Secure and Run a Successful BookBub Featured Deal (It’s Easy)
If you're an author or author-publisher looking to give your book a significant sales boost, regardless of how long it’s been published already, securing a BookBub Featured Deal can do the trick. With millions of readers subscribed to Bookbub’s email lists, BookBub is one of the most effective marketing platforms for promoting books. Here’s a comprehensive guide on how to get and run a BookBub Featured Deal effectively.
Step 1: Understand What BookBub Is Looking For
BookBub is selective about the books they feature. Here’s what they prioritize:
Discounted Price: Most Featured Deals promote books priced at $0.99 or free. A deep discount makes your book more appealing to readers. You can try at a higher price, but it may be to your disadvantage. Best not to be greedy here.
Quality Content: Your book should have strong reviews, a professional cover, and a compelling blurb.
Pro Tip: My first accepted Featured Deal book had only 50 reviews, even though I had other books with hundreds of reviews (up to 400). However, those 50 reviews had a healthy distribution (from 1s to 5s). Overall, my rating was 4.3/5.
Wide Appeal: Genres like romance, mystery, thriller, and historical fiction tend to perform well. But the more popular the genre, the more Bookbub will charge you.
Platform Availability: Books available on multiple platforms (Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, etc.) are preferred. Having your book only on Amazon and/or Amazon Kindle Unlimited will hurt your submission (but it is still possible, so it is always good to submit and see).
Step 2: Understand What You Want Before Submission
Strategy: What is your strategy for using a Featured Deal?
Book Launch
BookBub will likely suggest the New Releases for Less option for book launches, but it’s less effective than a Featured Deal. Avoid thinking building a brand is good enough over sales—Amazon and BookBub don’t share purchaser contact info, limiting your ability to re-engage these readers. Unless buyers join your newsletter, they may not find you again. Getting Bookbub to give you a Featured Deal for a book launch will be difficult, but it doesn’t hurt to try. Just expect a no.
Book Discount Promotion
Discounts are what a Featured Deal is all about; and the more discounted a book, the better.
Here is a quick method to figure out how you should price your deal:
With only a single book published (not ideal):
Unless you have a big budget and a backlist to generate revenue, avoid offering your book for free—it won't offset the cost of a Featured Deal. Instead, consider pricing at least at $0.99. While you may not break even, it helps recover expenses and boost sales to support future ad campaigns on platforms like Amazon or Facebook for this book.
With two or more books published:
While having two books is a great start, three or more are ideal for building revenue and increasing the likelihood of making a profit for a Featured Deal. This allows you to have a free-book work to your advantage and drive sales for the rest of your series. You can discount one or more books to encourage even more secondary sales. Many Bookbub subscribers often purchase your entire series, so it’s a profitable strategy.
Featured Deals can be game-changers, even for later books in a series. For instance, my third book in a trilogy was featured first, leading to significant success. Although having the first book featured is always ideal, remember to submit your backlist for consideration.
Pricing strategy is key.
Higher prices yield more revenue per sale but may lower sales volume, which is fine if you prioritize breaking even or minimizing losses and don’t need to rise in the Amazon rankings significantly.
Lower prices, like $0.99 or Free, can boost sales rankings and visibility, especially on platforms like Amazon. Higher rankings of your series often lead to increased organic sales (not associated with the Bookbub), which is a bonus.
Step 3: Optimize Your Book Before Submission
Polish Your Cover: A professional, genre-appropriate cover can make or break your application.
Update Your Blurb: Ensure your book description is concise and hooks the reader immediately.
Gather Reviews: Books with multiple positive reviews are more likely to be selected.
Pro Tip: It’s not realistic to have all 5s, so stacking your review pages with only ARC or friend/family reviews doesn’t help in the long run. Best to let non-author-associated readers tell you how good your book is. My books are roughly 4.1-4.3 out of 5 and have a healthy distribution from 1-5s.
Step 4: Complete Your Submission (It’s very easy)
To apply for a Featured Deal:
Visit BookBub’s Submission Page: Head to the Featured Deals page on BookBub’s Partner’s website.
Choose Your Genre: Select the category that best matches your book.
Pro Tip: Bookbub has the final say on what category you are in. They may offer you a different one based on their understanding of their e-mail subscriber behavior.
Set the Discount: Offer the lowest possible price ($0.99 or free).
Pro Tip: Bookbub evaluates free and discounted options differently. Thus, you can apply to both Free and discounted simultaneously or you can stagger your submissions.
Set the Timeline for the Sale: Make sure you extend your sale at least 2-3 days post-promotion day. Bookbub recommends setting a timeline limit of up to 5 days.
Pro Tip: Expect a sales surge within the first three days of a BookBub email, with solid downstream sales for at least a week. Many subscribers check emails days later, so avoid ending your sale too soon to capture these late opens and additional sales.
Submit Your Book: Complete the form with details like title, author, and platform links. The Optional Comments section isn’t necessary—I left it blank, and was accepted. However, you can mention awards, trade reviews, or prior BookBub successes if you'd like. Ultimately, acceptance hinges on your cover, book blurb, and the quality and number of reviews.
Pro Tip: Submit your book at least a month in advance to allow BookBub time to review. Be flexible with your terms—restrictions reduce your chances of acceptance. With only about 20% (or likely fewer) of submissions accepted, make it as easy as possible for them to say yes.
Don’t take a rejection personally. If you are declined, wait about a month before re-submitting either option again.
Pro Tip: Reapply as much as you want (but wait that month, as I mentioned).
Step 5: Running Your Featured Deal
Once your book is selected, it’s time to prepare for the big day:
Coordinate Pricing: Update your book’s price on all platforms at least 24 hours before the deal goes live.
Pro Tip: I adjust prices a week in advance to avoid last-minute issues. This approach ensures you're not tied to another site's timeline and allows for a baseline comparison to measure BookBub's impact. Plus, the early change can generate some extra sales before the promotion, and you can use the results as a baseline to what a Bookbub promotion will generate.
Put (some of) your backlist on sale as well: Boost sales volume and rankings by discounting some of your backlist during a Featured Deal. BookBub subscribers often explore backlist titles, leading to multiple purchases or even entire series sales. This strategy can significantly enhance ROI, potentially covering the cost of the Featured Deal.
Spread the Word: Promote the deal on your social media, email list, and website.
Pro Tip: If it’s not a new release, your newsletter subscribers likely already own your books. While you can ask them to share the deal, conversions may be minimal depending on your list size and click-through rate. Unless aiming for the USA Today Bestseller List (~5,000 weekly sales), avoid spending on other distribution sites until a week after the BookBub promotion.
Monitor Metrics: Track sales, downloads, and rankings during and after the promotion to measure its impact.
Pro Tip: Monitor your Amazon rankings and daily sales closely. Don’t end your sale prematurely—BookBub promotions can drive significant residual sales for 2–4 weeks after the Featured Deal.
Pro Tip: Base your expectations on BookBub’s average sales and downloads for your genre. Most subscriber-based newsletters have a 1-2% click-through rate, meaning only a small fraction of subscribers will engage with your offer. For a $0.99+ price, for example, expect between 200 to 2,000 purchases. If your goal is the USA Today Best-Selling List, you'll need 5,000–10,000 sales in a week, so a Featured Deal alone likely won’t get you there.
Step 6: Maximize Post-Deal Opportunities
Leverage Sales Momentum: Run additional ads or promotions while your book is trending and for your backlist. Now is the time to spend more on Amazon or Facebook ads. However, be careful here, make sure you are using Amazon Attribution to track sales as you can spend a lot of advertising dollars on ads that may have great Click Through Rates and number of Clicks but are not converting to sales.