A book promotion service that sends curated deals on discounted and free ebooks to millions of subscribers, making it one of the most powerful marketing tools for authors.
BookBub is an email-based book discovery platform with millions of subscribers who have opted in to receive daily deals on discounted and free ebooks in their preferred genres. Authors and publishers can apply for a Featured Deal, which sends their book to a targeted segment of BookBub's massive subscriber list. Getting accepted is competitive, but a single BookBub feature can generate thousands of downloads or sales in a single day. BookBub also offers a self-serve advertising platform (BookBub Ads) and author profile pages where readers can follow you for new release alerts.
In a market flooded with books competing for attention, BookBub is one of the few promotional tools with a proven, measurable impact. A Featured Deal can catapult a book up the Amazon charts, generate hundreds of reviews, and drive readers to the rest of your backlist. For indie authors building a career, understanding how to use BookBub effectively is a practical marketing skill that directly translates to book sales and reader growth.
Howey used strategic price promotions and discovery platforms like BookBub to build massive readership for his self-published dystopian series before it caught the attention of traditional publishers.
Even traditionally published bestsellers use BookBub promotions to reach new readers, demonstrating that the platform serves authors at every level of their career.
Aaron has spoken openly about using BookBub Featured Deals as a cornerstone of her indie marketing strategy, combining them with series pricing to maximize read-through and backlist sales.
BookBub deals work best as a funnel. Discount or give away book one of a series to drive readers to books two, three, and beyond at full price. If you only have one book, you are spending money on promotion with no backlist to catch the readers you attract.
BookBub rejects more applications than it accepts. Many successful authors applied multiple times before getting their first Featured Deal. Reapply with a different price point, better cover, or more reviews. Persistence matters here.
BookBub Ads are available to anyone, run at any budget, and give you valuable data about which audiences respond to your books. Use them to build momentum and learn what works while you wait for a Featured Deal acceptance.
Thousands of new readers will land on your book's retail page during a promotion. Make sure your cover is professional, your description is compelling, and your also-by section showcases your other work. A sloppy book page wastes the traffic BookBub sends you.
Create a free BookBub author profile and follow ten authors in your genre. Study five recent BookBub Featured Deals in your category by subscribing to the daily emails. For each deal, note the book's price, cover design, genre tags, and description style. Then write a hypothetical BookBub application for your own book, including the promotional price you would set, which genre category you would target, and how you would structure the rest of your series pricing to maximize read-through.