BookFunnel - Worth the duckets or not?

[R. C.]

BookFunnel wants me to renew, but I've consternation about its value.

Is BookFunnel of value to you? If so, can you give examples without spilling your secret sauce?

TIA

R.C.

[Bill Hiatt]

I'm not sure I have any secret sauce to spill.

Bookfunnel does bring me email subscribers. The rate varies by the month. Sometimes, admittedly, it's only one, but it's hard to count, since I know some people who have picked up the reader magnet subscribed later, rather than going directly through the BookFunnel routine. Presumably, they read the magnet first and then subscribed. But I don't have an accurate count for those.

It also performs well in sales, depending on book prices and how well the theme of each promo matches my books. Conversion from clicks to sales is about 2-5% on regular books and more like 5-25% on discounted books, but I have had rates as high as 57% on occasion. Let's just say the ROI is way better than with AMS ads and leave it at that.

It's also a nice way to provide people like my Substack subscribers with book rewards (in that case, book versions of my Substack serials.)

I haven't used it for anything else yet.

[Lorri Moulton]

I'm thinking of downgrading to the lower tier.  All the ebook tier prices are going to go up next month, so if you're in a tier you like...it might be worth staying put.  However, if you're thinking of changing, now might be a good time.

It's on their blog, but I believe some of the audio tier prices might be going down. I'm in KU at the moment, so I'm not using their direct sales funnel.  I'm also trying StoryOrigin again...and that seems to be a nice fit while in KU.

Here's the link:  https://blog.bookfunnel.com/2026/new-plans/

[Bill Hiatt]

Much as I like the philosophy behind Story Origin, I will say that the sales promos got me few or no conversions to sales, and the number of promo choices available was always less. That said, that was years ago, so perhaps it has improved in those areas.

[alhawke]

I rely on Bookfunnel for a lot of stuff--which they've gotta love. Universal book links, audio sales, ebook sales, promotions, ARC distribution. I couldn't see doing without them. StoryOrigin just doesn't match their features at this point. 

If you don't operate a store and don't participate in co-author promos or ARC reviews, it might not be for you. But if you do these things, they're the best in the Biz.