Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
I have a number of clients who use Bookbub, and most seem to be happy. I can't share their numbers, but those that do, and are happy, are those who treat publishing as a business--not a hobby. They keep very diligent spreadsheets and calculate their risk-return ratios quite tightly. I can only assume, then, that those folks are getting solid returns on their advertising dollars.
n.b.: most of those are multiple-book clients. More like 4-5 books, not 2. If that helps.
Hitch
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I have colleagues who have used Bookbub, with mixed results. These colleagues, too, have multiple books out, but it is often hard for them to quantify what the longer-term effects are specifically from Bookbub versus the author/publisher's overall marketing efforts: the domino effect leading to sales of their other books are not often immediate. This is especially true of those giving their book away for free AND paying Bookbub to advertise it. Too often these colleagues just seem to shrug their heads and say, "It was very expensive, and of course I made no royalties either, but at least that's 1000 people who didn't know about me before."
The problem I have with Bookbub is that their rates seem so out of proportion to the return. When the ad costs as much or more than the resulting immediate sales, the price demanded strikes me as audacious. The thing to remember, too, is that these sales figures are averages: yes, some authors will sell more and maybe break even or earn something, but just as many will lose even more than the example figures noted earlier.
And Cinisajoy: the price for radio or TV ads changes depending on the time of day, etc, because that is based on audience numbers; it has nothing to do with the cost of the product. A car manufacturer selling a $50K car and Coke selling a $1 soda pay the same price for the same time slot. So I still take issue with a company pricing their ads based on the price of the product. In a way, Bookbub are forcing authors to steeply discount their book price just to avail themselves of the "opportunity" to use Bookbub's services. You don't see this kind of business model with traditional advertising.
In any case, this coercion is a direct result of Bookbub being an Amazon affiliate. It is also rather unkosher of Bookbub not to come right out and tell their clients about the Amazon affiliation.
(And I am aware that many ebook advertisers also place a cap on the book price because they, too, are Amazon affiliates --and lower ebook prices result in a higher click-through rate -- but I don't know of any that increase the price of the ad if the book is priced higher. I accept that my knowledge is not complete, so if you know of any other ebook advertising sites that increase the cost to the author based on their book price, please share.)
So I'm still on the fence regarding this company. Some days I think I should try them but as I a) do not give my book away for free, the price is considerable; and b) I am not in Select so I would only make 35% on the sale price.