Worth it: Bookbub

My royalties for the last quarter of 2017 are in, and those of you who have been here since October know what that means! We finally get to decide once and for all if Bookbub is worth it!

In October 2017,  I ran a 3-week $0.99 Featured Deal with an ad on the 15th of October (with a Fussy Librarian (18th) and Bargain Booksy (24th)). This cost me (not including the later two ads) $594.

Total Royalties: $375.79
Total Income: $939.47

Of course, the majority were sold on Amazon, meaning about 12% of the income went right off to them before my publisher (and subsequently, I) saw anything. As an author with no agent, I’m the last to get a bite of the pie, and while this ad would have been an 158% return, because of the 60% my publisher takes, I see a loss of about 37%.

Add in the other two ads, and Bookbub wasn’t exactly worth it for a small press author like myself. If my publisher went in on it with me, then yes – it would have been. If my publisher took the costs, it would have been a loss for them of around 5%.

All in all, if your book has around 10+ reviews setting it at an average of 4+ stars on Amazon, the big question is: are you self-published? If so, I’d say go for it. If your publisher will take or split the costs – go for it. If you have a 40:60 deal and they aren’t putting in anything, don’t do it unless you can afford to not recuperate the costs.

I haven’t seen an uptick in associated reviews. My sales returned to normal (if a bit below) in January. In the next month or so, I’ll be trying Fussy Librarian again on its own. If you have an ad program or feature deal program you would like to see me try out, comment below!

And – as always – Good Luck.