What Is BookBub—And Why Do Authors Need to Know?

by Cyle Young @CyleYoung

As an agent, I often come across authors and industry professionals who have no idea what BookBub is. 

BookBub is currently the single best promotion opportunity for any eBook and it is highly sought after by authors and publishers in the “know”.

So, what is BookBub?

BookBub is a free opt-in daily email that sends free and discounted eBook deals to your inbox. It notifies you about deep discounts on acclaimed eBooks in a variety of genres ranging from fantasy to romance, and from mysteries to cookbooks. BookBub features eBooks in all varieties of publishing formats from self-published books to Top 5 publishing houses.

An author or publisher registers as a partner with BookBub. Once the account is validated, the author or publisher can run a “BookBub” advertisement. This advertisement will list the discounted price of the book on one of its daily emails targeted to a genre specific list. These lists contain hundreds of thousands to millions of emails of readers who are looking for high quality free or heavily discounted books. The genres range from Crime Fiction (3,880,000+ email subscribers) to Contemporary Romance (2,360,000+ email subscribers) to Children’s (630,000+ email subscribers).

On a list like Crime Fiction a book can average 51,000 free downloads or almost 3,400 sales. All of this is in one 24-hour period. And on the Children’s list, a book can see 8,300 free downloads or 310 sales. No other advertisement can come close to the performance of a BookBub ad.

Because of the successful results, BookBub ads are extremely difficult to get accepted. There is limited availability in each daily email and placement comes at a premium charge. It can cost $3,584.00 for a $3.00 price point in Crime Fiction or $512.00 to list a free ad in the same category. But the results are well worth the financial risk.

Why do I need to know this?

If you are an author, you not only need to attempt to get a “BookBub”, but now you can also advertise in other ways on the BookBub platform. An author can direct market to the followers of other authors who use the platform as well as build a follower base of his or her own.

BookBub notifies each of your followers about every new release of your books, and also recently released the opportunity to pay $.02 per follower to notify them of a books prerelease.

With all these extras, BookBub is a valuable marketing and promotion tool that every author should have in his or her toolbox.

Are you using BookBub now? If so tell us about your results/experience in the comments below!

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Cyle Young is a force-sensitive dragon rider trapped in the modern world. When he and his three muggle padawans aren’t racing chocobos, they search for a magical wardrobe or time stone that may help them return home before The Nothing, Skeletor, or Skynet takes over this dimension. Cyle credits his 20+ writing awards to his discovery of the One Ring to Rule Them All. He lives in the Midwest and when he is not shopping manuscripts for Hartline Literary Agency, he can be found pastoring a growing church or lounging in his hammock beside the tranquil Grand River. More at www.cyleyoung.com