Are BookBub editors more likely to select a book being offered for free than one at $0.99-$2.99 for a BookBub Featured Deal? We’ve outlined our editorial process on on the BookBub Partners Blog before, but in this post we’ll specifically look at how selection rates compare for free and discounted promotions.
The short answer is that while the difference isn’t overwhelming, our editors are able to select a higher percentage of free books than discounted ones. Over the last six weeks, the selection rate for a free book was around 24 percent, while our editors could only choose around 18 percent of non-free ones. This means that, on average, the odds of a book being selected went up by around a third if you submitted it for a free promotion.
A number of factors explain why free titles are more likely to be accepted by our editors:
1. The Number of Submissions Received
For one, we receive far fewer submissions for free books. While we generally feature more discounted titles in our email each day, the volume of requests for those deals means that we need to turn away even more great books that we would otherwise love to feature. Our editors always avoid picking titles that they don’t think would be good fits for BookBub readers, but the lower number of free submissions means they’re often able to take a chance on books with smaller platforms in those spots.
2. The Category
However, this breakdown also varies significantly by category. For example, because we receive relatively few free Historical Fiction submissions, the selection rate is significantly higher for free Historical titles than the average across all our lists. On the other end of the spectrum, it’s much harder to get a spot in a category like Fantasy, where we receive multiple submissions for free books every day.
3. Subscriber Demand
And since we have to be careful not to overwhelm our readers with too many deals, subscriber demand in each category also influences these numbers. For instance, there are some lists where we can only feature a book or two per week, forcing our editors to be much more selective than they would otherwise want to be.
As a result, deal price is only one factor among many that can influence selection rates, and submitting for a free or discounted promotion doesn’t make or break your chances of getting a BookBub spot. But because it is something our editors consider, we always recommend submitting at the most competitive price that aligns with your marketing goals. And if you haven’t been selected for a discounted promotion, it could be worth trying for a free one if you’re open to it!
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