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The Fussy Librarian - Has anyone tried this service out

7K views 22 replies 19 participants last post by  Aya Ling 
#1 ·
This is supposed to be comparable to Bookbub. Right now they aren't charging, which is great. Here's their pledge:

Our Pledge To You

Eventually, we will charge for book sponsorships. Running a site like this is expensive. But we can promise you three things now:

One price for paid titles. Whether you list your book at 99 cents, $2.99 or $4.99, you'll pay the same price. We don't think you should be punished for trying to make a living as an author.
Fair and reasonable prices. We will never charge you $1,200 because you want to sell a mystery novel for $2.99. That's crazy. You shouldn't have to take out a loan to buy a book sponsorship.
One price. Whether you're an independent author or the director of marketing at Random House, everyone pays the same price.

Has anyone tried the service. For free it's a no-brainer. But when they start charging...?

http://www.thefussylibrarian.com/for-authors/
 
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#3 ·
I subbed a free book when they were new. The ad ran Oct 14 and doubled my daily downloads, so it was promising. Haven't used them since, but I'd be willing to give them another try. And if they're not yet charging, then by all means. The most you have to lose is a few minutes of your time.
 
#4 ·
I looked at their page and am a bit puzzled. They don't give a starting date for promotions. That is very strange.

They're free and I don't mind giving people like this links to for promotions in order to help them build a client base. They need offerings to build a following, but they also need to make it simple.
 
#7 ·
My understanding was that these people only wanted to feature stories that didn't have naughty language and violence and sex and stuff, so I figured they wouldn't like me.

But this bit on the About page makes me wonder: "Do you only read mysteries without profanity, violence and sex? Then we’ll tell you only about cozy mysteries. Read just memoirs and gory horror novels? No problem."

Still, since originally they marketed to people who wanted to filter out the naughty stuff, I doubt there's much of an audience signed up for edgy things?

I remember when the person setting it up had a thread on kb. Perhaps she will show up and clarify.
 
#11 ·
valeriec80 said:
My understanding was that these people only wanted to feature stories that didn't have naughty language and violence and sex and stuff, so I figured they wouldn't like me.

But this bit on the About page makes me wonder: "Do you only read mysteries without profanity, violence and sex? Then we'll tell you only about cozy mysteries. Read just memoirs and gory horror novels? No problem."

Still, since originally they marketed to people who wanted to filter out the naughty stuff, I doubt there's much of an audience signed up for edgy things?

I remember when the person setting it up had a thread on kb. Perhaps she will show up and clarify.
They have a filter. So when you sign up, you can specify if you want no bad language, no violence, etc.

I presume if your book has those things, you can still apply, they just won't be shown to those who've asked for no violence.
 
#17 ·
JRTomlin said:
I looked at their page and am a bit puzzled. They don't give a starting date for promotions. That is very strange.

They're free and I don't mind giving people like this links to for promotions in order to help them build a client base. They need offerings to build a following, but they also need to make it simple.
I submitted a couple of my books in October. I then forgot about it because I never heard back. In the meantime, I changed my prices. Less than a week after changing the price, I received an email saying my book, March Into Hell, would be listed a few days later. Since they had the lower price listed, I had to go and change my price back, and then I didn't sell any books anyway. I wasn't sure I would since the book is in the middle of the series. It didn't hurt me to have them list it, but I don't know how you would do it if you were running free days or a Countdown Sale.
 
#18 ·
valeriec80 said:
My understanding was that these people only wanted to feature stories that didn't have naughty language and violence and sex and stuff, so I figured they wouldn't like me.

But this bit on the About page makes me wonder: "Do you only read mysteries without profanity, violence and sex? Then we'll tell you only about cozy mysteries. Read just memoirs and gory horror novels? No problem."

Still, since originally they marketed to people who wanted to filter out the naughty stuff, I doubt there's much of an audience signed up for edgy things?

I remember when the person setting it up had a thread on kb. Perhaps she will show up and clarify.
There is a big thread about them in this forum, but the short version is they let their subscriber base specify what kind of books they want. So those that want violence get suggestions with violence, those that do not want it do not see it. It is a great idea, and I hope it succeeds.

Here is the thread: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,161412.0.html
 
#19 ·
VydorScope said:
There is a big thread about them in this forum, but the short version is they let their subscriber base specify what kind of books they want. So those that want violence get suggestions with violence, those that do not want it do not see it. It is a great idea, and I hope it succeeds.

Here is the thread: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,161412.0.html
Yes, exactly. We take all books. It's the reader's preferences that determine what goes in their individual email.

We have about 6,000 subscribers after being live for 10 weeks. Some genres have more than 2,000 while others are still quite a bit smaller. So we're not going to vault you into the Amazon top 50 right now. But we're growing every day and are currently free.
 
#22 ·
I signed up my latest novel with them. Saw no effect on sales, but they are very nice to deal with. I think they just need some time to gain market traction. Worth keeping an eye on.
 
#23 ·
I had my permafree listed with them yesterday. However, I had a dramatic increase in downloads a few days ago (no idea who listed me?) that got me into top 100 free (briefly!), so whether my recent downloads were the aftermath of that, or the result of being listed with the Fussy Librarian, I have no idea.

Still, I'd be happy to submit to them again with my future books  :)
 
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