In the latest entry of my book marketing series, I talk about landing my first joint U.S. and international featured deal with BookBub. I have landed international featured deals on two or three occasions. This is the first time I've landed a coveted U.S. featured deal.
You can find my other marketing posts below:
As I've stated previously, I'm not a book marketing maven. I'm just another soul lost in the promo wilderness!
The Book
The novel featured is Dragons Walks Among Us, the first volume in The Allison Lee Chronicles. I've attempted to have the second book in the series featured without success. I'll continue trying, but I suspect sequels in a series aren't usually selected. But you never know.
How I landed the deal
That's difficult to say, honestly. Luck and persistence play significant roles in being selected for a featured deal.
Having said that, I pay attention to the partner emails I receive from BookBub. Most of these, I only spare cursory glances, but if something catches my eye, I always thoroughly peruse it. A recent partner email offered advice on how to make your featured deal application as attractive as possible. Of course, offering your book as a freebie or $.99 increases your chance of being selected. That is out of my hands because the small press that publishes my books only puts the e-books on sale at $.99. Still, I did find a tidbit in the email that may have helped with my latest submission.
At the bottom of the featured deal submission page is a text box for the author to fill in any other pertinent information. The partner email suggested listing awards or review excerpts in that text box. I don't recall filling it out before, but I did this last time. I put in a review excerpt from either Kirkus or Midwest Book Review. Anyway, I ended up landing the full meal featured deal. I don't know how much sway the review had, but it certainly didn't hurt.
The Results
I was very impressed with the overall results. The novel reached number one bestseller status across its three Amazon US categories and achieved the bestseller status on Barnes & Noble's website. The book also sold very well on Amazon UK, Canada, and Australia.
Now, here is where my analysis falls short. I believe self-published authors on Amazon can see exactly how many books they have sold over a given period. I, however, cannot. I have to wait until the numbers are reported to my publisher, which sometimes takes a month or two. So, I might have an update to this article in June or July.
Back to the analysis…sell on. If you're not familiar with the term sell on, it refers to sales of the first book in the series driving sales of subsequent books in that series. Previously, I've had sell on using a promo stack. Essentially, sales of Dragons Walk Among Us at $.99 drove sales of The Blood of Faeries at full price.
By far, I've seen the best sell on of my books ever with this latest featured deal. The Blood of Faeries climbed Amazon's rankings quite nicely, and even The Wrath of Monster, on pre-order until June 19, 2024, made some sales.
Conclusion
There are a ton of promo options out there. For email list promotion, BookBub is the apex predator. If the price of a featured deal in your genre fits within your budget, it's worth applying for one. Even if you don't break even, it will definitely raise the profile of your book or books, in the case of a series.
The best way to land a featured deal is to apply often and be patient. Also, brushing off any stellar editorial reviews your books have garnered and including them in the applications can only help.
Best of luck in the marketing wilderness, author!
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