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BookBub not what it used to be?

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573 views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  spacedin  
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#1 ·
I currently have a BookBub Featured Deal running--US + International--and although of course I like selling a lot of books even at $0.99, I'm disappointed with the results so far, which are quite different from any BookBub Featured Deal I've had.

Last year the 3 international-only FDs I ran all earned their money back and more.

But the FD I have running now, unless some miracle occurs today and tomorrow, is going to end up in the red. Not even anywhere close to breaking even. Did something change? Was it foolish to accept a FD that started on a Saturday? Or is BookBub just not what it used to be? I've never had fewer than a couple thousand sales on a US + Int'l FD. With this FD I'll be surprised and grateful if I sell even 500 books.

Yes, it's a good book. Yes, it has a fabulous cover. Yes, it has great reviews (4.7 on Amazon). I wasn't totally thrilled with the BookBub blurb, which surprised me since their blurb writers are usually amazing, but it wasn't off-putting or terrible. Yes, the promo ran and the links worked and all of my venues had the correct price.

BookBub used to be the one totally reliable not-a-money-sink promo site. Losing money on this was the last thing I expected. I'm flummoxed.
 
#2 ·
"Miracle" might happen for you if you're looking primarily at Amazon. Amazon is about a day late with KDP reports. So running BB promos have ran a day to two days late with final stats. I hope that's the case for you.

All promos are declining. Not sure what's going on there.

The more irritating thing is series sell through is down. One way I always used to recoup with a BookBub was to have books in series sales. Now it's pulling teeth getting readers to buy a book >$2.99 during a promotion. That's new for me only over the last year.
 
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#3 ·
I'm sorry to report that no miracle has occurred. At least not yet. I'm on day 3 of the BookBub, so visibility has dwindled considerably. So far I've sold a total of 341 copies of the sale book (Zon + Apple + Kobo + B&N + GP) and a few scattered copies of a permafree book plus 2 other full-price books. This is by far the worst BookBub result I've ever had, at approximately 75% fewer copies sold than any other BookBub I've ever run.

This book isn't part of a series, so I can't comment on that. But I'm wondering if ebook and perhaps print book sales are down in general, since my sale book rose to #6 in technothrillers on Amazon.com with fewer than 300 books sold there over the course of 24 hours. That seems like a very high rank for so few sales.

If BookBub is no longer the sure thing it used to be, I'm at a loss to figure out what to do next, if anything.

Meanwhile, @alhawke, thanks so much for your thoughtful reply.
 
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