Bookbub after-action report

On February 20, 2019, I had my first Bookbub Featured Deal, a promotion for my permafree Clouds of Venus.  U.S. + international.  The whole shebang.  :o

I applied for the deal on January 21.  My submission was accepted the very next day.  Needless to say, I was shocked.  I saw the email in my inbox, and my first reaction was a rather vulgar and loud exclamation.  I stared at the email in stunned silence for the next few moments.  When I had sufficiently recovered my wits, I grabbed my credit card and shelled out $518 faster than you can say, "Shut up and take my money!"

For the record, this was my thirteenth submission for a free deal for Clouds of Venus.  The previous twelve submissions were rejected.  Lucky 13, I guess.  Heh.

Then I started making a mental list of things I needed to get in order before the promotion.  There were several.  For one thing, the book was free in some Amazon stores, but not all.  I needed to contact Amazon and ask them to make it free everywhere.  I did that, providing links to the Apple store in various countries.  The only country I didn't have an Apple link for was India.  So, after a couple of days, the book was free everywhere... except the India store.  Then I realized that I could provide a Kobo link, so I did that.  A day or two later, the book was free in Amazon's India store.  It was now free everywhere, and as long as it stayed that way, everything would be cool and Bookbub wouldn't get mad at me.

I should add that I was deathly afraid of something getting screwed up.  Permafree books on Amazon occasionally revert back to paid for no reason, and my biggest fear was that something like that would happen.  I didn't tell a soul about this Featured Deal beforehand because I didn't want to jinx it.  Terribly superstitious of me, I know, but there it is.

Another thing I needed to take care of was getting my stuff up on Google Play.  I was already in the process of doing that.  I'd opened an account with PublishDrive and was going to test the waters with Buddy for a while before adding my other books.  There was no hurry, after all, so I figured I'd get comfortable with the site and make sure there weren't any glitches before adding the rest of the catalogue.  The Bookbub deal accelerated my plans.  I added everything else as fast as I could.  The blurbs on Google Play ended up having formatting issues, so I had to contact PublishDrive and ask them to fix it.  And they did.  Réka is great, and my impressions of PD's customer service are excellent.

Once Clouds of Venus was live on Google Play, I contacted the folks at Bookbub and asked if they could add that store's link to the deal.  They graciously agreed to do it.  The people at Bookbub are great.

I was also in the process of changing my back matter.  Again, this was something I had decided beforehand, so I wasn't in a hurry at the time, but the deal accelerated my plans.

Finally, I wanted to release the third book of Wheel of Fire before the Bookbub deal.  So, in the midst of all this other stuff, I was proofreading and getting ready to publish.  I published Ruined Worlds on February 12.

So that's the back story.  Some frantic days, but I got it all sorted out as best I could.  Nothing was left undone.

Now let's get to the results of the promotion.

On the day of the Bookbub, the free downloads of Clouds of Venus were as follows:

Amazon: 19,055
Apple: 2,258
Barnes & Noble: 1,017
Google Play: 1,176
Kobo: 1,544

Total: 25,050

I had previously learned that Bookbub-related sales from Amazon's Australian store usually didn't kick in until the day after the Bookbub.  This was my experience, too.  I only had one download from the .au store on the day of the Bookbub.  As soon as the clock struck midnight, though, the Aussies flooded in.  I've had 666 downloads from Amazon's Australian store today.

Now, about sell-through...

A sale of Caverns of Mercury or Cities of Mars nets me about two bucks on Amazon or Kobo.  I get a little less from Apple and Barnes & Noble due to D2D taking their cut.  So I figured I'd need somewhere in the neighborhood of 250-300 paid sales of these books in order for the Bookbub to pay for itself.  (The books are priced higher on Google Play, but the royalty is lower, too, and I have yet to make my first sale there, so I have no idea what to expect from that retailer.)

On Amazon, I had 86 paid sales of books 2 and 3 on the day of the Bookbub.  I've had another 20 so far today.

On Apple, I had 9 paid sales of those books.

On Barnes & Noble, I had zip.  Same for Kobo.  Same for Google Play.

So I'm still in the hole as far as sell-through goes.  I'm not worried, though, because I've read that sell-through doesn't really happen until several days after the deal.  Which makes perfect sense, since reading a book takes time.  Those who buy the other books of a series on the day of the Bookbub are generally the really voracious readers and those who decide to buy the whole series at once.

So that's the breakdown.  I'm very pleased with how this promotion has gone, and I can't thank Bookbub enough.  My hope is that this deal will give me some traction on Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Google Play.  Those places have been mostly dead zones for me so far, and I'd love to change that.

Now for some screenshots.  :D

Why, hello there, Mr. Verne.  This is an exclusive neighborhood indeed, isn't it?  :D

So there you have it.  My first Bookbub.  This past month has been a whirlwind of activity and emotions.  But I got everything done that needed to be done, and the promotion went off without a hitch.  I'm truly blessed.

Thanks once again to the folks at Bookbub for making this happen.  And thanks to my retail partners, too, for allowing me to publish my work on their sites.

Finally, thanks most of all to you, the readers.  Without you, none of this would be possible.  You're my life-blood and the reason I do it all in the first place.  I sincerely hope you enjoy my work.

Take care, everyone, and thanks for reading.  :)