by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Although I haven’t run a BookBub ad, I have an author profile on BookBub. It’s free and there are excellent reasons for having a presence there, whether or not you ever intend to run an ad.
Perhaps the biggest reason is that BookBub will update your followers when you have a new release. This is what my readers received from BB on the 23rd:
BookBub also can help us connect with new readers by emailing subscribers and suggesting authors to follow.
Tom Corson-Knowles of TCK publishing points out that linking your author profile on BookBub to your website also is a huge SEO boost for your site.
I wondered, when I set up the profile there if my readers were BookBub subscribers. But with absolutely no effort on my part, I have over two hundred followers there. So…the answer is yes. :)
There are also ways that you can increase the number of followers that you have on the site, according to Diana Urban on the BookBub site. Among her suggestions are adding a link to your email signature, including a BookBub follow button on your website, and linking to BookBub in your books’ back matter.
For step-by-step instructions on setting up your author profile, see Jamie Ferguson’s post, “Claim and Configure Your BookBub Author Profile.”
A relatively new feature from BookBub offers authors the opportunity to connect with readers (and gain visibility on the site) by recommending books that you’ve enjoyed (for US authors only right now). From BookBub’s blog:
Sharing a recommendation on BookBub helps authors:
- Stay top-of-mind with their BookBub followers in the US
- Cross-promote fellow authors and help each other get discovered
- Engage with BookBub’s community of enthusiastic power readers
- Boost visibility to readers visiting BookBub.com
BookBub recommends that authors post a recommendation 1-3 times a month and respond to any comments that readers make.
Author Assistant Mel Jolly reported in her newsletter that BookBub offered a workaround for non-US authors:
“Login to Your Account
Go to this link and update your retailer preferences to USA.
BookBub recommends that you keep your author account as a US-based account to ensure access to new features as they’re rolled out.
NOTE: Changing to a US based account this will also update the deals you see to US based.”
Do you have a profile on BookBub? Have you made any recommendations?
Photo on Visualhunt
This is something I hadn’t thought of, Elizabeth. It sounds straightforward to use, which is always a good thing. And I like the idea of using it to also help other authors. I’ll have to look into this!
It’s very easy to set up and use. You’d be especially good with the recommendations!
I wondered if creating an author profile was effective. We ran a couple small ads earlier this year and they were definitely NOT effective.
Good to get feedback on the ads…I would hate to spend that much money and not have them work!
With this, it’s free and easy, so no real investment of either time or money.
I totally did not know about this aspect of BookBub. Thanks! I’ll spend some time on it this weekend.
It’s nice to have a presence on the site, even if I don’t run ads! Good luck with it.
I didn’t know we could join BookPub without an ad. I’m off to check it out. Thanks!
Good luck with it, Deb!