ALLi Insights: Marketing your Book through BookBub Video & Podcast

In this month’s How-to for Authors, Orna chatted with Katie Donelan from BookBub. Here's our edited highlights and the ALLi Insights video about marketing your book through BookBub

Competition to be included in the daily BookBub email is fierce, especially in popular categories like Romance, so if you want to increase your chances of being “BookBubbed” it's best to familiarise yourself with the selection criteria process used by the BookBub editors.

Historically publishing has not been a direct to consumer market, but BookBub knows what Indie Authors have known from the outset; the most important element of marketing and promotion is reaching readers.

Although BookBub's founders, Josh and Nick, didn't come from the publishing world they have a history in digital media and marketing, so it's little wonder that BookBub has become THE marketing and promotion tool authors are clamouring to align themselves with. Their direct to consumer approach is working, because they already have over 6 million subscribers – and this number grows daily.

BookBub subscribers opt into the digital retailer they download their books from, and Google has been one of the fastest growing retailers for BookBub. This adds weight to the philosophy that the more places your book is available the greater your chance of reaching your readers.

The BookBub selection process is competitive. They receive between 200-300 submission per day, but BookBub only select 10-15% of them for Featured Deals.

They limit their selections so that BookBub subscribers aren't overwhelmed by the volume of choice, and all the listings have an equal chance of performing well.

So how do you increase your chances of being BookBubbed?

Deal Price, breadth of retailers and region availability have an impact, and BookBub's editors review books based on the submission category. But these categories aren't set in stone, and books are frequently passed between editors to ensure they're considered for the optimal category.

Editors look at how many reviews your book has and whether it has any accolades, they also consider how readers are responding to the book. While you don't have a lot of control over those, there are a couple of elements you do control and should optimise; your plot description and your book sample.

One of the most critical elements for getting picked for a BookBub promotion is the timing.

If you submit your book during a week when your specific category is deluged with submissions, you may not make the cut. Submit it again, and you could be the pick of the litter.

If you want to familiarise yourself with the other contributing factors that help to get your book selected for a BookBub promotion … watch the video: