BookBub Blog headerBookBub Ads is the platform where I've seen most growth in the last year, to the point where it is rivaling Facebook, especially when factoring in conversion. The amount of money I can spend effectively on BookBub — and by that I mean get an immediate return on investment — has quadrupled in the last twelve months.

This might sound incredible, in the literal sense, to anyone who hasn't cracked BookBub Ads yet. It can be an unusual platform for those more used to Facebook or Amazon Ads, leading to an unexpected learning curve, perhaps. But I find that if you take the time to understand what works on BookBub, it's the most responsive and consistent ad platform out there. Getting over that first hump is where many authors seem to struggle though. I know that from running an eight-part series on BookBub Ads to my mailing list earlier this year.

Well, there's help on the way. I'll have a book called BookBub Ads Expert coming very soon — make sure to sign up to my list to hear about that first and get an exclusive launch discount that will be offered nowhere else — and I have a wonderful guest post today to give you a headstart while you're waiting for that.

If you have attended any major writer conference in America over the last couple of years, you will probably have encountered Carlyn Robertson and her BookBub colleagues — who spend a lot of time understanding author's needs and taking feedback. She has a very useful guest post for you today which is filled with high-level insights and actionable takeaways.

Here's Carlyn with more:

BookBub Banner with Carlyn pic

The BookBub Ads platform is the most flexible marketing tool BookBub offers right now — it gives advertisers the ability to target narrow, customized audiences of active BookBub readers, to run promotions entirely on their own schedules, and to have complete control over their costs and budgets. This flexibility means that you can use BookBub Ads to supplement any kind of promotion or marketing initiative.

David has discussed how he uses BookBub Ads to tactically support launches and other promotions when he needs a last-minute, sure-fire boost in sales, so we wanted to share some additional ways authors are successfully using BookBub Ads to support different marketing goals and sell more books.

Boosting New Release Sales

A new book is a chance to both re-engage your current fan base and to introduce new readers to your work, so new release launches are often an important time to make big marketing investments. BookBub now offers several marketing tools dedicated to new release promotion, and many authors have made BookBub Ads part of their launch plans. You can use Ads to promote your book throughout the launch period and personalize your messaging to target existing fans or hook new readers.

To reach existing fans, you can target yourself with BookBub Ads. Unlike other ad platforms, nearly every author with published ebooks is available to select as an ad target on BookBub. This audience includes not only your BookBub followers, but any readers who have interacted with you on our platform, whether by visiting your profile or clicking on one of your books in an email. If you've run a Featured Deal before, this means you can retarget any readers who clicked on that deal to tell them about your new release.

You can also target the fans of similar authors with BookBub Ads, which is a fantastic opportunity to reach a relevant audience of new readers who are highly likely to be interested in your books. To find comp authors, many authors look at their also-boughts on retailers, study trends in their genres, or even ask their readers for suggestions. We recommend searching for your potential targets on BookBub.com to confirm that they have a large enough audience on our platform. You can also browse popular BookBub authors by genre here (note that this page won't display any authors you're already following on BookBub!). You can find additional tips from a number of successful advertisers on choosing and assessing comp author targets here.

CD Reiss targeted both her own fans and the fans of similar authors for the launch of a second book in a duet, using different strategies to appeal to each audience.

CD Reiss BookBub ad examples showing one ad for existing readers and a different ad for new readers

The ad on the left targeted CD Reiss fans on BookBub during the last four days before the book's launch. The copy — "How will the game end?" — appeals to readers who have already read book one and are dying to know what happens next, and the launch date further builds anticipation and entices them to preorder. The ad on the right targeted fans of CD Reiss and fans of a number of comp authors she'd tested during the launch of book one. It was meant to appeal to readers who were either waiting for the duet to be completed before purchasing or hadn't heard of the books before and would want to start at the beginning with book one. Both of these ad campaigns had over a 3% CTR. Read more of this post