As many of you know, I did a BookBub ad back in March. Since then, I’ve had tons of questions about the process and my results, so I decided to break it down!
Cost of the ad: $170 to reach the paranormal romance crowd via newsletter (guaranteed), their website (guaranteed), and social media (maybe)
Note: You can find all their current rates for all genres here.
What I was advertising: Strength, the first book in my NA paranormal romance / urban fantasy series, going permafree (permanently free)
How many times I applied: Once, but it's very common to apply numerous times.
What I had to supply: It was a pretty standard questionnaire, but I did have to find links for retailers in Canada and the UK.
What the listing looked like:
Cost of the ad: $170 to reach the paranormal romance crowd via newsletter (guaranteed), their website (guaranteed), and social media (maybe)
Note: You can find all their current rates for all genres here.
What I was advertising: Strength, the first book in my NA paranormal romance / urban fantasy series, going permafree (permanently free)
How many times I applied: Once, but it's very common to apply numerous times.
What I had to supply: It was a pretty standard questionnaire, but I did have to find links for retailers in Canada and the UK.
What the listing looked like:
Note: BookBub supplied the pitch for me.
When the ad went live: My ad was set to go live on the website between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. PST on March 31st; the newsletter would go live between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. PST.
How I’m observing my results: I decided to stop all other forms of promotion (i.e. tweets, guest posts, free advertisements, etc.) to isolate the BookBub effect. Things were pretty stagnant before, so I’m crediting the majority of this momentum to the ad.
When the ad went live: My ad was set to go live on the website between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. PST on March 31st; the newsletter would go live between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. PST.
How I’m observing my results: I decided to stop all other forms of promotion (i.e. tweets, guest posts, free advertisements, etc.) to isolate the BookBub effect. Things were pretty stagnant before, so I’m crediting the majority of this momentum to the ad.
65-day return on investment: 5077%
How that’s calculated:
Author Profit - Campaign Cost
------------------------------------------------------------- = 50.771411 = 5077% ROI
Campaign Cost
Additional factors: BookBub mentioned my listing in USA Today's Happily Ever After blog post.
Downloads: There were about 36,000 free downloads the first week, but I didn't keep track after that. (Too many sites, too many numbers.)
My take: I saved up for a year to buy this ad, and it turned out to be a great investment. Will I ever make a living on this series alone? Probably not. But that temporary sales bump will help with student loans, Tucker's meds, etc. while I look for a full-time job.
Bottom line: I would do another BookBub ad (with a different book or series) in a heartbeat!
How that’s calculated:
Author Profit - Campaign Cost
------------------------------------------------------------- = 50.771411 = 5077% ROI
Campaign Cost
Additional factors: BookBub mentioned my listing in USA Today's Happily Ever After blog post.
Downloads: There were about 36,000 free downloads the first week, but I didn't keep track after that. (Too many sites, too many numbers.)
My take: I saved up for a year to buy this ad, and it turned out to be a great investment. Will I ever make a living on this series alone? Probably not. But that temporary sales bump will help with student loans, Tucker's meds, etc. while I look for a full-time job.
Bottom line: I would do another BookBub ad (with a different book or series) in a heartbeat!
Question of the Week
Have you ever paid to advertise your work?
