Comments on: BookBub – An ebook Promotion Site.

By: David

David — Sun, 22 May 2016 09:54:32 +0000

Thanks for this article!A great site to download free ebooks:http://www.ebookstage.com/welcome/MTEwMA==/

By: Graham Clements

Graham Clements — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 08:59:07 +0000

Hi Anthony,

I was looking at the self-published (indie published) thing, but many of the ebooks had Amazon as the publisher. I was not sure whether they were published by Amazon or self-published on Amazon, but assuming the latter, I would say the majority were self-published. But you need to keep in mind authors who keep the ebook rights and have a traditional publisher for the print versions, like Hugh Howey.

By: Anthony J. Langford

Anthony J. Langford — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 05:22:18 +0000

Very good research as always.

Congratulations Patty – that's some awesome sales!

I'd be interested to know how many of those Bookbub books are self-published and if it had any impact on sales or not?

By: Graham Clements

Graham Clements — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 08:42:01 +0000

Hi Graeme,

The problem with thousands of free or heavily discounted books to get 100 of sales is that there are only so many free ebooks people can read. I think that business model will not survive long.

The last series I was reading from an author I used to think was the best thing since the printing press was invented, was 700 pages long and the book ended in exactly the same situation it began in. 700 pages of filler.

I don't mind a standalone novel that then has a sequel, for example Hugh Howey's Dust series. But I don't think he wrote the first book thinking it would be a series.

Unfortunately, my recent research has shown that series are very popular with readers and publishers.

By: Unknown

Unknown — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 07:53:04 +0000

I'm thinking of Bookbub, but I'm not established enough to expect they'll accept any of my submissions anyway. I'm working on that and reserving a decision until I'm "qualified". In the meantime I can't help balking at the idea of giving away tens of thousands of copies for free to achieve sub-1000 sales. However, Bookbub does seem to work to a certain extent even if you come out in the red, whereas alternatives can utterly fail and probably never, genuinely offer a result in the first place. It's a tough one and I'll be looking more closely at the maths.
You hate series? Don't get me started!

By: Graham Clements

Graham Clements — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 07:30:39 +0000

I had a look on the Kindleboards forum, and from what I read, people have had very mixed experiences with bookbub. Some had high (perhaps unrealistic) expectations that just being on bookbub would automatically give them so many sales. But others were saying it was not worth the price anymore. And some said it did not have the effect on the rankings they had hoped for.

By: Graham Clements

Graham Clements — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 07:11:10 +0000

Hi Patty,

Perhaps my bias against series caused me not to mention that many writers do attempt to pull readers into a series with a free or cheap first volume. I prefer stand alone novels, but that doesn't mean the writer can't write a sequel or a prequel for that matter.

Was your fantasy promoted on Bookbub?

If so, how many of those free downloads would you say were because of BookBub?

Was the book that sold 800 copies the sequel to the book that you gave away 35,000 copies of?

By: Patty

Patty — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 05:26:09 +0000

The fact is also that Bookbub estimates are fairly conservative. In January I ran a free Fantasy book and had 35,000 downloads. I'll do a Science Fiction book next month. Both these books are free.

Where does it work?

1. Series: if you give away thousands of free copies of book 1, people will buy the subsequent volumes of the series. I got more than full-price 800 sales.

2. Places that are not Amazon: the promotion lifted my sales at all platforms, but in particular B&N, Apple and the Smashwords site. My sales on Kobo are already good.

On the Kindleboards all this is constantly being discussed.