How to Amplify Your Ebook Price Promotion

AMPLIFY YOUR
EBOOK PRICE
PROMOTIONS

What is BookBub?
BookBub | The leading service in ebook price promotions! How to Amplify your Ebook Price Promotions | 2
•  Service that alerts readers to
the best deals on ebooks
•  Marketing tool for authors and
publishers to find new readers
through strategic discounts

Why BookBub?
Featured Deals20,000+
Subscribers5 million+

Step #1: Set Your Goals

BookBub | The leading service in ebook price promotions!
Hit a bestseller list
Market a series
Launch a new release
Drive sales and revenue
1
2
3
4
How to Amplify your Ebook Price Promotions | 5

Goal #1
HIT A BESTSELLER LIST

BookBub authors often hit
the New York Times, USA
Today, or Amazon
bestseller list during their
price promotion
Discounts drive bestsellers

26
$1.99 $2.99 $1.99 $1.99
$0.99 $1.99 $1.99 $1.99
$0.99 $1.99 $0.99 $1.99
BookBub books hit the
New York Times bestseller
list in the past month

5,200
On average,
BookBub users bought
copies of each across retailers
How to Amplify Your Ebook Price Promotions| 9

8,000+ 3,500+
Average BookBub sales for
books that hit the Ebook
Fiction list
Average BookBub sales for
books that hit the Ebook
Nonfiction list
Fiction needs more sales than nonfiction

Discount your most popular book1
171
average number of
reviews these books
had before their
price promotions
15%
increase in response
rate when a book has
150+ Amazon or
Goodreads reviews

Response rates are
over 75% higher at
$0.99 than $2.99
Choose the lowest price possible2
$0.99 $1.99 $2.99

To hit a bestseller list:
Discount a popular book
Offer it for $0.99
Focus on driving unit sales across
retailers during a specific week
1
2
3

Goal #2
MARKET A SERIES

25%Romance
29%Non-Genre Titles
14%Scifi/Fantasy/Horror
32%Mysteries/Thrillers
Bargain readers are genre readers

94%
of authors who discounted a book in
a series sold more of other books in
the series during the promotion
Discounts drive series sales

Discount the first in the series1
First in series Other
higher increase in sales of other
books in the series when the first
book is discounted vs. any other
book in the series
5x

more downloads of
free books than
$0.99 books
10x
$0.99 Free
Make the first book free2

Make the first book free
higher sales of other
books in a series when
the first book was free
2
8x

Discount for more than 3 days
3
3 or Fewer Days More than 3 Days
higher increase in sales of
other books in the series if
the price promotion lasts
longer than 3 days
4x

Link to series in your back matter
increase in sales of other
books in the series if links
are included in back matter
4
3x

To market a series:
Discount the first book
Offer it for free
Keep the discount live for 3+ days
Link to the rest of the series in
your back matter
1
2
3
4

Goal #3
LAUNCH NEW RELEASE

Bargain Readers Try New Authors
have purchased a book
from an author unknown to
them because of an ebook
price promotion
95%

“I prefer to pay $1 or less for
an unknown author. I would
pay much more for an author
I’ve read and enjoy.”
- BookBub subscriber

Bargain readers also buy
full-priced ebooks
23%Exclusively purchase
discounted books
77%Purchase full-price
and discount books

89%
of BookBub partners who
used a price promotion to
market a new release sold
more of their new book
after the promotion

of BookBub readers have purchased other books by an
author they discovered through a price promotion
63%
Discount a backlist title1

Discount when the new book is live
2
22xincrease in sales of an
author’s other books on the
day of their BookBub
Featured Deal

To launch a new release:
Discount a backlist title
Choose the first in a series or most popular
standalone at the lowest price possible
Use your back matter to drive new release sales
Try discounting after the new book launches
1
2
3
4

Goal #4
DRIVE SALES & REVENUE

Unit sales recap
Big author
platforms
Lowest prices
possible
Books in a series

Price promotions increase revenue
BookBub partners report an
average 196x increase in
earnings during their price
promotions, with an average
discount of 74%

With more than one book, try free1
of BookBub’s authors
saw increased sales of
other books after a free
promotion
75%

higher revenue for
books priced $2.99
instead of $0.99
142%
With one book, price high2
$0.99 $1.99 $2.99

Discount a big book
3
Feature bestselling authors at $2.99 to drive revenue

…Or a cookbook or box set
3
Cookbooks and box sets also work at higher prices

Discount for 5 days or fewer4
5 or fewer days Longer than 5 days
increase in post-
promotion revenue if the
book was discounted for
5 or fewer days
4x

To drive short-term revenue:
For an author with a big backlist, use the
series marketing strategy
With fewer books, discount the most popular
book (or a box set)
Offer it for $1.99 or $2.99
Keep your discount live for fewer than 5 days
1
2
3
4

Last Step: Measure Your Results

Remember to
Promote your price promotion

Case Study: Kensington

SERIES
STUDY:

The
Jonathan
Grave
Series
by
John
Gilstrap

Titles in the series were discounted in the month leading up to on sale of the 2014 9tle, End Game.
$0.99
$2.99
$2.99
$2.99
$2.99
Upcoming
Release

DISCOUNT
PROMOTION

A
BookBub
promo9on
was
run
on
No
Mercy
the
week
before
End
Game
went
on
sale:

The
Promo9on
Yielded
an
increase
in
sales
of

between
100
and
500%
across
all
9tles
in
the

series
over
an
8-‐week
period,
including
weeks

aIer
prices
reverted
to
full
DLP!

End
Game
sales
were
up
over
the
previous

book
in
the
series
by
over
36%
through
8

weeks!

100-‐500%

+36%

DIGITAL-‐ONLY
SERIES
LAUNCH
PROMO:

The
Tourist
Trap
Mystery
Series
by
Lynn
Cahoon

In June, Guidebook to Murder was put on sale at $0.99. A BookBub promo9on was run for this 9tle
six weeks prior to on sale of Mission to Murder:
Released
April

2014

DLP
-‐
$3.99

Released
July
2014

DLP
-‐
$4.99

Released
Nov
2014

DLP
-‐
$5.99

Guidebook
to
Murder
was
a
New
York
Times
bestseller

following
the
BookBub
promo9on!
This
was
Lynn
Cahoon’s

debut
on
the
list!

DISCOUNT
PROMOTION

In
June,
Guidebook
to
Murder
was
put
on
sale
at
$0.99.
A
BookBub
promo9on
was
run

for
this
9tle
six
weeks
prior
to
on
sale
of
Mission
to
Murder:

Mission
to
Murder
entered
the
top
10
most
pre-‐ordered

9tles
on
the
Kensington
list
following
the
promo9on!
If
the

Shoe
Kills,
which
released
in
November
at
a
DLP
of
$5.99,

was
also
one
of
Kensington’s
top
10
preordered
9tles

following
the
Guidebook
to
Murder
promo9on!

New
York
Times
Bestseller

Top
10

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How to Amplify Your Ebook Price Promotion

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