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Bookbub Ads

Demesnedenoir

Myth Weaver
Well, since I had a Bookbub Featured Deal a few months I hadn’t really paid attention to Bookbub, but since I had gained followers there I figured I would see about targeting them for the heck of it. Sometimes it’s good to keep an eye on things.

First Note: In the past I have not found BB ads to be all that effective (except of course the Featured Deal which is all kinds of fun). The CPC and CPM never impressed, and it’s hard to track where sales come from, but I never senses that many sales from them.

Last night there was a clear change when building the ad as I targeted authors. First, it suggested a couple authors: Robin Hobb and Brandon Sanderson from my past ads and gave me the CTR for readers who followed them. It was an “ooohhhh” moment. That’s a piece of data I’ve never seen before! The other interesting thing I noted was that when adding authors to target, they no longer use the term “followers” that I was used to, it is now “interested readers” or some such. So, it appears that instead of targeting Sanderson’s direct followers, it’s going after people who have shown interest in Sanderson’s books. First off, this enlarges your target group. While I still have under a hundred “followers” BB has me with over 5000 interested readers. This stat goes to suggesting how effective the featured deal is, if I assume the readers are mostly a result of people clicking on that ad and maybe other ads I’ve run, would put the purchase rate for FDs somewhere around 50%.

Beyond the suggested targets, the ads now give CTR per individual author targeted while the ad is live. Of course this doesn’t say who is buying, but at least it gives a data point that might be useful. Time will tell, but I’m going to have some fun with it to see what I can find out. So! If you’ve ran ads in the past, it might be worth looking back and seeing what was effective targeting, or if you’re trying to find out who your audience is or who your ads are reaching, you might find these numbers useful.
 
Very interesting DDN. I will certainly look into this when my next book is ready in a few months.

I could easily be wrong, but it strikes me that the virus is a massive free kick for online/distance publishing.
 

Demesnedenoir

Myth Weaver
Virus or no, thus far sales per day are still sticking to the pattern of weekend sales topping the week. I’ve got a new ad kicking butt right now, so that’s kicking my numbers higher and will screw with any judgment over virus effects for a while, LOL.
 

A. E. Lowan

Forum Mom
Leadership
I've heard a lot of people talking about their numbers being down, and no one can figure out why. My theory? People are out of work and don't have those entertainment dollars to spend, plus with kids at home all day unless you have a hard core reading household with everyone taking part there isn't much time for it. I think we'll see this trend continue until the economy levels out and the virus burns itself out. Then things will return to normal, entertainment-wise.
 
OK, I've been experimenting with BB and it seems that my fourth ad finally hit the spot - lots of clicks and it must have resulted in sales because my historical novel has rocketed up the amazon US charts to be sitting just outside the top 100 for genre.

Now, I am aware that a surprisingly small number of purchases can cause a huge leap, but this situation is way better than where I was.

The changes I made over the four ads were to slightly increase the price per click to improve the algorithmic chance for screen slots and fiddle with the logline. "1066: the secret history of Hastings" seems to have struck a nerve.
 

Demesnedenoir

Myth Weaver
Yeah, different genres can leap like crazy. What kind of CPC are you seeing on BB Ads? I’ve gotten them to work before, but not efficiently over long term. I think they did better back on KU, but it’s been so long mymeory is weak, LOL. And that is a good logline.

OK, I've been experimenting with BB and it seems that my fourth ad finally hit the spot - lots of clicks and it must have resulted in sales because my historical novel has rocketed up the amazon US charts to be sitting just outside the top 100 for genre.

Now, I am aware that a surprisingly small number of purchases can cause a huge leap, but this situation is way better than where I was.

The changes I made over the four ads were to slightly increase the price per click to improve the algorithmic chance for screen slots and fiddle with the logline. "1066: the secret history of Hastings" seems to have struck a nerve.
 

Alrik

New Member
Any updates on how BB ads are performing? I ran a couple of them about two years ago, but it was impossible to determine whether there was any effect.
I'm considering taking a fresh shot for a first-in-series to boost it on multiple stores.
BTW, lockdown increased my expenses and exacerbated an existing sales slump on Amazon, so my marketing budget is microscopic. Sales on the other stores kept me going. This month I'm rising on Amazon due to marketing and recent releases, but dropping elsewhere.
I've seen a couple of reports that CPM is more economical than CPC. Any thoughts?
 

A. E. Lowan

Forum Mom
Leadership
Any updates on how BB ads are performing? I ran a couple of them about two years ago, but it was impossible to determine whether there was any effect.
I'm considering taking a fresh shot for a first-in-series to boost it on multiple stores.
BTW, lockdown increased my expenses and exacerbated an existing sales slump on Amazon, so my marketing budget is microscopic. Sales on the other stores kept me going. This month I'm rising on Amazon due to marketing and recent releases, but dropping elsewhere.
I've seen a couple of reports that CPM is more economical than CPC. Any thoughts?
Our ad budget is also non-existent, so until that changes and sales level out in general, we're focusing on generating word-of-mouth, and while the results are not spectacular, yet, they are positive. We're spending more time engaging in social media, interacting with readers and other authors to build a good reputation for being knowledgeable and helpful, not to mention nice. I'm sure that as we put out more books and readers are more likely to invest in the series, that the reputation we're cultivating now will pay off in the future.
 

Demesnedenoir

Myth Weaver
Any updates on how BB ads are performing? I ran a couple of them about two years ago, but it was impossible to determine whether there was any effect.
I'm considering taking a fresh shot for a first-in-series to boost it on multiple stores.
BTW, lockdown increased my expenses and exacerbated an existing sales slump on Amazon, so my marketing budget is microscopic. Sales on the other stores kept me going. This month I'm rising on Amazon due to marketing and recent releases, but dropping elsewhere.
I've seen a couple of reports that CPM is more economical than CPC. Any thoughts?

CPC or CPM is going to be ad dependent. A killer ad (and whatever mysterious factor makes it killer) will run cheaper CPM, but most of the time CPC is probably going to be better... but it’s simply going to depend on many factors. In general, I still don’t recommend BB ads. They seem to lack efficiency. Amazon and FB ads have almost always done better for me. When I release my next book I’ll consider BB for major promotions, but the basic ad system? I doubt it. Better ways to spend cash, far as I can tell. I’ve had them run well short term, but long trm? Nope.
 

Alrik

New Member
Thanks for your perspectives, A. E. Lowan and Demesnedenoir. My main attraction to BB ads is the ability to target beyond Amazon. I also like that the reporting is far more transparent than Amazon Ads. I might test a small BB on its own for a series starter. That way, I can see if it's effective for a wide boost on an older series.
 

Demesnedenoir

Myth Weaver
Start out bargain shopping at a low CPC/CPM and be patient, in that sense it’s a bit like Amazon’s ads. Jonesing for clicks can kill, LOL. In theory I’d love to love BB ads, but all and all FB has been better. But, that isn’t to say I won’t run BB ads now again to see how things go, but I don’t consider them a core advertiser.
 
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