# Top 20 list of promo sites that actually work?



## anotherpage (Apr 4, 2012)

Does anyone have a list of the 5, 10 or 20 promo sites you go to without fail for all of your promotions upon releasing a new book? ( one that will be priced like at 99 cents for a short while?)


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## Thetis (Dec 23, 2015)

.99 cents are getting more and more difficult to book just about anywhere. It seems promo sites are ALL beginning to heavily favor free books over discounted and this drives me crazy.

IF you can get in... here's the list I'd recommend. But it's getting increasingly difficult to book with any of these sites, even with good reviews. It seems you need both good reviews, a willingness to take whatever spot they'll give you, AND you have to be willing to offer the book for free.  

:ff soapbox::

Of course, people are going to say BookBub... that's... just not a reality for most authors. Not for new authors with few reviews anyway. Doesn't hurt to apply, but I wouldn't count on it.

1. RobinReads - great results every single time, but they are getting so difficult to book. 
2. ENT - great results, but also getting difficult to get a spot with
3. BookSends - I've used them for paid and free and had good results with both; easier to get a spot with them than #1 and #2

The rest of these are kinda small fry sites that might get you a few sales. 

4. Sweet Free Books - for $7, it has been worth it every time I've used the service whether paid or free
5. ReadCheaply - I've gotten one of their free spots a couple of times for a free book and the downloads were great; I don't know about paid
6. Free Kindle Books & Tips - ok results on a discounted book
7. Book Barbarian - if your book is SF/Fantasy, this is a site worth booking

Honestly, I don't have a list of top 20 sites. Most don't work that well for paid books. Some of the smaller sites will get you a few hundred DL of free books. Some of the expensive sites like Book Gorilla might get you a handful of sales (I've only used them for a free promo)... I'm not convinced it's worth their price tag on a discounted title. I think I got about 1,000 DL with Book Gorilla or close to it, so for $50, that was a good enough promo for me.

I have a much longer list of sites that are a waste of money  

As a final note: Check out E.B. Brown's monthly promos. She has a Facebook group for them and you can do discounted or free or whatever you want. It's inexpensive and probably a better option than many of these other promo sites that charge far too much money and don't yield results to justify the amount spent.


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## benlovejoy (Feb 28, 2016)

Thetis said:


> I have a much longer list of sites that are a waste of money


That would be a very useful list!

To your list of worthwhile sites, I'd add:

https://uk.fiverr.com/bknights/promote-and-market-your-self-published-kindle-book-to-4800-active-kindle-readers-on-my-facebook-page-during-your-promo-or-marketing-period?extras=1549957

http://www.thefussylibrarian.com/for-authors/prices--genre-statistics/

http://indie.kindlenationdaily.com/?page_id=642

http://thebookpromoter.com (this one boosted sales beyond the promo period)

BookSends broke even.

Ben


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## GwynnEWhite (May 23, 2012)

I would add Booksbutterfly and Patty Jensen's promos (science fiction & fantasy) to that list. But I agree, that's about it.


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## scifi365 (Sep 12, 2014)

I rate us quite highly! We rarely feature free books. SF only. I think we're pretty good.  We have no review requirements, but we do read everything before we add it. We've been a little quiet for the last two months, but we're back in the game as of next Monday. We'll shift 20-40 copies at a cost (to authors) of zero.

As for other promo sites, I've always liked EBookSoda - I'm on that list and they're pretty good in the SF/F field. No idea about other genres but I do buy a few books via that one. I'm on the Book Bassett list, but they don't really focus on stuff I like to read, so no idea about results there but I've heard good things.


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## KeraEmory (Feb 8, 2016)

Just got turned down for Robin Reads. "Not a good fit for our readers".


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## juliatheswede (Mar 26, 2014)

ENT and Robin Reads are GREAT and very affordable. I write mystery/thriller/suspense and those sites seem to like my books cuz I almost always get accepted.


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## Nicholas Erik (Sep 22, 2015)

There aren't twenty sites that I would recommend. I've spent $6000+ on ads for over 20+ titles in genres from historical fiction to sci-fi, and here are my powerrankings along with the average cost (may be higher/lower depending on genre and selected add-ons), but ballpark):

Tier 1 (Always, if available)	
BookBub (varies) 
Robin Reads ($30) 
ENT ($30) 
BKnights Fiverr ($5.50)

Tier 2 (Depends) 
FKBT 
Booksends 
Books Butterfly (edit: 12/19 - lots of bad reports on the forum about customer service - although my experiences have all been professional; however, my results have been poor recently; no longer recommended)	
Free/Bargain Booksy 
KND Highlighter ($30)

Tier 3 (Cheap/Decent for a Stack) 
eBookhounds ($ 
BookBassett ($ 
BettyBookFreak ($12) 
SweetFreeBooks ($7) 
Fussy Librarian (~$16)

A quick note to everyone: I have been rejected from almost every promo site multiple times - it's just part of the deal. Yes, it might sting a little, but if you can't learn to deal with this and make it into a non-issue, you're not long for this business. I see so many people give up submitting to BookBub after two times - I've submitted, I think, over EIGHTY TIMES at this point and gotten accepted FIVE.

I like Booksends much more for paid titles than free...their free ads are too expensive for the results I've gotten. Free Booksy is kind of expensive, but they're super easy to book and don't require any reviews, which is why I'll use them. Same thing with the KND Highlighter - the convenience/no need for reviews is great, but it's kind of pricey.

I like what Fussy Librarian is doing with their platform, but you have to book the ads so far out that it's a bit of a pain. I'd love to support them, but they're not a heavy enough hitter (and their review requirements are on the high side) that a lot of times I can't squeeze them in. Book Gorilla, which has been mentioned, is ok - but you have to book so far in advance (usually 4 - 6 weeks) that it's pretty much useless. They're not big enough that you can build a promo around them like Robin Reads/ENT, and their prices are kind of high. I would use them more if I could schedule them sooner, but I can't, so I don't.

People here have used OHFB with good results, but I don't like their billing policy - they charge you the price of the ad, and then refund you if you're rejected. And their ads are $75 - $100, so I'm not crazy about that policy.

BKNights' free/$0.99 gigs on Fiverr generally have the best ROI out of anything I've tried besides BookBub. I always book them, no matter what. Your also-boughts can get a little screwy if it's a new release/something that hasn't sold many books. But they're really solid and easy to book (no reviews etc.). Of course, if you make 1.5 x 2x or 3x your money, you're only sitting on $7.50 - $15, but still - why not?

There are also genre options: ILVN (paranormal romance/UF), My Romance Reads, Book Barbarian (Sci-fi/Fantasy). Haven't tried these, yet, as I don't write romance, and my sci-fi books haven't had enough reviews to qualify to date. Hungry Authors' new release blast has gotten good results for people here ($150) - I have one coming up on the 5th, so I can't comment on its effectiveness yet.

Nick


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## mmandolin (Oct 16, 2014)

^^^ Very good list, Nick. 

I would toss in Buck Books, particularly for non-fiction. Reasonable prices and excellent results. But they're selective. It helps if you've used Archangel Ink's services, as Buck Books is affiliated with them.


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

Genre always enters into the effectiveness of a promo site. Something to keep in mind.


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## danpadavona (Sep 25, 2014)

Great synopsis by Nick.

I also agree with everything Thetis wrote. It used to be that I could almost always get an ad with ENT, then they really got tough the last year, and it's become very difficult to get an ad with them. Same thing has happened very recently with Robin Reads. I used to build my campaigns around Robin Reads. Now they accept me maybe 1 out of 4 times, and since I don't get the results with Robin Reads that I used to get, I've gotten to the point where I rarely consider applying.

BKnights is solid. You won't get a big pop in sales, but they tend to take you even at the last second, and the cost is quite low.


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## Abderian (Apr 5, 2012)

scifi365 said:


> I rate us quite highly! We rarely feature free books. SF only. I think we're pretty good. We have no review requirements, but we do read everything before we add it. We've been a little quiet for the last two months, but we're back in the game as of next Monday. We'll shift 20-40 copies at a cost (to authors) of zero.
> 
> As for other promo sites, I've always liked EBookSoda - I'm on that list and they're pretty good in the SF/F field. No idea about other genres but I do buy a few books via that one. I'm on the Book Bassett list, but they don't really focus on stuff I like to read, so no idea about results there but I've heard good things.


But there's no way for authors to submit to your site? "Right now, we are still in Beta, so are not currently accepting direct submissions. However, if you sign up, you will not only get our daily deals newsletter, we will notify you as soon as we are ready to accept submissions from authors."


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## anotherpage (Apr 4, 2012)

great thanks guys


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

> I rate us quite highly! We rarely feature free books. SF only. I think we're pretty good. We have no review requirements, but we do read everything before we add it. We've been a little quiet for the last two months, but we're back in the game as of next Monday. We'll shift 20-40 copies at a cost (to authors) of zero.


Hi ... it says you're not taking submissions yet? Would love to give you a go!

To the OP I found BookBarbarian, RobinReads, and FKTips to all be amazing for 99-cent sci-fi. FKTips really surprised me, very good deal.


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## scifi365 (Sep 12, 2014)

To both of the people who have said 'but you're not taking submissions' , please email us at team {at} scifi365.net - we'd like a copy of the book (ideally as ePub, but mobi is OK too), timescale for running promos, cost, anything else you think is useful! We are strictly Science Fiction, though. And we typically don't do well with YA or Post Apocalyptic, although we're always prepared to give those sub-genres another try.


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## Abderian (Apr 5, 2012)

scifi365 said:


> To both of the people who have said 'but you're not taking submissions' , please email us at team {at} scifi365.net - we'd like a copy of the book (ideally as ePub, but mobi is OK too), timescale for running promos, cost, anything else you think is useful! We are strictly Science Fiction, though. And we typically don't do well with YA or Post Apocalyptic, although we're always prepared to give those sub-genres another try.


What are your rates?


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## Taking my troll a$$ outta here (Apr 8, 2013)

Nicholas Erik said:


> Tier 1 (Always, if available)
> BookBub (varies)
> Robin Reads ($30)
> ENT ($30)
> ...


Great breakdown, pretty much covers 'em.


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## Lisa Blackwood (Feb 1, 2015)

I've used most of the sites mentioned in this thread multiple times. Though I'll add that I've had different results for different books/time of year/day of the week. It seems to be a very much YMMV thing.


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## Anarchist (Apr 22, 2015)

danpadavona said:


> It used to be that I could almost always get an ad with ENT, then they really got tough the last year, and it's become very difficult to get an ad with them. Same thing has happened very recently with Robin Reads.


I suspect that is a consequence of ENT and Robin Reads being regularly touted as solid promo sites. The more they are touted as such, the greater the number of authors who submit their books for promos. With a limited number of spots available, it's no wonder both sites are becoming more difficult to land.


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## Eskimo (Dec 31, 2013)

Cherise Kelley said:


> Genre always enters into the effectiveness of a promo site. Something to keep in mind.


Completely agree, not every site is going to be effective for every author.
And I can't speak for certain sites, as their prices seem curiously high.
That said, my Top 10 are as follows:

1.	BookBub
2.	ENT
3.	OHFB
4.	Book Sends
5.	FKB&T
6.	Robin Reads
7.	Many Books
8.	Betty Book Freak
9.	Fussy Librarian
10.	Read Cheaply


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## Bob Stewart (Mar 19, 2014)

Outside of the top 3-4 promo sites, I never see 1,000 downloads on a free promo.

But I'm in the last day of a 5-day free promo for a book in KDP Select and have passed 1,000 downloads. This is with no money spent. I did post it to my FB page, but that couldn't have netted more than a dozen or two downloads. And I posted it to some Reddit lists, but likewise that effect couldn't be too large. Half the downloads occurred on the first day, before I even did the postings above.

I assume it's partly because this book has never been free before. But it's still surprising, and I also think it partly explains some of the variability in results we experience with the secondary promo sites--we tend to assume a promo netted results which may partly be due to other factors, being picked up by sites listing freebies, etc.

In my experience, if there are 20 spaces on your list, the first 15 should all be Bookbub. You'll spend 3-4 times as much to get the same results with the others, with many it's more like ten times as much.


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## CaraS. (Jul 18, 2014)

benlovejoy said:


> That would be a very useful list!
> 
> To your list of worthwhile sites, I'd add:
> 
> ...


How did Book Promoter perform for you? I'm thinking of using it. I actually prefer promos with sites that list your book for a couple days up to a couple weeks. I get far better results than the one-day promo sites. Some even put your book online at their website for browsing permanently, huge advantage.


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## benlovejoy (Feb 28, 2016)

CaraS. said:


> How did Book Promoter perform for you?


I was seeing an uptick in sales (at full price) for each of the 14 days they were promoting it. It's always hard to assign an exact result to any promo (I _really_ wish Amazon offered proper analytics), but looks like it was definitely worthwhile for me.


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## scifi365 (Sep 12, 2014)

Abderian said:


> What are your rates?


Free!


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## Nicholas Erik (Sep 22, 2015)

Bob Stewart said:


> I assume it's partly because this book has never been free before. But it's still surprising, and I also think it partly explains some of the variability in results we experience with the secondary promo sites--we tend to assume a promo netted results which may partly be due to other factors, being picked up by sites listing freebies, etc.


A bunch of the newsletter services and free sites have automated bots that monitor sites for new freebies. They'll typically feature something that's never been free before if it's somewhat appealing (e.g. decent cover/blurb - but I mean, a lot of this is just purely automated, so being "new" is often enough), which is why a lot of times people get a boost right at the beginning of a permafree or on a virgin free run, despite the lack of advertising. E.g. before I knew jack about paid advertising, I got a POI free listing for one book, an ENT free listing for another.

I'd say that typically you do not get picked up by sites that actually move the needle after you've run a freebie a few times and gotten a bunch of downloads, unless you have a TON of reviews (like 500+, probably), are a huge name, the book hasn't been free in a long, long time (6+ months, easy) or that site has never run your book before for whatever reason.

I honestly don't think there's as much variability as people think. Romance and mysteries/crime/thrillers perform the best, by far, on almost all "generalist" sites. Sci-fi does well, too, so long as it's actually niched correctly and isn't just a book with sci-fi elements. YA doesn't generally do as well, because a decent portion of the YA audience A) doesn't necessarily use email and B) doesn't have direct credit card buying power.

I have _a lot_ of disparate titles across five pen names, and I can predict what's going to happen pretty closely, regardless of genre. I rarely look at the numbers and have to figure out what happened. Most of the time I see someone here post disappointing results is because there's something wrong with the cover, blurb or their book has a very niche market (or is positioned by the blurb/cover as being for a niche market). Another one is that people don't actually know their genre - I was guilty of this - and so submit to the wrong list and get an appropriately lukewarm response to the ad.

Nick


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## Melodema (Mar 21, 2016)

I've used Books Go Social and Promocave with some success. If anybody has used yabookscentral and has had success, let me know as I am tempted to use them but reluctant as they are pricey.


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## Abderian (Apr 5, 2012)

scifi365 said:


> Free!


You can't get better rates than that!


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## GrandFenwick (Aug 24, 2015)

What are people's thoughts on Digital Book Today and Awesome Gang for 99-cent promos? I had great results from Awesome Gang on a FREE book promo, but I'm doing a 99-cent KCD soon and I'm trying to find promos.


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## geronl (May 7, 2015)

Bob Stewart said:


> Outside of the top 3-4 promo sites, I never see 1,000 downloads on a free promo.


I gave away 1,300+ of "New Arrivals" over a 3-day free run without any real promo's, just tweeting and Facebooking mostly. Of course, I have sold almost nothing since, lol.


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## MTM (Aug 9, 2011)

A great thread.


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## Guest (Apr 4, 2016)

Nicholas Erik said:


> There aren't twenty sites that I would recommend. I've spent $6000+ on ads for over 20+ titles in genres from historical fiction to sci-fi, and here are my powerrankings along with the average cost (may be higher/lower depending on genre and selected add-ons), but ballpark):
> 
> Tier 1 (Always, if available)
> BookBub (varies)
> ...


Agree with almost everything Nicholas Erik wrote. 
With the added line from Cherise - Genre ALWAYS factors in and Genre is ALWAYS different for the different sites.

Obviously, we consider ourselves in Tier 1 in every genre we're big in. However, we're not in the bucket of 'make your money back during the promotion' so I can understand why for many authors we're not considered Tier 1.

That measure (make back money within the 1/2 promotion days) is not going to stick around for very long. Demand is too high.

*******

A few thoughts

1) The MidList was super good. Too bad they sold to Harper Collins

2) The stores are applying a very tough squeeze on all promo sites. This doesn't affect the Top 10 sites that much. However, it makes it almost impossible for new sites to start. It also means

If a site isn't already very big, it's very hard for it to start getting results. So instead of taking 6 months to 1 year to get to significant results all new sites will need 2 to 4 years.

3) Pixel of Ink via BookSends. Very good for all genres

4) BookBassett and eReaderIQ are good

5) FreeBooksy is Top 3 for Free.

6) My Romance Reads is Top 3/Top 5in romance in paid and free

7) To the author who wrote 'hard to get 1,000+ downloads'. That might be a function of your genre. Many many sites will get you 1,000+ free downloads easily

For free my rough ranking would be

Bookbub
eReader NewsToday
Pixel of Ink
FreeBooksy
BookSends, Kindle Nation Daily Book/Deal of the Day feature

 Loads of people say good things about Robin Reads. I've never heard about them from authors who we are in touch with, though. So They might be more of a well kept KBoards secret

9) Supply to Demand ratio is very low. Lots of authors are using inefficient services and doing non-optimized Google, FB ads etc. Over time demand will get higher and higher.

10) There are only 5 or so general sites that can get results in paid and perhaps another 3-5 in every genre.

This is a function of 3 things
- shift to KU
- a general move towards free instead of paid. It's much easier to use free for visibility and it's much easier for sites to get free downloads
- store algorithm changes

11) Would be very intersted in results people are getting for The Book Promoter (Books Go Social). They have 646,000 twitter people so interested in knowing how that translates into free book downloads or sales

12) There are 20-30 Twitter based services. Does anyone know if those work? It's like a whole different world. However, I don't understand it so - what kind of sales and downloads are people seeing?

13) This: Most of the time I see someone here post disappointing results is because there's something wrong with the cover, blurb or their book has a very niche market (or is positioned by the blurb/cover as being for a niche market). Another one is that people don't actually know their genre - I was guilty of this - and so submit to the wrong list and get an appropriately lukewarm response to the ad.

Many many authors use 'tricks' like putting their book in wrong genre (bigger genre to try to get more audience, smaller genre to try to get higher rank in lists) and then it fails spectacularly because their book is not a good fit for the genre.

Most sites (not all, just most) are 1 book per genre per day advertorial lists.

So if you aren't getting results on that, provided they are not a scam site or misrepresenting their figures (which in a way all sites are because they never talk about how many people open emails, only how many people ever signed up to receive emails) - you will only get bad results (compared to everyone else running those lists, if you need to fix something about your book, or you need to find the right category fit.

14) Regarding this:

I suspect that is a consequence of ENT and Robin Reads being regularly touted as solid promo sites. The more they are touted as such, the greater the number of authors who submit their books for promos. With a limited number of spots available, it's no wonder both sites are becoming more difficult to land.

A) Exactly what you wrote. News spreads fast

B) Pressure by stores means many very good sites are being throttled into 'good' sites, and many good sites into 'mediocre' sites.

This further reduces number of options

C) More and more authors are finding out that there are options like Google Ads and FB Ads and Promo Sites. Whoever builds an ad network will make the market efficient. However, then prices will skyrocket. Right now the lack of any market/etc. means authors and effective promo sites both pay a heavy tax for the ineffective sites.

15) Buck Books is super good in Non Fiction. They would overtake Bookbub in Non Fiction if/when store manipulations end.

16) Since 2012 mid there's been very strong pressure. all the promo sites were dependent on stores for affiliate income. So they were forced to focus on $0.99 deals instead of free. This allowed Bookbub to become biggest while the earlier biggest got throttled.

early 2013 pressure was increased

Now we're in an interesting phase because the attempt to replace free with $0.99 and $0.99 with $5 has, in effect, failed.

So now the stores have to decide what they do.

16b) Also, most of the new sites since Feb 23rd 2013 grew up without the restraints and rewards of associate income and affiliate income. So when these stores get big enough you'll see the whole market change. You can already see bookbub put all the things in place to build their own store and try to replace Amazon - wishlists, bookmarks, new release notifications, author follows, book pages, author pages. Once they get to 2/3 million daily active readers they'll try to launch a store.

17) The only real solution for authors is coops and joint sites and joint lists.

Why?
a) New sites can't grow because 8 to 15 hr delays in sales rank changes means new sites can't get as good results and then definitely can't show authors their results. How do you convince an author you're getting them sales if sales happen the next day?

b) As the market becomes more efficient, the squeeze of the last 4 years will mean we're left with

5-10 sites that work in paid, 10-20 that work in free
FB being expensive
Google being expensive
a huge middle belt of somewhat effective sites
a giant lower belt of sites that just don't work

Then you can imagine the prices the top sites will charge.

In nearly all other areas customer acquisition costs are measured in dollars, not in dimes. It's the early stages, the Wild West, and there's no market efficiency. As the market becomes efficient you'll see prices really really go up.

17b) And what the stores are doing, is squeezing all the promo sites, trying to get them to sell -> so that when prices really go up, the stores can make even more money.
I'd bet that The MidList will be making Harper Collins more every year within 3 to 5 years, than what they sold for.


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## EvanPickering (Mar 8, 2016)

This thread is freaking Brilliant. I've been trying to figure out how to ask these questions since I found out about promo sites (via Kboards ofc) and then I stumble onto this gem.

I just submitted for Robinreads and BookBarbarian. Looking into ENT now. Thank you for sharing your info, e'reybody!

Evan

EDIT: There's nothing wrong with applying for multiple sites during one discount period, right?


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## Eskimo (Dec 31, 2013)

GrandFenwick said:


> What are people's thoughts on Digital Book Today and Awesome Gang for 99-cent promos? I had great results from Awesome Gang on a FREE book promo, but I'm doing a 99-cent KCD soon and I'm trying to find promos.


They both deliver decent results, but I believe Awesome Gang's prices are lower, thus making it more cost-effective. DBT also has more stringent requirements in terms of number of reviews, so it can be tricky getting a new title approved by them.


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## Alvina (Oct 19, 2015)

99c book promotion is always going to cost you money if you want to see any substantial result.

However, I have got 1,800 copies downloaded with my free book promotion, just from a few free (cost) promotion sites and Facebook Groups sharing over a couple of days!


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## Darius Brasher (Feb 6, 2015)

EvanPickering said:


> EDIT: There's nothing wrong with applying for multiple sites during one discount period, right?


No. In fact you should apply to multiple sites to make the most of your discount days.


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## GrandFenwick (Aug 24, 2015)

Thanks for all the amazing intel, everyone!


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## Decon (Feb 16, 2011)

Thanks, those lists have helped.

Most preclude new releases without reviews, or you need tons of reviews on your other books, so it's been difficult to find sites to promote my new release book.

I've managed to get *ebooksoda* for this Thursday which I didn't think would be possible with it having no reviews. BKnights is never a problem regarding reviews, so that's in the bag. I'm just crossing my fingers on Robin Reads for the 14th April, but not counting on it. Sweet free books web site doesn't seem to be working. I have however managed to get a listing on the 14th with a new site that doesn't charge as yet and has no review requirement...ebooksforfreeinc, also awsomegang

Bookbub is interesting in that it is off limits without reviews, but I've just claimed my author profile and added my books. I then had a message show on the profile page that my new release is in review for its new-release e-mail. All the others listed no problem. Maybe I've read it wrong. because I have no followers to e-mail, so I don't know why they would review it?


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## EvanPickering (Mar 8, 2016)

Darius Brasher said:


> No. In fact you should apply to multiple sites to make the most of your discount days.


Nice TY Darius. Just got accepted by Robin Reads and Book Barbarian!


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## Ebooksforfreeinc. (Jan 1, 2016)

You could send your promotion for listing on our new site:



We still have a free launch promotion going on so no charges for posting books at the moment. We accept KU free, permafree and 99c book listings.


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## Secret Pen Pal (Dec 27, 2013)

Thanks everyone for all the helpful info. I've been saving notes on promo sites for months, working my way up to the point where my frayed shoestring can manage more overhead.

The price of many of these is daunting. I'd steel myself to try something out of my comfort zone and discover that a)the book didn't have enough reviews, b) wasn't long enough or c) wasn't eligible for consideration because it contains sex scenes.

Here's a handy interactive tool for checking many promo sites and sorting them by key details, but some of it is out of date. Several sites that used to have a free option no longer do. http://www.readersintheknow.com/list-of-book-promotion-sites

Awesome Gang gets major points because Vinny is super helpful. I've used it a couple times by itself and got a 30k+ rankings boost on 99cent sales on older books -- with a free listing. I get better results elsewhere with no-cost and $10 or less promos, so the couple of paid promos I've tried with AG were disappointing. I'll try them again though, because I like to show my appreciation to sites that give free listings. I work in multiple genres, so maybe I'll hit on something that will get better results with their paid option. Another plus: my listings on AG show up high on Google when I run a search on the titles. No other free listings I've used show up at all. If their price was lower, I'd book them regularly.

BKnights works well with every genre I write. Great for free days. My results for 99c sales were sad, but I haven't run one there in months. Can't beat the price and the fast, courteous service.

I almost always use multiple free and low-cost promos, so it's impossible to credit results to specific sources. People open newsletters at different times and live in different time zones.

A week ago I added six or more no-cost sites to my usual stack and it made no difference in my DLs or sales tail. I won't do that again. The forms take a ridiculous amount of time to complete.


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## MTM (Aug 9, 2011)

Good info. out there. I will be running a $0.99 promo for my Caribbean murder mystery. DEADLY EYES, in a couple of weeks, so I am glued to this thread. I want to thank all of you for being so helpful. I am learning a lot.


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## FMH (May 18, 2013)

tagging this. I've got a promo running now and have vowed to stop checking sales until it is OVER. For my sanity. sigh.


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## jenncrowell (Mar 27, 2016)

This is outstanding info. Thank you!


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## Andrei Cherascu (Sep 17, 2014)

scifi365 said:


> We have no review requirements, but we do read everything before we add it.


And this is why I think scifi365.net is a service worth keeping an eye on, especially for the long run. With the increasing number of ebooks as well as readers stating that they have "more books than they could read in a lifetime" and with the hands-off approach of most promo sites I think there's going to be a demand for genre-specific, curated services that have established reader "trust" over time.


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## John Dwyer (Apr 26, 2011)

Brilliant thread, so many recommendations to follow up on. Which service mentioned would best suit travel writing/non-fiction? Buck Books was mentioned, any others? No point spending money on sites that focus on romance/murder/etc. when I really want to sell tales of exotic travel adventures!
John


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## mmandolin (Oct 16, 2014)

John Dwyer said:


> Brilliant thread, so many recommendations to follow up on. Which service mentioned would best suit travel writing/non-fiction? Buck Books was mentioned, any others? No point spending money on sites that focus on romance/murder/etc. when I really want to sell tales of exotic travel adventures!
> John


Hi John - this thread should help: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,231678.0.html


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## John Dwyer (Apr 26, 2011)

Thanks for the link Tim, just what I was looking for!


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## JLVaughan (Dec 30, 2012)

Between ebooksoda and kboards I gave out 233 books on my promo last
Friday. I thought that was pretty good. I'll be trying some others on this thread next time too...great stuff.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Antara Mann (Nov 24, 2014)

All the sites have been mentioned, I see. I heard goo things about bookkitty on Fiverr, although I haven't used this service. This is the link: https://www.fiverr.com/bookkitty
About the bok promoter or books go social it's only a twitter advertising but IMHO, $50 or so bucks are a lot for Twitter. If they can shift full-length books it makes more sense but still very darn expensive.
Speaking of http://www.scifi365.net/ why doesn't the site open on my end? Is it temporarily closed or something else?


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## benlovejoy (Feb 28, 2016)

Antara Mann said:


> About the bok promoter or books go social it's only a twitter advertising but IMHO, $50 or so bucks are a lot for Twitter. If they can shift full-length books it makes more sense but still very darn expensive.


It is, but they tweet a _lot_ and have a big audience. I was using them to sell at full-price ($4.99) so comfortably made a profit on the sales boost.


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## Antara Mann (Nov 24, 2014)

benlovejoy said:


> It is, but they tweet a _lot_ and have a big audience. I was using them to sell at full-price ($4.99) so comfortably made a profit on the sales boost.


How many books did you sell if you don't saying? Just to clarify, you used their cheapest rate, didn't you?


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## benlovejoy (Feb 28, 2016)

Antara Mann said:


> How many books did you sell if you don't saying? Just to clarify, you used their cheapest rate, didn't you?


I used their $125 service. The somewhat random variations in sales makes it hard to put an exact number on it, but I'd estimate an extra 60 to 90 sales in a month, so if we take the middle number, it generated about twice as much revenue as it cost.


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## Dan Petrosini author (Jan 20, 2012)

Thetis said:


> .99 cents are getting more and more difficult to book just about anywhere. It seems promo sites are ALL beginning to heavily favor free books over discounted and this drives me crazy.
> 
> IF you can get in... here's the list I'd recommend. But it's getting increasingly difficult to book with any of these sites, even with good reviews. It seems you need both good reviews, a willingness to take whatever spot they'll give you, AND you have to be willing to offer the book for free.
> 
> ...


I had had decent results with Book Sends, Robin Reads and less so with Choosy Bookworm. I think it is wise to combine a campaign using a couple, maybe even supplement with some fivrr (BK) promos as they are cheap. The combo will help to elevate your book to a higher sales rank if done within a day(s) of each other. This is just my experience for a paid (0.99) book not a free giveaway type. I still cannot get excited about giving away my book,though I cannot argue with the success the Kindle Unlimited brought to my latest book.


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## scifi365 (Sep 12, 2014)

Antara Mann said:


> Speaking of http://www.scifi365.net/ why doesn't the site open on my end? Is it temporarily closed or something else?


Nope, something went badly wrong when we updated to the latest version of Wordpress. Will be fixed by the end of the weekend.


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## Alvina (Oct 19, 2015)

How come everybody seems to forgat about Reading Deals? I have even booked them 2 weeks ago for my upcoming KCD promotion.

Anyway, I am still hesitate to sign up for BKnight again for my 99c Countdown Promotion, because they have promoted my book for free download in February!

Now it is almost 5 months later, would I able to see any result if I promote my book with BKnight again?


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## Sailor Stone (Feb 23, 2015)

Has anybody used _New in Books_ (Under the Written Word Media umbrella) for a new book launch? I just received an email from them about it and I have used their other promo sites and did okay with them. It looks to be a new book launch promo service. Thanks!


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## Nicholas Erik (Sep 22, 2015)

Sailor Stone said:


> Has anybody used _New in Books_ (Under the Written Word Media umbrella) for a new book launch? I just received an email from them about it and I have used their other promo sites and did okay with them. It looks to be a new book launch promo service. Thanks!


http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,236661.msg3296361.html#msg3296361

Nick


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## Ebooksforfreeinc. (Jan 1, 2016)

Quills said:


> How do you submit to ebooksforfreeinc? Maybe I'm missing something but I can't find anything on their website about submitting.


We just completed some website renovations. Here is the Book Promotion Page:

http://ebooksforfreeinc.com/effiforauthors/


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## Sailor Stone (Feb 23, 2015)

Thanks for the point, Nick. I'm reading the thread now.


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## deedawning (Aug 31, 2013)

scifi365 said:


> Free!


I've written one Sci-Fi book but it has a couple sex scenes in it. Is that a no no. I think it's a pretty good story but I rarely push it. It's probably ranked 2 million by now. B002ZNJLO6


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## CAAAllen (Nov 2, 2015)

I have ran seven promos for my 0.99 fantasy and worked with just about all but OHFB & BookBub. This would be my list if I had to go ten deep.

ARTIST:
Robin Reads
Book Barbarian (Sci/Fi-Fantasy Only Site)

VIP:
BookSends/EReaderIQ
ENT
BargainBooksy
EBookDiscovery

FLOOR SEATING:
ManyBooks
BookGorilla
FKBT
Riffle Select


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## cvorvain (Jun 6, 2017)

What about some free publicity folks? Have you tried Quozimus?
It is free and we think quite awesome!

Also, I would like to say I totally agree with some of the comments on the thread regarding free books. I think the practice of paying book promo companies to offer your book for free is dangerous. With so many authors offering free books hoping the readers will remember them and buy their next book, we are creating readers the impression that they do not have to pay for books. We devalue our hard work. I think a book is a beautiful thing and authors should get paid for each book they sell. In my opinion, the only people who gain something are the book promo companies....The authors lose.

Any opinions?


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