Every indie author dreams of landing a BookBub featured deal.
These featured deals carry a reputation of being the pinnacle in book marketing. Imagine millions of readers seeing your sci-fi adventure or cozy mystery or epic fantasy or steamy romance front and center in a direct email. Landing a BookBub featured deal is a highly coveted prize in the indie publishing world precisely because it promises to shine a brighter light on a specific book or book series than any other promotional avenue typically available to an indie author.
Is it worth your time and money to land a BookBub featured deal? The answer is a resounding yes — if you submit the right book.
Results from my BookBub Featured Deals
I landed BookBub featured deals this past summer on two of my novels. Pandora Reborn was featured in BookBub’s horror newsletter on August 22nd. Alien People was featured in their science fiction newsletter on September 5th. Both books were discounted to $0.99 in the USA, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and India.
Pandora Reborn underperformed in a dramatic fashion.
290 sales on the day my featured deal newsletter was sent out.
405 total sales over five days while my deal was listed on the BookBub website.
Less than one sale per day during the week following my featured deal.
$190 in sales revenue for August compared to a $400 cost for the featured deal and other advertising.
My debut novel fell drastically short of being an average performer. The typical BookBub featured deal in the horror genre generates approximately 850 sales during the featured deal period. It ended up being a huge disappointment.
Alien People exceeded my cautiously optimistic expectations. I had 2,511 sales on the day my featured deal newsletter was sent out. That success spread to my other titles. I enjoyed a healthy sell through for other books in the series during the 5-day BookBub promo. I had 108 sales of Dark Metamorphosis and 56 pre-orders for Among Hidden Stars on day one. I also sold four copies of Under a Fallen Sun and two copies of In Hell’s Shadow. (Pandora Reborn, ironically, had zero sales).
How did my books perform following day one?
3,773 total sales over five days my deal was listed on the BookBub website.
43.7 sales per day over the first 10 days following my featured deal.
$2516 in total sales revenue for Alien People and my other novels in September compared to a $1,675 cost for the featured deal and other advertising.
The massive sales spike also boosted the sales rankings for the entire Alien People Chronicles trilogy in dramatic fashion.
Alien People rose to #67 in the Kindle Store on Amazon and was the no. 2 ranked science fiction eBook in the USA. It was the no. 1 science fiction eBook in Canada on Kobo and Amazon. Alien People also ranked as the no. 1 indie eBook on Barnes and Noble and the no. 9 eBook overall for two straight days.
Sales for my Alien People Chronicles series have continued at a steady and healthy rate since the end of the deal. I am still averaging 4.5 daily sales two months later and have sold nearly 6,000 copies of the entire trilogy.
Lessons from my BookBub Featured Deals
Seeing the results of what a BookBub Featured Deal can do has been an eye-opening experience. There is true power in this marketing tool and it can be a game-changer for an indie author who submits the right book.
You can maximize your success by submitting a book that is first in a series. If readers enjoy reading the series opener, many will return to buy and read the other books in the series. Submitting a standalone novel limits your sell-through to other titles. This inhibits your ability to make back your marketing costs and turn a profit.
Getting accepted for a Bookbub Featured Deal also hinges the presentation of your book. You need a professional touch. Hire a professional artist to design your book cover and book interior. Let your story pass through the hands of a professional editor and beta readers, so you can ferret out spelling and grammatical errors and get valuable feedback on plot, setting, and character development. Do everything to make your book stand out in a good way.
Landing a BookBub Featured Deal requires luck and persistence even after you do all the right things. But the rewards are well worth the effort.
Do you have a specific writing, publishing, or marketing topic you’d like covered in a future newsletter? Leave a comment below.
This is great info. I love BookBub and buy from it all the time! Glad to hear you had such success with it. Will definitely try to take advantage of their featured deals if/when I manage to publish my books!