BookBub's New Releases for Less - My Experience

Every author knows Bookbub as the Master of Advertising. If you are picked for a feature you’re all but assured of a great sales day and residual bumps. (Most of the time) Heck, I remember when they started and I was one of the first dozen or so authors to get a feature. But note, that didn’t give me any special privileges. I still get rejected by them.

Recently I was able to try the latest feature, ‘New Releases for Less’. Googling this didn’t breed many results. I only read people stating they heard ‘mixed results’. I couldn’t find one dedicated article, so I decided to write one.

I read a comment on a post that they accept everyone. Not true. I had two rejected for new releases for less. That being said, my latest novel, The Black, was accepted under horror and here’s what I learned, but I didn’t just watch my book.

It’s important to note that they base their decision on your release price, so doing a Countdown deal of .99 won’t work unless you contact them ahead of time.

The email

An email is sent out in the early afternoon (EST). It targets readers who subscribe to those categories. In my copy of the email, there were three books. Mine and two others. I tried to reach out to these other authors to get their opinion, but one was like trying to contact a mythical creature, no FB or website. The other just didn’t get back to me.

Anyhow, let me start by saying my book was at a disadvantage going into this ad campaign. A recent Amazon glitch caused my book to be without a rank. For ten out of fourteen days it was not listed in any categories and therefore unsearchable other than by my name. Yeah, that sucked. So it started out pretty bad compared to my other new releases.

RESULTS

There were three books in the email.

The Black – by Me (2.99 – Horror)

The Signal - Philipp Calvert and Joshua T. Calvert (0.99 – Sci Fi)

Not Like Yesterday – Ava Strong (4.99 – Psychological Thriller)

Here is how I charted the ABSR (Amazon Best Seller Rank)

 

Now for the breakdown.

To be fair I used the KDP Rank Calculator to estimate sale. Even on mine, which by the way, if I break down page reads as book sales (Divide by KENP #), it comes pretty close to the calculator.

 

The Black – Release Price $2.99

Est Three-day unit sales – 104

Cost of ad -                 $260.00

 Est. Royalties             $208.24

Loss/Profit                  -$51.76

Opinion – Not great, but not bad. I really think the glitch put my book at a disadvantage, but only the next several days will tell. Like all books sales go up and down. The difference in rank wasn’t grand, but hopefully, it will make a difference.

Not Like Yesterday – Release Price $4.99

Est Three-day unit sales – 29

Cost of ad -                 $700.00

Est. Royalties              $101.30

Loss/Profit                  -$598.70

Opinion – While the massive jump from a rank of 238,000 down to 18,000 is super impressive, as authors we know to go from 238K to 50k takes only a couple sales. Her hardest jump wa from 33k to 18k. I wish the author would have replied to my email, I really wanted to know what she thought.

 

The Signal – Release Price $.99

Note this was not a countdown deal so the author royalties are $.034 a book.

EST Three-day unit sales – 610

Cost of ad -                 $400.00

Est. Royalties              $207.40

Loss/Profit                  -$196.60

Opinion – Impressive freaking jump in best seller rank. However, setting a price of 99 cents with a 35% royalty was risky. In order just to get the money back on the ad the author needed to sell 1200 books roughly in 3 days, which is possible. But not with this type of ad. Even though they took a hit, I’m gonna say the ad worked for them because it’s a book one.

In Conclusion

So what does this tell me. The ad can work if your book is at the right price. I don’t think $4.99 is a new release for less (Unless you’re Stephen King), I think $4.99 is a new release for an average Indie Author Price. The Category has 1.4 million subscribers, you have to wonder how many opened that email and were like, ‘not for less’. I wonder how many she would have sold had she priced it at 1.99

The .99 book rocked as far as sales go but profit margin was lost, however, the strategy for a first book in a series paid off. The thing they did was think it through, come up with a plan.

In looking at the stats I didn’t do too bad. Would I do it again? Yes, but I would plan it through with a strategy to at least break even, and hopefully wihtout another horrible glitch throwing me behind the 8 ball.

Italian Hoagies - Best in the South of Pittsburgh

Whether you call it a sub, hero, hoagie… it all means the same. A delicious sandwich on a long bun filled with meats, cheese, veggies …. Sometimes hot, sometimes cold.

I am a food person, I take pictures of food. I’m weird like that.

I decided since I love Italian Hoagies to embark on a test of who makes the best and who are my favorites.

Now I excluded the local legends like Triangle Bar and Primanti Brothers (Over rated) and I picked the subs I felt were my favorite and took nicely dissected photos s you can get a deep view.

Disclaimer: I live in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, so these places are to the south of the city. Some of the restaurants I tried and while good, were not in my top list. Trust me I have tried almost every hoagie in this area.

You may disagree, but if you haven’t tried these places, it’s a must. Perhaps the photos will temp you.

Honorable Mention – Jersey Mike’s

I know it’s unfair they’re a chain, but no food in the world smells better or leaves a great scent in your car. Packed with meats and veggies, they’re made fresh on spot. They aren’t hot, but I am waiting for the day when I can get the Italian cooked like they make the  Cheesesteak.

6 – Loose Moose – Baldwin

This sub packs a bang for your buck. A  super-size sub, heavy on veggies and not thick with meat, but it’s a deal at 13.00. And it’s pretty tasty.

5 – Toss

I love this little sub. The bun is NEVER over done, it has just the right amount of meat veggie balance. Just an amazing little sandwich that is never bad and always good.

4 – Danny’s

I would have ranked them higher but the bun is never consistent. Sometimes it’s too crunchy. But the hoagie is outstanding.  And the dressing .,... excellent.

3 – Donte’s (Brownsville Road)

Look, if you want a good sandwich at a great price, go for lunch. Half hoagie, fries and beverage all for 7.99. I love this place and the people that work there. You know when you eat this sandwich it’s made by people who enjoy making the food. The owners are also awesome.

2 – The Trolley Stop

Oh my God, I have loved this hoagie from the first bite in 2001. And you know what? It hasn’t changed. It is consistently always the same. They have this mayo dressing they put on. Get an extra, you’ll want to dip. The bun is never over done and it’s priced right.

My favorite …..

1 – Nick’s Pizza (Castle Shannon)

The genoa salami pops in your mouth. That makes this hoagie so grand. I was eating one of these hoagies 30 years ago when I went into labor with my twins, but damn it I was gonna finish it. For a span of a few years, when Nick the owner sold this place, the hoagies kind of lost their luster, but they are back. The bun is seasoned and the balance of veggies and meat is perfect. 

Those are my favorites, I’d love to hear about yours.

I think I'll do an egg roll challenge next.