Last year, a fellow author ran a discount special on her book. She and her publisher combined efforts and advertised the sale price on several sites. Her sales went through the roof, her book shot to the top of the Amazon charts, and she moved over four thousand copies.
Wow! Was that normal? Would that work on any book?
She was nice enough to send me a list of the sites they’d used and I forwarded it to my publisher. They’d never discounted a book in that manner before, but decided to give it a try. I was to be the guinea pig and they set up a one week sale for my second book, CassaFire.
The result? While I don’t yet know how many copies moved, CassaFire did hit the top of several categories on Amazon and was in the top two hundred of all books. Whoa!
As an added bonus, since I have two other titles, both of those rose in ranking as well. And after the sale, all three books continued to sell well.
Does advertising a free or discounted book work? I’d have to say yes!
Between the list she sent me and some research on my own, I was able to compile a list of sites where you can advertise your eBook. A few are free while many cost money. There’s often a minimum number of quality reviews required for a listing. You have to decide which book qualifies, which one would best benefit from a sale (and benefit your other books), and what you or your publisher can afford.
While not everyone will experience great results, it’s definitely worth checking out!
BookBub
Probably the most expensive, but it also gets the best results.
Kindle Books and Tips
Costs $25 for basic listing.
Digital Book Today
Free and paid options, and not just for discounted or free books.
EReader News Today
Costs 25% of sales through their site.
Read Cheaply
Free listing for discounted books.
Pixel of Ink
List your discounted and free books.
Many Books
Free and paid options
The Fussy Librarian
Listing for any eBook.
And the following websites list many more discount and free book sites:
Ready to have a sale now?
Wow! Was that normal? Would that work on any book?
The result? While I don’t yet know how many copies moved, CassaFire did hit the top of several categories on Amazon and was in the top two hundred of all books. Whoa!
As an added bonus, since I have two other titles, both of those rose in ranking as well. And after the sale, all three books continued to sell well.
Does advertising a free or discounted book work? I’d have to say yes!
Between the list she sent me and some research on my own, I was able to compile a list of sites where you can advertise your eBook. A few are free while many cost money. There’s often a minimum number of quality reviews required for a listing. You have to decide which book qualifies, which one would best benefit from a sale (and benefit your other books), and what you or your publisher can afford.
While not everyone will experience great results, it’s definitely worth checking out!
BookBub
Probably the most expensive, but it also gets the best results.
Costs $25 for basic listing.
Digital Book Today
Free and paid options, and not just for discounted or free books.
EReader News Today
Costs 25% of sales through their site.
Free listing for discounted books.
Pixel of Ink
List your discounted and free books.
Many Books
Free and paid options
Listing for any eBook.
And the following websites list many more discount and free book sites:
Ready to have a sale now?
Great list here, Alex! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI must invest in a Kindle, always behind with technology that's me.
ReplyDeleteGreat post to read and some good tips about E books.
Yvonne.
Hi Alex Yvonne again why can't I join the IWSG group, I tried several times but was told unable to do so.
ReplyDeleteYvonne.
BookBub is the best place to advertise, but also one of the hardest to get into. This is a great resource of other places to try
ReplyDeleteGreat list Alex, thanks.
ReplyDeleteI've heard great things about BookBub but I've also heard their impact isn't what it used to be. Could be a fluke though. Congrats.
ReplyDeleteYvonne, do you mean follow the site or join the group? You're already in the group.
ReplyDeleteNigel, their requirements are tight.
Donna, it made a difference with my book, big time.
Alex I mean Join the site that is done through Friends Connect.
ReplyDeleteYvonne.
Bookbub is kind of anal when it comes to letting people in, but if you get in it works awesome. Used it last sept for a free run and got 18K dwl's of my book. That jacked me up and then sold a ton of other ones, plus got a good 20 reviews or so. Worth it indeed.
ReplyDeleteThat's cool! I bought CassaFire during the promo, too! :D
ReplyDeleteThanks for this list! I've looked around before, but the sheer number of sites (and my ignorance of which ones are ripoffs) was overwhelming. I'll be sure to share it with the authors I work with.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great list of sites.
ReplyDeleteGreat list, Alex. Thanks for posting this!
ReplyDeleteHow early does one need to apply before the book is advertised? Is there a common time frame?
Fantastic list! Thank you. :)
ReplyDeleteYvonne, not sure why. You're not blocked.
ReplyDeletePat, that's great results!
Thanks, Debra!
Thank you, Lynda.
Melissa, it seemed to vary between one and three months.
Thanks for this list! Great resource.
ReplyDeleteAwesome list. Thanks, Alex.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of talking to my publisher about trying something like your publisher did. I've heard of most of these sites and have read good recommendations for most of them.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely heard of the power of Book Bub. Thanks for putting all of these in one place!
ReplyDeleteVery nice to have another list to compare to those that I have discovered. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteExcellent list. I need to bookmark this!
ReplyDeleteI've been hearing BookBub isn't delivering the goods like they used to. They've jacked up their prices, and more people are claiming to have broken even at best on their promo. It makes me wonder if their mailing list members are glutted with free books.
ReplyDeleteThere's a new competitor, Freebooksy, that does free one-day promos of free books. I gave them a shot last week; my book peaked at a #233 overall Free ranking on Amazon and #3 in Fantasy (1000 downloads in just over 24 hours). I think it's having a halo effect on my fantasy novella series as well.
This is great stuff, Alex. I'm more determined than ever to buy an iPad.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this info, Alex! Bookmarking this. It'll be a big help!
ReplyDeleteSusan, you should try it!
ReplyDeleteLarry, the BookBub ad my publisher did certainly paid off. Good to know about Freebooksy.
Great list Alex! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you for compiling this list, Alex, and especially for sharing the information here. The list is very helpful to me.
ReplyDeleteAlex..Thanks for the list. Your timing is perfect. I am listing my book Misty's Child free March 14-16 and Ereadernewstoday is featuring it for Friday.
ReplyDeleteCuriosity Quills used BookBub for my 18 Things 99 cent promotion . . . not sure if they advertised it anywhere else, but it was pure gold for me :-)
ReplyDeleteA former co-worker of mine once downloaded a free book to his Kindle and read it. The book was really good...and there was a part 2, 3, 4, and so on. The catch was, when you got to the end of book 1, you had to pay for the subsequent books. He bought them because the first book was so good.
ReplyDeleteI think it could work...
That's helpful. Thanks. I've used ERT and it works.
ReplyDeleteGail, good to hear!
ReplyDeleteJamie, it paid off for me, that's for sure.
Stephanie, exactly!
I need to bookmark this page, Alex. It's chock full of great links. Gah, this still terrifies me, thinking about selling the book I wrote. I'm kinda glad it's so far away!
ReplyDeleteGreat information, thanks for the list. Great page to bookmark for future reference.
ReplyDeleteAwesome list. I've been researching a number of these lately, and these are definitely some of the top bidders.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the list. I recently put my book up for sale and have been struggling to find places to submit it.
ReplyDeleteHi Alex - fascinating and informative to read .. I've logged it in my brain too!
ReplyDeleteCheers and I'm so pleased your sales are rushing through .. excellent - Hilary
Thanks very much Alex, for this list and the explanation of how it worked for you! Now, to read and research.
ReplyDeleteGlad this has helped so many!
ReplyDeleteYep everyone loves a sale! :) I am definitely bookmarking your post! Thanks for sharing some great info!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the personal info on how you book (and books) did. I've bookmarked this for future reference. Great post!
ReplyDeleteSome really good information. I'm going to have to share this with a few of my writing group friends.
ReplyDeleteI think a broad base sale on various sites, like this, is advantageous to authors. For one, there are those who always look for a good sale. Even if they buy one book on sale, if they really like it and you have a back list, they'll check out those books too. Winning situation.
Sia McKye Over Coffee
Good to know. Very useful list >:)
ReplyDeleteCold As Heaven
Sounds like a wise thing to do to boost your sales. Well done and thank you for sharing. Love love, Andrew. Bye.
ReplyDeleteCool! Now if I can remember where I saw this when I need it. . .
ReplyDeleteDid most all of them!! Plan to have my book on sale in June. Thanks for making this easier Alex!
ReplyDeleteHey great list! I've used some of these sites in the past with good results. By the way you can also use www.thewallofbooks.com which is pretty nice. It allows unlimited books, reviews, social connections and even uploading a book sample.
ReplyDeleteAlso try http://flurriesofwords.blogspot.com/ and http://flurriesofwords.blogspot.co.uk/. Very inexpensive and markets to USA, Canada, Australia, India and the UK
ReplyDeleteExcellent lists up there. But many of promotion site list links aren't up-to-date. Over the years many promotion sites have come and gone. Here is an very current list of all the promo sites both paid and free: http://kindlepreneur.com/list-sites-promote-free-amazon-books/
ReplyDeleteThanks for the updated link Michael Jennings - I'd found that and used it earlier this month. For what it's worth - I had the most downloads for my discounted book from promotions by The Fussy Liberian, Choosy Bookworm and Awesomegang,
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteThank you for creating your list of book promotion sites.
There`s another service for ebook promotion.
Books Butterfly do $0.99 book and free book promotions to email lists of 125,000+ email subscribers. We have 128,888+ daily active readers. We offer a prorated refund in case a promotion does not hit the specified targets.
We'd really appreciate it if you'd add our site to your lists of useful resources.
Our Page for Paid Book Promotions
www.booksbutterfly.com/order/paidbookslots/?tag=op250_lists_2_insecure
Our Page for Free Book Promotions www.booksbutterfly.com/order/?tag=op250_free_lists_2_insecure
Where we promote: http://www.booksbutterfly.com/order/wherepromote/
Here is an interesting new approach to ebook promotion I would like to share. We list your book on content rich pages and share it through our large and constantly growing social media following.
ReplyDeleteIt is super simply to submit an ebook and always free:
http://guymcbryde.com/?page_id=2351
Think of it as Pay-Per-Click advertising without having to pay per each click!
Your Ebook does not have to be free, and once we list it, it stays live on our pages for as long as the Ebook is available for download.
Here's another site for posting Kindle free and 99c books: http://ebooksforfreeinc.com/
ReplyDeleteThanks for this usefull information!
ReplyDeleteI recomment this site for free ebook promotion:
http://www.ebookstage.com/welc...
Bookzio.com promotes indie authors' books with both free and paid book promotion activities. (Lots of our indie authors and publishers promote with us time and again.)
ReplyDelete