Posted on by Jacquie Biggar

The Power of Bookbub #WritingCommunity #Promotions


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The Power of Bookbub makes it well worth the Investment.

Of all the book promotional companies out there, Bookbub has the largest readership by far. Which means they can charge those astronomical fees because, well, they’re worth it.

Over my writing career, I’ve had four different Bookbub Featured Promotions (different from their paid ads) and every time I’ve seen enormous success on the featured book the day of the promo, but as an added bonus, my other books get a boost as well- one that lasts for months after!

I won’t bore you with the numbers, instead I want to suggest a few ways you can capitalize on this strategy for getting your books into new readers hands.

  1. Try to book a $0.99 promotion, if possible. The reason I suggest this is Amazon. If you go free, your book only shows up on free charts, even if you get into the top 100 ranking storewide. Whereas, if you have your book on a $0.99 sale, that great ranking will show up on paid lists, which should earn you a pretty orange bestseller ribbon. (Take a screenshot for posterity!)
  2. When booking your featured ad, you’ll be given the option to go international, you want to do this, though there are pros and cons. If your book is in Kindle Unlimited, you are allowed to do a Kindle Countdown Deal or Free Deal once every three months. The free choice goes worldwide, while the KCD is only available in the US- something I found only after booking my international Feature. This means I paid an extra fee to Bookbub for nothing, as my book is showing up as full price everywhere except the US, very annoying!
  3. Some Bookbub genre ads are out of most people’s price range, such as contemporary romance for close to $1000 and that’s US (here in Canada, that would cost me close to $1500). While it’s easily the largest insofar as reader lists, sales are never a guarantee and I can’t bring myself to put that kind of expense out. Instead, I went searching other genres that would fit and found New Adult for $300 including international-much more reasonable. Keep in mind, Bookbub will check over your genre choice, and if they feel another is a better fit, they will move it and adjust the fee accordingly, leaving you to bite the bullet or give up the promotion.
  4. Okay, you’ve booked your Bookbub Featured ad, now what? In order to trip Amazon’s algorithms so that you show up in other author’s also bought columns (the ultimate goal) you need the sales to continue over time instead of a one day spike, as good as it is. There are a number of ways to achieve this; newsletter swaps, blog posts, social media shares, and booking more promotions throughout the same week or even spread over two weeks. The benefits to this type of strategy will last for months after.

My last Bookbub went so well that I received an email a month later from Amazon offering me a month-long Kindle Deal on the previously promoted book, allowing the ratings to bump up again and helped to garner at least forty new reviews!

Getting a Bookbub Featured ad isn’t easy, they get hundreds of requests daily and can pick and choose the ones they want. This might feel discouraging, but don’t give up. If you receive a no, try again when they will allow you to (four weeks later) or try another book with another genre. The trick is to keep trying!

There are some who say you can’t get a Featured ad unless your book is wide (in all sales outlets)- not true. My books are all Kindle Unlimited and I still get approved.

Some say you need fifty + reviews to get a Featured ad, and while I agree it looks good, the Bookbub team doesn’t require it. My first Featured ad had only five reviews!

As you can probably guess, this is all leading up to a new Bookbub Feature running on Tuesday, June 15th (the day before our 37th wedding anniversary!) under the New Adult genre. I hope you’ll check it or the other ads I have running and jump on the sale- thanks in advance 🙂

Married to The Texan: Gambling Hearts Series

On Sale for $0.99!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XBV6D8Y

International: https://books2read.com/MarriedtotheTexan

Add to your TBR List: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48072574-married-to-the-texan

Recommend me on Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/married-to-the-texan-gambling-hearts-series-by-jacquie-biggar

Receive 3 full-length heartwarming romances plus one bonus short story from USA Today Bestselling Author Jacquie Biggar

All your favorite alpha heroes and independent heroines!

Sweet, sexy romance. The perfect reading deal for your Kindle! Grab a drink and curl up for an unforgettable boxed set of romance best sellers. Each book is a standalone contemporary story of love, honor, duty, and family dilemmas.

In the set;

Hold ‘Em

In the game of love all bets are off

When professional poker player Matthew Shaughnessy wins the pot of a lifetime, he didn’t expect to land himself a fiancée.
Cassandra Gardener is left with little choice but to play the part of a Texan’s fiancée for a week if she wants to clear her father’s gambling debt.
Can two people with so much to lose win the biggest bet of all- love?

Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Tony Morrison had been in love with the youngest Shaughnessy for almost as long as he’d been employed at her family’s ranch. Trouble was, he had secrets. Things he couldn’t tell anyone, especially the beautiful Sophia. So, he’d let her go.

But now she’d returned, bringing the winds of change to the Texas ranch, and Tony wasn’t sure he could protect her from the fallout.

My Girl

Aaron is overjoyed at the opening of his family’s guest ranch, until he learns their first guest is his ex-girlfriend, her parents–and a fiancé.

And that isn’t the only surprise.

A Magical Christmas

When a little girl goes missing, it takes faith, love, and the help of a Christmas angel to guide her to safety.

A delightful mixture of women’s fiction, chick-lit, romantic comedy, and mystery, Married to The Texan has something for every reader!

Excerpt from Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Tony eyed the temptress teasing him with sidelong smiles and pink toe nails and wondered if he’d made a critical error in judgement. If not for his belief in her ideas he may not have made the phone call that instigated her return to the ranch. She was dangerous to him. She made him want things between them to be different—but, they weren’t. She was so far out of his league they may as well be from different galaxies. He’d come a long way, thanks to her family’s generosity, but the past was a gossamer web waiting to trap those he cared about, and he couldn’t afford to take any chances. Not with Sophia.

“You just going to stand there, cowboy?”

Her sultry voice reached deep inside and tugged on dreams and wishes he’d worked hard to stifle. It made him angry, resentful of the power she wielded over him. It been five years, when would this attraction fade?

“We should go. Your brothers will be wondering where you are.” His fidgeting with the reins transmitted to the horses, they danced sideways, sending water up in a wide arc that covered his jeans. He cursed and jumped out of the way. “Look what you made me do now,” he said, swiping at the wet stains.

“Me?” She giggled. “Cleo obviously thought you needed cooling down, too.”

He got a mental picture of the horse picking him up by the scruff of the neck and dumping him in the pond, and grinned. “I guess it could have been worse.” He dropped the reins to ground-tie the troublemakers and joined Sophia on the bank. “Guess we have to wait awhile, I don’t want to explain this to the crew.” He waved at his wet crotch.

She glanced down, then slowly lifted her gaze to his, the smile dying from her lips. “No,” she murmured. “We wouldn’t want that.”

Great. Now the pants weren’t only wet, they were tight.

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54 Replies to “The Power of Bookbub #WritingCommunity #Promotions”

  6. I’ve never tried a Book Bub ad, but I recently began posting all my reviews there. (Amazon is “iffy” about their reviews.)

    Good luck with your promo! (BTW, my husband and I celebrated our 37th anniversary last week.)

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Congrats to you as well! I posted a review on BookBub yesterday for a book that was released in 2017. I was the first reviewer there. I don’t think the author utilizes it much.

        Liked by 1 person

  9. Thanks for sharing your tips, Jacquie. I’ve read great things about Bookbub, I’m on their readers list (unfortunately, since I moved to Spain, many of their offers no longer work for me), and I have tried a couple of times with different books, with no success. I’m not really promoting my books at the moment, but one never knows what the future might bring.
    Good luck with your promotion. It looks fabulous!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I get the same thing with living in Canada. I think a lot of publishers limit their sales to the US. Also, as I mentioned in the post, Kindle Countdown deals are set to the US market. Too bad, they’re passing up on a lot of worldwide sales this way.

      Like

  10. Jacquie, this is terrific information. Thanks for sharing your own experience. I wish I could give it a try… Maybe my situation will be different by the end of the year.
    To me, advertising is about the same as gambling — and I always lose. However, at the same time I recognize that it’s important. My usual rock and a hard place. It helps to read your experience here though.
    Wishing you huge success with this one, with all of them.
    Happy anniversary! Hugs.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. You’re right, Teagan. Advertising is basically a roll of the dice, if you’re lucky you come out ahead, but there’s no guarantees.
      On the other hand, if you want to reach new readers it’s necessary to take the chance.

      Liked by 1 person

  11. Thanks for sharing Jacqui. Great information and something to try at some point! I’ve signed with Next Chapter publishing for my YA fantasy series and they use book bub advertising so it will be interesting to see how that goes. Happy anniversary and good luck with your promo. x

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Pingback: Smorgasbord Blogger Daily – Wednesday 16 June 2021 – #Writertips D.G. Kaye, #Shakespeare Paula R. C. Readman, #Bookbub/Offer Jacquie Biggar | Smorgasbord Blog Magazine

  16. Such good advice, Jacquie. I just had my first a month ago after trying for some time. I did take my books off of KU and spread them across platforms. I don’t know if that did the trick, but it worked. I’m going to try again with another book come mid-July. It’s scary as heck, but it was well worth it. I didn’t have great luck with the pre-promotion promotions and will need to figure that out. The good ones were already full. I hope your Bookbub feature was a huge hit!

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Thanks for the tip. There are a few short notice ones. I used Bargain Booksy with okay results but the rest… meh. I think that next time I’ll book more “afters” than “befores” and stretch it out that way. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  17. Huge congrats Jacqui, both on the book, and getting on BB. Thanks for your valuable advice. When I get back to regular programming, I want to look into BB. Good luck, and do let us know in future, how the ad paid off. Oh, and of course I’m getting your book. Poker? 🙂 ❤

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Thank you for the great advice, Jacquie! I am sure it will be very helpful for more success, in book promotion. Amazon honestly is nowadays a little bit “overloaded”. The possibility of reading books for free via Kindle Unlimited will make them better known, but in my opinion it reduces the appreciation for the individual books, and their writers. Authors have spent a lot of time on this, and with Kindle Unlimited you are very quickly tempted not to finish reading a book, but to start completely another one. This means that there is no longer any reference to the author. Best wishes, Michael

    Liked by 1 person

    1. You’re right, Michael. It’s a tough road for authors. All we can do is try and get our work into the hands of readers, using any method we can, and hope we gain new fans.
      Fans will search for your books and connect with you via social media- another way to engage and keep their interest in your work growing.
      It’s not easy, and for most the pay is negligible, but the thrill of finding that one person who really, truly enjoys your writing makes it all worthwhile.

      Liked by 1 person

  21. Something else I need to learn about. Thanks for the clear explanation of how Book Bub works. Congrats on 37 years, and I hope your ad is a big success. My wife and I are closing in on 35 soon.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. That’s wonderful, Pete. So many marriages fail these days, I consider it a real accomplishment to hang in there. It’s all about compromise and listening to each other.
      BookBub is well worth going after- just don’t give up if you receive a no. They get so many requests it’s a matter of right time, right genre 😊

      Liked by 1 person

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