the same level of sales activity I saw in November and December.

1/24/14
=======
Countdown begins; pricing drops to $0.99 (70% royalty)
Ran some smaller e-newsletters to "prime the pump"
87 total sales
Ranking moved to #4,800
Don't recall the ranking, but made an appearance in top 100 for Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror > United States. I think it was 50-ish.

1/25/14
=======
Bookbub ran.
556 total sales

Rankings moved to:
#221 Paid in Kindle Store
#2 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Post-Apocalyptic
#3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Post-Apocalyptic
#4 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Dystopian
#4 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror > United States
#8 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror

1/26/14
=======
663 total sales

BookBub residuals still trickling in, but the main effect is over.

#323 Paid in Kindle Store
Nearly identical genre rankings as above.

If I made 35% royalty on these sales, the BookBub ad would have more than covered costs. Since I'm on the Countdown deal, I'm still getting 70% royalties, and made several hundred dollars, plus gained the exposure and at least one new review (5-star, too!) so far.

There are more ads that will hit over the next few days to try and keep some momentum for a while. Made money, got exposure, got the ego stroking of seeing my book ranked just behind Stephen King's "Doctor Sleep" for most of the past two days... happy camper!


----------



## Usedtoposthere

CelinaGrace said:


> I've been waiting to post my results of the Free ad (the Mysteries section) I did with Bookbub a week ago because, quite frankly, I'm still pinching myself. I ran it for Hushabye, which is the first of a series of detective mysteries (3 currently out in the series plus a boxed set). It went perma-free at Christmas and I'd already had about 16,000 downloads before the Bookbub ad went out so had reasonable visibility.
> 
> *On the day of the ad, I got 60,000 downloads - a week later, I'm currently at over 110,000.
> *I was No. 1 in the overall free charts in the US for a couple of days. I'm currently at No. 17 in the overall charts and have been at No. 1 in my genre chart (Police Procedurals) since the ad.
> *I've had over 45 new reviews, mostly of Hushabye but some for the other books in the series (and mostly, dare I say, good!)
> *I've had about 26 new sign ups to my mailing list
> *Have sold hundreds of copies of the others in the series
> 
> I could not be happier. I did a 99c ad with Bookbub about 6 months ago in their Literary Fiction category which was successful and I made a decent sum, but it doesn't go anywhere near this for results


That's awesome! For me, too, the "Free" promos have had a longer tail than the one 99-cent one I've done. Still, doing another 99-center to see how that goes. But I think the one after that will be a "Free."

Congratulations! And to rjkennett as well.


----------



## Deena Ward

CelinaGrace said:


> *On the day of the ad, I got 60,000 downloads - a week later, I'm currently at over 110,000.


Wowza! 
I'm thrilled with my 29,000 at .com so far (no clue about Nook and Apple, thanks to Smashwords no-report-itis), but your numbers are phenomenal.
Congrats!

And congrats to RJ, too. #221 paid -- another wowza! 

I now love Bookbub more than chocolate chip cookies ... even the warm ones straight from the oven.


----------



## Donna White Glaser

One week later report:
I put my permafree mystery on BB last Tues the 21st.  At that time, it was hovering around the 13K to 14K rank. That day, it was downloaded 32Kx.  It got as far as #3 on the Top 100 Free list for a couple of days. 
Books 2 & 3 tripled in sales the next two days after the BB promo, then really popped since then. Over 160 books sold in the last few days and they're both hovering in the #10K to 20K of paid sales. 
Also I've gotten 30+ reviews, all (so far/knock wood/don't jinx it) 4-5 stars. And several signed up to the mailing list. 
I made the promo costs back by Friday of that week. 

All-in-all, VERY, VERY happy!


----------



## jdrew

Wow, there are some really great results here.  Reminds me to give BB another try.  First, get my next book out and see about pumping things up with some kind of promotion when I have it ready for release.  Keep up the good work everyone.


----------



## anniejocoby

Deena Ward said:


> Same here re: like Christmas as a kid. My ad ran last Sunday in erotic romance and I've been in a state of bliss ever since. Hope my tail stretches as far as yours has!


Good luck Deena! May the tail be with you, ha ha!


----------



## anniejocoby

CelinaGrace said:


> I've been waiting to post my results of the Free ad (the Mysteries section) I did with Bookbub a week ago because, quite frankly, I'm still pinching myself. I ran it for Hushabye, which is the first of a series of detective mysteries (3 currently out in the series plus a boxed set). It went perma-free at Christmas and I'd already had about 16,000 downloads before the Bookbub ad went out so had reasonable visibility.
> 
> *On the day of the ad, I got 60,000 downloads - a week later, I'm currently at over 110,000.
> *I was No. 1 in the overall free charts in the US for a couple of days. I'm currently at No. 17 in the overall charts and have been at No. 1 in my genre chart (Police Procedurals) since the ad.
> *I've had over 45 new reviews, mostly of Hushabye but some for the other books in the series (and mostly, dare I say, good!)
> *I've had about 26 new sign ups to my mailing list
> *Have sold hundreds of copies of the others in the series
> I could not be happier. I did a 99c ad with Bookbub about 6 months ago in their Literary Fiction category which was successful and I made a decent sum, but it doesn't go anywhere near this for results


Yowza!  110,000 downloads That has to be some kind of record!

Man, I gotta get me another BookBub ad soon...Great job!


----------



## C. Gockel

I did a BookBub promo last August of my first-in-series, I Bring the Fire, it's a Perma-Free book. I got 20,000+ downloads. Even though the first in series was free I made the cost up on books 2 & 3 by mid-afternoon. It was my best sales month to date. When I ran my 2nd in series at 99 cents the following month even at 35% royalty rate and even with it being 2nd in series I made my money by that evening.

I'll be releasing my 4th in series hopefully by mid-March. BookBub's readership has grown since I last advertised with them, and I'm so hoping they accept me once more. I don't care if it costs $110+. I completely expect to make my money back.


----------



## A past poster

I've been trying to get on BookBub without success. My books are in the Women's Fiction/Literary Fiction categories and have good reviews. Do you have any secrets that you're willing to share? 

A few weeks ago, after one of my books was rejected, a novel from a trad publisher that had only 5 reviews was on.


----------



## RJ Kennett

Marian said:


> Do you have any secrets that you're willing to share?


Well, I sacrificed a black cat under a ladder using shards of a broken mirror. Or... no that was something else. I just got lucky.


----------



## JRTomlin

Marian said:


> I've been trying to get on BookBub without success. My books are in the Women's Fiction/Literary Fiction categories and have good reviews. Do you have any secrets that you're willing to share?
> 
> A few weeks ago, after one of my books was rejected, a novel from a trad publisher that had only 5 reviews was on.


I'd go with the one that has the most reviews, make sure not to do any price changes which might make them think you've done another recent promotion with it, and submit it every two weeks until they accept it. Make sure you are submitting it in the most appropriate category. They are extremely competitive since everyone submits to them, and often the first acceptance is the hardest. Make sure you let them know that you are open to any date for a promotion.

Then I always sacrifice a black goat. Cats don't work.


----------



## Shaun Jeffrey

Just woken up here in the UK to find that my book, Prosper Snow Series that Bookbub advertised yesterday is number 9 at Barnes & Noble and 100 at Amazon.com.


----------



## Wansit

Bookbub just accepted me for the first time ever!   And it's my birthday! Woohoo


----------



## Donna White Glaser

Wansit said:


> Bookbub just accepted me for the first time ever!  And it's my birthday! Woohoo


Awesome birthday present! Yay!


----------



## Wansit

Donna White Glaser said:


> Awesome birthday present! Yay!


Thank you!

I was wondering if anyone could share advice on follow-up ads with Bookblast/KBT etc for the day after. For a series, should I focus on the book Bookbub is promoting or the sequel?


----------



## Usedtoposthere

Wansit said:


> Thank you!
> 
> I was wondering if anyone could share advice on follow-up ads with Bookblast/KBT etc for the day after. For a series, should I focus on the book Bookbub is promoting or the sequel?


I'd do the one BookBub is promoting (assuming it's still on sale, free, whatever). You want to continue the momentum you've got.

I used BookGorilla (day-after-Bookbub), one promo back (on a free promo), and it did seem to extend my run nicely; used a couple other, cheaper spots too. For my next Countdown (99 cents), I've got ads lined up for each day. BookBub is Day 2 of 5.

Here's a link to a post re the sites I used/results for my last free promo (86,000 downloads in 5 days), in case it is helpful:
http://www.rosalindjames.com/kdp-select-promo-success-promoting-the-promo/

Good luck! And congrats!


----------



## Donna White Glaser

I didn't do enough post-BB promoting, so I'm not a good resource on that.  I'll be approaching that more carefully w/ my next one.


----------



## Wansit

Rosalind James said:


> I'd do the one BookBub is promoting (assuming it's still on sale, free, whatever). You want to continue the momentum you've got.
> 
> I used BookGorilla (day-after-Bookbub, one promo back (on a free promo), and it did seem to extend my run nicely; used a couple other, cheaper spots too. For my next Countdown (99 cents), I've got ads lined up for each day. BookBub is Day 2 of 5.
> 
> Here's a link to a post re the sites I used/results for my last free promo (86,000 downloads in 5 days), in case it is helpful:
> http://www.rosalindjames.com/kdp-select-promo-success-promoting-the-promo/
> 
> Good luck! And congrats!


Thank you Rosalind! Very helpful.


----------



## 13893

Wansit said:


> Bookbub just accepted me for the first time ever!  And it's my birthday! Woohoo


fantastic !!


----------



## wildwitchof

Holy moly.

The ad ran on my permafree today. Around 4pm Pacific Time, it hit #1 Free in the Kindle Store (US). This is a huge milestone for me. It's had over 30,000 downloads since this morning.

I haven't seen much action in the sequel or other books, so in spite of this amazing success, I'm already worrying that I won't earn back my $270. But that's probably excessively neurotic of me (no surprise there). I'd be drinking to excess right now if I didn't have to drive across town to pick up my son the judo master.

The night is young.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

Gretchen Galway said:


> Holy moly.
> 
> The ad ran on my permafree today. Around 4pm Pacific Time, it hit #1 Free in the Kindle Store (US). This is a huge milestone for me. It's had over 30,000 downloads since this morning.
> 
> I haven't seen much action in the sequel or other books, so in spite of this amazing success, I'm already worrying that I won't earn back my $270. But that's probably excessively neurotic of me (no surprise there). I'd be drinking to excess right now if I didn't have to drive across town to pick up my son the judo master.
> 
> The night is young.


All RIGHT! 
You'll get there on the other books. Trust me. 
Congratulations!


----------



## wildwitchof

Thank you Rosalind! You're very sweet


----------



## A past poster

JRTomlin said:


> I'd go with the one that has the most reviews, make sure not to do any price changes which might make them think you've done another recent promotion with it, and submit it every two weeks until they accept it. Make sure you are submitting it in the most appropriate category. They are extremely competitive since everyone submits to them, and often the first acceptance is the hardest. Make sure you let them know that you are open to any date for a promotion.
> 
> Then I always sacrifice a black goat. Cats don't work.


Thanks for your advice.

I couldn't find a black goat, but I did find a grey one. Still, I hesitate using a substitution.


----------



## Shayne Parkinson

That's great, Gretchen!

I think it's highly likely that you'll more than earn your money back on other books.


----------



## CelinaGrace

Go Gretchen! And given my experience, you'll easily earn back the ad with the follow-on sales.

Two weeks since Bookbub and I'm still getting a couple of thousand downloads a day... I love Bookbub. LOVE them


----------



## Shaun Jeffrey

I've just had a sales update at Smashwords for Barnes & Noble, so these are the sales for my Prosper Snow Series which Bookbub promoted on January 28th. The book reached number 7 overall at Barnes and sold 780 copies, and 71 overall at Amazon where it sold 1392 copies to now. Ad cost $360, and I've made about $1000 back, so very happy with the results


----------



## wildwitchof

Thanks for the cheers. I'm still skeptical, though--and I'm sitting at #1 Free right this second. It was much easier to justify a 99c ad because the ad paid for itself in hours. I'm still waiting. My freebie was almost 100K words, so... I need to give it time. I know. But part of me wonders if I'm going to be the first person in this thread to hit #1 and then not sell any actual books, LOL (is there a crying-out-loud emoticon?)

The neuroses are strong with this one, Luke.

(and a note for Rosalind up thread: my most helpful review is now the woman complaining about the hot sex. (I'm not complaining; it's a great warning/endorsement, depending on the shopper.))


----------



## Tricia O&#039;

I am running a huge promotion this week and am excited to see what the results will be. 

Monday I have a bookbub ad for The Stolen Dog (general nonfiction). It is a paid ad at .99. To support this, I also got accepted for FKBooksandTips and Bookblast - both running on Monday as well. 

Last night I received an email from ENT and I was accepted there as well. They will be running my promo on Tuesday. 

I'm a little nervous that the day after the Super Bowl will mean not a lot of people will be opening their emails. On the flip side, I hope more people are online looking at super bowl commercials etc. so perhaps they will see the promo. 

Wish me luck!


----------



## Usedtoposthere

Gretchen Galway said:


> Thanks for the cheers. I'm still skeptical, though--and I'm sitting at #1 Free right this second. It was much easier to justify a 99c ad because the ad paid for itself in hours. I'm still waiting. My freebie was almost 100K words, so... I need to give it time. I know. But part of me wonders if I'm going to be the first person in this thread to hit #1 and then not sell any actual books, LOL (is there a crying-out-loud emoticon?)
> 
> The neuroses are strong with this one, Luke.
> 
> (and a note for Rosalind up thread: my most helpful review is now the woman complaining about the hot sex. (I'm not complaining; it's a great warning/endorsement, depending on the shopper.))


I've found the real bump happens about 4 days after the start of the promo--when people have had a chance to read and like the book. I'm SURE it will happen.

And at least it's three stars! Mine like that is ONE BIG OL' STAR. But, yeah. Warn those ladies off at the pass. They can just not read, instead of reading and giving you one star for your kinkfest. And yes, it's like that pillow Alice Roosevelt Longworth had on her couch, "If you don't have anything nice to say, come sit by me." Lots of ladies will read that review and hit that download button!


----------



## Patty Jansen

I'm looking for the part where it says that if you've been refused, how long you need to wait until you can apply again. Can't seem to locate that on the site...

Also, I ran an ad on 3 Jan for a permafree. The ad cost $90 (I see they've jacked up the price), and I've so far made about $1500 from it. So the long term is definitely what you're looking at.


----------



## Justawriter

2 weeks.


----------



## Patty Jansen

PamelaKelley said:


> 2 weeks.


OK. Reapplying in 3... 2... 1...


----------



## valeriec80

PamelaKelley said:


> 2 weeks.


That for the same book, Pamela? Like if they reject one book, can you apply with another one the next day, or is it two weeks per author submission? (Where is it on the site, BTW?)


----------



## Justawriter

valeriec80 said:


> That for the same book, Pamela? Like if they reject one book, can you apply with another one the next day, or is it two weeks per author submission? (Where is it on the site, BTW?)


That's for the same book. You could apply for a different book the next day. It's at the bottom of the submission tips page, here's the wording.

Note: If your listing is not selected and you would like to resubmit your book for consideration in the future, please wait at least two weeks before doing so.


----------



## 13893

valeriec80 said:


> That for the same book, Pamela? Like if they reject one book, can you apply with another one the next day, or is it two weeks per author submission? (Where is it on the site, BTW?)


One time they rejected one of my books, and I resubmitted immediately with a different book. They accepted the second book. I think the two-week rule is for resubmitting the same book.

I believe they really mean it when they say the rejection might not be about the book but about the way a particular book fits or doesn't with the days they're scheduling when it's submitted.


----------



## Tricia O&#039;

I had a bookbub .99 listing yesterday for a stand alone general nonfiction book. I also did FKbooksandtips.com and bookblast.co. Today I am on ENT. 

The highest I ranked on Amazon was #86 in top 100 paid and #6 in non-fiction. 

Sales:
Amazon: 1272
B&N: 399
iTunes: 127
Kobo: 8

I am very happy with these results but I do have a few notes on the Bookbub listing that I am going to ask them about. 

First, I noticed that they almost exclusively promote the free books on their Facebook though there was one .99 listing that they featured today. I don't understand why they don't promote the .99 listings more on their social media as we pay a higher price for the listing. Their Facebook has 1.2 million followers. The non-fiction email list has 300,000. It is a big difference. I did email them and asked how they determined who gets featured on social media so I will update if I hear back. 

The other thing I noticed is that in the the actual Bookbub email where it says "Get the deal" the link leads you straight to Amazon. Now, while I know it is an affiliate link and that Bookbub makes money off of those purchases, from a marketing standpoint, it is kind of unfair to authors. You never want to make the user work hard to buy stuff. So if a Nook owner opens the email, is mildly interested in a book listing, clicks and it takes them to Amazon, they may just click out. Not all of them will, however, if they could click and go to the Bookbub page of listing all the channels where it is sold - I guarantee that sales results would go up for authors. 

Now my question for other authors is on pricing after the promotion. As my book is a stand alone, would it be smart to raise it to $2.99 or $3.99 vs. going back to the full $4.99 price?


----------



## valeriec80

Thanks Pamela and LKRigel, good to know!!



Tricia OMalley said:


> The other thing I noticed is that in the the actual Bookbub email where it says "Get the deal" the link leads you straight to Amazon. Now, while I know it is an affiliate link and that Bookbub makes money off of those purchases, from a marketing standpoint, it is kind of unfair to authors. You never want to make the user work hard to buy stuff. So if a Nook owner opens the email, is mildly interested in a book listing, clicks and it takes them to Amazon, they may just click out. Not all of them will, however, if they could click and go to the Bookbub page of listing all the channels where it is sold - I guarantee that sales results would go up for authors.


When you sign up for Bookbub, you tell them what site you want to hear deals about. If you only select Amazon, they only send you Amazon deals and Amazon links. I have Amazon and Smashwords selected, so if you can get the deal in both places, it'll have two links on the listing, one for each site. If you want Nook links, you need to go and update your preferences from Bookbub. Rest assured, they send the Nook links to the people that want them.


----------



## Tricia O&#039;

valeriec80 said:


> Thanks Pamela and LKRigel, good to know!!
> 
> When you sign up for Bookbub, you tell them what site you want to hear deals about. If you only select Amazon, they only send you Amazon deals and Amazon links. I have Amazon and Smashwords selected, so if you can get the deal in both places, it'll have two links on the listing, one for each site. If you want Nook links, you need to go and update your preferences from Bookbub. Rest assured, they send the Nook links to the people that want them.


Ahhh, yes, okay. That makes much more sense. I was going to say...they would be leaving all these potential sales off the table. Never mind then. Thanks!


----------



## A past poster

My novel Realities was accepted by BookBub!!! Don't ever give up hope!


----------



## Usedtoposthere

Marian said:


> My novel Realities was accepted by BookBub!!! Don't ever give up hope!


Congratulations, Marian! Good for you for persevering! That novel has a GREAT cover--not surprised.  
Best of luck with your ad!


----------



## laceysilks

My BookBub runs today for Layers Deep. It's a 99 cent promotion for the Erotic Romance. I'm excited but nervous. I'll let you guys know how it goes. I have all the before numbers written down so now just waiting for the after


----------



## Usedtoposthere

laceysilks said:


> My BookBub runs today for Layers Deep. It's a 99 cent promotion for the Erotic Romance. I'm excited but nervous. I'll let you guys know how it goes. I have all the before numbers written down so now just waiting for the after


Good luck, laceysilks! (Awesome ERom screen name.)

By the way, I decided to do a UK Countdown as well as a US one after all next week. No UK promo, but my UK sales stink right now, so what the heck, can't be worse! 
My own BookBub ad is next Wednesday, Countdown starts on Tuesday--but who's counting? Nervous as always!


----------



## jdrew

valeriec80 said:


> Thanks Pamela and LKRigel, good to know!!
> 
> When you sign up for Bookbub, you tell them what site you want to hear deals about. If you only select Amazon, they only send you Amazon deals and Amazon links. I have Amazon and Smashwords selected, so if you can get the deal in both places, it'll have two links on the listing, one for each site. If you want Nook links, you need to go and update your preferences from Bookbub. Rest assured, they send the Nook links to the people that want them.


Great to know. Thanks. Pretty soon I'm going to take another run at Bookbub and will try to keep that in mind.


----------



## laceysilks

Rosalind, it was a collaborative effort with my hubby on the name.

Ok, so here it goes. I'm still finding it difficult to believe. BB run Layers Deep in my sig yesterday at $0.99 in the ER category. 

Layers Deep hit #58 at night. It's now at 61 but I'm still overjoyed.

At it's best this was the ranking:
#58 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #19 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Contemporary
    #19 in Books > Romance > Contemporary
    #45 in Books > Literature & Fiction

As far as the sales are concerned: 
Amazon US: 1495
UK: 77
B&N: 479
Plus a total of 284 of the prequel and the second book at a regular $2.99 price.  So definitely a worthy investment!

As I reached this years goal way earlier than planned, my next goal would be to try to reach the top 100 on my own for one of the books. We'll see how it goes, perhaps if I plan it well my summer release can do it


----------



## Mart

Finally accepted for Bookbub with a freebie on the first book in my signature. The ad runs tomorrow. I'm biting my nails already.   I'll check back in with figures (because, of course, I'll be checking numbers all day tomorrow...).


----------



## jdrew

AmyMart said:


> Finally accepted for Bookbub with a freebie on the first book in my signature. The ad runs tomorrow. I'm biting my nails already.  I'll check back in with figures (because, of course, I'll be checking numbers all day tomorrow...).


Good luck and let us know how it goes.


----------



## Wansit

AmyMart said:


> Finally accepted for Bookbub with a freebie on the first book in my signature. The ad runs tomorrow. I'm biting my nails already.  I'll check back in with figures (because, of course, I'll be checking numbers all day tomorrow...).


Yay Amy - congrats!


----------



## RJ Kennett

laceysilks said:


> #58 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #19 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Contemporary
> #19 in Books > Romance > Contemporary
> #45 in Books > Literature & Fiction


Good Lord, that's a competitive genre!


----------



## scottmarlowe

Question for those who have been accepted by Bookbub...

Did you run any other promo's prior to getting accepted by Bookbub? I ran some 99 cent promo's recently with other advertisers, but I'd like to try for BB again. So, I'm going to hold my price steady at its usual price for, I figure, at least 30 days before I send a request to BB. Does prior promo price play (try saying that over and over) into their decision to feature a book or not?

I know BB is notoriously secretive about their selection process, so anything based on experience would be helpful. Thanks.


----------



## BBGriffith

scottmarlowe said:


> Question for those who have been accepted by Bookbub...
> 
> Did you run any other promo's prior to getting accepted by Bookbub? I ran some 99 cent promo's recently with other advertisers, but I'd like to try for BB again. So, I'm going to hold my price steady at its usual price for, I figure, at least 30 days before I send a request to BB. Does prior promo price play (try saying that over and over) into their decision to feature a book or not?
> 
> I know BB is notoriously secretive about their selection process, so anything based on experience would be helpful. Thanks.


If your past promo was for free, not 99c, then it would hurt you. I think that's an outright rejection. But since it was the same price _technically_ it shouldn't affect your chances. Personally, I think that the fewer times you've discounted your book, the better chance you have getting accepted for a discount with them. I think you're smart to hold your price for 30 days.


----------



## Not Here Anymore

My permafree, Elusive, is running today on Bookbub in the Thriller category. Second time I have run that book as free. I'm curious to see how the downloads go since this is the second time around. Very happy with the first permafree ad. Hope this one does as well.


----------



## LifesHumor

I would love to use it, but I only have a short story published. I wish there was a bookbub equivalent for short stories.


----------



## David J Normoyle

scottmarlowe said:


> Did you run any other promo's prior to getting accepted by Bookbub? I ran some 99 cent promo's recently with other advertisers, but I'd like to try for BB again. So, I'm going to hold my price steady at its usual price for, I figure, at least 30 days before I send a request to BB. Does prior promo price play (try saying that over and over) into their decision to feature a book or not?
> 
> I know BB is notoriously secretive about their selection process, so anything based on experience would be helpful. Thanks.


I thought there was a rule that a book couldn't be discounted for the 3 months previous to the bookbub run.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

laceysilks said:


> Rosalind, it was a collaborative effort with my hubby on the name.
> 
> Ok, so here it goes. I'm still finding it difficult to believe. BB run Layers Deep in my sig yesterday at $0.99 in the ER category.
> 
> Layers Deep hit #58 at night. It's now at 61 but I'm still overjoyed.
> 
> At it's best this was the ranking:
> #58 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #19 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Contemporary
> #19 in Books > Romance > Contemporary
> #45 in Books > Literature & Fiction
> 
> As far as the sales are concerned:
> Amazon US: 1495
> UK: 77
> B&N: 479
> Plus a total of 284 of the prequel and the second book at a regular $2.99 price. So definitely a worthy investment!
> 
> As I reached this years goal way earlier than planned, my next goal would be to try to reach the top 100 on my own for one of the books. We'll see how it goes, perhaps if I plan it well my summer release can do it


That's terrific! Fantastic results!

The closest I've ever come on a full-price book was #220 with my second-to-last one (but that was during a BookBub promo on the previous book). I've got that same goal: to break the top 100 at full price. I have a promo next week; fingers crossed that the new book does it! (Even if not, I'll still love BookBub.)


----------



## S.R. Booth

David J Normoyle said:


> I thought there was a rule that a book couldn't be discounted for the 3 months previous to the bookbub run.


I was just looking at that: "The best deal available. We won't consider a book if it has been offered for a better price in the last 90 days, or if it will be offered for less in the near future."


----------



## scottmarlowe

BBGriffith said:


> If your past promo was for free, not 99c, then it would hurt you.


Past promotions were for 99 cents, which the price I'd be trying w/BB.



> I thought there was a rule that a book couldn't be discounted for the 3 months previous to the bookbub run.





> I was just looking at that: "The best deal available. We won't consider a book if it has been offered for a better price in the last 90 days, or if it will be offered for less in the near future."


Yeah, I was thinking as long as I stick to a "like" discounted price (99 cents, in this case), I should be ok with respect to that particular condition.

I think I'll just sit tight on the price for 30 days and try after that. I was looking at my price chart on ereaderiq.com and it looks like a really bad EKG.  I need some stability for a while.

Thanks for the feedback.


----------



## valeriec80

I had a Bookbub ad for The Killing Moon on 2/4 in Paranormal Romance.

On the day of the promo, I sold:

891 on Amazon
247 on Nook
9 on Kobo

and about 40 of the sequel at regular price.

My highest rank was #135 in the Kindle Store, and I made it #56 in the Nook Store.

The books are still selling, of course. I'll report back in a few weeks to talk about how quickly I fell down the ranks, etc.


----------



## Mart

The ad for my permafree In Your Dreams ran yesterday, and I said I'd be back to share some stats. So here goes:

I started at #2484 Free yesterday. I was also ranked at #16 in Teen/YA Fantasy-Sci Fi-Coming of Age and #29 in Fantasy-Sci Fi-Coming of Age.

Last night, I hit #10 Free. I was also ranked #1 in the two categories above as well as hitting #1 in Sci Fi-Fantasy-Paranormal and Urban.

Right now (about 24 hours after I first started stalking my rankings  ), I'm at #12 Free, #1 Paranormal and Urban, and #1 Literature and Fiction-Genre Fiction-Coming of Age.

The book has had nearly 14,000 downloads, and I'm starting to see some spillover into sales of the second book. The third book comes out next week, so I hope this ad has some legs.

Needless to say, I'm a happy camper this morning.


----------



## Wansit

AmyMart said:


> The ad for my permafree In Your Dreams ran yesterday, and I said I'd be back to share some stats. So here goes:
> 
> I started at #2484 Free yesterday. I was also ranked at #16 in Teen/YA Fantasy-Sci Fi-Coming of Age and #29 in Fantasy-Sci Fi-Coming of Age.
> 
> Last night, I hit #10 Free. I was also ranked #1 in the two categories above as well as hitting #1 in Sci Fi-Fantasy-Paranormal and Urban.
> 
> Right now (about 24 hours after I first started stalking my rankings ), I'm at #12 Free, #1 Paranormal and Urban, and #1 Literature and Fiction-Genre Fiction-Coming of Age.
> 
> The book has had nearly 14,000 downloads, and I'm starting to see some spillover into sales of the second book. The third book comes out next week, so I hope this ad has some legs.
> 
> Needless to say, I'm a happy camper this morning.


Wow, brilliant Amy! Congrats


----------



## A past poster

Rosalind James said:


> Congratulations, Marian! Good for you for persevering! That novel has a GREAT cover--not surprised.
> Best of luck with your ad!


Thank you, Rosalind!

You mentioned in another post that you scheduled a Countdown in the UK. How did you do this? I was able to do it in the US, but I don't know how to do it in the UK.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

Marian said:


> Thank you, Rosalind!
> 
> You mentioned in another post that you scheduled a Countdown in the UK. How did you do this? I was able to do it in the US, but I don't know how to do it in the UK.


Marian, if you go into your Bookshelf and hit "Manage Promotions" on that title again, you'll see a "UK" option now, and you can set it up.

All right, my BookBub ad is Wednesday (in 2 days), and my Countdown promo starts tomorrow. Because I'm doing it right this time and scheduling other advertising around the BookBub day as well, aiming for maximum traction out of my promotion, I thought I'd post how it goes along the way (I'll just update this post, so as not to clutter up the board.) I'm going to set down all the info so I have a record for myself of how the different ads seemed to affect sales, and for anybody else who might find it helpful. And, yeah, a little nervous because of recent reports of blowback, but I'm sharing anyway, because I'm stubborn that way. I love this place and want to keep participating.

My promo is on Book 2 in the new series. Here are the ranks:
Day 0 (day before promo): Book 1: 1236; *Book 2 (promo book): 2826*; Book 3: 872. NZ books pretty slow: 2000s up to 5000s.
Day 1 (BookGorilla): Book 1: 1239; *Book 2: 446, #23 in Rom Suspense;* Book 3: 1063. NZ books about the same.
Day 2: (BookBub): Book 1: 960; *Book 2: 39, #2 in Rom Suspense;* Book 3: 759. NZ books: the first three are up a bit, the final two down some.
Day 3: (BookBlast): Book 1: 909; *Book 2: 51 (got to 34 earlier), #1 in Rom Suspense;* Book 3: 648. NZ books: the first one is up pretty nicely.
Day 4: (promo blitz, KND): Book 1: 980; *Book 2: 77, #2 in Rom Suspense; *Book 3: 631. NZ books: about the same.
Day 5: (KBT, ENT): Whoops, forgot to fill this in. I think Book 2 was at #101.

Promotional sites and costs:
Day 1: BookGorilla ($150 for "starred book"--their curated deal, they say). Result: some decent traction up the list, not a ton of books sold for the money, but maybe helped get the book into position to take advantage of the BB promo.
Day 2: BookBub ($540). Not nearly as many sales as on my post-Xmas promo, but that's time of year; ranking-wise, great boost as always, and the other books are moving too.
Day 3: Bookblast ($50). Book got to #34 overnight, its highest rating. This ad did seem to keep the momentum going--much less steep drop-off in sales than last time when I advertised with BB only. Got to #1 in Rom Suspense in the afternoon, which was cool.
Day 4: KND (Kindle Fire sponsorship: $99.99); promo blitz on new book (Book 3; $30 for 40 blogs). Kept the book in the Top 100 all day (was in the 60s for most of the day, which was much better than last time). But: not nearly as much bump for the new book as I'd hoped, or as much as I've got out of Free book runs in the past. Next time: Free!
Day 5: KBT (fkbooksandtips) ($25); ENT (amount TBD): ENT was a dud. Billed me for $15. fkbooksandtips seemed to do something--book took a little jump.

Update: ENT just told me they'd feature me on my final day, so I added that in above.
And I informed Pixel of Ink, just on the principle of "might as well."

Results to follow! Always nervous I'll fall on my face, particularly now that I've stuck my neck out like this and told you all about it.

Notes: 
1) Why I'm doing the promo: to give Book 3 a push (published Feb. 1). I waited till now so it would have some reviews. (Currently 22 on .com)
2) I went with 5 days because the 5-day-free thing has worked well, and I think 5 days is a limited enough time that it plants a little more urgency than 6 or 7 days. 
3) I went with 99 cents for the whole time because I've heard others say it works better, and it just makes sense to me that a real deal (my books are normally $3.99) would be more appealing. 
4) I went with Book 2 in the series because I'd just done a free run on Book #1 in early November, and 86,000 people had downloaded it--hoping some of those will want to pay for Book 2! 
5) I did the deal in the UK as well as the US, even though my last UK Countdown was pretty anemic, because my UK sales are even MORE anemic this month, so--nothing to lose.


----------



## JRTomlin

My Bookbub promotion has just started. I am following it up with promotions at several other sites. I'll report on those later.

The promotion is for _A Kingdom's Cost_, novel #1 in my Black Douglas Trilogy. This morning it had a very modest 59 sales for the month and a sales rank of #27,796 Paid. I just now received the Bookbub email in my inbox, so... I'm crossing my fingers.


----------



## Cege Smith

Good luck, JR- I hope it goes well for you!!


----------



## NoCat

Good luck, JR!


----------



## Shayne Parkinson

Fingers crossed for you, JR!


----------



## JRTomlin

Thanks! Part of my plan for today is to try not to check kdp every 10 seconds!


----------



## Dave Renol

JRTomlin said:


> Thanks! Part of my plan for today is to try not to check kdp every 10 seconds!


My permafree is running on bookbub today in SciFi, and I'm forcing myself to wait 15 minutes between each refresh.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

Good luck, guys! I managed to stay out of the house for lots of hours yesterday, which helped, rode my bike to power yoga--that helped a LOT, and did some work, too. My best non-glued-to-the-laptop BookBub promo day so far! 

Of course, I also woke up three times last night to check my rank, sigh. Oh, well. Progress not perfection.


----------



## Dave Renol

Hopefully a lot of the people snowed in are looking for a good book to read today.

At my house in NC, nobody has been able to make it up the hill in front of my house in the last 36 hours or so. We'll probably hit 24" of snow by the end of the day. I'd probably be reading myself if I wasn't so busy staring at the clock waiting for the next time I can hit refresh.


----------



## JRTomlin

I might should mention that it will take 1380 sales just to pay for the Bookbub promotion and I had a couple of others I paid for such as BookGorilla. So... I am seriously sweating this one.


----------



## JRTomlin

I might should mention that it will take a minimum of at least 1380 sales just to pay for the Bookbub ad and that doesn't include paying for the BookGorilla one.  Yes, I'm scared.

ETA: I'm up to 300 sales on Amazon (haven't checked B&N and Apple because they're always slow). Not only has the ranking not improved, it actually slipped a bit.  

I hate this. I really do. I'm going to go play a game and kill stuff. That always makes me feel better.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

JRTomlin said:


> I might should mention that it will take a minimum of at least 1380 sales just to pay for the Bookbub ad and that doesn't include paying for the BookGorilla one. Yes, I'm scared.


I know what you mean. I suspect that my spend is going to end up over $1,000 in all, now that ENT told me they're running the book. Yep. But it's always been well, well worth it, and looks like this time will be no exception. This is almost my only paid promotion, so I throw the book at it.

Best of luck. It's a pretty nasty day in a lot of the country, and I'm thinking that lots of people will be buying books, what with the holiday weekend coming up as well. At least, that's the hope!


----------



## NoCat

Ranking updates are way behind, so yes, go kill something. I have no fear you will see enough sales of this and your other titles to cover the promotions.


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## JRTomlin

I thought Bookbub did a nice job on the blurb (as much as any reference to _Braveheart_ makes me wince).

Fourteenth-century Scotland: The tyrannical English have just executed William Wallace, and James Douglas vows to carry on the struggle for freedom. But his bloody quest for liberty may cost him his humanity. A dazzling, award-winning tale perfect for fans of Braveheart

ETA: Ok, off to kill stuff.


----------



## Dave Renol

JRTomlin said:


> I might should mention that it will take a minimum of at least 1380 sales just to pay for the Bookbub ad and that doesn't include paying for the BookGorilla one. Yes, I'm scared.
> 
> ETA: I'm up to 300 sales on Amazon (haven't checked B&N and Apple because they're always slow). Not only has the ranking not improved, it actually slipped a bit.
> 
> I hate this. I really do. I'm going to go play a game and kill stuff. That always makes me feel better.


Rankings are really lagging, but mine are starting to finally change:

#34 in free Kindle books
#1 in free Science Fiction books

I'm moving at about 2k downloads per hour.

I've even had 100+ downloads from SW, which is like a 100 more than I would've normally gotten today.


----------



## NoCat

Rankings updated, JR: 
#907 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Scottish
    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > British
    #4 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical


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## JRTomlin

Doomed Muse said:


> Rankings updated, JR:
> #907 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Scottish
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > British
> #4 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical


Thanks for posting that. It's inching upward. 450 sales so far today.

I do like getting the high visibility in the subcategories even though you're never sure how much that helps. It's at #41 in the main HF category.


----------



## Dave Renol

Updates seem slower than normal today, but that's probably because I'm watching them so closely. My freebie is currently at #15 in the kindle store and #1 in all SF&F. I think paid sales are lagging WAY behind the freebies.

Dave


----------



## Diane Patterson

Most people on the board recommend starting planning with Bookbub (not surprisingly). My question: is there any benefit to doing a lesser-known promo *before* the Bookbub, in order to raise the ranking a little before Bookbub kicks in?


----------



## Usedtoposthere

Diane Patterson said:


> Most people on the board recommend starting planning with Bookbub (not surprisingly). My question: is there any benefit to doing a lesser-known promo *before* the Bookbub, in order to raise the ranking a little before Bookbub kicks in?


I just did that. I think it may have helped. I used KND (BookGorilla): $150 for a "starred post."
You can see all my results on the previous page here (I'm updating the same post), but it did pretty well, got the book from 2800 or so up to 450 or so, which was a nice spot for BB to start with.
Plus, I don't like to do BB on the first day of the promo in case something goes wrong, and this way I had something moving. Last time, movement on the first day (with no promotion) was awfully slow.


----------



## JRTomlin

I did it the opposite. My BookGorilla promo is on the 15 which I hope will extend the benefits of the BB promo, also paying $150 for a starred spot. I don't schedule anything for the first day of price reduction in case there is a delay in it going through.


----------



## phil1861

I have my first BB promo coming up this March 8th (Yay!), been saving my add budget for this since I pulled They Met at Shiloh out of Select last November. Was pleasantly surprised today to hear they'd accepted it for the HF list. 

For those who've gone before, how have you priced your other works for the promotion? 

Have you discounted book #2 in the series and any others to encourage multiple sales? TMAS will be on price match for the promo. I was also thinking of ensuring it's free on price match at the end of Feb just to make sure Amazon sets it on time, I'd not thought of other promos prior to but seems to make some sense.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

JRTomlin said:


> I did it the opposite. My BookGorilla promo is on the 15 which I hope will extend the benefits of the BB promo, also paying $150 for a starred spot. I don't schedule anything for the first day of price reduction in case there is a delay in it going through.


I did that as well. Other promos before and after. Seems to be working well to maintain momentum.
I've actually never had a problem with a delay, but I've heard about others having issues.


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## Adam Poe

We have a Bookbub for tomorrow. ENT picked it up on Monday. Also have 50-75 other freebie sites scheduled for the next week and a half, with ilovevampirenovels mid next week. This will be the first time stringing together ads instead of a big, single day hit.


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## NoCat

Zomg, JR, you've almost cracked the top 100!!!!

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #113 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

   #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > British
   #1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
   #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Biographical

(and to think, you were worried, ha!)


----------



## A past poster

Rosalind James said:


> Marian, if you go into your Bookshelf and hit "Manage Promotions" on that title again, you'll see a "UK" option now, and you can set it up.


Thank you!



> I went with 99 cents for the whole time because I've heard others say it works better, and it just makes sense to me that a real deal (my books are normally $3.99) would be more appealing.


I believe people value what they pay for--even if it's only .99 cents--more than they value something they get for free.



> I did the deal in the UK as well as the US, even though my last UK Countdown was pretty anemic, because my UK sales are even MORE anemic this month, so--nothing to lose.


And everything to gain!


----------



## JRTomlin

Doomed Muse said:


> Zomg, JR, you've almost cracked the top 100!!!!
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #113 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > British
> #1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Biographical
> 
> (and to think, you were worried, ha!)
> 
> That is 920 sales at Amazon.


Close. So close. I find it tough to crack the Top 100 with HF... but maybe this time.

So far I'm at 341 sales at B&N with a sales rank of #28 and 808 sales at Amazon and sales rank of #113. I so want to crack #100 but I'm not at all sure that's likely to happen. It's possible though. *chews nails*

I'm still a bit short of paying for the promo but I don't have Apple sales yet and those should help.

ETA: Woohoo!

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: *#99 Paid* in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Scottish
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
#1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical

And that is #4 in Historical Fiction!


----------



## NoCat

W00t, JR! As of 4am Pacific:
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #92 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
    #1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical
    #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Scottish


----------



## JRTomlin

Thanks. 

At about midnight it got at high as #78 but quickly slipped out of the Top 100 which means that unfortunately it probably got little benefit from the exposure. It's now at #110. *sigh*

Still it has been a good promotion so far. As of this morning I am a rather surprising 409 sales at B&N and 1108 at Amazon since the start of the promotion. That is considerably better than I usually do at B&N even in a promotion. Not sure about Apple yet but they are usually about a quarter of the B&N sales. 

That paid for the BB promotion but I'm still a bit in the red for other promotions coming up. So far I have seen only a tiny increase in sales on Books #2 and #3 in the trilogy which is where a lot of profit normally comes, but it is a bit soon to judge that.

Current ranking:

#110 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Biographical
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Scottish
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical

It is funny to 'complain' about being only #110 but we all know that being on that Top 100 list means extra sales. I hoped for at least a day on it.


----------



## JRTomlin

phil1861 said:


> I have my first BB promo coming up this March 8th (Yay!), been saving my add budget for this since I pulled They Met at Shiloh out of Select last November. Was pleasantly surprised today to hear they'd accepted it for the HF list.
> 
> For those who've gone before, how have you priced your other works for the promotion?
> 
> Have you discounted book #2 in the series and any others to encourage multiple sales? TMAS will be on price match for the promo. I was also thinking of ensuring it's free on price match at the end of Feb just to make sure Amazon sets it on time, I'd not thought of other promos prior to but seems to make some sense.


Phil, I keep the others priced at their usual which is high enough (4.99) that I make a very reasonable profit on them without any change. These promotions are expensive so I count on sales from the other novels to make a profit on it.

The only promotion I did prior was starting a week-long ad in http://digitalbooktoday.com/ which did see some increase in sales, by the way so it started in a fairly good position. Now I have several more promotions coming up and I'll post how those go.

Of course, some people who buy 99 Cent books balk at ever buying books at $4.99, but enough don't that it definitely increases the sales of the following novels. BB promotions are expensive enough now that I don't really see a lot of point in using it for standalone novels of which I have several.


----------



## morganblack

Has anyone tried the New Adult list recently? I know in the past it hadn't been as strong.
Thanks!


----------



## JRTomlin

My BookGorilla promotion started this morning but I stupidly forgot to check the number of sales before it started. About the time it did I had 1300 sales total so I'll assume that is the starting point. Having never used BookGorilla before I am very interested in tracking the results. The novel is starting at #376 Paid in ranking, so we'll see.


----------



## Ancient Lawyer

I am curious about Bookbub, but don't really have the funds to pay for the promotion (in Fantasy).

I can see that you are getting encouraging results. I'm really nervous about investing the money because so far my sales have been minimal, and I only have two books on Kindle right now.

Forgive my scepticism (or hesitation). When I've done Amazon giveaways, I gave about about 1200 books and sold about 6. There has been no increase in reviews or feedback.

Sorry to moan! Every time I mention Bookbub or other paid promotions, my husband points out that so far we haven't recovered what we have paid out so far.


----------



## JRTomlin

JessieCar said:


> I am curious about Bookbub, but don't really have the funds to pay for the promotion (in Fantasy).
> 
> I can see that you are getting encouraging results. I'm really nervous about investing the money because so far my sales have been minimal, and I only have two books on Kindle right now.
> 
> Forgive my scepticism (or hesitation). When I've done Amazon giveaways, I gave about about 1200 books and sold about 6. There has been no increase in reviews or feedback.
> 
> Sorry to moan! Every time I mention Bookbub or other paid promotions, my husband points out that so far we haven't recovered what we have paid out so far.


To be honest, you would probably have some difficulty booking a Bookbub promotion without more reviews. You might try a review copy giveaway on LibraryThing (which doesn't cost anything) to try to get more reviews first. Of course it doesn't hurt to submit to Bookbub, but the odds would be against you.

One thing you might do is show your husband this thread and some of us would probably be willing to answer questions through PM if he has them. Bookbub is amazingly effective. You have nice covers and that will help in booking one. Fortunately, the price for fantasy promotions is not as high as some other genres. Those of us who pay $400 and up for a promotion would love to pay in the $200 range. And that puts your novel in front of nearly 400,000 people in Fantasy. 

I have never ever had a Bookbub promotion that didn't pay for itself. They are the most effective if you have a series in my opinion, but they certainly increase visibility and sales either way. Now a lot of people do Free giveaways using Bookbub. I don't. I like 99Cent promotions which always bring enough sales (for me) to at least break even and for me I have always done better than that.

That doesn't mean that a lot of us don't get nervous about spending that much money on an ad! I chew my fingernails to the quick every time! But it is so, so worth it to look at my dashboard and have 1300 Amazon sales and 449 Nook sales (not sure about Apple sales). Even at 99Cents that is very much worth it. And being high on the Best Seller lists means it is in front of people who look at those instead of Bookbub.

I sound like an evangelist, but there aren't many things that work for us. Believe me, I've tried most of them.


----------



## Ancient Lawyer

Thank you, JRTomlin. I may indeed show him this thread!  It is comforting to think that things may improve in future.

I am not sure that either book has sufficient reviews to qualify for a Bookbub promo. I did do a giveaway with Librarything, which was good fun, but to date no more reviews have been forthcoming.

I agree with you about promoting the books at 99c rather than for free. 

What do you think of KDP Select?


----------



## Usedtoposthere

Having the ad before and ads after the BookBub day has been really effective for me this time, BTW. The book is in Day #4 of being in the Top 100, and my ENT promo just went out, so we'll see if that can keep it there for its final day.

But yeah, I can still report that Free promos have worked better than 99-cent ones in moving the other books. After doing my second 99-cent one, and both of them having worked about as well as a Countdown promo could possibly work, I'm sure that my next one will be Free. Others may have a different experience, but a well-promoted Free promo, for me, is the most effective tactic of anything I've tried.


----------



## C. Gockel

Rosalind,

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. Just applied to BookBub for my perma-free first in series. They accepted me last year, but still...crossing my fingers.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

C. Gockel said:


> Rosalind,
> 
> Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. Just applied to BookBub for my perma-free first in series. They accepted me last year, but still...crossing my fingers.


Good luck! And of course, now that I said that, the ranks updated and I'm #102, LOL. Come on, ENT, do your stuff! (It does seem to be working--just went out--let's see if they can push me back over the hump.)


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## Adam Poe

Looks like we're on the way back down. Hit 23 this time. Not bad with a 'Teen and Young Adult' blast. Had about 5k downloads attributed directly to the blast, some residual ones, and a few other sites. Sitting at about 10k downloads total for the week. We have another big one on Monday, maybe we can keep in the top 100 until then and it will push us into the top 10 like our last promo.


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## JRTomlin

JessieCar said:


> Thank you, JRTomlin. I may indeed show him this thread!  It is comforting to think that things may improve in future.
> 
> I am not sure that either book has sufficient reviews to qualify for a Bookbub promo. I did do a giveaway with Librarything, which was good fun, but to date no more reviews have been forthcoming.
> 
> I agree with you about promoting the books at 99c rather than for free.
> 
> What do you think of KDP Select?


How long has it been since you did the LibraryThing giveaway? They often take a while to get around to reviewing and I must admit I only had about a 10% response to eventually reviewing. Unfortunately it is hard to find other ways of finding reviewers. One thing you might do is go through other indie fantasy novels looking for Amazon 'vine reviewers' and look at their Amazon page. If they give a way of contacting them, contact them very courteously offering a review copy. I have actually gotten a few reviews that way.

It is time consuming though and not many have a way to contact them.


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## Ancient Lawyer

Thank you, bluwulf. I agree with you - it's a great site.

JRTomlin, I *think* the Librarything giveaway was in July last year (head like sieve). I did have a go at contacting Amazon Vine reviewers, but that was a while ago. Your suggestion of seeing which ones have reviewed indie authors is a very good one! I found it quite hard to identify who reviewed what and probably approached some people who didn't cover my genre.


----------



## JRTomlin

JessieCar said:


> Thank you, bluwulf. I agree with you - it's a great site.
> 
> JRTomlin, I *think* the Librarything giveaway was in July last year (head like sieve). I did have a go at contacting Amazon Vine reviewers, but that was a while ago. Your suggestion of seeing which ones have reviewed indie authors is a very good one! I found it quite hard to identify who reviewed what and probably approached some people who didn't cover my genre.


I started by going through indie novels in my genre with a lot of reviews on the assumption that at least a few would be by Vine reviewers. As I said, it is very time consuming but at least it doesn't cost anything.


----------



## Ancient Lawyer

JRTomlin said:


> I started by going through indie novels in my genre with a lot of reviews on the assumption that at least a few would be by Vine reviewers. As I said, it is very time consuming but at least it doesn't cost anything.


That's the sort of work I don't mind doing. Though someone (Kristin Kathryn Rusch?) quoted a test 'Would I be better off writing?' - WIBBOW! But then there's lots of time when writing doesn't happen.


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## JRTomlin

JessieCar said:


> That's the sort of work I don't mind doing. Though someone (Kristin Kathryn Rusch?) quoted a test 'Would I be better off writing?' - WIBBOW! But then there's lots of time when writing doesn't happen.


It was a project I devoted a few days to which I don't think seriously cut into my writing time. I understand KKR's theory, but I prefer more of a balance between promotion & writing even early on than she suggests. Definitely writing is the main endeavour but that doesn't mean it has to be the only one. 

ETA: There is also someone who will do it for you for a fee including helping you with your email, but when you're trying to watch every bit you spend I suggest making it a DIY project.


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## JRTomlin

I had exactly 100 sales yesterday when the starred BookGorilla promotion ran. I would say my RoI from it was very poor and I won't use it again. Admittedly it had some results but not enough to justify the cost. Of course, it might work better for another genre. I have a Kindle Books & Tips promotion today which is the final part of my weeklong promotion for _A Kingdom's Cost_. I'll post how that does as well.


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## Ancient Lawyer

JRTomlin said:


> It was a project I devoted a few days to which I don't think seriously cut into my writing time. I understand KKR's theory, but I prefer more of a balance between promotion & writing even early on than she suggests. Definitely writing is the main endeavour but that doesn't mean it has to be the only one.
> 
> ETA: There is also someone who will do it for you for a fee including helping you with your email, but when you're trying to watch every bit you spend I suggest making it a DIY project.


Thanks - you're right, we're trying to do as much DIY as possible! And also there are times when one can't write (too tired etc) and these are useful things to do (as opposed to trawling through eBay, which is a bad habit of mine).

Thank you for the feedback on Bookgorilla. This is very interesting - hope it goes better with Kindle Books and Tips today.


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## JRTomlin

It is hard to judge since KB&T messed up and used a totally incorrect description of the novel. I am receiving no benefit at all or minimal at best. I am trying to contact Michael about it. It won't have helped at all, sad to say. Let me say that this kind of error isn't typical of KB&T but everyone messes up sometimes.

ETA: I want to add that Michael corrected the error and made a refund. He is very fair to work with so don't judge KB&T by one error. It can happen to anyone.


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## Ancient Lawyer

Sorry to hear there was a glitch. It sounds as though KB&T did right by you!


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## JRTomlin

Ok, the final results for my promo for _A Kingdom's Cost_:

Apple: 143
B&N: 458
Amazon: 1488

Total: 2089

Cost (ouch!) $620

Royalties Approximately $730 so even with the fact that the RoI on the BookGorilla ad was very poor, the results weren't bad. The increase of sales of books #2 and #3 have been a bit disappointing. They have gone up from averaging about 3 a day each to 4 a day each but I'm grateful, of course, for any increase. My other two historical novels not part of the trilogy have seen a similar increase though.

So all in all, I'll call it a success but I'm kicking myself for that BookGorilla ad.


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## Mark Dawson

So - I had a BookBub ad yesterday for my noirish thriller, THE BLACK MILE. I've run it with them a couple of times before - once free and once at 99c - and this one was at 99c. After a slow start it went much better over night and so much so that I was greeted with this when I woke up this morning (I'm in the UK):

    #2 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Police Procedurals
    #3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery > Police Procedurals
    #4 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Crime Fiction

It topped out at around #75 on the whole store, which is the best result that I've had from BookBub so far. At the time of writing, I've had 1200 downloads on Amazon, 500 on B&N and 100 on Apple. As always, it has been cool to see big trad authors languishing (albeit temporarily) in the book's wake.

As usual, no movement AT ALL in the UK. eBooksoda: there is an opportunity for you there.

There has also been some traction on the next book in the series, which has been discounted for the duration of the promo.

What I have learned from this so far:

1. confirmation that BookBub is still incredibly powerful;
2. the list is big enough to return great results on the same book multiple times; and
3. it is a very America-focused option.


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## 13893

what the what?

I submitted the first book in my My Mr. Rochester series. It's a retelling of Jane Eyre, set in a future dystopia. I submitted it to women's fiction, since it's neither historical nor contemporary romance. 

I just got an acceptance email, but they want to list it in ... science fiction!

Yeah. I can see all those science fiction readers wanting to check out a retelling of Jane Eyre. 

Should I take it anyway? I mean ... it's BookBub.


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## 10105

After having two other books rejected, I just got confirmation from Bookbub of a promotion of a different book for a week from now (24th). Since I believe in my ego and optimism that all my novels are well-written, nicely formatted, and have attractive covers, I considered what else was different:

1. Genre. The book they accepted is a mystery, the most popular Bookbub genre, whereas the other two were Action/Adventure and Science Fiction respectively.
2. This book is #1 in a series. The others are not in series.
3. This book is permafree, the other two were free for 5 days via Select promotions.
4. Deal flexible is Yes. The other two were No (to coincide with other promotions).

ETA:

5. The accepted book has been well -reviewed (29, mostly 5*) and the other two have not.

And from that list I draw no conclusions whatsoever about how to better one's chances at being accepted by Bookbub.

I eagerly await the results, which I hope to be represented by the book's rating and in sales of the other books in the series based on what happened with a different promotion of the same kind the end of last year.


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## Eskimo

LKRigel said:


> what the what?
> 
> I submitted the first book in my My Mr. Rochester series. It's a retelling of Jane Eyre, set in a future dystopia. I submitted it to women's fiction, since it's neither historical nor contemporary romance.
> 
> I just got an acceptance email, but they want to list it in ... science fiction!
> 
> Yeah. I can see all those science fiction readers wanting to check out a retelling of Jane Eyre.
> 
> Should I take it anyway? I mean ... it's BookBub.


Maybe write them a polite note asking if you could go into a different category and explain your reasons why. It might simply be an honest mistake. BB tends to be more responsive than other sites.


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## 13893

David Chill said:


> Maybe write them a polite note asking if you could go into a different category and explain your reasons why. It might simply be an honest mistake. BB tends to be more responsive than other sites.


The more I think about it, the more I can see it. It is set in a future dystopia, and science fiction includes speculative fiction as well as space opera. My story was also compared to Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale in one review, so there's that.

I tend to think BookBub knows what they're doing - and I also tend to think I don't most of the time!


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## Ancient Lawyer

*JRTomlin *- I suppose the critical thing, _pace _Bookgorilla, is that you are in profit! The results look pretty good.

*Mark Dawson* - I'm very interested in your results as I'm in the UK too, though in a different genre. Do you need to be in KDP Select to discount so heavily (ie to 99c)? One of my books is still enrolled with KDP Select, the other isn't. (I'm probably not eligible for Bookbub due to insufficient reviews, but am still curious). Oh, and well done! It must be so cool to see it zoom up the list like that.

*LKRigel* - I would go for it! Cross-genre fiction is the new...something.

*AI Stevens* - congratulations! And very interesting. (Ponders continuing with KDP Select). I'm not sure what lesson one can draw, but it is certainly good news.

Generally speaking, do Bookbub ever give feedback as to why they accept books - or not?


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## BBGriffith

Have a bookbub ad today, $2.99 for a trilogy. For some reason I'm more apprehensive this time, maybe it's just the price point and the fact that I don't see a lot on offer for $2.99 with bookbub outside of the bestseller category, but I want to see how it'll take. I've done free and .99c bookbub promos on the first book in the series, but nothing for the others. It's in the Thriller category.


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## Bookside Manner

LKRigel:  The first time I ran a BookBub promo, for my contemporary novel, I requested women's fiction (because it's about families and friends and emotions). They recommended literary fiction instead. At first I wasn't sure - after all, my book uses quotation marks so obviously it isn't literary fiction. But I looked at their women's fiction books and saw that my book wasn't a good match for that category (what I remember most is lots of books that had balls of yarn on the covers). I went with literary, and sold more than 1,000 copies, which was phenomenal for me. It wouldn't hurt to get in touch with them if you feel the category isn't a good match, though.

Last night I sent in a submission of that same book (with nice new cover). Obsessively checking my email until I hear yay or nay from Bub...


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## A past poster

Kelly Cozy said:


> LKRigel: The first time I ran a BookBub promo, for my contemporary novel, I requested women's fiction (because it's about families and friends and emotions). They recommended literary fiction instead. At first I wasn't sure - after all, my book uses quotation marks so obviously it isn't literary fiction. But I looked at their women's fiction books and saw that my book wasn't a good match for that category (what I remember most is lots of books that had balls of yarn on the covers). I went with literary, and sold more than 1,000 copies, which was phenomenal for me. It wouldn't hurt to get in touch with them if you feel the category isn't a good match, though.


I have a promo with them a week from today. I wasn't sure if my book was literary fiction or Women's Fiction, so I told them that it was their call. They're running it as Women's Fiction. Later, I researched it and I agree. They know what they're doing, which is the reason for their success.


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## valeriec80

UPDATE:

So, I ran a bookbub on _The Killing Moon_ on 2/4 in Paranormal Romance, and I think that the downward spiral has settled a bit.

It's been at around #20,000 for the past week or so, and the sequel is hovering around #30,000. Crossing my fingers that it stays here for a bit.

The book seems to be selling about 5-7 books a day, sometimes as many as 10.

I've also gotten 5 new reviews.

I'll be checking back in. One of the things I'd like to have more data on is the long term effectiveness of a Bookbub ad. My experience in the past seemed to show a complete dropoff after about a month, where everything was back where it started. That doesn't seem to be the case this time, as this book used to bounce around between #100,000-#300,000. (But everything could change in two weeks. We'll see.)

I've got something scheduled for a freebie next month (in fact my current strategy is try to have _something_ on Bookbub every month if possible), so I'll keep sharing as long as others find this interesting.


----------



## Philip Gibson

Visiting the Bookbub site, I was surprised to see that they say they don't generally feature books that are permafree. Surprised because I had thought most people were using Bookbub to promote permafree versions of their first book in a series.

So is it right in practice that they don't feature permafree books?


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## Patty Jansen

They featured mine, and the permafrees of a lot of other people here. It's probably Bookbub's worst-kept secret.


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## Justawriter

valeriec80 said:


> UPDATE:
> 
> So, I ran a bookbub on _The Killing Moon_ on 2/4 in Paranormal Romance, and I think that the downward spiral has settled a bit.
> 
> It's been at around #20,000 for the past week or so, and the sequel is hovering around #30,000. Crossing my fingers that it stays here for a bit.
> 
> The book seems to be selling about 5-7 books a day, sometimes as many as 10.
> 
> I've also gotten 5 new reviews.
> 
> I'll be checking back in. One of the things I'd like to have more data on is the long term effectiveness of a Bookbub ad. My experience in the past seemed to show a complete dropoff after about a month, where everything was back where it started. That doesn't seem to be the case this time, as this book used to bounce around between #100,000-#300,000. (But everything could change in two weeks. We'll see.)
> 
> I've got something scheduled for a freebie next month (in fact my current strategy is try to have _something_ on Bookbub every month if possible), so I'll keep sharing as long as others find this interesting.


Yes, please keep sharing. I find it all very interesting. I haven't done a BookBub ad yet, but hopefully in the next few months I will be able to try it. Would you suggest a newer author using it for the first time try a FREE promo or .99?


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## BBGriffith

yesterday I ran a $2.99 ad for the entire trilogy. I was apprehensive about the price point since I don't see a lot of people running $2.99 ads but I can say it definitely made its money back and then some. I sold 1200 on amazon another 500 on B&N and 100 on itunes. At one point I was 62 in the overall store at Amazon and 10 overall at B&N. I'd never broken the top 100 paid before, so that's exciting. There is still big appetite for boxed sets, not just at the .99c level either.

Bookbub never ceases to amaze.


----------



## S.R. Booth

valeriec80 said:


> UPDATE:
> 
> So, I ran a bookbub on _The Killing Moon_ on 2/4 in Paranormal Romance, and I think that the downward spiral has settled a bit.
> 
> It's been at around #20,000 for the past week or so, and the sequel is hovering around #30,000. Crossing my fingers that it stays here for a bit.
> 
> The book seems to be selling about 5-7 books a day, sometimes as many as 10.
> 
> I've also gotten 5 new reviews.
> 
> I'll be checking back in. One of the things I'd like to have more data on is the long term effectiveness of a Bookbub ad. My experience in the past seemed to show a complete dropoff after about a month, where everything was back where it started. That doesn't seem to be the case this time, as this book used to bounce around between #100,000-#300,000. (But everything could change in two weeks. We'll see.)
> 
> I've got something scheduled for a freebie next month (in fact my current strategy is try to have _something_ on Bookbub every month if possible), so I'll keep sharing as long as others find this interesting.


Interested! Thanks for sharing!


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## valeriec80

Gargh!! Jinxed myself. I woke up this morning to a drop. Book 1 is now at #30,000 and Book 2 at #50,000.

I suspect that they'll both be back down in the depths of the Amazon beast within two weeks. 



PamelaKelley said:


> Yes, please keep sharing. I find it all very interesting. I haven't done a BookBub ad yet, but hopefully in the next few months I will be able to try it. Would you suggest a newer author using it for the first time try a FREE promo or .99?


I haven't done a free promo with them in over a year, so I'm not sure. I'll be doing one next month, so we'll see how that goes.

I wouldn't suggest a free promo pretty much ever unless you're trying to get people to buy sequels though.


----------



## JRTomlin

Philip Gibson said:


> Visiting the Bookbub site, I was surprised to see that they say they don't generally feature books that are permafree. Surprised because I had thought most people were using Bookbub to promote permafree versions of their first book in a series.
> 
> So is it right in practice that they don't feature permafree books?


I think most people use Bookbub to advertise a 99Cent price reduction, however, Bookbub occasionally accepts a permafree.


----------



## 10105

My permafree title is scheduled to be listed Monday on Bookbub. I told them it was permafree when I submitted.


----------



## Bookside Manner

Does BookBub ever send out the you're accepted/you're rejected emails on the weekend? I want to know if I should be obsessively checking my email or just wait til Monday.


----------



## Russell Brooks

PamelaKelley said:


> Yes, please keep sharing. I find it all very interesting. I haven't done a BookBub ad yet, but hopefully in the next few months I will be able to try it. Would you suggest a newer author using it for the first time try a FREE promo or .99?


 May I suggest you avoid FREE. If ever your book is popular and you'd like to run a 99cent promo with BookBub after you've run a FREE promo, they'll refuse you. Me personally, I don't see the benefit in giving away your books for free if you really value your work. But that's just me.


----------



## jdrew

BBGriffith said:


> yesterday I ran a $2.99 ad for the entire trilogy. I was apprehensive about the price point since I don't see a lot of people running $2.99 ads but I can say it definitely made its money back and then some. I sold 1200 on amazon another 500 on B&N and 100 on itunes. At one point I was 62 in the overall store at Amazon and 10 overall at B&N. I'd never broken the top 100 paid before, so that's exciting. There is still big appetite for boxed sets, not just at the .99c level either.
> 
> Bookbub never ceases to amaze.


Thanks for sharing that info. How did you "box" the set? Was the trilogy lumped together as a single purchased file?


----------



## Wansit

After watching this thread for a long time, I can now add in my results. 

Ok, so here it goes. This is still a shock to me - my first run with BB. BB ran Sworn To Transfer in my sig yesterday at $0.99 in the Fantasy category.

Started at 20K and STT hit it's highest ranking so far - #444. It pulled up every single one of books. They're all in the Top 2,000. I forgot to look at my BN sales for a few hours. I almost fainted when I opened the page.

At it's best this was/is the ranking:
#444 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

   #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Science Fiction, Fantasy & Scary Stories > Fantasy & Magic > Coming of Age
   #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Growing Up & Facts of Life > Friendship, Social Skills & School Life > Girls & Women
   #2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Science Fiction, Fantasy & Scary Stories > Fantasy & Magic > Sword & Sorcery


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## Justawriter

Wansit,

That's awesome! Congrats.


----------



## Wansit

PamelaKelley said:


> Wansit,
> 
> That's awesome! Congrats.


Thanks! And I guess I spoke too soon because the ranking is still moving. At #436 now.


----------



## scottmarlowe

Wansit said:


> At it's best this was/is the ranking:
> #444 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Science Fiction, Fantasy & Scary Stories > Fantasy & Magic > Coming of Age
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Growing Up & Facts of Life > Friendship, Social Skills & School Life > Girls & Women
> #2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Science Fiction, Fantasy & Scary Stories > Fantasy & Magic > Sword & Sorcery


Fantastic results. Congrats! I'm just about at the point we're I'm going to start applying for a spot again, so this is encouraging.


----------



## Ronny K

Wansit said:


> After watching this thread for a long time, I can now add in my results.
> 
> Ok, so here it goes. This is still a shock to me - my first run with BB. BB ran Sworn To Transfer in my sig yesterday at $0.99 in the Fantasy category.
> 
> Started at 20K and STT hit it's highest ranking so far - #444. It pulled up every single one of books. They're all in the Top 2,000. I forgot to look at my BN sales for a few hours. I almost fainted when I opened the page.
> 
> At it's best this was/is the ranking:
> #444 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Science Fiction, Fantasy & Scary Stories > Fantasy & Magic > Coming of Age
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Growing Up & Facts of Life > Friendship, Social Skills & School Life > Girls & Women
> #2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Science Fiction, Fantasy & Scary Stories > Fantasy & Magic > Sword & Sorcery


This is wonderful. I noticed you on the blast yesterday. 

I'm a newb, so correct me where I'm being dumb, but why did you choose to put your books in Children's? Is it easier to rank there than in YA? Does being in Children's hurt your exposure or sales? Is it possible to land both categories?


----------



## Wansit

Ronny K said:


> This is wonderful. I noticed you on the blast yesterday.
> 
> I'm a newb, so correct me where I'm being dumb, but why did you choose to put your books in Children's? Is it easier to rank there than in YA? Does being in Children's hurt your exposure or sales? Is it possible to land both categories?


Hi Ronny K - welcome . I find YA interesting - the books are spread out in both Children's and Teens. Harry Potter is in Kids and Divergent is in Teens. I put my series in Childrens because it's easier to rank higher there. If it was in Teens I'd be competing with more heavy hitters & Veronica Roth who's been in the Top 5 of Kindle sales for the past four months. It's not possible to land in both Children and Teens as far as I know.


----------



## jdrew

Keep the results coming.  BB still looks the place to be if you can get in.  I'll have to give it another try soon.
Thanks and good luck to all.


----------



## Ronny K

Wansit said:


> Hi Ronny K - welcome . I find YA interesting - the books are spread out in both Children's and Teens. Harry Potter is in Kids and Divergent is in Teens. I put my series in Childrens because it's easier to rank higher there. If it was in Teens I'd be competing with more heavy hitters & Veronica Roth who's been in the Top 5 of Kindle sales for the past four months. It's not possible to land in both Children and Teens as far as I know.


That is pretty interesting. I definitely see the ranking advantage. I wonder if adults who read YA ever venture into the Children's section looking for it? I suppose some must.


----------



## 10105

Time to toot a horn. The Bookbub ad for the permafree title appeared Monday. Outstanding results. 40,000 downloads, new reviews, all favorable, and still #1 in its genre after only two days. It hasn't started the inevitable rankings slide yet.

The best news is that the other three books in the series have sold enough copies to almost pay for the promo, and they have each gotten more good reviews too. Even Book 4, which I released just before the Book 1 promo began.

(The reviewer of Book 4 even said he or she had read all five of the books in the series, which means s/he must have snuck in here in the middle of the night, because I haven't published Book 5. Have only two chapters written.  )

The Bookbub promotion had zero effect on my books in other genres. I wish someone (several someones, actually) would review the two sci-fi titles so I could do Bookbubs on them. They're in Select, so maybe a day or three of freebies will help.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

I said this in another thread, but will note here too that I'm doing my next Select promo, third week of March, as a "Free." My last two 99-cent Countdowns did very well (details up thread), but the numbers were just so much smaller than the free downloads (as in 5-10%), I didn't get the same sell-through--although the percentage was higher, the numbers were lower. So I'm going with "Free" this time. My last "Free" was in early November and my second-most successful ever, so I don't think "free" has lost its punch. At least, people still seem to have great results with permafree, to which this is my alternative. 

My BookBub day is March 21. I'll post as always. And by the way, took six days to hear this time, so don't worry if you don't hear right away. It's taken me any length of time to hear, from 1.5 hours to 7+ days. 

Oh, and once again, I'm doing a bunch of other ads too on the other days. BookSends, freebooksy, KBT, KND, umm, one more that I forget. Doing the BB ad on my first free day this time.


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## hardnutt

Wansit,

Wow! Congratulations. That's wonderful.

I've been studying this thread obsessively, because I've got my first bookbub promo coming up in March. I hesitated for a long time because of the cost, but I finally decided I had to give it a try. Couldn't afford the 99p option, so I had to go for free (and I see the price has gone up since my recent application).

I'll post my results here, too, when I have them.

Maybe we should charge bookbub advertising fees!


----------



## BBGriffith

Ran a $2.99 BB ad on Friday for my trilogy and it's been my most successful to date. I hit #62 overall in Amazon and #10 overall at B&N. I've sold 1600 at Amazon and another 1000 at B&N. Only about 150 at apple, but apple has always been a tough nut (fruit?) to crack. 

So far I've made over four times my investment back. Don't be afraid of the $2.99 slot. It works as well as any of the others.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

BBGriffith said:


> Ran a $2.99 BB ad on Friday for my trilogy and it's been my most successful to date. I hit #62 overall in Amazon and #10 overall at B&N. I've sold 1600 at Amazon and another 1000 at B&N. Only about 150 at apple, but apple has always been a tough nut (fruit?) to crack.
> 
> So far I've made over four times my investment back. Don't be afraid of the $2.99 slot. It works as well as any of the others.


Good to know! Thanks for sharing! I've never done a boxed set, but if I do, I'll keep this in mind.


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## Bookside Manner

Question for those who've run a promo for the same book more than once. Does Bookbub use the same blurb they did for the first promo, or come up with a new one every time?


----------



## CJArcher

Bookbub accepted my permafree for March 23rd. I ran this one about a year ago with them, and had good results in the YA category, but this time it's going into the Paranormal Romance category. It'll be interesting to see if there's a noticeable difference.

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread in the meantime to see how everyone else's promo goes.


----------



## valeriec80

CJArcher said:


> Bookbub accepted my permafree for March 23rd. I ran this one about a year ago with them, and had good results in the YA category, but this time it's going into the Paranormal Romance category. It'll be interesting to see if there's a noticeable difference.
> 
> I'll be keeping an eye on this thread in the meantime to see how everyone else's promo goes.


Haha! I got a previous YA permafree going in Paranormal Romance too. Mine will hit March 8th, so I'll let you know how it goes.


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## CJArcher

valeriec80 said:


> Haha! I got a previous YA permafree going in Paranormal Romance too. Mine will hit March 8th, so I'll let you know how it goes.


Fabulous! Good luck with it.


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## 41419

I ran on the Advice/How To list on Monday and it went great, peaking at around #187 in the Kindle Store.

B&N was weirdly muted this time around, but I may not have gotten all those sales yet (they had delays over the last few days, and I'm delayed further by going via D2D). The waters are a little muddy because I had KBT and BookSends the next day, but I reckon about 1,000 sales were attributable to BookBub (and needed around 700 to cover costs).


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## A past poster

Rather than start a new thread, I'm using this one to say "Thank you" to everyone. The BookBub promotion for my novel Realities started today. It has already been flagged #1 Best Seller in Fiction Mothers & Children on Amazon. I have no idea of how far it will go, but it wouldn't have gotten this far, this fast, if it weren't for all of you teaching me through your posts.

It's going to be difficult finding out how well it did on Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple,and Smashwords.  I get to those sites through Smashwords, which is late when it comes to reporting.


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## Maddie Cochere

Congratulations, Marian.  

I agree - a big thank you to the wonderful people here at the Writers' Cafe. I would have never known to try a BookBub ad for my permafree if I hadn't lurked here for months on end. My ad ran today, and I'm thrilled to see my book at #2 in the free store, and #1 in sub-genres: 
Literature & Fiction/Mystery/Women Sleuths
Romance/Romantic Comedy
Romance/Mystery.

I went out and bought a cake. A birthday cake. No, it isn't anyone's birthday, but after 26,000 downloads in eight hours, it seemed appropriate.


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## A past poster

Maddie Cochere said:


> I went out and bought a cake. A birthday cake. No, it isn't anyone's birthday, but after 26,000 downloads in eight hours, it seemed appropriate.


WOW, Maddie!!! 26,000 downloads! That's wonderful. Enjoy the cake!


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## Maddie Cochere

Marian said:


> WOW, Maddie!!! 26,000 downloads! That's wonderful. Enjoy the cake!


Thanks, Marian. It's been a fun day. I have the entire family eating cake.  I hope you had a treat, too!


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## A past poster

Realities is #90 in paid books! Thank you everyone, especially Rosalind, for showing me the way!

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #90 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Mothers & Children
    #3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Romance
    #5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Family Life


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## Usedtoposthere

Marian said:


> Realities is #90 in paid books! Thank you everyone, especially Rosalind, for showing me the way!
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #90 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
> 
> #1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Mothers & Children
> #3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Romance
> #5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Family Life


Oh, that's awesome, Marian! Congratulations!


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## anniejocoby

Marian said:


> Rather than start a new thread, I'm using this one to say "Thank you" to everyone. The BookBub promotion for my novel Realities started today. It has already been flagged #1 Best Seller in Fiction Mothers & Children on Amazon. I have no idea of how far it will go, but it wouldn't have gotten this far, this fast, if it weren't for all of you teaching me through your posts.
> 
> It's going to be difficult finding out how well it did on Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple,and Smashwords. I get to those sites through Smashwords, which is late when it comes to reporting.


Amazing!!!!! Rock on!


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## BlankPage

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## Justawriter

Estelle,
That's awesome!  I look forward to running a BookBub ad someday!


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## BlankPage

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## Ethan Jones

I'm on BookBub today. We'll see how it goes and will report back tomorrow and the day after that.

Thanks,

Ethan


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## Usedtoposthere

Estelle Ryan said:


> I had a Bookbub ad on 1 March for the second book in my series, _The Dante Connection_, for $0.99. I was curious to see how it would do on a weekend day, but oh my! I didn't expect such results. I landed up being #11 in the whole store and #1 in various categories. I stayed in the top 100 (all paid books) for more than 3 days. The sales of the other books have been positively affected, and I'm smiling like a loon.
> 
> Now I'm waiting for KOBO (via D2D) to get the price back up, so I can change on Amazon.
> 
> I heart Bookbub!!


Incredible results--and gorgeous covers! Congratulations!


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## ToniD

Estelle, awesome results! That is seriously cool.

Not a surprise, though   

Loved Gauguin; must pick up Dante.


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## Ronny K

Estelle Ryan said:


> I had a Bookbub ad on 1 March for the second book in my series, _The Dante Connection_, for $0.99. I was curious to see how it would do on a weekend day, but oh my! I didn't expect such results. I landed up being #11 in the whole store and #1 in various categories. I stayed in the top 100 (all paid books) for more than 3 days. The sales of the other books have been positively affected, and I'm smiling like a loon.
> 
> Now I'm waiting for KOBO (via D2D) to get the price back up, so I can change on Amazon.
> 
> I heart Bookbub!!


Fantastic. I love the combo of permafree book 1 and BB book 2. I'm curious how book 3 sales were affected?


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## BlankPage

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## ToniD

Got it


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## Ethan Jones

Tripoli's Target was on BookBub yesterday for 99 cents and I've sold 730 books on Amazon so far.

Thanks,

Ethan


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## erikhanberg

I had The Marinara Murders in BookBub last Friday at $0.99.

It's up on all major sites, which really increased sales:

On the first day, I sold:

Amazon: 2,139!
Nook: 789!
Kobo: 15

In the week since, I've tried to keep it going with pre-schedule ebookbooster.com promotion, an ENT bargain book promotion (Monday) and a Kindle Books & Tips sponsorship on Wednesday.

In the week since then, I've sold:

Amazon: 955
Nook: 762
Kobo: 14

That's a pretty good long tail! Plus some nice bumps for the other books.

Really pleased with how the last week went.


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## 60169

Nice to see everyone is still logging such fantastic results. I'm back on the horse for another go-round with my first book, _Feels Like the First Time_ on March 27th. This is my first opportunity to combine a BookBub ad with a Countdown deal, so I'm looking forward to it.

Thanks to everyone else who is sharing info in this thread. I will continue to do the same.


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## C. Gockel

Last year I did my permafree with BB in August. Then I did my second in series 45 days later at 99 cents. My most profitable two months ever. 

Just got accepted with them again for March 30th...will try the one two combo and will definitely update here. 

Congrats everyone.

(P.S. to the person who posted their $2.99 trilogy results...thank you! I've been pondering trying to do that around Christmas time).


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## SusanKL

LKRigel said:


> The more I think about it, the more I can see it. It is set in a future dystopia, and science fiction includes speculative fiction as well as space opera. My story was also compared to Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale in one review, so there's that.
> I tend to think BookBub knows what they're doing - and I also tend to think I don't most of the time!


Something similar to this happened to me. My book "Free Falling" is definitely women's fiction b/c it deals with issues of stress, motherhood, etc. so when Bookbub insisted it run in Science-Fiction (!) category, I just knew sci-fi geeks were going to open it expecting dystopian techno-babble and end up throwing it against the wall to find, instead, female angst in a post-apocalyptic world.
Turns out, BB knew what they were doing. I got my best sales of the entire series ever--and some of them men!--and none of the reviews ever said they thot they were getting something only to get another.
Trust BB to know their subscribers!


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## Ethan Jones

Tripoli's Target was on BookBub on Wednesday for 99 cents and I sold 730 books on Amazon until Thursday morning and another 150 until this morning. Hopefully there will be a few more sales over the weekend.

Thanks,

Ethan


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## valeriec80

So... I'm feeling really nervous at this point.

I had a Bookbub run yesterday for Breathless. It is a YA Paranormal Romance, but they ran it in Paranormal Romance.

By the end of last night, it had gotten 11,000 downloads and was #10 in the free store. Now, that sounds good, but basically everyone else on this thread in the last five pages has been reporting double or triple the downloads--although mostly in other categories, so I'm trying to tell myself it's a paranormal romance thing, not a my-book thing.

Secondly, I have sold like 5 copies of the other books in the series. Someone told someone else on this thread to wait four days, but that person never reported back. Hey person with the chick-lit-type covers in bright colors? Did you make your money back or not?

Very anxious here.

Oh, and since it's been a month on The Killing Moon promo, the book had dropped down to about #90,000 in the ranks and was selling one copy every other day, so I put it back on $.99 for a few days, hoping to try to goose it back up the charts a little. 

Basically, my theory about the Bookbub halo being gone after a month seems to be true, at least for me.

And I'll let you know if this free thing even makes me $110 back. I need to sell roughly 40 copies of the sequels to do so.


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## Twizzlers

I'm really hoping I can get a bookbub promo when I release my western sci fi. I've been saving for it for a while now. 
Some people make it sound hard to get one and others make it seem easy.


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## BlankPage

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## Guest

ValerieC

Congrats on hitting #10.

Yes, YA Romance has far fewer downloads than other Romance.

What I've noticed with my blog is a 3:1 to 4:1 ratio. So if you're seeing 10K downloads that's very good.

WE also see that putting in Romance leads to more downloads than putting in YA. so Bookbub did the right thing for you by putting it in Paranormal Romance.

Finally, aren't the sizes of the lists different in Bookbub?

that might play a part too.

*******


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## Maddie Cochere

Valerie, were you referring to me? 

First, congratulations on reaching #10 and 11,000 downloads. 

My ad was $290, and yes, I did make my money back - on day four. I had increased sales (more than normal) on the day of the ad, but it was my lowest day in sales for the ad. Every day since has been higher. 

I think the genre I am in definitely fueled the success of my ad - probably coupled with the fact that I haven't done a lick of advertising since March of last year. This was my first time submitting to BookBub, and, for me, it was definitely money well spent. 

Hoping for better sales for you on your subsequent days, too!


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## valeriec80

Maddie Cochere said:


> Valerie, were you referring to me?
> 
> First, congratulations on reaching #10 and 11,000 downloads.
> 
> My ad was $290, and yes, I did make my money back - on day four. I had increased sales (more than normal) on the day of the ad, but it was my lowest day in sales for the ad. Every day since has been higher.
> 
> I think the genre I am in definitely fueled the success of my ad - probably coupled with the fact that I haven't done a lick of advertising since March of last year. This was my first time submitting to BookBub, and, for me, it was definitely money well spent.
> 
> Hoping for better sales for you on your subsequent days, too!


Nope, it wasn't you, but thanks so much for chiming in!!

It was... *going to check*... Gretchen Galway. She popped in, said she wasn't sure if this had been worth it, posted a few more things to that effect, and then... I don't think she updated, unless I am blind. (Which is possible.)

Anyway, whatever. I had dinner with my parents last night, and I started talking about how much worse book sales are this year than last year, and they started giving me suggestions of jobs I could get, and... it just got to me.

I'm sure I'll be fine. I need to stop being so nervous.


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## Usedtoposthere

valeriec80 said:


> Nope, it wasn't you, but thanks so much for chiming in!!
> 
> It was... *going to check*... Gretchen Galway. She popped in, said she wasn't sure if this had been worth it, posted a few more things to that effect, and then... I don't think she updated, unless I am blind. (Which is possible.)
> 
> Anyway, whatever. I had dinner with my parents last night, and I started talking about how much worse book sales are this year than last year, and they started giving me suggestions of jobs I could get, and... it just got to me.
> 
> I'm sure I'll be fine. I need to stop being so nervous.


Gretchen did pretty well post-promo. (I know her a bit.) She's not always on here, so at the risk of speaking for somebody else, yeah, I think it ended up working out well for her.

Good luck with yours. I've never had a good freebie run that didn't give me a great bounce on the other books, if that helps.


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## CJArcher

valeriec80 said:


> So... I'm feeling really nervous at this point.
> 
> I had a Bookbub run yesterday for Breathless. It is a YA Paranormal Romance, but they ran it in Paranormal Romance.


Please keep us posted over the next few days, Valeria. With a YA PNR freebie coming up later this month, I'm really interested in this!

I think those download numbers sound good for that genre.


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## 60169

Mostly selfish on my part, but I'm really interested in how you do with the bounce coming up.

My next book up is a YA innocent romance, and I could move things around a bit if I wanted.


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## phil1861

BookBub ran my Civil War HF yesterday for They Met at Shiloh

Day 0
TMAS 29,340 freeloads in US store
ACD 45 - second in the series
2SI 4 - short story
UK
TMAS 69
CA
TMAS 69
ACD 1
made it to #2 Free in Kindle store

Day 1
TMAS 5560 freeloads in US store plus 15 paid sales (haven't figured that one out yet)
ACD 5
#8 free in Kindle store

Ad has been half paid for to this point. I also had some unknown number of print books that moved as a result of the ad - CS takes a few days to report but I'm usually in the millions in rank for print, I got to as high as 35K with the paperback. 

There are 500,000 in the HF mail list, so the milage will vary based on what genre you request. So, the genre being reported on should be taken into account before comparing. I was also blessed that BookBub used my cover for their Facebook post. We will see how things look in a week once this settles down.


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## 13893

SusanKL said:


> Something similar to this happened to me. My book "Free Falling" is definitely women's fiction b/c it deals with issues of stress, motherhood, etc. so when Bookbub insisted it run in Science-Fiction (!) category, I just knew sci-fi geeks were going to open it expecting dystopian techno-babble and end up throwing it against the wall to find, instead, female angst in a post-apocalyptic world.
> Turns out, BB knew what they were doing. I got my best sales of the entire series ever--and some of them men!--and none of the reviews ever said they thot they were getting something only to get another.
> Trust BB to know their subscribers!


Thank you for letting me/us know about this! Yes, BB does seem to know what they're doing  . My day is coming up this Friday. I'll report back on how it goes.


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## kathrynoh

I've got a Bookbub ad coming up for the first book in my NA series when the second is released.  I've never had a bookbub ad before and didn't really expect to get selected.

I do have a question though - when I applied with them, I put a range of dates for the freebie run and they are running the ad on the last day I selected (28th March).  Would it be better to keep it going until the 29th or stick with the original plan?


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## Usedtoposthere

kathrynoh said:


> I've got a Bookbub ad coming up for the first book in my NA series when the second is released. I've never had a bookbub ad before and didn't really expect to get selected.
> 
> I do have a question though - when I applied with them, I put a range of dates for the freebie run and they are running the ad on the last day I selected (28th March). Would it be better to keep it going until the 29th or stick with the original plan?


I get my BB date first and then plan the range of dates around that. I've found the second day of the run to work well. I also use all 5 of my days to get the bang from that BB buck.

You might try another ad with somebody else pretty good for the first day of your run, try to get some momentum going into the BB ad, give your book less climbing to do.

Good luck!


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## SunshineOnMe

They turned me down...*not going to cry!*

ahh well, it's another excuse to go eat some chocolate 

PS- Valerie, I am sure it's going to work out. WOW, I can't believe someone told you to get another job. Way to be supportive.


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## kathrynoh

Thanks Rosalind.  I'd only used 4 days so i might extend it out to the full five.

I'm running in NA so I don't expect a huge bump - it's one of their smaller categories - but it was only $50 which is what you'd pay for other sites with a lot less reach.  Will update on how it goes later in the month.


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## EC

Does Bookbub accept bundles? I have a series with four titles bundled totaling 60,000 words, so it will fly over the 150 page requirement.


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## valeriec80

Updated to say that I have made my money back from the ad, but I'm not really blown away by the results.

The second book in the series seems to be bouncing around between #13,000 and #15,000 in the store. When I ran my $.99 ad in Feb, not only did I make enough money to pay for the ad with the first book, but the second book jumped up to like #7,000 in the store. Unfortunately, that series only had two books. This series has 9, so I was really hoping to have a good month. It's definitely a better month than it was before the Bookbub ad, but it's not knocking my socks off.

For a bit of perspective, I ran this same book as a freebie on Bookbub waaay back in December 2012. It hasn't run with them since. When I did that, both the second and third books in the series hopped up to like #3000 in the store and I made $4000 over the next four weeks. And that was only with seven books in the series. I had hoped to do better this time. I don't think I will. Oh, and guess how much I paid for _that_ Bookbub ad? $25.

Anyway, there are about a thousand variables that could influence these results.
-YA is dead?
-running YA in paranormal romance is not so great?
-December is a better month than March?
-2012 was a better year than 2014?
-This series has been out so long the market is oversaturated? (Yeah, so why did 16,000 people download the first book? I don't know if I buy that.)
-The thing is that people REALLY, REALLY don't read freebies anymore?
-The universe wants me to go back to work?
-Bookbub doesn't work as well as it used to?

Anyway, the world will never know. I'm holding out hope that maybe the free results will end up stickier than the $.99 results, considering I'm still in the Top 100 Free, like five days after the ad. So maybe it will end up being awesome because it will be a slow accumulation of goodness, and maybe the first in the series will keep a good rank for a while. I don't know. Optimism is not my strong suit, but I am trying! I'll be sure to report back.


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## Donna White Glaser

Valeriec80,
I didn't start to see any churn in my 2nd or 3rd in series until 4-5 days out. I think it takes people a bit to get to the freebie to read. Lots of people have pretty large TBR lists.  Maybe see what you think after a week or so.


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## Shayne Parkinson

Valerie, my results were similar to Donna's when an ad for my freebie Book 1 ran in November. Book 2 reached its highest ranking a week after the ad, and Books 3 and 4 a couple of days after that. Book 5 was later still.

You may yet see a larger boost - fingers crossed for you.


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## hardnutt

I've already posted my bookbub results on a separate thread, but then remembered this thread and thought I ought to post here, too. So here goes:

BLOG POST ABOUT THE RESULTS OF MY BOOKBUB AD FOR DEATH LINE ON 9 MARCH 2014.

http://geraldineevansbooks.com/2014/03/11/bookbub-results/

BOOKBUB RESULTS
I took out a BookBub ad for Death Line #3 in my Rafferty and Llewellyn procedural series on 9 March 2014.

I also entered it in Amazon's Select programme and had four free days from 7 - 10 March 2014.

I chose to go with the free book option in the Mystery Category (or, rather, my finances chose this option as the only one viable!).

I can't get my screenshot to upload here. You can see it at my website link above, if you want. These are the results:

My best ranking for Death Line on Amazon.com was on 9 March 2014.
Death Line reached a ranking of 2 Free Overall.
No 1 in Police Procedurals.
No 1 in British Detectives.

BESTSELLERS_AMZN_US_2_FREE_OVERALL_NO_1_POLICE_PROCEDURALS_NO_1_BRIT_TECS_2014-03-09_2247

There was an all-country total download of 46,882, with the US responsible for nearly all of it.

Here's the country by country Amazon breakdown mid-morning on 11 March, one day after my freebie offer finished and two days after the BookBub ad:

DEATH LINE PAID AND FREE SALES ON 11 MARCH 2014 AFTER BOOKBUB AD ON 9 MAR 2014

COUNTRY PAID SALES FREE DOWNLOADS

AU 2 41

BR 0 2

CA 14 202

CO 88 495

COM 365 45,931 +1 BORROW

DE 3 152

ES 0 5

FR 0 6

IN 0 35

IT 0 6

JP 0 4

MX 0 2
_____________________________________________________
TOTAL SALES 472 46,882
_____________________________________________________

This worked out as a Total Daily Sales Rate for all books of 44.95 on 11 March compared to a Total Daily Sales Rate of 13.57 on 7 March 2014. The Monthly Sales Rates were 1,393, compared to a Monthly Sales Rate of 420.71. (Sorry, my figure work went a bit awry; the 44.95 should be 42 something, with the monthly sales corresponding to this figure).

In addition, the sales of the first and second in the series greatly increased and at mid-morning on 11 March had sales for the US totalling 152 for the first and 94 for the second in the series. Prior to the Bookbub ad sales for these two books were 11 and 8 respectively at 23.30 GMT on 7 March. Just over one a day.

So that would make the comparative Daily Sales of these books:
Dead Before Morning 13.81 on 11 March and only 1.57 on 7 March
Down Among the Dead Men 8.54 on 11 March and only 1.14 on 7 March.

I also made my very first sales of any sort to Brazil and Mexico and had only my second ever Japanese downloads.

So, is a Bookbub ad worth it? Yes!

Currently, at 10.40 p m GMT on Wednesday 12 March 2014, Death Line is at ranking number 21,927 on Amazon.com paid overall.


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## Chrisbwritin

My publisher ran a bookbub ad for me last year, and the results were extraordinary. It wasn't a freebie, but they discounted a 2.99 book to .99 in the erotic romance section. It ran for five days in October (canna remember the dates of the top of my head) but I went from overall paid ranking of #546 (it was still a pretty new release, had just come out the month before) to #17 overnight and held strong in the top 100 all week (which then helped me squeak onto the USA Today bestseller list). If I have the opportunity,  I will DEFINITELY do a bookbub for my self-pub book. I don't know exactly what the criteria is for selection, but I'm going to try my damnedest, lol! It's one of the few investments in advertising that showed that kind of success. I've done kindle nation ads, ads at big review ads, RT magazine, FB, and GR, and nothing even came close to results like this. I also saw a 100% bump in my backlist (of titles in the same line as the bookbub release). It was short-lived, maybe a few weeks? But it was a really nice run for the price.


----------



## CJArcher

Valerie, thanks for the update. I've been waiting for you to post your results since my BB ad is running later this month with a book in a similar situation to yours. I'll be sure to post back here when I get some firm data.



valeriec80 said:


> Anyway, the world will never know. I'm holding out hope that maybe the free results will end up stickier than the $.99 results, considering I'm still in the Top 100 Free, like five days after the ad. So maybe it will end up being awesome because it will be a slow accumulation of goodness, and maybe the first in the series will keep a good rank for a while. I don't know. Optimism is not my strong suit, but I am trying! I'll be sure to report back.


Be optimistic! I think you're right about it being stickier. I hope you get a higher level of sales for the rest of the series for months afterwards.


----------



## Guest

For Valeric80

Anyway, there are about a thousand variables that good influence these results.

Yes, that's the main thing. A lot of it is variable. WHICH list did your book run in and how many people does it have. That's a big determinant.

-YA is dead?

No, from my blog is see it as one of the top 5 genres. Only Mystery and Romance are clearly stronger. Christian and Non Fiction are also bigger. But then there's YA.

-running YA in paranormal romance is not so great?

I think it's great because it introduces you to a new genre. Lots of my blog readers tell me they check YA in addition to their other choices (romance, mystery, whatever it is). People who read romance do read YA. Just check the size of the different lists. Is Paranormal Romance new/smaller than YA?

-December is a better month than March?

Yes, 500 times better. Because of the sales patterns of devices. Nov is MUCH better than preceding months. Dec is spectacular. Jan can be as good as Dec or better.
Big drop-off in Feb. Mar is lower than Feb.

For reference, 70% of the profits of the retail business happen in the holiday quarter. Pretty sure it's the same for ebooks, or perhaps even more skewed if you include Jan.

-2012 was a better year than 2014?

Hard to say. I think the value perception of books is going down non-stop. Perhaps not very quickly, but still. So perhaps people don't buy as much any more.

-This series has been out so long the market is oversaturated? (Yeah, so why did 16,000 people download the first book. I don't know if I buy that.)

* Now you are catering to the NEW people on Bookbub.

So perhaps the NEWER people since Dec 2012 aren't as likely to buy or not that many joined in your genre.

-The thing is that people REALLY, REALLY don't read freebies anymore?

* Well, yes. There are too many.

-The universe wants me to go back to work?

* The universe will give you whatever you hold in your head and work for. So be careful making assumptions. Good assumptions and good positive thoughts become reality. So do bad ones.

-Bookbub doesn't work as well as it used to?

* I think it still works really well. I've only seen a few people mention results that weren't excellent. And lots and lots of people mention great results. This thread is a good example. But even if you search on the Internet. It's the best place if you want to hit a top 10 spot in the free charts. Every book they mention gets to the top 10 or top 20 for the smaller genres.

And, with all due respect, you making back your money and reaching 17,000 potential customers for the price of one ad. That's a win.

I think it's just that Bookbub delivered too well for you at first.

A $25 ad leading to $4,000 in earnings - that just doesn't happen.

Sooner or later market forces balance things out. Think of it from the perspective of the service provider. AT some point they have to realize that they can't keep sustaining and growing a business if they just charge $25 of value for providing $4,000 to you. 

*******

That makes me thing of another thing. There are lots of competitors now like KND's BookGorilla and BookSends and more.

The Bookbub model is being copied left, right and center. So, perhaps that is beginning to, or will begin to, have consequences.

*******

Anyways, I think you did very well. We used to sell apps and across Google Adwords, Banner ADs, mentions etc. - there's not a single channel that made money back. EVER.

So if you made your money back and added 17,000 potential future customers, that's something to be happy about.


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## 58907

I just got accepted(FINALLY!) in the AA category. Sooooo, if you have a book with an AA character, that category might be wide open. I couldn't get the same book accepted in more popular categories (romsusp/inspy).

Anyone have any success with the AA category? I saw one book today make it to the overall Top 100 Free...


----------



## hardnutt

Victoria,

Congratulations on your bookbub acceptance! Well done! Know nothing about AA category. Sorry.

I had  a free add on their Mystery category on 9 March and it went very well. It was my first application. Saving my pennies for a second!


----------



## 58907

hardnutt said:


> Victoria,
> 
> Congratulations on your bookbub acceptance! Well done! Know nothing about AA category. Sorry.
> 
> I had a free add on their Mystery category on 9 March and it went very well. It was my first application. Saving my pennies for a second!


Thank you! It's good to hear the free titles still do well. Did you see any sales across your other titles? My free title is the first in a series and I'm hoping this will attract readers to the second and the third when it's released--shortly after the ad.


----------



## Robert A Michael

Hardnutt, I have not had a Bookbub ad yet, but I am doing a free run this week (Manic Monday). I bundled it with a new release of book 4 and a Kindle Countdown of Book 2.  So far,I have just under 7,000 downloads (ERN picked me up last night, thank God). I have seen 50 sales (these are on books that have sold practically nothing in a year and were ranked in the 1.4 millions) so far. My thinking is that for every 10,000 downloads, you should see 80-120 sales across your series. And that is the immediate results. The long tail is that you should see an exponential growth based off of TBR piles and newsletter sign-ups, new reviews, and the synergy created from the visibility.

These are just theories, mind you. In marketing, 1% movement from an ad is relatively standard. Look at the Bookbub numbers carefully. If a list is 400,000, it can top out at 40,000 downloads but averages much less than that. If your books see a similar sell-through (0.5 to 1.5%), you should have a good promotion. Actually, from some of those categories, the results are MUCH lower. For the 99 cent - 2.99 books, the rate is abysmal, really when you think of the sheer numbers. 

Good luck!


----------



## 13893

KVictoriaChase said:


> I just got accepted(FINALLY!) in the AA category. Sooooo, if you have a book with an AA character, that category might be wide open. I couldn't get the same book accepted in more popular categories (romsusp/inspy).
> 
> Anyone have any success with the AA category? I saw one book today make it to the overall Top 100 Free...


I'm pretty sure it's a new category. Congratulations! Get ready for a fun, fun day. I had a free ad with BB in January, and I was truly (pleasantly) surprised by the sell-through to the other books in the series. BookBub subscribers seem to be actual readers! ha.


----------



## hardnutt

KVictoriaChase said:


> Thank you! It's good to hear the free titles still do well. Did you see any sales across your other titles? My free title is the first in a series and I'm hoping this will attract readers to the second and the third when it's released--shortly after the ad.


Yes, the sales of books one and two in my series have increased enormously, number four has increased about five-fold and number three, the one I had the bb ad on, has increased about six-fold. Strangely, number eleven in the series is also doing pretty well! I'm talking lower three figures here for the best, you understand, not thousands.

Pretty much all of the increase is from the US, which is terrific, as you have so many more potential purchasers of my books. Getting my name better known in the States is hugely important as I'm in this for the long haul.


----------



## jdrew

It seems that series benefit most.  Anyone have experience with BB promos where an author has multiple books out that are not connected?


----------



## 13893

I have a mix of series and stand-alones. BookBub ads always help the series that contains the featured book but the other books not so much. 

My freebie, a Jane Eyre retold set in a future utopia, is running today. I was afraid it wouldn't do well because BB put it in science fiction, but it's already had over 6500 downloads - and KDP usually runs behind in its reports. Also, it hit #21 in the free store. 

This despite a kerfluffle with the description (BB said Jane Eyre was written by Jane Austen).


----------



## Bookside Manner

Back in December I ran a BookBub for #1 in my suspense series. Sold a lot of that book, and a good number of its sequel. I also did sell more than I usually do of my stand-alone contemporary.  

I'll see how it plays in reverse in a couple weeks when I have a Bub for the contemporary.


----------



## hardnutt

Robert A Michael said:


> Hardnutt, I have not had a Bookbub ad yet, but I am doing a free run this week (Manic Monday). I bundled it with a new release of book 4 and a Kindle Countdown of Book 2. So far,I have just under 7,000 downloads (ERN picked me up last night, thank God). I have seen 50 sales (these are on books that have sold practically nothing in a year and were ranked in the 1.4 millions) so far. My thinking is that for every 10,000 downloads, you should see 80-120 sales across your series. And that is the immediate results. The long tail is that you should see an exponential growth based off of TBR piles and newsletter sign-ups, new reviews, and the synergy created from the visibility.
> 
> These are just theories, mind you. In marketing, 1% movement from an ad is relatively standard. Look at the Bookbub numbers carefully. If a list is 400,000, it can top out at 40,000 downloads but averages much less than that. If your books see a similar sell-through (0.5 to 1.5%), you should have a good promotion. Actually, from some of those categories, the results are MUCH lower. For the 99 cent - 2.99 books, the rate is abysmal, really when you think of the sheer numbers.
> 
> Good luck!


Sounds good to me.  Fingers crossed for that long tail. And I could certainly do with some new email sign-ups.


----------



## Guest

I had a question for Robert on this: (and everyone else feel free to chime in).



> In marketing, 1% movement from an ad is relatively standard. Look at the Bookbub numbers carefully. If a list is 400,000, it can top out at 40,000 downloads but averages much less than that. If your books see a similar sell-through (0.5 to 1.5%), you should have a good promotion. Actually, from some of those categories, the results are MUCH lower. For the 99 cent - 2.99 books, the rate is abysmal, really when you think of the sheer numbers.


This is the thing I don't understand. Why is the rate so abysmal.

From my understanding of the numbers from different book promotion sites etc.

Free Books are downloaded by 3% or so of readers.
Paid Books are bought by 0.2% to 0.7% of readers.

Why are the figures so low?

If there are hundreds of thousands of people on all these website lists (or some have half a million facebook likes), then why does a heavily discounted deal sell only a few thousands copies?

Are we saying that even after getting a great deal on a book, in a genre the reader handpicked themselves, and with no other deals to compete with, only 0.2% to 0.7% of readers think it's worth buying?

Also, what does Amazon do that gets it a LOT MORE sales for its Books of the Day? The Books of the Day always seem to go to the Top 10.


----------



## Robert A Michael

abhi said:


> I had a question for Robert on this: (and everyone else feel free to chime in).
> 
> This is the thing I don't understand. Why is the rate so abysmal.
> 
> From my understanding of the numbers from different book promotion sites etc.
> 
> Free Books are downloaded by 3% or so of readers.
> Paid Books are bought by 0.2% to 0.7% of readers.
> 
> Why are the figures so low?
> 
> If there are hundreds of thousands of people on all these website lists (or some have half a million facebook likes), then why does a heavily discounted deal sell only a few thousands copies?
> 
> Are we saying that even after getting a great deal on a book, in a genre the reader handpicked themselves, and with no other deals to compete with, only 0.2% to 0.7% of readers think it's worth buying?
> 
> Also, what does Amazon do that gets it a LOT MORE sales for its Books of the Day? The Books of the Day always seem to go to the Top 10.


It is true in most marketing. Direct Marketing. Telemarketing (ugh). Ads are often worse, surprisingly. Think of it this way: the ads for the Super Bowl. Why do companies pay SO much for those ads? Exposure. Hundreds of millions of eyes. Still, what do you think the response is? How many people take action? The thing about the ads for the Super Bowl, they are tweeted, re-tweeted, shared on FB, clipped for every media outlet, blog, or industry website for the next two weeks. Hits upon millions of hits. Still. What do you think the response is? I haven't become a Scientologist. I still hate Doritos. I will not use AXE Peace (I am an Old Spice kinda guy), and although I will occasionally buy Coke Zero when it is on sale, I prefer Pepsi Max. Think about me multiplied by 115 million other people.

The key is visibility. More eyes on brand. So many other variables determine the exact success rate. Good cover. Good blurb. Great content.

So why is Bookbub king of marketing at the moment? Biggest list of subscribers. Most eyes on product. Plus, they understand their subscribers and put only the products in front of them that they are confident will create the most clicks.

It boils down to numbers. I will give you another example. Small potatoes, but significant to me. I have 2 titles in Kindle Worlds. They consistently outrank my other titles, despite the fact that neither of them are the best representation of my writing. Why do they sell 1-5 books a day when my other works languish in obscurity? Because KW has a link on the Amazon store. Potential readers are just three clicks from discovering my cover. Then, if they happen to purchase any of Blake Crouch's books, I know (because I have received them) that customer will get an email with a list of KW titles in them. Exposure.

Am I saying that success will not come without an Amazon feature, a BB promo, or a feature by ERN? No. I am saying that numbers don't lie. Word of mouth, perma-free, blog tours, national exposure from a trusted source. These can all lead to the same thing.

As far as why are the numbers so abysmal, I cannot say. Too many variables. But, think about yourself. Pay attention this week to how many times you are exposed to an ad. Heck, right here on KB, you are looking at folks hocking their wares. I see a Ram 2014 Heavy Duty ad. Free Book Editing Guide. Work at home. Get Paid to Write. All of our sig lines. On and on. I won't buy a truck this week. I won't buy a laptop this week. I might buy one of your books. Some of you have been tempting me for months and I hope I tempt you back. Do you see? 2% to 10% of people might buy. It is more likely the number is below 1%.

UPDATE: 7700 downloads. 54 Sales. 2 borrows. Your results may vary. As Russell Blake points out, its all a crap-shoot.

Good luck. And people, keep sharing! Your information and stories inspire me and humble me. Mostly humble.


----------



## Justawriter

abhi said:


> I had a question for Robert on this: (and everyone else feel free to chime in).
> 
> This is the thing I don't understand. Why is the rate so abysmal.
> 
> From my understanding of the numbers from different book promotion sites etc.
> 
> Free Books are downloaded by 3% or so of readers.
> Paid Books are bought by 0.2% to 0.7% of readers.
> 
> Why are the figures so low?
> 
> If there are hundreds of thousands of people on all these website lists (or some have half a million facebook likes), then why does a heavily discounted deal sell only a few thousands copies?
> 
> Are we saying that even after getting a great deal on a book, in a genre the reader handpicked themselves, and with no other deals to compete with, only 0.2% to 0.7% of readers think it's worth buying?
> 
> Also, what does Amazon do that gets it a LOT MORE sales for its Books of the Day? The Books of the Day always seem to go to the Top 10.


Amazon has millions of eyeballs and they are the best at steering the right people to the right books.

With BookBub, I think their numbers are amazing. If you really stop and consider that people are getting a BookBub email EVERY DAY. That's a lot of emails and a lot of books. The average person isn't going to be buying books off Bookbub every day or even necessarily looking at the email every day. I'm a heavy book buyer, I bought two books off BookBub today, one was a .99 and one was Free. Some days I buy more, some days I don't buy any. I do not look at the Bookbub email every day, because I have a book buying problem&#8230;and am trying to not go too crazy.

I'm amazed really, that the BookBub numbers are as high as they are considering the same group of people are getting these emails every day.


----------



## valeriec80

I think Bookbub has 2 million subscribers. When you think in that scope, getting 1000-2000 people to buy a $.99 book is actually a small percentage of the whole.

I also have seen some Goodreads members mention in discussions that they basically get ALL of their books through Bookbub. It makes sense when you think about it. It's all cheap deals, and it's a curated list of books that all have good reviews. It's easier than scouring through Amazon also-boughts or the Goodreads recommendation engine. It comes to your inbox every day. I bet lots of readers use Bookbub as their primary discovery tool.


----------



## Moist_Tissue

KVictoriaChase said:


> I just got accepted(FINALLY!) in the AA category. Sooooo, if you have a book with an AA character, that category might be wide open. I couldn't get the same book accepted in more popular categories (romsusp/inspy).
> 
> Anyone have any success with the AA category? I saw one book today make it to the overall Top 100 Free...


Good to know. I'm excited about this new category!


----------



## 58907

LKRigel said:


> I'm pretty sure it's a new category. Congratulations! Get ready for a fun, fun day. I had a free ad with BB in January, and I was truly (pleasantly) surprised by the sell-through to the other books in the series. BookBub subscribers seem to be actual readers! ha.


Thank you! And that's awesome news about the sell-through rate.


----------



## 58907

hardnutt said:


> Yes, the sales of books one and two in my series have increased enormously, number four has increased about five-fold and number three, the one I had the bb ad on, has increased about six-fold. Strangely, number eleven in the series is also doing pretty well! I'm talking lower three figures here for the best, you understand, not thousands.
> 
> Pretty much all of the increase is from the US, which is terrific, as you have so many more potential purchasers of my books. Getting my name better known in the States is hugely important as I'm in this for the long haul.


Thank you for sharing. Book 1 is already free and I'm seeing a nice increase in sales for book 2 and book 3 will release shortly after the ad so I'm hoping for a nice bump there too, especially with all the mailing list signups I'm getting.


----------



## Lydniz

I've just been turned down by Bookbub. Obviously, I have to wait two weeks before I resubmit the same title, but is there any reason not to submit a different one earlier than that?


----------



## Bookside Manner

Today is the second go-round of my contemporary. Blurb appears to be the same one they used last time, and I'm fine with that. Hoping the new cover makes a positive difference. Will spend the day biting my nails and refreshing my KDP reports page.


----------



## 58907

Lydniz said:


> I've just been turned down by Bookbub. Obviously, I have to wait two weeks before I resubmit the same title, but is there any reason not to submit a different one earlier than that?


I've been there and I totally sent another book immediately. LOL.

Hope the next one gets accepted! I was rejected at least three times before I was accepted.


----------



## Lydniz

KVictoriaChase said:


> I've been there and I totally sent another book immediately. LOL.
> 
> Hope the next one gets accepted! I was rejected at least three times before I was accepted.


Thanks! I submitted it and they said no. Boo.  I'll keep trying, though.


----------



## CJArcher

My Bookbub promo for The Medium ran on the 23rd so I'm here with some stats as promised. Hopefully this isn't too long.

BACKGROUND
The Medium has been permafree for a year and a half. It's the 1st book in a trilogy. Follow-up books are Possession ($3.99), Evermore ($3.99) and there's also a bundle of all 3 ($6.99).
Genre: YA historical paranormal romance
Bookbub category: Paranormal romance (250,000 subscribers, 9,100 average downloads).
Cost: $120
I last ran this book with Bookbub back in Dec 2012 in the smaller YA category and received approx 7k downloads.
Downloads/sales of these books have ground to a halt this last month or so. 

**The first 24 hours after the BB email blast**

AMAZON US:
The Medium = over 13k downloads
Possession = 16 sales
Evermore = 11 sales
Bundle = 20 sales

AMAZON UK
The Medium = 45 downloads
Possession = 1 sale
Evermore = 1 sale
Bundle = 1 sale

B&N
I go through Smashwords to get to B&N so I don't know how many downloads or sales there. The rank of The Medium jumped from 6,213 to 1,301 but the ranks of the follow-up books hasn't moved.

KOBO
They don't record free downloads by the day. Negligible increase in sales of the other books.

APPLE
The Medium = 1,150 downloads
A smattering of sales for the rest of the books.

GOOGLE PLAY
No Noticeable increase in downloads or sales


I've been VERY happy with the Amazon US results. I made back the money in the first 24 hours on sales of the subsequent books. I didn't think I'd get that many downloads from a book that has been permafree for so long. Historical can also be a tough sell. Switching Bookbub categories from YA to PNR was definitely a good idea for this book. It's one that I knew appealed to an adult audience as well as teens, and I made sure to mention that to the BB people at the outset. The initial response at Apple and B&N has been positive too. Hopefully the next few days will see some movement on the rest of the series at those outlets and more at Amazon US. If this results in a month of higher-than-usual sales then I'll consider it a win. I'll try to report back on about day 4 with follow-up sales data.


----------



## Justawriter

CJ,
That's awesome! And good to know it worked even better second time around.


----------



## Shayne Parkinson

That's great, CJ! I fully expect you'll see even more follow-up sales of the other books in the next week or so.


----------



## CJArcher

Thanks, Pamela. I was really surprised.

Thanks, Shayne. I hope you're right!


----------



## erikhanberg

This Bookbub blog post on the demographics of their readers is eye-opening.

http://unbound.bookbub.com/post/80678538507/8-things-you-should-know-about-bookbub-subscribers

It really changes how I think about the service and what I might submit there.


----------



## P. J. Alderman

Hi, All--

I'm new to Kboards, even still trying to figure out the interface, how to get sig lines, and so on! So forgive my rather plain-looking post! 

I've found this thread to be immensely helpful. Thanks so much to all of you who take the time to post your experiences with Bookbub and other ad sites! Encouraged by your success, I submitted the first in my thriller series to Bookbub, and it's been accepted for the 23rd of April. So now, of course, I'm a little freaked about exactly the best way to make this all work, lol.

My main question at this point is whether to risk using price-matching to garner a 70% royalty on Amazon during the ad run. I reduced my book on B&n to 99 cents in 2011 (the book is A Killing Tide), and Amazon's price-matching gave me an amazing run. Amazon never raised the price back to 2.99 until I raised it at other sites. Still, this time around, my gut is telling me that this might be a risky strategy. It might not happen as predictably, Amazon might decide to raise the price back in the middle of the discount period, etc., etc. There are potentially hundreds of dollars at stake, of course, depending on the number of sales I get.

SO, what have y'all done in this respect? Do you play it safe, take the 35% royalty, and reduce the price yourself? Or have you tried to manipulate price-matching to keep the 70% royalty?

And I should clarify--this book isn't in KDP Select and can't be part of a Countdown deal--my sales on B&N are too substantial to pull it. I also have a very dedicated readership on that site.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! And thanks again for all these inspiring posts...they convinced me to take the plunge! Indie authors rock!

--P. J. Alderman


----------



## CJArcher

I always lower the books myself. You don't want to mess with a BB promo. On the other hand, you could try it but if it doesn't get lowered with 2 days to go, you could lower to 99c yourself. Do Amazon still offer the 70% royalty on a book THEY lower below the $2.99 threshold? It's not something I've looked into lately. I know they used to, but there's been no buzz about it for some time.


----------



## CJArcher

I promised to give a 4 day post-BB report. This is the quick and dirty version.

Amazon.com and Apple continue to sell books 2, 3 and the bundle above the average I was selling before the promo. In fact, I sold more on Day 3 & 4 than the first day even though downloads on book 1 are way down, naturally. Apple in particular took about 2 days to show an increase, but I think their reporting lags by about a day so there's that. I'm selling a little more at B&N but I can't be sure of numbers as I go through Smash. The ranks are better than before I started, but not by huge amounts.

The other outlets are not showing any overall increase above what I was selling before the promo. 

I've gotten some newsletter signups, new FB likes and email messages from new fans - I love this part the best! I'm hoping the halo effect will last a little longer on .com and Apple as people get around to reading the freebie.


----------



## P. J. Alderman

*Do Amazon still offer the 70% royalty on a book THEY lower below the $2.99 threshold?*

Good question, CJ. I haven't checked lately, either. I was assuming. I'd better check. I had also thought of attempting the price-match, then lowering it myself if it does't happen...I'll check into this a little more closely. If anyone else has recent experience with it, please chime in.

And thanks for your stats--encouraging to hear about the sales on the other books. I will post mine next month as the ads hit. I've submitted to three other places--POI, fkbooksandtips, and ENT. I'm watching Book Gorilla, but I'm wary of it. They send out a lot of deals each day--I would think it's easy to get lost in the list if you're just a few books down. Anyway, I'll post the final list of ads and dates, then post the results...

PJ


----------



## Bookside Manner

Just want to dash in and report on the BookBub that ran on Monday this week. This was the second time out for this book, and two major things have changed. 1) Spiffy new cover. 2) I tried my new "spike" approach and have run/am running concurrent promos with Fussy, FKBT, ENT, ebooksoda, Read Cheaply, BookSends, and Ereader buddy.

I've already sold more copies in 4 days than I did the entire month last time I did a BookBub. So far the spiffy cover and the spike approach seem to be paying off.


----------



## Patty Jansen

I ran a Bookbub promo on 3 January, and now, almost three months later, my sales are still higher than what they used to be. Not on Amazon so much, but on B&N, Apple and strangely, Smashwords (the site itself). Then again, I've never had stellar sales on Amazon.

I've just been accepted for my other permafree for a second Bookbub promo at some date yet to be determined. They said they couldn't do the date I applied for. I don't even remember what date that was, because I don't care. The book in question is permafree, so "whenever" suits me. Waiting to hear back my confirmation. This time, I can include Google Play in the availability list. Getting some sales happening there would be awesome (up till now it's been crickets).

Last time, I found it beneficial to book further small promos (nothing costing more than $25 a pop) on either side of the BB promo date, not even necessarily for the same book.

In another three months, I'm hoping to be able to apply to BB with a new permafree book of a new series, when I have book 2 finished.


----------



## 60169

The Bub worked its magic for me again.

Ran my first book (out 19 months) in the Bio and Memoirs category today for .99.

Picked up about 1,050 downloads in the first ten hours and cracked the Top 100 for the first time ever. 

Long live the Bub.


----------



## Bookside Manner

I love the Bub. I want to get a teddy bear and name it "Bub" and give it hugs.


----------



## jdrew

Kelly Cozy said:


> Just want to dash in and report on the BookBub that ran on Monday this week. This was the second time out for this book, and two major things have changed. 1) Spiffy new cover. 2) I tried my new "spike" approach and have run/am running concurrent promos with Fussy, FKBT, ENT, ebooksoda, Read Cheaply, BookSends, and Ereader buddy.
> 
> I've already sold more copies in 4 days than I did the entire month last time I did a BookBub. So far the spiffy cover and the spike approach seem to be paying off.


Kelly, spike approach? I assume that refers to hitting multiple ad sites at the same or nearly the same time. Correct or is it something else?


----------



## Bookside Manner

Yes, that's what it is. I got the BookBub booked, then went after promos with all the venues that have worked for me (I haven't tried BookSends before but it was only $10 since I was in the literary fiction category so I went for it). I'm hoping to have fewer sales but to make them more effective. So far it went well, though my spiffy new cover probably helped a lot too.


----------



## kathrynoh

My bookbub ad ran today for my NA book.  i was wondering how well it'd do since I had been getting about 2,000 downloads a day for the 3 days before the ad.  I'd booked it for the NA category which isn't that big on bookbub anyway - good thing is that it only cost $50, bad side - avg downloads 1,500 to 9,100 which is not so high compared to other categories.  

Well, so far I'm sitting at around 11,000 downloads for the day and my book is at #8 free      Book 2 in the series has also hit the top 100 in the Romance category  

I am absolutely floored.


----------



## C. Gockel

Congrats kathyrynoh!


----------



## Justawriter

So, I have my first Bookbub scheduled for April 6, but it's for a FREE book that I am trying to get onto permafree. I thought I was giving myself plenty of time, set it to free everywhere else on Monday and when they didn't match, I had people start reporting it on Tuesday, and then I emailed KDP directly on Thursday and got a response saying they price-match when they feel like it and I should keep submitting lower prices. 

Has anyone ever just told them they need it reduced for a BookBub promo? Would that work? Or would they just say, put it in Select? Am getting nervous, have just over a week now for this book to go free.


----------



## 60169

Hey, Pamela;

I guess it depends on your tolerance for risk. Mine isn't  that high. I wouldn't feel comfortable scheduling an ad hoping that Zon will permafree it by then. I haven't had the same luck others have had in getting pricematched, even when I go through all the steps you're describing. In the end, it's not automatic.  

Good luck, hope it works out!


----------



## Justawriter

Shawn Inmon said:


> Hey, Pamela;
> 
> I guess it depends on your tolerance for risk. Mine isn't that high. I wouldn't feel comfortable scheduling an ad hoping that Zon will permafree it by then. I haven't had the same luck others have had in getting pricematched, even when I go through all the steps you're describing. In the end, it's not automatic.
> 
> Good luck, hope it works out!


Shawn,
I know, it's crazy. I really didn't think it would be so hard. I started in plenty of time, I thought and recently friends have gone free without have to do a thing, no notifying or anything, and within 24 hours. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, have a little over a week to go.


----------



## ToniD

PamelaKelley said:


> So, I have my first Bookbub scheduled for April 6, but it's for a FREE book that I am trying to get onto permafree. I thought I was giving myself plenty of time, set it to free everywhere else on Monday and when they didn't match, I had people start reporting it on Tuesday, and then I emailed KDP directly on Thursday and got a response saying they price-match when they feel like it and I should keep submitting lower prices.


Pamela, when you say 'set it free everywhere' I assume that includes Kobo and Apple? I found those sites to be key in price-matching to permafree.

You've got a full week, so chances are it will work. Fingers crossed for you....

We'll be Bub-Mates on the 6th. I have Volcano Watch in Action/Adventure that day.


----------



## Justawriter

Hi Toni,

Yes, it's free at Kobo and Apple. I just got an email back from KDP saying they will change it to free within 24-48 hrs, so unless they change their mind, I will hopefully be ok!  

Glad for the company on the 6th! I will cheer us both on.


----------



## A past poster

PamelaKelley said:


> Hi Toni,
> 
> Yes, it's free at Kobo and Apple. I just got an email back from KDP saying they will change it to free within 24-48 hrs, so unless they change their mind, I will hopefully be ok!


If you use Smashwords, make sure it's free on every vendor. It might help to send them a polite email telling them what you've said on this thread--relating the history of the efforts you've made in trying to get the book permafree, including the length of time you've spent on it, and that you have a BookBub ad scheduled.


----------



## ToniD

PamelaKelley said:


> Hi Toni,
> 
> Yes, it's free at Kobo and Apple. I just got an email back from KDP saying they will change it to free within 24-48 hrs, so unless they change their mind, I will hopefully be ok!
> 
> Glad for the company on the 6th! I will cheer us both on.


Whew, for the win! 

May the 6th bring us both stellar results!


----------



## Maia Sepp Ross

I had an ad today in Women's Fiction. I'm currently sitting at #110 in the Amazon store, and #47 on B&N (don't know about iTunes yet). Will update with #s tomorrow. 

Woo!


----------



## Steve W.

I'm having a BookBub promotion today for my novel GLIMPSE. I'm really curious to see how it will work for books geared for younger readers. I haven't seen any authors report about that here before. I suspect it takes a few days before you really have an idea of what the results look like. One thing, ARGH, is that I set the price change for Apple a full week early and it still didn't match in time. Everywhere else it did. Next time, 2 weeks early? I guess so....


----------



## C. Gockel

Ran my ad yesterday. It was the second time I ran the book. I had more downloads, started higher in the charts, but still only made it to #7 in the Free Store. Still, made back the cost of the ad by 4:30 pm, and I'm still getting decent downloads. All the best today! I'm sure it will be great.


----------



## bclaire

I've been watching this thread for weeks trying to prepare myself for the possibilities (good and bad) of a Bookbub ad. I was turned down 3 times for an ad but was finally accepted, and I wanted to share my results because other posts here have helped me so much. The ad ran on March 29th for the first book in my series, on sale for $0.99 in the Historical Romance category.

In the first 24 hours, I had 2,452 sales on Amazon and 587 sales on Barnes & Noble. Sales also increased on Kobo and iTunes but not anywhere close to those two.

This is the third day after the ad, and my sales are still way above average for book 1 AND for all the subsequent books in the series. I've also had a boost to the number of reviews on all my books and the number of mailing list sign-ups. So far, the numbers that I believe I can attribute to the ad in total are about 4,600 of book 1 on Amazon and about 1,500 on Barnes and Noble of Book 1, and sales of the other books in the series continue to be way above normal.

I'm hoping for a very long boost from Bookbub, but even if my sales went back to normal today, it was totally worth it, and I will definitely apply for future ads. Hope this information is useful to someone else. Everyone has been so helpful with all of the previously shared info.


----------



## bclaire

MeganBryce said:


> Thanks, bclaire. That's fantastic!
> 
> I was just rejected for the first time and I'll try again because it is so obviously worth it.


You are very welcome. Another thing I forgot to mention in my earlier post was the boost in rankings that resulted from the ad. My book went from #1863 in the paid kindle store to as high as #38 in the paid kindle store and it went to #1 in Kindle--Romance--Time Travel. Woot Woot! I think the visibility with the increase in rankings is key to the continued boost in sales.

Good luck with your application. Something that I think helped mine was giving a really BIG window of time that my book would be on sale. In my previous applications, I had a fairly narrow window. In this one I basically said, "anytime you can feature my book, I will make it work." Hope the Bookbub gods smile down on you!


----------



## Lionel&#039;s Mom

Bethany, that's great that your time travel did so well! I actually asked if they'd ever get a time travel romance category, and they said "not yet". I was nervous to even try to apply since my books aren't exactly historical, def more time travel. Congrats on your BB success


----------



## bclaire

cassidycayman said:


> Bethany, that's great that your time travel did so well! I actually asked if they'd ever get a time travel romance category, and they said "not yet". I was nervous to even try to apply since my books aren't exactly historical, def more time travel. Congrats on your BB success


Thanks, Cassidy. Your books do so well anyway that I feel sure they would do great in their Historical Romance category. Definitely worth a try!


----------



## Kay Bratt

I had Bookbub today on a book I wrote as a loss leader to my series, (Red Skies) and it's done really well so far! 
I also did a few other small ads to help boost.

Currently at over 18,000 20,000 27,000 34,000 downloads:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2 Free in Kindle Store 
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Literary Fiction > Women's Fiction 
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction > Literary 
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction > Women's Fiction


----------



## Steve W.

KayBratt said:


> I had Bookbub today on a book I wrote as a loss leader to my series, and it's done really well so far! I also did a few other small ads to help boost.
> 
> Currently at over 18,000 20,000 downloads:
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3 Free in Kindle Store
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Literary Fiction > Women's Fiction
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction > Literary
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction > Women's Fiction


Whoa! Awesome! Congratulations.


----------



## Kay Bratt

Steve W. said:


> Whoa! Awesome! Congratulations.


Thanks, Steve. The final count for the day was over 34k downloads and I got to #2 on the entire free store. That book was written as a lead in to the series, and already the ranking on the other books in the series have already improved vastly, so it seems my strategy is working, but as you said, time will tell.

(and congrats to you. I saw your stats on another thread and I agree, considering your genre you did fantastic!)


----------



## RinG

I applied to bookbub for my fantasy novel. Now nervously awaiting their reply. (Had to share with someone.)


----------



## dotx

Steve W. said:


> I'm having a BookBub promotion today for my novel GLIMPSE. I'm really curious to see how it will work for books geared for younger readers. I haven't seen any authors report about that here before. I suspect it takes a few days before you really have an idea of what the results look like. One thing, ARGH, is that I set the price change for Apple a full week early and it still didn't match in time. Everywhere else it did. Next time, 2 weeks early? I guess so....


How did it go?


----------



## valeriec80

Another longterm update for me and Bookbub.

So, my Bookbub ad from February on The Killing Moon. I've goosed the book a few times, putting it down to $.99--kind of price-pulsing it. But neither it nor its sequel have returned to the #300,000s of the store where they were before the ad. However, the second book did dip down to the #200,000s. At this point, I would say that most of the Bookbub dust has worn off that, and we're... what? Three months later? So, one would expect that, I'd say, and I won't do anymore updates on that title. 

As for my freebie Breathless, it's been about a month since its Bookbub run. All told, last month, I gave away 21,000 copies of the book, and sold 676 copies of the sequels in the series. Nearly 200 of those were for the second book in the series, and the rest sort of trickled down. So far this month, I've sold 50 copies of the sequels, so the books are still selling. The second book is ranked in the #40,000s currently. (Which is a drop of about 10,000 in rank from yesterday... so now I'm paranoid. Stay gold, Ponyboy!! Um... yeah, I don't know why I just quoted _The Outsiders._)

How do I feel about this?

Well, I'm largely pleased, mostly because the afterglow of the freebie has not waned entirely by now. That's a good sign. Also, I've gotten about nine new reviews since this all started, which is also great. It's not as intense of a result as in the past, but it's still something, and I can't complain, especially since I would have probably had to go back to a "real" job if it weren't for these two Bookbub ads. Now if I could just get them to accept something else! (They've denied my last three ad requests. I've got a fourth one in now, but it'll never get approved. It's only got eight reviews.)


----------



## ToniD

BookBub haz wit. Volcano Watch is up today, with the description "Dive into this groundbreaking thriller..."

First time in a new cat: action/adventure. I'm a bit nervous.

Hope to come close to some of the results recently posted here. Nice work, guys.


----------



## Justawriter

I am feeling like the biggest idiot. I was so excited to do my first BookBub ad and planned a new release for the same day thinking it would be a great way to boost that book too. I knew my BookBub ad was for April 6.

But for some unknown reason I had it in my mind that was Monday, tomorrow. 

Ran out for about two hours and just got home to about 18k downloads and then anxiously looked up the BookBub email, and sure enough, it turns out that April 6 is today.

I am so bummed, feel like I totally missed this window of opportunity. I'm sure I might get some sales tomorrow and the rest of this week, but I was really counting on a bunch the day the ad ran. 

I think this may be just about the dumbest thing I've done in a long time!


----------



## ToniD

Aw Pamela, that's too bad.

But this might make you feel better: your book is the featured book on the Bub's facebook page. And since there is only one per day there, your book will be near the top tomorrow.

Can you quickly add a note in Amazon Author Central to your product description for the BB book, saying something like *new release tomorrow* with the title? And as soon as you get an Amazon link, add that.


----------



## Justawriter

ToniD said:


> Aw Pamela, that's too bad.
> 
> But this might make you feel better: your book is the featured book on the Bub's facebook page. And since there is only one per day there, your book will be near the top tomorrow.
> 
> Can you quickly add a note in Amazon Author Central to your product description for the BB book, saying something like *new release tomorrow* with the title? And as soon as you get an Amazon link, add that.


Toni, that's a great idea! Thank you.


----------



## 58907

Downloaded your book, Pamela!


----------



## anniejocoby

KVictoriaChase said:


> Downloaded your book, Pamela!


As did I!


----------



## Justawriter

Thanks Victoria and Annie! 

This is my first time going free, and it's been pretty good so far today. I hit #1 in the store a while ago and since the ad hit have had over 40k downloads. I went free earlier this week and had about 27k downloads before the ad hit, so am hopeful that actual sales will follow at some point.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Series
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Sagas


----------



## anniejocoby

PamelaKelley said:


> Thanks Victoria and Annie!
> 
> This is my first time going free, and it's been pretty good so far today. I hit #1 in the store a while ago and since the ad hit have had over 40k downloads. I went free earlier this week and had about 27k downloads before the ad hit, so am hopeful that actual sales will follow at some point.
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Series
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Sagas


Congrats! I can't get over how many downloads you've had without promoting it! I'm going to dig in to your book soon!


----------



## BlankPage

_Comment removed due to VS TOS 20/9/2018_


----------



## 58907

PamelaKelley said:


> Thanks Victoria and Annie!
> 
> This is my first time going free, and it's been pretty good so far today. I hit #1 in the store a while ago and since the ad hit have had over 40k downloads. I went free earlier this week and had about 27k downloads before the ad hit, so am hopeful that actual sales will follow at some point.
> 
> Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Series
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Sagas


Still #1!!  Did you upload your new book yet? I think the window of opportunity is still there.


----------



## Justawriter

Thanks Estelle!

Victoria, it's being uploaded today, so should be live tonight or tomorrow morning hopefully. 

About 62k downloads from the ad yesterday (7.5k were from Apple which was a nice surprise), just over 90k since it went free earlier last week.


----------



## 58907

Pamela, your book has been #1 ALL DAY LONG!!!   

Totally awesome.


----------



## Justawriter

Thanks Victoria!  I'm down to #3 now…today's BookBub books bumped me over. The book that is now at #1 is also a Western romance. It's funny, but when I wrote my book and set it in Montana, it was just because one of my best friends had recently moved there. I had no idea that Western romances were so hot!


----------



## ToniD

Congrats Pamela on that run!

I had a BB ad for Volcano Watch on the 6th. I’m reporting results below through the 7th. (the sale runs through the 13th but sales drop off significantly by the third day)

Here’s my takeaway: VW was in the action/adventure category for the first time. Previously, it’s been in the thriller cat. A/A is a much smaller cat, so I was expecting fewer sales than I got in the thriller cat, and expectations were met. That said, I’m quite satisfied with the results. It’s also good (I hope, I think) exposing the book to a new set of readers.

Amazon 828
BN 536
Apple 115
Kobo 19
Google 61 (I think, maybe, new there, unsure when sales are reported)

I also linked to the other books in the series (Badwater is on sale, as well), and got very nice bumps on those.


----------



## 60169

Here's another long(er) term BB report:

I ran my first book, which had been out for 19 months, and had been featured as a freebie on BB on two previous occasions. It ran for .99 in the Bio and Memoir category on March 26th.

Previous to the ad, I hadn't done any promoting for that title and had sold 16 copies in the first 26 days of the month. It had been ranked in the 150K range. I did do a couple of smaller ads leading up to Bookbub, so it didn't have so far to climb, and had sold about 80 extra copies in the two days leading up to the promo. 

I sold 1250 copies on the day of the promo, good enough to crack the Top 100 for the first time. 

In the 12 days since the promo, (after returning to the normal $2.99 price) it's sold right at another 1,000 copies.

I know these kind of BB results are not unusual, but the surprising thing to me is, this is a 2012 title that's had more than 130,000 free downloads prior to this. Obviously, this was a profitable promotion, especially since I ran the .99 while on a Kindle Countdown, netting out the 70%.


----------



## Justawriter

Toni and Shawn,
Those are both great results! 

Shawn really interesting that you did so well on a book that you'd done free runs on twice before, that's wonderful.


----------



## 58907

My ad for RAFAEL is today in the African-American category. I subscribed to that category and so far, emails have been coming in minutes before noon so I'll edit this post with before stats and keep you guys updated. Over 50k subscribers in that category and free downloads average 2,400 with a range of 600 to 3,700.

*6:12pm(EST):*
*Downloads:* 3297 since the book went live on the site at 9:22am(EST)
*Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36 Free* in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > African American > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Multicultural & Interracial

*Note:* I never received the email about my book, and I did subscribe to the A-A category. Not sure what that is about. Perhaps they don't email to the author when their book is up, lol. They did double up and put me in the Romantic Suspense category on the website so that's a plus. Any RS subscribers out there? Was my book in today's email(if there was one)?


----------



## Cherise

After you got the acceptance email from Bookbub, offering you a date, and you emailed Bookbub back saying "Heck yeah, I want that date!" how long was it until you received confirmation of the date, or an invoice, or something? 
I'm on pins and needles here!


----------



## anniejocoby

Cherise Kelley said:


> After you got the acceptance email from Bookbub, offering you a date, and you emailed Bookbub back saying "Heck yeah, I want that date!" how long was it until you received confirmation of the date, or an invoice, or something?
> I'm on pins and needles here!


It took them about two days for them to send me the congrats email, from the time they sent the email offering me the date. I kept thinking they were changing their mind, so I was more than relieved to get the congrats email and invoice to pay.


----------



## C. Gockel

Shawn Inmon,

Thank you so much for your 99 cent promo info! I am thinking about running a sale for my second in series at 99 cents through BookBub. Last time I did it I sold 680 very quickly (speculative fantasy, so smaller market). I only ran the promo for 3 days though. I'm thinking of running it for a longer period of time (A week in June? 14-days? It's supposed to be a horrible, slow month). It's nice to know sales returned to normal when you raised the price.


----------



## Cherise

anniejocoby said:


> It took them about two days for them to send me the congrats email, from the time they sent the email offering me the date. I kept thinking they were changing their mind, so I was more than relieved to get the congrats email and invoice to pay.


Thanks, Annie.

Arrrggg! Today is the third business day after they offered and I accepted the date! 
Going a little nuts, here.


----------



## Cherise

Got the invoice, paid it, and my ad is confirmed for May 9 in middle grade!


----------



## anniejocoby

Cherise Kelley said:


> Got the invoice, paid it, and my ad is confirmed for May 9 in middle grade!


Yay! That is probably a relief! Good luck to you. It's going to be a great ride!!!!!!


----------



## Wayne Stinnett

My ad was in yesterday's BookBub email, reduced to $.99. Since then, I've sold over 1350 downloads on the one title, sell through to the other two was another 77 downloads, risen from #1783 to #68 in Paid Kindle and to the #1 spot in four different genres.

Well worth the $260.


----------



## Patty Jansen

Bookbub tomorrow for a freebie book 1 of a series.

It's actually already the 24th here, and tomorrow is our national war remembrance day. As you guys will all be downloading my book (grin), I will be getting up really early to play at the dawn service. We will be freezing certain parts of our anatomy off, but that is a tradition, too.


----------



## JETaylor

Shot down again.   Not sure what the secret is to getting in, but I'm writing them off for now despite all the success everyone has with them.


----------



## Lynn McNamee

We had a BookBub ad today for _Thought I Knew You_, by Kate Moretti:



It just hit #25 on Amazon. We're so excited.

Lovin' the 'Bub today!


----------



## Justawriter

Congrats Lynn!


----------



## Crime fighters

Congratulations everyone on your bookbub successes!


----------



## JRTomlin

Some of you no doubt saw my other threads about my BB promotion yesterday. I ended up with 2000 sales which is honestly the best I've ever done on one of my promotions and with it in Countdown that makes a very nice RoI. Also the drop-off in sales has been slower than for past promotions. It is still in the Top 100 at the end of today and I haven't usually had a novel stay that high even for a full day. Sales aren't high enough to keep it there but they are quite good so far. 

My Best ranking was Kindle Top 100 #42, Historical Fiction #5, Biographical Historical Fiction and Scottish Historical Fiction #1. It is now setting at #81 in Top 100.


----------



## Lynn McNamee

PamelaKelley said:


> Congrats Lynn!


Thanks!

The book is at #5 this morning.

As you can imagine, the author is over the moon!


----------



## Lynn McNamee

JRTomlin said:


> My Best ranking was Kindle Top 100 #42, Historical Fiction #5, Biographical Historical Fiction and Scottish Historical Fiction #1. It is now setting at #81 in Top 100.


That's awesome! Congratulations!


----------



## A.W.Hartoin

Book 1 in my Mystery series is free on Bookbub today. Amazon price-matched it late on Saturday and I've had over eight thousand downloads since then. It's hanging out at #27 right now. Can't wait to see what happens.


----------



## A.W.Hartoin

So it went well. I've given away 39,000 copies so far and currently sit at #1 in the free store. The bad news is that I'm only about halfway to paying off the ad with the sales of the rest of the series.


----------



## anniejocoby

Sounds


A.W.Hartoin said:


> So it went well. I've given away 39,000 copies so far and currently sit at #1 in the free store. The bad news is that I'm only about halfway to paying off the ad with the sales of the rest of the series.


Sounds like amazing numbers! Don't worry, the sales will come for the other books. When I ran mine, the sales for the other books peaked on the fourth day, so it takes a minute sometimes. But congrats!


----------



## A.W.Hartoin

anniejocoby said:


> Sounds Sounds like amazing numbers! Don't worry, the sales will come for the other books. When I ran mine, the sales for the other books leaked on the fourth day, so it takes a minute sometimes. But congrats!


That's great news. I have to admit I was worried.


----------



## Lynn McNamee

A.W.Hartoin said:


> So it went well. I've given away 39,000 copies so far and currently sit at #1 in the free store. The bad news is that I'm only about halfway to paying off the ad with the sales of the rest of the series.


We've done two freebies with similar results. One was a stand-alone book, and the other was the first in a series that had two other books available.

Both ads earned out within a few days of the ad.


----------



## A.W.Hartoin

Thanks Lynne and Annie. Were your books permafree? I'm trying to decide what to do next.


----------



## anniejocoby

A.W.Hartoin said:


> That's great news. I have to admit I was worried.


Yeah...I meant to say "peaked," of course, not "leaked." LOL. Gotta learn to stop typing on my phone! But, yeah, you're doing great!


----------



## Lynn McNamee

A.W.Hartoin said:


> Thanks Lynne and Annie. Were your books permafree? I'm trying to decide what to do next.


No perma-free here. We're a publisher and can't really do that.


----------



## anniejocoby

A.W.Hartoin said:


> Thanks Lynne and Annie. Were your books permafree? I'm trying to decide what to do next.


Yeah, it was permafree. I'm a HUGE advocate of permafree. My series that has the permafree stays pretty steady. The series that didn't (and does now, yay!) tended to have sales that plummeted when there's nothing to prop it up, like a promotion. So, my little experiment shows that permafree makes the difference.  So, if you're trying to decide to try it, I would recommend it for sure. Especially since your series has four books. You could really benefit from it.


----------



## Ravenandblack

Just thought I'd share our early results with the permafree first in our series, Becoming Red, which has been free since February. 
The Bookbub ad went out yesterday in one of the smaller categories, Paranormal Romance.
So far, about eighteen hours in, we've had 15,000 downloads, almost exclusively through the US site. (B&N etc will take longer to know the outcome)
This exceeds the upper range quoted by Bookbub.
We cracked the top ten free, and are #1 in a number of relevant categories.
Best of all, in the same day, we've already had a spike in paid sales of subsequent books that has more than paid the price of the ad.
Granted, as a smaller category, the outlay was less than for some of the more popular genres.
Needless to say, we're delighted. 
Having tried paid advertising with a number of the other sites that promote permafree, at not too dissimilar prices, I think it's safe to say Bookbub continues to blow them all out of the water. The other sites yielded anywhere between 700 and 2000 downloads.


----------



## Mark E. Cooper

Is there any way we could all email BB and ask they add another channel? The addition of Google, Kobo, Nook is great. Is it too greedy that we/I ask they add Audible? I am gagging for a BB for my audio books.   I have a BB for my boxset for 7th May...can't wait to see what KDP's graph makes of it!


----------



## A.W.Hartoin

Mark E. Cooper said:


> Is there any way we could all email BB and ask they add another channel? The addition of Google, Kobo, Nook is great. Is it too greedy that we/I ask they add Audible? I am gagging for a BB for my audio books.  I have a BB for my boxset for 7th May...can't wait to see what KDP's graph makes of it!


I would love an Audible channel on BB, but how do we put our Audible books on sale for it? I'll be waiting to see how your box set does. How many reviews do you have on it?


----------



## Mark E. Cooper

A.W.Hartoin said:


> I would love an Audible channel on BB, but how do we put our Audible books on sale for it? I'll be waiting to see how your box set does. How many reviews do you have on it?


30 I think.

Re the audible sale... Damn, good point. Maybe they would just add it for completeness? I'll let them use an affiliate link if they want


----------



## Caddy

Yay! I got accepted again for Bookbub with Gastien. June 2nd!


----------



## Guest

i'm trying BookBub paired with ENT, BookSends, FKBooks&Tips, Digital Books Today, K-Boards Book of the Day, AwesomeGang, PixieScroll, People Reads, Good Kindles, Bargain e-Book Hunter, Fussy Librarian, and a few other small ones I found. It's May 23rd--will be an epic success or an epic failure. I'll let you know how it goes.


----------



## Cherise

Mark E. Cooper said:


> Is there any way we could all email BB and ask they add another channel? The addition of Google, Kobo, Nook is great. Is it too greedy that we/I ask they add Audible? I am gagging for a BB for my audio books.  I have a BB for my boxset for 7th May...can't wait to see what KDP's graph makes of it!


Got an email the other day that says they will be adding international readers soon!

Dear BookBub Partners,

BookBub announced some exciting news this morning -- we've raised $3.8 million in funding from a great team of investors. You can read about it in today's Wall Street Journal [May 1, 2014].

I wanted to reach out to our partners on this important milestone to thank each and every one of you for your support and for helping us get to where we are today.

For the past two years BookBub has been a bootstrapped startup (meaning that we didn't have any outside investors) and yet we've accomplished a lot. Since our launch in early 2012 we've grown our member base to nearly 3 million readers, and have worked with over 3,000 publisher and author partners to help them reach new fans through price promotions.

Our dual goal has always been to help readers discover great books and to provide publishers and authors a way to get their books discovered. In order to best pursue this mission beyond where we are today, we knew that having additional resources would help us significantly.

The funding we've announced today will allow us to not only improve our current service, but also to expand what we do. *Within the next year, we plan to grow internationally*, build additional tools for our author and publisher partners, and test new offerings for our readers that will in turn provide new ways to reach BookBub's growing audience.

I have a lot of confidence in the investor group we put together, and have known the individuals involved at each fund for at least the past 15 years. We trust in each other, share a vision for the organization, and all want to do what we can to keep BookBub a valuable service for readers and our partners.

Ultimately, our hope is that this financing dramatically expands our ability to help you connect with engaged readers, and get your great works discovered.

I speak for the entire BookBub team when I again say thank you. We couldn't have gotten here without all of your support, and we look forward to working together for many years to come!

All the best,

Josh Schanker
Co-founder and CEO


----------



## Eskimo

I posted a more detailed version on a different thread, which some of you may have seen.

On Friday, I started a 99 cent Countdown promo for my first book, Post Pattern. This featured a BookBub promo Saturday. By Sunday morning I was ranked # 74 in Amazon Overall.

Sales have been better than I expected, although I've been apprehensive about this. 

Friday      -- 20 sales
Saturday -- 1,284 sales
Sunday    -- 408 sales
Monday  -- 244 sales
Tuesday  -- 115 sales (so far)

I started with a few ads in Slashed Reads, eReader Utopia, and in Free & Discounted Books on Friday. Obviously BookBub had a tremendous impact, not just Saturday, but in the days that followed. I ran a Bargain Booksy promo Monday, but I also noticed eReader IQ picked me up and featured me all day, which was a pleasant surprise.  I have also gotten some help from Read Cheaply, eReader Cafe, More For Less Online, Shelf Buzz, Dirt Cheap Mystery Reads, and Great Books, Great Reads (which has tweeted me non-stop for days).

It's hard to say what's been the most effective after BookBub, one of those analytic details I wish Amazon would share with us. Still, it's been a great promotion, and while sales are obviosuly slowing, I've definitely surpassed my goals and then some. The gravy is that I'be sold almost 50 copies of my other books at full price. Hopefully, that will continue as the 99 cent buyers like Post pattern and move on to the rest of the series...


----------



## jdrew

David Chill, pretty good numbers.  Congrats.  Is this the first time you tried BB?  Too bad you can't sort out what effect the other spots had.


----------



## S.E. Gordon

Yeah, it works 

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,184766.0.html


----------



## Eric the Scott

I used it because I learned about it here on KB. As of this moment, I am number 3 overall in the free category!


----------



## Eskimo

jdrew said:


> David Chill, pretty good numbers. Congrats. Is this the first time you tried BB? Too bad you can't sort out what effect the other spots had.


This was my first 99 cent promo using BB. I'd used them before in a free promo for Post Pattern and that was successful as well. Last September Post Pattern had 53,000 downloads and went to # 2 overall. -- and saw 400 sales (of both of my books) in the following month This was one of my concerns about doing a 99 cent promo now, that a lot of BB readers would have already downloaded Post Pattern. Turns out they keep adding to their email list, so it wasn't a problem.

Last December I was able to get my second book, Fade Route placed in BookBub for another free promotion. I did almost as well, got 42,000 downloads (and did manage to secure #1 in Amazon Free for a day). The next 4 weeks generated about 250 book sales, not quite as good as Post Pattern's freebie, but I was plenty happy. Promoting before the holidays probably had an impact here, but again, no complaints.

I did, however, notice something a little problematic a few weeks later. One customer's review of Fade Route, while very good, made the point that they would look for other books by me. But then they "accidentally" discovered they already had Post Pattern stashed away in their Kindle! Obviously they had downloaded it when it was free in September and promptly forgot about it. Lesson learned about the perils of making more than one book free, especially if you don't have a large number of books in your series.


----------



## Mark E. Cooper

My BB promo is half way done now. Here's where I'm at:

1749 sold so far at amazon. 382 at Barnes. 22 Kobo. Google = don't know because their reporting system sucks!

The following screen caps show the change. The top two were before the promo. I changed the price on the 6th and started to see a few more sales than usual, but no movement on rank. The second two are about halfway through the promo:


----------



## dgrant

I like complete data, so I've waited until I was certain the level of bookbub sales has faded into background noise / indistiguishable from regular sales before posting results. (Three weeks.) 

Side note: Bookbub moved our ad past the time range we picked, and put it on tax day. I thought hard before accepting it, knowing that's a day retail sales tank (from tax weekend til two weeks after, traditionally.) I think I spent about ten minutes grousing over the slot. Then I shrugged, got another cup of tea, fired off the acceptance and the money, and told myself my husband's favorite calming advice. "Relax! It's not like anyone's shooting at you!" After all, we got a slot. Could have been turned down!

In accordance with all your lovely advice - thank you very much, you know who you are - we did a five-day kindle countdown starting the day before, and rolled in a fussy librarian and an ebooksoda promo. Book 1 - Take The Star Road - was set at $0.99. 

Before we started, 3 months of data shows Peter has a fairly steady 95 percent conversion rate from Book 1 to Book 2 with no ads run. 

The promo, all rolled together, netted just under 1500 sales of Book 1, with an additional 600-ish of book 2 & 3. That's a 20 percent conversion rate from book 1 to 2, and roughly a 95 percent conversion rate from book 2 to 3. 

In a week, the last book of the series will be out of KDP Select and I'll get to search here for advice on uploading via distributors vs. direct (I love you guys and your advice.) Once I get everything uploaded to other retailers, I think I'll try another ad run, and see if not having an ad on tax day makes a difference! 

Best of all - I can mention this to y'all, and you're interested. My darling man sort of nods, hmms, and then goes back into the haze of "The last scene wasn't working quite right..." (Which would be why I'm on kboards and doing the marketing, not him.)


----------



## Shayne Parkinson

I have a BookBub ad running today on my permafree. 

Yesterday it was 427 in the free store, which is about its usual position. So far it's reached 64. Fingers crossed!

Edited to add: now up to #9 in the free store! #1 in Historical Fiction.


----------



## Cege Smith

I got my golden ticket email today- June 13th for the first book in my Shadows trilogy (which is a permafree). It will be in a smaller category (Horror) but I had some fantastic results with the same book with them in June 2013- it lifted my sales on that series for the entire summer.

I'm a happy camper.


----------



## James Bruno

I just cannot fathom BB decisionmaking. My two latest thrillers have been favorably reviewed by several NYT bestselling authors, broadcast media, respected bloggers as well as a couple of dozen readers for each book, with 4.5 stars average. CNN, Fox News, SiriusXM Radio and other media outlets have interviewed me and International Thriller Writers invites me to speak at their annual convention. I have a growing author platform. Yet BB has rejected these books several times. I'm beginning to suspect some kind of professional or genre bias at play. In any case, I have no intention to go back to them again with current or future titles. I can get sales through other means.


----------



## Mark E. Cooper

James Bruno said:


> I just cannot fathom BB decisionmaking. My two latest thrillers have been favorably reviewed by several NYT bestselling authors, broadcast media, respected bloggers as well as a couple of dozen readers for each book, with 4.5 stars average. CNN, Fox News, SiriusXM Radio and other media outlets have interviewed me and International Thriller Writers invites me to speak at their annual convention. I have a growing author platform. Yet BB has rejected these books several times. I'm beginning to suspect some kind of professional or genre bias at play. In any case, I have no intention to go back to them again with current or future titles. I can get sales through other means.


No, I get the same books rejected three out of four times and then bingo. It's in. A lot depends on whether they have already schedules a book similar (in their opinion) to yours. Covers, reviews, all that good stuff helps, but when it comes right down to it, their editors decide on gut instinct. The last time I got in, I tried three different books all at the same time hoping for one promo. Each title was different genre, different series, and it was the box set that won the spot. It seems random, but it is what it is.


----------



## RJJ

"In any case, I have no intention to go back to them again with current or future titles."

Personally, I think this should be a battle cry for all indie authors. Those of us who have been in the game for awhile remember when Amazon first came out with select and it allowed you to make a book free. It was a gift from Amazon to authors. Many authors made their books free and many rose to the top 100 on their own merits, survival of the fittest and all that. It was great advertising and the playing field was level.  Then, along came BB and managed to wedge its way between authors and the top 100 free spots. Now, if someone wants to get into the top 100, you have to pay BB. This stinks, IMO. 

I appreciate that for those willing to pay the $$ to a third party, and therefore pay to get into the top 100 (whether the book belongs there or not, and, quite frankly, usually not), there's a benefit to BB. That said, though, it injures writers as a group because the value of the top 100 spots that used to go to the authors for free now requires authors to pay millions of dollars to a third party. 

I've never applied to BB and never will for that reason. Indies would be ahead as a group if they boycotted BB.


----------



## A past poster

James Bruno said:


> I just cannot fathom BB decisionmaking. My two latest thrillers have been favorably reviewed by several NYT bestselling authors, broadcast media, respected bloggers as well as a couple of dozen readers for each book, with 4.5 stars average. CNN, Fox News, SiriusXM Radio and other media outlets have interviewed me and International Thriller Writers invites me to speak at their annual convention. I have a growing author platform. Yet BB has rejected these books several times. I'm beginning to suspect some kind of professional or genre bias at play. In any case, I have no intention to go back to them again with current or future titles. I can get sales through other means.


Don't give up. One of my novels was rejected several times. Then I tried another novel, which was accepted. After the first novel did well, the novel that had been rejected was accepted, and the promo was an even bigger success. When you apply the next time--and I hope you will-put the positive facts about your book in the comment section.


----------



## jdrew

David Chill said:


> I did, however, notice something a little problematic a few weeks later. One customer's review of Fade Route, while very good, made the point that they would look for other books by me. But then they "accidentally" discovered they already had Post Pattern stashed away in their Kindle! Obviously they had downloaded it when it was free in September and promptly forgot about it. Lesson learned about the perils of making more than one book free, especially if you don't have a large number of books in your series.


Hey David, thanks for the up date and info. All around seems like you've done well with BB and tells me that $0.99 sales can work. I think your discovery that people download free books and then don't read them is interesting. Also reinforces what I've suspected for a while, too.


----------



## Vivi_Anna

Wow I just saw a book deal on Bookbub today with no reviews.  That's interesting to me.  I always thought they had a min review policy.


----------



## Vivi_Anna

Yes, it was.  You know I didn't even think of that. Duh.


----------



## Cherise

My only disappointment is not catching on yet on other vendors. I was really hoping this would jump-start things at Barnes and Noble and iTunes. There is hope yet, I realize.


----------



## LJ

Hi! I ran a free Contemporary Romance ad with BookBub Saturday of this weekend (Memorial Day weekend in the US). I spent $290 on the ad, and I made my money back within a couple of hours with sales on my 2nd book in the series (plus profit). I have to give a big THANK YOU to other authors on this board; I wouldn't have ever thought to pay for an ad for a free book, and I never would have considered going for contemporary romance because it's more $$$. I would have been too afraid. You all gave me the information I needed to make an informed decision and I am so thankful to you for that.

Backstory: I have two NA/Contemporary Romance books in a series, Liberty Begins and Liberty At Last. I applied to BookBub twice for Liberty At Last, both for countdown deals. I was rejected the first time. I changed my covers, changed my blurb, and applied again. I was rejected for the second time. (I had about 10+ reviews for the book.) I then applied for Liberty Begins, for a free promotion, and told BB that I could run the promotion whenever they could feature me. They accepted. (I had about 50+ reviews for the book.) So I think that free plus flexibility plus more reviews helps.

PS I love you BookBub. I love you kboards authors, too. You all rule!

Edited to add: I also got picked up by Freebooksy on the first day of my free run, the day before the BB ad, and it gave the whole promo a really nice start. So PS I love you too, Freebooksy!


----------



## EC

RJJ said:


> "In any case, I have no intention to go back to them again with current or future titles."
> 
> Personally, I think this should be a battle cry for all indie authors. Those of us who have been in the game for awhile remember when Amazon first came out with select and it allowed you to make a book free. It was a gift from Amazon to authors. Many authors made their books free and many rose to the top 100 on their own merits, survival of the fittest and all that. It was great advertising and the playing field was level. Then, along came BB and managed to wedge its way between authors and the top 100 free spots. Now, if someone wants to get into the top 100, you have to pay BB. This stinks, IMO.
> 
> I appreciate that for those willing to pay the $$ to a third party, and therefore pay to get into the top 100 (whether the book belongs there or not, and, quite frankly, usually not), there's a benefit to BB. That said, though, it injures writers as a group because the value of the top 100 spots that used to go to the authors for free now requires authors to pay millions of dollars to a third party.
> 
> I've never applied to BB and never will for that reason. Indies would be ahead as a group if they boycotted BB.


An interesting point - an it appears to be the case that while most authors take profit from a BB advert, very few, in fact possibly none, manage to stick. BB appears to be no more than a sugar-rush.


----------



## Donna White Glaser

EC said:


> An interesting point - an it appears to be the case that while most authors take profit from a BB advert, very few, in fact possibly none, manage to stick. BB appears to be no more than a sugar-rush.


That's all any promotion can do. By promotion, I mean sales that are driven via efforts made rather than organically.


----------



## Cherise

EC said:


> An interesting point - an it appears to be the case that while most authors take profit from a BB advert, very few, in fact possibly none, manage to stick. BB appears to be no more than a sugar-rush.


A few do stick! Bookbub's a lottery ticket, more than a sugar rush. And it usually pays for itself.

Also, yeah, promoted books almost all sink back down in the rankings, but Bookbub's long-term effects are difficult to measure.

There are now 18,000 more people with my free book on their Kindles than there would have been without my promo, on average. Those 18,000 are like seeds floating around. Some will fall on fertile ground and yield. Some might yield quite a bit. Some right away, and others months or years from now.

Almost certainly, 18,000 seeds will yield more than zero seeds.

And that's not counting other vendors.


----------



## 60169

I don't think I posted at about my last Bub ad. It was a freebie that I had run for .99 on Bub back in November. The results were less than ideal that time, so I completely rebranded the book to fit bet better within its genre and submitted it again, exactly six months later. In my application to BB, I made note of the fact that it had a lackluster run last time, but that I had added a new cover and blurb. They turned me down for a .99, but accepted me for free.

It turned out to be the best free run I've ever had. In all markets, it ended up with a little over 67,000 downloads. Since the promo started, I've sold about 550 copies of the companion book (at 2.99) and another 300+ of that title (at 2.99) since it came off free. Also picked up 150 sales of my short stories, which usually average 30 or so downloads per month. Those numbers are after ten days, so they'll improve over the next few weeks.

Pretty happy they made me do a free run, instead of the .99!


----------



## 60169

EC said:


> An interesting point - an it appears to be the case that while most authors take profit from a BB advert, very few, in fact possibly none, manage to stick. BB appears to be no more than a sugar-rush.


Some definitely do stick. A friend of mine ran his Sci-Fi book for free on the Bub two months ago. Almost 70 days later, he's still averaging over 60 sales per day. Prior to the promo, he was under 10 per day.


----------



## mscottwriter

I agree that Bookbub is a sugar rush, but sometimes books need that extra energy.

My publisher (Carina UK) paid for a Bb advert, and it pushed my book into the upper ranks. I'm hoping that the added exposure of things like 'People who bought, also bought' and so forth will at least keep the numbers above what they were. I'd done a similar thing before with this book (I think it was on Daily Cheap Reads), and while the numbers didn't stay at the highest point, they did climb above what they had been. Nothing wrong with a little sugar. This pic is one I snapped just before posting this. Not bad for a book that was languishing in the 100,000 range a few days ago.


----------



## Wansit

36-hours after I got the Bookbub email here are my stats.

Amazon: 1,800 sales
BN: 600
iTunes: 90
Smash: 12
Kobo: 22

Total: 2,524

Highest Ranking - #12 on BN and #47 on Amazon


----------



## valeriec80

RJJ said:


> "In any case, I have no intention to go back to them again with current or future titles."
> 
> Personally, I think this should be a battle cry for all indie authors. Those of us who have been in the game for awhile remember when Amazon first came out with select and it allowed you to make a book free. It was a gift from Amazon to authors. Many authors made their books free and many rose to the top 100 on their own merits, survival of the fittest and all that. It was great advertising and the playing field was level.


Um.

Perhaps you are not remembering this correctly. Because I distinctly remember that the only way you got into the Top 100 Free was if you got picked up by ENT or POI. They were the Bookbub of their time. And yes, the 'zon algos rewarded free books in massive download numbers and that kickstarted some people. But it was all just as "unfair" as Bookbub is now. (Seriously, I had this free book get in the Top 100 all on its own... or so I thought. And then I found its listing on Pixel of Ink. Those blogs are archived. Go look up the date that your book got into the Top 100 on its own merits. Betcha not so much.)

Anyway, there's no such thing as a "level playing field" when it comes to marketing and selling books (or anything for that matter.) Don't get me wrong, I whine about stuff too, so maybe this is just a rant. But in the end, we all must accept that lots and lots of things suck. And that's just that.


----------



## EC

Shawn Inmon said:


> Some definitely do stick. A friend of mine ran his Sci-Fi book for free on the Bub two months ago. Almost 70 days later, he's still averaging over 60 sales per day. Prior to the promo, he was under 10 per day.


I'm delighted to hear that - is he the exception or the rule?


----------



## valeriec80

EC said:


> I'm delighted to hear that - is he the exception or the rule?


Probably the exception, but free does have a longer tail, it seems. I ran a freebie in March, and the series is still getting higher-than-before sales two months later. (But nothing near 60 a day.)


----------



## Caddy

Woo hoo! My bookbub today so far:

#17 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > European
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > French
#2 in Historical Fiction


----------



## Cherise

Caddy said:


> Woo hoo! My bookbub today so far:
> 
> #17 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > European
> #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > French
> #2 in Historical Fiction


WOW! Totally cool, Caddy!


----------



## Cege Smith

I had to go dig for this thread- I've missed it!!

I have a BB ad for the first book in my Shadows series today (I didn't even realize until a few days ago that it was scheduled on the horror list for Friday the 13th- wahoo!).  

I started to see the first trickle of downloads around 9:30am CST, and now almost 5 hours later I've had about 5400 downloads on Amazon so far as well as a few sales on Books 2 and 3 already.

I love BB ad days.


----------



## JETaylor

I have given up on Bookbub out of pure frustration.  I don't have time to continually request ads and be turned down time and time again. 

As much as I'd like to try it out and see - I haven't gotten the golden ticket in the door and I have no clue what they are looking for. so done.  Glad to see you all having such success. My time is better served focusing on my readers instead of advertising anyhow.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

I hadn't read the later posts in this thread.

I would say, what BookBub gives you is a chance. An opportunity to draw readers to your book, to stick your head above the waves in the sea of authors and books out there and get a little visibility. 

After that, it's on the book. On your cover and blurb to make readers want to read it now rather than add it to the hundreds or thousands of unread free books on their Kindles. On your first page to make them want to read further. On your first chapter, first 100 pages to make them want to keep reading. On your ending to give them a glow (or whatever emotion you want your readers to have at the end of the book. I don't know, if it's horror or whatever!), and make them want to go buy the next book. 

What you have is the chance. What happens next is the guess. It CAN stick. It can absolutely stick. Although I do find that I have to do something, some promotion, every six weeks to two months, or I begin to sink in the ratings. But I think that's just the business. Everybody has to promote. For that matter, it's pretty much all businesses. You have to stay visible somehow. BookBub has been, for me, the most effective way to do that, either with free runs or Countdowns, though I've found free runs to have a longer "tail."


----------



## theaatkinson

hmm. got turned down today. took 3 days to hear back so I was getting excited. LOL. the email said not to try them again with the same book for 30 days....but can I try another book? enquiring minds...


----------



## Sonya Bateman

Every time this thread pops back onto the first page, I have a nice laugh about the thread title.

NO. NO ONE HERE HAS EVER USED BOOKBUB. EVER.

Carry on, then.


----------



## valeriec80

S.W. Vaughn said:


> Every time this thread pops back onto the first page, I have a nice laugh about the thread title.
> 
> NO. NO ONE HERE HAS EVER USED BOOKBUB. EVER.
> 
> Carry on, then.


Ha.  It's funny to me that you find it funny. I guess because I remember when the thread was new and none of us had ever heard of Bookbub, and the board collectively had a pretty negative view of paid advertising in general. If you read some of the first pages, it's crazy to see how super fast things have changed.


----------



## Sonya Bateman

valeriec80 said:


> Ha.  It's funny to me that you find it funny. I guess because I remember when the thread was new and none of us had ever heard of Bookbub, and the board collectively had a pretty negative view of paid advertising in general. If you read some of the first pages, it's crazy to see how super fast things have changed.


LOL That's exactly why it's funny. Seeing how far this thread has come -- it's evolved so much that the title is now ironically irrelevant.

I love this thread. I read it from the beginning when I was researching BookBub. It's the best!


----------



## Miriam Minger

Wonderful results on Bookbub for my Irish historical romance WILD ANGEL.  Made it to #2 on Amazon's overall Top 100 Free List, which was amazing.  Great spillover sales for the sequel, WILD ROSES.

Miriam Minger


----------



## Cherise

valeriec80 said:


> Ha.  It's funny to me that you find it funny. I guess because I remember when the thread was new and none of us had ever heard of Bookbub, and *the board collectively had a pretty negative view of paid advertising in general*. If you read some of the first pages, it's crazy to see how super fast things have changed.


I remember this, too!

Now, I just wish someone would roll all the smaller Bookbub threads into this one. So many of the questions in those smaller threads could be answered here.


----------



## Windvein

Just wanted to report that the second book in my series - Stalking Shadows was declined by Bookbub. They responded pretty quickly. I'm assuming they were fully booked or had plenty of paranormal stuff for the YA list for now. Will be trying back in 4 weeks. I was offering to run a .99 sale on the title. 

Scary Mary, my perma free was featured in early May on the YA mailing list. I received 9000 downloads on Amazon alone the first day and another 3000 the day after. I made back my cost for the ad the first day with sales of the other books, and had stronger sales of the rest of the series the day after. This was my first time using Bookbub. I was very pleased.  

Just submitted Unicorn Bait for a .99 sale for the fantasy list. *Fingers crossed.*


----------



## gilda6

Hi!
I got approved for a bookbub ad for my book Invincible. First time I applied for this book, 72 reviews. I was turned down 3 times prior for my other book and I never was approved for my other book. I applied for thriller but they offered my Romantic Suspense on July 27. My question - is since my ad is for a Sunday - any strategy for making USA list? It is based on Mon-Sun. 
  Thanks! This board has been such an inspiration.
Best,
Alana


----------



## Wayne Stinnett

gilda6 said:


> Hi!
> I got approved for a bookbub ad for my book Invincible. First time I applied for this book, 72 reviews. I was turned down 3 times prior for my other book and I never was approved for my other book. I applied for thriller but they offered my Romantic Suspense on July 27. My question - is since my ad is for a Sunday - any strategy for making USA list? It is based on Mon-Sun.
> Thanks! This board has been such an inspiration.
> Best,
> Alana


I see it's rated about 17K now. With my previous two BB ads I had a tremendous amount of success with the second one (more than double sales) by running a few cheaper ads, to get one or two extra sales each day for a week prior to the BB ad Those few extra sales each day should move you close to the 10K mark before the ad. I can't say why, but it increased sales of the target title from 850 with my first ad, where I didn't do that, to 1300 with the second on the day of the ad.

Also, I ran Discount Deals on two other books in the series and added a line to the beginning of all the book's descriptions, saying that the others were discounted as well. Sold almost 600 of the other three titles on just the one day of the ad. This was a month ago and none of my titles has returned to pre-BB sales yet.


----------



## gilda6

Hi Wayne,
  Thank you so much for the great advice. Your books sound great! Semper Fi! My hubby is a Marine and my next series is about Marines. Thanks again.
Best,
Alana


----------



## Wayne Stinnett

gilda6 said:


> Hi Wayne,
> Thank you so much for the great advice. Your books sound great! Semper Fi! My hubby is a Marine and my next series is about Marines. Thanks again.
> Best,
> Alana


Thank you both for your service.


----------



## Donna White Glaser

How long does it usually take to hear back from BB? When I heard back the first time, it was within a day or so. I just applied for a 2nd promo over the weekend and still haven't heard. I'm not sure they'll be interested in this one b/c it's for the 2nd in series and I wanted to do a 99c promo. Still, the 1st is permafree so it's basically a 2/fer sale. Which I pointed out.


----------



## Wayne Stinnett

Donna White Glaser said:


> How long does it usually take to hear back from BB? When I heard back the first time, it was within a day or so. I just applied for a 2nd promo over the weekend and still haven't heard. I'm not sure they'll be interested in this one b/c it's for the 2nd in series and I wanted to do a 99c promo. Still, the 1st is permafree so it's basically a 2/fer sale. Which I pointed out.


When you were turned down the first time, did you have a narrow window selection of dates? Their first step is to see if they even have an opening in the genre for the dates selected. If not, you get an answer quickly. You should always choose the first and last days they show available. Even if you get an unfavorable day, you'll do well.

Since you've now been waiting more than a day, you've probably passed that hurdle.


----------



## Donna White Glaser

Wayne Stinnett said:


> When you were turned down the first time, did you have a narrow window selection of dates? Their first step is to see if they even have an opening in the genre for the dates selected. If not, you get an answer quickly. You should always choose the first and last days they show available. Even if you get an unfavorable day, you'll do well.
> 
> Since you've now been waiting more than a day, you've probably passed that hurdle.


Actually they accept the 1st book in the series the first time I applied. I just haven't heard back on the 2nd attempt for the next book. I did leave the dates entirely open. I'm willing to work around their availability.


----------



## Wayne Stinnett

Donna White Glaser said:


> Actually they accept the 1st book in the series the first time I applied. I just haven't heard back on the 2nd attempt for the next book. I did leave the dates entirely open. I'm willing to work around their availability.


Not hard to confuse me at my age. My last application took five days and was turned down.


----------



## rachelmedhurst

Wow, this is a really great thread! I'm gonna wait until I have some more titles out before I have a go at this.


----------



## Donna White Glaser

Wayne Stinnett said:


> Not hard to confuse me at my age. My last application took five days and was turned down.


I was hoping no news meant good news. Ah well. All I can do is wait and see.


----------



## Bookside Manner

I have a question about the categories. 

My book Ashes got a BookBub listing in Thriller and Suspense back in December, and it did well. I've queried twice since then for the same book and same category, and got rejected. I was thinking about trying again in a month and requesting the Action and Adventure category as it looks to be less in demand, but I'm not sure my book is "action-y" enough. 

How "action-y" should a book be for Action and Adventure?


----------



## Donna White Glaser

So I got a "no" from BB on my proposed 99c promo for the second in series. I reapplied on the 4th for a free run with the 1st but haven't heard back yet.


----------



## Wayne Stinnett

Kelly Cozy said:


> I have a question about the categories.
> 
> My book Ashes got a BookBub listing in Thriller and Suspense back in December, and it did well. I've queried twice since then for the same book and same category, and got rejected. I was thinking about trying again in a month and requesting the Action and Adventure category as it looks to be less in demand, but I'm not sure my book is "action-y" enough.
> 
> How "action-y" should a book be for Action and Adventure?


Considering the same in reverse. My thinking is this. My first BB ad on Fallen Palm went out to Action/Adventure readers (Lots of adventure, but not packed with action) and did well. To resubmit it for the same genre would mean the majority of those on the list have already seen it. So, later this summer I plan to resubmit it for Thrillers or Mysteries.


----------



## Bookside Manner

My guess is that your book would probably do well on the same list as before. I've run my contemporary twice on Bub's literary fiction list, and it did even better the second time (granted, that was with the new, improved cover). 

The problem with my book is that there are espionage shenanigans, but they're relatively low-key (no explosions after the first chapter). And I don't consider it a mystery, as we know fairly early on who did it. I'm just scratching my head because the book got a Bub slot with no trouble for the Christmas rush, and when it had a crappy cover. Go figure.


----------



## Bob Stewart

Bookbub just accepted one of my books (_Kalorama Shakedown_) for the second time, but for the second time they gave me a different category (Historical Fiction) than what I requested (Mysteries).

I didn't object out of fear of losing the place entirely, thinking a suboptimal category at Bookbub will still pay for itself and I shouldn't jeopardize it. But it really isn't a good match for my books. Both times, they gave me a date right at the beginning of the window of open dates, so I have a feeling they just had a hole for Historical Fiction and wanted to fill it quick.

But I was wondering, has anyone ever successfully appealed a category change?


----------



## Donna White Glaser

Four days later: Heard back from BB and they accepted the 1st in series, mystery, for a free run. They had turned down my original submission for the 2nd book in the series for a 99c promo. But I'm happy. This is cheaper, anyway.  I hope eventually they go for the 99c promo. Or maybe I'll make the 2nd free and see if that works.


----------



## MJWare

Bob Stewart said:


> Bookbub just accepted one of my books (_Kalorama Shakedown_) for the second time, but for the second time they gave me a different category (Historical Fiction) than what I requested (Mysteries).
> 
> But I was wondering, has anyone ever successfully appealed a category change?


Before they were quite so hard to get into, I once wrote them and (nicely) questioned a category change (from YA to Children). They nicely replied, that they felt Children's was a better fit--I didn't push it.


----------



## MJWare

Last year, I had no trouble getting my books accepting into BB. However, this year I've had no luck (now i know how it feels), until last month they accepted my free book, _Zack & Zoey's Alien Apocalypse _.
My ad ran yesterday and I had 9,366 downloads, plus almost 2k more today. my book made it to #15 in the overall store (free) and is still #1 in the free kids store.

I am already seeing an increase in both the print version as well as book #2. This is the first time I've had such crazy results--10k+ downloads is much more than I expected for a kids book.


----------



## Usedtoposthere

Wayne Stinnett said:


> Considering the same in reverse. My thinking is this. My first BB ad on Fallen Palm went out to Action/Adventure readers (Lots of adventure, but not packed with action) and did well. To resubmit it for the same genre would mean the majority of those on the list have already seen it. So, later this summer I plan to resubmit it for Thrillers or Mysteries.


It can actually do better on the second go-round in the same category, Wayne. Lots of folks don't check their BB every day, and lots will have seen it but not clicked the first time. This time, you look more familiar and thus they're more comfortable.


----------



## Donna White Glaser

Has anybody with a BB ad in the last few days noticed a difference w/ KU? It may be too early to tell, but I've got a promo with BB on the 27th and I'm far more worried than I would have been pre-KU.


----------



## 75910

Great question, Donna.  I have an ad on 8/6


----------



## Donna White Glaser

I'll report back on mine. It'll be about a week after the KU bomb.


----------



## 75910

Thanks, Donna.  So far the "bomb" doesn't appear to have affected my sales but I'm taking a cautious approach.  I have a new release on the 28th.


----------



## Donna White Glaser

I had books 2-4 in my series in Select and I took advantage of AMZ willingness to let folks out of Select b/c of KU and took them out. That way I can pop all three on BN & Kobo to (hopefully) reap the benefits of the BB ad. The first is permafree and already in those venues. Depending on the tail, I'll decide whether to put them back in or drop the permafree, price the 1st at 99c and put that in Select as a funnel. 
Woosh! So much to think about!


----------



## dotx

Bookbub ad today (for City of the Fallen) and so far I'm fairly disappointed. The highest I made it is 360, which is really far away from the top 100. The ad was $280 and I'm not sure I've made my money back yet. I needed 850 sales to break even and I don't have that on Amazon. Maybe if I add the other retailers, but D2D doesn't update until tomorrow morning, so I don't know how many I've sold there. 

Nothing that exciting, honestly.


----------



## JRTomlin

I ran another BB promotion a few days ago for Countenance of War. Sales on my historical fiction had been dreadful for more than a month so I needed it rather desperately. With the cost of their HF promotions now ($480! Ouch!!!) I also needed it to pay its way. Let me mention that my HF is all in Select so this was also a Countdown deal. It's running for 1 more day if anyone wants to pick it up for 99 Cents, by the way. 

Anyhoo the sales before it started were pathetic, only 52 for the month. The BB promotion ran on the 18th. It garnered 740 sales that day. The 19th it pulled 161 sales and the 20th it sold 81 copies. On the 21st I had a promo on KB&T which pushes sales back up slightly to 108. Today the sales slipped to 49. At the pay rate for Countdown deals it brings the income strictly from CoW to $740. 

Even better it doubled the sales on all of my other historical novels. Considering the boost in the other novels, which very much surprised me, it is by far my most successful BB promotion.


----------



## Andie

dotx said:


> Bookbub ad today (for City of the Fallen) and so far I'm fairly disappointed. The highest I made it is 360, which is really far away from the top 100. The ad was $280 and I'm not sure I've made my money back yet. I needed 850 sales to break even and I don't have that on Amazon. Maybe if I add the other retailers, but D2D doesn't update until tomorrow morning, so I don't know how many I've sold there.
> 
> Nothing that exciting, honestly.


You're up to #205 right now.


----------



## dotx

Thanks, 212 a few seconds ago. Still, Amazon sales really didn't impress me that much. I did really, really well on Barnes & Noble (currently at 33).


----------



## Andie

Awesome! I hope that it pays out for you.


----------



## MLKatz

I have Raft People (1st in signature) on BookBub right now with a 3-day .99 promo.

I'm really excited to report that for the first time ever, I'm at 76 on the paid list (yeah, at .99), but it's also generating sales for book 2.

If anybody wants to throw an author a tweet or post, I'll pay you back if you message me.

My FB is https://www.facebook.com/pages/ML-Katz/271025419694831?ref=br_tf


----------



## SA_Archer

So what seems to be the magic number for reviews on BookBub these days? I have only 13 reviews, and they've turned me down twice, once for 99 cents and once for free. I am thinking I am a good distance away on the review threshold.


----------



## btsc99

SA_Archer said:


> So what seems to be the magic number for reviews on BookBub these days? I have only 13 reviews, and they've turned me down twice, once for 99 cents and once for free. I am thinking I am a good distance away on the review threshold.


Don't they have the common courtesy to at least give you a clue, or better an actual reason, for rejection?


----------



## Wayne Stinnett

SA_Archer said:


> So what seems to be the magic number for reviews on BookBub these days? I have only 13 reviews, and they've turned me down twice, once for 99 cents and once for free. I am thinking I am a good distance away on the review threshold.


Two of my books were accepted with fewer than 20 reviews.


----------



## JRTomlin

Wayne Stinnett said:


> Two of my books were accepted with fewer than 20 reviews.


Reviews aren't by any means the only factor. I have a novel with 53 reviews that they have turned down 4 or 5 times. I first submitted it when it had 17 reviews. I think maybe they don't like the cover or at least that's the only think I can think of.


----------



## dotx

I think the general rule is at least 20 reviews (4 stars or higher) and a professional cover. However, Bookbub doesn't say that anywhere, so it must be something we decided somewhere along the way.


----------



## btsc99

JRTomlin said:


> I think maybe they don't like the cover or at least that's the only think I can think of.


So Mrs Jones walks into Fred Bloggs' Butcher shop, says "2 pork chops please", Fred Bloggs says "Sorry Mrs, not serving you. Next."

Mrs Jones tells her neighbour about this, her neighbour says "Were you wearing a red coat?", "No" says Mrs Jones, "but I will next time".

The next day the same thing happens, no pork chops for Mrs Jones.

Her neighbour says "What colour shoes were you wearing?" ...

Fred Bloggs seems to have found a sound business plan.


----------



## DTW

btsc99 said:


> Don't they have the common courtesy to at least give you a clue, or better an actual reason, for rejection?


Nope, one of the big problems I have with Bub. They act exactly like a gatekeeper, except they will actually turn their 'talk to the hand email' around in only a few days rather than taking most of a year.


----------



## Eric the Scott

BookBub picked up The Glass Girls last May with 11 reviews. It shot the book up to the #1 on Amazons movers and shakers list and netted me over 230 new reviews.  

When I applied to them they accepted me but re-categorized the book into their thrillers category. Perhaps the category the book is listed in makes a difference.


----------



## JRTomlin

dotx said:


> I think the general rule is at least 20 reviews (4 stars or higher) and a professional cover. However, Bookbub doesn't say that anywhere, so it must be something we decided somewhere along the way.


I've had a number of novels accepted with fewer than 20 reviews, the fewest being 11. I suspect not only must the cover be professional (all mine are) but they must like it. lol

I don't complain much about Bookbub though. They accept most of my promotions and I always do well with them. This last promotion made a lot of money for me by my rather modest standards.


----------



## Lydniz

I had one accepted with about 60 reviews but only a 3.7 average (which has now gone up to 3.8 thanks to the 160 reviews I got after the promo  ).


----------



## valeriec80

btsc99 said:


> So Mrs Jones walks into Fred Bloggs' Butcher shop, says "2 pork chops please", Fred Bloggs says "Sorry Mrs, not serving you. Next."
> 
> Mrs Jones tells her neighbour about this, her neighbour says "Were you wearing a red coat?", "No" says Mrs Jones, "but I will next time".
> 
> The next day the same thing happens, no pork chops for Mrs Jones.
> 
> Her neighbour says "What colour shoes were you wearing?" ...
> 
> Fred Bloggs seems to have found a sound business plan.


I think it's more like Studio 54, actually.

"I stood out in the cold for hours wearing nothing but a thong and they STILL wouldn't let me in."

If Fred's Butcher shop had a line outside the door, people waving cash at the owner, and a capacity of 100, a lot of people wouldn't get to give Fred money. *shrug*

Anyway, around that point, the whole analogy starts falling apart, because you have to consider the fact that Fred's Butcher shop is only as successful as it is _because_ it's selective. There are a zillion other operations out there who will promo any old book, and we all see how well those work. So, it would be more like Mrs. Jones wanted to sell her pork chops to the butcher shop, but the butcher shop was like, "Look, we only have space to sell these five pork chops, and yours don't fit. If your pork chop had won a bunch of awards or something, we'd move you to the front of the list, but as it is, we've already got good pork chops here. Try again in a few weeks."


----------



## Donna White Glaser

btsc99 said:


> So Mrs Jones walks into Fred Bloggs' Butcher shop, says "2 pork chops please", Fred Bloggs says "Sorry Mrs, not serving you. Next."
> 
> Mrs Jones tells her neighbour about this, her neighbour says "Were you wearing a red coat?", "No" says Mrs Jones, "but I will next time".
> 
> The next day the same thing happens, no pork chops for Mrs Jones.
> 
> Her neighbour says "What colour shoes were you wearing?" ...
> 
> Fred Bloggs seems to have found a sound business plan.


We're not the folks standing outside trying to buy the beef. We're the farmers at the back door saying, "Check out the juicy steaks on my cow!" or whatever. Mr. Bloggs gets to choose which cows will best satisfy his meat customers. If we don't like it we can go always go find another butcher or wait for a rival butcher to open up shop. So far, Bloggs seems to be doing pretty well.


----------



## btsc99

valeriec80 said:


> So, it would be more like Mrs. Jones wanted to sell her pork chops to the butcher shop, but the butcher shop was like, "Look, we only have space to sell these five pork chops, and yours don't fit. If your pork chop had won a bunch of awards or something, we'd move you to the front of the list, but as it is, we've already got good pork chops here. Try again in a few weeks."


I fully understand the point you are making, however your butcher gave Mrs Jones an explanation as to why he didn't want her pork chops, my butcher was both arrogant and discourteous, which was the point I was trying to make.


----------



## btsc99

Donna White Glaser said:


> We're not the folks standing outside trying to buy the beef. We're the farmers at the back door saying, "Check out the juicy steaks on my cow!" or whatever. Mr. Bloggs gets to choose which cows will best satisfy his meat customers. If we don't like it we can go always go find another butcher or wait for a rival butcher to open up shop. So far, Bloggs seems to be doing pretty well.


It might not be incumbent upon the butcher to supply the farmer with his reason(s) for not wanting his steaks, but don't you think that it would be good manners to supply at the very least some clue?


----------



## valeriec80

btsc99 said:


> I fully understand the point you are making, however your butcher gave Mrs Jones an explanation as to why he didn't want her pork chops, my butcher was both arrogant and discourteous, which was the point I was trying to make.


Actually, that explanation is a paraphrase of their form rejection.

They do give a reason, they just give everyone the same reason. Doesn't mean it's not an accurate reflection of why they rejected it, but it does mean it's not personalized. I choose to believe what they say and keep trying when I get rejected. I have been rewarded by being subsequently accepted, which seems to lend credence to the theory.


----------



## Wayne Stinnett

Submitted five times, accepted three times. Next one will run next Friday. I'm starting a Kindle Countdown Deal Wednesday night, to run at $.99 for five days. Also, I have an ENT ad, FussyLibrarian ad, and a Fiverr ad running Thursday, the day before the ad. The book has bounced between #1200 and #2100 in Paid Kindle since the first of the month. I hope the ads the day before BookBub will push it into the Top 1000, then BookBub will push it into the Top 20 Paid Kindle.


----------



## btsc99

valeriec80 said:


> They do give a reason, they just give everyone the same reason.


Well, I suppose that if Bookbub is that big, and has such a vast amount of applications for their service, then a boilerplate rejection makes good business sense.


----------



## gilda6

My Book Invincible is being featured today. First time I have an ad. I was accepted with a 3.7 rating and 75 reviews. I'll keep you all posted on the results.


----------



## gilda6

So I just hit 76 in paid Kindle store, sold 1703 on amazon, 459 on nook, 22 on kobo, can't see apple because my "session has expired." So very happy with the results. Thanks for everyone in this discussion - I wouldn't have ever been accepted without all the advice.


----------



## Diane Patterson

Right now I'm 0-3 with Bookbub; 2 for one book, 1 for my freebie.

I sent them an explanation about the freebie -- it's 35,000 words, exclusive of any other material in the book, but I put 120 down on Amazon because the PDF I originally generated was 8.5 x 11 instead of 5.25x8.25, so my bad, but I can't figure out how to fix it if possible. (Will KDP adjust that if I ask?)

I know Mystery is a popular category -- the price for an ad tells me that. I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions other than "keep trying every 4 weeks or so."


----------



## Jan Strnad

gilda6 said:


> So I just hit 76 in paid Kindle store, sold 1703 on amazon, 459 on nook, 22 on kobo, can't see apple because my "session has expired." So very happy with the results. Thanks for everyone in this discussion - I wouldn't have ever been accepted without all the advice.


Clear out the cookies on your browser and try Apple again. A lot of people were getting the same message from Apple and clearing out cookies fixed it.

Congrats on the sales results!


----------



## Andie

Diane Patterson said:


> Right now I'm 0-3 with Bookbub; 2 for one book, 1 for my freebie.
> 
> I sent them an explanation about the freebie -- it's 35,000 words, exclusive of any other material in the book, but I put 120 down on Amazon because the PDF I originally generated was 8.5 x 11 instead of 5.25x8.25, so my bad, but I can't figure out how to fix it if possible. (Will KDP adjust that if I ask?)
> 
> I know Mystery is a popular category -- the price for an ad tells me that. I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions other than "keep trying every 4 weeks or so."


I think 35k might be too short for them to take. I thought they said somewhere that around 50k is the minimum.


----------



## chris56

I just ran a BookBub ad for one of my authors on 7/24/14.  This is the third ad we've done with BookBub and the second one for this book.  The first one was in December.  It's an historical fiction book based on a true story and is normally priced at $4.99.  I reduced the price to $1.99 for the sale and since the ad ran on the 24th, we've had 1685 sales in the Amazon US store, 63 on Amazon UK, 663 on Draft2Digital and 23 on Kobo.  Sales for the other books in the series also got a boost.


----------



## Diane Patterson

Andie said:


> I think 35k might be too short for them to take. I thought they said somewhere that around 50k is the minimum.


Oh, okay, thanks. I thought the minimum was less than 35k. That's cool.


----------



## Justawriter

Diane Patterson said:


> Oh, okay, thanks. I thought the minimum was less than 35k. That's cool.


They go by pages. It has to be 150 pages. Best way to get there is to have your print books linked to ebook as print usually shows a higher page count, depending on what size font and trim size you use. I know someone who was accepted with a 30k novella.


----------



## Diane Patterson

Which means I have to make a print version! I wasn't going to. Well, to get a BB ad would be totally worth it, so I guess I will invest in getting the cover made...


----------



## Donna White Glaser

Had my BB ad yesterday. I'm still evaluating the results. There was 25K downloads yesterday and another 5K so far today. Also 20 sales on the other books in the series yesterday. 
It's in Mystery, so the average is supposed to be 30K. I guess I hit that or near there, however it's down from the usual for this book. On the other hand, this is the 3rd "big" promo for this book (2nd BB ad) and it makes sense that it's saturating it's market a bit. I'm just hoping for a good tail on the other books. The rankings are dropping far quicker than usual too. 
There are too many variable to factor in so I'll report back in a week and give an update.


----------



## Wansit

I don't know if I hit a lucky streak but I applied for a BB on Monday and was accepted on Tuesday. This will be my first permafree with them.


----------



## MLKatz

SA_Archer said:


> So what seems to be the magic number for reviews on BookBub these days? I have only 13 reviews, and they've turned me down twice, once for 99 cents and once for free. I am thinking I am a good distance away on the review threshold.


I don't know what the threshold is. I had over 70 reviews and Raft People has been out (in one form or another) for quite awhile. Also, I have a professional cover. It is also not the first cover Raft People has had.


----------



## Kathy Clark Author

I think the steady increase of spots sold to the big 5 and other imprints and publishers has changed the fit and finish of BB.  Readers don't see it as much as authors probably but it is no longer the edgy place where new authors and authors who are own their own could be discovered.  Books repeat and self published have been slowly moved out.  That's the model and had I not heard that from industry insiders I might have blown it off.  Better off seeking the next BB.


----------



## Incognita

So...I submitted to BB last weekend and still haven't heard anything. In the past when I've gotten a rejection, it's come pretty quickly. So is this a good sign or a bad sign?


----------



## Donna White Glaser

ChristinePope said:


> So...I submitted to BB last weekend and still haven't heard anything. In the past when I've gotten a rejection, it's come pretty quickly. So is this a good sign or a bad sign?


I've tried reading into the length of time of response and it's fairly meaningless. Sometimes they answer quickly with a yes or no; sometimes they answer slowly with a yes or no.


----------



## Donna White Glaser

One thing occurred on this latest BB run that surprised me.  I had no idea how BB could affect my audiobook sales. Over 80 sales of The Enemy We Know after BB ran! That's wild.


----------



## jdrew

I finally got off my rear and submitted to BB.  One day - turned down.  So, moving on will try again later, maybe with a different book.  In the meantime those of you who do get in please keep sharing results.  It is always good to know whether BB stays a good option or begins to fade.


----------



## Bookside Manner

Just got rejected again. I wouldn't mind so much except that last year I submitted this same book and got approved in 24 hours; the promo was the best sales period I've ever had. Now I can't get a second run on this book (doesn't help that I'm trying for one of the most popular categories). Oh well, will try again in four weeks. I've got the date marked on my calendar.


----------



## Drake

I've downloaded a lot of books through BookBub, but haven't placed an ad.  Do they accept erotica?


----------



## S.A. Mulraney

After many, many, many, many (you get the picture) attempts at getting the 'Bub to pick me up and an equal number of rejections (we're talking well over 15... maybe 20), I've finally been picked up.   I just had to make it free. 

I didn't really want to, as I've already given away close to 20,000 copies of my first book back in the early heyday of KDP Select. But, it seems that was what was holding them back. _Multiples_ runs free on the 'Bub on September 2nd.


----------



## Diane Patterson

As I mentioned in another thread, I went back to look at my BB rejections, because I thought they were simply form letters, but they're not. The one for my novella read "Based on the performance of books we have featured in the past, we do not foresee this title being the right fit for our readers."

Has anyone else gotten this?

I am wondering if this is about content or length or what it might be. (I can't imagine it's content, because there's nothing strange or outre about it. And they haven't said this about the second in the series.)


----------



## D-C

I've given up counting how many times I've been rejected. I've not yet offered to sacrifice my first born... Maybe that's the sticking point.


----------



## Lionel&#039;s Mom

I had my first ever bookbub yesterday for my permafree first in series. It's been permafree for almost 2 months. It's historical romance category and got 26.4K downloads, which was a bit above the average for that category. It's really a time travel romance, which the bub doesn't have a cat for, though they should! (prays to the bub)

I was surprised at how many people bought the follow on books right away, especially on B&N. I maybe sell 5 a day on B&N normally  
Based on sales above my usual average, the follow through sales to the other books in the series on the amazon.com store paid for the ad on the same day. I still don't know iTunes or Gplay but consider whatever it ends up to be icing.

Oh, another thing I was surprised and pleased about was the big spike (for me) on the .co.uk store. I don't know why I thought bookbub was US only.

Basically, just adding to the chorus that Bookbub = worth it.


----------



## Alchemy

Thanks to everyone sharing their rides with BB. Here are the results from my weekend Bookbub run.

Children's and Middle Grade promo for two days @ .99c. Cost $120
Prior to Bookbub ad: Amazon Best Sellers Rank: *#1,866,727* Paid in Kindle Store

Highest ranks during the Bookbub promotion:
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: *#377* Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#10 in Kindle Store > Children's eBooks
#3 in Kindle Store > Children's eBooks > Literature & Fiction 
#1 in Kindle Store > Children's eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Stories About Toys
#1 in Kindle Store > Children's eBooks > Animals
#1 in Kindle Store > Children's eBooks > Animals > Bears

Sales during the promotion at Amazon paid for the Bookbub ad within seven hours @35%. Unfortunately Smashwords were unable to change the price at Barnes and Noble within five days, so I missed them being listed in the BB promo. There was also a problem with Apple, so they weren't listed in the promo either. Looks like a switch to D2D is in order.


----------



## jdrew

S.A. Mulraney said:


> After many, many, many, many (you get the picture) attempts at getting the 'Bub to pick me up and an equal number of rejections (we're talking well over 15... maybe 20), I've finally been picked up.   I just had to make it free.
> 
> I didn't really want to, as I've already given away close to 20,000 copies of my first book back in the early heyday of KDP Select. But, it seems that was what was holding them back. _Multiples_ runs free on the 'Bub on September 2nd.


S.A. thanks for that piece of information. If and when I have enough other titles I am going to seriously think of a freebie. You'll have to let us know how it goes and whether it bumps any other titles for you.


----------



## S.A. Mulraney

So, today is my BookBub day! I got off to a fast start with my free run yesterday and I'm already up to #623 in the Free store. I haven't been able to track down who picked me up, but it's none of the usual suspects. I also have book 2 running on a Kindle Countdown deal at $1.99 and have sold 10 copies already. Really looking forward to seeing what the 'Bub does for me today. :-D Will report back tomorrow with some numbers.


----------



## Wansit

Congrats SA! Enjoy the ride.  

I had my first perma-free BB a few days ago. Stacked ads and got a massive return.

Freeloads: 37,000
Additional sales: 2,500
Verdict: Best BB I've ever had. Brilliant.


----------



## S.A. Mulraney

The 'Bub is still working wonders. Late afternoon and I'm north of 27k freebies and 230 copies of book #2.  

EDIT: It's only 4:30 PM Eastern and I've reached #1 in the store. Shocked and awed. What a ride.


----------



## Nica Curt

Oh, wow. Some of the results on here are amazing. Congrats to many of you on a great campaign. Please keep updating on your stats. 
Not to completely derail the post... is BB the biggest site for this type of promotion?


----------



## S.A. Mulraney

NicaCurt said:


> Not to completely derail the post... is BB the biggest site for this type of promotion?


I've never had 1-day results like this before. The results sort of speak for themselves.


----------



## S.A. Mulraney

At the end of my BookBub day (at least here on the East coast) and I've crested 45,000 downloads of book 1, with ~380 downloads of book #2, which is on a countdown sale. Very pleased with the results. Hoping the tail will last a while, but we'll see.

EDIT: Final 1-day total for _Multiples of Six_ was 47,295 units. Finished with 409 copies sold of its sequel. Both are still doing well today.


----------



## Harriet Schultz

A post about this probably exists on this thread, but I can't find it.

I'm about to release the third and final book of my contemporary romantic suspense trilogy. My books don't end with cliffhangers and they've been published one year apart from each other. 

I've had a couple of very successful $0.99 BB promos for the first book, but sell through to book two was never outstanding, more of a trickle through as people finished reading book one. All of my books have buy links for the next at the end. 

Is it a better strategy to list book one with BB as a freebie or stick with the $0.99 promo price (reg. $2.99)? Should I price books two and three at $0.99 also for the week of the BB ad? Or should I keep book three at its $2.99 regular price? My goal is to find readers for the third book. You can see I'm not sure about how to proceed.

I would really appreciate advice about this. Thanks!


----------



## S.A. Mulraney

In my opinion, folks love a discount. Going free with book #1 will get you a TON of readers and even if you only discount to $1.99 on books 2 and 3, you'll get folks who pick up all three. $4 for a trilogy? What a deal!


----------



## Harriet Schultz

S.A. Mulraney said:


> In my opinion, folks love a discount. Going free with book #1 will get you a TON of readers and even if you only discount to $1.99 on books 2 and 3, you'll get folks who pick up all three. $4 for a trilogy? What a deal!


Thanks, S.A. I decided to list the first book with BB for $0.99 (hope they accept the ad) and will price the second at $0.99 during the week-long promo also. The new book will be its regular $2.99 price. I'm still on the fence about perma-free, but may try it when sales lag. With boxed sets on BB for $0.99, I wonder if readers would even spend $4 for a trilogy.


----------



## Eskimo

S.A. Mulraney said:


> The 'Bub is still working wonders. Late afternoon and I'm north of 27k freebies and 230 copies of book #2.
> 
> EDIT: It's only 4:30 PM Eastern and I've reached #1 in the store. Shocked and awed. What a ride.


I would absolutely agree. Bubble Screen reached # 1 today and had over 40k downloads. Also sold 70 copies of my first two books, not quite as many as I had hoped, but no complaints whatsoever (they're also priced at $4.99 so I suspect that may be a factor).

BookBub is amazing!


----------



## Bookside Manner

I just want to reiterate how important it is to not get discouraged when querying BookBub. I ran a 99 cent with book 1 of my suspense series in December. Best. Sales. Ever. For the past four months I've been trying and failing to get them to take it on again, but persistence paid off and I've got a promo set up for early October.


----------



## CEMartin2

My latest bookbub numbers


Omnibus #1, the first three books in my series, normally $2.99, sale price $.99. Sale was monday 9/15/14, in the Scifi category (bookbub picked the category).

As of 645 am, 9/16, 507 sales showing... Kindle rank #347. Mysteries/thrillers/suspense #81.


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## Diane Patterson

Does anyone have any words of wisdom for me about Bookbub? 'Cause they've turned me down again. I applied for the .99 promo, and I said in the comments that I would consider a free promo, I just need a little bit of time to set it up.

Their reply:

- Submit your deal at a lower price point
- Submit other titles from your backlist
- Re-submit your title in a few months, when it might be a better fit for our readers
- Review additional tips here: https://www.bookbub.com/partners/submission-tips

I know that they don't want the prequel novella, because it doesn't match their length guidelines.

I could try the 2nd (3rd...whatever) book in my series, but wouldn't that be kind of weird?

They want a series with more books in it?

Any advice?


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## S.A. Mulraney

Diane Patterson said:


> Does anyone have any words of wisdom for me about Bookbub? 'Cause they've turned me down again. I applied for the .99 promo, and I said in the comments that I would consider a free promo, I just need a little bit of time to set it up.
> 
> Their reply:
> 
> - Submit your deal at a lower price point
> - Submit other titles from your backlist
> - Re-submit your title in a few months, when it might be a better fit for our readers
> - Review additional tips here: https://www.bookbub.com/partners/submission-tips
> 
> I know that they don't want the prequel novella, because it doesn't match their length guidelines.
> 
> I could try the 2nd (3rd...whatever) book in my series, but wouldn't that be kind of weird?
> 
> They want a series with more books in it?
> 
> Any advice?


I've only got two books done in the trilogy and they finally accepted me when I offered the first book free. I have had a great return that's just fading now after 15 days. With 3 books, I imagine you'd see a nice return on a free run.


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## Diane Patterson

S.A. Mulraney said:


> I've only got two books done in the trilogy and they finally accepted me when I offered the first book free. I have had a great return that's just fading now after 15 days. With 3 books, I imagine you'd see a nice return on a free run.


Serious question: is this their way of saying "apply for free straightaway on this book"? Honestly, I feel like I'm reading tea leaves.

Also, two free books would leave me with one book making money (the fourth isn't going to be out for a little while). Unless I switch the novella to .99 while the free run lasts...


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## C. Gockel

> Serious question: is this their way of saying "apply for free straightaway on this book"? Honestly, I feel like I'm reading tea leaves.


What happens when you submit your permafree? Did they say no? They do take permafree books multiple times, ESPECIALLY, if you've had a new release. Here's what I said in the additional comments section (this is for an October promotion):

"What's better for trick-or-treat than a trickster? Seriously, I've had two releases since my last run with you guys and I think you'll get great affiliate returns on the latest in my series. I also submitted my 2nd in series for a 99 cent deal, but I thought I'd just submit my permafree too. You haven't run any fantasy freebies in my two latest emails and it makes me sad."

...I really thought they'd take my 99 cent deal, but they took my permafree instead. So I can try for a 99 cent promo for 2nd in series after the last book is out. YAY!


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## Diane Patterson

C. Gockel said:


> What happens when you submit your permafree?


They said it's not suitable. I think it's not long enough (it's a novella).


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## C. Gockel

> They said it's not suitable. I think it's not long enough (it's a novella).


Oh, I see. I don't know if it would be worth your while to make the novella paid and your other book free for a short time. It might be an interesting experiment.


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## A.A

I have a bookbub ad running at the moment. If it helps anyone, its a YA horror and bookbub placed it on their horror list. It's at 0.99c
I'm sorry that I cant give stats, as it's my publisher who is running it, but it started sometime on the 18th and on the 19th (well, it's the 19th here in Australia!) its rank is at #562 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IY6QXN0/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #562 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#1 in Books > Teens > Horror
#1 in Books > Romance > Gothic
#3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Mysteries & Thrillers > Romantic

It's never been on the horror list before. When I ran bookbub ads myself, it was always on the YA list. It's definitely more horror than romance - the romance element is small. The horror is psychological rather than graphic. Nervous waiting to see what the BB horror list thinks. I've had quite a few adult readers unable to finish this book as they've found the horror too intense (though it definitely would be a 'quiet horror' for anyone used to horror)

Book #2 is at #20,313, so there hasn't been much follow-through yet.

I'm running no other promotions - to be honest, because I'm not running it myself, I completely forgot!

Rank later today on the 19th:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #210 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#1 in Books > Romance > Gothic
#1 in Books > Teens > Horror
#2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Mysteries & Thrillers > Fantasy & Supernatural


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## charlottehughes

How important is it to wait four weeks before reapplying to Bookbub on a specific book. That seems like forever, anyone have any positive experience applying in 15 days or 21? Trying to coordinate it with a countdown but don't want to put off the countdown forever. Also since its the only game in town, whose next after ENT and, Booksend anybody even close to these three?


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## Wayne Stinnett

charlottehughes said:


> How important is it to wait four weeks before reapplying to Bookbub on a specific book. That seems like forever, anyone have any positive experience applying in 15 days or 21? Trying to coordinate it with a countdown but don't want to put off the countdown forever. Also since its the only game in town, whose next after ENT and, Booksend anybody even close to these three?


I you apply before the time they tell you (and it's not always 4 weeks), odds are you'll be turned down and told to wait ANOTHER 4 weeks.


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## Donna White Glaser

charlottehughes said:


> How important is it to wait four weeks before reapplying to Bookbub on a specific book. That seems like forever, anyone have any positive experience applying in 15 days or 21? Trying to coordinate it with a countdown but don't want to put off the countdown forever. Also since its the only game in town, whose next after ENT and, Booksend anybody even close to these three?


Unless they specifically tell you to try back before that length of time, then no. They'll just reject it again. You can apply with another book in between then, though.


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