Author Topic: BookBub Featured Deal Thread (Read 1852 times) Tweet

C. Gockel · « **on:** September 14, 2020, 07:15:44 am »

There has been a lot of discussion of the ineffectiveness of BookBub Featured Deals of late, especially at the 99-cent price point. I got a FD on my sci-fi boxset for the Archangel Project and decided to document the sales for everyone. Hopefully, this will be a helpful case study, one that will help you decide if you want to attempt to get a featured deal and/or attempt to list.

This boxset is new, but the books in it are several years old. None of the books in it have been featured by BookBub in over a year. Just as an FYI: I've noticed in newsletter swaps that boxsets do 2 - 3 times better than single titles.

I am not attempting to hit the USA Today list. I've done that already. What I learned from the experience is that even if you make the list it is more lucrative to not attempt it.

Because I'm not trying to hit the USA Today, I won't be doing targeted Facebook or AMS ads. I might do a boosted post, just to make sure all my FB followers see the sale. I don't expect to spend more than $10 on it if I do that though.

Although I may not be trying to list, I would like to get as high a ranking as possible. I'm hoping that as I drift down the charts I'll get some organic sales. Obviously, the higher I go, the more visibility.

Below are the ads I've booked and social media links. I would love shares of the Facebook / Twitter posts! I organize a lot of group promos on StoryOrigins / BookFunnel, and I'll beg those folks for shares. I also arranged a lot of newsletter swaps--I've left out the names of the people I'm swapping with to protect the innocent.

For anyone curious, the "Boxset List" is a newsletter that folks sign-up for if they download one of my multi-author collections.

Facebook post (FREE)       September 14 https://www.facebook.com/CGockelWrites/posts/1552322444962529
Twitter post (FREE)        September 14 https://twitter.com/CGockel1/status/1305285238931759109
Tumblr post (FREE)        September 14 https://cgockel.tumblr.com/post/629186111614468096/this-is-on-sale-for-a-limited-time-at-all

EreaderIQ: 4 $10         September 14
Newsletter Swap 1         September 14
Newsletter Swap 2          September 14
Newsletter Swap 3         September 14
Newsletter Swap 4         September 14
Boxset List            September 15
Newsletter Swap 1         September 15
Newsletter Swap 2         September 15
Newsletter Swap 3         September 15
Newsletter Swap 4         September 15
Newsletter Swap 5         September 15
Newsletter Swap 6         September 15
BookDoggy   $20        September 16
Newsletter Swap 1         September 16
Personal List (Evening send)   September 16 <-- bit of a hole in my advertising on the 16th. :-P
BookBarbarian Overflow $35    September 17
BarbainBooksy $40        September 17
FKTIPS   $30           September 17
Booksends $40           September 17
Newsletter Swap         September 18
BookBub   $754           September 18
Boxset List Non-opens      September 19
Personal List Thank you / Last chance   September 19
Newsletter Swap         September 19
Newsletter Swap         September 19
------------
Total Spent: $949-959

Monday Starting rank: 187,000+

KBoards.com

author59 · « **Reply #1 on:** September 14, 2020, 08:05:55 am »

Thanks for sharing, and good luck!

kwest · « **Reply #2 on:** September 14, 2020, 10:29:48 am »

I'll be following along with interest! I'm hoping you'll find some decent sell through with your 99 cent price point. I wouldn't be surprised if you make your money back within two weeks if not sooner.

It would be super valuable if you could also share some sell thru rate data to your next in series, too. I'm considering offering a three book box set as a series starter at 99 cents also, when I go wide in a month. So it would definitely be pertinent to my situation and help me make the decision of whether to permafree it or charge 99 cents for it.

Gareth K Pengelly · « **Reply #3 on:** September 14, 2020, 10:36:05 am »

Good stuff, Gockel. Love Bookbub threads. Hopefully the boxset will shift shedloads.

C. Gockel · « **Reply #4 on:** September 14, 2020, 12:06:49 pm »

Quote from: kwest on September 14, 2020, 10:29:48 am

I'll be following along with interest! I'm hoping you'll find some decent sell through with your 99 cent price point. I wouldn't be surprised if you make your money back within two weeks if not sooner.

It would be super valuable if you could also share some sell thru rate data to your next in series, too. I'm considering offering a three book box set as a series starter at 99 cents also, when I go wide in a month. So it would definitely be pertinent to my situation and help me make the decision of whether to permafree it or charge 99 cents for it.

I hope I make it back "sooner" too! So far, sales have been really good today. I've gone from 187,000 -> 4,000 in the rankings. That's mostly on newsletter swaps.

For boxsets I've found sell-thru takes weeks. Also, for this particular set, the continuation of the series stars two secondary characters. Probably for that reason sales from Book 3 to Book 4 are only around 80% when the books are full price. The bonus novella features one of those characters as the hero, and I included it to hopefully push the sell thru a bit harder. I don't expect I'll know until sometime next month, but if you ping me I'll be happy to share the data (I will try to post it here, but might need reminding!)

alhawke · « **Reply #5 on:** September 14, 2020, 01:06:23 pm »

Thanks for sharing this. Interested to see your results.
Best of luck!

MorrowWriter · « **Reply #6 on:** September 14, 2020, 02:32:05 pm »

Thanks for the post. So useful to see this information.

BTW, I've been lurking in the Amazon sci-fi charts for the last few weeks, and always think that Archangel cover looks amazing.

Gareth K Pengelly · « **Reply #7 on:** September 14, 2020, 02:34:11 pm »

Quote from: MorrowWriter on September 14, 2020, 02:32:05 pm

Thanks for the post. So useful to see this information.

BTW, I've been lurking in the Amazon sci-fi charts for the last few weeks, and always think that Archangel cover looks amazing.

It's a fun read, too!

C. Gockel · « **Reply #8 on:** September 14, 2020, 03:58:56 pm »

Quote from: Gareth K Pengelly on September 14, 2020, 02:34:11 pm

It's a fun read, too!

Thank you!

C. Gockel · « **Reply #9 on:** September 14, 2020, 03:59:49 pm »

Quote from: MorrowWriter on September 14, 2020, 02:32:05 pm

Thanks for the post. So useful to see this information.

BTW, I've been lurking in the Amazon sci-fi charts for the last few weeks, and always think that Archangel cover looks amazing.

All the cover in the series are by Tom Edwards: https://tomedwardsdesign.com/

I highly recommend him!

C. Gockel · « **Reply #10 on:** September 15, 2020, 08:24:39 am »

Welp I had 1 sale on Kobo yesterday, 2 on Nook, 2 on iBooks, (ETA: 1 on GooglePlay!) and over 300 on Amazon. I think most of my swaps are with KU authors, as that is where most sci-fi tends to be. That probably contributed to the dearth of sales on other vendors.

My shameless begging produced two new newsletter mentions, one on the 17th, which I need to be high in the rankings on Friday--the higher I am when the Bub hits, the less the Bub has to work to elevate my rank. Because I need to be high in the rankings going into Friday's 'Bub, I've decided to switch my Personal List send and my Box Set list send to Thursday, the 17th as well.

Starting rank today was 707...up from 187,000+ plus yesterday!

Sales are slower, but still respectable today.

C. Gockel · « **Reply #11 on:** September 16, 2020, 07:25:18 am »

Over 300 sales on Amazon yesterday, 6 on iBooks, 3 on Nook, 4 on Kobo. (ETA: 2 on GooglePlay) I know, the sales growth on the other vendors is really eye popping. (Okay, maybe it is, just not in the right way.)

Starting rank on Amazon was 779.

Today I have only one swap and one BookDoggy promo so I don't expect much in the way of sales. As my rank falls, I must resist sending to my personal lists. That must wait until tomorrow. I need my rank to be really high tomorrow night.

C. Gockel · « **Reply #12 on:** September 17, 2020, 08:51:03 am »

Only slightly over 125 sales on Amazon yesterday. 12 on iBooks, 4 on Kobo, 1 on Nook.

Starting rank was 709 this morning, but has sunk all the way to 1300+. I have a lot of newsletters booked for today, and hopefully they'll give the book a box a boost.

C. Gockel · « **Reply #13 on:** September 18, 2020, 05:50:52 am »

Welp...today is the day.

Starting rank was 342.

Yesterday I had over 350 sales on Zon (notice higher rank despite lower sales---Zon really favors consistent sales over spikes)...over 100 of those came from my mailinglist. A lot of subs I've picked up from BookFunnel and StoryOrigin finally converted. Also, several people said they bought it for their friends and family.

On other vendors 12 sales Kobo, 9 sales on iBooks, 9 sales Nook. (ETA: 12 sales on GooglePlay)

I have not noticed any sell-thru whatsoever yet, but I have two preorders in the series, and they've been doing slightly better than before.

Kenneth Rosenberg · « **Reply #14 on:** September 18, 2020, 02:31:50 pm »

Quote from: C. Gockel on September 18, 2020, 05:50:52 am

Welp...today is the day.

Starting rank was 342.

Thanks for posting, it's always fun to follow these results. I'm seeing it at #85 right now. Congrats, not bad! I hope you have a nice, long tail as well.

Gareth K Pengelly · « **Reply #15 on:** September 18, 2020, 02:47:41 pm »

Doing amazingly well, huge congrats!

Bodie Dykstra · « **Reply #16 on:** September 19, 2020, 12:45:25 am »

Ranked #29 on Amazon.com right now (wee hours of September 19, Pacific Time). Wow.

C. Gockel · « **Reply #17 on:** September 19, 2020, 11:00:52 am »

Hi Everyone - As Bodie Dykstra mentioned I hit #29 on Amazon.com yesterday. Woot! I have exposure, but did I make money?

I paid $754 for the promo. To break even I needed 2154--I did beat that, but only *just* the day of the sale. I had a little over 1700 on Amazon (I think it may violate TOS to say exactly how much?), 178 on iBooks, 168 on Nook, 150 on Kobo. GooglePlay hasn't updated yet, so who knows over there.

(ETA: 100 sales on GooglePlay) I know from my personal list / swaps that single titles generate half the interest as boxsets. I probably wouldn't advertise a single 99-cent title in BookBub unless it was in KindleUnlimited. You'd probably get better ROI from a free run--even if that free run was only at smaller sites.

I guess one thing to note is that I had over 1100 sales BEFORE the BookBub. They cost me $165 from smaller newsletter sites. However, most of those sales actually came from newsletter *swaps.* I've been swapping with people all year and had goodwill from people with deep sci-fi only lists. Two authors, both with lists over 20k, shared my newsletter on Monday and Tuesday. If you look back I had a lot of sales those days.

I got over 200 sales from my own newsletter. (I send people to my site so I can collect affiliate income and track sales without violating TOS.) Some were previous customers who wanted to buy the series for their friends and family (they emailed to let me know they'd done so), but a lot were probably folks who'd downloaded a freebie from MyBookCave, StoryOrigins, and BookFunnel and were waiting for a sale to continue the series. (That said, I have found people will buy a book at full-price if you just remind them. "Love Archangel Down? Noa's Ark Book 2 is available now at your favorite vendor!" I need to do that more often!)

Sales are still pretty brisk today, and I've seen a slight uptick in sales of follow up books. I'm hopeful that will continue.

Gareth K Pengelly · « **Reply #18 on:** September 19, 2020, 11:23:19 am »

Amazing news! Very well done, a successful campaign I'd say, haha!

IreneP · « **Reply #19 on:** September 19, 2020, 08:07:03 pm »

Thanks - I love promo threads and you've always been generous in sharing yours.

Great run!

C. Gockel · « **Reply #20 on:** October 21, 2020, 01:16:14 pm »

UPDATE: The BookBub tail only started to fall about 30 days after the sale. I was up about $1000 from where I would have expected to be this month. I had a new release this week, so between the BB tail and that, there should be a nice Christmas in the Gockel house.

KBoards.com