BookBub: You can use it even if you can’t afford their ads.
by Anne R. Allen
Isn’t BookBub Just a Bargain Ebook Newsletter?
They started out with the daily bargain newsletter. And it’s still going strong. BookBub has become the most successful of all the bargain newsletters in the US and UK. As a reader, I adore BookBub. I probably do 50% of my book buying through them.
But for most authors, it can be out of reach. Getting into that newsletter is seriously pricey. For a one-day listing, fees range from $93 for a free Middle Grade novel to $3000 for a $3.99 Crime Novel.
And even if you have the money, having your book accepted as a “Featured Deal” is ultra-competitive. The privilege of getting a spot in the newsletter is awarded to only a select few. BookBub chooses their titles using a complex process that predicts what their subscribers most want to read.
Books with the best chance of being selected have a large number of positive reviews, a great cover, no complaints about typos or bad editing, and are not exclusive to Amazon. They are also looking for the hottest subgenres, not stuff that is down-trending. For more detail on Dos and Don’ts for getting into BookBub’s newsletter see Diana Urban’s blogpost on How to Boost Your Chances of Getting a Bookbub Featured Deal.
BookBub’s Other Services
However, in recent years, BookBub has expanded to become a kind of Goodreads for grown-ups. I’m so thankful to commenters on this blog who clued me in about this!
It’s free and everybody’s welcome—readers and authors alike.
Except for one thing, and I should warn people who aren’t techy: the website can be a bit daunting.
BookBub has a bizarre home page infested with irritating bells and whistles that take forever to load, and popups that make you cry. You have to give them your email address before they even let you find out what they do.
Personally I deal with bullying popups by giving them an email address like FartieMcFartface@hotmail. The robots don’t know the difference. It’s rude to ask for our data without disclosing any of theirs, so I’m rude back. 😉
But if you manage to get past the reader-repellants and decide to join, you can sign up, then go to your profile, bookmark it, and avoid the sadistic home page. (Why do companies let people design their websites who only want to show off and drive away customers?)
The original BookBub newsletter helps readers discover books through special deals, but the website itself offers a whole lot more in recommendations, reviews, interviews, pre-orders and updates. They also have two excellent blogs—one for readers and one for authors.
There are also free tools to expand your following and increase visibility. No, I haven’t tried them yet—as I said, the tech is daunting—but I’m going to try.
What I like best as a reader is that A-list authors use BookBub, so you see recommendations and reviews from the likes of Margaret Atwood, Phillipa Gregory, and Lee Child, not just anonymous brain droppings from “IhateEverything” on Goodreads or “Reads20booksaday” on Amazon. Or worse—those paid reviews from some tragic 3rd world sweatshop.
Unfortunately the expanded services are only available in the US. The newsletter is available in the UK, but not all the other services. I hope they will “go wide” soon.
Why I like BookBub Reviews
Bookbub calls them “recommendations,” which means people generally review books and genres they like. And your review won’t be removed by random draconian algorithms.
If you’ve found a new author you adore, you can recommend their books—even if you’ve personally met them or friended them on Facebook. (Amazon strictly forbids reviews from “friends” even if you’ve only met them online because you like their books.)
Plus you don’t have to spend a dime to post a review. (Amazon now requires you to spend $50 a year on their site to post a review.)
In fact, BookBub wants to reward authors who are active on the platform, so they take recommendations into account in their discovery algorithms. These algorithms determine which authors appear as suggestions for who to follow across BookBub’s platform. For more on the perks of making recommendations on BookBub see 7 Surprising Perks of Recommending books on BookBub.
Another thing I like is that BookBub doesn’t favor any one retailer. In fact they prefer books that are available widely. They don’t make money from book sales, and everything is free to readers. They make money from authors who buy their advertising, but—at least so far—they don’t appear to favor authors who have bought their ads, just authors who are more active on the site.
The best part of all is that BookBub appears to be troll-free. Nobody can predict how long that will last, of course. The adolescent cruelties of Goodreads and fake review crazies of Amazon will probably wend their way to BookBub in time.
But right now, it is a civilized place where adult behavior is the norm.
Why Readers Join BookBub
Besides being a great place to write reviews, BookBub members can follow an author and get an email notice when a favorite author releases a new book—and avoid signing up for the dreaded author newsletter with the daily updates on the health of the author’s pet gerbil.
The email will have the cover and blurb and links to all the book’s buy pages.
You also get advanced notice of a Featured Deal of your favorite authors. (I’ve scored some bestsellers for under $2.99 with that one.)
Plus you can get a weekly newsletter with the reviews and recommendations by the authors you follow.
How to join BookBub as an Author “Partner.”
You may already have a BookBub account if you get the newsletter. But you want to sign up again as an author-partner so you can “claim” your books. Some authors prefer to have a completely separate account with a different email and password, but you don’t need to.
But you need an Author Partner account in order to claim your books and author page.
- Go to the “Partners Free Tools” page, and “Create Account and Claim Your Profile.” Then click on “Get Started.”
- If you have a BookBub reader account, they’ll ask you to create a BookBub “Partner” account. But if you are creating a new account with a different email address, pretend you’re a new member and click on the “Sign Up” link next to the text “Don’t Have a Partner Account?”
- Once you’re signed up/in, go to the Partner Dashboard and click on the link “Manage Your Author Profile,” then follow the directions to reach a link to claim your author profile
- The BookBub elves will then process your request, which usually takes about a week. If you don’t hear from them, contact BookBub’s support team.
How to Set up your Author Profile
- Once you’ve passed muster with the elves, sign in to the Partner Dashboard.
- Click on your profile icon (at the top right-hand corner of the screen) then select “Manage Profile” from the drop-down menu.
- Post your photo and bio. Hyperlinks are okay in the bio. They’ll look like text when you’re composing, but get displayed as links to the reader.
- Click on the “View Profile” link under your profile icon to preview what your profile will look like to readers.
If you don’t want to get dozens of emails, click the gear under the “Edit Profile” link to choose how often you want to hear from BookBub.
How to “Claim” Your Books
BookBub will automatically list some of your books with your profile, but they don’t usually get all of them, especially anthologies, so you’ll have to claim them manually.
When I first signed up, your books were all listed at the bottom of your author profile, but now there’s a separate page called “My Books.”
So go to your “My Books” page, and click on “Add Books.” Put your title, ASIN, or ISBN in the search window and click “add.”
Then comes the hard part. And I wasn’t even aware of the problem until I started writing this post today. You need to click on “Manage or Edit Links” to see if they’ve included all your links. If you added the book manually and you used an ASIN, only Amazon will be listed. And none of my books have the Google Play or Kobo links. Lots of work to do once I post this. You can only add one link at a time, which makes the job tedious and irritating. Not looking forward to that.
But I still think it’s worth it to be listed on BookBub. Even if the only link is to Amazon.
But Beware! Don’t Game BookBub.
I have had a number of authors write to me to ask about the ethics of using BookBub. They belong to groups where people have been swapping reviews and recommendations.
This is NOT a good idea unless you’ve genuinely read the book and you enjoy the author’s work (and genre!). The books you recommend are posted on your home page. They are part of your profile. And they go out to your followers.
If a reader of your rom-coms follows you and gets notifications of your recommendations—then gets an email with a cover image of a mangled corpse dripping blood, they’re unfollowing you immediately.
So do not randomly exchange recommendations. Recommend authors whose work you like and review books you’ve actually read and your readers might enjoy. Gaming the system will only hurt your own sales.
That doesn’t mean you can’t follow authors in a number of different genres.
Bookbub Ads
I should also mention that BookBub also offers paid ads (as opposed to Featured Deals.) While Featured Deal books are usually from an author’s backlist, BookBub ads are good for launching a brand new title that doesn’t yet have any reviews or track record. And you don’t have to jump through as many hoops to be accepted.
BookBub ads can run for days or weeks, not just one day, like a Featured Deal. The payment is not a flat fee, but calculated by what you bid for cost per click. I have to admit the info on how to bid for these “CPC” payments went over my head. But they say you can bid as low as $1 per day.
There’s a tutorial on the site to show you how to design your own ad. You also get to target a certain region, age group or other demographic most likely to be interested in your book.
Do As I Say, Not as I Do
Okay, confession time. I’ve put off writing this post until I had some time to write some BookBub reviews myself and get the feel of the site. But I’ve had a crazy year, and didn’t have time. But so many people have asked me about the site, that I figured I’d tell you what I know and get you started.
I do think it’s important for all authors to have a BookBub presence these days. And claiming your books is a good first step.
You can also put a a BookBub button on your blog or website, like, ahem, the big red one I have in the sidebar, and a few readers might join you there. Simply do a quick Google search for “BookBub button” to get a nice red one. And it’s okay to follow authors in many different genres. Just make sure that if you recommend their books that 1) you’ve read them and 2) your READERS will like them.
by Anne R. Allen (@annerallen) January 12, 2010
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What about you, scriveners? Have you joined BookBub? Do you get their newsletter? Do you find it helpful? What other things have you found out about BookBub that I haven’t discovered yet?
BOOK OF THE WEEK
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Two sisters: one white, one black. Two world views: one liberal, one conservative. But these two women have one goal in common—one they share with most women in modern society: the urge to diminish themselves by dieting. Food of Love is a historical comedy-mystery-romance set in the 1990s that carries a powerful message. It offers some of life’s darker truths—told with a punchline.
After Princess Regina, a former supermodel, is ridiculed in the tabloids for gaining weight, someone tries to kill her. She suspects her royal husband wants to be rid of her, now she’s no longer model-thin. As she flees the mysterious assassin, she discovers the world thinks she is dead, and seeks refuge with the only person she can trust: her long-estranged foster sister, Rev. Cady Stanton, a right-wing talk show host who has romantic and weight issues of her own. Cady delves into Regina’s past and discovers Regina’s long-lost love, as well as dark secrets that connect them all.
Available in eBook from:
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Available in Audiobook from: Audible
***
featured image: Banker and his wife by Marinus van Reymerswael (c.1490 – c.1546)
Thanks, Anne. I love your “FartieMcFartface@hotmail” idea.
I wonder how BookBub deals with trolls. You and I have both been impacted by “Annette” at GoodReads, and GR doesn’t seem to give a flying fig about her and others like her.
You’ve inspired me. When I get time (maybe in my sleep?), I’ll explore the BookBub options.
Kathy–I have fun with those! But, oh, that Annette! How can GR continue to support somebody who leaves dozens of 1-star reviews every day? All that does is make the site useless. It’s just a playground for trolls. I used to describe it as “Lord of the Flies” meets “Mean Girls.” That still stands.
I hear you about finding time. Obviously, I haven’t. But I hope to soon. I’ll see you there!
It’s a date. 2041?
Anne—Thanks for such an informative post. I’ve been posting reviews on BookBub for a while now and want to add that another benefit is that with each new review I almost always get a few more followers. Since I review genres I love & write (mostly historical fiction, contemporary fiction, and non-fic about the same subjects), these new followers would also likely enjoy what I write.
Ruth–I didn’t know you’d been writing reviews on BB! I should have asked you for pointers before I wrote this. That’s another great incentive to write some reviews. I’d better get to it!
I love BookBub also for the reasons you stated. Though (my bad) I do forget it’s there what with all the obsession of GR and FB. But your post has persuaded me to put more effort into promoting to readers via BB.
LOL – while I was reading your post I went into my account and updated some book links too. Haha.
One thing that is easy is to just add the follow me on BB link to your email signature.
I hope more readers do get into being part of the blooming BB community from this perspective it is much prettier than GR and less crazy than the ZON.
Good post, Anne.
Annie
Anita–Great tip! *runs off to change email signature.* Thanks!
More good info from you, Anne: Thorough and helpful. Now, I’m nervous to start the “join” Bookbub process. I’ll wait until I have time and patience. I clocked on the Red Button and was pleased that your info came up right away with no problems.
Ruth, your comment about getting a few more followers makes this adventure appealing.
Marlene–I’m a Boomer. Other people might not find the tech as daunting as I do. I do think it’s worth putting in the time.
Excellent! I’m definitely going to start reviewing there.
Alex–I’m glad I’ve inspired you!
I already had an account with all of my books set up, but now I’m going through and leaving reviews. Need to track down more! It’s like a rabbit hole.
Alex–Uh-oh. I’ve added to your to-do list. But it’s for a good cause!
Nice to hear BookBub has some civility to it – not like what goes on at GoodReads. That place is Trollville. Thanks for the info about updating the BB author profile. I need to do that. Also – I didn’t know that BB doesn’t care for Amazon KDPSelect books. One more reason to get ambitious and publish wide.
Garry–It is a great incentive to “go wide”. BookBub is probably the best book advertising venue around, because of the number of subscribers.
I advertise on BB, but do not want to go “wide” to possibly qualify for the super expensive one-day listing. I was “wide” and the sales outside of Amazon weren’t worth it. I am making good money on the “page reads” in kindle unlimited. And the “read” numbers have gone way up since I started focusing more advertising on FB and BB about my book being in the program.
Pamela–If KU is working for you, I wouldn’t change just for BookBub. They do give priority to books available on multiple platforms for the featured deal, but that doesn’t mean they never accept KU books.
Just what I need to notch up my marketing this year, Anne. Thanks for the tips on Book Bub reviews and navigating evil pop ups.
Cat–I have fun with the evil popups. 🙂 Join me on BookBub. It’s definitely classier than Goodreads!
I’ve been using BookBub for those books I really, really like (and usually for authors that need the boost the most). I do like that they’ll let your followers know you have a new release out, but it has to be novel-length. They wouldn’t alert my followers for the short story I released. Not sure about novellas, either.
Thanks for the suggestion of putting a link on my blog. I honestly never thought about that. A big red button is up there now!!
Stacy–I feel guilty that I haven’t reviewed lesser known authors I like. I need to make time. Yeah, I think BookBub rules are pretty strict. They don’t take novellas for the newsletter, so maybe they don’t send alerts on them either. Which is very old-fashioned of them. The novella is the future!
PS, you have a new follower! 🙂
I joined Book Bub a while ago and hadn’t not anything with it. Your post motivates me to rectify that. Thank you!
Liz–I’ve been lazy about it too. But my research this weekend showed me how many ways it helps sales. I’ll see you there!
I just followed you!
Liz 🙂
Just the kind of kick I needed to try something new and see if it helps. I’m lucky there’s been no flak on my writing on GR, but I have heard the stories from others besides you.
And I just wrote to recommend this column to two author-friends who do more reviewing than I do. I’m hoping that will create some coat-tail effects for them- after all, they do the work, why not give it some exposure? It’s all writing!
Will–You’re right that reviewing is writing. Some writers like John Updike and Dorothy Parker were as famous for their reviews as their books. So I hope your friends will consider Bookbub.
I guess some genres attract more creeps on GR than others. For some reason the worst GR trolls are female, and they gravitate to romance, mysteries, and paranormal. Maybe you’re safe–but don’t count on it. The trolls are getting worse, according to the article I linked to.
I started leaving BB reviews on every review I do (and I review everything I read). I simply copy/paste and leave it there, Amazon, and GR all at the same time. I’m thinking of adding another, like B&N, or Kobo. Any suggestions for other civil places?
Jeanne–That’s a wonderful habit to get into. I should do that too. 🙂 It gets your own writing read by more people and helps the authors. It would be smart to put them on Kobo too. It’s a friendly platform that’s increasing in popularity around the world. and I’ve never seen a troll there.
I’m doing the same thing, Jeanne Felfe. Write one review and post on BB, GR, and Amazon. I keep track on an excel spreadsheet.
Will look into Kobo. And will look into that big red button.
Mcullen–That’s such a great way to do it. That saves your reviews and helps the author.
BookBub doesn’t require books to be wide in order to promote them. I’ve got my third BB promo coming up later this month, and all my books are exclusive to Amazon. 🙂
Good to know, April. Thanks for posting this info.
April–They say that the number of retailers that carry the book is taken into account when they choose their Featured books. (Link to Diana Urban’s post is above.) So if you go wide, you have a much better chance of being selected.
Your books must have a lot of other things they love!
Great insights on Bookbub Anne, including the ‘daunting’ navigation of that site. I joined a few years ago, wouldn’t let me post my profile or my books, or review other books. So what am I doing there. A hair-tearing experience, complete with emails back and forth with them, instructing me to do this and that, bla bla, and 7 emails later – ‘Oh, it’s because you’re Canadian’. Like Amazon who will allow Canadian authors to do a Kindle Countdown, but sorry, not available on countdown for Canadian readers. 🙂
DG–That is BookBub’s biggest flaw. It wouldn’t take much effort to include Canada and the UK, and they have a newsletter in the UK, but so far, they haven’t done it. Such a shame, because a lot of my favorite authors are Canadian. 🙁
I love Bookbub! One thing though— I followed a reader who recommended my book and the next thing I knew, she emailed me wanting to know why I followed her, like I was stalking her.
Perhaps she was a veteran of Goodreads? I explained that I am a reader also, but since then I don’t follow readers. But I always say thank you when they recommend my books. That seems to be okay at Bookbub.
Alina–Oh, no! I didn’t know that was an unwritten rule. I generally don’t follow anybody who hasn’t written a book. Maybe that’s a rule we didn’t know. Because…Goodreads? I don’t know. Thanks for the heads-up!
As a reader only, I don’t mind when I get followed. It is just surprising to be followed.
Kim–Thanks for the info. I guess my instincts were right–If somebody doesn’t write reviews, there’s no point in following.
This is really good news. I’ve avoided BookBub precisely because of the grade school drama that goes on at Goodreads. I won’t even participate in a book club there anymore. No time for that foolishness. But I’ll head over to BookBub and have a look. Also looking forward to the Book of the Week, now on my tablet!
Lee–Thanks so much for buying my book! I just found out Amazon had lowered the price from $3.99. Somebody must be selling it for 99c, and that means you lucked out. I hope you enjoy it.
I belonged to some book clubs there too. One for Boomers. So all these younger people stomped in to say how much they hate old people and how they didn’t think any books should be written about us. Not exactly a pleasant place to be. I hope BookBub will continue to be a place for grown-ups!
Bravo to BookBub. Thanks for this, Anne. AND thanks for solving the mystery of those bizarre emails I occasionally receive from FartieMcFartface@hotmail.
CS–Fartie gets around! 🙂
Thank you for this, Anne. I’m a boomer myself and will have my first book published this May. For someone who’s not part of the social media generation, so much is daunting and half the time i’m lost more than I’m found. I do write reviews on GR and Amazon when I find the time to read and have done a copy/paste to BB also. I feel anyone who writes should get a review. My only caveat is that I won’t post less than three stars. If I don’t like a book, I just don’t review it. Anyway, I’ll give the BB Author Partner a try. It can’t hurt.
Bookish–That’s what I love about BookBub. They call them “recommendations”. People don’t recommend what they don’t like. So no snarky, negative reviews.
I think you have to wait until your book comes out to sign up as a “Partner” but it should help your book sales in the long run.
I started using BB about a year ago ish when several authors I know on FB started taking about it quite a bit. On the reader side, it is pretty easy (on a laptop anyway) to copy from Goodreads to Bookbub to NetGalley (if you got the book from there) to Amazon (after release) to your own site, then post the links to your own site on your socials. (My process, 90%+ of my reading in 2019 was ARCs, hence the wording above. :D)
Though I have several authors following me on BB – hell, it seems more authors follow me (anywhere) than “readers”. Never thought that was strange, but I’m also not one to really get involved in the “culture” of these various sites. I read what I want when I want (while meeting deadlines of any ARC reading) and post reviews. I typically only comment on another review if it seems particularly abusive/ diametrically opposite my own experience with the book in question, to the level that I question if that person read the same book I did.
And my 4.98 2019 average rating on Goodreads shows that I’m not a difficult reader to boot. 😀
Jeff–Thanks for being a reviewer! Mwaaaa! Authors wouldn’t survive without reviewers, so you’re doing a huge service. And the fact you only read what you like makes it even better. I think some GR reviewers get ARCs of genres they hate just so they can write snarky reviews. (And often they don’t read past the first couple of pages.
If you’re a top reviewer, yes, you’ll get lots of authors following you. Maybe only to read your reviews and see what readers are liking these days. And authors read too!
‘FartieMcFartface@hotmail’ ????
Great article, Anne, as always. I get BookBub recommendations, have read good books I wouldn’t normally have picked.
Excitement levels were rising till I read the bit about not available in UK *sigh* But I’ve got this bookmarked ready for when it is available, and I’ll be set to go! ????????
Joy–We have to hope that BB will branch into the UK and Canada. Since they have the newsletter in the UK, it might be in the works. Fingers crossed.
It’s good to hear they do more than ads now. They got way out of range for DLP years ago.
Diane–Yes, the prices of those ads went way over the top several years ago. But the other ads, plus the website, keep them as a useful part of any author’s marketing plan.
Thanks so much for this post – I’ve heard a few authors mention BookBub, just haven’t gotten around to setting up the profile and so on. But now I have a handy step-by-step for it, so thanks!
Irvin–It’s not as daunting as it seems if you just follow the steps and stay away from the home page. I have an old computer, and it simply can’t load all the bells and whistles, so I can’t go there.
Thank you so much for this, Anne. I joined BookBub years ago and tried to get my books featured. But, as you noted, I’d have to have sold a lot of books and have a ton of reviews so that didn’t work for me. I’m going to look into their ads now. Thank you for telling us about this.
Patricia–It’s harder and harder to get those Featured Deals. Most of the titles I get are from famous authors like Agatha Christie or Nora Roberts. New authors simply can’t get in for many genres. But anybody can buy an ad, and I’ve found some new cozy mystery authors that way.
Great article! I am on BookBub as a reader, and it is one of the few places I can leave a review. I cannot afford at this time to spend money at Amazon just to leave reviews. They won’t even let me review books I got through them. I love BookBub!
Missi–Great to hear you’re already leaving BB reviews! Amazon’s $50 rule really hurts a lot of reviewers. I know why they did it. They wanted to cut down on the 3rd world review farms, but they threw out the babies with the bathwater. It’s absurd not to let people who have bought a book from them review it.
Hi Anne. I’m up on BB, but quite unsophisticated, given that the idea of paid advertising anywhere much intimidates me (Amazon, FB, BB – all of them). Can’t persuade myself that I’ll master the black art, but I intuitively like BB and your article has helped to unpack it a little more.
Think I’ll make time to explore and install the big red button, if I can.
Thank you, again.
Frank–I hate to admit it but I am too. I have zero talent in graphic design and it all seems too much. So good luck to you!
I don’t know how to do the red button in WordPress, but I put one on my other Blogger blog all by myself, so I know its doable.
I’m learning to use Canva with the help of Dr YouTube.
Have designed my first ebook cover and have today put together a paperback cover in draft form. Using my own images. I am trying to create a simple cover design that will act as my template for when I take over the wor . . .
er . .
. . .produce more poetry collections, I mean. Yes, that’s what I mean . . .
Anne to the rescue! A few short weeks ago, my social media consultant (and elementary school friend), urged me to look into BB. He had heard good things about them and said we could both get up to speed and discuss after the holidays. In the meantime, I’ve been in a mini-doldrums, running out of gigs at the libraries and Rotary Clubs and stuck with 21 reviews (5 star which makes it worse) of my new book. Maybe it’s the holidays, but the timing of your post was welcome…very welcome. Thank you for enlightening me once again. @strangetemplars
Kenneth–A BookBub ad doesn’t do much for a singleton title. It’s great for selling your other books, but if you only have one, it’s not cost-effective.
But being on there and writing reviews may attract readers. So jump in. Membership is free.
Thank you for this post Anne. I’ve heard about BookBub, but I never ventured there as I thought it was just for published authors. Since reading this, I have set up an account and am waiting for confirmation for my author profile. Now I just have to start those reviews! 😉
Debbie–I can’t guarantee they’ll accept you as an author if you don’t have any published books. But you can join as a reader, start writing reviews and then when your book comes out, you’ll already have a following.
Thanks Anne. I’ve published a couple of short stories (more on the way, including novellas), so I’m hoping they’ll accept that. They may not appear in their newsletters, and I’m fine with that for now. My main focus though is writing reviews and hopefully work my way up from there. 🙂
Excellent post, Anne. I’m a fan of Bookbub. While, I have not been able to get a Bookbub Featured Deal. I have used Bookbub Ads for my Kammbia fantasy novels. I’ve made some money from them and will continue to learn how to make better ads.
Marion–Many thanks for your report on BookBub ads! I’m scared of them, and my publisher isn’t into doing that kind of advertising, but they intrigue me, because I’ve bought books through BookBub ads myself. It’s great to know they work!
Great post, Anne. Thanks for sharing the perks of recommending books link — so much to learn despite using the site for a while now. I followed you and Ruth on BookBub 🙂
“But right now, it is a civilized place where adult behavior is the norm.” Hopefully this will last…
Ronel–Thanks for following! I’m impressed by the number of books you have out. Let’s hope that BookBub remains civilized.
I read a great review this weekend of Where the Crawdads Sing, which I liked, but found really flawed. This reviewer felt the same way and was honest but fair and kind. That’s the best sort of review, which is why I think we’ll find the most helpful book reviews on the Web on Bookbub.
Thanks, Anne 🙂 The last decade showed me what I can do with hard work and determination — hopefully this decade will include more sleep!
Thank you, Anne, for this information. With your written encouragement here, I joined Bookbub, which was easy. There are a couple challenging things to do (add RSS feed to my author profile and add my author bio). Trying to figure out how to do that. Everything else was pretty easy.
M Cullen–I’m glad it wasn’t too hard. I think it’s worth the hassle!
This sounds great, Anne. I hope they soon roll it out to the UK, too.
VM–I think there’s hope they will. They ran the newsletter in the US for several years before they branched into other countries, so they take their time.
Already commented and shared but will continue to share this. So needed and thank you, again, for writing this!
Thanks, Sarah! I’m loving Bookbub’s reviews!
Reading all your comments has been helpful to me. I am very new and have just published my memoir on K F P. I’ve joined Bookbub and paid for an ad. So far I have only had one review. As a Boomer I find the technology very daunting but am slowly getting to grips with it. Any advice from you would be greatly appreciated.
Mary–It sounds as if you might benefit from my book “How to Be a Writer in the E-Age” which I co-wrote with superstar author Catherine Ryan Hyde. We wrote it with older new writers in mind.
There are a number of ways to get reviews, none of them easy, but here’s an overview from the Alliance of Independent Authors, an excellent resource for all things indie. https://selfpublishingadvice.org/ultimate-guide-to-getting-book-reviews/ Best of luck!!
Great article and very well done as most all Book Bub content is spot on. TeamGolfwell does free book reviews > https://www.teamgolfwell.com/free-book-reviews.html
Bruce–I’ll have to check out Team Golfwell! Thanks!
Anne – Chancing across this post was my first visit to your site, but it won’t be my last. Your FartieMcFartface email idea is a hoot. Thank you for the smile.
Here’s a question regarding leaving Bookbub Recommendations. You mention making sure to only review books that you’ve read and truly like, but that also ones your READERS will like. I’ve got eclectic reading tastes and have two pen names at Bookbub, one for Regencies and one for contemporaries.
Several of the Recommendations I’ve attempted to make were on older books (I was trying to highlight my lifelong favorites) and obviously TPTB over at the ‘Bub don’t care about older books because they never took the time to find the covers or post my reviews.
I’d rather not mess with multiple pen names, but have done so because of computer algorithms. What happens when you question whether your followers will care – or be turned off – if you recommend things outside the genre they’ve followed you on? Wondering about this, as well as having past – thoughtful – recommendations not ever post at the site after leaving them, has made me hesitant to mess with this further.
I welcome any thoughts you may choose to share. Thank you! Larissa
Larissa–I always look for the book on Bookbub first, so I haven’t had the frustrating experience of writing a review that’s never posted. Sorry you had to deal with that.
As far as reviewing what your readers will like, I’m not saying you have to review within your own genre. But if you write cozies, it’s best not to review things like BDSM Romance or men’s action-adventure. It’s fine to review nonfiction, too, but say, if you write historical romance, it’s better to review a biography of Florence Nightingale or Mary Shelley rather than the memoir of a controversial political figure or a handbook for fixing old Volkswagens.