[Rachel Hanna]

I am thinking about doing a 99 cent promo on Bookbub in the romance genre. It's pretty pricey, so I'm wondering if anyone is able to share a rough number of sales you got from doing an ad with them? Wondering if I will make my money back on one of the more expensive ads....

 

[Cheryl Douglas]

I can only speak about the ad for my free book. It's been a game changer for me.

 

[JRTomlin]

I did a 99 Cent promo and more than made my money back the day of the promo. It stayed at a better ranking with higher sales for a couple of weeks as well, but it was in a different genre.

 

[Amanda Brice]

I've done a Bookbub twice in the Teen category, which has a much smaller list size than Romance (and thus costs a lot less).

Both times, I made back the cost of the ad and then some (roughly double both times) just on the day of the ad, and the increased sales continued for a couple of weeks (albeit nowhere near at the same pace as the day of the ad) afterwards.

I've gotten sales figures from several friends in the Romance and Mystery categories, and I have not heard of a single person yet who has not made back their investment. Many have done exceedingly well. Some have even hit the "big girl lists" like USA Today or NY Times as a direct result of their ad.

In general, it seems that 1500-2000 sales the day of the ad alone is a rough average for Romance and Mysteries (of course, some sell less and some sell many, many more). Of course, the more venues you offer the deal, the better. Usually it appears that authors make back the investment and then some through Kindle sales, and then it's B&N and Apple that really puts them over the top.

 

[Amanda Brice]

Romance costs $380 for a 99 cent deal. That means you need to sell 1086 books through Kindle, or 950 books through either B&N or Apple, or 844 books through Kobo.

You're unlikely to sell 844 books through Kobo (let's just get honest). But 1086 through Kindle is certainly not unheard of. Several of my friends have done this ad in the past couple of weeks, and it seems most are selling 2000+.

And keep in mind that you will likely see some spillover to other books as well, plus whatever you sell afterwards. The numbers they quote on their website are just same-day sales, I believe. But assuming you get an influx of high sales, your ranking/exposure will improve so when you go back to full price you'll still see increased sales (albeit not as much).

So you'll likely make back your investment and then some. Most people I know seem to break even sometime that first afternoon