Bookbub, Kicking Butt & Taking Names

Recently an author friend of mine signed up with Bookbub to help promote one of her books. She is an Independent, Indy, author and writes non-fiction. Her promotion is still in progress with great success. Bookbub should be of interest to readers as well as writers because they always promote good, highly discounted books. They have more than a million subscribers to their free discount notifications. When reviewing comments about their site and service I found a substantial number of grateful readers who mentioned the advantages of being steered toward outstanding, affordable books.

Let’s break this conversation down into a segment for readers and one for authors.

READERS:

Readers can go online to the Bookbub site, sign-up, and choose a genre of titles to receive, all for free. Bookbub’s editorial committee reviews every book that is submitted for promotion to ensure quality and an acceptable discount. They promote free books, 99 cent books, and even $2.99 books. The books can be available electronically from sites like Kindle, Barnes & Nobel, Apple, Smashwords etc. Print copies can also be obtained, although the deep discounts do not usually apply. As a reader, just imagine that an impartial third party will send you a brief e-mail every day with a list and short description of the kinds of books you like.

Indy authors work just as hard, if not harder than traditionally published authors. They are responsible for the writing, proofing, editing, publishing, and promoting. It is a daunting task with myriad variables and incredible competition. I try to read at least one Indy book per week. They are not all to my liking, but neither are all traditionally published authors and works. If I find no value in a particular book I may not finish. If I like a book I try to post a review and/or let the author know what I think. For my predilection the world is too full of negativity. If I don’t like a book I usually keep my opinion to myself. After all, it is just my opinion.

AUTHORS:

Let’s call my friend, the Indy author and subject of this post, Madame X. Her first book has been out for more than a year; she has had free KDP promotions, sales events, she blogs, posts everywhere online, and wins awards for her work. She receives ample good or excellent reviews and still her sales have been not great, until Bookbub.

Bookbub reviewed and approved her work, she agreed to lower the price to 99 cents and keep it there for at least a week. Within the first couple of days of the promotion X’s book made it to 53 on the Kindle paid bestseller’s list. As authors we all know how hard it is to improve your ranking on Kindle. The competition is fierce and on the more popular days with book buyers everyone’s sales increase.

I am not saying Bookbub is the do all and end all. There is a small cost involved with the process. However, it is working for X and we all need all of the help we can get. I wish you good writing and great selling. What we need is the opportunity to put our books in front of a mass audience. What good is the work if no one reads it?

Readers, please be kind. Writers, be diligent and persistent. Together we can improve the literary standards of our world.

Your comments and questions are always welcome.

Elizabeth’s Secrets http://amzn.to/IoXLgD
Dark Star http://amzn.to/KsXYOr