Author Topic: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here  (Read 16760 times)

Simon Haynes

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #50 on: October 12, 2018, 02:53:58 AM »
I just paused that BB after approx 180 impressions and no clicks.

Reason being, my ad on Facebook which is trying to achieve the same results just hit a relevance of 9, and it's going gangbusters.

PPC is 9c on FB vs a bid of 75c per click on BB, so why would I bother?

I'm converting maybe 1/3-1/2 of the clicks into new subscribers, and they have to verify their email to get the book, so it's not like they're all going to trash.
 

WasAnn

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #51 on: October 12, 2018, 04:02:44 AM »
I just paused that BB after approx 180 impressions and no clicks.

Reason being, my ad on Facebook which is trying to achieve the same results just hit a relevance of 9, and it's going gangbusters.

PPC is 9c on FB vs a bid of 75c per click on BB, so why would I bother?

I'm converting maybe 1/3-1/2 of the clicks into new subscribers, and they have to verify their email to get the book, so it's not like they're all going to trash.

Wow! That's amazing. Will you show us your creative on it?

I just did a pair of FB ads for this sale, and for whatever reason, it's not doing anything except on instagram. They've changed the interface since I last used them, so it's possible I did something wrong, but it's just egregious. Not sure if I should dump them or not. I can't even find any ads to compare to!


Science Fiction is my game.
 

Simon Haynes

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #52 on: October 12, 2018, 04:40:58 AM »
Sure! It's pretty basic. I think the blurb probably sells it though:


It's Game of Thrones meets Discworld ...

"Laugh after laugh, dark in places but the humour punches through. One of the best books I’ve read in 2018 so far."

Join my newsletter and get a FREE COPY now!




 
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Simon Haynes

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #53 on: October 12, 2018, 04:42:51 AM »
I found out my BB CpC ad actually got 1 click and a signup to the newsletter (sometimes the figures lag), so I went off and activated it again.

As the old joke goes, I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure.
 

DavidM

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #54 on: October 12, 2018, 09:15:15 AM »
Long time lurker at other place.

I've not had much luck with BB ads in the past, especially with CPM -- it just seems to suck up money with no discernible results (clicks or sales). My CPC ads seem to only get served for short periods of time. I've always assumed it was because the creative wasn't good enough. Here are a few I'm trying out next week on a 5-day free run for a two-book bundle. Do they seem "clickable" enough?







I've mixed and matched the images and text but didn't want to put every version out here. Which (if any) do you think would work?
 

Simon Haynes

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #55 on: October 12, 2018, 11:43:58 AM »
Of the three I prefer 1 and 2. As you can tell from my own posts, though, I'm no expert on BB ads ...
 

WasAnn

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #56 on: October 12, 2018, 10:51:28 PM »
I like #1 the best, but also like #3 because of the contrast.


Science Fiction is my game.
 

DavidM

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #57 on: October 13, 2018, 01:11:55 AM »
#3 is a cropped version of the cover from Book 5 of the series. For some reason, the less-cropped version of this artwork does really well on Facebook. (I think it's the steampunkish brassy color that stands out in the Facebook newsfeed. I think blues get lost on FB.) I'm betting this one doesn't perform as well on BB, though.

On the other hand, #1 (which I suspect will do best on BB 'cause conventional wisdom says covers do best there) would crater on Facebook. I've never gotten traction with any book cover on FB. I think they look too much like conventional ads.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback. I'll post how it goes next week when the promo is over.
 

Simon Haynes

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #58 on: October 14, 2018, 06:59:24 PM »
Currently running CPC ads on FB and BB for signups to my newsletter. I'm offering the Dragon and Chips novel, and results so far ...

BB: Paying 45c per click (bidding higher), 0.41% conversion, 18 clicks so far with 11 of those signing up to my ML = 74c per signup

FB: Paying 6-8c per click, 5% conversion, 359 clicks with 150 signups (41% conversion)  = 19c per signup.

I'd say the FB ads have it when it comes to building a mailing list.

 

DavidM

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #59 on: October 15, 2018, 07:25:08 AM »
Geez. To where are you linking for the email sign-ups on Bookbub? (A landing page on your own site?) They literally shut my ad down in minutes and sent a nastygram for doing lead generation.

On Facebook, are you using FB's lead generation form or your own landing page? What experience have you had with either?

Have you had any issues with redundant sign-ups (people who sign up for the same offer multiple times?) I've had days where a third of my conversions were people who had already signed up. Seems to be less of an issue now that I'm using a lookalike audience and expanded to several other English speaking markets. (I'd focused on U.S. at first.)

Killer numbers on FB, by the way. I can't get close to single digits.
 

Simon Haynes

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #60 on: October 15, 2018, 12:16:54 PM »
I was linking to a bookfunnel landing page.

I wondered whether they'd be okay with ads for ML signups, but perhaps they didn't spot it.



Re FB, I've noticed the price per click rises on Fri/Sat, so presumably others run more ads or bid higher for the weekend? Looking at US 9c right now for yesterday's average.


« Last Edit: October 15, 2018, 12:18:57 PM by Simon Haynes »
 

Ash

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #61 on: October 17, 2018, 12:42:54 AM »
Simon you seem to be one of the only people sharing CTR, which in my view is probably the most important figure here. I'm getting about 1.9% targeting science-fiction readers (specific authors close to my genre). I had the creative made on upwork, not very expensive. Just the book cover superimposed over the cover art, and a CTA.

Do people who choose to target by CPC still see CTR? I've never tried it.
 

Simon Haynes

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #62 on: October 17, 2018, 01:40:19 AM »
Do people who choose to target by CPC still see CTR? I've never tried it.

Yes indeed. CPC is all I use, apart from one CPM experiment.


 

Ash

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #63 on: October 17, 2018, 01:49:37 AM »
Do people who choose to target by CPC still see CTR? I've never tried it.

Yes indeed. CPC is all I use, apart from one CPM experiment.

Out of interest, what CPC are you getting? I bid $10, or maybe $9.50, get a CTR of around 1.9% and end up paying around $.50 on a real CPM cost of $8.50. I think I can work to bring the CPM down by bidding a bit less, but then I'll probably get a lower volume of clicks, so it might end up only hurting me.
 

Simon Haynes

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #64 on: October 17, 2018, 01:52:44 AM »
It was around 12-18c CPC for my freebies.

 

Ash

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #65 on: October 17, 2018, 02:01:09 AM »
It was around 12-18c CPC for my freebies.

Wow! Mine's for a paid book, but that's a big disparity. Brb, trying CPC!
 

Simon Haynes

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #66 on: October 17, 2018, 02:52:29 AM »
Mine's closer to 50-60c for paid, so don't expect that result on anything with a price sticker.

 
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Tom Wood

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #67 on: October 17, 2018, 03:01:00 AM »
Tangentially related, BB sent out this email today:

"Do BookBub Members Buy Full-Priced Books?"

https://insights.bookbub.com/do-bookbub-members-buy-full-priced-books/

Using Stephen King as an example of the books they buy kinda undercuts their message to startups.
 

Ash

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #68 on: October 18, 2018, 10:21:48 PM »
Mine's closer to 50-60c for paid, so don't expect that result on anything with a price sticker.

Ah ok. I'm $0.45-50 so that makes sense!
 

dgcasey

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Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #69 on: October 19, 2018, 12:29:05 PM »
Okay, here is a good one for a case study (in my opinion).



It's been running for about four days now and it's numbers are:

8139 impressions
39 clicks
0 sales

[Here's a quick add:
Effective CPM: $1.15
Effective CPC: $0.28
Effective CTR: 0.42%]

I've run ads similar to this a few times and the results always seem to be the same. The only time it didn't draw clicks was when I put the price in the ad. Then it drew about one click for every five thousand impressions. The clicks are spread across six different links with the majority going to Amazon US and B&N, as would be expected. The budget gets spent almost every single day, even with low bids of 0.33 cents.

Here is the blurb that the clickers are seeing:

"Just wait by the wishing well."
"For how long?"
"What do you care? You're dead and not going anywhere soon."

Melanie arrives at the Pearly Gates, only to find a grumpy old man that won't let her in. How was she supposed to know she needed a number to come in?

So, what's a girl to do?

Miss Claudia told her that you can never do too much to get into Heaven, even if you are dead. Realizing she can still influence the living, Melanie decides to look after the people of her little town. She just doesn't realize there are others working in her town already, trying to drag them down.

There is one particularly nasty demon, who seems to have it in for her.

They don't like each other very much.

Join Melanie as she finds out she is one of the most important spirits in the coming war for Heaven, but has to face her battles before she even gets there.


I realize some will see a price of $3.49 and turn right around and walk out the door, but I can't believe there aren't any that won't go ahead and buy the book. I know there are some here that can sell their books at $3.99, $4.99 or even higher all day long, but it's been weeks since I got sales off this ad and that was a stretch of sales from Amazon UK. It is the one book that I can count on getting impressions day in and day out. My other ads peter out to 5-10 impressions a day after about a week, but this one keeps going.

Any ideas?
« Last Edit: October 19, 2018, 12:42:52 PM by dgcasey »
I will not forget one line of this, not one day. I will always remember when the Doctor was me.
"The Tales of Garlan" title="The Tales of Garlan"
"Into The Wishing Well" title="Into The Wishing Well"
Dave's Amazon Author page | DGlennCasey.com | TheDailyPainter.com
I'm the Doctor by the way, what's your name? Rose. Nice to meet you, Rose. Run for your life!
 

DavidM

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #70 on: October 21, 2018, 07:41:52 AM »
Long time lurker at other place.

I've not had much luck with BB ads in the past, especially with CPM -- it just seems to suck up money with no discernible results (clicks or sales). My CPC ads seem to only get served for short periods of time. I've always assumed it was because the creative wasn't good enough. Here are a few I'm trying out next week on a 5-day free run for a two-book bundle. Do they seem "clickable" enough?







I've mixed and matched the images and text but didn't want to put every version out here. Which (if any) do you think would work?

Here are the results after a 5-day free run. I bid  0.50 per click on everything and refused to raise it for any reason. There were three versions of each ad and all pointed to Amazon's US, UK, CA and AU stores.

Ad 1 (3D Cover image) got 27 clicks @ 0.50 for CTR of .55

Ad 2 (Sci Fantasy Adventure) got 169 clicks @ 0.27 for CTR of 4.03 (164 of those clicks were in AU store and someone bought the whole series on the first day, which was cool. Don't normally sell much in AU). Didn't think this creative would be the performer--just goes to show, you never know.

Ad 3 (Brassy one) got 7 clicks @50 cents for a 0.33 CTR

I definitely got more bang for the buck from my Facebook ads (much lower click prices and many more clicks converting at about 66% each).

I'll probably revisit BB ads once I go wide on this series next year to focus on non-U.S, non-Amazon stores. I'd be interested in hearing of people's experiences with those.
 

Simon Haynes

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #71 on: October 21, 2018, 12:37:56 PM »
BB ads only really work for me on international stores, and usually apple, kobo, google play.
 

Simon Haynes

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #72 on: October 22, 2018, 10:03:13 PM »
Okay, dipping my toe into the BB pirahna pool once more:



I set a click price of 75c, targeted SF plus a wide range of comedy SF authors, and since it's wide I aimed the ad at all stores and all BB-supported countries barring India.

Oh, and a pretty large daily budget.

 

OfficialEthanJ

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #73 on: December 28, 2018, 06:18:06 AM »
Okay, dipping my toe into the BB pirahna pool once more:



I set a click price of 75c, targeted SF plus a wide range of comedy SF authors, and since it's wide I aimed the ad at all stores and all BB-supported countries barring India.

Oh, and a pretty large daily budget.

Well...???!!!!! Don't leave me hanging (any more)!

---

Thanks to everyone who shared their BB ads. Mine are poop, I can see that now, not that the stats didn't bear that out already. I'm stoked to give it another try in 2019.

 

OfficialEthanJ

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #74 on: January 02, 2019, 01:09:12 PM »
Here's my first BB ad for 2019. Not crazy fancy, but I tried to incorporate things I learned here and abroad (okay, David Gaughran), including exciting new author targeting.
 

LilyBLily

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #75 on: January 02, 2019, 02:24:13 PM »
Here's my first BB ad for 2019. Not crazy fancy, but I tried to incorporate things I learned here and abroad (okay, David Gaughran), including exciting new author targeting.

Wondering why the background color doesn't contrast with the second book. Those are two covers, aren't they? The second is virtually unreadable because of the lack of contrast. My advice, for what it's worth, is to make them pop.

Also, what's your offer? Where's a buy button or a learn more or a shop now, or even a button with the price on it? The advantage of the price button is it stops people from clicking who are price sensitive.
« Last Edit: January 02, 2019, 02:27:08 PM by LilyBLily »
 

dgcasey

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Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #76 on: January 02, 2019, 03:24:29 PM »
The advantage of the price button is it stops people from clicking who are price sensitive.

Which is just about everybody at BB. I ran an ad once that got decent impression counts and not one single click. I put the price of $3.99 in the ad. I had run the same exact ad, with a Buy It Now button, about a month before and got good impressions and clicks. So, I have to believe it was the price that did the ad in.
I will not forget one line of this, not one day. I will always remember when the Doctor was me.
"The Tales of Garlan" title="The Tales of Garlan"
"Into The Wishing Well" title="Into The Wishing Well"
Dave's Amazon Author page | DGlennCasey.com | TheDailyPainter.com
I'm the Doctor by the way, what's your name? Rose. Nice to meet you, Rose. Run for your life!
 

Tom Wood

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #77 on: January 02, 2019, 03:55:15 PM »
The BB speaker at the 20booksto50k Vegas conference endorsed adding Kindle Unlimited to a BB ad. They must have some overlapping members, so that notice helps the KU readers who are also at BB find you.
 

OfficialEthanJ

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #78 on: January 02, 2019, 09:56:09 PM »
Also, what's your offer? Where's a buy button or a learn more or a shop now, or even a button with the price on it? The advantage of the price button is it stops people from clicking who are price sensitive.

The offer is: "Witness the rise of her legend."  :icon_cool:

I stole that approach from David Gaughran. He touted it as a method to raise awareness that there is a 2nd book available in the series. As of this morning is is getting some traction in the US (!!!) and Australia. (If I get USA clicks, that's huge.)

Re: The background, the nifty bokeh background I selected flattened out. The white drop shadow does offset the sameness (on my screen) but point taken... the cover looks great in print but is really hard to sharpen up in squint-o-vision.
 

LilyBLily

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #79 on: January 03, 2019, 12:49:50 AM »
The advantage of the price button is it stops people from clicking who are price sensitive.

Which is just about everybody at BB. I ran an ad once that got decent impression counts and not one single click. I put the price of $3.99 in the ad. I had run the same exact ad, with a Buy It Now button, about a month before and got good impressions and clicks. So, I have to believe it was the price that did the ad in.

But did you get sales from those clicks?

Maybe I'm in the minority, but if I spend on an ad I want it to result in sales.
 

dgcasey

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Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #80 on: January 03, 2019, 01:13:04 AM »
But did you get sales from those clicks?

Maybe I'm in the minority, but if I spend on an ad I want it to result in sales.

Yes, I got a few. Nothing to write home about, but it was definitely better than when I included the price.
I will not forget one line of this, not one day. I will always remember when the Doctor was me.
"The Tales of Garlan" title="The Tales of Garlan"
"Into The Wishing Well" title="Into The Wishing Well"
Dave's Amazon Author page | DGlennCasey.com | TheDailyPainter.com
I'm the Doctor by the way, what's your name? Rose. Nice to meet you, Rose. Run for your life!
 

LilyBLily

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #81 on: January 03, 2019, 04:40:03 AM »
But did you get sales from those clicks?

Maybe I'm in the minority, but if I spend on an ad I want it to result in sales.

Yes, I got a few. Nothing to write home about, but it was definitely better than when I included the price.

That's exactly the opposite of what some guru says to do. Was it Mark or David? I don't remember. I try stuff that people say is gold, and it doesn't work for me.
 

JRTomlin

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #82 on: January 03, 2019, 05:56:18 AM »
I must admit I have given up on Bookbub ads. i just cannot make them work for me.
 

Simon Haynes

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #83 on: May 24, 2019, 02:42:06 PM »
I ran a BB CPM ad on a 99c special last night, and only had 0.7% clickthrough. About $1 per click I think.

Now I'm running the following CPM ad for a newly-permafree first-in-series.  8 impressions, 1 click, 12.5% clickthrough  ;-)  If I can multiply that by 1000 I'll be laughing.

 
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Simon Haynes

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #84 on: May 24, 2019, 10:48:40 PM »
Seems BB works well for perma-frees (early figures yet, but promising)

 

ashleycapes

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Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #85 on: February 14, 2020, 04:12:06 PM »
Hi folks, here's an attempt - I'll trial this and do some testing with a new one later so I can compare click rates, what should I change (other than the tagline maybe?)


Ashley Capes | website
 

Lu Kudzoza

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #86 on: February 15, 2020, 02:44:40 AM »
Hi folks, here's an attempt - I'll trial this and do some testing with a new one later so I can compare click rates, what should I change (other than the tagline maybe?)



If the book is 99 cents I'd add a "Click Here 99 Cents" box. Bookbub readers like deals.
 
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Lynn

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #87 on: February 15, 2020, 02:59:53 AM »
Hi folks, here's an attempt - I'll trial this and do some testing with a new one later so I can compare click rates, what should I change (other than the tagline maybe?)



Too much green? It could really use an accent color that pops. :)

Nice cover, by the way! :D
Don't rush me.
 
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ashleycapes

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Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #88 on: February 15, 2020, 01:01:39 PM »
Awesome, thank you everyone for the feedback and the compliments :)

The existing ad had a 1.4% click rate, which could be better - when I have a book that's free or on sale, I tend to do better there.


I'll whip up another version soon, with some shadow on the text and maybe test a new button colour to. I like the way the green contrasts with Bookbub's red, red, red, but if it's getting lost within itself that's no good. I wonder if I should also trial a new tagline version as well.


I wrote this book with something like "a cross between D&D and the Tom Hanks film Big” in mind but I worry that audiences might not recognise the film and its premise anymore, and thus it would fail as a tagline?

Ashley Capes | website
 

JRTomlin

Re: Bookbub ads - share and critique those 300x250 creatives here
« Reply #89 on: February 19, 2020, 07:16:49 AM »
My own experience with BB ads is that a lot of text just doesn't work well. The simpler I make mine, generally the better they work.  (although some just don't anyway)

I ran one as a run-up to a BB Free Promotion in the week after I already had it free.

It got this which was not fantastic but not terrible either: CPM $10.81   CPC $0.41   Cost $85.09 Impressions 7,865 Clicks 206   CtR 2.62%



I tested this one first thinking maybe a little text wouldn't hurt and got a CTR of 1.21% and canceled it. *sigh*



What works for me seems to be the cover and FREE in a really big font.  :icon_rofl: To hell with pretty.

ETA: For me the comprables for targetting are the hard part. There just aren't many HF authors with a big following on BB except trade authors like Bernard Cornwell and those are a waste of money. Testing comparables is an absolute necessity on BB.
« Last Edit: February 19, 2020, 07:20:39 AM by JRTomlin »