how to amplify your ebook price promotion

AMPLIFY YOUR EBOOK PRICE PROMOTIONS

What is BookBub?

BookBub | The leading service in ebook price promotions! How to Amplify your Ebook Price Promotions | 2

•  Service that alerts readers to the best deals on ebooks

•  Marketing tool for authors and

publishers to find new readers through strategic discounts

Why BookBub?


Featured Deals 20,000+

Subscribers 5 million+

Step #1: Set Your Goals


BookBub | The leading service in ebook price promotions!

Hit a bestseller list

Market a series Launch a new release Drive sales and revenue

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2

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4

How to Amplify your Ebook Price Promotions | 5


Goal #1 HIT A BESTSELLER LIST



BookBub authors often hit the New York Times, USA

Today, or Amazon bestseller list during their

price promotion


Discounts drive bestsellers

26 BookBub | The leading service in ebook price promotions!

$1.99 $2.99 $1.99 $1.99

$0.99 $1.99 $1.99 $1.99

$0.99 $1.99 $0.99 $1.99

BookBub books hit the New York Times bestseller

list in the past month



5,200 On average,

BookBub users bought

copies of each across retailers

How to Amplify Your Ebook Price Promotions| 9


8,000+ 3,500+ Average BookBub sales for

books that hit the Ebook Fiction list

Average BookBub sales for books that hit the Ebook

Nonfiction list

Fiction needs more sales than nonfiction

Discount your most popular book 1


171 average number of reviews these books had before their price promotions

15% increase in response rate when a book has 150+ Amazon or Goodreads reviews


Response rates are over 75% higher at

$0.99 than $2.99

Choose the lowest price possible 2


$0.99 $1.99 $2.99


To hit a bestseller list:

Discount a popular book

Offer it for $0.99 Focus on driving unit sales across retailers during a specific week

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Goal #2 MARKET A SERIES



25% Romance

29% Non-Genre Titles

14% Scifi/Fantasy/Horror

32% Mysteries/Thrillers

Bargain readers are genre readers


94% of authors who discounted a book in a series sold more of other books in

the series during the promotion


Discounts drive series sales

Discount the first in the series 1


First in series Other

higher increase in sales of other books in the series when the first book is discounted vs. any other

book in the series

5x


more downloads of free books than

$0.99 books

10x

$0.99 Free

Make the first book free 2


Make the first book free


higher sales of other books in a series when the first book was free

2

8x


Discount for more than 3 days


3


3 or Fewer Days More than 3 Days

higher increase in sales of other books in the series if the price promotion lasts

longer than 3 days

4x

Link to series in your back matter


increase in sales of other books in the series if links

are included in back matter

4

3x



To market a series:

Discount the first book

Offer it for free Keep the discount live for 3+ days Link to the rest of the series in your back matter

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Goal #3 LAUNCH NEW RELEASE


Bargain Readers Try New Authors


have purchased a book from an author unknown to them because of an ebook

price promotion

95%



“I prefer to pay $1 or less for an unknown author. I would pay much more for an author

I’ve read and enjoy.” - BookBub subscriber


Bargain readers also buy full-priced ebooks

23% Exclusively purchase

discounted books

77% Purchase full-price and discount books



89% of BookBub partners who used a price promotion to market a new release sold

more of their new book after the promotion


of BookBub readers have purchased other books by an author they discovered through a price promotion


63% How to Amplify your Ebook Price Promotions | 28

Discount a backlist title 1

Discount when the new book is live


2


22x increase in sales of an

author’s other books on the day of their BookBub

Featured Deal


To launch a new release:

Discount a backlist title

Choose the first in a series or most popular standalone at the lowest price possible Use your back matter to drive new release sales Try discounting after the new book launches

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Goal #4 DRIVE SALES & REVENUE


Unit sales recap


Big author platforms

Lowest prices possible

Books in a series


Price promotions increase revenue


BookBub partners report an average 196x increase in earnings during their price

promotions, with an average discount of 74%



With more than one book, try free 1


of BookBub’s authors saw increased sales of other books after a free

promotion

75%


higher revenue for books priced $2.99

instead of $0.99

142%

With one book, price high 2


$0.99 $1.99 $2.99

Discount a big book


3

Feature bestselling authors at $2.99 to drive revenue


…Or a cookbook or box set


3

Cookbooks and box sets also work at higher prices



Discount for 5 days or fewer 4


5 or fewer days Longer than 5 days

increase in post-promotion revenue if the book was discounted for

5 or fewer days

4x


To drive short-term revenue:

For an author with a big backlist, use the series marketing strategy With fewer books, discount the most popular book (or a box set)

Offer it for $1.99 or $2.99 Keep your discount live for fewer than 5 days

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Last Step: Measure Your Results


Remember to Promote your price promotion



Case Study: Kensington


SERIES STUDY: The Jonathan Grave Series by John Gilstrap

Titles in the series were discounted in the month leading up to on sale of the 2014 9tle, End Game.

$0.99 $2.99 $2.99 $2.99 $2.99 Upcoming Release

DISCOUNT PROMOTION A BookBub promo9on was run on No Mercy the week before End Game went on sale:

The Promo9on Yielded an increase in sales of between 100 and 500% across all 9tles in the series over an 8-‐week period, including weeks aIer prices reverted to full DLP!

End Game sales were up over the previous book in the series by over 36% through 8 weeks!

100-‐500%

+36%

DIGITAL-‐ONLY SERIES LAUNCH PROMO: The Tourist Trap Mystery Series by Lynn Cahoon

In June, Guidebook to Murder was put on sale at $0.99. A BookBub promo9on was run for this 9tle six weeks prior to on sale of Mission to Murder:

Released April 2014

DLP -‐ $3.99 Released July 2014 DLP -‐ $4.99

Released Nov 2014 DLP -‐ $5.99

Guidebook to Murder was a New York Times bestseller following the BookBub promo9on! This was Lynn Cahoon’s debut on the list!

DISCOUNT PROMOTION In June, Guidebook to Murder was put on sale at $0.99. A BookBub promo9on was run for this 9tle six weeks prior to on sale of Mission to Murder:

Mission to Murder entered the top 10 most pre-‐ordered 9tles on the Kensington list following the promo9on! If the Shoe Kills, which released in November at a DLP of $5.99, was also one of Kensington’s top 10 preordered 9tles following the Guidebook to Murder promo9on!

New York Times Bestseller

Top 10


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