Thank you for doing this video. I am one of those soon to be published authors who does not like or use social media platforms like Tiktok, facebook, IG and twitter.
That's totally up to you! For me, when I paid a couple hundred dollars to give away The Stolen Kingdom, I made over $5,000 back in sales on the series that month and the next, so in my opinion, the income trumps the ego, and I will gladly pay to reach someone else's audience! :)
@@BethanyAtazadeh Have you done any book bubs since they raised their prices? $700 is a lot of money. heck, even $400 is a lot. I honestly wouldn't even pay $200, though. I don't have that kind of money to invest in myself. And a big part of me feels like businesses like this are just taking advantage of authors with their pricing. Sure, it's valuable, but damn. $700 is what I pay for my house.
You have a familiar, gentle teaching voice. Maybe that's weird but I appreciate how you aren't condescending to newbies like me, you just present things how they are and it's so simple and easy to follow. I just discovered you through another writer who valued your videos on self-publishing, and since I might be doing the same in a few years I'm definitely going to glean as much as I can.
Hi Bethany! I have a question. If bookbub does not select your book, do they still take off the payment? Or do they only deduct the payment if the book was selected Thank you! Your videos are so helpful.
I'm a little confused for what you're paying for. What exactly are you paying for if Bookbub is having your book for free? And how do you get the New Release Alert pending approval?
You're paying for BookBub to share your book's sale (or freebie) with their massive audience looking for books exactly like yours. And the new release alert should be automatic as long as you add your book before release.
Hi Bethany, would me being in the UK have difficulties using BookBub? Not that I am any where near ready to publish but just considering the future as I don't like social media, I'm very introverted😟 Thanks as always for your insightful videos.
Thank you so much! And I could totally do a video about ISBN#'s (which is what I think you're talking about more? Barcodes aren't something you need to worry about as an indie author, all the print on demand companies provide this, and this is more for their sales tracking needs, not something we need to handle. :)
@@BethanyAtazadeh Okay. I was on Bowker to buy ISBN's and saw the option to buy barcodes so I started doing research. I've seen some authors say you have to have barcodes with the price of your book included, if you want your book to be carried in brick and morter stores. I've seen others say this isn't needed. You have so much experience (and I actually trust your advice!) that I wanted to know your thoughts. Thank you!
The reason the "promote on social media" advice is so often given is it's free. Not everyone has money to throw at BookBub. I have tried some of their newsletter ads and got nothing for it.
That's very true, I just know there's also a lot of authors who really DON'T want to be on social media, so I wanted to share this option. Also I mention in the video that two of these ad options really don't seem to get much traction, so if you keep watching you'll see that ;)
There's a combo deal for Freebooksy and Fussy Librarian that I was thinking of doing. Did you do a video on what your experience was with Fussy Librarian?
That's awesome! I haven't done a video on any of the other companies, but it's been a few years since I used Fussy Librarian, so the whole experience has likely changed a lot since I used it also. I'd say as long as it's within budget, it could be a great opportunity!
Do you think it's possible to go completely without social media when promoting self-published books? Or somehow, I could become good at social media? I've tried doing the social media before, but it seemed clear to me to that I don't have what it takes to self-promote effectively. Also, your videos are so eye opening to me! Thank you!
As an indie author, we set the price for our books. When you want to run a sale, you go to that price page and change it. :) Amazon is the only company that won’t go below 99 cents manually, but you can change the price on other vendors and then ask them to price match. OR you can add your book to KDP select which will also allow a free book sale.
I’ve been crushing through some of your videos. You mention “selling them for free” in a few places. I’m confused how that works. Do you put them on KDP as free? Does Amazon let you do that outside of KU? Or do you have a video specifically on what free means, not sure how the vendors make money this way outside of KU which j don’t want to do.
Yes, you're putting them "for sale" on a vendor for a $0.00 price. Amazon does not let you do that manually, but if your book is published on other platforms, you then contact Amazon's help desk and ask them to "price match" and share the links to the other vendors with the free book. Amazon will usually price match within a few days.
And like I said in the video, we make money on the sell through to our other books, which is why it's so important to have other books. Otherwise you're just paying for exposure which isn't bad, but it's not as great as making our money back!
My thing is I just can't afford to spend 200 dollars for a featured deal. Even though I really want to. I gotta find a free way of promoting my books to sell enough to make 200 bucks first and then use that for bookbub. But it's just such a struggle to make money with my books especially when I can only afford free marketing strategies right now. But making 5000 dollars from a featured deal would be a dream of mine
Totally understandable! And I hope this came across in the video that this is just one of hundreds of ways to market our books, but many other ways are completely free, and if we're on a budget, then it's a smart business move to gravitate toward spending time instead of money. Nothing wrong with that, and with saving this strategy for down the road when you have more bookish income and a bigger backlist of books! :)
@@BethanyAtazadeh yeah that makes sense. That's probably why social media is so popular since it is free. But this is definitely something to save up for. Im getting a big blacklist of books published so far (books 1 to 5 in my Valiant Series with short companions between each), 1 in my Republic Chronicles with two more coming soon, 2 in my contemporary romance series with book 3 coming soon. Plus tons of other standalones and new series I'm working on
Do you use BookBub as a reader or as an author? If so, here's my author page if you'd like to follow!
I found Bookbub randomly years ago and I’ve found so many good books to read through it ❤
Thank you for doing this video. I am one of those soon to be published authors who does not like or use social media platforms like Tiktok, facebook, IG and twitter.
Although I gladly give away my books on amazon, i am not going to pay people to tout them.
That's totally up to you! For me, when I paid a couple hundred dollars to give away The Stolen Kingdom, I made over $5,000 back in sales on the series that month and the next, so in my opinion, the income trumps the ego, and I will gladly pay to reach someone else's audience! :)
@@BethanyAtazadeh Have you done any book bubs since they raised their prices? $700 is a lot of money. heck, even $400 is a lot. I honestly wouldn't even pay $200, though. I don't have that kind of money to invest in myself. And a big part of me feels like businesses like this are just taking advantage of authors with their pricing. Sure, it's valuable, but damn. $700 is what I pay for my house.
You have a familiar, gentle teaching voice. Maybe that's weird but I appreciate how you aren't condescending to newbies like me, you just present things how they are and it's so simple and easy to follow. I just discovered you through another writer who valued your videos on self-publishing, and since I might be doing the same in a few years I'm definitely going to glean as much as I can.
Türkmüsün . Çok güzel bir ingilizcen var.
Hi Bethany! I have a question. If bookbub does not select your book, do they still take off the payment? Or do they only deduct the payment if the book was selected
Thank you! Your videos are so helpful.
No you don’t have to pay for the service if they don’t offer it.
Thank you!@@BethanyAtazadeh
I'm a little confused for what you're paying for. What exactly are you paying for if Bookbub is having your book for free? And how do you get the New Release Alert pending approval?
You're paying for BookBub to share your book's sale (or freebie) with their massive audience looking for books exactly like yours. And the new release alert should be automatic as long as you add your book before release.
@@BethanyAtazadeh ohk, but how can i find the freebie? Ive been trying to look for the freebie but all I see is the paid
Hi Bethany, great video! Would you ever do a video discussing how you got The Stolen Kingdom into a book box?
Thank you! I actually did do a video on that back when it happened! :) here’s the link:
ua-cam.com/video/uIxAkbJnFP4/v-deo.html
@@BethanyAtazadeh I must have missed it, thank you!
Thank you for the tips! I’ve heard people recommend BookBub but I wasn’t clear on its function and how to use it. These are such great tips!
Glad it was helpful! And it can also be awesome to use on the reader side too by the way, lots of fun free book alerts there! :D
Hi Bethany, would me being in the UK have difficulties using BookBub? Not that I am any where near ready to publish but just considering the future as I don't like social media, I'm very introverted😟 Thanks as always for your insightful videos.
I'm in the UK and I use bookbub 👍
@@taniascott452 Thanks for letting me know it's possible 👍
@woodlandlady7011 I honestly wasn't sure, so I'm very glad that @taniascott452 chimed in to answer that, thank you! :D
Thank you for another great video! Would you consider doing a video about barcodes for self-pub books?
Thank you so much! And I could totally do a video about ISBN#'s (which is what I think you're talking about more? Barcodes aren't something you need to worry about as an indie author, all the print on demand companies provide this, and this is more for their sales tracking needs, not something we need to handle. :)
@@BethanyAtazadeh Okay. I was on Bowker to buy ISBN's and saw the option to buy barcodes so I started doing research. I've seen some authors say you have to have barcodes with the price of your book included, if you want your book to be carried in brick and morter stores. I've seen others say this isn't needed. You have so much experience (and I actually trust your advice!) that I wanted to know your thoughts. Thank you!
Is this video sponsored by bookbub? 😮
No why?
The reason the "promote on social media" advice is so often given is it's free. Not everyone has money to throw at BookBub. I have tried some of their newsletter ads and got nothing for it.
That's very true, I just know there's also a lot of authors who really DON'T want to be on social media, so I wanted to share this option. Also I mention in the video that two of these ad options really don't seem to get much traction, so if you keep watching you'll see that ;)
Those impossible green eyes! (Bookbub’s for me)
Would a series of standalone work the same/similar to an actual series?
Very interesting! I had no idea what BookBub did before watching this. It sounds like it could be very valuable to a lot of authors I work with!
Glad it was helpful! 🥰
Great advice, thanks
Glad it was helpful!
There's a combo deal for Freebooksy and Fussy Librarian that I was thinking of doing. Did you do a video on what your experience was with Fussy Librarian?
That's awesome! I haven't done a video on any of the other companies, but it's been a few years since I used Fussy Librarian, so the whole experience has likely changed a lot since I used it also. I'd say as long as it's within budget, it could be a great opportunity!
Thank you so much Bethany for explaining how it works. So helpful!
You're so welcome! Glad it was helpful!
Do you think it's possible to go completely without social media when promoting self-published books? Or somehow, I could become good at social media? I've tried doing the social media before, but it seemed clear to me to that I don't have what it takes to self-promote effectively. Also, your videos are so eye opening to me! Thank you!
It’s totally possible, but it’s also definitely helpful to have it. There’s no wrong answer so experiment and see which marketing works best for you!
So helpful! Thank you so much! Book 2 in my series is coming out this fall, so I'm definitely going to give BookBub a try!
Yay so glad to hear that it was helpful and good luck!
I will be watching
I do have a question, how do you make a lower sale price on the original of your book if your an indie author?
As an indie author, we set the price for our books. When you want to run a sale, you go to that price page and change it. :) Amazon is the only company that won’t go below 99 cents manually, but you can change the price on other vendors and then ask them to price match. OR you can add your book to KDP select which will also allow a free book sale.
@BethanyAtazadeh oh got it! That makes more sense, thank you for the insight! 🙂
I’ve been crushing through some of your videos. You mention “selling them for free” in a few places. I’m confused how that works. Do you put them on KDP as free? Does Amazon let you do that outside of KU? Or do you have a video specifically on what free means, not sure how the vendors make money this way outside of KU which j don’t want to do.
Yes, you're putting them "for sale" on a vendor for a $0.00 price. Amazon does not let you do that manually, but if your book is published on other platforms, you then contact Amazon's help desk and ask them to "price match" and share the links to the other vendors with the free book. Amazon will usually price match within a few days.
And like I said in the video, we make money on the sell through to our other books, which is why it's so important to have other books. Otherwise you're just paying for exposure which isn't bad, but it's not as great as making our money back!
@@BethanyAtazadeh love the strategy! Wasn’t sure logistically how it works so I’ll take a look at this! Thanks Bethany 🥰
My thing is I just can't afford to spend 200 dollars for a featured deal. Even though I really want to. I gotta find a free way of promoting my books to sell enough to make 200 bucks first and then use that for bookbub. But it's just such a struggle to make money with my books especially when I can only afford free marketing strategies right now. But making 5000 dollars from a featured deal would be a dream of mine
Totally understandable! And I hope this came across in the video that this is just one of hundreds of ways to market our books, but many other ways are completely free, and if we're on a budget, then it's a smart business move to gravitate toward spending time instead of money. Nothing wrong with that, and with saving this strategy for down the road when you have more bookish income and a bigger backlist of books! :)
@@BethanyAtazadeh yeah that makes sense. That's probably why social media is so popular since it is free. But this is definitely something to save up for. Im getting a big blacklist of books published so far (books 1 to 5 in my Valiant Series with short companions between each), 1 in my Republic Chronicles with two more coming soon, 2 in my contemporary romance series with book 3 coming soon. Plus tons of other standalones and new series I'm working on
Thank you for sharing this information.
Glad it was helpful!
Very helpful 🇺🇸🇬🇧
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you
You're welcome!
Thank you!
You're welcome!