Now I know why I will never get a BookBub

[LilyBLily]

Congratulations! International should be fine.

 

[notthatamanda]

Well I am all set for my international bookbub tomorrow. I do have jury duty so I won't be watching the results.

[alhawke]

Good luck!

[Lynn]

Well I am all set for my international bookbub tomorrow. I do have jury duty so I won't be watching the results.

Good luck! I really don't mind jury duty, except I really hate it :D Mixed feelings, LOL. I hope you get out quickly.

[Marti Talbott]

I signed up for BB to send me emails in three specific genre and noticed something I didn't think was happening. Looks like most of the books are "not" free but range in price from $.99 to $1.99 and some are above.

I thought the higher priced books didn't sell well. They cost a fortune. What am I missing?

Also, is it an indication that most authors are having trouble selling their books?

[LilyBLily]

Exciting! Good luck.

When I lived in NYC, I got called for jury duty numerous times. It was a very discouraging experience; I totally sympathize with Judge Judy's dyspeptic attitude. The attorneys were just as bad as the clients.

[LilyBLily]

I signed up for BB to send me emails in three specific genre and noticed something I didn't think was happening. Looks like most of the books are "not" free but range in price from $.99 to $1.99 and some are above.

I thought the higher priced books didn't sell well. They cost a fortune. What am I missing?

Also, is it an indication that most authors are having trouble selling their books?

Aren't most of the higher priced books advertised on BB trad pub backlist? It could be reissues of very old books or bargains on newer ones, but the principle is the same: built-in author name recognition sells the book and the cost of the ad is small by its standards and it gets results. BB ads are very targeted by comparison with many other classic book ad venues.

Don't know about others advertising at that price point. It's considered the kiss of death for an indie.

[alhawke]

Aren't most of the higher priced books advertised on BB trad pub backlist?

This is what I see. A big selling author like Stephen King or Stephanie Meyer's $1.99 is our $.99. I've heard Indies that try >$0.99 don't typically fare well (but there is always inflation ... eventually).

[notthatamanda]

I am home and able to monitor int'l bookbub results.

500+ on Amazon
150+ on Amazon

Will post full days results tomorrow, I have a lot of cooking to do now.

[notthatamanda]

Yesterday -
Amazon - 1104
Kobo - 381
Apple - 227

New Adult Romance roughly half on Amazon versus Contemporary, 1/3 for Kobo and Apple. No buys on book 2 yet anywhere.

[JRTomlin]

Much to my shock I got a Featured Deal (US & Int'l) for January 5. I honestly thought there wasn't a chance since IMO right after Christmas & New Years is when everyone wants one. Crossing my fingers that my various promotions do well because my bank account is currently crying bitter tears.

[Gerri Attrick]

Yay! They obviously like you, Jeannie. Good luck at filling those new Christmas Kindles!

[LilyBLily]

Congratulations!!!

[JRTomlin]

Yay! They obviously like you, Jeannie. Good luck at filling those new Christmas Kindles!

Thanks. I had already ordered what I thought would be my Christmas / New Years' advertising so I had to dig behind the sofa cushions to pay for it. 

I do pretty well getting promos from them, but if you only knew how many promotions of mine they turn down... 🤦‍♀️

[notthatamanda]

Good luck!

[alhawke]

  Congrats & good luck!

[Pemry Janes]

Congratulations and good luck.

[Marti Talbott]

Yay! They obviously like you, Jeannie. Good luck at filling those new Christmas Kindles!

Thanks. I had already ordered what I thought would be my Christmas / New Years' advertising so I had to dig behind the sofa cushions to pay for it. 

I do pretty well getting promos from them, but if you only knew how many promotions of mine they turn down... 🤦‍♀️

I'm happy for you. Sales for me are tanked too, so I'd probably have to sell the sofa.

[JRTomlin]

Sorry to hear that, Marti. With all that is going on in the world, I turn blue from holding my breath.

[Marti Talbott]

Sorry to hear that, Marti. With all that is going on in the world, I turn blue from holding my breath.

I know, it's scary times. Our air-conditioner/heater went out in July and the parts needed are stuck in the supply chain. No ETA. So, we're heating a three bedroom house with two space heaters. Actually, all the door are closed and we're only heating two room. Temperature here today is 28 degrees. This is not fun.

At least we're not in the disaster in Kentucky. My heart aches for those poor people. Makes me grateful for what we do have.

[notthatamanda]

Oh boy Marti, stay warm.

[LilyBLily]

No heat? I'm so sorry to hear that; I can barely do my life if I'm cold.

We thought we were deprived because it took three months to replace our oven (we use the oven almost daily). It took a couple of months to replace a bank of windows, and so far no one at Lowe's has found the screens. I just hope they will before April--when I might want to, you know, actually open one of these windows.

It's strange to experience shortages even if they're not terribly important. Our local big grocery has no plastic bags for fruits and vegetables this week and first used up its stock of corn bags (yellowish and much bigger) and now has switched to plastic grocery sacks. Paper goods have been randomly rationed or just not on the shelf, period.

The lack of employees to unload the ships and drive the trucks isn't just "people don't want to work." It's more like "people don't want to work under these conditions, so unless employers stop treating them like disposables, people are not going to take these lousy jobs." (Yet the ship bottleneck thing is rather odd, since I believe dockworkers are well unionized and the Teamsters also have a powerful union. So why are there so few people doing these jobs right now? Are employers simply digging in their heels and refusing to make any changes? I see ads for retail jobs at $15 and even $20 an hour.) 

[notthatamanda]

I heard a report on the LA/Long Beach port bottleneck that was pretty interesting. First of all they said that the volume was going to reach these levels was predicted 10 years ago, but nothing was done to prepare for it. Second of all they have a huge problem with empty containers clogging the ports. They can't unload because there is no where to put more containers.

We were out of toilet paper at BJs here for a couple of months again. Tissues come and go but I can get cases of the boxes hotels buy from Walmart pretty easily.

[LilyBLily]

I've just submitted my most successful title from the spring's little series of International Only featured deals I got with BB. Fingers crossed BookBub goes for the big one this time. I'll be happy to get anything, of course. Crumbs from the big table.

[RiverRun]

Marti, we use these at our house. Granted we live where its warm, but we like them much better than space heaters.  (Our heater quit a few years ago and we lacked the impetus to fix it.) Slower to heat up but once they are going they are more effective.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Oil-Heater-1500W-Electric-Heating-Machine-with-4-Wheels-3-Heating-Modes-Radiator-Heater-for-Home-US-Plug/215789659

Home Depot sells similar items I think. Its just an electric oil-filled radiator.

[notthatamanda]

We've used the oil filled heaters too when the furnace was out. I'm in New England. They definitely work well and less of a fire hazard than the old style. March 2020 the furnace was out and we stuck one of those in the upstairs hallway and it did the job for all the bedrooms.

[Lynn]

I supplement my heat pump with one of those. One person in a large house is a waste of a heat pump in the winter. It keeps my main room area toasty, while the rest of the house is at a lower temperature. My thermostat in is the main room and it thinks its done its job.

[LilyBLily]

Four hours after I submitted for a BookBub featured deal, I got an International Only deal on...wait for it...December 31st!!!

How can anyone be so l*u*c*k*y???   

I don't know whether to laugh or cry, but I took the deal. Now my question is should I bother to spend additional dollars on surrounding ads that never earn out? It's been the wisdom for several years now, but the margin on these BB international deals is pretty slim.

Anyway, I'm in the game again. We'll see what happens.

[alhawke]

You never know. If it's one thing BookBub can do, it's defy odds. You might not get as many sales, but you may still fare well. I hope you do. Good luck!

[notthatamanda]

Four hours after I submitted for a BookBub featured deal, I got an International Only deal on...wait for it...December 31st!!!

How can anyone be so l*u*c*k*y???   

I don't know whether to laugh or cry, but I took the deal. Now my question is should I bother to spend additional dollars on surrounding ads that never earn out? It's been the wisdom for several years now, but the margin on these BB international deals is pretty slim.

Anyway, I'm in the game again. We'll see what happens.

Are you in KDP or wide? You could do the other deals for Jan 2 and 3rd if you are so inclined if the book is free for 5 days.

[LilyBLily]

This is a wide single-title women's fiction novel at 99 cents that usually sells for $6.99. People know they're getting a deal at that discount.

Good idea about doing ads after New Year's Day. BB says they can't do a link to B&N since it technically does not sell overseas, so I do have to push some ads through that will catch those customers. Maybe B&N has some deals available. I'll have to check. I have a lot to do now to get ready for the big excitement. Not as big a deal as I'd hoped, yet their standard language says I can submit the same title for a U.S. featured deal in 30 days. Has anyone actually done that and gotten the deal and made bank?

[notthatamanda]

I've submitted after my good int'l for the US deal and they never picked me.
Good luck. I guess you have a reason to stay up till midnight on the 31st, checking the numbers.

[alhawke]

I've submitted after my good int'l for the US deal and they never picked me.

Me too. I've never gotten picked the following month.

I have an international BookBub deal coming up this month as well. I added promos for US around the BookBub. In fact, I've never done this before, but I actually planned some promos on the same day as the BB. I have Many Books and BookBarbarian running with the BB, with a few other lesser players going on a couple days after. ENT declined me this time. My promo is for a series push.

I had another international a few months ago and I didn't do this. Of course, B&N suffered, as did the US market in general.

[JRTomlin]

This is a wide single-title women's fiction novel at 99 cents that usually sells for $6.99. People know they're getting a deal at that discount.

Good idea about doing ads after New Year's Day. BB says they can't do a link to B&N since it technically does not sell overseas, so I do have to push some ads through that will catch those customers. Maybe B&N has some deals available. I'll have to check. I have a lot to do now to get ready for the big excitement. Not as big a deal as I'd hoped, yet their standard language says I can submit the same title for a U.S. featured deal in 30 days. Has anyone actually done that and gotten the deal and made bank?

I did once.

[LilyBLily]

B&N finally replied that they will do one of their secret discount features for my book--you know, the kind that Amazon can't see. I also bought an ad on another newsletter, and I'm planning to send out one of my own newsletters. Not enough? I looked hard at the surrounding ads I'd used for the BBs I had earlier this year and picked the one I think caused B&N sales to happen.

Now I have to remember to get Amazon to reduce the price and keep it reduced, since there's no easy way to do a timed promo there unless the book is in KU (which it is not).

[alhawke]

B&N finally replied that they will do one of their secret discount features for my book--you know, the kind that Amazon can't see.

I've never thought they were willing to do that. Thanks for letting us know. And, best of luck with your BookBub!

[LilyBLily]

B&N has some feature they call "101 Nook Books under 2.99," which of course has bestsellers on the first pages but may produce some sales if people click on the categories. 

[LilyBLily]

To be on the safe side, on Monday I lowered the price at Amazon on my book that will be featured on BB on Friday. I should have done it on Sunday, since my first ads kick in on Wednesday and Amazon says it could take up to 72 hours to effect the change, that is, until Thursday. Monday felt like way too early, but dealing with Amazon is always a question mark.

However, Amazon changed the price in a few hours, and now I have a couple of sales at 99 cents that could have been at $6.99 if Amazon's systems weren't so unfriendly.

I don't know whether to be happy or sad. 

[alhawke]

I always lower my books a week before a BookBub. Of course, it always changes within one to two hours, but I've heard too many horror stories from other writers. I still can't understand why AI can't be more reliable. If we set a price, change the price. Right?

[JRTomlin]

I figure even if a lose a little money on sales that way, I will usually still make a profit on sell-through on the series so it's worth it to save the worry. I did mine for Jan. 5 already. With the holidays, I wasn't taking any chances.

[Jeff Tanyard]

To be on the safe side, on Monday I lowered the price at Amazon on my book that will be featured on BB on Friday. I should have done it on Sunday, since my first ads kick in on Wednesday and Amazon says it could take up to 72 hours to effect the change, that is, until Thursday. Monday felt like way too early, but dealing with Amazon is always a question mark.

However, Amazon changed the price in a few hours, and now I have a couple of sales at 99 cents that could have been at $6.99 if Amazon's systems weren't so unfriendly.

I don't know whether to be happy or sad. 

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

You absolutely did the right thing, in my opinion.  A Bookbub isn't something you want to screw around with.

[LilyBLily]

Very rough numbers for my New Year's Eve international BB are in, and I'm in the black by about $100 so far. Fine with me.

[JRTomlin]

I have a BB promo on the 5th as I had already mentioned, but I did not stack as I usually do because instead, I spread my advertising out across my catalog. It will be interesting to see how big a difference not stacking makes.

I am also still experimenting with Written Word Media's new Facebook ad service. I used it for the release of my new novel (which did well, by the way) but I was advertising so widely that I couldn't really tell how much to credit to that. This time I am using it on one novel that I am not advertising elsewhere to try to get a better idea of whether it works well or not. That is a bit off-topic since it isn't BB but it could be a useful service for those who don't care to do their own FB ads for whatever reason.

[LilyBLily]

Good luck with your BB. I decided to do only the one other paid ad to complement my BB, plus a newsletter.   

[JRTomlin]

I am interested in seeing whether the cost of stacking really is worth it. I may regret it but it is kind of like throwing everything in the kitchen into your stew and you don't know what worked and what didn't.

[JRTomlin]

Very underwhelming results on the BB promo that ran on the 5th. That novel has had a couple in the past although the most recent was in July 2020. I will hesitate to run any more and definitely not within less than two years.

The total for 1/5 and 1/6 on all retailers is 8,100 downloads, less than half of what I got on my last BB promo. 🤷‍♀️

Sell-through on the rest of the series is also underwhelming, only $260. However, there have also been 40 pre-orders on the sequel so there is that. It is always hard to know when to stop advertising or reduce advertising on an older novel that has done well historically. The sequel comes out at the end of March though, but I could actually treat it as a standalone. Maybe I should, but I don't usually do standalone novels.

[notthatamanda]

Sorry it wasn't that great for you this time.

I just applied for my Contemporary Romance, 1st in trilogy permafree for US only. Had good results with it in Int'l in the fall.

[LilyBLily]

Sorry it wasn't so good.

"Good" is relative and I didn't have big hopes for my international BB since this BB was only seven months after the prior one. It takes a while for a reader to read a long novel, too, so reaching out for the others might come next week, not this week. Also, although BB says make the book discounted for a short period of time, to cover myself with Amazon and given the holidays, I've still got my title discounted until 1/10. So I don't feel I have the full stats yet, just the basic outlines. I know it made a profit, but the question is how much profit?

When I bring out the fourth book in this not-a-series series, then I'll have a similar quandary to yours. Advertise the first book about these families, or just advertise the last one? Or one of the in-between titles?

[JRTomlin]

As far as I can recall I never ran a BB on the 2nd in the trilogy (or should I call it a series since there will be a fourth one ) so I might do a BB on that one, but trying to time it with release of the 4th novel is a pain which is why I don't usually use BB promos for new novels.

[alhawke]

When I bring out the fourth book in this not-a-series series, then I'll have a similar quandary to yours. Advertise the first book about these families, or just advertise the last one? Or one of the in-between titles?

Here's some data that might help. I used my latest international BB two weeks ago to push sales of my new 2nd book in a fantasy trilogy. The intl BB focused on the 1st book at 99c selling 203 copies of the 1st book. The 2nd book, which was a new release, only sold 20. The 3rd book set as preorder sold 10. This was my worse new release ever. But it was also the first time I sold a new release at the "regular" price of $2.99. So next time, I'd consider selling other books in the series at 99c too? Or focus only on the new release? I'm still unsure about it.

I wouldn't say I'm unhappy with the results, but I am unhappy with my new release. I will have to think up something for further promotions. I think my biggest mistake was only garnering 2 reviews through ARCs for the second book, hence low sales during BB. But you get the reviews you get. And, as JRTomlin is saying, you get a BB when you get a BB. Hopefully, I'll have decent sell-through from readers for my second book.