Support for Indie Authors discussion

Dear all,

I am a new author and very new to this community. My first posting here. My book's title is in the topic description.

I wonder if anybody ever tried to promote their book via BookGorilla with the price $0.99?

What are the benefits of being selected by them? Will it be any financial gain for me? Or it is rather getting more downloads?

Regularly my book's price is 4.99
Should I give it a try? They ask for $50 for putting my book into their e-mail.

Please excuse me if this topic have already been discussed.
And if anybody is willing to friend me I will greatly appreciate it...

Thank you very much,
Svetlana

Hi Svetlana, I have no idea about BookGorilla. I'm in the exact same spot as you. Would love to know the answer. I'm happy to friend you though. :)

Kathi

I'm afraid this is not the most helpful answer, but here goes.

I looked at several such sites, including Book Gorilla, a couple of months ago. Initially, Book Gorilla looked interesting, but on further review, something put me off and I removed them from consideration. Unfortunately, I cannot recall what that was. It could that our genre was not a good fit, but it was more likely that I didn't like something in their submission policy.

I will say that my experience suggests that new authors rarely seem to get their money's worth from paid promotion (in this or other forms).

Thank you Owen and Kathi, I remember that I read a blog of one author who said each time he had price discounts for his books he would promote it via services similar to Gorilla's. I checked one of them, and it was very expensive like over $1000 in my category. And Gorilla, on the contrary was affordable. I also remember that I Google them and found a review from an author praising the outcome of being listed in their e-mail list. She said something like that they were very selective but once you've been chosen you have it all. Ok, let's wait may be somebody else has an experience first-hand. But I have a gut feeling that you are right, Owen about paid promotions for new authors:-)

Svetlana wrote: "Thank you Owen and Kathi, I remember that I read a blog of one author who said each time he had price discounts for his books he would promote it via services similar to Gorilla's. I checked one of..."

One of things to keep in mind about these services, is that they are unlikely to accept book unless they believe it will sell. I believe they make money selling those books, in addition to the money they charge the author. So if you are a new author, without a track record of selling, they will be less likely to accept your ad.

The giant in this is Bookbub. Bookbub does charge ~$1000 (that was probably the one you saw?) because they have 2 million subscribers or more. Other similar sites may have 20-30,000.

So you might be paying only $50, but for how many people seeing your book? If it's only 30,000 people, that cost per introduction is actually higher that BookBub.

BookBub is extremely picky, however. But they are demonstrated to be effective. Unfortunately, your book (or books) has to be selling pretty well before they'll accept you.

Another member here posted about Robin's Reads. Robin's Reads claims 30,000 subscribers and cost $15. I don't know if they handle nonfiction, but if so, they might be a better bet, as they are only $15.

I used kindle nation daily, automated service to "highlight" a free book day. It is $29.99.

I gave away 1080 books. I experienced a small upkick in sales that looks like covering the cost and maybe a little more. If I had a back catalogue, I would definitely think this would be a good bet. However, it is always a gamble.

Anthony wrote: "I used kindle nation daily, automated service to "highlight" a free book day. It is $29.99..."

Does the book have to be free to use that service?

Owen wrote: "Anthony wrote: "I used kindle nation daily, automated service to "highlight" a free book day. It is $29.99..."

Does the book have to be free to use that service?"

I can't remember, Owen. They have so many options. I don't think that I would shift 1080 paid books, but if I had a back catalogue?

Yes I tried Bookbub and they naturally haven't accepted my bid while BookGorilla accepted it with the nearest time to advertize it on August 17. If Robin's Reads is a similar kind of service than definitely $15 is better than $50

Thank you guys for your insights and pardon my English (I am not a native speaker).

Anthony wrote: "I can't remember, Owen. They have so many options. I don't think that I would shift 1080 paid books, but if I had a back catalogue?"

That would be unlikely. My guess would be that ~1000 free books would yield maybe ~50-100 sales; more with a backlist, over time. Could be worth a look. When did you run your promo with them?

This is them? http://kindlenationdaily.com/

EDIT: Yep, that appears to be them. Their packages for non-free books start at $100, and they claim 171,000 subscribers. They do have an arrangement with Book Gorilla. Overall, they are on the expensive side, however.

Pardon my ignorance Anthony, what does it mean "but if I had a back catalogue?"

I have only written one book. I am currently writing a short and a sequel. The problem with free books is that only 1 in 4 or 5 downloads will be read. So only 200-250 will be read.

However, if your book is good and you have a sequel, then it follows that the free giveaway is a good bet.

Svetlana wrote: "Yes I tried Bookbub and they naturally haven't accepted my bid while BookGorilla accepted it with the nearest time to advertize it on August 17. If Robin's Reads is a similar kind of service than d..."

Your English is fine -- no pardon needed. : )

I don't mean to butt in, but a "back catalogue" or a "backlist" are books an author has previously released. Generally, a promotion for any book will sell additional copies of related books. This is especially true if the books are part of a series.

This is one reason why it can be wasteful to spend money to promote a book, when it is the author's only book. Not only do single-book authors sell relatively poorly, they have not much to sell. An author with 4 or 5 related books will sell much better (per books) and has more books to sell, for the same investment. (I'm stating the obvious there, of course. That's what I do.)

Thank you. These "obvious things" are really appreciated my end...found a similar thread discussing the same topic and they said the Fussy Librarian can do it for free once you get 10 reviews and fit into their categories.

Svetlana wrote: "Thank you. These "obvious things" are really appreciated my end...found a similar thread discussing the same topic and they said the Fussy Librarian can do it for free once you get 10 reviews and f..."

Fussy Librarian is not free anymore (they were, when they got started). They have a small list compared to the big names, but their costs are low, between $10 and $20, I think. I've used them a couple of times, and did get a spike in sales, but not enough to compensate for the reduced royalty at my sale price.

OK, got your point. Thank you, Ken

Would any of you consider not breaking even on promotion costs to still be worth the expense? From what I understand, digital marketing is more cumulative than one off, and once you get a sale or a review, that only adds to your total web presence. You might lose a little money in the short term, but does anyone here believe (or perhaps having been publishing long enough to) have seen the benefits of building your readership at the expense of an early net loss?

...your English is so sophisticated Igzy:-)
Pl simplify things for me...
Do You recommend to spend some on promotion or you think it is a hopeless business?
Do you recommend to give BookGorilla a try or you don't?
Hope I don't sound too blunt...as most Russians do...I apologize again for any inconvenience with me not being a native speaker

Igzy wrote: "Would any of you consider not breaking even on promotion costs to still be worth the expense? From what I understand, digital marketing is more cumulative than one off, and once you get a sale or a..."

This is very hard to say. My observation is that is cumulative but lossy, meaning it builds for a while, but the effect fades. If an author only has one book, it fades quickly. Readers lose interest fairly fast, especially now. Many expect at least 2, and even 3, books a year (in genre fiction). To maintain interest requires backstock and a regular publication cycle, that lays a foundation and builds confidence.

The kind of bump most new authors get from the smaller sites -- as small as a dozen books in some cases, up to maybe 50 or so in some cases -- has little residual effect. Even with a modest backstock, it doesn't make a significant change. So if an author isn't selling enough books to cover a small expense ($20 to $50), not enough books were sold to make people take notice. (Yes, a few sales may dribble in over time, but the SNR is 0 or negative.)

To get a meaningful boost, sales have to be huge and (as far as I've heard -- from multiple sources) only Bookbub delivers that. At overall Amazon rankings of better than around 800, the curve becomes self-sustaining (or close), and book will probably continue to rise at that point, for quite awhile -- long enough to capitalize (if the author has planned ahead). (Such is my tentative observation.)

So I think paid promotion that has a positive return is (clearly) good, even though in many cases it will have little visible long-term effect. But promo that loses money is pretty much a dead loss.

I could be wrong, but that's what we've observed (or think we have), based on doing this for 2 years and a bit.

My best experiences have been with Book Gorilla, Robin Reads, and The Fussy Librarian.