The Publisher Perspective: November 2021

by Jay Hartman

Q: I have a brand-new mystery novel out, and I really want to get it in Bookbub for a promotion. I get their newsletters, and it seems like a great way to sell a lot of copies. Is it worth it to spend the time and money to get into one of their promotions? – G.R., Ogden, UT

A: From a visibility standpoint, it might be worth it. From a financial standpoint, definitely not.

Bookbub is a bit secretive as to how they determine which books qualify for their promotions and which ones don’t. The only things that have been confirmed is a) you need to have a bunch of reviews on Amazon and b) your title must be on Amazon and c) it helps if you’re published by Open Road Media. Don’t believe me on that last one? Take a look at how many of Bookbub’s newsletters feature titles from ORM. Where nearly every author or publisher out there has to struggle to get into a Bookbub promo, ORM seems to be featured every time. That seems to indicate something behind the scenes that you and I don’t have access to.

So, let’s say you meet whatever Bookbub’s requirements are for inclusion. And let’s say for the sake of argument you’ve written a cozy mystery. According to Bookbub’s current data approximately two million people subscribe to the Cozy Mystery newsletter. Wow! That’s a serious amount of eyeballs on your work!

But…eyeballs don’t necessarily equal money, and here’s where you need to do some math. Keep in mind all prices that follow were accurate as of the time of the writing of this column and may have changed.

The lower the price of your title, the lower the price to get into the newsletter. You could pay $712 for this category and offer your title for free, but free isn’t a business strategy and never has been. Study after study has proven people who download free titles a) never read them and/or b) never buy another title in the series or by the author. The industry refers to these folks as “collectors.” You think your TBR (to-be-read) pile is bad, you should see the ones from ebook collectors. And, after all, you DO want to get paid for your hard work, right?

Okay, so let’s go with $0.99 for your title, which is the next-lowest cost of entry at $1036. Yeowch. Okay, but you’ve got two million people subscribing to the newsletter, so that’s awesome.

Errr…not so much. According to Bookbub, of the two million people who subscribe to the newsletter only 2,760 people make a purchase. Double yeowch. But okay, we’ve got 2760 people paying $0.99 soooo…woohoo!

Not so fast.

Bookbub requires you to include Amazon. Why? Because they use affiliate links to earn themselves extra revenue on top of what they charged you to place your ad. If you click through one of their links, that Amazon cookie lives on your computer/phone/tablet for at least 30 days so every purchase you make on pretty much anything at Amazon earns them money during that period. At $0.99, Amazon (and most other retailers that Bookbub works with) pays 35% royalty to you, so you’re earning $0.35 per copy of your title that sells.

Here comes the math part. Let’s assume every one of those 2,760 people buys a copy.

2,760 people x $0.35 = $966
20% taxes you have to pay on income: –$192
Cost of Bookbub ad: –$1,036
Net loss: –$262

And, this is best-case scenario. Realistically, the 2,760 is not a definite, and your mileage may vary significantly. Could you possibly get sales of your other titles because someone bought this one? It’s a possibility, but you should never invest your advertising dollars on what might happen with other books. Advertising should be based on the product that it’s been created to include.

Bookbub is built to make their company money, NOT to make YOU money. In the end, you have to decide for yourself if that kind of loss is worth the investment. The idea behind advertising is to generate revenue and visibility, not just visibility. From the Publisher Perspective, I’m going to say you’re better off spending your advertising dollars elsewhere.

Looking to get The Publisher Perspective? Send your questions to jhartman@untreedreads.com with TPP in your subject line. If your question is used, we’ll send you a free ebook from Untreed Reads.

Jay A. Hartman, editor-in-chief at Untreed Reads Publishing, founded Untreed Reads to promote ebooks with an emphasis on independent authors and publishers. He’s written about the ebook industry for fifteen years and previously served as content editor for KnowBetter.com, one of the internet’s oldest sites reporting on ebooks and epublishing.