Running price promotions has long been a popular way for authors to reach new readers and drive long-term growth. With free deals often driving 10x the downloads of a $0.99 promotion, free promotions are an especially effective strategy for growing your audience and generating revenue. And since the earliest days of BookBub, we’ve seen consistently high demand for our free Featured Deals from both partners and readers.
So today, we’re excited to announce Free Reads: a new way for us to feature more free deals and help more authors than ever get their books into the hands of BookBub’s most voracious readers.
What is Free Reads?
Free Reads is a new, dedicated email that targets a highly engaged subset of BookBub power readers and features even more free books in their favorite genres. Eligible readers will receive this email a few times per week in addition to their regular Featured Deals promotions.
Free Reads subscribers are voracious readers who are always on the hunt for a new author or series to love. We’ve been testing out this new offering over the past few weeks, and these users have been thrilled to receive even more recommendations from the same expert editors behind Featured Deals.
In early tests, Free Reads promotions have driven thousands of clicks and downloads per book, helping authors expand their audiences, rise in retailer rankings, and increase sales of related books. (77% of BookBub readers have bought more books from an author they discovered through a discount!)
Authors testing this new tool have been excited by their results and are happy to have a new way to reach BookBub’s audience:
At Amazon, I ended up hitting #1 in all three of my SF categories, and was #25 in Free eBooks overall… I’ve had 40 additional reviews since the promotion started, too.
– Noah Chinn, Lost Souls
Within the span of 9 days, the book received almost 10,000 downloads across multiple platforms and all countries served by BookBub. Additionally, in this same time period, there are several more reviews on both Amazon and Goodreads, as well as new followers on BookBub. This was a wonderful opportunity to reach new readers. As a new author, I view this as a very successful first step on the promotion path to both this book, as well as my next book, The Choice Within, which is on pre-order.
– Stephanie Woodman, Eye Contact Over Truk
I had more than 14,000 downloads and I’ve gotten about 110 new ratings. I usually get maybe 1 or 2 every couple of weeks. I’ve attached a screenshot of my best ranking as a result of the free sale. It can’t get much better than that!
– Densie Webb, When Robins Appear
How to submit for a Free Reads promotion
All submissions for free BookBub Featured Deals will now automatically be considered for both Featured Deals and Free Reads promotions, so to have your book considered for Free Reads, simply submit a free deal through the normal Featured Deals submission flow.
Interested in Free Reads? Get started today by submitting a free book via the BookBub Featured Deals submission form.
Free Reads promotions are charged a flat rate based on the book’s category. Thanks to focused targeting on avid readers, these promotions are offered at a lower price tier than Featured Deals — making them an exciting and accessible option for more authors than ever. We hope this tool allows us to help more of our partners see the benefits of this type of promotion!
As always, we’d love to hear your feedback on this new book marketing tool. If you have any questions about Free Reads, check out our FAQs, and feel free to email us at partners@bookbub.com with questions or ideas anytime.
