Does BookBub perform for everyone?

[guest819]

I had a Bookbub yesterday and like with the last two, I've done really well. When you look at the average sales though, it gives you an expectation of what to expect in terms of free downloads and paid downloads. Obviously a vast difference, but probably relative to each genre. Mine is SF so the expectation was 2,046 paid downloads which I hit overnight.

However, for an average to be assumed, there MUST be people who don't hit the average by a long shot for that number to exist. So, just how bad does Bookbub perform for some people in genre?

Has anyone here had experience of this?

[Simon Haynes]

Not me, but my most recent science fiction BB shifted 6000+ units (99c deal), so there have to be some below average.

I think they lump all 'paid' BBs into the one average, and I've seen $2.99 deals from trade publishers... so perhaps that's why. Those wouldn't sell many, I'm guessing.

[JRTomlin]

You can't assume that $2.99 wouldn't shift many, not if the regular price of the novel was high. I did very well at $2.99 on my trilogy omnibus.

[Simon Haynes]

You can't assume that $2.99 wouldn't shift many, not if the regular price of the novel was high. I did very well at $2.99 on my trilogy omnibus.

True, and I didn't mean it was an automatic fail. Just wondered whether that was the missing variable when it comes to averages.

As the OP said, you don't see many posts complaining about a BB not earning out.


ETA: my first post wasn't very well worded. By "Sell many" I meant many over the average. A string of BBs with 500 sales at 2.99 would help to bring the average down to around 2000+

[JRTomlin]

Truthfully I don't remember exactly how many I moved and it was before the price was $2500 (ouch!). You could be right that it brings down the average number, of course. But in most genres, you'd have to move more than 500 in order to break even.

[NathanBurrows]

I had an international BookBub in Thriller when I only had one book out - I did it for the visibility and got my money back, so for me it was worth it.