[Kathy Dee]

If you have used Freebooksy, would you mind sharing your results? I would be very interested to hear how many downloads you got and any other benefits came about via the promo.

 

[Trioxin 245]

I use to have really good results with them but they have fallen off quite a bit for me and a handful of other authors that I have spoken to. Of course, others are still having good results and YMMV by genre.

Its rare I share exact numbers, but we have seen approx a 66 percent decline in downloads from them. Hope that helps.

 

[kyokominamino]

Hiya! I used the Freebooksy series promotion ($150) in August 2020 for my sci fi/contemporary fantasy dragon hunting series. I had 1104 downloads, 41 sales, and 25 pre-orders of the newest book in that series the day of the promo. I was also very fortunate to get an increase in Amazon ratings on the first permafree title, Of Cinder and Bone, since then. I'd say I've gotten around 10-20 new ratings since that promo ran. I made back almost the entire cost of the promo on the first day and I think I made the entire cost back in a week. Overall, I felt pretty satisfied with the results, but it's definitely something I'd only do about once a year given that high price tag. I had been hoping for closer to 2,000+ downloads, but it has been a bit of a tough year and I'm also a nobody. Hope this helps!

 

[LDB]

Unsolicited, but as a user not a writer I get Freebooksy plus half a dozen or so others daily. My favorites are Fussy Librarian and My Next Read. I look at those every day. I look at Bookbub and Book Cave probably 8.5-9 days out of 10.

I only look at Freebooksy 1-2 days out of 10. I don't like the layout. It takes a lot of extra scrolling to get through all the links. I never use Apple or Google but I can't set it up to only show the 3 I use. And unlike Fussy Librarian that offers 5-6 choices neatly beside the book cover and blurb the Freebooksy options are huge beneath making the page over twice as long to scroll through.

I hope thoughts from a user are useful to you. Apologies if not.

 

[ImaWriter]

This isn't recent but my last run with them in December 2018 came in at 4,477 downloads.

 

[Crystal_]

I don't have the numbers in front of me but I believe there's quite a range. A virgin book with a hooky concept and great packaging can get several thousand. The same book will get less downloads the more it's run.

A book I've run a few times with a less hooky concept might only get 500 downloads if I don't stack with other promo or send to my list (and maybe other authors' lists too).

 

[Gareth K Pengelly]

On a virgin book, I usually get a good 2-3k freebie downloads.

But the diminishing returns are real - after that, even with several months inbetween, it'll be 1k, then 800, and so on.

 

[Saboth]

On a virgin book, I usually get a good 2-3k freebie downloads.

But the diminishing returns are real - after that, even with several months inbetween, it'll be 1k, then 800, and so on.

I've used them twice, and this is usually my result (supernatural/fantasy genres). Usually a few thousand downloads on the first day, maybe extra 100+ second day, and falling after that. I'd get like 2-3 reviews from it, and very little sell through. I'd say 99% of the people just see "free" and download, then never bother reading the book. But it does make you feel good to see thousands of downloads in a day, and you think to yourself, "Wow, there are authors out there who see this every day, and they are on PAID books!" so you get a little feeling of both accomplishment and despair out of it.

 

[alhawke]

April 2020 on a 3month old Amazon KU fantasy/paranormal romance :
3rd and final day of promo:
Freebooksy: 2644

2 days before:
Fussy Librarian: 1229 (this was a free run as my 1st free promo with them  )

3 days before (or 1st day of promo):
BK Knights: 399 (this is really good considering cost/benefit)

 

[aimeeeasterling]

I tested a bunch of promo sites on one of my permafrees recently with three days between each promo site to get solid data. Freebooksy resulted in a 1,148 download jump above the baseline, for a cost of 10 cents per extra download. That made it the fourth best mid-level site I tested, after Buchdeals (I had a promo code), Fussy Librarian, and Bookgoodies.

(Bookbub, of course, is an a whole 'nother tier.)

 

[Kathy Dee]

Thanks to everyone - very helpful.

 

[Darryl Hughes]

I've done 4 freebooksy's for four different titles across four different categories with four different results. I did one in "thriller" a big freebooksy category and got a great response of 5,000 downloads day one, about 700 on day two, and about 200 on day three. I did one in "mystery" another big category on freebooksy (but smaller then "thriller") and got about 3,500 downloads on the first day but I don't recall the drop off on the subsequent two days. I did a "teen" freebooksy, a smaller category with a smaller response of about 1500 downloads the first day and I did a "children's book" freebooksy, an even smaller category, and the response by comparison was a disappoint 650 downloads the first day.

I've done freebooksy's with the same books in the same categories about twice since the first times and they've all had a lesser response then they did the first time. So I guess each time you go to the well there's going to be less water because folks already have your book from the first time, so there's less folks who will want it the second and third times around.

Hope that helps.

Dee

 

[DmGuay]

I've used freebooksy over the years. I'd say the promotion that did the best as far as read through and earning its money back is the series promotion option, where they promote multiple books in the same series, as long as the first one is free. I ran one on 7/29 on a YA psychic romance title that rarely does anything on its own and got 1408 free downloads of book 1 and 98 sales each of books 1 and 2. For some reason, this one had a bit of a tail as well, and it took a couple more weeks, but the promo turned profitable. (It is in KU, so page reads did get a boost.)

I would definitely do a series promotion again, and I wish Bargain Booksy offered this as an option. I would not do a straight one book free, without the other books being featured.