BookBub - The Best Examples. Really?

[R. C.]

I was sent this link with this blurb:

"To help you reach them, we’re sharing our roundup of the best BookBub Ads campaigns of 2023. These ads represent a wide range of genres, price points, and advertising strategies from authors and publishers. Check out the post to learn what made them so successful, and pick up tips for how to replicate that success yourself!"

Maybe marketing efforts have tainted my psyche. After reading the examples, I must have missed whatever is new or revolutionary about the campaigns highlighted.

Just curious, does anything in the article jump out to anyone else as new or unique?

R.C.

[alhawke]

  I was one of those ads, R.C.

It's really about the clicks. What we think won't succeed might succeed very well with the right audience, authors, etc. Make a simple readable ad and creative and sell to the right audience. I've sold loads of books with the one noted on that article.

[R. C.]

I was one of those ads, R.C.
...

My apologies for the tart comment and congrats on your success. For me, BookBub has been a sinkhole that I jump into every couple of months. Their email "AD" caught me on a bad day.

But, KDP says I have $0.18 in estimated royalties. So... cool.

R.C.

[Bill Hiatt]

Almost all of them look appealing to me. The one with the grab-it-now arrow looks as if it's trying too hard. But I can see how these were successful. It sounds as if that success might be replicated with a well-constructed ad and a good targeting strategy.

[alhawke]

The one with the grab-it-now arrow looks as if it's trying too hard.

But I find the art behind that eye catching.  . You'll notice some of them are just standard do it yourself BB ads, but they have a hook or they came from a big author (ie Crighton). Whatever's attention catching, pretty or not, markets the book. At the end of the day, it's all about the clicks.

[Jeff Tanyard]

Maybe marketing efforts have tainted my psyche. After reading the examples, I must have missed whatever is new or revolutionary about the campaigns highlighted.

The article didn't claim they were new or revolutionary.  The article claimed they were the best.

[PJ Post]

I'm wondering how long it will be before the best book ads look just like the best clickbait thumbnails on You-Tube.

[Crystal]

There's nothing new or revolutionary about the ads. They execute well on fundamentals.

BookBub is not emailing you to teach you marketing. They are emailing you to encourage you to buy BookBub PPC ads.

[The Bass Bagwhan]

I agree with RC on the kind of "sameness" of the ads and I can imagine they'd just blur into all the others ... but their effectiveness is also determined by any bad imagery and ad copy of any rubbish ads around them.

So far, I'm trying to avoid any free or 99 cent campaigns anyway. That's mostly because i don't do series.

[writeway]

Ouch.  Yeah, be careful when talking about other authors' ads, books, or whatever in public. How would you feel if another author poked fun at your promotional efforts or whatever? Just saying. Bad form even if you didn't mean to offend. Comes off like sour grapes and jealousy. Sometimes the very people you are talking about are right there in the group, forum, etc. Evidence in this very thread. I'm not one of the authors in this article, just saying. Anyway, the opinion that matters is Bookbub's and they felt these ads were the best so it is what it is.

[writeway]

I was one of those ads, R.C.

It's really about the clicks. What we think won't succeed might succeed very well with the right audience, authors, etc. Make a simple readable ad and creative and sell to the right audience. I've sold loads of books with the one noted on that article.

Exactly. THIS is the point. The ads are working for the authors which is WHY Bookbub says they are the best. They aren't just saying it. These ads are generating revenue, which is a success. And anyone who thinks ads are supposed to be unique don't understand how ads work. You're looking for ads that get you clicks and a lot of times that's something simple or something similar to other ads. I've seen FB ads where authors tried to be all "revolutionary" and then those same authors were whining on FB about the ad not working. Revolutionary doesn't mean better or effective. It's the same with book covers. Genres follow certain designs for a reason. It's because it's been proven those are the covers people respond to.

[R. C.]

Ouch.  Yeah, be careful when talking about other authors' ads, books, or whatever in public. How would you feel if another author poked fun at your promotional efforts or whatever? Just saying. Bad form even if you didn't mean to offend. Comes off like sour grapes and jealousy. Sometimes the very people you are talking about are right there in the group, forum, etc. Evidence in this very thread. I'm not one of the authors in this article, just saying. Anyway, the opinion that matters is Bookbub's and they felt these ads were the best so it is what it is.

No one was "poking fun" or intentionally denigrating the work. The question aimed to understand what is "new or revolutionary about the campaigns highlighted."

I was one of those ads, R.C.

It's really about the clicks. What we think won't succeed might succeed very well with the right audience, authors, etc. Make a simple readable ad and creative and sell to the right audience. I've sold loads of books with the one noted on that article.

Exactly. THIS is the point. The ads are working for the authors which is WHY Bookbub says they are the best. They aren't just saying it. These ads are generating revenue, which is a success. And anyone who thinks ads are supposed to be unique don't understand how ads work. You're looking for ads that get you clicks and a lot of times that's something simple or something similar to other ads. I've seen FB ads where authors tried to be all "revolutionary" and then those same authors were whining on FB about the ad not working. Revolutionary doesn't mean better or effective. It's the same with book covers. Genres follow certain designs for a reason. It's because it's been proven those are the covers people respond to.

If you feel "tried-and-true" is the best option for you, terrific. When the status quo is no longer adequate, or your "same as" AD is buried in the genre, a "new or revolutionary" approach is required.

R.C.

[PJ Post]

Self-publishers, as a collective, have become increasingly homogenized over the last decade, be it books, ads, strategies, FB Groups or whatever. This epitomizes my frustration with their business sensibilities. They're desperately trying to be as fungible as possible, following the same proven strategies for success until every genre looks like the same field of clover. The logical conclusion of the KB Method. And then they wonder why nothing works anymore.

Those boring old business books with the case studies and the analysis and the strategies, oddly enough, recommend the exact opposite. They suggest, rather singularly, that we should offer a unique value proposition (and that doesn't mean price).

I know, I know, what about so-and-so and show me the data, amirite?