[Trioxin 245]

I would assume the monetization that will eventually take place will come through ads....by other authors.?

A couple of questions. The first being, my open rate is above 20 percent by quite a bit. Even if it was not, why is your open rate/notification going to be better? Any early data you can share that validates this?

How are you securing readers? And what is the projection for the next year of number of readers? At this point I see it as a way for an Author to send their readers your way.

Lastly. If I send out a notice through newsletters, social media etc, that basically says, Hey come over to booksniffer with me. Those that do follow are already engaged. Why have those fans that are responsive happy head somewhere else ? In other words you have not solved the problem of the non responsive fans/those that don't open emails etc.

 

[Trioxin 245]

The real advantage to getting everyone (authors and readers) on board to building BookSniffer is this - there's really only one BIG promo platform out there that does what we do, and they reject 80% of those who apply, even more. That's got to change, but there's the chicken/egg problem, of course.

What they don't like to do is sign up for a gazillion newsletters, and with every newsletter a reader signs up for, it becomes that much harder for authors to cut through the clutter.

Thanks for responding it is appreciated. First, I wanted to say I like what you guys are doing. There are a lot of features for the reader that I think is going to work. I still have reservations though.

Concerning BookBub, yes they reject 80 percent of submissions. Of course there is a variety of reasons but one of them is quality. Yes bad books happen to get through but there is a reason BB is at top of the mountain. Quality books and minimum selection of one or two good books a day per category. It takes away the reader having to endlessly search for a deal.

It sounds like more authors are going to get "exposure" on your site, at least if the 80 percent rejection quote above is implying that. If that's the case and far more authors will be seen, then the idea of readers not being bombarded with deals (NL etc) from different authors doesn't work? Maybe a better way of saying it is, if the 80 percent rejection will be improved on with sniffer, then how will that happen?

and from your own website,

"First, we scour the web every day for the best deals on ebooks and audiobooks, listing hundreds and hundreds of new deals each day. "

This seems to be a lot of clutter and we have not even talked about advertising yet.

So, to say all this in another way.

When we take away the customization for the reader , that is their own library shelf, meme sharing, messaging, we are left with them finding a deal on a particular day. So Jane Doe goes to Sci-FI category and sees x amount of deals. Its fun searching at first but how long before she gets burnt out and no longer goes past page one?
Tell me where I'm wrong but you have taken the simplification of curated deals and made it more complicated for the reader.

 

[Trioxin 245]

I think there is plenty of room in the market for everyone, though. There's SO much demand for cost effective book advertising, the market is completely upside-down right now. When people are paying $1 a click to market a 99c book and try to climb the charts HOPING they break even, it's just insanity. I think the market really needs a cost-effective alternative, badly - the question is, which authors will help us build it? Those who do will be really well rewarded for it.

Just an observation but it seems like you guy are saying one thing and implying another. First the original post about the 80 percent rejection rate on BB, and how its implied your going to beat it. Sure you could accept more for your curated list but if I am competing against ten other authors on that day what is going to be the realistic value of that?

You guys keep throwing out this one million dollar in advertising to be spread around. Its a great hook but what is its value? Whats the cut off date? Or number of users? Is it this first thousand, ten thousand users? If its insanity to pay 1 buck a click, how will your platform stop that rising cost? Are you going to cap it? Because if not, if five thousand authors have loads of ad spend to use from the million dollar giveaway, its going to soar past a buck a click.

This is not a knock and you do not have to respond but the plan for book sniffer seems to appease everyone. -We are going to stop the clutter for the end user by showing them hundreds of deals a day, plus a curated list as well as ads. For authors we are going to show improved open rates...somehow...because that really hasn't been explained why your notification will be better than ours.

The problem an author faces is being lost in the clutter. Or search engine. The screen shot you posted above shows a category of deals of 1 in 148.
Its the same problem all over again for the author. they are going to get lost in the clutter/search engine.

The thing about BB or any other list is simple. If chosen, your book will be seen alone (perhaps one or two other books beside it) by users of their list. With yours, it one of a hundred or more.

And with everything else new and shiny, people run to it, the cost skyrockets (ads) and its back to square one.

 

[Trioxin 245]

Sorry to derail the thread. I am confused by this. Especially using the term "death knell". Every time someone comes up with something new people on forums come up with the "end of promo sites". It couldn't be further from the truth. Amazon ads, Bookbub ads, Facebook ads, etc They were suppose to kill promo sites. If anything they have helped us. It cut down on how many books were paying for a spot in our newsletters. Our readers love that. Our authors love that. It is a win-win. We are actually bringing 2 more book promo sites online this month.

Sean - It is really cool to see a new fresh idea, feel free to reach out if you ever have a question on book promotion sites

"They were suppose to kill promo sites. If anything they have helped us. It cut down on how many books were paying for a spot in our newsletters."

Not sure how less income helped you? If your talking about de-cluttering the number of books in your email blast and this was an issue, I'm curious to know why you never addressed it.

The death of promo list sites is already happening whether anyone wants to admit it or not. Even vets will tell you that BB is still viable but not what it was a year or two ago. In fact a new replacement is already happening on Amazon and I am surprised no one is talking about it yet. Its going to be a huge game changer and kill most of the NL services overnight.

(Being dramatic of course but it will be the final blow )

 

[Trioxin 245]

Me > Even vets will tell you that BB is still viable but not what it was a year or two ago.

You> Oh and the vets that are saying newsletters are dead are using the newsletters. Don't pay attention to what you read on forums.