Marketing Your Book, Part 4: Use BookBub Effectively

I'm continuing with one of my favorite ways to generate book sales, increase readership, and build your author brand: BookBub.

Don't hate me when I say that the first time I tried to get a BookBub, I got one for my book on business networking, Business Dating. While I don't remember my stats for that day, I do remember thinking that the investment felt huge at the time and ended up being a drop in the bucket compared to my return on that investment.

It's true: BookBub.com is the kingmaker of authors. If you haven't heard about it, you're in for a treat. It is a book lover's paradise of a platform that provides daily book deals for readers and massive exposure for authors.

BookBub is not a book selling platform, it is a book aggregating platform that offers free and discounted ebooks to readers, while allowing authors to gain greater readership through advertised book deals. Their individual genre lists are curated and every day they send an email with the day's deals. It is genius and I wish I'd thought of it myself.

I digress.

BookBub offers a wide selection of books to readers for limited discounts through their BookBub Ads or “Featured Deal” campaigns.

BookBub is a massive site with a huge following for authors, publishers, and readers. Because BookBub is so popular, with over 15 million readers and a massive fanbase, authors have the opportunity to reach a massive audience through BookBub’s network.

BookBub is a terrific platform to boost your book sales, and the first thing you'll want to do is visit their website and setup your BookBub Author Page.

Once you're all set up, here are a few ways to utilize BookBub's magic:

1. Featured Deals. Getting accepted is challenging, but worth sticking with it until you do get accepted! When you are, your book will be in front of thousands, if not tens of thousands, of readers excited to learn about, buy, and read your book.
2. Advertising. In addition to a daily deal, there's an advertising option.
3. Recommendations. Recommending other authors’ books will increase your author activity on the site, increase engagement, and so much more!
4. Author Profile. Setting up an author profile means you have a designated webpage on the BookBub site just for you! Set up your author profile here. Once your account is approved, you'll be able to login into the Partner Dashboard.
5. Pre-Release. They also have a pre-release feature, so your followers will know when your new book is coming!
6. Getting a BookBub is tough (which I why I asked you not to hate me before), and now that I've had several deals, here are a few tips to help you get one for your book (and these tips are eerily similar to my tips on how to publish a book professionally):
7. Have a great cover, top-quality content that's been edited and proofread, and an excellent back cover copy.
8. One hundred or more reviews, 4.5 or higher will encourage them to pick it for a deal.
9. The best deal on your book over the past 30 days or longer. In other words, BookBub wants to make sure their subscribers get the very best deal.
10. Is available on multiple retail sales platforms. Be sure to have it for sale through Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble, or use Draft2Digital.com to distribute to multiple retailers.
11. Your book will need to be full-length, compelling, and already somewhat popular to be chosen. You might have to submit your book every 30 days for many months (or over a year), and I'm here to tell you it's worth the effort!
12. BookBub can be a part of your long-term book marketing strategy, and it might take quite awhile before you get your shot. I wanted you to know about it so you can do some research, join their email list, and know how to utilize it in the best possible way.

We're gaining momentum in this series, and we've got quite a way to go. In fact, all of May is dedicated to marketing and this series. How's it going so far? I'd love to know!

I'll look forward to seeing something from you in my inbox, you'll get your recap tomorrow, and I'll be back next week to continue talking about marketing!

Honorée Corder | I help professionals write, publish, market, and monetize their books.

Click here for more information about my courses, to book a session, if you'd like to receive this letter in your inbox, and more!