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/1552322444962529Twitter post (FREE) September 14
https://twitter.com/CGockel1/status/1305285238931759109Tumblr post (FREE) September 14
https://cgockel.tumblr.com/post/629186111614468096/this-is-on-sale-for-a-limited-time-at-allEreaderIQ: 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+