BookBub

On October 15th, I ran a fantasy ad via BookBub ($594) for my debut novel, High Summons. At the time, my young adult urban fantasy series (WARLOCK OF ROCHESTER) had two available books, and I’d just provided the third to my publisher.

Book Stats when accepted for ad:

Reviews: 10
Average Amazon Stars: 4.1/5
Copies Sold Daily: 1-5 ebooks
Other Books in Series: 1 (2 total) 

Few others at my publisher had been accepted previously, and many who applied had equivalent stats. Perhaps they simply thought it was well timed with Halloween.

As I’m with a small press, I get any sales numbers through my publisher, so all of these are rough estimates and will be updated if more accurate ones are provided:

Sales Day of Ad
Amazon: 1000+
Barnes and Noble: 143
Kobo: (Awaiting numbers from publisher)
iBooks: (Awaiting numbers from publisher)

This, of course, doesn’t count the number of my second book, Grimm Remains, sold at regular price, which includes 4+ on Barnes and Noble and 100 or so on Amazon. Plus, my second book spike a second time in the past day. While I can’t guarantee these are return readers from the BookBub ad, that would be safe to guess.

My sales slowed but continued to be in the 50+ range a day for the next 3 days, and on the 18th of October, I ran an ad with Fussy Librarian. While I didn’t spike a second time there, I did maintain the ranking level and sales numbers I was seeing for 2-3 days longer than most people estimated (the 3 day BookBub bubble). The slump came 5 days after BookBub; however, another spike occurred today (24th) due to a Bargain Booksy ad.

Fussy Librarian (3 days after BookBub) kept my in a good place, and if I have placed Bargain Booksy within a day or so of that, I believe the results might have been better. Tuesdays can be tricky. Sometimes the day after does better than the day of, so I’ll update if it turns out to be true.

All in all, I’m a fan of avoiding a sharp drop (even if it does level out higher than before), but on BookBub alone, there’s a clear 3 day immediate return followed by a week or so later as people who waited to buy the second book do so.

Is BookBub worth the $594 I spent?

I have a publisher. They get a percentage. Majority of the sales were through Amazon, they take a percentage and so on and so forth. Knowing only Nook and Amazon, I’ve earned $211 from this ad on the day of.

For me, I won’t know if it was worth it until I get the iBooks and Kobo information in; however, they are likely comparable to Nook. If that’s so – the price still would be greater than the immediate return.

Things To Do Differently

1. Limit sale to 7 days (no more, no less)
2. Start on a Thursday (best seller lists)
3. Bump every other day (if possible) or every 3rd day (i.e. 2-4 times throughout the process)

In the next few days, I’ll keep an eye on the numbers. Advertising really is a long-term game.

Good Luck!